Pay With Your Heart

Chapter 437: Played.

“Tell me you’re joking,” Ji-Tae said into the phone held against his ear.

“No. She’s gone. I checked her room this morning and even last night, but she isn’t here.” The person at the other end of the phone anxiously replied.

“Last night?” Ji-Tae frowned, his eyes narrowing into dark slits. “Are you saying she has been absent from the orphanage since yesterday, and you’re only finding out now?!” He snapped. The rise of his voice told the person on the other side of the phone that he had lost it.

“I... I didn’t know.” The voice quivered in trepidation. “Two days ago, I had spotted her with Mrs. Lin, but I didn’t attach any meaning to it, as she is always with the kids. And this morning, when I asked, someone said she saw them leave yesterday morning, at 5 am.” The person nervously stuttered.

“So from 5 am yesterday till now, you just noticed she is missing?” Ji-Tae asked incredulously.

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“You’re a fool!” Ji-Tae lividly cursed. He could feel a long list of vitriol rolling in his head to toss at the idiot he was speaking to.

.....

“You better be dead before I find you because I’ll feed you to dogs.” Ji-Tae abruptly ended the call, his muscles twitching as he raised the phone to smash it against the floor, but he stopped himself.

“Boss, is everything all right?” A concerned voice asked from behind him, but Ji-Tae ignored it.

He pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. He took a long drag and turned to one of the men beside him. “Open it.” He ordered, and the man nodded and walked towards the container with a bolt-cutter.

Ji-Tae signaled the other man at his side, and he quickly stepped forward. “Did you say she was seen in her house yesterday?” He questioned.

“Yes.”

“Did they see her facially? Or they just made assumptions?” The deathly look in his eyes told the man he was speaking to that he didn’t want an answer he didn’t like. But despite the look on Ji-Tae’s face, the man didn’t flinch.

“They saw her.” He replied.

“What about today? Is she still there?” Ji-Tae had a feeling she wasn’t. He could swear on his life that A-Yeong had escaped his grip.

“I’ll confirm again.” The man said, and Ji-Tae took another drag from his cigarette. His silence was his answer for him to do exactly that.

Ji-Tae observed the man’s face as he spoke over the phone, and the moment he registered a shift in his countenance, he rupt a cynical round of laughter.

“That snake.” He cussed and laughed. Only one person could have done this, and it was no other than his beloved cousin, Lee Dan-Han. He should have known.

His eyes narrowed at the container in front of him. If Dan-Han had Kwon-Nara, then he knew.

“Boss,” The man who he had instructed to open the container beckoned unto him.

Ji-Tae strolled over and stepped into the container to inspect the content. It was the materials he was to use for the project Dan-Han had placed him over. Another ploy of that sneaky man.

In the past few days, he had had an uneasy feeling about the incoming containers, but standing inside of them now, he knew why he had been suspicious for days.

A peal of laughter burst out as he gazed around the container. The two men who

had followed him, looked around the container and shared a look as they wondered why he was laughing.

Ji-Tae looked at the materials again, and his laughter grew even louder. He was yet to put a lid over his laughter when his phone suddenly rang, and he instantly picked up when he discovered who was calling.

“Speak of the devil and his perfect timing. You’re getting more monstrous by the day, cousin.” He amusedly spoke into the phone.

“I guess you’ve received it then.” Dan-Han’s laid-back voice came sounding through the phone.

Ji-Tae looked at the building materials again. “So this is why you sent me here?”

“It took you long enough to realize that.” Dan-Han sarcastically replied as he lolled back in his seat.

“I thought we said no surprises.” Ji-Tae took one more drag of his cigarette.

“And I told you, I have enough surprises for you.” Dan-Han quipped.

Ji-Tae scoffed at Dan-Han’s impudence.

“Where’s the girl?” Ji-Tae finally asked. There was no use asking baseless questions, as he already knew Dan-Han took the child, and he had A-Yeong too. He’d be stupid to think otherwise.

“What, girl?”

“She doesn’t belong to you.” Ji-Tae tried not to gnarl at him, knowing fully well Dan-Han was trying to toil with him by feigning ignorance.

“Neither does she belong to you.” Dan-Han casually replied.

A short moment of silence lingered between them before Ji-Tae spoke up.

“The girl is mine. She’s my child.” He calmly said, there was no anger or agitation in his voice, but Dan-Han knew better. He knew Ji-Tae hated to lose, and he knew he was seething with venom inside him.

Dan-Han amusedly chuckled, finding the tone at which he spoke extremely funny. “I thought she was your bargaining chip.”

“You think too much, cousin. Now give me back what’s mine.”

“I already did,” Dan-Han told him matter-of-factly.

Ji-Tae knew he was referring to the containers.

“You must be feeling proud of yourself,” Ji-Tae told him.

“On the contrary, Ji-Tae. I feel angry, and I’m trying to contain it. Remember when you were ten, and I broke all your toys to make you apologize for bullying Ni-Na?” He asked, but Ji-Tae didn’t answer, nor did he wait for his response as he continued.

“And when you were fifteen, I had to beat you to a pulp in school for being rude?”

Ji-Tae scoffed, “Aren’t those the reasons why I hate you?”

“Well, I’m about to do that again,” Dan-Han told him, matter of fact. “I’ll make a decent human being out of you, and if I can’t, I’ll help your parents get rid of the garbage they’ve been plagued with.”

“That’s a lot of threat.”

“I don’t make threats, Ji-Tae. I make promises. And I want to remind you that that project will determine your future. So do a good job.” He said and ended the call before Ji-Tae could say anything else.

The beeping sound of the phone told Ji-Tae that Dan-Han had ended the call. He blankly stared at the phone before bellowing out a round of humorless laughter.

He tossed the butt of his cigarette to the ground and stomped it out. His eyes glowed with anger. He couldn’t believe he had been played by Dan-Han.

“I’m going to make that bastard pay.” He swore under his breath.