The splash of cold water woke Jinyoung from his dreamless slumber. His head swung back and forth for a bit before he could regain control of himself. Feeling the restrains on his two arms, Jinyoung thrashed harshly in the chair he was tied to. The agent whipped his head up, eyes meeting with deep oceans of nightmares. 

    “Hello there, Sleeping Beauty,” Daniel smiled sweetly in a sense of bitterness. 

    Jinyoung’s eyes narrowed, glaring hard at the Englishman, “what the ,” the Chairman cursed in his limited English, “why am I here?” 

    The British mafia boss seemed to find amusement in the way the most powerful figure among the business world struggled to set himself free. What’s even more alluring is the droplets of water that’s dripping from the Chairman’s dark locks, sinking deep into the white dress shirt, revealing patches of pale skin for hungry eyes to admire. 

    “You were persistent, and I couldn’t help but get pulled by it,” Daniel said, hand greedily reaching out to that soft cheek he’s been thinking about so much. “Such grace and beauty. I’m addicted.”

    Jinyoung turned away from the touch and a low growl stirred within his throat. He’s not a prey. Never will be. He’s Park Jinyoung. The top predator of the food chain. “Get your ing hand off of me, you tard.” 

    “My, my, my, such vulgar language escaping from those pretty lips. Who’ve been teaching you? I need to have a talk with them.” 

    “Don’t with me, .” 

    At Jinyoung’s fierce insult, Daniel just laughed. “We’ll see, baby.” He inched his face closer as a smirk set upon his lips, “though, I’ll be honored to be bedding a King. I won’t disappoint you.” 

    Jinyoung felt disgusted by the heat of the damned English man’s breath as it ghosted over his face. The Chairman glanced around, noticing his discarded tie and suit jacket on the floor by the foot of a coffee table. For a second, Jinyoung’s solution faltered. Inside his jacket stored a small knife that Mark had gave to him on the first day they’ve met as bodyguard and master, but now, that was out of reach. 

    He hates to admit, but he’s helpless at the moment. The hit to his head earlier wasn’t coping well with his brain. And the tying to this stupid chair wasn’t helping his case. Jinyoung sighed softly, counting the seconds that those doors would open. And Mark would be the one standing in front of them. 

    “It’ll be another million years for you to me,” Jinyoung sneered, Korean rolling off his tongue like poison. 

    Daniel titled his head, slightly confuse, but still wore a devilish smile, “I don’t understand, but you sound hot speaking in your language. Do you Koreans in bed as well?” The thought of having the Chairman submitting underneath him left his body shivering with excitement. 

    Although unable to understand some sudden new English words, Jinyoung assumed whatever had left that bastard mouth could never be anything good. Instead of replying, the Chairman just tugged his lips upwards into a sly smirk as if he’s already winning at whatever this game they were mentally playing. Daniel registered Jinyoung’s smirk as an encouragement, as he set his rough hands on the Chairman’s shoulders, squeezing them in a suggestive manner, feeling the dampness of the Beauty’s shirt rubbing seductively against his palms. 

    “Your shirt is wet,” the mafia boss said, “we should take it off, or you’ll catch a cold.” There was no hesitation as wandering hands shamelessly allowed themselves to the drenched shirt that’s covering that luxurious body from being exposed. 

    Without making any sounds, Jinyoung threw his head back and steered his visions towards the huge doors of this fancy, first-class, room. Refusal bubbling in his stomach. Refusal of being defeated into helplessness. Refusal to be so weak. Each button that’s popping only drove Jinyoung’s anger and hatred. He held his breath and bored his eyes into the doors, concentrating and listening. Listening… 

    As soon as the fourth button of the Chairman’s shirt lets go of itself from the desperate struggle, the doors swung opened. With the loud interruption, Daniel reluctantly stopped and turned towards the unwanted source of the noise. 

    Jinyoung closed his eyes. Only opening them again to look straight into the Englishman’s furious eyes and grinned sweetly, adding a teasing of the bottom lip just because. 

