Hi peepas!! In case y'all haven't notice, I have a new poster!

Check it out in the foreword!

Meanwhile, new character:

CHA Seung Won

The Underboss

[Dara]

  "Stop pacing around, you're making me dizzy!" Bom snapped, pulling me onto my bed beside her. 

  We were back in gram's house and I told her the whole deal with Jiyong (minus the part about how he drew out his gun and had a movie-like standoff with the Traids. I'm sure she would be super alarmed). 

  "So? Have you decided if you're going with Jiyong or Donghae?" Bom asked. I groaned in frustration and plonked myself down on the bed, flat on my back. 

  "I wouldn't be this vexed if I did." I sighed as Bom lay herself down beside me. "It wouldn't be right if I accepted Jiyong's offer since its Donghae that asked me first."

  "Then why don't you go with Donghae?"

  I opened my mouth and closed it again. 

  Bom snuggled closer to me as I'm lost in my own thoughts.

  "Okay, who do you want to go with more?" She asked, propping herself up with her elbows.

  I... 

  Bom waited for my response, and when I was unable to give any, she rolled over. 

  "Psh. You already know the answer isn't it." She said as I swallowed. 

  "Just give Donghae a call, he'll be cool about it." Bom yawned. 

  Alright, Bom knows me best. She could tell who I am silently pondering about right away. It's rather uncourteous if I reject Donghae and then turns up at the event with Jiyong. But knowing that Hani would spent an entire weekend clinging onto Jiyong just feels so suffocating. 

  "C'mon Dara, I'm not used to see you looking so torn." Bom cocked her eyebrows. 

  I swallowed and gave in. Picking up my phone, I clicked on the speed dial of 'The Looker".

  Donghae picked up after a single ring. Before I could even open my mouth, his urgent and concerned voice filled the line.

  "You alright???" He asked, worry filled in his voice. "Did the Mafian hurt you? How did you get to know those people?"

  His concern is making it harder for me to break the news. I looked over to Bom for support, and she gave me an encouraging nod.

  "I'm fine, Donghae. It's a long story, but Jiyong wouldn't hurt me. And I- uh- called regarding the Dinner Gala in Jeju that you invited me to." I stammered around my guilt.

  "Wow, you're even calling him by his name." Donghae muttered on the other end. "The Dinner Gala, what's wrong with that? Have you decided to come?"

  "Uhm.. Yeah but I... Jiyong uh..." I chewed my lips. Bom motioned with her hand, prompting for me to go on. I shut my eyes tightly before spitting it. 

  "Jiyong asked me too and I'm going with him."

  I could hear a sharp inhale on the other side of the line before silence ensued, stretching across the line.

  "Donghae?" I asked softly. He's still on the phone, right?

  "You can go with whoever you want, midget." He exhaled, his voice sounding a little pressed. "I don't feel good about you being this close to the Mafians though. Promise you'll call me right away if something is wrong. I'll be near you." 

  I gulped as the horrible, gnawing feeling coursed through my veins and spread all over my body. 

  "Hey, I'm sorry, I just-" I blurted out, but he cut across me quickly with a hoarse laugh.

  "Wowowow, hold up, don't make it sound like you're rejecting my love for you, midget. My delicate heart isn't prepared for that."

  Psh. Now he sounds Donghae-ish.

  "Alright there, hand the phone over to Bom. She's probably with you." He said.

  I nudged Bom and passed the phone over to her. She took it over and strolled out of the room. Half a minute later she returned with a grin stretching from ear to ear as she tossed my handphone back onto the bed.

  "I better start getting my passport ready because I'm getting a free trip to Jeju too." She winked. My eyes widened as I sat up immediately from the bed. 

  "Does that means..."

  "Yes!" Bom squealed. "I'm taking over your place! Donghae told me to go with him instead! Can you believe it, this is the first time we're going on a trip together!"

  KYAAAAAAAAAA! We both shrieked and started to jump up and down from the excitment. Bom is coming! What could be better than that?

