CHAPTER 165: CHAPTER 164. RATTLING THE BIG PLAYERS

Even after all the talk, it took Sarah a while to fully stop trembling from her nightmare. Hajin was tempted to rock her like a baby, but he just stroked her hair since it felt like his princess would get angry instead of calming down if he did.

Would it be wrong for him to think how adorable his princess was when she was clinging to him? Having her head lying on his shoulder while her hand was clutching his shirt, inhaling deeply as if she wanted to take his scent with her soul...

Ah...it was probably bad to think he wanted that kind of moment to happen frequently, right?

Of course, he didn’t want it to come with nightmares or fear, just for Sarah to rely on him like this a lot more. He longed for the day that pretty little head no longer occupied by revenge and the heavy burden that came with it, but...

He also dreaded the day Sarah no longer needed him because her revenge was over.

Sometimes, he wondered if Sarah would ask for her heart to be returned at the end of this journey. And he wondered if he would have enough self-restraint not to lock the girl up for himself if it were to happen.

But, well...that was a question for later. Even Hajin had no idea what he himself might do, just like how he had no idea he would be this obsessed with someone’s affection this much.

In the end, he was his mother’s son, after all.

When Sarah finally shifted and raised her head, Hajin asked gently while stroking her lips. "Have you calmed down, now?"

"Yeah..." Sarah replied quietly, but her voice was much steadier than before. She seemed to be feeling embarrassed for her outburst--although it wasn’t an outburst--earlier, and her cheeks gradually turned pink. She couldn’t even look at Hajin’s eyes, even though she was still snuggly inside his embrace.

It was as if she were tempting Hajin to tease her.

"Too bad," Hajin curled his eyes, whispering mischievously. "I was going to make you forget physically if you haven’t."

Sarah smacked the man’s arm, glaring at him as if she wasn’t just blushing in embarrassment a second ago, grumbling. "Stop joking."

Hajin chuckled. "Stop being silly," he reiterated, chasing the girl who was rolling away from his hold and kissed her until she was laughing from his ticklish stubble. As adorable as she was when she looked vulnerable, his princess was indeed the loveliest when she laughed. "Do you want to go back to sleep?" Hajin asked, glancing at the table clock on the nightstand.

"...I don’t think I can," Sarah sighed, staring at the darkness outside the window. She didn’t want to face the possibility of seeing a nightmare again so soon. "Can you make me a drink? Coffee or something?"

"Hmm..." Hajin rolled out of bed while contemplating. It was clear that he didn’t want to give Sarah anything stimulating at three in the morning. "What about a sweet potato latte?"

Sarah arched her brow. "There’s something like that?"

"I’ll put some spices too," Hajin smiled and kissed the top of her messy head before heading to the kitchen.

"Oh?"

Sarah perked up and waddled out of the bedroom. She wanted to go to the kitchen, but while she didn’t want to sleep, she still felt tired from the stress of her nightmare. Slumping onto the couch, Sarah was about to turn on the TV when she saw her phone on the table.

"Ah..." she took the phone, forgetting that she had turned it off after ending the call with Amber yesterday.

She turned it on absentmindedly, expecting a grumbling text from her older sister when her phone kept vibrating from the delayed notification. Several missed phone calls and texts did come, but it wasn’t from Amber, surprisingly.

All of them were from someone who, as far as Sarah remembered, never contacted her before. The last message after the chain of missed calls and texts was a voice note, which she played curiously while looking for a charger.

[What the fuck had you been telling your father?!]

Sarah stopped her search and stared at her screen in surprise. "Huh?"

"What was that?" Hajin asked curiously, peeking from the kitchen with a whisker in hand.

"My dearest uncle?" Sarah chuckled, eyes curling amusedly. "What is this? Does the chairman finally do something about his brother?"

What could set this off, though? It should be either about meeting Daesung or about the affair with Jeong Mina. Whichever it was...

"Oh, I’m curious now," Sarah said giddily.

* * *

Before Sarah received that startling voice note--before she received a call from Amber or Little Bird, even--her father was in deep contemplation after returning to his office from the executive meeting. He had sent his chief secretary away for an errand, and had Joseph stayed in his office.

"Joseph...Hyung..." the chairman frowned as he used a word he hadn’t used in a long time. He didn’t really like using it either, but he needed further information for now. "About what you said before..."

Joseph smiled. "About Lee Hyun?"

The chairman held back from gagging. Looking at that smile made him feel as icky as ever. It was the kind of smile that revealed nothing, with no emotions behind it, like a smile from a customer service representative that was born out of habit.

