CHAPTER 29

“Ladies and gentlemen... Wu Enterprise Seoul Spring Collection”

APPLAUSE. She roles her eyes but nevertheless joins the applause of the crowd as the models make their final line before exiting one by one, thus eventually ending the show. Tao flashes a satisfied smile as he receives handshakes from nearby guests including Chanyeol.

He glances from across the long runway and smirks confidently at Wu Prime's head of fashion. It irritated her, to say the least.

“Looks like they've stepped up their game” Yookyung says –she had been sitting behind her mother throughout the whole show. The lady lets out some air and opens her purse, taking out her phone to check the time; it was nearly midnight “So it seems...”

Meanwhile, Chanyeol leans over to Tao “I told you I'd get you the best technology!” “And you didn't let me down, Yeol” the panda-like guy chuckles as he pats the tall guy standing next to him with the goofy grin plastered on his face. Tao looks around hoping to spot Kris just to get a glimpse of his reaction but unfortunately the blonde chairman was nowhere to be found.

Sehun.

I take a quick sip of my drink as I continuously flash a smile and speak of sweet nothings to the mighty fine girl infront of me. Ah, women... they come off so strong yet fall so weak upon candy coated words then cry over empty promises. Sigh.

“So, how about you go up to your room and I'll meet you there in an hour or so?” she giggles; my breathing seemed to have been hitting her ear as I whispered each word. She casts me a playful look, slowly turning her body and runs her finger on my clothed torso. From my black bow tie down to the first button of my vest “Should I put on a show?”

“Hm... why don't you surprise me, love?” I chuckle close to her ear. She pushes herself off me and begins to walk away; You're not sleeping alone tonight, Oh Sehun. Yehet.

I watch the girl as she disappears and right then, I mark my watch. An hour from now.

Sigh. The night was slowly growing old yet the party didn't seem like it would die any time soon; Tao must be pretty pleased to have planned such a successful event. Even if we don't snag the gold tonight, atleast he'd have credit for throwing a grand fashion summit on the first try.

Also, it'd be fine as long as Kris is pleased. Speaking of him... my eyes caught sight of his significant other: Kim Hana. Actually, they're polar opposites. I don't know how she does it –being Kris's girlfriend- but it's pretty amazing how she's tolerated him for such a long time. I can't help but wonder sometimes, what if she came into his life a long time ago? Would he still be cold and heartless? Probably not, the girl is a big ball of sunshine... or so, that's what I think.

Hana stopped by the pool side, looking around the crowd –and looking lost aswell- I could only assume that she was looking for Kris. By god, she was stunning this evening and if I didn't know she was my buddy's girlfriend, I would definitely hit on her.

Finishing my drink, I set my glass aside and decided to approach her. I took long strides, walking around one side of the area and eventually reached her “It's quite odd to see you alone” she turns around, her face immediately brightening up as she realized that it was me.

What a pretty face... Kris, you lucky bastard. “And why is that, Mr. Oh?” she emits a light chuckle as I take her hand and place a quick kiss on her knuckles. If Kris were to see this, I wonder what kind of funny reaction he'd give.

“Because, Ms. Kim, you are a gazelle wandering in a field full of predators” she raises a brow to which I then respond with a chuckle. I continue to speak “Where's Kris?”

Automatically, her head turns to and fro “I don't know... I think --”

“Kim. Ha. Na.”

ing hell. If there's ever anything I have in common with Kris, it's the uneasy feeling he gets whenever his aunt if around. I'm not a fan of her presence either. Hana gives a polite bow and greets the lady “Good evening, madame”

The elder woman turns to me and holds out her hand for me to take; hesitantly, I do so and place a chaste butterfly kiss on the emerald stone of her rather large ring. To hell will my lips touch her skin. Flawless as they may be, I am not gonna do such a thing.

“You look elegant tonight, madame” I slip a compliment as she retreats her hand and turns back to Hana. A smirk appears on her lips “You look better, my dear” she tells the girl standing beside me “Alone... it suits you”

I frown and I swear that I saw Hana's grip tighten on her pouch bag but when I look up, she was smiling. Ugh. You know what, Hana? Sometimes, I wish that instead of smiling, you would punch the hell out of the people who step down on you.

“Well, madame, sometimes we have to be alone... in order to shine” she brightly smiles. Oh! Burn! I suppress the urge to say those thoughts out loud but these efforts only then caused me to spill a snort of laughter to the side. How I wish I had recorded the moment. The look on her face is priceless.

“Excuse me...” Hana says and turns but just as she had taken her first few steps, she suddenly trips, loses her balance and as if on slow motion before my eyes, she falls into the pool.

My eyes widen. ! I shout “Hana!”

