CHAPTER 227: CHAPTER 226. A PROPER FAREWELL

"How is she?"

It had been a week since Sarah handed Mari to Sol for whatever internship was happening inside his group of unique personas. Coming from the girl who used to text her for a random menu in the mansion, it felt rather jarring; either she was too busy with the training or too drained.

"Having fun, it seems," Sol chuckled at Sarah’s suspicious gaze. She was only three years older than Mari, but acting like her auntie or something. "She loves spying on people," he added.

"Geez...how could she turn this way?" Sarah shook her head exasperatedly.

"Because of you?"

Who made her into a little spy in the first place? Rather than making a spy drama, the little lamb wanted to act on one instead, in real life. Perhaps on her way to be a shepherd.

"Damn..." Sarah grimaced.

She should have thought it through before involving an unrelated person, really. This was why they ended up with a pregnant woman whose child’s future would be heavily affected by the result of this whole debacle.

Sol chuckled again at Sarah’s visible worry. "I won’t place her in the frontline, so there’s no need to worry."

"That’s a relief," Sarah nodded.

"Not yet, anyway."

She snatched her purse from Hajin and used it to smack the manager on the back while they were riding the elevator to the Golden Dome. As always, Sol just laughed casually and bid them goodbye in front of the door.

"See you later," he waved his hand, humming while walking away; probably happy that he didn’t have to do much work for Sarah’s plan anymore.

From this point, it was Austin’s territory.

This time, there was no big table for an afternoon tea, just a small round table for three people at most. There were only two chairs though, and one of them was already filled. Sarah recognized the usual bodyguards in their places, and everything felt like a reminiscence of that summer night.

If it wasn’t for the different flowers--which she still didn’t know the names of--Sarah would have thought she was slipping into the past. Maybe because Yonghwa also wore similar-looking clothes.

"Don’t abuse my general," he said behind his teacup; a book spread on his lap.

"That’s how I show affection," Sarah shrugged, sitting down on the only other chair that Hajin pulled for her.

"I can attest to that," Hajin added cheekily before heading to the trolley to prepare a tea for Sarah.

Yonghea snickered. "Is that why you run them ragged?"

"Well..." Sarah smiled helplessly, feeling rather guilty.

She knew very well how much she was using the resources that Yonghwa provided as her investor. It was thanks to that that she could finish this in five years instead of ten, or even fifteen. Look at Joseph, who still couldn’t do much even after spending decades.

"It’ll be over soon, anyway..." she muttered.

Just one last step, and she could rest. Perhaps even peacefully, although she was very much doubting it.

"Is it?" Yonghwa closed his book and placed it gently on the table, looking up as if he could see the night sky. "How the time flies."

"It feels like a long, long time for me," Sarah said, exhaling slowly in a moment of peace, inhaling the aroma from the tea that Hajin made for her.

The last six months felt like it was flashing by, but the five years before that felt like decades. Perhaps because she was mostly alone at that time, being watched by the subordinate of her enemy. Away from the target of her resentment, every day felt so long as her impatient grew and grew.

Thinking back, perhaps that was why she got so eager to hunt those gang members who caused her mother’s death right after she arrived. She was that impatient, bidding her time for five years was almost unbearable.

And at last, in just a few days, everything would be over.

Sarah raised her gaze. "You’ll keep your promise, right?"

"I always honor an agreement," Yonghwa said, looking up from the spread of flower stalks in front of him to glance at Hajin who was standing behind Sarah. "Don’t you agree, puppy?"

"I’m not your puppy," Hajin replied curtly, pursing his lips.

"Your own puppy would sulk, you know," Sarah chuckled. She leaned forward and narrowed her eyes. "You were already scolding him into buying my land, weren’t you?"

Yonghwa smiled nonchalantly. "Everything will come back to me, anyway."

"Well, that’s true," Sarah nodded.

Holding two stalks in his hands, Yonghwa tilted his head. He looked like he was trying to decide which poisonous flower would be better for the centerpiece of his arrangement, but he asked her something totally unrelated. "Hmm...is there any reason why you chose that date?"

Sarah’s hand paused in the air, suspending the teacup from her lips. "Why?"

"It just feels random, doing it on a Thursday," Yonghwa shrugged, placing a white flower in the vase. "And your puppy looks tense every time that date is mentioned."

Sarah glanced at Hajin, who was cheekily turning away so she couldn’t check his facial expression. Well...he was the only one who knew the significance of that date anyway.

Sarah smiled with a bitter melancholy. "It’s someone’s...death anniversary."

