Jungah glanced back at the private reserved hall and puffed her cheeks, sure,it may have been a party for employees. But it felt too formal, stuffy, even.

Maybe because some of the higher ups were present.

“It’s always boring when the bosses are there. They kill the vibe.” She murmured to herself as she moved along.

She shrugged to herself as she got inside one of the elevators and pressed for the down button. She reached the lobby and walked towards the doors, not noticing a young male quietly trailing after her, he had a curious smile on her face as he watched her cross the street.

“What a strange coincidence, she’s also here.” He murmured as he padded after her, he signalled for his two men to keep their distance.

Jungah reached the nearest convenience store and frowned upon realizing that it was close. She checked on her phone and realized that there was another store nearby, she smiled to herself and headed for the other block, not noticing that she was walking into a dimly lit alley.

The girl was browsing thru her texts, she chanced upon her father’s messages.

“He hasn’t called. Not even a Facebook check-in or something.” She mumbled, and then she heard the footsteps behind her.

She stopped walking, and the footsteps also did.

Jungah’s brows went up, she had left her purse at the party and had only taken her phone and some cash with her.

The girl started to hurry, picking up the hem of her dress as she moved, and the steps behind her got closer.

She turned her head slightly, seeing the heavy built man trailing after her. He had his hands in his pockets as he continued to stare.

“And this is why women go to the restroom in pairs.” She muttered to herself, the man behind her didn’t notice one thing though.

There was also a man trailing just a couple of steps behind him.

 

 

 

“What do you mean someone’s following her?” Kihyun demanded over the earpiece, Jooheon winced and tilted his head. The male didn’t notice him yet.

His eyes were on the Chang girl as she hurried away.

Jooheon shook his head, something bad would surely happen if he didn’t tail her tonight. His eyes went to the male, he pursed his lips, not knowing what to make of him.

Was he one of their enemies?

Has it already started?

Or, was this guy a random lowlife wanting to harass women?

“In that case, maybe he wants to die.” Jooheon muttered, Kihyun cleared his throat from the other end.

“I’ll take care of it, hyung.” He said, he removed the earpiece and chucked it back in his coat pocket. Jooheon quickened his pace, the male was about to reach for Jungah’s arm when the girl suddenly turned.

“Look, mister,” She spoke, the man paused.

Jooheon also paused.

“I don’t know why you’re following me, so, could you please tell me why? Do you want to take my phone or something? Or,” She glanced behind her, seeing the open convenience store.

“Would you like me to buy you something from the store? Because, I don’t want to assume that you’ve been following me with bad intentions. That would be a cliché, mister.”

Jooheon’s eyes widened, stunned and also, a little amused.

“A—h, n—no, I was just~”

“You’re on your way to that shop too? Why don’t you go ahead, you were staring right at me and it made me think that you were some ert.” She continued, not mincing her words. The man seem taken aback, but he shook his head.

“I’m impressed.” Jooheon whispered to himself, still remaining in the shadows.

“Was I right? Are you a ert?” She asked, the man faced her again and Jooheon caught how his eyes roamed around her body.

“What are you going to do then, young miss? No one will hear you here.”

“Who said that I would scream?” She replied, Jooheon winced to himself.

“Whoa, she already sounds like trouble.” The young man said to himself.

“Ah, really?” The male started to inch towards her, Jungah was about to raise her hand when the male was suddenly pulled back. And then he began to scream in pain.

“I really hope you’re just some ert.”

Jungah looked at the other male, he was holding onto the man’s arm from behind him at such an angle that it looked like it hurt.

Well, the ert was screaming.

“You chose the wrong victim. No, you shouldn’t be doing this.” He spat, Jungah heard another set of footsteps and two men dark suits appeared.

“Take him.” He instructed, Jungah watched as the middle-aged male was being dragged away from her. He was screaming profanities at them, but he couldn’t fight back.

“Are you okay, miss Chang?”

She faced the male again, he had a small cautious smile on his face as he looked at her.

“I’m Lee Jooheon, I~”

Jungah started to stare at him, he was wearing a tailored suit and she could see that, matched with black leather shoes, probably Armani. He had a simple Rolex watch on, and then she saw it.

His ring.

“Oh no.” She blurted out, recognizing the easygoing confidence he had when he introduced himself. This man knew exactly she was, and she had a feeling that she was supposed to know him too.

“Y—Yes?”

“Please tell me you’re not one of my father’s clients.” She said, the male before her paused.

“Personally, I’m not.” He offered, confused at her reaction.

“I just wanted a yes or a no.”

“It’s a yes. I’m sorry?” Jooheon blinked at her, and then she exhaled. Jungah started looking around them.

“Don’t worry, I came alone. Kihyun hyung…asked me to check on you.”

“Oh god.” She muttered as she crossed her arms, Jooheon contemplated whether to offer his coat to her or not.

