"What kind of car do you want?" He asked her as he drove on the main street under the pouring rain.
Min-Jin, who had been silent ever since they left the cafe, smiled at him.
"Just like this one. It's comfy and not too eye-catching."
"I see." He smiled and then made a call back home.
"Master."
"I will not be back tonight, Aunt Lu. Please don't prepare dinner for me."
"Yes, Master."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes. The Young Ladies have been busy since morning. They are very hardworking." She happily told him about the good things of her Young Ladies, and he smiled at her words.
"Take care of yourself, Aunt Lu. See you."
Min-Jin, curiously looked at him after he finished the call, but she did not ask any questions.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the AMG showroom, and she blushed as he grabbed her hand and pulled her inside.
"Master Zarayne!" Not long after they entered, an enthusiastic old man, wearing a suit, came downstairs to greet him.
He bowed and then excitedly shook hands. Seeing that Mikael was holding Min-Jin's hand, he also respectfully greeted her.
"We are here to buy a car for my girlfriend, Manager Goodwin."
"Do you have something in mind?
"Performance, safety, class, and luxury." He smiled.
The manager brightly smiled as he understood that Mikael wanted nothing less than the best they had to offer.
"We have four new S-Class Sedans in the showroom right now, two of them are equipped with all the best options."
"Lead the way."
Min-Jin's eyes brightened when she saw a crystal-silver-coloured car.
The manager was paying attention to her and smiled when he saw which car had caught her attention.
"This is our AMG-Maybach S 99 Performance. All options. 4.4 litre, twin-turbocharged, V8. Makes 627 horsepower, and the electric motor can shoot it up to 701 horsepower..."
Goodwin informed her about its specs and suggested that she take a look at the interior.
"It's one of our finest cars in recent years. There's no better luxury and performance sedan than this one." He confidently said, and being as good a salesman as he was, he sold the car to Min-Jin's mind within a couple of minutes. "You can also place an order, but it will take a couple of months."
"Do you like it?" Mikael asked when he saw her happily return to his side.
"I love it." She nodded her head, and he smiled at the Manager of the showroom.
"We will take it. Let's finish the formalities."
"This way, Master Zarayne."
An hour later, after going through all the paperwork, and after Min-Jin chose a licence plate number, all of which was going to be processed by the showroom on her behalf, Mikael made the full payment of 287,000 Draks.
The car was going to be delivered to Min-Jin after it had been registered in the Province and the license plate was issued.
"I thought we could just take the car away from the showroom." She said as soon as they entered his car and left the building.
"We can if the car is already registered under someone's name and has a licence plate on it. The transfer process is very simple and only takes an hour to be approved online. However, the car you chose was unregistered, and you even went for a custom license plate. It will take a couple of days for the process to finish." He informed her, and she nodded her head in understanding. "Let's get you a house now."
"What?"
For a moment, she thought she had heard it wrong, but then a bright smile bloomed on her face.
"Thank you!"
"You're welcome."
Even though it was evening and the weather was unkind, the Real Estate agencies which dealt with people in his circle, remained open at every hour of the day. Yes, even past midnight.
As soon as they entered the RoyalBlue Real Estate Agency, Min-Jin became nervous at how lavish and expensive this place looked.
She had never before been to such a place, and even the attendants were dressed better than some businessmen whom she had seen in her life, not to mention the parking lot which was filled with expensive cars.
However, when she felt him comfortingly squeeze her hand, she relaxed and smiled again.
She allowed him to speak and deal with the attendants, having decided to stay quiet so that she would not embarrass him because of her ignorance about these things.
When they entered the office of one of the attendants, the lady started showing them the units that they had up for sale on the large screens. All these Units met the requirements that Mikael had already discussed with her.
He finally helped her speak her thoughts, and she happily took her time as she chose the one she wanted.
"Good choice, Miss." The attendant seemed happy too, and Min-Jin soon understood why that was the case.
The Unit that she chose, a high-rise duplex apartment, was in the Emres Residential Building, near Madison Lake Park.
And when she saw its price, her heart nearly stopped.
18.3 Million Draks?!
She felt dizzy when the final bill was put forward, and the amount had jumped to 20 million. 70,000 of it was just the tip! The rest were the annual service charges for the facilities and security at the Tower, including some one-time fees.
Min-Jin expected Mikael to register the apartment under his name, after all, it was an asset worth 20 million Draks. But to her surprise, he asked her to provide her information on the registration papers.
She finished the process in a daze and did not miss the envious glances that the Attendant sent her way.
Even after they left the building, she stared at the file in her lap and the Master Key of her new home in a daze. Despite herself, tears soon poured out of her eyes, and she started sobbing.
