Sarah glanced at the darkness outside the window. "It’s not morning yet."
"Obviously," Yonghwa rolled his eyes. "You’ll be on the bed otherwise."
It probably didn’t an anything, but Sarah was suddenly feeling bashful as she recalled the day she got blackout drunk and found herself waking up on the bed the next morning. Yeah...with the sa man that probably, just like the last ti, carried her in his arms.
Sarah cleared her throat and, feeling conscious of their proximity, shifted away from Hajin so she didn’t have to be supported.
"Tsk..." Hajin clicked his tongue, didn’t even bother to mask his disappointnt.
Yonghwa waved his hand at his supposed employee. "Be a good boy and prepare sothing warm, J."
The grey eyes narrowed at the order, but Yonghwa tilted his head and spoke dryly. "I’m still your boss."
"Tsk."
Once again, the sound of a clicking tongue could be heard. But seeing Sarah wrapped her jacket closer made Hajin move anyway, making a warm milk tea in the hospital suite’s pantry.
"The twins will be back with so food," Yonghwa shifted his gaze to Sarah after chuckling at Hajin’s preferential treatnt. "You haven’t eaten, have you?"
Like a signal, Sarah heard her stomach rumbling. She touched her abdon, thinking back to her last al--which was airplane food--and sighed. "Yeah..."
At that mont, the door to the hospital suite opened and a doctor ca inside after bowing at Yonghwa. "Ah, let’s have you fixed before the food cos."
Sarah didn’t think she needed any doctor to examine her--a nurse was enough to address the scraps and the sprain. But here she was having a senior-looking doctor who was probably a professor or a director in the hospital tending to her. The doctor didn’t look annoyed or surprised, however, as if being called for a secret mundane treatnt in the middle of the night was just normal.
Perhaps it was.
"Her ankle first," Hajin said quickly while taking the warm milk tea to the table. "Slight laceration on her palms, left elbow, and forehead. Bruise below her left ribs and right hip--"
Sarah was startled. "How do you even know that?"
"How do you not know that, Master?" Hajin tilted his head, looking at the girl pitifully.
Sarah pressed her lips as she was reminded of the way Ryu Hajin looked at her in the previous tiline, and it got her heart racing for so reason. The anomaly, however, was covered by a flaring annoyance.
Was he saying she didn’t even know her body well?!
"Already with the calling?" Yonghwa scoffed, cutting off Sarah’s growing irritation. "You’re not even out of my company yet, boy."
"Right; so just give him to , Orabonim," Sarah turned to Yonghwa again. Her irritation aside, there was sothing more important to tackle at that point.
But it wasn’t an understatent to say that the room froze at that mont. Both Yonghwa and the twins who were entering the room with two trolleys full of food, and even Hajin, looked at Sarah with widened eyes. Only the doctor kept on moving to continue with his examination and treatnt.
It was one thing for Hajin to press his way and act like a clingy dog, but hearing Sarah ask for him was another thing. Sarah, who was still looking annoyed at the man just a few seconds ago.
Feeling amused, Yonghwa leaned back and narrowed his eyes. "Hmm...why should I?"
Sarah glanced at Hajin--this is not like what you told ?! She wanted to kick the man for the misleading confidence, but Hajin just looked at her with innocent, clueless eyes like a puppy. Sighing inwardly, Sarah did what she did best; bullshitting.
"You were sending him to fetch anyway," she shrugged. "Wasn’t it because you wanted to give him to from the start?"
"Can’t I just send him to you because I don’t want my investnt to be in danger?" Yonghwa tilted his head.
"Then you can just send soone from the twin’s father’s team," Sarah pointed at the twins with her thumb. "There’s no reason to send soone from RED just for a simple fetching mission."
"I sent him because he’s competent and available."
"I don’t think the nation’s biggest security company is lacking competent and available personnel--is that the food?" Sarah turned toward the trolleys. She needed fuel if she wanted to fight Yonghwa in custody.
"Yes, it is!" the twins replied eagerly, and Yonghwa nodded in response.
"Mm, let’s talk while eating."
Without being told, Hajin imdiately took out the food from the trolleys and arranged everything on the coffee table. Sarah blinked at the way it turned into a midnight feast, parting her lips at the spread of steamy kimchi stew, brothy stead egg, braised ribs, and all kinds of side dishes including three kinds of kimchi and jeon. Hajin scooped a bowl of rice mixed with plump oyster and mushroom, sprinkled it with chopped green onions, and delivered it to Sarah’s hands.
"Look at this eager puppy," Yonghwa said amusedly.
"So just give him to since he’s so eager," Sarah remarked while taking the spoon Hajin gave her, adding in a sweet smile. "Oppa."
Hajin froze; the corner of his eyes twitched, glancing at Yonghwa without covering his apparent jealousy. Ah...it just made the older man want to tease them more. Yonghwa sighed and shook his head. "What can I do if you act this cute?"
"Chairman..." the rabid puppy almost hissed.
Yonghwa chuckled and snapped his fingers. Soone Sarah didn’t even realize had been there moved from his position on the wall and walked toward Sarah with a docunt in hands. She received the folder and perused the content curiously, which turned out to be a contract.
A contract between Yonghwa and Hajin, to be exact.
She raised her brows as the wild pup beside her flipped the pages of the contract so she could go straight to the most important one. There, under the termination clause, a point glared at her boldly.
Like...literally in bold letters.
[...3. Should a third party, designated as ’Lee Seul-ah’, demand a transfer of employnt, party A and party B would cease the contract.]
Sarah read the sentence over and over again while blinking slowly. Oh...so this was what Hajin ant by he had a way. Turned out he wasn’t lying about working for Yonghwa so he could make contact with her later on. The tricky part was that Sarah should be the one to ’ask’ for Hajin.
