Chanyeol picked up his phone and looked at the building before him, he leaned back on the car seat as he spoke.

“Did you have this checked?” He asked, the male in the front seat nodded back.

“What about the thing we talked about?”

“Yes, I have briefed them regarding the young miss. They are just waiting for your instructions, sir.”

Chanyeol exhaled, he ran his fingers through his hair, he glanced at his phone again and Sejin’s smiling face greeted him.

“I’ll talk to Sejin about it, anyway, Kai’s arriving in a minute, let’s start.” Chanyeol slid down from the car, he tugged on his leather gloves securely as they approached the two-story building before them, it looked unkempt and old.

The men moved forward and they quietly surrounded the double doors, the four turned to Chanyeol, waiting. The latter gave them a small nod, and one started to turn the knob. He shook his head, realizing that it was locked.

“The place is probably empty, but we have to get inside.” One of the guards spoke, Chanyeol looked around them, his right eyebrows rose before moving forward.

“Step aside.” Chanyeol loosened his tie, the guards moved back and then their young boss kicked the door down. It landed on the floor with a loud thud, its bolts hanging loose on the wooden arch. Chanyeol exhaled and marched in the building, he heard Kai’s car pull to a halt behind them.

His eyes scanned and the room, they were two sets of bunk beds in sight, a portable heater and a table that was filled with instant food and rotten fruit.

“Sir, the coffee is still warm. It seems like they just left the place.”

Kai strolled into the room, he was dressed casually, compared to his friend. He was donning a brown leather jacket and dark jeans, while Chanyeol was dressed for work, a three-piece suit and burgundy long coat.

“This is the place, what do we have?” Kai asked, Chanyeol approached the table and he halted.

“More photos.” Chanyeol said flatly, he picked up the pictures on the desk and he exhaled. There were shots of him, him with friends, and some even showed Sejin. But mostly, the photos were of her.

“Sir, you have to see this!”

The two tall males jogged towards the wall, one of the guards were pointing at a certain scribbling.

“The logo, it seems familiar.”

“How stupid are they to vandalize their logo here.” Kai muttered darkly, he glanced around them again, he noticed that Chanyeol was still holding onto a photo of him and Sejin.

“Unless, they want us to know that it’s them.” Chanyeol stated, everyone grew quiet and he tossed the photo to the floor.

“They know about her.” Kai said, Chanyeol nodded and closed his eyes briefly.

“This is Scorpion’s doing, hyung. It won’t be easy.”

Chanyeol fixed his tie and turned to face his friend.

“What about the man from the other day?” He asked, Kai glanced at his assistant.

“He’s still at the basement of one of our safe houses, young master.”

“Good, let him run.”

“You broke both his legs.” Kai muttered as he leaned against the table and crossed his arms.

“He can still crawl. Let him go back to his master and then we can set a trap.” Chanyeol gave his men a nod, and they all stepped out of the building.

“This is serious, hyung. We don’t know how long they intend to stay in the city.” Kai spoke, Chanyeol crossed his arms and nodded back.

“I’ll help you with the clean up.”

“Then, what about her? She…At some point, Sejin will find out.” Kai said, the older male looked away, his forehead creased.

“I can’t. I can’t let her see this side…this side of me.”

“I doubt she’ll reject you because of this.”

Chanyeol didn’t reply, he simply left the building and got in his car. Kai sighed as he watched the Range Rover speed away from the property, a black Suburban was tailing it closely from the back.

“Oh, she will surely notice the added security.”

“This is…a winner.” Jena said with a grin as her cousin stepped out of the dressing room, Sejin looked uncomfortable as hell in the ombre lavender ball gown she was in.

“It’s a little~”

“Unnie, it’s a tube, shows your assets well.”

“Hey!”

Jena laughed and sat down on the divan, they were in a private dressing room at the mall.

“The color is perfect for you, we don’t even need to look for jewelry. Because the dress will do all the work.”

Sejin sighed and waved her off, she stepped down from her heels and walked towards her cousin.

