⊱Je suis désolé de ne pas être riche⊰

I'm sorry that I'm not rich

┏━━━━━━༻♔༺━━━━━━┓

I never realized how loose the security at Snowberry used to be. I entered Snowberry through the main door and rode the elevator with no problem. No one was stopping me from going wherever I was headed. Either the security was lax since Snowberry was not that big yet or maybe it was because Greed was trailing behind me very closely and the employees there exchanged greetings with him including the guards.

"You're so hardworking, Jimin. Even working on the weekends!" A man, probably an office worker there conversed with Greed while the latter laughed along with him like the social guy he was.

"Who's your friend?"

The two turned to me and I only realized they were talking about me when their eyes swallowed me. I quickly shook my head and told the man that I was not a friend of Greed, but the Sin laughed at that, saying, "She's a little shy. She's actually a fan turned friend so..."

I grimaced at him. "Who's a fan?! You're the one always following me so you might be my fan!"

The man looked a little uncomfortable by my outburst and thank goodness the elevator door immediately opened at the floor I was going off to. I jumped out of there and searched for my father's office by recalling from my memory. When I came across an open door, I took a glimpse of him standing inside that room with another man in casual clothes.

"You're not telling me to take all the blame myself, are you?" He said with an apparent slight to my father whose eyebrows were deeply furrowed, making the wrinkles around his eyes more prominent.

"You kept assuring me that we wouldn't get caught," my father retorted in an angry tone I had rarely heard.

"I didn't know, damn it! Some rat snitched and I swear that I'll kill whoever did!"

The man slammed his hand against the desk between them and I flinched, taking a step backwards unintentionally. Their heads whipped towards me and I quickly swerved to hide against the wall with my heart pounding against my chest.

"Who's there?!"

I jumped in fright and moved my legs wherever they could take me away from there. Loud footsteps followed me and I knew mine could be heard as well, making me panic even more.

Out of nowhere, I was hurled into a room by my hand and the door was shut. With my back against it and the person against me, I immediately looked up to see whoever did that. Greed's dark narrow eyes gazed down at me, making me hold my breath. The footsteps passed by behind the door as our eyes locked and my words died on my tongue.

Up close, his eyes were dangerous. Dangerous enough to disarm me and leave me in a trance in the dark abyss inside them. Hypnotizing. Exactly why people were always drawn to him because of the expressions he had when performing. His eyes were set to capture me and not let me leave.

His lips were closer to mine than I could handle. The plumpness and the perfect shape of them were not helping me ignore them. Well, it was hard to ignore his whole being when he was standing right against my body, touching it and making my heart beat out of my ribcage.

He stared at me longer than I could hold my breath and finally spoke, breaking the tension that was making my head spin.

"What were you doing out there?"

I blinked a few times, trying to regain my ability to speak. "Is it any of your business?"

He chuckled, his breath fanning my face. "In fact, yes. Your business is my business."

"That's what married couples do." I frowned but when Greed looked dumbfounded and my words sunk and I realized that I mentioned something unnecessary, I shut my eyes in pain. "I mean... I'm not obligated to report everything I do to you! I don't want you following me around everywhere, either!"

"Were you eavesdropping on your father?" Greed ignored my words.

"Didn't you hear me just now?" I fumed.

"He was receiving bribes to sabotage Lazuli, one of the artists under Snowberry along with Mr. Ho. I think he was actually dragged into this by Mr. Ho but he didn't have to accept the bribe."

I was silenced by his sudden explanation. How did he know that? More importantly, how did I not know that before? Sabotaging someone's career for a bribe? Father was doing that for money? I couldn't believe it. This was why the time was not skipping? Then what could I do now?

If he already took the bribe, maybe I was too late. I was an absolute idiot. By being so ignorant to what he was doing at work, the chance of saving him... was it gone now?

"I can literally hear you overthinking," Greed said, making me focus back on him. "The sabotaging didn't happen. Don't you remember? The bribery became known to the public and everyone freaked out. It'll happen soon this time, too."

I stared at him in bewilderment. Was he perhaps... comforting me?

No, don't be an even bigger idiot.

After hearing what Greed said, maybe I should keep a close eye on what my father's doing at work. I couldn't let this chance slip just because of my ignorance.

Greed suddenly turned around and walked away from me to a music speaker on the floor. "You should move away from the door in case someone comes in."

As soon as he finished that sentence, the door opened, hitting my back, and a man exclaimed in surprise when he saw me.

"Oh fuc- I'm sorry, did I hit you?!"

"It's okay, it's my fault anyway," I laughed, rubbing my back where the door slammed.

"Ah, are you Jimin's friend?"

I looked back at Greed who had started dancing to the music he put on just now. Making up my mind, I turned back to the man with a smile. "Yes. And I'll be coming here often actually. To see him practice."

Greed momentarily stopped dancing to look at me baffled when I turned to wave him goodbye. If I needed to come here often, I had to have an excuse.

Coincidentally, I walked out of the building at the same time my father did. His coworkers left in their expensive looking cars while he bid them goodbye before walking to the bus stop. When he got on a bus, it wasn't the one that went to our home, so I followed him by teleporting at every bus stop it went to until he got off to enter a department store.

He went into a shoe store and I wondered if he was buying new ones since his were worn out already. He got bribe money so he could afford to buy some expensive ones, too. But I didn't expect him to ask for snow boots for a girl. For me.

His own shoes were worn out. Why was he buying new ones for me when I could wear mine for another year at least?

Time finally skipped and I found myself at home with my father and he was holding a box of new boots for me with such a triumphant smile that tugged my heart. I didn't know what else to do except take it with a smile. He looked so happy.

"Dad, I should work, too."

He blinked. "What? Why?"

"I want to help."

He frowned, becoming protective of me. "No. How can you even do that? You're already busy with university, it'll take a huge toll on your body."

As if on cue, my head started pounding and I clutched it with a hiss. My father came up to hold it and worriedly told me to do this and that and take things easy.

"I'm sorry that I'm not rich like other fathers," he suddenly said, making my eyes widen.

"No! Don't say that! I didn't mean it like that."

He brushed my hair soothingly and promised, "Don't worry, we'll be rich soon, Sae. You won't have to worry."

And he was right.

All his hard work paid off and he was appointed to head of operations. The former one took all the blame of the bribery and got dismissed, leaving my father unscathed. The executives then favored him for his dedication and he was working harder and harder. As he made Greed.

┗━━━━━━༻♔༺━━━━━━┛

It's been what? A month? I'm so sorry. It's just life and life gets so busy 🥲
Hope you still remember this

Thank you for reading 🌸