┍━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┑

No. It's not him.

It can't be him.
He's waiting for me at home.

The image of the black gun dangling in his right hand replayed in your head.
The black cashmere suit that wrapped his body perfectly.
His knuckles covered in fresh blood.
The cedarwood and leather scent seemed to linger in the air as a reminder that the mysterious man was the one you loved.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

You paralyzed to the sound.

Is it mine?

You quickly slipped your phone out.

"Hello."

You listened.
It was Hajoon's voice.
You felt relieved for a split second, as you remained on high alert.
One screw up and you knew, Hajoon would kill you like how did to the man, who was lying in his puddle of blood now.

"What do you mean?"

A second passed.

"I'll skin you alive if I don't see her by the time I get back."

Your eyes widened, realizing that it was probably Wonwoo who had called.
He probably figured out you weren't at the property.

"Split up and find ---------. Go search her house. Go to the company. The river! Look all over the country if you must."

Your hands trembled, as your heart bruised your ribcage.

He's gone mad.
I need to go back before he does something Wonwoo.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

You carefully and quietly trend through the back, making your way out of the junkyard.
It was your mission to get back before he does.
You would live with guilt for the rest of your life if you got Wonwoo killed, or anyone.

The image of Hajoon killing the man replayed in your head.
Him holding a gun. The blood on his hands.
All the things he had said before were probably lies too.
It clicked to you. Those weren't his grandfather's bodyguards.
Those were his bodyguards.

" Can you please drive faster, Ahjusshi?"
The cab driver looked at you through the rear mirror, before he obliged to your request.
You fiddled with your fingers, looking out the window.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Running through the rough terrain, you approached the back exit, the same one you used to escape from earlier.
You were back on his property, as you closed the gate behind you.

Your heart raced out of your chest as you followed the trail back to the main area of the backyard.
Questions ran through your mind, feeling a slight regret for coming back.

Why did I come back here?
Is he going to kill me? Wonwoo? Ms. Jeon?
Did I come back to face my death?
How is he going to kill me?
Torture? Skin me? Hanging?
Bullet between my eyes?

Your thoughts ceased when you ran into a brick wall.
Ooof.
Fingers harshly wrapped around your upper right arm, stopping you.
Your eyes widened when you locked eyes with the mysterious man.
It was his scent.

Stay calm, --------.
Don't be scared.

"W-What are you doing?" you stammered.
You prayed that he didn't feel how fast your heart was beating because that would give away how scared you were.

"Where did you go?" he asked.
There was a dark and roughness to his tone.

This was no time to play games with him.
You finally realized that he wasn't kidding when he told you to sit still, or there would be consequences.
Was killing you one of the consequences he thought about?

"I...I took a stroll in the garden. Why?"

He tugged you closer to him; your left hand pressed on his chest, trying to space yourself away from him.
"Does it look like I'm playing games?" His eyes darkened.
Chills ran down your spine. You couldn't figure out his next move.
"If anyone's playing games, it's you," you furrowed your brows, "now let me go. You are hurting me."

Instead of letting you go, he dragged you down the trail; his grip became tighter than before.
"Hey!" You yelled.
For every step he took, it took you three steps to keep up with him.
"What's wrong with you?" you asked, as you struggled to get out of his strong grip.
He stopped and turned back to look at you, as you did the same, standing your ground.

"What's wrong with me is that you've driven me to the point of insanity, --------."

Th-thump. Th-thump. Th-thump.

Stop, you shouldn't be feeling this way right now, --------.

"Then, let me go. I don't want to stay here either, especially with you," your brows arched in anger.
He leaned in.
"You're staying here forever."

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

He pushed you inside first, making you stumble on your own feet before you balanced yourself.
"Guard every damn door on this property," Hajoon sharply ordered, before he slammed the door shut.

You flinched to the loud slam.
Every step he took, you took one back.
Your eyes trailed to his hands, eyeing his bruised knuckles, before you connected back to his eyes.

