CHAPTER 168: CHAPTER 167. A SNAKE IN ENEMY’S GRASS

Hajin turned the car into a fast-food parking lot so they wouldn’t have to talk on the phone while driving. Sarah was stroking her twitching lips as her brows furrowed deeply, and Hajin had no idea whether his princess was smiling or scowling.

Perhaps both. It was strangely scary and arousing at the same time.

"I’m...not sure?" he replied to his father while pulling the hand brake. "There was a group of girls, though."

[Yes, I think one of those--you know, the ex-fiancée of Chairman Lee’s oldest son? Your girl’s older brother?]

Sarah raised her brows, and Hajin grinned. "Ah...maybe I did? What about her?"

[Well...Congressman Park said he wanted to thank you for helping his daughter that time, said he wanted to treat you to dinner]

"Humm..."

Honestly, both Sarah and Hajin had forgotten about the--former--fiancée of Mason. Their only goal was for the engagement to break and the stock price to drop, so the fiancée’s existence was no longer important to them. At least at that point.

Of course, the fact that Denise was the one who killed Sarah still remained; but she was no longer Mason’s fiancée--which was their only connection--so they put Denise aside in the grand scheme of things.

Certainly, they never expected that Denise would make an advance this fast. Weren’t people usually waiting for a while after a breakup before going on a date? If only to manage the public’s perception, at least.

[told him I’d ask you first, so...what do you want to do?]

Hajin glanced at Sarah. Personally, he already told her that he didn’t want to have anything to do with Denise anymore. While Sarah never told him outright, she also didn’t like the idea of Hajin acting like a gentleman to someone else. There was an option to accept the invitation and act rudely to discourage the other side from further invitations, but...

Sarah frowned and typed something on her phone before showing it to Hajin. With raised brows and widened eyes, he returned his gaze to his phone. "Would it be bad for you if I refused?"

The thing that made the first wife try so hard to tie Mason to Denise was because of her congressman father. Politicians and any authoritative figure were always important for businessmen. Unless they had a strong, bigger politician backer, businessmen generally wouldn’t want to deliberately annoy a named politician.

Since this happened because of her plan, Sarah didn’t want another company to get into trouble because of it.

[You don’t need to think about me, Son] Chairman Yoo, however, dismissed their concern confidently.

[I can tell that he’s trying to set you up with his daughter, but you already have someone you love, right? I know you wouldn’t want to, but I reckoned I’d still ask you first]

Hajin couldn’t help but smile at his father’s annoyed tone. It seemed like Chairman Yoo wasn’t fond of that congressman in the first place. "Did you tell him I’m seeing someone?"

[Not yet] the old man paused for a bit as if pondering, before adding in a quieter voice. [It seems like you’re keeping your relationship secret, after all--I mean, the real one]

Sarah and Hajin no longer needed to act like a couple since they were one already, but they never clearly announced their relationship to anyone. Just like Chairman Yoo before, people basically thought Sarah was keeping a handsome pet, and those who knew Hajin’s identity thought they were waiting until Hajin officially became Yooshin Trading’s heir.

Chairman Yoo, however, knew that Hajin didn’t want to become the heir and that their relationship was a real one built from love instead of lust. But Hajin never told him to keep it a secret, so the old man was just running on his wit to conclude that Sarah and Hajin didn’t want others to know the real nature of their relationship.

Honestly remarkable.

"Well, then..." Hajin glanced at Sarah, who was biting her nail while looking outside the window. He could see the tips of her ears turning red and chuckled softly. "Please reject the invitation for me without disclosing my relationship."

[I thought so!] the old man sounded proud of himself, which was rather adorable. [Alright, can I see you soon?]

"It’ll be a little hard for me to be away for now," Hajin narrowed his eyes. He really didn’t want to leave his princess again, even just for a few hours. Not until everything was over. "How about...winter?"

[I see...] Chairman Yoo sounded a bit disappointed, but he recovered quickly and his voice returned to normal; more soft than elated. For a bit, Sarah could hear Hajin’s voice in his father’s. [Well, then. Stay safe, don’t forget your meal]

"...you too, Father."

As Hajin ended the call, he could hear the sound of Sarah’s sigh. She was still looking outside, frowning instead of getting embarrassed. Hajin could almost hear her mind turning, battling her hatred for cheaters and her newfound impression of the old man.

