Warning(s): cursing, guns
Length: 7.4k words

“What the are you doing here?” Baekhyun demands. He throws his cigarette on the ground and stomps on it with a foot when he rises from his seat.

“Do you really know her?” asks the man with glasses.

“Yeah, I know her.” Baekhyun motions for the men to back off, and they promptly do, giving Ange even more shivers. There’s always something intimidating about people who can make others obedient within a heartbeat, and Baekhyun is doing just that. “You,” he mutters as he points to her. “Come with me.”

Ange, scared of her life at this point, shoots Yuqi a nervous glance and follows Baekhyun as he walks towards his garage. Yuqi shrugs casually, but the expression on her face tells Ange that she’s obviously frightened too. Baekhyun, who has his back turned, doesn’t see this interaction, but then he whips around to scowl at both Ange and Yuqi.

“Yuqi,” he says first, “I knew you were dumb enough to date Lucas, but seriously? Now you’re showing up to these races?” Baekhyun then turns to Ange. “And what’s the deal with you?” His scowl turns harsher. “I told you to stay and lock the doors.”

“I-I-I just got curious,” Ange stammers in apology. “I—”

“That’s not an excuse,” Baekhyun snaps. “If I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it, Angel.”

Stunned at his change of demeanor, Ange lets her jaw go slack. While he hasn’t yelled at her, his words hold a strange force to them. She’s truly at his mercy, and it’s scary to imagine the possibilities if she wasn’t.

When the three of them reach the garage, Ange swears that people start moving faster to get their jobs done sooner.

“Hey, Lucas,” Baekhyun calls in a voice of authority and catches the attention the tall boy from earlier. The boy—Lucas—immediately looks up from his task of cleaning a windshield. His black hair falls over his forehead innocently, and his eyes are wide with what Ange thinks is shock. He looks like a deer in headlights as he stares at Baekhyun, who on the other hand, doesn’t seem pleased with whatever it is that’s bothering him (most likely Ange). “Where the hell is Mark?” Baekhyun questions. “I need him to do something.”

“I’m here! I’m here!”

Ange hears thudding footsteps from the distance, and the next thing she knows, there’s a red-haired boy panting in front of Baekhyun’s car. He stands next to Lucas who is now stiller than a statue.

“You said you needed me, boss?” Mark raises his brows expectantly.

“Are you done placing the bets?” Baekhyun asks, and Mark shakes his head profusely. He opens his mouth to say something, but Baekhyun quickly cuts him off. “When you’re done with that, I want you to drive her to my shop.” Baekhyun shrugs a shoulder towards Ange. “You’re also going to wait there until her brother comes and picks her up.”

Mark frowns with obvious distaste. Like everyone present, he’s probably excited for the street races. “But,” he protests, “I’ve done everything you asked—”

“Then you’ll have no problem doing what I’ve asked just now,” Baekhyun interrupts. He flippantly waves Mark off who stares at Baekhyun with an open mouth. “Get back to work,” Baekhyun says regardless. “I don’t pay you stand around not doing your job.”

Mark glances over at Lucas who shakes his head with the tiniest of jerks. When Baekhyun turns his back towards the pair of boys, Mark sighs quietly in an exaggerated manner. He lifts his shoulders up and brings them back down before walking away. Unlike earlier, he seems to be in no rush to answer to his “boss.” Even his gait seems as dejected as his facial expression.

Baekhyun walks away and exits the backdoor of the garage, and the atmosphere visibly becomes lighter. Lucas relaxes his tense shoulders, the other workers slow their pace just by a touch, and Yuqi quickly moves in to give her boyfriend a hug.

“What are you doing here?” Lucas asks Yuqi in a hushed tone. He’s a lot taller than Ange and Yuqi, but Ange doesn’t feel threatened by him at all. After seeing Baekhyun so wound-up, Ange doesn’t think anyone here can scare her. “I told you to come way earlier,” Lucas says, “so Lux doesn’t get mad. Now’s he’s fuming.”

