MARCH 15, 2018 | THURSDAY

"Dongwoo, that's my seat, get off," Joohyun growled at her older brother, who was looking back at her with amusement.

"Buzz off little sis, first come first serve."

The Alpha Family was in the process of leaving Korea for Bora Bora, the Polynesian Island where The Commission was hosting a Family trip to grow closer and bond together as a Family. Myungsoo, Dongwoo, and Joohyun were chosen by Jungwoo for the trip while the rest of their brothers stayed home in Korea, and everyone was ecstatic about the trip except for Myungsoo, who seemed to feel indifferent about it. 

"We have the whole plane to ourselves pretty much for twenty hours, Joohyun. You can sit next to me so that Dongwoo doesn't bug you," Myungsoo looked down to his left side at his younger sister, who was still pouting.

"Twenty hours?" Dongwoo and Joohyun exclaimed, almost instantly groaning after.

A small beep interrupted the siblings' conversation, as the voice of the pilot to their private jet was heard from the front of the plane announcing their take off. Joohyun ended up sitting across from Myungsoo while her father sat across from Dongwoo instead. As the jet began moving, he caught a glimpse of Joohyun as he looked up from his phone to look out the window, and saw what looked like slight fear on her face. He had forgottent that Joohyun wasn't really fond of plane rides, more specifically, when the plane left the ground and flew upwards towards the sky. His fearless (or so he thought) and outspoken younger sister was slightly shaking in fear and he didn't know what to do. He saw her gripping the sides of the armrests to her seat, and just stared. Normally Woohyun or Sungjong were the ones that always knew what to do to calm her down or just cheer her up in general, but they weren't here. Myungsoo grew a little embarrassed and ashamed that he couldn't even think of anything he could to do try and help easen the situation for her; after all, he was her brother, shouldn't he know what to do?

Joohyun looked downwards at her phone to prevent herself from looking out the windows of the plane, but it didn't help that she could actually feel the whole vehicle accelerate upwards, high into the sky. She sighed and just closed her eyes shut -- then it would be over before she knew it.

"Why couldn't Sungjong come ..." Joohyun thought to herself, sighing. He was the best at calming her down, and everyone knew it. In these situations, he would take her hands and hold them until she felt at ease, but since he wasn't here, she would have to come up with something. 

The female opened her eyes for a brief second and glanced up at an open hand that was reaching out to her. She looked up to see Myungsoo holding out his hand to her, a blank look resting on his face. She just blinked in innocence as she looked from his eyes down to his hand. 

"Give me your hand," he mumbled. Joohyun was in a minor state of shock that Myungsoo would even offer any sort of affection towards her. The last time he had showed any affection to her was two weeks ago when her brothers had to leave home to tend to an "emergency meeting" and he hugged her goodbye. On second thought .... Myungsoo had been acting strange since that night and wasn't exactly the same. Joohyun couldn't really put a finger on it, but he was talking to her a lot more often and seemed like he was trying to stop being so distant -- but why?

Joohyun, still in the midst of her thoughts, mindlessly reached out for his hand, clasping his hand in hers. Holding hands with any of her brothers that wasn't Sungjong or Woohyun was out of the norm for her, so to say that she was weirded out would be an understatement. She looked up at Myungsoo, trying to figure out what was going on in his head, but as soon as she had embraced her hand with his, he looked back down at his phone while leaving his hand to hold Joohyun's. She furrowed her eyebrows as he looked away from her. She glanced up at her older brother, who still wasn't looking at her. 

"Oh Myungsoo," she thought, "what happened that night?"

MARCH 17, 2018 | SATURDAY

Although the flight was long and tiring, all ten Families arrived at their destination early Friday morning. Everyone was busy settling into their private living quarters for the rest of the day, although the majority was busy snoozing as a result of the major time difference between Bora Bora and Korea.

"Taehyung, dude, wake up! We're late for brunch!" 

Taehyung grumbled as he was shaken awake from his beauty sleep, proceeding to roll over and shield his face from view. Jimin sighed, resting his hands on his shoulder as he looked over at Yoongi for help. 

"Yah Hyung," Yoongi smirked, "we'll just head out first, then, and I'll sit next to Joohyun and tell her all about how you talked about her to me the entire flight here."

Taehyung's head perked up. "Don't you ing dare," he sneered, "I only talked about her for like an hour." 

"Yeah but I'll just say you talked about her the whole flight, doesn't that sound flattering?" Yoongi chuckled as he saw Taehyung roll his eyes and get out of bed.

"Alright alright, I get it, I'll ing get up," the cranky underboss grumbled under his breath as he stomped to the restroom, leaving his two friends chuckling.

