Sarah glanced at the three n surrounding her, before glancing down to see her foolish brothers looking at her. When she caught their gaze, they imdiately turned their heads and scurried sowhere.
She flicked her gaze to the strangers again, who looked at her with wide smiles. Look at these people acting like they knew her. Wait...maybe they did? Soone from school, probably? Since they could go to the second floor, they must be at least mid-level.
Not that Sarah rembered.
She leaned back nonchalantly. "I’m not here to babysit them."
The man who talked to her, the one with one hand on the counter and another on her seat’s backrest, chuckled. "You’re funny."
Wow...this was so trash, even for cheap pick-up line standard. Sarah held back from rolling her eyes and tilted her head. "Do you know ?"
"Well, you’re Lee Seul-ah, right?"
"Sarah."
"Huh?"
The black eyes flicked coldly. "I’m Sarah."
"Ah--oh, right. You just ca back from abroad, right? Yeah, yeah, sure--Sarah," the man quickly corrected himself, even putting on an understanding smile. "You’re Axton’s sister, right?"
"Half-sister," Sarah replied in a dry, bored tone.
"Sa thing," the man waved his hand dismissively, eliciting a slight giggle from the other two. "So why are you here alone? Shouldn’t you be mingling with the others since it’s your first ti?"
Sarah humd while tapping her finger on the counter. Was this her brother’s next sche? Since they couldn’t co up with themselves, they asked people who could to try and...what? Flirt with her and humiliate her later or sothing?
Hmm...three people. Not particularly tall or bulky, wrecked with alcohol and probably drugs. Still doable.
"I’m waiting for Daniel," she shrugged after deciding it would be fine even if she offended these people.
The n glanced at each other. "Well...he’ll still take a while, right? Why don’t you join us while waiting for him?"
"Hmm..." Sarah made an obvious judging gaze as she looked them up and down. She gave a little smile before shaking her head. "I was told not to go with strangers."
The n laughed awkwardly, perhaps trying to hide their annoyance. "You really are funny!"
"Really? I’m not trying to be, though..." Sarah shrugged. The temperature was imdiately dropping then, because no matter how shaless these people were, they couldn’t pretend like Sarah was giving out so welcoming signal. She even drove the rejection further. "Also...who are you guys?"
Their eyes and mouths visibly twitched in irritation, especially because they still tried to smile. "You don’t know ?"
Sarah tilted her head innocently. "Should I?"
"What are you doing here, then?" one of the n frowned, exhausting his hospitality attempt. Everyone usually ca to the Circle to socialize and network, so it was rather unthinkable to reject soone else’s attempt at making small talk.
Usually.
"I don’t know," Sarah let out an exasperated sigh. "So idiots just dragged here. But Daniel is here too, so..." she shrugged, didn’t even bother to look at the n again.
The man who talked to her first snorted. "Oh, well..." he finally let go of her backrest and stepped back. "We’re over there if you change your mind."
"Sure," Sarah smiled innocently as the n walked away.
Surprisingly, they did not pester her for too long, perhaps worrying about the staff saying anything to Daniel. Didn’t an they stopped their horrid thought, however.
"Damn, what a waste. She’s really much better looking now--less boring, know what I an?" they muttered in a low voice as they left the bar area.
"That foreign air, huh?" another one chuckled. "Think she has a foreign technique too?"
They cackled and snickered on their way out, and Sarah didn’t have to hear what they said to understand. She groaned and rolled her eyes in disgust, but well...what could she do? She was the one who spread the rumors that she was sleeping around while abroad.
The rumor might already have spread since she t another conglorate kid while pretending to play around at the club in the past, even making a show of leaving with a man or two to a hotel room.
Sarah chuckled at her past adventures and asked the bartender to change her drink--in case they slipped in sothing while talking to her earlier. The glass never left her hand, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious.
While waiting for the new drink, she looked around the venue again--half looking for her foolish brothers and half observing other people. The future of this country...huh? She smiled bitterly, knowing more than half was nothing but entitled human taking their privilege for granted.
"Haa...it’s rather boring," she muttered while stirring her new drink.
It wouldn’t be it she was there to network, since there were a lot of children of important figures there. She even knew so people who would receive good positions next year, or who would get tangled in scandals soon.
Unfortunately, she had no intention to make any connection. What would it be? She never had any intention to stay on this side of the world after her revenge was over.
"When will Daniel finish?" she sighed and drank her new drink, missing her bed in the annex and...well, maybe her sulky puppy a little bit.
But as the drink entered her throat, she paused and coughed the next second. The drink, which was supposed to be non-alcoholic, clearly had booze--and perhaps sothing else--in it. She only ingested a mouthful, but she could feel it affecting her system already.
...shit.
Sarah flicked her gaze at the bartender, and realized it was a different one from the man who gave her the first drink. This new one didn’t even et her gaze and retreated to another side of the counter.
Tsk--what was the point of being careful when the bartender was in on it?
Damn it! Sarah couldn’t help but curse. She was being too complacent, thinking it would be okay since it was a place under Mirae Group.
