Loud music blasted through the speakers and sweaty bodies mingling among the dance floor. She stared at disgust, wondering for the umpteenth time what she was doing there when she could have used her time better.

Sitting in her usual seat among the private lounge, she swirled her drink, her eyes occasionally darting between the dance floor and entrance when a man slid in next to her, placing an arm over her shoulders.

Flicking her gaze uninterestedly to the man, she shrugged the arm off the shoulders only to have it back in its position. She closed her eyes, trying to bury the ball of fire that was on the verge of rising.

"Want some action tonight?"

She could smell the alcohol and cigarette smell emitting from the man as she willed the urge not to vomit at his face. Once again she gave a hard shove, but the arm was propped back on her shoulder as the man lean all the way in close. Too close. Way too close.

She shifted uncomfortably, cursing for the ten thousandth time at their stupidness for choosing such a place and at herself for arriving that early.

"Get your hands off me." She hissed, unable to control her disgust.

"Nice voice you have. I wonder if..."

An elbow connected with his stomach and the man grunted in pain, attempting to keep a neutral expression, forcing a smile to appear.

"Feisty. But I like it."

His second attempt was met with a harsh step of her stilettos on his feet as he jumped up wincing in pain. Laughter erupted around him as the man started to see red. He sat back down, gritting his teeth while shooting a glare towards the laughing table.

"Do you even know who I am."

He reached out to grab her by her hair when a hand intercepted, grabbing his wrist instead. With a quick turn of events, he was twisted with his arm behind his back, body bending at ninety degrees towards the lady.

"Did your mother not teach you how to respect a lady?"

A new sultry voice whispered softly into his ear. He shivered, noting the dangerous tone despite noticing how nice the voice sounded.

"One more time I see you doing this to her..." The voice trailed off, allowing the threat to settle. "Get lost."

The man was given her hard push in the opposite direction, his face meeting the ground. Once again, laughter exploded as he stood up, his face flushed crimson in anger and embarrassment. Adjusting his suit, he stood up straight, turning around to face the newcomer only an empty booth. Stomping his feet, he cursed, vowing to kill the next time he hears that person.

---

"Sorry unnie, I was late. He didn't do anything to you," a pause as eyes scanned down the body of her friend cautiously, "did he?"

A shook of the head and the younger sighed in relief as she settled comfortably into the seat.

"You know I could handle him myself.”

“But you aren’t doing anything.” Eyebrows raised at the assumption as the elder twirled her drink, taking a sip. “I just couldn’t stand the sight of him. Disgusting.”

“Hmm…” The older lady nodded, choosing to keep quiet while watching the younger lady huffed in frustration with amusement.

“But unnie, why were you so early? We are meeting at eight."

"Thought I would like to unwind after a long day. Where's your partner?" A shrug answered her question and a sigh emitted from the older's mouth. "What did you two fight about again?"

Another shrug as the younger kept her silence. Despite the itch to know, the older one kept quiet, allowing the younger to sort her thoughts while waiting for the rest.

---

Eyes flickered uncertainly across the faces, a frown appeared on her face and she could feel a headache starting to form. The group had been quiet since the start, too silent in fact and it was starting to affect her too. To her right, a pair sat deeply engrossed in their respective work. The female writing feverishly with a pile of books stacked higher than she was and the male flipping through the pages, writing occasionally with a bored look on his face. To her left, another pair sat, clearly minding their own business as they each faced a different direction with a stoic expression. She pursed her lips in irritation. The music and gorgeous males and females walking by their table seemed to not have any effect on her companions and for the first time, she was not sure if she should be thankful for the situation.

“Guys.” She rapped on the table, gaining the attention of the other four. “Does anyone know what we are doing here?” A shrug from her companions as they went back to their previous state. “Seriously guys, I don’t intend to spend my night out here watching the two of you working and the two of you not talking to each other. I rather spend it at home relaxing so can anyone tell me why we are gathered here, if not I’m going home and you guys can continue doing whatever you guys were doing.”

“But we really don’t know, noona.”

“Yoona, check your laptop.”

The Im produced a laptop from her bag, checking through her mails. Beside her, a Kwon narrowed his eyes at a particular email and released a scoff. All eyes turned to him as he read the email.

“Park wants information on the other companies that are possible rivals to their accumulation of the land now.”

“What about the warehouse we surveyed the previous time?”

“He had managed to acquire it, but his rivals are competing for the other property and warehouses around the area. The one who managed to acquire more land gets the bid. Rumors are Coco Land has acquire a third and Windburg has the other third, both are planning to join forces to split the deal between them. So Park is desperate, he needs to bring down either of the company so the deal won’t fall through.”

