“Operation Moonrise is a success. The target is in our possession. Report to safe house five immediately for further instructions.”

Your hands trembled as you lowered your cellphone and turned it off. The gruff male voice over the line had been extremely brief and the number from which the call had come was unknown. But you recognized the voice instantly, no matter how hard he tried to disguise it. The deep, growly voice belonged to Yoon Dowoon, also known as the Mosquito. He was the hitman of DaySix, the one who drove around the ugly black van and did most of the gang’s dirty work. He seemed innocent and harmless, but you’d personally seen him bring a wall crumbling down with a single punch. Nobody wanted to be on the wrong side of that.

You shoved the phone in your pocket and stood up. It was a quiet weekday evening at the library. The university nearby was on break, so there wasn’t even the regular influx of students cramming for exams. Most of the tables were empty. You made eye contact with another library employee across the room; she noticed the urgent look in your eye and hurried over to you.

“Is everything okay?”

You lowered your voice to a whisper, barely looking at her as you stuffed your belongings into your bag. “Operation Moonrise has reached a crucial stage. I’ve been summoned by the Mosquito. Take over my shift here and if I’m not back in time, then close up yourself, okay?”

The girl stared at you with wide eyes. She was a new recruit, wet behind the ears and had never even personally met any of the Core Six. Well, it was Core Five now. One of them had been driven out years ago due to reasons unknown, but the phrase had stuck. You were a little nervous yourself. Mosquito wasn’t even remotely the scariest of the Core Six but it was still a huge deal that he’d called you up personally and wanted you to be a part of such an important mission.

“But what’s going on? Why is Mosquito calling you; were you even a part of Operation Moonrise?”

You frowned at her. “Just do what I tell you.”

She nodded, taking your place behind the desk as you slung your bag over your shoulder and slipped out of the library. New recruits weren’t allowed to know details of the Operations, they were only given information on a need-to-know basis. To be honest, you didn’t know very much about Operation Moonrise either; only that it was started recently. Nobody had ever briefed you on it and while you got into your car and drove towards safe house five, you tried to recollect everything you had heard through the grapevine.

DaySix was primarily a smuggling racket. The group was involved in illegally trading all sorts of goods. Drugs primarily, but they also dealt in weapons, explosives, gold and liquor. Your group had the best reputation when it came to smuggling, and everybody knew that DaySix was the gang to approach if you wanted any illegal substances. The only thing they stopped short of was human trafficking; although you’d heard some rumors of newborn babies being sold a couple of years ago. You weren’t sure about that, and you secretly hoped it wasn’t true.

But there were limits to the gang’s operations. DaySix and a bunch of other gangs only survived under the shadow of a much more powerful group that ruled the entire region; GotSeven. GotSeven had been around for much longer and they didn’t merely get participate in smuggling; whenever something illegal was happening in the region, you could be sure that GotSeven was involved, or had at least authorized it. Assassinations, theft, gambling outfits and a bunch of crimes that you couldn’t even name. GotSeven oversaw everything and nobody dared to cross them. They were just too powerful. Most of the surrounding gangs found it better to just pledge allegiance to GotSeven and then conduct their affairs under the larger gang’s patronage.

DaySix had pledged it’s allegiance from the very beginning and this was the first rule you’d been taught when you entered the organization. Don’t ever cross GotSeven. If GotSeven wants us gone then they could exterminate the entire gang in a few seconds. You had always found the warning slightly laughable. How could any of the new recruits cross GotSeven when nobody even know who they were? They were excellent at maintaining secrecy and you’d never even remotely had to interact with GotSeven in the past six years that you’d been a part of the gang. You had no clue about any of them; only that they had an excellent strategist and that their leader was apparently so scary that nobody looked him in the eye.

But Operation Moonrise was DaySix’s act of rebellion.

Relationships between the gangs had been tense lately, and DaySix had discovered that GotSeven were interfering more than usual in the smuggling operations. A couple of valuable deliveries had been intercepted; one in particular containing a priceless set of diamonds. Word around town was that GotSeven had taken possession of the goods, and that they were regulating the dispatch routes. GotSeven wasn’t being a very good patron, and the pledge of allegiance was losing meaning. Word on the street was that the Bear, the leader of the Core Six, was worried that they would be pushed out of the smuggling scene if GotSeven kept trying to interfere and make things difficult.

Operation Moonrise had been initiated to make GotSeven co-operate. To push them into honoring the pledge of allegiance, and to show them that DaySix would not tolerate being stepped on.

You parked exactly three streets away from safe house five, before half-jogging towards the apartment building. The penthouse apartment belonged to DaySix and you’d only been here twice before, for basic briefing meetings. The security guard at the entrance to the building scanned your face, before giving you a small nod. You nodded at him in return and got into the elevator. Your heartbeat thumped loudly as the silent machine carried you up to the top.

You stepped out of the elevator and immediately came face-to-face with Mosquito. He was standing with two stiff-faced guards beside him and you froze, nervous. He stepped forward and waved a finger at the guards. You suddenly noticed that Mosquito had a large bruise on his jaw, one that looked fresh. But your eyes didn’t have the time to look at him properly.

“Pat her down, she’s coming inside to meet the Bear. Hand over your weapons, Baby Bird.”

You stiffened at the sound of your code name, and handed over the gun that was in your back pocket, allowing the two guards to pat you down and check your bag. Once they were done, you followed Mosquito into the living room of the penthouse apartment. It was a large room, containing expensive furniture and a flat-screen television that almost filled one wall. Your heartbeat thudded harder as you saw the lone figure sitting in the middle of the couch, raising an eyebrow at you.

It was the Bear.

Part of you wondered if you should kneel or something; after all, you were in the presence of the head of your organization. Before you could do anything, however, the Bear raised an eyebrow at you.

“Ah, Baby Bird. You’re here. Sit down, I’m going to brief you on Operation Moonrise.”

You sat down obediently on the sofa across from him. Mosquito sat as well, placing your gun on the center glass table and leaning back with his arms folded across his chest. You clasped your hands in your lap and waited eagerly for either of them to say something.  

“Operation Moonrise was initiated to get GotSeven to stop intercepting our deliveries and honor the commitments they made when we pledged allegiance to them. We want our goods back and we want them to co-operate with our smuggling operations as they promised,” the Bear told you simply. “In pursuance of that, we have taken a member of GotSeven hostage.”

You felt your heart drop into your stomach. “W-we kidnapped a member of GotSeven?”

