I frown and tilt my husband’s dress shirt in the light, wondering if the almost inconspicuous lipstick smudge is just a trick of my eye. But when I spot it even more visibly, I find that it isn’t just an illusion. My throat closes and my heart seems to pound very hard in my chest. It doesn’t help that the lipstick stain is at the placket of his shirt where he always leaves his top few buttons exposed.

“Baby, I have to—” Baekhyun stops when he notices me sitting on the sofa, staring at his white shirt unblinkingly instead of watching the TV like I normally do when I sort out the laundry. He shuffles closer and bends over the back of the couch so his face is right next to mine. “What are you looking at?”

I glance at him to see him staring at me, his lips tilted in a playful grin, eyes dancing with love. My throat closes again. I shake my head and put down the shirt. “Nothing,” I murmur, looking down.

But whether or not Baekhyun is cheating on me, he knows me so well that he understands when something is wrong with me. He touches my chin lightly with his delicate fingers and tilts it to make me face him. There is a furrow between his brows and concern written all over his features.

“Tell me what’s wrong, Darling,” he coaxes.

I am not one to keep secrets from my husband. I tell him everything that I know. So I swallow and brace myself for an answer when I murmur, “Why do you have a lipstick stain on your shirt, Baekhyun?” I lift the said shirt and point out the mark to him.

His eyes dart to the stain and he stares for quite some time. Then he turns back to me with an expressionless face. The unsure tears welling up in my eyes only start to roll down my cheeks. That wakes Baekhyun’s emotions up. Worry and panic takes over his features.

“Oh, baby,” he coos, sliding his calloused palm along my jawline to cup the side of my head. He pulls me close to press his forehead to mine as he caresses the apple of my cheek with his thumb. “It’s nothing, okay?” he murmurs in a promise, staring me in the eyes. “I met up with Baekbeom and his wife, and she gave me a hug when we were parting ways. Maybe her lipstick got on my shirt by accident.”

I sniffle. “Really?”

His lips tilt into a soft smile. Baekhyun pulls back and wipes my tears with the back of his fingers. “Yes,” he says firmly. I sniffle again, helping him in wiping my tears by swiping my cheeks with my hands. “Promise,” he murmurs as he brings my face close and presses his lips to my forehead tenderly.

But he lied to me. Because he forgot that I meet up with Baekbeom’s wife every month for brunch and this month, I asked her about the meeting Baekhyun said happened. She told me that they haven’t met in a while.

It doesn’t help that Baekhyun barely comes home early these days. He is always returning home in the wee hours of the night when I am already asleep. He is always out, only dropping by the café for a bit to get something, and then leaving with a peck on my lips.

No matter how much I trust him, it’s not difficult to be insecure and think that my husband is cheating on me.

I don’t know how to approach him about this. I want to know if he really is cheating on me, but at the same time, I am afraid to find out. We have only been married for a year, he couldn’t have gotten bored of me so quickly. Right?

Jae, a huge buff guy who works full-time at the café, glances at me in amusement when he hears me sigh for the nth time that day. It is only noon but it sounds like I have already been through many hours of the day.

“What’s up, Lady Boss?” he asks in a teasing kind of voice.

Sometimes I wonder why he would even want to work at a café when he could probably do well as a personal trainer or a bouncer, or something. But I enjoy working with him because despite his tough exterior, he is a pretty funny guy who cares quite a lot about me. Probably because he is afraid of Baekhyun, but still.

I let out a huge sigh and shake my head. “Nothing.”

He raises an eyebrow. “You’ve been sighing more than you’ve made coffee. And it’s been going on for days now.”

I purse my lips. I admit that I’m pretty out of it with all kinds of negative thoughts about my husband running through my head. I guess it is pretty unfair to Jae that he is constantly hearing my sighs and probably dampening his mood with my own. I lean my hip against the marble counter and set down the milk jug. I turn to Jae and the moment he glances at the serious expression on my face, he sobers up and the teasing in his features is wiped out.

In a quiet, low voice, I mumble, “Baekhyun’s up to something.”

