“Here, Jung. I asked for our table” Bruce Lee said, pointing to a table near a big window.

They accommodated themselves on their usual seats, Jung’s old gang always came here after a long day of work, it was a modest Korean grill with only five tables and owned by an old couple.

“Let the kids sit together” Lee said.

Jung eyed Krystal as to tell her ‘go sit next to him’ and Soojung rolled her eyes but obeyed anyways. She approached the young man and sat beside him. “This is my only son, Kai” Lee said, smiling brightly.

“Nice, Lee. He seems really fit” Jung praised.

“He is a prodigy! And I’m not even making that up. He’s a good catch also” Lee said, looking at Krystal as he uttered the last sentence.

“So, what’s your name?” Kai asked a very uninterested Soojung.

“Krystal” She shortly said, not even looking at the guy.

“You can call me Jongin” He said, trying to establish eye contact with the ice princess.

“I don’t mean to be rude but, I didn’t hear someone asking” She complained.

“You’re a tough one, aren’t you?” Kai chuckled, amused by how the girl can kill with her words.

“Why am I exactly a ‘though one’?” Soojung asked, finally turning to look at the oddly handsome young man.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not easy to make friends when you are in this kind of job” He said, resting his crossed arms on the table.

“This kind of job?” Krystal asked, puzzled.

“Aren’t you the heiress of Jung’s company?” Kai asked, confused by the innocence in Soojung’s questions.

“I’m not, actually”

“Pardon my manners then. I’m used to parents bringing their child here to discuss with my dad about splitting contracts, merge companies and all sorts of stuff that perhaps I forgot there are normal kids out there” Jongin said, smiling faintly.

“I never said I was normal” The ice-looking girl said, resting her chin on the palm of her hand as she put her elbow on the table.

“Then what are you?” The young man asked, very intrigued.

“I’m just a daughter helping her dad get some business done” She said, looking carefully at Kai’s eyes.

“Is it how you expected it to be by far?” He asked, mimicking Krystal’s actions as he looked inside her deep brown eyes.

“Kai, tell them about the time you ended that with the stapler” Lee interrupted.

Jongin turned to tell the audience his story, but Krystal wasn’t listening. All she could think about was the waste of time this ‘meeting’ was, how close were they anyways? Who is the one bankrupting her dad’s company? Why is she here? She sighed, too many questions passed through her mind and as always she overanalyzed every single detail since she came here to L.A. Was Amber ever going to forgive her? She looked over her table and saw a little family of three looking for a table, the dad helping the little boy reach his seat and the mother proudly cheering as he managed to do it on his own.

“It must be nice, huh?” Kai commented upon seeing Soojung carefully looking at the family.

“That could never be us” She sadly said, looking away from the family.

“I’ve only met you for ten minutes, you’re gonna need to try harder than just looking at me like that” He said, proud of his charms.

“I didn’t mean it like that, and that wasn’t even funny” Krystal groaned, annoyed.

“Do you ever smile? Or at least fake laugh just for the sake of the conversation” Jongin asked, curious of the girl’s blunt behavior.

“I spent five years in a mental hospital, don’t tell me how to behave” She backfired.

“What’s that even supposed to mean?” The young man asked, concerned.

“That I’m not going to fake it just because you crack bad jokes. I’ve seen enough, I’m tired of faking it” Soojung uttered, brows furrowed and arms crossed as she started to lose patience. This isn’t going anywhere, she thought.

“Take it easy Krys, we-“

“Don’t call me that” She cut Jongin off before he could say anything else. The only person who has called Soojung that, was Amber. She remembered the time her father held her and she was about to kill Key, if it wasn’t for Amber’s soft voice, serenading her into consciousness.

“Okay, okay. Do you want to go outside? You look like you need a breath of fresh air and I’m getting bored anyways” Kai suggested, stood from the table and waited for Krystal to react. She looked at him for seconds, looked back at her father, having fun with his jubilation team and grabbed her Lakers cap as she followed the tall and fit guy outside the restaurant.

“May I know why you don’t like to be called ‘Kyrs’?” The guy said, crossing his arms, walking slowly beside Soojung.

“It’s a long story” She said, putting her cap on to avoid being recognized.

 “I’ve got time”

“Look, Kai. I know exactly what you’re doing and if you think that I will fall for your charms and deep eyes, you’re wrong” Krystal snapped, leaving the tall guy surprised by her behavior.

“So, charms and deep eyes, huh?” He mocked, chuckling.

“That came out wrong” Soojung softly said, walking faster than Kai.

“What are you doing here?” Jongin asked her as he stepped in front of her, stopping her in the process. “For real”

“I’ve told you. Move” She said, trying to get the slightly muscular guy out of her way.

“Then why does it feel like you want to be somewhere else?” He said, grabbing her arms.

“Who the are you? What makes you feel so entitled to ask me this kind of questions?” She jerked her arms, freeing herself from the confused guy’s grip.

“You can’t deny you felt a connection too” He desperately said.

“What?”

“I know you’ve experienced tough , I can see it right through you… you’re just like me” He said, in the verge of tears.

“Look, Jongin. I’m sorry but I’m not who you think I am” Krystal softly said, leaving Kai behind as she kept on walking.

“You’re broken…” He said, his voice cracking, head hung low. Soojung couldn’t help but to stop and look back at the silhouette of the young man, standing in the middle of nowhere. People passed by, they didn’t care that Kai was probably crying, they didn’t care that they ran away from they parents, they didn’t care what kind of problems they had, they just kept on walking, ignoring the situation, just like Krystal tried to ignore it so many times.

“You are broken” She said, walking back to where Jongin was.

