CHAPTER 103: CHAPTER 103; PAYING LU ZEYAN A VISIT 1

35th Floor - Executive Suite - 9:58 AM

The elevator chimed softly as it reached the top floor.

The doors opened onto a different world from the busy lobby below, thick carpets that absorbed sound, walls decorated with expensive art, and floor-to-ceiling windows offering panoramic views of the city. Everything was designed to impress, to intimidate, to remind visitors that they were in the presence of power.

A young man in an expensive suit, Lu Zeyan’s executive assistant, based on the original Shuyin’s memories, was waiting by the elevator. His expression was carefully neutral, but Shuyin could see the curiosity and wariness in his eyes.

"Miss Shuyin," he said with a respectful bow. "Mr. Lu is expecting you. Please, follow me."

He led her down a corridor lined with offices, past conference rooms where meetings were in progress, past administrative assistants who looked up from their computers with barely concealed shock and fascination.

The whispers started immediately.

"Is that her?"

"I can’t believe she’s really here..."

"Did you see the videos? They’re already all over social media...."

"Mr. Lu is going to lose his mind..."

The assistant knocked once on the large mahogany door at the end of the corridor, then pushed it open without waiting for a response.

"Sir, Miss Shuyin is here."

And then Shuyin stepped into Lu Zeyan’s office.

It was exactly as the original Shuyin’s memories had shown, a massive corner office with windows on two sides, expensive furniture carefully arranged, awards and accolades displayed prominently on the walls. His desk was made of imported wood, probably worth more than most people’s cars.

And in the center of the room, pacing back and forth like a caged animal, was Lu Zeyan himself.

He was still handsome in that calculated way that came from expensive grooming and careful maintenance. His suit was bespoke, probably cost five figures. His hair was perfectly styled. Everything about him screamed success, power, control.

He truly was handsome and no lie, definitely this could have been the original Shuyin’s reason for loyalty and dedication.

But his eyes, his eyes showed panic barely held in check.

Shuyin didn’t waste a moment.

She let out a small, wounded cry.... "Zeyan!" ....and rushed toward him, her movements those of a woman who’d been separated from her beloved and could finally, finally be reunited.

"Zeyan!" she called again, her voice breaking with manufactured emotion. "I finally get to see you!"

"I missed you so much, Zeyan!"

As she moved closer, she deliberately released a subtle pulse of her power, not the cold death she’d used on the Chen family, but something different. Something the new Shuyin possessed naturally, a faint, alluring scent that bypassed conscious thought and hit directly at primal attraction. Pheromones amplified and weaponized, making her voice more compelling, her presence more magnetic.

The original Shuyin had been naturally beautiful, naturally alluring. Kailani was simply making that more effective.

Lu Zeyan turned toward her, his mouth opening to speak....

And then he froze.

His eyes locked onto her face, and specifically, onto her eyes.

Those jade-green eyes that glowed faintly even in the bright office lighting.

Eyes that had definitely, absolutely been brown before.

"Shuyin...?" His voice came out strangled, confused. He took a step back instead of forward, his arms not moving to embrace her despite her obvious expectation. "Your eyes..."

Shuyin stopped her forward momentum, recalibrating quickly. She’d forgotten, the original Shuyin had normal brown eyes. The jade coloring was a result of Kailani’s possession, a physical manifestation of her true nature that she couldn’t fully suppress.

"My eyes?" She brought a hand up to her face, touching near her temple as if confused. "What about them?"

"They’re... they’re green." Lu Zeyan was staring at her with growing suspicion and alarm. "Your eyes were brown. Dark brown. I know your eyes, Shuyin. I’ve known them since we were teenagers. They were never... what happened to your eyes?"

He took another step back, and now his hand was moving toward his desk, probably toward a panic button or his phone. "Who are you? What kind of trick is this?"

Shuyin’s mind raced. She needed to salvage this, and fast.

"Zeyan, it’s me," she said, letting desperation and hurt creep into her voice. "I don’t understand what you’re talking about. My eyes have always been like this....."

"No." He cut her off sharply, his voice hardening. "No, they haven’t. Don’t lie to me. Shuyin’s eyes were brown. So either you’re not Shuyin, or something happened to you that changed them. Which is it?"

He was reaching for his phone now, his fingers closing around it. "Security....."

"It was the prison!" Shuyin blurted out, manufacturing a story on the fly. "The poison they used on me in prison changed my eyes!"

Lu Zeyan paused, his finger hovering over his phone. "What poison?"

"In BreakWater Ridge." She let her voice shake, let tears well up, real ones this time, summoned through sheer force of will and manipulation of her body’s chemistry. "The other inmates... they found out who I was. That I’d been convicted of killing a prominent family member. They wanted to make me suffer."

She wrapped her arms around herself, depicting the picture of trauma and vulnerability. "They put something in my food. Some kind of toxin. I was sick for weeks, Zeyan. So sick I thought I was going to die. The prison doctor said it affected my nervous system, my organs... and my eyes. It changed my eyes."

The tears were flowing freely now, tracking down her cheeks. "I almost died. And you weren’t there. No one was there. I was alone, sick, poisoned, thinking every day might be my last, and you never came. Not once."

Lu Zeyan’s grip on his phone loosened slightly, but the suspicion hadn’t left his eyes. "That’s... how do I know you’re telling the truth? How do I know you’re really Shuyin and not someone pretending to be her?"

"Test me then." Shuyin met his gaze directly, letting all her manufactured pain and desperation show. "Ask me anything. Anything only the real Shuyin would know. Our memories, our past, things we never told anyone else. Test me."