CHAPTER 138: CHAPTER 137. SURPRISE VISIT

"Ngh..."

Sarah blinked her eyes open to a dim room. A blanket neatly cocooned her instead of a pair of arms she felt when she drifted to sleep. Glancing at the digital clock on the nightstand, it seemed like she was sleeping till dawn. She must have been more exhausted than she thought--mentally and physically.

Raising her head to look at the clock made her realize she was alone in bed. Sarah narrowed her eyes, patting the empty spot beside her.

"Hmm...I thought I’d finally be able to see his sleeping face..." Sarah mumbled in disappointment. She rolled to her stomach, feeling the side of the bed where Hajin was supposed to lie on no longer warm. "When did he even wake up?"

No matter how late she went to bed and how early she rose, Hajin never beat the allegation of never spending time sleeping. Sarah sighed and rolled around lazily with closed eyes on the bed until she heard familiar footsteps crossing the bedroom.

"I thought you were having a nightmare again," Hajin chuckled as the bed dipped beneath his weight. He hovered above his princess as the black eyes fluttered open before leaning down to kiss her cheek. "Do you feel pain anywhere?"

Sarah held the man’s chin and pulled him down for a real kiss on the lips. A soft and brief one. "My shoulder, as expected. My upper arm, more like. It’s not too bad, though, just like the first day at the self-defense studio," Sarah muttered. "Rather than that, I’m hungry."

"I know you will," Hajin said while lifting her pajama sleeve, checking for bruises. "Hmm...at least there’s no visible bruise."

Sarah wanted to say it would be better if there was for the narrative, but...she didn’t want to get scolded again that morning.

Especially by someone who would make her breakfast.

"I already cooked some," Hajin retreated while gently pulling his lethargic princess up. He took the glass of water he had already prepared on the nightstand for Sarah. "I think we’ll still need to go to the hospital to check."

And he was back to his worrywart self. But, well...it was still good to make it seem like she was really injured.

"Sure," Sarah said obediently after finishing her water. She raised her arms just as Hajin left the bed, putting on an innocent lamb face. "Carry me."

"You’re getting cunning, Princess..." Hajin clicked his tongue. But he carried Sarah with ease as usual, chuckling while doing so. He knew Sarah was ’currying favor’ with him, but what could he do? He just loved being taken advantage of by his princess.

Admittedly, Sarah had been liking this princess treatment more and more. She would never admit it, but being carried around by those two strong arms was pretty sweet. Playing with the puppy’s hair and ear while at it, or kissing his sharp jaw on the way was a bonus. She told herself she was indulging her puppy, but...perhaps she was secretly indulging herself too.

Hajin certainly did with the breakfast he prepared.

"This is not ’some’ you know..." Sarah muttered when she saw the full dining table.

There must have been at least a dozen side dishes. There was a pot on the stove for a main dish, shimmering away, and a claypot with warm soup. What seemed to be marinated fish ready to be either grilled or pan-fried--Sarah had no idea. The air fryer seemed to be working on something too.

Everything was to her taste, but...was this actually a buffet or something?

"It’s a dinner and breakfast in one," Hajin shrugged. "Do you want a steamed egg, Princess? I can whip one too--I’ll even throw in cheese if you’d like."

"I don’t think my stomach works like that..." Sarah muttered while taking a seat in a daze. "With cheese seems nice, though."

Hajin chuckled while taking some eggs from the fridge. "Don’t worry, someone will come and take care of the leftovers."

"Who?" Sarah tilted her head, before laughing to herself. "Mari?"

"She texted saying she was in the third wife’s quarters last night," Hajin said.

Sarah arched her brow and leaned back with a smile. "My, my...she was the sacrificial lamb."

"As always."

And indeed, after Sarah finished her breakfast and washed her face, Mari came with her usual setup of broom and mop--even though everyone was using a vacuum cleaner. She was so excited too, probably because she finally had something worthy to report.

She was even excited enough to grab Hajin’s collar in demonstration--just for a few seconds, before the bodyguard shot her a glare. She let go of the man sheepishly, before returning to her storytelling.

"So they do have a plan, huh?"

"It’s suspicious, isn’t it, Miss?" Mari looked at Sarah with sparkling eyes. "Is this why you asked me to spy on the madam’s activity? Also, I’m sure they have a relationship, Miss!"

"It’s not exactly very hidden," Sarah tapped her lips. "But people probably never thought the inferior brother and the wife who had nothing could cook up something dangerous enough against the chairman or the group."

"Complacency," Hajin muttered while opening the food cover on the dining table.

"Have a meal, Mari," Sarah pointed at the food with her chin. "I wonder how far their plan is going. It could go both ways for me."

If their plan was half-baked, it would only amount to creating chaos that was beneficial for Sarah. If they had something strong like hidden shares with borrowed names, then Sarah might find an unexpected hurdle on the way.

"Then you should have someone else take care of them, Master."

"Battle of snakes, huh?" Sarah curled her lips.

Mari, who had gone to heaven for a bit from the best breakfast she had on years, tilted her head in confusion. What snakes? What plan? She was curious, but also too scared to dig more. In the end, she decided not to think about it at all when a pair of grey eyes were looking at her sharply.

