Trouble with the Curve

Chapter Two | From One Hell to Another

Once again, they chose something for me without consulting me. How rude is this family?

After packing, a quick run in the afternoon, and some time spent working on my father's business, I was dressed casually in leggings, sneakers, and a comfy sweatshirt my cousin Catie Lee had gotten me from her college in America. Now I was standing outside the entrance to looked like an abandoned bomb-making facility, eyeing it and questioning the sanity of my fiancée if he thought it was a good place to invest in.

I prepare to send a message to let my fiancée know I have arrived when a second car pulls up near my own. I step back into the shadows, the eerie appearance of the setting and my own sense of self-preservation warning me to keep an eyes out for strangers pulling me back.

You're 20 minutes early, Lee Soojin, maybe you should have arrived when directed.

To my surprise, a familiar face climbs out of the vehicle and surveils the area. He's tall and lanky, thin with shaggy brown hair that looked like it could use a brush through if I was being honest.

What is HE doing here?

Lights flicker on from inside the building and one of the giant garage doors leading into the serial killer lair opens, unveiling someone new, their face hidden due to the light shining in from behind them.

"You're late."

"Someone's eager."

"You could say that," the faceless man sighs. He turns away from his friend and shrugs as he looks inside the building. "Anxious might be a better word, I guess."

"About the investment?"

"Du Jii, you know I have no love affair for the business world. That's where you come in."

I cock my head to the side and watch as Du Jii and the other man converse, utterly confused why my father's pitching coach was meeting with this man here of all places.

"Contractor on the way?"

"Confirmed the meeting with him myself," Du Jii sighs, looking around the area.

"Then what's the issue?"

"Lee Soojin is coming here tonight."

He knows me, yet I know nothing of him. Seems fair.

"Lee Soojin? The Chairman's daughter?"

"The very same."

"Why is she coming here, Jae?"

His name is Jae? Interesting.

"Familial partnership I guess you could say."

"Vague."

"Let's not get into that right now. She's on her way to meet me here in a little bit. Thought I'd show her the compound as it is since I'll be spending most of my time here for work."

"I thought your father was insisting you work in his company."

Jae laughs and my spine tingles at the unfamiliar sound, "I don't give a damn what he wants. If it wasn't for my mother, I wouldn't ever associate with him. Ever since I returned to Korea he has been up my butt. I don't rely on him for money or love, but ever since the merger—" Jae sighs and then turns back around so I can see his face more clearly.

Isn't that Miss Ryan's son—

Another car pulls up and a sturdy, middle-aged man hops out of the vehicle, "Ryan Jae?"

"Mr. Gal, I presume?"

"The one and only. Thanks for considering us for the remodel. You're turning this into an athlete training center, correct?"

Ryan Jae grins and the tingles in my spine turn from comforting to concerning.

"Now that I have retired from baseball, not by my own choice of course, I figured it's as good of a time to give back."

"You professional athletes, never able to give up the sport you love," Mr. Gal chuckles.

I blanch.

Professional athlete. That man, Ryan Jae, Miss Ryan's son, was a professional athlete...and my soon-to-be husband.

I feel bile growing in my throat and I wait for the three men to enter the building before making a quiet escape to my car where I start to hyperventilate at the sudden realization.

A chirp comes through from my phone and I see it's a message from Ryan Jae. I quickly make up an excuse to avoid meeting him tonight and drive out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell as I try and figure out what fresh hell I was now in.