Chan grasped Seonghwa’s hand in a firm handshake. The smile he had plastered on his face never once faltering. “I didn’t know you were back in the country already.” Chan commented.”I thought Hongjoong had you… on assignment in Japan.”

Mijoo saw a slight frown flicker over Seonghwa’s pretty features, but it quickly disappeared as if it had been just a passing shadow. “That was only for a little while, besides I heard about the good news and I just had to see for myself. Big Bad Bang Chan got himself a girl. Absolutely scandalous.” A sinister smile spread across his features directed at Chan, which sent a chill running down Mijoo’s spine. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Felix and Minho had stepped away from the conversation, nursing drinks and watching the situation unfold. The smile on Felix’s face which had been there moments earlier was now completely gone. Letting her eyes drift further across the room Mijoo spotted Changbin leaning up against the bar with his arms crossed over his chest, an obvious frown on his face as he looked over the three of them.

Seonghwa turned his sights on Mijoo, “Well, darling, since your boyfriend here has been so inconsiderate, let me just say that you are stunning.” He complimented, looking her up and down in a way that made her want to hide behind Chan. Reaching out he delicately took Mijoo’s unoccupied hand in his own, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. Mijoo felt frozen as his lips lingered just a little too long on the back of her hand, looking just a little too satisfied as his eyes never once left hers. Mijoo felt Chan stiffen under the grasp she had on his arm. “Well?” He said turning to Chan after finally letting go of her. Mijoo had the urge to wipe the back of her hand on her dress, but resisted.

Chan raised his eyebrows, “Well what?” He asked.

Seonghwa let out a half laugh, “Aren’t you going to tell her?” He said motioning to Mijoo before crossing his arms and cocking his head to the side.

Mijoo was pretty sure that was the last thing in the world Chan wanted to do right now, but he still turned his head to look over at her, catching her eyes with his own. This close to his face she could see the color of his eyes, they were brown. Not the boring dark brown that Mijoo considered her eyes to be, but a warm chocolate color. His eyes are beautiful. Mijoo blinked, pushing the thought out of her mind. Beautiful eyes did nothing for a terrible personality, no matter how warm or chocolate they were. “Of course she looks beautiful,” Chan said, his eyes never leaving hers, his gaze didn’t make her as uncomfortable as Seonghwa’s had. “She always looks beautiful.” If it had been anyone else her heart would have stuttered in her chest and she would have had to look away, but instead she just felt her cheeks flush as she stubbornly refused to look away from Chan’s gaze.

“Well isn’t that sweet,” Seonghwa sighed dramatically. Mijoo broke eye contact with Chan first, turning to look back at the man Mijoo really wished would leave. “You know… why don’t you give him a kiss darling, isn’t that what couples are supposed to do? Especially when you get such a sweet compliment.”

Mijoo really wanted to roll her eyes at him, but then she felt Chan lean down to whisper in her ear, “He’s testing us, wants to see if this is for real or not.” He murmured almost inaudibly in her ear. “I can get him to back down if you don’t want to. I’m not going to make you kiss me.” Mijoo faked a smile as if Chan had said something sweet. this guy.

Mijoo turned to face Chan, letting her hand fall from where it had been holding on to his arm and grabbing his face, bringing it towards her own. She was definitely relishing the surprise in his eyes as she quickly brought his face down to her own. She didn’t kiss him fully on the lips, but she had spent enough time as stage crew for her high school theater department to know how to do a convincing stage kiss. Instead she kissed him on the corner of the mouth, tilting her head to cover their lips from Seonghwa’s surprised gaze.

After a few seconds she released her grasp on Chan’s jaw and turned to look at Seonghwa. “Are you satisfied? Or would you prefer him to shove his tongue down my throat while you watched since you seem to be getting off on this.” Mijoo had never been good at curbing her tongue at the appropriate times.

Seonghwa opened his mouth and let out a laugh that seemed almost strangled, “Well excuse me darling, didn’t mean to get your feathers ruffled.”

This time she really did roll her eyes, “Yes you did, now if you’ll excuse us Chan has other, more important, people to introduce me to.” She grabbed Chan’s hand and dragged him away from where Seonghwa was standing, his face having difficulty deciding whether to wear an expression of surprise or anger.

Chan didn’t offer any resistance as they walked away. Mijoo made a beeline for Felix and Minho who had watched the whole thing, neither of them could have looked more shocked. Once they reached the two Stray Kid members she dropped Chan’s hand and crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. “I hate him.” She said bluntly.