“You’re…You’re going to ask me to come with you, huh?” Jungah faced him again, Jooheon’s bedimpled smile appeared, wanting her to be at ease.

“Kind of.”

“Well, I wont say no to an escape. The party .” Jungah stretched one palm towards him, Jooheon paused, surprised.

“It feels weird not introducing myself, since you know my name. But, hello.” She offered, Jooheon let out a chuckle and shook her hand.

“Nice to finally meet you, Jungah-ssi.”

“You don’t have to say that, I know that you’ve probably run multiple checks on me.”

“I wouldn’t say multiple.” Jooheon murmured, he turned to her and gesture for her to walk ahead of him.

“Then, how many?” Jungah replied while running her fingers through her hair.

“Just…three.” He replied as they reached a yellow Lambhorghini, the car lit up and Jooheon opened the door for her.

“Three, sure.” Jungah muttered before sliding inside the vehicle.

 

 

 

Hyungwon peeked over the wooden crate and started taking the items out. Kihyun and Minhyuk were seated at the table, discussing the male from earlier and all the items they got from the room. Changkyun was quiet on his seat, furiously typing in his laptop.

“It’s weird, it’s all empty. We got nothing useful. Except for that.” Kihyun jutted his lips towards the crate, Hyungwon was pleased. The shipment was originally theirs, it contained Hyungwon’s latest ammo and upgrades for his “office” at the villa’s basement.

“Maybe they’re just testing us. Or, they really just want to be wiped out.” Hyungwon replied as he started assembling the M4.

“If the items inside the crate landed on the wrong hands, it would have been a big mess.” Kihyun said, Hyungwon smirked at him and shook his head.

“A mess as in, Shownu hyung would flip .” Minhyuk chuckled, Kihyun poured himself a drink and nodded.

“Still, hyung, I don’t think we should…I don’t think our first meeting with her should be here. She’s a young lady after all.” Changkyun spoke, the three males looked at him.

“I meant, lawyer Chang’s daughter.” He said, he turned his computer towards them, there was a red dot blinking on the screen.

“Jooheon hyung is just a couple of minutes away. They’ll be here soon.” He said, Hyungwon picked up another AK47 and carefully set it on the table, Minhyuk leaned over to examine it.

“She’ll be fine. It’s not like we have a choice. We didn’t know she’d he at the hotel too.” Kihyun said, Hyungwon paused, realizing that Jungah was the girl from earlier.

“It was her.” He murmured to himself.

“She was seen….We don’t know if the others have realized yet, but the fact that she was at the same location as we are..it may raise some brows, you know. It may put some eyes on her. We have to rush.” Minhyuk explained, the doors opened, Wonho and Shownu came in.

Wonho walked to his seat beside Kihyun’s. Shownu removed his black leather gloves and tossed it on the table, a little blood spattered on the marble top as it landed there. He walked around the room and approached the bar, he poured himself some whiskey and took a long sip.

“What did you get from him?” Hyungwon asked, Wonho started to shake his head.

“He’s just one of the minions. He knows nothing, he was simply the one tasked with stealing the shipment. And have us trace it to him.” Wonho said while flexing his neck, Shownu was silent as he took his usual seat, at the head of the table.

“At least we got those, we have to run checks again.” Shownu calmly spoke, he looked at Minhyuk and the younger male nodded back.

The doors opened and a middle-aged man was being dragged in, his loud groans echoed through the warehouse.

“Jooheon was on his way to check on Jungah, but this man was following her.” Kihyun stood up from his seat, Shownu leaned back on his seat and nodded.

“What did you get from him?” Hyungwon asked their men, one of them spoke.

“Nothing. He doesn’t even know the young miss.”

Changkyun shook his head and eyed the male warily.

“You followed the wrong girl then.” Minhyuk snickered, Kihyun leaned down to meet the male’s gaze.

“P—Please, let me go! I didn’t mean to harm her~”

“You didn’t mean to? You saw a young woman walking alone and you chose to follow her, tell me, were you not really going to harm her?” Kihyun said as he leaned over, he reached for the man’s coat pocket and pulled out a small knife. Wonho’s brows went up and he shook his head.

“Scumbag.” He murmured to himself.

The man grew silent, Kihyun tossed the knife away.

“What shall we do, sir?”

“Remove him from the property and make sure he would never be able to hold a knife again.” Kihyun replied, he was about to take his seat when they heard voices.

“Jooheon’s here.” Minhyuk said, a little excited.

“Yes, yes, I went to the cinema to watch that movie.” A feminine voice said, she sounded happy.

“Really? Did you go with friends?” Jooheon replied, the men all glanced at each other.

“No, I went alone. It was a Monday, and I really wanted to see it. So, I skipped work.” The female replied, and then they came into view.

“Really? I would never be able to watch the film alone.” Jooheon was chuckling as he spoke.

