59. CASANOVA STRIKES

In the morning, after the party, I put on my best confident face I had mastered in my life. I had a bad feeling churning inside of me. But, I didn’t want to worry my puppy. Any hint of weakness from my side and he would leave his job without another thought.

On reaching the hagwon, the first thing that greeted me was a big bouquet of red roses. I was informed it was for me. I opened the small envelope addressed to me which was attached to the bouquet and read the message inside.

My dearest Angel Shark,

These roses made me think of how soft your body will be under mine.

Your Admirer

Yohan

I took a deep breath and told the receptionist to not accept any more gift deliveries for me. She should send it back. I also asked her let me know when Mrs Park Yohan arrived. I called puppy to let him know about the bouquet, the note and my decision to give it all to sleazebag’s wife when she came to drop the kids for their classes. I was clear in my mind that my family wouldn’t suffer silently. Sleazebag’s family life would be hell too.

Mrs Park Yohan, Miran, was a very beautiful woman but with sad eyes. Her suffering with her philandering husband was clear on her face. I felt bad that I was going to add to her suffering, but I needed to make my stance clear. Her husband was bordering on harassing me. I handed her the bouquet and the note. She turned red in embarrassment after reading the note.

“Miran-ssi, I am sorry for hurting you with this information. But I felt you need to know that your husband’s attention is neither desired nor welcomed by me.”

“I apologize for his behavior Jinki-ssi. I will try to talk to him, but I am not sure how much help I can give you in this matter.” She answered me with a red face.

“You don’t need to apologize, Miran-ssi. You are not the person in the wrong here.”

She bowed and we said our byes.

Next day there was another rose bouquet waiting for me. The receptionist told me that the bouquet was there before she arrived for the day. The roses were pink and fully bloomed. Sleazebag had sent me ‘Kiss Me’ roses. I read the note with them.

Dearest Angel Shark,

Your lips are like these roses and called out “Kiss Me” when I saw them. I am impatiently waiting to feel them on me.

Yours,

Yohan

P.S. : Giving them to Miran is useless. I have given her another present for you.

I told the receptionist to throw the flowers away and inform Mrs Park Miran when she arrived that I wanted to meet her. I didn’t call puppy, there seemed no sense in upsetting him at his work, it could wait till later.

I was shocked when Mrs Park entered my office. She had a black eye and a bruised cheek that she had tried her best to cover with makeup. I called up our psychologist and made an urgent appointment for Mrs Park. Heechul entered my office just as I was ending the call.

“Jinx I heard downstaires that you got another bouquet today?” He saw Mrs Park and stopped. “Oh, I am sorry. I didn’t realize you had company.”

“It’s alright Cinder. Meet Mrs Park Yohan, Miran-ssi. Miran-ssi, you already know about Heechul I think.”

They greeted each other and Heechul stared at her battered face.

“Jinx you made the call?”

“Yes the psychologist is on her way here. I was just going to call you in myself. Good you came.” I let him know.

Heechul was the one who dealt with our abused wives and worked in tandem with the psychologist to help them deal with the abuse and get over the trauma. He took Mrs Park hand in his and very gently touched his finger tips to the bruised areas of her face. He took the seat next to her.

Heechul spoke softly with her, continuing to hold her hand. “Miran-ssi, we will not ask your permission. If you want your children to study in our hagwon, you have to meet regularly with our psychologist. Our hagwon does not condone domestic violence and we refuse to be mute spectators to it. We assure you full confidentialty.”

I usually refrained from advising the victims because I knew from experience that it would be wasted till they had reached the point in therapy where they were able to get a right perspective on the horror that was their lives.

I spoke gently to her, “Miran-ssi, hold your head up. You did not do anything wrong. You did not invite the abuse. It was not your fault. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

She looked at me and tried to smile but her eyes brimmed with unshed tears.

I continued, “Do you know Dr Choi Minho who is your husband’s friend?”

“Yes, I do. He comes to our house often when we are in Incheon. He is a good friend of my husband.” She said with a little more animation in her.

“Do you know he was sort-of married?” I asked.

“Yes. But I never got a chance to meet his partner. He was in a gay relationship. He is living now with his parents. Poor man. It’s so sad to see such a good man so alone and missing his partner who refuses to even talk to him. Do you know he is not allowed to even meet his daughter? What kind of a heartless man would do that to Minho?” It was easier for her to focus on the pain of another person.

