Minho’s POV

I stacked the pile of finished paperwork aside and stretched back on the recliner chair. Looking out, the city was catching its first sign of light and I had been here ever since I came over from school. Heaving a sigh, I got my heavy body out of the seat and dragged my legs across the luxurious office floor. I would have put my head on the desk and get at least two hours of sleep in before school but there’s still Jonghyun to check on. I have to get to his house before he wakes up.

My leg was swinging around my bike when my personal assistant came running out of the office building to me.

“Sir, they’re having an emergency meeting,” he panted. “They’re thinking of electing one of the board members to replace President Kim’s position and eliminate him for good.”

I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. I had seen this coming the second Jonghyun’s father had entrusted the company in my care. I knew the board members had been agitated and restless in their too small of a seat after Jonghyun’s parents’ death. They had been quietly plotting and gaining people on their side to overrule those who still believed in Mr. Kim’s ideology for the company. They bribed and spread lies about how Mr. and Mrs. Kim had suicide because the company was falling. They lied of how the company would already be a failure a long time ago if I wasn’t there to save it. Well, that was a mistake, a terribly big mistake. I was given the role to guard and maintain the company only if and when Mr. and Mrs. Kim could not by any means protect the company anymore and that Jonghyun was yet unable to defend his parents’ hard work. That is when I come in. That is when I temporarily fill in the gap of Jonghyun’s position so that when the time was right and that he is ready, I could pass it back to Jonghyun in all its glory.

“Sir? Mr. Choi? What do we do now?” he asked in a panic filled voice.

I brought myself back to the present and looked him in the eyes with all the confidence I possessed in me. “Get me a proper tuxedo. Then, we get ourselves prepared for this war.”

His face brightened up with determination. “Yes, sir!” he smiled and did a soldier salute. “I know you’ll come up with something,” he said happily before running off to do the bidding.

I chuckled amusedly to myself. He was one of the last men to serve Mr. Kim and he had been loyal to his beliefs even when he was working for me. He is one of the best in the company but he is also one of the cutest I have ever come across. My eyes trailed up the glorious building to its highest peak. I have been carrying this burden for almost a year now, a burden I would never have wanted to touch if I could help it. I sighed. I remember the time when Mr. Kim had sought me out and persuaded me to stay with him. He was a man dressed to impress and intimidate, a man that could have anything done with a click of his fingers. I had been afraid of him. I thought he had come with bad intentions. I thought he was here to use me and sell me like all the previous ones had done but I was so young. Fear had consumed me. The only thought going through my head as that I will just have to find a way to escape again.

I stood there, pressed into a corner of the dark alley, my hands sandwiched betweeen my back and the wall. I was trying to hide the trembling from him but then, when he was just two feet away from me, he stopped. His face which was poker just a second ago turned sad and old and without so much as a warning, he fell to his knees before me.

“Please. I’m begging you. Come home with me. I’ll take responsibility for your life. I’ll give you a home, clothes, food and even education. I’ll sponsor you all the way to university so please…just please…say you’ll come with me. All I ask of you in return is to be a friend to my son.”

I was stunned. I was shocked. I was speechless. He was supposed to be a threat. He was the one in power. He could just put a bag over my head and cart me off but no. He, in a suit so expensive I was sure if I were to sell it, the money would last me a year, was begging me. He was asking for my permission, a child that meant nothing at all. So I thought to myself that there was no way I could find a father that loved his son as much as this man does. Besides, I could see it in his eyes that he was telling the truth, that every word he said was honest and sincere and so, I followed him home and I’ve been friends with Jonghyun ever since then. The Kim family had become the family my parents were supposed to give me. They gave just as much attention to me as they gave Jonghyun.

