“You said Kim Joonmyun is in Seoul?”

Originally, I wanted to tell only Luhan, but he seemed to become such a good friend with Sehun that they were there for each other most of the time. Yixing came into the room not long after, and Chanyeol and the others trailed him and came in, so in the end, everyone aside from Taeyong was listening inside Luhan’s room. I was a bit reluctant to tell Jongin about this, but I didn’t want him to hear this from someone else later.

“Why?” It was surprising that the question came from none other than Jongin. His sharp eyes looked at me with judgement. He was the only one who came with me to Singapore, so he must have guessed the kind of relationship Joonmyun and I had. I didn’t know how much the Elders had known, but none of them had questioned me about him.

“Because…” I was thinking of a hundred way to lie smoothly, but it seemed that there was no way I could. Besides, I had to tell people sooner or later. “Because we are… engaged now.” It was better that than telling them that Joonmyun was helping me to investigate the Elders.

Grave silence.

“What?”

“What?!”

“Sena!”

I flinched at the yelling. Much to my surprise, Sehun and Luhan seemed to be the only calm ones. I stared at him with round questioning eyes. Luhan usually freaked out. He freaked out over the smallest things for me. Sehun must have told him something. Speaking of Sehun, his behavior was weird as well.

“Engaged?” Chanyeol was shouting so loudly with his deep, scary voice. His eyes went twice its normal size. He started rambling out of concern, and I looked at him endearingly, “Sena! How old are you? You are eighteen and still in high school! And this Kim Joonmyun… He is from Genbu! No matter what, it’s just… forbidden!”  

“Technically, I can, so long as he is giving up the head position to be with me,” It made me sound selfish. But that was true. While I had sacrificed my feelings for this engagement, Kim Joonmyun sacrificed so much more. He lost his birthright and the power of Genbu. But I wasn’t that ungrateful to leave a talent like him to rot in an unappreciative clan.

“He… did?” Chanyeol widened his eyes. His shoulders were down in a sad, pitiful manner and I felt guilty for it. “Are you guys really getting married?” He started panicking again, like a mother hen. “That means either Kim Minseok or Kim Jongdae would take over the clan?!”

“Sena?” Kyungsoo’s voice was surprisingly sharp and clear. I turned my head to stare at his melancholic round eyes and found myself lost in the depth, “Is this the deal with Genbu? You, getting married to their second son so that they can be rid of him?”

How cruel and spot on. Sweet, quiet Kyungsoo couldn’t be any more right. I could tell that everyone was equally stunned by his guess. Yixing was gaping, and both his cheeks flushed in embarrassment for no particular reason. Chanyeol had stopped babbling and now looked at the two of us with newfound interest.

“You are smarter than I thought you were, Do Kyungsoo. It seems that I have clearly underestimated you,” A grin spread on my face as I picked up Luhan’s booster and saluted him with it. “You should really use that brain of yours to help me find out who is the person behind all those attacks.”

“Am on it,” He shrugged it off so calmly and easily. There was a bit of pride on that adorable blush on his cheeks.

“And two of you, what have you guessed?” I lazily pointed fingers at Luhan and Sehun even though they were older than me. I had only ever called Luhan ‘ge’, everyone else was referred to by name, strictly without any titles. “Don’t give me those creepy smiles, okay?”

“Well, it isn’t that hard to guess, really, since you went to Singapore for two days, and only visited Luhan on the first,” Sehun cracked another smile and glanced at the older guy in mischief. They made a picture-perfect bromance family. Jongin was the third angle of the story. “Kim Joonmyun lives in Singapore, as well and the two of you are best-buddies.” Luhan showed disapproval at Sehun’s opinion.

“And the engagement?” I asked in amusement.

Sehun shook his head, “No one would’ve guessed it, Sena. Not even me. But you’re always full of surprise that it doesn’t really shock me anymore. I’ve always told you not to work alone on this, but you did anyway.” His words were full of disappointment, but he kept a very gentle smile on his face. “Your unpredictability, my dearest cousin, will be your greatest strength as well as your biggest flaw.”

Forever the philosophical one, Sehun never failed to give me words of advice. I touched the earlobe and fondled it for a while, “I am not that unpredictable, really. You just haven’t known me long enough.” At least, there was Kim Joonmyun, who seemed to know me well enough to accurately predict everything I had and hadn’t done.

“Not true,” Luhan raised his voice and tilted his head, “I’ve known you for ten years and you are still the same. Habits don’t change, Sena. You just don’t let people help you because you are afraid of troubling others. Mei, sometimes it’s good to share your burden, you know? What if one day your bottled-up feeling explode?”

By his words, I could tell Luhan was angry even though he didn’t show it. Perhaps that smile I saw now was just a façade; a calm before storm. I was too stunned to even reply. He had the exact same words as Sehun when I first came here, and they both weren’t the first to scold me for being so individualistic. It was a character I couldn’t just shed.

“It’s just the way she is, Flower Boy,” Jongin came up to my defense with his usual insult towards Luhan. It was so shocking that even Sehun raised his eyebrow at his interruption. What was this? A plan to bait me to his side so I could trust him and spill more secrets to the Elders? Like hell I would.

“Some people are not comfortable working with others. Just leave her be, she’s doing good enough.”

I opened my mouth and quickly cut in before Luhan could reply with a snarky remark of his own. No, I wasn’t about to let this chance to retort at Kim Jongin passed by just like that, “Kim Jongin!” I exclaimed with a mixture of amusement and disbelief, “Are you even Kim Jongin? What Demon has possessed you tonight?”