“You think Minho’s partner wronged him?”

“Yes. Minho is a wonderful person.”

“Miran-ssi, I am happy to make your acquaintance. I am Lee Jinki, as you already know. I am Minho’s ex-partner.”

She was shocked at my revelation. Heechul and I watched her silently, giving her time to digest this new information. It took her a while to gather herself to speak again.

“But you are nothing like what Minho told us about you.”

“When I left Minho six years ago, I was in the same mental state as you are today. Doctor diagnosed me with nervous breakdown and it took me more than a year and lot of medication to get back to normalcy.”

She listened to me attentively.

“I don’t talk about my life with Minho. I don’t talk bad about Minho. I loved him. I married him. What happened during our marriage was personal and unfortunate. But, it was wrong. I am speaking from experience when I say that there is no excuse for domestic violence. If you think that you did something wrong and deserved a beating as punishment, then don’t you think your husband deserves to be beaten by you daily?”

She looked at me mutely.

“Talk to our psychologist and let her help you. If you ever decide to leave your abusive husband, you will always find a job with us. You can give classes on Personality Development to not only students, but mothers as well. We are running three academies in Daegu. You will be able to afford living independently with your children.”

“Jinx, why do we have to wait for her to leave her husband for it? Why can’t we begin these classes now?” Heechul suggested.

“Do we have space to turn into another classroom?” I asked Heechul, going through all the classes in my mind.

“No, we don’t but we can always partition off part of the reception area. There is hardly anyone waiting at the reception anymore. All the mothers are busy with their club activities.”

“We are running ahead of ourselves. Miran-ssi has not yet agreed to work with us.” I looked at her as I spoke.

She looked doubtful. Her confidence had been beaten out of her.

“Take your time Miran-ssi. We are not in a hurry.” I smiled at her reassuringly. She nodded.

The psychologist arrived and Heechul lead her out of my office. I worried as I watched them leave. A powerful father, an abusive powerful husband and three children. The lady was in deep trouble. I just hoped we’d be able to help her before it was too late and her spirit too broken to ever recover.

Before I left for home at the end of the day, I instructed the security personnel of all the hagwons to not let in any gifts for me. They should send them back with the delivery person. They were clear that no gifts for me were to be accepted or allowed in.

I discussed the events of the day with puppy at home. He was also having difficulties at his job. Sleazebag kept making statements laced with ual innuendoes about me to puppy. We wondered if he thought puppy was from the same mold as Minho. We decided to wait and see what happened next.

After a week of sending back daily gifts, I was surprised one evening by sleazebag showing up in person to pick up his children. He got the receptionist to show him to my office. As soon as he entered the office, I called Heechul to come in as well not wanting to be alone with him. Heechul was in my office before sleazebag could even sit down. Next I messaged puppy about it.

“Yohan-ssi, what brings you here?” I opened the conversation.

“Jinki you are not accepting my gifts. Why?” He dropped all formality.

“That’s Jinki-ssi to you. I see no reason to take anything from you now or in future.”

“Come on Jinki. You are married to my friend and years younger to me. I see no need for formality between us. Call me Yohan.”

I just raised my brows.

“Is he going to be here all the time? I thought this was your office.” He pointed to Heechul who was sitting silently glaring at him.

“It’s our shared office.” I lied.

“Fine if that’s how you want it. I have been waiting years for a taste of you. Come on be a sweet heart and end my waiting. You shared yourself with Minho’s other friends. What’s wrong with me? Be an angel and agree. You will find me your best lover in this life. Once I do you, you will be asking me for more after that.” He smirked at me as he put his proposal baldly.

My skin began crawling, and I willed it down. I needed to be strong to deal with him. Heechul tried his best to not look shocked. Thankfully, sleazebag was concentrating on me.

“What part of no is not clear to you Yohan?”

“Sweet angel. Just give me a kiss then. I can bet you will not want to stop after that.”

“Let me make it clear to you. You come anywhere near my businesses or home again and I will get you thrown out on your sleazy .”

“You do that and I will make life hell for your lover boy.”

“You harm Jonghyun in any way and you can kiss goodbye to your sorry as well.”

“I don’t care. I just want you in my life. Be mine Jinki. I will give up everything for you.”

