Dopamine Addiction - Chapter 80

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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80.
Liam’s brow furrowed. He shook Hee-ju’s shoulders.
“Hee-ju?”
“Don’t come near me!”
Her sleep-talking grew more frantic. Only then did Liam notice the terror in her voice.
He shook her harder.
“Wake up. It’s just a dream.”
Gasp!
Hee-ju’s eyes snapped open. Breathing in ragged gasps, she stared at the ceiling and whispered:
“My fingers…….”
“Your fingers? Are they hurt? Should I call a doctor?”
Liam switched on the bedside lamp and examined her hands.
“Do I still have all ten?”
Liam went still. He raised his gaze slowly.
Her eyes held no focus. She was suspended somewhere between dream and waking. Her pupils trembled.
Not just her pupils—her hands, her jaw, her entire body shook. Trembling with fear.
She was drenched as if she’d been caught in rain.
What had happened to her there? She’d brushed it off as nothing, but it couldn’t have been nothing.
Yet he’d accepted her assurance that she was fine, assuming it was over. Satisfied to have found her again, he’d failed to notice the wounds she bore.
His fault. All of it—losing her, the scars she carried, failing to see them.
Liam wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close until there wasn’t a whisper of space between them.
“It’s all right. Just a bad dream.”
His voice emerged tender through clenched teeth. His large hand traced gentle circles across her back.
“A dream…….”
Hee-ju’s whimpering gradually faded as she sank back into sleep. Soon her breathing steadied.
Liam pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Sleep well.”
He held her closer and gazed into the darkness.
The gulf between them.
What was ordinary for him was alien to her. Until now, she’d never even struck anyone, let alone taken a life.
Had he the right to pull such a person into his world? The question surfaced, unbidden.
In the same moment, something dark and viscous churned in his gut. Greed. The hunger to bind her to his existence, nightmare-haunted or not.
He’d lost her once already. He knew how colorless life became without her.
Food had no taste. Coffee held no fragrance. Nothing made him smile.
To endure decades of such a hollow existence? Those few days had felt like years in their dreariness—how interminable would the decades ahead become?
He had no certainty. But once tasted, that pleasure had ensnared him beyond measure.
Let it be greed. Even if the day came when she despised him, he didn’t care.
He would never let go of this hand.
“When you have nightmares, I’ll wake you. Every time.”
Liam kissed her lips—less a kiss than an apology, less an apology than a vow.
Darkness receded from her face as morning light crept slowly in.
Liam spent long hours watching her face without moving, and felt no tedium.
He traced her cheek with his fingertips, softening his gaze as he whispered sweetly:
“I was far too merciful. I should have torn out your fingernails one by one, sliced your flesh paper-thin. Or cast you into flames. Wouldn’t you say?”
***
Hee-ju spread butter across the soft bread and brought it to her lips. At her first bite, it tore cleanly along its grain.
Proper food at last. At Sergei’s estate, there had been only cold sandwiches and water. Before that, she’d made do with quick meals at small neighborhood restaurants.
Hee-ju chewed slowly, surveying the plates arrayed on the table. Steak and salad, soup and pasta.
All of it looked appetizing. It would have, after all—this was Room Service from a Suite Room. Nothing was neglected here.
So why did it feel like chewing sand?
Hee-ju managed a strained smile, her lips barely moving. Liam, seated beside her, glanced over and rose from his chair.
“Not to your taste? Get dressed—let’s find you some Korean food.”
“Sit down.”
Hee-ju’s voice was barely a whisper. *Oblivious man,* her tone seemed to say.
Liam stared down at her for a moment, then only sat again once she’d fixed him with a hard look.
Benjamin Kloff clicked his tongue. Hee-ju’s mouth twitched as she regarded him.
Benjamin raised his wine glass, his gaze settling on her. His eyes, nested in heavy lids, cut through her with surgical precision.
“My grandson is certainly mad.”
“Ah, well, that is to say…….”
Hee-ju’s eyes darted about as she forced a nervous laugh. The memory she’d been trying to suppress surfaced like a breaching whale.
‘You madman!’
Calling a madman mad was hardly an offense, but the unfortunate reality was that this madman’s grandfather was sitting across from her.
