The phone was ringing continuously.
And boringly.
Dea relaxed herself under the shower, letting the water wash the soap lather from her body. She turned off the showerhead after quite a while and brushed the fog away from the mirror glass by her hand. She intensely looked into her brown eyes, while water was dripping from her hair. Then she let out a frustrated sigh and wrapped a towel around her naked body.
After she stepped out from the bathroom, she picked up the phone, praising the caller's super lengthy patience.
"What's up, Myung-dae?"
"Gosh. What's with that voice?" His voice came through. "Are you alright?"
"No, I don't think I'm. And yeah I was, until now," she replied curtly. "I feel annoyed. What did you call for?"
"Really? CIO Ji-ho got the IP address a minute ago, so I called you to let you know that."
Dea put the phone in loudspeaker and started to shake the water from her hair gently, glancing at the hair dryer. She plugged it in with the socket, putting it on low motion.
"Who is the person?"
"His IT team just found the IP address of the computer in that public Internet cafe. They hacked the program system and found the account of YouTube channel. Then... they again tracked that account and discovered the house address of this fraud. Though they don't know whether it's a man or woman yet, until someone goes and checks the owner of the building" Myung-dae replied hurriedly.
"That's funny," Choi Dea chuckled.
"What? I can't hear you properly," Myung-dae cried loudly. "What did you just say?"
Dea looked at the phone with mock confusion. "But I can hear you, Myung-dae. Why can't you hear me back?"
"What's with that noise? Are you mixing something in a blender? Turn off the switch, so that I can hear you!"
She glanced at her wet hair, moving the blower slowly. "It doesn't look like a blender."
"What the hell you're saying?"
Choi Dea ignored his virtual loud voice and continued to dry her hair slowly, taking time as much as it's possible. She assumed that her friend didn't use hair dryer usually, so that he wouldn't recognize the sound.
'Work and work,' she sighed.
Dea put on her usual loose-fitting t-shirt and pajamas, standing in front of the large dressing table. She applied some night cream on her face and closed the tube, getting ready for going to sleep.
She walked to her bedroom and switched off the light, then lay on the soft bed quietly. The moonlight was still illuminating the room as the window was opened. The smell of jasmine flowers covered the air, right outside there was a little garden front of the condo and it was made by her when she had got vacations time.
As her usual routine at night, Dea checked Internet and their official website. She noticed that Jae-hwa already had posted a video of how the foundation 'Petals' was truly made and also made sure that it didn't have any side effects on skin. He added at the last to not spread rumors whoever were doing this and warned that their company would inform the police security if there was a second attempt to try making their products looking bad.
Then Choi Dea checked her message inbox and saw Myung-dae had texted her the address of the impersonator. He knew that whose house it was, so he added nothing more.
Dea's suspicion was right.
The house address was exactly Joo-eun's.
~√~√~√~√~√~√~
The next morning.
Choi Dea glanced at the clock, it was five minutes before nine. She thought about the text which had been sent to her from the Mafia boss, he had said that he would come. Actually after she had left the house, she didn't give much thoughts about what her father said about Sung-ho. It was normal for her that their fathers were old friends and she and he had played together one day since they were very little. And she had been caught off guard because of Sung-ho's sudden kiss.
It didn't mean nothing, did it?
Dea suddenly felt annoyed and gave her attention back to the piles of files. She found it absurd that she was waiting for him to come to her office. Did it matter what had happened between Joo-eun and Sung-ho? If he had any motive towards her family, she would payback him for sure, of course she wouldn't care whether he was a Mafia or not.
At that moment, a knock at the door made her come back from her thoughts.
Jeong Sung-ho entered into the room, wearing a black suit and white shirt, his hands were put in his pants' pockets. His face was bright and his glowing green eyes were boring into hers, his smooth dark brown hair was falling on his forehead like before.
Dea gulped down spontaneously, she was feeling like taken aback by his sudden appearance.
"Miss Choi," he softly spoke out, stopping in front of the desk.
"Take a seat, Mr. Jeong," she said curtly.
"Thank you."
Sung-ho placed himself on a chair, sitting while his backbone was straight and gazed at her lovingly. Dea dropped the pen on the desk, thinking if staring was a disease of him. She wondered where to begin speaking with him and what the thing they should talk about.
"You wanted to meet," she started.
Sung-ho smiled at her. "I did."
"Do you have any ill intentions towards Joo-eun? Because if you do, it's not going to be good for you."
"God, no!" Sung-ho frowned. "Hear me what exactly happened yesterday, Miss Choi. I saw the fake videos which were creating rumors of your company. So, I hooked some of my guys whose are expert in hacking, they found the culprit. Then I searched in Internet for your sister and I found that she's a model. You may.... not know that, aside that I'm a Mafia, I have many others business and I have recently become a partner of a fashionable clothing company," he paused for a second, watching her reaction. "Then I called to offer her a contract with my company due to her fashion skill and I met with your sister in a cafe nearby her house. And yes, she accidentally slipped coffee in my shirt, I thought it was really unintentional. When she offered me to come in her house and change the clothes, I guessed that it would be a pretty good opportunity to fetch her computer and reveal it that she was the fraud," he finished speaking, waiting for her to talk.
"Oh," that's all she said.
'What's with this reaction?' he thought.
"You don't seem surprised, Miss Choi."
"I'm not."
"Why? You should be. I don't know that why your sister Joo-eun would do that. After all it's her father's company, right?"
"I already knew. So stop explaining," Dea bluntly said, frowning. It annoyed her that this Mafia boss had quick connection than hers, his people found out the truth so quickly.
Sung-ho scowled lightly. 'Oh, she knew.'
Choi Dea swiveled her chair and suddenly questioned at him, "Do you know my father, Mr. Jeong?"
Sung-ho felt extremely nervous after hearing the question, his uneasiness was for a certain reason which she wasn't aware of. He shifted uncomfortably in the chair, turning his gaze away from her. "How can I not your father? Of course, I know."
Dea touched the bracelet around her wrist, circling the stars in it. "I just came to know that your father Jeong Shi-woo and my father were friends. I mean... no offense, but I never thought my father would be friends with a Mafia. They are even from different cities."
Sung-ho breathed out shakily, while a memory of a day struck him hard which had happened years ago, the day when he and his father had visited Dea's family.