Still, the situation would be even worse if she showed it, so she gritted her teeth and acted nonchalant while typing fast on her phone. As she contemplated taking a temporary refuge in the restroom, those sleazy people from before returned before she could leave the bar.
"Hey, isn’t it boring sitting alone like this?" the annoying man spoke again, this ti without even hiding the smirk on their face.
Sarah cursed the n inwardly while putting on a cold front. "What do you want?"
"Nothing," the man shrugged and snickered after glancing at her cocktail glass. "We just want to accompany you here until Daniel cos back."
"There’s no need for that," Sarah replied dryly--as dry as she could while trying to keep her speech from slurring.
"Oh, co on~" the man leaned down and brought his face close to Sarah’s squinting eyes. "Acting hard to get is no longer cute, you know."
"Then you must be blind," a voice interrupted them. "Since she’s not acting hard to get."
The man looked up with a start, and the n stepped back with dreadful, pale expressions. "D-Daniel--"
"See?" Sarah found it in herself to smirk. "I told you there’s no need for that."
Daniel stared at the man with a cold frown, but he had sothing more pressing to do. "I’m sorry for the wait, Sarah," he smiled at the girl, hiding his concern with outstanding acting. "Shall we go?"
Sarah took Daniel’s hand and clutched his elbow, pressing herself close to mask how she could barely stand on her own and whining with a sulky tone. "I almost died of boredom."
"Then I must make it up to you," Daniel laughed softly, and held the girl’s waist while leading her away, spreading even more rumors around.
But neither Daniel nor Sarah had the mind to think about such a thing. Sarah had only sent a simple ’SOS’, but Daniel easily deduced what happened from how listless the girl felt in his arms. It was truly incredible that she managed to look like she was just being clingy and sulky, pursing her lips instead of grimacing.
At least until they turned to an empty hall leading to the VIP’s private rooms.
"Hang in there, just a bit more," Daniel gripped the girl tighter, frowning deeply in both anger and guilt.
Drug usage was normal in the Circle, but it had always been the norm that all parties involved must consent to it. Sarah definitely did not. That such a thing happened under his watch in his hotel...
Daniel gritted his teeth while leading the shivering girl to a private room that no one but him could access. It was a suite with a sitting area and a bed, enough to take a night’s rest.
"Ugh--" Sarah lost her strength once the door closed and slid out of Daniel’s hold, crouching on the cold floor.
"What did they give you?" Daniel grasped the girl’s face and checked her enlarged pupil.
"I don’t...know," Sarah felt her head beco fuzzier with each second. Even making a coherent thought felt so hard when her nerves started to blaze. "The b-bar...tend..."
"What?!" Daniel scowled. Even one of the workers? He cursed and led Sarah to the couch. "It’s so kind of stimulant. We should go to--"
Sarah grabbed the man’s hand tightly, trying to push her brain to function. She couldn’t go to the hospital--she didn’t want to let those bastards know she got defeated.
"M-my...my bodyguard..."
"...wait here," Daniel nodded and locked the door behind him.
* * *
[No, just]
Hajin frowned and pursed his lips at the unfinished reply. He waited for a while without moving from his spot, but even after waiting for so ti, no additional text ca.
[Master?]
There was no answer, and Hajin started to feel worried. He had been feeling anxious since they drove to the hotel, and this weird text cranked it to the max.
[Master? Is sothing wrong?]
Hajin bit his lips and glared at the entrance. He wanted nothing more than to push his way in just to see if his master was alright, but if he did, his master would be the one in trouble. Certainly, Hajin didn’t want to beco a source of humiliation for his master.
When he was chewing the inside of his cheek anxiously, soone he didn’t know suddenly patted his back; a man wearing a hotel staff uniform. He gave Hajin a plain na card with a simple Daniel K on it.
As soone who had worked in Aegis for five years, it was a na that Hajin recognized. The man signaled for Hajin to follow, which he did with a deep frown and frantic heart. The man brought him to a deserted corridor and passed a plain door.
There, soone who reminded him of Yonghwa’s lover had been waiting.
"Follow this corridor until you find a door with the sign of a flower and a crown," the man, Daniel, told Hajin in an urgent tone. "Your master is in there."
After saying that, Daniel left in a hurry, leaving Hajin in shock and confusion. But he didn’t stay in that state for long, feeling the urgency in Daniel’s tone. Hajin walked briskly along the corridor, almost running, and missed the door. He had to take a double look to find the engraved symbol of a flower and a crown to represent Song Yonghwa and Kang Jun.
Wasting no ti, Hajin opened the door and entered the private room through the secret door. "Master?"
He looked around frantically and spotted a curled-up figure on the bed, shivering and whimpering.
"Master!" Hajin ran to the bed right away, holding the trembling girl’s head to look at her face. "Master, are you alright?"
Sarah blinked in a daze, staring at Hajin with glazed black eyes. She reached out her hand to hold the bodyguard’s shirt--
"Master, are you--"
--and yanked Hajin down for a hard, harsh kiss.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m
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