  "I can't wait!" Bom exclaimed and I nodded enthusiastically.

  Somewhere deep down in me though, that small, unsettling guilt for Donghae is still gnawing at my insides. Sighhh. I wonder if he's really okay about it. I better be extra nice to him from now on to make it up. 

[-]

  A suited guard navigated down a short, dimly lit hallway before arriving at a set of dark, oak doors. Silently, he pushed the door opened to reveal a powerful-looking man in his office with his back facing the intruder. The suited guard waited for the doors to shut with a dull click behind him before sinking into a small bow.

  "Boss, Kwon Jiyong has indeed checked on the account books in the casino." The guard reported.

  The man in the chair wheeled around. The underboss is slightly over forty with a sharp, chiseled chin and a thin, well groomed mustache. His brows were furrowed as he contemplated the piece of news that his subordinate had just shared with him. Kwon Jiyong.. the Caporegime that he knew most were betting on to succeed his position. He has set up a good game but his pawns are not moving in the way that he would like them to be.

  "That was the 'thing he had to settle'..." The Underboss murmured, before his lips twisted into a small, dark smile. "My my. This is a very clever boy we got here."

  "We can always replace the account books with a fake, boss." The guard suggested. The account books contained the funds that his superior has embezzled from the family, over the span of 8 years in his position. Since Kwon knew to check them, it only meant that he must've figured out that the Underboss has got something behind the scenes. 

  The Underboss took a moment to think before nodding, the eerie, small smile still lingering on his lips.

  "And what about the girl that you find suspicious?" He asked quietly, bring the glass of martini to his lips.

  The guard took out a small, brown packaging from the inside of his suit. He opened the envelope and pulled out several photos, taken in the dark, of the young Caporegime and a mysterious girl that does not belong in the Family.

  "We got photos of her when we were tracing the Capo. It appears that the Capo has been spending a substantial amount with this woman lately."

  "What are their ties?"

  "We are in the midst of figuring that out. But we heard from the Made Men that the Capo has an open, armed confrontation in the White Traids' turf for reason related to this same woman."

  The Underboss crinkled his nose, looking almost like he's skeptical with the piece of news. With the edge of his glass, he pushed the photograph of the young girl further up the table for a better view. 

  "She looks lovely.." He sighed pleasantly, taking a small sip from his glass before adding. ".. and useful."

[-]

  FRIDAYYYYYYYY!!!

  Dara has risen earlier than usual, going about her room excitedly throwing in things that she's bringing for the trip in her pajamas. Technically, she doesn't have to pack that much for a weekend trip, but she brought along a lot more stuff just in case. 

  The door of her room burst open and Dara came tottering down the stairs with her hands lugging on her mini suitcase. Mino had invited himself over again, and he sat near the kitchen munching on his toast. This time, Dara couldn't be happier with his presence. At least there's someone here to look after grams for the weekend. 

  "Looks like someone's going on a trip." Mino commented lazily at the sight of Dara.

  Dara huffed as she set the suitcase down at the bottom of the stairs. She's in too good of a mood to even glare at the rotten kid today. 

  "Looks like Noona is going on a trip." Dara corrected.

  "Well this Noona certainly looks excited." The kid grinned. "Where're you going?"

  "This Dinner Gala." Dara replied, rummaging through her small sling pouch to see if she has anything left behind. 

  There was a loud scraping of the chair against the floor as Mino shot up from his seat, his eyes huge with disbelief. The Gala? But how? How does she even know of it? How did she get to go?

  "That Dinner Gala?" Mino spluttered, his clothes untidy. "But how- who invited you? It's invitation based!"

  It was every Gang member's dream to eventually attend the Dinner Gala, the legendary event where almost all representatives of the world's largest underground societies are present. The Chinese Hungs.. The Mings.. The White Traids.. The Yakuzas.. The Silician Mafia.. The Five Families of New York.. The Bratvas from Russia.. The Thai Chao Phos... You name it, they have it.

