The Manipulated Villainess

Chapter 32 - Strength And Weakness

In one of the rooms of the biggest Government office, Garcia Han was standing near the window. She was quietly staring at the outdoors as if the view from the Minister's Office fascinated her.

Standing a few feet behind her was Alex Jo, her personal assistant and her right-hand man. He was quietly standing there, wondering what his superior was thinking. Despite being the person who was the closest to her, he could never figure out what was going on in her brilliant mind.

"What did Director Lee said?" Out of nowhere, Garcia Han asked the question. She was still standing there yet her mind was occupied by many other things which were very contradictory to one another.

Alex Jo nervously tightened his muscles while glancing at the devil's back. "It's the same as the Chairwoman. The Chairwoman apologized for what happened to him but the Director told her not to blame herself."

"That's all?" Garcia Han asked as she turned around and gave Alex a doubtful look.

Meeting her eyes, Alex replied, "Yes."

After observing her right-hand man for a few seconds, Garcia Han finally turned around and glanced at the outdoors again.

"Do you think Leon Jung love my step-daughter? Based on what I saw and heard, it's the truth." Garcia Han recalled the porcelain incident she heard from the First Lady.

Just yesterday, she met the First Lady and the latter congratulated her for having a future son-in-law who truly loved her daughter. When she asked the details, the First Lady told her the porcelain incident.

"That young man went as far as pleading the First Lady so that my step-daughter could have the porcelain she wants. The First Lady even told me that she was very touched by Leon's love for my daughter." Garcia Han let out a dry laugh but soon it was replaced by a disappointed face.

"I thought that the potter was not the type to indulge himself in love, especially an arranged marriage. He is not on good terms with his father, so there's no way that he would fall for a woman whom his father chose for him." Garcia Han angrily gritted her teeth. "But it turns out that I was wrong."

"Won't it be good to have a fiance who loves you?" Alex Jo asked Garcia. He doesn't understand what Garcia Han was saying.

"Alex, don't you know that love can be your weakness and at the same time, your strength?" Garcia Han glanced at Alex and sat down on her chair while Alex stood before the desk.

Garcia Han let out a light laughter when she noticed that her right-hand man was not following her words. "When Nicole was in College, she fell for some random guy." She started.

"But I turned a blind eye to it. I don't even know who the man was. I was only informed that he was someone from a middle-class family and her senior at college. I don't deem as important because it doesn't cause a change to her behaviour." Garcia Han placed her elbows on her desk and lifted her eyes to look at Alex who was standing before her.

"Until one day." She made a deliberate paused and shook her head when she recalled the incident. "Nicole ran away. She attempted to do that many times but she never succeeded. But she succeeds that time." A sinister smile appeared on the Minister of Justice's face.

Alex quietly clenched his fist which was tucked to the sides but the desk blocked the sight so that the devil couldn't see anything. He was not pleased with the story but he won't dare to show it.

"I cannot locate her for the whole day and it really started to trouble me. Suddenly, an idea crossed my mind and I decided to make use of the man she liked."

"I sent my men to the place where the man she admired lives but I told them to only be at a distance and to make a move only if I ordered to. Then I sent a voice message to Nicole to threatened her. I told her that I would kill the whole family and even the man if she doesn't return right away. Do you know what happened?" She asked with a smile.

"What happened?"

"She returned as soon as she heard my message." A satisfying smile appeared on Garcia's face but it was short-lived. Her face suddenly turned darkened. "But when she returned..." She tightly clenched her fist at the thought of the scene from the past. "You won't even believe what she said to me."

Fuming with anger at the recollection of the unforgettable past, she said, "She threatened me! Do you believe it?" She asked as she herself still finds it hard to believe that incident.

"She said that if I ever hurt the man or his family, she would kill me!" The devil exclaimed. "You won't know how unbelievable that was! That girl who used to shudder just at the sight of me, who cannot even talk back to me and who never dared to look me in the eye; she dared to threatened me, all because of a man she loved!"

"Will you kill the family if she doesn't return and sacrificed the freedom which she longed for?" Alex Jo asked.

"Yes. I need to teach my step-daughter a lesson. I want to show her what will happen if she ever goes against my words. But she returned. So nothing happened." Garcia Han simply replied as if killing a whole family was no big deal.

Alex Jo narrowed his eyes and quietly stand there yet his mind was occupied by the past that always haunted him.

"From that day, I realized that love is a very dangerous one. It was my daughter's weakness and strength. She sacrificed her freedom for it and that made 'love' her weakness. But when she threatened me for the same reason, it becomes her strength." Garcia Han paused for a while and thought about Leon.

"But I will let it be for now. It seems like Nicole still doesn't reciprocate her fiance feelings, much more like she has no idea about how the man feels." Her expression turned to a very determined one. "But if she ever gives her heart to someone again, I won't sit still. I won't allow her to gain strength."

She glanced at Alex who stood still with a seemingly blank face and smiled. "Why wouldn't you go to her office now? Tell her that I want to have dinner with her. It seems like she visits someone at the hospital today. But no matter how much I think about it, I don't know any acquaintance who is hospitalized. I want to know more about it."

Her smile dropped when Alex didn't respond to her. "Alex, do you listen to me?"

Alex instantly lifted his eyes and looked at the Minister. "I apologize. I will do as you say." He bowed and immediately left the office.

Garcia Han could simply call and tell Nicole to come home for dinner. But she told Alex to relay the message most of the time. Besides, she wanted to know more about the person who was hospitalized and Alex was very good at reading people's expression. The only one who he cannot read might be her.

* * *

Alex makes his way to Nicole's office room and as always, he was greeted by the Chairwoman who never gives a damn about his presence.

He bowed out of courtesy but the Chairwoman didn't even glance at him. He stood still for almost five minutes, debating what to say.

Nicole finally loses her patience. She put down her pen and lifted her eyes to look at the man. Her lips thinned as soon as her eyes landed on him. "Just say whatever you want to say. I don't have time to waste for you." Her voice was colder than ever before.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Alex muttered, his eyes never met hers.

"What?" She bluntly asked him right away.

He finally lifted his head and look her in the eyes. "Why didn't you tell me that she threatened you using me and my family?"