***

The night is nigh, the moonlight kissed the bloody red locks as if it didn't get enough of it, creating a soft pink glow on every rich strand of hair on the owner's head, but Lee JooYeon is drown in her thoughts, hands tracing the lines on the yellowing pages of the old file in her delicate hands quietly, deep frowns decorated her face as she stood unmoving on her bedroom balcony, unbothered by the coldness around her while the cold wind slowly makes her white satin night dress flowing like waves along with it behind her. Her night robe is nowhere to be found,

A loud sigh left her lips as she slammed the cover of the files close, grumbling under her breath and biting her thumb nail in frustration,

"No trace of perpetrator found, all charges turns negative and case closed without further investigation," JooYeon gritted her teeth,

"Final suspect proved, Lee HanBin",

JooYeon glared into the nothing when the name of her uncle rolled off her tongue. They pulled the same trick with me too before that bunch of sly old bats, she thought out loud, frustration engulfing her as the shadows swayed slowly, mirroring the anger that the sovereign of the shadow experiencing, darkening the night and slowly devouring the moon. JooYeon doesn't even realized what her cold anger did to her surroundings before a pair of sturdy arms suddenly found themselves s around her middle,

"What are you doing trying to eat the poor moon out here by yourself?",

Blinking rapidly, the red haired girl snapped out of her thoughts and look up to the intruder -the shadows slowly disappeared as she did so-. NamJoon grinned down at her,

"You really shouldn't be here dressed up like this, you know? And no, don't give me that 'cold doesn't affect me' s because you know what your skin feels right now?," he paused just to level their faces, foreheads touching and noses inches apart while his hands ran up and down on JooYeon's bare shoulders as if trying to warm her up, "like an ice cube,",

JooYeon lift her eyebrows in amusement as she keep her lips sealed while the boy adding with a little grumble as he straightened up and pulled the girl closer again "and you might not be bothered by that but I do, where is your robe anyway?", JooYeon chuckled when she heard it and slowly spun around in his arms,

"I don't need it when I have a personal heater fresh out of the bath waiting for me whenever I feel cold" she teased, snuggling her face onto the boy's warm bare skin that exposed abit beneath his loose bathrobe, NamJoon laughed as he leaned forward and catch a glimpse of the files that his mate hold. JooYeon eyes squinted when she realized where his vision has landed in and hide the files behind her back,

"I didn't hear you finish your bath" she said, idly trying to pull his straying attention back to her and NamJoon's face tilted towards her slightly but his eyes still remained on the spot where he saw the thing,

JooYeon huffed and reached one of her hands to her mate's chin, eyeing him as she pulled him closer for inspection, He got a faint eye circles under his onyx orbs. It's the third day NamJoon has spent his time in her room right after he got back from his business on the edge, trying to manage the problem his father has ordered him to solve. Usually the other boys might protest if any of them spent too much time with JooYeon and not playing fair but this time they understand. Or they actually been reprimanded by SeokJin himself to leave the matter slide just for now, seeing how little time his little brother got to rest and usually the middle son of the Kim can only be relaxed enough whenever JooYeon is around,

"You will hear me if only you didn't get yourself too engrossed in that thing behind your back to notice your surroundings" NamJoon finally replied, looking at her with his usual mischievous smile and JooYeon rolled her eyes before the boy's lips landed firmly on hers, shutting whatever retort she has as she melted into the kiss, her free hand sliding up to the back of his neck and nesting there to grab onto his hair gently,

The passionate kiss prolonged before JooYeon gasped and opened her eyes in surprise only to see her files already been snatched away from her hands and now opened in one of NamJoon's free hands while his others gripped on her waist tightly, refusing to let her go even when she struggles to reach for the files helplessly due to their height differences,

Damn this boy and his long legs and good job me for being easily distracted by a kiss! she cursed mentally, growling and huffing in annoyance as she watched NamJoon's brows knitted,

The two black orbs trailed back to her silvers and they clashed, one tinted with worry and the others challenging,

"So this is what you and Yoongi hyung has been busy with lately" he said and JooYeon grimmed as she stopped struggling in NamJoon's iron grip,

She huffed and looked away "I don't know what you are talking about", still stubborn beyond measure even after being caught red handed as the evident is still opened in her mate's hand,

NamJoon sighed when he saw the girl's antics and set the files aside to the flat surface of the balcony before bringing his fingers to her chin in the same manner as she did to him before and lift an eyebrow,

"I'm not hiding anything",

"I didn't say you are",

"The way you said that is the contrary, NamJoon",

"But I'm not, im just trying to confirm it,''

JooYeon rolled her eyes as she pushed NamJoon's hand away from her face, "what? were you stalking me now?" She gruffed and the boy shake his head slightly, moving away to stand beside her instead. JooYeon feel the cold crashing back to her almost immediately and feel regretful for losing his warmth for a little bit. Not that she will admit it openly though,

