Squinting his eyes as he tried to focus on the numbers of his alarm clock in the darkness of early dawn, Hyukjae tried to shift into a more comfortable position under the cotton blankets as the sounds of an awakening city outside his opened windows aroused him from his slumber. Feeling Cherie stirring beside him from his movement, groaning as she stretched out her arms and fell back asleep, he blinking languidly as his eyes roamed the plane of her face, from her cutely scrunched up eyebrows to her cupid-bow lips. He couldn't believe that he had actually spent the whole night with her, even if they only just cuddled. It felt so good to have her in his arms, to have her fall asleep in his embrace.

As he lovingly brushed away a strand of her hair from her face, Cherie's lips twitched upwards as she cracked open an eye.

"Hey."

"Morning sunshine. I thought you were asleep."

"How could I with your creepy staring?" Cherie replied, still half-asleep.

"I need to make sure this isn't a dream."

"Isn't it a little too early for this fluffiness?" Cherie said, smiling and closing her eyes.

"It's never too early."

Yawning, Cherie once again stretched her arms above her head, straightening out the kinks in her muscles. Hyukjae looked at her appreciatively, his eyes trailing her body's curves and lines as if it were a recherché piece of artwork in a fancy Upper East Side gallery. Feeling his amorous, desirous eyes gaze upon her, Cherie looked back into his soulful, bright orbs. It felt so surreal and so amazing to have him look at her like that, but at the same time, a little disorienting for Cherie, who was so used to his reserved mannerisms.

"Stop it, you're making me self-conscious," Cherie whined.

Hyukjae slowly chuckled.

"You're making it really hard for me to," he said flirtatiously as he ran his finger across the satin lining of her sleeping gown, his voice thick with longing. 

"Hyuk..." Cherie started.

"Kiss me," Hyukjae murmured.

"But I have morning breath," Cherie said as she dug her face into her pillow. How much more embarrassing could it get when you deny your hot boyfriend because of bad breath?

Hyukjae cracked a smile. "So do I. We can cancel each other out."

"I don't think our biological tendencies can quite equate to negative-integer multiplications," Cherie giggled.

Laughing, Hyukjae lifted her chin to him using his thumb and index finger and pecked her sweetly and fully on the lips.

"Yes it can. We just proved it," Hyukjae smiled lazily while her cheeks, which were flushing a baby pink. "You look so beautiful when you blush."

"It's all your fault," Cherie breathed as she felt her face flame up.

"I'll gladly admit to that accusation," Hyukjae smirked, brushing his lips gently against her jaws.

"S-stop it Captain Lee. That's a command."

"I love it when you call me captain. Call me captain again."

"C-cap.. captain," Cherie squeaked as Hyukjae on a tender spot on her neck. "You're gonna make me late for my exam."

"Just five more minutes," Hyukjae whispered in her ear.

Progressing downwards, he left soft, seductive butterfly kisses on Cherie's s, lingering longer where her poor heart was beating at an erratic pace.

"I can hear your heart," Hyukjae said tenderly.

"It's beating this hard because of you. It's your responsibility if I go into cardiac arrest."

“Don’t worry, I’ll take great care of you if you become a vegetable.”

“Hyukjae!” Cherie laughed. “Don’t jinx me.”

Laughing, Hyukjae took her hand and gently kissed the back of it.

“You should go get ready now. I’ve already kept you for too long. I don’t really know what came over me,” he said as he ran his hand through his short black hair.

“I liked it."

Hyukjae smiled bashfully.

“I’ll be waiting downstairs for you to send me to the office,” Cherie said as she got out from under him and up off of the bed. “Captain,” she added over her shoulder with the bat of an eyelash before padding out of his room.

 ~*~*~*~

"Do not open the test booklet until I instruct you to. You have four hours to complete this 150-question multiple-choice test. Once you are done, close the booklet and wait patiently until time is called. Please read the instructions carefully before each section. You may begin."

Flipping over to the first clean, crisp page of the ominous booklet, Cherie said a quick prayer and took a swig of the coffee that Siwon had generously offered in the morning when they coincidentally met in the Vogue lobby fifteen minutes ago. The creamy rich liquid of the fragrant beverage slightly calmed her jittery nerves, but she still felt incredibly on edge.

She had studied so extensively for this test that she could recite the notes in her sleep, so there should be nothing to worry about right?

For the first hundred questions, Cherie flew through the questions like a NASCAR pro. When she couldn't think of an answer at the top of her head, she would imagine herself in Hyukjae's car on the way to headquarters this morning when they were stuck in a traffic jam downtown. He would quiz her on the most important concepts, and helped her visualize and imprint them in her head when he related them to ridiculous, unrelated things like shaving cream or bread.

But as she got nearer and nearer towards the end, Cherie found her palms clamming up, losing her grip on her pencil. Her forehead and armpits were breaking out in cold sweat, and her eardrums pounded as if someone was repeatedly slamming a jack hammer inside her head as her eyes ran frantically across the jumbled sentences that were swirling into clumps of incomprehensible jargon. Cherie felt a wave of nausea rush over her and nearly knocked the coffee all over her test papers as she doubled over, her stomach contracting in pain from a sharp jabbing in her lower abdomen.

