Chapter 35 When Legacy Meets Resistance
When the luxury sedans pulled into the front of the House Chāruzu building, the staff practically held their breath. Mr. Wu and Mr. Rei exited first, followed by Aalam and Cadeyrn. It was like royalty had arrived.
Inside, Cynthia adjusted the hem of her tailored navy skirt, the fabric gliding like water over her long, sculpted frame. She leaned toward the mirror, her high cheekbones catching the light as she reapplied a swipe of rose-gold gloss to lips already full and precise. Her hair reddish brown, parted just off-center, cascading in effortless waves—looked like it belonged in a perfume ad, not an office building.
The skirt suit clung in all the right places: sharp at the shoulders, cinched at the waist, just daring enough at the hemline to command attention without asking for it. Her Louboutin heels struck the marble floor in sharp, rhythmic clicks like punctuation marks at the end of a well-delivered sentence.
She walked with the fluid confidence of someone used to being watched, but never rattled by it. When she approached, her smile bloomed flawless, symmetrical, curated but behind it was a steel spine sharpened by years in boardrooms and behind-the-scenes deals.
She greeted them with practiced warmth.
“Gentlemen. This is an honor.”
Aalam gave a tight nod. Cadeyrn didn't acknowledge her at all.
Cynthia had fought tooth and nail for her role. She knew every file, every whisper, every player. But even she wasn’t ready for what came next.
In the executive boardroom, the meeting began. Mr. Wu and Mr. Rei explained the new strategy: restructure, reform, and rebuild from within.
Then the doors opened.
Lotus stepped in first khaki wide-leg pants, a fitted blouse, her bohemian knotless twisty hair cascading down her back. A small skinny gold necklace glinted against her skin. She looked like quiet thunder.
Joy followed: quirky, curvy, brown, and pink button-down dress ending at her knees, paired with cat-print loafers and her signature cat-shaped purse. Her curls bounced with defiance.
The room fell into stunned silence.
Lotus’s eyes met Aalam’s. She stared at him nonchalantly, unimpressed, and unshaken.
Aalam’s jaw tensed as he slowly turned to face his grandfather. The room, polished and still, seemed to narrow between them two men bound by blood but severed by vision.
His voice, when it came, was low and deliberate. “With all due respect, Grandfather… you want me to stake my time, my name, on what looks like a public pity project dressed up in ambition?”
Mr. Wu said nothing at first. He simply watched his grandson, the silence between them weighted with lineage and expectation.
Aalam continued, his tone glacial but even. “If this is some sort of legacy audition, I’ll pass. I don’t build brands out of charity cases. I build empires. Or I don’t show up at all.”
There was no venom in his words just a controlled distance, like a surgeon speaking before the incision.
Mr. Wu’s eyes narrowed slightly, a flicker of something ancient and calculating crossing his expression.
“You assume this is about charity,” he replied calmly. “It isn’t. It’s about control. Influence. Ownership of the very ground beneath your future competitors’ feet.”
Aalam held his grandfather’s gaze for a beat longer, then looked away, unmoved. “Then give it to someone else who still needs to prove themselves.”
Sitting right next to was Caught off guard completely. Cadeyrn couldn’t process what he was looking at. His mind, usually so elegantly compartmentalized, was now glitching like a corrupted stock ticker.
Her.
She was by all accounts outrageous sight to behold.
Large. Brazenly so. Not “curvy” in the way PR teams politely use the word, but unapologetically big. A walking affront to the Takeda brand of symmetry and slender silhouettes. Her outfit didn’t help bold prints, loud color blocking, and accessories that screamed bargain bin drama. Her whole aesthetic looked like it had been styled by a rebellious thrift store on mushrooms.
And yet… she sat there. Upright. Poised. Smiling like the universe was running a buy one, get eternity free sale.
Confident.
Cadeyrn stared harder, as if squinting would correct the visual offense.
She wasn’t photogenic. Not even close. Her face didn’t obey the rules of light and angle. Her hair didn’t shine—it simply existed. Her makeup? Minimal, at best. And her teeth all of them were on full display in a smile so wide and unbothered it bordered on criminal.
It was obscene.
And what rattled him more than her audacity was the ripple it sent through his deeply held belief system: that beauty, composure, and pedigree were non-negotiable currencies in the family’s empire.
She had none of them.
Yet somehow, here she was being treated like she belonged.
His skin itched.
His OCD always humming quietly beneath the surface began to spike. Joy wasn’t just a disruption; she was chaos incarnate in a polka-dotted blouse. Her very existence in this room was a threat to the architecture of perfection he’d spent his entire life protecting.
And then she had the nerve to smile again.
Like she knew the joke.
Like she was the joke.
And still somehow she was winning.
“This is non-negotiable,” Mr. Wu said, his voice calm but final. “You will collaborate. You have 12months. If we don’t see change, you’re both out.”
“With all due respect, what exactly do we need to change? We are among the leaders in our field, profits are up, and our brand representation is impeccable. We’re at the top,” Cadeyrn said in a firm, military tone, though still respectful.
Mr. Rei replied calmly, “Sometimes you can be so high up that you become unaware of what’s happening at the bottom lose sight of your roots and foundation.”
“We’ll keep that in mind. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work that requires my attention,” Aalam said. “Cynthia will assist them.”
With that, Aalam and Cadeyrn walked out without acknowledging Lotus and Joy. No welcome. No words of encouragement.
Mr. Wu and Mr. Rei exchanged a look warm but tinged with concern as they turned to Lotus and Joy.
“I hope you’re still in,” Mr. Rei said gently.
Lotus and Joy nodding say we not knew to this type of games and environment . Mr. Wue not his heads satisfyingly . And all four went on their way.