Burning The House Of Cards: taking revenge on my billionaire family
Chapter 60 - 59. Cradle of Rain

Chapter 60: Chapter 59. Cradle of Rain

"Lee Seul-ah!"

Right away, Hajin caught the girl and pulled her in a tight embrace. He didn’t want to suffocate her, but he felt like she would be slipping away otherwise--both her body and her soul.

He recalled the way she got uncharacteristically angry when he left, the slap still stung his heart from time to time. Looking at her condition this time, Hajin was suddenly filled with dread.

Was she...was she like this before she got angry? She was angry when she found the people guarding her were strangers, but what about before then?

"Haa...haa..."

The heavy breathing was loud in Hajin’s ears, as loud as the choking sound coming from her throat.

Did she also go through this at that time? Alone?

"It’s okay...it’s okay..." Hajin caressed the red hair gently, pressing her trembling figure to his chest. He kissed the temple, wet from the rain, and whispered above her ears. "I’m not leaving you. I told you I’ll never betray you. I will never leave unless you tell me to never show my face in front of you again."

"B-but you..." Sarah spoke between strained gasps, clutching the man’s clothes as if she were afraid he could disappear any moment. "But you did..."

"I’m sorry," Hajin replied sincerely, tightening his embrace. "I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t do that. I should consult you first and receive your order before doing anything. I should have let you know before I left."

"You should!" Sarah yelled while hitting the man’s side, and Hajin loosened his hold so the girl could hit him more easily. "You should have done that!"

"Yeah...yeah, I should..."

Hajin smiled, hearing the girl’s voice no longer shaky, relieved that she no longer sounded like she was choking. Her eyes were still red and wet, but they no longer looked unfocused, and there was a small life sparking back within.

He stroked the pale cheek and brushed off the stray hair. "And you should learn not to say things you don’t mean."

Sarah stopped hitting the sturdy man, lips bowed as the tears welling in her eyes started to drip and wet her cheeks with the rain.

Yeah, she didn’t mean it. She didn’t want Hajin to leave her. She wanted to trust Hajin. She wanted to give him her affection.

She wanted all of that, even though she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Even though she couldn’t let herself think it was the right thing to do.

Hajin exhaled softly and embraced the sobbing girl again, looking all vulnerable. He carried her back to the car, opening the front door and sitting her on the passenger seat. Just like that night when they met again after five years, he knelt between her legs, holding the trembling hands that had hit him so viciously a minute ago.

"Master, I won’t ask you to tell me everything, but..." he looked up, making sure the wet, black eyes looked at him clearly. "I need to know the things that might put you in danger, however small they may be."

Be it someone’s unwanted intentions, grudges, or even...dangerous habits.

"I can protect you from most things, but I can’t protect you from something I don’t know is a threat," he continued, sounding more like a plea than a request. He leaned forward so his voice could be heard clearly through the rain. "Including yourself."

Sarah bit her lips strongly, and Hajin rubbed them in reflex, afraid it might draw blood. It made her lips tremble and, although unintentionally, her gaze faltered a little bit. Her mask shed, and Hajin could see her tightly guarded heart.

The heart she said she didn’t want to give.

Hajin paused, thumb freezing against trembling lips. He could suppress his physical desire, but how could he ignore the calling of the heart?

Of their hearts.

Sarah closed her eyes, but her lips parted slightly, inviting a kiss that Hajin answered with gentleness he had never shown anyone. A kiss that meant to soothe, to wash away the harsh night they shared last time.

When they parted, they weren’t really parting; they stayed close and held each other under the inadequate canopy of the car. Hajin vowed himself to not cross the line, but god...was he not a puny mortal?

"Master..."

"I can’t," as if sensing his desire, Sarah pushed the man away. Not too far, but certainly no longer within kissing distance.

"Seul-ah..."

"I can’t," Sarah shook her bowed head, but her voice grew weaker--both in volume and in resolve. "I can’t give you what you want..."

Hajin pressed their forehead together, whispering gently. "Really?"

