The whole morning, Taeyeon has been completely distracted from her usual boxing practice and up until now, she already received two accidental punches from Minho since she couldn't avoid it on time. That was unusual for her. Because out of all of them in the warehouse excluding Heechul, she's the ace and Minho, Taehyung, and Seunghoon had always looked up on Taeyeon's boxing skill.

 " Noona, are you okay? You look like you got a lot in mind, " Minho questioned the flustered woman. Taeyeon just sighed as she took off her gloves and threw them down to the ground. " Nothing, "

 That was a lie obviously. They had been spending time together for quite a long time and they could easily read each other's expression now. However, since Taeyeon avoided the topic, Minho knew it was no use to pry anything out of this stubborn noona. " Alright then, let's take a five minute break. Oh, and also I really think you need to treat that bruise quickly, " the younger man pointed at the corner of her lips.

 " Huh? " a confused expression plastered on her face as she slightly pressed the said place using her index finger. She slightly winced. " Aish, yah Choi Minho, I have an important meeting this afternoon! " Minho who was by now heading toward a punchbag, turned to look back at Taeyeon with an innocent expression as he shrugged his shoulder. " Eyy, you're the one that's too distracted to even focus on our practice, "

 She could only sigh as Minho was saying the truth. Dohyun's words from last week's dinner bothered her a lot. It was obvious that the two men had some kind of beef inbetween them but, him assuming her to be someone close to Jiyong just made it suspicious. That man must had known about their friendship somehow. Taeyeon shook her thoughts off her mind and sighed for the upteenth time. " Where's Seunghoon? " Minho asked Taehyung who was practicing alone.

 '"Oh, he said that he's taking college entrance exam, " the younger answered then diverted his attention to the woman sitting alone at the edge of the ring. " Is she okay? " he puckered his lips towards Taeyeon and Minho could only shrugged his shoulder.

 " Noona! Let's go get some coffee? " Taehyung cheekily asked her. She nodded her head and took her jacket before excusing herself and Taehyung to go to the nearby cafe. Well, maybe the previous incident bothered her a lot because she didn't take her daily caffeine yet. That's what she thought. 

 " Welcome! " a cheery voice greeted the duo, instantly lighting up the younger's face. " Good morning Irene-ssi, " Taehyung awkwardly bowed slightly as his fingers scratched his nape, a slight blush appeared on his cheeks. The said woman just chuckled at the sight of her adorable admirer. Taeyeon scoffed when she saw her dongsaeng acting all giddy and stuffs over his crush. " Oh, Taeyeon unnie, what drink do you want for today? " Irene, the ethereal woman behind the counter, asked Taeyeon as she tied her hair into a ponytail. " Oh, just a lemon soda please, " the older one said, making Irene sighed and shook her head. " Unnie, try out our latest latte instead of drinking that soda drink. Everyone knows that your body couldn't handle fizzy drinks, " 

 The petite woman could only chuckle. " Hehe, you know me too well Joohyun-ah, " right at that moment, Taehyung leaned his body at the counter with a wide smile on his face. " See noona, you're old, so you should be taking care of your body more, " he sighed as he stared at Taeyeon disapprovingly. In a split second, he turned his head to Irene and flashed his golden smile. " Thank god Irene-ssi here always remind you to take care of yourself, " he sneaked in a wink after he finished his sentence. The girl just blushed a deep scarlet red. Taeyeon shivered exaggeratedly and rubbed both her arms with a disgusted expression on her face. " Urgh, I'm getting goosebump, "

 " Here's your order unnie, " Irene handed her the iced latte and an iced americano for Taehyung. Him being himself, he purposely touched Irene's hand before finally taking the cup from her hand. Taehyung made a call me hand sign before he walked side by side with Taeyeon towards an empty table. " Urgh, you guys makes me wanna barf, " Taeyeon muttered under her breath and rolled her eyes.

 They sat beside the huge glass window, wanting some sun in their face. While they were talking about things, mostly just random stuffs or reminiscing their newbie days as a boxer. Out of the blue, Taehyung's forehead scrunched and his eyebrows furrowed at a suspicious sight. Taeyeon who was talking stopped in the middle of her sentence, taken aback by Taehyung's serious facial expression. " What are you loo-... " before she could even turn around and followed his gaze, Taehyung stopped her by putting his hand on top of hers. She looked at the man infront of her with questions all over her face. " Don't look behind you noona, " this time Taehyung's gaze was diverted to Taeyeon. 