A series of gasps and 'ohs' fill the air, the music seemed to have suddenly fallen mute. I turn to look at the lady, she had a blank look on her face as if she didn't know how the hell it just happened. “Are you crazy?!” I shriek at her, carried away by my emotions for a moment that I didn't seem to have cared if she was the head of Wu Prime's fashion department.

Hana surfaces and takes in a deep breath;

“Hana!” Kyungsoo's voice rang as he soon appeared beside me and we both helped her out of the pool.

Kyungsoo took off his jacket and placed it around the soaked girl's shoulders. Sehun got up to his feet, his brows scrunched together as he had turned back to the lady “That was out of line!”

“How dare you raise your voice at me!” she glares at him, raising her hand. SLAP.

By then, the music did stop and everyone's attention was on the scene happening at the moment. “Mama!” Yookyung appeared, running beside her mother and grabs the elder's wrists “What are you doing?” she hisses. Kyungsoo helps Hana up to her feet, supporting her by holding onto the side of her arms.

Sehun turns to look at the lady once more, meeting her burning glare at him.

“What's going on here?”

It was Kris.

The chairman's eyes wander around for a moment. He looks at Sehun's reddening cheek, his cousin who was grabbing hold of her mother's wrists, Kyungsoo who stood beside his girlfriend and Hana who was soaking wet and shivering. His brows knit together and he turns to the lady and her daughter.

“What did you do?” he asks the elder, venom oozing out of every word he spoke.

The woman merely snorts a sarcastic laugh “Me? I'm the bad person here again? Did you ask your friends? He raised his voice at me! Was he not informed of whom he was speaking to? You're gonna take sides because they are your friends? Wu Yi Fan, we are your family... I am a part of your family yet you put the blame on me?”

She forces her wrists away from Yookyung and walked out.

“Se-Sehun-ssi...” Hana calls out to the guy, who had stood frozen in his spot, hands clenched to fists. Kris turns around to face his colleague but before he could even place a hand on Sehun's shoulder, the young bachelor had walked off. Kyungsoo lets out a quiet sigh “I'll take Hana upstairs...” he mumbles and without protest, Kris lets him.

Kai watches the scene along with the rest of the people in the surrounding area. He watched as Kyungsoo led away Hana after Sehun had stalked off. He was clueless as to what had happened; one moment, everything was fine and the next this. Kris seemed lost and angered.

“Well, that escalated quickly” Chen spoke making Kai and Baekhyun turn to him as he sipped on his drink. The two flashed him looks of ridicule and he raises a brow at them in oblivion “What?”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes at him. Lay and Luhan join the three, the often seemingly-lost guy asking about what happened. None answered because even they didn't know.

“I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Kris's aunt” Luhan spoke.

“You think?” Kai mutters in sarcasm.

Kyungsoo.

“Thank you...” she mumbles and gives me a small smile as we reach the door of their suite.

Neither of us had spoken a word on the way up and this was the first uttered. For some reason, there's a churn in my stomach that's making me upset probably because it's an upsetting sight to see a friend going through such embarrassment. Who would want to fall into a pool in an expensive dress and especially in the middle of a party filled with rich dogs and cats? I can almost see the fresh printed words for the headlines.

Just as she was about to enter the room, I couldn't help but speak “Hana”

“Y-yes?” she was still quivering and I momentarily questioned myself if keeping her to chat for a moment in such a state was a good idea. We could always go inside but I would need invitation.

She needs to go dry up or she'll get sick. I cast her a smile “Nothing, go get changed before you catch a cold” “Okay... thanks again” she smiles at me, taking off my wet jacket and handed it to me before disappearing through the door.

The door closes and my phone rings.

“Hello?”

“Kyungsoo, where are you, is Hana with you?” It's Suho. I begin to walk back to the elevator “I escorted Hana to their suite... is the party still alive?”

“Is she okay?” he releases an exasperated sigh “Yes. It is... thankfully...”

I breathe out some air of relief. Tao must've panicked when the music stopped; he worked hard for this event to come together and to have it ruined would probably break his heart.

“That's good to know... I'm on my way down” my finger pressed the button and the doors opened; I slipped inside the four walled compartment and pressed for the ground floor. “Alright... I'll see you in a bit”

“Bye”

Sigh. Damn it. Now, we'll all have to deal with this issue.

Kris was more than pissed off.

“Yi Fan, please calm down... that was --” No. He had no intention of listening right then as he pushed Yookyung aside by her shoulder, she stumbles back but maintains balance as her infuriated cousin marches up to her mother with a deadly glare. The lady turned around and met his gaze, an unfazed look plastered onto her aging yet still flawless face “What?” she taunts him.

Kris's hands balls into fists as he then hisses “What the hell was that? Do you realize that you've not only put our last names on the line?”

