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Kai’s POV

I.... am so getting D.O., the mother/healer of the Aces, to teach me about panic attacks and what do you do when you encounter someone getting them.  I mean, did you see how she was like back there?  She was crying and shaking and gasping for air—it’s just like she was possessed or something!  I seriously thought that she’d pass out.  But, well, in the end, I did that and I guess she didn’t.  Man.  Her fear for the dark is honestly no joke! 

I watch her with a hint of amusement as she folds her arms and tries to give me a death glare.  Lol, no woman.  I am immune to death glares.  I am death himself. 

“I would like a proper explanation of why you sent a fake cab to kidnap me just now.”  She says, glaring at me. 

“There was an emergency.”  I shrug lazily.

“Jesus, that’s what you say every ing time!” she curses and closes her eyes.  “Fine.  I guess I’m not supposed to ask what kind of emergency was it huh?  Even with all the screaming and the ruckus in the background?”

“Nope.”  My answers are monosyllabic and irritating her, I know. 

“And if it was such an emergency why were you at a club afterwards?”

“To take care of the emergency.”

“Oh yeah?  What was the emergency?  A raging in your pants?” she snaps and I only blink passively.  See?  See, this is what I dislike about girls.  They jump into conclusions every.  Single.  Time.  I wonder how many calories she burns by jumping into conclusions. 

“Maybe?” I shrug impassively. 

“Jesus ing Christ.” I hear her mutter.  “Okay then, what was that blackout about?  Every other building was okay.” 

“Technical problems.  It happens every once in a while.”

“Then why did you sound so surprised when you heard about it?” she questions relentlessly, and for a second I applaud her keen observation.

“Doesn’t happen often.”

“Why did the driver tell me to lock all the doors like I was in some scary movie?”

Maybe because you are?

“To be safe, duh.”  I answer, rolling my eyes.  I hope that’d be acceptable. 

“How did you— how did you find me?!” She demands, a little angry now.  “How did you send the driver right where I was?”

“Tracked your cell.”

She exhales slowly through her nose.   “What are you, Kai?”

“Why do you want to know?” I retort and she closes her eyes again in irritation.

“Is this kind of thing going to happen again?” she asks.

“Probably.”  I shrug.  “No, definitely.”

Her eyes pop wide open.

“Why?”  She cries.  “Are you going to randomly monopolize my time and disrupt my plans like that without telling me why?””

“Why?  Think you can’t handle it?” I challenge.

“I’m leaving.” She mumbles, getting up to leave. 

My heart lurches a little, like the kind of feeling you get when you miss a step on the stairs.  “You’re leaving?” I ask, hoping I don’t sound panicky.  “You... quit?”

She pauses for a while and spins around to face me.  “No, stupid.  I’m going home.”

Whew.

“No sit down, I haven’t questioned you yet.” I snap, surprising myself a little.

“What?” She clearly sounds pissed off now.

“Why are you so scared of the dark?”

“Why do you want to know?” she asks in a tone that is obviously not happy.

“I’m your boss.  Tell me.” I glare at her.

“It’s not important.” She sighs, getting up to leave again.

“Yah, seriously!  If I’m going to have to deal with that a lot, I deserve at least a ing explanation!”

“I could say the same to you.” She mumbles.

Jesus, what is wrong with this woman today?!  Why is she so being so stubborn and annoying?!  Is she like, on her period??

“Come on.  There was an emergency, I told you.  Let’s just leave it at that because I can’t discuss it with many people.”  I say at last.

“Fine.” She mumbles. “Tomorrow is Sunday.  I would appreciate it if you didn’t send another cab to come and kidnap me like you did before.” She says in a flat, tired voice.

“No promises.” I say, partially to test her.  How much can she take, how patient can she be, and how much is she willing to stay and stick around— loyalty.  Yes. 

“Kai, I’m being serious here.”

“Well me too!”