“Spit it out, Hong.” Sejin said as she sat down beside the girl. Jena turned to her, her forehead creased.

“You’re a like an open book to me, and I can sense that…you don’t feel so well today.”

Jena looked at her fingers and chewed on her bottom lip.

“You don’t have to tell me, I just…I hope whatever’s bothering you~”

“Unnie, I…I might be in trouble.”

Sejin paused, she looked up and gestured for the attendants to give them some privacy.

“What is it? Work?”

“No, no. Work’s okay, but…remember when I told you that I wanted to invite Daniel to halmae’s party?”

Sejin scoffed, Jena paused and blinked at her.

“Sorry, my allergies. Continue.” She patted her hand.

“I told him about it..and it didn’t really go well.”

“Why? What happened?” Sejin fixed the tube and tugged it higher, Jena grinned and pulled it down instead, the older girl hissed.

“He said that it won’t be good for him if he meets my family.”

Sejin wanted to roll her eyes, but she nodded for the girl to continue.

“I guess I was expecting that he’d be fine with it, you know. I think I forgot about that whole casual thing we talked about. And for a moment back there, unnie, I…I…” Jena trailed off, Sejin halted when she noticed the tears on her cousin’s cheeks.

Good lord, he’s not worth it. Why is she crying?

Have I ever cried over a boy?

Have I~ Wait, Chanyeol. Right.

“When you told me that you got attached to him already, I thought it was just as a friend, Jen. I..I..”

“I know, I was thinking I’d get over it, but..no. Unnie, and I feel so..” She breathed and buried her face in her palms. Sejin sighed and wrapped her arms around her cousins.

“I’m really sorry this happened to you, Jen. But, I thought you kept your heart safe. You were the one who even reassured me that it was just a casual thing. No commitment.”

“I know, but..he showed me off, unnie. Introduced me to his friends and his company mates too.”

Sejin on the insides of her cheeks and looked around.

“So, what do you plan to do now?”

“Nothing. We’re meeting tonight for dinner.”

“What?” Sejin stuttered, Jena looked at her, confused.

“Why? What’s wrong with that, unnie?”

“I mean, I thought…”

“It was my mistake, I didn’t remind myself what our relationship is, and…well, not everyone’s like you. All perfect and~” Jena stood up and walked towards the mirror to check her makeup.

“Jena, I don’t mean that.” Sejin followed the girl, Jena shook her head.

“Of course you don’t. Just get that dress so that we can have lunch. I still have an appointment after this.” Jena said, her tone a little cold. The girl picked up her purse and stepped out of the room, Sejin puffed her cheeks and plopped down on the couch.

Chanyeol exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose as the Park Holdings directors step out of his office. He was in three meetings today, and he never had the chance to grab lunch yet. And he still had to review documents for his father.

And, there was the issue about Scorpion being in Seoul.

Oh, right, and his girlfriend being the possible target in a gang war.

Chanyeol stood up and walked towards the floor-length windows, how was he going to explain to Sejin about the bodyguards?

The girl liked her solitude and independence, it still even is a miracle that she let him in to her space.

He paused when he heard the doors behind him open, he turned and he broke into a small smile.

“Hi, I don’t want to come off as clingy, or that I don’t have other friends, but,” Sejin spoke as she walked in the office, with her was a box of pizza and a bottle of soda.

“Let me take care of that, young miss.” One of his guards moved forward to help her, Sejin paused but then she nodded back at the male and let him take the food.

Chanyeol paused briefly, but she continued speaking.

“I may..or may have not shown Jena how I feel about Kang Poodle. And I’m in trouble for it.” She announced, the guard set the food down on the table before leaving.

Chanyeol laughed and Sejin glared at him.

“What did you do now?”

“I just..I got annoyed..anyway, I still have a meeting in a few. I had a feeling you haven’t eaten anything yet. And, knowing you, you prefer unhealthy meals at this time of the day. So, pizza and cola.” She said happily, Chanyeol glanced at the table and nodded.

“You skipped lunch, don’t do that.” She said, he shrugged at her.

