“Seriously ahjussi, you need to hire an interior designer! Your house is so outdated.” The Fox sat on the edge of his armchair and looked around in repulsion, making hand gestures that clearly said I don’t want to touch anything, it might be contagious!

“Kim Jaejoong. If you came here just to complain about my lack of interest in décor, then you can leave.” Mr. Son took a sip of his tea and continued reading his paper. “State your business, I don’t have all day.”

Jaejoong cleared his throat. “I see. Well, you probably heard the news – my company is being searched for things I’d rather they didn’t find and–”

Mr. Son interrupted, “Yes, yes and I’ve already called the police department to demand they give proof before filing anything against your NINE Corporation. And if any of them do bring in evidence, they’ll be fired on the spot by my men who work there. Anything else?”

Jaejoong raised a surprised eyebrow and burst into laughter, shaking his finger at the man. “Ahjussi, you’re just as impressive as always! Always on top of your game!”

“Thank you, but I’d prefer not to be called ‘ahjussi.’ I am not all that old.”

“Not the way I see it!” Jaejoong got up and picked up a red apple from the coffee table. “You’re what? 54? 55?”

“57.” Mr. Son corrected him, still giving the paper his undivided attention.

“57! You’re so much older than you look, old man! You always looked so young. How unfortunate that old age is getting at you.” Jaejoong stressed the word ‘unfortunate’ in the most sarcastic way possible. He gazed at his own reflection in the glossy apple, admiring it.

“Just think about it, you could suddenly drop dead any day!”

Mr. Son didn’t respond. Sooner or later the Fox would get bored and just leave to be a pain-in-the- somewhere else.

“What will happen then? I wonder...” Jaejoong continued as he circled the room, swabbing the surface of the bookshelves with his finger and then flickering away the dust in utter disgust. “I wonder what family will inherit the Leadership next…”

“The Leadership isn’t going anywhere.” Mr. Son corrected him.

Jaejoong smirked, reading the book titles.

“You seem to be so confident in your heir…” He gripped the apple. “Speaking of which…Think fast!”

All of a sudden he hurled the apple right at Naeun’s head, who was quietly standing in the corner the whole time.

Without blinking, she caught it with one hand. Without taking her eyes off of Jaejoong, she took a juicy bite out of the apple.

“Yes. I do have great confidence in her.” Mr. Son proudly proclaimed, still not looking up.

Jaejoong’s temples throbbed. He went over to take a better look at the brat who was about to take his future away from him. He hovered over her, squinting.

Oh, how much he hated her. How much he loathed her poker face. How much he despised the way she could survive anything like a low-life cockroach. Jaejoong didn’t care whether or not it was immature for a man his age to blindly detest a little girl.

He didn’t care.

Because the day the Witch boss suddenly brought some little to be the heir, Jaejoong didn’t see anything human in Naeun’s eyes. The Witch boss never planned to have an heir, and not once had he mentioned a desire for the Witch family to remain in Leadership. He promised to pass over the rule to the Nine-Tailed Fox family! Everything was already pre-planned!

And then this ‘Naeun’ comes along.

What exactly changed ahjussi’s mind?

Son Naeun stared up at Jaejoong in the same hateful manner.

But the basis of her dislike was much simpler – Kim Jaejoong was a wimp who wanted power without working for it. She sometimes wondered why he was even an heir in the first place.

“Aren’t you going to bow?”

“Bowing signifies respect, which I don't have for you.” Naeun nonchalantly replied.

“Watch it.” Jaejoong hissed.

“Thank you,” Naeun answered with a smile. She handed him back the bitten apple. “You should too Mr. Kim, if you don’t want to deal with the police again.”

 “How considerate of you. I see you’ve matured.” Jaejoong’s expression remained cold as he spoke bitterly.

Suddenly Doojoon coughed from the corner. “Cough – but you haven’t – cough cough”

“Oh, how funny. I suppose this is the humor of people from the lower class nowadays?” Jaejoong shot a glare at the cheerful secretary, but the latter just smiled back innocently.

“Humor? What humor? Oh, you mean the time I beat you at long-range shooting, cards, chess…”

Jaejoong was losing his cool. “YAH! You cheated half those times!”

“I cheated once, and that was because I got tired of you cheating…” Doojoon obviously wanted to go on attacking his old enemy, but Mr. Son interrupted him.

“Yoon, quit it. Get me my car.” Though dissatisfied, Doojoon left the room, winking at Naeun as he passed by. Mr. Son got up and formally stretched out a hand to Jaejoong. The young man took it, but without any enthusiasm. 

“I have business to attend to. I hope you’ll forgive this old man. Come see me another time.”

“Of course. With pleasure. And I hope to see your little girl soon. Very soon.”

The Fox heir scowled one last time at Son Naeun, and then exited, slamming the heavy oak door behind him.