“Don’t play tough with me, I know who you are” He said, turning to face Krystal with glassy eyes. “You’re that girl, the one that saw her sister get killed right in front of her, the girl that passed five years in a madhouse, the girl that was forced to be someone that she didn’t want to be…”

“Why did you play dumb with me if you know I’m that girl?” She asked as she started to get angry.

“It’s not that easy to start a conversation if the first thing you’re going to say is ‘hey, you’re the crazy girl’” He said, wiping his tears. “Besides, I think you’re connecting the dots by now” Jongin looked away.

“You know who’s going for my dad… don’t you?” She asked, trying to make him turn to face her.

“That’s why I need to get you out of here” He said, still refusing to look at a very pissed Krystal.

“You don’t get to decide that” Soojung said, walking in front of Kai. “Is this why you’re playing nice? You wanted to gain my trust so you can betray me? You started off as being concerned and tried to figure out what my agenda was?” She yelled, making the pedestrians jump.

“Look, Soojung we don’t have time-“

“Soojung?” She cut him off. “Who are you Jongin?” Krystal asked, she started to feel afraid and slowly tried to walk away from him.

“No, wait. I’m not going to hurt you” He said, putting his hands in the air as to try to make her see that he wasn’t carrying any weapon.

“How do you know about Soojung?” She asked, brows furrowed. “I never told you about it”

“My dad and I have been watching you” He said, Krystal made a disgusted look. “Not in that way… gosh”

“Then what is it? I’m not understanding any of it… you kept asking why was I here but I think that wasn’t the right question… why are we here, Jongin?” She asked, fearfully looking into the tall guy’s deep brown eyes, looking for answers.

“We worked for your father for a couple of years, he told us that if something were to happen to you, he wanted to be sure someone was taking care of you” He said, grabbing her by her arms once again. “We saw everything, from the incident night to the way you left Amber lying on the floor, all covered in blood”

“You had no right”

“It wasn’t about rights, it was about our duty”

 🍂

Bruce Lee was checking the pre-installed cameras in Busan’s mansion, his eyes roamed in every screen, looking for an anomaly.

“Hey, dad. I can cover for you, I finished my work” Kai said, stepping into the security room.

“Thanks, champ” Lee said, taking one last glance of the house. “Wait…” He said as he saw a man’s silhouette coming through the big gates. “Is that…?”

“What’s Mr. Jung doing there?” Kai finished his dad’s thought as he sat on one of the chairs.

“Do you think he’s just saying goodbye to Soojung?”

“No, he’s there for another reason” Lee said, squinting his eyes as he thought of a solution. “We need to meet him, but we can’t let him know we’re still watching over his daughter”

“We were supposed to stop after he found her” Kai said, worry written all over his face.

“But he doesn’t know about her… does he?” Jongin asked, upon his father’s silence.

“I’m pretty sure he thinks she’s dead” Lee said, standing from his chair.

“Then why is he coming to L.A?” The young man asked, uneasy. A second after, Lee’s phone rang.

“Yes, Jung?” He answered. His and Kai’s eyes glued on the screen, watching Jung making the call right outside the mansion.

“I need you to do me a favor” He said, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket.

“What’s it going to be now, Jung?”

“It’s about Soojung. I’m going to L.A but I need her to be safe, can you help me get rid of her?”

“Get rid of her? Damn it Jung, you need to work on social communication because I don’t think you mean it that way” Lee said, sighing.

“I think I know who’s behind all of this…”

“Jung…”

“I don’t need your pity Bruce”

“We all thought she was dead…” Lee said, massaging his temple.

“I’m going to text you the location and everything you need to do and say, make sure you bring that kid of yours”

“Beomsoo…”

“If this is true… Hajoon… I don’t want her to be hurt”

“She’s strong enough to endure it, don’t underestimate her”

“She doesn’t need to know this, not if what I’m thinking is going to happen. Just tell me you’ll help me or I’ll find someone else”

🍂

“What about Victoria?” She asked, crossing her arms.

“C’mon, she does a terrible job at keeping you safe” Kai said, trying to reason with the ice-looking girl.

“But my dad hired her to protect me, why would he need your help?” She kept on asking and Jongin didn’t look like he was answering any of her questions.

“You’re not getting it? Are you?”

“What do you mean by that? What do I need to understand Kai? Why do I need to go away? Who is trying to hurt my dad?” Krystal snapped once again, thinking that if she pushes the right buttons Kai is finally going to say something useful.

“I can’t tell you anything-“

“You can’t or you won’t?” She yelled, red faced, shaking and sweating like crazy. She was done with this guy, she needed answers, she needed to know why her father kept on lying to her, she needed to know why it was so important for him to get rid of her, just when they were trying to find out who was trying to bankrupt him.

“I can’t and I won’t. Now, move it. We need to get to the airport” Kai said, trying to push her to walk but she refused to move a single muscle. She fought with Jongin, trying to get him let go of her and while she was shaking her arms to free herself, her eyes fell on a tree not so far from where they were, two people were behind the it and as soon as she recognized the silhouettes, she ran back to the restaurant only to discover that not only her father wasn’t there anymore but the whole team was gone, vanished.

Kai finally caught up with her and automatically stopped to behold the empty table in front of them, right on the other side of the big window. “!” He exclaimed as he took out his phone, dialing his father’s number. “Why did you run?” He asked a very confused Krystal as he waited for his father to pick up.

“No, where are they?” She asked back, looking everywhere, trying to know if the two silhouettes she saw earlier followed her.

“! He’s not picking up. We are going to need to trace him, just give me a minute” Jongin said, frenetically tapping on his phone when he felt Krystal wasn’t moving, so it got his attention and tried to look where she was looking. “What are you looking at?”

“It’s not what, it’s a who” She whispered, her eyes still roaming through the area.

“Then who are you looking for?”

“Her”