    “How rude!” Like the exclaim coded for a war signal, four men immediately appeared at the doors, each attempted to grab a hold of the intruder. 

    In a mere second, the intruder easily slipped from the men’s grasp. And with a smooth swing of the leg, one man was knocked down to his knees as the bones of his calves cracked. Another swing of the leg landed perfectly against another man’s chest, probably shattered his ribcages to fatality. The intruder swiftly turned around to face his remaining opponents. Wasting no time in coming up with a combat plan, the intruder fought head-on, delivering a clean punch across the cheek of one man, successfully ripping teeth from their roots as blood filled up the man's mouth. The last man finally acknowledged danger and quickly moved over to protect his boss. 

    Daniel was fast, pushing past his last-standing bodyguard, heading towards the only escape. Turning back to stole a glance, the mafia boss dared to crack a smile, “this isn’t over, Chairman Park! I’ll prove my worth to you, and then you’ll have no choice but to co-operates with me! Until our reunion, stay well, Your Grace.” 

    The intruder wasn’t going to let them get away. He was already on his feet to chase after them. But he couldn’t another step out of the room when-

    “Mark!”

    Right. I got a ing brat to deal with. Mark rolled his eyes as he stopped on his tracks. 

    “Were you really planning on leaving me here? Tied to this ing chair?!” Jinyoung roared, exhaustion morphed into pure fuel to his temper. “What kind of ing dumb are you? Do your job properly, !” 

    Mark stood right in front of Jinyoung. The agent stared down at the Chairman, “say another word and I’ll really leave your ungrateful here.” 

    Despite the itch on his mouth of wanting to bark back, Jinyoung listened and obediently stayed quiet. Not one word left his foul mouth. Mark was a little taken back at the sudden obedience, but did not let this chance slipped. 

    “Good boy,” Mark smiled, eyes turning into crescents and canines baring attractively.

    Jinyoung scoffed, mentally reminding himself to verbally battered this lowly human being later on. No one dares to calls the Chairman like that. Much less someone like Mark Tuan. But unknowingly, the softer parts of Jinyoung realized that was Mark’s first genuine smile towards him. 

    After he was released from that annoying chair, Jinyoung rubbed his tired arms. He looked down at them and could see the faint purplish thick lines from where the wire had constricted the blood flows. Shrugging off the small sharp pain whenever he accidentally moves too much, the Chairman hid behind his pride, and with cold eyes, he ordered, “take it off.” 

    Mark was in the process of checking the three bodyguards that’s now squirming on the floor, groaning in pain. But the command completely threw the agent off-guard. “What?” 

    “I said, take it off,” Jinyoung repeated, voice already scratching with annoyance. 

    Quirking an eyebrow, Mark glanced around, “take what off?” 

    Hating to repeat himself again and again to a clueless bodyguard, Jinyoung decided to take matters into his own hands. He advanced towards Mark and reached out, unfazed, as he grabbed a hold of the lapels of the agent’s suit jacket. Mark’s confusion quickly turned into alertness. Flustered at the Chairman’s bold action, Mark managed to forced out a surprised gasp and swatted those hands from violating his personal bubble. 

    Jinyoung furrowed his eyebrows at the rejection, but he was still determined regardless. He lurched forwards and grabbed Mark by the agent's waist, pulling him back. Of course, Mark wasn’t the only trained agent presented in the room. With Mark’s slight off-gaurd and confusion as advantages, Jinyoung easily pushed the jacket off of Mark’s shoulders. The jacket fell behind its owner, landing in the hand of the stealer. 

    Mark watched, eyes widened, as Jinyoung comfortably puts on his jacket on. “What the ? You-"

    “I told you to take it off,” Jinyoung shrugged, smoothing out the jacket, a bit surprised that it actually fits him. Not perfectly, but to a satisfying extent. 

    “And I asked you what! If you answered, I would have given it. No need to ing invade my space like that.” Mark huffed, suddenly angry. 

