Chapter 18 - 18 : Too Much Alike
Chapter 18 - 18 : Too Much Alike
Tang Hao had no other choice but to obey his command. He followed Kim Eunji together with the ]mall's other managers.
"Please. I don't wish to disrupt your daily operations here. There's no need to follow me." Kim Eunji didn't like the attention that she's getting just because the managers were following behind her back.
"I'm sorry to decline your request Madame but since Master Johnson ordered us to accompany you, we will do our very best to accommodate you." The Senior Manager of the mall politely answered her.
"I understand. But please I want to shop alone. I'd be more comfortable that way." She thought that she had escaped from the man but he let his subordinates to watch her instead.
As she looked at them who had a troubled look on their faces, Kim Eunji had no other choice but to compromise for their sake. She didn't want these innocent people be in trouble.
"Okay. You can follow me but distant yourself a bit. It's troublesome for my part, too. How about that?" Kim Eunji proposed.
"It's inevitable Miss. You're with the Master after all."
'But I'm not even his woman and I don't want to be associated with him at all!' Kim Eunji strongly said in her mind.
A sudden theory then came into her mind. 'So all of his previous contract women had received this kind of treatment, too?' She could not help not to chuckle in disdain.
She could still remember what happened that night. She could still clearly remember how the woman begged him to not leave her then. She even confessed that she loved him but this man cold-heartedly rejected her confession. What he did was wrong yet he didn't even bother apologize to that woman.
Be his contract woman? That won't happen to her.
"I'm sorry but it's not what you think. I'm not his woman. Acquaintance. Yes, that's the term. We're like that so you don't have to address me as 'Madame' or whatever it is." She calmly spoke which made them stunned for a bit.
A lot of women wanted to be in Kim Eunji's position right now. They would fight in heaven and hell just to be with him but what about her? That opportunity was being presented to her in a silver platter but she dared to not accept it? She should be stupid or maybe pretending to be one.
That kind of thoughts were running in their minds.
"Then you should be thankful that you got acquainted with the Master Ma-- Miss." The manager corrected herself.
"I don't think I should be thankful that I got acquainted with him though. If not for him, I won't receive this much attention and you people won't have such vivid imaginations about me and him running inside your head at the moment."
"--__--"
Her statement made them speechless. They could not refute them because what she said was the truth from the very beginning.
She then turn around and looked at the man who was standing a few feet behind her and said, "Mr. Tang. Go back to your boss and stay there. I could feel the strong disgust that you have for me leaking from your body. I'd say, instead of keeping me safe from the bullies, you became the bully instead. And I don't need such kind of people." Kim Eunji spat.
She was not that dumb to not feel Tang Hao's hostility towards her.
"--__--" Her statement caught Tang Hao off-guard.
"Also tell your boss that I won't be returning to the Mo Ancestral Manor with him."
"But--" Tang Hao wanted to protest. However Kim Eunji did not let him continue what he was about to say as she continued.
"Mr. Tang. I don't wish to repeat myself. You were forced to do this right? Then there's no need for you to stay by my side at all." Kim Eunji then turn around and walked towards the direction of an unknown clothing brand store.
'Is she punishing me?' He thought. He had been working with Nathan for the span of six months now and during that span of time, he had witnessed how Nathan would become when angered. How Nathan would punish someone who would not do his task properly.
As he thought of this, he felt like crying. But as he looked at Kim Eunji, he saw that the woman was serious, too. This stunned him a bit.
'Alike. Too much alike.' The domineering aura when she spat those words to him was not inferior to his boss.
"You're right Miss Kim. But he's my boss and I only follow his command and not yours. Therefore, I have to apologize if I could not grant your wish." He voiced out his stand on this matter.
Kim Eunji halted her steps but then continued walking as she sighed.
As she entered the store, two female staffs welcomed her. Though the senior manager agreed that they would distant themselves from Kim Eunji, they still had to give every store owner inside the mall a heads up to avoid trouble.
"-_-"
"Good morning Miss!" They enthusiastically greeted after they recovered from shock.
"Hi!" Kim Eunji smiled that made the two girls giggled in joy.
"Can we help you with what you're looking for?"
The taller staff offered.
"I appreciate it but there's no need." She declined immediately them.
"Okay. Don't hesitate to call us if you need anything." Of course they learned about her request to shop alone.
"Will do." Kim Eunji shortly replied as she looked around.
