A blaring sunlight woke Baekhyun up from his slumber. He opened his eyes carefully. But his eyes and head hurt so much that he couldn’t help but to close his eyes again.

“Such a small boy to make a big fuss.”

Hearing the mocking tone, Baekhyun snapped his eyes open. There was someone beside his bed but Baekhyun can’t really make out his face since this person’s back was facing the light.

“Who—“

“I’m Kyungsoo. I guess I’m your personal servant? I don’t know. Nobody ever survived the night so I usually only cleaned up this room without a single person here, but now…” the boy, who looked almost like a kid, was shrugging nonchalantly. “Seems like you’re also under my care, Master.”

“Wait, what’s happening here?” Baekhyun was completely awake by now. He tried to get up and he could see the sun shining brightly outside. What was happening? Shouldn’t he set off by the dawn?

“Like I said. You were causing a big fuss throughout the quarter by making it until now. Wait until the whole country get this news.”

“Whoa, wait. Making it how? I don’t—“

“Gosh, I can’t believe it,” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. His childlike look seemed more like an evil now. “Of all the perfect objects that had come here, the Don just had to keep you?”

Baekhyun swallowed the insult given to him as he let his weak self getting dragged by his so-called personal servant. After drinking the pain killer from Kyungsoo and taking a fresh bath, Baekhyun found himself wearing a white shirt and grey suit pants. His eyes were lined perfectly with a black kholl, and his black hair was styled up. He can’t help to make a frown when he saw his reflection on the mirror.

“Should I really wear this?” Baekhyun asked no one in particular. He turned around to the left and right to see how he was dolled up.

Everybody in his room was busy. Kyungsoo and other maids were making his bed up. Some were dusting his curtain. Beside him, there was a girl, who he learnt earlier that her name was Sooyeon. She was currently trying to put a grey suit jacket on him, the color matched his pants.

“Sooyeon, I don’t really wear this kind of attire.”

“I’m sorry, Master. But you have to wear this,” Sooyeon said without looking at Baekhyun’s eyes.

“It’s not that I’m going out anyway,” the boy pouted. With a white shirt and grey pants alone, Baekhyun already looked so awkward. He didn’t want to look more foolish than this.

“I think I’m beginning to understand why the boss kept you,” Kyungsoo said from across the room. His hands were busy folding the bedsheet. “Also, Sooyeon is right. You have to wear the suit. I’m a servant here and you can see I’m wearing a suit. What make you think a Master should not?”

“Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe I don’t like it?”

Kyungsoo laughed. It was like he was genuinely amused by his words. Other girls in the room were also trying to stiffle their laugh.

“You’re unique. I like you, Master,” Kyungsoo said.

Baekhyun sighed. Master, master. He didn’t like it when people called him that. “I’m not a master.”

“You’re a master as long as you’re the Don’s husband.” Kyungsoo shrugged.

Baekhyun didn’t retort immediately this time. It took some time to acknowledge himself as the Phoenix’s boss’ husband. He still hadn’t used to it. He was an ordinary high school student one day, and the next day he was the groom to the most powerful person in the country.

“So is the other thirty,” Baekhyun tried to sound nonchalant.

“Well, you’re the only husband right now, Master. The other thirty were divorced as soon as they were sent off.”

Baekhyun turned silent after that. His expression was torn between hurt and scared, but he tried his best to not show it to the others. He wasn’t going to show his vulnerable state like what had happened last night.

“So I’m going to be kicked out of the country and become a widower, all at once? Great. Perfect.”

Kyungsoo smirked. “Don’t worry. I don’t think you’re going to be a widower anytime soon though.”

“I should think that it’s a good thing?”

“Of course it is. You’ve melted his frozen heart, for now. And that’s something not everyone can do. But you still need to be careful, Master,” Kyungsoo stated casually. “And you obviously need to eat. God, you’re so small.”

“Excuse me, I’m bigger than you.”

“Oh, Master. I might be smaller than you, but I could break your neck easily with one move.” Kyungsoo raised his arm to show him a headlock gesture.

Baekhyun laughed wryly, half curious, half afraid. He knew perfectly that Kyungsoo wasn’t an ordinary servant. He was someone who was assigned to watch him. But despite all of that, Baekhyun felt like Kyungsoo was on his side. He liked Kyungsoo. He could see himself in him.

They were similar.

~

It was past noon when Baekhyun got to go out of his big yet stuffy room. After Kyungsoo brought him lunch, Kris came into his room after a series of gentle knock.

The consigliere bowed to him. “Good afternoon, Master. I believe you had a good sleep and lunch.”

