I wasn’t in the wrong here. Kinn caused all the trouble! I wanted to bang my head on the table in defeat. I didn’t get his money last night and I was probably going to end up paying for all the damage caused by the thugs who came after him. If I’d known it would turn out like this, I wouldn’t have helped him in the first place.
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s clean up. The new furniture will be delivered in the afternoon,” Madam Yok told me.
“How much?” I asked quietly, afraid of knowing just how expensive it would be.
“What?” said Madam Yok, looking confused.
“The damage… How much?”
“Tsk, tsk! You wouldn’t be able to afford it, darling,” she teased, fluttering her Chinese folding fan delicately in front of her face.
“I’ve got some money,” I said. Although I wasn’t the main culprit, I’d feel terrible if I didn’t take some of the blame.
“We’re lucky that Mr. Kinn took care of everything… Otherwise, I could not imagine how long it’d take you to pay for everything,” Madam Yok said.
“Kinn?” His smug, handsome face and piercing eyes popped into my head.
“That’s right. Mr. Kinn said those thugs were his enemies as well as yours. He saw them causing trouble here and felt he had to aid us.”
Hmph! That conniving bastard! I could admit I was money-hungry, but I always minded my own business. Now, all of a sudden, I had made an enemy. I presumed Madam Yok hadn’t seen that Kinn and I escaped together, since she was busy fighting off those goons with her kung-fu skills.
“All right…” I gave her a slight smile.
“It’s funny, now that I think about it,” she said. “It looked like the cops came to shut down an illegal brothel. It was chaos!”
I chuckled and replied, “You do look like that kind of madam.”
“Yeah, I was about to run when I saw the cops. Then I realized they came to help!” She put her hand on her chest and belted out a hearty laugh. “Really, we are lucky that Mr. Kinn knows some higher-ups in the police department. Everything was settled before it even hit the news. The police came to get some footage from the CCTV cameras this morning. Ah…I still shiver every time I think about Mr. Kinn.”
“Why?” I asked.
“He’s gorgeous! How can someone be that handsome? It should be illegal! Talk about husband material!”
I listened to her ramble about how handsome Mr. Kinn was for a while, and then I went to help clean up the place with the other employees. Blood splatter, glass shards, and broken furniture littered the floor.
We were lucky no one got fatally injured in last night’s altercation. Still, some waiters needed to be treated at the hospital, and the others sported bruises and cuts all over. They jokingly said they took all the hits for me, since I got out pretty much unscathed. I told them I’d treat them to meals later to pay them back. Although I didn’t get any money from Kinn, I didn’t end up having to pay for the damages—buying dinner was the least I could do for my coworkers.
We kept the bar closed to the public tonight, but most of the crew came as usual to help clean the place up. At nine o’clock, everything started to settle back to normal, so I decided to take a smoke break. I went to sit on a giant cooler in the alley behind the bar and took a steady drag of my cigarette, letting the nicotine clear my head.
Stomp. Stomp.
Curious, I turned toward the sound of footsteps. The back alley of the club was very secluded, so I rarely saw anyone walking past this dingy and narrow passageway.
“Hey…” The footsteps stopped a few feet from me. I frowned and glared at the group of men in black suits who wanted my attention. The man at the front, who looked like the head of this entourage, scoffed at me. I looked at him intently through the shadows, then hopped down from the cooler once I realized who it was. I threw my cigarette to the ground in annoyance and stubbed it out with my foot.
“What?” I flatly asked Kinn, who came to a stop right in front of me. I rested my hands loosely on my hips and glanced from side to side, checking to see if his enemies had decided to tag along. I couldn’t stop myself—every time this guy showed up, chaos followed, and I didn’t want him to instigate another brawl. Madam Yok would cuss me out for sure.
He still hadn’t uttered a word. “Is someone on your ass again?” I asked.
“I need to talk to you,” Kinn rasped before he fell silent again. I felt my heart pound in anticipation.
“What?” I asked, my face remaining neutral as I buried any emotion.
“Come with me.”
“Where?”
“We have a lot to talk about,” he said casually, his hands in his pockets. He focused his piercing gaze on me, but I couldn’t figure out what he wanted.
“I don’t have anything to talk to you about,” I replied tersely, still nervous.
I tried to go back inside the bar when he suddenly yanked my arm, pulling me to face him again.
“Well, I do!” Kinn said sternly.
“But I don’t!” I quickly shook him off and forcefully shoved him back before heaving some of last night’s broken furniture to clatter between us. Kinn quickly dodged it, but his subordinates rushed to his aid and tried to attack me. I kicked and punched, knocking everyone down before anyone could reach me. Kinn grew irritated and tried to approach me himself. I raised my fist to punch him, but he caught my wrist with an iron grip, stopping it in midair.
Oh, he thinks he stands a chance against me? I moved to kick him in the gut instead. He evaded me, so I jabbed him with my other hand, and he caught that, too. He twisted both my wrists, forced them behind my back, and used his body to press me against the wall. I couldn’t believe he managed to get the upper hand tonight when he got his ass kicked so badly earlier.
“Let go of me!” I growled, turning away when he leaned closer, his handsome face brushing next to mine. He used his weight to pin me down, relentlessly gripping my wrists as I struggled to free myself. He was practically hugging me. Damn it!
“Hey! I just want to talk,” Kinn said patiently. He was so close that I could see his defined cupid’s bow moving as he spoke and feel his warm breath against my face.
“I don’t want to!” I barked back, still trying to squirm away from his uncomfortably close face.
“Pfft! I thought you’d be better at this,” he chuckled.
His insult stung. I roared and jumped at him, biting into his neck with all my might. The pain startled him, his grip loosening as he pushed me away.
Ignoring his scream, I ducked into the bar through the back door. I quickly locked it and scurried to the staff room to get my bag. My coworkers eyed me in confusion.
“What’s the matter?” asked P’Deaw, one of the older staff members.
“Tell Madam Yok I’m leaving early. She can deduct it from my wage for all I care!” I yelled back. Truthfully, I was scared of Kinn. Not of him trying to beat me up—but of him asking me to return his watch.