“Woop! Woop! Woop!”

“You finally did it!”

“You’re it man! You are it!”

Swarm of cheers came flowing inside the whole household of the Byun Family. Throughout the corridors, the kitchen, even the mansion’s underground, the excitement travelled outwardly within a great radius. Along the second-storey ledge, even on the stairs, the cheers seemed endless in length. Oh happy day it was, as the man of honour coolly made his way in through the double wooden door, carrying his trophy on his shoulder. Behind was his tall, loyal accomplice who was already adding to the volume of the overwhelming scene with his cheering co-mates and brothers.

Plentiful congratulatory acts of handshakes, patting on the back and huge applaud of the crowd was given to the passing proud man through the dynamic main hall of the headquarters. Streaming through the cheering horde, he came to a ceremonial stop before the podium in the middle of the two-way staircase. He handed the unconscious lady from his shoulder onto the long arms of his partner in crime, carrying the petite body in a bridal style. He shifty rolled his shoulders to shake of the uncomfortable feeling.

“Thanks Chan.” He smiled to his best friend and went back to face the podium.

Before them, stood a bearded, middle-aged man, letting the crowd shower his nephew’s success with praise for another few moments till the place was hushed with a simple raise of his hand.

“It is my humble honour,” he projected his manly voice, loud enough for every participant to hear. He continued, “to announce, very soon, the success of Capo* Byun Baekhyun in accomplishing the last stage of his test of becoming the next heir of our renowned clan.”

(*Capo: Short for 'Caporegime'. It's Italian. It is a high ranking position in the mafia clan who leads a "crew" of soldiers. Well you can figure whom I referring to as "crew" hehe)

Another wave of applaud and dedicated cheers from the crowd made the Byun boy grin widely once again with pride. Everyone gave their full attention to the speech of the clan’s Underboss*, but one whose attention was caught by the twitching fingers of the unconscious victim. Park Chanyeol, who was holding their trophy of success, widened his eyes as he felt a slight squirm from the half-awake lady within his arms.

(*Underboss: Second-in-command under the Boss who you can guess as like the CEO, leader, president of the clan. Can also be known as the Boss' right-hand man.)

Looking up, no one seemed to be noticing it yet but he knew that he needed to take this elsewhere before a commotion breaks out.

“As planned, everyone, make your way to the dining room, and pop our finest bottle open for today’s celebration!” exclaimed the consultant, proudly patting the Byun boy’s shoulder and the male-dominated crowd cheered for it as they started to make their way elatedly with their alcohol-hungry eyes.

On the other hand, the tall frantic giant scurried towards the opposite ward through the swarm of mostly boys and men. The soft expression of the sleeping victim seemed to tremor every time a disruptive noise from the crowd passed by.

Once they were away from the crowd, about two or three corridors away, he found a small, unused room, consisting of a single-bed on a corner and a regular-sized wooden empty wardrobe on the other. There was also a wooden square table paired with a chair on the third corner of the silent room. It was a perfect room since there was no windows so in case if he needed to leave her there momentarily, she couldn’t escape if she does wake up anytime soon.

Carefully laying her down the vacant bed, he immediately backed away within one or two steps. He had his eyes like the eagle, watching the unarmed, half conscious victim helplessly groaning in pain.

His gaze then softened as he saw a faint red mark on her wrist from the rope. Maybe he tied it too roughly. He just realised, they weren’t dealing with men twice her size but a helpless, innocent girl whom he probably scared the wits out of her.  

The next moment became really quiet all of a sudden. Just pitch silence overwhelmed the place, in contrast to the hall’s vibrant atmosphere. The girl no longer produced any sort of sound and the echoing noise of the crowd seemed to move elsewhere.

Curious as he was, with more empathy in mind, he approached her slowly and intently watched her peaceful, sleeping complexion. She seemed like a nice girl especially the part when she came to the false blind date for the sole purpose of confronting her benevolent intentions. He found it… courageous and noble-like. There weren’t many people like her those days.

Straightening his back, he exhaled calmly while planting his hands on his pocket, he muttered to himself, “No reason for me to stay here-“

“What’s her name?” a low, soft voice spoke right beside him startled the giant. It made him jump on the spot and legs wobbled.

“Jeez- dude please- I nearly had a heart atta- Since whe-how-“ Chanyeol’s words were merged into one blubber of nonsense as he  placed his hands onto his chest. Beside him stood red-dye hair with big eyes and plump, heart-shaped lips, staring up to him with an attentive expression on his face.

The smaller one pointed at the open doorway and spoke, “Door was open.”

Chanyeol nodded still shaky after his friend’s unforeseen presence. Still a pair of expectant eyes gazed up to him, waiting for an answer.

“Oh right, she’s…uh… her name is Han Chunji.” He said, tilting his head as his red-haired friend crouched down so his face was the same level with the sleeping Chunji. It was around just a ruler apart as his eyes were almost staring into her skull underneath her fair skin. Chanyeol was familiar with his friend’s hobby with observing things with life or not; even to the most tedious inanimate objects you could think of. But this fellow D.O of his was a bit too close. It just seemed a little too weird to look at for the anxious tall one.

“Um dude, don’t you think you’re a teeny tiny close?”

“…”

Special kid he was alright.

“Alright… just gonna to let the man of honour know that she is nearly awake. Be right back D.O.” Chanyeol was making his way out but then reluctantly stopped, swirled around to remind, “And dude, please don’t do anything weird, will ya?”

Crouching D.O, still had his eyes glued to the girl’s face, slowly bobbed his head up and down as a response.

“Right, I’m off.”

***

Han Chunji had a dream. It was a pretty bad one actually, almost like a surreal nightmare. Not too sure whether right in this instance, if she was still in the midst of dreamland or kind of awaked.

It was all too blurry to remember. There were snippets of people cheering that sounded like a victory kind of war cry like men cheering for their team in a sports game. Some snippets involved her getting fired by her manager in the old coffee shop round the corner which she hopefully wouldn’t happen. While another involved a callous looking man who was probably years older, inaudibly talking to another man in black