Recap

“Hailey, can you pass me a slice of bread? I’m starving.”

He walked into the bakery covered in dirt and Hailey couldn’t help but think that it made him look even manlier.

Chunhei suddenly became speechless as she took in the sight of the male standing in front of her.

“Jongup? Is that you?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jongup looked confused and gave a long and hard look at Chunhei. “Do I… know you?”

Chunhei looked shocked. “Seriously, you don’t remember me? I’m that girl that always got bullied at school,the girl with the braids and glasses? The one you helped when those girls cornered me and almost shaved all my hair off.”

Jongup was in deep thought as he tried to recall the description of the girl. His face lit up when realisation hit him.  “You’re Chunhei!” He said as he walked up to her.

Chunhei nodded happily and was delighted that Jongup didn’t fail to remember who she was.

“Wow, you look so… different.”Jongup commented.

“Yeah, I decided to drop the braids and well... everything.  So do you work here?”

Jongup took a glance behind him, “Yeah. I own it actually; it’s like a family business. So what are you doing for a living?” Jongup asked curiously.

Chunhei flipped out her FBI badge, “I just got selected a few months ago. Thanks to you, I realised what I wanted to do in life,” she smiled as she recalled back old memories, “When you stopped those girls back then, I thought you were some kind of knight in shining armour who came to my rescue. I tried to find you to say thanks but you suddenly moved schools. You were someone I looked up to. Basically, you were like a hero and I wanted to follow your footsteps.”

Jongup scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “You make me sound like some kind of fictional superhero and to be honest I’m nowhere near that great.” He answered modestly.

“No. You were more than great.”

Chunhei’s phone suddenly rang. She picked it up and a familiar screeching voice filled her ears.

“Boss, is something wrong?”

“I have some news. One of our spies overheard some rumours about Fire going to target a particular gang.”

The hairs on the back of Hailey’s neck stood up and a cold chill ran down her spine as she accidentally overheard the information. Were we the target? She thought as she remembered the events that took place that morning.

Chunhei excused herself and turned around so she wasn’t facing Jongup and Hailey. As her back was turned Jongup looked at Hailey and mouthed the word, “Fire?”

Hailey nodded in response.

Jongup made sure Chunhei wasn’t listening and walked towards Hailey. “If Chunhei asks about Fire, don’t tell her about what happened this morning with our encounter,” he whispered in her ear.

Hailey started to feel extremely nervous. She had already told Chunhei that she knew Fire. Her mind raced as she tried to think of a reasonable excuse to give to the FBI standing just a few feet away from her.

Chunhei snapped her phone shut and looked at Hailey.

“Sorry, but I have to continue with where we left off. So miss, what do you know about Fire?”

“I’m Hailey,” Hailey replied hoping to buy herself some thinking time. “Fire, well…” she took a moment to think, “Some of the members from the gang shop at this bakery.”

Hailey mentally face palmed, that was probably the lamest excuse she had ever made. From the corner of her eye, she could see Jongup pinching the bridge of his nose with his head hung low in utter disbelief.

“Right…” Chunhei sounded half convinced, “And how did you know they were from Fire?”

On the outside Hailey looked perfectly calm but inside her mind was thinking like crazy. Her hands became sweaty from nerves as she tried to come up with a good reason. She was never good at improvisation.

“They said I had to give them a discount because they were gangsters from Fire. But since they were regular customers, I thought they were joking and just gave them discounts anyway.”

That was the only reason Hailey could think of. She was sure that later on the day, a better reason would pop into her head and she’ll look back at this moment thinking why she didn’t think of that reason earlier.

Chunhei jotted down some notes and nodded her head. “Ok, so did you ever hear them talk about their motives or anything?”

Hailey shook her head and Chunhei sighed.

“Thanks for your time. If you hear anything about them please give me a ring.” She said and gave Hailey her contact details. She then turned to Jongup with a smile, “It was good talking to you again.”