    Amused, Jinyoung sneered, “you’re overreacting.” 

    Mark bit his lip, “no, am not.” The corner of his eye picked up the abandoned suit jacket on the floor, “yours is right here, why the Hell-"

    “It’s dirty,” was the Chairman’s cut reply. 

    Closing his eyes and exhaled softly, Mark decided not to even argue back. What rights does he has anyways. 

    Staring at Mark’s face, Jinyoung could not stopped his hands from doing what they wanted to do. Which was grabbing his sworn enemy’s face and holding it in between his hands. Mark, again, felt extremely violated. 

    “What the are you doing now-"

    “Your glasses,” Jinyoung’s eyes grew wide, as if he’s panicking, “where are they? Why aren’t you wearing them? I told you to wear them and not take them off without permission!” 

    “Let go of me!” Mark removed Jinyoung’s hands from cradling his face. 

    “,” Jinyoung sighed tiredly, “goddammit, Mark! Why won’t you listen?!” 

    Influenced by the rage pouring from Jinyoung, Mark’s frustration became the key to the closed doors. “Why does it matter?! Those damn glasses were a bother anyways! I’m better off without them. Can’t see with them on, I ing swear I’m about to-" 

    “You’re a ing agent of the government! I know you know why it matters! You could hide from the government, but you can’t hide from the World System; everything is documented in the system. And the only way to get to the World System is through your eyes. You know this!” Jinyoung didn’t let himself relax, instead, he’ll argues back if he has to. 

    “So? Why do you care?!” 

    “I’m out here, trying to keep you protected, and you’re just going to-"

    “WHY DO YOU ING CARE?! It has nothing to do with you!” 

    “You’re telling me, I should just let you wander out without any protection to your own profile? Are you ing kidding me? The they could do if they could detect-"

    Mark balled his fists on the collars of Jinyoung’s shirt, “shut the up. Don’t ing act like you care.” 

    Just for a bit, something foreign flashed in Mark’s fury eyes. Something that isn’t like what Jinyoung had seen before. And it was, for sure, directed towards the Chairman. Something like a crumbling of a defined resolve. The more closer their faces were, the more Jinyoung could see it in the agent’s eyes. And for the first time in his life, the Chairman was conscious of himself as a prickling feeling tugged at his frozen heart. 

    “Remember this, Park Jinyoung,” Mark’s voice didn’t wavered, “you don’t give a about me. Remember that you could care less if I drops dead in front of you right now. Remember that you and I are nothing. Remember that I hate you and you hate me. Remember.” The agent lets go of the Chairman with a sigh, “never ever forgets.”  

    Not another word, Mark left the room. 

    Jinyoung’s body rooted to the ground like someone had nailed his feet down. A collision of emotions threw him into the maze of confusion. He’s speechless as he tries to process the words that came out of Mark’s mouth. Mark’s right. Why should Jinyoung cares? Jinyoung hates Mark. So there’s no reason for him to care for the wellbeing of that bastard. Mark Tuan is only Jinyoung’s guard dog. Nothing more. Nothing less. 

    He shouldn’t care. 

    He shouldn’t. 

    He-

    “Fine. Watch it ing bites you in the ,” the young master mumbled by himself into the emptiness of the room. A silence washed by, and Jinyoung bit his bottom lip painfully, face slowly morphed into disgust with tints of horror. “What the … Why the am I feeling hurt…” 

    Laughing in disbelief, the Chairman couldn’t bring himself to be truthful, “am I really ing feeling hurt right now? Am I… .” 

    He, himself, knows very well how much Mark’s words had deeply affected him. 

+

+

+

    The break of dawn tore Suzy awake from her sleep. Next to her, Youngjae was still peacefully drowning himself in dreamland. She looked at her boyfriend, eyes shining with all kinds of affections for that adorable face. Suzy reached out to touch her lover’s cheek, rubbing her thumb softly against his skin. 