Right. Let’s focus on the delicious food instead. Mari raised her thumbs at Hajin. "You should open a restaurant or something, Sir."

"I don’t cook for just anyone," Hajin said flatly. "You’re lucky Master left something for you."

"I’m eternally grateful, Miss!"

Sarah responded with an eye roll. "You people are so dramatic."

Mari giggled cheerfully before returning to the breakfast she would never get from the main house. Even if it was just a leftover, who cares if the quality was that high? In the main house, the housekeeper only gave junior staff like her low-quality stuff and what was left from the senior staff’s meal. Naturally, stuff like meat and seafood usually had gone by the time she could eat.

Honestly, just for this alone, she was willing to be loyal to Sarah.

But suddenly, Hajin grabbed her apron and dragged her to the kitchen. "Little Lamb, to the sink."

"H-huh?"

Still with a soup bowl in her hand, Mari blinked in confusion when Hajin started to throw the dishes into the sink--even the ones with food still on them. Mari gasped and lamented at the waste, but Hajin didn’t care.

"Quick," he hissed while opening the faucet, eyes darted toward the door. "Wash the dish."

Wobbling in front of the sink, Mari raised the soup bowl to her lips. "Can I at least finish thi--"

Before she could finish, they heard a loud knock on the door. That in itself wasn’t surprising--what was surprising was the voice following the knock.

"Sarah."

Mari hiccuped in reflex upon realizing it was the chairman’s voice. She almost shrieked, throwing her soup bowl in reflex, and snatched the sponge. "Washing the dishes it is!"

Phew...what would become of her if the chairman saw she was eating at the same dining table as the young miss? When it wasn’t her break time, no less!

While Mari hurriedly busied herself in the kitchen, Hajin opened the door to see the house manager and the chairman. In a slow, relaxed manner, Sarah strolled from the kitchen to the living room, smiling subtly at this rare appearance.

"If it wasn’t the chairman," Sarah curled her eyes, the smile jarring with her dry tone. She couldn’t remember the chairman ever coming to the annex before, even when her mother stayed there. He was the type to call people to him if he wanted to see them, not the other way around.

Usually, the house manager would shoot a disapproving look ot scold her, but it seemed like the two old men had decided not to aggravate Sarah. The house manager just looked away while the chairman quietly entered the annex and walked to the living room.

Glancing around the room as if he were visiting someone else’s house, the chairman finally spoke after reaching the couch. "Are you alright?"

"Physically?" Sarah tilted her head. Her shoulder might not look bruised, but the skin on her jaw and neck was more delicate. "What do you think?"

The chairman frowned slightly. "I’m going to call the family doctor."

"For what?" Sarah sat down, deliberately taking the only armchair available so the chairman would have to sit on a regular couch like a guest. One corner of her lips lifted cynically. "So no one would be able to see the result? So you can put what happened under wraps?"

The house manager furrowed his brows--not only for what Sarah said, but also for her manner of not giving the chairman a face. "Young Miss--"

"Why are you here?" Sarah interjected sharply before the house manager could say anything. "Get out of my annex."

"Miss!"

Unlike the house manager, however, the chairman was too tired to fight and just waved his hand dismissively. "Wait outside."

The house manager widened his eyes in surprise. "Mr. Chairman... "

But the chairman only threw him a sharp glance and, after sighing in defeat, the first old man left the annex. As a courtesy, Hajin served the chairman his freshly brewed coffee, and the open kitchen door led the chairman’s eyes to the poor girl washing the dishes desperately.

"What about that one?" the chairman cocked his head toward the little lamb in the kitchen, who almost hiccuped from fried nerves.

"What about her? She’s here to work, since my puppy had to take care of my bruises," Sarah scoffed lightly, before dropping her voice. "And I don’t hate her."

If there was something Sarah didn’t bother to cover, it was her blatant dislike toward the house manager and the housekeeper. Toward her father too, for that matter. When he didn’t care before, the chairman thought it was nothing more than a silly tantrum. Now, he couldn’t help but feel the sting of the unfiltered hatred.

Sighing, the chairman decided to focus on his objection to coming down to this place he had never stepped into before. "What you said earlier...you can’t possibly want people to know what happened?"

"So you do want to hide it," Sarah smirked.

"Sarah, what goods will come from making people know about it? It’ll only hurt your reputation," the chairman frowned.

"My reputation?" Sarah laughed. "What reputation do I have? Might as well tarnish it even more."

Lee Hyuk felt his temple throb. Actually, it had been throbbing a lot lately, especially last night. Everything seemed to fall apart after his second daughter came back, although all she was doing was existing.

"You’re truly too much, Chairman," Sarah snickered while shaking her head in exasperation. "I had thought you didn’t care about image at all, but you keep on shielding someone who wasn’t even your child."

"I’m not going to make him the heir anymore," the chairman quickly retorted, but Sarah simply replied dubiously, as if she couldn’t believe it.

"Is that so?"

"I’m not shielding him, Sarah. I’m trying to shield you."

"By telling me to shut up."

"That’s not--" the chairman paused and again, sighing in exhaustion. "What do you want?"

Sarah smiled deeply. "What do you offer?"