Chapter 41

“Bang,” Annie spoke up, her voice wavering as she fixed her gaze on the dark alley up ahead. “I don't like this place...” He perked up as soon as he heard the fear in her tone.

Squeezing her hand reassuringly, he turned to face her. “Just stay close behind and don't let go of my hand,” he instructed her. “Can you do that for me?”

Taking a deep breath, Annie nodded in return. He led her away towards the little alleyway making sure to check up on her every now and then. She had to admit, he did make her feel safe. It was almost refreshing in a way. And not to mention, she rarely held hands with anyone aside from Daniel but holding Yongguk's hand felt kind of nice. His grip was firm but not firm enough to hurt her. His hands were smooth and soft which was unexpected since she did believe his hands were rough. It was wrong to assume things either way. He was just full of surprises, she thought. His hands were not as sweaty as hers at the moment.

As they were walking, she began to fear the worst as they neared the passageway. But then she had to consider, Himchan was a grown man and was capable of protecting himself. A part of her couldn't help but worry over his safety nevertheless. Suddenly, she felt Yongguk squeeze her hand in his. She looked up at him. “He's gonna be fine,” he said as if he was able to read her mind. She couldn't have been any more obvious.

Soon, a familiar figure emerged from the open passageway to the alley. Annie's expression immediately brightened upon seeing Himchan in one piece. Letting go of Yongguk's hand, she ran over and pulled Himchan close for a bear hug. “There you are!” she said softly as she hugged him tightly.

Himchan grunted in response, clearly stunned at her sudden gesture but returned it nevertheless. “Hey,” he said chuckling. “What's this all about?” he asked as soon as he pulled away from her.

“I was worried about you, silly!” she playfully shoved him, pouting slightly. “Don't ever wander off like that again!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” he raised his hands to stop her. “You were worried about me?” He gaped at her in astonishment.

“You heard her,” Yongguk muttered bitterly, clearly unamused. He too was clearly stunned at Annie's sudden tender gesture towards his best friend. “Anyways, where did you go?”

“Oh, you know...” Himchan trailed off as he tried to come up with a valid excuse. “I needed to stretch my legs so I stepped out of the car briefly to go for a little stroll. That's all.”

“In a dark alley at this time of night?” Annie asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh well, you know...” he chuckled nervously scratching the back of his head neck awkwardly. “It's not like I can just take a stroll in a park at the moment. I mean I am the one driving you guys around for the night.”

Yongguk eyed his best friend suspiciously clearly catching on to his lie, but decided to keep mum about it in the hopes of not throwing him under the bus. Now was not a good time for interrogations, he decided.

“Right,” Annie nodded.

“Anyways, ready to go?” he asked finally.

Annie glanced at Yongguk expectantly. “Yeah. Let's go,” Yongguk said as they all turned to leave together.

“Are we still heading to the convenience store?” asked Himchan.

“Nah,” said Annie, after considering it a moment.

“Did Bang convince you to change your mind?” Himchan raised an eyebrow glancing back at his best friend.

“Nope,” she answered curtly.

Himchan turned to her, raising an eyebrow. “Really, now?” he crossed his arms over his chest. “What made you change your mind?”

She gestured over to the box in Yongguk's hand. “Turns out, I wanted cheesecake too,” she said matter-of-factly before getting into the car to settle in the back seat.

Himchan and Yongguk glanced over at one another. Yongguk shrugged. “I'd like to believe it was me who convinced her to change her mind,” he finally said with a sigh.

“Okay, if you say so,” said Himchan, raising his hands in defeat. “I believe you.” He finally said when it was clearly a lie. He only said it to humor Yongguk for the time being. Yongguk ended up relaxing soon after. Himchan chuckled silently to himself, shaking his head. Getting into the car, Himchan started up the engine and drove off.

Just moments before...

“Miranda, what do you think you're doing?” Himchan asked impatiently.

“I'm just making a call,” she retorted back. “What does it look like I'm doing?”

“Knowing you, I have a feeling nothing good will come out of this,” he said distastefully.

Miranda scoffed. “You have got to give me a little more credit than that, kid,” she said, her voice flat. “I just want to call to check up on my nanny, that's all. Hmm...” she hummed gazing back down at her phone. “That's odd, she's not answering.”

“That's because she left her phone in the car,” he pointed out. “And it's late on a Friday night, Miranda. Do you think Annie is going to suddenly answer your call this late at night on her night off?”

“Well, she did promise me that she would come to my beck and call when I needed her,” Miranda stated. “What if Danny really needed her?”

