Mr. Lee

33. Owned

After that "incident" the workers acted differently around you. As Mr. Lee was often out for work, you oversaw the building of the pool and deck while at the same time making preparations for your art gallery. The workers never stared at you anymore and whenever they had to ask something or consult you on something, they made minimal eye contact. Now and then their eyes would flash to the shining golden letters around your neck, making them instantly look at the ground again. You didn't mind this. You didn't mind this at all...

In fact, you quite enjoyed the silence the construction workers carried when you were around. You could feel the awkwardness and maybe even fear they exuded whenever you were near. It made you feel powerful. In control. They never argued with you about a single thing. They never questioned what you said, even if you could read from their faces that they did not agree with you. You loved the way it made you feel. And you didn't mind at all that it was because they now knew Mr. Lee owned you.

You had never before felt so powerful before. Even though you were the daughter of the Buja clan, no one had treated you this respectfully before. In the past, whenever you had said, questioned, argued, or asked something, people had reacted to you in a particular type of way. They had been respectful, yes, using formal speech and always remaining nice. But they had never been fearful of you. They had always just given you the socially acceptable response and moved on. Whenever you had tried to argue a point, they would often dismiss your comments.

It was only now that you realized why.

Your father had held fear and status but the way he had always treated you had been dismissive. He had always gotten you what you wanted, just to keep you busy and silent. Whenever you tried to work with him, he'd try to distract you or he'd simply send you away. He never listened to you, not truly and whenever you were arguing with him and someone would see or hear, he'd simply laugh you away. His derogatory demeanor towards you had transferred to everyone that had ever interacted with you, excluding Binna and Eomeoni. The way he had interacted with you made it clear to the outside world that he did not truly value your words. So they didn't have to either.

But Mr. Lee had made it clear that he valued you. Both your mind and your body. Whenever he'd come home he would take you in his arms and kiss you deeply, making sure the workers could see and hear the both of you.

'I've missed you, my dear,' he would say, making your heart flutter. Then he would glance over to progress the workers had made that day, not letting you out of his arms for even a second, before making eye contact with one poor unfortunate worker. He'd somehow always managed to hold the attention of the worker, maybe it was his beautiful dark piercing eyes, or maybe they'd just freeze up in fear.

Then Mr. Lee would proceed to compliment you, telling you that you did great work overseeing the plan. He never complimented the construction workers, nor gave them any more attention.

It was a simple tactic and you weren't sure if it was one Mr. Lee had consciously thought out, or if it was just his possessiveness that caused him to act this way. Anyhow, it was effective.

'Y/n?' Mr. Lee said suddenly as the two of you were slumped down on the couch, both tired of a hard day's work.

'Hmm?' You hummed, putting your head sleepily upon his broad shoulder.

'I keep wondering,' he spoke thoughtfully, 'last time I played with you..'

Your ears tweaked at his words and you were instantly awake, however, you kept still, your head still on his shoulder, not wanting to alert him at your sudden peak of interest.

'Hmm?' you hummed once more.

'Remember when I told you to say my name?' he asked you casually.

'Yea,' you tried to sound normal even though your heart had started racing. The matter in question had been hard to forget, as your throat had been sore for a few days after.

'I was wondering, why'd you keep saying Oppa?' Mr. Lee asked curiously.

'What?' You said surprised. This conversation was not at all going in the direction you had hoped it would.

'I mean, I know you call me Oppa all the time, and I know you know I get off on it...' he said smiling slightly for a second before he frowned again in thought, 'I just wondered why you said Oppa when I asked you to say my name.'

You blinked a few times, caught by surprise by his unusual question.

'Erm,' you began, unsure what to say, 'I guess I didn't really think about it. I mean I always call you Oppa...'

'Even in your head? Or when you talk about me?' Mr. Lee asked, arching a brow.

'No, then I simply call you Mr. Lee,' you said without thinking.

Mr. Lee turned to you, his brows high on his forehead as he stared at you in disbelief.

'You call me Mr. Lee in your head?' he asked with big eyes.

You nodded slowly, feeling slightly embarrassed for only realizing it now.

'Do you even know my first name?' Mr. Lee huffed.

'Dongwook,' you spoke with a small voice.

'Oh okay, so you just don't use it,' he prompted.

'Are you mad?' you felt like a child asking him this.

'Well no, of course not. But it's just- I've been calling you by your name from the start,' he said frowning deeply and pausing for a second to think.

'I guess... it makes me feel... disconnected from you. Like you think of me as a stranger,' he decided, looking at you with concern in his eyes.

'No!' you shook your head quickly. The look in his eyes hurt your heart. 'No, it's not like that at all!'

Mr. Lee still looked doubtful.

'It's just-,' you said, stumbling over your words and thoughts as you wanted to make him stop hurting as quickly as possible, 'It's just that that's how I first knew you,' you said.

Wrong answer. Mr. Lee's frown got deeper.

'I mean, it's how everyone knows you. It's what everyone calls you. That name carries your power, the fear they have for you, and respect,' you tried.

It wasn't helping.

'I call you that because you own me, because I'm yours. Because I want to be yours,' you mumbled trailing off. You didn't know how to explain it to him.

You glanced up for a second, meeting his eyes. His bore a sweet smile on it, making you do a double-take.

'You want to be mine?' Mr. Lee said his eyes sparkling a little darker.

'You should know that by now,' you mumbled, face turning red.

Mr. Lee inched closer to you. 'You want to be mine... in a submissive kind of way?' he asked lowly.

Your face turned even redder and you stroked your necklace nervously. It was now a standard piece of your everyday look. You hadn't stopped wearing it ever since Mr. Lee had put it on you again last time, only taking it off for showers but even wearing it when going to sleep.

'You want to be owned by me?' Mr. Lee whispered in your ear, the heat of his breath making you shiver. You swallowed hard, knowing you could not deny the truth.

'Yes,' you breathed admitting the dirty thought that had turned you on so many times.

Mr. Lee smirked at you, licking his lips.

'Then you can stick to Oppa and Mr. Lee,' he spoke, his lips brushing your ear, 'a dirty girl like you should never speak her owners' name,'

His words instantly wet your core making your eyes flutter.