Passion Raga Novel (Completed) - Chapter 27

Anyone who knew them and had a brain would know what that meant. It meant that an incident would break out soon, no matter how they proceeded.

“Poor Mr. Miller,” Ling Xinlu muttered with a sigh, sounding genuinely regretful. Yuri nodded in agreement but didn’t take his eyes off Ling Xinlu’s face. He smiled calmly, not appearing particularly agitated or unstable, but Yuri silently watched him.

Meeting Yuri’s gaze, Ling Xinlu chuckled.

“It’s like gently brushing someone’s face with a soft brush. As if checking for any missed dust.”

“I apologize if it made you uncomfortable.”

“No, it’s fine, more than I expected. It’s not like it’s the first time you’ve looked at me like that, Mr. Gable.”

Ling Xinlu lightly waved his hand and drank his juice. A brief silence fell. Only the occasional sound of him casually sipping his juice could be heard. Yuri had no way of knowing what he was thinking. But seeing him, who now rarely lost his composure, Yuri felt a certain sense of relief.

“How’s your wound?”

Ling Xinlu, who had been engrossed in thought, drinking his juice and staring intently at Yuri, suddenly asked. Yuri raised an eyebrow slightly and then shook his head.

“It’s nothing.”

A scar would probably remain, but it wouldn’t be visible anyway, being under his hair. Yuri, too, looked perfectly fine on the surface, without any visible injuries. The most he felt was an occasional sting when he unconsciously ran his hand through his hair and touched the wound.

“Hmm, I see,” Ling Xinlu said, placing the empty juice bottle on the table. A faint clinking sound echoed as the glass touched. Sitting upright with his hands clasped on his knees, Ling Xinlu looked directly at Yuri. Yuri, who had been sitting upright from the start, met his gaze, anticipating what he was about to say.

“It would be the humane thing to see you fully recovered before leaving, but I don’t have that much time.”

Ah, indeed. He expected those words. Yuri nodded silently. Containing both the meaning of ‘it’s okay’ and ‘don’t worry.’

Ling Xinlu looked at Yuri, a smile in his eyes, and continued. His voice seemed to have softened just a little.

“Please look up flights for me. For the day after tomorrow, to Dar es Salaam. I need to go pick up Tae-yi hyung.”

“I won’t use drugs,” Ling Xinlu added, and Yuri smiled bitterly. And then he slowly nodded.

“I’ll look into it. Are you going alone?”

“People from my family are coming to help. We’ll meet in Dar es Salaam.”

“Then I don’t need to look for separate accommodation,” Yuri muttered. Ling Xinlu then added, “Oh, and,” as if remembering something.

“I’ll tell my eldest brother, who told you to protect me, so you don’t have to worry. …You’ve had a lot of trouble until now.”

Ling Xinlu bowed respectfully.

For the first and last time, he was genuinely saying “thank you” to Yuri. Regardless of the resentment, dissatisfaction, or bitter memories he held towards Yuri, he was grateful.

Receiving his farewell, Yuri knew it was time to part ways. A parting that came at an appropriate time, neither too fast nor too slow. A quiet and peaceful farewell, thankfully not taking the worst form.

It’s a relief that only good memories weren’t left behind.

Yuri also bowed back to him. He put his sincerity into the brief words, “The pleasure was all mine.”

Both were silent for a moment. In the short but peaceful silence, they seemed to chew over the time they had spent together. For Ling Xinlu, it had been the most difficult and arduous time of his life, and for Yuri—in any sense—it would be a time he would never forget.

Eventually, Yuri stood up.

“The day after tomorrow, I should look for flights that arrive by evening local time, right?”

The day after tomorrow, there wasn’t much time left. It wasn’t just about booking flights. There were countless things to do to end his stay here.

“Ah…”

At that moment, Ling Xinlu opened his mouth as if to say something. Yuri, who was about to turn away, looked at him puzzled. Ling Xinlu, who had been staring intently at Yuri, who calmly waited for his words, slowly shook his head.

“No. Please take care of it.”

Yuri watched Ling Xinlu, who was smiling beautifully and waving his hand, for a while, then nodded. And with sincerity, he gave his final farewell.

“Good luck.”

It was a peaceful and quiet period.

Kyle’s decision had not a shred of hesitation, and thanks to that, James once again lost the opportunity to throw in his resignation.

According to witnesses, when this incident broke out, the moment James heard the news, he froze like a pillar of salt for about five seconds, utterly bewildered. But after about five seconds, he seemed to briefly lower his head and ponder, then surprisingly, he got up with a calm and composed expression.

‘This time for sure.’

He muttered that and his steps towards Kyle were so light and brisk that he almost seemed ecstatic.

However.

To James’s great regret.

Kyle, upon hearing the news, made a concise decision without changing his expression.

‘Let him be. What’s the worst that could happen, execution?’

And that’s only if that guy gets arrested willingly, he added, casually tossing the fax paper onto his desk that had just informed him that his own younger brother had caused a bombing in Riyadh a few tens of minutes ago.

