Chapter 5 - Behind The Mask

Choi Dea hopped out from the driver seat and closed the car door slowly.

She was standing in front of a small neat two-storey building and the whole place was plunged into dark as the lights were off. She wondered if her sister was in her home, otherwise she weren't aware of where to find her. As usual, she came here without informing her about that.

Choi Joo-eun was a thriving model of a new fashion company and because of her beautiful look, it didn't take much time for her to gain popularity. She was two years younger than Dea, actually they weren't blood siblings by birth. Dea was known of the fact that her sister hated her as much as possible, nothing could stop her from that since she hadn't even hesitated to destroy her own father's company.

Sometimes, hate for someone can go beyond control, it becomes massive.

Choi Dea took a deep breath and passed the gate of the house. She could hear the monotonous humming of grigs from the trees around the house and she noticed some fireflies roaming over there. She walked through the driveway, casually entering her hands into her jeans pockets and climbed up at the doorsteps. She hesitated just for a second and after then she pressed the button of doorbell.

Heavy footsteps approached behind the door which made her frown.

'Is Joo-eun with someone?'

Dea could hear that person switched on the light of the living room and opened the front door steadily.

Her frown went deeper when Sung-ho's handsome face came to her vision.

'This bloody Mafia boss again? What the heck is he doing here in Joo-eun's house?'

Choi Dea eyed him furiously, her eyes went wide when she noticed his shirt was unbuttoned, the top three buttons of above.

'Were they....? Oh my gosh!'

"Miss Choi, please come in," Sung-ho spoke and gestured her to come inside as if it was the most normal thing to do in the world.

"What are you doing in my sister's house?" Dea couldn't help but raise her voice. "Is Joo-eun inside now?"

Sung-ho slowly nodded.

At that moment, her sister Joo-eun emerged behind him, wiping her wet blond colored hair with a towel. "Who is it?"

'What the hell,' Dea thought. 'You bloody Mafia kissed me when you caught me off guard. And now only you know what on the planet you're doing with my sister.'

Joo-eun narrowed her eyes at the moment as soon as she noticed who it was. She glanced at Sung-ho and then turned to Dea.

"Why are you here?" she wanted to know.

"I want to have a talk with you."

Joo-eun didn't want to be hasty and act bad in front of Sung-ho, so she remained her expression calm and waved her hand at her to come inside.

Choi Dea needed to have a civilized talk with her sister, but the atmosphere grew awkward since the Mafia boss was here and the same time, she was becoming suspicious of him. She began to wonder if he had any ulterior motives to approach Joo-eun. Why would she be familiar with a underworld mastermind, anyway?

While questions kept appearing in her head, she glanced at Sung-ho and signed to not mention anything to Joo-eun that they had met before. Also Dea decided that she would be having a talk the Mafia boss alone next time. When she walked into the drawing room, she tilted her head to Sung-ho, "I want to talk with my sister alone. Can you leave now?"

Joo-eun frowned, but smiled at him against her will, she didn't want him to leave so soon. But it was going dark, it would seem more witty if he stayed more long. "See you next time, Mr. Jeong."

Sung-ho nodded understandably, though he knew that he just caused a misunderstanding between him and Dea. When he picked up his coat from the sofa and walked to the door to leave, Joo-eun glared at her.

"Now talk. What do you wanna say?"

"Do you know this man?" Choi Dea eyed the drinks and snacks lying on the table. "Were you two drinking?"

"Gosh, no!" she exclaimed and dropped herself on the couch. "Why would I drink with Mr. Jeong? We just met at a cafe."

"Then why was he in your house?"

"C'mon, Choi Dea. Stop giving me that elder sister look, okay? I accidentally slipped coffee at his shirt. The cafe was nearby, so I invited him in here to change his clothes."

"Why would you invite in a stranger? Do you have men's clothes that he could change into them?" Dea rolled her eyes.

"The coffee was all over his shirt! He didn't even have a car with himself, what else could I do except that, ehh?"

Choi Dea knew there were many loopholes in her story, but she also knew that she would find out about that at last. At that moment, her phone chimed inside her pocket. When she pulled it out, she noticed that it was a message from an unknown number. It said -

"Please don't misunderstand, Choi Dea. Nothing happened between me and Joo-eun, it was just a coincidence. I wanted to explain that to you, so can we meet tomorrow at your office if you want to?"

Dea's forehead furrowed. Because it looked like it came from Sung-ho and he even knew her Korean name. She texted back -

"Nine o'clock sharp tomorrow."

And she shoved the phone back in her pocket.

"Now can we focus on the reason why you came to my house?" Joo-eun took a sip from her drink, annoyingly looking at her.

Choi Dea was habituated with her disgusted face, so she didn't bother to care about that. She casually sat in front of her and spoke coldly, "I know what you did last night."

"What the hell you're talking about?" Joo-eun frowned her perfect plucked brows.

Dea knew that her stubborn sister wouldn't admit that easily about her evil deeds.

"Where were you last night?"

"Why do I need to tell you that?"

"Do you know that our company is having a downfall? Some guys spread rumors in Internet about our makeup foundations, accusing us by false statements. Our stock share has been reduced by five percent and our profits have decreased due to this incident."

"Why are you telling me this?" Joo-eun made a face. "It's your company, not mine."

"Don't say it like that, Joo-eun. Believe it or not, you're always welcome to join me in Dream Shade, nobody is stopping you from that."

Joo-eun slammed her drink bottle on the table, her face turning angry. "Choi Dea, I'll never go there as long as you're the CEO!"

"Oh," Dea smiled at her rage.

"If you have nothing more to whine about your company's bad business, you can leave," she breathed out. "I know what's going on in your that twisted mind. You're thinking that I did something about your business. But you want to know the reason of your downs?" she stood up, talking loudly. "The reason is you, Choi Dea! I knew from the start that Dad was very, very wrong to choose you as the top officer, now you're destroying his company which he made by perseverance and hardship!"

Dea's face hardened after hearing this.

"Look at yourself in the mirror first before getting suspicious of your sister without any proof," Joo-eun blurt out for the last time, then stormed out from the room to upstairs.

Choi Dea just could stare blankly at the wall.