Although Reckless

Chapter 3

Serin turned toward the threatening voice, and her eyes widened. There stood the man who had ruined her auction plan.

But he wasn’t looking at her. His glare was focused on the blond man, whose face had turned purple with rage.

<What did you just say, you asshole?> The blond man’s unseemly behavior wouldn’t cease. He kept drunkenly swaying while throwing out various racist insults.

Yihan, on the other hand, kept his hand on Serin’s shoulder and didn’t flinch as a smirk spread across his face.

That made the blond man even more upset. His face crumpled as he lunged at Yihan, awkwardly swinging a punch while shouting, <You son of a b*tch!>

In an instant, two bulky guards had surrounded him.

<Who... Who the hell are you?> he asked, shrinking in on himself.

The guards remained silent, but their fierce eyes were clearly warning him to leave quietly.

<Do... Do you know who I am? Ugh!>

The blond man ranted and raved, but as one of the guards took a step toward him, he flinched. The guard’s face was as menacing as his body, with a long vertical scar down one cheek.

<You’ve had enough to drink. Why don’t you go upstairs and sleep it off instead of disturbing the other guests?> The guard’s polite but firm tone of voice penetrated the blond man’s ears, momentarily sobering him up.

The blond man gulped and looked at Yihan, who was still smirking with his hand on Serin’s shoulder. The moment the man’s eyes met Yihan’s, he got goose bumps. Yihan’s impish smile didn’t reach his eyes.

F*ck. I’m screwed, thought the drunk man. That Asian guy must be some sort of big shot, seeing that the bartenders and other staff didn’t try to help me out.

The staff were standing around watching him. The man knew that if he pushed them any further, he could actually be dragged out of the bar.

<I… I think I got too drunk. Excuse me. I... I should leave now.> With an awkward smile on his face, the blond man did an about-face and nodded towards the bar. The guards made way for him, an unspoken order for him to get out that instant.

As the blond man turned to leave, Yihan called after him. <Hey.>

Trembling at the calm and overwhelming voice, the blond man turned around. <Excuse me?>

Has he... changed his mind?

<You should apologize to her,> Yihan commanded, gesturing to Serin with his chin.

Serin and the blond man seemed equally shocked. She turned her widened eyes to look at Yihan.

<Oh… yeah, sure.> The blond man tilted his head and slurred an apology. <Please excuse my rudeness. I’m sorry.>

Then he turned to Yihan, seemingly asking permission to leave.

Yihan’s gaze shifted to Serin. As his piercing eyes directly fell on her face, Serin instinctually sat up straighter. The man could make others snap to attention with nothing more than a glance.

“Accept it. He can’t leave safely until you accept his apology,” Yihan said.

“What?” Serin’s mouth hung slightly open.

The frightening words coming out of the man’s mouth were a stark contrast to the captivating smile on his lips. She could tell that if the man, and not the guards, had handled that blond guy, the drunk would’ve been carried out on a stretcher.

The impression he made on her was overpowering.

“Go ahead,” he urged quietly.

Serin glanced at his hand on her shoulder. Judging from what she had seen so far, she half-expected him to squeeze her into submission unless she accepted the apology.

Serin heaved a sigh and sent Dongju another silent sign that he could stay put.

Then she did as she’d been told. <Fine, I accept your apology. But don’t behave disrespectfully again.> Despite the figure radiating intimidating vibes at her side, she felt sorry for the blond man, who was trembling violently in fear by then.

<Yeah, yeah… I’ll never do it again,> the blond man drunkenly promised.

<You can go,> Yihan added, and the blond man staggered away without looking back.

The bar regained its peaceful atmosphere, and the other customers turned their attention back to their drinks.

<Same thing for me,> Yihan said to the bartender as he sat down next to her. “Just in case any other drunks approach you, I’ll stick with you, for your protection.”

Serin burst out a small snort at the man’s feigned chivalry. “By the looks of it, you seem to be the most dangerous one here.”

Yihan smirked at her honest reply. “I might be.”

Serin narrowed her eyes. Am I imagining things? She was annoyed that the man seemed to be toying with her. She raised her glass, with a deeply knitted brow, and downed it in a single gulp. As the strong liquor slid down her throat, she felt something warm rise and then fade inside herself.

“What’s the rush? You finished your drink before we could even toast,” Yihan asked, amazed that she had swallowed the hard stuff in one go.

Serin couldn’t believe her ears. “Why would we share a toast? Do we know each other?”

“That’s harsh. I did my best to help you out of trouble a moment ago. Don’t you remember?” added Yihan, looking Serin straight in the eye.

She felt a strange shudder run through her body.