  "Jiyong invited me." Dara said absentmindedly. Her keys are here and her passport is in place too. All ready to rock and roll!!

  Mino's eyes almost popped from his sockets. THE DRAGON FROM THE SEOUL MAFIA? Inviting Dara?? What on earth is going on? How did they even know each other??

  "No way- you-" Mino stuttered. 

  "Bye Grams!" Dara called out, dragging her wheeled suitcase behind her.

  "Wait, noona!" 

  But Dara was already out of the front door and into the morning sunshine. The weather is great and the sky appears to be clear except for a few whisp of cloud floating around like cotton candy. Hmm, she wonders how would they look like from a plane..

  With a light heart, she started her way towards Bom's flat. It's still 10 minutes short from the time that Jiyong had texted her, but she needs it to travel to Bom's house since she haven't really told Jiyong that she actually doesn't stay there. It's probably fine now to let him know, but it keeps slipping her mind.

  Apparently, there is no way that she could travel with Bom since they're both invited by two entirely different organizations. According to Jiyong, each of the two have their own means of traveling. 

  But still, that didn't prevent her from being surprised when a red ferrari pulled up infront of her, sending a small trail of white smoke in the air where it drove through. Dara stepped back a little, slightly intimidated by the loud sports car that she has never seen before. She craned her neck, trying to magically see past the black tinted windows before it rolled down, revealing Seunghyun. 

  "Hi Dara." The untouchable smiled, waving a hand from the driver's seat. 

  Dara smiled back at the good looking man. Something in her chest feels oddly deflated as she watched her dream guy walked round the vehicle to get her suitcase into the trunk. 

  "Hop on, you're in for a good time." Seunghyun winked at Dara, pulling open the door of the car for her. Quickly getting her high spirits back, Dara buckled herself in. 

  "Not going to ask where Jiyong is?" TOP said after a while of a silent drive, gazing over to Dara with a small smirk on his lips. It's scribbled all over her face that she's controlling herself not to pop the question. Psh, why do these people like to hide what they think when it's already so obvious? This is just like how Jiyong looked like when he had to ask him to pick Dara up instead. He clearly looked like he didn't want her to be with another guy. Hah.

  Dara bit on her lips, to Seunghyun's amusement. Deciding not to further, he replied without waiting for her to answer.

  "The Capo has some stuff to settle at the take off area. Need to check for bombs and all that .." 

  Dara inhaled audibly. B..Bombs???

  "Nah, its fine. Those things never work, anyway." Seunghyun said casually.

  "What about Hani? I heard that Jiyong was going to ask her instead." Dara asked, suddenly remembering the girl who was supposed to be in this seat now instead of her. She wonders if she knows that it is her who's going in her place, and how she had reacted to it.

  A small smirk tugged at Seunghyun's lips as he recalled the giant fiasco that the Mafia Princess had threw. He's pretty sure her dad isn't going to be pleased with the number of antique in the house that she smashed as Jiyong held firm to his ground. 

  "Oh, you'll see."

  "She's still going?" Dara blinked, snapping her head to Seunghyun. 

  "Yeah, she forced her brother to take her as his partner." The Mafia member chuckled darkly before flashing Dara a sympathetic look. "Just stay close to us when you see her, I don't think she's chill about it."

  Dara gulped, her face turning slightly green. Oh no. A neurotic girl with an avid obsession with her partner is not what she's looking foward to. Now that she's warned, she made a small mental note to check out the emergency exit plan of all the buildings she'll be in, in case the young one goes bonkers at her.

  "Aren't we going to Incheon?" Dara frowned at the road sign outside the windscreen. The Ferrari had taken a turn around the branch of the highway, and their car seemed to be the only one that's using the road. 

  Seunghyun didn't answer her question and they were soon arriving upon a set of barbed, wire gates that were guarded by two men in black suits. Upon seeing the car, they gave way immediately, opening the gates for them. 