Tch. She rolls her eyes at him “Since when did you care about your last name, Yi Fan?” Hell, if only he could, he would definitely send a slap to this lady's face but no, he was not that kind of guy. He was not going to come out as the antagonist here and for that, he needed to control his actions.

“This isn't about the last name, this is about your girlfriend... you're angry because you assume it was me, right?” she tuts and shakes her head. Yes. That's exactly what I'm assuming. He bites back his tongue. “You stupid child, I would never waste my time to humiliate someone who already looks like a complete ridicule”

For a moment, Yookyung swore that Kris was ready to tear her mother to pieces but unexpectedly, he turned around. He took a deep breath and took a few steps away from her mother. He stopped, keeping his back turned to the lady –who was now boring holes into it.

“Hana may look ridiculous but atleast...” he turns his head to the side “She doesn't live in misery... unlike you: pathetic and desperate”

He walked off.

Yookyung walked over to her mother's side, the worried look on her face had never left. “Wu Yi Fan! How dare you speak to me like that?! Don't you walk away from me! Wu Yi Fan!”

“And apologize to Sehun before you go back to China”

“Mama, calm down” she rubs her mother's arms in efforts to calm her.

Kris.

Sigh.

Beep. Beep. Click. I pushed the door open and stepped inside the dimly lit room. It was quiet. My eyes scanned the small living area and spotted her heels beside the couch. I walked to the bedroom area and found her wrapped up in the thick duvets, probably resting already.

My chest felt tight, it's like the air in the room just suddenly grew thin and it hurt to breathe. You failed, Kris. You ing failed. I never should have left her side.

I stood there, frozen on the spot at I watched her sleeping figure. I felt sorry that she had to experience all that; to be embarrassed infront of so many people. I felt frustrated for allowing such a thing to happen. I was beyond pissed off at my aunt because I feel it at the tip of my fingers, that she did have something to do with it.

Damn it. How I badly want to hold her right now and apologize for being unable to prevent such an event. It will definitely have an effect on her confidence. Probably the most embarrassing moment of her life.

Sniffle. “Kris?”

I hadn't even realized that she had sat up and was now looking at me. She rubbed her eyes for a moment and sniffled, her nose probably being runny due to an upcoming cold; I gathered myself and walked towards her side of the bed, she scooted to the side to make room and I sat down, my back against the headboard, one arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

“You okay?” Ofcourse she's not, idiot. She nodded her head and put on a smile. I wish it relieved me but it only made my chest tighten some more.

“What happened?” I ask.

She stiffened for a moment but then relaxed “I just... tripped and fell... clumsy, as always” a chuckle followed the short explanation but I wasn't buying it.

“Hana” my tone came out with a warning; she adjusted her position so that she was looking straight at me “Kris, I'm fine... really, it was all an accident”

Tsk. I looked away, obviously angered because of my brows knitting together. “There's no use crying over spilled milk, Kris... you know that” There it is again. That dreadful line. I feel her cold fingers cupping my face, turning my head so that I would meet her eyes.

Even with just her eyes, it felt warm and slowly, I felt my whole body relax.

“I just wish you'd stop tolerating people stepping down on you... you're not some piece cobblestone on the ground, Hana”

She gives me a smile... like always. I roll my eyes at the gesture and she laughs before leaning in, for what seemed like ages, she was the first to initiate a kiss.

Her hands crept up to his neck and he pushed himself off the headboard of the bed, hands grasping on her waist before trailing up underneath her shirt as they both deepened the kiss.

But as quick as it had started, it ended. Hana pulled away, retreating her hands quickly from his neck to press them against her pelvic region; Kris was confused for a moment but immediately became worried when he saw her pained expression. Hana hissed in pain as she got out of bed, attempting to go to the bathroom in slow steps.

“What's wrong?” his voice full of worry. Kris got out of bed and grabbed hold of her shoulders to her balanced, she hissed in pain “It... hurts... ah... ”

Cold bullets of sweat began to form on her forehead, her breathing growing a little heavy and her vision blurring. The pain was becoming unbearable as each second passed.

“It... hurts...”

Kris was soon then thrown into panic as she lost consciousness and fell onto the floor. “Hana? Hana! Wake up!” He tried to pull her back to consciousness but her eyes were closed; she was cold. He immediately fished his phone out of his pocket, pressing on the first contact in his call history.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hello everyone. Kekeke, I get to go out tomorrow! YEY :D anyway here's chapter 29. I'm getting pumped up to write the following chapters ~ kekeke, Hm...

A ransom, what do you say? 30 for chapter 30? Kekekeke ~ Thank you for the get well soons chinggus and ofcourse the upvotes and comments and subbing too <3

I missed you guys :D