Bound to the Seduction (Free to read)

Chapter 21: Unexpected Meeting

Glen visited Sarah on Saturday morning. The siblings decided to hang out at the open market, foraging for trinkets and fun stuff. It had been a while since they spent time together, and they walked happily, teasing each other and sometimes clasping their hands or Glen wrapping his arm around Sarah's shoulder. He was a head taller and a shade darker than her, giving an illusion of a perfect boyfriend.

Brandon's mom was flipping through her latest beauty magazine when she received a call. "Aunt, you won't believe this..."

At the market, Glen somehow managed to get soot on his cheeks. Sarah took out wet wipes and cleaned his face with great detail while Glen messed with her hair. The actions were so intimate that people mistook them for a couple.

Brandon's mom arrived at that exact moment and witnessed this action. From her angle, it looked like they were about to kiss. Brandon's mom narrowed her eyes and walked briskly as her anger overpowered her reasoning. "What are you doing?"

The familiar voice from behind made Sarah instinctively turn around. To say she was shocked would be an understatement. This was the last place she expected to see Brandon's mom.

"Sarah, what is the meaning of this?"

Sarah kept quiet and glanced at the crowd that was beginning to gather around because of someone's shouting. Shouting was common in a market, but this one attracted attention because the woman shouting looked like a rich lady. People loved gossip.

Sarah led Brandon's mom into a nearby stall with a seating area. She glanced at Sarah and lowered her voice to a whisper, "Sarah, what is going on?"

"Please sit down." Sarah brought a plastic chair and gave it to her while Glen watched in silence.

Brandon's Mom glanced at the chair like a piece of dirt and snorted, looking at Sarah in contempt, "You'd better give me a reasonable explanation for what happened a moment ago, otherwise, I won't recognize you and kick you out of the Lee family!"

Sarah took a deep breath. She tilted her head to the side, pursed her lips, and clocked her brows while pointing at the chair beside her.

Brandon's mom gave Sarah a condescending look and a contemptuous glance at Glen before plopping down on the plastic chair. She placed her handbag on her lap, folded her arms, and leaned back on the chair, waiting for an explanation.

Sarah sighed. Brandon's mom was willing to give her a chance to explain, not because she valued and treated her as a daughter-in-law, but because she wanted to believe this was just a misunderstanding. She did not want her son to suffer any grievances.

Although Sarah understood her attitude very well, she did not care. "Well, at first, I did not want to talk about this, but since you are here, I don't have to hide some things from you."

Brandon's mom curled her lip into a smirk, clearly unwilling to listen. Sarah spoke again, "As a good daughter, I've already saved you the trouble of having to kick me out of the family." Sarah paused, giving her the time to absorb the information before throwing a bomb. "I have already dumped your son."

"What?" Brandon's mom shouted as she suddenly stood and raised her hand.

Pah!

A slap landed on Sarah's cheek.

No matter how agile Sarah was, she would never have thought that Brandon's Mom would suddenly stand up and slap her in a rage. She hadn't dodged. The force of that slap almost knocked her teeth off. Glen raised his hand to return a favor.

"Glen, no!" Sarah managed to stop him in time.

"But she hit you."

"Did you forget what Mom taught us? Never fight with elders unless it is a life and death situation."

"But-"

"No buts," Sarah interrupted him as her lips curved into a reassuring smile, "I'll handle it." She turned around to face Brandon's mom. "And you, this is the first and the last time you will ever lay a hand on me. As for how we got into this situation, you'd better ask your precious son. If you'd spent half the effort teaching him about loyalty, perhaps we wouldn't be in this mess right now."

Sarah's eyes emitted a terrifying chill that even Brandon's mom stepped back in fear. But that wasn't enough to make the woman shut up.

"You b*tch! You dared to break the engagement! Do you want our family to be the laughingstock of the whole city?"

"Ma'am, I don't really care about what happens to the Lee family." She turned to her brother, "Glen, let's go." Sarah held Glen's free hand and walked away, leaving the stunned woman behind.