He rolled his eyes at my childishness and shook his head sassily. He was leaning on the couch like a cat, his long legs spread over on top of one another. His hand was playing with his lips and sometimes he bit it out of boredom. He didn’t even think before he spoke, “Shut up, Woman. Be grateful.”  

Oh, I was grateful, but it was still amusing.

“I would like Kim Jongin and his sassy remarks back, please. You are scaring me away with your supportive attitude and sudden acceptance of my engagement,” I burst out cackling in the most unlady-like manner. My legs were apart from each other as I threw my head back, just laughing at Jongin’s flustered expression.

“Whatever you say, Princess,” Jongin yawned and supported his head with his right hand. He never really talked much, but he always had something to say to everyone, and it was always funny and light-heartedly insulting. Sometimes I thought it was such a waste that he chose to side with the Elders instead of pledging his full loyalty to me. I would’ve loved to be his friend someday.

Taeyong came home not long after, utterly clueless about what was happening. I didn’t tell him about my engagement yet, but since he was rooming with his partner Kyungsoo, he would probably know soon. There were heavy loads of homeworks for him to make up for the loss of mid-term, and even the expressionless Taeyong looked murderous and tired.

“See you tomorrow, Taeyong. Get a good night sleep,” I wanted to pat his shoulder to encourage him, but I wasn’t that close to him yet. So I left with a wave of hand while Luhan was whining about me showing favoritism towards someone else. I rolled my eyes at him and snickered, “Luhan, if I’m showing bias towards anyone, it should be you.”

He flashed me a bright smile that didn’t quite suit the heavy frown he had just a second ago. “I know, Baobei Meimei. And I love you, too.“ He sent me to the door and wished me goodnight. The others had left a tad bit earlier after Taeyong returned. Only Sehun and Jongin stayed because their rooms were closest to mine.

*Baobei Meimei = dearest sister

“You seem closer to Taeyong now. He is usually so passive about anything or anyone else,” Sehun commented as we walked down the stairs. The Elites’ rooms were located in the second floor while mine was on the first. The ground floor was strictly for dining and training.

“Maybe,” I chuckled, “Don’t sound so jealous, Hun. That’s not healthy.”

Behind us, Jongin sneered.

“Taeyong is just shy and misunderstood by lots. He is actually really nice,” I defended him by putting in a few good words. When I was in Japan, I only knew Taeyong as a problem child with wasted talent. I didn’t even meet him that often because he was always grounded by his parents. I only knew the praises sung by the branch’s head family. “And quite sharp, too. He only has a little trouble controlling his rebellious streaks, like Jongin here.”

“I’m not nice,” Jongin reminded. “Or shy, or misunderstood.”

“Who says anything about you being nice?” I raised my eyebrow at him, half-teasing, half-serious, “I said you are rebellious.”

Sehun was still quiet and deep in his own thoughts. I had to break it out for him when we reached our own bedrooms, “Sehun?” My voice was softer, “Go to sleep early, okay? You have a long day tomorrow with your gun practice, right?” He nodded with a small smile. “Goodnight.”

Jongin was heading towards his own room, and as soon as Sehun closed his door, I raced as silently as possible to reach the door before Jongin could. His eyes brightened up with amusement and mischief, “What’s this, Princess? Late night rendezvous?” Then he attempted to mimic my voice with his own version, “’You have a long day tomorrow with gun practice, right?’ Pfft. I have it, too, so I’m gonna go in and sleep, okay?”

“No way in hell, Kim Jongin. I’m not done with you!” I glared and pulled him into my own room. It was probably his first time stepping into mine, and he wasn’t so amused by it. He looked worn out from the training they had today. My heart softened a bit, but then I remembered that this was the guy who wanted to kill me. In an instant, all pity vanished without a trace.

“What?” He was as arrogant as ever. I wanted to deliver a kick to his , just to see him suffer in pain a little bit.

“Are you going to tell the Elders about my engagement with Joonmyun?”

He was quietly calculating in his head. He wasn’t stupid, but I wasn’t a fool, either. I just had to ask because this one concerned Kim Joonmyun and if anything happened to him, Genbu would be the first to declare war before Byakko could join in. Fiancée or not, this was a political matter and it could be huge. 

“No, why would I?” He drew a scowl on his attractive face. He might be an , but he was still impossibly handsome and even more so under the dim light of my room. Jongin had both arms in front of his chest as he leaned back towards the wardrobe near the door.

“Because you have to report to them, don’t you?” I softly reminded.

“Yes,” The smirk on his face grew wider as he walked closer to me, and I could suddenly smell the rugged woody scent on his body; sensuous yet masculine. It was intense, inviting and spicy. Who would have thought that he would wear perfume at night in our own house?

“But then you’d have to tell them yourself at some point, and the reaction would still be the same,” Jongin concluded with a sentence I couldn’t refute. He was right. The Elders would still react strongly against my engagement with Kim Joonmyun because of the bloodlines. “See? It doesn’t matter, Princess. You’ll suffer either way.”

How could someone so cruel stand so close to me? Why did I allow it?

Jongin brushed a strand of hair that fell of my eyes and tugged it behind my ear. I felt repulsed, and guilty at the same time.

“Sleep tight, my Princess.”

He left the dazed and confused me and went out with a soft thud. My heart was beating so loudly, but it wasn’t affection that I felt towards Jongin. It was fear. I was scared of what he was capable of and what he planned to do to me. And most of all, I was scared that I would still trust him anyway. It seemed so inevitable. Perhaps letting him stay wasn’t the best choice after all.