MARCH 17, 2018 | SATURDAY

Joohyun and Taehyung napped for a good hour before the former stirred in her sleep, unknowingly nuzzling Taehyung's neck as she began waking up. Opening her eyes and realizing who she was getting comfortable with, she widened her eyes and held her breath; this was not happening, she thought. She slowly turned her head to look at Taehyung, who was clearly still fast asleep with his head leaning on hers for support. Her breath hitched at the realization of how close her small lips were to his face, and she swallowed hard. She jumped a little bit as Taehyung cleared his throat and spoke, resulting in a punch in the chest from the female.

"So is this the part where you kiss me now or -- ow!" 

Joohyun just got up and stomped away, leaving Taehyung in the sand to just stare after her as she walked away. He didn't bother calling after her, as he felt that the girl needed at least some time away from him not teasing her about her obvious bashfulness that she was still stubbornly trying to hide. He chuckled, shaking his head as he lied down onto the warm sand, fully taking in the summer rays and resuming his peaceful nap.

The Alpha daughter's mind was still racing, walking wherever her feet took her so that she could get her mind off of Taehyung. If Taehyung didn't already know, which he probably did, now he knew that Joohyun liked him -- at least, somewhat. She wouldn't have let just any guy wrap his arms around her waist and hold her as they fell asleep together, even if she was drunk; she knew better. But, she had to admit, Taehyung was right. The truth came out, even if it wasn't blatantly explained, but it showed through her actions. She could have stopped Taehyung from even laying a hand on her, and she could have most definitely gotten up and left the situation at any given time ... but she didn't. She felt that she might have been more mad at the fact that she was showing vulnerability out in the open rather than being mad at the more important reason why she should be angry, which was that she was getting too close to Taehyung -- and the fact that she wasn't mad over that reason, confirmed Joohyun's ever denying feelings for Taehyung. 

"Joohyun, where are you going?" Dongwoo called over to his sister when he noticed she was walking up the beach alone.

Joohyun turned to where she heard her name and instantly glared at her brother, and then continuing on her merry way.

"Wait, Joohyun! I'm sorry!" Dongwoo laughed, forgetting that Joohyun was still probably mad that he had thrown her into the water. He jogged over to her, putting his arm over her shoulders. "Let's go parasailing together, huh? There's a boat that's leaving right now, from the dock over there, let's go! It'll be fun!" 

"You're really sorry?" Joohyun mumbled from under her breath, looking up at her troublesome older brother with a pout. 

"Yeah, I really am, knucklehead," he chuckled, ruffling her hair, "after all, it seemed that your little boyfriend took care of you after the fact anyway -- ow!" Dongwoo couldn't ever pass an opportunity to make fun of his little sister, since he had to admit, it did bring him a lot of joy. But, he would forget about the aftermath of his jokes, however, when he would get a straight punch to the gut everytime after. As he clutched his gut and winced, he saw Joohyun walking off, and he sighed, giving in to stop teasing Joohyun -- at least, only for a little while. "Wait Joohyun! Come back! I'm really sorry!"

After Dongwoo begged for Joohyun's forgiveness only about a hundred times over, she agreed with him to board the small boat to go parasailing. Myungsoo was even dragged from his little lounge chair under a shady umbrella to tag along with them because Joohyun nagged him to since she was certain that he wasn't having fun whatsover, when he was actually having a nice, peaceful time to himself reading a book while isolated from everyone else.

As Joohyun was helping Myungsoo attach on his life vest, Dongwoo and their father were being secured to the parasail harness, ready to take off. Joohyun looked up and waved at the two. Her father seemed to be excited, as he was always more of an adrenaline junkie, but Dongwoo on the other hand, was screaming all the way up into the sky. 

"Wasn't Dongwoo the one that suggested parasailing?" Myungsoo asked, as Joohyun laughed and nodded.

"You know him, he talks a big game and ends up being a chicken in the end," the female replied, the both of them chuckling as they watched their father and brother from up in the sky.

As the boat slowed down and the pair seemed to be reeled back towards the boat, Joohyun looked over at Myungsoo.

"Not gonna lie ... I'm kinda nervous," Joohyun laughed nervously, biting on her lip as she turned to look up at the sky.

"Me too," Myungsoo let out a rare laugh, and Joohyun turned to him and smiled.

"Really?" She didn't think anything scared him, after all, all of her brothers had made it clear to her before that he was the most fearless out of all of them.

Before they knew it, Dongwoo and Jungwoo had returned back from sailing in the sky, and Joohyun and Myungsoo were up next. 

"Ahh I'm so scared!" Joohyun laughed, grabbing a hold of her harness.

"It's scary going up but it's so cool, you'll like it, Joohyun!" Dongwoo yelled from the front of the boat, giving her words of encouragement. 

Joohyun looked over at Myungsoo, holding out her hand. Myungsoo looked over at Joohyun, who was giving him a reassuring smile despite being just as scared as he was. He returned her smile as he grabbed ahold of her hand, and their grip tightened as the boat started up and began moving, the sail flapping open and pulling Joohyun and Myungsoo backwards into the sky.

