Burning The House Of Cards: taking revenge on my billionaire family
Chapter 59 - 58. At The Side Of The Road

Chapter 59: Chapter 58. At The Side Of The Road

It was so quiet inside the car on their way back that the smooth, new car engine even sounded deafening. Hajin had been able to keep himself from making any notable reaction inside the room, but that was because he lowered his head until people couldn’t see his face.

Sarah could see it, however, through the reflection on her brass bowl: the unblinking, cold eyes full of fury.

Finally, he understood why his master gave him those options before entering the room.

Somehow, he could return to his stern bodyguard face at the end of the meeting, and all seemed well. But when that stern face retained its coldness in the small space of the car, it was suffocating.

Sarah usually only rode on the back seat when she had to pretend to be the haughty young miss, but this time, she chose to do so because she couldn’t look into Hajin’s eyes.

Even at the back, she’d rather look outside the window than catch the grey eyes in the rear-view mirror, staring at the dark and cloudy sky.

But of course, Hajin wouldn’t just stay silent about what he heard in the room earlier.

"Master,"

Perhaps because she had expected it, Sarah didn’t flinch despite the increase in her heartbeat. "What?"

"The things you said before," Hajin paused, seemingly struggling with keeping his voice from fluctuating. "About the first son."

Sarah propped her chin against the windowsill, hiding her bitten lips behind her palm as she tried to steady her heart. "What about it?"

"Was all that true?"

Hajin hoped it was all just a part of the act, just one of her tricks to incite cracks between those siblings.

"...yes."

But that answer explained everything. The man’s obsessive stare, and why Sarah seemed so keen to show their intimacy in front of him more than anyone else.

With a low, heavy voice full of restraint, Hajin asked again. "Was there...anything more?"

It really seemed like Sarah didn’t say anything about it while she was drunk. Perhaps because, aside from watching it through that hidden camera recording, she had no real recollection of it; her mind was not conscious when her body experienced the horror.

Sarah was thankful for it, because she didn’t think she would be able to face Mason without any recoil otherwise.

When Sarah stopped responding, Hajin asked again, more demanding. "Did he do something more?"

"...No," Sarah finally replied.

And it was true. Sarah tried her hardest not to be alone with Mason. She would pretend to be drunk and partying away when he visited her abroad, or make sure they met where other people were around.

But Hajin...Hajin was someone who knew something other people didn’t about Sarah.

"What about in your previous timeline?"

Sarah bit her lips as she felt her whole body tensing. She should have said no--it was an easy, one-syllable answer. She had been lying and pretending all this while anyway, so why?

Why was it so hard for her to do so this time?

Sarah wanted to say no so bad, wanted to hide her filth. But her tongue was numb inside her dry mouth, and her ears were filled with the sound of her heartbeat.

She wanted to lie, but it was hard to keep something so heavy by herself. Something she didn’t even dare to put inside a diary, or even an anonymous note in a paper scrap lying on a garbage bag.

And so she kept her mouth shut, which in itself was an answer for Hajin.

Suddenly, the car turned sharply to the side of the road, so much so that Sarah was almost thrown to the side. She gripped the door handle hard with eyes blown wide when the car stopped, along with the screeching tire sound.

"What the--" Sarah grunted for a second before anger replaced her shock. "What are you doing?!"

She glared at the driver’s seat, but the man who was supposed to be there was already in front of her, hovering between the front and the back seat. The grey eyes pierced her sharply, like jagged, cold icicles.

"And you come into his office alone, knowing what he thinks of you?"

The voice was low, with a layer of growl behind the gritted teeth. Sarah could tell that Hajin was suppressing his anger, but why should she take it at all?

She furrowed her brows deeply. "Do you think I’m stupid? It’s not even a fully enclosed space."

"It’s his turf...Master."

"I can handle someone like him!" Sarah hissed.

"You were just getting drugged in a crowded place, for fuck’s sake!"

Slap!

For the second time that week, Sarah slapped the man. "Watch your mouth, Ryu Hajin!"

She pushed the man back and got out of the car angrily, shutting the door with a loud noise. It was fortunate that the road was deserted since it was out of the city. The space was only lit by the light from the car and one streetlamp, without any CCTV around.

Certainly, Sarah didn’t want to be caught having a fight with her bodyguard in the middle of the night.

But...fight?

They were just a boss and an employee, so...what fight?

Sarah felt rather foolish and wanted to return to the car, but she heard another sound of a slamming door, and before she could move, Hajin’s voice already blocked her path.

