Sehun basically echoed and confirmed most of Jongin’s suspicions last weekend. He had Red Velvet give me a flier to officially invite me to the party. He knew Jongin would sneak it out of my things and ultimately make me forget about going, so he asked for Mr. Byun’s help to slip me another invite by handing me imitation notes.

He also briefly explained how Mr. Byun was affiliated with him and his gang. “Byun Baekhyun used to be the leader of Seven Suns.”

“Seven Suns?”

Sehun nodded his head once as we turned to another street. “We’re called the Seven Suns, darling.”

“And Mr. Byun was the leader before?”

“Yes. I took his place a few years back.”

It still irked me to think that Mr. Byun, whom I’ve known for quite some time now as my English teacher, plays (or used to play) such a major part of this mafia world. With the way those guys from last weekend moved warily around him, and not to mention how he orchestrated his plan to make sure I attended the party, he must have been a lethal threat.

Or maybe he still is? “Mr. Byun doesn’t seem to be that old to have to step down.”

Sehun answered my implied question. “He had his reasons.”

When I didn’t say anything else, Sehun continued on with his explanations. “At that point, only Baekhyun and Yeol knew about you. I hadn’t told the rest of my men. That’s why Chen was also surprised to have found you there.”

“You should have just told him, too.”

“If I did, then he would have told Kai sooner. And you never would have made it.”

He thought that far ahead? “Why do you call my best friend ‘Kai’?”

A slight chuckle. “You should ask him that.” He turned to another street again and I realized we were nearing my place. “I should apologize to you.”

That made me whip my head to his direction. He gave me side a glance before staring at the road again and continuing. “Our first meeting consisted of a lot of guns and a man shot in the head. That’s not easy to stomach, but I thought it was necessary.”

“How come?”

“I needed to gauge how well you’d cope and react in such a situation.” I watched my building get bigger in my vision as we neared the parking space in front of it. “If I’m going to pull you into my world, I should know how to help you adjust to it.”

He slowed his car to a stop. “You’re thinking too far ahead again.”

“Hm?”

I faced him. “Who says I’ve said yes to your courtship thing?”

He smirked and faced me too, only when he did so, he made it a point to get close to my face. “And who says I’d back down right away if you say no?”

Let’s pretend my face wasn’t tingling, which it really shouldn’t because this is the leader of one of the most feared mafias in the country. “I’m beginning to learn that you’re so very full of yourself.”

He had the nerve to laugh. “Good. Let’s learn more about each other next time.” He unbuckled my seatbelt for me and took my coat and purse from the back seat. “Jongdae will be with you at all times next week, but I’ll try to see you as often as I can.”

“Why do I need a bodyguard?”

“To keep you safe at all costs.”

“From what?”

“I have a lot of enemies. Now that they know you’re somehow connected to me, some of them might be dumb enough to try something. I’d never let those s touch you.”

When he faced me again and saw that I was just staring at him, he raised an eyebrow at me. “What?”

I gulped. “You’re really serious about this? The courting thing?”

A beat passed before he responded. “Yes.”

“Why?” I fiddled with my fingers on my lap. “Why me? Did I miraculously charm you when the café ran out of chocolate cake that one time?”

He momentarily lowered his head to hide his chuckle. Then, I thought he would answer me once he was done, but instead, he unbuckled his own seatbelt, got out of the car and went to my side to open my door. Once I was out, I realized that he still had my stuff. He handed me my purse and draped my coat over my shoulders. “Darling, you already had the invitation flier way before we met at the café.”

Oh dang, he’s right. “Oh.”

It took a few seconds. He was just staring at me, like he’s anticipating something. Then it clicked. “OH.” If I received the fliers before the café incident then he would have known about me even before that. But that was our earliest encounter.

Just how did this man know about me? “How long have you known me?” I subconsciously took a step back, finally realizing the amount of power he actually held.

Sehun wasn’t even fazed by how I reacted. “A while.”

I bit my lip. “It wasn’t the chocolate cake?”

“Not entirely.”

“Then what?”

Sehun bit his lip. I didn’t look at it. I really didn’t. I swear I didn’t. “I think that’s enough for now.”

My eyes widened. “What?! But—”

He took a hand out of his pocket and gingerly pushed my shoulder to the direction of my building, urging me to go inside already. “Your sister has been watching us from the window for a while now. You should go inside before it gets creepier.”

Oh my god. “She’s what?! Oh wow I’m so sorry she’s just – wait, you know I have a sister?!”

My heart was pounding in my chest, but I didn’t know what for anymore. Sehun’s hand continued to push me to go inside, not at all affected that I’m close (if not already) to freaking out about what he knows about me. Heck, I didn’t even give him any directions to my place, yet there we were.