“What do you mean? It’s fun. It’s my favorite zombie film of all time.”

Jooheon was still smiling as they walked in.

“Hyungs, this is Jungah.” Jooheon casually said as the girl beside him turned her glanced towards the males.

“When did you two become best friends?” Kihyun was the first one to speak.

 

 

 

Jungah’s eyes darted about the room, no, it looked like a warehouse. But, it wasn’t dark or musty. It was well lit, there was a lot tech equipment everywhere. She noticed the wooden crate at the corner of the room, her brows went up briefly.

She heard someone clear his throat, and her gaze shifted.

She looked at the six men on long table, a quick glance at their fingers made her groan, well, mentally. She noticed the pair of slightly bloodied gloves on the table, she chewed on her lower lip and turned to her back. The men in dark suits had disappeared.

It seemed like they had walked in on a meeting, or something.

Also, there was a gun casually laying on the table too.

Her eyes went to her cousin, she couldn’t help but grimace.

“No,” She sighed, Kihyun sighed back at her.

The male who was typing on his laptop was looking at her with wide curious eyes.

“Oppa, why~”

“Before you ask me why you were brought here, what were you thinking walking around like that?” Kihyun stated, Jungah paused and looked at her dress.

“It was a company party, should I wear jeans?” She shot back, Jooheon had taken his seat beside the laptop guy.

“Walking in that, alone? At a dark street? What is wrong with you?”

“You were being followed Chang Jungah! Why are~”

“The food at the hotel was a little bland. I wanted a hot bar or a sausage.” She said to him, the other male, the one with the muscles kept glancing at her and her cousin with a small smile on his face.

“And you had to go alone. You were being followed by this…this creep!” Kihyun shot back.

“He’s not a creep. But maybe, a ert. Or is that the same?” She shrugged and turned to Jooheon, Kihyun hissed at her. The muscled male turned away, and Jungah saw how he was hiding his smile.

“Chang Jung~”

“Let her sit, stop reprimanding her.” Another male spoke, Jungah turned to him and he smiled at her.

“You can sit beside Jooheon.” He said to her, Jooheon pulled the chair for her. Kihyun sighed and waited for her to take a seat, and then he started talking.

“Jungah, this is~”

“I saw you at the hotel but you ignored me.” She pointed out as she leaned back on her seat, completely unfazed by the amount of bullets and throwing blades arranged before her.

“I saw him too, at the lobby. I was staring at you, and you were staring back.” She was looking at Hyungwon blinked at her.

“You were staring?” Kihyun grew confused.

“For like a few seconds, his holster was visible. Bang, bang, bang.” She said as she tried to reach for one of the blades, but Hyungwon pulled it away from her.

The guy behind the laptop let out a small laugh.

“So, are you somehow connected to my father leaving the country?”

They all grew silent, Jungah’s brows went up, she realized that she was seated at the other end of the table. There was a tall male seated across her, and she hasn’t heard him speak ever since.

“I can explain that later, but here’s the thing. You might…We might have to be around you the next few months.” Her cousin calmly says, Jungah started to shake her head.

“No.”

“Jungah~”

“Oppa, we talked about this. I can’t be~”

“You were in danger today. Although, it wasn’t because of us, or your relationship to this family, some people might…have bad intentions.” The guy with the muscles calmly intervened.

Jungah’s pressed her lips together.

“You guys just go straight in with the mafia stuff huh, without introductions and all.” She stated, the male smiled at her.

“Jungah, this is Wonho hyung. Minhyuk and Hyungwon. And, the youngest, Changkyun.” Kihyun said, she turned to the male beside her and smiled.

“You’re the computer person?” She said to him.

“Y—Yes, miss Chang.”

“Don’t call me that, we’re not officemates.” She winced at him, Changkyun quickly nodded back at her.

“But, I can’t accept this. I’m sorry. Besides, not a lot of people know who I am.” She looked up again.
They grew silent again, Jungah noticed how they all turned their heads towards the quiet male at the head of the table.

“That hyung keeps things in order.” Jooheon whispered to her.

“Oh, so like a babysitter or..a boss?” She whispered back, Jooheon almost let out a laugh.

“Before your father left, he messaged you a set of numbers. He has intstructions for you to call them, why didn’t you?” He said politely.

Jungah then took out her phone, Kihyun started to wince on his seat, knowing what the girl would do next.

And then, someone’s phone started to ring.

Wonho had to lean down towards the table to hide his grin.

Hyungwon looked at the male at the head of the table, realizing that it was his phone that was ringing.

Shownu took his ringing phone out from his coat pocket and put it on the table, Jungah was staring right back at him.

“There. I’m calling now. Are you happy?”

For the second time, the whole room grew eerily quiet, until Minhyuk finally managed to speak between his suppressed laughter.

“Can we keep her?”

 

 

 

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