When The Phone Rings

Chapter 19

It was as if Sa-eon had been waiting for her. She was being watched relentlessly.

"You seem quite familiar with hotels, Hong Heeju."

His deeply sunken pupils stared at her with remarkable intensity.

Heeju was indeed familiar with hotels. She often had to accompany her third generation chaebol sister.

When she nodded obediently, the man's expression twisted in irritation.

"Familiar, huh?"

He chewed on the word.

Yes, I am. So what?

She nodded again, this time more emphatically.

Baek Sa-eon clenched his teeth several times.

Heeju stared blankly at his clenched jaw, where Sa-eon's veins would bulge and then disappear. Soon she followed him into the living room.

This was the top floor suite with a panoramic view of Seoul.

"Now that the tears are gone, shall we talk?"

For some reason, his voice was tinged with irritation.

"Is it about the blackmailer?

Baek Sa-eon continued to fiddle with his Zippo lighter, clicking it on and off. His face, in stark contrast to his fidgeting hands, was completely cold.

"There were no signs of hacking on your phone."

Finally, he closed the lighter and spoke, placing Heeju's phone on the wooden desk.

"Of course it wasn't.

Heeju wasn't surprised. The photo of the garter belt had been taken on the criminal's phone.

Her own phone was probably clean. There weren't even many contacts saved on it, and the most anyone would find would be exaggerated texts from Director Han Joon at the centre.

"But there were some suspicious traces."

What?

"That guy, Han Joon... What kind of person is he?"

"...!"

"Every other word in the message is 'dear' this, 'dear' that."

Baek Sa-eon's eyes narrowed as he noticed her stunned expression.

"Sit down."

He pulled out a chair and ordered.

"Sit down and reply with the keyboard."

"...!"

"Because we're about to have what some might call a conversation."

Is he trying to get something out of me?

"This is not an interrogation," Baek Sa-eon replied sharply, clicking his tongue.

For someone who claimed not to have the ability to read people's minds, he seemed like a liar.

"I've recently been targeted by a blackmailer. From your car to my office, even my father's nursing home - they've been everywhere. Of course you're in danger too."

"..."

"That's why I can't let suspicious people get away."

Is he... talking about the director? Baek Sa-eon's reasoning wasn't entirely wrong, but it wasn't entirely correct either.@@@@

The blackmailer was Heeju himself, although the hostage-taker was orchestrating it from behind the scenes. This complicated arrangement gave Heeju a headache.

Reluctantly, she sat down in the large executive chair. Soon, the blank white monitor was filled with her typed words.

"Director?"

He caught the word immediately.

"How young were you?"

Baek Sa-eon was silent for a moment.

Did they really have to maintain this hollow, degrading relationship? Was it worth crushing each other's dignity like this?

Heeju's expression began to harden visibly.

If only night would come quickly...

She was no longer afraid of imprisonment or false accusations. Her spirit, battered and bruised, had learned to endure.

She was desperate... desperate to make a call.

***

How much time had passed?

Someone broke the silence and rang the doorbell.

"...!"

But Baek Sa-eon didn't move a muscle. So Heeju had to knock on the glass door.

Someone is here.

She pointed at the door with a sullen expression.

Although he clearly understood her signal, the man just inhaled his cigarette. Then he stepped closer to the glass and exhaled a long puff of smoke in her face.

A transparent veil of smoke obscured her vision.

'You j*rk!'

Heeju slapped the glass with her palm.

Baek Sa-eon let out a small chuckle and casually stubbed out his cigarette near where her lips would have been on the other side of the glass.

'...!'

Even with the barrier of the glass, the act felt deeply insulting to Heeju.

The moment he crushed the cigarette butt, its crumpled edges were vividly etched in her mind.

Baek Sa-eon finally entered the room, passed Heeju without a glance and opened the hotel door.

An elderly gentleman with grey hair entered.

"Why do you want this old man running around..."

"You're late," Baek Sa-eon said curtly.

The faintly poisonous smell of smoke lingered in the room.

At the age of twelve, Heeju had caught Sa-eon smoking a cigarette in his neat school uniform. She scolded him and told him to stop before storming out.

It was the first time since that day that she had smelled that stench on him.

When Baek Sa-eon stepped aside to let the old man in, his eyes widened.

"Oh, what a charming young lady."

Heeju bowed awkwardly.

"This guy wouldn't even listen to a word of my nagging about taking supplements..."

"Give her a shot. It would make you cry less."

"And here I thought it was strange that you called..."

Heeju tried to move away discreetly, but Baek Sa-eon blocked her with his arm. Before she realised it, she was being led into the bedroom.

Moments later, she was lying down, receiving an IV from the doctor.

Perhaps she was more exhausted than she realised; her mind soon began to drift into a haze.

As the voices around her grew fainter and fainter, Heeju was completely overtaken by sleep.

***

This... feels warm.

A rough hand brushed her stray hair aside and the cold touch on her forehead felt strangely tender.

She tried to open her eyes, but her heavy eyelids refused to budge.

Lost in her dreams, Heeju lingered on the blackmail call and the passage of time, replaying them endlessly in her mind.