"Hmm..." Yonghwa twirled a bunch of small, round red flowers in his hand, observing both of the youngsters’ expressions; the frown in Hajin’s and the mockery in Sarah’s. "Must have been a meaningful someone."

Sarah snickered. "If I have to be honest, I didn’t like this person much."

"Oh?"

Sarah propped her cheek against the table, closing her eyes with a forlorn smile. She could see it sometimes in her constant nightmare; the flash and the scent of gunpowder; the biting cold and the clutching fear.

But she couldn’t possibly trap herself inside that moment forever.

"That’s why...it’s kind of a closure," she opened her eyes. "A proper farewell."

"I see..." Yonghwa smiled. "In that case, we should make sure to decorate it with beautiful fireworks. Or..." he paused, glancing at the girl across the table. "Would you rather have a bonfire?"

Looking at those hazel eyes behind the vase of deadly flowers, Sarah felt like Yonghwa somehow knew that she was talking about her own death. But that would mean he knew about Sarah’s regression, and it sounded...scary.

She didn’t feel like she should seek confirmation.

"Well...why not both?" she shrugged.

Yonghwa smiled and slipped a purple one below the centerpiece. "Both, it is."

* * *

"Why are you so jumpy, puppy?" Sarah asked once they got home. Hajin had been quiet after the meeting with Yonghwa, and it wasn’t hard to guess why.

"I don’t like it," he replied with a tense jaw while storing Sol’s mulled wine inside the fridge.

Sarah leaned against the counter, smiling. "The date?"

"Yeah," Hajin turned around with a frown. "It feels like a bad jinx."

Was there even a good jinx? Sarah chuckled. Looking at Hajin like this, pursing his lips in disapproval, the man seemed to merge into a puppy more and more.

"Why did you choose that date anyway?" he even used a whiny tone, which almost made Sarah laugh.

"Didn’t you hear what I told Yonghwa?" Sarah waved her hand to beckon the man. "It’s a closure."

Hajin walked closer, caging her against the counter with his arms. Sarah looked up and stroked the pursing lips. "You see, puppy...once that day ends, I’ll step into a new life, a new day my previous self hadn’t lived through," she smiled. "Don’t you think it deserves something special?"

Hajin stared at her silently for a while, before sighing heavily and holding her in a tight embrace. "I wish that something special were fun stuff like a date or a vacation."

Sarah tilted her head inside the hug. "What’s not fun about seeing all of my plans come into fruition?"

Hajin chuckled helplessly before pulling back and letting her go. "I guess."

"My cool wolf is turning into a worrywart domestic dog," Sarah laughed and jumped to ruffle the giant puppy, so Hajin picked her up so she didn’t have to strain, carrying her to the living room.

"Which one do you prefer?" he asked cheekily.

"Can’t I have both?"

Hajin laughed and kissed her to the bedroom--or at least he meant to. They felt a vibration from Sarah’s pocket and had to stop.

"Oh, a call--" she paused when she saw the caller’s ID, lips curling coldly. "Hee..."

Hajin put her down on the couch as she took the call. She didn’t waste time with meaningless greetings and went straight to the point. "Have you decided?"

[Yes] the chairman replied dryly.

The chief secretary must have managed to convince the executives at last--and advised the chairman that it was impossible to win--because what Sarah heard next started with a sigh.

[Let’s do as you said] the chairman announced his defeat. [I’ll give you all of my shares]

* * *

"I’ll give you all of my shares," the chairman said while clutching his temple in the study. Documents were piling at his desk, a testament to his effort in finding a way to best Sarah’s well-prepared weapon.

Perhaps because of those piling documents, he couldn’t see another daughter standing in front of the slightly ajar door, or how that daughter turned around and walked away with a vicious expression.

"Damn it!" Amber cursed as she returned to her bedroom. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

It wasn’t just appointing Sarah as the heiress, but also handing over the shares? All the shares?

"Does this confirm it? She’ll become the heiress?" Ruby asked in panic.

The heiress? With that amount of shares, she might as well be the chairwoman already!

"What should we do?" the younger girl paced around the room.

Amber, meanwhile, bit her nails while staring at her phone. She didn’t think things would be moving this fast, so she was still looking for another way. But this...

It seemed like they were running out of time and options.

"The board meeting is on the twenty-ninth, isn’t it?" she asked her attendant.

"Yes, Miss."

Ruby raised her brow. "What about it?"

"Something like this is usually announced at the board meeting, so Father would probably give it to her at that time, don’t you think?"

"Yeah, so?"

Amber narrowed her eyes coldly. "So, we should do something on that day."