CHAPTER THIRTY NINE In the Grand Scheme      [ Jimin’s. ]   “Good morning, Miss Katarina Yoo. I will be your driver for this week.”    I know, hindi na maipinta ang mukha ko sa nangyayari. Even Renjun Huang is shocked, seeing the CEO of KK Corporation in what seems to be my driver’s suit, complete with a hat and the keys to my favorite car, the one I always take with me whenever I have errands to do.    “What the are you doing?” inis na sagot ko, my head pounding because of all the alcohol I drank last night. , I’m never going to drink again. “Take that off. I’m not going to let you drive me around the city, Minjeong—”    “I’m under the special orders from Miss Joohyun Bae, Miss Yoo. I don’t think I can disobey your older sister’s orders, can I?”    I scoffed at her. Is she really going to be so persistent, being like this? Tangina, may magagawa pa ba ako?   “No flowers today?” I ask, grabbing one of the energy drinks that I made Renjun buy earlier and drink it as I made Minjeong follow me to the parking lot. “And here I thought you were aiming to fill my entire office with the flower petals that I hate so much.”    Nag-iba na yung itsura ng mukha niya, with what I just said. “You, uh... You hate flowers?”    “Really, Really hate them, Minjeong. Where do you think are the flowers now? They’re in a dump, somewhere else. The food? Renjun’s been getting full with it the past week, you know.”    She looks hurt, knowing about what I’ve done with the food and flowers that she keeps sending me. I don’t really care, either way—if she’s here to drive me around and take me to where I should be, then she should just keep shut.    “Aww, are you gonna cry?” I said, chuckling as I board the elevator—I don’t really care na mapagsarhan siya nung pinto. She runs after me, though—siya na yung pumindot ng pinto, and she doesn’t answer me. “Go on, then. Cry, if you want. Nothing’s gonna change—I still hate you.”    Pumasok na ako sa sasakyan. She climbs up on the front seat, already starting the car and setting the GPS into an address that I don’t recognize.    “If you’re trying to kidnap me, there are better ways to do it than this,” I laugh, leaning back into the seat and watching her as she drives to someplace else that is not in schedule. “There are bodyguards following me everywhere, do you know that? Bodyguards from Bae Industries, Jeong United, Jang Enterprise—”    “Even KK Corporation,” I hear Minjeong say, and before I knew it nasa isang eskinita na pala kami malapit sa restaurant na kinainan namin kagabi. “Everyone’s protecting you, Karina. Kahit ako.”    I raised my brow at her. “What the hell do you mean by that?”    Bago pa man ako nakalabas ng pinto, she already locked it. She turned to me as she did, looking me straight in the eyes that I had no choice but to look elsewhere. “...why the hell are you staring at me like that? Gago.”    “I’ve been careful,” biglang sabi niya, confusing me so much that I had to look at her ulit. “I’ve done everything I can to make sure the son of a stays in that hell hole forever. Pero anong nangyari? The got out.”    ? Got out? What the hell does she mean?    “Ano bang sinasabi mo? Napakagulo mo naman—”    “Kihoon Kim was imprisoned, four years ago.”    Natikom ang bibig ko nang sabihin niya iyon. Huh... is that why she disappeared, five years ago? Hindi dahil gusto niyang sumama kay Kihoon, but to keep that close and then imprison him when she has a chance? Four years ago... If it only took a year, then bakit...   “If what you wanted to do only took a year, then why didn’t you come back agad?”    “T-That’s not the point,” Minjeong stutters, pursing her lips as if she’s trying so hard not to get the words she wanted to say out of . “Let me explain, Karina. Hm? Kahit konti lang. Please... Let me explain first, baby.”  Putangina. No. .    My knees suddenly went weak as she called me that. Five years. Tangina, limang taon. Limang taon na nakalipas, bakit nanghihina pa rin ako pagdating sa’yo, Minjeong?    “A-Ano bang dapat mong iexplain? You left, Minjeong. Umalis ka ng ganun lang kadali—”    “Hindi madaling iwan ka, Karina. Alam mo ba iyon? It was so hard, watching you that day. Ang tanging gusto ko lang nung araw na iyon is lapitan ka. Yakapin ka. Gamutin yung mga sugat na nakuha mo habang hinahabol mo ako. I... Hindi ko na sana itinuloy yung pag-alis ko if I stayed watching you even a second more, pero alam kong kinailangan kong umalis.”    My hands instinctively went to my knees. The scars of when I tripped and fell that day are still in my knees, I didn’t bother to have them removed even if I had the money to do so. I felt my knees throb with pain, as if the wounds are still there and I know that the feeling is because of her.    “Y-You could have called,” I said, gritting my teeth as I clenched my jaw. “Texted. , you could have sent me mail if you wanted, pero hindi mo ginawa!”   “Karina, listen to me. Please. You have to listen to me, baka mawalan na tayo ng oras—”    “Hindi mo ba ako pinagkatiwalaan, ni kahit konti?”    Minjeong shuts up as I told her that. She lets out a shaky breath as she pulls my hand to intertwine it with hers, and I try to pull it away but she doesn’t let me. Nanlaki ang mga mata ko nang mapansin ko ang kamay niya—so full of callouses, so rough and prickly like it’s not her hand at all.    My curiousness only enables me to take her hand and flip it over. There are endless callouses and scars on her palm, and when I pull the collar of the shirt that she’s wearing, there are scars that had filled almost her entire torso—some of them older, like what I’ve seen before when we were still dating, and some of them new.    “What happened to you?” I sighed, the purpose of the question I’ve let into the air already forgotten in my mind. “D-Did he do something to you, Minjeong? May ginawa ba siya sa’yo? I’m going to have people go to him in prison, if he did something—”    “H-He escaped,” I hear her say, just when I’ve had my hand pressed on her cheek, caressing it softly with my thumb as I touched her as gently as I could. “K-Kahapon. There’s been a prison break kahapon, in a bus from San Pedro to this place. I... That’s what I wanted to tell you, Karina. That’s why I’m here.”    Huh. I withdrew my hand from her, pero hindi niya ako hinayaang gawin iyon. Is that why she’s here, then? Not because of the weird offer she just made me a week ago? To protect me from that man, just like how she claims she did, five years ago?    “Well, then... What are you planning to do, then? Drive me around the city? Be with me all times? Huwag mong sabihing gugustuhin mo na rin na magstay kung saan ako nakatira?”    Her eyes lit up as I told her that. “...kung hahayaan mo lang naman.”    “Unbelievable,” I scoffed at her, finally able to pull my hand away from her. “Are you sure that the ing really did escape from prison? Or are you just using it as an excuse to get close to me?”    “H-hindi!” she denies, and I find myself laughing as I leaned back into my seat. “I promise, I’m not—”    “Take me back to the office,” I said, looking out the window even though all that I could see are walls.    Hindi pa siya gumalaw agad, so I stared at her until she got the clue about the order I just gave her. I fight off the urge to laugh as she hurriedly starts the car, hurriedly trying to drive us back to the office. Nakita ko rin yung apat na set ng black cars na nakasunod sa amin—no doubt, they’re the bodyguards that are all assigned to me.    “Pack up your belongings and bring them to this address after you take me back,”