CHAPTER 129: CHAPTER 128. CHAOS IS MADE, NOT EXPECTED

"Let’s see..."

Sarah put her legs up and propped her feet between Hajin’s knees, snuggling inside the bodyguard’s larger build. He carefully fixed her sundress so that the fabric still covered her legs, in case someone like the CEO decided to barge in like the last time. She wore her leggings underneath, but still...

Sarah, meanwhile, was busy looking at the tablet screen. Like a competent secretary that she actually was, Sunny had numbered the pictures and also put the date of the text on the title. Number one had the oldest date, around the date Sarah was assigned to the company. She even made a transcript of the messages to make it easier for Sarah, which was rather admirable.

Still, Sarah decided to look at the picture first.

From the look of it, Sunny seemed to use Sarah’s name as a keyword in her search. The CEO didn’t seem like a person who would clear his texts regularly, so that conversation about her appointment as COO was probably the first time Joseph mentioned her.

It was, surprisingly, as normal as it gets.

- Let her do whatever she wants, whether she wants to work or play

- Just keep her away from the business

Yeah, so he really never intended to see Sarah fixing the company or anything. From the texts that day and the day Sarah came to the office for the first time, Joseph truly had no expectation for her. If anything, he expected her to do nothing.

But, perhaps because he knew Sarah actually had more brain capacity than her siblings, he still told the CEO to observe her and made a report once a week on her behaviour.

"Hmm...it’s a good thing to maintain our act," Sarah muttered. "Anyway, this business stuff he mentioned must be the one tied to Daesung, right?"

"Most likely," Hajin nodded. "If it’s about business in general, he wouldn’t say to let you do whatever you wanted including working."

Sarah nodded in agreement while reading the CEO’s weekly reports, which were basically the same stuff over and over again: the young miss frolicked with her bodyguard in the office, the young miss didn’t come at all this week, the young miss came whenever she liked, the young miss only watched movies and online videos all day--and so on.

It was so unsubstansial that Joseph told the CEO to stop the report after a month.

And so, her name never came up again until the day Sarah mentioned about linking their company to Henry’s project and mentioning an encounter with Lee Hyun in Daesung’s executive club room.

"Ahh...so our gamble is fruitful," Sarah curled her lips; her eyes gleamed as she read the texts.

[Sir, the young miss wants to make a project around that filming studio complex thing, the one Daesung is involved in]

- How does she know about it?

[She had a blind date with the son of the president, the one who leads the project. I think she thought it would be easy because they already knew each other]

[What should I do about this, Sir? You told me we wouldn’t get involved with this one, didn’t you?]

The reply came a bit later, as if Joseph was contemplating for a long time. Sarah thought he was probably also trying to see if her claim about knowing the project through the blind date was true.

- It’ll be weird if you try to dissuade her since she knows him personally

- Let her do it. It won’t be our project but hers, make sure to tell them that

- That is, if she manages to make a proposal at all. Aside from gathering material, don’t help her. You can tell the workers to just do the bare minimum, don’t bother to do in-depth

[Understood, Sir]

Hajin clicked his tongue as he read the text on Sarah’s shoulder. "No wonder the reports feel like a school assignment," he grumbled.

Sarah chuckled and stroked the bodyguard’s hair in gratitude. She already guessed they would do that, so she let Hajin take care of the report instead of doing it herself. The man purred on her shoulder like a big cat instead of a dog, forgetting about his misfortune for a while.

"Why do you think he doesn’t want to be in this project, Puppy?"

"Because it’s done with someone else, maybe?" Hajin tilted his head, nuzzling into his princess’s stroking hand. "If he uses this company to receive favors and launder money, it’s too risky to do it with a partner."

"Hmm...does that mean Henry’s company had nothing to do with them prior to this partnership?" Sarah wondered.

"Isn’t that why they only have a partnership on this project?" Hajin shrugged. He paused for a few seconds before asking suspiciously. "You’re not changing your mind...aren’t you, Princess?"

Sarah turned her head with an arched brow to glance at the bodyguard’s frowning brows and pursing lips. The man looked sulky, as if Sarah was implying she would take pity on Henry.

For that audacious thought, her stroke turned into a mean flick on his forehead.

"How stupid," Sarah rolled her eyes. "You heard him yourself; he didn’t mind doing anything to get hold of those lands. And do you know who provides those hopeful young celebrities to companies and politicians as sexual favors?"

