Jungah hopped off the escalator with her clipboard in hand, she was smiling as she headed towards the area of the mall that she was assigned to check. This was a part of her job that she genuinely liked, having to see the mall before it opened and speaking with their tenants just to check on what’s the latest happenings around. And, it also helps her department predict trends for the upcoming seasons.

They still had about twenty minutes till opening and she was just finishing a few more boutiques, she stepped inside a skincare department store and chatted with some of the sales associates and asked them to fill up some forms.

Jungah paused when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She unlocked the device and realized that it was the chat room.

She grew amused as she read the messages she had missed, Minhyuk was showing off what he had for breakfast earlier, while Jooheon posted the photo he took with Jungah earlier when he had dropped by her place to check on her.

Changkyun: I heard some rumors about Kim Donghee’s son, it is believed that he is my age. But, unconfirmed.

Wonho: Then, 1996?

Hyungwon: No, maybe 1999.

Jungah let out a small chuckle, she could almost hear their voices as she read their messages. Trust Chae Hyungwon to always be sarcastic.

Jungah sent them a bunch of kissy emojis and logged out before it gets noisy again, she was about to head for the restrooms when she heard a loud bang coming from one of the halls that led to the employees’ resting hall.

“Look me in the eye when I’m talking to you!” A masculine voice said followed by another bang, the girl paused and looked around. The mall was still empty. She inched towards the hallway again, her brows going up.

“N—No, I—I didn’t do it on…purpose, w—we we’re just having..fun.”

The female’s voice sounded way too familiar to her, she quietly crept towards the source of the noise until they could see their reflection on the tiled floor. She immediately realized that the girl was Haerin. The male before her looked livid.

“Fun? With other guys?” He scoffed, Jungah took small silent steps until she could see them clearly, the male had her friend pressed up against the wall. And Haerin kept her eyes down.

“They’re all just my coworkers, and we belong~”

“That isn’t the point here!” He hissed as he grabbed her by the shoulders.

“What do you want me to say? Besides, am I not allowed to go out with my male friends now? You….You always meet up with those girls!” Haerin spat, the male grew red and he slammed Haerin against the wall.

Jungah froze, her eyes went wide.

“You…You watch your words. I told you clearly, don’t hang out with other guys!” And then he struck her across the cheek.

Jungah strode towards the couple and shoved the male away. Haerin gasped, seeing her friend to stand between her and the male.

The male staggered back, his cold angry eyes went to Jungah. And then he started to laugh, he regained his composure before approaching them again. Jungah blinked, realizing the man was at least a foot taller than her.

“Whoa, a pretty face playing hero. This is fun.” He his lips as his eyes went to her thighs.

“Get out before I call security on you.” Jungah said to him, unfazed by his dirty stares.

“Hmm, this one’s feisty, Haerin. Will you be okay if I hang out with her? Since you enjoyed the attention from your so-called workmates last night?”

Jungah paused, she remembered that her department arranged this dinner party last night, everyone was invited to come, but she declined.

“Oppa, just leave. This isn’t the place~”

The male proceeded to grab Jungah by the collar, pushed her down to the floor. Jungah winced as her left elbow landed on the tiled floor in a wrong angle.

“Oppa!” Haerin screamed, the male was about to come for her again when it suddenly got dark around them. Jungah was still rubbing her arm when she felt one of her guards pulling her up.

“Young miss, are you okay?”

Jungah was about to reply when she saw her other two guards grab Haerin’s boyfriend by the nape, and then the male started groaning, no, whimpering in pain.

“We’ll take care of this, young miss. We will walk you back to your office.”

Jungah and Haerin were guided away from the hallway, the last thing she saw was the guy being pinned down on the floor.

“Hyung,” She spoke, Haerin was still staring at her boyfriend who was now trying to ask for help from them.

“Yes?”

“Please don’t report this to the Dots.”

“Yes?”

“Please. I don’t want him to die.” Jungah whispered to him, the guard could only give her a smile.

“I’ll buy you guys expensive beef.” She bribed the male again, she felt Haerin take her hand, the girl was shaking.

“We’ll make sure he won’t cause any more trouble, young miss.”

 

 

 

“You said you didn’t have competition. Or, was that the word we used?”

Wonwoo looked up from his computer, he sighed at the sight of his grinning like a Cheshire cat cousin.

“You disappeared. Great move.”

Rowoon chuckled and sat down on the couch, he looked at his cousin again.

“Come on, did you get a good look at those two? They seem tough…and loaded.” He said, Wonwoo’s brows rose and he pulled away from his desk.

“She introduced me to the other one, the…same one whom I always see around her.”

“I sense the change in the tone.” Rowoon liked teasing him, Wonwoo shook his head and stood up.

“Son Hyunwoo. She claims that he’s good friends with her older cousin, Kihyun hyung.”

