Pay With Your Heart

Chapter 366: A Lee?

JIN-HAI’S OFFICE

Frustrated, Hei-Ran ruffled her hair as she collapsed on the sofa in Jin-Hai’s office, a deep sigh rolled off her lips as she kicked off her shoes.

Jin-Hai watched her from behind his desk. The sulky look her on face was cute but he knew she was really frustrated.

“I hate everything.” She grumbled, while Jin-Hai picked up a bottle of water from the fridge and walked over to her.

“Thank you.” She said and quickly gulped half it’s content. Exhaling deeply, she glanced at Jin-Hai who was now seated by her side. “I don’t know what to do anymore.” She sighed and leaned into his embrace.

“It’s okay.” Jin-Hai comforted her, as he wrapped his arm around her. His fingers gently combed through her hair before pulling her closer. “Take a deep breath.” He told her and Hei-Ran did as instructed.

“I don’t feel better.” She said.

.....

“You’re thinking too much.” He replied and kissed her temple.

Hei-Ran sunk deeper into his arms. “Thinking is all I can do.”

“Then think less. Or if you must think, think of me.”

“Hmm?” Hei-Ran lifted her head to his face, but she turned away when she saw the teasing smile on his face.

“This isn’t the time to joke, Jin-Hai. I’m running out of time. The board will be on my neck soon, and I’m yet to provide them with some answers. I have no answers at all. What should I do?” With each passing day and with the deadline drawing closer she felt anxious. She took a quick glance at Jin-Hai when she remembered what he had said when she started all this madness.

“Could there really be nothing going on, and maybe I’m just being paranoid?” She asked making Jin-Hai turn to her. She sat up right and turned fully to him.

“What if you were right? What if I have started all this because I still held grudges against A-Yeong for what she did to me? What if-”

“Shh..” Jin-Hai hushed her makingHei-Ran swallow the rest of her words as he placed a finger on her lips.

“What if your instinct is right?” He asked her.

“But-” She tried to speak but he pressed his finger closer against her lips.

“You didn’t start all this without some facts. You noticed the discrepancies which others didn’t and that prompted you to start this.”

“Exactly what I’m saying! Why was I looking through the accounts of a company I wasn’t working for? Doesn’t that give us the answers already?”

“What about the offshore account?” Jin-Hai asked her.

Hei-Ran’s eyes thoughtfully darted around. “What if she has a plausible reason for that? Maybe I’ve just been angry towards her that I began to find ways to fault her and hurt her.” Hei-Ran unconvincingly said.

Jin-Hai could see the struggle in her eyes to believe that she was telling herself the truth. “Or maybe you were just looking out for your family legacy, and your cousin.”

“Jin-Hai-”

“Cut yourself some slack. You’re a good child, and a good sister. Don’t argue with that. Trust your instinct, as I’ve always trusted it. It is what had brought this company that we built together to this height.”

Hei-Ran looked into his eyes and she didn’t know what to say. Her instinct has always been her guide. The one time she hadn’t trusted it was when she dated the jerk who helped A-Yeong in framing her, and that had caused her a lot of heartache.

“I don’t know.” She dejectedly hissed and lolled back on the couch.

Jin-Hai felt bad seeing her like that. She was pretty much exhausted.

“Everything will be fine. I’m sure there’ll be some result about the offshore account soon. Hopefully it will provide some answers.” He comforted her.

“I hope so.”

“I Know so.” He said. He sounded so convinced and Hei-Ran wanted to believe him. She didn’t want to disappoint her grandfather and her family once again.

They turned towards Jin-Hai’s desk when his phone started to ring. He sauntered over and picked up the phone. His eyes darted towards Hei-Ran when he saw who the caller was.

“It’s the guy.” He announced and Hei-Ran instantly jerked up and hurried towards him. She anxiously gestured him to answer the phone and he did.

“Mr Song.” A masculine voice called through the phone.

“It’s me. Any progress yet?” He asked while he glanced at Hei-Ran who had her ear pressed against the back of the phone, listening in on his conversation. For her sake he wanted a positive reply.

“I just sent you an email, you should look at it.” The man said. Hearing him, Hei-Ran hastened towards Jin-Hai’s laptop and quickly opened his emails.

“Thank you.” Jin-Hai said. “I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

“Okay.” The man replied and disconnected the call.

Jin-Hai walked over to Hei-Ran to see the content of the email that had been sent.

He glanced at the open document and a confused frown framed his face.

“Lee?” He mumbled and turned to Hei-Ran who was shocked as he was. She seemed to be deep in thought. “Could this be President Lee’s family name or another Lee?” He thought out loud, his gaze keenly fixed on the screen.

He watched as Hei-Ran picked up her phone and dialled Eun-sun’s number.

“Hey,” Eun-sun greeted the moment she answered the phone.

“Eun-sun can I ask you a question?” Hei-Ran asked.

“Hmm, sure.” She answered.

“What’s the name of president Lee’s cousin you mentioned the other time?” She inquired.

“Ji-Tae?”

“Ji-Tae.” Hei-Ran looked at the name sitting on the screen. It was the same. Lee Ji-Tae.

“Hei-Ran?” Eun-sun called when Hei-Ran went silent.

Her voice snapped Hei-Ran back to reality. “I’ll call you back.”

“Are you okay?” Eun-sun asked with concern. Her friend was sounding off.

“I’ll call you back, I promise.”

“Okay.” Eun-sun replied while Hei-Ran ended the call. She turned to Jin-Hai who was also looking at her.

“Who is he?” Jin-Hai curiously inquired even though he had heard Hei-Ran’s brief conversation with her best friend.

“President Lee Dan-Han’s cousin.”

Jin-Hai frowned. “Why would she send him such amounts of money? And for so long?” Jin-Hai wondered. The Lee’s weren’t poor, and as a matter of fact, they were the highest socialite family in the country, even though their number was quite small. So why then would A-Yeong send huge amount of money to a member of that family?

“It beats me.” Hei-Ran muttered. She was just as shocked as Jin-Hai was, and the way Eun-sun had described him made her more suspicious of whatever was going on.

“What do you think could be going on between them?” Hei-Ran asked Jin-Hai who was suddenly deep thought.

A thoughtful look framed his face. “A relationship, which I highly doubt or maybe business?”

“Business?” Hei-Ran doubted that. What sort of business could A-Yeong have with a Lee that involved sending out huge amounts of dollars to a secret off shore account? Things weren’t adding up. There was more.

“There’s more.” She said. “And I hope this more isn’t going to be devastating when I figure it out.” She already feared it would be, because despite A-Yeong being a bold and confident woman, she also had a thing for making poor life’s decision.