Next morning when he left the house for his new job, Baekhyun saw about ten little boys and girls surrounding Gayeon along with Inhyun, eager to learn how to read and write for the first time in their lives. Gayeon was busy trying her best to sit them in a perfect half-circle around her, yet she lifted her head and gave him a gentle smile before he walked past her. He did not dare to return her smile with a smile, a frown or anything at all, and just continued to walk ahead until he was on the street and perfectly out of her sight.

“Thinking too much will leave you with nothing hyung.” Baekhyun recalled his cousin’s words from the previous day. “You lost your father. Your possessions, status and the whole life you had ahead of you. So if this girl is willing to bring you some kind of happiness and comfort, just accept it. Accept her hyung, you deserve at least that much.”

The gates to the Do’s mansion were opened to Baekhyun without further inquiry when he said Do Kyungsoo’s name, as if they had been told to expect his arrival that morning. Baekhyun was guided to the front patio of the vast house by a male servant, and he stood there until his soon to be master appeared through the front doors.

Kyungsoo’s face lit up instantly as he saw Baekhyun.

“Welcome.” He grinned, hurriedly coming down the steps of the patio, like a maiden who had been waiting for her fiancé to visit.

Baekhyun smiled inwardly at this thought.

“Welcome, Byun Baekhyun.” Kyungsoo held out his hand at Baekhyun, as if to take his hand. And suddenly recalling his own social status and that he was supposed to be Baekhyun’s master, he drew his hand back, and grinned again, slightly bouncing on his heels. “You don’t have to be here all day long actually. I just asked you to visit here because we need to confirm whether you take this job or not. So you… are accepting my offer aren’t you?”

“With great honor My Lord.” Baekhyun bowed. “Just tell me when I have to stay by your side, and I will be present whenever needed.”

“Just twice a week. That’s the frequency I visit the town” Kyungsoo explained. “Where are you staying by the way? If there’s a need for accommodation let me know.”

“I have a place to stay, my lord.” Baekhyun answered with another bow. “If there is any urgent message, you can send me them with the boys who bring firewood to the mansion.”

“Good.” Kyungsoo nodded with a content smile. “I’m planning to get engaged soon, so there might be more frequent visits to the town than usual… I’m telling you to stay alert, just in case.”

“Are you getting engaged My Lord?” Baekhyun asked, trying his best to hide the surprise in his voice with faked interest. “But…may I ask who that lucky lady is?”

It was supposed to be Kim Gayeon. Had they found him another girl so soon?

A shy smile stretched across Kyungsoo’s face. “She’s from the capital. Lord Kim Junmyeon’s sister. Lady Kim Gayeon.”

This time Baekhyun couldn’t hide his shock. In fact his lips parted, his breath hitched, and he froze, absolutely froze.

But how?

“Do you know her by any chance?” Kyungsoo asked, quizzically eyeing him and blinking. “Baekhyun?”

“I-” Baekhyun gulped, pressed his lips tightly together and raced his mind for a reasonable answer. “I… don’t know My Lord. But whomever, she’s… such a lucky lady.”

How on earth was he getting engaged to a kidnapped girl? What was Kim Junmyeon doing?

“At the moment she’s having breakfast with her brother.” Kyungsoo pointed inside to his house. “I will introduce her to you later on.”

Kim Gayeon was inside this house? With her brother?

“Congratulations My Lord.” Baekhyun managed a reply. “Then.. I will take my leave. Thank you again for your grace, for offering me this job.”

He bowed and took his leave, and strode out of the mansion with all kinds of possible scenarios playing in his mind. By the time Baekhyun walked back to his new hideout, the cottage in the jungle, he had only one plausible answer to this dilemma.

Kim Junmyeon must have brought an imposter as Gayeon to the Do’s household.

He settled on this answer, and started cleaning up the cottage floor littered with battered pieces of wood and rocks.

But his mind was on another problem next.

Kim Junmyeon had made his move. He was nearing his sister without Baekhyun knowing, while Baekhyun was busy fighting his growing feelings for the girl.

And once again, Kim Junmyeon was one step ahead of him.

“We’re here!!!”

Baekhyun stepped out of the cottage to find Jongin standing outside, with the tools he promised to bring in order to renew the cottage.

And he had also brought Gayeon with him.

“What is she doing here?” Baekhyun took the bag of tools from Jongin’s hands. “Bringing lunch.” Jongin shrugged. “Her excuse was bringing lunch but I know she just wants to see you.”

“Excuse me.” Gayeon raised her voice. “Can you two stop talking like I’m not here?”

“How was the talk with Do Kyungsoo?” Jongin asked, ignoring the girl. “He’s mad happy to have someone against me right?”

Baekhyun nodded. He just nodded and didn’t dare speak further on the matter, afraid that if he spoke about Do Kyungsoo, Gayeon would somehow come to know that her brother was nearby.”

“You can’t leave the house and wander around like this.” He finally turned to Gayeon. “It’s not like we’re keeping a guest and taking her for sightseeing.”

“I told you that I won’t leave. Didn’t I Baekhyun?” Gayeon replied. “I told you that I won’t run away until everything is solved. So stop treating me like a hostage now.”

“She wants you to stop that hyung.” Jongin intervened with his advicing tone. “Come on now, there’s quite a lot of work to be done if this place has to become a livable place.”