In their eyes, I was their responsibility and they would do everything in their power to thank me for that one small request I have granted them...and so I stand here today doing everything in my power to repay their endless kind deeds and protect Jonghyun in ways unimagineable, in ways that seemed impossible but there were all in the name of his own good. However, whehter he understands my actions and the reasons behind them is an entirely different matter and when the time comes to spill the beans, when the time comes to drop the curtains, everything we ever had will be broken and they will be no way to patch the bridge between us ever again. That will be the time when my role ends, when I have fulfilled my part of the bargain and so I will leave for good. That has always been the plan right from the beginning but my plan has been flawed. I have opened my heart to Jonghyun and accept him as family, as the only brother I acknowledge and now it was too late to turn back time. It was too late to return myself to the previous heartless and cold Choi Minho that needs nobody and cares for nobody as well. 

“Sir! I’ve got it!” my personal assistant ran out of the company towards me again, panting very heavily. “I’ve laid it out for you on your desk.”

“Thanks,” I smiled my gratitude. “Now, go tell the board that I’ll be there in the meeting in ten minutes and I’ll be representing President Kim.”

He gave me another nod and salute as he scurried off again; the grin on his face was so wide.

I swung myself off the bike. Checking up on Jonghyun will just have to wait. I was sure he wouldn’t be in any trouble or at least not be a trouble himself for just one day. I can believe as much right? Standing there, I cracked my knuckles and loosened up my stiff neck and shoulders in preparation for this war that I will win one way or another. I will defend every inch of this building with every bit of intellectual power that I have. I will protect it for Jonghyun. I must. It was Mr. and Mrs. Kim’s wish, their final plea.

Let’s make this the best meeting they could ever have, I thought as I walked back into the cool interior of the company.

Jonghyun’s POV

I stretched my limbs and let out a roar like yawn. Turning over on my bed, I reached for the soft and warm bolster that I was hugging so comfortably throughout the night. It was the best bolster I have ever had in my life…hmm…but I have never had a bolster…oh, who cares? Maybe I have never noticed I had one before this…but when my hand searched through the empty space beside me and got nothing in return; I opened my eyes in a hurry and sat up.

I looked at the space beside me where another figure should be lying, deep in sleep but found nothing there. I was in fact sitting on the floor and the bed was above me. I stood up with a shake of my head. I must have been kicked off during my deep slumber again. My eyes searched around the room. The huge luggage was still there beside the bed while everything else in the room was left untouched. I heaved a sigh of relief. She must be roaming around the house then, I thought as I chuckled to myself. Could she have gotten lost somewhere?

I stretched one more time and made my way through my room searching for her.

“Key!” I called out as I moved from one room to the other. “Key? Where in the world are you?”

By the time I had almost finished looking into every single room in my house, I was starting to panic. Where could she have gone to? Has she left? But why would she leave her luggage behind? Did something happen? I was starting to regret living in such a huge place and I swear, if anyone out there so much as laid a finger on her, I will-

Wait a minute. What was that smell coming from the kitchen? I started sticking my nose out and sniffed the air like a dog as I followed the trail of the wonderful smell of food into the kitchen. Once I entered into the cooking part of the house that I have never knew how it looked like before until now, I saw Key with her long curl loosely tied to prevent it from falling down over her face as she was busy working on something…and somehow, I just stood there with my jaw slightly open as I thought how beautiful the view was, how very similar the scene was to Kibum whenever I find him making me breakfast in his house’s kitchen. However, I made myself look away before any more silly thoughts could cloud my mind and judgement skills. Then, I cleared my throat to announce my presence.

Key’s hand was still on the ladle, stirring the contents in the pot in front of her as she turned around slightly to give me an annoyed look.

“And so the pig is awake,” she said with dangerously narrowed eyes.

“Hey, who you calling a pig? You were just calling me a dino yesterday! And now, I’m a pig? Will I be a donkey tomorrow, then?” I asked defensively.

She shrugged as she diverted her attention back to her wonderful smelling dish. It smelled so nostalgic, somehow. It was a smell I felt I remember through a faint and distant part of my memory.

“You were the one to say it,” she acted nonchalant but sounded close to laughter.