A good father for the son; a bad one for her daughters. A good man for others, and a source of misery for his family. Why couldn’t he just stay as a bad and a general asshole that was easy to hate? Sarah hated the fact that a cheater could act like a good human being.

"Princess?"

On the other hand, it made Sarah thankful that her enemies were just horrible people. She didn’t have to drown herself in guilt for desiring retribution.

"My beautiful Princess?" Hajin poked Sarah’s cheek after being ignored for a while. He expected Sarah to swat his hand in annoyance, but Sarah merely muttered into the window.

"I’m curious..."

Hajin tilted his head and leaned closer. "Hmm?"

"What exactly did you tell your father about...us?" Sarah turned her head at last, looking at Hajin with curiosity in her eyes and a sprinkle of pink dust in her cheek. "I haven’t heard how you convinced him that you’re not going to be his successor."

Hajin was being all too dramatic about his woe of facing Mason’s ex-fiancée and Sarah was busy coddling the man that she had no chance to ask about it. As time passed, it also felt intrusive to ask about a supposedly intimate conversation about Hajin’s mother.

But hearing Chairman Yoo indirectly mentioning her--or at least their relationship--earlier made her curious.

Hajin grinned at the deepening red in Sarah’s cheeks, stroking them as his grey eyes curled mirthfully. "Should I tell you?"

* * *

Sarah was feeling warm and happy, maybe because of what she heard from Hajin about how he convinced the chairman by using his feelings for her. She felt her heart tickle and her stomach somersault in a nice way, although she would never tell Hajin about it.

She did tell him to take it easy on the CEO’s data, though--a bit of reward. Even let him do it while lying on her lap. Maybe because of this quality treatment, Hajin still managed to finish the report the next day--even while rolling around like a spoiled puppy.

"It’s done!" he made a rare triumphant gesture of raising his arms--rather than for finishing a task, however, it felt more like he was saying goodbye to the darn mountain of files.

"Good job, Puppy," Sarah patted the man’s head. "So, find anything useful?"

Hajin sat back down and cleared his throat, put on a fake pair of glasses, and started his report from the coffee table.

"He really is a lackey, and a very busy one," Hajin started. "I found a lot of illegal transaction records, maybe because he was afraid of making any mistakes as he forgot stuff easily."

"Nice for us," Sarah commented while scooting closer.

"Indeed," Hajin nodded. "Also, I think I found some people who also worked for Joseph."

"Oh?" Sarah tilted her head in front of the screen as Hajin scrolled through his report. "Our CEO is indeed the ultimate lackey. He even wrote notes of their meeting?" she laughed. "Hmm...some of them must be HS’s employees."

Hajin put a page through the printer and handed over the paper to Sarah. "I’ve run through their names."

Sarah peruses the list of names carefully while recalling her memory. A certain name tickled her mind as it sounded familiar. "This one is a financier--he should be the one in charge of the embezzlement money. Maybe acquiring some stocks too."

"Like Austin for you?"

Sarah smiled; there was no need to catch the middleman employees when all the proof would be gathered by the financier. "Who do you think I should send for this one? Austin or Sol?"

"A money guy for another money guy," Hajin shrugged.

Sarah chuckled while sending a text to Austin. "Anything about Daesung?"

Hajin scrolled through his report again. "Two of those projects’ payments are made through small bonds that could be converted to stocks."

Sarah frowned. "How could that even go through?"

"Another collaborator, probably?"

Sarah chewed the inside of her cheeks in ponder, staring at the names to see if she could figure it out. "It would need the company’s seal and the chairman’s signature. Who could..."

She paused, putting the paper down. There was no guarantee that those names were the only ones helping Joseph. And there were not many people with access to the chairman’s seal and signature. In fact, it could be counted on one hand, and at that moment, only one person came up in Sarah’s mind.

"The...chief secretary?"

Sarah blinked even while muttering her conjecture. It sounded as dramatic as it was ridiculous, because if it was true, her family would probably fall apart without her involvement. All she did was, well...hasten the process.

"Hah!" Sarah threw her head back and exhaled harshly. "Wasn’t he the one who managed my placement in this company?"

"Hmm..."

"It’s just a conjecture, but..." Sarah sighed and glanced at Hajin, curling her lips. "Should we give Sol more work?"

Hajin shrugged. "Why not?"