Chapter Seventeen

"Holy , are you dead?" someone asked, shaking her shoulders. 

She opened her eyes and saw Hyunwoo, then punched his chest. "You're shaking me to death! What do you want?"

"Sangbae's gang is in trouble."

Her whole body shot up. "What? How? When?"

"We're not dealing with gangs now; we're dealing with the cops."

"Wait, did Sangbae leave?"

"He left an hour ago."

She scrambled out of bed and grabbed the cardigan sitting on her chair. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier? Is the whole gang in the station?"

"Just two members. I'm not quite clear on who it is, but Sangbae's trying to figure out how to get them out."

"We have our people in the station. Contact Dongsuk and Sangjun and tell them to inform one of the members to call me; that way I can show up with a reason," she instructed, walking out the door. "And get Sangbae on the phone as well."

She poured a cup of coffee and took a sip to wake her up. Her eyes darted to the window and she saw the grey clouds covering the sky. Inside, she felt like something wasn't right. Before she could give it more thought, Hyunwoo handed her the phone and she answered. 

"Where are you?"

He replied. "Home. I don't know what to do."

"I have people in the station and they'll be informing your two members on what to do. Just calm down."

Hyunwoo interrupted her. "Minhyuk already bailed them out."

"Minhyuk? The Minhyuk that we all are familiar with? No way."

"He literally just bailed them out."

"How did he even know?" 

Hyunwoo scoffed. "He;s obviously up to something."

"He's always up to something," she muttered, lowering the phone. "Always one step ahead of me."

"Hello? Jiwoo, are you there?" 

She snapped out of her thoughts and put the phone close to her ear. "Someone bailed them out. They'll probably give you a call now."

Jiwoo hung up on him and headed back to her room to change. She had to go see Minhyuk, regardless of what time of day it was. Minhyuk wasn't doing this out of the kindness in his heart. Hell, she knew he had no kindness and that he was trying to gain something out of this situation. Jiwoo had a bad feeling about the situation and she needed to act quickly.

_____

Sangbae walked into the restaurant where Minhyuk instructed him to go. The other members followed behind him and each of them looked at each other. They took the elevator up to top floor, where Minhyuk was waiting for them. Sangbae was growing more nervous by the second. He wanted to call Jiwoo, but he couldn't. He was being threatened. 

"Sangbae, are you sure?" Jonghwa asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. Just stay quiet," he said, then mumbled. "We're being watched."

As soon as the elevator door opened, he was guided by two men to a room. When he walked inside, Jaeho and Daewon were sitting across from Minhyuk. Sangbae walked towards them and checked to see if they were fine, they turned to Minhyuk. 

"Thank you. How can I repay you?" 

"Join me," Minhyuk responded. "You'll make more money. Small gangs like yours don't survive for long. Ah, I almost forgot. You're the man that Jiwoo vowed to protect."

"I'll decline your offer, thank you."

He taunted Sangbae. "If you knew a thing or two about her, you'd stay the hell away from her. She's not as loving as you think she is. Jiwoo was planning to kill you, but I guess she found a use for you..."

Sangbae clenched his jaw and left without saying another word. s followed him and as soon as they opened the door, Jiwoo stood in front of him. She walked past him and gave a small signal to the men she arrived with, then sat across from Minhyuk. Before Sangbae could ask any questions, her men escorted him out and Minhyuk's members shut the door. 

Jiwoo growled at Minhyuk. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What am I doing? I just saved his precious members from your wrath," he responded with a smirk on his face.

 "Oh, like your hands are clean," she scoffed.

He laughed. "Shouldn't you tell your little boyfriend that you're just using him for your plan?"

"I'm not using anybody."

"Then do you really have feelings for him? He can't do anything that will benefit you. He just reminds you of—"

She hissed. "Shut up."

"So, I'm right, hm? You're not really in love with him..."

"Don't test me, Minhyuk," she growled as she stood up. "You're not off the hook yet. I know the you've done; don't think that you can escape by disposing the evidence."

She left the room and slammed the door shut. Jiwoo took the elevator down and when she got out, Sangbae spotted her and walked towards her. She gave him a smile, then turned to her two members. 

" them home," she instructed, then turned back to Sangbae. "I'll be back later."

"Where are you going?" he asked. 

"I just need to meet up with a few people. I promise I'll be back," she responded, then gave him a quick kiss.

Jiwoo walked towards her car and got inside. As she was driving, she kept thinking about what Minhyuk said. He was neither right nor wrong. Perhaps she had been lying to herself the whole time. Perhaps she didn't really have feelings for Sangbae, but seeked out for closure. Jiwoo thought back to when she was 18 years old. She gripped onto the steering wheel tightly and clenched her jaw as she tried to push away the thoughts of her late fiancé, whom nobody knew about, but her father. Jiwoo snapped back to reality and slammed on the brakes, stopping just before the light turned red. She got frustrated at herself for thinking of the past. 

Minhyuk hit her weak spot—her past. She sighed and drove to secluded area, where she stopped to give her some time to think. The only thing she needed was silence. Jiwoo didn't want to deal with anybody. She was both angry and miserable. Jiwoo was afraid that people would find out about her late finacé being her finacé. 

"He'll find out either way," she thought to herself. "I'm screwed either way."

A/N

It's been a while... :)

Just a quick question, do you guys want me to make a playlist for this story?