“Never. You can go and die for all I care. I wouldn’t be yours even if you were the last man on earth.”

“We will see about that. I am not giving up. I am a patient man. You will come begging me to have you, one day.”

I just stared at him. After waiting for a few minutes for my response, he got up and left.

Heechul left out a shaky breath and looked at me for explanation. I put my phone on the table and replayed the conversation I had recorded. “Cinder you are a witness. If ever I need one.”

“Yes, but what was he saying about sharing?”

I knew the question would come. It’d been a choice between hiding my life with Minho and safey at that moment. I had chosen safety.

“This is known only to puppy Cinder. I don’t want Siwon to know about it.”

He nodded. I briefly related that part of my life to him. I once again willed down the crawling of my skin, needing to be strong for the events that were unfolding in our lives. Heechul started weeping. I went and hugged him, trying to console him. He had not seen such ugly realities of life, even though he was dealing with domestic abuse cases in our academies. He hugged me tighter and wept even more. I let him cry.

When he finally calmed down, I kissed his head. “Cinder that part of my life is long over. Thanks to puppy, I have learned to deal with it.”

“Jinx I used to be amazed at the strength of your love with Jjong, but not anymore. You deserve everything Jjong can give you and even more. I liked Jjong before, but I really respect him now. My poor baby, how much you suffered.” He began crying again.

“Cinder will you please stop crying. Everyone will think Siwon is beating you. If you are going to be like this, how will you help me deal with sleazebag Yohan?”

He sniffed a few times and asked, “What gifts was the sleazebag talking about?”

Before I could answer, puppy entered my office. He saw Cinder crying hugging me tightly and immediately came to wrong conclusions.

“Are you alright yeobo? Oh no, I am too late. I should have stayed with you. I should not have left you alone.” He hugged me to him and kept berating himself.

“Jagi I love you. Calm down. Nothing happened. I am alright.”

“Then why is hyung crying?”

“I called him here when sleazebag came. I recorded my conversation with him if we ever need to prove his blackmailing and harassment. Cinder was questioning me about it.”

“What’s there to cry about it? You should be the one crying, not him.” Puppy was confused.

For explanation, I played the recording for puppy. When he saw Heechul begin to sniffle again after the word ‘sharing’, he understood the reason. He looked at me silently for affirmation. I nodded. Puppy hugged me tighter.

“Are you alright yeobo? How do you feel?”

“I am okay. My skin crawled a couple of times, but I was able to overcome it. I am alright. Don’t feel the need to shower.” I knew puppy understood my meaning without needing details.

“Jinx what gifts was sleazebag talking about.” Heechul asked again.

I told him about the bouquets and the notes, and my instructions to security staff.

“I see. But now he is coming here. Do one thing Jinx, go home early or change your hagwon schedules. When it is time for his children to come and go, be in another hagwon.”

I nodded. That’s exactly what I was planning. Puppy agreed with us.

Puppy was very upset about the whole thing. He again brought up his desire to resign immediately. But I stopped him. Somehow, I pacified him to continue with his job.

One week passed calmly with our avoidance tactic working well. Then puppy dropped a bombshell on us.

“Yeobo, I have been asked to go to Washington DC, USA for a joint-training program on Cyber Terrorism.” Puppy told me when we were getting ready for bed.

I sat down on the bed. I had never been parted from my puppy till then. “For how long jagi?”

“For a year.”

“Oh!”

“I am planning to refuse.”

“No, don’t do that. When do you have to go?”

“If I accept, then I have to leave by the end of this month.”

“Okay. This is May. In July Minx will have school holidays and we can visit you. Then again near the end of the year. And once again around Valentine’s Day. In May next year you will be back home. We can talk through net every day. It will not be easy, but we can manage.”

He hugged me to him and lay down with me in his arms.

“It will be lonely without you and the kids. I really don’t want to go yeobo. Let me refuse. This job has lost its charm for me. I am a Senior Inspector and yet I am unable to protect you against ual harassment. What use is my job and post if I cannot keep my family safe?”

“I love you jagi. Don’t think like that. You are my safe haven from this world. You have kept us safe till now and will do so in future also. Yohan is just a passing phase of our life. We cannot let him change our lives.”