“You're his mother, act like it,” he advised her, his tone was really dry and harsh.

Miranda stood still, mouth agape. For once, he had deemed her speechless. “I am his mother,” she uttered finally.

“Biologically speaking, yes, you are his mother,” he pointed out. “But we all know that you don't act like it.” Suddenly, he felt a hand slap across his handsome face. Rubbing the affected area on his left cheek, he turned back to face her. “Do you seriously think that slapping me is going to solve anything?” He laughed bitterly. “You seriously have some growing up to do, Miranda. Why don't you start by going home and acting like a mother to your son? That's a start.” He turned to leave.

“Don't you dare walk away from me!” she demanded.

He turned back around to face her. “I have to get going,” he told her. “Yongguk and Annie are probably out looking for me.” He then resumed walking off leaving Miranda alone, clearly stunned at his choice of words.

His phone had began to ring and vibrate. He did not seem to notice as he stood and leaned back against the wall of an adjacent building. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair before reaching into his pocket for the vibrating phone. Bang calling... Contemplating on whether to answer or not, it stopped ringing.

Himchan was oddly silent in the car on the way back to Daehyun's apartment. Annie seemed to catch on right away and decided to break the silence once again. “Hey. Is everything okay?” she asked, her tone was full of concern. “You're oddly quiet, Himchan.”

“Huh?” he looked up at his rear view mirror staring back at her briefly, then cleared his throat. “I'm fine. Thank you for asking.”

Annie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “Okay, just thought I'd ask,” she finally said, leaning back against her seat. “I hope Daehyun shares his cheesecake this time. I mean I did buy it and he did make the three of us come out this late at night for it,” she muttered.

“I'm sure he will,” Yongguk said, glancing back at her then back at the road ahead.

“If he doesn't choose to share it, then I might just go through my initial plan,” she laughed menacingly. Both guys turned to stare back at her. “What?” she said gawking at them.

“Nothing,” they both replied in unison, shaking their heads. Then, they both shifted their attention back to the road ahead.

“I'm just kidding,” she said with a sneer. “I'm not that evil. I mean, if you push the right buttons, then you might just have to suffer the consequences.” She said matter-of-factly. “End of story.”

Both best friends glanced back at one another. “Remind me not to get on her bad side,” Yongguk told Himchan.

“Agreed,” Himchan said right away.

Annie cleared to get their attention. “You guys are so funny,” she told them. “We totally have to do this again!”

“What, do you have another evil plan up your sleeve?” Himchan asked, clearly unamused.

“Hey, even if I go through with it, you guys are still accomplices either way,” she argued back.

Yongguk raised his hands in defeat. “I have no part in this,” he finally said.

“Amen,” Himchan added.

Annie sneered. “You guys are no fun,” she muttered.

“Your idea of fun is making your own best friend suffer,” Yongguk turned to gawk at her. “You call that fun?”

“Okay, fine,” she grumbled crossing her arms over her chest. “Way to make me feel bad. Thanks a lot, Bang.”

“Ladies and gentleman! Can you believe it? Annie actually has a conscience!” announced Himchan.

“I know, right Himchan?” Yongguk chuckled. “I never knew she had it in her.”

“Oh shut up, you two!” she barked back then sighed. “Maybe you're right, I have been a little harsh on Daehyun. I do, however, feel kind of bad now that I think about it.” She said frowning.

The car soon grew silent. Both best friends glanced at one another briefly. Himchan motioned for Yongguk to say something. In turn, Yongguk turned back to find her deep in thought. To grab her attention, he cleared his throat. She stared back at him. “Look, Annie. We didn't mean to make you feel bad or anything,” he began. “We're sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?” she asked curiously. “I should be the one who's sorry.” She looked down at her hands folded on her lap. “I almost talked you into doing something really mean and evil. So I sincerely apologize.”

“You're forgiven,” Himchan added. “It's not really that big of a deal.”

“Sweet!” she grinned widely sighing in relief.

Pulling into a parking spot, Himchan turned off the car. “Alright, we're here,” he announced.

“That was fun,” she finally said, beaming.

Yongguk chuckled. “Yeah, it was,” he nodded in agreement.

“It would have been more fun if you weren't being such a party pooper, Bang,” she said sneeringly turning to Yongguk.

Yongguk gaped at her. “What? I wasn't being a party pooper! I was being reasonable, thank you very much!” he retorted back.

Before an a bickering war could ensue between Annie and Yongguk, Himchan cleared his throat. “Alright, that's enough, children!” he intervened.

