In the end, Sarah had milk and hazelnut syrup in her milk as a kind of celebration. She sipped it slowly on the balcony while enjoying the rare winter sun, letting the occasional breeze wake her up completely.
Hajin, who couldn’t do anything all night for his princess’s nightmares, had his arm around her shoulder as a weight to ensure the light blanket draped over her wouldn’t slip away.
"How do you feel, Princess?"
"...I don’t know," Sarah replied in a daze.
She thought she would be overjoyed when she heard that Joseph was no longer around. She had no idea what exactly Hajin’s acquaintance did to the old man, but she could easily guess. She did hope it was a slow, agonizing exit where Joseph could question every single decision he had made in his life, but...
"I feel like my anger has subsided, but I don’t feel particularly happy about anything," Sarah said with a little sigh.
There was an emptiness in her heart where anger used to be brewing quietly. She thought something else would fill that place when she no longer had a reason to be angry, or the person she pointed that anger at. But it seemed like she was wrong.
"It’s just like..." Sarah exhaled a slow, foggy breath. "Crossing a list."
She felt the same with Mason. Taking care of him helped her feel less disgusted with herself, but it didn’t exactly make her happy. Just one less lump in her throat and fewer nightmares recurring at night.
Was it because not everything had been resolved? Sarah wondered if she would feel better once the goal she had set was reached. Would she feel better once all the people who angered her received retribution?
"It’s enough if you don’t feel bad because of them," Hajin tightened the arm around her shoulder. "They don’t deserve to affect you like that anymore."
Sarah glanced at Hajin, who looked angrier and more annoyed than she was. Just a little bit, the emotion he showed in her place filled that empty space in her heart.
"Yeah," Sarah smiled and stood up to give the bodyguard a light kiss on his cheek. She looked at the bright sky while taking a deep breath, grateful for the nice weather. "In that case, let’s get busy again."
Hajin grabbed the fallen blanket with a smile on his lips, watching his princess strolling inside in light steps. "What will we do now?"
"Since Joseph is no longer around, it’s time for us to consolidate our shares. First..." Sarah turned around and raised her finger. "Let’s finish integrating the company. Please call Austin while I’m getting ready."
The employees of Jacob Oh’s consultation company were anxious.
The CEO had been missing for two weeks, and the COO was not someone they could just call. There had been no work or task for them, and they had no idea whether they could receive payment--let alone a year-end bonus. They weren’t even sure of what to do with the CEO’s disappearance.
At first, when he was gone for a week, they didn’t think too much about it. The CEO said he was going on a vacation to Macau, so they just thought he had extended his vacation without telling them. It was always fun and easy when the CEO wasn’t there anyway. They could come to the office and leave early with no repercussions, especially because they didn’t have any projects.
But when the second week came without any news, they started to panic. Since they are still a small company, almost everything about the company was taken care of by the CEO. Even the employee in charge of finance didn’t know much about the company’s financial condition. All she did was pay off the employees’ wages every month from the company’s account after receiving the CEO’s approval.
This person knew that the company wasn’t that healthy; so close to being in the red. Somehow, however, there was always enough money to pay the employees and operate the company, so they were never worried about it. But...
Without any projects to provide income or any leadership, they were doomed. Sunny said she knew nothing about the CEO’s whereabouts, and when they tried to check the CEO’s house...it was sealed by a lending firm?!
It dawned on them that the CEO might be running away from debt.
"What should we do? Should we call the police?" one of them asked.
"Then what? What will happen to this place, then? We might get laid off if the authorities are involved."
"But we’re going to lose our jobs anyway if the CEO is not coming back!" another argued. "What if...what if the people who are chasing the CEO come here?"
The employees gasped, without even realizing that sooner or later, the bank would be coming to take the company’s assets as collateral for another loan they didn’t even know about. At that desperate moment, they turned their head toward the executive hallway--not for the CEO, but for the COO who had been absent even longer than the CEO.
"Should we...ask the Young Miss?"
"Do you even know her contact?"
Unfortunately for them, they never asked for her numbers. No matter how friendly she was, they didn’t dare to. As for asking the bodyguard’s number...
It was the same as inciting the young miss’s jealous glare, so why would they?
In the end, they gave out a collective sigh. They didn’t even think about asking Sunny, who actually had the bodyguard’s number. And why would Sunny tell them that she knew? She was the calmest one among them, just casually updating the situation to the young miss while feeling all happy inside.
She had never been happier than in the past two weeks, going to sleep and waking up all refreshed with the absence of the person who had constantly harassed her.
"Uhh...should we try and go to HS?" someone proposed.
They knew the company had some kind of connection to HS, which was why the young miss worked in the company. They just didn’t know what the connection was. But couldn’t they meet the young miss if they went through HS? Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novel(ꜰ)ire.net
"Yeah, let’s do that. But..." another person looked around between them. "Who will--"
"Hello, everyone! Do you miss me?"
