Word Count: 5,453

Note: Another sweet moment between Baekhyun and Hwayoung, haha. I think these past two chapters have come out a lot cheesier than I originally planned. I hope you enjoy reading, and don't be afraid to tell me how you think the story is so far! ^^

~~

Baekhyun isn't quite sure if anything has really changed between him and Hwayoung.

They still bicker almost every other day, and Hwayoung still rolls her eyes whenever the male kicks the door out of anger or angrily demands cigarettes. But Baekhyun can say confidently that the threads of attachment have definitely been strung and reel the two of you closer each day, playful jokes punctuating your arguments and intent gazes lingering on the other too long.

Baekhyun’s face contorts into a grimace as he listens to Chanyeol, who whispers hurriedly as he straggles behind Baekhyun.

“We found another one of Jungmin’s men following Jongin,” Chanyeol tells Baekhyun as the male glides through the wide hallways of the building leading to his office.

“What the did you do with him?” Baekhyun hisses while monochromatic gray walls blur past him.

“Jongin confronted him but he had a knife,” Chanyeol sighs. “He couldn't bring him back.”

Baekhyun suppresses his anger into a low growl, before he makes a sharp turn around a corner. Before he can reach his office, he feels a body clash with his, a hard skull colliding into his chest. He looks down to see Hwayoung wincing while her hand comes over a red patch on her forehead.

“Watch where you're going, princess,” Baekhyun scolds. “You’re going to run into strange people not paying attention like that.”

“Strange people like you,” Hwayoung grumbles, her fingers rubbing the small lump forming on her forehead. She had been dashing down the hall, the eagerness to return to her apartment fueling her rapid pace and muddling with her attention so that she didn't even care to notice the crescendo of footsteps.

“You're helpless, princess,” Baekhyun sighs. “When are you ever going to listen?”

“I'm not going to listen to you,” Hwayoung snaps.

“Where are you even going?”

“Back to my apartment. Where else?”

Though Hwayoung briskly brushes past the male, his eyes are quick to catch the subtle smirk adorning her pink lips.

“If you guys are going to flirt like that every day, you might as well just date, boss,” Chanyeol groans. “It was cute at first, but now it's disgusting.”

“Shut up,” Baekhyun barks at Chanyeol.

“Anyways,” Chanyeol slurs, quick to change the topic, “what the hell are we going to do about Jungmin?”

“I'm going to meet him personally,” Baekhyun says with a reluctant look in his eyes.

“The last time you met him, he pulled a gun on you,” Chanyeol deadpans. “He isn't even supposed to own guns, and he’s a wimp for not fighting with his fists.”

“One of his men got caught with the weapons and they got confiscated,” Baekhyun murmurs. “But that's not what I'm worried about.”

What has Baekhyun worrying is why Jungmin is suddenly encroaching upon his territory.

~~

A large hand comes around the sheets covering Hwayoung’s body, tugging roughly as a soft voice hums an oddly familiar song.

“Rise and shine, princess,” Jongdae sings.

Hwayoung says a few incomprehensible words, her voice muffled by the pillow into which her face is buried.

Jongdae heaves a sigh before swiping away the covers from the bed and letting the sheets crumple to the floor. Hwayoung flinches at the sudden coldness that surrounds her body, and her eyes part when the sunlight crawling through the window gleams on her face.

“Get up, it’s almost ten,” Jongdae exclaims.

“How the hell did you get in my apartment?” Hwayoung shrieks. One hand attempts to swat away the light while the other reaches for the blanket sprawled on the floor.

“The owner of this building got some loans from us to operate this place,” Jongdae deadpans. “We've threatened him before, so he does anything I ask. Like give me a spare key to your apartment.”

“Go away.”

“Princess, I live one floor beneath you, there's nowhere for me to go.”

“I don't even have classes today, why are you waking me up?” Hwayoung groans as she tugs the blanket back up to the bed.

“You said you have a report to write,” Jongdae says.

“I stayed up till two finishing that.”

“You don't have any other work?”

“None.”

“Alright, then you can get ready,” Jongdae chimes.

“For what?”

“Nobody told you? It's the boss’s birthday today.”

Hwayoung props herself up immediately at his words, squinting as she gasps, “What?”

“See you at the office, princess,” Jongdae hums as he leaves the girl in the cramped apartment.

Hwayoung heaves herself out of her bed, and her head throws back in frustration when her eyes land on the delicate silver chain resting on the nightstand beside her.

After receiving such a breathtaking gift from the male, what would Hwayoung give him?

~~

Hwayoung rummages through her bag and her drawers, fingers counting whatever cash she encounters. Her lips contort into a pout when she finds the few hundred dollars she has, an accumulation of money left over from a part-time job she worked in high school and the change she has received after paying for cigarettes with the money Baekhyun has given her. Hwayoung recalls the time Baekhyun had retrieved her from the east side of the city late in the evening and how despite how he wears an indifferent expression, she sometimes find lunch or breakfast in a brown bag waiting for her in the office from the male.

She has to find him a meaningful gift.

Hwayoung pulls open one final drawer, one she keeps valuable items in. Her fingers gingerly sift through the contents, the grimace on her face becoming more obvious with each thing her fingers wrap around.

Her old wallet, a gift from Minho.

A broken watch, something her father had given her.

The keys to her mansion, which have no use for Baekhyun.

But tucked away in the corner rests a silver ring that Hwayoung has nearly forgotten about. She excitedly lays it on her palm, her eyes tracing the graceful swoop of the silver and the delicate pattern adorning the metal flickering in the light. It's not too plain and it's not too extravagant, something Baekhyun might actually like.