“Alrighty then, Mom,” she said then snatching the box from Yongguk. She then proceeded to walk ahead into the building.

“Can you believe her?” Yongguk asked turning to his best friend then glanced back at her retreating figure enter the building.

“Yeah, I never knew you two could argue like a bunch of cats and dogs,” Himchan said sneeringly.

Yongguk stood still, mouth agape as he watched his best friend follow Annie inside. Soon, he then proceeded to follow them.

“Alright, one slice,” Daehyun said pointing his fork particularly at Annie.

“That's all I ask,” Annie assured him. “Can I pick a slice?” She gave him a hopeful smile.

“No!” he barked back which slightly startled Annie. “I pick it for you.”

“That's not fair!” she whined, pouting slightly.

“Well, I'd hate to break it to you, sister but--”

“Life's unfair,” the whole room finished for him. He glanced around at everyone, amazed.

“Wow... how did you--?”

“We can all read your mind by now, Dae,” Youngjae cut him off, shaking his head.

“Anyways,” Annie said turning to Daehyun. “Could you at least pick a decent slice for me?”

“Hmm...” Daehyun consider it a moment. “Maybe...”

“Gosh, why are you so freakin' stingy?!” she grumbled then turned to Yongguk and Himchan. “You see this?” she pointed to her best friend. “This is exactly the reason why I initially wanted to go forward with my plan!”

“What plan?” Daehyun asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Nothing!” she exclaimed immediately shaking her head innocently.

“Yeah,” Youngjae chimed in, inching closer to her. “What plan?”

Annie chuckled nervously. “I have no idea what you're talking about!” she pleadingly turned to Yongguk and Himchan. “Help me out here!” she mouthed to them.

Himchan cleared his throat. “It was really nothing,” he added.

“Exactly!” Annie nodded innocently.

“I don't believe you,” Daehyun sneered, still eying the three of them suspiciously. “And knowing you, Annie, I know it's something extremely evil. And I'm guessing Yongguk and Himchan hyungs were in on this little plan.”

“Hey, leave them out of this!” she exclaimed immediately coming to their defense. “Even if I decide on doing something evil, I would never bring other people into this!”

“Aha!” he cried out. Grinning triumphantly, he crossed his arms over his chest. “So it was something evil.”

“Okay, maybe it was,” Annie held up her chin.

“Spill it, Missy,” he demanded.

“Absolutely not!” she huffed.

“Why?”

“Because if I tell you, then it might ruin the next plan so I'm not telling you !” she shouted. Scoffing, she finally said, “Here I am feeling a little bad about it but now I realized I should have done it. Hmph!”

“What was it?” Lucy asked eagerly.

Annie smirked at her best friend. “I'll tell you later,” she said.

“Well, aren't you gonna tell me?” Youngjae asked.

“No,” she said firmly.

“Why?” he asked furrowing his brows.

“Because you're like Daehyun's little messenger so no, I'm not telling you !” she huffed.

“Fine by me,” Daehyun glanced at the two older guys. “I'll have one of them tell me.”

Before the older guys could speak up, Annie held up a warning finger at the both of them. “Don't you dare...” she said threateningly. Both guys immediately backed away, bowing their heads in shame.

“Sorry, Daehyun,” Yongguk muttered finally.

Daehyun gaped at the both of them. “But hyung...”

“You see that? You're not gonna find out so give me a decent slice and I will ensure that you won't be a victim of my said evil deed,” she said finally.

He sneered. “Fine,” he grumbled. “Grab a plate.”

“Will do,” Annie beamed as she held out her plate for him. “Love you, Daehyun!”

“Whatever,” he muttered.

Handing her plate back to her, Annie saw that he cut a pretty big slice for her. “Thank you,” she said curtly. Before she could dig her fork into the delicacy in front of her, she was interrupted by the sound of her phone chiming. Curiously, she checked the caller ID wondering who it could be calling her at that time of night. Soon, the color was drained from her face when she read: Miranda calling... across the screen. “...”

A/N: Hello again! Here's another update for you guys! Sorry... this chapter was a little sloppy. Himchan's secret isn't out yet. I'm still working on the future plots coming along. Thank you readers for you nice comments and feedbacks. You guys are a hilarious bunch. Your comments make my day. Seriously... I still can't get over DaeJae... I'm supposed to be Yongguk biased but damn... Annie's two besties have gotten ier lol. And of course, I know Annie is evil particularly to Daehyun... I feel kind of bad for him lol. Anyways, enjoy! :D I'll stop talking.