Chapter 07
Sarin noticed that her posture, sitting on the floor and eating, was similar to how Owen fed the dogs.
With each piece fed to her, Owen’s eyes softened.
“Do you want your passport back?”
With a piece of meat in her mouth, Sarin nodded. As she swallowed, he stared directly at her, her eyes shining brightly beneath the bangs he had cut short.
“…I want it back.”
“Then you’ll have to work for it.”
She wondered if everyone here, like her, was working with their passports taken away.
As she diligently chewed and swallowed the meat in her mouth, the next piece slid in. Owen, with his elbow on his knee and his chin resting on his hand, used only one hand to skillfully place the meat into his mouth. She tries to dodge, but in his hands, even a fork looks like a weapon.
The meat almost went down in one piece without being chewed.
“This is kidnapping.”
“Then ask the police for help.”
“Here, the police are all…”
“They’re just assholes who’ve taken my money.”
Right, that’s true. She understood perfectly well the unspoken words behind what he said.
“What do I have to do to get you to give it back?”
“Don’t they teach you this when you grow up? You can’t just say what you want straight up. Don’t just run your mouth.”
She felt like a huge lump of meat was stuck somewhere in the back of her throat, unable to pass through. Sarin clenched her fist and tapped her chest.
“Heuk…”
“Well, if you had quietly used the money for laundry or something, we wouldn’t be in this situation, wouldn’t we?”
It was a simple favor until she received the money, then it was malicious. Owen’s interest bordered on malice. His golden eyes glinted, now completely turned into chilling eyes, sending shivers down to her spine.
“…My flight is coming up, I need to get it back.”
Seemingly losing interest in feeding her further, he carelessly dropped the fork, and the metallic sound echoed as it collided with the plate.
“That’s your business over there.”
It was a reminder that she wasn’t done yet.
Eden City breaks people. Her sister, who used to be healthy, returned with a broken body, and since coming here, Sarin understood that this city ruins not only her sister but everyone who sets foot here.
She was terrified. The food still stuck on her chest wouldn’t go down.
Barely managing to live like a human, she feared facing rock bottom again.
Owen, wiping Sarin’s mouth gently with a napkin, spoke with a smile.
“Come back soon.”
The maid who had been getting ready next to her held out the dogs’ leashes to her. Unconsciously, Sarin accepted them, thinking that she could at least leave this place. The dogs, convinced by the leash that they were going for a walk, stood up and waited patiently.
Sarin thought that once she’s outside, she could call for help, anywhere. Despite the ominous feeling that this man wouldn’t let her off easily, there was no point staying here.
The food on her stomach didn’t last long.
As soon as Sarin stepped outside the hotel with the dogs, who she thought were well-behaved, she had to run. Without looking back, the three Dobermans eagerly led her.
She was out of breath. Her feet, which had slipped on the icy ground several times, throbbed as if something had snapped.
She ran recklessly, solely in a straight line. Nevertheless, she realized these dogs were well-trained and devilishly cunning. Every time Sarin seemed to let go of the leash, they miraculously slowed down.
It was unclear who was taking whom for a walk.
All she could hear was her own rough breathing as she piled up the courage to continue. Pain shot up from her bent waist.
Whether walking a dog was originally this challenging remained unknown. There’s no one to ask, and even if someone were in front of her, it would probably be best for her to breathe and pant like a dog.
“…st….”
S… stop.
The words didn’t come out to the end.
There was no time to look around. When her outstretched arm felt like it was falling off, she contemplated letting go of the leash, her stiff hand finally let go of the leash.
Plop.
The leash fell to the floor and, perhaps because the weight they’d been dragging like sleds was gone, the three dogs that had been running came to a dead stop and looked back at her.
Sarin tried to calm her jumping breath, placing both hands on her knees. Her knees and boots were already stained with mud. She hadn’t even realized she came out wearing her damp coat and less dry clothes. Her entire body was already damp with sweat.
Her wounded palms from the night before tingled. Without gloves, her reddened back of the hands froze and cracked; there was no spared area on her palms, back of hands, or anywhere else.
Despite eating the same meat, her stamina was vastly different.