Hajin blinked his wide-open eyes--that was news to him. Sarah scoffed and turned her gaze back to the screen while continuing in a grumble.

"I don’t know whether Henry is involved in that stuff or not, but there’s no reason for me to spare the company."

"I understand," Hajin said with an apologetic tone, although his lips were full of smiles. "I’m sorry, Princess."

"Hmph!"

Sarah replied in the tone she used at the employees earlier, and Hajin couldn’t help but chuckle, nuzzling his princess in apology like the clingy dog that he was. Sarah ignored him to continue reading the text, since the real stuff started there.

[There’s something else, Sir] the CEO texted.

- What else?

[The young miss mentioned something weird earlier]

[About the chairman’s brother]

- Lee Hyun? What about him?

[Young Miss said she met the chairman’s brother in a club somewhere]

[My apologies, I forgot the name, Sir]

- So? What does it matter?

- Lee Hyun is single. It’s a better look than hovering around his brother’s wife

[The thing is, Sir...]

There was a few minutes of gap with the next text, as if the CEO had a hard time deciding what to type.

[Young Miss said the chairman’s brother is gathering with Daesung’s executives]

The text ended there abruptly, but not because the conversation was over. Joseph did not reply, but the log showed he immediately called the CEO instead. It lasted for around ten minutes, which was rather long for a call between two old men unless they were talking about business. Even then, they usually prefer to do it face to face.

Which meant, it was something urgent.

"What do you think, Puppy?" Sarah exhaled slowly. She didn’t realize she had been holding her breath from the moment Lee Hyun’s name was mentioned.

"It doesn’t seem like Director Seo knows anything about the chairman’s brother meeting Daesung’s executives," Hajin muttered seriously. There were no longer traces of playfulness as his arms circled Sarah’s waist protectively.

"Right?" Sarah took a deep breath.

This made things more complicated, but on the other hand, she might be able to use this situation to her advantage. Why used her own hand to mess with her enemy if she could use someone else’s?

"Hmm...is there a way for us to know the content of their call?" Sarah tapped the call log with pursed lips.

"Only if the CEO activated automatic recording," Hajin said. "But even if there was, we can only see it once that secretary manages to copy the CEO’s phone."

Sarah groaned for a second and sighed heavily while throwing her head back, leaning on Hajin’s shoulder. She let her slackened body entirely in the bodyguard’s mercy, held by a strong, protective hold that prevented her from slipping to the floor.

"Always questions after questions," she grumbled. "But at least we know they are not cooperating. So, it is less likely that Joseph wanted to play kingmaker."

"The way I see it, he doesn’t seem to be that cordial with Daesung too, Princess," Hajin pulled Sarah up and repositioned her better on his lap, shifting her legs to the side so they could look at each other. "Seems like it’s a strictly business relationship, like..."

"Like he only wants their money," Sarah smirked. "Perhaps a ’vessel’ to purchase the group’s shares, as a price of making the media city project theirs by killing my mother."

Sarah gritted her teeth at the thought; if Hajin wasn’t holding her hand, she would have thrown the tablet in her hand across the room in anger and frustration. When she felt Hajin’s strong grip and soothing caress on her hand, Sarah took a deep breath and exhaled slowly while leaning her head on the crook of the bodyguard’s neck. The metal of the ’collar’ she put on Hajin’s neck every morning felt cool and soothing against her cheek.

"Do you think...he wants to take HS for himself?" Sarah asked. "Using me...had nothing to do with anything, just...just so he could earn money and shares..."

Hajin tightened her hold, even though he tried to make it as gentle as possible for his princess, who sometimes felt so small and vulnerable. So precious.

"Wouldn’t it be funny if the shares used as collateral for your investment are supposed to be used to support Director Seo?" Hajin whispered.

Sarah blinked, and in the next second raised her head in surprise. That...wasn’t impossible. If that was the reason they suddenly had more shares to be used, it actually made sense. The assistant said it was the shares that the company’s president personally owned, but what if the real owner of that second batch was Daesung?

"That would be...very nice, isn’t it?" Sarah muttered quietly, but her cloudy gaze had significantly cleared up.

"On the other hand, we don’t know if your uncle knows about Daesung’s cooperation with Director Seo."

Sarah curled her lips, deeper and deeper as the black eyes glinted mischievously. "Hmm...should we talk to Uncle too?"