“What is it that you do?!” She cries impatiently.

“Something you don’t want to know about.” I answer somewhat darkly.

She stares at me.  “Are... are you a..”

“I mean like, cos it’s extremely boring.  I told you, I’m a security guard.”

“Of HOC?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why do you get the penthouse?  What are the higher-ups getting?  Castles?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug.

“And then was there like, some sort of attack at one of your clubs just now?” she presses on.

“Something like that.  Okay, enough about me!” I quickly say.  “You.  Explain.”

“Why else would I be scared of the dark?” she asks impatiently as if the reason is obvious.  “I got molested in a dark alley at night.  And it was almost a gang .” She says, trying to make it sound like she isn’t affected by it, but I’m pretty sure she is.

“Did they...”

“Thankfully, they didn’t got that far.”

“Wel.. What were you doing at a dark alley at night?” I ask her, mainly out of curiosity.  “And were you wearing revealing clothes?”

“Listen here, Kai.  I know what you’re implying.  You think I was asking for it huh?  But no.  I was 8 back then, and I had to come home from school alone—it was late because I had an extra tutoring session—because my mom was busy trying to bail my sister out of jail.  I was at the alley because I got ing lost.  So now was my 8 year old self in my school uniform asking for it?” she asks back, her voice breaking noticeably. 

Oh . 

I open my mouth to say something, to clarify that I wasn’t thinking she was asking for it, but she beats me to it. 

“Do you think, even if I was wearing revealing clothes—which isn’t my thing, mind you—it still gives the gang of 5 an excuse to try to me?  Do you think there’s an excuse for doing that?!”  She demands, her voice red with anger now. 

“I—“

“It was so scary.  There wasn’t just 1— there were 5.  5 sick-minded, hot-blooded bastards.  I still see their faces in my nightmares.  The guy with the golden tooth.  The guy with the nose ring.  The guy with the—whatever.  That’s not important.  I don’t know why I brought that up.”  She presses her eyes shut and heaves a long, heavy sigh.  “I have to go.”

I continue flipping the pages of the newspaper, ignoring her.  Tch.  So sensitive. 

The click of the door handle, the sound of her yanking it open, and the sound if it being softly slammed close. 

As soon as she’s outisde, I drop the paper and reach for my phone. 

“Yah, Dae.  Remember the crazy woman you kidnapped earlier today?  I need you to do it once more.  Take her home.”

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not doing this because I care for her or anything, okay?  I’m doing this because I just knew that she almost got gang-banged when she was younger, and I have enough conscience and humanity to try to help prevent it if I could.  And because now the hour hands on my clock is pointing at 9, which means it’s 9 pm at night, I should do something.

Without waiting for Daehyun’s response, I disconnect the call and walk to Jongguk’s room.  Softly opening the door, I poke my head in and find my son still peacefully sleeping through the whole catastrophe.  I watch him for a good 3-5 seconds before shutting the door back close and head for another door.  The one to Chanyeol’s unit. 

Alright. Let’s get down to business now. 

ISEUL’S POV

“What?  Going to kidnap me again?” I ask the driver that has just miraculously popped back up in front of me.  The very same one who kidnapped me to HOC earlier in the afternoon. 

“Yep.  Boss’s orders.”  He sighs.  “Get in.”

I obey and he revs up the engine and starts driving.

“Aren’t you going to ask for my address?” I ask, upon realizing that he just... drove off.

“I know where you live.”

“CREEPY.” I comment, deadpanned. 

“Kai is.”

“He knows where I live?” I repeat, baffled.  “How?  I’m pretty sure I never told him.”

“He has his ways.”  The driver—is it Dae?—answers shortly.

“Why is it that all of you who work there either answer monosyllabically or don’t answer at all?” I question out loud, getting impatient. 

“Huh.”

Seriously!

“Hey, is Kai your boss?” I question, leaning forward a little.

“Why?”

