[CONTENTID1]Chase[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Chapter Nine[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

“Hey there, gorgeous.”

Jakyung ignored the man, who for the fourth time that night, tried to get her attention. She simply uncapped and slid over another beer, marking it down on the tab sheet she was keeping for him. Monday nights at a bar were usually slow, and Elysia was no exception. There were only about half the number of people present as Friday. She didn’t mind the down time, but this meant that she had to deal with more hecklers than she cared for.

“Come on, sweetheart; you can’t ignore me forever. I don’t bite, I promise.” Jakyung raised one eyebrow at him and continued to clean the glass she was holding.

“Well, I do.” Jakyung glanced behind the man to see a Baekhyun walking up to the bar. He sat in the seat one over from the man, and Jinri poured him the same drink she’d remembered from Friday. He downed it in one go and asked for another.

“What’s got your in a bunch?” She asked, pouring him a refill. He slumped across the bar and pouted, and action that was very different than the glares she had seen from him so far.

“Nothing that getting -faced can’t cure,” he mumbled. Jakyung let out a short laugh and the man who had been trying to hit on sighed dramatically.

“Oh, so you talk to him and not me? I’m devastated, love,” the man said. Both Baekhyun and Jakyung looked at him.

“ off,” they said at the same time. The man, startled at their synchronicity, pulled a face and walked away from the bar, presumably to find a partner on the dance floor. Baekhyun resumed his pouting, and Jakyung continued to clean glasses, refilling Baekhyun’s even before he asked.

“Kai said he is sorry and he will buy you lunch tomorrow,” Baekhyun said, well into his fourth drink. He was going slower now, but he certainly wasn’t in the mood to stop. “I didn’t know you had a date with him. You certainly move fast.” He spat the last sentence, but Jakyung was not going to take his bait.

“I wasn’t expecting anything from him,” she told him. “Not that it’s any of your business.” Baekhyun scoffed, and sat up in his chair.

“You’re damn right it’s my business,” he said. “I need to take care of my dongsaeng. You’re bad news.”

“Some bad news I must be if you’re checking me out.” Jakyung leaned against the bar, propping her chin up on her hand.

“I never said I was checking you out,” Baekhyun protested. What was it with him and alcohol around this woman that made him so loose in the tongue?

“So what do you call it when you’re ogling my every time I walk down to the other end of the bar?”

“Your dress has something on it!”

“Yeah; your eyes, you ert.”

“I have a name, you know,” Baekhyun grumbled, resorting back to pouting. “Byun Baekhyun.”

Jakyung snickered. “Byuntae Baek.” Baekhyun glared at her, but it didn’t hold the same conviction as it had before.

“You’re annoying.”

“Yeah, and so are you.”

+++

Because there were classes the next day, Yungmin allowed Jakyung to leave a bit early. She protested that she didn’t mind staying until close, but since it was slow, Yungmin told her he would lock up for the night.

As she headed to her car, she got the distinct feeling that he was being followed. She knew it wasn’t Baekhyun because he’d left an hour before she did. None of the other guys had shown up, so she knew it couldn’t possibly be them. Had her parents hired more guards to come check up on her?

She risked a quick glance over her shoulder and saw a man several feet away, staring right at her. She stopped walking and stared at him openly. Well this was new. Her appraisal seemed to catch him off guard and Jakyung took this time to scoff.

“You can tell my parents I’m fine, Hanbuyl!” she shouted at the man. “I don’t need them to send any more babysitters. I’m keeping up my end of the bargain, so they should keep up theirs!”

The man named Hanbuyl continued to walk closer, so Jakyung decided that now would be a better time than any to run for her car. Seeing this, he began to rapidly close the distance between them, following her movements as she ducked and weaved through the cars.

“Jakyung!”

She stumbled and smashed her shoulder against the spoiler on the back of a car as she heard someone shout her name. She continued running though, not daring to spare a glance behind her knowing that the man was still hot on her tail. She was getting close to her car, but cursed public parking lots that anyone could park in. It made running from bad guys ten times harder.

“Jakyung, get in!” She had to skid to a stop when a forest green mustang pulled up in front of her, flinging the passenger side door open. She slid across the hood, and swung her body into the car, the door jolting close with the force of the car peeling out of the lot. This time, Jakyung did look back out of the window and saw Hanbuyl standing there; speaking into a cell phone and watching the car disappear out of sight. Jakyung turned to her savior.

“Your timing is amazing,” she breathed, rubbing her shoulder. It was in a lot of pain, but she figured being in pain but free of the grasp of some hired goon was better than nothing.

“Do you know who that was?” Chen asked, his face serious. Jakyung noticed for the first time, how sharp his jaw line was, and how when he wasn’t smiling, he actually looked dangerous.

“Yeah, he’s a… friend of my parents,” she told him. “They send him when they want to drag me to some event they know I won’t show up to otherwise.”

“Are you absolutely sure?” Chen asked, his voice hard. Jakyung could deal with his serious face, but she didn’t know how to handle his harsh tone. He had only eve