[CONTENTID1]Facade[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Chapter Ten[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

“I don’t know how I feel about this.”

Chen blinked the sleep out of his eyes, the early morning sun making it hard to see. It took him a moment, but when his vision had cleared, he came face to face with Kai, who was standing over him, arms crossed. He reeled back suddenly, banging his head against the arm of the couch.

“What the Kai?” Chen asked groggily, rubbing the sore spot on his head. “How did you even get in here?”

“Yeah, Kai; how the hell did you get into my apartment?” Both men turned to see a very bed-ruffled Jakyung staring at them from the doorway of her bed room. At some point during the night, she must have woken and changed he clothes because now she was clad in nothing but the shirt Kai lent her and a pair of socks. Even then, the buttons on the shirt were done up wrong, and it hung suggestively off her body. Kai waggled his eyebrows and she frowned.

“I have an extremely developed echoic memory,” he said, shrugging. “I hear it once, I know it for life.” Jakyung stared at him blankly for a moment and then moved her gaze over to Chen.

“I thought you left already.”

“I was too lazy to move,” Chen explained. “And besides, I wanted to see what you look like in the morning. I guess I got lucky.” He made a show of looking her up and down and then winked playfully. Jakyung made a gagging noise and shuffled back into her room.

“You’re both lecherous rats!” She called over her shoulder.

Kai plopped into the armchair and stared Chen down. Chen could sense that something was wrong, and sat up straight on the couch.

“I’m not sure what happened between you two last night,” Kai began. “But don’t mess it up, alright?”

“Nothing happened last night. She fell asleep almost as soon as we got here,” Chen told him. Kai seemed to relax at this information, making Chen suspicious. “Why so much concern all of a sudden?”

“Don’t you think it’s a little weird that this girl shows up out of nowhere, rich as the hills, and no one knows who she is?” Kai said, dropping his voice to a whisper, and leaning forward in his seat. “She said her brother pays for this place. I tried searching for information and it turned up nothing. Absolutely no mention of her or her family – anywhere.”

“Well she didn’t appear out of nothing,” Chen reasoned. He hadn’t really thought about it like that, but then that’s why he wasn’t in charge of gathering information on people – he was more of a combat tactic kind of guy.

“How did you meet up with her anyway?” Kai asked. “She’s not the most easy to convince.” He remembered how much convincing it took to get her to come to the party. If she hadn’t needed a ride home that time, she probably would have told him to off.

“She was being chased by someone,” Chen told Kai. Kai perked up at this. “Some guy named Hanbuyl, who is was a “friend” of her parents.” Something about dragging her to an event she doesn’t want to go to.” His eyes darted to her still closed bedroom door.

“Interesting.” Kai stood and took in the décor of the room, pausing when he spotted a picture of Jakyung with a guy about Kris’s age. Jakyung looked fairly disgruntled in the photo, but the guy had a big smile on his face. Kai quickly snapped a photo of the picture with his phone, just as Jakyung’s door reopened. She came out fully dressed, looking more refreshed than she had twenty minutes before.

“You animals are still here?” she asked, walking into the kitchen.

“Aw Noona, that hurts,” Kai said, feigning hurt. “I thought you loved me.”

“And I thought I told you not to call me Noona. You make it sound so…” she trailed off and pulled a disgusted face, at which Chen laughed. Truthfully, he was more curious about her now than he had been before Kai shared the results of his little background check.

They followed her into the kitchen where she was preparing a pot of coffee. She didn’t spare them a glance as she worked, and they were content with watching her. When she finally had her steaming mug of coffee, she glanced at the wall clock and then at them.

“Don’t you two have class or something?” she asked, using her breath to cool the hot liquid. Kai shook his head and Chen shrugged.

“I have the same schedule as you, remember?” He beamed at her and she sighed. “You can ride in with me.”

“Right. My car is still at Elysia,” Jakyung remembered. She absentmindedly rubbed her shoulder and sighed. “ Hanbyul.”

“What happened to your shoulder? Who’s Hanbuyl?” Kai asked. He was trying to read her body language but it was almost as if Jakyung had been trained in being completely unreadable. She didn't give away anything, not even her eyes changed from their normally mildly annoyed state.

“I hit it when I was running away from that lunatic last night,” she muttered angrily. “Why can’t they just send me an invitation like a normal person?”

“Because they know you’ll never go!” A voice sounded from the living room. Chen and Kai stiffened at the sudden intrusion, but Jakyung let out a big sigh and rolled her eyes.

“Why are you here, Taekyung?” She asked as he waltzed into the kitchen. He paused for a second while eyeing up the two men sitting at the counter.

“Hanbuyl told me you left your car at Elysia, so I thought I’d drive it back for you.” He leaned against the fridge and tilted his head at Kai and Chen. “Who are these two?”

“Awww, is Oppa jealous?” She teased, snorting into her cup of coffee. “Don’t try to act cool. It doesn’t suit you.”

“And acting cute doesn’t suit you, Jaji.” Taekyung said, his eyes never leaving Kai and Chen. Kai had an impassive look on his face as he regarded him just as coolly, while Chen wore a very obvious frown.

“Oh stuff it, Taekyung,” Jakyung scolded. “And stop glaring like that; you’ll get wrinkles and then no one will marry you.”

“I forgot how charming you are in the morning, dearest sister.” He pushed off from the counter and out a hand to Kai. “Park Taekyung. You’re not screwing around with my sister, are you?”

Jakyung reached over and slapped Taekyung in the back of the head, not caring that the movement irritated her shoulder. She fixed him a scathing glare while he just burst into laughter at the look on everyone’s faces.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Jakyung seethed. Kai and Chen seemed to find the humor in it and her reaction as they started to laugh right along with Taekyung. “I’m not doing anything with anyone, an even if I were, I wouldn’t tell the likes of you!”

“Noona is shy. It’s cute,” Kai cooed, breaking his silence. He turned to Taekyung and added, “I’m not the one who stayed the night. You should ask this guy.” He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at Chen, who shook his head and reassured him that nothing had happened between them.

“You’re damn right it didn’t. Scumbags, all three of you.” She turned her back to them, busying herself with prepping another cup of coffee while they did introductions.

“Jaji, why didn’t you tell me you made friends?” Taekyung scolded. “Mom and dad will be happy.” Jakyung let out a derisive snort.

“After they sent Hanbuyl to kidnap me, I think they would be little miffed that I didn’t go quietly,” she said.

“You never do anything quietly, Jaji,” her brother replied. “And speaking of Hanbuyl… I’m flying to the LA branch this evening. I won’t be back for a few weeks.” Jakyung’s face fell.

“So I’ll be alone?” She asked. It was odd to Chen and Kai, to watch her be so expressive and lively with her brother. They were now more curious than ever who she really was and why they’d never heard of her. Chen leaned forward and ruffled her hair.

“You’ll have me!” He said. Kai chimed in with his own reassurances, but it didn’t make Jakyung feel any better. Her frown deepened.

“You know I don’t have a choice, Jakyung,” Taekyung sighed. “Otherwise I’d be right there with you. Just make sure you don’t get into any trouble like last time.”

Jakyung didn’t answer and just nodded. For some reason, even though she had Chen and Kai volunteering their time, she was still unsatisfied. Her brother was the only person she had ever trusted besides Nana, and she hated when he went overseas. It would mean that she would have to face her parents alone, and she did not have the energy or the desire to do so.

“I’ll bring you back a pair of special sneake