Szu Kim

**Szu Kim** is a member of the Liao-Wang Clan in the *Tea Leaves* series. She is the youngest of three girls in the clan. Ju Wang views her as a little sister.

## Appearance and Personality

### Appearance

   Szu has short black hair and brown eyes. She usually wears jeans and blouses or lacy tank tops.

### Personality

Szu seems like an average teenage girl. According to Ju, she likes clothes, boys, pop culture, and sweet things. Szu dreams of becoming a singer. Ju also says that the younger girl is "loud, lazy, and stuck-up", but a good kid at heart.

## Storyline History

### Tea Leaves and Gold Pins

Ju first introduces Szu as a typical teenage girl with dreams of being a singer. She briefly describes her and her parents as she talks about the clan. Later, Szu is seen singing to Ju on her birthday while Qian raps on the phone. She attends Ju's birthday trip on the weekend.

### Tea Leaves and White Pearls

Szu is seen at Ju's eighteenth birthday party in the beginning of the season as they go to a new club/restaurant in downtown Beijing.

### Tea Leaves and Green Jade

Szu ends up getting raped by an unseen assailant when she comes home one evening. Her attacker leaves her lying on her living room floor violated and broken inside. After a while, she reaches for her phone and calls up Qian. He stays with her and she tells him what happens. Szu begs him not to leave and stays. By morning, she is cleaned up and playing Chopin. Szu's rape becomes the catalyst to shove the Liao clan further into the Wasteland.

### Tea Leaves and Red Silk

Szu isn't handling her rape so well. Qian tries to help her, but she won't go to the police or talk to him. He ends up taking matters into his own hands as a result.

### Tea Leaves and Silver Rings

Szu stops by Ju's room to tell her why Yao traded Wang Ja and Lin Yi over to Ivan. She blurts out that if Yao didn't do what he did, she wouldn't be alive today. Szu breaks down and tells her the whole story.

Months back, Szu became so depressed and tried to kill herself with Lili's razor, but Yao stopped her just in time. He stays with her at the house and promises that they catch her rapist and bring him to justice. Yao says,

> "You have to believe in me. I won't let Ju down and I'm not going to do the same with you. I will check on you every day if I have to. You have to keep living through this. Think of how sad you would make your parents, Qian, everyone in this clan, and Ju. They are working so hard to bring you justice. If you kill yourself now, all it would be for nothing. Please don't try to kill yourself again. At least live for Ju."
>
>

Szu agrees and Yao stays with her until her parents come home. When she asked how he got into her house in the first place, he says that Ju gave him a copy of a key to all of the houses on the property. Yao admits that he came by to check on her and that Ju didn't know.

She is later seen at the clan meeting worried now that Junjie is out on bond.

### Tea Leaves and Opal Necklaces

Hark contemplated moving Szu out of Beijing to a safe place in case Junjie decides to come after her. She is seen in the season finale at the big celebration dinner with the rest of the clan.

### Tea Leaves and Diamond Bracelets

Szu takes Ju out of the living room with her when her parents start arguing about what Little Bean is going to be. Later, she and the other girls of the clan have a girls' lunch out. In the season finale, Ju comes by to visit and has dinner with the family. Szu is uneasy about the lack of progress with catching Junjie. She's not in a talking mood and doesn't look up when Ju talks to her. Szu does thank Ju for coming by to visit.

### Tea Leaves and Sapphire Earrings

Szu is still on edge about Junjie on the loose. But now she can't relax now that he's arrested with murder charges now.

### Tea Leaves and Purple Robes

Szu is seen at the clan meeting talking about Ju and Jing's stalkers.

### Tea Leaves and Pink Stockings

Szu is there at Ju's graduation. She sits by her at dinner. Ju and Szu drink bubble tea soda together.

## Relationships

### Lili Kim

*Main Article: Lili Kim*

Szu's father, Lili has a good relationship with Szu and turned to Ju for justice after his daughter is raped.

### Hark Kim

*Main Article: Hark Kim*

Szu's mother, Hark also has a good relationship with Szu and turned to Ju for justice after her daughter is raped.

### Qian Sun

*Main Article: Qian Sun*

Szu and Qian are really close. In fact, the rest of the clan want them to end up together and marry. She just views him as a brother. Qian was the one who stood up for her and tried to get revenge after Szu was raped.

### Ju Wang

*Main Article: Ju Wang*

Szu sees Ju as a big sister. She was seen at the clan leader's birthday parties. Szu even sang for Ju on her seventeenth birthday while Qian rapped on the phone.

### Junjie Zhong

*Main Article: Junjie Zhong*

Junjie was Szu's rapist. They first met when he asked her for directions. Szu didn't think much about it as she helped him out. Later, Junjie tracked her down to her house, broke in, and assaulted her. The attack left her emotionally scarred.

## Trivia

* Szu is the girl mentioned in the poem, "Judas Kissed Her" in the poem, *Wasteland 2011*.
* She is the youngest girl in the clan.