Secret Love

The Compensation

(Haru returns to Jipuragi, stronger than ever. Cha-young composes herself even when she knows the truth. Han-seo sends cute texts to Haru)

Vincenzo was about to enter Jipuragi when he spotted Haru arriving, wearing the jacket that Min-jun had worn that night (Refer picture above). Haru greeted him with a bow.

"How are you?", Vincenzo asked.

"I'm well", Haru smiled.

"Your parents?".

"They're coping, Mr Cassano. Thank you, for everything".

"You're not going to give up now, are you?".

Haru shook her head. "I will only give up when I'm dead".

Vincenzo chuckled at her response. He opened the door and let her in first.

Cha-young and Mr Nam quickly greeted her with a hug. Haru thanked them for their support.

"Are you ok, Haru?", Mr Nam asked.

"I'm fine, Mr Nam", Haru smiled.

"We'll get them Haru, ok?", Cha-young assured her.

"We have a meeting with Choi Myung-hee, to go over the compensation proposal", Vincenzo reminded them.

"You can't let him know that you know who he is", said Haru.

Cha-young took deep breaths as she nodded. "I promise to not kill him first..., not until you get your turn", Cha-young smiled.

"Miss Haru, I need you to man the post today, ok?", said Vincenzo.

"Yes, Mr Cassano", Haru nodded.

"Haru, don't worry about the filings. I'll do them all today", Mr Nam offered.

WUSANG

Choi Myung-hee leaned back when she sat down. She waited for the staff to set the drinks down and leave the room before starting.

"I read over the compensation proposal you sent us regarding the victims of Babel Chemicals", she sighed, "Do you think this is the lottery?".

Vincenzo and Cha-young chuckled. Vincenzo picked his cup of tea up and turned, refusing to face them, not after what he knew.

"Lottery"?", Cha-young scoffed as she turned to Vincenzo, "We were being pretty generous, right?".

"Even though Babel's chairman bowed and apologized for that incident, you're still asking for too much", said Choi Myung-hee.

"Then, we'll file a criminal suit. We were willing to end this with compensations", said Cha-young, crossing her arms while leaning back.

"There's no way Babel will agree to this", Choi Myung-hee shook her head as he hand slammed table, "You can file your suit".

Choi Myung-hee stood up, but Han-seok, still in his Joon-woo façade, grabbed her hand. "Wait! Don't you think the chairman will agree to this?".

"Is that what you think?", asked Choi Myung-hee.

Vincenzo turned, noticing Cha-young's smile even though her eyes just throwing daggers at both Choi Myung-hee and Han-seok, but Cha-young kept her composure. Vincenzo recalled back what Han-seo said and he now wondered - who's being soft on the person they love?

"Why don't you just listen to him?", said Cha-young as she turned to Han-seok, forcing a smile at the liar, "You're getting smarter day by day".

Han-seok formed a smug on his face. Vincenzo chuckled because Han-seok didn't hear the sarcasm in Cha-young's tone.

Choi Myung-hee straightened her sweater and she sat back down. "Then, I'll review it and discuss with Babel...", she said,

"...Be honest with me here. Do you have more cards against Babel?".

"There's no need to. There's no point in piercing more holes into a sinking ship. Don't you think so?", said Vincenzo and Cha-young nodded, agreeing with him.

Cha-young turned to Choi Myung-hee. "You and Mr Han can play the violin on the deck of the sinking ship all you want".

Choi Myung-hee chuckled as she shook her head. "I regret having you let out of the cell much too soon".

Cha-young could only clenched her jaw. Vincenzo placed his hand on top of hers, patting it to tell her to keep calm. Han-seok glared at Vincenzo for his action.

"We'll wait and see whether this will be the Titanic or a plane crash", said Choi Myung-hee. (A/N: in the series, Choi Myung-hee said a nuclear submarine. A plane refers to Min-jun, who was a former pilot).

"I have this one favourite Korean saying...", Vincenzo said before turning to Cha-young, "...I think you told me about it".

"Oh that? Yeah, I learned that from Mr Lee Min-jun", that very name struck annoyance in Han-seok.

Both Vincenzo and Cha-young turned to Han-seok and Choi Myung-hee. They gave a victory grin to them.

"Looks like you need a good beating", they said together.

Han-seok chuckled and wrote profanities on his laptop while pretending to write reports. Even in death, Lee Min-jun was still an annoyance to him.

MEANWHILE

Haru was typing the report for the case when her phone vibrated. She ignored the first three texts, knowing who was texting her.

"Just answer it. You know he's innocent", said Mr Nam as watered the plants.

Haru eyed him, smirking and shaking her head. She unplugged her phone and saw the texts.

"Haru..., you there?".

"I know what Mr Cassano said, but I miss you. Can I see you tonight?".

"Haru! Don't ignore me 😭".

Haru giggled at the emoji, wondering if Han-seo actually made the face while typing. She began to think on what to respond back.

*~*

Han-seo was thankful that he was alone in the office at the moment when the replies came back. He looked at his phone to read the messages.

"No 😜".

Han-seo groaned, frustratingly. "Haru...", he whined to himself.

"Not today, silly", another text came in, "At least until we throw them off for now".

Han-seo pouted. He began to type a reply back to her.

"Meanie 😝".

"I'm your meanie 😉", she replied.

Han-seo chuckled as he set his phone down. She was being cute with him and he adored her.

"Fine, I will go and eat spicy food tonight", he typed.

"Aww, please don't. It's not good for you 😣".

"I will eat spicy food until you agree to meet me 😝".

It was a long time before the next reply came. For a moment, Han-seo worried if anything happened to Haru. You can never be too caution, especially when you were in Han-seok's hit list.

"Wanna go drink tonight?", she asked.

"Where?".

"Just come over Jipuragi. We're going undercover. Mr Cassano asked you to accompany me".

"Wait, are you going undercover?!", Han-seo was worried.

"Oh, not me. Mr Cassano is".