"I wonder..." Sarah muttered while staring at the passing night scenery outside the car window, fingers mindlessly fiddling with the brooch on her dress.
"Master?"
Sarah narrowed her eyes, thinking back to their club visit. "Do you think those two uncles cooperate with each other?"
Hajin tapped the stirring wheel in contemplation. "There’s a possibility, but..."
"But?"
"If that’s the case, then they would cooperate in taking over the group, wouldn’t they?" Hajin tilted his head. "It’s a bit weird that nothing has happened for the past five years. Your uncle isn’t even involved in anything within the group."
"Yeah, I think so too," Sarah nodded. "The only one who made a move was Director Seo, but nothing about it seed to put Uncle any closer to the chairman seat--well, assuming that’s what they’re after."
"Would your uncle agree if it’s not that?"
Sarah snickered. "No."
What made Lee Hyun a loser, in Sarah’s opinion, was the man’s ntality. The man had both an inferiority and a superiority complex. He felt he was more than worthy to be the king, but didn’t have enough wit to challenge the tradition. If only I were the firstborn, I could be the chairman--he must have thought that a lot.
It wasn’t like he was incapable--he could do a lot of things in the company; he wasn’t stupid, reckless, or had a nasty temperant like Axton and Jasper. He was at the very least as capable as Joseph, and would still beco at least vice president since he was a direct descendant.
The problem was that he didn’t like that. He didn’t like being the second best. And yet, he thought nothing could be done about the succession. Lee Hyuk was the heir, the crown prince since birth. He was but a shadow, deed to trail behind his brother until the end. Classic, really.
Instead of challenging the notion and trying to seize the throne, however, he took the cowardly path. He chose not to involve himself in the group, like people who didn’t want to join a competition because they thought they would lose. He could pretend that he had never been interested in the chairman position in the first place place so he wouldn’t seem like ’losing’.
But at the sa ti, he also felt like he had every right to be the chairman if it wasn’t for the order of birth.
"He won’t like the idea of taking over the company just for soone else to sit at the top," Sarah said. "Again."
"And he only started to go to that club a few months ago," Hajin added.
"That too," Sarah nodded, and then groaned in her seat. "Oh, I’m so curious!"
How much she wanted to just burst out and ask them what they were doing. Asked Joseph why he did what he did. She wanted to ask them what their endga was, but...
Haa...she couldn’t do that until she had a sure way to destroy them.
"Maybe we’ll find out if we find who introduced your uncle to them," Hajin said.
"Yeah...they didn’t look like old friends or anything--oh, we’re there?"
"Yes, Master."
The car entered the driveway of a restaurant. A proper one with private rooms and scenic windows, a classic choice for a date. Technically, it was one--which was why Hajin had been looking grim and annoyed, even when he perfectly understood that Sarah had no speck of interest in the other side.
Again, even her puppy was just a man.
"Rember to control yourself, Puppy," Sarah warned the man while waiting for the elevator. Hajin flashed her a very sweet, charming smile that only made him unconvincing since none of the sweetness reached his eyes. "Oh, whatever."
Sarah scoffed and waved her hand before exiting the elevator, following the waitress who had been inford by the staff manning the elevator downstairs. She brought them to one of the private rooms, where Henry had been waiting with a sour expression.
The mont Sarah stepped inside, he scowled and opened his mouth. "You’re la--"
"I’m so sorry! Oh, the traffic is terrible--get a lot of ice, it’s hot," Sarah said loudly to Hajin, fanning her face while walking toward the table.
"Yes, Master."
Hajin pulled a chair for her before walking to a table on the side to get her a glass of water with a lot of ice. His movent--or rather, presence--distracted Henry from berating her for being late.
"Who’s that?" he asked while looking at Hajin with an irritated gaze. "You had different guards last ti."
"Oh, he’s my actual bodyguard," Sarah replied lightly after telling the waitress her order. "He was doing sothing else last ti, so my father sent a few temporary substitutes--right, puppy?"
Hajin smiled sweetly at her as he returned with the glass of water, and that didn’t sit well with the other man. Henry crossed his arms and clicked his tongue. "I don’t like him."
"Then it’s a good thing that he’s not working for you, right?" Sarah laughed cheerfully, as if what Henry said was nothing more than air. She nodded her head at the appetizer already in front of him and smiled innocently, without a shred of sorry. "Did I make you wait?"
"You know very well you did," Henry frowned.