“Who else would order you to take me home?  I don’t think I know anyone else in HOC.  Except for Kai.  And his brothers.”

“Brothers?”

“The 5 loud ones that live next to him?” I ask, referring to those hot dudes I once went bowling with.  “Do you know them?”

“You have no idea.”

I look at Dae.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.  Yeah, I know them.”  He answers, his voice not giving away anything.

“Do you know what—who Kai is?” I ask before I can stop myself. 

“My boss.  Duh.”

“I mean like, what’s his job and... why is he always like... cold and guarded and dark and mean... and he always comes home at very late hours..”

“Ask him.  Not me.”  Dae looks at me from the rearview mirror.

I scoff.  “You’d think he’d answer?  Seriously.  Why did I even agree to this job?  Being called to work at random and unexpected hours, getting off work at late hours, not knowing anything about the employer other than that he’s in some security thing...” I look at Dae momentarily, trying to see his reaction.  But none.  “And to top it all off, there’s always something off during our phone calls.”

“Phone calls?”

“Yeah.  Like he’s... I don’t know.  Nevermind.”

“Are you like, on midnight-calling terms with him or something—“

“Aish, of course not!  There were just a couple work-related calls.”  I say. 

“It’s better if you didn’t call or text him that much during the day.  No, whenever.”

I look at Dae.  “Why?”

“Just.”  He stops.  “Because.”

I give up.  I honestly give up dealing with people who use the minimum amount of words only in their speech.  I’m too pissed already—I’m too pissed and tired, so I don’t have the energy to press on further on that subject.  Whatever.  If this gets out of hand, or if Kai grows to be even more mysterious and seemingly dangerous..  I can always quit.

It’s Monday.

.

I hate Sundays.  Wanna know why?

Because it’s Sunday should just stay and Monday should just go to hell.  Urgh.   Particulary this Monday, because it’s horrifyingly to this Tuesday, which means it’s near to this Wednesday....

And on Wednesday, I have an oral exam.  .

I have to present my undergraduate thesis.  Yes, and I’m scared as hell.  I feel like.. I feel like they’re going to.. oh my God. They’re going to slaughter me with their words and comments and criticsm.   This is it.  If I fail this, I’m going to have to... I’m going to have to delay my graduation.  This is like, the pinnacle of it all.  I want to see my 7 months of hard work come to fruition on Wednesday.  I still remember the day I submitted my thesis proposal.  I was scared as hell then.  I don’t want to redo a proposal!  I don’t want to find another topic from scratch because that would consme too much time and energy!! 

And finally, on Wednesday... I don’t want to walk out of the examination room with a fail.  Or even a pass.  I want an honors. 

Which is pretty crazy, I know, but I have spent a lot of time on this. 

But I’ve also spent a lot of time NOT on this, mainly because of my job.  I just got back from the little fieldtrip to the sea, then yesterday I was doing this other project and then I was stuck at Kai’s place till like... 9?

Bottomline is:  I’m so, so screwed.  I’ve been staying up all night last night trying to get some work done but I still don’t feel like I’ll ever get everything down.  They could ask anything.  Anything here in my research could be a mistake.  To top it all off.... I have my English exam on Tuesday, the day before.  Yes, that goddamned language requirement.  And Tuesday is coming in less than 24 hours.  Just.. everything.

Life is hard. 

So I’m already sitting in my 10.30 am class with a ready-to-die face, waiting for the professor to walk in.  It’s not even 10.30 anymore, it’s eleven in the freaking morning!!  Where is the professor?!!

I rest my hand on my palm as I continue reading through this English-tutoring blog online, as I try to once more cram tenses and vocabs and—

“BOO!”

“AAAH!” I screamed, spinning around to slap my attacker.

“OW!!”  a veeery familiar voice groaned.  “Iseul you barbarian!”

“Aish!” I huff.  Mark.  “Can’t you see I’m stressed?!”