"What are you doing?" you asked, as you fiddled with your fingers on one hand to the side.
"Thinking about what I want to do with you," he answered.
"For taking a stroll in the garden?"
"Did you really?" he asked, tilting his head to the side, as he stopped his tracks.
You hesitated for a second, before nodding.
Playing the part and sticking to your words was the only way you were going to survive, hopefully.
"And if I were to pull up the security footage, you will be on there, right?"

Ah !

"You've gone mad, Hajoon! I fell asleep and woke up to find you angry."
"That's not what my men said."
"What did they say then?"
"You don't need to worry about that because I did warn you if you do anything stupid—"
"Why are you acting like this? We're partners," you interrupted.

"Partners, huh?" he raised a brow in confusion.
"Yes. Partners."

Before your brain could process what happened next, Hajoon stormed over, wrapped his fingers around your wrist, dragging you once more.

"Hey, what's wrong with you, Hajoon?" you struggled even though you knew you were nowhere near his strength.
"Stop resisting," he said as he continued to pull you up the stairs.
You recall what he did just a few hours ago, putting a man to his death.

What if he kills me like how he killed that man?

"Can you slow down? You're hur—"
You stumbled on the step, your knee making contact with the step above, making you fall.
The rage in his eyes quickly turned concerned, as he took two steps down.

"Are you okay?" he asked, as he looked for an injury.
Your heart palpitated.

Stop. You can't be feeling like this right now. The man is a mafia boss.

He lifted his eyes to lock with yours.

"Can you be gentler?" you asked, dipping your brows.

His demeanor changed, going back to his stern look.
He released your wrist and stood up.

You sat on the step, rubbing your knee to ease the pain.

"Get up," he ordered.

You sighed and did what he asked.
It could be a life-or-death situation, knowing that he could take a life away easily.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

"Why can't I go back to my room?" you asked, as you stood inside his room.
"Because I can't trust you," he responded, then he slammed the door shut.

Does he know I lied?

You panicked.

Is he going to kill me for lying?
What is planning to do to me?
I need to get out of here.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Three days passed from that brutal murder.

"Call me if anything happens," Hajoon looked over at you.
At the same time, you happened to glance his way.
He didn't break away, instead he kept his gaze on you.
"And keep her in your sight at all times," Hajoon ordered Ms. Jeon.

Ms. Jeon returned from her short trip from Busan.
It was very normal that she took short trips to visit families.
Ms. Jeon nodded and bowed to him.

He walked over to you where you sat on the high stool, helping Ms. Jeon prep for dinner later.
He leaned into your left ear.
You felt his hard pecs pressed on your left arm, sending tingles throughout your body.
His closeness released the butterflies in your stomach, as you tried ignoring the fact that he was strongly affecting you.
His warm breath brushed against your ear and then down your neck.
He placed a hand on your lower back, intensifying the butterflies and heart palpitation.
"I'll see you soon, Love."

Don't let him get to you.
Don't let him get to you.

Your lips almost touched his when you turned your head slightly to meet eyes with him.
He gave you a smirk when his brown eyes met with yours.
"Don't miss me too much," he whispered.
He winked and then grabbing his blazer that was draped on a chair, he walked out of the kitchen.

You released the breath you were holding.

"Well," Ms. Jeon cleared , "That...isn't something the boss do every morning."
You blushed at her comment.

What the heck is wrong with him?

Does he have bipolar disorder?

"We should call Dr. Sunghoon to check on him," you commented, as you continued taking the ends of the beans off.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

"Have you found anything on Marco Ricci yet?" Soohyuk asked as he sat across from Hajoon.
"I am still looking into him. Why the rush?" Hajoon took a sip of his coffee.
"My mom is planning to sign some paperwork with him. They're going to give him forty percent of Lee Corporation."
"Forty percent?" Hajoon raised a brow.
"I don't know what's wrong with her."
"A lot is wrong with her."
"That's my mom you're speaking about, and she's your aunt."
"I was never considered 'family.'"
"Hajoon."
"Provide me the contract your mom is planning to sign with Ricci," Hajoon said, putting his cup on the table, then he stood up from his seat.
Soohyuk stood up after.
"I...it's not that easy," Soohyuk sighed.
"That's not my problem. Get that contract to me and I'll give you half of what I know about Ricci."
"HaJ—"
"You made a deal with me, not the other way around," Hajoon said as he walked back to his desk.
"Well, you're going to have to give me time then."
"I can wait," Hajoon responded, as he looked through some papers.

