Her Tempestuous Villain

Chapter 40 - Poker (3)

Jonghyun was in his car which was parked outside of Sunye's apartment building. He was debating with himself whether to go and talk to her or not. The letter lay on the passenger seat which was worrying him.

It was a letter from the court which provided the date for the proceedings against Shin Hyun. The Prime Minister had postponed his speech about his Finance Minister, citing that the court had not prosecuted him yet.

But Jonghyun knew his father well. The man was only biding his time and the public was pressuring them to finish the case within a day. Once the news of the Finance Minister being arrested had broken out, there was a protest outside the parliament, demanding for the minister to be punished. But that was just a tiny spark.

The public opinion was still divided and the court case was going to decide it all. There was still a considerable segment of the country which believed that the minister was innocent. Moreover, the confusion rippling through the nation was more dangerous than riots or protests. It was easy to sway the public if they were unsure of their actions. Jonghyun knew very well that by taking a neutral stance, his father was looking to mislead the public to his favor.

We can't let that happen, he thought. Taking a deep breath, he got out of the car and headed for the building.

Walking up to the concierge, he stated, "I'm here to meet Ms. Han Sunye."

"Prosecutor Han just left for some work a while ago," the concierge informed him. "She said she would be late."

Jonghyun contemplated his options. He had tried to call her many times but to his surprise, her number was out of reach.

I'm gonna wait, he decided. He could have given the letter to the concierge but chose to give it to her himself. He glanced at the wall clock. It was 9 PM.

Where are you, Sunye? He wondered.

….

Maurice dealt the cards to the players. Sunye picked up her ones and studied the cards. Her other fellow players were also studying the cards in their hands while their minds were concocting their next moves.

Kibum studied the hooker to check if anything betrays her emotions but to his surprise, she was completely expressionless. No hint of worry nor satisfaction. Instead, she sat there looking aloof and indifferent to the cards in her hand. It was almost impossible to read her mind.

He smirked. So the woman is a professional poker player, he realized.

Kibum was a sharp man and he was sure that the couple had not challenged him without a reason. The woman might be an escort but she was calm and calculative. She had a true poker face which was only adding to the excitement of the game.

"Call," Kyuhyun announced, betting his chips for a thousand dollars.

"Raise," Dozier announced, putting down more chips.

"Call," Sunye said.

"Call," Jamie echoed.

"Raise," Kibum said. Maurice moved all the chips to the middle before throwing three cards on the table, face up.

A Jack of hearts, a spade ten and a diamond two.

Sunye studied her cards and thought hard. In her hands were a ten of hearts and an eight of clubs. She was sure that her fellow players had a higher hand but folding would only cause them to become more suspicious.

"Call," Kyuyun's snide voice reached her ears. He has a higher tier, Sunye realized.

"Fold," Dozier said. Idiot, Sunye thought.

"Raise," Sunye said with a quiet confidence and put in more chips. If there was one thing she had learnt about poker was not to show weakness. The moment she showed one, the other players would pounce on it and she could lose the game. Moreover, she could not rule out the fact that some of them might be cheating. If she had to win, she must act smart.

Her decision to raise the bet was certainly raising some eyebrows. Did she have a higher hand? Kibum wondered.

"Call," Jamie said, betting the same chips as Sunye.

"Raise," Kibum stated. Maurice swooped over and upturned two more cards on the table. It was a 10 of clubs.

Kibum did not betray his emotions but was grinning inside. He was holding a Jack of spades and  a Queen of hearts. He studied his other players carefully, knowing fully well that their conditions were not so good. The men were a little rattled by the cards in their hands. Their expressions gave them away and Kibum was sure that he had the highest hand.

But Sunye was a tough nut. Not only was she a blank slate but she was raising the bets as if she had a high hand. Was she really hiding a sinister intention behind her poker face? Or was she bluffing?

This is going to be very interesting, he thought with a smirk.

….

"Are you sure you should be leaving her all alone in there?" Orea's voice came from the mini speaker in his ear.

"She'll be fine," SD muttered as he casually strolled towards the second floor of the club. He was glancing around from the corner of his eyes, keeping a lookout for guards who might come to stop him. The club was well protected but Orea had managed to hack into the CCTV system and was currently controlling the images on the monitors, hiding SD's presence.

"But what if those men try to harm her?" Orea frowned.

"Oh, they will," he shrugged.

"And you're just gonna leave her with them?" Orea asked in a shocked tone.

"Trust me when I say this my dear student," SD said as he walked into a dingy washroom. Putting an out of order sign on the doorknob, he went straight to the last empty stall. He took out a large screw driver from his pocket and began to work on the toilet screws, loosening them.

"No matter what they try to do with her," he went on as he unscrewed the toilet and dismantled it before pushing it aside to reveal a large hole in the ground. The stench of the sewer below was engulfing the whole place which was enough to make anyone nauseous. But SD was used to cleaning up dirty mess so the foul smell did not faze him.

"They'll have to bring her to me first anyway," he smirked as he jumped into the hole.

"And you wonder why she hates you," Orea muttered. There was a loud splash.

"That's fine with me," SD said, the dirty sewage splashed all over his clothes but he did not care. "Her hatred doesn't bother me. But…"

There was a fire lit in his blue eyes which was about to devour the enemies who stood in his way.

"Her love does," he revealed.

Orea was silent for a while before replying, "I hope you drown in that drain."

"Too bad for you then," he grinned. "Villains don't die until the end of a story."