The Tiger King (Chaelisa)

64| Omens

"I see you're just here to waste my time as usual. Let's just get the paperwork over and done with. I don't want to see you when it strikes five. I'm a busy man."

She pouted but Chanyeol already had the sheaf of forms at hand and had sat down to fill in details.

"Don't you want to hear my account of the crash?"

"Nobody cares very much," Chanyeol replied, "since there probably was no crash. This is all for records and standard procedure. Everyone knows what you are."

"And what am I, Channie?"

He had given up on making her show him some respect.

"A sleazy, spoiled brat with too much money and time on your hands and no job to keep you occupied. Is there no boyfriend in your life? Or girlfriend for that matter."

"As a matter of fact, I might have left two of those back in my bed just to see you. I was awfully bored, Channie. But maybe you can take care of that? I'll be a good girl and listen, I promise."

"Be quiet for a minute," Chanyeol said as he scribbled.

"Isn't it illegal to leave out my account of events?" she asked pleasantly.

"It's illegal to harass the authorities and waste our time, Dasoni," Chanyeol said sharply, "particularly my time since the powers that be love to punish me and lump me with you, on top of all the work I have."

"Because of that bastard Sooman, isn't it?" she nodded emphatically. "They're the losers for underestimating you and your tenacity. You're so much more than Sooman's protege. You'll always have that black mark on your record, Channie, and it's a real shame. We all get those in one form or another. But don't let it get to you."

"I won't."

"You gotta keep at what you do and show'em what you're made of."

"I will."

He never knew what to say when she lobbed a strikingly accurate remark wrapped in what sounded suspiciously like a compliment followed by encouragements. 

But at such times, he was reminded that the woman sitting in front of him was not just some vapid, ditzy bimbo but the heir of one of Seoul's eminent crime boss families, the Dasoni, and ten times sharper than her father. 

Whatever she did, there was always some underlying, calculating motive to her actions.

Which is why he couldn't fathom the reason she kept finding opportunities for them to interact.

"Why don't you ever say my name?" she pouted.

He didn't trust himself to speak. She sighed and stretched in her chair, leaning towards him to look at what he was writing across from her.

"Oh you know my name, see! You always write it, and so neatly too. You have beautiful handwriting."

"Can you just stop?" Chanyeol said tiredly. He didn't care that he wasn't speaking professionally anymore. "I'm trying to do my job here. Why are you so aggravating?" He didn't have to ask but the question slipped out inadvertently.

"Because you're so fun! So stuck up and serious, it's always fun to see you get angry, like a kitten trying to hiss and meow," she chuckled. Then she tilted her head, frowning ever so slightly. "But seriously Channie, you should sleep more. All work and no rest is slowly killing you."

"Having you around will certainly guarantee an early death," he said dryly. "And then nobody will be around to entertain you."

"See, there you go again. All morbid and broody. Like Batman. Yet, you're still funny," she tilted her head playfully. "Seoul's very own dark knight, they call you."