My face was still fifty shades of red as I walked down the street with Taeyong.

Sehun only agreed to leave me without a car because Taeyong was there. I was still thinking about Luhan’s kiss and Jongin’s question and wondered how much more messed up my life could be. Taeyong, on the other hand, had a firm, solemn look on his face and was very quiet.

“Sena… How sure are you of Kim Joonmyun?”

Both of us stopped just outside of the school entrance.

“A hundred and one, I guess? Why the sudden question?”

He suddenly pulled me away from the crowd and squeezed my arms with a genuinely worried face. “Don’t marry him, he will just use you,” He warned me. I was shocked at first, but quickly recovered from it when I saw how serious he was about this. Taeyong must have known something he shouldn’t have.

“Care to explain more?” I asked carefully. We were walking further from the main building and instead, were straying to the busy morning road. He was obviously struggling trying to link the words together because he was still quiet after my question. “It’s okay, Taeyong, I am not that unreasonable to play deaf to your opinion.”

“I overheard his phone call and he said he wanted to use you to gain more power,” Taeyong explained, lifting his sharp, phoenix-like eyes to watch my reaction. He had meant good, obviously; risking himself to tell on Joonmyun wasn’t an easy matter. I burst out laughing and turned around, going back to school.

“I know, Taeyong. He told me.”

Taeyong’s cold, unpredictable eyes seemed to falter a bit that even someone like him became flustered by my reply. “Yes, Kim Joonmyun has told me very early on what kind of engagement we will have and how it would affect the relationship between our clans, and frankly, I am not so concerned about that.”

“I am not concerned because I know political marriage is inevitable and I would rather get married to him than anyone else. Kim Joonmyun is a longtime friend, Taeyong, and I am telling you all of this because I am starting to put more trust in you,” I spoke more and walked in front of Taeyong. I was getting cold feet because it wasn’t easy to say the word ‘trust’ and feeling it was even more frightening.

“It’s not fair for you. We are only eighteen,” Taeyong whispered, but it was more of a heartfelt statement rather than a rational one. It was endearing and adorable.

“It’s not fair for you, as well. None of us can escape from this fate, no matter how much we want to. You, Jongin, Sehun, me, Joonmyun,” For some reason my tongue was tied when I said Jongin’s name. “We lost one thing for another. So… It’s okay.”

No, it wasn’t. But if I crumbled, what would my clan be? How would they have faith in a leader like me? My marriage was my sacrifice, while Taeyong and the others probably had to sacrifice their own freedom. Everything came at a cost, so we just had to learn to adapt at this pace.

“I… understand,” He looked very uncomfortable with the subject and dropped it quickly. I smiled as he slipped pass me and walked through the school entrance, instantly earning stares from more than half of the female population. The so-called “new-eye-candy” syndrome had not died down, presumably because of the scarce number of good-looking males in our school, especially in our science class.

“Taeyong-ah,” I fondly called him out and he instinctively halted in his track, ready to obey. There was the kind of innocence I found rare in this kind of world, because I had met many of them, and none was like Taeyong. I had to protect this boy and his lack of understanding towards our world, else he would suffer like the rest of us.

In Luhan, I found obsession. In Sehun, I found doubt. In Joonmyun, I found greed and ambition, and in Jongin, there was unmistakable blood lust and thirst for victims.

“Thank you…”

***

Surprisingly, Sehun acted faster than Luhan in investigating the matters of Elders. He came to my room two nights later – something I was very bothered with because he was one of the only two males who ever came so late at night; the other one being that bastard Kim Jongin.

We truly hadn’t talked much lately, probably because he was very busy dealing with our employees situation and the medias. I had handed over most of the things to him, especially when the press was concerned because I didn’t want any spotlight on me. Sehun was always good in public relation, but even he couldn’t keep the journalists from asking about the new leader in our secretive family. Of course none of them knew about the tradition and no one suspected me at all.

My opinions on the Elites varied greatly, and as much as I hated to, I did show preference towards some more than the others. Sehun was always the neutral one, neither too overbearing nor rebellious. He knew when to act and what to say, and was just very pleasant to be around with. Too pleasant, in fact, that I didn’t know what else to say.

“You lost a lot of weight,” He frowned upon seeing me and shook his head in what seemed to be disappointment. He wore loose shirt and knee-length pajamas and a pair of adorable blue slippers. He suited colors, I realized – unlike Jongin who looked better in monochromatic. “And… your skin…” That was where he trailed off. It wasn’t so hard to guess what he wanted to say as I consciously touched my face.