The employees literally jumped out of their seats when they heard that familiar slam of the door and cheerful greetings. They looked at the door with open mouths, and it was as if there was a blinding light coming from the entrance; a sacred halo that surrounded the very person they were looking for.
"Young Miss!" they shouted together while intertwining their hands as if making a prayer.
They always liked it when the young miss came, but at that moment, she looked like an angel, a messiah sent to rescue them from doomsday.
"Wow...I don’t know you like me that much," Sarah scoffed.
It seemed like she had impeccable timing because Sunny was just telling her about the employees panicking and thinking about going to HS when she was walking toward the company.
Well...it was about time, anyway. In fact, these people had been too nonchalant about Jacob’s disappearance. They should have started panicking since the first week.
Hell--they should have been panicking since the CEO stopped giving them work.
Without wasting more time, Sarah turned toward the calm secretary and snapped her fingers. "Sunny, please prepare the meeting room--the one we use for a client."
While Sunny took the bags of refreshment from Hajin’s hands, the other employees looked at each other. "Client? Do we finally have a client?"
"Everyone!" Sarah clasped her hands to gather the employees’ attention. "Please head to the meeting room after Sunny is done with the preparation. We’ll be welcoming a guest shortly, so be in your best behaviour, alright?"
In confusion, the blind employees went to the meeting room to ask Sunny about it. The girl had been looking too calm and collected in the middle of this, as if she already knew something. Naturally, Sunny merely shrugged and said she didn’t know, even while they helped her make coffee and prepare the cakes for the meeting. She just smiled and frustrated the others until they heard the front door open again.
"I’m here, Milady," someone, a foreigner, stepped inside with a man who seemed to be her assistant.
"Welcome, Miss Worth," Sarah said, opening her arms and receiving a friendly kiss on the cheek. "Come, everyone; let’s go to the meeting room--oh, you’re already there."
The employees watched in curiosity as the young miss led the guests to the meeting room with a smile while exchanging friendly greetings. It made them even more sure that those people were clients bringing a nice project. But...they hadn’t even made any preliminary study as usual?
Ten minutes later, they found out why they didn’t need to do a preliminary study or any research.
Because it wasn’t a project. They weren’t clients.
"S...sell?" the manager, the most senior employee, parted his lips in shock. "W-what do you mean...Young Miss?"
"What’s so confusing about it? I’m selling this company to them--NMS Investment," Sarah shrugged. "I mean, CEO Oh was the one who sold his shares to them first, so..."
"Now, now--there’s no need for you to worry," the foreigner said in a fluent, soothing voice. "All it means is a change in management. If you are still willing to work for us, all you have to do is sign a new contract."
The male assistant took out a stack of papers and started to distribute the document to each employee except Sunny--who had been under a different contract a while ago.
Sarah left the meeting room while the employees were in deep thought in front of the contracts. There would be many questions and she had no interest in answering them. The most important part of the contract was the non-disclosure agreement they would have to sign whether or not they joined the new company. Should they decide to try their fortune somewhere else, they would still need to sign an NDA if they wanted their last paycheck and the severance bonus.
"Do we really need to keep this company?" Hajin asked while they were walking to their car.
"We still need a place to legally transfer Joseph’s shares," Sarah said. "Everything should be within the investment company, anyway. Austin will become our frontman from now on."
"And the bank’s loan?"
"Worth will think of something," Sarah shrugged. "Austin said she’s good at stuff ."
Hajin chuckled and glanced at the office building for the last time. He actually was quite fond of that place; a small space only for him and his princess to scheme. It was a little heaven before they moved to their current love nest, although it was kind of regretful that there was no chance to have an office--
"Stop thinking about useless stuff!" Sarah pinched his waist--which was hard to do with such little fat over there. "You look like a pervert."
"My, my...you’ve become such a mind reader, Princess," Hajin grinned and leaned down to steal a kiss, but had to stop because of a sound of hurried footsteps toward them.
Sarah stopped and turned around, while Hajin looked at Sunny in annoyance. The panting girl didn’t look at him, however, just at Sarah. She took a deep breath and straightened her back.
"I...feel like I won’t be able to see you again after this," she said.
Sarah shrugged. "That is the plan."
"So, this is my only chance," Sunny smiled--a bright, sincere smile, not the one she used for business--before bowing deeply. "Thank you very much."
Sarah bit the inside of her cheek, feeling a bit flustered. She saved that smile in her memory and curled her lips slightly. "It’s a good transaction," she said casually before turning back to her car.
She could hear a soft laugh before sliding into the passenger seat. It seemed like the day would stay sunny for a while.