Before Jim could complete the rest of his message, he received the awfully calm text from the wife. He almost choked on her words and on his own mouth.What was up with her?
Had she hit her head somewhere?
Pleasantly surprised, he wondered what had happened between father and her, for Miya to not be enraged right then. In fact, she had even thanked him! Quickly deciding to let the matter go and not push his luck, Jim typed in.
[That"s what husbands are for.]
Miya smirked, then rolled her eyes.
[No, they"re not.]
[Glad to see you"re not wallowing in self pity anymore, missus. Did my words effect you?]
[They did.]
Jim positively coughed.
What?
She had definitely eaten something wrong today!
[Miya, are you alright?] he worriedly texted back.
[Of course, why?]
[You"re way too… normal!]
[What?]
[Why aren"t you angry?]
[Do you want me to be?]
[I wouldn"t be so weirded out if you were!]
[Are you picking a fight, Jimmy?]
[No! But – seriously, you"re not raging mad for wiring you without asking?]
Somehow, Miya"s face dropped. Was she really that short tempered? To the point that it was strange to Jimmy when she wasn"t angry…
[No.]
[Then what are you thinking?]
[About kicking someone"s a.s.s.]
[I knew it! You were angry!]
[No! I am thinking maybe Kang Sheng"s.]
[Hey… The first move will be his. Calm down, okay?]
[I am calm. He knows Becky is back. Why wait for him to move?]
[No. I was talking about Ben. I don"t understand. Miya, is he looking for you?]
She didn"t respond.
The atmosphere between them grew tense, before she typed away at the phone again.
[Yes.]
Jim dared to prod.
[Why?]
[For Ben.]
[But he has other grandchildren. His eldest son has sons of his own.] Jim refrained from typing that they were all legitimate children too.
Miya took in a deep breath. Her face went dark, but she replied.
[They were killed.]
Jim jerked up from his seat. He looked at Miya alertly, but she kept on staring at her screen. Jim quickly texted again.
[I would have known if that were the case.]
[One was caught in a fire, the other drowned. The heirs right now are all female. The boys being dead is inside news. Investigate the fire in the HR department of the Kang Group headquarters. The first one happened there. I don"t know about the second.]
Jim"s insides chilled at that piece of information. He steadied himself though, a.n.a.lysed the situation. His expression dropped. If what Miya was saying was true, then the state of affairs was much worse.
[How long has he been tracking you?]
[Five years, since Kasu died. But he didn"t want Ben then. He"s grown more desperate in the past six months.]
Jimmy remembered the sudden dip in the shares of the Kang group that had happened about the same time, that had taken the market by surprise. Six months ago, they had tried to look into the matter and find out why, but as such, the Kang family was mostly impenetrable. They had attributed it to one of their black business or underhanded deal failing.
Jim had the strange, cold hunch that Miya must be right then.
Cursing slowly, as Jim shot both the mother and son a tensed look, he readied himself to dig deeper. He wasn"t comfortable in asking her what she obviously had avoided telling him first, but now he realized that there might not be sufficient time if he delayed. He needed a plan, just in case.
[How was Kang Sung"s relationship with his father?]
The question surprised Miya. She fell into thought for a couple of minutes, then wrote,
[Master-servant of sorts. Kasu could never go against Sheng.]
[Have you met Sheng?]
[Face to face? No.]
[And has Ben?]
[No.]
This one last question, Jim was afraid to ask her. So far, she had been cooperative. Jim didn"t know if she would oblige for the next.
[How was your relationship with Kang Sung?]
Miya hesitated.
[Why are you asking me all this?]
[If the situation is desperate, Sheng must have known by now that you"re with us. I"ll need to play the man.]
[It was complicated.]
[How? Love?]
[I told you, no! We were best friends.]
With that, Miya"s fingers froze. She swallowed, and her eyes turned haunted. Slowly, her face paled.
[Jimmy?] Her fingers shook, when she typed his name.
[Yes?]
[The Chairman looked into my past. You should ask him.]
Jim frowned at her response, anxious when he saw the dark look on her face again. He watched as her expression slowly turned blank, and she typed again.
[Jimmy… you can investigate my past too. I give you leave to. Whatever you can"t understand, I"ll try my best to explain. But I can"t tell you myself.]
Jim"s frown deepened at that. He gauged her expressionless face,, then texted back.
[Are you being threatened by someone?]
The girl took in a sharp breath, which was answer enough for Jim. He still looked at his phone, when it buzzed with her message, [I can"t say.]
Her shaking fingers did not escape his notice.
Very quickly, and with a rapidly beating heart, Jim sent over a couple of instructions to Park, strictly asking him to keep Charlie out of the matter. Then sending orders to a few other trusted men, he sent Miya a [Thank you for your help.] too.
She exhaled.
[That"s what wives do.]
[They do?]
[I guess.]
[Well, mine is a ferocious little mouse who seldom is helpful. I ought to thank her.]
[Jimmy?]
[Yea?]
[I don"t want to pick a fight, dear.]
Jim looked at her through the corner of his eyes, as Miya finally closed the chat and stared outside the window. He himself looked away, a dark feeling swelling within him, almost like a premonition of sorts.
d.a.m.n it.
For now, Kang Sheng must be one step ahead of him.
The young master didn"t like that at all.