I'm The Boss's Secretary?!

Jung Hwa inclined the potion to the lamp, "Whose suicide?" He asked directly. The way the fortuneteller had spoken sounded so much like a mercy death to Seoyeon who was also waiting for the woman's reply.

"Mine and the vessel of a catalyst," the fortuneteller answered as the whispers beside her went silent as if to ruminate on the memory that briefly passed by her mind, "You see not all death is great. Most deaths include pain and misery which might come from psychical pain or mental. I used it to those who needed to depart with this potion; so they won't have to suffer agonizing pain and could pass by the world in a less painful way."

"And have you used it before?" Jung Hwa pried, while Seoyeon was also curious she wasn't brave enough to probe a question but Jung Hwa had done it in her stead in a seamless manner.

"Four times, that's how much I have used it," and the woman closed the book that she was reading, "Have you found the potion yet?"

In time, Seoyeon had pulled the sixty two bottle and when the flame came in contact with the transparent vessel, she noticed the hidden tinge of yellow, "I found it."

"Great then you should lie down—"

"Before that," Seoyeon interrupted the woman, "Can I have a little private time with Hwa? I won't take long."

The fortuneteller crossed her arm, if she had eyes she would have stared at the couple back and forward. A faint sigh escaped from her lips when she thought of what Seoyeon was about to speak. "Thirty minutes is the longest time I can spend. If you need talk use the chance but don't think you can do anything in a closed place. I am not a vampire but I have one hell of keen hearing."

"Oh, so that's what you want, Seoyeon?" Jung Hwa grinned. Only in this time did he played along with the fortuneteller's words, she thought. 

"That's not it!" sighed Seoyeon as the fortuneteller left the house, chuckling. Her cheeks turn hot thinking of how the two could only think they would do 'something' inside a room. "Who would do anything in this situation, anyway?" She grumbled. 

"Some eccentric people?" Jung Hwa chuckled, reaching out his hand to hold her cheek, "You look better. Do you have any request while you're asleep?" He readily questioned what she need but Seoyeon shook her head.

Jung Hwa was not a person who is weak, not at all. While the fortuneteller held power and experience that might excel him, if he had fought in his rational mind, Seoyeon knew that he won't be defeated in another ten or twenty minutes.

The reason why he had become haste in killing the fortuneteller which cause to be a mistake on his side, was the woman's taunt about his family. When the fortuneteller threaten to speak about the past in which Seoyeon didn't know,  Jung Hwa went to quickly shut the woman only to fall in her trap. 

Seoyeon stared at his striking red eyes. She recalled how menacing it looked at first but now she could only found it beautiful on him. Shaking her head, she said, "Will you tell me the truth?"

"Of what?" Jung Hwa asked, his eyes shuffling to her expression.

"You are hiding something from me, aren't you?" Seoyeon directly question him and saw the frown that slowly tie a knot on his forehead. "I thought you promised me not to lie."

"Was it her who told you about it?" Jung Hwa snipped, snapping his gaze at the door where the fortuneteller left from.

"I was the one who asked her." Seoyeon took his hand, while her other hand which was idle went to touch his cheeks, raising it high so she could use her thumb to brush his chiseled cheekbones, "I want to hear it from you. No lies. What happened during your brother's death?"

Under her thumb, Seoyeon saw Jung Hwa's eyes enlarge, surprised that Seoyeon had found out this much. "I saw everything. The fortuneteller showed me a part of your memory," and while she could feel goosebumps when remembering his crazed expression during the time he stood in front of his brother's body. It was easy to misunderstand things, and eyes had always lies more than the tongues did.

"Was he the one who put the witch's potion to the tea?" Seoyeon questioned as if she had seen all.

Unwillingness to speak flitted on Jung Hwa's eyes. It wasn't that he didn't want to be transparent with her. He didn't like lies either, but the matter was different and he had his own reason for doing so.

He replied, "No. He wasn't the one who had put the potion on the tea."

Then it was true? Jung Hwa had killed his brother because he wanted it? Or maybe jealousy because she had heard only faintly of how his older brother was doted more compared to him... Seoyeon shook her head at the line of thought. No, that isn't true. She knew how he is, someone who kills for a reason. While he was in pain in talking of his mother's death would he truly be indifferent to his brother's death?

