DM Chapter 87
Gayeon let out a short sigh and stood up from her seat.
“Whether it’s good or bad that we meet again, I can’t say for sure…”
Approaching Sarin, she placed her hand on her shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze.
“Hopefully, it’s for the better.”
She continued as if delivering a parting message. Sarin felt a definite sense of impending change.
At the same time, she looked at Hayan, who was staring at the teddy bear with an uneasy expression. The child’s face, which had said he couldn’t bear it if something went wrong, was dark.
Feeling a chilling breeze of foreboding linger in the room, Gayeon’s hand on Sarin’s shoulder sent shivers down her spine.
“…I hope so too.”
Sarin replied, dispelling the ominous wind. She hoped for the best.
Just as she was trying to quickly forget her dark thoughts, the door opened, and the medical staff came in with a wheelchair.
“We need to do additional tests. We’re going down for a CT scan, so we’ve come to take the child. Hi, how are you feeling today?”
The nurse asked Hayan cheerfully. Yujin, who came in with the medical staff, translated, and Hayan nodded.
“I’ll be back, Auntie.”
Hayan went with the medical staff for further tests. After being told to wait in the hospital room because guardians are not allowed in, Sarin tidied up the messy bed. When she grabbed one corner of the blanket, Gayeon suddenly grabbed the opposite corner and helped.
“Thank you. You don’t have to stay if you’re busy…”
“I have nothing else to do anyway. Kirill is meeting with Owen.”
Gayeon shrugged. She had come just to make sure Sarin was doing well.
“Are they meeting alone?”
“He said he’d come when they’re done talking.”
So he must have accompanied her to the hospital. There had been words weighing on her mind, but she pushed them back to herself and didn’t ask. Owen had said it was okay to cross the line, but she was the one hesitating and wavering.
Knock, knock.
When the knocking sound came, Gayeon quickly spoke, suppressing her laughter.
“As they say, even tigers come when you speak of them. Right?”
The Korean proverb, heard after a long time, felt familiar.
Before she could respond, the door opened, and Owen and Kirill entered together. Their expressions didn’t reveal what kind of conversation they had.
When Owen’s gaze landed on Gayeon, who was facing Sarin, his expression subtly furrowed. It seemed he wasn’t pleased.
“Kirill.”
Without hesitation, Gayeon passed by Owen and reached out to Kirill, lightly embracing her waist. Gayeon smiled, her hands cupping Kirill’s cheeks affectionately. Even though she knew it was rude to stare, Sarin couldn’t help but look. They looked like an ordinary and lovely couple to anyone.
The atmosphere between the two seemed peaceful, despite their status as fugitives. After experiencing many things together, could their trust in each other build up such peacefulness? Vague doubts arose in Sarin’s mind about whether Owen and she could become like that if enough time passed.
“You keep staring at unnecessary things.”
Owen reached out and blocked Sarin’s view with his palm. Then he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.
“Just look at me, okay? Don’t look elsewhere.”
His lips lightly pressed against Sarin’s forehead.
“They just seem comfortable.”
There was a strong sense of trust in the other person. As Sarin responded, Owen looked her straight in the eyes. At the same time, Kirill and Gayeon were also looking in their direction. Sarin couldn’t understand why Gayeon, not Kirill, seemed to bother Owen more. Owen’s slender gaze seemed to begrudge Gayeon.
“Gayeon isn’t your enemy.”
“That remains to be seen.”
Owen replied in an indifferent tone to Kirill’s words. From the beginning, he didn’t like Gayeon, who proudly spoke to Sarin in a language he didn’t know.
He needed to know everything about Sarin. He needed to know who she met, what conversations she had, and what thoughts she held.
“I’m on Sarin’s side. He knows that; that’s why he let me in here.”
Gayeon said, looking at Kirill.
That was the problem. She was on Sarin’s side, not his own.
A woman who would do anything for Sarin, even carry Kirill on her back to keep her away from him. That’s why Owen didn’t like her. Sarin grabbed Owen’s hand, which had blocked her view, and pulled it down. She felt a bit embarrassed when the two people she was looking at suddenly glanced in her direction.
It became clear that both Owen and Gayeon were worried about her.