“Damn,” was all Minho said in response, blinking a few times for good measure.

“So what did Seonghwa do this time?” Mijoo heard the voice of Changbin ask as he approached, having left his position by the bar when he saw Mijoo and Chan walk away from Seonghwa.

“He-” Chan started but was interrupted by Mijoo.

“He was being an absolute creep, making Chan tell me I looked beautiful and then making me kiss him, ugh, I need to wash my hands.” She stated, rubbing the back of her hand where Seonghwa had kissed it.

Chan frowned at her, annoyed that she had interrupted him, “I told you that you didn’t have to, I could have gotten him to back off.”

Mijoo waved him off, “You would’ve gotten him to back off for now, but I’m guessing he would have circled back around at some point and tried again. Now it’s out of the way.”

Minho let out a laugh, “Yeah and everyone saw it so I’m sure some doubts have been answered, although I know Hongjoong has some questions for you,” he directed at Chan to which Chan let out a sigh.

“I can’t believe you said that to Seonghwa, that was awesome!” Felix exclaimed speaking up finally, that smile finally reappearing on his face.

“She seems to have a death wish so I can’t say I’m that shocked.” Chan expressed, pressing his lips together tightly.

Mijoo frowned up at Chan, “He was asking for it,”

“Seonghwa is not someone to piss off lightly,” Changbin said, drawing Mijoo’s gaze away from Chan. “He doesn’t always like to play by our rules. Wooyoung was just telling me that Hongjoong is having trouble keeping him in line, even more than usual. There’s been… some incidents that may have been Seonghwa’s doing.”

“What kind of incidents?” Mijoo asked, furrowing her brow.

“I don’t think-” Felix started to say before Minho interrupted him.

“Shipments going missing, informants going missing, and two weeks ago one of Hongjoong’s girls showed up dead.” Minho informed her, Mijoo slipped her arm back through Chan’s as she listened.

“His girls?” Mijoo asked, feeling a bit of fear stirring in her stomach.

“Hongjoong has been known for… Well he’s been known for having several, uh, girlfriends? Lady friends? That he rotates when he is… uh, well you know.” Felix explained, turning a bit pink at the thought of explaining Hongjoong’s sleeping habits.

“Oh,” Mijoo nodded, “But I thought that Seonghwa had been in Japan until recently, how could they think that was him?” She asked.

The four men standing around her all exchanged looks before Chan spoke up. “You don’t need to worry about it.” He answered briskly to which Mijoo disagreed. She very much believed she should be worried about it. After all, she had just pissed him off in front of everyone. “Come on, we have some more people for you to meet before we can leave.”

Minho rolled his eyes, “Come on Chan, this party is literally for you and Mijoo. You can’t just ditch after making your rounds.”

Chan gave Minho a pressed smile, “Watch me.” He said before pulling Mijoo away from the relative safety of the Stray Kids members and back into the fray of sharks, all who were waiting to attack at the smell of blood.

Mijoo spotted that Seonghwa had retreated to a booth in the corner accompanied by some men she didn’t recognize as well as a few girls. “So who are Hongjoong and Seonghwa, like who are they associated with?” She asked, pulling her gaze back towards Chan.

Chan huffed, looking back at her. “You really ask a lot of questions don’t you.”

“Well yea, of course. This is all so new to me. I don’t understand any of it. If I’m your girlfriend and a protected member of Stray Kids I feel like I should understand at least something,” Mijoo answered.

Chan stopped, coming to stand in an empty corner. “Hongjoong is the boss of a small time gang called Ateez. Seonghwa is his right hand man. They do… different work from what Stray Kids does.” He said, his voice low as to not be heard.

“Why would Hongjoong have someone like Seonghwa as his right hand man if he thinks he’s dangerous?” Mijoo asked, also keeping her voice to a murmur.

Chan studied her for a few seconds before answering, “Sometimes you want to keep what’s most dangerous to you close so you can keep a better eye on it.” He replied.

Mijoo hummed thinking on what he said as Chan took her hand and pulled her back towards the direction they had been heading. “Hongjoong!” He called out, his voice much more cheerful than when he had greeted Seonghwa.

A man sitting at a table nearby looked over as Chan greeted him, standing he made his way over to Chan, a smile spreading over his face. “Well it’s about time!” He said clasping Chan’s hand which was extended toward him. “Is this the beautiful lady I’ve been hearing so much about?” He said, turning to face Mijoo giving her a disarming smile. “The name’s Hongjoong. You must be one hell of a lady if you’ve managed to catch Chan here.” He noted, extending his hand now to Mijoo.