Chunhei grabbed her belongings and left the bakery. Hailey placed a hand over her chest and breathed out a sigh of relief.

“I’m surprised she bought that.” Jongup commented and Hailey felt embarrassed just recalling her own words. “I should tell Minho about Fire’s target gang.”

Jongup started to walk off when Hailey spoke up.

“Are we going to stop them?”

Jongup paused and didn’t answer. He turned his head around and a gentle smile appeared.

“I’m going to try. I’m not going to let them start doing that to another gang, again.” With that he walked towards the back of the building and Hailey was left alone contemplating about what she could to do to help.

Although Hailey had lived with Jongup for ten years, she only knew a little about their history. When they were an active gang, people would tremble at the sound of their name, Pheonix. They were in cohorts with Fire and would always battle other gangs together. They wanted to be the best in the industry and just when they almost made it, Pheonix’s former leader decided to stop the fight for dominance and retreated. After that, Pheonix realised their mistakes and officially disbanded.

The members today are those who are still attached to the gang but instead of the violence, everyone just wishes for peace. Of course, Fire was furious that their partner in crime had betrayed them. From that day onwards, a subtle rivalry formed between the two gangs and has continued for as long as Hailey could remember.

As Hailey recalled this history, she also recalled her own. This bakery has so kindly taken her in and looked after her for so many years. She felt so grateful and thought it would take a hundred life times to pay off this debt. If Fire was really targeting them, Hailey thought she had to do something about it. An idea suddrenly sprang into her head and she raced after Jongup.

Jongup had gathered quite the audience around the dining table with his announcement. Everyone looked worried and a rush of panic swept over them. 

“It’s ok, we don’t even know if we’re the one they’re after.” Minho said trying to calm everyone down.

Hailey reached the epitome of the discussion and pushed her way through the crowd until she was in front of Minho.

“I know a way to find out for sure who they’re targeting. When and how?” Hailey yelled over conversations which caused everyone to turn their heads.

The room went dead silent, everyone waited for Hailey to explain herself.

“In order to know what their motive is, someone could go undercover and join their gang.”

Everyone started to whisper. Some opposed but others considered Hailey’s suggestion.

“No!” Minho’s voice boomed. “It’s too risky.”

“I think Hailey’s got a great idea. But if anyone has to go undercover, I’m willing to volunteer.” Jongup interrupted.

Minho immediately shook his head. “It’s a good idea but it’d be too risky. If we got caught, it would be instant death.”

“But if they are targeting us then they would have the upper hand. We wouldn’t even be able to prepare ourselves,” one of the members argued.

Minho took a long moment to think, “Fine, we’ll go with this plan, but who’s going undercover?”

“I’ll go!” Hailey said without a hint of hesitation.

Loud murmurs of protest erupted from the audience but one voice stood out from all of them. It was Jongup.

“No. You can’t! They’re dangerous.” He pleaded.

Hailey wasn’t easily persuaded and slammed her hand on the table.

“Look, I’ve decided. Even if it means I’m playing with fire.”

Jongup shook his head. “You can’t. I’ll go.”

Hailey took a step towards him until she was just inches away from any skin ship. “Look, among all of us in this room, I’m the only one who looks as if I’ve never even come across the term gangster. They wouldn’t suspect me at all. Besides, everyone here has become my family. You guys were kind enough to take me in and nurture me. I feel so grateful to every single person in this room and I haven’t done anything for you guys in return. So that’s why, I want to be the one who goes.”

Minho walked over to Hailey and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Well if you want to help so strongly, I guess we could allow it.”

Jongup turned to Minho with an expression of discontent but his face softened when he saw Hailey’s eyes flaring with determination. He let out a sigh as he couldn’t do anything to change her mind.

“Let’s get you prepared then.” 

Author's Notes:

As always thank you for reading! <3
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The plot of the story is starting to build so please look forward to future updates >.<