Inside the parking deck of the grey and imposing Li Corporation the setting sun reflects orange against the shining body of the many cars still present. Luhan leans against the rear of his own car, reading the message he'd only just received from Minseok. The secretary would be home late once more due to catching up on all the work the company had neglected since the attack.

Just as Yixing predicted, the city had went back to their lives despite knowing that the person or persons responsible for the attack in District One were still on the loose. Minseok was one of the many that fell back into routine as if the attack had just been another part of the holiday.

Luhan had gotten so used to having Minseok there all the time that for the first two days after Minseok returned to work he had felt lost. Being trapped inside of his apartment with the other for so many days had thrown him off of whatever semblance of a routine he had prior to the attack. On the third day, Kyungsoo had called him, reminding him of the shoot that they had discussed at the banquet. That brief phone call, had been what helped drag Luhan out of his distracted mindset, reminding him that he too had a life to get back to.

It was with that new found motivation that Luhan found himself at Kris’s company. Usually Luhan only visited during the afterhours, when only a handful of employees lingered about finishing up work, but today the giant company is filled with people. Even with Kris's ability to do much more work than what was necessary, Luhan could only imagine how much more work his department was trying to catch up on after spending four whole days doing nothing.

As Luhan makes his way to Kris's office, he can feel the eyes on him as he passes cubical after cubical. They all know him, and they all know that Luhan has some type of relationship with the department head, but the only person that knows of their actual relationship is Jongdae.

Speaking of Jongdae, the brown haired male isn't at his usual post right outside of Kris's office. However, Luhan notices a second empty desk that hadn't been there during his last visit and figures the new piece of furniture is for the too smiley, too twitchy intern Park Chanyeol.

With a small frown of disdain, Luhan moves with swift steps across the room, opening the door to Kris's office, and not bothering to knock.

"Did Yixing and Junmyeon visit…" he trails off. Sitting atop Kris's desk is Chanyeol, black electronic tablet clutched in his hands as he looms over Kris, lips pressed against the blond male's.

Luhan looks from where their faces are connected to where Kris's hand lingers on Chanyeol's thigh even after they pull apart.

Chanyeol eyes have widen in surprise as he gazes at Luhan. He then turns to Kris, muttering out something so low that Luhan can’t hear, can only see his lips moving, and then he’s standing, shuffling pass Luhan, head bowed in embarrassment and long legs taking him out of the room as quick as they can.

"So are you still denying your attraction to him or has shoving your tongue down his throat helped you realize it?" Luhan slumps into a chair in front of Kris's desk, arms crossed in front of him and eyes void of emotion. His words were supposed to come off as a joke, but instead the words are spit in such a reproachful tone that Luhan bites his tongue to avoid saying more.

Kris doesn't say anything right away, his eyes are lingering on the door as if he’s dying to call Chanyeol back and continue whatever Luhan just witnessed even if Luhan is sitting right in front of him. When he finally does look at Luhan he sighs and stands, walking around his desk to be right in front of his friend.

"Are you mad right now," Kris asks, but all Luhan can hear is the annoyance in his tone.

“Am I mad,” Luhan asks, eyebrows wrinkling in fake confusion. “That you’re kissing your intern?” He can feel himself getting annoyed as well, but he shakes his head, to answer Kris’s question. "No, I mean it is a bit cliché, but I’m not mad. Why would I be? It does make sense now, why your blind dates have always failed. You already have a type. First Jongdae, and now him, maybe your father should find you an employee instead of an heiress."

Kris bites down on his teeth, jaw clenching and eyebrows furrowing over narrowed eyes. Luhan does think that he shouldn't have been so sarcastic, but for Kris to be so obtuse he couldn't stop himself from becoming annoyed. How could he not realize that he was upset, and that the reason wasn't because of the person he was kissing like Luhan was sure he assumed, but the situation Luhan had stumbled upon?

“Do you really think you of all people should be making jokes like that,” Kris finally says, arms crossed in front of him as he frowns down at Luhan.

Luhan’s fiery glare, meets Kris’s cold challenging eyes and he feels his hands curling, turning into tight fists. The brief forgiving annoyance he felt begins to morph into something different. “That’s not the same,” he snaps, just as the hurt begins to slip into the cracks filling and replacing his previous irritation, with a mixture of pained anger.

“Really,” Kris asks, voice taking on a tone of mock disbelief, “you really think so? How many Nessen employees have been fired or have quit after getting involved with you? You know the only technical difference between us is that Jongdae and Chanyeol both knew what they were getting into when they got involved with me. No one knows just how golden, the golden boy of Nessen is do they? Not even–”

“Shut up,” Luhan exclaims. At first he moves to stand, but he thinks against it a second later, slumping back into the seat and refusing to meet Kris’s eyes. "You know it's different. There's nothing I need to tell anyone. All that is, all that's ever been was..." He trails off not wanting to explain that to the one person who was supposed to understand.

