Burning The House Of Cards: taking revenge on my billionaire family
Chapter 32 - 31. Room 13808

Chapter 32: Chapter 31. Room 13808

"Goddamnit—fuck! That was so cringy!"

Lee Sarah, 25 years old, was having an existential crisis inside her car, maddeningly kicking the poor dashboard that had just freshly been repaired.

The small laughter coming from the driver’s seat only helped her sink more into the seat, her face red and buried inside her palm. If she didn’t remember how hard it was styling her hair this morning, she would have pulled out some of it to compensate for the goosebumps she felt all over her body.

"I didn’t think you’d be that good at acting, Master," Hajin smirked, glancing at the young woman. Too bad—it’d be better if Sarah wasn’t just acting.

But still, the weight of the uncomfortable collar—or should he say leash?—it felt nice on his neck.

That show of possession, even if it was just a ruse to get rumors spreading in the mansion, he enjoyed every bit of it; the way Sarah touched his chin and unbuttoned his shirt; the feel of her fingers on his neck...

"I’ve been acting all my life, so there’s no way I’ll be bad at it," Sarah crossed her arms, leaning back and shaking his head to get rid of the image of her performance earlier.

She had already prepared to act as improperly as possible the moment she returned. That was why she went as far as learning to act while she was abroad--one of the reasons she was absent from most of her university classes.

But damn...doing something that cringy was a first, and not something she wanted to experience again.

The problem was...she had to. Their whole concept was a trashy young miss who was head over heels for her extremely attractive bodyguard. Surely, people wouldn’t think this man, who seemed to be chosen just for how handsome he was, would be capable of doing her dirty deeds.

Not that people would think Sarah had any capacity for dirty deeds in the first place. Trashy and scandalous, perhaps, but nothing more.

With her whole cringy act earlier, Sarah also wanted to show that Hajin was his, so that her other siblings wouldn’t pull a string to get the man to serve them. She had gone as far as making a different contract for Hajin, even.

Beyond that, by being shown that Sarah treated Hajin in a special manner, people who wanted to get to her would probably go through Hajin—be it bribery or seduction. It was annoying to admit it herself, but this man seemed to be too obsessed with her, which was why Sarah felt Hajin would never fall for that kind of approach.

She felt a bit guilty for using that obsession for her own gain, but...she also had no idea why this man was so fixated on her.

Also...

[I received my bodyguard safely. Thank you, Oppa :)]

Sarah shivered as she typed the message and sent it to Mason. But imagining what kind of face the man would make once he heard the rumor about her and Hajin made Sarah smirk. She purposely sent the message while Mason was still in the middle of a meeting so the man wouldn’t be able to reply immediately—and turned off her phone.

Sarah opened the glove compartment and took out another phone. As she turned that one on, she could hear Hajin mutter beside her. "It’ll be nice if it wasn’t just acting,"

"What?"

"Why don’t you try to be an actress, Master?" Hajin gave out a charming smile that had Sarah scrunched her face in suspicion. "Since you’re so good at acting."

Sarah narrowed her eyes, the nagging feeling in her gut told her that this man wasn’t really smiling. "You...why are you sulking?"

Hajin widened his eyes for a second at that, before the gray eyes turned into crescents, and his smile turned into the genuine one he always showed Sarah before. "You really are adorable, Master."

"Watch your mouth," Sarah glared at the man, drawing a line she made the night she said she couldn’t give him her heart. "Just focus on driving."

"Hmm...but then I guess, if you become a celebrity, there will be more people looking at you..."

"That’ll be annoying," Sarah propped her elbow on the door trim and looked outside, at the huge billboard that showed an advertisement of the HS Group jewelry line by a certain female celebrity. "It will be harder to move covertly with that kind of attention."

Hajin let out a chuckle. "That’s not what I mean, but sure," his master’s obliviousness was also what made her adorable anyway.

"Huh? What do you mean then?"

Hajin just smiled under Sarah’s confused gaze until he drove toward a familiar hotel parking ground. Sarah was pursing her lips as the car parked safely near the basement lobby, still wondering about her new bodyguard’s words when Hajin leaned over to her and she flinched unconsciously.

"Wh-what?"

Inside the dim light of the parking lot, the platinum pendant on the older man’s neck glinted with the same glow present inside the grey eyes, dancing fire like a pair of devil’s eyes. Within a narrow space of the car, this close proximity where she could hear the other’s breathing sound clearly, her fight and flight reflex triggered; her heart beat faster and her fingers clenched hard on the door handle.

