Fallen

Confront

The lean, boyish figure walked closer in her direction, wearing a half-smile. Up close, Seri could see it.

In those features, lingered a smugness which she soon identified as accompaniment to what Sang Woo clearly regarded as a personal victory.

"You actually came all the way from Seoul to Gyeonggi. Let me guess..." He shoved his hands into his pockets, casting a glance at his shoes before looking up to pin her gaze. "You can't possibly be here for lunch with me, can you?"

Seri held her tongue, using the silence to assess the situation.

"Seri, Seri, Seri."

The languid, condescending drawl of her name only irked her further— Sang Woo's tone clearly indicated that he had automatically assumed his victory over her, and her acceptance of defeat. It was as if she was a child, being reprimanded for not knowing better.

"We should always have been like that, shouldn't we? I am so happy to see you." The bureaucrat added, his eyes softening sinisterly.

Honestly, it would have been a tender look, but knowing that it came after he had committed such a heinous act of violence only scared the governor's daughter more.

The pretentiousness wasn't even something she was able to keep up with. It disgusted her, sending chills flooding her system.

"Where shall we go for lunch later? I will take you out for some Gwacheon specialties."

"Do you even have a shred of conscience in you?" Unable to maintain the facade, Seri seethed, cutting the conversation short.

Sang Woo did not even look surprised at her words. Clearly, she wasn't the only one who knew this was going to be an ugly confrontation.

The young bureaucrat went straight to the point.

"That scumbag deserved it."

In a moment which she could only best describe as pure hysteria and blind rage, Seri drew back her hand and slapped him forcefully across the face.

The smack of flesh striking flesh echoed through the tiny confines of the office, before the stinging, humiliating slap echoed on Sang Woo's cheek.

"How dare you—"

Slap!

The second slap sent the bureaucrat's face reeling unceremoniously to the side. Driven by the anger and agony coursing through her veins, Seri raised her hand to deliver a third slap, only for it to be met with forceful resistance.

A painful grip wrapped itself around her wrist, before a heavy hand met her cheek and ear in a resounding slap.

Not expecting the amount of force behind that blow, the governor's daughter fell unceremoniously on her knees to sprawl on the couch behind her.

"You hit me? You hit me? You hit me because of a useless, handiscapped man?"

For a moment or two, Seri felt genuine fear as self-control slipped through the cracks in the well-groomed facade of the man before her. His voice was a harsh whisper, betraying hints of what she thought certainly to be some form of insanity.

Instinctively pressing a palm to her cheek, trying hard to ignore the ringing in her ear, Seri turned to meet Sang Woo's eyes. "Captain Ri isn't useless in any way. You are. You didn't even have the guts to do this with your own hands. You had to pay others to do your dirty work!"

"Captain Ri, Captain Ri...the shameless way you're calling him that disgusts me. The nerve of you, Yoon Seri."

A small cry of shock escaped her when a masculine hand grabbed a fistful of the fabric at her collar to pull her up to meet a face filled with rage and hostility.