Ludos…

The sounds of beeping from that tiny little machine that is lying beside his sleeping figure is what wakes him up. Kai groans few times and he stirs in his sleep, not happy for the fact that his deep slumber is disturbed so early on Sunday morning. After a few struggles, he finally takes the phone that has been ringing for only God know how many time, and then he rubs his eyes to focus on the screen.

9 misscalls.

2 text message.

He unlocks his screen and notices that they all come from Luhan. Kai squint his eyes, could not fanthom what is happening that Luhan is so desperate to get to him. If he is in some kind of trouble, Luhan would’ve called somebody else after the first failed attempt to call Kai. Kai groans even harder in his chest, and without checking the message Luhan sent, Kai hits that call button.

“Hello!” Luhan’s voice greets him upon the first ring.

“This better be important.” Kai’s voice hoarse. He roll his eyes, could not hide the annoyance. Luhan on the other hand, scoffs at Kai’s remark, knowing he hasn’t read the message yet and he hasn’t seen the article yet.

“Dude, is your relationship with Violet important?” Luhan asks and in a spur of moment Kai widen his eyes and sits up abruptly.

“Don’t joke around. What happened?” Kai asks urgently.

“Kim Jong In, you better check the message I sent you.” Luhan replies and Kai ends the call without further ado. He then does what exactly he has been told.

The message Luhan sent this morning is apparently a screencap of the article.

“The heir of Hyundai Heavy Industry spotted in the club with the Lee’s daughter”

Kai’s blood boils in rage the second he sees the headline. He then continues to scroll down his touch screen phone, and feels even angrier when he sees a couple of photos. There, are photos of him and Violet in the club, taken from the side angle. He reads what’s written there and stops at the third sentece as he can’t contain the fury that is rising in his chest anymore.

Immediately, he calls Luhan back.

“Does that sounds important enough for you?” Luhan asks as soon as he picks up.

“Shut up, Luhan! This isn’t even funny.” Kai retorts.

“No, it is not. That’s why I called.” Luhan replies. “Don’t worry, I’m on my way to the office, my dad’s secretary told me the writer of that article has agreed to meet me. I’m bringing Sehun with me.” Luhan tells Kai. 

“Wait, let me come too!” Kai says and he jumps out of his bed.

“So what? You can beat the out of the writer? No thanks, pretty sure my dad won’t appreciate it if he lost an employee.” Luhan tells Kai. The Lu family, indeed, owns the publishing company of the newspaper that has published the article. The second Luhan sees the article this morning, he immediately calls his dad’s secretary to arrange a meeting between him and the writer as soon as possible. With that much power that Luhan’s dad has, that ‘as soon as possible’ turns out to be 30 minutes after the call had been made.

“A bad employee at that!” Kai yells, trying to make a point.

“C’mon Kai, it’s not what she wrote isn’t true. And we have another bigger problem now.” Luhan tells Kai. Kai snorts at his reply, what could possible be a bigger problem that his relatiosnship with Violet? Now with article like this, Kai is pretty sure Violet is drown in her own problem at her house now. Knowing how protective her father really is, Kai realize that their relationship is at risk.

“What problem?” Kai asks annoyingly.

“We’re all underage, we are not supposed to be in that club. Chanyeol’s sister bussiness is now at jeopardy, bro.” Luhan tells him, then it strike Kai. Of course! The authority will definitely take back the license of the club. Chanyeol must be frantic right now, his family is also affected by this. Kai heaves a heavy sigh, this is bigger than what he thinks it would be. He then sits back on his bed, clearly at loss for words.

“Just find out who reveals the picture first, then we’ll start from there.” Kai tells Luhan.

“That’s exactly what I’m doing.” Luhan replies.

5 times, and Violet is still not picking up. Kai curses under his breath, anxious at why is his phone call is being ignored. Kai knows something must has happened in her house, but the fact Violet’s not picking up is making he feels more anxious. He needs to talk to her, he has to talk to her. Kai is not sure how her father is reacting to all of this, but he’s sure that Mr.Lee won’t be taking this lightly. He sighs deeply, if only he didn’t ask her to come with him last night, if only he agreed to just send her home last night, if only he had just listened to her last night. Regret, that’s all he can say.

After the sixth try, Kai decides to just leave her a message. And with that, he enters the bathroom to take a shower, knowing he needs to get out from the penthouse and do something about this mess.

*

“No dad! Be rational!” Violet shrieks as she protests her dad’s decision. She is still on her bed, and her dad is still lecturing her in her room.

“You can’t just send me away because of one article. I’m your daughter!” Violet says while throwing her hands up in the air.

“Because you’re my daughter, I’m doing this, Violet.” Her dad replies. Her mom on the other hand, just keep shut, knowing she has been warned by her father not to say anything. Mrs.Lee keeps giving her daughter an apologetic look and shrugs her shoulder at Violet, indicating that there’s nothing she can do.

“This is crazy, both of you are underage. Now with an article like this, the media is going to be harsh, not only on you, but on Joing In as well.” Her dad continues. “We always steer clear from the attention, Violet. But now the media has reason to pry into our life. You won’t be living the same life anymore, now you will have media tailing on your back the whole time now, reporting what you do, everytime and everywhere. You can’t even date Jong In without being condenmed by the society.” Her dad finishes. There’s certain truth in his words, Violet realizes. But going away is too much, she’s not going to leave everything behind and run from the problem. Only coward does that. And who the hell gives a damn about what society think? Kai is her boyfriend, and she’s still dating him no matter what society says about it.

“And you think media won’t be tailing me if you send me to UK?” Violet retorts.

“At least not as much as they will if you stay here.” Mr.Lee replies hastily.

“I can’t believe it, you just decided to send me away in a morning, does my life means that low to you?” Violet asks