At the unexpected reaction—no, it wasn’t entirely unexpected, but the reaction of not frowning as usual and muttering, ‘It’ll be quite a struggle to stop him’—James, uncharacteristically speechless for a moment, stared blankly at Kyle.

‘……, Then.’

‘The damage is too great to just make it disappear. He’ll handle it himself. Well, if he happens to roll into my house, I might just protect him.’

Anyway, just keep me updated whenever there’s a change in the situation, Kyle seemed to indicate, trying to end the conversation there. Then, suddenly, seeing James looking bewildered amidst his cold expression, he let out a long sigh.

‘Honestly, this guy, always causing trouble and making me worry. You seem very worried about this too, judging by your complexion. Don’t worry so much. This guy will survive no matter where he’s thrown, so it wouldn’t make for you to worry and get sick, would it? You know how much I cherish and trust you, James, don’t you? I truly consider you family.’

The subject seemed to subtly change as he went on, but James said nothing. In any case, with his own younger brother in a serious situation—though self-inflicted—and furthermore, without saddling James with more bomb-like work, he couldn’t be sarcastic.

Kyle, feigning a long sigh, then seemed to realize something and looked down at James’s clenched fist.

‘By the way, James, what’s that in your left hand? It’s not a resignation letter, is it?’

‘…….’

‘What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong to you recently? Did I cause you great trouble and worry with family matters without knowing it…? Tell me anything, I’ll fix it!’

And James, crumpling the resignation letter he had planned to thrust in Kyle’s face the moment the words “I’ll have to somehow smooth it over” left Kyle’s lips, failed to achieve his original goal, even as he glared menacingly at this person with ghost-like perceptiveness who was clinging to him with a pitiful and innocent face.

“……Have you tried burning the books?”

Yuri asked, sipping his coffee, facing James, whose expression was stiff and his brows furrowed. A cold reply came back, as cold as his expression.

“I tried burning them.”

“And he still didn’t fire you?”

“He burned my resignation letter with the books right there and held a funeral for it.”

He said goodbye to the books, crying, ‘Farewell. May you go to a good owner’s house in the next life,’ and it was a horror I never want to see again, James said, shuddering.

“I see,” Yuri quietly nodded, thinking to himself that if even that didn’t work, James’s resignation would never be accepted in his lifetime.

But for Kyle, it was an excellent choice. Then as now, and in the future, it was unthinkable to abandon this excellent workforce to help a brother who would always be a disaster rather than a help. Yes, even now, this top-notch workforce, James, who responds accurately and flawlessly to the torrent of calls from various places that pour in as soon as Rigrow is internationally wanted as a terrorist.

It had been days since the incident was made public.

In this industry, where news circulates beforehand to the extent that if it’s on public television, the situation is already over, the office was still in chaos even days after it aired.

In the mere ten or twenty minutes Yuri was in the office to finalize the last documents for contract termination, James had not put down the phone for a total of less than a minute or two. And just now, the moment the clock hands pointed exactly to noon, James switched the office phone to off. Simultaneously, the phones in the external secretary’s office outside the door began to ring off the hook, but the office inside became temporarily quiet. (However, Yuri would bet his entire fortune that James’s personal cell phone would start ringing soon.)

“As you can see, the situation is like this, so it seems difficult to have a meal together. I’m sorry for calling you to lunch and then this.”

James sighed, glancing at the faxes that had been pouring in non-stop. Yuri casually shook his head. He had expected this anyway.

“No, it’s fine. I came here for business too. …Well, then, with this, this contract is successfully completed. All special clauses handled. Everything’s done, right?”

Yuri quickly scanned the confirmation document, which was perfectly in order as the contract had been fulfilled exactly as agreed, and handed it back to James. James, who had glanced at the confirmation document as if not really looking—but undoubtedly had thoroughly checked every single word—said “Okay” and filed the paper away.

“What about renewing the contract? I’ve prepared the documents, why don’t you just sign them while you’re here?”

“I—, …First, I’d like to rest for a week or two. If I renew the contract right now, I feel like Kyle will immediately send me to Riyadh.”

Even if Kyle had raised his hands, stating he would not be involved in Rick’s bombing incident at all, it was impossible to completely ignore the close relationship between Kyle—in this case, T&R—and Rick, a fact known to everyone aware of the situation. This could be seen just by the current situation, where the office was buzzing with phone calls and people rushing around, like a disturbed beehive.

In this situation, where any usable personnel had to be immediately deployed anywhere to put out urgent fires, there was no way Yuri would be left as idle manpower. Yuri, being a competent and wise individual, knew this very well, and having just stamped ‘contract termination,’ he wanted to rest for at least a few days.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to struggle alone for a few days, James. I’m going to rest.”

When Yuri asserted this confidently with an indifferent expression, James gritted his teeth as he tore off a fax paper.

“I’ll make your next contract for life.”

“You know I don’t do lifelong contracts. Please make it for a year, as usual.”