He had arrived her 20 minutes ago. But he made no move to step out of the car.

Minho stared impassively at the rippled flow of rainwater on the glass and let the drumming sound drown out the sudden thoughts haunting him for the first time.

Earlier he had a sudden urge to see his brother. Confront him. Maybe land a punch or two if Joongi is generous enough to not use his martial arts on him.

But just when he was calling Joongi to demand where he is, Hayoung called him instead. Her short, one-sided conversation only had her demanding he pick her up from her mother's place. Because she doesn't have a driver's licence as her smug deluded doesn't believe in driving herself.

Minho took a raincheck on fighting his brother and drove to his mother-in-law's home. He pulled into the property but had to stop abruptly five seconds into the driveway.

His mother-in-law bought another vehicle. A fleet of eight cars of different vehicle classes, all Maybach and all red, lined the driveway. The one in front of him is new.

Chae Jeongyeon has a gimmick, something to keep her interesting in their society. A fleet of red Maybachs. She'd resell and buy a new one at least twice a year. The number was consistent to eight or nine.

Minho once gave Hayoung an earful about it, that it's his father's money her mother is wasting away. Money that Lee Sangchul thinks is paying off the Chae family's debts from their past failed business and maintaining their ancestral property. Money that Lee Joongi has put a stop too. But Hayoung claimed her mother doesn't listen to her and brushed off that topic.

His mother-in-law is a leech, for want of a better word. Being used by her and her daughter is no less humiliating than playing second fiddle to his brother. And when the realization hit him, today when he was still reeling from seeing her, it was devastating.

Minho would be lying if he didn't consider running into Minyoung when he was summoned to Seoul. He did not however predict feeling this turmoil of emotions.

For one thing, she's nothing like the Minyoung he remembers. She's changed physically, yes... a lot thinner, her hair is different and she dresses more differently than the oversized dresses he thoughtlessly sourced for her back then.

But she's also changed in other ways. He's not used to a Minyoung whose eyes didn't sparkle eagerly for him. The knowledge of her being with someone else doesn't help either.

And then there's Jaejoong... Minyoung's friend as it turns out. A person who has been linked to a dozen people including his brother and his brother's cousin.

When he looked into the media gossip on Jaejoong, scarcer than the coverage Minyoung gets, while he was stuck in traffic Minho felt unexplainable jealousy and weirdly threatened. He was only somewhat jealous when he witnessed Jaejoong's easy rapport with those three flirty customers who seemed to be living in the Dessert Room.

Still it's uncharacteristic of him to feel jealous over other men hovering around a girl he's courting. He never had such feelings for any woman, let alone so strongly.

What is it about Jaejoong that made him react this way? Why is he terrified that she's Minyoung's friend? And why is he dejected Jaejoong probably knows he had an affair with her friend?

More importantly, why is he longing for two women at the same time?

Paradoxical as it sounds, he's a one-woman man. He's never been attracted to or had any feelings apart from disdain for his wife. He at least shares the pull of attraction with his lovers. The repulsion he feels for Hayoung makes them so distant there's no discernible marriage between them.

And yet he's feeling more longing than attraction for Jaejoong and Minyoung.

Jaejoong was supposed to be another conquest.

Minyoung was not supposed to be in the picture.

A flash of lightning jolts him out of his stupor. Holding his breath, Minho reaches for his phone on the passenger seat and unlocks it to the last thing he opened online.

Ji Changwook.

Counted among a select group of young self-made tycoons, he is regarded as almost prodigious for climbing up the cutthroat pharmaceutical business after his partners sold their shares to him to pursue other ventures. He seems to be a media favourite, second to the entertainment agency president who he recognizes as one of Jaejoong's fanboys.

There's scores of articles hyping him - from his switch from medicine to business, his brief stint as a paramedic, and his difficult upbringing in a single parent home, to his advocacy for generic medicines, his contracts with governments throughout the continent, his donations to medical missions, aiding EMTs with better facilities, and aspirations to build a long-term care hospital.

Yes, he's a great man. Woe to him and Joongi who had everything handed to them.

Doesn't mean he has to like, or even be impressed by Ji Changwook. No, he just has to marinate in a turmoil of emotions wandering how deep is Minyoung's relationship with a man who was not long ago linked to a supermodel and is carrying her unconscious self out of parties.

And when that’s done, he has to deliberate how close his brother is to Jaejoong.

Another flash of lightning and the torrent picks up. Yet that doesn't deter whoever is under that yellow umbrella making their way down the driveway.

Minho sighs in resignation as he pockets his phone and unlocks the door just in time for a man, he assumes is part of the security staff from the uniform he's wearing, reaches him.

Minho accepts the spare umbrella from him and barely acknowledges the message he delivers from Hayoung that she's waiting for him. The umbrella is no help on the journey to the house. The ends of his jeans are wet and the wind causes a spray of water to stick to his front. He hands the umbrella to the maid who opened the door and walks inside threw house.

The mansion is palatial as ever, a physical symbol of old money. But while the Lee family mansion has been redone, renovated and maintained, the Chae estate is liveable only in limited rooms. The grandiose of the common areas and the three bedrooms in use don't give away the half a dozen other dilapidated rooms or the run down west wing.

Yet there's an army of staff working here, all under the Lees' dime, and Chae Jeongyeon hosts her bi-monthly soirees here.

Speaking of whom... "Minho-yah~ took you long enough~" His petite mother-in-law glides down the stairway, posture poised, appearance elegant as usual, and expression welcoming like a hostess.

That's what Chae Jeongyeon is, a host. She has a talent for charming her guests, simpering, and pretending she's not a spendthrift, broke liar though she's far from t