Character development

After Jian-mei won the Ti Kwon Do world championships, she and her mother started home. Outside the stadium, they were intercepted by the henchmen of the local crime lord in Macau. His name was "Big Chang," and he became a central character in the story. His goal was to train Jian-mei to be his personal assassin.

When Big Chang informed the twelve-year-old Jian-mei that she would submit to extensive training at the hands of the old Korean, Ki Jin, she declined. Big Chang explained that if she did not comply, he would kill her mother. She agreed.  Chang did not tell her that he was, in fact, her father.

At the end of Cloud's and Billy Ray's school year, she learned that Billy Ray would go off to the University of Texas and exclude her from the move. Heartbroken, she stopped seeing Billy Ray and managed to complete high school.  Her mother was an alcoholic, semi-prostitute who did not always provide food for the table.  When Cloud graduated, she headed for Dallas to captilize on her great beauty in the world of modeling. Not many months passed before she was on her way to New York where she became a top model.

Billy Ray's first year at UT was a social whirlwind. After his faculty advisor informed him that he must improve his academics or leave the school, he buckled down and graduated magna cum laude.  After matriculation, he worked for a series of oil companies, learned the business, and went out on his own. He never got Cloud completely out of his mind, and they became long-distance lovers and friends. Their relationship strengthened over the years, but neither had any desire to enter into a marriage. Billy Ray created a successful business and enjoyed his lifestyle.

Next came the problem of involving a lady assassin, a New York Model, and a good old boy from East Texas into some sort of story.