* * *

During the next few hours, Baekhyun and Jongin made major changes to the cottage, while Gayeon watched them from the bench outside. They cleaned the muddy wooden floor and nailed back the loose floor boards, reattached the dangling door and broken boards to the walls, chased out a ferret family that had been living under a small crate by the door and repaired most of the holes in the roof.

“I’m starving!” Jongin yelled as he banged the last nail on the repaired roof.

“Come down then.” Baekhyun stepped out from the cottage, and went to sit next to Gayeon on the bench. The girl took out the packed rice balls she had brought, and Jongin joined them soon.

“Hyung what’s wrong?” Jongin asked, munching away a rice ball after complaining how bland it was. “You’ve been spacing out all morning, you know.”

“Did you find anything suspicious at the mansion?” Gayeon asked, offering Baekhyun his second rice ball. “Or did he mention my family? My brother, by any chance?”

Baekhyun choked on his food. Jongin groaned and shoved his bottle of water into his cousin's hand, and Baekhyun shook his head after recovering from his coughing fit. “Why… why would Do Kyungsoo mention your brother?”

“Obviously because I was supposed to marry him?” Gayeon shrugged. “But he thinks of you as an ordinary man. Why would he mention his personal matters to you right?” she answered her own question, and returned her attention to her lunch.

But Baekhyun had stopped eating, and watched her in silence.

Your brother is there in the Do’s mansion.

He’s here to take you back and I have absolutely no idea how to prevent it if he shows up one day on our doorstep.

“Errm…. I need a walk.” Jongin stood up, tearing Baekhyun’s attention off the girl. “Enjoy your lunch. I’ve had enough.”

And he walked into the woods, singing loudly as if announcing his departure.

The thought of having Kim Junmyeon near enough to take Gayeon away, was bothering Baekhyun to no end. He watched her eat in silence, debating with himself for the best possible solutions for failing Junmyeon, to chase him away from that mansion, to keep Gayeon with him for longer, as long as he could… at least until-

She looked up at him. “I will hide here. In this cottage. If oppa comes looking for me one day.”

Baekhyun stared at her for the longest while.

“Why would you?”

“Because he will take me away. Why are you asking the most obvious?”

“Why would you hide from him?” Baekhyun asked again, putting aside his half finished lunch and turning to fully face her. “I don’t understand you, that's why I’m asking. I’m practically holding you hostage here and although you came with us on your own consent Kim Gayeon, you cried all day long for that just a few weeks ago. And you cannot have forgotten that even now, I won’t miss the first chance to get revenge on your brother. I will kill him one day. I definitely will. So why would you want to hide from your brother? Does that make any sense?”

“Will you kill him even if your father’s name gets cleared?” her eyes had started to glisten with tears. “If you regain your name and status that you lost...will you still take revenge and kill him Baekhyun?”

He remained silent.

Gayeon reached for his hand, and took it gently in hers, to gently across his knuckles. “I want happiness for everyone Baekhyun. You’re right… I hated you since you tried to kill my brother, and would have done anything to be back with my mother in the capital...but,” she stared down at their interlocked hands, and smoothened her thumb over his knuckles again. “I want you to be free too. Of the hatred you’re holding, and of everything that causes you pain. For that, you must control my brother and get any support from him to correct things. So I will stay until then.”

“He’s in Do Kyungsoo’s mansion.” Baekhyun muttered.

Gayeon dropped his hand. “Oppa?”

Baekhyun nodded in return. “He’s there with some girl pretending to be you. And Do Kyungsoo is planning to marry that girl. Probably it’s Kim Junmyeon’s way of finding your whereabouts and staying close to you.”

“It must be Hyunjoo. He wouldn't take that risk with anyone else.” Gayeon muttered. “Oh goodness…”

“He will find you soon.” Baekhyun said, his eyes on the hand that had let go of his own. “And now that you know where he is...you can run to him even before he comes looking for you.”

“Then what about you?” she asked.

“What about me?”

“Are you alright with me leaving?”

Baekhyun shrugged.

“What’s with that careless gesture Baekhyun?”

“You’re free to do whatever you want.” he shrugged again. “I can’t be bothered anymore.”

* * *

“Cucumber? AGAIN???” Jongin wailed, when Gayeon took the pickled cucumber dish and made her way from the kitchen to the front yard. “What’s so bad about cucumber?” Gayeon raised an eyebrow at him. “Your mother is a remarkable cook. This tastes like heaven to me.”

“But not to me and hyung.'' Jongin huffed. “You should know by now Gayeon...hyung loathe cucumber. And so do I. guess it runs in the family.”

Gayeon came to an abrupt stop, a few yards away from the bench they always had their meals on. “What?'' Jongin stopped, and looked where Gayeon’s eyes were directed. “Ah… hyung found it on his way home.”

Baekhyun was sitting on the bench, with a tiny kitten in his hands, so small that his two fists could almost fully cover the tiny thing. He had it placed closer to his chest, and he was the shivering little kitten’s back with two fingers.

Whispering at it, and watching when it moved on his palms and curled itself into a comfortable position.

After what felt like ages, Gayeon felt the same way about him, as the first night they walked together in the city streets.

The same warmth spread across her chest, just like when it happened when he picked up a stray puppy from a street corner.

“He’s so warm at heart.” She said in a lowered voice, so that only Jongin could hear her. “I thought that side of him is long go