Early in the morning, while AnLing was working on some of her freelance translating work, there was a knock at the door.She hesitated to go and answer but, realizing it might be Mr. Long, she straightened herself up a bit, put on a jacket and then walked right over.
Once she opened the door she came face to face with the most breathtaking presence.
It was a tall man wearing a suit.
AnLing felt pressure on her shoulders and she could feel the rooms temperature drop until her body began to shiver.
For a moment the two just stared at each other, but feeling like they were going nowhere and she was wasting the precious time she could be spending on working and earning money, AnLing gulped, took a shaky breath, and then spoke,
"May I help you?" AnLing"s tone was rigid and formal as if she was talking to her boss. Though she had to admit that she had never had a boss as intimidating as the man.
He looked at her without smiling and then muttered,
"Kang Jun."
AnLing looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"Who?"
Kang Jun"s face turned dark.
He took a moment to text something. During that time, AnLing didn"t dare interrupt him. When he received a reply, he turned to look at AnLing.
"Your landlord." Kang Jun said in a clearer tone.
His beautiful voice held AnLing captive for a second. She couldn"t think, she couldn"t speak, all she could do was look at him with a blank expression.
Once she snapped out of it, she was still confused.
"W-what?" She said, without properly registering that she had spoken.
"Am I becoming one of those girls who go stupid when they see a hot guy?"
"I"m your landlord." Kang Jun repeated. His voice came out clearly and beautifully. Threatening to send AnLing back into a daze but she fought the urge.
Landlord?
"I think just Lord would do."
AnLing welcomed him inside with a bow, but her face remained somewhat blank.
Without a word, Kang Jun walked in.
A wave of cold washed over her as he pa.s.sed by. It enveloped her body. Feeling the sensation, AnLing couldn"t help but shiver slightly, before she closed the door behind him.
AnLing: "Sit wherever you want."
Kang Jun didn"t say anything and stood in place.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Kang Jun a.n.a.lyzed various parts of the room.
AnLing was watching Kang Jun closely and quickly realized what he was doing.
The room itself wasn"t dirty, but the bed was a mess. She had been tossing and turning almost all night and then when she woke up she refused to get out of bed and just began to work in bed.
Nothing was broken and she didn"t really venture off of the bed either so everything else was pretty much perfect. AnLing believed she didn"t need to worry at all.
But remembering what she was doing before Kang Jun arrived, AnLing looked down at her pajamas.
Her face began to turn red.
"Forgive my appearance."
Kang Jun: "Mmm"
AnLing: "I would offer you something to drink but I didn"t get a chance to go shopping."
Kang Jun: "Mini fridge."
Mini fridge?
Truth be told, AnLing hadn"t considered it but decided against it. That was because she knew that everything in there costed more money than simply buying them at a convenience store.
AnLing: "I don"t have too much money right now… I"m saving up to pay you the rent. About the rent how m—"
"Doesn"t matter."
Doesn"t matter?
What doesn"t matter?!
"Rent or the mini fridge?" AnLing answered calmly.
"Both."
For the first time in a long time, AnLing had found a person that she believed she would never be able to talk to properly or understand.
"I"m sorry Mister Kang. I"m not sure Mr. Long has told you but I don"t accept handouts. I"m ready to pay by any means."
Kang Jun"s eyes twitched for a second and then turned to look at AnLing who stood directly behind him. His facial expression didn"t change but there was a gleam in his eyes, that AnLing couldn"t help but catch.
"By any means?" Kang Jun repeated.
AnLing held her breath. She wanted to slap herself. "Chose your words wisely you idiot!"
AnLing almost screamed out loud.
"What I meant was that I"m ready to work hard to pay you back for your generosity."
After she spoke, AnLing"s face darkened a little. The words "work hard" could easily be mistaken and bring up the question "work hard at what" which would just lead to a place AnLing didn"t even want to think about.
But if Kang Jun mentioned that AnLing would run straight out the door and never return, even if that meant leaving all her things.
No way was she going to have a pervert as a Landlord.
"Generosity is generous because it doesn"t need to be paid back."
AnLing felt as if someone had hit her with a stop sign to the face.
This man… Kang Jun… he was unbelievable.
AnLing had dreaded Kang Jun"s answer but when it arrived, it wasn"t what she expected and she began to hate herself for misunderstanding him.
It was her fault for messing up her words, to begin with.
AnLing: "…"
AnLing might have been blessed with an above average EQ but in situations like these, she felt her EQ being tested.
No one has ever tested her EQ this much either. Not unless she cared about them but this wasn"t the case with Kang Jun.