“Oh, I bet he is one of those Sons.” Rowoon grimaced, but he was still playful.

“Hyundai Group?” Wonwoo tilted his head, his cousin nodded in reply.

“Wow, I already feel bad for you.”

“She said they’re just friends. I don’t think~”

“But you look worried, probably because you are.”

Wonwoo turned silent, he exhaled and buried his hands in his pant pockets.

“I don’t like that he’s always around her. He…always shows up every time I try to speak to her. And I think she may be afraid of him.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“What if he’s just forcing Jungah noona to go with him? He seems the type.” Wonwoo pointed out, Rowoon shrugged at him.

“I don’t know, but it is quite strange how he found out where she was that night. Seems….borderline creepy.”

“Exactly. He’s quite the arrogant bastard too.” Wonwoo scoffed, Rowoon’s brows went up again, studying his cousin’s facial expression.

“You do know about the Sons, right? Or the rumors…flying around them.” He begun, Wonwoo looked at him.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s something dark, personally, I don’t really buy it.”

“What is it?”

Rowoon pressed his lips together, he leaned forward, as if planning to whisper something to the male.

“That family…has some sort of involvement with the underground…business.” He said in hushed tones, Wonwoo grew confused.

“What?”

“Underground business, Wonwoo. They have control over things like that.”

“What are you~”

“Mafia. They are a family involved with gangsters.” Rowoon sighed at him, Wonwoo stilled at his words.

“Probably explains whatever negative feelings you have about him.”

“That can’t be, Jungah noona…she can’t be around someone like him.”

 

 

 

“An only child. And he even left her alone.” The man mused as he shut his laptop close, his secretary nodded back.

“But, there is only one explanation here, sir. She has been introduced to them.”

Kim Donghee paused behind his desk, his lips quirked up.

“Really? So, this girl will be useful then.”

“Quite so, sir. There’s been..sightings of the other young masters being seen around her, they have been trying to keep their acquaintance in the low for months now. But,”

“Those boys will always have eyes on them. They can only do so much.” The mayoral candidate let out a heart laugh.

“What do we know about her?”

“Chang Jungah, she is a year younger than her cousin, Yoo Kihyun.”

“Ah, there it is, the Yoo connection. SK Holdings.” He hummed while drumming his fingers on the desk.

“She works at a mall in Gangnam, and she spends most of her day at the same mall as well. The girl lives alone at the three bedroom a couple of blocks from her work.”

“This is new, she doesn’t live with her Yoo family?”

“No, I think she doesn’t want to be involved with the company, although she is in great terms with everyone. Rumor has it that she has a special relationship with her grandfather, he adores her.”

The older male nodded back, his grin grew wider.

“I cannot believe that lawyer left his daughter alone, did he forget how much of an easy target she can become?”

“Yes.”

“She’s their weakness. Those arrogant snobby families, they all think too highly of themselves. They act all mighty, and pristinely clean, and yet, they have this other business.” Kim Donghee smirked, he left his seat and faced the windows.

“Sir, we can’t exactly have…the others try attacking her if they don’t acknowledge their relationship with the Chang girl. As you were made aware of,”

Kim Donghee exhaled and nodded for him to continue.

“No one really wants to start fights with them. Word has spread about Daechol and Daeshik’s demise.”

“That was their fault, they were being careless!” The man hissed under his breath, his assistant looked away.

“I’m sure those brats will make a mistake. They will fall.”

“If we manage to get the girl?”

“She will be in our hands, and I’ll make sure those spoiled rotten kids will kneel before me. Then, we take their power and strip them off of everything.”

 

 

 

“See, it’s not so bad, noona.” Wonwoo said with a smile as he approached the girl, Jungah turned and broke into a smile as she saw him.

“Not so bad? Sure, I had like five people walk up to me and comment that they thought saw a ghost.” She muttered, they had agreed to meet at the lobby and enter the charity event together.

“Ghost?”

“Eomma. They said I look just like her. And, I don’t know what to say that, I…can’t remember her so well.” She mumbled, her forehead creased briefly. Wonwoo paused, unsure of what to say but the girl simply hooked arms with him.

“Are your parents already inside?” She asked him as they walked together, Wonwoo noticed that a lot of people paused and stared at her as they passed by. He wasn’t sure if it was because of her striking resemblance of her late mother, or that Jungah was a vision in the lavender gown she was wearing. It suited her pale skin so well and hugged her in the right places.

“Yes, they just arrived.” Wonwoo replied, they reached the doors and Jungah chuckled.

“I haven’t been to society events since I was in high school, I think. Appa stopped going, I didn’t find the reason to.”

“Kihyun hyung didn’t force you to?” Wonwoo was teasing, wanting her to relax.

