CHAPTER 228: CHAPTER 227. DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIVING

"Such a nice day," Sarah chuckled amusedly at the bright winter sky greeting her when she opened the curtain. "Even the weather is identical."

Even as a regressor, there was no way Sarah could remember each day’s situation--much less weather. But she remembered everything from her last day: a sunny morning, a bleak afternoon, and a stormy evening.

She was toiling away in the morning, trying to find a way to save Mason from being crushed by Song Yonghwa because he had messed with Helios. Just the week before, as she dug through the archive to find something useful they could use, she found a report alluding to the fact that someone had manipulated her accident’s police report.

It got her so distracted that she couldn’t do well at work, and Mason was scolding her to no end. She blamed herself for being so incompetent and tried her best to make up for it by being extra obedient that week. So obedient that she did not say anything to the laxative that Jasper put in her food, or how Ruby dragged her by the hair to clean the car. Neither could she protest when Amber made her serve at a party, and she had to clean up Axton’s mess.

And when Denise ordered her to take a package from a warehouse, well...

"What’s wrong, Princess?" Hajin asked softly, as soft as his arms around her waist and his lips on her temple.

"Nothing," Sarah shrugged. "Just recalling stuff."

"Like what?"

Hmm...if she told him the truth, this puppy would turn anxious again, wouldn’t he?

"Like my last conversation with the chairman?" she lied.

"Ah, that..."

Hajin tilted his head in reminiscence. It wasn’t all smooth at first. They realized quickly that the chairman didn’t mean to give away the shares when they met in a traditional restaurant to talk it through one last time before the board meeting.

"I can’t just give the shares away; you need to buy them at the market price."

Saying that two days before the board meeting was essentially telling Sarah she had to gather enough money for nineteen percent of HS Stone’s value in a day. It was either a test or the chairman’s way to say he wouldn’t go down easily.

Which was funny, because Sarah never expected to get the shares for free in the first place.

"Sure," Sarah replied nonchalantly. "How much will that be, Lawyer Kim?"

"Ah, it’s..."

The lawyer looked taken aback. It seemed like he didn’t expect Sarah to reply so quickly and so calmly. He took out a card with a price already written on it. Feeling like a deja vu with the whole private room.

Checking the asked price and comparing it with their own calculation, Sarah and Hajin glanced at each other before shrugging.

"How would you like me to transfer the money? Cash? Goods? Foreign account?" Sarah asked while storing the card in Hajin’s breast pocket.

The chairman was flabbergasted. "Are you telling me you have that much money?"

"Well, how else could we have this transaction?" Sarah tilted her head.

The chairman--and everyone else basically--was dumbfounded. He looked at Sarah in a daze for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. This time, he sounded defeated.

"Ah...I lost," the chairman sighed.

"You just realized it now?"

The chairman, strangely enough, did not sound angry. What good would it do anyway, when all of his exits were filled with blazing fire?

"You cremate me thoroughly," he said with a bitter smile.

Sarah shrugged. "I’ll take that as a compliment."

The chairman sighed again and asked the other to leave the room. He even politely requested Hajin to leave, so he could have a real private conversation with Sarah. This time, Sarah allowed it. There was no need to kick someone when they were already down, after all.

That being said, the chairman spent a while just staying still and looking at Sarah without saying anything, and Sarah just waited while ignoring him altogether, focusing on her lunch.

"Is there...a way for you to forgive me?"

The chairman finally spoke after a few minutes, and Sarah raised her skeptical gaze.

"I’m not saying it to do anything about this transaction," the chairman coughed and raised his hands as if telling her that he had already given up on fighting. "I just...realize that I don’t want to burn our bridges."

This time, Sarah was the one spending a while observing the chairman. After months, she could finally admit that the old man had somehow changed.

"Is there a way for you to turn back time to before you married my mother?"

It was, however, too late for Sarah.

"You didn’t know her birthday, didn’t know your own wedding anniversary. I don’t think you even know the color of my mother’s eyes or her favorite food, much less her little flowerbess and fountain in the corner of the garden."

The chairman widened his eyes, belatedly realizing what Sarah’s question meant on her last day living in the annex.

At that moment, painfully, he realized that Sarah had already given him her last chance.

"You robbed my mother of a chance for being in love with someone who loved her back, who would at least shed a tear in her death."

Sarah stared at the shaking eyes in front of her with a hardened gaze.

"For that, I will never forgive you."

The chairman held her resentful gaze for a few seconds before closing his eyes. In the end, some things could never be fixed once it was broken. The bridge had been reduced to ashes before she realized it was even burning.

"And you? What about you?" the chairman asked.

"Me?" Sarah scoffed. "I have already forgotten what I actually wanted from you. It was such a long time ago..."

