Apparently, a room chock full of the rap group’s swag, figurines, and posters just hadn’t been enough for the dedicated teenage fan he’d been back then. He’d also had to worship RZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, and GZA as separate deities.
There was so much to talk about. But I took my time eating most of my food before I began with the relatively simple stuff.
“So your family…I can see you in your father. But your twin, brothers, and mom don’t look anything like you.”
“Yeah, our situation ain’t as formal as yours,” Phantom set his plate aside on the desk just next to the bed.
“Dad was old school mafia. He had a wife and a mistress. He probably would’ve just kept his side woman and me a secret like any mafia guy would have, Chinese or not. But my birth mom died a few days after pushing me out. So no more girlfriends after that for Dad. He gave up all side activity when his Japanese wife agreed to take his bastard in and raise him as her own. According to Jake, I just showed up a few weeks after Annie brought Ryan home from the hospital. He was legit scared when Mike was born that another phantom baby would show up.”
He chuckled at the memory. “That’s why everybody calls me Phantom.”
Hak-kan didn’t appear all that torn up about his origin story. But a few puzzle pieces fell into place for me.
He was the product of an extramarital affair—no wonder he’d accepted my condition about him not cheating so quickly.
“You all seemed to have adjusted to the situation quite admirably,” I observed. “I mean, your family’s just amazing.”
Phantom shrugged. “Yeah, as far as everyone is concerned, I’m one of them, no questions asked—even if my twin and me don’t look anything alike. Mom’s a saint. She’s never made me feel any kind of way about not being her birth son—but I can’t say she was happy when I chose Dad’s family business over going to college and becoming a doctor like my brothers.”
My mind boggled, but I arranged all this new information to realize out loud, “Is that what you told my dad during your big conversation on the golf course? Why he thought we had so much in common?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Hak-kan answered. “He had some concerns about my intentions toward you. He said he’d already watched you get hurt by one guy who wasn’t good enough for you. He didn’t want to see it happen again.”
“Is that why you called off the engagement?” I asked. “Because you didn’t think you were good enough?”
“No, I’ve known I’m not good enough for you from the start, O,” he answered with a coarse laugh. “I called off the engagement because of this last war with the 24K.”
With that, he launched into the tale of what had happened to Victor and Han and how his fellow Dragons had both come close—“too damn close” to losing their significant others.
“The state I found Han in when I went to Hawaii…it was like he was half dead. Lucky it all worked out in the end. But all I could think about was how if that had been me—if someone had faked your death to retaliate against me, I never would have figured it out. Because I would have eaten my gun the moment I thought you were dead. That’s what the guilt would’ve done to me. And that’s why I broke off our engagement, even after we nullified the threat. I couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to you because of me. Still can’t.”
My heart squeezed with a weird mix of sympathy and resentment as I considered his explanation. “I understand now, and thank you for sharing that with me. But don’t you think that should have been my decision? You know, give me some options. Don’t just ghost me.”
Hak-kan shook his head. “Thing is, I’m still not one-hundred percent sure about any of this. I’m fully out of the Triad side now. I’ve pretty much moved to the city, and Victor and Han put me in charge of handling all our legitimate shit. But I can’t be sure…I can’t be sure one of our old enemies won’t ever come through and try to hurt you. That’s why I thought it would be better if I just let you go, no matter how much it ripped up my chest.”
I set the delicious plate of food aside, suddenly no longer hungry.
“I was in a relationship with zero stakes for six years,” I explained to him. “Garrett pretty much ghosted me too. It’s just that he left his shell behind, so I didn’t know he was fully checked out. I get that you’re scared. I’m scared too. But I think we can both agree that I deserve a guy who doesn’t do that to me. Who doesn’t just check out or run when we enter scary relationship waters.”