  Dara gasped audibly as the Ferrari entered the large field. A lone, control tower stood at the end of the plains, behind three to five private jets. Dark colored vehicles were lined neatly by the side and Dara immediately spotted the Black Chevrolet that Youngbae owns. 

  She blinked at the sight infront of her, separated by the windscreen of Seunghyun's car as the Mafian reversed to park his Ferrari in place. Men in black suit were scattered across the field, some clustered in small groups, talking and smoking, some already climbing up the foldable stairway leading up the jets. 

  "Welcome to the Family's private runway." Seunghyun declared as he shut off the engines. 

  Dara swallowed an inexplicable nervousness that had welled up inside her. But before she could answer him, there was a loud knock beside her ear and she snapped her head to its direction.

  Jiyong had his folded arms placed on her window that is now completely rolled down, leaning down to meet her height, his face body only inches away from hers if they weren't separated by the car door. 

  "You look nice today." The Capo commented pointedly, a small, boyish grin forming on his face as his eyes traveled down to what she is wearing - a pale yellow sundress that fell to her knees. "Yellow." He added with a small smirk, making Dara turn into a deep shade of red. She didn't even realize that the dress was yellow! She wore it purely because it looked good, but now he probably thinks she's wearing the colour just to impress him. GAHH!! The shame!!

  Seunghyun rolled his eyes as he exited the car, slamming the door shut behind him. "Go and make love somewhere else, I can feel my bile rising up from the depths of my liver into my throat." He grumbled. 

  "Lets go." Jiyong said, pulling opening the door for her before walking ahead first. Timidly, Dara stepped out from the comfort of the car and into the soft, well trimmed grass. Immediately, the group of boisterous Mafians that were cackling and socialising stopped their commotion and directed their eyes to her. It wasn't just them, practically everyone else in the area had turned their attention to the only girl that they have ever seen their Capo bring for the Gala... or anywhere at all. 

  Her heart was beating erratically as her hands twisted nervously together, trailing after Jiyong with baby steps, not knowing how to behave in the presence and stare of so many powerful-looking people. Jiyong turned around, and glanced at her tensed demeanor. A small smile formed on his lips which he tried to hide, before he strode back to her in big steps and grabbed her hand in his.

[DARA]

!!!

!!!!!!!

  Jiyong walked towards me and pulled apart my sweaty palms, interlocking his fingers with mine. KYAAA! My sanity is a gone case. Did I mention how good he looks today? He's dressed in a cleanly pressed, black blazer with a loosely buttoned white shirt underneath with his hair combed up (the usual), and I can't help staring at my entwined fingers in his. A surge of giddy happiness welled up inside me and right now I'm just a contented bubble! Hehe!

  The crowd has broken into a loud commotion at the sight of us and some of them are even openly cat-calling and applauding. Not far away from us, I spotted Daesung and Seungri, the two goofballs, positioning themselves at the frame of a jet's open door, grinning from ear to ear as they joined in the racket. I turned my attention to Jiyong and I swear I saw an inkling of a smirk on his face before he spun around to face all the fuss behind him, almost causing me to lose my balance. He didn't let go of my hand.

  "OI." He commanded in a loud voice.

  "YES BOSS." The men replied in unison, their voices loud and barely hiding their sniggers. Whoa, Jiyong is literally mightly enough to make an entire field of tough thugs fall silent at a single sound he makes. 

  "Shut up and get your job done. We are taking off in 10." Jiyong ordered, giving our locked hands a small tug signalling me to start moving again as he turned back for that jet that Seungri and Daesung are on.

  "YES BOSS." The Mafians shouted back again before erupting into loud laughs as they scattered back to their own work. 

  "These bastards..." Jiyong muttered under his breath, his lips twisting into a smug smile. 

  The jet is crazy. We climbed the stairways to reach the interior of the posh jet. Seungri and Daesung had returned to their seats, where they were playing a game of cards with Youngbae. Seunghyun isn't on the plane yet. The plane's floor were carpeted and it wasn't that big, looking like there's only enough seats for at most seven. I looked up and saw my suitcase miraculously already loaded onto the lugguage compartment. Everything outside the small, round windows looks significantly tiny from the elevated height of the plane. This is crazy... 

