Chapter 14
A designer bag lay on the floor. Left there during the chaos, completely untouched, exactly where Hana had dropped it earlier.
Yeonho knelt down, quickly pulling her phone out from inside, then took the small USB drive from his own bag.
He kept glancing back and forth between what he was doing and the main entrance, eyes sharp, making absolutely sure no one was coming to catch him in the act.
"Time to see what you've been hiding."
He whispered softly, plugging the small device straight into Hana's phone port.
The screen lit up instantly, showing the lock screen.
There was a small button on the end of the USB. Yeonho pressed and held it for five seconds — and voilà, the screen shifted, unlocked completely, no password needed.
"Sweet."
Even though he knew this trick worked perfectly, his hands still trembled just a little.
There was a sharp, bright thrill rushing through his veins — excitement, nervousness, that delicious rush of doing something dangerous and getting away with it. It was terrifying… and absolutely addictive.
He opened his own phone's camera and started snapping clear photos of every single contact number, every name, every detail saved in her list.
He was halfway through when he suddenly heard voices and footsteps coming from just outside the sliding doors.
'Shit. Hurry up.'
It had only been two minutes, but he was already rushing.
He got all the contacts, but there was still one more thing he needed. He opened her messaging app, scrolling fast, looking for all her linked accounts and profile IDs.
But the sounds outside got closer, louder, clearer by the second.
His heart hammered faster, eyes darting between the door and both phones in his hands.
At this point he might get caught.
He didn't have time to take photos anymore. He stopped scrolling, flipped his own phone to video mode instead, and held it steady.
'Fuck it. This works better anyway.'
His left hand kept scrolling through her chats, letting every username, every profile name, every conversation thread pass in full view.
His right hand held his phone, recording everything, capturing it all perfectly.
It went for only thirty seconds because he heard a voice that made his blood run cold.
"Please make sure that woman who attacked Ms. Choi gets arrested immediately. And make sure absolutely nothing that happened here leaves this building."
They're back already.
'That's Sungho. Shit. I need to go, now.'
Panic flared hot and fast. He yanked the USB out, stuffed it back into his own bag, and slid Hana's phone right back where it belonged, deep inside her bag, exactly how he found it.
Footsteps were right outside the door now. Voices were loud and clear, and Yeonho scrambled to his feet as quietly as he could.
"Don't worry, Ms. Choi — we'll handle everything. And please… forgive me for failing to protect you earlier."
The manager's voice was polite, professional, full of apology, bowing couple of times.
And right then, the sliding doors began to open slowly.
Yeonho's eyes went wide. He was still getting up and time seemed to slow down to a crawl.
He had to get out, had to cross to the other side where his own room was, before anyone stepped inside.
Yeonho's heart was pounding so hard he could hear it in his ears. Sweat dripped down under his wig, making his hands slippery. He was almost there, his own door was just within reach.
When his foot slipped on something spilled on the floor.
Thud!
'Shit!' Yeonho shouted inside his head.
A soft, sharp sound echoed through the quiet room.
Hana was just stepping through the doorway, and her head turned straight toward the noise.
"Is something wrong, Ms. Choi?" the manager asked quickly. Sungho's eyes scanned the room too, sharp and alert.
"I… I thought I heard something." Hana frowned, looking around, unsure of herself. "Didn't you hear that?"
"No, Ms Choi..." The manager replied, scratching his head.
Inside the other room, Yeonho was pressed flat against the floor in the gap between the rooms, chest heaving, breath held so tight his lungs burned.
'That was too close. Too damn close. One second later and I would've been caught. Dead. Finished.'
"I almost got caught…" He breathed out slowly, clutching his chest.
He stayed still for a few more seconds until his heartbeat slowed back down.
He wiped the sweat off his forehead with a crumpled napkin from his pocket, quickly checked his reflection in the small mirror he carried, fixed his wig and mask, and slipped out of his room.
It didn't matter that he never got to eat anything. He could always order food later, or come back another time.
Right now, all he wanted was to put as much distance between himself and this place as possible.
There was a strange, uneasy feeling curling in his chest. Something wrong, something off that he couldn't quite actually tell.
He smoothed his clothes, fixed his expression, and walked out like just another normal customer leaving early.
Then, he heard a name that made him freeze in his tracks.
"Mr. Lee! Please wait! We tried to inform you Ms. Choi was here earlier but as I said, there was… an incident."
A staff member was hurrying after someone, breathless, trying desperately to keep up with a man who walked with such heavy, powerful presence it felt like the whole building bent to make way for him.
Yeonho continued walking, but his eyes locked onto that figure in the distance.
And for a second, his whole world seemed to stop turning.
"Lee Dongjun? What are you doing here?"
That was Hana's voice, ringing out loud and sweet from behind him.
But Yeonho was too stunned to even care about her right now.
The man walking straight toward him, the one everyone bowed to, the one radiating pure dominance and power.
It was Lee Dongjun. One of the male leads.
'What? No way…'
As they passed each other, Yeonho lifted his eyes and caught Dongjun staring right straight at him. His eyes were dark, cold, deadly, sharp enough to cut right through him.
A chill ran down Yeonho's spine, cold and sharp, from that maddening, unreadable glare.
'Lee Dongjun... Why is he here? This was never written in the novel. I read every single page. He wasn't supposed to come here today.'
Confusion flooded him. Nothing made sense. Why was he here? How did he even know Hana was here?
Yeonho kept walking, ignoring that heavy, piercing glare as best he could, and moved right past him.
Behind him, Hana's voice got higher, softer, full of tears — turning on that perfect, pitiful act the second she realized who was there.
'Ugh. Of course. The second Lee Dongjun shows up, she turns the performance up to max. Fake as always.'
Irritation pricked at him, and he didn't look back, just kept walking straight out of the restaurant.
The attendant at the door didn't stop him. Yeonho just gave a quick excuse that there was an emergency he had to attend to, that he'd be back another time.
And she nodded, letting him go right through.
But he didn't just leave empty-handed.
Before he left Yeonho stopped at the front desk long enough to give instructions.
Pack all the food he'd ordered earlier, send it straight to his hotel room since they offered delivery, so he wasn't about to waste good food.
After that he went straight back to his hotel, kicked his shoes off, and threw himself face-first onto the soft sofa, still fully dressed.
"So tired…"
He tossed his bag onto the cushion beside him, staring up at the ceiling.
This had been one hell of a day. No joke. So much had happened in just a few hours.
Later that night, his food arrived, hot and fresh. He ate everything quickly, ravenous, it felt like a reward after all the risk and work he'd put in that day.
Once he was done, he took off his wig, wiped all the makeup off his face, and cleaned himself up properly.
A long hot shower washed away all the tension, the sweat, and the weird uneasiness he'd felt earlier.
He slipped into bed, pulling the covers up, eyes heavy.
Tomorrow was going to be another busy day. Even more plans, more moves, more games to play.