CHAPTER 144: CHAPTER 143. CURSED BLISS

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"Ngh..."

Sarah blinked her eyes open, lashes fluttering as she adapted to the dim light. For a few seconds, she wondered where she was, until the memory of moving into her mother’s old apartment returned. No wonder it took her a while; she never slept in this room when she visited before.

She curled up a little bit, letting out a soft yawn before raising her head to be greeted by an unexpected view.

"Whoa...how rare," Sarah whispered faintly in surprise when he found out Hajin was still fast asleep beside her. One of his arms was on Sarah’s waist, but his eyes were closed and his bare chest moved steadily. His lips parted slightly to let out soft breathing, and he looked so relaxed and at ease that it kind of felt weird for Sarah to witness it.

Might be a habit, or an occupational thing, but Hajin was always cautious even when his face looked nonchalant. Perhaps that was why he didn’t sleep for long, always after Sarah fell asleep and before Sarah woke up.

Sarah propped herself up, carefully so she wouldn’t alert the sleeping man. Thankfully, the sky was pouring heavily that day, as if eager to get rid of the leftover summer heat, reducing the slight creaking and rustling noise into nothing. It gave Sarah her first chance to watch Hajin’s sleeping face.

And she had to say...it was a very unfair visual.

It was hard to admit it, but...perhaps she was also the type to succumb to visual attack. Could it be genetic? She always cynically said that she inherited his father’s taste for beauty, but...perhaps it wasn’t a lie.

It would definitely explain a lot of why she could sleep with Hajin on the day they met.

Sure, she didn’t decide to give the man her heart because of his face, but that visual always succeeded in making her flustered and forgiving him easily. And, well...if he didn’t have such a memorable face, Sarah would probably have a hard time remembering him in Helios’s colosseum.

"Is it because we’re home?" Sarah muttered absentmindedly, reaching out to stroke the sharp line of Hajin’s jaw.

While the annex looked like home, it was actually a spot in the middle of the enemy’s encampment, so Hajin could never let himself truly relax. The hotel was...well, it was a hotel. Even though it was guarded by Yonghwa’s people, it was still not their own.

Not Sarah’s, at any rate.

"I don’t know if we’ll stay here long, though..."

"Why?" a drowsy reply startled Sarah, and she reflexively pulled her hand back from the man’s face. But Hajin held her hand in place and nuzzled into the touch, asking again with closed sleepy eyes. "Do you plan on going somewhere, Princess?"

Sarah almost thought the man was talking in his sleep, but the grey eyes fluttered open slowly to stare at her dazedly. What an enticing scenery. Sarah pressed her lips to suppress the instinctual tingling beneath her stomach.

"I don’t know," Sarah replied while lightly scratching the stubble around the bodyguard’s jaw. "I do think we’ll need to leave the country after everything--you know, just in case, so..."

The hazy eyes focused immediately, and Hajin pulled the girl closer by her waist. "We?"

"What? Are you going to leave me after it’s done?" Sarah tilted her head.

"Not even in my dream," Hajin replied without hesitation, flipping his princess to her back and kissing her good morning. "I thought I’d have to kidnap you for real, but it seems like I won’t need to."

Sarah chuckled and pulled the man back for another kiss. It felt nice and cozy under the blanket, the sound of rainfall made her feel too lazy to do anything. The warmth of someone’s bare skin touching her own was something hard to fathom at first, but she had grown used to it after a few times, and perhaps... attached to it. It feels good, better than waking up feeling cold and lonely.

But Sarah also knew it only felt nice because it was Hajin, and honestly...the thought scared her for a bit. Or perhaps a lot.

"Why are you thinking hard early in the morning?" Hajin pulled her mind back to the cozy and lazy bed, kissing her slightly frowning brows. "If you must think, let’s at least do it after breakfast and not before, mm?"

Sarah couldn’t see why she should do that, but she also couldn’t see why she shouldn’t, so she just hummed into Hajin’s lips and let the man shift between her legs. "Mmh...again?"

"Might as well," Hajin whispered, rubbing their lower parts together. "Can’t we?"

Sarah tilted her head, staring at the drowsy morning eyes and soft smile that looked like a visual attack--the kind that even if she knew it was strategic, she couldn’t help but fall for it.

Ah, damn...perhaps she was truly weak against beauty. So unfair.

Mmh--might as well.

Sarah sighed and arched her back, letting Hajin continue with his ministration. A soft chuckle that sounded like a giggle spread inside the room as Hajin attacked her with light kisses that felt like tickles due to his unshaven jaw. She was a bit swollen because they were doing it a lot last night, but Hajin promised her he would do it slowly and gently.

How much he could stand by that, Sarah had no idea.