The ring had belonged to her father once, she had hardly seen him wear it but occasionally she found him with the ring between his fingers as he looked at it with thought. He had given her the ring for her fifteenth birthday, but she had kept it tucked into the pocket of one of her jackets. Since it had been her father’s, the ring never fit her fingers anyway. She found it charming, but she had never been able to wear it.

But now there's someone who can.

Especially with her father gone, she would never part with something as precious as his ring. But Hwayoung trusts Baekhyun.

Hwayoung fumbles around before her hand lands upon a pen and a notepad. And Hwayoung cringes as her fingers rapidly scratch words onto the notepad, because she isn't used to writing sweet words to a guy.

~~

Hwayoung steps into the Exo Credit Union building with haste, walking into the familiar scent of cigarettes and monochromatic gray walls with clear glass windows. Before she can even step any further, loud footsteps echo through the halls and stairways, before a familiar male with a scowl on his face bursts into the lobby of the building.

“Chanyeol, get your out here, now,” Baekhyun barks when he turns his head to see the lanky male isn’t following suit.

Chanyeol appears second later, straggling behind the shorter male as he pants, “Boss, don’t you know what day it is?”

“I don’t care if it’s my birthday or not, these problems aren’t going to solve themselves,” Baekhyun hisses, his countenance looking more tense than usual. “And get changed Chanyeol, you aren’t meeting anyone in a motorcycle jacket.”

Hwayoung finds herself slowly backing into the wall, the male’s cold demeanor keeping her away from getting hurt by his sharp words and angry glower.

Chanyeol grumbles something about how much he hates wearing suits, and Hwayoung knows, the male only wears suits whenever they’re off to meet other mobster leaders. It’s when the male scurries off to find his suit that Baekhyun yells, “Yixing, Sehun, start the car.”

Yixing appears from another room, and he mumbles, “Sehun is up a few floors.”

“Then call him and tell him to get the down here,” Baekhyun snaps.

It isn’t difficult for anyone to notice that Baekhyun has been much more concerned these days- it’s evident in the deepening creases in his forehead and the constant knotting of his eyebrows due to stress to the point that they’re nearly tangled together in a grimace. It’s moments like these where Hwayoung has dregs of desire for the tender male who treated her ankle and listened to her words with intent to return.

Jongdae appears in the bustling lobby as well, and he asks, “What’s going on?”

“We’re going to a meeting,” Baekhyun sighs, “as if I haven’t reminded everyone for the past few days.”

“The problem isn’t that bad, we could do this tomorrow or another day,” Jongdae says. “Why are you being such an when we’re all trying to do something nice for you?”

“I never asked any of you to do anything for me,” Baekhyun says coldly. “You get ready too, Jongdae.”

Baekhyun briskly steps through the doors and leaves the building, leaving Jongdae to heave a sigh and carry his heavy feet through the doors. Hwayoung watches as a few of Baekhyun’s men hold their heads low in heavy disappointment as they follow Baekhyun through the door.

Hwayoung sees Jongin lingering behind, and the male answers the question weighing on her mind when he says, “Since I got hurt from that encounter last time, the boss won’t let me go with them.”

Hwayoung nods in understanding.

“He’s so ing moody these days,” Jongin sighs, kicking a cigarette stub littering the floor. “Some days he doesn’t have a worry in the world and others he’s such an . Sorry you had to see him act like that, princess. He’s not as bad as you think.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Hwayoung asks with a quirked brow.

“Please tell me you’re pretending not to know,” Jongin sighs. “The boss adores you and he’s always looking at you like you’re the light of his life or something. You really bring out his soft side.”

Hwayoung rolls her eyes. “You and the others are just being delusional. He doesn’t think of me in that way.”

“One day, he’s going to confess, and you two are going to be dating,” Jongin chuckles. “And I’m going to say, ‘I told you so.’”

“You know what, I’m going back to my apartment.”

“You can’t deny that the boss has feelings for you, princess.”

“Goodbye, Jongin.”

As Hwayoung stands in the elevator taking her up to the floor of her apartment, she wonders if Jongin’s words actually hold some truth in them.

~~

It's hours later when Hwayoung catches a glimpse of sleek black cars rolling into view through the dirty window of her apartment. She has to crane her neck to see down the street, but she clearly makes out a small figure, unmistakably Baekhyun, slamming a car door shut before gliding into the building as anger blinds him to the sullen faces of his men who surround him.

Hwayoung leaps off her bed and bounds through the door of her apartment, watching the blinking of broken elevator lights before she finally hits the ground floor. She hurriedly walks to the building, suppressing her urge to run due to her ankle, which is fortunately almost better. She recognizes the men surrounding the black cars, unwilling to enter the building with Baekhyun.

Hwayoung finds Chanyeol, his hand tugging frustratingly at the tie around his neck, and she asks, “Did everything go alright?”

“Not really,” Chanyeol murmurs, eyes unusually lusterless and dim. “We were stood up. I think it was meant to be an ambush. The boss is pissed.”

“Ambush?”

“Yeah, the guy we were supposed to meet wasn’t waiting for us. Before we got inside the building, we discovered a few men hiding out with weapons,” Chanyeol explains. “We didn’t recognize any of them, but we presumed they were hired to attack the boss. They all got away and the boss is probably going to beat our asses the moment we step inside.”

“What a birthday surprise,” Jongdae, who stands beside Chanyeol, mumbles.

“Are you guys alright, though?” Hwayoung asks. “Is anyone injured?”

“No one’s injured, princess,” Chanyeol says.

Just then, the small reverberations of a phone is heard from Chanyeol’s pocket, and he scrapes his teeth across his bottom lips when he reads the familiar name.

“That’s the boss,” Chanyeol announces to the other men, who hold their heads down. “If we don’t get up to his office now I don’t think he’s going to let any of us live.”

The heavy shuffling of feet passes as the bodies swarm inside the building.

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