“Is it not enough that he owned most of the land in Korea?”

“Money is never enough, Ri.”

“So are we going to take it up?” Eyes turned to their leader.

“I don’t see why not.”

“The other companies are going to collapse if we do find anything.” A new voice spoke up, her eyes full of uncertainty.

“We have never bothered about the consequences before. I don’t see why we should bother about it this time.”

“But to bring down two big companies at once means a lot of people are going to suffer.”

“Hyun, we have talked about this. People are going to suffer regardless. Look at the way they are battling on the field, their employees are working on the clock, they are forcing people to move. The only people who are probably not suffering are the CEOs.”

“News are that these companies are going to retrench people after acquiring, so with our involvement, it’s simply a faster process. Short term pain is better than long term, isn’t it?” Their leader continued.

“Tiffany unnie, you agree with what they are saying?” A shrug of the elder’s shoulders as the latter continued sipping on her drink while the younger turned to the other female in the group. “Yoona unnie?”

“Hyun, you are going to love it.” Yoona flipped the laptop around, revealing the floorplan for one of the company detailed with security cameras, guards and intricate sensors.

Seohyun studied the plan carefully, a cheshire grin spreading across her lips. “I guess we are just trying to save people time and pain, right?”

---

It was nearly midnight, there were fewer vehicles on the street, fewer passer-bys, fewer distractions as she would like to call it, although to him, they were simply one of the many faces on the road.

He bit his lips in anxiousness as his eyes darted furtively to the fuming lady by his side. He loved it when she did not talk much, only speak what was needed and straight to the point, but this time, he wished she would talk to him, to at least produce a slight sound of indication so that he knew what was in her mind. But no, of all times, she decided to keep her silence till the very end and it was frustrating him to no end.

"Hyun," he begged, desperation seeped through his every pore, "talk to me. Hit me, slap me, scold me, just don't not say anything. Hyun."

The lady shrugged nonchalantly, unmoved by the desperate pleas.

"Hyun, please. You know I can't rest well knowing that you are angry with me." Another shrug. "You don't want me to not sleep the whole night and get beaten up in tomorrow's fight because I didn't have enough rest from worrying about you, right?"

"I don't care."

The tone could not be any colder but the man looked relieved at the reply from the small smile appearing on his face, but his problems were far from over.

"I know what you are worried of, but that's my job. That's the only thing I'm good at, the only thing I'm proud of." The sentence trailed off at the end as the man looked at his hands in confusion and hesitation.

"But can't you find a better job than risking your life every night?"

The man sighed at the repetition of argument. His job was always the main source of conflict between them, the starter of all heated big or small argument and definitely part of the solution for peace between them.

"Seohyun, we have talked about this so many times." He sighed, exhausted by the ongoing push and pull. "The ring is the only place where I can be free from any rules, where I can unleash my power. I know you are worried but it can't be helped. Plus, I sighed a two-years contract, I can't just quit." An arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her towards him. "I will take care of myself."

The words were meant to comfort but Seohyun was still skeptical. It did not help that there were underhand dealings that no one seemed to know about till the murder.

"Trust me. I'll be careful."

---

A quick check of the time. 2347, thirteen minutes before the clock strike twelve, a perfect timing for them to talk before Cinderella had to return home.

"Yoona," a small hum answered him as fingers flew across her phone at rapid speed. "Are you free

"Why?" Eyes glanced towards the man quickly as she resumed typing.

"There's a function tomorrow and Taeyeon is not going, so-" he trailed off, fingers reaching up to rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "So I was wondering if you would like to go with me?"

A frown appeared on her face as she continued her message while her partner waited impatiently for her response, a pleading yet hopeful look in his eyes. A finger pressed sent and the phone finally disappeared into her bag as Yoona turned towards her partner.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Your mum wouldn't allow.

"But-"

"You are just going to be embarrassing your mum." A sigh. "You know she hates me, Ji."

"But I need a date. Where do I find one last minute?"

"You know your mum would have one ready tomorrow." A palm reached out to caress his pouting face. "She wouldn't let Taeyeon go if she did not have a back up."

"All the more I need you to go."

"You know I can't. And I will not embarrass you or your mum." A small smile twitched on her lips as she placed a chaste kiss on Jiyong's lips. "It's 2359. I will see you in the morning."

---

The monitor flicked on as the laptop booted to life. Fingers flew across the keyboard as the screen started to fill with incomprehensible words and numbers.

A smile lingered on her face when the information she had been searching for popped up. Quickly, she scanned through them, noting the important information before picking up her phone.

Snlnqqnv 0000, Bnbn Kzmc
 

-TBC-