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Kai had grown up surrounded by the media enough to know what kind of attention they wanted from him. He was too long accustomed to the flashing cameras, the gazillion questions spoken by a dozen voices woven into a gigantic sound wave. For the event his father specially invited a few journalist friends of his, asking them to write good articles about the new merge. A few negative remarks, Kai learned, could have their futures crumbling. His family’s stakes were too high to allow such.

Only when the business started off on the right foot and succeeded at the same rate, maybe even better, for a year or two, would they be considered good instead of solid. His father, Kim Sungsik, aimed to have a solid standing among publishing competitors; have his brand known worldwide, very possibly taking over small companies in the long run. The man’s dreams were big and full of ambition impossible to achieve in a short duration of time. That was why he as the man’s son, was to carry on the elder’s legacy into the future to increase the wealth of the family, to transform it into something so high up none of them could fathom.

Money was everything and everything was money.

Choonhee would give him the rest because she loved him.

And power was what he would have.

He followed his elder parents, dressed in the suit the maid had ironed for him that morning. Hair slicked back for a brazen look and his eye bags hidden under the magic of his mother’s touch. Suave and competent was his concept today. Kai dreamed of becoming successful. His name would be known internationally, competitors would all respect him, and he would have what all men envied. An entire manor built on a hundred-million acre land, children, a beautiful wife, and a good life where he wouldn’t have to lift a finger.

The tables of refreshments came into view and the corner of his lips edged up. It was all falling into order, he thought to himself utterly satisfied.

“You’ve worked hard,” he heard his father turning around to speak to the journalists, “thank you for attending. Please, help yourself to some refreshments.”

Kai watched the people disperse and more people enter the courtyard – his father’s men and board members. Immediately he glanced around for Choonhee. They’d cut the tape earlier side by side. He had looked at her pleased with the sight in front of him and planned to take her out for lunch after.

That was only if he could find her, but she was nowhere in sight. Slightly confused and curious he walked around, making his way through the dense crowd for her.

“Son,” his father touched his arm, “where’s Choonhee? We should introduce her to the board members.”

“I’m looking for her,” he muttered, flustered.

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Once more, Namjoo had chosen a pair of heels too high for her. She staggered after Sehun desperately, afraid she’d break her ankles if she didn’t keep up. Not only were her feet in pain and all she could think about consciously, but she was freaking disconcerted with how he just abruptly snatched her like a thing!

To keep up with him she couldn’t utter a word. Her feet would be the end of her.

Then finally, they made it into an elevator. Damn Sehun still lugged her inside with him and pressed for the fourth floor, his back to her.

“Excuse me,” she tried, nervous with the air of threat he seemed to be exuding, “I think…”

“Shut up.” He ordered. Pressing her lips together she stared at his broad back from behind suddenly irritated. What the hell was his problem? But goddamn, his grip on her arm really hurt more than she’d imagined.

The elevator doors opened and he dragged her out without letting her prepare herself for another twenty painful steps. Namjoo was coherent to the sound of the door closing before her back touched the wall. Intimidated, she turned her head to the side when he leaned in.

“What the heck…” she muttered and hesitated before letting her eyes drift onto him. Through the narrow slits of his eyes he stared down at her, appearing like the cold beast she first thought he was.

“I thought I told you not to come.” His voice was slathered with threat, warning. To her he sounded like the thugs who were always after the little money she made in the streets. By the end of the day she would be covered in bruises of war and her pockets empty.

“Is that all?” she tried not to scoff, for the fear that it would give the impression she wasn’t taking him seriously, and she didn’t need to be getting on his nerves. Getting on his bad side was one of her last priorities right now. “Let go. It hurts.”

His eyes rolled down to the grip on her arm and surprisingly, he released his grip. Her insides breathed in relief.

“I warned you,” he reminded. “Coming here will doom you.”

“Then why don’t you explain to me what exactly I’m in for,” Namjoo shifted to fully face him, refusing to be left in the dark. His eye twitched and Namjoo quietly gulped, wondering if she’d said something Choonhee would have already known about. She lightly bit on her tongue as the atmosphere turned intense.

Sehun breathlessly laughed and looked away, as if she was too dumb of a person for him to even eye. Namjoo felt merely insulted with how she was being treated and with the way he was reacting, but remained uptight.

“You’re serious,” his eyes drifted back to meet hers. “You really wanted to come.”

Namjoo silently stared back, refusing to make any more remark in case she messed up. The other last thing she wanted was for Hayoung to be slashing her neck.