"Do you not know self-preservation at all?!" the man walked at her like he wanted to destroy the earth beneath his feet while at it. "What would you do if I weren’t there, huh? What would you do if you didn’t recruit me?"

"What?" Sarah frowned, turning around with confusion.

Hajin stopped a few steps away and looked at her without mercy in his eyes, shaking her mind. "Were you going to pretend to submit to him?"

Sarah felt her fists tremble in anger. Not because of the accusation, but because it was true. Because Hajin knew her so well, down to her filth.

And she was angry at her own filth.

"Yes!" she scowled.

If she had no other choice, she had steeled her heart to submit to that bastard, using herself as a honey trap, pretending to be manipulated while trying to destroy the family from within.

It was a plan that made her feel filthy to the core, that brought her the need to rub herself clean with hot water until her skin turned red every time she showered.

And she was angry every time she remembered that she even considered a plan to sell her body for revenge. Anger that came out when she found an outlet.

"Yes, I would have! What about it?!"

"Lee Seul-ah!"

"What?!" Sarah wiped her wet cheeks--not from tears, but a light drizzle from the sky. "Who are you to tell me what to do? This is my revenge! It’s up to me what method I choose!"

"You--"

"You’re just a tool, Ryu Hajin!" Sarah screamed, taking a deep breath as her voice tapered out within the rainfall. She gritted her teeth to prevent her voice from shaking, staring sharply at the hurting face of the man she had chosen herself. "All you have to do is follow my order."

And that was their agreement, even though saying it now made her heart feel like it was stabbed by needles.

"I know--I know that, but--fuck!" Hajin grabbed his head in frustration. When he spoke again, it was filled more with desperation than exasperation. "Can’t you at least trust me?"

Trust...

Trust. What was trust for her, who was betrayed by the people she trusted in her previous life? She didn’t even trust Song Yonghwa. Sarah knew that the moment she failed to be interesting, Yonghwa could discard her from his investment vault. Her relationship with that man was a transaction, one made through contract.

And wasn’t that also the case with Hajin? She wanted to trust Hajin; she tried to, truly. But she felt like it had gotten marred somehow; one of the reasons was her weird attraction to this man.

The attraction she didn’t want to accept, exactly because she didn’t trust the man enough.

Hajin clenched his fists when Sarah turned her face away instead of answering him. So it was right--she didn’t trust him yet. Suddenly, the faces of disturbing figures flashed in his mind--Song Yonghwa, Kang Daniel, that bastard Mason--

--and the man who made his mother enslaved by love...

Hajin was confident of his prowess, of his skills, even of his appearance. He was the one closest to Sarah, closer than any of those people. But...

"Must I...must I become someone rich and powerful before you can trust me?" he clenched his jaw, voice dripping with bitterness and jealousy.

"What?" Sarah snapped her gaze back to Hajin, scowling indignantly. "What kind of person do you think I am?!"

"Then, why?" Hajin clenched his fingers; the restraint he put on himself started to slip away. "Why can’t you trust me?!"

"How can I?!" Sarah yelled through the drizzle. "How can I trust you when you moved on your own? You even leave...you even leave me..."

"What? I didn’t--"

Hajin stopped when he saw the black eyes were no longer looking at him. They were wide, shaken, and fixed on the air above him, as if staring at a ghost. Her face turned ashy as she brought her hands to her ears.

Yeah, he will leave you

The sound of the rain hitting her shoulder turned into vicious whispers.

Just like everyone

Haunting her like nightmares.

You’ll be alone in the end

Again and again.

Like always

"Yeah...everyone will just leave me anyway..." Sarah choked a laughter as her eyes turned dull. "If I’m no longer useful...even you..."

Hajin frowned--he had never seen Sarah like this before. When he left without telling her the last time, he was greeted with anger and a slap.

But, this...

"Just...just leave," her voice suddenly turned frantic. "Just leave now, before...before..."

Her eyes, staring at him, were bloodshot. Unshed tears pooling in a gaze full of fear.

Hajin frowned. Why? What made her so scared? Was she...

Was she that scared he would leave?

Was that why...it was so hard for her to trust him? Because she thought he might leave?

"Just leave!" Sarah screamed and lunged toward Hajin, grabbing the collar she bestowed upon him. "Return this and leave! Leave--"

"Lee Seul-ah!" Hajin grabbed the girl’s hand and held her back.

Just in time, because she didn’t seem to be able to breathe and started to slide down the ground.