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After spending some time recovering in Irene's embrace, Lisa finally came back to her senses. When she heard Irene's self-criticisms, the first thing out of her mouth was reflexive, "That's not it......It was my fault......"
Irene's heart twinged with pain. She couldn't find anything to say either. She slightly furrowed her brows, turned her head, and kissed away the other's unreasonable self-blaming.
"You didn't do anything wrong."
It was Irene's own problem. Irene very clearly realized this. Directly stealing someone away in this manner was extremely domineering and impolite.
To Lisa and to Seulgi. Even to Rosé.
Thinking back, Lisa had only been partaking in a creative process. At school, she also modeled for other people's artwork: sometimes clothed and sometimes nude. These weren't only limited to drawings, but also included photos. Among them, many pieces ended up being very impactful——after all, Lisa's body was quite expressive. It was very easy to create exceptional pieces when working with her.
Irene had seen a few. Lisa had shown her some; she had seen others herself through alternative pathways. They had never bothered her.
This was Lisa's major, a very emotionally and physically tasking job. She respected Lisa and wouldn't look at her differently because of it.
But this time, she had lost her composure.
After all, the other was the girlfriend that Lisa had worked hard to support for years.
Additionally, given the art pieces, even Irene, who was used to seeing art worth six or seven figures at home, had to admit that Lisa's "investment" was definitely worth it.
This caused Irene to feel very agitated. Her entire life, everything, whether it be money, successes, or people, had all been delivered to her doorstep and politely handed to her. This was actually the first time that she felt that "her territory was being threatened."
Or perhaps it was because this had never actually been her territory.
Varying new thoughts incessantly popped out from the unimaginable dark corner in her mind. For example, "it's possible that Lisa was checking her body in the mirror not because I said she gained weight, but because of Rosé's requirements" and other similar ideas. None of them could be carefully thought over. Any random one was enough to drive her crazy.
Yet, they were all piled atop her heart. It was getting difficult to breathe.
Only now that Irene discovered that she probably wasn't as generous and forgiving as she had thought. Only she had never encountered anyone or anything that could cause her to lose her composure in the past.
As such, when Lisa finally mustered up the courage to look up, she immediately saw Irene's foul expression. Instantly, her back tensed.
Irene guessed that at this time, the words out of the other's mouth would definitely be apologies again. Thus, she directly coaxed Lisa's tongue out and sucked on it briefly before pushing it back into Lisa's mouth.
"Ssh, don't say anything. I know what you want to say. It really wasn't your fault. It's my problem. But I can't fix it right now, and I don't want to fix it in the future. Lisa honey, be patient with me, okay?"
Lisa's gaze was still lost. She hadn't caught up yet, but instinctively nodded immediately. "Uh-oh, okay."
She even proactively pushed her tongue over again so that Irene could suck on it as they kissed.
In the blink of an eye, she completely softened like a melted piece of candy. While leaning against the wall, she lifted a leg and wrapped it around Irene's waist. She spread her legs apart, posing in a manner that invited the other's advances.
Irene froze.
While squeezing the other's ankle, she pushed the leg down. Lisa's emotional state couldn't be considered great right now. Irene herself wasn't in the right mood either. At such a time, even a brief lapse of control could end with having to summon a doctor again. That would, once more, result in being hooked up to an IV drip for three to five days before being able to get out of bed.
Lisa probably hadn't thought that Irene would reject her. She froze for a moment, then put her leg down. Bewildered, her eyelashes fluttered as she looked up and asked, "Are we not doing it?"
Irene shook her head.
"Too many things happened today. You're probably tired too. Go sleep first." After wrapping Lisa up in a big bath towel, She kissed the spot between the other's eyebrows and helped her wash off the remaining marks on her body.
"Oh."
Lisa obediently agreed. She sat in Irene's arms and allowed Irene to help her blow dry her hair. Irene carried her onto the bed. She curled up by Irene's side and closed her eyes.
Irene dimmed the lights next to the head of the bed for her.
Originally, she had wanted to sleep with her. But there were things on her mind. She couldn't calm down. As such, she simply decided to grab some documents and flip through them with the aid of the faint light beside the bed.