Since when did Joseph’s smiling habit come out? Lee Hyuk didn’t think it was there from the start. Was it after that big fight he had with the previous chairman? Lee Hyuk had no idea what it was about, and frankly didn’t really care.

But the smile certainly always gave him the ick. That was why he never invited Joseph unless it was a big family event like the New Year.

"You didn’t just say that without any proof, did you?" the chairman frowned. "It’s a serious allegation."

What he did was alluding to a betrayal, even if Lee Hyun wasn’t active in the company. Saying that in front of the other executives was practically telling them to never have any connection with Lee Hyun.

Not that the chairman cared, but Lee Hyun was still his brother. If someone wanted to prosecute him, it had better be with a convincing case.

"Proof..." Joseph tapped the armrest of the chair he sat in, looking at the light on the ceiling. "Truthfully, I don’t have it."

"What?"

Joseph smiled. "I told you, I only heard it."

"You brought something you weren’t even sure of yourself?" the chairman frowned deeply.

"Oh, I never said I wasn’t sure, though?" Joseph tilted his head slightly, lips curling as annoyingly as his eyes.

"Director Seo."

The chairman threw away the ’hyung’ he wasn’t comfortable with using anyway, staring at the older man sharply. It was always annoying how Joseph didn’t show the same respect as the other executives, just because he was older and still an extension of the family. Lee Hyuk couldn’t just get rid of him, however, since he had some key shares and knew the group’s dirty secrets deeply.

Joseph, with that annoying benign smile as usual, merely shrugged. "Unless you think your daughter is not trustworthy?"

"...what?"

"Sarah," Joseph said, eyes curling when the chairman’s expression shifted. "I heard it from Sarah."

The chairman’s harsh expression shifted to one of confusion. "Come again?"

"When I had lunch with her the other day, she told me that she met Hyun in a private club," Joseph explained in a nonchalant tone. "She didn’t even think it was important, so I don’t think she lied."

The chairman leaned back in his seat, rubbing his lips in contemplation. Well, there was no need for her to lie about it anyway. If she wanted to sow dissent, she could just tell him directly.

...why didn’t she, though? Didn’t she think it was important that her uncle was meeting up with someone from the company her father despised?

Joseph tilted his head as he observed the chairman. "Are you going to ask her?"

The chairman raised his head, eyes narrowed at the older man’s expression. "You don’t seem to agree."

Joseph shrugged. "It doesn’t seem fair to involve her," he said. "Like I said, she only mentioned it in passing without thinking it was strange, much less important. Wouldn’t Hyun think Sarah is snitching on him if he found out?"

Snitching...the chairman held back the urge to roll his eyes. "This is not child’s play, Director Seo."

"Indeed," Joseph nodded. "Isn’t that the more reason to protect that girl, then? She doesn’t seem to have any interest in working for the company anyway, so let’s not drag her into the company business."

"Hmm..." the chairman propped his temple, thinking about the daughter he hadn’t seen in a while. Thinking about her staying in that small apartment Yoo Hada’s son. "She’s probably just waiting for that boy to be an official heir and marry him."

Joseph smiled, as if he already knew who the chairman was talking about. It got the chairman rather curious.

"You’re very...attentive to her well-being."

"Oh, well...I just feel bad for her," Joseph said, the habitual smile shifted slightly into a pitiful one. The chairman vaguely remembered that Joseph used to treat Sarah well in the past, as if taking the place of her grandfather. "She even holds a lot of shares now, so people with keep disturbing her, don’t you think?"

"Hmm..." the chairman observed Joseph closely. Was it truly just a pity? A slight affection since he also had a daughter late in his age, perhaps? Lee Hyuk wondered, however, if there was something more behind that show of concern. Something like greed. The chairman shrugged nonchalantly. "She can always sell it to someone willing to buy in the family. Seems like Amber is already talking to her."

"Is that so? That’s good," Joseph nodded; the forlorn smile had returned to its emotionless form.

The chairman smirked. "Well, even if she doesn’t, there’s nothing wrong with a member of the family holding onto a lot of shares."

"Indeed," there was a second when the habitual smile turned stiff before it returned to its usual state. "I shall take my leave, then."

Feeling the conversation had over--or rather, turning a bit uncomfortable--Joseph stood up to leave, and the chairman didn’t bother to offer a glib, merely nodding in acknowledgment.

"If you want to confront your brother, just pretend you know from someone else," Joseph said as he stood up. "It’s not a lie anyway."

The chairman hummed, still contemplating whether he should call that useless brother of his. The question came up naturally as he thought deeper into the matter. "What do you think he was doing there?"

"He could have just...been having fun?" Joseph shrugged, curling his eyes before opening the door. "At least, I’m quite sure he’ll say that."