Just as Soohyuk was about to leave, he turned back once more, facing Hajoon.
"Have you heard from ---------?"
Hajoon stopped and looked at Soohyuk.
"Why?"
"Nothing. I just realized she haven't been here for a few weeks. I wonder if it's Eunwoo..." Soohyuk stopped, realizing that Hajoon probably didn't care.
"Cha Eun Woo?" Hajoon questioned.
"So, you've met him?"
"A few times. What's with them?" Hajoon asked, curiously.
"She told me they were dating," Soohyuk started.

Hajoon blocked out the rest of what Soohyuk had to say.
All that was running through his head was you LIED again.
The thought of you and Eunwoo dating made his blood boiled.

"Yea, I was wondering if she's okay," Soohyuk ended.
Hajoon snapped out, piling the papers again.
"If you hear from her, please extend my greetings to her," then Soohyuk left.

And she told me that Eunwoo was just a friend.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

You ate the soup Ms. Jeon made for a late lunch, as you two sat in the patio.
"How was your trip, Ms. Jeon?" you asked.
"It was short but great."
"What did you do in Busan?"
"I met with a friend then stayed with my family after."

A friend. Haein.

You missed her. It's been a while since you contact her.
"What about you? What have you done since I left? Why did the Chairman say that before he left?" Ms. Jeon asked, breaking you out of your thoughts.
"I...I fell asleep in the garden. I guess the guards freaked out because they couldn't find me," you half lied.
"The garden?"

You slowly nodded.
Was there a special garden that you didn't know about?

"You've seen the garden?" Ms. Jeon asked again.
"Why?"
"The garden is locked, so how did you get in?" Ms. Jeon furrowed her brows in confusion.

So, there is a secret garden.

"Ah, I meant I wander to the back of the yard."
She listened before nodding.
"Why is the garden locked?" you asked.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

You and Ms. Jeon stood in front of the gated garden.
From the look, it was very beautiful.
Flowers of every kind, but tulips, they were your favorite, filled one side of the yard.
It really looked like a secret garden.
Ms. Jeon turned the key, unlocking the gate.
She waved for you to follow.
It felt like a sacred ground that you weren't supposed to enter.
Your eyes widened in awed.
Colors of every shade painted the field, even the scent of the garden was different from the rest of the property.
You followed Ms. Jeon on the trail, as you took in every inch of the garden.

"Why is this place locked? It's beautiful," you said as your eyes continued to scan each flower.
"This garden belongs to the Chairman's mother."
"Oh."
"It's a special place to the Chairman, that's why it's locked. In fact, you shouldn't be here."
You stopped and looked at Ms. Jeon as she looked over her shoulder.
"Should we head out? I don't want to anger your boss."
"It should be fine. I'll just let him know I took you in here."
You remember what happened a few nights ago, the cold murder on the stranger.

"Are you sure?" you asked again.
She smiled and nodded.

You continued to trail behind Ms. Jeon.
"His mother loves tulip, hence this side of the field," Ms. Jeon said, as she waved to the right side.
You loved tulips as well.

As tempting as it was to ask Ms. Jeon about Hajoon's mother, you stopped yourself when you remember the last time you ask about her.
The rest of the walk was silent, as you took in the garden.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

"Ah," you clenched onto your stomach.
Ms. Jeon stopped and rushed to your side.
"What's wrong, ---------?" She asked in concern as she wrapped her arm around your back.
You hunched, hugging your stomach.
"I don't think I feel good."
"Can you make it to the house?" She asked, as she looked at the remaining trail.
You two were so close to the back entrance.
You shook your head to her question.
"Let me go get a guard."
You nodded and hugged your stomach as you fell to your knees.
"Wait, okay! I'll be right back."
You nodded.

