“Man, I’m going to call it quits.” Donghae patted Yunho’s shoulder. “Is it okay if I leave you here?”

“Yeah I’m fine. You’re going to call a taxi, right?” He had noticed that his friend had downed some drinks, even though he did look pretty sober.

“There’s one waiting outside the door for me. See ya later.” Donghae gave him one more nod before heading out.

Yunho turned back to survey the club. It seemed that most of his colleagues had decided they had enough of a good time and already headed out. The club was now mostly empty, and the DJ was wiping his forehead with a towel.

He approached the parts of the crowd that still remained. “Hello, Rayne.”

The senior secretary turned. “Yunho!  So what did you think of your first White Hall Happy Hour?”

“I’m impressed. It’s better than most of Jung Fortune’s parties.”

The woman laughed. “I’m sure you’re just flattering us. Here, let me introduce you.” She brought him around, as he bowed in greetings and made appropriate comments.

“Well, we’re all going to leave now and join the after party at my house,” Rayne said as he finished greeting the last person. “Will you come with us?”

Yunho looked around to see a familiar figure in a gray dress sitting slumped over on a couch. “Is Jessica included in this outing?”

“Jessica?” The woman’s raven colored brows furrowed. “I don’t think I ever heard that name. Is it that girl over there? I’ve never met her.”

“Well, it looks like I have to take responsibility of her tonight. Perhaps next time I could join you guys.”

“You’re such a sweet boy, taking care of that lady. Very well, we’ll hold you a place for you next time.”

Yunho nodded, knowing dismissal when he was given it. He then walked over to Jessica. “Hey,” he said softly.”

The woman lifted her head and blinked her doe eyes in the dim light. “Yunho?” she said in a slurred voice.

Yunho’s throat clenched. “How many drinks did you have?”

“One…” she took in a deep breath, as if she had trouble thinking. “One..shot…whiskey…”

He looked at her in disbelief. One shot of whiskey and she’s already drunk?

She smiled. “Not…a…good…drinker…” She chuckled soflty, as if she read his mind. “Only…beers…light wine…”

He made a mental note to find the organizers of Happy Hour and make the request for lighter alcohol to be served next time. “Come on, let’s get you home.”  He held out a hand.

She took it and stood up, wobbling a little on her feet. From the way she blinked, it was clear she was trying hard to focus her vision.

“Your hands are very soft,” Yunho said as he carefully led her out of the room, linking his arm with hers.

“Thank you.” She murmured softly, somewhat leaning on him.

“Did you drive here?” He asked as they started going down the steps.

She shook her head. “Subway.”

“Okay. I’ll drive you home then.”

“No…I can…”

“Not in the state you’re in at this time in the night.”

“I don’t…need your…pity,” Jessica grumbled, trying to escape his grasp. Her words came out faster this time.

Yunho tightened his grip on her arm. “This is not pity. If our roles were reversed, I hope you would do the same for me.”

Jessica stopped struggling and let him continue leading her.

At the foot of the stairs, Yunho froze. Something doesn’t feel right...

He turned. “You stay right here.” He put something in her hand. “Use this if you have to.”

“What-“

He turned back before she could finish the question and strolled into the lobby. There, three guys in leather jackets blocked the doorway.

“Well, isn’t it Chairman Jung’s son,” the one in the middle sniggered.

Yunho raised an eyebrow. “What do you want?”

“Oh, maybe we could bring down some of the joy and pride your family has been having all these years, eh? You know how arrogance builds up after a while.” The man in the middle smiled as his companions cracked their knuckles.

Yunho cracked a small smile. “And obviously the son of Chairman Jung would be so unprepared for such an attack, eh? Because all he has known is joy and pride.” A dangerous gleam lit his eye.

The man in the middle growled. “Be careful what you ask, Mr. Jung, because you might be right.”

A true smile went on his face. “That’s because I’m always right?” he taunted back.

The man in the middle scowled and raised an arm. Immediately the two men by his side went straight for Yunho. Four more men from each cardinal direction leapt out from the shadows.

Once they landed, however, they began looking around. “Where is he?” One of them growled.

“I suppose you guys never had your victims duck before,” called out an amused voice.

The men whirled around to see Yunho standing behind all of them.

As one of the lunged, Yunho ducked again and served a kick to his head. Whirling around, he tripped the next attacker as he punched another guy hard in the jaw. He started moving faster as he deflected blows and sent the men to the ground, until there seemed to be a whirl of black inside the ring of men.

He came back to focus as the last man collapsed on the ground. He straightened his collar and faced the man still standing in front of the doorway. “So how did the son of Chairman Jung do?” He asked with a smirk.

The man was trembling, his eyes filled with rage. “You…you…”

“Monster?” Yunho offered as he walked closer. “Although I’m sure you were going to use a stronger word.” He stopped when he was only a step away from the man. “Ever heard of the name…” he paused as his grin widened. “U-Know?”

The man shrieked and scrambled out of the door. As he ran off in the street-lamp lit streets, Yunho watched him run for his life from where he was standing as the door closed.

Yunho turned and walked back to where Jessica was standing. “Alright?”

She twirled the blade in the air, caught it with her right hand, and handed it back. “Yup. Never even had to use this.”

He looked at the blade, then at her. “You have some fine hand coordination for being drunk.”

She smiled. “I find that when I’m stuck in a desperate situation, the drunkenness melts off me like an ice cream cone in the summer heat. I also don’t like to stay in a compromising state when I see my adversaries display their action.”

He gave her a hard stare. “I think you’re lying about not being drunk anymore. Your words make no sense.”

“Maybe they’ll make sense if you think longer about it.” She walked down the remaining steps with ease that had not existed minutes ago. “I can make my way home. Thanks for helping me out of the club.”

She walked to the doorway, her stride as confident as it had been the first time he saw her.

“That’s it? I thought we agreed-”

She turned slightly, so he could see the side of her face. “That’s how life is with me, Jung Yunho. Thanks, but no thanks.”

He watched her leave. She’s always running away, huh.

Once she reached the subway, Jessica let herself collapse. She lifted up her trembling left hand, and placed the syringe into her purse. Her eyes narrowed.

U-Know…

[A/N] Whoever manages to infer the evil, creative thoughts I’m having about the plot gets total kudos. Should we price it? Photospams on your wall or an oneshot just for you? :P

Rewriting . But I’m getting through it. I think the only changes that seemed a bit major were in chapter 2 and 3, but only to keep things consistent. I’ll continue to rewrite the beginning as I check for continuity and grammar errors, so if you guys keep seeing that update notification, I apologize. I haven’t gotten any complaints about it though, so I’m assuming you guys aren’t having that problem.

Shoutout to lollipopsmile and Mia-Sarah for consistently commenting and making my day everytime I update. You guys are awesome and you two are the reason why I try to push these updates faster. And the rest of you...slackers. :P Just kidding but it would be nice if I could hear from the rest of y'all. I guess I'm glad that you guys are reading this, but I don't know if you actually are. Ah well. I'M AN AUTHOR I AM POWERFUL ENOUGH MUHAHAHAHAHAHA

-cough-

Anyway unrelated news, but it's it's my 2nd year anniversary for AFF. Woot! 

...yeah it's too early in the morning >.< Why am I writing this...I should be trying to sleep...gah.

See y'all next time!