Affectionate Obsession - Chapter 14

“Can’t you be quiet? When you were smiling and seducing me, what was that all about? Now you’re backing out, you bastard!”

“You crazy son of a bitch. Do you even look in the mirror? Who was smiling and seducing whom…!”

Sera, who had been screaming without regard for anything, turned her head at a sudden feeling of being watched.

The elevator door, which she hadn’t even noticed opening, was slowly closing.

And the face seen through the gap was someone familiar.

In that instant, a thousand thoughts flashed through Sera’s mind.

The rude man gripping her wrist so roughly was someone she couldn’t overpower on her own.

That meant, whoever it was, she needed help from someone other than herself.

And it would be cleaner, in many ways, to ask for help from someone she knew rather than a stranger.

“Hey! Mr. Jeong Junhyeok!”

The moment she shouted, she didn’t even recall the fact that Shin Yeonhee had been put in her place as the bride at her wedding with Junhyeok.

She just felt she had to escape this situation for now. But as if her desperate shout was in vain, the elevator door steadily closed, and Junhyeok’s figure was no longer visible.

Sera furrowed her brow, almost instinctively.

Her mind was completely blank, wondering how she was supposed to handle this situation.

She had just wanted to enjoy a leisurely drink. That’s why she came to the hotel bar, only to run into this.

The fact that she had sent this secretary up ahead was the root of all her trouble.

Should she contact this secretary right now?

But that, too, was not a viable solution at the moment.

If she could have, she would have done it long ago.

There was no problem with taking out her phone and holding it in her hand right now, but the man holding her wrist wouldn’t just stand by and watch her make a call.

Sera felt her vision go dark.

Having lived her entire life under protection, she was unaccustomed to dealing with such unexpected situations.

Things had always been resolved before she could even handle them, so she never had a chance to experience this.

What should I do? Am I really going to be dragged away by this greasy pig and suffer something terrible?

Only the worst-case scenarios scrolled through her mind. She felt tears about to burst from the fear washing over her.

But then it happened.

“What are you doing there?”

The elevator door, which she thought had closed, swung wide open, and Junhyeok’s voice was heard.

“Th-that is, well……”

Sera couldn’t properly form a sentence.

The fear of being overpowered by a strange man, and the relief that Jeong Junhyeok, whom she thought had passed by, had reappeared.

It was difficult to regain her composure amidst these two extreme emotions.

“Come this way.”

In that fleeting moment, Junhyeok extended his hand towards Sera.

Was this what they meant by a ray of light in the darkness?

Sera felt as if she had found salvation.

She immediately pushed off with her toes. There was no reason not to. But she couldn’t take a single step closer to Junhyeok.

“Agh.”

Sera let out a low groan. She felt an even stronger grip on her captured wrist. It felt like it would break any second.

“What the hell are you? Hey, you! Can’t you see we’re going up together?!”

The man holding Sera’s wrist scowled and yelled at Junhyeok.

Though he looked like a back-alley thug, his behavior was enough to intimidate an ordinary person.

The problem was that, in Junhyeok’s eyes, he just looked pathetic.

“To me, it looks like you’re forcibly dragging her up.”

Junhyeok replied in a nonchalant tone. Nevertheless, his posture, with arms crossed and head tilted halfway, was intimidating to a degree that couldn’t be compared to a back-alley thug.

“Wh-what do you know, talking like that? Mister, you mind your own business. We’ll mind ours!”

As if overwhelmed by an inexplicable aura, the ruffian stammered, his momentum faltering. He had instinctively recognized the stronger party.

Yet, he stubbornly refused to let go of Sera’s wrist.

Junhyeok felt a sigh rise to the back of his throat.

He detested getting involved in other people’s affairs.

A sense of justice towards the weak? He had never felt that even for a moment in his life.

Yet, the reason he couldn’t simply pass by this situation was, as always, Shin Yeonhee.

“I won’t say it twice, so listen carefully.”