“I was busy,” Yuqi replies in the same tone. She touches Lucas’s cheek with her small hand and shakes her head. “I didn’t know he could get mad that easily.”

“This is just a really important night.” Lucas presses his lips into a thin line and turns his attention to Ange. “So who’s this?”

“I’m Ange.” Ange reaches her hand out for a handshake, and thankfully Lucas accepts it. Like Baekhyun’s, his palm is rough, calloused, and can frankly use a lot of lotion. “I’m, uh…” Under Lucas and Yuqi’s curious gazes, she falters. What is her relation to Baekhyun—or Lux as they all know him?

“Are you his girlfriend?” Yuqi inquires, and Ange quickly shakes her head.

“Oh, god, no.” Ange feigns a laugh. “No, no,” she stammers. “Me and him? Oh, god, no.” When Lucas and Yuqi don’t join her in laughing, Ange clears . “I’m his, I guess, apprentice? Like, he’s teaching me stuff—car stuff. We work in his car workshop 20 or 30 minutes away from here. And, uh… He’s also teaching me how to drive? Sort of?”

“Wait, what?” Lucas drops his quiet voice to reveal a loud one. “Are you serious?”

“Um, yeah?”

“What the ?” Yuqi blurts out too. “Ange, you’re kidding.” When Ange slowly, unsurely shakes her head, Yuqi’s jaw drops. “What did you do in your past life to deserve that? God, I wish he was teaching me how to drive.”

“W-What do you mean?” Ange asks quietly, almost too afraid to wonder. “Is he good at it or something?”

“Good at it?” Lucas looks at Ange like she’s crazy. “He’s not the best street racer for no reason. When he drives, it’s like something out of a movie.”

Ange frowns for a moment until she realizes what they’re referring to—driving in the street races.

“Oh, no,” she says, shaking her head. “He’s not teaching me how to race cars. No, that’s not it at all. He’s teaching me how to…” Ange bites her bottom lip when she realizes just how ridiculous it sounds. In night event dedicated to cars and car races, she’s probably the only here who doesn’t know how to drive. “He’s teaching me how to, like, park and stuff,” she murmurs shyly.

“You’re kidding,” Yuqi spits out. “Ange, what the ? You mean, the greatest street racer in Korea is—” She cuts herself off to take a deep breath. “What the ?” Yuqi repeats. “You’re lying to me.”

“Um, no, I’m not?”

“Whatever,” Yuqi mutters. “You’re lucky.”

Before Ange can question what’s so “lucky” about having a teacher who willingly partakes in illegal activity, Baekhyun reemerges, and everyone quickly goes back to doing whatever they were doing. Yuqi quickly walks off to the side, leaving Ange by herself, and Lucas turns around so quickly that he makes himself dizzy and nearly stumbles. Baekhyun sees this, of course, and rolls his eyes. Seeing him act so impatient and rude comes off as a surprise to Ange, yet it makes her somehow more intrigued by him.

Who are you, Ange asks in her head, Lux?

Baekhyun catches Ange looking at him and tilts his head to the side. “Stop looking at me like that, Angel,” he snaps.

“I-I’m not looking at you like anything. What are you—”

“Well, you shouldn’t be looking at me in the first place.” Baekhyun curls his lip upward in obvious disdain. “You’re not even supposed to be here right now,” he grumbles. “What would your brother say if he knew you what you were up to?” Ange remains silent because she knows Kyungsoo would kill her, and Baekhyun continues to go off scolding. “Angel,” he whispers softly, “do you want to die? Because this is how people die.”

“Then what are you doing here?” Ange retorts.

“I’m not talking about people like me,” Baekhyun retaliates right back. He cracks his knuckles and walks closer to her, making her back away in fear. In the red light of the neon signs outside each car’s garage, he looks menacing, like he’s the embodiment of having made a bad decision. “I’m talking about you. You’re not meant to be out here.”

“Are you saying that I’m sheltered?”