"What I mean, my dear Master," a clicking sound was heard and Sarah felt her seatbelt loosen, but she couldn’t avert her gaze from the gleaming deep eyes. "I’d prefer it if I’m the only one who can look at you."

Sarah could feel the warm breath grazing her skin, and although it was clear that Hajin meant her no harm, her heartbeat refused to calm down. The heat emanating from the other man wasn’t something that easy to ignore; the same heat that danced inside the grey eyes.

It wasn’t the first time Sarah felt a blatant desire being thrown at her, but there was something about Hajin that just made everything feel so intense and raw. A wildness that begged to be tamed.

So she should do that, lest he would devour her instead.

Sarah reached up and hooked her finger on the leather strap around the man’s neck, staring straight at the gleaming pair of storms as she pulled on the fabric. "How insolent. Do you think you’ve done enough to deserve such privilege?"

With a snap, she let go of the strap, no doubt leaving a trail of red on the man’s neck. But Hajin neither flinched nor frowned. He was smiling, grey eyes narrowed into a half-moon. "Forgive me, Master, I shall work harder to earn that privilege."

He retreated then, getting out of the car to open the side of Sarah’s door. She used that brief window of time to regulate her heartbeat and breathing.

She was no longer sure whether it was adrenaline or...something else.

* * *

Sarah looked around the hotel suite keenly—if it still could be called that.

Technically, since it was situated in a hotel, it should still be called a hotel room. But aside from the obvious bedroom, there was a section filled with desk and computer screens, as well as security cabinets with thumbprint locks. A mini kitchen and pantry could be seen in the corner, and the cupboard was filled with groceries.

All in all, it felt more like an office space with a king-size bed, walk-in closet, and en suite bathroom.

"Not bad," she muttered, seated herself on the armchair in the seating area. She had asked Sol to modify her private room for a bit, since she needed somewhere as a base where she could conduct business without observing eyes.

While she could use her mother’s apartment, going in and out of a hotel looked more...scandalous. Not to mention, it was connected to Helios through a basement, so she would be able to meet Little Bird or Yonghwa without being seen with just a simple phone call to Sol.

Sol wasn’t the most trustworthy person, but he would never betray his owner.

Hajin looked around the room too, playing with the room’s key card that was familiar to him. 13808--floor thirteen, room of Miss 808. Sol even painted the door jade green and framed the room number with an ornamental butterfly.

What an extra guy. The last time Hajin took Sarah there, she was still Lee Seul-ah and the room was still a regular hotel suite. It was truly a night of many temptations. Honestly, Hajin was proud of himself for being able to hold back so much while the princess was spewing slurry speech while clinging to him.

Still, a smirk crept to his lips when he glanced at the king-sized bed, praising Sol for not adding another bed while he was modifying the room.

"What?" Sarah frowned at the way Hajin stood in the middle of the room while staring keenly at the bed through the open door. "Why are you making that face?"

Hajin turned his head to look at his master, placing the keycard over his lips. "It’s just...bring me nostalgic memory," he smirked, eyes glinting with tease.

"Damn it—forget about that!" Sarah cursed, groaning inwardly at something that she considered a dark history.

"How could I? It’s the whole reason I can meet my master," Hajin chuckled, storing the keycard that now became his responsibility. "Though I lament the lost chance for doing...something else."

Sarah, who was in the middle of opening a can of plum drink, pressed her lips tightly. She might not have much experience, but she knew enough that it wouldn’t be weird if she ended up naked on that bed that night.

She would never hire this man if that was the case, but she also knew it could happen. Hajin never tried to mask his interest and desire for her, in a way that confused her whether she wanted to punch the man or allow her heart to be tickled.

"Oh, fuck off—" Sarah vented her frustration at the stubborn can that refused to open with narrowed eyes before taking it to the couch and slamming it to the table in annoyance. "I never get that drunk. It’s just a one-time thing."

"Hmm, so..." Hajin walked over to the pantry and took out a rock glass. "The one time you get so drunk you start to blabber all of your secrets, you coincidentally met me?" he put the glass on the table and proceeded to open the can easily, to Sarah’s blatant displeasure. "Like fate?"

The young miss watched the bubbling liquid hiss into the glass with pursed lips. Hajin pushed the glass in front of her, a smile never leaving his face. "It’s a truly flattering thought."

"You’re so annoying," Sarah grumbled, but still took the glass and drank it.

Coincidence or fate, Sarah didn’t care about how the universe worked. She just cared about whether it would work against her or to her benefit. As for this man in front of her...

That remains to be seen.

No—Sarah had to believe it worked for her.