“About what?  You went on a little 3 day holiday!”

“It wasn’t a holiday!” I deny, returning back to the blog.  I also have to... wait what the is expository writing again? 

“Where did you go?” Mark asks as he plops down on the seat beside me.

“Somewhere.”

“A date?!!”

“No!” I scowl at him.  I don’t even have a boyfriend!  Why does he have to remind me of that?

“I missed disturbing you in class.  Yah!  Yaaahhh!” He pokes my elbow repeatedly.  “Talk to me!!”

“Back off before I do something we both might regret.”

“Why are you so mean?!  Don’t you miss me?”

“Nope.” I answer dismissively.

“I’M HURT!” he declares, clutching his chest like the moron he is. “I can’t believe you left me to suffer through Calculus for business for 3 freaking days!  It was so boring!  I can’t even breathe because my chest is being STRANGLED BY THE EXQUISITE PAIN YOU HAVE CAUSED AS A WOMAN—“

“Mark, please.  I’m about to die here please shut up!” I beg, throwing him a desperate look. 

“Wow, you really are stressed out.” He comments, stopping his moronic act.  “What’s the problem?”

“English.  English exam tomorrow is the problem.”

“English?!  Ha!” Mark scoffs.  “English is a piece of cake.” He says in English, with perfect pronounciation.

“HOW THE ...”

“I’m a Taiwanese-American, stupid.”  He pokes my forehead as he continues speaking in English.  “Here, let me help.  What do you need help with?”

“Uh, everything?” I shrug, replying in Korean.  “No, not actually everything.  I just forget meanings easily and I’m also very bad at listening-speaking—“

“Okay, if I’m going to help you, there’s gonna be some rules.”  He cuts me off, still speaking in english.

“What?” I blanch.  He sounds scary and I do not comprehend.

“There’s gonna be some rules!” He repeats, a little louder this time.

I scowl at him.  I heard him!  It’s just that I don’t know what—oh!  Rules!  Yeah, I knew this was coming.

“First of all.” He holds up his pointer.  “You will speak in English until tomorrow, after you finish your exam.”

I blink.  “WHAT?!”

“Hey, practice makes perfect!!  How do you expect to ace the exam if you never even practice?!  Damn am I a good teacher or what huh?”

Oh God, I wish he would just talk in Korean already. 

I look at him, slowly trying to think of a response.  “No.” I shake my head.

“Fine, you can go ahead and fail tomorrow.  How are you supposed to keep on talking for like 1 whole minute about any random topic they give you?”

“Mark, speak in Korean!” I plead desperately.

“What’s that?  I don’t understand.  English please!!”

“Aish, where’s the professor?!” I cry, looking around. 

Suddenly, a kid stands up and knocks on his table twice.  “Everyone, I’ve just been informed that today’s class will be canceled because Professor Lee is unable to attend due to personal reasons.  Please continue on to your next class.”

I groan.  “Then what did I stay up late to do the homework for?!  What did I come here for?!

“To study with me.  Come on!”  Mark drags me by the wrist out of the lecture hall. 

“I don’t trust you as a tutor!!” I say, quite frankly.

“Pfft, you’re gonna regret that.  I’m an expat teacher fresh from the States okay?”

“But I’m not even talking in English!  Look!  Look, this is Korean!  I want to gooo!”

“As a teacher, I’m gonna be here to fix that.  Come on, we have less than a day to work on your non-existent English.”

“How do you even know that it’s that bad?!” I flare.

“From the look on your face when you were studying.”  He shrugs.  “It basically translates to ‘I’m so doomed’.

Aish, was my face really that obvious?!  But it’s true!  I can’t speak or write or even understand English!

Mark drags me to the canteen and sits down on one of the tables.  “Alright.  Let’s start.” He says. 

“NO.”

“Are you telling me you wanna fail then? Are you telling me you’re passing up the opportunity to be tutored by an actual half-American?!  I guarantee, you’re going to pass!  With an A!!”