  I picked a seat facing the window and Jiyong settled down beside me as I stared excitedly out of it. I can't wait to see how it'll feels like as the plane tugs free from the forces of gravity. A light above us lit up, signaling the passengers to start buckling their seatbelts just as Seunghyun made it in. A flight attendant pressed a button which caused the stairs to start folding up and when it completely does, she shutted the door. 

  I buckled my seatbelt before glancing over to Jiyong, who had slid into his seat with his arm above his eyes. 

  "Seatbelts." I prompted, nudging him.

  "There's no need for that." He replied, not budging at all. 

  Psh, egoistic man with zero sense of safety.

  "You're acting like you've never flew on a plane before." He added lazily.

  "Which is true!" I fired back in my defense. 

  With his eyes still covered, he broke into a small smile. "Well enjoy yourself then." 

  Hpmh! Snob!!

  The plane started to run and from the corner of my eye I heard the card-playing trio grunted in annoyance before keeping their game. The jet reached a full speed and the runway is ending. Just as I thought that we are about to run straight into the grass, the wheels of the jet tore away from the ground as the plane began to rise steeply, planting my back firmly in the seat. Kyaa! This is exhilarating! I wonder if Bom is on a plane now as well.

  The flight is estimated to last about an hour. After a good 30 minutes spent taking photos and admiring the floating clouds outside the windows, I turned my attention to the rest in the aircraft. The flight attendant had disappeared behind the cabin after serving Seunghyun a glass of wine in the first 10 minutes in the air. The rest are either asleep, or mindlessly scrolling through their phones. I gazed at the man beside me, who's now deep asleep. 

  His disarranged loose shirt revealed a faint shadow of his chest muscle and I inhaled sharply. Stop staring, Park Dara!! 

  I can hear the gears in my head churning at full speed, conjuring up a thousand of sinful things that I am trying (not very hard, actually) to block out. Damn it, why does he look so hot without even trying?

  Absent-mindedly, my fingers were already hovering above his collar. Let me just- uhm- pull this up for him. I swear I'm not trying to get close to those masterpieces (more like musclepieces hehehehehe)

  "You're really pushing my buttons aren't you, Dara Park?" His lips moved.

  !! I immediately shot back into my seat and began to doodle at the window. Nothing happened nothing happened nothing happened.

  A good minute of silence later I thought I was safe, so I peeked behind my back and also shrieked when I see Jiyong staring directly at me, his face propped up in his arms which are resting on my armrest. 

  "What were you trying to do to me while I'm asleep?" Jiyong questioned, obviously enjoying the look of pure fear on my face.

  "No." I vehemently denied. Oh my god, I sound so stupid right now! I'm not even answering his question.

  His grin grew widely as I shut my eyes in humiliation, my lips muttering a string of silent curses at myself. Jiyong sunk back into his seat, satisfied. 

  "You're so cute." He muttered, making me turn into a beet root. I don't know if that was meant as a compliment or as a way to further embarrass me, but I'd like to think that it's the former.

  "Why do you not want me to go with Donghae?" I asked after a while, reminded of why I am even here in the first place. 

   His smile disappeared.

  "I-" He began, but lost his voice. "Its not safe."

  "Why are you caring so much about me?"

  I blurted out the question before I could stop myself. Without answering me, Jiyong pushed me lightly into the seat with his hand over my eyes.

  "Just sleep, Dara." He said, keeping his hands sheltered over my eyes so that I'm shrouded completely in darkness.

  
  Hmm... okay. Somehow, there seems to be something uneasy inside me. Not knowing whether it is caused by Jiyong or myself, I shut my eyes and allowed myself to doze off. 

  Why am I feeling so confused?

JAJA

Sorry for the late update! Hope you enjoyed this one!

Happy 10th Anniversary BIGBANG,

I'll always love you!