 " I'll tell you on the way back home, "

 Both of them left the cafe hastily as Taehyung still secretly glanced at the suspicious man that he noticed had been following them around. As they passed by the counter, Taehyung whispered to Irene in a blink of an eye. " Catch his face, the guy wearing flannel and brown cap, " with determination in her eyes, she nodded her head then pretended to thanked the duo cheerfully. Not even wasting any second, the man that had been tailing Taehyung and Taeyeon stood up then walked towards the exit. Before he could take a step out of the cafe, Irene stood in front of him with a bright smile and a bag of coffee beans in her hand. 

 " Congratulations sir, you're the 50th customer to exit this cafe so you'll receive a free gift from our shop! " Irene's loud announcement startled the man as he halted his movement then looked around the cafe with his eyes widened. The other customers clapped for the man as he, maybe already forgotten about his mission, shyly thanked her. " Let's take a picture so we can hang it at our guest sections' gallery, " the man naively agreed. 

 ' Fuh, mission success, ' Irene gleed in her mind.

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 " There's a man that had been eyeing you suspiciously and tailing us from the boxing warehouse, " Taehyung stated which made Taeyeon's jaw dropped. " Huh? " 

 " I saw him at the cramped alley beside our warehouse and then he sat a couple tables away from us while taking pictures of you, " he continued. " But, it could be you he's tailing and not me, " she reasoned out, too creeped out to even think of the reason behind someone stalking her. " I'm not the one that's from a chabeol family that has a celebrity status noona, " he raised his left eyebrows as he stated the obvious. His phone vibrated and he immediately rummaged through his tracksuit's pocket. " Oh, Irene alredy send the picture. As expected, our Irene, " he cheekily gleed as he opened the pop up notification. Both of them looked at the picture and saw a middle aged man, a bit chubby, his skin was very light coloured with slight beard at his chin. 

 " Do you know him noona? " Taeyeon shook her head. She might not know many people in the industry but she had never seen a reporter that looked like him at all. " Just send it to me first, " she said and Taehyung did what she told him. " By the way noona, you should just go back to your house first. I'll send your belongings later on, " Taeyeon smiled warmly at her close dongsaeng. " Thanks Taehyung-ah, I'm counting on you okay! " she said as she ran towards the direction of her house as she waved at the man.

 " , I'm gonna be late to the meeting, "

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 " Okay, that looks good, " Taeyeon mumbled to herself as she looked at the reflection of herself and applied some concealer at her bruised lips. 

 She slightly twirled herself, making her baby blue dress that her mother insisted for her to wear spinned along. She gave herself a last look and beamed a satisfied smile.

 " Where's dad? " Taeyeon whispered to Kim ahjussi. " He already departed to the meeting event, " the young Kim nervously giggled as she hopped on one leg to balance while still pushing her foot inside her silver heels. " Your car's already at the front Ms. Kim. Better hurry or Mr. Kim will be furious, " Kim ahjussi teasingly smiled at her as he handed a coffee bun and a banana milk. " You're the best~ " Taeyeon pouted and hugged his waist before entering the car.

Meeting Hall

 Jiyong whom already arrived the earliest looked around the empty meeting table. It was smaller than the first one since only some chosen parties will attend it. He sighed. After the collaboration project between businessmen in South Korea was announced, he alongside his father had been attending these boring meetings and eventhough he knew that knowing a lot about his country's economy status will help him in the future, he couldn't just help it whenever he accidentally yawned or dozed off. Well, after all he was surrounded by old politicians. 

 His eyes stopped on a particular table with a particular card name. His lips tugged upwards. " Well, at least today's not another boring meeting, " he smirked. " Oh, Mr. Kim good afternoon, " Mr. Kwon greeted someone and that certain surname automatically made Jiyong's head turned. He only saw her father and no doubt that actually disappoint him slightly. That expression on Jiyong's face was not missed by her father. " Good afternoon Your Highness. I'm sorry I came a little bit early to greet you personally. I was just planning to bring my daughter along but our maid informed me that she went out to jog, " Mr. Kim sent a knowing glance at Jiyong whhich made the young man flustered.

 Both men laughed at the younger one's expression. 

 After 30 minutes waiting for the other parties to arrive, Taeyeon was still nowhere to be seen. " Is she okay? " he muttered out his own thought as his eyes were glued to her table. He was too deep in his own thought that he didn't realize another pair of eyes were intensely glaring at him.

