Yongguk thought about calling her a thousand times, but he always chickened out. Sometimes he'd dial her number in but he wouldn't press 'Call', other times the call would go through but he'd hang up before it even began to ring.

He sat in his study staring at his cell phone in the middle of his table. It was mocking him, making fun of the fact that she was only a phone call away, but he was too much of a coward to go through with it.

He bit his lip before slowly picking the device up and pressing her name. He stared at the screen for a few seconds before pressing call and holding it up to his ear.

She was the only person who could make the greatly feared Bang Yongguk into such a mess of a man. No one else could have him at their mercy like she could.

He'd throw all his pride away for her.

He wasn't sure what'd he'd say to her if she picked up or even if she'd pick up at all. He just needed to hear her voice once.

Just to remind himself that she still existed.

Every ring was painful as he waited for her to pick up.

The ringing stopped and there was a second of pause. Yongguk held his breath, waiting to hear the voice that he wanted to fall asleep too.

"The line that you are calling is currently in use. Please try again later." 

-----

"Not exactly sweetheart…but close."

Eun Ah frowned and looked around the rather unpopulated street. "I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong number."

The man chuckled darkly, his voice grating against her ear, "Oh, I don't think so…Hwang Eun Ah."

She knit her brows in confusion and walked to a bench and sat down. "Who is this?"

"It's so sad that after everything we've been through, we've never really introduced ourselves to each other."

Eun Ah racked her brain, trying to think of someone who had the same voice. "Are you going to introduce yourself then?"

She could hear the man smile on the other end, "Very blunt and to the point…just like your mother."

Eun Ah's blood ran cold as her eyes darted around, "How do you know my mother?"

"Oh me and your mother go way back. I'd say we were really close…until she met your father."

Eun Ah started shaking, her heart beating painfully in her chest when it all came together. She was talking to the person that had taken every member of her family away from her.

She was talking to Devlin Ryu.

"You son of a . What makes you think I want to have a ing conversation with you?" She spat out, the vein in her head throbbing.

Ryu just laughed her off, "Ahh, I knew you'd figure it out. You're sharp like her too."

"Yeah, which was why she was smart enough to leave you for my father."

Ryu growled and the sound sent shivers racking down her spine.

She hit a soft spot.

"Well her 'smartness' is the reason why they both ended up dead. So I think we can both agree that intelligence is rather subjective."

Her fingers curled around her phone and as blinding rage filled her core. "You're a sack of . I don't want anything to ing do with you unless it's your death. You're a sociopath. You don't even deserve to say my parents' name."

"You are quite the fire cracker, aren't you?"

Ryu's previous anger melted into another condescending laugh, "I've been tracking you down for a long time and now I finally get to talk to you. It's been such a long journey."

Eun Ah scoffed, "Don't talk to me like we're friends. I want nothing more than to kill you with my bare hands."

"You sound exactly like Yongguk when he was after Bohye." Ryu said in amusement.

Eun Ah hated the way Yongguk's name sounded in Ryu's voice. He made it sound tainted.

"You took everything from me, you bastard." She whispered angrily as hot tears dripped down her face.

"Oh, trust me, I'm about to take a whole lot more."

-----

Yongguk hadn't spoken to anyone in the house since Eun Ah had left him and had been working on cold cases for 4 straight hours and he was still on the brink of going insane.

As much as he wanted to use work as a way not to think about Eun Ah, he couldn't stop his mind from drifting to her.

Not to mention Woon was still impossible to reach so he had no idea what was happening on his end. 

It was just pages and pages of words and information that just filled his head. He couldn't care less about what he was reading, but it was the only way to keep himself distracted. He was moving mechanically and he knew that he was forcing himself to read and pay attention.

He didn't know how long he could do this to himself, but he was willing to push his limits until he cracked.

-----

"Excuse me?" Eun Ah asked incredulously when she heard what Ryu's words.

"You heard me. I want you to come to the address that will be texted to you."

Eun Ah snorted, "You want me to go to your headquarters and surrender myself up to you?"

"Exactly."

Eun Ah bursted out laughing, "Do you think I'm stupid? You want me to come so you can kill me quicker? Why on earth would I meet up with the man that wants to kill me? I'd rather pour wet cement over myself than meet with you."

Ryu tsked mockingly, "I had feeling you'd say no, so let me raise the stakes a little bit, then maybe you'll change your mind."

"Why are you talking about?" Eun Ah demanded, her patience running thin.

"If you don't give yourself up, I'll make it my personal mission to make B.A.P's life a living hell."

"Isn't that what you already try to do? It seems like you're forgetting your place Ryu,  you'll always be second best. You can try all you want but you'll never be able to touch B.A.P, so your weak threat means less than nothing to me."

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. B.A.P is strong together, but how hard do you think it will be to kill their youngest members? The rumour mill has been spinning and apparently Yongguk hasn't really been acting like the assertive leader he is known for.  He is barely keeping tabs on his own team so it wouldn't take a SWAT team to take one of them out. It's called divide and conquer, sweetheart and it won't be hard for me to do."

"You wouldn't dare." She hissed through the phone.

"Oh but I would. The youngest one, Zelo, is it? He's like what? 19? Such a shame to lose a life that young. Or maybe the sister, she's 22 right? I'm sure that would destroy him. All it takes is one shot and everything B.A.P was built on would come crashing down. I've been wasting my time trying to take down their leader, when all I had to do was kill someone he grew up with…that is unless you take my offer."

Eun Ah shook her head, "You don't know them, they might be young but they are more dangerous and experienced than the amateurs that you keep sending out. They're like veterans compared to your rookies."

"Wow, you're like a B.A.P advocate, I guess that's expected for a wife. And about the kids, I will follow them around for the rest of their life with the barrel of my gun pointed at the back of their heads until they mess up or are left alone. One small mistake and it'll be game over. Those young kids will have to spend the rest of their lives living in paranoia, looking over their shoulder waiting for the day they die."

Eun Ah's heart started to pound. Was Yongguk really that distracted that he wasn't watching B.A.P? Why wasn't he watching over the young ones? She knew that B.A.P had  power and that each member was lethal in their own ways, but most of them were still kids. Junhong, Jongup and Yongmi were barely in their 20's and all it would take was one moment of them being out, alone and Ryu would strike.

He was the type of strap explosives to their cars or fake an emergency call and lure them out. No matter how guarded they'd be, the maknae's wouldn't last for long.

She already lost Halmoni because Ryu wanted to make a statement to her, she didn't want to lose anyone else.

Not if she could stop it.

"Where do you want to meet?" Her voice steady and unforgiving.

Ryu's voice lilted with a satisfied smile, "The address will be texted. Come alone and don't involve the cops. If you do, then our little deal is off, and you can say goodbye to you and your young little friends in B.A.P."

-----

Eun Ah raced back to Jaehyun's apartment and swung the door open.

"Oh, hey--"

She barely noticed Jaehyun standing by the kitchen counter, eating an apple and just headed stra