What would Yonghwa do if Sarah just took Hajin without asking him? The Flower of Disaster coveted talented people, and he would feel disrespected if Sarah didn’t ask first. Thinking of turning Yonghwa into an enemy made Sarah shiver, but she was still surprised that Yonghwa was even willing to entertain Hajin’s request for this kind of contract.
It was probably his way of taking care of his investnt, right? Sarah looked up and smiled. "Thank you, Oppa."
"I’ve gone soft with age," Yonghwa sighed. "Do thank again while you eat."
Sarah laughed softly; just a subtle sound, but it ca from deep within her easing heart. She began to fill her stomach with food from her holand. Slowly at first, but she devoured her first bowl quickly right after. Sarah had no idea where they procured this al, but everything tasted homade, like it was made by a grandma or...or a mother.
Sarah ate like she had never eaten before. It wasn’t even about the taste anymore--she would do the sa if Yonghwa only gave her a bowl of warm rice and a plate of kimchi. It was about eating with ease, surrounded by people she knew she could trust.
Oh, how long had it been since she could eat without caring about others? Without having to mind her calorie intake or the right posture. Without having to think whether soone put a bug in her food for fun, or if it was laced with laxative. It tasted too good she almost shed a tear.
Almost.
Haa...Sarah exhaled slowly after she finished a bowl of rice and a bowl of soup, feeling her energy return.
"Now you look more presentable," Yonghwa leaned back and crossed his arms. "I don’t care what you’ve done to yourself, but people need to eat to function."
"Yes, Sir," Sarah smiled behind the napkin Hajin gave her to clean her lips. "I also happen to need a few more things to function."
"That’s why you were asking for the twins instead of Lee Sol, weren’t you?" Yonghwa smirked. "So what do you need?"
Sarah let out a sheepish smile for a second before fixing her posture and facing Yonghwa with her business face. "I want to borrow so of your paper companies."
"Borrow?" Yonghwa scoffed. "Are you going to return them later?"
"I an...I won’t say no if you want to give them away," the girl shrugged.
Yonghwa chuckled and tapped his knee in contemplation as his staff got ready with their tablet. "Well...let’s see," he muttered thoughtfully. "I haven’t done much as an investor, so I’ll give you five chains."
"One for each year?" Sarah smiled cheekily. "What about this year’s allowance?"
A deep smile blood on Yonghwa’s lips. "A fund manager."
"Ah," Sarah sighed while clutching her chest. "You know so well, Oppa."
"What can I do if you go so far as acting cute?" Yonghwa curled his eyes at the stinging gaze Hajin kept giving him. He taunted the man with a smirk, as if telling him to get good if he wanted to be called that. "I’ll give you Austin."
"Austin Cho?" Sarah raised her brows, lowering her chopsticks in surprise. "From my high school?"
Austin was one of the students in Sarah’s years, enrolling with the scholarship that Steel Star gave as part of their CSR. She did not rember him much until the man ca out as one of Steel Star’s financial managers, in the last year of the previous tiline.
Which ant roughly a year later.
Sarah was honestly surprised because she thought Yonghwa would only give her soone from his affiliate companies--like the ones managing Helios’s funds--not his future fund manager; his inner circle like the twins and little birdie.
"Would it be alright? Wasn’t he abroad?"
"He said he missed ho," Suoh told her with a grin.
"I see..."
"But that," Yonghwa raised his finger, "--is only your sixth year’s allowance," he said sharply. "You’ll have to return him at the end of the year."
He’s giving a deadline--Sarah thought. Still, she nodded after taking a deep breath. "Okay."
That was actually perfect for Sarah. She had no intention of dragging it anymore, so this deadline would work as her whip to move things quickly and not drown in self-doubt.
"I’ll end it before spring cos again," she promised; probably more to herself than to her investor.
"Winter..." Hajin furrowed his brows. As soone who knew of Sarah’s unspoken past--the past that had yet to pass--he couldn’t help but feel that the deadline she set for herself had sothing to do with her broken clock.
It gave him so bad feelings, but nothing he could do about it now.
"Anything more?" Yonghwa asked.
Sarah shook her head. "Not for now,"
"Alright," Yonghwa clasped his hand to finalize their midnight reunion. "I’ll be away for quite so ti, so you’ll have to make do with what is available for now. If you need sothing more, try going to Jun instead."
Sarah pursed her lips. "I never t him, though..."
"Then it’s ti that you do. He moved around more than anyway."
Sua scooted closer to Sarah and poked her arm. "Mirae will have a founding anniversary this fall, Unnie."
"You’ll receive an invitation, so you should co," Suoh nodded enthusiastically. Sarah could easily guess that the twins would also attend.
"Alright," she nodded. It might be a nice stage to ss with her family as well anyway. "But...why are you away when your lover is having an event?" she looked at Yonghwa curiously.
"Because sulking n are the cutest," Yonghwa smiled deeply, glancing at a very sulky pup on Sarah’s side. "Anyway, it’s ti for us to go."
"Yeah," Sarah nodded, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was past midnight already. "The house will probably find soon."
"Aww..." Sua whined again, but still stood up obediently. "Let’s play next ti, Unnie--not online!"
"Alright; be careful on the way," Sarah smiled while waving her freshly bandaged hand. "You too, Jin."
Hajin froze and parted his lips in shock. "...what?"
Yonghwa chuckled at the man’s flabbergasted face. "You can’t just show up beside her out of nowhere, J."
"But--"
"You’ll co to through proper ans," Sarah reached out her hand to pat the dark hair when she saw the grey eyes turned stormy. "Can you be good and wait for patiently?"
Like a switch was pushed sowhere, the stormy eyes cald instantly, and the twisted lips ford a serene smile. "Yes, Master."
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