“My sweet yeobo. You honestly don’t have to live with that kind of harassment. Remember the Cyber Security courses I keep taking time to time?”

I nodded, kissing his neck. Puppy was always enhancing his knowledge by studying short courses of something or the other.

“Well, I can get a job in a private firm any time. Or even in a bank.”

“Hmmm. Why don’t you take a year or two year’s leave and get a post graduate degree? That will take us out of immediate sphere of Yohan and increase your academic value.”

“No. I don’t want to leave you alone here. Even to study further in the same field, I’ll have to leave Daegu. I am not going anywhere till this Yohan is shifted out of Daegu. I am going to stay put and be here for you all the time. I don’t think I can go anywhere without you by my side anyway. No, yeobo don’t try to talk me out of my decision.”

He put my hand on his heart. “This heart beats for you only. If something happened to you, it will stop beating.  For my sanity, let me just stay here with you. I need to see you every day. I need to breathe you in every day. I need to love you every day. I cannot live otherwise.” He kissed me softly with each declaration of his love for me.

I laced my fingers in his hair and deepened our kiss. When we broke apart, I agreed with him.

“Jagi, I was not sure how I was going to survive without you by my side. But I thought you would be happier going on the study programs. You love to learn new things. My love for you should be your strength, not your weakness. If you refuse training programs, it will affect your future in the agency.”

“Hush yeobo. I don’t care. Like I said, I can always leave the agency and work privately. I can leave anything in the world, but I cannot leave your side. And you are my strength. You were, are, and will always be.”

He put my hand on his surgery scar. “This I survived only because of you. When I was shot, I kept thinking of you, my promise to be always by your side, to always love you. There was one recurring thought, ‘my yeobo is waiting for me at home’ that just wouldn’t leave my mind.”

“I am not letting you leave me. Where you go, I will follow. I told you earlier jagi. Even death cannot keep us apart.” I kissed his chest, tracing his scars with my lips.

A thought suddenly hit me. I crawled up in puppy’s arms till we were eye level.

“Jagi, I think it is a trick by Yohan to get you out of the way. Maybe he thinks I will be so full of lust and -deprived in your absence that I’ll take him up on his offer. Or you will be -deprived and do it with someone when away. And that would again leave the field open for him.”

Puppy laughed and I joined him. Yohan didn’t know us.

“If I go anywhere, you definitely will be lusty and -deprived. Yeobo you are addicted to with me. And I am definitely addicted to your loving. I am full of lust even at work.”

“I am addicted to you, plain and simple. We are addicted to each other actually.” I grinned. “I should call you my ‘poppy’ from now on instead of puppy.” I .

“Then I will call you my ‘ecstasy’.” We laughed at our drug names for each other.

“Jagi have you ever taken any recreational drug?” I rubbed noses with him.

“No. Caught many people with a variety of drugs during my active policing days. You are my high. You?”

“Nah. I think it stupid. Do you think our kids will try?”

“They’d better not. I hope that we teach them right from wrong and they make the right choices when the time comes.”

“I think more than drugs, we will be worried about teen with both of them.”

“Yeobo don’t remind me. Minx is already eight. Sehun is nine. A few more years and they will be hit by hormones. I want to lock her up in a tower out of his reach.”

“And by the time we sort them out, Byong and Duckie will need watching. No, let’s not think about it for now. I don’t even want to think how I will face Heechul if Byong does anything inappropriate with Duckie, even the smallest thing like kissing her.”

“Yikes. Yeobo why are you thinking of them when you are in my arms? I want to do wildly inappropriate things with the mother of my children.”

“How wild and how inappropriate?”

“Very wild and very loving.” He murmured in my ear what he wanted to do.

I nodded expectantly and we didn’t speak for a long time as puppy showed me his wild side.

Next day, he rejected the offer to go to USA for the training program. I got a text from an unknown number.

Your watchdog has decided to stay by your side. I will still make you mine Jinki. His presence will not make any difference. If you want, we can invite him to watch. Maybe he will learn a few things from the master of the art.

I ignored the message and blocked the number. It was clearly from sleazebag. I wondered for how long this would continue and what new methods he would adopt next.

I knew one thing for sure. As long as he didn’t touch my puppy’s career or created any problems for my puppy, the sleazebag was safe from me. If he harmed my puppy in any way, I would make his life living hell for him.