Meeting someone he already knew brought a wave of relief into him. Baekhyun just can’t help to beam at the consigliere. “Yes, I did. Thank you.”

Kris seemed to be taken aback by Baekhyun’s bright smile. He stood frozen for a while before he shot Baekhyun a smile back. And it gave the same effect to the master. It was the first time Baekhyun see him smiling. It was a pleasant sight, and his mind was forced to be taken to a certain boss. Baekhyun wondered how nice Chanyeol’s smile would be.

“Uhm… Sir?” Baekhyun approached the consigliere.

“Call me Kris.”

“Right. Kris, can I wander around the house? Kyungsoo said I need to get your permission first.”

Baekhyun tried his best to sound neutral. He didn’t want to sound too curious and excited. He got one extra day to be in the quarter, so this was an awesome chance for him to see every crook and nook of this house. Well, maybe not every corner, but Baekhyun at least want to experience it.

“I think it’s okay as long as Sehun come with you,” Kris gave him the permission without any hesitation that it surprised the young master for a moment.

“Who’s Sehun?”

“Your bodyguard,” Kyungsoo behind him answered.

So he got a personal servant and a bodyguard? Nice.

A figure came from behind the consigliere. He was a handsome guy, almost as handsome as Chanyeol and Kris, and he was tall too. But he had no kind of feature that Baekhyun had in mind for a bodyguard. He thought a bodyguard would be someone whose build was large as , and they were going to be scary. But Sehun looked so soft, so kind, and so pleasant to look at.

So far, the quarter and everyone inside it hadn’t stopped surprising him.

“Hi, I’m Baekhyun.” He reached out his hand and made the same smile he had given to Kris earlier.

“Master,” Sehun bowed, with much more respect than how Kris did. He didn’t respond to his Baekhyun’s reaching hand though, so Baekhyun drew his hand back awkwardly.

Okay, so Sehun wasn’t as friendly as he looked. But at least he still looked kind enough.

“Should we go now?” Baekhyun asked.

Sehun, Kris, and Kyungsoo didn’t answer him. But all of them were moving aside, letting Baekhyun to slip away. And Baekhyun was soon out of his room.

He was glad that he didn’t have to wear his grey jacket.

~

People said that the Phoenix was almost as old as South Korea’s kingdom. So their quarter was also practically built in the same period of time the Phoenix became big in the past.

Baekhyun looked around the quarter in awe. The structure looked a lot like a modern luxurious house but he could see there was a touch of Korea’s empire here and there. It was a big, big house that someone like Baekhyun would be easily get lost around the house.

Baekhyun had wandered for almost two hours when Kris had to leave early since he needed to run some “errand”. Baekhyun wondered if Chanyeol was with him. He had not seen the Don at all today.

Baekhyun ended up continue the tour only with Sehun and Kyungsoo. Some of other mafia were looking at them every time Baekhyun passed through them, giving him judging yet curious looks. Maybe what Kyungsoo said was right. The whole quarter was in uproar when the news spread out that the Don didn’t send his groom away this time, that the Don let his groom stay.

“Is there like a training ground here?” Baekhyun asked, after they finished visiting the cooks in the kitchen. So far, the cooks were the friendliest of all. Seemed like Baekhyun would hang around that place a lot.

“We have three different training grounds here,” Kyungsoo answered from beside him, while Sehun kept quiet walking behind them. “Defense skill area, fighting area, and shooting area.”

“You mean like shooting guns?”

“Uhm... yeah? We don’t really shooting arrows these days, aren’t we?” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes.

Baekhyun held his excitement but failed. “Can you take me there?”

“Of course not.”

“Kris said it’s fine as long as Sehun is with me,” Baekhyun retorted. He wasn’t going to lose an argument with his servant.

They had stopped walking at this point and Kyungsoo placed his hands on both sides of his waist arrogantly. “Dear Master, shooting ground is like the most dangerous place here. We—especially you—can’t go there.”

Baekhyun was just about to give his protest when someone joined them.

“You can go.”

When Baekhyun turned around to face him, he was faced with another handsome look.

“If you let me be of assistance,” the boy continued.

A new person, again. Today, Baekhyun got a surprisingly number of new friends. Baekhyun studied the young man. This one was pretty masculine, almost like Kris, and Baekhyun was mesmerized by his defined profile.

“Oh, hi... I’m Baek—“

“I know who you are, Master. There’s no way anybody wouldn’t know you by now,” he grinned, and his eyes were twinkling mischievously. “I should be the one introducing myself. I’m Kim Jongin, Phoenix’s head of defense.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened. There wasn’t a single thought that flashed through his mind that this young man were the leader of defense division of Phoenix. But then, Baekhyun remembered that the boss itself was a 18 years old boy. He should’ve seen this coming.