She immediately went to the ladies pants and jeans section of the store and picked two items. She chose one black lose pants and one cargo pants. She went to the T-shirt section and chose an oversized black printed shirt and a white one. She also picked 2 crop tops a beanie and one leather jacket. She counted the days and she had 2 to 3 more days to stay in Sanya so didn't have to buy much clothes. She just...had to wash her clothes, right? Yes, she knew how to do her own laundry.
She then happened to pass by the accessory section and decided to buy a beautiful gold vintage key necklace.
She was busy trying the clothes she picked earlier inside the fitting room that she did not realize someone had just entered the store with a sour expression in his face.
As she went out, she was stunned when she saw Nathan Bai sitting on the couch looking at her.
"What are you doing?" Nathan asked.
"Trying the clothes that I picked and see if it fits me or not?" Kim Eunji answered innocently.
"What are you doing here? I told Mr. Tang that I won't be going back with you. Didn't he tell you?"
"He did. They also confessed to me that you wanted to shop alone. I told them to accompany you so that they could chose clothes that suits you best." He commented.
'So, you're a fashionista now?' She asked in her mind.
"Why?" Kim Eunji didn't like where the talk was going. The man had been on her throat and she didn't like it.
"I won't be going somewhere that would need me to dress up." She added.
"You'll be." Nathan shortly answered.
"Where?" Kim Eunji asked but the man did not answer her.
Kim Eunji picked all of her stuff and went to the cashier to pay them but to her surprise, all of it were already paid by Nathan. And she didn't like that.
"Mr. Bai, how much did you pay for my stuff?" She asked.
"..."
"Does she want to know how much she would earn if she'll sell them online?" The other store staffs whispered to each other and then giggled as they mocked Kim Eunji.
"Don't think about it." Nathan shortly answered.
"Ahh!! Master Johnson's so cool!!"
Being ignored, she decided to ask the cashier instead.
"Miss, how much did this man pay for all of these?"
"Why are you making a fuss about it?" Nathan Bai interrupted her.
"I don't like to owe someone something." 'Especially if its money.' She continued on her thoughts.
"Come give me your bank account so that I could wire it to you then." Kim Eunji added.
"I didn't pay anything. I'm a VVIP after all." Though he answered in a nonchalant way, it could not be denied that he was a bit overbearing.
He expected Kim Eunji to be surprised when he uttered those words. But to his surprise, Kim Eunji just looked at him with her smug but still beautiful face.
"Oh, so you're using your wealth to charm women Mr. Bai? I'm sorry but it won't work to me." Kim Eunji uttered.
"Who told you that I want to charm you?" He refuted.
"Are you not?" Kim Eunji asked. 'Did I misunderstood him?' However Nathan laughed at her. Nathan thought that she looked adorable.
"I'm not." He finally answered her after he calmed down.
"Then let me pay my stuff." Kim Eunji insisted.
Not minding that there were people watching their interaction, Nathan walked closer to Kim Eunji and stopped when their bodies were a few inches away from each other.
"So you don't want to owe someone something?"
"Yes."
"I don't like someone owing something from me, too. Therefore..." His voice trailed off as soon as he bent his head and drew his handsome face near her face.
"What are you doing?!" Kim Eunji asked him.
"You have to pay me now Miss Kim." Nathan continued in a bit seductive voice.
"Wait, how did I owe you something?"
Nathan chuckled as he retracted his face away from her.
"You never thanked me this morning for saving you last night but became a bad girl instead. Aside from that, you did something wild last night and hurt my wrist. Would that count?"
The people surrounding them gasp as they heard his statement.
Kim Eunji's eyes widened in disbelief. Indeed, she forgot to thank him but it was his fault anyways. Had he not irritated her earlier this morning, she would not forget about it.
But she could not remember what happened last night so she could not tell if it was her who indeed hurt his wrist or he was simply bluffing.
Seeing that Kim Eunji was lost on her thoughts, Nathan took advantage of her and once again lean towards her but this time in her ears.
As he did that, memories of how she smelled last night while she was in his arms flooded back to his system. Her floral with a bit of vanilla scent evaded his nostrils and it made him addicted to it.
"You slept in my embrace last night and did not plan to let go, causing me to be sleep deprived. Would that count, too?"
"--__--" The revelation made Kim Eunji to be speechless. She didn't want to believe him at all but as she looked at his blue orbs, she could tell that he was sincere and was not lying at all.
"Then... how do you want me to pay you?"
As soon as those words came out of her mouth, she inwardly cursed herself. 'What if he'll ask something that I could not do?' She thought but still hoping that what he would ask for her in exchange could be doable.
"Be my date tonight."
"--_--"