Unexpectedly, before she had gotten to look over them for too long, her phone started ringing. Additionally, it was her private phone.
At this time of day, who could it be?
Irene furrowed her brows and leaned over to check. It was Seulgi. Irene thought that the other had finished dealing with Rosé. Thus, she cautiously got out of bed and picked up the phone after walking over to the window—— Lisa's breathing had already evened out. Irene feared that the sound of talking would disrupt her—— Unexpectedly, as soon as the call connected, the person speaking didn't have Seulgi's voice.
"Bae Joohyun..."
Irene blanked out for a moment. "Sunmi?"
"Yes," the other replied.
"What's wrong?" Irene broke out in cold sweat. She kept feeling like something was wrong.
"I wanted to ask you to be a witness for Seulgi and me. I don't know if it's a convenient time for you right now?"
Irene felt a headache coming on. "It's not super convenient."
"Oh, then......"
She didn't get to hear the second half.
Because Sunmi's voice got covered up. Irene heard Seulgi yelling from the other end of the phone, "Irene-ah! No matter what, you have to come over!"
Irene squeezed the spot between her brows.
This fucking......
Sunmi, her, and Seulgi had been close friends.
She had technically personally witnessed these two's roller coaster-like love story; its dog blood levels completely destroyed those of the dramas being broadcasted on TV at golden hour.
If this were someone else, she wouldn't have been bothered to care at all. However, Seulgi was a sis that she had grown up with. Additionally, she had just troubled the other with Rosé's situation. Abandoning her at such a time seemed to be a bit......
Irene turned her head. She saw that Lisa was sunken into the fluffy blankets and fast asleep. The other looked like a sweet angel. Thus, she relaxed a bit and lowered her voice.
"Where? The apartment in the city or the seaside villa?"
Sunmi seriously declared the villa's address.
"Fine. Wait there. I'll be over very soon."
Before leaving, Irene confirmed Lisa's situation once more. Additionally, she used the inner phone line to order the butler to take good care of Lisa. She only closed the room door after determining that everything was okay.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the door lock clicked into place, Lisa abruptly opened her eyes and sat straight up.
A moment later, she flopped over again, as if all the strength had been pulled out of her body. She buried her head into the blankets and slowly curled herself into a very, very small ball.
●●●▬
Irene mentally prepared herself for all possible ridiculous scenarios.
But reality proved to her that her habitual moderation had greatly limited her imagination.
The scene before her eyes was more exaggerated than everything she had predicted added together, Seulgi was tied up with varying sorts of materials—chains, belts, ropes.─ In a big bundle, she was attached to the sofa. She looked quite like a cocoon made by Zergs. Sunmi was sitting beside her, expression dark. In one hand, she held a sharp knife. In the other, she kept her grip on a few wrinkled pieces of paper.
Irene thought to herself how fortunate that I didn't tell the driver to come in with me.
Otherwise, she'd also need to pay the driver hush money in order to preserve the Kang family's reputation.
Just as she was about to say something to ease the tension, Sunmi spoke up first, "Irene, thank you for specially rushing over."
Irene glanced at Seulgi, then at Sunmi. She didn't really dare to say anything too provocative, so could only nod.
"You're welcome. Just doing what I should be doing. May I ask......what I can do for you guys?"
"You can be our witness." Sunmi repeated what she had said over the phone.
Irene peeked at Seulgi. Seulgi mouthed to her, listen to Sunmi.
"Witness for what?" Irene could only ask again.
"From today on," Sunmi's gaze was as sharp as the blade of her knife, "She'll walk down her path of fortune while I take my path of hardship. We'll go our separate ways and never see each other again."
Irene cocked an eyebrow before looking at Seulgi again. Seulgi nodded slightly.
Sunmi handed the few pieces of paper in her hands over. "This is the contract. I've already made her sign. I've signed too. You just have to sign in the area for the witness."
She accepted the papers and took a look, there weren't any contractual terms and conditions at all. Messy and disorganized handwritten phrases entirely covered these pages that had gotten wrinkled from being squeezed so hard. Everywhere, there were things like "let me go", "I want to go", "either freedom or death", etc......