The Bear folded his arms across his chest and nodded. “Indeed, that was the essence of Operation Moonrise. Their head strategist, commonly referred to as Junior, real name Park Jinyoung, is currently in our care. We picked him up from his private home and brought him here. He is currently being held captive in the bedroom of this apartment.”

You felt your heartbeat thud. Were they being serious? The Bear had kidnapped a core member of GotSeven and locked him up here, did he have a death wish? You wondered how on earth this situation was supposed to work out in your favor, when the Bear continued speaking.

“GotSeven is already aware of the fact that Park Jinyoung is in our care; they contacted us minutes after we captured him. I have already spoken to their leader. His maintains the stance that he is completely unaware of the fact that our diamond dispatches were intercepted by someone from their gang.  They are conducting an internal investigation to determine who is responsible for disrupting our trade routes and have promised to return the intercepted goods to us as soon as they can locate them.”

You blinked. “Oh. So it’s all over then, they’ve agreed to co-operate-“

“Until their investigation is complete, we see no reason to believe them. Their actions thus far have already betrayed our trust and so until we get our goods back and can confirm that our trade routes are safe, we will be keeping Park Jinyoung hostage with us. We have insisted that GotSeven co-operate in an act of good faith; they’re not going to try and rescue him until they fulfill our demands and we will release his location only after we get our diamonds back. That is the agreement.”

“They’re just going to let him stay in our possession?” you wondered.

“It’s a trade-off. They do have some requirements. To ensure Park Jinyoung is not hurt or mistreated during his stay here, GotSeven insisted that he be well-taken care of and that we only keep one member of our organization to guard him. They’re a little annoyed that Mosquito hit the hostage on the head and knocked him out, so… we decided to have you keep watch over him. It’s generous of GotSeven to accept their fault and let us keep their hostage, so we will pay them similar respects. Keeping a single girl here to watch over him ensures that they know we trust them.”

“You’re leaving me to watch over him alone? A high-ranking member of GotSeven?” you whispered, your eyes widening. It was slightly insulting how GotSeven seemed to think that a single girl was incapable of inflicting any harm on their strategist… yet, in your case, you had to admit that they were probably right. The thought of being solely responsible for this crucial mission made your hands tremble. You’d never done anything like this before and you tried to quickly wipe away the beads of sweat forming on your forehead.

“Nobody will be coming to rescue him, as per our agreement with GotSeven,” the Bear reassured you. He could probably sense the nerves in your tone. “So you shouldn’t face any threat. There will be bodyguards outside the penthouse apartment and also stationed around the rest of the building. It’s very important that Park Jinyoung never sees any of them. Your responsibilities are two-fold; make sure he’s treated well. Bring him whatever he wants to eat or let him do whatever… but never at the risk of letting him escape. Keeping him here is primary”

You bit your lip. “Would he try to escape? I thought GotSeven agreed to leave him here?”

The Mosquito chuckled. “Sure, they agreed to leave him here. That doesn’t mean he agreed to stay.”

The Bear left soon after he finished briefing you and the Mosquito handed your gun back, letting you put it in your back pocket. Your hands were trembling slightly at the thought that in a short while, you would be left alone with one of the biggest mafia leaders in your area. You cleared your throat and looked up at the Mosquito nervously.

“You’ll be fine, Baby Bird,” he told you reassuringly, noticing the way your hands were trembling. He gave you a soft, slightly lopsided smile that you’d never expected to see on the gang’s hitman. “I’ve never seen you mess up a mission before. You look nice and harmless, that’s why we’re leaving you here. We want our diamonds back but we don’t want a full-fledged gang war and blood on our hands, is that clear? Don’t piss him or GotSeven off too much.”

You nodded. “Is there anything I should know about Park Jinyoung? Why is he our target?”

The Mosquito scratched the back of his neck and chuckled deeply. “Honestly? Junior’s mainly known for being the brains of their organization and he doesn’t get out into the field a lot. We needed someone high-ranking and our only other options were Tuan and Wang… I figured this guy would be easier to overpower than them,” the Mosquito rubbed his bruised jaw and sighed. “Man, I was wrong. Keep a close eye on him, he’s a handful and he has a mouth on him.”

Great.

“Here, take this burner phone. If he wants to make any calls to his organization then you can let him use this. He was drugged and blindfolded when he was brought here, but don’t give him any hints as to where he is. The location of this apartment is unknown to GotSeven and it stays that way. If something goes wrong, you can call the guards outside the apartment, I’ve put their numbers on speed-dial.”

“Okay.”

“I’m heading out, now. Take care. Send a message if you need anything.”

“How long do you think this is going to take?” you asked nervously.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. A couple of hours? A week? Your guess is as good as mine. If it lasts through the night then send one of the guards outside to go get your belongings. But don’t leave the apartment and don’t take your eyes off Park Jinyoung. This is important and we’re counting on you.”

, I’m in deep.

--

The apartment was eerily silent once both members of the Core Six were gone. You knew that there were guards outside but they weren’t allowed to come in. You stood in the luxurious living room for a few seconds and took deep, calming breaths. You couldn’t show any weakness and you had to behave as if all the cards were in your hands. Sure, you were a girl and you were alone but you were just as capable as any of these male heads.

Once you’d managed to put on a poker face, you took slow and calculated steps towards the bedroom. You opened the door confidently and stepped in, taking in the surroundings. It was an enormous bedroom There was a large queen-sized bed in the middle of the room and a desk against one wall. It took you a few seconds to spot Park Jinyoung… he was sitting in the lazyboy armchair next to the bed. Your first instinct was to check his bindings. His feet were tied tightly together with rope at the ankles, and his arms were twisted behind him, a pair of handcuffs on them. Everything looked secure and you allowed yourself to look at his face.

Holy .

Park Jinyoung let out a low, amused chuckle as he observed you through lidded eyes. “So you’re the one they call Baby Bird. I should have known.”

He was gorgeous. His lips were full and pouty, twisted into a playful smirk and despite the darkening bruise that was forming near one eye, he still managed to look like a treat. You looked at Park Jinyoung and wondered how mafia leaders were always passed off as gruff, hairy men when this was so much scarier. The man sitting in front of you was graceful, his piercing gaze and smooth jawline captivating you. You knew that without a doubt, Park Jinyoung was the most handsome man that you’d ever seen in your life.

And you had seen him before.

He chuckled lightly at the startled expression on your face. “I was hoping it would be you; you’re one of the cuter ones. Don’t tell me you flirted with me all those times and had no idea who you were dealing with?”