It was such, such an unfair voice that drove her already weakening resolve further to the end of the cliff.

"...not now," she bit her lips. "I can’t be distracted now."

Feeling too safe, too secure...it made her complacent. Just from having fun with a bike and kissing someone she could trust the most already made her careless.

She couldn’t afford to make more mistakes. Not now, when she was already close to her desired revenge, when she only had half a year left before her time passed.

"Okay," Hajin took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, pulling back so he could hold the girl’s cheek and look at her face. He smiled when that affection was still in her eyes. "Okay, not now."

He kissed her forehead softly, and Sarah exhaled a stuttered breath while clutching the lapel of his vest.

"I’m going to stay by your side forever anyway," he chuckled and took her hands again. "I can wait."

Sarah blinked in a daze. "For...ever?"

"Yeah."

"It’s...a long time."

"Really? That’s good," Hajin laughed. "But you have to promise me that you’ll hold on, Seul-ah," he leaned down and kissed her pale knuckles. "You have to let me protect you to the best of my ability."

Sarah swallowed and bit her lower lip, but it didn’t take her long to answer. "...okay," she nodded. "I promise."

Hajin smiled and leaned forward to kiss the girl again. Sarah did not pull away or push him back, sinking herself into the kiss and letting herself at least enjoy this much indulgence.

Hajin knew that at that moment, Sarah was still enslaved by her revenge; by her thirst for retribution. But it was fine. He just needs to try little by little to replace that revenge with himself.

Before the chain of enslavement consumed her as it consumed his mother.

* * *

Sarah exhaled slowly, softly in relief when the warm water hugged her body like a cradle. Hajin finally let her take a dip in the bathtub, perhaps because they finally reached a certain point of understanding.

That...and she promised him to be careful, not doing it too long, as well as letting the door unlock for Hajin to peek inside if he became suspicious of her condition. He wouldn’t be able to see the bathtub or the shower booth directly from the door, but he could check her via sound.

It was an improvement, at least.

Sarah sighed and leaned back against the bathtub, closing her eyes while stroking her arms. It was weird, but she did not feel the need to rub herself as much as usual, even though she was talking about Mason just a few hours ago.

Perhaps because her mind was filled with the soft, soothing kiss they had on the side of the road instead.

Their kiss lasted even as rainwater drizzled above them, until Hajin worried Sarah would get sick from it. He pulled back and stood up to hover above Sarah, shielding her from the rain. We should get back, Master, he said, with a dazzling smile that got her rather dazed for a few seconds.

Sarah pressed her lips in embarrassment and shifted to sit properly on her seat, waiting for Hajin to put on her seatbelt as usual. There was a pang of disappointment when Sarah realized Hajin was calling her ’master’ again instead of her real name, but she shook her head quickly as the car drove away, telling herself that she should focus, just like she said.

As if to strengthen that determination, she told the bodyguard to go to the hotel instead of returning to the annex. While they had already found the crumb through the email sending her schedule, there was a possibility that the one behind the email had no idea about the one orchestrating everything.

And...it felt good to do something instead of waiting around. It made her feel like she was not faltering in her resolve.

Before she could do that, however, they had to do something about their drenched state. While it was only a drizzle, they stood beneath the rain for quite a while. Even Hajin agreed that he should take a warm shower too.

Of course, the speed of his shower was incomparable to Sarah’s leisurely one. The water was still warm, but he had already knocked on the door.

"Master?"

Sarah flinched and replied right away, fearing Hajin might think she was drowning again. "W-what?"

"You were not...sleeping or anything, right?" he asked suspiciously. "You weren’t making any sound."

"I was just thinking, okay?!" Sarah puffed her cheeks in embarrassment, sliding down until her chin entered the water.

There was a pause before the man asked teasingly. "About what?"

Instead of answering, Sarah got out of the tub with a loud splash and turned the shower to the max so Hajin wouldn’t be able to hear anything.

There was no way she would tell him that she was thinking about their kiss.

Absolutely no way!