“I know. Stupid pimples. I’m going to see the dermatologist tomorrow. These hormonal acnes are seriously getting out of control,” I cursed those little whiteheads and blind spots on my face. What girl would love to see the scars and redness on their face? Especially since my skin was fairly pale, so these pimples stuck out like sore thumb.

“Don’t touch it like that,” He gently peeled my hands away and brushed away the bangs that covered the right side of my face. He was always a head taller, where the tip of my hair only reached up to his neck, so I had to tilt my head to talk to him better. “Don’t worry too much about it, actually. You’re still beautiful.”

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere, Hun,” I teased and pulled him to seat at the couch. I didn’t keep much distance, and he didn’t seem to mind, either. We were comfortable around each other; my legs rested on top of his as we both leaned our heads onto the soft material. “Been so long since we could talk like this, right?”

“Mm,” He replied with a quiet, almost soundless hum. Sehun put his arms around my head and I felt even more comfortable because of his arm pillow. “Been a while. Wish I could’ve kept a timeline, but we are both distracted by the clan’s affair.”

“You’ve done a good job, Sehun, and I’m extremely proud of you,” I chuckled and stared at his side-profile. Even if he knew, he didn’t mind. Girls probably stared at him all the time. He had sharp jaw, pointy nose, fair and flawless skin, and alluring red, wet lips. “You’ve lost a lot of weight, too. I guess we are both stressed about everything, huh?”

“That’s exactly what I want to tell you,” Sehun said calmly. I knew he wanted to tell me something important, but his manner stated otherwise. He still hugged me tightly by the neck, his finger grazing my jawline tenderly. This was against manner and norm, but I couldn’t careless. There were only two of us and no other witnesses. “I have been following the Elders because you didn’t assign me for anything in particular. And well… It’s interesting to find that Yoon Sohee has been visiting the Elders very frequently just like she did to you in the past few weeks.”

Yoon Sohee. I knew that name would tick me off someday soon. Even his gentle demeanor could not hide the frugality behind. Scowling, I asked, “Which of the five Elders has she been visiting?”

“All of them,” Sehun felt a prick on his tongue. He forced his eyes shut and distracted himself from the image of his mother, passionately wrapped in the embrace of a man twice her age just for money and ambition. From what he’d heard, Sehun’s biological father wasn’t exactly poor, but his mother didn’t wish to stay nameless in the Yoon clan. So she escaped and seduced Elder Jaehyun, who was fifty when she was thirty. It was such a traumatizing sight for the young Sehun, and to think that they had the guts to continue the affair even until now. When Sehun thought of his mother, he felt nothing but ashamed.

I looked at my protector, who was thinking deep and hard. He seemed rather distraught at the moment, and I suspected that this wasn’t the only thing that he found out about. This man was, after all, extremely intelligent and cunning. “What does Sohee wants from us? What benefits could she gain from bootlicking me when she knows I wouldn’t be moved by such flattery?”

“Well…” Sehun raised his head and spoke in irony, “The workers are tight-lipped. They won’t spill anything even if they are tipped. So I had to sneak in and I accidentally overheard the head butler Jung’s conversation with Elder Hongbin. It seems that Yoon Sohee has a certain influence in the Elder’s household.”

“Who is she, exactly? Isn’t she the daughter of Yoon Shiyoon and Hwang Mirae?”

“Yes, that part is true,” Sehun sighed and closed his eyes. “It’s weird, and I still can’t figure out why. Sure, she should have been next in line, but it all changed the moment you were born. Right now, she is nothing but a person of high nobility who has no influence on the clan’s matter. Hwang Mirae is a Suzakku lady, but we all know that Suzakku doesn’t cherish the female members of their clan.”

“I… am so confused. The more I think about it, the more headache I get,” I massaged my head and yawned loudly. “Urgh! Why is this girl bringing more trouble for me after her return? Those Elders have picked the wrong side by going against me.”

“There’s one more thing you should know,” Sehun ‘s eyes wavered slightly. The calm water had a ripple effect on it. “During Grandfather’s last days in China, Yoon Sohee was the one who tended to him. The servants didn’t say much because they thought it was a normal occurrences, but…”

I clenched my fists. The image of Grandfather on his deathbed came back to haunt me. I was only there for his last breath, and even then, I didn’t feel much grievance over his death. Everyone else wailed loudly after he passed away, but I just stood there, dazed and lost. “Yoon Sohee and Grandfather… Well, isn’t this interesting?”

Outside of the door, Jongin crossed his arms and quirked his eyebrows. There was no use listening to their conversation anymore. He silently closed the small space of the door frame and walked back to his own room, repeatedly calling names with a small smirk, “Yoon Sohee… Aren’t you too hasty in what you are doing?”