"Who was it?" She asked him, her hand didn't move from his cheek and her gaze was locked to not miss a single emotion from his eyes.

"A servant and I have killed them," a hint of savagery continue to prevalent underneath his voice. "My brother, he didn't kill my mother directly but indirectly. That day, when mother was poisoned, he saw it happen by his own eyes. He was the one who had caught the servant red-handed when the man poisoned the liquid. But he didn't stop the servant from serving the tea, neither did he warned us." 

His words contained a deep emotion of hatred and anger and the way he glared into somewhere behind her, Seoyeon could see the same expression which Jung Hwa had during the time he had successfully killed his brother. 

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Seoyeon then asked, "You have nothing to be ashamed for. What you did my not be right in the eyes of others but I understand you. I won't pull myself away or hide from you just because of this."

Jung Hwa shook his head, "I want to end him with still a good note. While I hated him for what he had done, he was still my older brother. Whether others would looked at me with narrow gaze for the misunderstanding and the one sided conclusion they drew from the incident, calling me as a killer, I didn't care."

"Is that why you participated in the court that your aunt orchestrated?" Seoyeon asked him, "You could have shown the proof of your brother's doing and clear your name but you didn't..."

Jung Hwa raised his hand, "It matters only to me that I know the truth and with that, I can also help my mother from being seen as an unlucky woman who had given birth to sons who killed her. Two of her sons. One is enough and it's me. I only want to lighten the burden she shouldered. So she won't have too much burden after her passing."

Seoyeon could only think how lonely the choice Jung Hwa had taken was. He was truly as selfless as she had always perceive him to be. No one would want to suffer in silence where their pain remain a secret to others when they had to put of with sacrifices more than others.

"You've suffered a lot," Seoyeon said as she leaned forward, pulled by Jung Hwa's arms. 

"Meeting you know is worth the pain I endured," Jung Hwa replied while holding Seoyeon closely in his arms. She was petite in her psychic though that never make her weaker, he noticed how his arm can handle her whole waist while still having another space. He hugged her closer to erase the space, leaning the tip of his nose to settle against her skin as his chin sat on the nook of her shoulders.

Drawing Seoyeon closer, he placed one hand on the back of her hand and the other to hew waist. "Be careful during the lucid dream," Jung Hwa said, "I will be out to take care of a few things as well. To stop this madness and drag those who sold your peacefulness."

But his task was more dangerous than hers. Seoyeon pulled away from his embrace, looking at his eyes and said, "Don't let anyone hurt you."

"It won't be easy to hurt me," came his cheeky answer.

Seoyeon pulled her thumb to her lips, licking it to then wiped away the corner of his lips, "Says that when I wake up again."

Jung Hwa look her hand before she slide it down, "Is there anything else you would like to see when you wake up?"

"You," Seoyeon answered without needing the time to think, "I want you to be there once I woke up."

"That would be an easy task. Rest well," Jung Hwa pulled the palm of her hand, his eyes gazing into the depth o her eyes as he kissed her palm.

Seoyeon was a little anxious about what she was going to do but time was scarce and she couldn't afford. She ran through her hands to his hair, feeling the courage she needed came over her with Jung Hwa's presence which she need. 

The fortuneteller who was standing outside the door of the house then sighed. She paced away from the door she had been standing at. layers of whispers like fog came next to her ears then. One by one speaking at a speed which cause her to frown, "Speak slowly." 

The whispers went quiet then at once.only one spoke after a while, "The dawn is breaking. She is different."

"She is different," agreed the fortuneteller. "And she might be the person who can end this vicious cycle of catalyst vessels. Though I fear the silence. Everything is going on too smoothly to be true."

"Everything come at a cost," answered the other whisper whose voice was similar to an old man in his seventies.

"True I can only hope their journey would end well."

Not far from them, a sound of rustling came around the forest that settled beside the fortuneteller's house. As the woman live in a place away from others, only rolled plain of green and tall living trees covered the surrounding. 

The rustling sounds came crips and stepped out Ava who had been following and tracing Seoyeon's trace.

"Are you sure this is the place?" She asked, her voice pointing in doubt. 

"Yes, milady.. This is where the catalyst and the pureblood was last seen," answered one of the people who was dispatched to follow her and aid her mission.