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Aera had been awake for the past fifteen minutes. She made no sound but stared at Baekhyun who rested his head on the bed she was lying on, sleeping tiredly. 

Aera knew that he was stressed, so she didn't wake him up. 

Jongdae walked into the room but smiled immediately when his eyes met with Aera's. "Has it been long since you woke up?" Jongdae asked while he gently caressed her hair.

"Not too long," Aera replied with a smile. "Why is Baekhyun sleeping here? He looked stressed out."

"He sure is stressed, he was worried about you." Jongdae drifted his attention to Baekhyun, he tapped his hand to wake him up, and Baekhyun responded quickly.

He looked at Jongdae before wiping his eyes. "Any news about who shot Aera?" That was the first thing he asked about as he woke up.

"There is. It was an unknown gunman that shot Aera that day. It's quite difficult to find him because he wore a mask. Ki-Jung and Camila had no hand in what happened because I did a thorough investigation before coming here." Jongdae explained and the mafia sighed.

"Then who could it be? Who could be after Aera's life?" Baekhyun was stressed and confused, he ran his fingers through his already messy hair as he wasn't able to comprehend what was exactly going on.

Aera reached out to him and gently caressed his hand which he reacted to by turning around to face her immediately. He wasn't aware that Aera was already awake.

"Aera, how are you feeling?" Baekhyun's voice softened, his eyes became gentle as he looked at her with tenderness.

"I'm fine, and the pain isn't that much as before, so please stop worrying yourself about me." She had a calm smile on her face and that didn't make Baekhyun feel better, rather he felt bad knowing that Aera was hurt because of him.

"I'm very sorry. I caused you so much suffering whereas you deserved better. Please forgive me." Baekhyun pleaded, but Aera touched his hand and genuinely smiled at him.

"You did nothing wrong, none of you did, so please stop apologizing. Regarding the person that shot me, I don't know who the person is either, the sound of the gunshot went off, and before I could run just like other people did, I was already injured." Aera explained and Baekhyun nodded his head. 

He didn't want to push the issues any further, what mattered was that she was awake and doing well. He stood up and looked at Jongdae who seemed to be lost, and he tapped his shoulder.

"I will personally investigate the incident myself, but first I need to take Aera back home, she hasn't rested properly. We'll get going now."

"Alright boss." Jongdae caressed Aera's hair before walking away, leaving Baekhyun alone with Aera.

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Baekhyun stepped out of the car along with Aera beside him. She was doing well, but still having some pain around where she was operated on, but she could handle it.

They made their way into the living room, but they were both shocked to see how beautiful the living room was decorated, with a huge write-up which says "We're very sorry for hurting you, please forgive us, we love you."

Aera smiled in happiness. She loved what was in front of her, she was happy and unable to contain her joy and she began to cry.

Kyungsoo walked closer to her and gently wiped her tears away.

"I know that I've hurt you so much, I made you cry and called you names. I'm not even worthy of your forgiveness, but I want you to know that I'm deeply sorry, we're all deeply sorry for what we did to you, please forgive us." Kyungsoo gave her a box of chocolate, and she gladly accepted it.

"I am not angry with you and I never was. I understood why you all reacted that way, and I don't blame any of you for that." She looked at everyone in the living room, and she smiled before walking further into the living room.

"We are very sorry for what we did to you, please forgive us." The men apologized in unison and Aera giggled before nodding her head.

"I wasn't angry with any of you, but since you're still on with this forgiveness talk, fine, I forgive you all." She turned around to look at Kyungsoo and she smiled. "Including you. Thanks for the chocolate, it's one of my favorite goodies." She smiled beautifully just like a child, and Kyungsoo gently hugged her.

"Thank you." He said before pulling away to look at Baekhyun, but the mafia's attention was on Aera. He was staring at her, watching her every move, and Kyungsoo chuckled.

"What is this I see in your eyes?" Kyungsoo asked, only then did Baekhyun avert his gaze from Aera.

"And what are you talking about?" Baekhyun looked at his cousin, he already knew what the man had in mind, and he wasn't surprised.

"Love. You're in love with Aera, right?" Kyungsoo asked, but Baekhyun chuckled. He saw the question coming, but the truth is that he wasn't. 

"I'm not in love with her. Aera is someone special to me, I've vowed to protect, and that's it. Have you forgotten that love is a thing of the past for me? I made a mistake once, and I  will never repeat it, so please don't bring up such stupid words in front of me ever again." Baekhyun walked closer to Aera, he let out a small smile before looking at his men, his brothers.

"I am deeply touched by the extent you all went to right your wrong. As you all know, someone had tried to kill Aera, but she was lucky the bullet didn't hit her directly, but a piece of it did. Please be careful when you're beside her to prevent causing her any pain. I will be in my room." Baekhyun left the living room and went straight to his room. He was down with a terrible headache, but he decided to keep it to himself as he doesn't want to ruin Aera's fun moment with his brothers.

Aera excused herself, she took her bath before joining the boys in the living room. There was so much to eat and she was already starving.

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Jongdae was done with his work in the hospital despite being absent-minded the whole day. Earlier that morning, he got a call from his father, and he wasn't himself at all. He had always avoided picking calls from his parents, but he was so busy that he didn't look at the caller ID before picking up the call.

He was about to leave the office when his father, Yangmin, made his way into his office. The man had a disgusting look on his face as he stared at Jongdae.

"It seems you've still not come to your senses." The man's voice was filled with disappointment and hatred towards his son.

However, Jongdae said nothing but heaved a deep sigh. He knew why his father had come to see him, and it bothered him.

Eight years ago, Jongdae was disowned by his parents, because he had refused to follow in his family's footsteps. He took the path of justice and honesty, that was the reason he enrolled in the military academy. 

He believed in good, justice, and a better world, but his family, the Kims, were the exact opposite. They were into illegal business, importation, and exportation of drugs despite having a successful company that deals mainly in electronics.

They were against Jongdae joining the military, but he refused to let his family pull him down to ruins. He fought for his right and with the help of his best friend, Baekhyun, he made his dream a reality. 

Jongdae knew that his family hated him for going against them, but he never knew that his father was after Baekhyun, until the day he overheard his parents talking about burning one of Baekhyun's companies down.

Jongdae knew how heartless his parents are, he knew the extent they would go just to make sure their enemies are ruined. He decided to confront his parents, he tried his best to talk them out of hurting his best friend, but it only made them angry.

Jongdae was left with no other choice than to go against his parents. He betrayed them by telling Baekhyun his parents' plan. He also supported and assisted Baekhyun in putting an end to his parent's illegal drug business.

Jongdae knew that the outcome would be ugly and indeed it was. His parents disowned him and vowed to have their revenge on Baekhyun for ruining their business.

"Please be seated, dad," Jongdae said, but the man lifted his hand to stop him from coming closer to him.

"Don't ever call me by that name. You're dead to me. My visit to this forsaken hospital is to warn you to stay away from the case of my missing daughter. I was informed that you reopened the case recently and I don't care to know your reasons for that, but I won't be so kind as to come to you in person next time. Stay away from that case, she's my daughter and like her father, I'm warning you." Yangmin was upset, but Jongdae wasn't in the mood for his ranting.

"You asked me not to call you father, that I will do, but