Daniel Cho carried Samantha "til they reached the 18th floor of the hotel.Samantha hooked her arms around him tightly, afraid that he would let her down; she did this while drifting in and out of consciousness.
She was so close to him that Daniel could feel her hot breath on his neck which tickled him but he tried so hard not to be bothered.
Samantha stirred for a bit, adjusting herself in his arms and when she did, her lips unintentionally touched Daniel"s skin for a second. The sudden contact made Daniel freeze, he stopped walking and instinctively tightened his hold on Samantha and he swallowed.
Daniel thought to himself, "I must be nuts helping this girl when it"s none of my business.", he sighed.
Noticing that his boss has stopped walking, a.s.sistant Ahn wondered, "Boss?... Is... Is everything okay?"
Daniel Cho did not answer and just continued to walk towards the suite.
Once they arrived, he brought Samantha to the bed and lowered her gently. When he tried to back away, Samantha didn"t unhook her arms and they remained secured around Daniel"s neck.
Daniel didn"t know what to do at this point. He turned his head to the side and was face to face with Samantha. He studied her sleeping face and noticed her eyebrows were knitted as if she was troubled by something. She trembled slightly; she bit her lip and a tear fell from her left eye.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Daniel Cho doesn"t know why but he suddenly felt an ache in his heart; his instincts telling him to protect this delicate creature. Subconsciously, he inched closer as if he was about to kiss the corner of Samantha"s eye where the tear just fell.
"Boss? The hotel staff--" a.s.sistant Ahn just entered the bedroom; he was dumbfounded when he saw what was happening, he stopped talking and turned around to leave the room.
Daniel Cho snapped out of his daze, and he too was stupefied by his actions, "I must really be insane! Was I just about to kiss this lady?!". He cleared his throat and forcefully removed Samantha"s arms from him then left the room.
-
Standing by the window, Daniel Cho ordered the female hotel employees to help the lady bathe and change clothes. After Samantha was cleaned and clothed, the hotel employees left the suite.
Daniel returned to the bedroom to check on her. He was standing by the bed briefly and just when he was about to turn around, he noticed a s.h.i.+ny piece on Samantha"s neck. That"s when Daniel realized why she looked familiar; she was the woman in the elevator last week, the one who accused him of being a pervert... "Interesting...", he smirked.
Daniel Cho left the suite with a.s.sistant Ahn following him behind. As they exited the hotel and boarded the car, he then turned to Ahn, "What"s the situation with that jacka*s?"
"Mr. Andrew Park has already been dealt with."
"Good. Have someone follow him for a while to make sure he won"t do anything more stupid."
"Yes, boss."
Andrew was beat-up pretty badly, he broke a few ribs and injured his face and hands, he has to stay in the hospital for a couple of weeks.
"And the hotel?"
"The hotel has also been taken cared of, rest a.s.sured there is no evidence of what just happened that will be traced back to you.", a.s.sistant Ahn replied.
Daniel Cho nodded to him and leaned back in the back seat of his Maybach.
-----
The next morning, Samantha woke up with a throbbing headache. She realized that she wasn"t in her bed and she"s not wearing her own clothes but instead in a hotel bathrobe. She saw some faint bruises on her arms, and then she suddenly recalled what had happened last night. Andrew had almost deflowered her!!
"Andrew Park, you"re a dead man.", she hissed.
When she got out of bed, she saw a new set of clothes on the foot of the bed. She tried to jog her memory of last night, that"s when she remembered more details that Andrew wasn"t successful in forcing himself to her because someone else came into the room... but who was that man? Samantha recovered from her reverie and hastily put on the clothes then left the suite.
Samantha didn"t have her purse with her because Hannah took it from her last night so she could "enjoy and let loose" in the party. When she arrived at the reception, she thought of asking the hotel employee who that man was but she decided to put it aside for now and borrowed their phone to call her best friend. Hannah was panicky and relieved at the same time when she received Samantha"s phone call. Hannah had been feeling so guilty and worried that she couldn"t find Samantha last night. She was just about to call Seo Joon to ask him about his sister when Hannah received Samantha"s call.