Baekhyun cleared his throat, trying to not embarrass himself. “Alright, nice to meet you, Jongin. So will you accompany me to the shooting ground?”

“Wait, Jongin. I don’t think this is right,” Sehun stepped forward. His face was concerned.

“Relax, Sehun. The Master’s safety is in my hands now. You’re not going to be blamed when Chanyeol Hyung come back,” Jongin chuckled, and he immediately bowed a little to Baekhyun and gave a gesture to follow him.

Baekhyun stared at Sehun and Kyungsoo, and both of the subordinates can’t do anything but gave way to the master, too. Baekhyun slightly felt bad for them. He knew that they were just worried, but his curiousity got the best of him.

Baekhyun quickly matched his steps with Jongin. Everyone here tend to move fast and Baekhyun was forced to match them.

“You called him Chanyeol Hyung,” Baekhyun said as soon as he was beside the head of defense.

Jongin looked at him for a moment, before he snickered. He smiled a lot, Baekhyun thought, like Kyungsoo.

“If you’re wandering why I didn’t call him by his title, that’s because I’m his cousin.”

And Baekhyun choked with his own spit. This boy just can’t stop surprising him. “You’re his what?” Baekhyun exclaimed.

Jongin guffawed until Baekhyun felt a little bit offended. It took some time before he could control himself and answered the master’s question. “Now I understand why Chanyeol Hyung made you stay,” he said in between his laugh.

Baekhyun looked away and puffed his cheeks. That was the second time Baekhyun heard people said that to him today. He didn’t want to get overly confidence, but it sounded a lot like compliment.

Without him realizing, Baekhyun started to hear shotguns noise from somewhere. The four of them stood outside a metal door, and Baekhyun could feel his blood pumped up by the excitement.

Jongin didn’t say anything before he opened the metal door, and they immediately welcomed by the loud and blaring sound of shooting guns. Baekhyun could see the door was led to an outdoor area where it was filled with a number of man wearing training t-shirt. All of them had various kind of guns in their hands and they were all focused on aiming the targets.

Baekhyun didn’t realize that his mouth was hung opened if it wasn’t for Jongin yelling at him, trying to overpower the guns sound. “It’s amazing, right?”

Without tearing his gaze from the sight in front of him, Baekhyun nodded. This was beyond amazing, actually. Baekhyun never thought that he will ever see someone firing a gun with his own eyes.

“Do you mind teaching me?” Baekhyun turned his head to Jongin. “I always wanted to use guns.”

Jongin blinked at him. His expression was unreadable. “That’s a rather unique wish for a commoner like you. And Master, that’s not the part of our agreement.”

“I’m not a commoner anymore, Jongin,” Baekhyun smirked. His eyes were light up by fire. “That’s why I’m asking you right now.”

“Making use of your position now, huh? I see,” Jongin chuckled. He folded his arms on his chest nervously. His eyes were trained on the practice area before he exchanged look with Sehun and Kyungsoo. But both the bodyguard and the servant weren’t even trying to hide their disagreement by shaking their heads.

“Oh, come on. I’m not going to be here by tomorrow anyway,” Baekhyun whined.

When Jongin and the others still didn’t respond him, he slipped pass them, and approached the shooting ground. He pretended to not hear Jongin’s yell.

“Master, I’ll teach you.” Jongin was as fast as lightning as he was now beside Baekhyun, grabbing his wrist. “But you can’t tell Chanyeol Hyung. Or else he’ll kill me for letting his husband to be in danger.”

Baekhyun put a winning smile. “Fine. But you need to stop calling me master. Call me Baekhyun.”

“Baekhyun Hyung,” Jongin repeated, back with his mischievous smile. “Be ready to learn how to use the deadliest weapon in the world.”

“I’m ready,” the master said quickly.

Jongin laughed as he walked to the guns rack. Baekhyun realized now other people had stopped their practice and watched them.

“Are you sure you’re ready? I think you look scared, Hyung.”

“I’m not. I’m actually full of energy right now.” Or adrenaline. Whatever it was that making him so hyped up right now.

Jongin grabbed what seemed to be the smallest gun on the rack and considered it for a while, before he walked back to Baekhyun’s side.

The head of defense looked at Baekhyun’s eyes intently, trying to trace any hesitation on his face. When he found nothing but excitement, he sighed heavily. He will be damned if something wrong happened to this little master.

