Tricking My Cold Lover

0"Lian, we'll have a meeting with Yeong tomorrow, together with the other executives, kindly check with the production mangers on both factories where we are in each firearm model, together with ammunition," said Ha-joon one afternoon.     0

For days, Lian had been perfectly avoiding Ha-joon, merely answering to work-related concerns. Ha-joon, on the other hand, had been trying to get her attention since.      

"Yes, sir. I'll go right ahead," said Lian. She just bowed in front of him in respect before leaving for the production area.      

"Why are you calling me, Sir?" He asked with both hands on his waist.      

Lian turned and finally looked him in the eye. She showed not a single care in her expression and said, "Everyone else calls you, Sir. Only Chun-Ho and Iseul call you by your name, Sir."     

"Stop that," said Ha-joon. "You are different. You can call me by my name."     

Lian maintained the same look on her face as she said, "I am no different, Sir. I'm not anyone special to call you by your name." She bowed again before leaving. "Excuse me, Sir. I need to get back to work."     

The next day, Anton arrived early in the morning. They were preparing for a big order from the Korean government that he came to visit, reminding Ha-joon of the work to be done.      

As they were having the meeting, Lian prepared all the materials and sat five chairs away from Ha-joon. She greeted Anton with a smile and bowed to Ha-joon.      

After the meeting, Anton persistently saw how Lian distanced herself from Ha-joon, even asking the other secretaries to hand in reports to his office.      

It was a few days back when Yanmei asked Iseul to bring her cousin a car to the factory and from what he heard; it was because Lian did not want to ride with Ha-joon.      

On the evening of his first-day visit, he invited Ha-joon for a drink at the lounge area of his base. They sat in front of a small coffee table and Ha-joon started talking about his plans for their group.      

"I think we should begin to look for trusted men in Afghanistan, Yeong," said Ha-joon. "Aside from Jamal of course, we need Afghans whom we can train to be part of our forces... Considering, we will be needing to return to Afghanistan now and then and check on Jamal."     

"I did not call you to talk about that, Ha-joon," said Anton. He gulped down a glass of champagne and said, "You and Lian broke up?" He scoffed and added, "You haven't even begun and you already broke up!"     

Ha-joon looked down to the floor and massaged his temples, resting his elbows on the table. He looked up to him and said, "I'm sorry, Yeong. Maybe I should talk to her - "     

"No, don't. If you don't want to, then don't. Don't feel obligated because she is Yanmei's cousin. I mean. That is what you wanted, right? To push her away?" Asked Anton.      

When Ha-joon did not answer, he added, "Don't worry. I can see it from her eyes. She no longer cares. It wasn't the same kind of attraction I saw over a month ago."     

With his forehead creased, Ha-joon asked, "What? What do you mean, Yeong?"     

"Look into her eyes. Before, when she glances at you, her eyes smiled for her. But now... You can see it. She looks tired. She had that same eyes as uncle Shiwoo when he grew tired of caring for Ji-yun and her mother."     

Anton turned to Ha-joon's frowning face and said more, "What? You didn't really think she would run after you for a year or two years more, right?"     

Ha-joon could not believe he was having this conversation with his boss. However, word of Lian liking her did get out at some point, thanks to Chun-Ho and Iseul. He puffed his cheeks before he sighed. "Yeong, how did you know. How did you know that you loved Yanmei?"     

"Hmmmm... How did I know? Good question." Anton scratched his brow and said, "Yanmei was occupying my mind. A lot of times. Back then, even if I thought she was a lesbian, I kept wanting to see her, but I could not explain it."     

He coughed and added, "Of course, it took a while for me to recognize that I loved her, but I made it. I figured it out while she still had the same love for me. Moreover, I had a reason to hold back. Again, I thought she was a lesbian."     

Ha-joon chuckled, recalling how Anton used to think Yanmei was a Lesbian. Back then, Anton repeatedly told him that his wife tricked him. Still, he knew it was his defense of denying that he was madly in love with Yanmei.      

"Urrgghhhh! Just for the record, she was more in love with me than I was," said Anton. However, after a second, he said, "Don't ever tell that to Yanmei. Nobody should know I said that."     

Ha-joon snickered and said, "I don't know about that, Yeong. You changed yourself for the Mrs. so I doubt if she was the one more in love in your relationship."     

Anton narrowed his eyes at Ha-joon before he said, "I'm telling you, it's the other way around. Just... don't tell Yanmei that we had this kind of conversation."     

He shook his head and caressed his bearded face. After a while, he explained further to Ha-joon, "It wasn't really that I forced myself to change, Ha-joon. I just... became the husband that she deserved... It is because I love her that I act differently now towards her and my family."     

The two drank a few more rounds before Anton clarified, "Look if you like Lian then don't let her slip away. I am lucky not to lose my wife, Ha-joon, but back then when we had an argument about Ji-yun, I saw her drifting away from my hold. I'm telling you, it was worrisome."     

"In my entire life, I can only count the number of times I felt fear. One was when Andy got abducted. The other one was the argument we had that started in Indonesia. The latest one was the fear of losing Nari."     

"It is not frightening, Yeong? To have a family whom you will constantly worry about for their safety?" Ha-joon asked.      

"Are you holding back because of that? Because I have ten times more enemies than you," said Anton.      

When Ha-joon merely scoffed, he explained, "Look the way I see it. If you are feeling fear for whatever reason. Fear on how to deal with a relationship. Fear on the unknown when getting into a relationship. It means you care so much."     

"If you did not care. You would not think about it at all. Fuck, you'd probably just ignore Lian completely!"     

Anton thought since his wife was playing cupid, he could at least be an adviser to his friend. He said, "Ha-joon, just listen to me. I am now your love guru. Internalize everything that I have told you. I am better at this more than anyone! Better than Xia Ting and Lu Fang!"     

Ha-joon, "???"     

"If you don't like her the way I thought you did, then just continue whatever it is you are doing. It's working pretty well, pushing her away."     

"But when that happens, know there is no turning back. Should the time come that you can see nothing more than friendship in her eyes for you and you regret it, don't come running to me, to Chun-ho and Iseul, asking to drink with us over this. I never like to give that I told you so lecture."     

"Regret in love is the most painful expression you'll ever see. I saw it many times in uncle Shiwoo's eyes when he learned about aunt Seok and Eun So. It's not in any way... entertaining."     

Towards the end of their man to man talk, Anton asked, "Do you have anything to say to me? You know like, how great of an adviser I am?"     

Ha-joon chuckled and said, "You are not only the best boss, Yeong. You are the best love guru."