 " I have 2 minutes left, " Taeyeon looked at her watch with wide eyes as she ran inside the building to catch the lift. She pressed the button for the 20th floor and heaved a relief sigh. While waiting to arrive there, she ate the bun and drank the banana milk in a hurry. " I'm for sure gonna have an indigestion after this, " she groaned, cussing her small mouth for not being capable enough to finish the medium sized bun and the small sized drink quickly. The elevator dinged and for the last sprint, she shoved the last bite into then filled again with the last sip of the drink. 

 After swallowing everything, she knocked slightly on the wooden door and peeked inside. Only to see the meeting attendants were already seated and were staring at her. She flashed a nervous smile as she bowed at every single person in the room while rushing to her seat. Her eyes accidentally locked with Jiyong and seeing him smiling widely at her presence made her blush rapidly. Jiyong pointed at the corner of his lips then pointed at her. She sat down beside her father, still confused by Jiyong's sign. Then, a realization hit her. Her red face turned redder when she could feel some crumbs from the bun earlier was still at her lips. Feeling embarassed, she hastily wiped , making sure no crumbs remained.

 " Since everyone's here, we'll start the meeting. The purpose of this meeting will be explain in details in the handout given, " a few staffs entered the room with a stack of papers in each of their arms. Taeyeon slightly bowed her head to the staff distributing the said file. Her hand instantly reached out for the file and she flipped through it. Of course, a lot of the words in the handout seemed like it was translated into an alien language. The clueless young woman sighed silently and slightly ruffled her brunette wavy hair. " Taeyeon-ah, I made a cue card for you to present, " Mr. Kim whispered at her as he slid a small note under the table to Taeyeon's lap.

 Her eyes bulged out slightly. " Me? Im presenting? " Mr. Kim raised his eyebrows with the 'dare to disobey me' look that made Taeyeon shut and silently nodded with a distressed smile on her face. " Now we'll move to the next topic presented by Mr. Kim Sungsoo from Kim Electronic Corporation, "

 All eyes diverted to Taeyeon and her father. Taeyeon, obviously nervous, looked around the room with an agitated smile as she slowly stood up holding her note. Instantly, Jiyong's face lit up, all the sleepiness and boredom that surrounded him until now just disappear into thin air. A bunch of erted old politician's face also lit up at the sight of Taeyeon being all nervous and jittery. " In place of my father, I'll present the topic electrical application in this project and its role, " a smile creeped on her face as she could hear herself sounded very confident.

 After a few minutes presenting, Taeyeon ended with a thank you and bowed to the other attendants. " Aigoo, your daughter is so good at delivering speech Mr. Kim, " Taeyeon slightly smiled at a man she recognized as Mr. Song. " Hahaha of course, I have to let her experience things like this before letting her become my heir, " they laughed gleefully.

 A certain woman named Kim Bora huffed at the attention her rival was getting. Then, her eyes spotted the bruise at the corner of her lips. A despicable idea sparked inside her mind and she immediately poked her mother's shoulder. " Mom, look at her lips. It kinda looks like a bruise, " she whispered which made her own mother confused. " She probably made out with someone before coming to the meeting. Haih, I can't believe that they favor someone so disgusting over me, " upon her daughter's lat sentence, she realized what was happening. A loud gasp escaped which attracted pretty much everyone in the meeting room. 

 " What's wrong Mrs. Kim? " Mr. Song questioned her as his face appeared a little irritated that she disrupted a hearty small conversation going on. " Ah, nothing. It's just, I'm concerned about the bruise at your lips Taeyeon-ssi, " after the old lady pointed it out, everyone, including the king and the crown prince, looked at her lips. Flustered, she covered the bruise and awkwardly laughed. " Oh, I k-kinda bit my lips when I was eating just now, " she gritted her teeth when she realized she stuttered for awhile. Bora smirked when she saw her mother ready to launch another attack. Taeyeon, her father and Jiyong noticed the sly smirk from Bora and they knew, something bad was coming. 

 " Oh really? I thought it was because of a ma-... " 

 " Excuse me Mrs. Kim! " Mr. Kim's stern voice echoed inside the meeting hall and everyone fell silent. " His Highness is at the front. You need to behave and be respectful, " he glared at the smirking woman whom seemingly not flustered at all. " Well, I was just wondering because you know, she's a young woman, " her eyes moved from the father to the daughter. Taeyeon couldn't say anything because the truth was something she hid from everyone. She cowered and glanced at her father.