Yeah...she didn’t even remember anymore when exactly she stopped hoping for her father to recognize her. When did she accept the fact that she would never receive a real birthday card, much less a happy birthday directly from her father’s mouth?

Nothing. She wanted nothing from this man.

"I’d rob you of something you love for revenge, but...you don’t actually have one," she said, shrugging. She wanted to sneer, but...she didn’t feel the need to be overly nasty anymore.

The chairman chuckled bitterly. "So you take the company."

"Not that you actually love it, but at least I know you take pride in possessing it," Sarah replied. It was such an unmasked, brutal honesty that the chairman couldn’t even refute it. "Try to at least love that unborn child of yours."

Sarah took out a folder from the briefcase that Hajin left behind, pushing it toward the chairman, who picked it up with a frown.

"What is this?"

"My proposal for how you should use the money."

Sarah left not long after, once Hajin finished connecting Lawyer Kim to Logan and Austin, arranging the transaction to be done the next day.

"Do you think he’ll do it?" Hajin asked curiously.

Sarah shrugged. "Not my problem anymore."

Hajin smiled and kissed her cheek. "Shall we get ready?"

"Yeah," Sarah stretched her arms up and took a deep breath.

She had no idea whether it was going to be bleak in the afternoon, but it looked nice at that moment, so she wanted to feel good about it. She even had a bath with warm water without trying to scald or drown herself.

A progress, Hajin said.

"Austin said he’s on his way to the board meeting," Hajin told Sarah while she was applying her skincare.

"Tell him he can’t stutter."

Hajin smirked and typed away. "Told him."

Sarah laughed, picturing Austin cursing away in the car. "What about the twins?"

"Hmm...let me check--huh?" Hajin tilted his head.

"What’s wrong?"

"This is...my father?"

Sarah looked at Hajin through the mirror and arched her brow. "Chairman Yoo?"

"Did he find out about the board meeting somehow? Or the rumor about you becoming the heiress?" Hajin muttered before picking up the call. "Yes?"

He started the call casually, but his expression shifted after a few seconds. Sarah raised her brows and turned around in curiosity. "Puppy?"

Hajin didn’t say much, just a couple of ’yes’ and ’hmm’ before ending the call. From his unblinking, slightly shaking eyes, however, it was clear that something had happened. Something wrong.

"Jin?" Sarah approached him, holding his tensed arm to pull his mind back. "Hey, what’s wrong?"

"Oh, uhh..." Hajin blinked dazedly. "Father...Chairman Yoo got into a car accident."

Sarah widened her eyes. "What?!"

"That was his secretary...said he’s in the hospital right now..."

Sarah held Hajin’s hand, feeling how cold it had become. "And? How’s his condition?"

"That’s..." Hajin blinked again, and then shook his head slightly as if trying to keep his mind together. "He’s in the operating room, but it doesn’t seem to be fatal..."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Sarah grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the bedroom.

"Huh?"

"Aren’t you going to the hospital?"

Hajin blinked slowly. "Are you...coming too?"

"Oh, I..." Sarah stopped, slowly letting the cold hand go. "I...don’t think I can yet."

"Then--"

"No!"

Sarah turned around and shook her head quickly. She knew Hajin didn’t want to leave her alone, but he shouldn’t stay behind just because Sarah was too petty to see his father.

Especially not when he was making such an anxious face.

"But--"

"No but! I know what you’re going to say: he’s not in a critical condition and such--But, Jin...he’s old and we never know," Sarah held his hand again, shaking her head.

"Princess--"

"Don’t," Sarah said sharply. "Both of us know how precious time is."

"I..."

"Hey!" Sarah grabbed the man’s cheeks, staring firmly at the cloudy grey eyes. She hardened her gaze for a few seconds before smiling softly, caressing his cheeks with her thumbs. "I’ll be here, okay? Waiting. Just call your Aegis friends to guard me or something."

"Then I’ll wait until--"

Sarah smacked the man’s upper arm in frustration. "I told you time is precious!"

Hajin looked at Sarah helplessly, clearly torn between staying by her side and her probably dying father. Sarah had to kiss him gently first before he reluctantly agreed and called someone from Aegis. Even then, he kept loitering in the foyer until Sarah literally kicked him out the door.

"Phew..." she shook her head exasperatedly after watching Hajin’s car leave the compound. "Tsk--this is because he was talking about jinx and whatever."

She returned to their bedroom to continue getting ready for the big day, praying that Hajin arrived on time. Even if losing someone was inevitable, it would be better if it happened without incurring regret. Sighing, Sarah was about to text Austin when she heard the doorbell ring.

"Oh, are those the people from Aegis? They’re quick," Sarah put the phone in her pants before opening the door to a cold muzzle.

The men in suits, much like bodyguards were, smiled deeply behind the gun. "Would you like to take a walk with us, Miss?"

Sarah raised her hands, sighing.

Haa...fucking jinx.