JANUARY 6, 2018 | SATURDAY

Cold, chilling breezes swept throughout Seoul as soon as the sun rose to start the day. It was a normal, cold January day in South Korea. To anyone else, it would mean that it was an ordinary Saturday. To the members of the mafia families, however, it was a special day.

Today was the day that the families had organized an event that was to take place once a year starting this year. The Alpha Boss had suggested to host an event called the "Family Formal" whose purpose was to gather any and all members of the mafia families in South Korea in order to form stronger bonds with one another and become united. In a way, it resembled that of a typical family reunion -- only, this "reunion" consisted of ten mafia families across the country. 

"Dongwoo!" Joohyun screamed from upstairs, her shrill voice echoing throughout the estate. 

"What!" Dongwoo yelled back from downstairs, checking himself out in the mirror to make sure his tie was straight.

"Is my purse down there?" Joohyun replied. "No!" Dongwoo called back without even looking for Joohyun's purse.

"Can you two children pipe the down? The formal hasn't even started and I'm already getting a headache from you two," Sunggyu exhaled loudly as he walked past Dongwoo to take a seat on the couch next to Sungjong and Woohyun to wait for everyone else to finish getting ready.

"Hey, it's not like you're not used to this," Woohyun snickered, only to receive a roll of the eyes from Sunggyu. 

Within a couple minutes, the rest of Sunggyu's brothers had arrived downstairs, leaving Joohyun to be the last one left. Although Sunggyu and his brothers weren't necessarily related, per say, they grew up together and were practically brothers from the moment they were all adopted by the fallen Beta Boss, Baekho. After their adoptive father's death, Alpha Boss Jungwoo had taken all of them under his wing with no hesitation. From then on, all of the boys had felt indebted to Jungwoo. Without him, they would have gone back to the foster home and most likely be separated. From the moment they were old enough, Jungwoo had raised them to become the perfect men to serve the largest Family in South Korea. 

The boys looked up from their phones as they heard the sounds of clacking heels trail down the stairs.

"About time, Cinderella, we're gonna be late at this rate," Sungyeol remarked sarcastically, receiving a roll of the eyes from Joohyun. 

"We're going to be right on time, Oppa, don't get your in a bunch," Joohyun sneered back at him, the two sticking their tongues out at each other.

Joohyun was just a few months old when her father had taken the boys under his care, so she had grown up with them practically her entire life. Although she was aware of their past and that none of them were biologically related to her, she still saw all of them as her brothers. It was the concept of who she grew up with and what relationships she established with them that mattered over bloodline.

"Dongwoo," Joohyun glared at the male from the bottom of the staircase, "do you remember when you told me that my purse wasn't downstairs?"

"Yeah," he replied simply, not bothering to look up from his phone.

Joohyun bit the inside of her cheek as she held up the small purse that was lying on the table right where Dongwoo had stood.

"What. Is. This?" Joohyun spoke with clenched teeth.

Most of the boys had gulped. Joohyun wasn't very ... cooperative or lady-like when she was angry, nor was she herself. It was if the Devil himself harvested his own, retched soul into Joohyun's body.

As Dongwoo looked up from his phone for the first time since Joohyun had called him out, his face went white, as if he had just seen a ghost.

"I-I'm sorry, Joohyun, I didn't see it I swear --"

"When do you ever look? How can I rely on you? Why would Appa expect you to follow me around when you can't even listen to directions?!" Joohyun exploded, immediately running off on Dongwoo, who had done nothing but sink in his seat. He looked to his brothers for help, but they just turned away and bat their eyes while they listened to Joohyun continue to tell off their unfortunate brother.

Meanwhile, at the Delta estate, Taehyung and his crew members were preparing to head out for the Family Formal as well.

"Yah, Hyung, is it weird to be excited?" Jungkook smiled cheekily at the older male, who raised an eyebrow in response.

"Yes," Taehyung replied, getting into their transporting vehicle, "why in the hell are you excited?"

The others snickered as they followed Taehyung into the vehicle, Jungkook continuing to talk.

"Well this is our first big social event, and social events mean that there's going to be girls."

Everyone rolled their eyes, but Jungkook brushed everyone off while Hoseok decided to chime in.