 Mr. Kim was ready to stand up and screamed at the rude woman while Mr. Kwon was ready to take care of the heavy atmosphere in the room.

 However, another man stood up from his chair and made his way to Taeyeon's chair which startled everyone in the room of course. Because that man was the one and only crown prince Kwon Jiyong. He fixed his tuxedo with a smirk on his face. ' Time to be scandalous Ji, ' he halted his step behind Taeyeon's chair.

 " I'm sorry ma'am if I'm not mistaken were you trying to accuse her of kissing a man? Her? A grown adult? " Jiyong questioned the flabbergasted woman as she nodded slightly while avoiding eye contact.

 Mr. Kim gaped at the sight of a crown prince standing up for his daughter. 

 Mr. Kwon sighed and shook his head but a smirk appeared on his face.

 Bora scrunched her forehead, confused at the current situation playing in front of her.

 While Taeyeon just froze on her seat with a pair of widened eyes, as huge as a ping pong ball. 

 Jiyong smirked at Mrs. Kim's reply. He draped his arm on Taeyeon's shoulders which made her jump a little then smirked at the speechless woman. 

 " What if that man was me? "

 The meeting room bustled with slight whispers.

 Mr. Kwon sighed then chuckled slightly. " Haih, my son is too manly, " he shook his head.

 " H-huh? " Mrs. Kim shared a look with her daughter as she tried to come up with a reply to retort.

 " I'm sorry honey, I was too harsh just now, " Jiyong caressed her lips lovingly. His sentence made Mr. Song spitted out the drink inside his mouth. Some of the attendants were bewildered by the blatant statement from the royal family member. Taeyeon's face turned shade to dark red. She swore she could literally hear her heart beat vigorously. " Okay, Prince Jiyong, you can come here now, " Mr. Kwon instructed, his tone slightly stern but playful at the same time.

 " A-alright, the meeting will proceed with a presentation from Mrs. Kim, "

 The meeting proceed but the atmosphere in the room was undescribable. Taeyeon was still flushed red and her head was dizzy as she still could feel Jiyong's finger caressing her lips. Jiyong stole a glance at Taeyeon. A smirk took place on his face when he saw her face was comparable with a strawberry. Well, in the aspect of the colour of course. A few minutes after that, the meeting ended and the king stood up to give some final words. " I hope every person in here will give their all to this project and for our country. Oh, also I need to remind all of you that everything that happens in the meeting room is confidential. Everything, "

 When Mr. Kwon emphasized that word, everyone knew what it was about. Of course, regarding the crown prince and the chaebeol's daughter situation. 

 A man walked in and whispered something to Mrs. Kim. Taeyeon's attention diverted to the man and as soon as her eyes landed at him, all her nerves started working normally again. " That's the stalker, " she muttered. Before the man could walk out of the room, he made eye contact with the flustered woman. His movement halted but as soon as all the attendants stood up to leave the room, he quickly escaped. Well, of course with Taeyeon chasing after him. 

 Jiyong saw Taeyeon rushed out of the room in a panicked gesture. Again, of course he followed after her.

 " Yah! Ahjussi stop there! " she screamed as she tried hard to chase the perpetrator with her heels on. " Aish, this ing heels, " well, not after she abandoned her pair of white heels in the middle of the staircase and chased him down into the basement parking. " Kim Taeyeon! " Jiyong who was tailing her stopped and sighed when he saw she carelessly left her heels. He continued chasing her not after he picked up her heels. 

 When he arrived at the basement parking, he saw Taeyeon was pinning a man down to the cold hard ground. 

 " Tell me who told you to stalk me, huh?! " Taeyeon screamed as she sat on his back. " Get off me woman! ". " Not until you tell me who's behind the stalking! ". " I won't tell you anything! " she scoffed at the reply she received.

 "Oh really? " she pulled his left hand then turned into arm bar lock position, making the man screamed in pain. Jiyong just scrunched his face and covered his mouth, amused by the move Taeyeon just did. " Tell me! Is it Kim Bora? " she guessed based on what she saw earlier. 

 " I-It's Lee Dohyun! " 

 " Huh? "

/ PS: Thank you to all that subscribe this story and upvote for this too!! I LOVE YALL SO MUCHH!! Also thanks for the comments, it really energize me so muchh! Hope you enjoy this chapter ~ /