Psychopath Billionaire | BBANGSAZ

xvii

H A N N I

"Hanni, sorry to interrupt, but you're daydreaming and table number four is waiting for you to take their order," the restaurant manager, Felix, whispered to me.

I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard his voice. "Sorry," I murmured and walked towards the group waiting to place their order.

I returned to the soda dispenser and filled a tall glass with Coca-Cola and ice when I noticed Felix's eyes evaluating me. He gave me a smile and continued with his work. In any case, I knew I was going to be fired for sure.

The clock struck ten at night, my shift was almost over, but I had nothing waiting for me at home except the suffocating silence, so I decided to help Felix with other tasks.

I was mopping up a puddle of water on the floor that a child had spilled. I offered to help him. "I'll take it from here," I said as I took the mop from him. "You can take care of other things. Chaewon is already gone."

Felix was a nice guy, and naive enough to believe a sob story I gave him the first time I applied for the job. Calling it applying would be an understatement; I literally walked into the restaurant and begged him to give me a chance. And now that he did, I spend most of my time staring into space instead of working.

"Are you okay?" he surprised me with that question.

"Yes," I gave him a smile, one I knew didn't reach my eyes.

He nodded. "You should know, Hanni, that if you need anything, I can help you. But I need to know if something is bothering you."

Okay, maybe he wasn't as naive as I thought he was. I wasn't sure he would understand.

What was I supposed to tell him?

That my flesh-and-blood mother had sold me to a rich psychopathic lunatic to get rid of me and buy herself a fancy lifestyle?

Or was I supposed to tell him that I had been running from the same psychopath for a month and that I'm lucky Minji hadn't found me yet? Or that she had totally given up on me and was out there seducing other women, which wasn't an appealing thought, and if that was the case, I wondered if mom had gone back to the trailer park, if Minji had stripped her of her wealth.

I lied to Felix about everything. I told him my parents were dead and that I had nowhere else to go and desperately needed a job and a place to live. I even cried and felt guilty for lying, but sometimes, in desperate times, desperate measures are needed. He was so shocked by the whole thing that he believed me.

I lived in constant fear that Minji was going to track me down; that the momentary bliss was an illusion waiting to be shattered at any moment.

"Felix, I just want to thank you for everything you've done for me. I really appreciate it," I said sincerely. If Felix hadn't helped me, I'd probably be homeless. Felix knew not to push me further and returned to the kitchen.

I cleaned up the mess, took off my work clothes, and left the restaurant into the cool breeze. I lived in a small studio apartment right above the restaurant.

Actually, it was Felix's old apartment that had been closed and was collecting dust, so he figured it was a suitable place for me to live. Initially, I had planned to move to my grandfather's farm, and that's where I told Chan to drop me off. The house was small in the middle of a sea of cornfields. An old house that looked like it had been featured in one of Hollywood's horror movies, I knew it was still better than Minji's house, but I didn't have the key and wasn't in a position to knock on the neighbor's door for help, so I slept the night in the empty shed next to the house and took a bus to nowhere.

I had little money that Yunjin and Chan had given me and a pair of earrings that Minji had gifted me, which I had saved for later.

I got off at the last station the bus took and walked into the first restaurant I liked.

I shared my thoughts and put on my pajamas, made myself a glass of milk, and settled into my comfortable bed.

I wondered how long I would be able to live like this...

I liked this life.

M I N J I

I ran my fingers over the piano keys, and played a piece by Beethoven, Sonata No. 11. I had won awards for playing this in various competitions I had participated in. I had never been interested in playing the piano, but it was something I did to impress my father unsuccessfully and finally enjoyed playing it.

I had always been the daughter of a lover; a woman my father had taken under his wing as a housemaid during her tough times, the woman who kept him satisfied while his wife was away doing all the charity balls. And then, one day she told him she was pregnant with his beloved daughter. My mother had the false belief that the man loved her, but she was dismissed and sent to the servant's quarters where I was raised.

When Mrs. Kim found out, she beat me with a stick, and my back was tattooed with scars that I carry to this day. The funny thing is that bitch could never have children, I guess that was karma for the things she made me go through at the age of four, then my father gave up and made a deal with my biological mother. She would never call me her own, and I was handed over to my stepmother, who continued the abuse out of jealousy.

I was five years old when the stupid bitch got pregnant, and a baby was born whom I was used to hating. She thought she was the fucking heir to this empire, only I wasn't going to let that happen.

No one would take what was rightfully mine.

So I did what I had to do, competed with my younger sister, and finally took it all away. I was the firstborn, so of course, I had the right to everything. After my father's and stepmother's deaths, it was just us. My mother insisted that things remain as they were. My mother would still work as a maid.

For years I tried to erase all the memories of abuse from the hands of my stepmother by taking the girls I liked, but they never helped with my pain. They never understood!

And then there was Hanni, sweet, beautiful Hanni Pham who somehow broke down the walls of my heart. I thought she was there to stay, but she did everything she could to betray me and I hated thinking about it.

I had consumed a lot of alcohol, so my head felt fuzzy, but my fingers continued to hit the piano keys hard, and I felt some blood on my fingers as I traced the white keys.

"Minji, that's enough!" I ignored the voice as I stopped playing the piano and slapped my right cheek hard.

That's for trusting Jake.

I slapped my left cheek.

That's for losing Hanni.

I slapped my right cheek again.

That's for falling in love with her.

My mother, Jihyo, placed her hand on my shoulder. "Stop punishing yourself." I swatted her hand away, but she reached out again, and I felt her fingers running through my hair. "What's so special about that girl?"

"I don't know," I said. "I just want her."

I always got what I wanted, and I wasn't going to stop now.

Hanni was mine, and I wasn't going to accept it any other way.

I had searched for her everywhere, even checked her grandfather's farm and every possible place I thought I could find her and got nothing.

This was not a good sign.

It only meant she was being cautious.

I would go to the pits of hell to find her if that's what it took.

Hanni, you'd better be ready.