Without wasting time, Hannah speedily drove to pick up Samantha from the hotel and drove back to her house.
"I know you have a lot of questions, Han, but I"m seriously starving and nauseous at the same time so can you please--"
"Oh of course, of course..", not delaying any minute, Hannah swiftly made her best friend a cup of coffee, some scrambled eggs and toast.
While Hannah was preparing breakfast for Samantha, she checked her phone and saw dozens of missed calls and messages from Andrew, a few from her brother and Alexander; She decided to call her brother first and at the second ring, Seo Joon answered,
"Samantha Bella Kim, you seem to have had a wild party last night. Where are you? Are you okay?"
"Uhh... I don"t know what you"re talking about. I"m at Hannah"s and yes, I"m swell.", Samantha wasn"t sure how to answer her brother.
"Really? I just saw from the news about what happened to Andrew. Where you with him last night?"
"Ugh, yeah! I could"ve sworn he tried to force himself on me." Samantha doesn"t know how much her brother knows so all she could do was probe, "Why? What happened?"
"He"s in--" before Seo Joon could finish, he got cut off by his secretary, reminding him of a meeting that is about to start.
"Ok, I"ll be right there." he responded to his secretary, then spoke to Samantha, "I have to go Sammy, I"ll talk to you later."
"Okay, no worries."
"You sure you"re okay?"
"Yes, Joon... I"m fine. Don"t worry about me."
"Okay, laters, Dopey." said Seo Joon before he hung up the call.
Samantha smiled, his brother calls her Dopey sometimes; from the 7 dwarfs. When they were kids, Samantha liked Dopey very much, she thought the dwarf was very cute, clumsy and adorable. Kinda just like her.
"Hannah.."
"I"m so sorry, S!", Hannah felt so guilty.
"What are you sorry about, you didn"t do anything wrong."
"Where were you last night? After you left for the restroom, you never came back. And because I was too busy with Harry, I didn"t took care of you enough."
"Yeah, your mouth was too busy a.s.saulting his" and his hands were too busy fondling your body.", Samantha teased.
Hannah blushed at the memory but regained her composure after a few seconds, "So.. tell me, what happened?"
Samantha doesn"t hide anything from Hannah so she told her everything that she can recall from last night.
"So that"s what happened."
Hannah was so angry about what Andrew did to her best friend. She cried out several curses here and there when her phone beeped. A notification of an SNS page she"s following has posted an article, the best friends gasped when they saw Andrew"s state. So this was what Samantha"s brother was talking about. Samantha was baffled how Andrew became like this after what happened last night, after all, her memory was a bit blurry. d.a.m.n Liquor Shots.
After learning about the news, apparently Andrew got "mugged". The best friends felt a bit better because somehow Andrew got what he deserved.
--------------------
Cho Estate Garden
"The gala"s next month, do you want me to find you a date?", Mrs. Cho asked her son while they were having afternoon tea.
"I don"t need a date, mother. I am perfectly capable of attending the gala alone."
"I know, but it"s a gala, it"s a social occasion. I just wish to see you with a partner. It doesn"t matter if it"s a man or a woman."
Daniel raised an eyebrow, "It doesn"t matter if it"s a.. man?? You think I"m.. gay?"
"Well, there are rumors, sweetie, I can"t help but--", she waved her hand and continued, "anyway, after what happened a long time ago,.. I just want to see you happy again. You"re not getting any younger, it"s... time to move on.", said Mother Cho as she looked at her son lovingly.
"I already have, a long time ago.", Daniel replied indifferently.
"Okay, I won"t talk about the past anymore. But you can"t stop me from trying to let you meet some ladies..You know, I happen to run into an old friend yesterday... we haven"t seen each other for a long time.. She has a daughter who"s a few years younger than you. She"s quite pretty and I hear she"s independent and smart too."
"You really won"t drop this, will you?" Daniel smirked.
"No." Mother Cho firmly replied, "Will you at least think about it?"
Daniel smiled, "Okay, I"ll think about it."