Money Loving CEO’s Detective Lover - Chapter 385

*Day 2*

Mina was in her bedroom, manicuring her nails when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in!” she said absentmindedly. Kanji burst in with a wide smile.

“What’s up?” he asked cheerfully, making Mina raise an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you being a little too happy nowadays?” she frowned. “You barely used to smile before.”

“Well, my brush with death showed me how beautiful life is!” Kanji claimed. “It’s all colors and rainbows. I wanna live to the fullest without any regrets.”

“And I’m regretting my decision to let you stay here,” Mina muttered. “I’ve had enough of one idiot and now I have to deal with two.”

“Ouch!” Kanji whined. “How mean!”

Inside his head, Haejong was wincing. “Stop making such silly expressions with my face!” he snapped at Kanji. “I look terrible!”

“I’m making you seem more fun,” Kanji told him in a smug tone, making the mafia leader regret his own life decisions already.

“What do you want?” Mina asked warily. “I’m very busy today.”

“Doing what?” Kanji asked. “Your nails?”

“Yes.”

Mina went back to apply nail polish on her perfectly shaped nails and beamed in delight but the annoying new pet of hers was not going to let her live in peace.

“Let’s go for a date,” Kanji said boldly. Mina scowled at him.

“Why would I go on a date with you?” she sneered. “I mean. Between you and my daily beauty routine, I choose the latter.”

“But between your daily routine and…”

He took out a couple of tickets to the market fair which made Mina’s eyes widen in excitement.

“This,” he went on. “You’ll choose to shop at the flea market. And as far as I know, this fair has everything at a bargain price.”

Without a word, Mina snatched the tickets from his hands and stared at them in glee. “Discount shopping!” she squealed. “I’m going!”

Without a word, she grabbed her purse and coat before speeding out of the room while Kanji gaped at her. “Wait!” he yelled, running after her. “One of the tickets is mine! Take me with you!”

He limped behind her as she ran towards her car. Getting into the car with her, he quickly buckled up his seat belt. Mina was so excited that she could barely hold in her happiness.

“Could have waited for me,” he grumbled.

“I know that you’ll run after me anyway,” Mina claimed. “So I didn’t bother to wait.”

She stepped on the pedal and drove off. The fair was taking place right on the outskirts of the town so it took them a couple of hours to get there. Once they reached the spot, Mina parked the car at an allocated spot and they got out of it.

Mina sniffed the air around her. “I can just smell the bargain shops from a mile away,” she said dreamily.

“All I smell are decaying furniture and old stuff,” Kanji muttered. But he smiled upon seeing how happy Mina was feeling. Haejong was also quiet in his head, giving Kanji some privacy with her.

“Let’s go inside!” Mina exclaimed. “I wanna check out all the stuff they’re selling here!”

To Kanji’s surprise, she grabbed his hand and dragged him into the fair which was proceeding with great fanfare. The whole area had been decorated with colorful stalls made of hay thatches and modeled like mini huts. There were many people at the fair, some with families, others with dates.

They walked past the shops which were selling a variety of items ranging from clothes, furniture, rugs, organic items and many more. Mina was busy gazing at all the things on display.

“Oi!” Haejong hissed in Kanji’s head. “She’s more interested in shopping than in you! If you keep up like this, you’ll never be able to win her over.”

“I know!” Kanji hissed back. “Don’t worry, I have a plan. I’ll show off my superior bargaining skills to impress her.”

“Do you know how to bargain?”

“No,” Kanji admitted. “But I read it in the magazine.”

“This can’t be good,” Haejong muttered. Mina was checking out some jute rugs which were imported from abroad. The rugs were hand stitched and quite sturdy which would be perfect for her room and also her chamber back in the hospital.

“How much are these?” She asked the seller. Before the seller could reply, Kanji butted in.

“We’ll give you thirty dollars for it!” he announced. “No more than that!”

Mina stared at him in shock. What the hell was this guy doing?

“Listen-” she began but Kanji stopped her.

“I got this!” he muttered. “I’m a pro at bargaining!”

“No but-”

“Shh!” he hushed her lips with his finger. “I’m taking over. Let the man speak!”

