Nayeon held her breath as Kyungsoo approached the half open study door, looking thunderous and without even a cursory glance in her direction, headed straight for her father. It was as if he hadn’t even noticed that she was there, and that pricked her deeply, though she tried to ignore it.

“Where is she?”, His jaw was clenched as he stared at her father, face a cold mask and Nayeon’s heart rate picked up. Who was he talking about?

“Nayeon? Can you leave us alone for a minute?”, He father asked her a second later, breaking her out of her daze. “But – “, She began to object but was cut off. “Please Nayeon. Go”, Her father’s tone was stern.

She took reluctant steps out of the room, closing the heavy door behind her and silence followed as she entered the hallway. She could hear muffled sounds from inside the room and nothing more and it irked her. What were they talking about? Why had Kyungsoo looked so…angry? Why had her father sent her out?

Unable to help herself, she quietly went towards the room adjacent to the study. It used to be her bedroom when she was younger, and she remembered creeping up on tip toes late at night, when her maids had put her to sleep and gone, to watch her father working in the study after he came home from work. It was always so late, and for the fear of how her maids would react if she went out to meet him directly, she’d kept to silently watching him through the window that connected the two rooms. It had been enough for her then.

She quietly slipped through the door, into the dark interior of the room. She could barely make out the bed and a lamp shade in the corner, and using her memory she made her way to the window and pulled the curtains covering it slightly ajar to peek into the study.

“- Why do you care?”, Her father was asking as she peeked.

Kyungsoo’s looked livid. “You already know the answer to that! What did you do to her?”

“Nothing. Nothing yet, anyway”, Her father seemed to be unaffected by the other’s man’s anger as he sat calmly on his revolving chair behind the desk.

Kyungsoo’s hands slammed down hard on the table, making Nayeon flinch. “Where the hell is she?”

The only sign of irritation on her father’s countenance was a slight twitch of his jaw. No wonder he was such a good business man. “Somewhere safe. And she will be as long as all goes according to plan today. You thought I wouldn’t notice? Your little rendezvous at the universities, flying off with your friends under the pretense that the bodyguards couldn’t keep up with you. Do you really think I’m a fool?”

“You promised!”, Kyungsoo said on a slightly surrendered tone.

“And I will keep my promise as long as you keep yours”, The older man replied, keeping his eyes on Kyungsoo. “You can go now, you will be the first one to know once the wedding’s over and she’s back”

Kyungsoo looked like he’s lost a life bet. Nayeon had hardly ever seen him this livid or this…crumbled. And all the danger bells in her mind were ringing as the whole conversation started to make more sense. She was reminded of the girl with the feline eyes, who Kyungsoo had looked at with such emotion when reading the poem for their presentation. And she immediately knew what was going on.

She had always known her father must have done something to get Kyungsoo to agree to all this, but now that it was so out in the open, it felt like a slap to her face.

So it was true. What everybody said about the mafia links in her family, her uncle Chansung’s face flashed into her mind and she sighed, feeling sorrier for herself than anyone else. How could the guy like her even one bit, when he was being coerced into doing this? He had only accepted this to protect the people he loved, not because he had ever felt even the slightest bit inclined towards her. Something irritated her eyes, but she blinked it back. This was an inferno of her own making, she had made her father do this, stoop to this level.

But should she? Could she? After all that she’d gone through for the man she’d loved over the past half of the decade (or rather just fancied, or had it even been that?), everything she had done, and even more so what her father had done, could she throw it all away? And that too on such a day?

He’s only a vow away, a part of her mind tempted her. And she wanted to give in to that thought so desperately, as she got dressed in a daze, back in her room now. She desperately wanted to forget everything she’d heard and seen and keep living in the illusion that her life had been for the past two months.

_

Baekhyun was looking around in the empty café at university when he got Chanyeol’s call and called Jongdae and Taeyeon (who were out looking in other parts of the campus) to get back. They weren’t going to find Seungwan there.

He had been surprised to say the least, when he heard of the plan. Though he knew he would have to improvise, and think up something to go through with what he had taken the responsibility of doing, he couldn’t deny that he felt relief too. Especially when he told Taeyeon and saw how she defused from being the jittery mess she had been for the past hour, to being filled with this determination even though they discussed the risk that would come with what they were about to do.

“You sure?”, he had asked once again before starting the car after she’d changed into more comfortable clothes at the dorm rooms of the campus (he had only bought the props for Spring Week a day back with Jongdae and they were still huddled in the boot so he had taken one of the background dancer’s clothes for her to change into from her uncomfortable fancy dress) and she’d met his eyes from the passenger’s seat. “Of course, let’s go”

And they were on their way to the hotel. They briefly discussed how Jongdae was going to help and went in after thinking it over one more time. Baekhyun wished they had more time to think up something better, but this would have to do for now.

His heart thumped in anticipation as he entered the hotel, the realization of how much relied on them succeeding at this, finally dawning upon him fully. The high ceiling of the hotel lobby felt mystic, carved with ancient Egyption art and he tried not to shudder thinking of what would happen if a mummy jumped out of one corner. Brushing away his absurd childhood fears, he approached the reception desk.

“Hi”, He smiled dazzlingly, and saw how the female receptionist’s eyes lit up. “I need a room in the east wing”

She raised a brow. “The east wing?” Just as he had thought, it wasn’t a normal thing to demand a room in the highly protected east wing of the renowned hotel. Minjun, you snob, he thought scornfully.

“It’s…”, He looked around, as he was about to reveal a secret meant only for the petite receptionist’s ear. “It’s Kim Baekhee actually”, he whispered and her eyes raised in impressive realization at the mention of the popular idol’s name. “You must have gotten a reservation call? It’s kind of an emergency, you know what with the fans and all and she was hoping to get in without any media attention…”, he let the words linger and apparently Nayeon and Jinyoung had done their work, because the girl behind the desk quickly typed something into the LCD in front of her and handed him the key card.

“All good?”, Jongdae asked from behind dark shades as Baekhyun approached him and Taeyeon, who had entered after Baekhyun texted them. Both of them were wearing masks and sunglasses, Jongdae because he was supposed to be playing the secret boyfriend and Taeyeon because she was the idol.

Smiling at the receptionist who was trying to catch a look of the girl behind the mask, Baekhyun clutched the bag of ‘accessories’ tight and started walking once the porter came and led them in the direction of the elevators.

None of them said a word as they ascended, and Baekhyun took a deep breath as they stepped out into the notorious ‘east wing’.

Here goes nothing.

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A/N: How are you all finding the whole wedding fiasco?

Thankyou for reading.

Stay blessed!