Feeling the dizziying sensation overtaking her whole being, she excused herself and stumbled to the door in search of the nearest bathroom. But before she could reach for the door handle, she collapsed onto the ground in a slump unconsciousness.

"Cherie!!! Are you alright? Can you still hear me?"

"She's not responding."

"I can't feel her pulse. Her heart has stopped!"

"SOMEONE HURRY UP AND CALL THE AMBULANCE."

~*~*~*~

"White or black?" Hyukjae asked Donghae and Hyorin as they walked upstairs into the tuxedo section of Armani.

"Cherie's dress is silver, so definitely go black," Hyorin said as she felt the fabric of a suit on a faceless mannequin between her fingers.

"You've seen her dress already? When did she buy it?" Hyukjae asked.

"We went a couple of days ago before her photography workshop. She wanted to keep it a surprise for you until the day of the party."

As they walked around the second floor, Hyukjae motioned for a sales rep to help him pull out a couple of suits to try on.

"Sir, I highly recommend this style for you. It is an elegant modern fit tuxedo in pure, exquisite shorn wool. The two-button jacket features a timeless notch lapel and the welt pockets are piped with satin."

"Sure, I'll try that one on first then," Hyukjae said as they followed the rep to an expansive lounge with spacious fitting rooms and large, three-paneled mirrors. A glass chandelier glimmered high above, and the marble floor echoed as their shoes clicked on the polished surface.

"If you need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to press the button on the side of your fitting room. I'll be right outside," the sales rep said.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Hyukjae smiled as he locked the stall door.

Donghae and Hyorin settled outside on the red leather couches, waiting for him to change as the rep busied himself nearby.

"Dude, I can't believe you're buying your first formal tuxedo before me. What has this world come to?" Donghae quipped.

Hyukjae laughed as he took his t-shirt off. "I'll buy you a leather wallet as a consolation gift."

"Because that would totally make things all better," Donghae said sarcastically. "But you're finally growing up. I feel like a proud papa right now."

"Everything changes when you find the right woman," Hyukjae replied as he stepped into the tux trousers and it zipped up.

"Man, your love life is like a fairytale."

"So you're saying our relationship isn't?" Hyorin demanded beside him as she pinched Donghae's arm.

"Oww!"

Hyukjae laughed. "Just keep your mouth shut Hae."

"Is there anything in this store I could use to suffocate this guy?" Hyorin jokingly asked the sales rep.

"We have last season's hankerchiefs sitting in the storage room I could let you borrow," the guy winked.

"You're supposed to be on my side," Donghae defended himself.

The sales rep grinned. "Sorry. I have a feeling the miss is going to win this one."

Donghae sighed and pursed his lips. "You're right."

Hyukjae finished changing and stepped out of the stall.

"What do you think?"

Donghae low-whistled.

Hyorin's mouth dropped open in marvel. "That suit is like, magical. Cherie's going to be Blown. Away."

"It's really that good?" Hyukjae asked suspiciously.

"Are you blind? It's spectacular! Remarkable! Phenomenal! Stellar! Prodigous! Sensational!... uuhhh, I'm out of words, but you get my point," Donghae stood up. "If you don't buy it, I will."

"It's perfect. She'll love it." Hyorin added. "You gotta love original Milan fashion."

~*~*~*~

"Vince, hold on okay, don't desert me here on my own," Bea sobbed as she ran beside the nurses and doctors that were pushing Vince's stretcher into the emergency room.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid you're going to have to stay outside," a doctor motioned for her to stop and briskly shut the door behind him.

"Vince..." Bea called out as she sunk down onto the floor.

Reaching into her purse, she shakily dialed Hyukjae's cell phone number.

Ring ring. Ring ring. Ring-

"Hello? Mom?"

"Hyuk..."

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"Your dad got hit by a car."

"WHAT?'

"I'm at the la Madonnina hospital. Hurry."

Hyukjae, who had just stepped out of the Armani house, immediately hung up and his tux bag at Donghae.

"I gotta go. Hail a taxi for you and Hyorin."

"What happened?"

"My dad got into an accident."

"Oh my God Hyuk let us go with you."

Wordlessly, they arrived at the hospital. Hyukjae didn't even bother to close his car door as he sprinted into the emergency ward, spotting his mother hunched over her seat, her eyes glazed over and fixated upon the door her husband was transported into.

"MOM!"

Bea snapped her attention to her son and got up as he ran towards her.

"The bastard drove away and escaped."

Hyukjae narrowed his eyes. "It was a hit and run?"

"Yes. It was horrible. I can't imagine surviving without your dad. I just can't," Bea started crying as she hugged her son, in need of comfort.

It was rare for her to let her weak and frail side show. In fact, it was the first time in his life that Hyukjae had seen her cry so openly. She looked so fragile and pale; all the life and youthful energy completely drained by the torment of her husband's possible death.

"Excuse me, please move aside sir!" a nurse yelled at Hyukjae as a group of similarly harried hospital personnel rushed past them with a woman laying flat on her back, her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

Hyukjae glanced at her, then did a double take as he recognized that beautiful, ashen face and those luscious pink lips he had kissed that morning, which were now a ghastly white.

"CHERIE?????!?!!!!"

His phone beeped.

From: Unknown

To: Hyukjae

Message: First your dad, now your lover. Who's the next victim I wonder?

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