Mina shook her head in dismay and did not bother to say anything else. Kanji turned to the seller who looked as if Christmas had arrived early.

“We’ll give you thirty dollars for it,” he said. But the seller decided to mess with the idiot who turned up.

“No less than sixty!” he shot back.

“Sixty?” Mina frowned. “Now wait a minute-”

“Hush it woman!” Kanji snapped. “Let me handle this.”

I’d rather you not handle this, Mina thought but there was not stopping him. For some reason, the guy wanted to bargain on her behalf but would not let her help out. Oh well, she shrugged. I’d rather watch the drama.

Suppressing her laughter, she watched as the idiot bargained.

“Thirty five,” Kanji said. “Not more than this.”

“Fifty five!” the seller rebutted.

“Forty!”

“Deal!” the seller replied. “Forty it is.”

Kanji felt triumphant as he paid the money from Haejong’s wallet. Mina was still trying to suppress her laughter with great difficulty. She just did not have the heart to tell him the truth but watched the show in amusement.

The seller packed the rug for them and they thanked him before moving on to another stall. Once they were out of earshot, Mina burst out laughing. Kanji was confused at why she was laughing so much but Mina could not help it.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Why are you laughing?”

“I’m laughing at you!” she giggled. “Oh man! I thought you were a smart guy but turns out, you’re kinda naive.”

Kanji could hear Haejong curse at him for ruining his cool image in front of Mina.

“N-naive?” he echoed.

“Do you know how much a jute rug really costs in a flea market?” she asked.

“Er…”

Mina took out the rug and flipped it over to show him the price tag on it. “It’s just eight bucks!” she laughed. “I could’ve bought it for half the price. You just gave him five times the original amount!”

She burst into another fit of giggles, enjoying the stupefied look on his face. Kanji’s mouth gaped open in shock at the whole situation.

“E-Eight bucks?” he stammered. “Just eight bucks?”

“You idiot,” Haejong’s voice muttered at him. Kanji was too dumbfounded from shock to care but Mina patted his back, feeling sorry for the guy.

“Leave all the bargaining to a pro like me, alright?” she said in a pitiful tone.

“What am I going to do then?” he whined.

“Carry my shopping bags of course!” she chirped and moved on to the next shop.

…..

Minho was in his office, going over some of the pending tenders. He was finishing off all his work quickly so that he could start working on their plan to trap Anyal soon. They had merely three days left and there had been no movement from the demon’s end. There was no doubt that the monster was planning something but they must find out what it was.

Jongin entered the room, carrying some files. He frowned a little at his CEO who was working at faster speed than usual.

“Erm, sir?”

Minho looked up to face Jongin who looked concerned.

“Sir, are you alright?” his secretary asked.

“I’m fine,” Minho lied and went back to his files but Jongin did not move from his spot.

“Sir, I don’t think you are fine,” Jongin said firmly. Minho frowned at him but for the first time in his life, Jongin was voicing his opinion to his boss.

“Why do you think so?”

“We made 0.5 percent less profit than last month,” Jongin pointed out. “And you didn’t yell at us. You’re working faster than usual and not making us work around the clock. It’s a relief for us but we’re also concerned.”

When Minho did not reply, Jongin added, “Sir, we might get frustrated by your obsession with money, but we’re all very loyal to you. All the employees here care about you and your family. So, we would hate it if you’re overworking yourself when it’s clear that your heart is not into it. If you’re troubled and can’t say it to us, we’d understand it. But we’d rather have you entrust all work to us and let yourself at ease until you’re ready to be back at work. Till then, we’ll take care of the company. It’s not just your brainchild. We consider it our second home as well.”

He paused before adding, “I don’t know how you know my mother, but she spoke very fondly about you. If she was well, she would’ve hated to see you pretend that everything is fine whereas it’s not. I think she’d rather have you deal with your thoughts first and then worry about work.”

Minho stared at him for a while before flashing a small but grateful smile.

“In that case,” he said to Jongin. “You should take the day off and take your new girlfriend to a nice date today. Because from tomorrow, you’ll be the acting CEO for the next few days until I return. For today, I’ll handle the work.”

Jongin gaped at his boss, shocked by his words. He did not know what to say but held back his tears and lowered his head.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I’ll not let you down, boss.”