Word Count: 5,783

Note: My final update of the year, haha. ^^ This is one of the longer and cheesier chapters, and it reveals a lot about Hwayoung and Baekhyun. This chapter and the next may be filled with intimate moments between the two characters, but I also have a lot of action and suspense planned for future chapters. Thank you for reading, and comments and feedback are always welcome! <3

~~

The bodies part only slightly as Hwayoung wedges between the tall men until she stands in Baekhyun’s office.

“You know him?” Baekhyun asks, suspicion quirking his brow.

“This is Jaejoong,” she explains. “He’s one of my father’s men.”

Chanyeol and Jongin let their hands fall from Jaejoong, the male immediately bowing when he sees the young girl.

“Princess,” he murmurs.

Hwayoung breathes a sigh of relief when she sees the male is fine, save the small bruise blossoming on his left cheek and a shallow cut painting his jaw. He fixes the earpiece hanging loosely from his ear, before running his hands over the creases of his suit.

“As I was saying, I need to speak to you,” Jaejoong says once more, eyes traveling to Baekhyun. “Privately.”

Baekhyun plops down in the chair behind his desk, before barking, “Everyone out. Eavesdrop and I won't be afraid to drop you from the rooftop.”

The shuffle of feet and the sudden disappearance of bodies leaves Hwayoung at the door. She remains, until Baekhyun shoots her a deathly glare. And she knows, fighting with him at moments like this isn't much different from detonating a bomb in the building.

Even with Chanyeol entertaining her with his odd jokes, like a faint whisper, the mystery behind the closed doors and the hushed murmurs linger in the back of Hwayoung’s mind. Thirty minutes pass in a slow saunter, the accumulating anticipation finally falling past her lips in a sigh of relief when she hears the unlocking of the doors.

Jaejoong emerges from Baekhyun’s office and Hwayoung races to the male, who glances at her with affection. Along with Junmyeon, Jaejoong had been one of her father’s trusted subordinates, someone she had grown accustomed to over the years. In addition to his kindness, his dashing smile always left Hwayoung with flushed cheeks as a little girl.

“Hey, princess,” Jaejoong says softly, ruffling her hair playfully. “How are things going?”

“Alright,” Hwayoung answers, cheeks becoming scarlet when he pats her head. “I'm holding up.”

It's in that moment that Hwayoung finally musters up the courage to ask, “Do you know where he is?”

“Princess, I'm just running a few errands for your father,” Jaejoong responds. “We communicate through messages. I haven't met him personally.”

“Do you have any idea where he is at all?” Hwayoung asks, mind b with questions. “Has he said anything about me?”

“I can't disclose anything about your father,” Jaejoong says, his voice falling to a whisper. “We never know who's around to listen. But he did want me to make sure that you're still with Baekhyun.”

“Why?”

“Things are complicated, princess, and things are even more complicated between your father and Baekhyun,” he says vaguely. “But one thing I can ensure is that your father has reasons for everything, even putting you with Baekhyun due to his debt.”

Hwayoung nods slowly, feigning understanding when she's actually confused and wondering if her father really owes Baekhyun anything after Kyungsoo had told her the truth.

“I still have work to finish,” Jaejoong says. “But we’ll see each other soon, alright?”

An assuring pat on the shoulder is the last thing offered to Hwayoung before Jaejoong steals away stealthily into secrecy, leaving the building with with no sign of his departure.

Hwayoung sees behind her the sliver of dim light from Baekhyun’s office spilling out from an improperly shut door. With careful steps and curious hands, she opens the door and steps inside.

Baekhyun is still sitting at the desk, head thrown back against the chair and eyes drawn to a blank ceiling, concern drawing creases in his forehead.

“What did you talk about?” Hwayoung asks boldly.

“Nothing that concerns you,” Baekhyun lies. When the girl remains in the office, he drags his eyes from the dull paint of the ceiling to the ground where her feet lay, and he remarks, “You wore the shoes I got.”

“Only because you would be butthurt if I didn't,” Hwayoung rolls her eyes. “You're butthurt over everything,”

“But you should be thanking me because now you don't look tacky,” Baekhyun huffs.

Hwayoung knows Baekhyun is stressed every day, but today, there's something more than stress constricting his mind. She can see the concern behind his glassy eyes and the clenched teeth, and she decides, maybe it's better to leave him alone.

Before she slips out the door, she says, “You shouldn't get too stressed. It's not good for you.”

When Hwayoung leaves, Baekhyun wonders if the girl really does care about him or whether it's something she tells everyone.

Either way, concern consumes Baekhyun’s features as he realizes it's going to be much more difficult to protect her.

~~

Hwayoung finds it strange that when she emerges from her campus, Jongdae is nowhere to be seen yet again.

The only thing from him is a message, reading, “I’m out again. Forgot to ask Sehun to pick you up. Call one of the guys to come get you.”

It worries Hwayoung that the male is out more often these days, and she hopes his missions aren't too dangerous.

But she would never tell him that to his face, unless she wants to be teased by him for the next few months.

Instead of calling one of the other guys, she decides to walk herself back. She finds it so difficult to wedge in even a few minutes of time for herself in her daily schedule these days. The breezes are enticing and the sunlight is warm, but it's even before she stroll down a single street that her phone vibrates with urgency.

She sighs and presses the phone to her ear, recoiling when a deep voice booms and rings in her ear.

“Are you with Jongdae?” Chanyeol asks hastily. “Are you already on your way back?”

“No, Jongdae’s out again,” Hwayoung answers, fumbling with her phone as she tries to lower the volume. “I'm by myself and I'm still outside the campus. Why?”

“Listen, princess,” Chanyeol breathes nervously. “The boss has been pissed all day and he ran out of ing cigarettes. Do you know how he is without his cigarettes?”