"Holy !" Joohyun screamed as the two felt like they were flying backwards, and they grew higher and higher into the sky until the boat resembled a small toy in a bathtub. 

Myungsoo, as usual, didn't show any reaction whatsover, although Joohyun could tell that he was having fun just by the way he looked at the scenery around them with that small, almost undetectable smile of his.

"Wow, it's really pretty," Joohyun gushed, looking down at the clear blue water, "I wish we could stay here longer, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," Myungsoo nodded, "we should buy an island here or something." 

"I'm pretty sure you can't just buy an island here, Myungsoo," Joohyun laughed as her brother just shrugged. 

Joohyun was satisfied that Myungsoo was smiling a lot more, he seemed to finally be letting loose, but she still wondered why now, of all times, would he finally be comfortable to show his emotions. 

"You okay?" Myungsoo shook their intertwined hands, and Joohyun smiled at him and nodded.

"Just thinking about some things."

"Like what?" 

Joohyun blinked, not knowing what to say. Myungsoo never really was a good listener, or, he wasn't ever the person she would go to rant or gossip to, so she never really had any deep or heart to heart conversations with him at all. So, the fact that he was asking what she was thinking about took her aback. 

"Just ... how much fun you're having," Joohyun replied, "it makes me really happy."

"Really?" Myungsoo asked, "Why?"

"Hmm ..." she hummed, "cause you're so monotonous all the time, it's nice to see you smiling more."

Myungsoo didn't say anything, and she looked over to see if he was going to say anything else, but he was just looking at the scenery. He turned his head to her a few seconds later, though, and gave her a smile just so that he could see her smile back at him.

Dongwoo, Jungwoo, Joohyun, and Myungsoo were being driven in a golf cart to their living quarters, which was located alongside a long dock that had comfortably sized huts built right along the sides of it. Dongwoo joined their father outside on the back patio for a smoke while Joohyun cuddled up in bed for a nap and Myungsoo was sitting on his bed, continuing where he left off in the book he was reading. 

"Psst, Myungsoo," Myungsoo looked over to his left to see Joohyun, who was hugging a pillow, whisper over at him.

"Yes?" He replied, simply.

"You know Taehyung, right? Delta's Underboss?"

Myungsoo clenched his jaw and just nodded, hiding any sort of discomfort he felt from hearing the word 'Delta' in general. Ever since he had tortured the hostage Jungwoo had captured from last month's incident at their meeting, his opinion on Delta had drastically changed. Despite his father's belief that Delta had nothing to do with Joohyun's attempted kidnapping, Myungsoo completely disagreed and believed the hostage. Why would the hostage still stick by a lie to the end, even when he had a gun pointed right at him? It didn't make any sense to Myungsoo, and although there was no solid evidence that Delta was the true mastermind behind the incident, he went with his gut feeling, and that was that Delta was bad news.

"Well ... he asked me to meet up with him tonight to talk about something. I trust him but ... not totally, you know?" Joohyun explained, not being able to read Myungsoo's stone cold face, "Could you come with me? I'll talk to him alone but I want you to watch me from afar just in case anything happens." 

Myungsoo didn't speak for a little bit. He knew that his younger sister was close to Taehyung, and after what happened the night that Jungwoo had killed the hostage, he didn't have a very good opinion of him. He knew that their father had told Joohyun of the footage he found and that she should be careful around Delta, but she didn't seem, to Myungsoo at least, to care very much about her father's words since she was willing to meet up with Taehyung alone. 

"Yeah, I will," he nodded without looking up from his book.

"Thanks, Myungsoo," Joohyun smiled, "I'll give you a cue to leave once I feel like everything's okay. I don't want you to be bored and watch us the whole time when everything's okay."

Myungsoo just hummed in response, and Joohyun smiled to herself as she pulled the covers over her and nuzzled her face into the pillow, trying to fall asleep. Myungsoo peeked over at her, sighing. "If only you knew, Joohyun ..." the man thought to himself, but shook his thoughts away, as Joohyun would find out about what was on his mind eventually. Right now wasn't the best time for that. 

It was past dinner time. Joohyun and Myungsoo were lounging outside the patio while they waited for Dongwoo and their father to fall asleep. Once they were certain that the two had drifted off to sleep, the two snuck out the front door and walked along the long dockside and towards the beach. 

"Are you sure you want to meet up with him?" Myungsoo was, surprisingly, the first to speak since they had left the hut. 

"Well yeah, we have things to talk about," Joohyun replied vaguely, and Myungsoo didn't like the vagueness at all.

"Like what ..." he pushed, and heard Joohyun sigh.

"Look we can't talk about that now, we're not even supposed to be outside at this hour," she whispered back, "I'll tell you after, okay?" When they reached the top of the beach, she spotted Taehyung sitting by himself in the middle of the sand, staring off into the water. She turned to Myungsoo and whispered once again. "Stay here and keep yourself hidden. I'll stretch my arms as a cue for you that everything's fine, and then you can go back to the hut and get some sleep. Sound good?" 