Your heartbeat thudded at this unexpected turn of events. Yes, you knew Park Jinyoung. He was a regular visitor at the library that you worked at. You had always thought he was a college professor or something along those lines; he would come in well-dressed in checked shirts and slacks, wearing an adorable thick-rimmed pair of glasses and giving you the sweetest smile whenever he walked up to the counter to check something out. They were usually books related to History, or occasionally classical fiction and poetry. He’d quoted a couple of lines at you once and you’d flushed like a little girl, because he was such boyfriend material. You enjoyed his weekly visits and you’d secretly been hoping that he’d ask you out someday.

This was hardly how you’d expected to meet him outside of the library.

“You had no idea, did you, Baby Bird?” Jinyoung asked mockingly. His lips were curved up into a smirk that made your spine tingle. He tilted his head back to flick his hair out of his face. “Fitting that they should have chosen that nickname for you. I always thought you looked like a little sparrow. Delicate, breakable. Like I could just crush you in my fist.”

You folded your arms across your chest. “Funny, because from what I can tell, your fists are tied up behind your back, Junior.”

His eyes narrowed. “Don’t call me that.”

“Why? I thought that was your code name at GotSeven-“

“Nobody calls me Junior anymore,” he hissed dangerously, eyes darkening. You watched as he turned his head and spat on the floor, leaning forward and struggling to wrench his arms out of the handcuffs behind his back. His hair flopped forward into his face and the veins on his neck popped out from the effort. After a few seconds of glaring at you and struggling, he relaxed back against the armchair.

“Let me make a phone call,” Jinyoung demanded finally.

You grinned. Seeing him look frustrated make you more relieved. At least he didn’t have the upper hand anymore. It didn’t matter whether Jinyoung was a customer at your library or already knew you worked for DaySix; he was your hostage at this moment and you were going to have fun. “Maybe you should ask more nicely and I’ll think about it,” you teased.

“Let me make a phone call, you !”

“Tsk, tsk,” you shook your head in disapproval. You liked the frustrated look in those gorgeous eyes but you knew that you weren’t really allowed to deny him phone calls. You pulled the burner phone out of your pocket and stepped closer to him, holding it up in front of his face. Park Jinyoung looked slightly relieved and he wriggled in the bindings.

“Untie me,” he insisted.

“Fat chance. Tell me the number and I’ll dial it for you. You talk to whoever you want to on speakerphone,” you replied firmly. Jinyoung watched as you moved closer to him and perched on the armrest of the lazyboy recliner. He was honestly lucky that Mosquito hadn’t just tied him to one of those rickety wooden chairs like they did in movies. Jinyoung watched you with dark eyes as you pulled your feet up and made yourself comfortable on the armrest.

“You seriously perch like a bird,” he muttered irritably.

You raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to make the phone call or not?”

He leaned closer to you. Your face was extremely close to his and the proximity was making your heartbeat thud. But you didn’t let yourself move away from him. You knew men like Jinyoung, and you knew that moving away from him would be a sign of weakness, of fear. His sharp eyes watched you carefully, and you could almost feel his breath on your collarbones. He recited the phone number to you and you dialed it in, turning it onto speaker-mode so that you could both hear it ring.

“Hello?” a male voice said calmly from the phone. You held up the mouthpiece near Jinyoung so he could speak into it.

“Leader,” Jinyoung hissed through gritted teeth, his eyes glaring at you as he spoke. “These ers have got me tied up here. I don’t know where it is but it seems like an apartment building. Tell Choi to track down this phone signal and send Wang over right now.”

The voice on the phone signal sighed. “I’m not going to do that.”

“Why the not?”

“Because this is our fault, we have a mole in the organization. Somebody intercepted their diamonds and it was definitely someone from our side. I’m not going to reveal investigation details over the phone. We’re tracking it down, so stay put until we find out what went wrong.”

Jinyoung’s eyes flashed. “What the -“

“Listen-“

“You’re going to leave me here? Are you seriously just going to ing leave me here, hyung, is that how we deal with things now?” he spat angrily. You held the phone steady, even though Jinyoung was struggling against the bindings and his ears were bright red from the effort. He looked like he might just murder someone. “You shouldn’t be ing tracking down their ing diamonds, you should be finding out where the they’ve got me tied up and sending Wang to get me!”

Wow, that was a lot of swearing for somebody who looked harmless and quoted Byron at pretty girls in the library.

The voice on the other end sounded tired. “Just stay there for a day or two. DaySix knows better than to treat you badly. I told them to lax your security and make you comfortable.”

“They have a stupid girl taking care of me,” he snapped.

You bristled. Excuse me.

The leader chuckled. “Even better. Enjoy your stay, then. I’m hanging up now.”

The call ended and you watched as Jinyoung pressed his lips together tightly, clearly furious. His eyes stared at the ground for a long moment and you wondered if he was frozen. He seemed to be thinking deeply. You had to admit that it discomforted you; this man was clearly extremely intelligent and you had the uneasy feeling that he would be able to outsmart you if he tried. You couldn’t let him escape under any circumstances. You had no doubt that it would be the end of your career in DaySix, and possibly the end of any career in your life ever again. The Bear wasn’t unnecessarily cruel but he didn’t forgive easily.

After a long, painful silence, Jinyoung finally looked up again. The furious look in his eyes was gone and was replaced by a more playful, mischievous twinkling. He let out a mock sigh. “Well, so much for that. Looks like we get to spend some time together after all, Baby Bird. Shame that our first date couldn’t be under nicer circumstances, but it looks like we’ll enjoy ourselves all the same.”

You raised an eyebrow at him. “I doubt it. You got any fun activities planned?”

He smirked. “Plenty. First on the list; I need to pee, and my wrists are handcuffed.”

Well, .

Jinyoung’s knowing smirk had you extremely flustered for a few seconds, because how the hell was he supposed to pee when his hands were tied behind his back? His eyes followed you intently as you paced up and down the room, wondering how to solve this problem. You couldn’t deny him a chance to use the bathroom, but you also couldn’t possibly untie him. Jinyoung almost constantly had a mischievous smirk on his face and you dreaded having to explain to the Bear that your hostage had escaped because you let him pee.

“You could always come in and help me out,” Jinyoung teased, chuckling. Your torment was amusing to him. “Most girls would give anything to put their hands inside my pants.”

You shot him a dirty look. “I’m not touching anything inside your pants.”