“Then I guess, I’m left with no choice but to stop you.” The deep brown of his eyes oozed ice and a freezing winter. He appeared like a cruel masochist for a split second. Namjoo slightly gasped when he plastered his hand against the wall by her head. “If you look around, there’s a couch here. We can make do with it.”

Her heart raced with nothing so as much as anticipation, but with anxiety and fear. Who the hell was he to do this to her?!

For three short seconds they stared at each other, heat of competition flaring like lasers out of their eyes. At the same moment when she grabbed him to push him off she felt her head knock into the wall painfully then she was suddenly unable to breathe. A cry escaped from only to sound muted to her ears. Namjoo squeezed her eyes at the foreign touch to but Sehun held her with much more strength. With a final surge of strength she shoved him back and stared at him appalled and breathless, lips moist from his.

“You always wanted to try that with me,” he hissed. “Enjoy it now.”

Another mouthful of gasps surged through when he forced her against the wall again. She felt his hands hold her head to angle her lips into his, his body momentarily crushing her. His weight was as heavy as an entire mountain having collapsed over the tiniest village.

Namjoo had never before imagined her first kiss, but the last one would have been this. Blanched, her skin became drenched in cold sweat. Digging her nails into his shirt she finally managed to grasp her coherent state of mind and inched up her knee, awkwardly kicking his inner thigh. Grabbing her chance she instantly shoved him back and swung her fist into the side of his face. Shakily, she stared at him stunned. Then once again, taking hold of herself ran out of the room.       

Unable to formulate her thoughts she rushed down the hall, dismissing the elevator and shoved the emergency escape staircase door open. At once, she dashed down numb to the pain in her feet. Breathing was loud and uneven. Escape was all that mattered.

Shoving the first floor door open she intended to dash toward the front doors, maybe to escape from this world forever. As if heaven and hell were out to stop her, she rammed into someone and nearly started screaming hysterically.

“Whoa…hey,” Kai grabbed her arms, “are you ok?”

Catching her breath she peered up into his face, her entire whole immediately comforted with the security that he was there.

“I was looking for you.” He said. “You look flushed. Are you not feeling well?”

Namjoo unintentionally flinched when he touched her cheek and quickly excused, “Lets go outside. I want some fresh air.”

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Like always Hayoung blended into the background, having gone unnoticeable once again. No one cared, no one looked for her. If they needed her they would call for her. Always on standby, she thought to herself.

Everyone looked assured and happy among the crowds of business people; some of whom she saw daily and others whose identities she didn’t know. She had arrived separately after the Lee family and felt bitter at once when she spotted Namjoo strutting around in the outfit meant for her dead twin.

From the corner of the juice table she watched Kai and Namjoo enter the courtyard from the new building. Together, always, the two of them. She bit her lower lip. Phase one had been successfully completed. She thought resentfully about what Sehun’s plan had been.

Turning away from the uproar when Kai approached his father with Namjoo at his side she pulled out her phone. The ringtone buzzed once and thrice before Sehun picked up.

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you here? Why is Choonhee here?”

“Up here.”

A moment of confusion fluxed through her, and lifting her head up peered at the building. Tucking the phone into her branded clutch she started toward the building.

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Smile while you can, it won’t last long, Sehun thought as he watched from the office window as Kai and Choonhee walked onto the courtyard together. Dismissing the sight of his friend his eyes droned over the ex-girlfriend. Something indescribable built up in him, forcing him to grit his teeth together.

He was irritated, annoyed, and flushed. There was an abnormal leap in his chest. Of all days before, he had never kissed Choonhee…until today. The click of the door opening made him quickly draw the curtains to a close and turned to find Hayoung staring derisively at him from the doorway. Shoving the door close she walked toward him with her heels clicking against the floor.

“What are you doing up here?” she first asked then her eyes flittered down. “What’s this?”

Sehun merely frowned at a loss and watched Hayoung reach her thumb up to wipe it away.

“Looks like lipstick,” she muttered. Quickly turning away before her thumb could touch him he walked toward the desk and pulled out a tissue from the box. Hurriedly pressing it against his mouth he held it away and glanced at the faint pink smudge. And at once he unexpectedly felt the warm lips in his mouth again, Choonhee’s hands trying to feign him off her.

“Why are you here?” he questioned then turned to look at her, folding the tissue up into his hand. Hayoung traced her eyes over him, slightly narrowed them, as if suspecting something else. Without another word she sat down on the sofa he’d earlier used to threaten Choonhee. Suddenly sitting there seemed distasteful, so he leaned against the new desk.

“Choonhee’s here.” He about replied but she added, “But I guess you knew. I see you were watching from the window.”

He pressed his lips together, refusing to make a comment.