One final nudge and he pulled his hand away to slide safely back into his pocket. “Go inside. I’ll come get you again one of these days.”

I faced him again and glared at him. The smiled. “I’ll give you more answers then.”

“…”

“I promise.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Now go inside before you freeze to death.”

“You’re surrounded by so much testosterone that you can basically grow your own if you soak yourself in enough water.”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you ever hear yourself? Like does the bull ever register in your brain?”

My sister just shrugged as she placed my mug of hot tea in front of me. “Sometimes.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

She had the audacity to smile and look flattered. “Thank you.”

We were having a girls’ movie night. Whenever my sister and I had time to ourselves on a weekend, we would always hang out and have movie nights and/or spa days. She just got home from an extended shift at work that Sunday and we opted to stay in and watch some movies with some tea….and lots of junk food.

After witnessing my conversation with Sehun in front of our building, my sister hadn’t stopped asking me for all the details. Who is he? How did you two meet? HE’S HOT. Can I have him if it doesn’t work out? Why not? Court you? What does that mean? Does Jongin know?

“I’m serious though.” She starts again. “It’s bad enough that you got Kim Jongin as your best friend. That boy already exudes enough masculinity for the entire neighborhood, and now you’re telling me that you’re close with a Kim Jongdo—”

“Jongdae”

“—and his friend Sehong—”

“Sehun”

“—fancies you?” She took a large potato chip from the bag we were sharing. “Thank goodness you have me to balance you out.”

I look at her incredulously. “Yeah. I’m so balanced thanks to you.”

Not fazed at all, she pops the chip in and winks at me in agreement to what I just said. I shook my head at her and started browsing the plethora of movies in our digital library. “I’m feeling…..White Chicks? Sound good?”

My sister rolled her eyes. “Fine. I can practically quote every line of that movie now thanks to you.”

“Consider yourself blessed.” It was my turn to wink at her and she just bursted out laughing and smacking the back of my head. As the screen faded to black indicating the start of the movie, my sister elbowed me. “But hey, on a really serious note though, are you okay?”

I raise an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’ve always ever had just Jongin, right? There’s his friend Kyungho—”

“Kyungsoo”

“—that I hear about at times, but really it has always just been Jongin. I know this isn’t the first time you’ve dated someone, but I think this is the only time that you got into a fight with your best friend because of a guy.”

I let out a frustrated scoff. “I told you it’s not like that. My fight with Jongin has nothing to do with him.” Sort of. When I got inside that night and after all of my sister’s questions, she mentioned that Jongin passed by. He was supposed to wait for me to get home, but he unfortunately had an errand to run. She noted that he seemed distraught and he spaced out a lot, which made me subconsciously pout. Jongin also texted me, but it was already late when I saw it.

[Nini]

Junmyeon called, so I’m spending the weekend in Busan. I know this is the worst time to say this, but Jongdae’s your bodyguard okay? If you need to go out this weekend, please have him around. I’d feel more at ease if I know you’re always safe.

I know I have a lot to apologize for. I’ll make it up to you first thing next week, I promise. I’m sorry. Love you.

“Jongin puts nothing above you.” My sister said that night. “If he has ‘an errand to run’ and he can’t wait for you, then something must be really up. Did you two fight?”

I couldn’t really deny it after that. “We’re just….having a misunderstanding.” Because he was being moody and dodgy all week.

“Right, and this has nothing to do with that guy liking you?”

“Nope.”

A few moments passed before my sister spoke again. “Whatever. You’re both bound to make up anyway.”

“You say that like it’s a fact.”

She shrugged. “It is. That boy has been attached to you since you were toddlers, and you basically live and breathe his entire existence.” She booped my nose. “We both know you can’t go a day or two without interacting with Jongin. Everyone else be damned, as long as Jongin’s there, you good.”

“You make it sound like I'm a dependent antisocial teenager.”

“Honestly? That’s not too bad of a description—OW! Stop hitting me!”

“You were ambushed not once, but twice?”

Jongin was at the hot seat along with Kyungsoo. Both of their heads were down as Junmyeon continued. “And D.O., your phone was duplicated and it took you more than 6 hours to notice. I told you both to be neutral when you’re not here with me, not reckless and stupid.”

Junmyeon, more popularly known as Suho in Busan, doesn’t get mad easily. It usually takes a whole lot for him to snap. However, getting frustrated at his subordinates was a whole other story. “Explain.”

Both of them finally looked up and Kyungsoo started. “We noticed an increasing amount of gang leaders gathering at one particular place. Once we reported that to you, Kai and I decided to keep close tabs on their whereabouts, but we never intended to get involved.”

“When your report came back to me, I informed you that they are m