Irene's breathing stuttered. She glanced in Seulgi's direction again.
Seulgi forcefully closed her eyes, then nodded with furrowed brows.
Irene pulled out a pen from the pen holder on the tea table. Pretending to be serious, she flipped through the pages briefly. On the very last page, she found a blank spot and signed her name. "Done."
As soon as Irene finished speaking, Sunmi suddenly exploded. She lunged over and forcefully latched onto Irene's arm.
"Irene, Irene, you're the most reliable. You've become our witness. You have to keep an eye on Seulgi. You can't go back on your promise."
Irene inhaled sharply. She couldn't help taking a step back.
"Irene, you always stick to your word. You've signed......"
Irene could only hurriedly agree, "I've signed. I'll be responsible."
Sunmi only heaved out a long sigh of relief after hearing Irene's promise. Her entire being completely collapsed, like a puppet whose strings had been removed.
"Sunmi-ah! Irene! Don't let her fall...... Watch out for her knife!" Seulgi was terrified. Even the pitch of her voice changed.
Irene immediately reached out and caught Sunmi. While doing so, she also removed the knife from the other's grasp.
Seulgi charged over and yanked Sunmi into her arms.
Irene stared at the various random bindings still wrapped around Seulgi and felt a headache coming on. "You...... What play are you guys putting on this time?"
Seulgi didn't answer. She was completely focused on checking Sunmi's body for injuries.
Irene's headache got even worse. "Hey Seul, I'm asking you a question...... She's fine. All the fucking scratches are on me!"
Seulgi spent a moment making sure. After confirming that there really weren't any problems, she carefully picked Sunmi up and placed her on the sofa. She only spoke after setting the other down.
"Last time, she cut her wrists. I only managed to save her after great difficulty. Ever since then, she's been mostly dazed all the time. Now, she's finally managed to be a bit more energetic. Let her do whatever she wants to do......" While saying this, she chuckled. "Despite the fact that she's like this, she'll forget everything when she wakes up tomorrow. Then, she'll be the same as she was when we just started dating......very cute, and very clingy."
Irene still wanted to ask questions. Before she could, though, she sneezed. "What smell is this?"
"A calming incense," Seulgi replied. Her gaze was glued to Sunmi's face. She reached a hand out to slowly smooth down the other's furrowed brows. "It's good for her mood."
"Is it useful? Don't start grasping at straws......"
"Don't know. I can only make a gamble." Seulgi wasn't avoiding the topic at all. "As long as she'll recover, I'd be happy to lose thirty years of my life."
"In hindsight, you......" Halfway through her sentence, Irene felt that what she was about to say was inappropriate, so came to a halt. After brief thought, she asked, "If this is the case, why are you promoting another artist?" The scale of the exhibition Seulgi had set up for Lisa's girlfriend was very obviously abnormal.
"How could I dare to?!" Seulgi hurriedly refuted before shushing Irene. Upon ensuring that Sunmi was fast asleep, she finally said, "At the time, Sunmi hadn't been reacting to any stimuli from the outside world at all. One day, her eyes suddenly shifted when she happened to come across one of Chaeyoung's paintings on her iPad. That's why I...... Don't spout bullshit."
"Fine." Irene had nothing else to say. "If there's nothing else, I'll head back now. There's still someone I haven't finished placating at home, but I rushed out to help you fix your mess."
Seulgi made a gesture that expressed her immense gratitude. "Placate her well. Don't be like me."
"I'm not dumb."
Irene was concerned about Lisa. Her strides were even faster than they usually were, but she stopped when she reached the door. After all, she had signed her name. Sunmi's desperate pleas had also......touched the soft spot hidden deep inside her. This was probably akin to the feeling that parents had when they uncontrollably felt pain seeing other kids suffer. Ever since Lisa, Irene had also started acting more compassionate.
Thus, she tentatively told Seulgi, "If you really want to do what's best for Sunmi, maybe you should......"
Seulgi instantly understood what she was implying. Abruptly, she blew up like an angry porcupine whose quills were standing on end.
"Don't even think about it. Even if she dies, she has to die with me."
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