B.A.P continued to keep a close eye on you after that scarf incident. Yongguk even made Daehyun walk you all the way to the restaurant where you now work at. Daehyun wore his mask snugly over his nose and mouth and pulled his hood low over his head. He was silent as you struggled to keep up with his long strides.

*This is so awkward...I wish Daehyun would actually speak to me more like the other members,* you thought, pouting a little.

You arrived at the door of the busy restaurant. You turned to Daehyun and gave him a little wave. "Thanks for coming with me, Daehyun. This is the place. I guess I'll see you later!"

You turned to go in, but Daehyun suddenly brushed past you, walking into the restaurant.

*In your dreams if you think I'm letting you go without my approval of your job here,* Daehyun thought, rolling his eyes.

*What's he doing? Why is he going in?* you wondered, trailing behind him.

Daehyun calmly strode over the the kitchen. He peered inside and saw the other coworkers that you worked with. You peeked out from behind him, wondering why he was observing the area like a police officer looking for a criminal.

Kai turned around from his cooking station and saw you. He beamed, "Hey, Yoon Bokyung! You're here! Quick, I need a ton of help!"

You smiled and was about to go over to him, but Daehyun reached out and grabbed your hoodie, pulling you back.

"Who is that?" he murmured near your ear through his mask, making your heart speed up.

"He's just one of my friends slash coworker here! Nothing to freak out about, Daehyun," you answered, giving him an annoyed look. "Can you please let go now?"

"Bokyung-ah!" a loud, cheery voice shouted. Minah came running over to you, pulling you into a bear hug.

"Yah, I missed you so much! You're stationed in the cooking area with Kai today, and - " she stopped and was distracted by Daehyun, who was looking down at the floor, a cynical look in his eyes.

Minah's mouth dropped. She leaned over to you and quickly whispered, "Who is that guy?"

You looked at her with a surprised and embarrassed look. "He's umm...a friend of mine..."

"Introduce me to the silent hottie later," she winked at you. "But for now, go work!"

She gave you a good push towards Kai and turned to talk to Daehyun, but to her complete surprise, he was gone. Minah looked around the restaurant, trying to see if Daehyun had gone to the eating area, but he was no where to be found.

*Huh. Mysterious guy...I like it,* Minah thought, giggling to herself.

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You wiped your sweaty brow after finishing the dishes. *Finally,* you thought, giving a small sigh. The bowls and dishes wouldn't stop piling up until lunch hour was over.

"Hey, do you have my scarf by chance?" Kai asked, appearing behind you.

You jumped and turned around, a surprised look in your eyes. "Sheesh! Don't do that, Kai! I almost had a heart attack!"

He laughed and poked your arm playfully. "Sorry~ Do you have it?"

"Yes, I do. I'll go get it," you said, going over to your bag. You opened it and reached inside, pulling out the scarf all neatly folded.

You handed it to him carefully and smiled, "Thank you for letting me use it."

Kai nodded, "No problem. But when are you gonna drop the honorifics?"

You blinked up at him, confused. "Huh?"

"I already dropped honorifics with you, why won't you drop it with me?" he asked, sounding hurt.

"Oh. Um...I'm not sure...But you're older than me, so I can't talk without using honorifics," you said, biting your lip in worry.

Kai grinned and shrugged, "I don't care. You have a college vibe coming from you - I can feel it very strongly. I'm 20 years old. How old are you?"

"I'm 16...I'm four years younger," you replied.

Kai nodded, "Yeah, I expected you to be around that age. But no matter - let's pretend we're the same age. Done."

You opened your mouth to protest, but he winked at you, leaning in and whispering, "Don't forget it, *chingu~" (*means "friend" - same age)

You blushed. *Is this really okay? Now that I realize it, I talk casually with the B.A.P members...why do I have such a big problem with doing that for Kai?*

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Zelo walked into the kitchen and saw a pot with the lid closed on the table as well as a few side dishes all wrapped up and set. A small yellow post-it caught his eye on the pot lid. He picked it up and read,

I made lunch for you guys - it's kimchi stew again. Sorry, I'll make something else for dinner! >< Enjoy! - YBK

*She works so hard just to please us,* Zelo realized, suddenly feeling thankful and sorry towards you. *Don't worry, Bokyung. I'll make sure the others and I will lessen up the pressure on you.*

"What is that?" Jongup asked, coming up behind him and swinging an arm over Zelo's neck.

"Bokyung made this for us to eat," Zelo said, folding the note and slipping it into his pocket.

"Oh, good. I'm starving!" Jongup exclaimed, immediately sitting down and rubbing his hands together.

"What about the other hyungs?" Zelo asked, sitting down  next to him.

"I have no idea if Daehyun came back from dropping off Bokyung, and the others went out," Jongup said, taking the lid off of the steaming pot.

"To where? In this day?" Zelo asked, very confused.

"Something about looking for clues - you know, about the next item to steal," Jongup answered, stuffing himself with the kimchi and rice.

*That's weird...They never go out in broad daylight like that...Something definitely is up,* Zelo thought, feeling a stirring pit of worry deep in his gut.

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Yongguk bit his lip, starting to feel desperate. *What if they got to her already? What if they hurt her and I'm too late*

"Hyung, wait up!" Youngjae called, running to catch up with Yongguk and Himchan also panting hard from all the running they did.

"Hurry up! I can't waste time like this!" Yongguk yelled back, turning around a corner and almost running into a nurse wearing a blue uniform.

He apologized and ran further down the street, arriving in front of the hospital.

With only Yongmi on his mind, Yongguk ran into the lobby, his eyes looking wild and his heart palpitating like crazy.