Jae actually looks somber. “Why do you say that?” he asks, not shocked or anything, simply expressionless.

I sigh again, thinking back to the lipstick stain. I turn to the order I am making and shrug a shoulder. “He’s just… I don’t know, I guess, like—”

“Lady Boss…”

I frown at Jae who had interrupted me and is staring attentively at the door that had just been opened, his face hard and fierce. I turn to the entrance where a lady in a nice, expensive red suit is walking into the café, her black heels making loud clacks against the wooden floorboards. Her black cat-eye sunglasses obscure her eyes but I can bet that they’re full of power, considering the two big guys who walk in right behind her. Her lips are painted dark red, like the kind of shade only a classy woman would use. The kind of shade I found on—

“Get inside,” Jae mutters in a serious voice as he takes out his phone.

My mind is reeling but I am easily distracted. I don’t think I have ever heard Jae sound so commanding. Maybe he would do well as a military officer too.

“Now,” he growls, his muscular hand going to the back of his jeans. He has already locked his phone. It must have been a really quick text. Or maybe he was just checking the time. “Lady Boss,” he snaps when I don’t budge.

I snap out of it and glance at the approaching new customer. I turn back to frown even more at him. “Jae, I don’t—”

I jump and gasp when a loud bang resounds in the café, blowing out one of the light bulbs in the ceiling. Screams are heard and people are scrambling to leave the café. I only catch a glance of Red Lady and her two bodyguards in the middle of the fleeing flock of customers, standing there so calmly like they hadn’t just heard a gunshot, before Jae grabs my arm roughly and pushes me down behind the counter. I clap a hand to my mouth when he whips out a pistol from the inside of the waistband of his jeans.

“Where’s your boss?” comes a clear, distinct voice now that everyone is out of the café. It sounds just as elegant and classy as the lady with the voice.

“He’s coming,” Jae replies curtly, his arms already out, aiming the gun at the only other people left in the shop.

Red Lady titters softly. “Alright then. I’ll wait for him,” she declares. I hear a chair being dragged along the floorboards. She takes a while to get comfortable. When she does, she says dismissively, “And get that lady out from behind the counter. I want to see her.”

I widen my eyes at Jae, who glances down at me. I point to myself and mouth, “Me?!”

Jae clenches on his jaw. He turns back to Red Lady. “No.”

“Why not?” She laughs softly. “Get her to make me a cup of coffee, then.”

“I’ll make it,” Jae growls.

“Go on, then.”

But Jae doesn’t budge from his stiff stance, still holding tightly and firmly onto the pistol. “But I don’t want to.”

The lady chuckles. “Smart boy,” she coos in a rather downgrading sort of manner. “But won’t your hands get sore?” Jae doesn’t answer to her this time. “Suit yourself then,” she says.

I can only keep my anxious eyes on Jae as my heart pounds hard and fast in my chest. I have no idea what is going on. Surely any other café could have gotten into this mess that includes guns too. This might even be a robbery. But the fact that Jae seems so well prepared for this — the gun, the command, the speech — and the three people who don’t want to take any money from us but want to see Jae’s ‘boss’. It is like Jae has always been familiar with things like these, and people like these.

But he can't be. I have seen his resumé and I have heard his story. He has been working here before I met Baekhyun. He was a drop out who had just quit his three-year job at a courier company and he came here to work full-time. He lives with Hyuk, who joined the same time he did because they are best friends, and I assume they even go to the gym together because they are of the same build. Jae likes to play video games while Hyuk is more of a reader. They’re really gruff on the outside but they’re actually really nice and fun to be with. I can’t see any one of them as someone who works in the dark world of mafias.

The tension in the room is heavy and suffocating. I feel breathless and scared. I cannot attest for the three people on the other side of the counter because I cannot see them, but Jae looks tensed as he keeps his gun pointed in front of him, his face stiff with anger.