And yes, even though Ms. Jeon was near her sixties, she moved quickly.
Within minutes, three guards came running towards you, along with Ms. Jeon.
"What's wrong?" one of the guards asked Ms. Jeon.
"I don't know. I think we should take her to hospital right now. It could be serious if it's her stomach," Ms. Jeon explained.
You hugged your stomach tighter, tightly closing your eyes.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Before you knew it, you were in the back of a car, as they all rushed to their side of the car.
You looked behind and noticed another two black cars trailing along.
Ms. Jeon tried comforting you as you continued to clench onto your stomach, wincing in pain.

"Are you okay?" she asked, as she rubbed your back.
Her tone was filled with concern.
You slowly shook your head, eyes closed, hoping it would ease the pain.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Four nurses came out to the emergency door, as the car pulled up.
They helped you onto a wheelchair, wheeling you in, while the rest of the guards and Ms. Jeon followed closely behind.

"No visitors beyond this point," one of the nurses said, her hand out in a stop signal.

"But—"
"It's policy," the nurse interrupted Ms. Jeon.

You peeked behind as you saw all of them standing behind the big white door, dividing you from them.

Two nurses helped place you on a bed, while the other two prepared the IV bag and needle ready to be injected into your arm.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

"Boss, we admitted -------- to the hospital."
Hajoon jumped from his seat behind his desk.
"What happened? Where is she? Which hospital?" Hajoon bombarded the guard with questions.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Hajoon ran inside the hospital as another twenty men trailed behind him.
"Where is she?" He panted.
"She's still inside."
"You guys had one job," Hajoon huffed out, his brows furrowing in anger.
Ms. Jeon took a step forward.
"I was with her. We were walking back from the gar—"
"If anything, and I mean, ANYTHING, happens to her, I guarantee that you guys won't live to see tomorrow."

He sharply sighed, before pushing past the heavy, white doors.
Everyone knew who he was, not even stopping him as he marched down the long corridor.
"Where is Park -------?" He asked one of the nurses.
The nurse stopped what she was doing and bowed.
"She's resting at the end," the nurse responded.

He needed to see you right now, and he wasn't going to waste any time, as he marched to the last bed down the aisle that was covered by a blue sheet, diving your area with the other patients.

With a smooth whip of the diving cloth, he was greeted with an empty bed, half of the blanket dangling down on the side.

"Where did she go?" he harshly asked the nurse, who walked behind him.
"Mr. Wi, she—" The nurse had the same shocked on her face when she peeked behind Hajoon.
"Review all your camera footages right now," Hajoon ordered.
"Yes, Mr. Wi," the nurse bowed, and then she quickly rushed out of the room.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

His blood boiled even hotter.

Did she run away?
Was she really hurt?

Hajoon thought as he stepped out of the room.

"Find --------."
Ms. Jeon's eyes widened.
"W-what do you mean, Chairman?"

Hajoon ignored her.
His only focus was finding you now.
"Do not stop until you find her," Hajoon's face reddened.
His brows arched in a rage.
"Bring her back to me."
All the men bowed then scattered throughout the premises.

One of his men came running towards him, breaking out in a pant.

"Boss, we found this note at the junkyard while we were cleaning the scene."
He took the paper from the man, unfolding its creases.

----------,

I'm sorry for everything.
I only lied to protect you.
I'm looking for you, and I won't stop looking for you.
The day I find you, I will tell you everything.

Cha Eun Woo

Did she run away with him?

┕━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┙

This story will be avaliable on Wattpad! You can search up the title of the story "My Mysterious Boss", or you can search up my username @alwaysterius.

As always, don't forget to leave me a message, subscribe, and upvote!

☆.｡.:*Inspirit_o7.｡.:*☆