“Go get some,” Hwayoung says blatantly.

“I'm not at the office and I'm ing injured,” Chanyeol grumbles. Hwayoung remembers how she had scolded the male in the morning for injuring his leg again and walking around without bandages. “Just bring them back to the office before the boss comes back.”

Chanyeol hangs up, and Hwayoung lets out a sigh as she makes a turn onto a crooked road lined with old stores and a cheap cafe. She finds the cramped mart and steps inside, quickly finding the counter. However, no matter how much she cranes her neck, she doesn't she the cigarettes she usually gets.

“Back again?” the clerk asks, a short male in his thirties.

“Where are the cigarettes I usually get?” Hwayoung asks.

“All sold out,” he shrugs apologetically.

“You mean people buy those ridiculously overpriced cigarettes?” Hwayoung asks in disbelief.

“I guess so,” the clerk chimes.

Hwayoung has to bite the inside of her cheeks before the curses spill out.

She walks out of the store with slumped shoulders, recalling another dingy convenience store several streets away, on the other side of the campus. Her eyes glimpse at the time on her phone.

4:47

Baekhyun usually arrives at the office around six or seven.

If she runs, she can probably make it before Baekhyun can lash out on anyone or anything in the office.

But the only thing keeping Hwayoung from eagerly plodding to the dingy convenience store is that it rests in the east side of the city, a dirtier, darker place she has never been to before.

~~

No matter how many narrow streets she walks through, the rustling of littered trash bags and the echoes of her feet through the damp, dark alleys still manage to make Hwayoung’s pulse race and her breathing a little heavier than usual. She's not completely lost, but she does become baffled when she makes a few wrong turns. She feels a chill crawl up her spine when what seems like distant laughing trickles from between two dark buildings, and her feet step feverishly into the convenience store as it comes into sight.

“Five packs of cigarettes,” she says to the clerk in a single breath. She’s ready to get what she needs and leave. “The most expensive ones you have.”

“Are these alright?” an older female with a sharp nose and pale complexion says, tossing the overpriced boxes onto the counter.

“Yes,” Hwayoung murmurs, pulling out a few crumpled bills onto the counter and quickly stuffing the boxes into her bag. “Keep the change.”

When she steps out, though it’s not even six, evening has already begun approaching, a dark orange and menacing purple already swirling at the base of the sky. Hwayoung silently swears when she realizes she doesn’t know the directions from her current location to the Exo Credit Union building.

She decides traveling through different streets may lead somewhere, but a few turns has her on an unfamiliar road lined with bars and a dubious nightclub. Hwayoung lets out an audible gasp when she hears plodding behind her, and she is unable to maintain her confident composure when she imagines being in the hands of an old, drunken man.

The tall buildings surrounding her pass in a blur as she dashes forward. But with the anxiety dilating her pupils and her state of haste, she’s unable to see the a part of the curb on the sidewalk jutting out. Her foot easily gets caught, and she falls to the ground.

Her elbows strike concrete and her knees are scraped by asphalt when her body hits the ground. She hears more noises behind her, but she knows she has sprained her ankle when she tries to get up. Her head whips backward, eyes trembling in cowardice, until she sees a stray dog rummaging through a trash can.

“,” Hwayoung mumbles, relief swathing her now solid voice.

Her cool fingers touch the warm skin of her right ankle, and she groans when she can feel it swelling up already.

She can't walk back like this.

Rather reluctantly, she fishes through her bag until her fingers wrap around her phone.

Chanyeol and Jongdae are both out.

And Jongin is probably with Chanyeol.

As for Sehun, Hwayoung doesn’t even have his number saved- he seems to change his phone every two weeks.

And she doesn't even know what the other members are up to.

And Hwayoung lets another string of curses fall from her lips when she realizes only one more name rests in her contact list.

Mafia Prince.

Baekhyun is the only one she knows for sure is sitting in his office while doing nothing but suppressing his mind with stressful thoughts. She squeezes her eyelids shut, ready to be scolded by a male with an attitude not so much older than her when he picks up.

And Hwayoung is slightly startled when the male picks up almost as soon as she calls him.

“Is something wrong?” Baekhyun blurts immediately, voice thick with concern. “You never call me.”

“About that,” Hwayoung sighs. “I need you to come here. Jongdae was still out when I finished my last class so I thought about walking home alone.”

“What?” Baekhyun nearly shouts into the phone. “What the did I-”

“And then Chanyeol told me to run an errand for him,” Hwayoung explains. “He wanted to me to buy your cigarettes but the store near my campus was sold out. So, I went to a store farther out in the east side of the city and now I’m stuck here because I sprained my ankle and I don’t know the way back.”

“You’re in the east side of the city,” Baekhyun screeches. “At night?”

“It’s still early evening,” Hwayoung huffs. “And my ankle hurts so can you please stop yelling at me and come here?”

“Where the hell are you?” Baekhyun grumbles. His voice is accompanied by loud ruckus as Baekhyun runs and shouts orders to Yixing to start the car.

“I don't see a street name, but there was a convenience store ten minutes away,” Hwayoung drawls. “There was a street with a whole bunch of bars and a weird nightclub behind me. All I see around me are tall buildings, okay?”

“Well, thanks for the detailed description,” Baekhyun says, sarcasm swimming in his voice. “That's like every street in the east side of the city. You know what, just wait, I’ll find you.”

And those reassuring words stay with Hwayoung even when the phone goes silent.

“I'll find you.”

Hwayoung takes it to be some sort of promise, her racing pulse settling at the comfort of Baekhyun’s assuring voice.

She manages to balance her weight on one foot and stand up from the cold ground, slightly wincing as she experimentally takes a step with her right foot. The sky overhead slowly fade