“Yes,” Baekhyun snaps. “You have no idea what you just walked into.”

His statement is vaguely terrifying, and Ange wants to act smart, but the boy from earlier—Mark—walks back into the garage. Upon his arrival, Baekhyun nudges his chin upward to acknowledge Mark.

“Boss,” Mark stammers at his first chance, “please let me—”

Baekhyun doesn’t bat an eye. “Mark, get her the home,” he says, tossing his hand in a demeaning manner. The atmosphere is tense now, and Ange can almost feel how angry Baekhyun actually is. Though he still hasn’t yelled at her, he has made his frustration extremely clear. “You’re going to babysit little Angel until her brother picks her up.”

“Did you just call me ‘little Angel’?” Ange blurts out in question. “Never call me that—”

“Or what?” The entire garage—which had been bustling with soft chatter—goes silent as Baekhyun crosses his arms and looks down at Ange. He has a condescending glare in his eyes that grinds her once brave composure to a pulp. “Hm?” Baekhyun challenges. “What are you gonna do about it, Angel? Can you do anything about it?” Ange feels several pairs of eyes on her, and she hates it; Baekhyun is publicly humiliating her, and he seems to get off on it. “That’s right,” Baekhyun answers for her. “You can’t do anything about it.”

Can’t I? After having Baekhyun say her name as Angel about a hundred times instead of Ange and now hearing “Little Angel,” she’s had enough.

“No,” Ange mutters under her breath. When Baekhyun arches a brow, not having heard what she said, she raises her voice and scowls right back at him. “But I can call you an ,” she announces loudly, “…you .”

Ange expects Baekhyun to flip her off or tell her to get the out of his garage, but in a night full of surprises, expect the unexpected indeed. Instead of letting his frown deepen, Baekhyun cracks a small smirk. He shakes his head with the slightest of touches and smirks. It takes Ange aback because what the hell is it supposed to mean? Nevertheless, she’s content with that since it’s better than him getting angrier at her.

“Mark,” Baekhyun says to the boy in an even voice, “you should go. Drive safe.”

“Uh, got it, boss,” Mark replies with a slight shake. He looks at Ange and Baekhyun quickly but does as what he was instructed to do without further squabble.

Mark starts to lead Ange away from the garage, but she follows him slowly to catch a last glimpse of Baekhyun. She sees him stretch his neck side to side before opening the door to his car and hopping in. He takes a few seconds to turn on the car, but when he does, she feels its engine roar even from a distance. Its vibrations rumbles in her stomach and reminds her of the engine that she heard less than an hour ago back in his garage. Since he’s Baekhyun, this is the same car.

“So what’s your name?” Mark asks Ange when the air around them grows quieter. “How do you know Lux?”

Ange quickens her pace to keep up with Mark’s pace. “I’m Ange,” she says, slightly out of breath. “My brother wants me to learn something useful, so he made me work for Baek—Lux—at his car workshop.” She looks over at Mark’s blank expression. “You?”

“I’m, uh—my name’s Mark—”

“I know.”

“You do?”

Ange tilts her head to the side. “I heard Baekhyun call you by it.”

“Right.” Mark clears his throat a few times before digging his hand in his pocket. He pulls out a set of car keys and presses a button that makes a car’s headlight flash in the distance. “I want to be a racer like boss,” he says as they continue to make their way towards his car. “But it’s hard to find a good crew of people. That’s why I work for Lux. He’s the best around here, he’s got one of the best crews, and he’s one of the last decent people who’s still racing.”

“What do you mean?”

Mark presses his lips into a thin line. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“No, why? Is it obvious?”

“Very.”

They walk closer to a red car (which Mark’s hair is coincidentally—or maybe intentionally—the same color as) that Ange can identify as a Chevrolet because of the logo on its front. Mark’s car is flashy and bright which is a deep contrast from Baekhyun’s sleek black car, but it also only has two doors, so it’s clearly a car meant to go fast.