About 10 minutes later, the sound of the back door opening makes such a loud noise in this stuffy place that I gasp and jump so hard I bang against the mini fridge behind me. I keep my wide eyes on the door to the kitchen, my heart pounding so hard and fast that my head is throbbing. I hear the sound of quick but familiar footsteps, echoed by another set of heavy footfalls. Before I know it, the door to the kitchen swings open.

My heart skips a beat when I see Baekhyun standing there, so dishevelled and frantic, his hand still holding the door open, his eyes scanning the place quickly. I only manage to get a glance of Hyuk behind him before Baekhyun rushes forward, kneeling before me with his hands cupping my face. He looks so extremely worried and anxious that my heart bursts at its seams no matter how much stress and heartbreaks he has caused me in the past few days.

“Baby,” he breathes, sounding so relieved that even I feel my body relaxing. His eyes dart about my features quickly to make sure I am alright, his fingers on my face caressing and smoothing my skin. “You’re okay?”

I nod and place my hand over his just as Red Lady stands, her heels making clicks on the floor. “Mr. Byun,” she purrs. “Have you thought of my offer?”

Baekhyun stares at me for a moment longer, caressing the corner of my lips with his thumb, savouring for just one more second that I am alive and well. Then, his eyes harden and he lets go of me. I am in awe as he stands to his full height, towering over me. He looks so full of confidence and power, his aura so commanding and big. It actually reminds me of the Red Lady…

“Unfortunately, Miss Ruby,” Baekhyun mutters in an expressionless voice, sounding so detached and so unlike the Baekhyun that I usually know. “I’m sorry to tell you that I haven’t. I’ve had a much bigger job to worry about.”

The sound of the lady walking in her heels is loud and sharp, almost angry. It gets closer until she stops right in front of the counter. I jump when she slams the tip jar on the counter, the leftover noise of the coins in it clanging and chiming loud in the empty place.

“What’s so hard about human trafficking when our men will do the hard work for us?” she growls.

My eyes widen at the mention of human trafficking. I am not even breathing yet I still have my hand over my mouth. I keep my eyes on Baekhyun, not noticing Hyuk standing behind him, a gun in his hands too. My husband is still calm but his aura has gotten darker, heavier.

“It’s just against my morals as a human,” Baekhyun says expressionlessly.

Red Lady scoffs. “Morals?” she repeats. “You’re a ing mafia leader, for God’s sake! Who are you to talk about morals?”

My heart has stopped. Baekhyun? A mafia leader? Is that why he has that big tattoo on his back and his sleeve? Is that why he comes home sometimes smelling like smoke? But everyone can have tattoos that big. It’s art and Baekhyun appreciates art. The countless paintings worth fortunes in our house can attest for that. And everyone can smoke. People with tattoos and people who smoke aren’t necessarily gang leaders.

But as my eyes flicker over to Hyuk, then to Jae, I realise that in this case, my husband with the tattoos and the bad lungs is a gang leader. My head is spinning as I try to wrap my mind around that fact. A fact that Baekhyun has kept hidden from me for a year since we got married, then the previous two before we tied the knot.

“Partner up with someone else, Miss Ruby,” Baekhyun mutters. “I’m not doing it.”

“But you’re one of the last few original gangs left in Seoul! You know how to evade the law!”

“Yes, so pick someone your own size,” my husband says boredly.

The woman snarls and the next thing I hear is things falling to the ground. I look up in surprise when I see a manicured hand grabbing at Baekhyun’s collar, pulling him forward. Red Lady has crawled up onto the marble counter and she doesn’t seem to take notice of me. Baekhyun’s jaw is clenched and I can feel the fire burning inside of him from the way his hands are curled into fists.

“No one has resisted my offers before,” Red Lady murmurs, tilting her head so her lips are at his ear. “Not after I’ve slept with them.” A big lump grows in my throat and my chest feels stuffy. She drops her head to grin at me. My heart stops. She shifts her head slightly and sticks her tongue out to run the tip along Baekhyun’s jaw. “Your boyfie's been cheating on you, girly,” Red Lady purrs. “With me.”

“Yes,” Baekhyun growls in a quietly angry voice. “And you would know because you were drugged up and unconscious.”

