Jongin wasn’t planning to break away from the kiss any soon, but finally Haesol managed to pull away the hand which was gripping on her upper arm. And she pushed the guard away from her, and before Jongin knew it, a hard slap landed on his left cheek, making his head turn to the side with the force.

He looked back at her, ignoring the stinging in his cheek. Blood rushed into the cheek turning it into a deeper shade of red, but Haesol completely ignored it and glared straight into his eyes.

“What do you think you are doing? Am I a toy to you? a toy that you can play with however you want?”

Jongin remained calm, staring back at her with zero emotions on his flushed face. “No.” He finally muttered.

“Just...” the girl was too enraged even to choose the right words. “Just leave. I don’t want to slap you again but I might even do that if you stay longer.” She said, turning away from him. Jongin stood in silence for a moment, before speaking up again. “Can’t you just be a little more supportive? When I’m trying to turn myself to you?”

Haesol looked back at him, still having the same glare in her eyes. “I made be ignorant since I didn’t get a chance to be educated properly, but I’m not foolish enough to not understand that you’re just playing with me. So please, if you’re at least a bit truly concerned about me, do leave the room. I’m still sick and don’t have enough strength to keep arguing with you.”

Jongin stared at her until she chose to turn away from him again, and start making herself busy tying the blind of the window. And the guard decided to make his way out of the room, without taking the incident any further. Haesol didn’t turn her head until she heard the door being slid, and as soon as she heard the door being closed, she lost the courage she was mustering up, and the girl dropped to the floor.

She covered her face with both hands and tried to calm down her rapidly beating heart. She didn’t know whether her trembling was caused by the fever she was having, the feels he had given her, which she absolutely hated to accept. She crawled back to the mattress laid on the floor in the middle of the small chamber, lied down and covered herself with the blanket given to her, and closed her eyes, determined to fall asleep as soon as possible, which she failed at hopelessly.

* * * * * * * *

Sehun woke up in the middle of the night, hearing a shriek which came from the direction of the maid’s rooms. He knew that he was not the only one who heard it, since he heard doors being opened, and a few maids ran to the room which they heard the screaming from.

“Ying! Wake up! It’s just a nightmare Ying...”

He heard one of the older maids saying.

“It’s alright my lady, she’s just had a nightmare. We’ll take care of her.”

He assumed that his mother also must have gone to the girl’s room.

“Bring her some water Joon! This girl is trembling!”

“Are you sure you can be alone? Or I can just sleep here if you want.”

The young maid who had been the friendliest with Ying, asked her, worried about how terrified the girl looked after waking up from her nightmare.

Ying shook her head with a faint smile. “It’s alright Joon, I’ll be fine on my own.”

But the maid bit her lower lip and stayed watching her with concern. “But look at you! You’re still trembling and sweating!”

Ying shook her head again. “I’m perfectly alright... so you can go to your room. Don’t worry.” She said reassuringly.

The maid heaved a sigh, and stood up. “Okay then, come to my room if you feel scared or anything okay?” she asked the Chinese girl before walking out of the room.

Ying hugged her knees and placed her head on them, closing her eyes. the nightmare was having ever since she arrived back at Sehun’s placing, re enacting before her eyes even when she was awake.

“Worried about how to step out of the mansion?”

Ying looked up at the entrance to her room, surprised to see that the door had been opened without the tiniest sound being made. And surprising more, it was Sehun, who was standing there, leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed in front of his broad chest.

She got on to her feet at once. “My lord,” she mumbled. “I... don’t want to step out of the mansion-”

“So you mean bringing someone in was easier than that?” Sehun cut her words off with another question, and started walking into the small chamber which was half in dark.

Ying took a step back. “Wh-What do you mean my lord...”

“I’ve been stupid for long enough...” he stopped about two feet away from the girl, and gave her a blank stare, standing in the middle of the chamber with his arms still folded, and spoke out with his voice rather lowered this time..

“I’m talking about the letter you’ve been sneakily writing all day. ‘Dear uncle, forgive me for failing you... I’m not worthy to be called your daughter...but I cannot work with Taekwoon...’ and so on?” he asked. “Working with Jung Taekwoon was hard because he was expecting other things from you outside work, so you’re summoning aid from your... ‘Uncle’?”

Ying stumbled back in shock, completely drying in an instant, her eyes widening as much as they could in horror, horrified by the man in front of her now and by all the words coming through his lips.

“So you’re his niece? His brother’s daughter whom Shao Xuan had been raising all the time after her parents passed away?” Sehun asked another question which the girl didn’t dare to answer yet.

He scoffed, and a sarcastic smile grazed his thin lips. “How interesting. I thought Xuan was quite a smart man given all things he had done so far... but to think he sent his own foster daughter into the tiger’s den as his spy...”

He stopped taking and started taking silent steps towards the girl, whom couldn’t even move a finger and stood frozen on the spot until he came to stand right in front of her, just inches away that his white sleeping robe brushed against her grey hanbok skirts.

“You...” he spoke again after a while of silence spent glaring at her. “To think I actually...” dropped his hands to his sides and scoffed again, and the next moment, he brought them up to grip her upper arms making the girl gasp in shock. “How could you really play with me like that Yingyun? Or what should I call you now? Is Yingyun even your real name?” he hissed in fuming anger.

Ying was shaking in fear and she closed her eyes since his piercing glare was making it impossible for her to keep her eyes on his. “Was it fun? Acting the innocent girl in front of me all the time?” he shook her