    Her heart stuttered when Youngjae stirred a little and lets out a soft whine. His bare chest bathing gloriously in the faint glimmers of the sunrise that snuck its way through the tiny crack of the windows’ curtains. Suzy smiled, finding herself in a kind of happiness that she knows she won’t find anywhere else. 

    After planting a kiss on Youngjae’s forehead, Suzy moved herself out of bed. Randomly picking a discarded clothing item off the floor, which happened to be Youngjae’s dress shirt, Suzy slipped it on to cover herself. She tucked her hair behind her ears as she slowly made her way to the restroom. Seeing her reflection, Suzy giggled at the obvious red marks on her neck. She shook her head, giving up on telling her boyfriend to stop leaving bites on such noticeable places in the future. 

    Suzy washed up and exited the restroom still wearing Youngjae’s shirt. It seemed like the loud noises of the shower couldn’t wake up the trainee doctor. Suzy peeked in, sighing when she saw Youngjae still sound asleep like a volcano didn’t just erupted. Well, Youngjae is a deep sleeper. 

    She was going to watch her cute boyfriend sleep a bit longer, but soon she realized something else that caught her pretty eyes. Suzy glanced at Youngjae, making sure he wasn’t waking up, before proceeding towards his backpack that’s lying abandoned in its usual spot on the floor. Hesitating, Suzy felt her insides twist in anguish. She was really going to do this. 

    Her hands trembled slightly as she quietly ped the backpack. Suzy rummaged through the bag, occasionally looking up towards the bed, checking to see if Youngjae was waking up. Fortunate for her, Youngjae was still completely out of it. Completely unaware of the immoral act that’s being carried out by the person he loves most. 

    The search was useless. There wasn’t anything important in Youngjae’s backpack. At least not what Suzy was looking for. Chewing on her bottom lip, Suzy tries to think of any possible hiding places. It shouldn’t be too hard. She knows Youngjae well enough to know where he would keep things. Turning to the closet, Suzy was somewhat sure. But there wasn’t anything there. Biting her fingernails in desperation, Suzy tries harder. Her eyes darted all over the room, hoping a loophole would magically appears. It did. 

    Suzy walked towards their shared bed. Her shadow covered the blinding light from the windows. For a moment, she was contemplating. Seeing Youngjae’s peaceful face was enough for her to fell to her knees. But she couldn’t give in. She couldn’t. 

    Ambition and desperation got the best of her. Carefully, like she’s been trained, Suzy smoothly slipped her hand into the her lover’s pillowcase, avoiding any causes that could have woken Youngjae. She dug deeper until her fingertips came in contact with a leathery texture. Suzy paused, collecting her breaths as her heart felt like it’ll jump out unknowingly. Calmly, she gripped onto the object and pulled it out slowly from the case. Once succeeded, Suzy was up on her feet and softly fled the room. 

    In the kitchen, Suzy stared down at the checkbook in her shaking hands. She swallowed down the lump stuck at . Her breathing settled down to quiet exhales. A smile drew itself on her swollen lips. 

+

+

+

    “Oh! You’re here again!” Ryeowook recognized as the figure approached the front desk. 

    “Yes, I am,” Jaebum replied with a slight, half-assed, smile, “is Doctor-"

    “I’m afraid not,” the receptionist replied, already knowing who the agent was referring to, “Doctor Choi has a night-shift today.” 

    Jaebum raised an eyebrow, “what? Night-shift? What kind of trainee doctor that has night-shifts? They can’t do -"

    Ryeowook cleared his throat loudly, unpleased with Jaebum’s rude remarks, “excuse you, but doctors are busy people.” 

    To this, the agent scoffed, “and I’m not?” 

    “You-"

    “Look, I don’t got time for this. He has something that’s really important to my friend and I need to get it right now,” Jaebum hissed, clearly showing his anger, “if you can’t call him up now, then give me his address. I’ll go get it myself.” 