Any fear she had previously had quickly vanished as she shook Hongjoong’s hand. He was shorter than most of the men she had met and had platinum blonde hair. “It’s nice to meet you Hongjoong, I’m Mijoo.”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how did you meet Chan here? I can hardly ever get him to come to any parties with me. Always holed up in that office of yours listening to music. I could never do it, I would go insane.” Hongjoong laughed.

Oh . “We met at uh-” Mijoo felt a slight sense of panic as she tried to think up a story to tell him. where would I have met a gang member? Who just meets gang members on the street?

“Felix introduced us.” Chan answered, covering for her. “You know how Felix is, making friends everywhere. He and Mijoo met and then introduced us. It was pretty easy for me to fall for her after that.” Chan laughed, a sound Mijoo thought she would never hear. “She practically gave me no choice honestly.”

It was close enough to the truth that Mijoo felt herself blush at the memory of what actually had happened. Hongjoong nodded, apparently buying what Chan had told him, “Well I’m glad. Some of us were starting to worry about him. If you don’t mind Mijoo I would like to talk to Chan privately about some matters. Would that be ok?” He asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

Mijoo looked over at Chan, feeling slightly nervous at losing her cover, but she nodded anyway, “Of course… but don’t be too long I would hate to be left alone all night while you’re too busy with work. This is a party after all.”

Hongjoong smiled again, “I have a feeling we’re going to get along great Mijoo. We won’t be long, I promise.”

Mijoo watched as Chan walked away with Hongjoong, suddenly feeling very exposed without him by her side. Looking around she didn’t see anyone she recognized in the near vicinity so she made her way over to sit at the bar. Sitting down the bartender approached her asking if she wanted a drink, which she politely declined. She’d only ever had champagne at family weddings before and she didn’t think that at a party surrounded by strangers was the best place to try something new.

“Enjoying the party?” Came a voice to her right. Looking over she spotted the second man who had come to her apartment that night to help Felix. What was his name again? Hyun… Hyun.. Hyunjin!

“I would say I’m surviving the party so far,” Mijoo replied as Hyunjin slid down closer to sit next to her.

“That’s fair, I can’t say being Chan’s date to one of these events would be very exciting,” Hyunjin replied, taking a drink from whatever dark spirit he had ordered.

Mijoo hummed, resisting the urge to bite her lip, knowing that Minho would have a fit if he saw her mess up her lipstick, “It’s very….new.”

“I’ll bet,” Hyunjin nodded, again falling silent.

The two of them sat in silence for a while before Mijoo spoke up again, “Is Seungmin here? He told me he was coming but I haven’t seen him yet.”

Hyunjin looked over at her, “Yeah he’s here. Last I saw he was antagonizing Jeongin.” He replied letting out a soft laugh.

“Oh I haven’t met Jeongin yet. What’s he like?” Mijoo asked curious about the final member of Stray Kids.

Hyunjin raised his eyebrows at her in surprise, “You haven’t?” He asked, sitting up straighter when she shook her head. “Well then come on, you should meet him.” He said standing from the bar, his drink in hand.

Mijoo followed Hyunjin through the club to another corner where Seungmin, Felix and a boy who had to be even younger than Felix sat. What is this gang? Are they recruiting children or something? “Mijoo meet Jeongin, Jeongin meet Mijoo. This is the boss’ girlfriend.” He introduced.

The boy perked up like a puppy and flashed her a smile that showed off his braces. “Hi! It’s nice to finally meet you! Felix and Seungminnie have told me so much about you already!” Mijoo had to greatly resist the urge to pinch his cheeks. If she had thought Felix was too cute to be in a gang, then this definitely had to be a crime.

“It’s so nice to meet you too!” Mijoo said, a big smile breaking across her face to match Jeongin’s.

“Come on, why don’t you sit with us!” Jeongin said, scooting over to make room for her.

As she sat down, Hyunjin stepped back raising his empty glass, “You all have a good time, I’m going to go hit up the bartender again.” Hyunjin disappeared into the crowd off in the direction of the bar.

“Lix was just telling us about what happened with Seonghwa,” Seungmin shared. “Did you really tell Seonghwa to go himself?”

Mijoo laughed, getting more comfortable in the booth. “Oh my gosh, no! Felix what are you telling them?”

Felix smiled at her, “Listen I’m just telling it like I remember. You clearly told him to himself…. So what if you didn’t actually say it.”

Mijoo laughed and rolled her eyes, “Let me tell you what actually happened…”