Byul stared as Jungkook and the other male chatted, then Mark suddenly spoke beside her.

“Hyung!” He was smiling before going down the steps.

Byul let the paper slip out her fingers.

“Unnie, please~”

And then she saw Hyena slide down from Jungkook’s car and walk towards the two males.

“Oh, Lee Minhyung!” The male grinned as Mark reached them, Jungkook blinked in surprise.

“You know each other?” Jungkook asked.

“Yeah, he’s my cousin.”

Byul saw how Hyena halted when she saw the male’s face.

“Byul?”

Byul tensed, she peeled her eyes away from the girl. She could feel Jungkook’s gaze onher.

“You know Byul noona?” Mark asked.

“Yeah, we go way back.” He smiled at her.

“Unnie,” Chunghee spoke again, Byul glanced at her cousin.

“You solve this on your own.” She said before sidestepping her and going down the steps, she reached her friends and let out a mental sigh.

“It’s been a while, Song Byul.” He said with a dimpled smile.

“Y—yeah, it’s good to see you, J—Jaehyun-ah.”

“Heol. Daebak.” Taehyung said as he watched the scene unfold, Jimin was shaking his head beside him.

“It’s that Jaehyun, right? That Jung Jaehyun?” Junhee asked again.

“Oh, him. He’s one of Jungkook’s good friends too.” Jimin murmured as he saw Byul greet Jaehyun.

“Hyena’s backing away.” Junhee pointed out, Hyena turned her back to the group. Jungkook saw her, he was about to call her, but the girl had gone in the building across them.

“Wait, what happened again? I forgot the details.” Junhee asked.

“It was junior year in high school, Jungkook had to be away for a couple of months because his parents had dragged him Japan.”

“Right, I remember that.” Junhee bit her lip.

“That time, Jaehyun started to show interest in Byul. And Hyena, the popular girl found it offensive that Jaehyun chose Byul over her.”

“Offended?” Taehyung blinked.

“Byul was.. a little chubby during high school. She was so adorable.” Jimin smiled.

“Ah, I remember now. Then she discovered swimming in her senior year.” Junhee nodded quickly.

“Anyway, Byul and Jaehyun dated for a couple of months, but Hyena kept on pestering her. They fought over him. Well, Hyena started it.”

“Then, what happened?”

“Byul broke up with Jaehyun, she couldn’t handle it anymore. You could say…it wasn’t a clean break up.” Jimin crossed her arms.

“Why?”

“Jaehyun really liked her back then.”

Byul wanted to hit her head against a wall. If things really do push through, her ex-boyfriend will become her in-law.

“Are you going to transfer here? I thought you were going to be stuck in LA.” Jungkook spoke.

“Aniya, I was asked to come back a few days ago. Something about a business merger.” Jaehyun nodded along, Byul’s eyed widened.

Holy , he doesn’t know!

She glanced behind her, Chunghee had disappeared.

“Noona? Are you okay?” She felt Mark’s hand on her shoulder, Jungkook looked at the younger male.

“Y—yeah, I just..have training. I forgot. I’ll see you.” She nodded.

“It’s a Thursday.” Jungkook spoke, Byul paused.

“You still swim?” Jaehyun smiled at her.

“Yeah, I do.”

“You only train during Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.” Jungkook was looking at her.

“I missed some sessions last week. Then,” Byul faced Mark, he just handed her bag back. She jogged away from them.

“So she’s the noona you told me about. You’ve been staying with her family.” Jaehyun said with a smile.

“Have you heard about Byul’s appa?” Jungkook asked.

“I did. It’s worrying, he such a cool dad. I used to drop~” Jaehyun halted, Mark’s brows went up.

“What?” Jungkook grew amused.

“I mean, Byul talks about her dad a lot. He seems like the cool type of dad.” Jaehyun nodded quickly.

“It looks like a countermeasure.”

Byul looked up from her father’s desk, she had been staring at her signature on the document before her.

“What?”

“This, Chunghee’s engagement to JKG Group.” Her father’s secretary pointed towards the article on the laptop’s screen.

“What do you mean?”

“They’re worried that the BOD seems to prefer you over Chunghee, so they have to make her stronger. In this instance, a union between Chunghee and JKG’s second son.”

Byul shook her head, then she looked at her feet. She was wearing them, the shoes Jungkook gave her.

“I did some research on him, you were in the same class as him during high school, agasshi, with young master Jeon too.”

“Y—yeah, we were.” Byul closed the folder.

“They might use this to overthrow you, agasshi.” He said carefully.

“I realized that, don’t worry. I’ll think of something, ahjussi. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She set the pen down before leaving the room.

Byul made her way towards the elevator with high levels of discomfort. Why? Employees twice her age were bowing to her.

“This isn’t right. I haven’t earned that yet.” She muttered to herself, the elevator doors opened before her and she paused.

Jungkook was looking at her, his jaw tensed and arms crossed.

“This is another code for swim practice now?”

Byul exhaled, she stepped in the machine.

“You could have just called.” She said softly.

“Will you pick up?” He asked, Byul faced him just as the doors closed.

“Jungkook, what brings you~”

“You said you wouldn’t dare,” He met her gaze evenly.

“What do you mean?”

“Replace me.”

Byul’s brows met briefly.

“You said wouldn’t dare replace me. You’re doing that now.”

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