But seeing his sleeping face felt like enough of a free pass, so she let him. Sarah was honestly surprised at herself for coming out alright after all they did last night, and moreover to be up to doing it again.

Was there something in the food Hajin gave her? Hmm...

"You keep thinking about weird things, it seems," Hajin said, rubbing his stubble on his princess’s cheek to return her focus.

Sarah chuckled from the tickling touch and captured his lips to stop him from being playful and do it properly. It almost felt like a waste when he had to break the kiss to reach for the condom in the nightstand’s drawer, but before he could do that, Sarah pulled him back to her lips.

"Princess," Hajin laughed between her lips. "I need to get the rubber."

"Just...just come outside," Sarah responded briefly before sealing Hajin’s surprise with another kiss.

For a while, Hajin could only blink and stayed still digesting her words while Sarah nibbled on his lips. That was, until Sarah got impatient and smacked his stiff shoulder. "What are you doing? You’re the one who wanted to do it, so why are you stopping now?"

Hajin looked at his sulky princess and sighed heavily, pressing his head onto her shoulder. "You’ll be the death of me, Princess..."

"Well, good. You can’t be dead without my permission," Sarah grasped the puppy’s face and gave him a peck. "Now do your job properly and strip."

Hajin laughed and straightened his back. Well, his princess shall get everything she wished for; it was Hajin’s job to make it so.

* * *

"Ah...this is bad," Sarah propped her head on the couch, staring at the running TV show dazedly.

The rain had finally stopped by the time they came out of the shower, but Sarah still felt like doing nothing. Moreover, she finally tasted the exhaustion settling in after the bath, and realized her foolishness.

Ah...it would be hard to resist doing it raw after this. Sarah didn’t think it differed much from doing it with 0.02 mm of barrier between them, but it seemed like Hajin did. Something about the way he moved and the way he made noises during what was supposed to be a gentle and slow session was so enticing. He felt it that much and in turn, Sarah felt it that much more.

That was what made it different and now, Sarah wanted to keep doing it like that. Hearing Hajin’s moans was basically an incentive already.

"What is bad?" Hajin showed up with Sarah’s ice cream dessert, placing it onto her hands before plopping down on the carpet.

Sarah bit the ice cream spoon to hide her fluster. There was no way she could tell him that she was thinking about throwing all the packs of condoms they had purchased...right?

Hajin held her leg and slung it over his shoulder, looking up curiously while stroking it. In the face of his narrowed eyes, Sarah pretended to be busy eating her ice cream while thinking of some bullshit.

Well, not really bullshit--just something that wouldn’t out her as a pervert.

"Nothing, just..." Sarah looked away, staring at the bright sky outside. "Kind of suck that we still know nothing about Director Seo’s intention or...anything, really."

"Hmm..." Hajin nodded. They managed to create chaos inside the main house and break up factions bit by bit, but they had almost nothing on the main enemy--the one that killed Sarah’s mother. "Personally, I’m also curious about what the third wife and the chairman’s brother are planning. Is it safe to assume that it had something to do with him meeting Daesung?"

"Perhaps," Sarah nodded. "If that woman truly used Daesung’s goons to threaten the mistress all this time, we can use the chairman to do something about them..." she paused, before chuckling lowly. "Oh, it’s getting fun, huh?"

Hajin smiled as he observed Sarah’s bright expression--despite the kind of things that she said. But that smile gradually vanished when her eyes landed on the closed door of the master bedroom. The black eyes turned cloudy, like the sky during a midnight rainstorm, with occasional flashes of anger akin to lightning.

She always had that kind of look when her eyes caught that closed door, like it was automatic. Even if she had been laughing merrily before.

Hajin heard Sarah had thrown out all of her mother’s belongings, fearing that someone would tamper with them while she was abroad, only taken something she could personally use as a keepsake. Even then, Sarah ended up storing them all away in a vault because it was too painful to use them.

Sometimes, Hajin thought the reason Sarah used everything to gamble on the first day she regressed was so she could part ways with the gold and the jewel as quickly as possible. To sever her from the debilitating pain of loss.

Strangely enough, she looked excited to live in this apartment, despite the tumultuous emotions wracking her every time she looked at her mother’s bedroom. Perhaps because it used to be her dream, to live in this place with her mother once she entered university.

Which, sadly, never came.

Hajin held the slackened hand on Sarah’s lap. "Do you want to visit your mother?"

Her eyes were spelling sorrow and anger, but also a deep, deep yearning.

But Sarah shook her head, slipping down the couch to join Hajin on the carpet. Snuggling inside the bodyguard’s warm and safe hold, Sarah exhaled slowly. "I’ll do it once everything’s done," she said, lips curling slightly. "I can’t have her seeing me looking like a mess."

Hajin hugged the girl tighter and nodded. "Yeah, let’s do that."