“Well, you better hurry up because it’s been almost five minutes since I told you I needed to pee-“

“It’s a bladder, not a time bomb, are you a child?” you snapped at him. You reached into your pocket for the keys to his handcuffs and forced him to lean forward so that you could unlock them. Jinyoung let out a satisfied groan and stretched his arms out lazily, but you quickly grabbed them and re-handcuffed them in front of him. “Here. You can manage to pull down your zipper and pee with both hands in front of you, can’t you?”

Jinyoung raised an eyebrow. “It took you five minutes to think of this?”

You flushed red. “Shut up.”

“What about my feet?”

You watched him carefully as you knelt down beside his armchair to look at the ropes. Mosquito was very thorough; he’d used two different ropes. One was holding both of Jinyoung’s feet together at the ankles, while the other held the tied ankles to the armchair. You fluidly removed the knot holding him to the armchair and then stepped back. “There you go.”

Jinyoung gave you a dirty look. “My feet are still tied together. I can’t walk.”

“Then hop.”

He stared at you in disbelief for a few seconds, and you couldn’t help but giggle. This power game with Jinyoung was fun and you liked seeing him lose. You thought he was going to somehow break the handcuffs and strangle your throat for a few seconds. Without a word, he stood up and hopped over to the bathroom as gracefully as he could, opening the door with both of his handcuffed hands. He had just hopped inside and was about to close the door behind him when you yelled out.

“Leave it open!”

You were pretty sure he let out a very unpleasant expletive but you only laughed.

--

Jinyoung let out a loud groan.

“This is so boring! Entertain me.”

You were lying on the queen bed, fiddling with your phone while Jinyoung sat still in his armchair and glared at you. He’d thrown a fit about being hungry soon after he finished peeing, so you’d ordered in some noodles that the guards outside had delivered to you. It was only after you’d opened up the noodles that you realized it was a bad idea; you couldn’t trust Jinyoung with chopsticks because he might just use them to pick at his handcuffs when you weren’t looking. So Jinyoung had watched with a smirk while you fed him yourself, his lips unnecessarily and loudly now and then. He claimed it was because the noodles tasted so good, but you knew he liked seeing you blush.

Honestly, you wouldn’t have minded being locked up with such an attractive man if he’d been less of an and you’d been less terrified that he’d escape.

“It’s not my job to entertain you,” you replied dully, smirking as you cleared the next Candy Crush level. Your niece had downloaded the app on your phone and you’d never imagined you’d play it. But Jinyoung was right. Sitting in this room was boring. You couldn’t even crack open a window because Jinyoung wasn’t allowed to look at the surroundings and figure out where the apartment was.

Jinyoung raised an eyebrow. “Entertain me, or else I’m going to imagine you .”

You looked up from your phone and noticed that Jinyoung was watching you hungrily. You were lying on your stomach, legs spread out and he could see your bare legs and the sliver of skin at your stomach where your t-shirt had ridden up. He was biting those plump lips of his and giving you a teasing smirk. You blushed and resisted the urge to cover up. Covering up would show weakness.

“Is that a good idea?” you asked him lightly, turning back to your phone. “You’ll just end up with a and no way to rub yourself off.”

“You’d love to watch me rub myself off in front of you, wouldn’t you?” he chuckled.

You couldn’t stop your cheeks from flushing red as you imagined it. Jinyoung pulling his pants down, leaning back in that armchair as he himself slowly. His dark gaze would be on you, taking in the sight of your body as he groaned and pleasured himself. He’d finally be unable to keep his eyes open, letting them flutter closed as he leaned his head back against the chair and let out another groan…

“No!” you snapped.

He chuckled. “What’s the point in lying? I know you’re attracted to me. You don’t think I’ve noticed you sneaking glances at me in the library and then blushing when I caught you? Or was it the glasses? Do you maybe have a Professor kink? Be honest and tell me you haven’t imagined me bending you over one of the tables and spanking you-“

“I’m not into spanking,” you told him firmly.

Jinyoung raised an eyebrow, interested. “Oh? What are you into, then?”

“Does it matter?”

“You might as well tell me, it’s not like we have anything better to do.”

You got up from the bed and moved over to him slowly. You could tell that Jinyoung was staring at you; his eyes scanned every inch of your body as you moved over to him and perched yourself on the chair of his armchair again. His eyes drank you in while you teasingly dragged a finger down his exposed neck. “I like to be in control,” you whispered huskily. “I like my guys underneath me, tied up, begging for me to touch them and give them their release. I like it when they look up at me and acknowledge me as their owner because they’re mine and I can toy with them as I please.”

Jinyoung’s gaze was dangerous. “You’re ing with the wrong man.”

“You asked, Park Jinyoung.”

“I don’t believe you,” Jinyoung replied, trying to look calm as your fingers gently moved up from his neck and his face. You let your index finger touch his feather-light skin and gently brushed his gorgeous lips with your thumb. He kept his dark eyes fixed on yours. “I think you’re a liar. I think you’re one of those girls that likes the idea of being in control but once a guy gets his hands on you and hits your sweet spot, you’ll be the one begging and coming apart in his hands.”

You chuckled. “You think so?”

“I know it, Baby Bird.”

“It’s a pity you’ll never find out then,” you replied, sliding off the armchair and heading back to the bed. “Because I don’t around when I’m on duty.”

He chuckled. “We’ll see about that.”

--

Park Jinyoung was going to drive you crazy.

He was like a child, constantly whining about how bored he was. He suggested that you both multiple times, but you ignored him and he got more upset with each refusal. He kept banging his feet on the floor and whining and when you finally got pissed off, he gave you a knowing smirk.

“What do you want?” you demanded angrily. “And don’t tell me that you want to me. Anything else. I’ll do it.”

“I’m hungry. Cook for me,” he suggested with a smirk.

You stared at him. ”Why? I’ll just order in whatever food you want, tell me what you want to eat-“

“No, I want you to cook. I know there are guards outside this apartment, wherever it is. Send one of them to get groceries. I want you to cook for me,” he replied stubbornly. He had a smirk on his face and you finally relented. Surely nothing could go wrong as long as you didn’t let him into the kitchen, right? You shot him a dirty glare and then went to tell the guards that they needed to go grocery shopping for you. They didn’t look very pleased, but one of them went anyway. He returned in half an hour with meat, vegetables and a bunch of spices that you could cook with.

“I want to watch,” Jinyoung insisted.

“If you think I’m letting you anywhere near the knives or the fire, then you’re an idiot.”