    “What? No! We can’t do that! That’s personal information. I can’t just give it to you just because you’re asking for it!” 

    This morning started off ty for Jaebum since he was called in early by his Boss, now he has to deal with this. “I’m not here to play this stupid game with you. Give me the ing address.” 

    “I’m sorry if you’re losing patience, but I can’t do anything about it. It’s violating the hospital’s rules to give out personal informations of its employees,” Ryeowook stated, glaring at Jaebum, with crossed arms against his chest. 

    Shutting his eyes in frustration, Jaebum groaned out of irritation. “This-"

    The interruption came unexpectedly. Jaebum rolled his eyes and pulled out his vibrating phone. He answered without looking at the caller ID. “What.” 

    “Jaebum,” the voice from the other line snapped the agent out of it. 

    “Jinyoung?” 

+

+

+

    Heels of leather shoes hitting concrete resonated mutely through the blaring of cars’ horns and buzzing of the busy streets. Two guards ran in front of twenty others down the sidewalks. They all headed towards the hotel in fast steps. 

    “What the Hell happened? I literally just dropped him off at his hotel room like three hours ago!” Mark exclaimed, confused eyes hidden behind the dark lenses of his glasses.

    “I’m not really sure,” the guard that was running alongside Mark responded, voice as calm as ever, “I was just informed from the underlings that there’s a load of police cars and reporters outside the hotel, scrambling after the Young Master’s .” 

    It wasn’t an exaggeration. There were a load of police cars and reporters all over Chairman Park’s hotel. People were screaming and yelling questions from all directions. Mark slowed down as he neared the building, pushing through seas of irrelevant people to get to the front. 

    “Mister Park, could you please-"

    “Chairman Park, how do you feel-"

    “What exactly is going on within the Park Group-"

    “Are you doing anything illegal, Mister Park-"

    Mark stood and watched as reporters swarmed up like bees attracted to fresh honey. They were pushing each other and shoving their microphones up in the infamous Chairman’s face. The detectives and police officers had a hard time paving a clear path from the front of the hotel to the opened door of a police car. Mark stood and watched a handcuffed Jinyoung, in his dress shirt from last night’s event, with his piercing cold eyes, walked down with light footsteps and an oozing amount of power and perfect grace tracing the fine features of his beautiful, emotionless, face. 

    A sense of protectiveness exploded within Mark. Without a second thought, the agent hurled himself forwards, leaving the crowd behind him as he break into the cleared path. Fearlessly, Mark held out an arm, stopping the officers on their tracks. 

    “Excuse me, but where are you taking Chairman Park?” The bodyguard asked, voice monotoned, matching the colorless aura of the Chairman. 

    One the detective smiled, a bit too proudly, as if he’s been waiting for the fall of this ominous archangel, “evidence came in and now Mister Chairman here is going in for investigation.” 

    “If it’s for investigation, I don’t think it’s necessary to handcuff him,” Mark said, already seizing up to the officers with not a single hesitation in his steps. 

    A different detective sneered, “who are you to tell us what to do?” After looking at Mark up and down, the detective laughed, “his guard dog? You’re quite loyal, aren’t you?” 

    They laughed in Mark’s face. The agent wasn’t even one bit fazed. “It’s best for you to not make an idiot out of yourself. You don’t know who you’re talking to.” 

    “Look at this kid! So courageous!” They laughed again until their laughters died down and immediately turned solemn. “Move. We’re busy.” 

    They pushed past Mark. But before Mark could turn around and do something about this mess, his hand was firmly held. He followed up to the owner of those hands that were strongly squeezing the blood out of his. The moment Mark’s attention was put on one specific person, all noises around them seemed to be distant, disoriented, muffles. 

    Jinyoung stared as he held Mark’s hand. 

    They weren’t on that level where they could communicate through stares and tight squeezes of hands or through the electrifying sensation of a simple touch of each other’s skins. 

    But through the dark lenses of Mark’s glasses, he had knew exactly what Jinyoung wanted.