Doctors and nurses stared as he dashed up the staircase to the upper floors. He sprinted down the hallway and looked for the room where Yongmi was hospitalized. He threw open the door and looked around frantically.

Yongmi was sitting up in her bed, her eyes wide and tears in her eyes. The vase that used to stand on the table next to her bed was broken into countless pieces on the floor, water running everywhere and the daisies that you had bought scattered, the petals and leaves dislocated from their stems.

Yongguk rushed up to his little sister and pulled her into his arms, hugging her small shaking body in his large chest. He pet her hair, trying to sound soothing, "Are you all right? Oh my God, it something happened to you, I would kill myself..." Yongguk tried to comfort her, but all he was doing was trying to comfort his racing heart and conscience.

Youngjae and Himchan finally caught up, panting and out of energy, leaning against each other as they leaned over and tried to catch their breaths.

"Yongmi-ah! Are you...all right?" Youngjae panted as he ran the rest of the way to the bedside.

She peeked her head out of Yongguk's arms and nodded, "I'm okay now. It was scary, oppa..."

"What happened?" Himchan asked, looking down at the broken vase.

"They left us a warning," Yongguk said in a low voice. "That they're running out of patience and they need the money now."

"Didn't they give us a deadline? They said we need to get it in by next summer!" Youngjae said, his jaw dropping at the ridiculous news.

"You can never trust their words like that..." Yongguk muttered, sighing.

"What are you talking about, oppa? Those bad guys that came in gave me a piece of paper and then smashed my flower vase onto the floor," Yongmi said.

Yongguk held her out at arm's length and asked, "What paper?"

Yongmi reached into her hospital dress pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "They said to give it to you, oppa. As soon as possible."

Yongguk slowly opened the note, Youngjae and Himchan looking over his shoulder.

The judges are planning to bring up the case earlier. We need the money now. If you don't, we're going to do more than just break a measely vase.

Yongguk paled and lowered his hands, staring into space.

"This is not good," Youngjae murmured. "How are we supposed to raise all that money in such a short amount of time?"

"We can't. It's just not possible," Himchan said, shaking his head. "These guys are crazy if they want all that money this soon!"

Yongguk stood silently, not hearing any of this conversation. Yongmi tugged on his sleeve, snapping him out of his dead trance.

"Oppa? When can I leave the hospital? I don't want to stay here anymore. I want to go to where you live," she said, innocently looking up at him.

*I can't let you do that...To expose to you what your older brother does for a living - I can't do that to you...You deserve so much better right now, Yongmi-ah,* Yongguk thought, sadly gazing down at her.

He softly ruffled her hair and said gently, "Not until you're all better. Oppa is paying these doctors a lot of money to get you out as soon as possible, so keep fighting, got it? Then you can go home."

Yongmi smiled and nodded.

*I'll need to tighten up on the theft schedule...This is going to be a long week,* Yongguk sighed inwardly.

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Daehyun watched from afar as you laughed and bickered with Kai. You were obviously enjoying yourself at your new part time job, especially because Kai was there to acompany you.

*She looks too happy there...Should I intervene?* Daehyun pondered. He hesitated and shook his head, *What the hell am I thinking right now? Why do I care? Why am I even still here?*

Daehyun sighed and straightened up. *I should leave now...But...*

He glanced through the windows once more and realized that you were no where to be seen. Confused, he leaned in closer against the glass. He couldn't see you or Kai anywhere.

*I don't like this.* Daehyun decided, about to go into the restaurant, but he almost ran into Minah, who was standing right next to him. She looked into the glass window in confusion. "Um...What were you staring at?"

"U-Um...Nothing. I was just about to leave," Daehyun stammered, pulling up his mask even higher over his face.

She squinted her eyes suspiciously at him. "Why do you keep trying to hid your face with that? Isn't it stuffy under there?"

"I...I get sick easily. I have to protect myself from...germs," Daehyun ad libbed, feeling like an idiot. *Great excuse, Daehyun. Now you sound like some sort of germaphobe.*

Thankfully, Minah seemed to buy it. She nodded cooly, "Okay, whatever. So you've been sticking around for like, what, twenty minutes now in front of the restaurant, staring inside. Not suspicious at all, you know."

Daehyun reddened and insisted, "I wasn't staring inside!"

"Yup, whatever. Listen, I gotta get back to work now, so you make your decision - either come inside or stand out here like a creepy stalker," Minah suggested, shrugging her shoulders as she went back in.

Daehyun stared after her, feeling a bit pissed off. "Who does she think she is? Ha! I can't believe this..." Daehyun said aloud, rolling his eyes.

Daehyun took a step forward to go in, but decided against it. *Agh...Then Bokyung will ask why I'm still here after I dropped her off...Stupid Daehyun. Stop acting like this...*

He turned around and swiftly walked down the street, keeping his head low as he walked home.

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"Where are the others?" Daehyun asked as soon as he walked into the kitchen.

Zelo and Himchan were watching TV after finishing the lunch that was made for them. Without looking up, Zelo replied, "They ran out like they were in a hurry. I don't know why, though."

Daehyun was silent for a moment and sighed, plopping down on the bed and pulling off his mask, letting him breathe a little easier.

"You shouldn't go outside this often, hyung. I know you like to do it out of hobby and habit, but you still need to be careful," Jongup said.

"I know, I'm not dumb, Jongup. I'm not planning on going outside anymore anyway," Daehyun muttered, turning over onto his side.

*I still feel uneasy about Bokyung and that guy working so close to each other...* Daehyun thought, giving another tired sigh.