Chapter 39: Heart Sickness

  Mondrian Suite, Seoul Itaewon

It was close to midnight before Lu Minzhe ended his final meeting of the day. His short business trip to Seoul had not gone as smoothly as initially planned. Tempesta Inc, a new rival company, had put in a proposal which is strikingly similar to that of Lu Corp's. Even more alarming is that the amounts on their bid matched the prior version of Lu Corp's to the dollar. 

Owing to uncanny timing, Lu Minzhe was able to avoid a huge mishap in the negotiation with HanSung Industries. In fact, the night before the proposal, Cheng Yan had delivered a report which indicated the existence of a secondary set of HanSung Industries' financials with markedly less than savory figures compared to the ones signed-off by the external auditors. HanSung had certainly taken great pains to hide the existence of this set of financials as evidenced by the difficulty with which Cheng Yan was able to secure a copy without tipping off the other party's security system. 

By quickly, altering the amounts in Lu Corp's proposal, the organization was successfully able to lose the bid without arousing suspicion. 

"Secretary Jin, make sure it's kept under wraps that we are aware of the leak. Let it be known the final decision for the last minute changes was made by the Chairwoman. And have the shadow team begin their investigation. You can turn in for the night. Goodwork today," Lu Minzhe gave out his final set of instructions, not forgetting to praise his secretary for his contributions. 

"Understood. Thank you, sir," Secretary Jin solemnly said as he left his boss to rest.

Lu Minzhe rubbed his temples as he lay on the suite's king bed. The only item left on his agenda was to look through the social posts of his business associates and he can turn in for the night. They still have an early morning flight back to Y City tomorrow. He had long gotten used to his responsibilities as CEO of one of the largest conglomerates in C Country; however, there were days like these when he felt extremely fatigued. 

As he closed his eyes, an image of Miyeon's calm and beautiful face flashed through his mind and Lu Minzhe felt a sudden strong impulse to speak with her. Before he could stop himself, he had sent a message to the young woman whom he hadn't realized he dearly missed. However, before he could even rejoice at the thought of finally conversing with her after mere weeks of no contact, he recalled Shu Li's words of warning. Consequently, Lu Minzhe quickly deleted the message he sent to Miyeon.

**text message**

[Minzhe]: Are you asleep?

Minzhe recalled a message.

As he did so, he felt a tightness in his chest that wouldn't go away for a while. 'This can't go on, I can't afford to get sick at this time,' Lu Minzhe thought and decided to place a call to his cousin, Li Jianan, an associate professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Y City Medical University Hospital. 

[Dr Jianan]: Yoh! To what do I owe the pleasure of this big shot CEO's call?

[Minzhe]: …. Shen jing bing.

Author's Note: Shen jing bing means mental illness. It can be used as a joke between friends or as an insult.

[Dr Jianan]: Come on! I can't even joke around now? What's up?

[Minzhe]: I'm calling for a consultation.

[Dr Jianan]: What consultation? Didn't you just have your executive health exam a few months ago? You're completely healthy.

[Minzhe]: It's my heart. Is it possible you missed something?

[Dr Jianan]: Are you serious? I knew you used to be a brilliant med student but isn't it too much to be questioning your attending physician? 

[Minzhe]: ….

[Dr Jianan]: I'm offended. Outraged even. The only way to redress the issue is for me to quit. I'm giving you notice of my two weeks effective today!

[Minzhe]: You just want a vacation.

[Dr Jianan]: ….Ah-zhe! I haven't had a day off in 2 months! You can't treat me like this! I'm your cousin for Christ sakes.

[Minzhe]: Don't you heavily despise nepotism?

[Dr Jianan]: This is a human rights issue! No one should be working consecutively for 2 months without break!

[Minzhe]: Mm....fine. I'll talk to the director to hire another cardiothoracic surgeon. Satisfied?

[Dr Jianan]: For now. Alright, what about your heart is troubling you?

** after an hour of intense and riveting discussion **

[Dr Jianan]: Ah-zhe, do you really want my honest opinion?

[Minzhe]: Give it to me straight. How bad is it?

[Dr Jianan]:  Based on your symptoms, I would say it has progressed to the late stages.

[Minzhe]: Then, stop dilly dallying and tell me your diagnosis.

[Dr Jianan]: What you're suffering from…

[Minzhe]: Yeah?.

[Dr Jianan]: is called 'heart sickness.' Your body is perfectly fine.

[Minzhe]: What!?

[Dr Jianan]: CEO Lu you are lovesick! You're in love with that girl. 

[Minzhe]: I didn't call you to spout nonsense!

[Dr Jianan]:  Christ! Come on! Listen okay...You worry constantly about her. You want to spend your precious free time with her. You can be your shameless self around her. You're exhausted from work and you miss her. Your heart throbs and chest tightens when you can't talk to her. Your heart hurts when you see her with another man. Your heart skips a beat when you see her smile. What else could it be, genius!? I can't believe I'm giving a relationship consult at 12am in the morning! You better keep your word and increase our headcount. I want to take a long vacation.

[Dr Jianan]: Anyways, you understand..Oi!.Are you listening to me? Hey!..Ah-zhe! Damn did you just hang up on me!?

...............…..

San Francisco, California

A thin man in his late twenties sat in his office chair overlooking the bay, his grip on the phone tightened as he heard his subordinate's report regarding the HanSung Industries proposal. Tempesta Inc has successfully won the bid. A brief smile flashed on his face at the thought of being one step closer to his objective. It's taken over 10 years but the people responsible for his previous downfall will play with blood. 

Guo Feng stared at his left leg that had been fitted with metal plates due to the incident in the past and his hands balled into fists. For a mere infraction, he was chased out of C Country whilst Lu Minzhe went to Harvard Medical School and Oxford University, eventually becoming the CEO of Lu Corp. 'Minzhe, your days are numbered.The day of retribution is near at hand and no one shall be spared.' It doesn't matter who needs to be sacrificed to reach his goal.