from you and eavesdropped on your conversation with your father. That was a dick move on his part, but at least he was doing it for his family. And that gets me to the part why I rushed over here.”
“What is it?” Jihae asked, unable to quell her curiosity.
“It’s about Colin’s relationship with his family. It wasn’t only you. No one knows about his connection to the Song family and Hansol. He has kept it a tightly held secret all his life.”
“How did you find that out?”
“Colin’s cousin Adelaide called me a few days ago. She said she didn’t know if you would take her call, so she reached out to me. Colin must’ve told her I was your friend. Someone you would listen to.”
“But why are you telling me this now?”
“You’re trying so hard to put your life back together. I didn’t know if telling you would only make things harder for you. But no. You love him, and you have a right to see the whole picture.”
June explained that his father had coasted through a life of privilege and entitlement on his family’s money and good name. He was hardly a father to Colin. It was his grandmother, Grace Song, who had raised him.
But as he grew older, Colin was desperate to make his name and succeed on his own outside the shadow of Hansol. He didn’t want to be anything like his father. In order to become a self-made man, he closely guarded his identity from the public. He refused to benefit from his connections. But in order to stand on his own, he had to disappoint his grandmother and refuse to join Hansol.
“I know this doesn’t excuse him from not telling you he was Garrett Song’s cousin, but everything in him must have rebelled against revealing his secret. He didn’t even know if he could trust you to keep his identity a secret, so he had gone with his default. Just like in any situation, he would have wanted to be judged based on the merits rather than his connections and his family name.”
Jihae didn’t need to hear this right now. She didn’t want to know that he was an honest, honorable man. That he had to bear the guilt of disappointing the person who’d raised him to be true to himself. When the opportunity arose to allow him to help his family, how could he refuse? No. She couldn’t do this right now. She couldn’t feel her heart wrench for the little boy Colin was, and for the man he became. She didn’t want to feel the tears streaking down her cheeks.
“I’m not telling you this to hurt you, Jihae. You are fierce and amazing, and I’m so proud of you. But I don’t want you to have any regrets. His motivations don’t make his actions right, but maybe it’ll help you look at what happened in a less punishing light. Maybe it’ll help you hurt less to know that what he did wasn’t a coldhearted scheme.”
Jihae abruptly stood from her seat, and wiped her tears away with both hands. “June, thank you for rushing here to tell me all this. You’re a good friend, and I love you for it.”
“But?”
“But I’m going to kick you out now because I have a premiere to get ready for and I don’t want my face to be a swollen mess. I can’t deal with this right now.”
“You know he’ll be there tonight.”
“Of course, I know. All the more reason I can’t show up with puffy, red eyes. I don’t want him to think that I’m still crying over him. Let me keep a scrap of dignity in all this. I won’t have to see him ever again after this.”
“That. I just needed to make sure that was what you still wanted after learning the full story.” June gathered her jacket and got on her feet. “I think my work here is done, and I will bid you adieu.”
“Thank you, June.”
“Have a wonderful night. You earned this, and Best Placed Bets is going to blow everyone away.”
After one last hug, June left Jihae to her thoughts. But she kept her mind carefully blank even as her heart pumped and churned inside her, water raining down from her heart as the ice around it melted.
* * *
Jihae arrived near the end of the line for the red carpet. The stylist had chastised her repeatedly for her tears, and it had taken ages to make her look presentable. When she