“Great. I can’t believe I took you in. You’ve done nothing to repay me except for slapping and smacking me and kicking me off the bed,” I said bitterly and folded my arms tightly across my chest as I sign of displeasure. I must have looked like a five year old kid…Oh, whatever.

“Jonghyun, if you mention that one more time, I’m going to pour this kimchi soup over your head and watch as you jump around being burned by it,” her voice dripped acid and she sounded very serious all of a sudden.

An involuntary gulp went down my throat. Could this be just her second day of PMS? Is that what her mood is so crappy?

“Um…” I tried to say something in my defence but I was afraid of saying the wrong thing. After all, it is a known fact that girls can be very terrifying on their PMS days. It was said the girls were as if being possessed by evil spirits or devils and they wouldn’t know what they were doing during that period of seven days or so. Then, when it was all over and you told them about it, they would laugh it off and said they did not remember such a thing.

“Jonghyun, don’t even try to say anything right now if you value your life.”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong,” I whined before I could stop myself and the moment I saw her stirring stopped, my heart stopped as well and my hands instinctively flew up to cover my mouth. “Oops…”

“Kim. Jong. Hyun.” I felt like I was cowering just at the sound of my name coming out of her lips. “Do you really wanna die so young?” she turned around fully to face me and I could imagine her hair flying around her shoulders in a manic way and her eyes staring evilly at me.

“I’m sorry,” I squeaked as I took a tentative step back although there was a huge gap between us. “Please don’t kill me.”

She did not say anything as her eyes continued to fix a steady glare on me. Should I get on my knees? Will she forgive me then? I really don’t want her splashing the hot soup over my head and I think she really meant it when she said she will. I was just about to get down on my knees when Key burst out laughing.

“This has to be the best day of my life!” she laughed as she held onto her stomach. “The expression on your face was so priceless!” she laughed harder.

I narrowed my eyes at her but said nothing. My ego has been wounded but I can’t do anything about it because she was a girl and I do not touch girls. So all I did was to fold my arms even more tightly across my chest and tapped my feet impatiently on the floor while I waited for her to stop.

“Had fun, didn’t you?” I said through gritted teeth when she had finally stopped more than a minute later.

“Of course I did,” she smiled, unfazed by my anger towards her. “Now, I’ll call it even.”

I rolled my eyes in disbelief. “You have already claimed your part yesterday by slapping and kicking and smacking me. What more did I do to deserve this so early in the morning?”

She dropped her jaw like she couldn’t believe I just said that. “How did the bolster you were holding on so tightly to yesterday felt like?” she said it very sarcastically.

“Well, it was warm and soft and cosy and-,” I replied normally but stopped recalling about the bolster as my eyes widened when her hint sank in.

Her cheeks were tinted with red and she sounded a bit rushed as she said, “Warm is it? Soft and cosy?”

“Uh-oh,” I mumbled smartly.

“And you ask why you were on the floor?” she raised her eyebrows.

I unravelled my arms and directed them with my palms facing her as I took another step back. “Um, Key…I’m really sorry, okay?”

She took one step forward with the ladle in her hand. When did it get there?

“Key…put the ladle down…let’s talk about this, okay?” I said slowly as I took another step back. “A nice rational conversation…”

“I hope you have a first aid kit in this huge house somewhere,” she said as she took yet another step towards me.

“,” I mouthed. This is no kidding. All the things they said about girls on PMS were true. I swallowed one last gulp as I turned tail and ran for my life.

“KIM JONGHYUN! YOU STAND RIGHT THERE!”

Dear, god! Please spare my life. I promise never to anger a girl on PMS anymore, I prayed hard as I ran away from Key and her ladle.

author's note

sigh~ the SORRY and BUSY writer is back!

and once again, I'm full of APOLOGIES...

I know its been ages but I honestly have been very busy...

life as a medic student is retarded and hair pulling frustrating!

anyway, here's the chapter I owe you all and I hope you do forgive me for the terribly late update TT