Yunho stepped inside his family home and slipped off his shoes at the entrance. The house was quiet, sometimes, far too quiet for how large it actually was. He walked through the vast hallway almost on autopilot, passing high ceilings framed calligraphy, marbled flooring and the sweeping staircase that led to the east wing of the house. Most people didn't know he lived like this. They imagined him in a regular home, maybe something a little above average. Not a sprawling compound hidden behind bamboo walls and a private drive. But he never talked about it. He never needed to.
He went to his room, sat at the edge of his bed and replayed Bella's words in his head.
He's been donating to this university for years. He set up a private fund in my name.
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, thinking hard.
Bella had been carrying that alone. All this time. Letting people whisper and assume. She had protected the secret even from him. Not out of shame but out of honour, refusing to let money be the reason she was treated differently.
He opened his laptop and started searching. The more he read, the more stunned he became. Reyes Education Trust, one of the single largest private donors in Asia. The details were faint, hidden behind generic language. He clicked another link and found a deeper profile.
Reyes Timber Group.
He read on, scrolling slowly. It turned out the Reyes family wealth didn't start with tech or stocks or any flashy empire. It began with timber. A single sawmill in a rural Spanish village almost a century ago, passed from father to son. Over the decades it had grown from lumber export, forestry rights across multiple continents, factories, shipping, sustainable replantation, then branching into construction materials and real estate. By the time Bella's grandfather inherited it, it had already become an empire with family office and trust funds all around the world. He had worked as an investment banker upon graduation from law school, starting from an intern and working his way up through the financial system.
Then having learnt the ropes of a corporation, he set up his own bank in Liechtenstein and selling it at the peak of financial boom before the global financial crisis. With an uncanny sharpness for strategy and growth, he had returned to the family business after studying abroad and quietly transformed it from a domestic supplier into an international force. He diversified operations, opened new divisions on multiple continents, and invested heavily in long-term assets few others saw the value in. Instead of flaunting the wealth that followed, he funnelled much of it into education initiatives, scholarship funds, and anonymous charitable foundations. Entire departments at universities were rebuilt because of him, but he refused to attach his name to any of it. People talked about the mysterious benefactor behind new labs and libraries, but almost no one knew it was him and that was exactly how he wanted it.
Yunho leaned back in his chair, absorbing that.
Bella's grandfather was not merely well-off. He held the kind of wealth and influence that moved behind the scene: a soft power that didn't call for attention but quietly dictated outcomes. He wasn't just respected, he was formidable. The sort of man executives spoke about in hushed tones; the kind whose influence could shift markets or overturn decisions at a university board meeting with a single phone call. If he wanted to, he could have easily secured Bella a place anywhere, paid for buildings with her name carved into stone. But that was never his way. Instead, he arranged a scholarship in her name that no one would trace back to him. A silent structure of support that would allow her to walk through the world free from debt and limitations while still giving her the dignity of earning her place. It wasn't grandstanding. It was love in his own quiet and protective way, offering her freedom without chaining her to a reputation she never asked for. Just so that she could succeed on her own terms and no one would know it came from the hands of a man powerful enough to shape institutions, yet gentle enough to stay invisible for her sake.
Yunho closed the laptop.
The irony wasn't lost on him. People were mocking her today like she was some charity case, when in reality she came from a level of wealth that dwarfed most families in this school including his own.
Yunho leaned back in his chair, exhaling slowly. He looked around his own room: clean lines, minimalist furniture, view of the koi pond outside by the corner that his family's landscapers maintained weekly. He had grown up in quiet privilege himself but he never flaunted it. Sometimes people guessed but he never confirmed or denied it. It just wasn't how he wanted to be seen.
She never used it, he kept thinking. She never flashed it. She still studied until she burned out. She still earned everything on her own.
For the first time in a long time, a new kind of admiration anchored itself in his chest for he had fallen for her strength and her quiet defiance. Now it went even deeper. She chose humility when she had every excuse to live above it.
He sent her a text, paused, deleted it, then tried again.
Yunho: Are you still awake?
He waited. A minute passed, and then his screen lit up.
Bella: Yeah. You okay?
Even now she asked about him first. That made him smile, a soft exhale through his nose. He typed back:
Yunho: Just thinking about you. Sleep well, Bella.
A few seconds passed before she replied.
Bella: You too. Good night.
He set the phone down, lay back on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. The wind outside rustled the bamboo. Somewhere across the compound a fountain sounded faintly.
Tomorrow he would tell her he knew. He would tell her it changed nothing except that it made him want to guard her even more fiercely from people like Claire and anyone else who dared to look down on her.
He lay back on the bed and let his eyes fall closed.