Mikael curiously glanced at her but did not speak and disturb her thoughts. He silently took her to the Imperial Mall, and even though she was hesitant to make him spend more on her, he still pulled her inside and bought her a lot of things, mostly clothes.
She was scared to even look at the bills anymore and stayed silent until they arrived at the Emres Residential Tower, and the desire to see her new home made her a little excited.
Mikael knew that she was not in the mood to talk to people, so, he asked her to stay in the car as he took the file and went to the office.
He returned after a few minutes and then entered the underground Parking Lot.
"This Parking Section belongs to you." He informed her, and she looked at the sign which read 45-46 A.
There was enough space in this section to park ten SUVs. The entire row next to the wall was hers.
A few security guards immediately stepped forward and greeted them, and Mikael opened the boot and the backdoor to let them pick up their shopping bags.
"Miss Zhang." They all greeted her, already aware of her name, and she politely smiled at them.
The lift was right next to her Parking Space, and it was only after they entered it that she realised that it was a Private Lift, only for her Unit.
After they arrived at their floor, inside a white Lobby, one of the Security Guards then guided them to register the Hand Prints, Eye Scans, and Voice Scans on the System using the Master Key.
Mikael and she both registered themselves and then she deleted the access permissions of all the people who were previously registered to enter the Unit.
She was going to choose her own Maid and Staff tomorrow morning.
After the guards put their bags inside the main lounge, which was very spacious, they took their leave. And once she heard the door of her home close, she excitedly jumped on her feet like a little girl and started running around, checking every corner of her place.
Mikael laughed at her antics and walked upstairs to step out on the large balcony. There were lounge chairs on it, and under the pouring rain and the golden street lights, the park and the lake were truly a sight to behold.
He pulled out the packet of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one up, and then stared at the scenery.
By the time he finished the cigarette, Min-Jin found him, and she tightly hugged him from behind, burying her face between his shoulder blades.
"Happy?"
"Yes." She answered and tightened her arms around him.
Mikael let her hold him until her heart calmed down, and when she finally loosened her arms, he put the cigarette butt in the ashtray and turned to look at her.
He smiled as he looked into her eyes and placed his hands on her waist, pulling her close to him.
With his right hand, he gently cupped her left cheek, stroked her cheekbone with his thumb and made her look him in the eyes.
"It's too late for you to escape. You are mine now." He domineeringly told her, and she blushed hard.
"Yes, I am yours..."
Her words had not even finished when her phone suddenly started ringing.
She felt very embarrassed and quickly pulled it out of her pocket to turn it off, but after seeing the Caller ID, she hesitated.
"Pick it up." Mikael saw that it was Alison who was calling her, and he stepped back with a smile.
She gratefully looked at him and then answered the call, and in an instant, her face paled.
"Ally, what's wrong?!" She was frightened when she heard her best friend sobbing on the other end.
"Please save me..."
"Ally, where are you? Tell me, I will come over right away." She urgently asked. "Ally..."
"I am in the toilet..."
"Where?"
"Sterling Hotel... please come fast. I have locked myself here." Her voice broke, as she sobbed some more, and Min-Jin felt dizzy after hearing her words.
"Wait for me." She ended the call in panic and Mikael nodded to her and he chased her out of the house.
"Sterling Hotel, right?" He asked as soon as they entered the lift.
"Yes." She was clearly panicked and soon she heard him speak on a call.
"Contact the Unit closest to Sterling Hotel. We need to secure a target and keep her safe." He told the person on the call and then turned to her. "What's her name?"
"Alison Woods."
"Alison Woods. I will send you her picture in a while. She is in danger and has locked herself in the toilet."
Hearing his words, Min-Jin immediately opened her phone and sent him the most recent picture that she had of Alison.
As soon as they entered the main street, Mikael pressed on the accelerator as he had a very bad feeling in his heart.
Sterling Hotel was on the other side of the city, and it was going to take over an hour to reach that place.
He did not relax until he received a call that a Unit had arrived at the Hotel and was searching for Alison.
Min-Jin, who was again on the call with her friend, asked her which floor she was on, and the names of the people who were after her.
She froze when she heard the name Ryan Sterling, and then worriedly looked at Mikael, whose expressions had suddenly turned very cold.
There was a sudden scream on the other end and they heard the sound of the door breaking.
"You bitch!" Someone roared at her, her phone fell, and the call was dropped.
Min-Jin felt like her soul was leaving her body, and she started shaking in fear of what might happen to Alison.
Mikael gritted his teeth and then dialled a number on his phone.
The phone kept ringing for a while, but it was finally answered.
"Master Zarayne," Someone playfully spoke. "You remembered your old friend."
"Ryan. If you or anyone around you touches Alison, I promise you, I will kill you all."
There was a stunned silence on the other end, and without waiting for the man to respond, he ended the call.