Having escaped the loud and annoying room packed with the abominable rich socialites, Hwa-min could finally contemplate his life. His grandfather was retiring soon within the next five years; however, he still needed a wife if he was to inherit the company. Not only was the company at stake but being the head of the clan as well. Typically, the line of succession would've gone to his father and then his eldest brother. Given that his father was no more, it fell between him and his brother, Hyuk.
Hyuk was married and even had two children, but their grandfather didn't trust him in the least when it comes to running a company. Hyuk was entirely too much of a materialistic narcissistic gullible fool. His wife was no better, but she was slightly smarter than him. She was nothing but a braggart who comes from a lower societal setting. It was easy to see how both were attracted to each other. Both fed each other's delusions and egos. They were the perfect match made in hell. Too bad they didn't stay there.
Their Grandfather cut them off financially due to him and his wife's excessive monthly spending habits. Before Hyuk was forced by their grandfather to work in the company as a CRO, he and his wife blew through his inheritance of $45.6M within the first three years of their marriage. His wife, Chi is a shameless woman who cheats on her husband every Tuesday and Thursday while he's in office. She demanded he buy a $27M 4-bedroom home as well as two luxury vehicles because she didn't want to live in the family's compound. Chi didn't have a concept of money and would recklessly spend well over $100K every month on shopping, dining, and luxuriously treating her friends and family with spa days and weeklong vacations. Hyuk didn't help either with his gambling and sex addiction.
Of course, his brother felt deeply slighted that their grandfather only gave him the position of Chief Revenue Officer while his younger brother worked closely with the old man. He and his wife were furious that their family was reduced to living
off a lowly annual salary of $600,000.00.
Neither husband nor wife made it a secret that both were having extramarital affairs. It was amazing that they were around each other long enough to procreate twice and both children were fathered by Hyuk. Naturally, their children were the spawns of Satan.
Still, Hwa-min was at a total loss. The idea of marriage disgusted him, but he knew he could do nothing to sway the old man of letting him inherit the company and clan lead without a wife. He supposed he would find a woman whom he tolerated enough to marry her for five years than divorce her, that would be his best scenario. The only issue with that plan is that he couldn't think of any woman he tolerated beyond an hour outside the bedroom.
Just as he gritted his teeth in bitter frustration, he smelt that same alluring scent that stirred his inner beast from its deep slumber. Hearing she was closing the distance between them; he quickly regained control of himself, taking a cigarette from his inner coat pocket and lit it with ease. The inhale and exhale helped calm his nerves even more by the time she stood a good six feet away.
"Hi," she nervously greeted.
Hwa-min turned around to face the same woman from earlier holding a glass containing a dark brown liquid. He quietly scanned her face to assess her hidden intentions. Surprisingly he found none but continued to keep her under his watchful gaze.
"Sorry to bother you, I uh-brought you a drink to say thank you for helping me out earlier," she slowly extended the drink towards him. "I asked Sean what kind of drink you might like, and he told me "Three Wise Men, so..."
His eye traveled from her face to the glass in her hands. He was slightly impressed by what his idiot cousin remembered his drink of choice. Still, he made no move to accept the drink from her.
Getting annoyed by his rude silence at her kind gesture, Irena stepped closer to him with her arm still extended.
"Are you going to accept the drink or not?"
Once again met with silence, "It's not like I put anything in it if that's what you're thinking. See…." Irena took a quick drink of the dark liquor, struggling to swallow.
Finally, she managed to swallow the horrid mixture that already begun to make her feel light- headed. She leaned forward gasping for air trying to extinguish the burning sensation in her lungs. Hwa-min oddly found himself smirking in thorough amusement at the girl's animated antics. After she finally swallowed enough air, her lungs remembered how to breathe with the residual burning in her chest. She straightened up gathering herself and clearing her throat.
"You've must be a masochist in order to drink this hell fire," she remarked. "Anyway… I'll just place your drink here and leave you to finish whatever thoughts I've probably interrupted."
Irena placed the cup on a nearby bench and turned to leave. As she began walking away, he finally spoke in his deep sultry voice, "What's your name?"
Surprised, she turned slightly to face him, "Irena."
He nodded towards the drink, "Thanks."
"Now was that so hard?" she teased, "You're welcome."
She turned and continued walking back towards the reception with her heels making very light sound. Hwa-Min's lustful eyes began to turn white as they followed the hypnotic sway of her hips. He closed his eyes as he slowly inhaled the air to capture her lingering scent. His inner beast salivated and demanded to be let loose so he could hurry and find Irena and give into its primal urge to claim her as its own. It wanted rut her senselessly until she was covered and filled with their seminal fluid. However, Hwa-min knew that his beast wasn't always sensible. If he allowed himself to lose control: not only would the whole wedding reception receive a full display of his sexual conduct (not that hos beast would care in the slightest), but that would obviously greatly traumatize the young woman and ruin his honor.
Trying to rid himself of his explicit thoughts, he went back to focusing on the inhaling and exhaling of his cigarette. Just as he doused the remains and began walking forward toward the reception, he spotted the drink Irena left behind for him. Slowly he walked forward and grabbed the glass drink and examined the lipstick print on the rim of the glass. On pure impulse before he could register what he was doing; he slowly licked the glass where her lips had touched previously and downed the remaining liquid. He briefly tasted her essence before it was washed away by the drink causing him to want more.
The man was bewildered for the first time in his life. Never had a woman captivated him with little to no effort before. It took three months for him to notice Eun-young, and that was because she was paired with him for a class project. Come to think of it, his beast never responded so primal to scent before either. If for the fact she wasn't strictly human, he would've sworn that she was a witch and placed an enchantment spell upon him. But he knew for certain she was no witch for she did not carry any aura of magic about her, neither would Sean have been so protective of her earlier.
"She's the one!" his beast growled to him.
Shocked by his usually suppressed half's revelation, his stubbornness couldn't help but dispute the absurd claim. She was a human no less and just because he found her physically attractive and her scent was pleasant didn't mean anything.
"No."
"Don't be foolish boy! She's nothing like these simple women of our world. She's unknowingly demonstrated that in more than one way tonight."
"She's demonstrated nothing of the sort."
His beast chuckled, "You and I both know l she has. She didn't throw herself or grovel at your feet. She's been watching you, just as much as we've been watching her. We both saw how she was ready to defend herself against that weakling earlier this evening. Her sweet smell awakened me from my decades of slumber. My instincts tell me she's of great use to us.
You want her, I want her. You're in need of a wife. I need a mate! Think of the children she will bear with her fine hips- "
"Enough!" he all but growled.
Having heard enough, he knew beast was correct in the fact that he needed a wife and that she was the only one who's managed to awaken his primal urges. She was also the only women who he himself found slightly intriguing. Hwa-min wasn't all that entrusting of his beast either. The last time he trusted it was when he had lost control due to the rage of his parents forcing Eun-young to leave. He almost went on a murderous rampage. Luckily his father was able to stop him, but that came at a great cost. Unfortunately for his father, he paid that price with his life.
Having no other option, Hwa-min reluctantly agreed with his counterpart. He would be willing to overlook the fact of her being human and pursue Irena for her hand in marriage. Nevertheless, he will unbeknownst to her observe over the course of three months to decide whether he'd go through with his plan. He just wished it wouldn't be a waste of his valuable limited time.