"That’s why I apologized," Sarah laughed, clearly didn’t sound like she was regretting her tardiness at all.
"Did you also purposefully make wait for the second eting?"
"Hmm? What do you an?" Sarah put her glass down, feigning innocence. "I wanted to contact you, but I thought you were busy with your new project--thank you, puppy."
Henry tilted his head as Sarah wiped her hands with a cool towel that her bodyguard gave her.
"I rembered you were telling that won should be considerate," Sarah continued, still with an innocent smile that made her look like an angel with strawberry hair.
Henry arched his brow. "That’s true," he nodded firmly, but still looked at Sarah in confusion.
"So I didn’t want to accidentally disturb you while you were busy," Sarah let out a soft sigh. "But there’s no way for to know when you wouldn’t be busy anymore, so I decided to wait until you call first."
And he finally did, five days after Sarah visited the club. She had been waiting for that call ever since, which was the whole reason she gave the ’audio performance’ to those perverts.
"Oh," Henry blinked; he couldn’t refute the excuse since it was made with his words as the foundation. "Well..."
Sarah laughed inwardly--she had a feeling that this man would never call his date first because of his pride. The only reason he suddenly called her to arrange the eting was probably because his business partner told him to contact Sarah.
Henry cleared his throat awkwardly, probably rembering--at last--that he was supposed to treat Sarah well since he had sothing to ask her. Fortunately for him, the waitress ca to bring her appetizer, so he had a buffer period.
"How’s that project of yours?" Sarah asked, cutting it straight so Henry wouldn’t derail for too long like last ti. "It must have been going well since you finally have ti to call ."
The corner of his eyes twitched, but the words that ca out of his mouth were filled with confidence. "Of course, it’s going well. We only need a few more steps before starting construction."
"Oh, how marvelous!" Sarah clasped her hands, widening her eyes in what she hoped looked like awe. The mocking snicker she did inside her head.
Yeah, a few very important steps that could make or break the project.
Still, the man nodded haughtily. "Yes, it is. As I said, this project is very important and profitable."
"How nice," Sarah let out an envious sigh. "I want to have that kind of project too..."
"Why do you need that? You’re just--"
Henry paused when Sarah tilted her head, rembering again that he should not offend her that night.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat and put on a smile--which looked as fake as fake could be. "You might not have a project, but you can still...participate."
Sarah tilted her head the other way. "Participate?"
"Contribute," Henry maintained his forced smile. "Like, with money."
Sarah clapped her hands. "Oh, you an as an investor!"
"Yes, how is it?" the man asked impatiently, making Sarah wonder how he could lead a project like this. Daddy must have been desperate to pin the achievent to his son’s resu.
Sarah assud that Henry had never sold shit before.
She nodded while savoring her salad. "Mm...that’s interesting," she said genuinely. The salad’s dressing was new for her taste buds, not bad. Interesting indeed.
"Interesting?" Henry frowned. He must have thought Sarah would jump into it right away.
"Well, I have to think about it," Sarah shrugged. "I an, it’ll be with my own money and everything, so..."
Henry widened his eyes. "Your own money?"
"Well, I can’t just use the family’s money--I don’t have authority over that," Sarah explained.
"Can’t you just...ask?"
Oh, so he was targeting the HS group’s money, not hers. Sarah hid her smile and grumbled instead. Then it won’t be my contribution," she pouted. "I wanted it to be mine."
"Hmm..."
Henry leaned back and knitted his brow. The man didn’t even hide his worry and disappointnt--what an amateur.
"Oh, are you worried that I won’t have enough money?" Sarag giggled. "Don’t worry," she leaned forward and lowered her voice. "I have a lot, you know, from my mom and grandpa. He loved a lot, so he gave more than he gave the other children."
Sarah giggled again, the bouncing strawberry blonde made her look like a clueless, naive girl. Henry arched his brow, a flash of interest entered his eyes again. "Oh, is that so?"
"Yeah, so I’ll need to think about it well first," Sarah nodded. "Oh, I also have to see how much money I have--it’s been a while since I’ve looked at my account."
"Well...fine," Henry said after a few seconds. "But you better not take too long, since we don’t have many slots for investors. If soone else cos, I won’t be able to pitch you in."
Pfft--where did he learn his sales pitch from? MLM sumr camp?
But Sarah held her laughter and just nodded cheerfully. "Okay, okay."
Well, well...she should also fill those other slots while at it.
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