She’d ruined the first impression already.
As Hee-ju’s eyes fell, Benjamin set down his glass. His words came warmly:
“In that regard, I’m pleased we share the same view.”
“I—ah.”
Hee-ju studied his expression carefully, caught between wanting to laugh and wanting to cry. It was unsettling to discover that the madman’s grandfather was the reasonable one.
Liam cut his meat methodically and spoke in an offhand tone:
“Don’t mind it. Grandfather helped out because he wanted something as well.”
“Wanted something?”
“Well, for some reason he believed your father left you something.”
“Ah.”
This morning’s revelation from Liam had been so unexpected she could barely accept it. Her biological father had been a weapons developer.
A genius at that—one who’d worked for the Pentagon, and after retirement had drawn the attention of both the CIA and the Russian Mafia.
Memory flickered: the metallic gleam beyond the window when she’d first visited her father.
Had he lived his entire life under the CIA’s surveillance?
Hee-ju lifted her gaze from her reverie to look at Benjamin. She offered him a genuine smile.
“He left me a photograph of my biological mother. I’m grateful for that much. Until now, I didn’t know what either of my parents looked like. At least now I know their faces.”
“That can’t be all there is.”
Benjamin’s eyes narrowed to slits. Even buried in his thick face, his pupils held the keenness of a blade.
But Hee-ju’s smile never faltered. She’d performed before Sergei—she could certainly act for Benjamin Kloff.
*If I don’t win Best Actress this year, the judges are blind.*
“His estate wasn’t substantial, but I’ve been told the rest was left to lawyers to handle. If you’re looking for something, I could give you their contact information.”
She heard Liam chuckle softly beside her. Hee-ju shot him a glare before reinstating her gracious smile.
Liam, as if the thought had just occurred to him, changed the subject:
“We’ll need to dispatch the Private Jet.”
A private jet? Hee-ju turned to him with a puzzled expression.
Liam sliced his lamb casually as he continued:
“Using the airport invites uninvited guests.”
“When do you need it?”
Benjamin asked without apparent concern. Liam stared into the distance as if calculating, then answered: “In four days.”
“I’ll arrange it. Where are you headed?”
“Seoul.”
“I’ll have them ready for departure.”
“Actually, we’ll be departing from Utah, not San Francisco.”
At that, his grandfather’s eyes flickered upward. His steel-gray eyes—inherited by his grandson—studied Liam’s face with careful interest.
Hee-ju, too, turned her attention to him. But Liam continued speaking with perfect ease.
“Hee-ju left her Bag behind. It has her Laptop, Passport, Wallet, and so on. And also—”
He paused there, locking eyes with Hee-ju. A playful wink crossed his face.
“The Underwear I like.”
*This madman.*
That’s what Hee-ju’s lips formed. Liam must have noticed, but he turned his head away as if he hadn’t.
Hee-ju, about to protest, caught Benjamin’s eye and decided to hold her tongue instead. She drove her foot down hard on Liam’s.
Liam’s shoulders shook with silent laughter, his head bowed. Hee-ju shot him a murderous look, then twirled her pasta and brought it to her mouth.
A Laptop, Passport, Wallet.
They were important things, certainly, but hardly worth recovering. Especially not enough to justify the hours of travel to Utah.
Still, if Liam had said it that way, he must have had his reasons. So Hee-ju kept quiet.
“We’ll have the Utah airport ready for departure in four days.”
“Thank you.”
Hee-ju lifted her eyes absently and met Benjamin’s gaze. She offered him a sincere smile.
“I’m grateful.”
Benjamin merely nodded once before resuming his meal. Hee-ju cut her lamb into large pieces and brought them to her mouth.
***
After the meal, Liam headed straight for bed—unusual enough that Hee-ju asked with concern:
“Are you tired?”
“The medication is kicking in.”
His voice was languid, heavy with the weight of approaching sleep. Hee-ju, perched on the edge of the bed, pulled the quilt up to his neck.
“Get some rest.”
She watched him quietly. Within moments, he lay motionless, already deep in sleep.
Hee-ju rose slowly from the bed. The instant she turned, Liam’s hand shot out and seized her wrist.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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