"Do you think I'm blind?" Brandon's mom shouted, pointing at her departing back, "I saw it clearly at the door just now. You and that pretty boy-"

Sarah halted in her steps and turned around. "Oh, I forgot to introduce him." She pointed at Glen, "This right here is my younger brother, Glen Suarez. Don't ever call him a pretty boy."

***

Sarah hesitated at the door for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and walked into the building. Henry was never home at this time of day. She only needed to do her cleaning and leave. No big deal. No one had to know. It wasn't worth cancelling the session for such a small ruckus, right?

She swiped her key card and entered through the back door that opened to the kitchen. And then she stopped in her tracks. Henry was in the kitchen cooking something. She admired his top-notch knife skills as he diced the carrots. His beige apron blended well with his regular black outfit. All these made him extremely pleasant to the eye, and she almost forgot to breathe.

He took his eyes off the chopping board. "Hey, you've never seen a hunk like me in the kitchen, right?"

"You can say so." Sarah nodded, but her eyes remained glued to him. She stared at him like a dog waiting for its favorite treat. She would be wagging her tail now if she had one.

"Okay, you can wipe your drool now." He put down his knife and leaned against the kitchen island. "You are giving me goosebumps."

Sarah suddenly came to her senses and pretended she wasn't looking. She brushed all the hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. One glance at her face and his expression changed. The playful Henry disappeared and was replaced by an icy one.

"Sarah, what happened to your face?"

"Nothing," she said, covering that part with her palm and fixing her eyes on the floor.

"Nothing," he echoed. "For the record, my eyes are perfectly fine." He rinsed his hands and dried them with a paper towel. He walked closer to Sarah and reached to her face to inspect her bruise.

She took a nervous step back and brushed her hair to the side, covering the left side of her face. "Okay, okay, I wasn't looking and bumped into a door." Her eyes never left the floor.

"You bumped into a door with five fingers," he scoffed, "Yep, very convincing."

"Umm... I didn't know you would be in the house." Her eyes darted everywhere except his face.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I better get my cleaning equipment," she said, dashing out of his sight.

"Not so fast, princess." Henry caught her wrist and pulled her back, crashing into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her head. Sarah stiffened from his unexpected touch, but he pretended not to notice. "I can see you don't wish to talk about what happened, and I won't push for answers. But that doesn't stop me from looking out for you."

A minute of silence passed. A minute of Sarah contemplating whether to push him away or give in. That voice, those words, the firmness of his chest against her back, and the safety of his arms made it hard to resist.

Before she could decide, he spoke again, "You don't have to go through everything alone, Sarah. Let someone be there for you sometimes."

A c***k appeared in Sarah's strong facade. His embrace was comforting, protective, and safe. She didn't feel alone. Her stiff body relaxed, and her hands dropped to her sides. Without warning, her shoulders trembled slightly as tears pricked her eyes, as the day's events replayed in her head. Why was everyone so quick to assume the worst about her? Why? She allowed her tears to fall freely without caring how weak she looked right now. He'd seen her cry before anyway, and one more time won't make a difference.

They stood like that for a long while in silence, but his arms tightened around her. His woodsy cologne and steady heartbeat against her back calmed her scattered nerves. She needed that.

"I hate you," she whispered, placing her hands on his. "I hate that you see me cry every time. I promise I'm not a crybaby. Even my best friend, Emily, has never seen me cry."

"I'm flattered." A barely audible chuckle escaped him. "You cry so much because you have bottled everything up."

"I didn't want anyone to worry."

His arms around her loosened, and he turned her around to face him. He tucked the hair away from her face and cupped her swollen cheek. It would have been perfect if his thumb hadn't hovered around that one throbbing breakout, now more prominent because of the swelling. "I'll go get the first aid box. Be good."

As soon as he left the room, his fingers balled into a fist. He took out his phone and made a call. "Andy, find out what happened to Sarah today. Every. Single. Detail. I'd like to know which i***t had the nerve to touch my people."