“Before I hand this gun to you, you need to understand that this is not a petty matter,” Jongin talked to him like Baekhyun was a kid, but the master can’t really mutter his irritation because the actual younger boy looked deadly serious. “And please hold down your excitement. You need to be calm if you want to fire a gun. And with your small body, I’m afraid you’re going to be thrown back, so you better channel your excitement to your shoulders and feet, okay?”

“I’m not that small,” Baekhyun hissed softly. And Jongin ignored his empty whine.

“Okay, now, stand here.” Jongin made him stand in the middle of platform. He stood behind Baekhyun and carefully handed the gun to the master, but still support his palms. “Focus on your hand muscles and focus your eyes on the target in front of you,” Jongin breathed behind him.

“I wouldn’t die just because I fire a gun, right?” Baekhyun bit his lower lip, suddenly felt anxious.

Jongin chuckled, “You’re under my care, Hyung. You’re safe.”

“Right, great.” Baekhyun took a deep breath. He could feel Jongin behind him was holding his breath, same with all other people in the practice ground. All the attention was directed to him. “Let’s shoot.”

Baekhyun tightened his grip on the gun. He drew one more soft breath in, and he could feel Jongin had withdrew his hands that supported him just now and stepped away from him. It was only him and his gun now. Baekhyun was in his own accord.

His heart beat so fast as both of his hands started to get clammy and cold. He locked his sight at the center of the target and exhaled softly before he finally pulled the trigger.

It happened in less than one second. Baekhyun felt like his whole body was pushed back, and there was a strong force jerking his hands. The adrenaline rushed throughout his body and he felt a little dizzy for a while before he felt a hand held him firm in place so he wouldn’t be thrown back.

Baekhyun faintly saw a new dot in the target. It was his bullet.

“I did it!” Baekhyun exclaimed. He released his hands into the air, still holding his gun, jumping up and down. “I shot the target. Did you guys see that?”

Baekhyun turned around in delight only just to feel like the air was punched out of his lungs when he saw it was actually the mafia’s boss behind him, holding him in place. Jongin was beside him, looking pale.

“I did see,” Chanyeol said. His expression was somewhat dark and Baekhyun seriously had problem breathing by now.

“Chanyeol…” Baekhyun breathed.

Chanyeol reached his hand out to Baekhyun’s and slowly took the gun in his hand. He took it so slowly at first and got it away fast and gave it to Jongin when it wasn’t in Baekhyun’s hold anymore. The boss’ posture seemed more relax now that the gun was out of the master’s reach.

“Seems like you’re having fun, Baekhyun,” the boss commented while looking at Baekhyun from head to toe, examining him, making sure there wasn’t any damage caused by the reckless use of gun.

“I actually did,” Baekhyun tried to sound calm. But Chanyeol’s burning gaze made his heart beat faster than when he pulled the trigger.

“Jongin,” Chanyeol called without looking at the head of defense, and the said head of defense immediately tensed.

“Yes, Don.”

“Why is Baekhyun out here firing a gun?” he asked Jongin, yet his eyes still drilled into Baekhyun’s.

“I asked him to let me,” Baekhyun stepped forward. “And he let me because I forced him.”

Chanyeol’s initial cold expression changed into distressed for a split second. The Don pinched the bridge of his nose as he too was stepping forward, closing the distance between him and his husband. “Did Jongin tell you how dangerous it was to play around with this kind of weapon?”

Baekhyun gulped. “I wasn’t playing around.”

“You could’ve been hurt.”

“But I’m not.”

The boss stayed silent. He and Baekhyun only stared at each other like there wasn’t anyone in the training ground besides them. Baekhyun found himself become more confident under Chanyeol’s unnerving gaze.

Chanyeol didn’t say anything until he finally turned around to leave the place, leaving Baekhyun and the others a room to breathe.

Baekhyun threw a look of apology to Jongin before the latter followed the boss’ steps. He felt bad for Jongin but he can’t help to feel proud of himself. After all, he succeeded in putting a bullet to the target. Chanyeol seemed mad at him, but it was obvious that the boss can’t throw any tantrum to Baekhyun or other people there since there was no damage had happened to anyone.

With that kind of confidence in his mind, Baekhyun tried to push his luck. “Chanyeol?”

The said boss halted his steps and turned around.

“Will you come to my room tonight?” Baekhyun asked. It somehow sounded wrong, but Baekhyun didn’t care.

And Baekhyun’s wall had totally crumbled down when he finally got to witness the Phoenix’s boss’ lips were pulled upward, directed at him.

“I’ll see you tonight, Baekhyun.”