“What gave it away?” Ange asks Mark as she ducks her head. The interior of the car is extremely clean and smells exactly like the lemon-scented disinfectant that Ange uses. Just by that observation, Ange can tell that Mark puts a strenuous amount of effort in making sure that the inside (and definitely the outside too) of his car well-kept.

“Everyone knows how this city runs.” Mark puts his key in the ignition, and the car growls to life. “It’s all about money and power and reputation here—and everyone knows who Lux is.”

“You mean Baekhyun, right?”

Mark swiftly shakes his head. “No. Baekhyun and Lux are two very different people.” Before Ange can ask how, Mark is pulling out of the parking space and changing the subject. “So, you basically work for my boss too? At his car workshop? What’s that like?”

“It’s alright. I’m learning a little bit.” Ange shrugs and quickly directs the conversation back to where she wants it to be. “So what’s the different between ‘Baekhyun’ and ‘Lux’ if they’re so different?”

“Uh…” Mark visibly tenses up; his knuckles turn white on the steering wheel, and he stammers incoherently for a few moments. “It’s really complicated,” he says after a bout of hesitation. “I-I-I don’t want to say anything too personal, but let’s just say that these days, ‘Baekhyun’ acts a lot more like ‘Lux’ than he does himself.”

Ange can tell that there’s good amount of depth and secret meaning in Mark’s statement, but it completely goes over her head because she has no idea how to decipher it. If anything, what he said just makes her more confused and more intrigued. However, instead of lingering over the mysteriously two-faced Baekhyun, she decides that it’s better to ask Mark about these street races—and what other illegal activities take place in the city when the sun goes down.

“What else happens in the city?” she asks. “Besides the street races. What else do people do?”

“Oh, the usual,” Mark replies, now more comfortable. They’re driving through the neighborhood from earlier, and almost half of the streetlights aren’t working or just barely flickering. Ange wants him to speed the hell out of there, but Mark keeps his foot on the gas steady. “Gambling, trading, robbing, ing.” He shrugs like it’s nothing, and even Ange thinks those are normal crimes. It’s unfortunate that they’ve become desensitized to that sort of stuff, but that’s just the way it is. “There’s one main gang, though,” Mark says, “that’s super dangerous.”

“What kind of gang?” Ange inquires. “Like a street-mugger type of gang? Or is it like a white-collar sort of gang?”

“It’s everything.” Mark’s words take Ange by surprise—and the fact that he steps harder on the gas once they’re out of the neighborhood. Though he doesn’t go very fast, the jolt is still surprising. “Sorry,” Mark murmurs when he notices her discomfort. “But the gang—they’re everywhere. They’re muggers on the street, councilmen of the city, even normal people working normal jobs—everywhere.”

“,” Ange mumbles under her breath. While she has known a few people to be members of some street gang and has heard of a few organized crime groups, this is her first time knowing of the existence of such a group in the very city she lives in. Even back in France, in Paris, she only heard rumors of organized gangs from equally sheltered kids as her. Hearing something like this from someone like Mark—someone who’s actually involved in illegal activity—makes it realer.

“Yeah,” Mark resumes, “it’s scary. That’s why you keep your circle small. The moment you let anyone new enter is the moment you make yourself vulnerable to enemies.”

Those words, said by someone who looks to be around her age, makes Ange look towards Mark. He’s busy keeping his eyes on the road which gives her ample time to really see him. There’s something about him that’s innocently cute, but it’s probably from how young he is, and he has a shine of drive in his eyes. His face is small and well-proportioned with big eyes and a shaped jawline, and it’s almost unfortunate that he’s working for Baekhyun (or Lux) as some sort of assistant because he looks like he could do well developing and selling tech.

“What?” Mark asks once he notices Ange’s gaze on him.

“I’m just wondering,” Ange starts, “how you got caught up in this. All the schools teach you to how to be a decent person with a legitimate job. Why are you here?”

“Because no one believed in me to go through with university,” Mark answ