“Just let me watch!” he whined, starting to bang his feet on the floor again.

You sighed, untying him from the armchair and making him hop over to the dining room. The kitchen had an open bar and you let him hop up onto one of the bar stools before re-tying him to it. Jinyoung placed his elbows on the bar and placed his chin on his hand-cuffed hands as he watched you. His eyes followed you intently as you moved around the kitchen, cutting vegetables and cooking the meat over the stove.

“What’s the deal with watching me cook?” you asked him lightly, once the silence started making you uncomfortable. You glanced back and saw that he was still watching you with his intense gaze. “Are you just bored of take-out food or is this some kind of weird kink you have?”

He shrugged lightly, pouting at you. “I don’t know. I’ve just never had a woman cook for me before, and it struck me that I can order you to do it. Win-win.”

You raised an eyebrow. “So you don’t date?”

He scoffed. “Are you kidding? Who the hell takes the risk of dating when they’re in the mafia? I tried it once. The girl freaked out when she found out some of the things I was doing and she tried gathering evidence and going to the police about me. It became such a mess. I had to tell the leader and he found a way to rid of her.”

You stared at him with wide eyes. “He didn’t… he didn’t kill her?”

“What? No, he paid her off to keep quiet and move to another city,” Jinyoung said, letting out a loud laugh. It struck you that you had never seen him laugh like that; the corners of his eyes crinkled cutely and he was giving you the sort of adoring look one gave a cute baby animal. “God, you’re so adorable, Baby Bird. How are you even in this business if the idea of killing someone freaks you out so much?”

You flushed. “DaySix only handles smuggling.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot the Bear always wants to keep his hands clean,” Jinyoung chuckled, rubbing his chin. “It’s a pity. GotSeven does a lot more interesting stuff than just passing around shady drugs. Then again, you probably wouldn’t be able to handle it. Why did you start working here? You don’t seem like the kind of girl that goes looking for trouble.”

You bit your lip. “I was paying off a debt for my brother.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Drug addict?”

“Yeah, he owed them a lot of money before he overdosed and died. I met one of their leaders, the one they call the Chicken. He said they’d consider it paid off if I helped them execute a few deals. I worked for them for about a year until the debt was paid off and then I just… kept doing it. The money was good and I figured I could use it to put myself through college. It’s a smaller gang, but they treat people well around here.”

Jinyoung chuckled. “Yeah, DaySix have always been a bunch of softies. I never imagined that they were capable of taking me hostage like this. The Bear must really like those diamonds.”

“I thought we were going to die when I found out we’d kidnapped you.”

“Nah, our leader’s pretty determined to be fair,” Jinyoung replied with a sigh. “Ironic for a mafia gang that conducts assassinations and robberies, but you don’t get very far in the business if your partners can’t trust you. Trust is even more important underground because the law can’t protect you. There’s literally no other reason he would abandon me here like this.”

You frowned at him. “Aren’t you a little too whiny? All you have to do is stay here for a couple hours.”

“I have a million better things I could be doing. I was halfway through strategizing a casino robbery when Mosquito and his thugs grabbed me. I could be executing one of the heists of the year right now but I’m sitting here tied up in a kitchen with a little girl.”

“This little girl has a gun in her back pocket and a knife in her hand,” you threatened.

“She also has a really nice .”

You rolled your eyes at him in disbelief. “Seriously.”

“It’s true,” he chuckled, letting his tongue flick out to his lips. “I’ve thought you were hot since I saw you at the library. It’s adorable how you stared at me so openly and then got all shy whenever I noticed you. How can a girl be so shameless and embarrassed at the same time? It drove me insane. I kept coming back to check out random books because I wanted to see if I could charm you. You have a terrible poker face, Baby Bird.”

You flushed. The meat was pretty much done so you turned the stove off and came over to stand on the other side of the open bar. Jinyoung was watching you with a soft smile on his face.

“How did you know I worked for DaySix when you saw me at the library?” you wondered.

“I didn’t. I had a hunch, though. I knew that DaySix uses that library as a cover for trade operations and that they have people planted there,” Jinyoung replied. His voice became soft and you suddenly saw that there was a slightly wistful smile on his face. “Honestly? I was kind of hoping you were just there by coincidence and had nothing to do with them.”

“Why?”

“We don’t date people from other gangs. It gets messy.”

You felt butterflies in your stomach as Jinyoung looked at you from across the bar. You could tell what he was trying to tell you with his eyes. I would have asked you out if this hadn’t happened. You’d dreamed about the handsome man from the library asking you out millions of times and you couldn’t help but feel flustered. The Jinyoung that you’d gotten to know today was kind of an but then again, he’d been kidnapped so maybe you weren’t being fair.

It occurred to you that you actually wanted to get to know this mysterious man.

“Should we kiss now?” Jinyoung joked lightly.

You glared at him. “Oh, off.”

Jinyoung was surprisingly more co-operative as you ate, and he seemed to enjoy whatever you cooked for him. He didn’t compliment it much but he scraped the dish clean and even took whatever you offered him from your own plate. You could still see him smirking and ogling you now and again, but he became quieter. You understood why when you spotted him trying to stifle an adorable yawn.

“Is it bedtime for the little baby boy?” you teased.

He frowned at you. “Shut up. I was knocked out and kidnapped, I’m obviously tired.”

You refused to let Jinyoung onto the bed beside you even though he whined and complained. You didn’t like the idea of tying him to it and you also felt embarrassed at the thought of sleeping beside him. Instead, you tied him back to the lazyboy armchair and let him pull up the footrest and lean the backrest backwards, making it a recliner. He didn’t seem happy about it but he was clearly too tired to complain. You watched him as his eyelids fluttered shut and his breathing evened out, falling asleep.

Park Jinyoung looked like a sleeping angel, and you had to tear your eyes away from him in order to get some sleep yourself.

--

When your eyes fluttered open, you noticed that Jinyoung was watching you from the armchair. His eyes were wide open and there was a slightly hungry look in his eyes as they raked up and down your body. You’d changed into shorts and a t-shirt before going to bed and too much of your skin was exposed for him to ignore. You tried to push aside the stirring in your stomach and glared at him.

“You’re a creep, you know that?” you said drowsily.

Jinyoung merely shot you a handsome smile. “Took you long enough to wake up. Come here and untie me from the armchair. I need to pee again.”