---------

The next day Naeun got to school late – she just couldn’t fall asleep last night; and when she did (by 3am) those white apartment nightmares returned. It’s been a while since she had them, but they still brought unbearable terror. So much that she would wake up almost every hour in cold sweat, panting. It was ridiculous still having that dream ten years later!

Naeun couldn’t focus on her first class. Other second. Or third. She knew the Witch Hunt would be stressful, but she wasn’t mentally prepared for it. She was doing it for her Teacher, not for herself – it was the least she could do to repay him. Nevertheless, Naeun constantly had the urge to jump up and run away, leaving all responsibilities behind. She felt paranoid, hurt, nervous, but there was no one she could talk to. Then again, she never told anybody anything, so dealing with stress alone wasn’t unusual for Naeun.

As lunch break came, Naeun found a bench under a tree overlooking the football field. She sat, sipping her juice, chewing on her straw, and observed strangers pass by.

Funny how much this reminded of the days she spent in the orphanage.

Those were the worst days.

And in a way those were also the best days.

At least she knew people back then and people knew her.

She was normal and didn’t have to hide herself all the time.

No one had extreme expectations of her.

She was free to run around.

Free to talk to whoever.

Free to even have a crush on whoever, like all other silly girls.

Naeun wrapped her scarf around a little tighter as a gush of wind came. It was cold.

Where did that boy from the orphanage go? Is he well now? Naeun smiled form nostalgia. He used to be kind, even though he pretended to bully me. Then the kind got to him…

Naeun shivered again. Memories can be a .

“Naeun!”

Is someone calling me?

Naeun turned around to see a familiar figure running to her and frowned. Didn’t she tell him to get lost? You’d think he’d avoid her after what happened; and she suspected Doojoon wasn’t all that nice to him either. So why was he still following her? Was he stupid?

The girl got up and walked in the opposite direction. She didn’t have time to deal with his idiocy.

“Naeun! Wait! I need to talk to you!” Myungsoo finally caught up. He grabbed Naeun by the shoulder and forced her to turn around.

“What do you want!!” Myungsoo stepped back in surprise. He knew she had a temper, but why was she so tense today? Nevertheless, he talked.

“…Do you want to have lunch together?” He sheepishly smiled at her. Naeun looked at him in disbelief.

What the actual .

“No! Does it look like I want to have lunch with you?!” Naeun shook Myungsoo’s arm off her shoulder and gawped at him.

 “Is that a rhetorical question or…?” Myungsoo responded, playing innocent.

“Wha-”

“Fine. Let’s go shopping then!” Myungsoo playfully continued.

“NO.” Naeun abruptly turned and tried to walk away again, but Myungsoo caught her by the wrist.

“Movie? I’ll even let you pick!”

“Kim Myungsoo, are you stupid? Let me go!” Naeun yelled.

Myungsoo ignored her struggling and pretended to be offended.

“…Now that’s just rude! My grades aren’t perfect but to call me stupid is just–”

“Then why are you talking to me?! And where did you get the guts to speak like that anyways! Did I not make it clear I want to have NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU?!!” With this Myungsoo finally let her go, and Naeun stormed away.

“Are you sure about that?” He called out, but he didn’t run after her.

“Yes!”

“So you don’t want to keep me close to keep me in check?”

“No–” Naeun stopped, confused. She slowly turned around to see Myungsoo smiling slyly. “What do you mean?..”

Myungsoo rocked back and forth on his heels. “Oh, not much, not much…It’s just that I don’t get to meet the daughter of a mafia boss everyday – I might accidentally tell someone. And they might accidentally tell someone else. So by the end of the week everybody might accidentally know who you are. And more of those weird guys might accidentally find you because I just might accidentally have your phone number, address, work place and I might accidentally give them away…”

Naeun felt her heart stop. For the first time she saw how dark Kim Myungsoo’s eyes were.

“You wouldn’t…” She whispered.

Myungsoo burst into laughter, but this obviously wasn’t a joke.

He was serious about blackmailing her.

“So what will it be, Naeun-chan~? Lunch? Shopping? Or a movie?~”

-----------

Author's Notes: guys, I'm sorry I didn't update earlier T.T Exams are coming up, I have to fnish applying to uni, I'm searching for a job and I'm a big procrastinator. I hope this chapter doesn't dissapoint. From now on we'll see more of actual Myungeun, and not just I-will-kill-you-Myungsoo. ugh, anyways, I have so much to say, but I'm so tired that I think I'll rant another time.

Btw, the idea of my baby JJ being the Fox came from this macro:

(all credit and awesomeness belong to owner)

Anyways, I'm done saying non-sense. Off to bed~

Comment if you can (not forcing anyone)~ Love you all~

-Clock_Rabbit

//author dies//