I gasp when the woman winds her hand back and lands a hard slap on Baekhyun’s cheek. She is snarling at him. “Don’t bring that up,” she snaps. “I just wanted to talk civilly and you drugged me.”

“You were going to me.”

The both of them are just glaring at each other. The way they’re talking to each other would have sounded funny to me, like two friends bantering, but the guns, the hatred and anger in their eyes remind me that this is serious.

I hiccup a small gasp in shock when the front door opens with a light tinkling noise. My ears perk at the soft thuds of expensive leather shoes on the floorboards. Then, a low voice speaks.

“Down, girl,” the male says in an amicable tone, as if he isn’t quite seeing the scene before him. Ruby growls into Baekhyun’s face, baring her teeth at him like an animal, before she backs off and crawls back down the counter. Baekhyun adjusts and pats down his suit. “Mr. Byun,” the newcomer greets.

My husband lets out a quiet scoff as he glances down, pretending to smooth down his shirt in order to look at me. He sends me a look of comfort, holding his finger out to me under the counter, telling me to stay and be quiet. Then he ahems and looks up at the new guy.

“Mr. Park,” he murmurs with a fake smile. “Should have known you were behind this.”

“Behind, what?” The guy laughs. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been quite transparent with what I want.”

“Well, then I think I’ve quite been transparent with what I don’t want,” Baekhyun snipes back, eyes steeling and jaw clenching.

Mr. Park chuckles, takes a few steps forward, and speaks. “Well,” he mocks. “Lucky for you, human trafficking is so five minutes ago.” Baekhyun a rude eyebrow. “I have a guy in Portugal who can make me a new kind of A-class amphetamine that can make us millions. Each. Every, batch.”

He pauses and waits for Baekhyun’s reaction. Certainly my husband wouldn’t think of smuggling drugs into the country. He is such a nice man. I have never seen him do anything close to being illegal. Unless nearly burning down the kitchen when he was trying to make pasta counts as an act of arson.

But he surprises me yet again today when he sniffs and clears his throat. “Keep talking,” he mutters quietly.

The guy sounds much more pleasant now when he says, “So I have the human traffickers to bring in the drugs. But I need your expertise on the storage and the dealing. We could help each other earn bucks here, Mr. Byun.”

Baekhyun stares at the other man for a few moments, just observing him, evaluating him. Then, he takes in a deep breath and on his teeth. He nods once.

“Word’s that you’re a reliable man, Chanyeol,” my husband mutters, holding out his hand. “Don’t it up or I’m going to destroy you.”

Chanyeol chuckles pleasantly as he takes Baekhyun’s hand. “And I heard the same about you, Baekhyun. Cheers to a new partnership.”

“Yes,” Baekhyun hums disinterestedly. He darts a furious glance at the woman behind Chanyeol. He mutters under his breath, “And keep that away from me.”

Chanyeol laughs again. He laughs a lot, actually. “My word is my bond,” he promises.

And with that, he and his posse evacuate the already empty café. I wait for a few more moments, listening to the echo of the twinkling chime, before I stand up from my hiding spot. The three men who had been so resolutely glaring at the door break out of their trance. As if a switch had just turned off in them, they morph back into their usual selves that I am familiar with. The men who put me first and treat me with the most respect.

“Lady Boss—”

“Mrs. Boss—”

“Baby—”

So much has happened to me in the past few days, and definitely today too, that I feel like a boiled kettle. My top has finally blown.

“Shut up!” I yell loudly, my voice ringing through the deserted café. The three men, like they always are when they’re with me individually, listen. I fling an arm out to the side and point to a random table. “Sit,” I order in a low, scary growl.

“Love—”

“I’ll get to you, Byun Baekhyun,” I snap, turning to glare at my husband who immediately sports a sour look on his face. But he listens anyway, so I turn back to Hyuk, who is looking away in guilt. “What are you, really?” I snarl. “A barista? Or a bodyguard?”

“Both…?” He answers unsurely, glancing up at me timidly.

