Lines Crossed - Volume 1 Chapter 50 My Queen
“Inform me.”
“How thoughtful.”
‘I know there is nothing there, I know it in my every fiber that you two are nothing but brother and sister. But it still hurts that you are his weapon he sends every time.’
“Did he now. How thoughtful of him. I worked on that proposal for three weeks. So nice of him to change it in half a day.” I said icily. I tried to tone it down knowing my anger wasn’t towards her.
Hating that she was the brunt of it every time.
“Can you tell Mark, that if he wants to change things and not ask anyone else on the team. You know, any of the other seventeen people’s brains that worked hard on this toiling over it for weeks. If he wants to just go ahead and use his ideas and not ours, that he might come into the office and do it himself next time.”
“I really don’t mind if he leaves me out of it.”
“Mark had a feeling you would say something like this and wants me to inform you. He is working on coming into the office as soon as possible but he has, had some setbacks lately due to his health.”
“He was in the papers recently, in the hospital. If you don’t believe him, you can check for yourself.” Miran repeated like a broken parrot.
I tried, but couldn’t hold back my sniff of distaste.
“Oh, I saw. What a pretty little headache he has acquired. He should really think of other people’s feelings if he is going to be running around with an ailment that is around 164cm and of another gender.”
“What is that disease called again?”
“Girlfriend?”
“If he has time to play, he has time to work.” Seungwoo stated with mock politeness.
“Now if that was all you had to tell me. I think you know where the door is. I have much more important things to do than listen to you parrot everything your Oh so important oppa said to you.”
“I have an entire empire to run you know.”
Miran stared at me for a moment. Her eyes turning slightly despondent, her big bottom lip turning down at the corners. The slightest giveaway of her discontent.
‘Say no,’
‘Tell me you have something more than this to discuss. Tell me we need to work long into the night. Tell me you need to review the files anyway to show me all the changes.’
‘Whatever you do, don’t walk out the door.’
She nodded, letting out a soft sigh.
“I’ll let him know.” She said, her vibrant blue heels with their red bottoms clicking on the marble floor as she turned.
‘Noooo.’ My heart cried out the words I couldn’t release.
She paused and turned back. Her purse slid down into her hands and she held it with two hands politely in front of her. Instead of trying to hoist it back up on her shoulder again.
“Seungwoo. I dunno why, but this new girl is important to him. Uncle Kim Hyunbin He has already started something there.”
I halted.
“Father starts many things, I can’t know about them all.”
I lied.
I knew full well what had gone on in that room the other day, the threats that were issued. There were spies on every side in this building.
You were an idiot if you didn’t have at least one.
It was something his father had taught me when I was young. When we had lost the powerful marriage alliance when the Baek family had been wiped out.
If you can’t obtain power in legal non dirty ways, then there was only one way left. With blood, sweat, and betrayal.
A hard lesson for a twelve-year-old but a lesson that I had needed to learn. And knowing what my father was like was why Miran must always be far away from me.
‘I can’t do anything but try to keep you out of this circle of blood. Because once the ch.i.p.s fall where they were placed, there will only be the fool heartedly innocents left standing.’
‘There was a bloodbath coming and only the innocent can survive.’
“I suppose we can only leave the powerful to play on their own, huh? Let’s just stick to what we do best. Staying by the sidelines while the important people squabble over money power and other non essential things, yeah.”
Miran eyebrows raised for a moment before she nodded gently. Her diamond earrings swaying gently from the force.
“I’ll tell Mark, you agreed to stay out of it.” She said.
I scoffed.
“I never agreed to anything, but if that’s what you want. Then tell him.”
She nodded.
“Bye Seungwoo.”
I stood mock still. My heart boiling over with turmoil as my name fell from her lips, but I watched her turn back away and leave without another glance. The elevator doors opened and swallowed her beauty, whisking my love far from my arms and the harm I could do her.
“You are a coward Seungwoo. You can’t even reach out and fight for the woman you love.” I said to the empty apartment
I turned back away and my slippers pattered softly their swishing scuffle on the marble the only noise.
I tore the suit jacket that I had taken an hour to pick out, off of my body like it was laced with acid and threw it on the floor in disgust before stepping over it and not giving it another glance.
My foot stopped mid air before I could even get a step down the hall. And I turned back around with an exasperated sigh.
Miran’s pretty angelic voice echoed around in my head. A conversation she never knew I had been lurking around to hear.
I can only love a man who can take care of me as much as I take care of him. I want an equal who can love me, protect me and clean up, take out the trash. Attempting to make the world around him a better place for me, that’s the kinda man I want to marry.
I bent down and picked up the jacket tossing it over my arm.
People thought I was a perfectionist neat freak.
I didn’t care if the world burnt.
But my queen cared.
So cleaning it up and dealing with the trash was all I could do.