“There was a bit of forcing, but he knows when to stop.” She mused back as they stepped in the hall, her eyes immediately went to the live band playing soft classical music in the background. Her brows went up slightly, now she felt a little uncomfortable. Maybe if she went with Kihyun, she wouldn’t have to put up with random people walking up to her, asking if she could remember them.

“Jungah, hello!”

She turned and saw Mrs. Jeon approaching her, the girl smiled back and welcomed the elder’s hug.

A tall male paused as soon as he heard a painfully familiar name, he was speaking with a family friend when he had noticed a flash of lavender in the crowd, but he didn’t really look into it.

“Auntie, you look like a goddess!”

“Oh no.” Hyungwon murmured to himself, the man he was speaking to paused. But he offered him an apologetic smile before excusing himself. He looked around the room and met Wonho’s stunned expression, he jutted his lips toward where the music was coming from and there she was.

She probably arrived with the Jeon son, the very Jeon son that Jooheon loathed.

“Did we know that Jungah would be attending?” Wonho asked in a quiet tone as he reached the male, Hyungwon shook his head.

“Didn’t she mention about not liking parties like this?” The younger male replied, Wonho shook his head.

“What do we do? Do we say hi to her? We’re not supposed to know her.” Wonho said, he saw Shownu in the crowd, he was speaking with one of hosts of the event when he paused, his eyes were on Jungah.

“Do you think she’ll remember that?” Hyungwon replied, and then Jungah broke away from the group.

“Why? Do you think she listens to us?” Wonho mused at him.

Shownu watched as she maneuvered her way around the sea of guests, and then she found the refreshments table.

“Wait, you’re Jungah, right?” A young lady had suddenly approached her.

Jungah paused, surprised.

“Yes, I~”

“We went to kindergarten together! You’re Yoo Mira’s daughter!” She said with an excited smile, Jungah slowly nodded back at her.

“I am, I’m sorry, I don’t remember you.” Jungah could only smile back at her, she could sense that some of the guests were trying to listen in their conversation. Well, that was the general reaction when her mother’s name was mentioned, she was quite the social butterfly and made many friends.

“Oh my goodness, it’s been so long.” The young lady prattled on, Jungah nodded, she was about to reach for one of the drinks on the table when she suddenly felt a rush of cold icy liquid being dumped onto her back.

The room grew quiet and the music stopped abruptly.

“Ma’am! I’m so sorry!” The two males whom were carrying a large amount of cocktail drinks rushed to apologize, Jungah could feel the fabric of her dress clung to her body.

“We—We didn’t see you there and~” The males paused, the girl’s dress had turned a little see through.

“I—It’s fine, I need..a napkin.” Jungah blurted out, not wanting to face the waiters, her neck was damp and she could feel her hair curling up, she wrapped her arms around herself. She paused, realizing what had happened to her dress.

Guests started to murmur as they stared at her, Jungah was about to reach for the napkins on the table when she felt something land on her shoulders.

“You didn’t see her there? Are you two blind? Or, is she ridiculously small?” A voice stated, he sounded bored. Jungah realized that someone had put a coat around her.

“Slide your arms in.”

She turned her head, and flinched when her forehead almost collided against Shownu’s nose.

“O—One Dot.” She stammered, Shownu sighed at her, she quickly slid her arms in the coat and saw Hyungwon speaking with the waiters.

“Aren’t we supposed to be strangers in public?” She leaned forward to whisper to him, Shownu almost smiled, at least she remembered.

“Princess, are you okay?” Wonho was frowning at her, the two were covering the crowd’s view of the girl.

“I’m fine, oppa. I didn’t..know you guys were here.” She spoke, she looked at Shownu again, his brows were furrowed together.

“Oppa,” She said, his eyes went to her again. Shownu nodded, she felt his fingers around her elbow.

“The car’s waiting outside, would you like to step out now?” He asked her, the look on her face turned dry.

And Wonho smiled, of course, Jungah is okay.

“Whoa, I have choices?” She replied, Hyungwon’s eyes went to her, he was sending her a look. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“I don’t have a spare dress with me.” Jungah added, Shownu exhaled and nodded he gestured for the girl to walk ahead of him.

“I just got here, One Dot.” She said as they made their way towards the doors.

“No spare dress, remember?”

Jungah grinned at him and held onto the sleeve of white dress shirt as they crossed the lobby.

“I see One Dot’s not in a bad mood tonight.”

“You didn’t tell us you’d be attending.” Shownu said to her, he paused and offered his arm to the girl instead. Jungah smiled and looped her arm with his.

“I couldn’t say no to the Jeons.”

“And here you are talking about choices.” Shownu replied, the girl rolled her eyes at him, they reached the doors, a black Mercedes Benz sedan was already waiting outside. His guards diverted their gazes as they reached them, they weren’t sure what they just saw.

Or maybe it was because of the Chang young lady.

But it was clearly there, the subtle hint of a smile on his face as he was talking to her.

 

 

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