"You want to try and hit on girls at an event where there will only be mafia members at. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Why not? Dangerous girls are hot," Jungkook chuckled.

He wasn't phased when he saw Jimin and Yoongi face palm from his peripheral vision.

"But in all seriousness, Jungkook," Taehyung changed the direction of the conversation, "this isn't the right place to be trying to hook up at. Trust me."

"But don't you know people in the mafia meet their spouses from the same business? It's acceptable."

"Your playboy antics aren't acceptable, control yourself please. We're the new guys on the block, we can't be making fools of ourselves." 

Jungkook huffed and crossed his arms across his chest, sulking.

"You just don't know how to have fun, Hyung."

", where's my phone?" Joohyun clicked her tongue as she rummaged through her purse.

She had excused herself to the restroom, with Woohyun waiting outside for her. 

"I might have left it in the car ..." Joohyun mentally scolded herself for being forgetful as she sighed and made her way out of the restroom.

Joohyun had walked out of the restroom in such a rush that she ran into someone as soon as she stepped out of the restroom, and collided with another person. She jumped in surprise, her purse dropping to the floor.

"I'm so sorry," Joohyun immediately apologized, kneeling down to gather her belongings that had fallen out of her purse.

Taehyung was caught off guard when someone had collided with him, and felt bad that he had caused the woman  to drop her purse, along with the belongings inside it. He kneeled down next to her and helped her pick up a few of her items, waving by her apology.

"You don't have to apologize, it was an accident," he chuckled, looking over at her as he handed the items over to her. 

As soon as she had looked back over at him, they shared a brief stare before Joohyun cleared and looked down at his hands to grab her lipstick and hand sanitizer. 

"Thank you," she thanked, shoving her belongings quickly back into her purse with a faint shade of pink on her face. 

Before Taehyung could say anything else, the woman had clicked her purse closed and speed walked away from him, seeming to be in a rush to leave the building. Taehyung just stared after her, wondering if he would ever get the chance to see her again. She was absolutely beautiful and hadn't been this intrigued over a female in a while. 

"Taehyung?" a voice called from behind him, causing him to turn around and see Jin jogging over to him, "where were you? The event's about to start."

"I'll tell you about it later."

Joohyun and Woohyun were practically running back to the event room after Woohyun had received a text from Sungjong saying that the Boss was going to be giving a his speech soon. Woohyun had left Joohyun briefly to check if she had left her phone in the car, which she had, since she was taking a while in the restroom. 

"Next time, don't leave me by myself no matter what. Don't you remember what Appa says?" Joohyun mumbled as they made a turn towards another hallway that would lead to the event room.

"Sorry, I thought you would take longer," he apologized, sighing.

He knew that Joohyun was hard to convince when it came to her safety. Ever since the boys were young, Jungwoo had instilled in their minds that their number one priority was to protect Joohyun. She was the only blood that he had left, which meant that she was the only person that would serve as a good bargaining chip to Jungwoo. Although no kidnapping attempts whatsover were ever made towards Joohyun, she was paranoid and nothing could ever change that.

Joohyun ended up not replying to Woohyun, as the two had already made their way back to the event room. They stealthily slipped into the room unnoticed, as everyone gave their undivided attention to Jungwoo, who was up at the front of the room giving a small speech.

"It's an honor for me to be in the presence of Families all involved in similar, if not the same, businesses. This formal is for us all to establish a good-standing relationship with all the other Families across the country in order to keep running our businesses successfully and without the involvement of the government. I would like to thank The Commission* for agreeing to host an event like this, and I would also like to thank everyone for their support and company. Here's to a more united future!" Jungwoo raised his glass of champagne, as did the rest of the room with cheers and yells.

"I'm gonna need more of this if I want to have fun," Joohyun snickered as Sunggyu rolled his eyes at her.

"Not the time to let out your alcoholic ways, Joohyun," he commented. This time, it was Joohyun's turn to roll her eyes.

As the different families mingled and socialized with one another, Joohyun avoided any interaction with anyone else by trailing behind her brothers, who were actually taking the initiative in talking to others. She assumed that it must have been her father pressuring them to make a good name for them, since this event was the perfect opportunity to show off. 

While half of the brothers split to socialize with other families, Joohyun stayed with Sunggyu's group. 