Kris looks as if he's going to say something, his cold eyes have softened and the frown on his lips has eased away. However, he simply shakes his head. "What are you doing here, Luhan?"

"I don't know," Luhan says. He can still feel the anger and the betrayal, but he keeps his tone as neutral as possible. "I thought I was here to see my friend, but apparently I can't do that anymore unless I want to catch you kissing your employees." Kris grimaces, and Luhan stands, fixing his jacket as he does so.

"I'll leave," he announces. Part of him wants to stay, but he knows that they both need time to cool off, and Luhan doubts he’d forgive the younger if he apologized at the moment. "You can call Chanyeol back, and maybe we'll talk some other time."

He does as he's says and leaves the office. Kris doesn't call after him and Luhan doesn't bother looking back to him. Outside of the office, Jongdae's desk is still empty, and Chanyeol sits with his head down, eyes focused on his work. Luhan stares at him until the intern looks up, grabbing at his water bottle and locking eyes with him. Chanyeol coughs in surprise, hand letting go of the water and attention going back to his work. In any different situation Luhan would feel a sense of smugness at causing such a reaction, but now all Luhan can do is glare at the boy.

Luhan finally comes across Jongdae while he's waiting for the elevator. The younger male is standing inside of it, juggling stacks of office files in his hands. "Walk me to my car," Luhan tells him, entering the elevator and pressing the button for the groundfloor before Jongdae can protest.

"What's wrong," Jongdae asks, moving about as he tries to rearrange the folders in his arms.

"You care about Kris right," Luhan asks, taking some of the files out of Jongdae's arms and helping to organize them. "As more than a loyal employee?"

The edges of Jongdae’s lips tug downward, but nods his head, taking the rest of the files from Luhan as the elevator opens to the main lobby. "That's right," he says.

"So then you wouldn't let him date just anyone," Luhan asks next.

"I'm not exactly in charge of who he dates," Jongdae tells him, following after the model.

"I'm aware of that," Luhan says, "but I'm also aware that Kris holds your opinion in higher regards than mine." He gives a soft laugh and continues. "Honestly he probably holds everyone's opinion higher than my own."

He can't remember if Kris stopped asking about his opinion on relationships when Luhan started making terrible decisions regarding his own affairs, or if it was a side effect of being too protective of Kris, maybe he had gotten fed up with Luhan finding fault in all the people he was remotely interested in. When he turns to look at Jongdae, the younger is regarding him with a sort of pitying expression, and Luhan can't help but roll his eyes. When it came to making decisions about his own relationships, he rarely asked for Kris's opinion unless it was about something serious.

"Lucky for me, I value your opinion nearly as much as Kris does. That's why I asked you out here, because if there's anyone who knows the answer to my next question, shouldn't it be the person that is beside Kris 24/7?" He's making Jongdae uncomfortable, he can see it by the way his Adam's apple bobs up and down and how he shuffles from foot to foot.

"What do you think of Chanyeol," he finally asks.

"Chanyeol," Jongdae repeats, and then he smiles, the unease leaving his face. "You don't have to worry about Chanyeol, Luhan. He comes off a bit strange at first, but he seems like a good person."

"Have you done a background check," Luhan asks, not willing to be comforted by just that. "Kris's father won't approve of him."

"Would Kris's father approve of anyone Kris chose himself," Jongdae asks in return. "His background is clean, did pretty okay in high school, and went to college for a bit. Apparently he wanted to work for District Police but failed one of the exams. Kris is safe with him."

Luhan doesn't say anything at first, he stares at Jongdae searching for something to give him away. He knows where the younger male's loyalties lie, but he can't imagine Jongdae choosing to support something that can somehow get Kris hurt.

"Fine," he says. "Thanks for talking to me." He turns then, entering his car. He knows Jongdae is still standing beside the car, but his thoughts travel back to Chanyeol coughing at his desk, and he can't help fight the feeling that something just isn't right.

****

Luhan wakes early, not as early as Minseok who leaves at 6am like he has done every day since returning to work, but still early. Kyungsoo is waiting for him in his expensive black luxury car, and the moment Luhan enters it, Kyungsoo is looking him over, only to have the expression soften seconds later.

“Do you know anything about a party,” Luhan asks, as Kyungsoo starts driving.

“Why,” Kyungsoo asks in return. “Are you planning to have another?”

“No,” Luhan replies with a shake of his head. “President Kim has Minseok in charge of planning a party. I wanted to know if you knew anything about it.” Last night Minseok had returned home at a quarter to one in the morning, exhausted. When Luhan asked him what President Kim had him doing, the secretary said something about a party and then quickly ended the conversation stating that it was still classified information.

Kyungsoo is silent, as Luhan draws his attention away from him to yawn softly and focus on the window beside him.