As Sarin stood frozen in place, gasping for breath, three of them strutted over and stood in front of her.
“…Hello.”
Looking at the three pairs of eyes observing her with innocence that made her earlier perception of them as devils seem irrelevant, relief washed over her. Rather than eyes ready to inflict harm, they were more like curious eyes observing a stranger.
She recalled her childhood memories of raising a dog in the backyard. A stray country dog, whose name she didn’t know, stared at her inquisitively for several days when it arrived at Sarin’s house.
As if he was trying to gauge whether she was someone who would harm him.
“Could you slow down a bit?”
One of them sniffed at the fallen leash on the ground, then nudged it with its nose, looking intently at Sarin. Responding to the enthusiastic signal to grab it, she reached out her hand.
Contrary to her expectation of another absurd race, the dogs surprisingly started walking slowly. Not in a messy, snowy, shadowy place but on a properly cleared path. Considering the owner’s nature, this wasn’t expected, proving once again that dogs are better than people.
“Thank you.”
Maybe it’s just my mood, but the tails of the three dogs ahead of me seem to have gotten stiffer.
Just as she considered tying them up for a moment and making a run for the nearby embassy… the dogs suddenly began barking.
Woof!
Woof woof!
The dogs barking at the top of their lungs drew the attention of the people around. The sleek sedan she recognized from last night pulled up close to the road, splashing the mud.
The window rolled down, revealing golden eyes.
“You didn’t run away?”
It was the car that had blocked her path…
She refrained from saying anything foolish. The fact that the man knows her whereabouts implies that someone is following her.
As she hesitated, Owen gestured again. This time, his secretary, Yuri, came down from the passenger seat and took the leash from Sarin’s hand, looking displeased. She approached her, staring at her with a hint of disdain and a fake smile.
“You look like a beggar already.”
Dressed in the same dirty clothes from yesterday, and kept rolling on the ground multiple times today, making herself dirtier. Sarin realized that today she hadn’t been walking the dogs; she had been dragged around like a dog. She closed her lips without saying anything.
Her hesitant expression seemed well understood by Owen, and he was satisfied. Despite expressing dissatisfaction with her eyes, her lips remained silent.
He got out of the car, held the door, and gestured for her to step inside. His dark hair fluttered slightly in the breeze. She realized too late that it was a gesture for her to get in. After hesitating, Sarin climbed into the back seat, and Owen, who had entered the same space after her, closed the door. The driver started the car without saying a word.
The air inside the car was different from outside. The heater was running so hot and dry that it quickly became stifling.
“Look here.”
His cool hand deliberately touched her cheek, which was looking out the opposite window.
Startled, she turned to him, and something came close to her face. A scrap of paper, thin, smaller than a finger.
“You don’t look similar.”
Narrowing his eyes, he compared the face in the photo with Sarin’s face. His gaze, like a cat or a predator, was sharp. Tilting his head slightly, he carefully examined her face. Without needing to ask about the existence he claimed she doesn’t look similar to, she already knows.
“…It’s Irin.”
Twins, born on the same day from the same womb. Her other half.
“Still, you don’t look alike.”
Owen said so, withdrawing his hand. Even though he already had all the reports about Irin, her twin sister.
“I can’t help it. We were born not looking alike from the beginning.”
Sarin’s voice cracked, as if she’d swallowed something bitter down her throat. It was always like this when she brought up Irin’s story. She wanted to see if he remembered her, there was no trace of Irin on Owen’s face.
“Do you remember her?”
“I have several hotel employees; it’s impossible to remember each one individually.”
As expected.
It wasn’t surprising. As Sarin lowered her gaze and tried to turn her eyes away, Owen grabbed her chin with his finger, fixing his gaze on her.
Her entirely cloudy pupils were still captivating. Her eyes, showing a part of the hazy sky, were rarely something that appealed to him.
“My siblings, who grew up with me, ended up with eyes like these as they aged, and in the end, they couldn’t see anything.”
As Owen said that, his thumb dangerously grazed the area below Sarin’s eyes.
It was hard to make out the meaning of his words. Sarin unconsciously squinted the corners of her eyes as he rubbed them.
“Those eyes weren’t this clear before.”