“And that’s it? That’s all you are?” I catch the glance he directs at Baekhyun as if trying to get permission to talk. “Mr. Boss isn’t going to save your , Hyuk,” I snap. “Tell me.”

I hear a low whistle from the guy next to him. “I knew there is just something about you, baby girl,” Baekhyun mutters sultrily under his breath.

I whip my head around to glare at his smug look. Dropping the interrogation with Hyuk, I stomp over to the center man who immediately straightens up in his seat like an excited puppy. He even has the cheek to grin at me, his eyes sparkling like they always do when he looks at me.

“Was she the one?” I mutter.

Baekhyun starts to frown. “What?”

I step forward between his legs. “Was she the one who made that lipstick print on your shirt?!” I very nearly shout in frustration. It scares Jae and Hyuk anyway because they jump at my outburst.

Baekhyun cringes. “Yes,” he grumbles quietly, not quite happy to confess that. “But I promise, nothing—”

“What were you doing the past week, Baekhyun?” I ask, cutting his oath. I heard the banter between him and Red Lady, I know for sure now that Baekhyun really has not been cheating on me. So I move on, “Where did you go that made you come home late every night?”

“I thought we made a deal not to talk about our work—”

“This clearly isn’t about work—”

“It clearly is if I’m a gang leader and that is my job!”

I bend down quickly and poke my finger at his chest, hard. He glares back at me. “And something so huge, you were just going to keep from me?” I growl. “After going out for two years, and being married for another year?!”

“We were fine without you knowing, weren’t we?” he shouts back, moving closer so that our faces are only a few inches apart in a provoking stare down.

“That’s not the point, Baekhyun! The point is that you’ve been lying to me! The whole time!”

“I wasn’t lying if I didn’t say anything—”

“It’s the same as lying!” I roar, pinching his arm painfully and twisting his flesh. He yelps and cries out in pain. I let go and stand back, shaking my head as I fix cold and fiery eyes on him. “I’m so disappointed in you, Baekhyun.”

The fire in his immediately dies. Anxiousness and fear now flood his features. “Wait, how disappointed?” he breathes.

I narrow my eyes on him, until I realise that he isn’t trying to piss me off. And then I remember that talk we had before we were married, a talk that went something along the lines of “disappointment is mostly what precedes a divorce, not anger”. The flames in my chest die out a little.

I still keep my glare on him when I mutter, “Like, you’re-a-ing--and-the-worst-husband-ever-and-I-wish-you-were-less-hot-so-I-could-hate-you-more disappointed.” The frown on Baekhyun’s face smoothens out into a smug grin. Before he says anything, I pinch him again. He whimpers. “Tell me everything, Byun Baekhyun. And I mean everything.”

He opens his mouth for a moment, stops, and tilts his head to the side as he contemplates me for a moment. A loving sparkle lights up in his eyes and a small, fond smile plays on his lips. “Summary?” he offers, knowing just how I hate it when he gets all naggy and long winded. I just get too distracted.

I am about to decline the offer when the severity of what I said comes back to me. I probably don’t want to listen to everything. I shrug and bob my head a little. “Summary,” I agree.

Baekhyun’s lips stretch into a grin. “Was a mafia leader before I met you, used the café as a front for my illegal doings, met a pretty woman— then you—” He chuckles when I slap his arm. “Fell in love with you, made you a trophy wife to run my café—”

“You mean, your illegal business,” I correct curtly.

“Yes, that,” Baekhyun hums, sounding so nonchalant that I glare at him again. “And now here we are,” he grins at me, his perfect teeth and perfect smile so handsome and so blinding.

“Still a mafia leader,” I mutter, adding a clarification to that anti-climactic ending.

“Still a mafia leader,” Baekhyun repeats, nodding his head, his smile widening even more, eyes twinkling with passion for his job.

My husband is a gang leader.

Author's note:

their dynamic is more fun than i anticipated before i even started writing. I like it. So i hope you guys like it too! pretty short first chapter, but enough to start the engine for this fic. tell me what u guys think!

xoxo