And then her brows went up, Sejin looked around her before speaking.

“You look tensed, is everything alright?” She asked him as she reached up to cup his cheek, Chanyeol smiled before leaning down and letting the girl hug him instead.

“You’re always quiet when you’re bothered.” She mused before patting his back comfortingly.

“It’s not that, I’m just tired.” He mumbled, Sejin nudged him before pulling back.

“Eat up, we can talk later if you feel like it.”

Chanyeol felt his insides tighten, he hated keeping things from her.

“I’ll pick you up for the party.” Chanyeol said to her, she shook her head.

“It’s fine, I already made arrangements. I’ll see you there.”

“Ugh, miss Independent.” Chanyeol groaned in a playful manner.

“I’ll see you then.”

Chanyeol smiled before leaning down to press a chaste kiss on her forehead.

“But, I’m wearing lavender, can you wear~”

“Something dark, but not black?” He offered, she beamed at him. it was one of those rare moments when she really smiled. And Chanyeol lived for that.

“A classic tux would do, you look good in those.”

“Got it, come on, I’ll walk you to the lobby.” He winked at her as he took her hand, they stepped out of the office and Sejin turned her head, she noticed the males that were following them.

“Bodyguards?” She spoke, Chanyeol paused but he nodded back.

“The company suggested it, is it okay with you? Not uncomfortable?” He asked in a careful tone, Sejin shook her head.

“It’s okay. And, can you~”

“Brush my hair up, yes.” He chuckled before pulling the girl closer to him, Sejin rolled her eyes at him.

Kai pursed his lips as he looked at the photos before him, they spotted a camera earlier at the building they raided. He was able to get the memory card and had his men print out the photos.

“She looks familiar.” Kai murmured, his assistant looked up and followed his gaze.

“Yes, she’s miss Lee’s younger cousin. I thought you may have bumped into her~”

“Right, her. I think I saw her a few days ago.” Kai nodded, and then his forehead creased.

“So, this is her boyfriend?”

There were also photos of Sejin’s cousin with a male, they were holding hands while walking around a park.

“We don’t know, sir. But, isn’t he a celebrity?”

Kai shrugged, completely uninterested with the male, but what bothered him was that, their enemies also had photos of Sejin’s family members.

“It could be that they saw her with Sejin, I mean, I think those two are pretty close. They go out shopping frequently, so,”

“Ah, yes, there was also a photo of the young master Park being with them.” The male added, Kai was about to grab his phone and then he saw another photo of her.

“She’s pretty, the young miss’s cousin.”

Kai glanced at his secretary warily, the male looked away and scratched the back of his head. It was a photo of her going down the steps of a huge commercial building, she had a small smile on her face while checking her phone.

She’s not just pretty.

Beautiful.

“I don’t understand; why is she also being watched? I understand why they’d keep tabs on Sejin, but her,” Kai started to shake his head and leaned back on his seat.

“Young master Park should be informed about this, sir.”

“You think? He’s already bothered about Sejin knowing. Do we have her name?” Kai asked.

“Yes, Hong Jena. The man is Kang Daniel, he’s a celebrity.” The male informed him, the young executive looked at the picture of the couple again.

“She’s going out with a celebrity, that’s something.” Kai nodded to himself.

“If these photos ever come out to the public too, it will cause quite a mess, sir.”

“I doubt Scorpion took them for that purpose, however,” Kai gestured for the photos to be taken away.

“I have to look into this, do we have her work address?” Kai stood up and picked up his jacket, his assistant nodded back.

“I’ll send it to you via text, sir.”

“Good, I think I have to see her personally.”

“Alone? The young miss’s cousin?” His assistant followed him to the doors, Kai smirked and looked at him.

“How bad can it get?”

“Well, you’re a total stranger to her and yet you plan on~”

“It’s going to be alright, I doubt she’s as cold as Sejin. She looks like a warm person.” Kai chuckled before leaving the office, his assistant sighed and shook his head.

“But she’s related to young master Park’s ice queen.” The assistant mumbled as he gathered the photos.

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