"What number glass is that?" Sungjong leaned into Joohyun's ear and mumbled.

Joohyun ignored Sungjong's question, taking a sip from her glass.

"Joohyun," he said sternly, and Joohyun groaned inwardly.

"The third one," she replied, brushing off Sungjong's sigh, "don't worry, this is my last one. I'm not even buzzed, I'll be fine."

Joohyun wasn't really one for social events, as she preferred to stay in her own little bubble, but she knew that she had to eventually sociailize because, after all, she was a mafia boss's daughter and it wouldn't look good if she just ignored everyone -- so, she decided that she needed to loosen up a little bit with the help of more glasses of champagne. 

"Taehyung," Delta Boss Sungmin had pulled his son over to him as soon as he saw him walk away from a brief conversation with some members of the Zeta Family, "this is my son and underboss, Taehyung." The Alpha and Delta Boss were talking briefly, and the topic of their children was brought up, causing Sungmin to pull his son into their conversation.

Taehyung's attention diverted to his father, who had suddenly pulled him over to stand next to him. He held out his hand confidently, with a small smile on his face.

"It's an honor to meet you, Sir," he said, shaking Jungwoo's hand firmly as he reached for his hand.

"Pleasure's all mine, I didn't know that Sungmin had a son," he chuckled before letting for of the younger one's hand.

Jungwoo turned his head briefly to mumble something to what seemed to be someone who had worked for him, before turning back to Sungmin and Taehyung, continuing their conversation.

"Joohyun, your father is asking for you," Myungsoo murmured into Joohyun's ear from behind, causing Joohyun to jump in surprise. 

"Yah, how many times do I have to tell you to not sneak up on me like that ..." She gave him a glare, only to see him chuckle at her response.

Myungsoo, out of all her brothers, was the quietest one, and the only brother that she wasn't exactly that close to. He was always distant, even when they were children. Despite that, she knew that he cared for her as well as the rest of their brothers, as he would show some minor signs of affection here and there, but even then, it was rare.

Joohyun downed the rest of her champagne and handed the empty glass to Myungsoo. "Wish me luck, and hope that I don't say anything stupid," she chuckled hearing him sigh.

Jungwoo paused mid-conversation as he made eye contact with his daughter, who was a couple feet away. "Oh! Here she is," he smiled as Joohyun walked to his side, "this is my daughter, Joohyun. She's one of our Family's most important Capos*, and my pride and joy."

Joohyun put on her most flattering smile as she held out her hand to shake the hand of the Delta Boss, but paused as she moved over to shake the hand of the man standing next to him.

"This is Sungmin, Delta Boss, and his son and underboss, Taehyung." The words of Joohyun's father never reached Joohyun's ears, as she had suddenly thought back to the moment of her dropping her purse after colliding with quite a handsome man after realizing that man she had bumped into was the same one standing in front of her. She didn't think too much of what happened at the time, since she was rushing to find her phone and get back to the event room in time to watch her father give his introductory speech. But, now that she was in front of said man, she was unusually weak in the knees. If anyone knew Joohyun, they knew that she was a feisty and fiery individual, always outspoken, and never afraid to voice her opinions and wants. She never had a problem with guys either, as she was usually confident when it came to flirting or getting what she wanted, but there was something about Taehyung that piqued her interest and rendered her mind blank.

Joohyun let Taehyung shake her hand as her father continued to speak.

"They're the family that had moved here from the states about a year or two ago, remember?" 

Joohyun cleared , shaking herself out of her deep thoughts. She smiled at Taehyung for a moment before she pulled her hand away to put back to her side. 

"Yes," she nodded, looking over at her father and then back at the two men, "it's a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to Seoul, I hope the city has been treating you well."

"The pleasure is all ours," Sungmin began as he diverted the conversation and shifted his stare to Jungwoo, still rambling while Taehyung spoke to Joohyun.

"The city has definitely been treating me well," Taehyung's eyes met Joohyun's, their stare igniting something that the two couldn't really put a finger on, "especially tonight."

* The Commission: the governing body of the Korean mafia, formed in 1920. consists of each Family's boss for a total of ten members.

* Capo: a Family member who leads a crew of soldiers.