You yanked yourself out of bed sleepily, and slouched over towards him to remove the rope keeping him to the armchair. You also bent over him to remove the handcuffs and bring his hands to his front. Jinyoung watched you intently as you leaned over him, your loose hair brushing his shoulder lightly. He took a deep breath of your intoxicating scent and you froze when you felt his nose brush your collarbone.

“You smell amazing,” he whispered hoarsely, moving closer to your neck. His proximity and his soft, rough morning voice had you frozen. It wasn’t until his lips brushed your neck and his light stubble scratched your skin that you brought yourself back to your senses and pulled away from him. Jinyoung noticed how you swallowed nervously and your cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. “, why are you so cute?”

You flushed. “Hurry up and pee, I need to use the bathroom too.”

“This would be much more pleasant and domestic if my legs weren’t tied together, preventing me from walking like a normal-“

“Hop to it, bunny, you only get five minutes in there.”

“Will you come in and get me if I take longer?” he teased.

“ you, just go do your business.”

Jinyoung returned from the bathroom in less than five minutes, in which time you’d collected your towel and the spare clothes that the guards had brought for you earlier the previous night. He eyed you while you retied him to the armchair and glanced at your towel.

“Can I watch you shower?” he asked.

“No. And I’m taking my gun into the bathroom with me, so don’t try anything funny.”

You showered more quickly than usual, worried that Jinyoung might be trying something funny while you were gone. You toweled yourself dry and slipped into another pair of shorts and a t-shirt, leaving your hair wet as you burst into the bedroom. To your relief, Jinyoung was sitting still in the armchair, twiddling his thumbs as he stared at the ceiling. He turned his gaze to you and you felt him raking his eyes up and down your body again before he looked at your face.

“Let me take a shower too,” he insisted.

You glared at him. “Nice try.”

“Are you seriously going to make me stay like this? I stink. Your stupid goons grabbed me from my house before I could shower yesterday and I just realized in the bathroom mirror that I badly need a shave. Do you seriously want to send me back to the GotSeven headquarters in this condition? They’ll think you’ve been abusing me and do you know what’ll happen then? Gang war.”

You hesitated “Nobody’s going to start a war because I didn’t let you shower-“

“I already have a bruise forming on one eye from where Mosquito socked my in the face. I wouldn’t risk it if I were you. My leader might seem fair but he gets very angry when his people aren’t treated well. We once exterminated an entire gang because they tried to mess with a girl one of our members liked,” Jinyoung replied firmly. He leaned forward and stared you in the eye, his gaze firm and demanding. “Let me shower and shave.”

Honestly, you didn’t want to risk it. But Jinyoung had showed no signs of trying to escape and considering his situation, it wasn’t very likely that he would try to. You reluctantly asked the guards outside to get Jinyoung a shaving kit and some spare clothes, before finding a towel for him and shoving it at him. He caught it happily, smirking. You folded your arms across your chest irritably.

“I’ll untie your legs because nobody wants you slipping and cracking your head in the shower,” you told him reluctantly, loosening the ropes on his legs and letting them free. Jinyoung groaned and stretched his legs out, enjoying the freedom after a long time. He gave you a cheerful smirk and you couldn’t help but smirk back. “But your hands stay handcuffed in front of you.”

He pouted. “What? How am I supposed to wash if my hands are handcuffed in front of me-“

“I don’t know, just wash whatever you can reach. There’s no way I’m letting you completely loose,” you told him firmly. You took out your gun and pointed it at his back, nudging him towards the bathroom. It seemed to startle Jinyoung a bit because he got moving, entering the bathroom as you followed him in. You noticed him smirk when you got inside too and shut the door behind you.

“Are you going to watch me shower?” he teased.

You flushed, watching nervously as Jinyoung pulled down the zipper on his pants and let them drop to the floor. Then he started ing his shirt, revealing a slender but well-toned body. You were starting to feel more nervous as he finally turned to you and held out his handcuffed wrists, pointing out that he couldn’t take the shirt off unless you removed the hand-cuffs. You were so busy staring at his perfectly shaped torso that it took a few moments for you to understand what he wanted. Your heartbeat thudded as you helped him take the shirt off and re-fastened his handcuffs.

“Do you want me to strip completely?” he asked, gesturing towards the boxer shorts that were all that covered him. Your lips were trembling and you were pretty sure that you could not handle seeing Park Jinyoung reveal whatever was under those boxers. The bulge was revealing enough for you and you nudged your gun at him again, telling him to get into the shower.

“You can take those off behind the shower curtain. I’m going to wait right here until you’re done showering. And remember my gun is constantly pointed at you.”

Jinyoung chuckled at you, before getting into the shower and sliding the curtain shut. The curtain was slightly translucent and you could still see the outline of Jinyoung’s body as he finally removed his clothing and the shower. You closed the toilet lid and sat down on it, keeping a tight grip on your gun as you rested your head on your other hand. What the hell were you doing? The thought of Jinyoung completely on the other side of the curtains, possibly touching himself, running his hands all over that body- how does a strategist have a body like that? It’s not fair!

You kind of wished that Jinyoung would say something crude and snap you out of it, but he didn’t. He was completely silent and you were only left with the sound of running water and your own thoughts to occupy yourself. You imagined sliding into the shower along with him. Jinyoung would turn around and smile, the water pouring down on both of you as you ran your hands all over his body. You’d kiss his neck and under his jaw, the scratchy stubble against your soft mouth while Jinyoung pulled your hips towards his. Warm water and Jinyoung’s hotter touch all over your body-

“Yuck, do you seriously expect me to use this female shampoo?” Jinyoung demanded.

You breathed a sigh of relief. You’d been squeezing your legs together as you let your thoughts get carried away. You quickly pulled your thighs apart and cleared your throat, trying not to sound too affected. “It’s just shampoo, how does it matter whether it’s for men or women? They’re pretty much the same.”

There was a long silence.

“You were imagining me , weren’t you?” Jinyoung asked knowingly, no hint of joking in his tone.

You couldn’t respond. Your mouth felt dry and your cheeks were flushing red. You were only relieved that Jinyoung couldn’t see how embarrassed you were. He didn’t wait very long for a response, the sound of the water turning on again and you saw his arms go up to rub the shampoo into his hair. He probably knew that you were attracted to him, but it didn’t matter. ing around with one of the core members of GotSeven was literally signing a death warrant and you didn’t want to go there. It was impossible. As and carefree as he seemed, Park Jinyoung was a dangerous man.