“Big thanks,” Hayoung tilted her head back without the turn of her head to directly look at him, “Kai just passed round one to becoming a bigger threat.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh?” she finally turned, set her eyes on him. “You’re saying you don’t know?”

Sehun narrowed his eyes, “He’s no threat.”

“What makes you so confident in yourself?” Hayoung twisted half her body around to better face him. Her eyes were full of contradictory remarks she wasn’t saying because to out rightly judge him would mean she, too, was on the same level. Threatened and without power.

“Because I have a leverage,” he stared back at her.

“That is?”

“I might be three ladders below everyone else,” Sehun told, “but my family still has wealth. Try to fight all you can, but you’re only secretary, Hayoung.”

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Right after the opening ceremony ended and they bid farewell to all the business partners and supporters, the board members included, Hayoung drove back home in spite. Sehun’s voice was still snapping inside her head. The disparage in his voice pissed her off.

Her mother and father were normal wage earners. She had met with Choonhee in high school and purposely attended the same university with her when she could have gone to a more prestigious one. By sticking to Choonhee she entered her high world.

True she was just a secretary to the Lee family, but she was at an advantage. President Lee owned his company wherein Sehun’s father merely invested in dangerous stocks that could fluctuate at any moment, any time. She had Choonhee’s parents and even now, Namjoo was in place of her sister. She might not have had a ladder handed to her, but she had created one for herself.

In all truth, she had more strength and will power than any of them combined. The dangerous one? It definitely was not Kai who sought for a tool, but she who dug her own path.

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Now her feet were in hell again, felt like she was walking on fire and sharp rocks. She wanted to go home and walk in her super soft slippers, better yet lie down. Namjoo had had enough of plastering a smile on her face – one she’d spent hours practicing on perfecting. Kai had taken her around so much and she’d met old man after old man she was so ready to call quits. The back of her head kept repeating to her, “Contact Tao. Contact Tao.”

“Here, you look beat,” Kai handed her a bottle of water after finally pulling her to the side. “You’re not feeling nervous anymore now, are you?”

“No,” she breathed with a fake smile. Unscrewing the cap she quickly gulped the liquid down to refreshen her raspy throat.

“You’ll get used to gatherings like this,” he added. “If you attended business classes with me I don’t think you’d have much difficulty adjusting to business at all. But you’re not doing so bad.”

Namjoo turned to look at him. Then what, she wondered, had Choonhee studied in university?

“I wonder where Sehun is,” Kai wondered, “he didn’t come after all.”

Right, Namjoo silently replied. Lifting the bottle of water up to her lips she quickly drank it down, hoping to cut off the conversation for good. Now that she thought about it she was more flustered than anything else. The fact that he’d forced a kiss onto her plainly stupefied her. When she got home she would intensely brush her teeth until she could no longer taste anything.

“Want to go for lunch after this?” Kai invited.

Namjoo was urged to moan. Her feet were killing her and she was tired with just standing around playing Choonhee with that smile on her face. Lying down was her number one priority, because Kim Namjoo chose comfort over anything.

“All right,” she gave in. She was obligated to anyway because she was Choonhee, and Choonhee had been close to this person.

Kai took her home for a change of clothes and she spent the rest of the dreary afternoon with the man having lunch, watching the movies, then dinner before heading home. She’d slumped in bed after a hot shower to relax her sore muscles. In the morning she awoke with the buzzing of her phone.

Kai was asking if she wanted to have breakfast. As she forced herself up Namjoo wanted to know if Choonhee regularly saw the friend every single day of her life, and if that was Hayoung’s definition of Choonhee never liked staying in.

Goodness, Namjoo complained, she hadn’t had a day where she normally lazed around the house like a simple person. She dearly wanted to experience what that was like, especially because this home was so grand and there were maids to tend to her. If she wanted, she thought, she’d never have to lift a finger her entire life.

Kai was outside waiting for her five minutes later and she was barely ready. Scurrying through Choonhee’s closet was when she finally came across the shoebox she’d discovered the day before. She’d meant to go back into it to discover what was in the journal, but like trying to contact Tao, she hadn’t had the time. It was almost as if fate was out to stop her from piecing everything together.

Several minutes later Namjoo was seated across from Kai, her mind still groggy and dazed. As if noticing her state Kai kindly ordered coffee along with their menu. She’d missed what he’d ordered for him but was nonetheless sure it was something delicious. When Kai turned to talk to the waiter who’d come back to ask something Namjoo allowed herself to yawn and let her eyes roam around the restaurant.

That was when she spotted a tall figure walking toward their table and her eyes nearly widened before she froze, agape. Sehun glanced at her then away before slipping into the seat beside her.

“You’re here?” Kai greeted.