AnLing took a small while to regain her composure.
"I understand that but I can"t just rely on the generosity of others. I"d feel bad."
Kang Jun: "Don"t. You saved Mingyu."
"Yes. I know but that has nothing to do with this. This is just... business."
Kang Jun"s expression changed ever so slightly.
"Fine."
AnLing gave a sigh of relief.
"That"s great. So now we need to determine rent, the frequency of payment and then finalize a contract."
Kang Jun took out his phone and sent another text.
Kang Jun: "Tomorrow."
"You want to do it tomorrow?"
There was no real reason for AnLing to reject him. She was planning on using tomorrow to go on a job hunt again but when it came to priorities, a place to live was always on top.
Seeing that she didn"t reply, Kang Jun"s gaze sharpened.
"Is there a problem?" He asked.
AnLing felt the room chill.
"Of course not." AnLing had no other way to answer while faced with Kang Jun"s glacial stare.
Kang Jun: "Good."
After saying that, Kang Jun made no move to leave. He just continued to stare at her.
Unable to take the silence anymore AnLing crossed her arms and asked,
"Anything else?"
Kang Jun was frozen for a moment as if he was in deep thought.
Kang Jun: "Accompany me."
"Where?" AnLing starred straight into the man"s chest. Not wanting to meet his eyes.
"To dinner."
"Business dinner?" AnLing asked with a slightly high pitched voice.
Kang Jun: "No. Pleasure dinner."
The way he said it was so matter-of-factly that AnLing almost vomited blood.
"Why in the h.e.l.l do you want to go to dinner with me for?"
Kang Jun"s serious tone had not changed at all during the whole conversation, leaving AnLing dumbfounded.
So much so, that she wanted to slap herself just to know if what she was experiencing wasn"t a very strange dream. But then, Kang Jun delivered one more crushing blow.
"If you don"t say yes today, I"ll ask you again tomorrow, and every day after that until you say yes."
AnLing didn"t answer but she began to frown.
AnLing: "I don"t think your wife would like that."
"I"m not married"
"Lies!" She almost sneered.
AnLing: "Aren"t you Mingyu"s dad?"
"Who said I was?"
AnLing clearly remembered Mingyu screaming "daddy" before falling asleep. Had she just a.s.sumed that Mingyu"s daddy and Kang Jun were one and the same?
Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
AnLing stopped her train of thought and opened the door.
There were two maids outside. One of them was fairly young, around 22 years old, if AnLing had to make an a.s.sumption, while the other looked around 28. The younger one had a smile which exuded youth and vigor while the older one wore a straight face.
"h.e.l.lo, we"re here to clean." the younger maid said.
AnLing gave a smile. She was about to allow them to come in and the leave immediately but remembering that Kang Jun was inside, she decided against it.
AnLing didn"t want some strange rumor to be propagated amongst the hotel staff.
"Now is not a great time. Please come back later."
"Oh… okay." The younger one said as she peered through the open door.
Seeing the girls action, AnLing began to quickly close the door so that the maids couldn"t see much of the inside.
But too bad for AnLing the little maid had already caught a glimpse of Kang Jun"s back. She couldn"t tell who the man was but she could see him fixing his suit.
Seeing that, the little maid, looked back at AnLing and scanned her outfit.
AnLing was still in her pajama"s. They were a matching shirt and shorts with a black oversized hoodie over them. The jacket looked so baggy that some would wonder if it belonged to a man.
As for AnLing"s hair, she hadn"t brushed it since she woke up so it was slightly messy in a loose ponytail, giving off the impression that she had been rolling around in bed.
The little maid couldn"t help but tilt her head to the side as she looked at AnLing.
She had already made up her mind about the situation. Too bad she didn"t know who the man was. She would have so much fun gossiping about this.
Catching the strange look, AnLing frowned.
"Is that all?"
The little maid didn"t reply for a moment then looked at AnLing. She no longer smiled. Her face was as blank as the woman at her side.
"Yes. We will be back later."
As they left, the little maid began to giggle and whisper and AnLing walked into the room giving a look to Kang Jun.
"Ah, Mister Kang… I think we"ve been misunderstood."
Kang Jun turned to her, looking disinterested and replied, "Let them."
AnLing didn"t know whether to laugh or cry but Kang Jun"s voice snapped her out of it.
Kang Jun: "Now, come."
"Come where?" AnLing gave him a quizzical look, but Kang Jun didn"t acknowledge it. He just walked straight by her, towards the door.
"Accompany me downstairs."
"Why should I have to do that?"