Taehyung and his friends sneakily took the empty seats as soon as they spotted where brunch was being taken place while everyone ate and mingled with one another. There was a long table under a lavish silk canopy the shielded everyone from the sun that was set ways away from the beach's shoreline, showcasing the beautiful view while the Families enjoyed an American cuisine brunch. In the midst of everyone clinking their champagne glasses together, Taehyung grabbed a glass and reached his glass over to join everyone. As soon as Joohyun felt someone sit next to her and grab a glass of mimosas, she looked over to see that it was none other than Taehyung.

"You had to choose to sit next to me?" Joohyun raised an eyebrow in amusement, and Taehyung nodded.

"Of course," he replied, "why would I pass up an opportunity to get you to be interested in me? Oh wait, you're probably there already, aren't you?"

Joohyun flexed her jaw and scoffed, rolling her eyes -- however, not answering, as she proceeded to drink the entirety of the liquid in her glass. Taehyung, smirking at the fact that Joohyun didn't exactly deny his accusation, followed in Joohyun's footsteps and drank from his glass as well. 

"I'm not an alcoholic, by the way," Joohyun mumbled, "I'm just drinking more to forget that you're bugging me."

"Hmm, I'm afraid that won't happen," Taehyung chuckled,  bumping her shoulder with his as he poured them another glass, "alcohol is called the truth serum for a reason, you know. The truth will come out and then I'll really know that you're interested in me."

"Is that a challenge, Kim Taehyung?" Joohyun squinted her eyes towards him, who was looking back at her with a look so confident that she wanted to slap it off his face.

"Not really," he shrugged, handing her the glass, "I'm actually just speaking the truth -- but, take it however you like."

"Joohyun, why did you think you can outdrink Taehyung?"

Joohyun was groaning as she had her head down on crossed arms resting on the table. After brunch, everyone dispersed towards the beach, either lounging under umbrellas, tanning, playing volleyball with one another, or simply swimming in the crystal clear water. Joohyun, on the other hand, was stuck back at the brunch table with her longtime friends within the Family, who were watching over her after brunch had ended. Joohyun was so heated over the fact that Taehyung was certain that she was interested in him, so she decided to drink more to prove him wrong. She had her own stubborn pride to thank, as she was just more outspoken than usual during brunch, although she was more friendly than usual to Taehyung -- which she regretted. 

"Because he was being a ing ," Joohyun mumbled from under her crossed arms as her friend, Seulgi, rolled her eyes.

"What's the deal between you guys anyway, huh?" Wendy, the Theta Boss's daughter questioned, pushing her shoudler lightly.

"Nothing!" Joohyun shouted, then whispering when she realized she was loud, "I mean ... nothing really."

"What's 'nothing really'?" Yeri, the Zeta Boss's daughter pressed Joohyun onwards, curious to know what she was talking about.

Joohyun sighed as she sat up, lifting her head up for the first time since brunch had ended. She wasn't as drunk as she was an hour and a half ago, but she was still nowhere close to sober.

"Okay, well ... he's really good looking but that's besides the point," Joohyun admitted, shushing her friends as they began giggling, "but we're only talking ... it's nothing serious."

"Why not?" Seulgi asked, "You guys would be so cute together. Come on, you'd have to be dumb not to realize that you two have a great connection."

"Well I don't know if he wants me or if he wants me for my father," Joohyun sighed, not wanting to reveal anything about the fact that the Delta Family might have been involved with her attempted kidnapping a month ago, which was the real reason why she distanced herself from Taehyung. She wasn't supposed to tell anyone that Delta Family might have had anything to do with that incident, and she knew better than to gossip to even her closest friends about it -- even if she was drunk. 

"Yeah you're right," Joy, her other friend, agreed, "we all know pretty much half of the Families' sons kiss up to you because they want to get on your father's good side."

"Yeah so I don't know what's gonna happen," Joohyun exhaled deeply, running her hands through her hair, "I'm just gonna go with the flow and see what happens ... but I'm not going to get myself into something that I'm going to regret, so I have to be careful."

All her friends nodded in sync as if to say "Amen". Joohyun rested her head on her hand, closing her eyes briefly to try and take a quick nap. Not very long after, however, she suddenly opened her eyes when she felt a familiar pair of arms lift her up from behind and off the chair. Turning her head quickly to confirm her suspicion, she began flailing. 

"Let go of me, Dongwoo, what the are you doing!" Dongwoo dodged all of Joohyun's efforts to elbow him in the face as he cackled and held her high.

"All you need is a little bit of water to help you sober up, so let your big bro help you out," Dongwoo continued laughing as he began running towards the shoreline.

Her friends gasped when they realized what Dongwoo was planning, but before they could stop him, he sprinted towards the water and chucked his little sister into the water.