Myungsoo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. Go on, hurry," he nudged her as she gave him one last smile before jogging off to meet with Taehyung.

"Hey, sorry," Joohyun called, as Taehyung turned around to see her walking towards him, "I had to wait for my father and brothers to fall asleep."

"I was starting to think that you wouldn't come," he laughed, watching her sit next to him. 

"So ... what is it that you wanted to talk like civil adults about?" Joohyun raised an eyebrow, bumping her shoulder against his. 

"Hmm ..." Taehyung hummed, his sentence trailing off into silence for a bit. Joohyun looked up at him in curiosity, and it seemed that he was trying to see how he could word what he was trying to say. "What are we?"

Joohyun was taken aback by his bold question, and she looked downwards while she pulled her legs together to hug them. 

"Hmm ... I don't know," Joohyun shrugged. She didn't want to say anything until he said something about the tension between them first.

"Okay well I'll just say this first so you can feel comfortable enough to say whatever you're feeling because that's probably what's going on in your head right now," Taehyung began, "I really, really like you, Joohyun. I kinda figured that out when I started thinking about you more often than I should ... and whenever I'm around you, I try to figure out how to be in your presence and not be madly in love with everything you do."

Joohyun's eyes never left his as he poured his heart out to her, and in just that time span alone, the look of passion and adoration in his eyes told her that she was wrong this whole time. 

"Whelp," Joohyun pretended to yawn as she stretched her arms in the air, making sure she held them up long enough for Myungsoo to see them, "thanks for the cute bedtime story but I gotta hit the hay, it's late, you know." 

She was about to stand up, but Taehyung grabbed her hand.

"Funny," Taehyung laughed sarcastically, "it's your turn to talk."

Joohyun chuckled as she sat back down, her hand still embraced with Taehyung's. She looked behind her briefly to see a shadow walk back towards the dock, and she turned back to Taehyung to continue their conversation. 

"Okay, fine. You've been on my mind probably as much as I've been in yours," she admitted, "I've just been cautious ... you understand, don't you?" 

"Of course I do," he nodded, "but I'm here to tell you right now that there's nothing to be scared of. I'll take care of you and protect you, even if you think you don't need any of that. I'll work my way into your heart, if you let me."

Joohyun smiled, tucking a hair behind her ear. "Taehyung," she sighed, "I really like you, believe me. But you have to understand that I have guys feign interest in me all the time just to get close to my father. I've come to detect that kind of behavior far before I get anywhere with the guy, and I don't think you would do that to me, but the wall I've built is still up. If you stay by my side, I don't want to have to bring that upon you." Joohyun wasn't going to solidify anything with Taehyung until she had enough proof that his Family wasn't involved in her attempted kidnapping. Of course, at this point, she didn't think it was them at all, but she knew better than to blindly trust anyone that was friendly to her, even if it was someone she was falling in love with.

Taehyung sighed, but he understood. It wasn't easy for Joohyun to give in to him when she had walls built up to shield herself from guys like him, but at least he got the confirmation that they shared the same feelings. "I understand where you're coming from, I really do, but I'm not gonna let some guy swoop you away from me or anything," he mumbled, causing Joohyun to laugh.

"Things can just stay the way they are now until I feel a hundred percent comfortable, if you're okay with waiting for me," she whispered, gently holding his chin in her slender touch.

Taehyung smirked, looking down at her dark eyes. "I could wait for you forever, and don't you forget it." He didn't feel too bad about waiting for Joohyun after he saw the look she gave him as she tilted her head, staring into his brown orbs with the most loving, adorable look on her face.

"Here's something to remember me by while you're waiting," Joohyun replied, and without warning, she leaned in to kiss him, her lips gently pressing up against his.

Taehyung widened his eyes, not expecting to get a kiss from her that quick. Joohyun giggled as she pulled away, seeing his reaction. 

"Can I get another one? My whole face was numb so I didn't feel it," Taehyung bargained, and Joohyun burst into a fit of laughter, shaking her head.

"Nope, not until next time, sweetie," she chuckled, ceasing her laughter when she saw his eyes darken a bit. 

Taehyung leaned towards her ear to whisper to her even though they were the only two there. He wanted an excuse to have her feel his breath on her neck. 

"My tongue can do a better job at teasing you than your words can, just so you know."

Joohyun bit her lip to stop her growing smile, although it proved to fail as Taehyung pulled away and saw her reaction. 

"You can show me some other time babe ... you'll have to wait in the meantime. Good things come to boys who wait."

Taehyung could feel his fingers twitch as Joohyun gave him a playful wink. She resisted the urge to kiss him again and stood up instead.

"Good night, Taehyung," she squeezed his hand before slowly letting go, "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Joohyun left Taehyung speechless as he watched her leave, not turning back to look at him even once.

is it hot in here or is it just the double update hehehoho