You were still lost in your thoughts when the shower curtain opened sharply, and Jinyoung stepped out. His towel was wrapped loosely around his lower body, and his wet hair flopped down onto his forehead, sending droplets of water trickling down his face and shoulders. He gave you a playful, handsome grin as he ran his fingers through his wet hair, pushing it back.

“Bored?” he asked lightly.

You glared at him. “Extremely. Hurry up and get out. You need to get dressed.”

“But you promised you would let me shave-“

“You can do that after you get dressed-“

Jinyoung laughed, and you were shocked when he reached his handcuffed hands out to ruffle your own slightly damp hair. His smile was dazzlingly handsome as he flashed it at you, skin shining from the water on his skin. “Nobody shaves fully dressed, Baby Bird. I’ll just get hair and shaving cream all over myself. Get me a razor and I’ll get it done in a few seconds.”

You hesitated, tying him back to the armchair before you went outside to talk to the guards. They handed you Jinyoung’s spare clothes and the shaving kit, which you brought back to the bedroom. Jinyoung was leaning back in the armchair, still wearing nothing but his towel. He was dripping water all over the leather of the chair but you were more concerned with the playful smirk on his face. “Is that my razor?” he demanded.

You looked down at the bottle of shaving cream and the razor, heartbeat thumping. “I changed my mind. I don’t think I should let you have a blade.”

He gave you an exasperated look. “You’re kidding me.”

“It’s too much of a risk, I’d look like a ing idiot if you tried something and my bosses found out that I handed you a blade,” you explained nervously. You cleared your throat and started to tuck the blade back into the plastic bag that the guards had brought it in. Jinyoung was giving you a dark look and when you looked up, his eyebrows were raised.

“You do it, then.”

“Huh?”

“You do it. It’s not that hard. Just sit on my lap and shave me. My hands will be handcuffed the whole time so I can’t take it from you. It’ll take five minutes,” Jinyoung replied. His eyebrows were raised in a challenge. Or are you too afraid? His gaze seemed to read. You stared at him. Was this a good idea? You were already extremely attracted to him and you didn’t need to make things more difficult for yourself. But Jinyoung was leaning back, his legs spread just the tiniest bit as he beckoned you closer.

, you wanted to run your fingers over that stubble and his lap looked so inviting.

“Come here,” he said calmly, a hint of commanding to his tone.

You went over to him carefully, the bottle of shaving cream in your hands and your legs shaking slightly. When you were standing right in front of him, Jinyoung used his handcuffed hands to lean down and pull up the leg-rest to the recliner. It popped out in front of you, his toweled lower half now partially lying back on the chair and affording plenty of space for you to sit.

“Climb up, baby, I’ll guide you through this,” he told you firmly but gently. Jinyoung watched you as you climbed up onto the recliner and sat down nervously, your legs on either side of his knees. But Jinyoung reached forward and grabbed your hands, pulling you closer. You stumbled forward, your hands landing on his bare chest to support yourself as you straddled his lap. Jinyoung gave you a gentle smile of encouragement. “That’s it. Come on. Open the bottle now.”

Your fingers trembled as you opened the bottle and sprayed a bit of shaving cream into your hands. You were trying hard not to look at Jinyoung too much but you were too aware of the fact that his eyes were fixed on you, watching you intently. He smelled wonderful, like soap and something so attractive that it made your head spin. You bit your lip and scooted closer while gently rubbing the soft shaving cream onto his cheeks. You had hoped that the sight of him with white cream on his cheeks would make you laugh and break the tension, but his dark eyes were watching you too intently for you to relax.

“That’s right. Good girl. Now get the blade. Make light ,” Jinyoung instructed you.

You bit your lip and wiped the shaving cream off your hands with a spare towel, before picking up the razor. You let it glide down his skin softly, trying to ignore how hungrily he was watching you. Jinyoung was making no attempt to hide his arousal. You had to shift closer to make sure you wouldn’t nick his skin and you could feel him growing under you. was brushing your thighs and you felt your breath hitch with nervousness. There was nothing covering it except that flimsy white towel…

“Do you need to get closer, Baby Bird?”

Jinyoung’s handcuffed arms had been keeping a distance between you. As you watched, he lifted his arms over your head bringing his wrists back down behind you. He had effectively caged you into his chest now, and you could feel his handcuffed wrists resting lightly on the small of your back. There was nothing in between the both of you now. You were caged in his grasp and the vulnerability of your position began to strike you.

“Jinyoung, I don’t think…”

“Shh, its okay, Baby Bird. I’m just getting us comfortable. Finish the other side, okay?”

You nodded, moving over to his other cheek. Gliding the blade down his smooth skin was surprisingly relaxing, and you let your fingers touch the parts that you’d finished to make sure that you’d done them okay. Jinyoung smiled every time you touched his skin and he was constantly staring at you, his hips occasionally rocking gently to meet your and making your stiffen. “You’re doing great, baby. I think you’re almost done.”

You nodded, letting out a slightly relieved breath as you swipe the blade against his jaw one last time. The stubble was completely gone and he was smooth-skinned. You took a deep breath and started to lean back, when Jinyoung jerked his head forward suddenly. You gasped as his mouth closed over the head of the razor and bit down on it; then he jerked his head to the side and spat it out on the floor. The razor made a loud clattering noise as it fell down and you blinked.

“Jinyoung, what are you?”

You felt a tug on your back, caused by Jinyoung yanking you forward with his handcuffed wrists. Before you could react, you were leaning forward, your hands supporting yourself on Jinyoung’s shoulders as his mouth landed on yours firmly.

You had never been kissed like this before. Jinyoung’s grip around you was gentle but firm, and his hot tongue slid into your mouth, leaving you no room to breathe. You gasped against his lips while he devoured yours, letting his tongue slide in, then out, and finally biting your lower lip between his teeth and releasing it with a plop. Your hands came up to cup his face and you stared down at him, your heartbeat racing.

“Jinyoung-“

“, I couldn’t take it anymore. Do you have any idea how ing gorgeous you are?” he growled, pulling you down again. His arms tightened and your chest pressed against his, s pressing into his bare torso. You could feel how your s had hardened and you were sure that Jinyoung could feel them too because he let out a low growl and kissed you harder. “, you’re gorgeous. I’ve wanted to so this ever since I saw you at the library. Ever since I saw you…” he paused to kiss you again. “Since I saw you sitting there and you smiled at me with these pretty little lips of yours, I thought…”

He trailed off, his mouth finally leaving your lips and moving downwards. You shuddered as he placed wet kisses down your neck, letting his teeth graze your delicate skin as he moaned into your neck. Jinyoung’s low growls and the way he was your skin was making your entire body tremble. You could feel the tingling wetness between your legs. You bit your lips, holding back a whimper.