“……”

“Let go of that hand and go your way, and nothing will happen. If you ignore my words, you’ll likely find yourself in a police holding cell in about thirty minutes, and you’ll be meeting my lawyer.”

Junhyeok muttered with a terrifyingly calm expression. His voice towards the man was chillingly cold.

Sera, standing beside him, flinched. But Junhyeok paid no mind to that fact.

This was the chance he had finally grasped.

For ten years, he had endured and endured, searching only for Shin Yeonhee, living subserviently at his father’s feet.

If he hadn’t intended to find Yeonhee, this time would never have existed.

Therefore, Yoon Sera, just like before, had to live quietly under Shin Yeonhee’s shadow.

So that no one could ever discover Yeonhee’s identity.

The deeper that thought became, the more terrifyingly Junhyeok’s expression darkened.

“Even if it’s not rape, it’s certainly enough for attempted rape or sexual harassment.”

“……”

“Have you calculated what kind of sentence you’d be looking at then?”

“What are you, what are you saying!”

Junhyeok sighed at the man’s reaction.

He thought this would be enough.

If he wasn’t a complete idiot, he would be scared and run away with his tail between his legs by now, but the outcome he expected didn’t materialize.

The man, though looking scared, couldn’t back down, perhaps due to pride.

Junhyeok was starting to feel weary.

He didn’t have a sense of justice, but he detested people who were weak to the strong and strong to the weak. And the man before him was exactly like that.

What made it even worse was that he was an imbecile who couldn’t even understand simple words.

In that case, there was no need for the pretense of manners he had been showing.

Junhyeok let the raw, unfiltered emotions pass through his lips without thinking.

“Still don’t understand?”

“……”

“Let go of that hand and run before your life goes to shit. That’s the only way you can survive.”

It was effective.

The man, who had been looking scared, suddenly turned pale and let go of Sera’s wrist as if throwing it away.

“Ha! I’m just that unlucky! Hmph, spit!”

Even then, he couldn’t give up his pride, letting out a boastful shout.

Junhyeok didn’t take his eyes off the man until the very end. The man was retreating from Junhyeok’s sight, looking like a cornered rat utterly dominated by a stronger force.

Only then did Junhyeok uncross his arms and step forward without hesitation.

Sera thought he would step into the elevator.

But the direction he walked was not into the elevator, but towards another elevator right next to it.

As Junhyeok disappeared in an instant, Sera stepped out of the elevator as if drawn. Then, she shouted at Junhyeok’s retreating back.

“Ex-excuse me!”

She didn’t know why she did it. Fortunately or unfortunately, Junhyeok’s rapidly moving legs stopped abruptly.

Sera’s eyes widened, realizing her mistake belatedly. She had called out on instinct, but she didn’t know what to say.

Yet, she was also puzzled.

Why wasn’t he saying anything, even after seeing her?

“Th-thank you for helping me.”

She felt she had to say something, so she expressed her gratitude for the recent situation.

Still, Junhyeok remained silent.

He wasn’t even looking back.

Sera felt the tension, which was already weighing heavily on her shoulders, increase even further.

His motionless back was so striking that she couldn’t fathom what he was thinking.

It was a feeling she had never experienced in her life, a feeling she hadn’t even felt the first time she saw him, and it began to consume every cell in her body.

It happened so quickly that Sera couldn’t define this feeling.

What was certain was that it felt like the kind of emotion she shouldn’t have realized.

She was confused. Inexpressibly so.

But then, the man who seemed immovable no matter what slowly revealed his face.

“You don’t need to thank me. I didn’t help you; I did it because I didn’t want to be bothered.”

His gaze, which shot straight at her, was utterly devoid of emotion. His voice, piercing her ears, was also full of barbs. Yet, Sera couldn’t tear her eyes away from Junhyeok.

How long did she stand there?

Sera, finally regaining her senses, looked forward again. But by then, Junhyeok had already disappeared.

As if her tension had finally released, Sera stumbled, leaning against the wall to regain her balance.

A sudden headache washed over her.

It felt like worries she had never imagined had flooded her mind all at once.

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