"No, I didn't, but even walls have ears and mouth, Doll" he paused for a second to throw a side glance to the stubborn girl before continuing "and Min Yoongi going back and forth from Headquarter and his household willingly is definitely something that public would gossip about". JooYeon turns rigid at this, cursing herself for not predicting such things even after knowing how bad that one said mate of hers relationship with his father was,

NamJoon huffed softly as he picked up the files and examining it once again, lips jutted in thoughtful manners. Sure, he had guessed something is up when one of his underlings told him about this peculiar antics of his friend and the fact that JooYeon and Yoongi both has been sticking like glue for the past few weeks doing something only God knows what is poked the Kim heir interest but what he did not expect was to see the fallen Lord name mixing with the whole things,

"I did suspect something but I didn't expect this, why are you trying to dig into your uncle crime?",

"He did nothing wrong, it's not a crime" the red haired beauty snapped almost as soon as he finished his sentences and NamJoon turn his head to the side only to meet with JooYeon's glare,

He lifts an eyebrow, holding up both hands in surrender as to not rile up his already agitated mate more "okay okay I get it, but you know what I meant, you know what the public say about this",

"I don't care what the public thinks, this whole thing smells fishy all over, it's obvious that those bunch of corrupted old bats had something to do about it" JooYeon shook her head, throwing hands as she turns around and rest both of her elbows on the balcony rails, frustration written on her face,

It's JooYeon turn to throw her mate a side glance as she added "don't tell me you didn't find it weird too that no further inspection done and they just one sidedly ganging up against my uncle like that," she squinted her eyes coldly "they pulled something similar on me before in case you forgotten it, you were there and they even managed to successfully turn you against me that time, you didn't forget about it, did you?",

NamJoon completely avoided her eyes now as he scratches the back of his head guiltily. JooYeon huffed in satisfaction when she taste the familiar emotion leaked out of her mate, they've been emitting those emotions a lot lately when something reminds them about how they treated and betrayed her trust in the past. Not that she found happiness for such thing, to be very honest all she wanted was for them to finally get over it completely. This is a cheap move to pull, slapping salt onto an old wounds like this but she found it useful to use this card every once in awhile in an argument with them. Especially an argument with NamJoon,

The silence engulfed them for the whole minutes before NamJoon finally breaks out of his silence  with a soft whispers "I just wish for you to make a safe approach in this, JooYeon-ahh, you have no idea how dangerous those people can be",

"Believe me, I know that", JooYeon cut in, turning her body fully to her mate and their eyes clash for the upteempth time, neither one of them willing to back down now,

They hold their gaze to each other and again, NamJoon yield, shaking his head and closes them as he leaned forward to pull the girl into his arms, head resting on top of hers. JooYeon instantly melt into the warmth as she returned the hug tighter,

"Then is it that hard to depend on others?" he began,

"I did depe-",

Its NamJoon's turn to cut her "Not just Yoongi hyung, let us in too, let others in, you need all the help you can get". JooYeon keep her lips shut at this and let the boy talks, or rather, she cant talk back. A particular conversation about similar things with a much older Kim replayed inside her mind. I do trust them Lord Kim

"Seek as much help as you can, can you promise me that?" NamJoon said, pulling away to look at the girl in the eyes, begging with his and JooYeon couldn't help but nods her head, even if she's not sure who would -in their right minds- willingly help her in this. Not counting her mates, she has no one she can depend on, her two brothers is out of the pictures as they have nothing to do about what she planned to do but if this will -at least- make NamJoon let this go then so be it. This finally brings a smile on NamJoon's face as he sighed in relief so when she heard what he said next, it puzzled her,

"Talk to your older cousin about this too",

JooYeon stared at him with wide eyes, not even understand what he told him to and NamJoon chuckled "you really is being sceptical person. Not everyone in this realm hates you like you thought, Doll, you just gave up searching for them even before you tried, its your bad habits if I may say so" he said, frowning slightly in the last sentence as he throw her disapproving looks and JooYeon suddenly feels like a little kid being reprimanded by her father, she pouted. Well sorry for being so bitter to the world that will eat me alive if I go as far as letting my guard down even for a mere second then, she almost retorted but decided to keep it to herself and proceed to bite her lip instead,

"Taemin hyung is a close friend of our Jiminie, ask for his help if you feel it's hard to do by yourself, I'm sure that mochi will be more than eager to help", JooYeon stay silence, choosing to nibble on her thumbnail instead and NamJoon clicked his tongue before rocking them both back and forth gently,

"JooYeon, please, you promised" he said softly to her ears,

JooYeon sighed as she finally nods her head again, the word "fine" leaving her lips no louder than a whisper but enough for NamJoon to hear and it draws a huge grin onto his face before he suddenly reached down to hook on of his arm on the back of her knees and scooped up the startled girl as he giggled at her expression "that's my good girl, so now where were we again?" He said mischievously and JooYeon frowned, not knowing what he's hinting at but even before she could ask, NamJoon's lips sealed hers and she got her answer,

NamJoon started to carry her back into her room, leaving the cold balcony and into the warm bed. Their lips never parted away far enough before they clashed again.

How in the name of the Holy Lords this happen again?

I found myself massaging my temple out of frustration for