“Jinyoung, please…”

“That’s right baby, don’t hold it back. Let it out. I want to see you fall apart in my arms, I want to watch you cry out in pleasure,” Jinyoung breathed, his lips reaching the neckline of your t-shirt. He bit at it and tugged helplessly. “Take this off baby, let me see those beautiful s. , I watched you take your bra off last night, Baby Bird, you thought I was asleep, but-“

“Oh god, just shut up,” you hissed, reaching down to pull your shirt over your head and tossing it aside. Jinyoung let out a small, pleased chuckle that made your spine tingle, before he reached down to place his lips over a . You gasped as his warm tongue around your wetly and you tightened your arms around his neck. Your fingers slid into Jinyoung’s damp hair and you moaned. “Oh god. Jinyoung, are we seriously going to- we can’t-“

“, yes we can,” Jinyoung hissed, moving to your other as he a dark red mark into it. “I wish I could touch you but that’ll have to wait for a time when my hands aren’t tied together.”

His hips rocked against you suddenly and you cried out, waves of pleasure shooting through your sensitive core as he gripped you more tightly. His cuffed hands were grabbing your waist and his hot touch was getting too much for you to bear. You whimpered as his lips tugged at your s insistently. He was teasing you and you were too to let him keep doing this. You tugged at his hair hard, pulling his face away from your s.

“Jinyoung, that’s enough, just enter me-“

“Are you sure you’re ready, baby?”

“, yes, just do it!”

You yanked his towel off while you removed your own shorts. Jinyoung’s grip on your waist was firm and he moaned loudly when he watched you strip completely. He gently guided you up on and onto him; you gasped as you sank down onto his , it filling you up and making you whimper. “Jinyoung,” you whispered, although your head was spinning and you weren’t sure what you even wanted to say. Jinyoung was rocking his hips back and forth, his grip on your waist tight as he held you against him. “Jinyoung, faster, please…”

He chuckled lowly, burying his head into the crook of your neck as he rocked you harder. You could feel pleasure shooting through your entire body and you wrapped your arms around Jinyoung’s head, holding him closer as you gasped. His teeth were still biting down on the skin of your neck and you shuddered with the combined pain and pleasure. “How’s that, baby, are you doing okay?” he cooed breathlessly, smiling into your neck.

“Jinyoung, I’m really close-“

“Baby Bird, I’m close too. You’ve had me hard all day, I haven’t been able to take my eyes off you since I first saw you,” he gasped, his rocking getting increasingly harder. You trembled, unable to keep your eyes open, burying your face into Jinyoung’s hair as you tried to hold back from screaming. You could feel the blood flowing throughout your body and Jinyoung’s grip finally tightened painfully on your waist.

“Are you ready to come for me, baby?”

You whimpered and nodded against him, unable to formulate words. Jinyoung held you tightly and your entire body clenched, head spinning as you finally hit the peak of your pleasure. His strong arms held you up as you cried out, losing strength in your upper body and collapsing against him. Jinyoung came inside you and you could feel the sticky warmth against your thighs as he shuddered. Trembling, you slumped against Jinyoung, exhausted.

Jinyoung fell back against the armchair, pulling you down with him. You held yourself up using your arms and let Jinyoung bring your head down to his, placing a soft, gentle kiss on your lips. It was caring and he brought his handcuffed hands to rest against the back of your head, your hair as he smiled at you fondly.

“Wow,” he whispered.

You simply stared at him, not knowing what to say. There was a look of adoration in his eyes and he kissed you again, placing small, sweet pecks on your lips in between catching his breath. When your arms couldn’t hold you up anymore, you collapsed and fell against him, your head landing on his chest as you lay on top of him. Jinyoung wrapped his arms around you, holding you closely. He leaned his neck down and continued to place gentle kisses against your forehead.

“Did you enjoy that, Baby Bird?”

You bit your lip and looked up at him, eyes taking in the gorgeous man that was smiling down at you. He had a soft smile on his face and you just had to lean up and kiss his mouth again, letting your hand glide down his chest. “I liked it very much,” you whispered against his lips.

“Good, because I think-“

He was cut off by the sound of your phone ringing. It was the burner phone you’d gotten the previous day, and the ringing was coming from the pocket of the shorts that you had thrown haphazardly on the armrest of the recliner, and you fumbled for the device. Jinyoung was looking down at you, lower lip stuck out in a slight pout.

“Don’t answer that,” he began lightly.

“It’s my boss,” you told him quickly. Taking a deep breath and calming yourself, you quickly lifted the phone to your ear. “Sir? This is Baby Bird.”

“Ah, Baby Bird,” Mosquito’s voice sounded cheerful. “I hope you’re doing okay with Operation Moonrise. The demands have been met by our friends, and there is no longer any need for your guard. You can release the hostage and return to all previous duties. Is that clear?”

You relaxed. “Yes, sir.”

“Good job, Baby Bird.”

You hung up, and Jinyoung watched you curiously. You gave him a small, playful smile as you fished in the pockets of your shorts and pulled out the keys to his handcuffs, waving them in front of Jinyoung. His eyes brightened. “Looks like your gang did what they promised. You’re free to go, Mr. Park Jinyoung.”

He watched as you scooted off him and unlocked his handcuffs. Jinyoung rubbed his wrists slightly before grinning at you. His hand reached out in your direction; you thought he was trying to touch you but he grabbed the phone and pulled it away from you. “Let me make another call to my leader; this time as a free man,” he told you with a grin. He dialed the number and put it on speakerphone.

“Jinyoung?” the familiar leader’s voice crackled over the line. “We found the mole. Turns out it wasn’t even a mole at all, Bambam just ed up colossally. He’s on suspension and I told him to take some time off to get his together. I’m just negotiating the terms of your release now. We’re sending a formal apology to DaySix and as long as you’re safe, we’re going to set this whole hostage situation aside. Did they treat you well, or do we need to teach them a lesson?”

“They treated me all right. That er Mosquito socked me in the face, though.”

“What? Are you okay-“

“Fine. But tell them that if they don’t want a gang war on their hands, they have to fulfill one of our conditions.”

The leader paused. “Is there something we want from them?”

Jinyoung turned to look at you and grinned. “There’s something I want from them. She goes by the name Baby Bird.”

--