Serin gazed vacantly at his eyes for a moment, bewitched. Then she snapped out of it and expressed her gratitude. “Oh, I’m sorry. Please excuse my belated thank you. I really appreciate your help.”

Then she turned toward the bar and fiddled with her empty glass. She knew it was rude, but she couldn’t help it. She was all too conscious of his presence.

Yihan snorted. The sight of her insistently looking away piqued his curiosity.

“That’s it?” he asked, turning his body toward her and resting his chin on his hand. A mischievous smile decorated his lips, and his posture was rife with arrogance.

“What do you want, a cash reward?” Serin replied petulantly.

She was, of course, thankful for what he’d done, but after the auction debacle that he’d caused, Serin just couldn’t bring herself to be polite.

Yet, my harsh retort seemed laughable to him? It doesn’t seem to have had any impact.

“I didn’t mean to flatter myself, but I suddenly do want to take some credit.” He grinned back at her.

Serin raised her eyebrow.

“I don’t need anything big. Just buy me a drink,” he casually suggested as he turned to the bartender. <Same thing for each of us.>

<Very well, sir.> The bartender poured one straight shot of brandy in front of each of them, and Serin downed hers again.

“Why are you downing drinks on an empty stomach? You won’t like that feeling for long,” Yihan asked.

“Who do you think drove me to drink hard alcohol on an empty stomach?” she snapped. The anger she had repressed all day unleashed itself at once.

“Are you implying that I did?” he asked.

“Oh, you think you didn’t?” Serin retorted. “I’m pouring alcohol into my empty stomach because you screwed me over big-time at the auction today.”

“Since when is bidding high something to be blamed for?”

“That’s...” Serin found herself at a loss for words.

She knew she had lost the ceramic piece not because of him, but because the actual price had jumped far beyond her anticipated price. But if Yihan hadn’t exploded the price in a single bid, things might have been different.

“I can’t let you off the hook completely. Doesn’t ten million in one go feel... a little excessive? Besides, after boosting the price so high, why did you back off and let someone else take it?”

Yihan smiled quietly. “But you came out better than I did. You got the two paintings I had my eye on. You’re the real winner here.”

“Yeah, right. That’s very comforting.” Before Serin knew it, she was laughing. Despite him being frustrating and arrogant, there was something charming about his demeanor.

“So, what business are you in, Mr. …?” she asked, unable to resist her curiosity.

Yihan stared at her with a serious look on his face. “Yihan Seo.”

Her brow furrowed at his response. “Pardon?”

“My name is not ‘mister.’ It’s Yihan Seo.”

“Oh, okay,” Serin replied half-heartedly. Although she knew what should come next, she feigned ignorance and went back to eating almonds.

Yihan wasn’t a man to let it slide. “We’ve run into each other several times already. Why don’t we introduce ourselves?”

“Oh... Well...” An awkward look crossed her face as she was put in an unwelcome position.

Giving a stranger her name was extremely rare for Serin. But it would have been incredibly rude to refuse the man who’d helped her, so she gave him her English name. “I’m Evelyn.”

“Evelyn,” he repeated with a faint smile.

How funny, he thought. Despite being born and raised in the U.S., he had offered his Korean name, and the person born and raised in Korea had responded with her English name. Interesting.

He let out a short, cynical snort.

Serin pressed him for an answer. “So, what do you do?”

“I run money,” he replied.

“How cool.” Serin chuckled. Underneath his calm, cool, and collected appearance, he was a macho man.

“What about you, Evelyn?” he asked.

“I run a general store,” she replied.

As their conversation continued, the mood between them softened. <Two more, please,> Yihan asked the bartender before turning back to Serin.

She blushed as his intense gaze caressed her face. She felt part of her body become warm and tingly as her toes curled inside her shoes.

Oh my gosh, what is wrong with me?

She let out an embarrassed sigh, trying to release the growing heat inside of her.

This had never happened before. It was the first time that her body had reacted to someone’s gaze alone, let alone becoming aroused by someone simply looking her up and down. That scared her. Even though she knew it was bad, she found herself wanting to give in to the pleasure.

“Don’t look at me like that. It makes me uncomfortable,” Serin eventually requested, when she decided she couldn’t bear his gaze anymore.

“How did I look at you?” Yihan asked. He lowered his eyes and brought his glass to his lips with a wicked grin.

“You really don’t know? It’s too intense...” she trailed off.

“But if I don’t hold your gaze, you won’t look at me,” he asserted.

Serin’s mouth fell open. The man had an extraordinary talent for catching his opponent off guard and leaving them tongue-tied.

“Or, you can just tell me…” he continued, his lips curving upward, “how I can limit your gaze to only me.”