"Mr. Jeong, are you okay? You suddenly seem.... distracted."
"I-I'm...fine, it's.... fine," Sung-ho answered somehow, his hands were shaking because of that ugly memory. He pressed his hands together forcefully under the desk, ignoring the pain running through his nerves.
Choi Dea looked at him with slight worry, wondering why he was sweating so hard. After he explained everything what happened with her sister and him, even though she wasn't sure whether it was truth or not, her expression softened a bit. She also noticed how he had reacted when she had mentioned his father Shi-woo. So she assumed that the relationship between Mafia son and father might not be good.
"Thank you for your explanation about Joo-eun," she said after a moment. "And I would prefer if you don't tell about this incident to anybody. Ever."
Sung-ho frowned a little. "Urm, sure."
She glanced at the bracelet again which her friend had given it to her when she was little. Even though she couldn't remember that, she liked to wear it everyday. Dea had been to many neurologists searching for why she didn't have any memories before when she was her eight years old, but couldn't find the answer. Doctors had said something must happened at that period of time or it was normal to forget memories of little age since she had grown up.
"Dad told me that I played with you when you and your father visited our home," she spoke gently and a genuine smile curved up her lips. She didn't know how to feel when she heard she had played childish game with this Mafia boss years ago, but perhaps it felt good.
Sung-ho shifted uneasily in the chair, biting his lips briefly. "Mr. Choi did?"
"Hm-mm. Do you remember?"
"Of course I do. I was eight then," he still could recall that day. He had seen a little girl sitting on the tiny swing alone, looked thoughtful as always and her brown braid was moving slowly. Feeling someone's presence behind her, she had tilted her head to him and offered him a cold stare with her big eyes, but also said, "Do you wanna play with me?"
"It's.... good that you remember," Choi Dea swirled the pen by her fingers. "I don't know what happened to me, but I don't remember."
Sung-ho looked away from her. That meant she didn't know who had given her that bracelet, either. He wanted to take a deep breath, but the knot of tie felt too tight around his neck.
"Do you want to remember?" he blurted out.
"What?" her eyes snapped to his.
"Do you want to know even though it might not be a pleasant memory?"
"What are you talking about?"
Sung-ho swallowed nervously and abruptly stood up from the chair, casting a glance at his wristwatch. "I'm sorry, Miss Choi. I have an important task to do, so I'm afraid that I have to go now."
"Wait," Dea hurriedly said. "Mr. Jeong..... I wanted to ask you something earlier."
"What is it?" he turned.
"Um... what I wanted to ask was... actually it was...." she felt like a coward.
"Was.....?" he elaborated the question.
"Is there a any chance where we still can cancel the deal we made?"
Sung-ho looked at her with a little surprised eyes and slowly took a few steps forward to her desk. He flatly placed his palms on the desk, leaning into her and gazed at her eyes with a smirk at his mouth.
"Choi Dea, you're really something. But I never thought that you would want to break a deal which you just made yesterday. You have realized your company's problems aren't that vital and you're already backing off from our deal?" he leant more closer, piercing her by his unreadable green eyes. "Or are you.... afraid that you can't handle the exchange?"
"Oh yeah, the exchange," Dea tried to keep her expression neutral, but it was tough for her since he was that closure.
"Don't worry, the exchange is already mine or it will be soon," Sung-ho smiled devilishly and walked to the door to leave.
"But, Mr. Jeong....." she stood up.
"A deal is a deal, Miss Choi," he said fiercely before he slammed the door.
Choi Dea groaned with annoyance and pressed the intercom, "Myung-dae!"
"Yes, boss!" he replied instantly.
"Bring your ass here quickly!" she snapped.
Dea glanced at the paperwork which was thing she hated the most. She pulled out the cigar case from the top drawer and swiveled her chair to the window, doing some thinking as usual. She lit up the lighter and stare at the flickering flames for a while, trying to restrain the urge.
"Screw the fear of health disease! I will die no matter what," she mumbled and held the cigar between her lips, lighting it. She felt much relaxed than earlier after inhaling a deep puff.
"Dea, you're smoking again," Myung-dae said disapprovingly and placed his hands on his waists and looked at her if she was a bad girl.
'Damn it! What's wrong with you again?'
"Sit," she uttered one word.
"First let me open the window. I hate the smell of cigarettes, you know it. It feels stuffy and it's bad for both of our health....." he suddenly trailed off noticing her cold glare.
"Don't talk."
Myung-dae frowned at her.
"Sit," she puffed the smoke enjoyably.
Myung-dae crinkled his nose and sat on the chair, trying to figure out her problem. He saw a minute ago that his Brother Jeong had left her office, but his face didn't say something wrong happened between them and he smiled at him briefly, too.
'Gosh. They both are so cold and unreadable and fierce. And in the middle of their business, I'm the poor Lee Myung-dae!'
"I made a deal with that Mafia."
"WHHAATTTT!" Myung-dae cried with utter shock, he questioned himself quickly if anything wrong with his ears. "Y-you made a what with who?!"
"You know I don't like to repeat, Myung-dae," she pressed the butt of cigar in the ashtray. "So yes, what you heard was right. I made a deal with Mafia Sung-ho, thanks to you."
Myung-dae blinked rapidly, digesting what his friend just said to him. Did anyone ever get a feeling that the earth was circling around itself in a wrong way, counter-clockwise? He felt the same.
"Even though I respect Brother Jeong, I would tell you that what you did wasn't proper, Choi Dea. It was idiotic actually," he couldn't help but blurt out.
Dea raised her eyebrows at him. "Did you.... did you just call me stupid?"
"No, no, no," he jerked off his hands vigorously along with his head, frightened by her death glare. "Why would I call you stupid, boss? You're such an intelligent and powerful and cunning woman.... how could I say that word to you? Heh heh."
"So do speak," Dea tilted her head to him. "Tell me every single thing you can know about Jeong Sung-ho."
Myung-dae gulped down furiously.
'I'm so dead today. Wait, don't I die every day?' he asked himself in mind.