"Dongwoo!" Joohyun screamed as soon as she swam up to the surface. To Joohyun's dismay, her mischievous older brother had already run away from his prank, leaving some Family members around her to laugh at the male's humorous act.

Joohyun growled to herself as she stood up and stomped out of the water, and when she walked onto the sand, she stopped in her tracks when she noticed someone blocking her way.

"Need this?" Taehyung chuckled as he held out a towel to her, only receiving a death glare from the shorter girl as she snatched the towel from him and continued to go on her way. "Hey wait, Joohyun," Taehyung called after her, jogging to her side whiel she ignored him, "let me help you dry your hair. It's the least I can do after you got super drunk because of me."

Joohyun narrowed her eyes towards him, but she could tell he genuinely felt bad for her, so she decided to give in to him this one time.

"Fine" was all she said as she turned to him, who was giving her a cheeky smile in return. He sat down on the sand as Joohyun sat in front of him, slightly leaning back against his legs for support. 

"Are you still kind of drunk?" Taehyung asked as he took his own towel to massage it through Joohyun's hair. 

"Yeah," Joohyun replied, "it's kinda dizzy and a little hotter than usual."

"Hm," Taehyung just hummed, "cute."

"Cute?" Joohyun snapped her head around to give him a look, "You think girls are cute when they're drunk?"

"No," the male shook his head, "just you."

For someone that never stopped talking, Joohyun didn't know what to say. An obvious blush grew on her face as Taehyung's words processed in her brain, and she ended up just saying "oh" while turning her head back around so that he could continue drying her hair. 

Taehyung smiled to himself, feeling his heart ache at Joohyun's little act of cuteness that confirmed just why he had his eyes set on her. 

The two remained quiet for a little bit, just enjoying the slight breeze, sunlight beaming down on them, and listening to the sound of waves crashing onto the shoreline. Taehyung noticed that as time passed by, Joohyun was leaning onto him more. He crossed his legs so that she couldn't lean on them anymore, and she fell backwards, hitting his chest with her back. 

"Are you falling asleep?" Taehyung asked nonchalantly, looking down at Joohyun, who was resting her head on his collarbone -- and dangerously close to his neck.

"Mhm," Joohyun nodded, her eyes slowly closing. She wished she could resist her feelings, get up, and walk away, but she just felt so comfortable and warm that she didn't want to leave Taheyung's side at all -- and from that thought alone, she realized that maybe, just maybe, she was fallnig in love with the man that she tried stopping herself from growing feelings for ... or maybe she was just drunk.

After a while of pure silence and quietly enjoying each other's company, Taehyung asked Joohyun a question when he noticed she had woken up from her short nap. 

"Hey Joohyun," he began, "can I ask you something?" 

"Hmm I don't think that's a good idea, I'm not a hundred percent sober still," she chuckled.

"You're right," Taehyung let out a laugh before continuing on with his words, "well then ... can you meet me later tonight? When everyone goes to sleep?"

"Hmm? Meet up?" Joohyun grew curious, "What for?" 

"Just to talk like civil adults," Taehyung teased, "without anyone else eavesdropping."

Joohyun gulped. This was the conversation she knew they were going to have since they started flirting, and all of a sudden she felt like the temperature had gotten hotter.

"Yeah," Joohyun just nodded, "I'll meet you here?"

"Sure," Taehyung agreed, patting her head gently, "okay, get back to sleep now."

Joohyun just looked away from him, suddenly noticing that she was resting her head against his chest -- his bare chest. Her cheeks grew hot, and Taehyung looked down at her, concerned. 

"Are you okay Joohyun?" Taehyung asked, slightly pressing the back of his hand against her cheek to check her temperature. 

"I'm -- I'm fine!" The embarrassed female exclaimed, "J-Just don't touch my face, it's hot."

Taehyung chuckled and raised his eyebrow.

"Why?" He asked, looking down at her, who was clearly trying to avoid his eyes.

"It must be the sun, we've been sitting here for a while, you know," Joohyun replied, although she could tell Taehyung wasn't buying her excuse.

She felt Taehyung's arms that were resting at his side crawl up to hug her stomach and pull her closer to him, and he moved her head to the other side of his chest so that the sun wouldn't be shining in her face. Joohyun knew that her pride would dwindle to nothing and her reputation as a bad would be traded in for a hopeless romantic if Taehyung could feel how fast her heart was beating at the moment, and for that reason, she prayed that he didn't -- however, he confirmed the unfortunate when he spoke to her through that stupid smirk of his that she hated but loved at the same time.

"Hm that alcohol must have that heart racing, huh? Or ... is it just cause you've finally got me where you want me?"

yikes sorry for another laggy update uwu ;; will hopefully be updating more, but who knows haha ~

thank you to everyone that's subbed and comments with each chapter that goes up ^^ I really appreciate your love and support ♡