“Who the hell are you?” Ella demands, squinting like she can’t quite place me.
Ella’s mom laughs like a hyena.
“You don’t know who I am?” I ask in shock.
“
Why should I?” Ella puts a hand on her hip. “You aren’t famous or anything.”
I shake my head. Granted, I was hiding the whole time behind Declan during our encounter, but she attacked my leg hard enough to break a nail or two. I’d most definitely remember somebody I scratched the crap out of. “You’re even dumber than I thought. No wonder you think Declan’s going to pay for your wedding.”
“Look, lady.” Ella points a finger at me. “I don’t give a shit what you think. Declan’s my brother, and he’s going to do what I say.”
“Then why hasn’t he?” I taunt her. “Oh, that’s right. Because he knows what kind of cold-blooded dog abuser you are.”
“I didn’t abuse that damn dog! I just wanted to free it.”
“Well, yeah, you made the right choice. Because living with you would’ve been worse abuse. I’ll bet your groom will be making lots of 911 calls for domestic violence.”
“I’m not violent!” she screams, her face going crimson.
“You’re violently loud…”
The fuss Ella’s making must’ve caught the attention of Mom’s entourage, because Ms. Bak walks in. She’s one of Mom’s bodyguards, has black belts in tae kwon do and aikido and was on the national judo team. Her eyes scan the area, and she gives Ella a flinty, cold stare that would make the Terminator quail.
Ella takes a step back, along with her mom. I give them a superior smirk and walk out. Ms. Bak gives them one last stare and then turns to follow me.
“Are you all right, Ms. Hae?” she asks.
“I’m fine, other than running into some unrecyclable trash.”
“Would you like me to do something about it?”
I consider for a moment. Ms. Bak has a very…final way of dealing with things. But I don’t want to do that to Ella and her mom. They deserve something a bit more poetic, especially for having said that stuff about Declan. I can’t do anything about the situation Eugene’s in, so I’m going to vent my anger on them instead. “Not just yet. But when I find exactly what I’d like to do, I’ll let you know.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Yuna
It’s incredible how exhausted I feel. And it’s not the Monday effect, either. It was having to spend the entirety of yesterday with Mom, convincing her I should work until Benedict returns because us Haes take our commitments seriously—unlike Sera and her family, cough, cough—then secretly texting Declan that I can’t stop by and feeling bad about it. There’s also the matter of how I’m going to gracefully bring up the conversation I overheard and recorded.
“Hey, you wanna hear something totally crazy?”
Or…
“Hey, did you know your family thinks you’re a human ATM?”
Neither really works. But it isn’t the kind of topic that lends itself to a delicate intro.
At least I got Mom to let me keep working and back off on adding five more bodyguards. So I guess Sunday wasn’t entirely wasted.
Still, I have to do something about the fact that Mr. Choi and Ms. Kim are going to be hanging around constantly. I generally haven’t had a problem with them hovering, but I wasn’t in a relationship before. Mr. Choi and Ms. Kim both started working for me in the last three years. And I’ve been in an anti-dating phase to ensure my parents didn’t dream futile dreams. That would’ve been cruel, and I’m a good daughter.
Now I wish Declan and I were in Korea, and I wasn’t working for him. Then we could meet at a hotel restaurant for lunch or dinner, and sneak in a couple of hours to ourselves in one of the many suites.
Mr. Choi shows up at Ivy’s place with Ms. Kim. I climb into the car, and he shuts the door.
“Lady Min said I can work instead of you, in case you’ve changed your mind,” Ms. Kim says.