“During your time here, you should hope our deal remains valid. If you stray even a little, I’ll add to the tail that follows you.”
Owen reminded them again of where they were.
“I know.”
Kirill’s firm response came back.
“Sigh, where would a homeless person settle down to live?”
Gayeon chuckled. Seeing those eyes boiling with possessiveness, she could imagine the difficult path Sarin had to tread.
Kirill, who seemed naive and wild like a wild animal before meeting her, would at least listen to her now, but look at those eyes.
They were dangerous eyes that had already seen the world and knew everything. They were beings from another world, so far away that they wouldn’t normally come across kind people like Sarin. Gayeon felt sorry for Sarin, meeting such a difficult person by chance and suffering because of it.
To conclude the conversation with Kirill, Owen sat facing him on the sofa. Sarin, too, sat on the bed she had just tidied up, where Owen’s gaze could reach, with Gayeon.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
Seeing Owen furrowed his brow as Gayeon was about to place her hand on Sarin’s back, she decided not to provoke him any further. Instead, she quietly placed her hand on her own thigh, allowing him to refocus on his conversation with Kirill.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Do you know what the one condition was for me to get in here?”
“What is it?”
“Not speaking Korean.”
Owen and Kirill were conversing in Russian, a language Sarin didn’t understand. Gayeon noticed her attention being drawn to their direction, even though she couldn’t comprehend. They’d been speaking in English the whole time, except for the first time she’d walked into this room and spoken to the child.
“Really?”
“Isn’t it funny? Who does he think he is?”
As she said that, Sarin felt Owen’s power once again as she watched Gayeon speak English fluently.
“Maybe it’s frustrating not being able to understand.”
“Oh, so you’re frustrated that you can’t understand those two men talking in Russian?”
Her eyes widened as she unintentionally responded, feeling pricked. With such a revealing expression on his face, she knew Owen was wary when she spoke to her in Korean. They truly didn’t suit each other, no matter how many times she saw them.
A man who could deceive anyone and a woman whose every emotion was written on her face.
This was clearly a loss for Sarin. A deep sigh escaped her, but she had passed the point of being able to stop her. In the short time they had known each other, she had thrown all caution to the wind. There was now a real risk of Kirill’s carefully constructed deal being broken.
“Just curious. It feels like it’s because of me, but I’m the only one who doesn’t know.”
Sarin said with a faint smile. Her attempt at consoling herself by patting her own hand was interrupted by a sudden instinctual halt. Gayeon’s hand ended up just ruffling her hair and returning to its place.
“By the way, I heard from Kirill, but I couldn’t believe it. That guy said he’d give it to you.”
“What?”
“His liver.”
Gyeon whispered like it was a secret. Owen had instructed her not to use Korean, but he hadn’t said anything about whispering. If even this was considered inappropriate, then she might as well ask for a microphone if she’d say anything.
“That guy doesn’t look scary to you?”
Sarin turned her head and looked at Owen. It was incredible how he made such a decision, treating even his brother as a stranger. Sarin felt as if she was being led, unable to offer any rebuttal.
Her gaze, still fixed on Owen, moved from his sharp jawline down to the collar exposed by his suit, and then to the spot where he probably had the liver ready to hand over.
Owen, aware of the eyes watching him, clenched his jaw and slowly spread his legs apart, not listening to what Kirill had said earlier. The way those eyes look at him so worriedly makes his throat go dry.
Sarin looked at Owen, who seemed to feel the same way.
“Really… it’s striking.”
The man, who was spreading his legs in an obviously flirtatious gesture, smiled breathlessly. Sarin was stunned by the comment, and it wasn’t until she looked at Owen’s face again that she realized that things were getting weird.
Spreading his legs wide, the docile beast waited for her gaze to roam over the most intimate parts of his body, then clicked his tongue ruefully at the sight of Sarin’s sobered form.
“Ha….”
Even Kirill, who usually doesn’t react to things like this, let out an exasperated sigh.
[Are you listening to me?]
[Ah, Pavel?]
He slowly mouthed Pavel’s name. He can finally see Sarin’s curious face, wondering if he recognizes the word. Owen’s rising lust clouded his judgment, still clenching his jaw and stroking his fingers under his lips.
[Leaving him alone this long is a huge risk to our plans.]