“No,” Kyungsoo says. “I can’t recall anything about a party.”

The pair don't speak after that. Luhan finds himself too curious about what it was that President Kim was planning to celebrate to try and make conversation.

“What did President Kim say about Minseok living with you,” Luhan hears Kyungsoo asks, which effectively breaks him from his musings. Luhan thoughts then drift to the day before when he had hoped to discuss this very topic with Kris only to come across an unwelcome sight.

“Minseok told him,” Luhan says. “He hasn’t contacted me since and Minseok seemed fine that evening. He said President Kim was too busy to care, but that doesn’t sound like him at all. Do you think he’s planning something?” He knows he's coming off paranoid, but it was suspicious and it wasn't like he could speak to Minseok about his doubt. Every time Luhan thought of telling Minseok about those worries he would stop and recall President Kim's words, from when he had walked into Luhan's kitchen and planted the first seed of paranoia.

Kim Minseok was not who Luhan thought he was, and yet Luhan still had no clue what that might mean.

“I don’t think he’s planning something,” Kyungsoo says, pausing after each word as if he’s trying to gather his thoughts at the same time. "I don't think President Kim has a problem with Minseok staying with you because to him it might be like insurance. You told me that President Kim decided you weren’t allowed to have just anyone staying with you, and for him to allow it, doesn’t that mean that he doesn’t see Minseok as just anyone.”

Luhan scowls, hand playing with his hair as he thinks over Kyungsoo's words.

"So," he begins, just a hint of uncertainty to his words. "I'm proving to President Kim just how much I care about Minseok by allowing him to stay with me. He won't do anything because he's waiting for me to step out of line and then he'll threaten me with Minseok's wellbeing." He doesn't need Kyungsoo to confirm his theory, it sounded every bit like the old man, always calculating, always looking for an advantage against his rivals, and when it came to Luhan, he was always steps ahead.

"All I have to do is listen to him and Minseok will be safe," he says the thought out loud. He turns to Kyungsoo then, but the younger male is focused on the road ahead. "Something's not right." Before Kyungsoo can say anything to alleviate his worries he continues, "I've always done what he's wanted. Of course every now and then I'll ignore him, but he knows that he doesn't need to do anything more than a threat to get me to listen. Why is he suddenly using other people to control me?"

"Because he's cruel and sadistic," Kyungsoo remarks, a grimace on his face as if he can recollection the president's previous threats and punishments. He can't. President Kim never threatens Luhan in public, and haunting humiliation has made Luhan refuse to talk of his punishments to anyone.

"There has to be more to it," Luhan mutters.

"We're here," Kyungsoo says pulling into the near empty car park. "Look, you can talk to Minseok about your suspicions, or you can wait until president Kim makes his move. Right now he's the one with the advantage."

Luhan sighs, but nods his head, Kyungsoo's right he can't do anything at the moment, not that he could even if he knew what President Kim was planning. He couldn't get Minseok involved either, he had no idea that President Kim was using him to threaten Luhan, and Luhan could tell that he was still worried about his parents. He didn't want to add on to that.

It isn't until Luhan's seated in front of his makeup artist, listening to her tales and gossip, that he realizes just how much he missed modeling. He would never thank President Kim for forcing him into his career, but when there, working with the photographers, and the crew, and simply doing his job, he enjoyed it.

The more work he did with familiar faces, the more there was a sense of comraderie, between them. Luhan didn’t have any friends in the entertainment industry but he had people he respected and valued, and liked to work with. His first job in months consist of all those people he respects, and the shoot goes smoothly.

“It was nice working with you Luhan,” The makeup artist says when she’s done packing up her things. It’s the end of the photo shoot, and Luhan is waiting for Kyungsoo to return and drive him home. He looks up to the woman just as she pushes her fringe out of her eyes and gives him a sadden grin. He’s close to asking her what she means, but she pushes forward winding her arms around him in a tight hug as she mutters a goodbye.

Luhan watches as she leaves, feeling his confusion grow by the second. The sudden blaring of his phone interrupts the silence, and Luhan picks it up off the table beside him, the words “National Announcement” flashes across the screen as he looks down at it. He feels his heart begin to beat faster as he opens the message sent.

At first he sees a picture of two boys in their late teens, lips downturned and eyes set in a fierce glare, then he notices the tattoos. Their left arms are raised below their chin, showing off the Red Devil horns on their inner wrists, a usual indicator of low-ranking members of the Red Devils. Luhan begins to read the text below the pictures:

At 13:00, Two members of the Red Devils were found in an abandoned factory in District Nine.    
The pair have since been taken into custody by Caelum’s National Security for an examination        
and trail. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.                                                                  

The ending looks strange on mobile BTW. Anyway, this is mostly me setting things up for the future chapters. This may also be the last filler chapter for this fanfic from now on things are really starting to pick up which means most of your questions will start to be answered. So Get Ready!!!