“I want to pass, and I want to be tutored as well, but you can’t make me speak English till to—“ Suddenly, a lightbulb struck me.  Hey, I can always cheat right?  He won’t even be with me for the whole day.  We’ll have separate classes, I’ll go to work in the afternoon and he’ll be busy driving cabs all around Seoul!  Yep, I only have to look like a moron in front of him for.. what, 3 hours?  Then donneeee!  Pfft, Mark is so stupid.  “Okay.  Let’s do this.” I nod.

“Just so you know, I won’t let you cheat.  And if you try to cheat, I’ll know.”  He sings, getting his books out.  “So you won’t be able to cheat.  Also, for every Korean word you let out, you have to give me 1.000 won.”

My jaw falls open.  “Yah!”

“You can thank me tomorrow honey.”  He winks.  “So?  Deal?”

I puff out my cheeks.  Fine, I won’t cheat!  My English isn’t even that bad anyway!

“Okay!  Deal!” I say, speaking in English.

“That’s better.”  He nods in approval.  “So what do you need help with?”

I open my mouth to respond—but then I stop. 

“Well?  What?”

I quickly flip open my books and point at a certain page.

“Eiiii.”  Mark crosses his arms.  “This won’t do.  You can’t act mute!!”

What’s mute?!!

“I—I can’t read that.  The title is in Korean.  What’s the topic about?”  Mark asks, holding my book upside down. 

I swear, I’m going to punch him soon. “I have writing and speaking tomorrow!” I answer at last, in—I admit—horribly awkward sounding English.  Why did I even choose English Literature for one of my General Education classes?!  Now my written and oral exam is going to be in this goddamned alien language and I’m going to fail!!

“Well of course!  Everyone’s gonna get that!  Alright you know what?  I’m getting the feeling that you don’t know ANYTHING.  So unfortunately, as a perfectly amateur teacher—meaning I don’t know how the am I going to help you—who is fortunately enough a native speaker, I’m just going to make you practice your speaking.  Come on, speak!” Mark folds his arm and looks at me.

I blink.  What the did he just say?!

“Aish, you don’t understand do you?”

“A little!” I answer, holding up my hand with my pointer and my thumb in a pinching motion.  “Can you... repeat?  Please?”

“Wow, you really do !” he comments, and I know that was an insult.  “Your pronounciation is so off!  If it weren’t for a pro like me, I don’t think anybody would understand what you just said!”

I look at him, slowly trying to process what he just said.  Mark an eyebrow.  I bet he’s having fun insulting me because I can’t even understand or rebutt!

“Okay, okay.  I’m being serious now.  You... you definitely need speaking practice.  Alright, let’s start with the easiest of all the easies.  Introduce yourself to me.  In English.  You have 60 seconds to keep on talking about yourself... starting now!”

“What??  What??” I ask, panicking because he just said ‘now’ and I don’t understand why—

“Jesus Christ you really are hopeless.  Introooduuuuce youuurseeeelf....” he says in slow motion.  Ah, introduce myself!!  Okay!  I nod.

“For 60 seconds nooooon stooooop.” 

Non stop??  Oh, okay!  Non stop!

“In Eeeeeengliiiiiish.” He  continues , dragging each vowel.

“Introduce myself for 60 seconds non stop in English?” I repeat.

“Yes!!” He gives me a thumbs up.  “Now go.”

“If I can’t?” I ask.

“You’re going to buy me an Orea milkshake.  And we’re going to repeat this exercise until you can!”

“Mark!” I say in protest.  “No milkshake!”

“Yes milkshake.  Go!  Do it!”

“No milkshake.” I repeat. 

“Try first.  Chop chop!” he says, swinging his arms. 

“Chop chop?” I repeat.

“Aish, nevermind.  Go, hurry and do it.”

“Annyeong—AISH!!”

“HAHA!  1.000 won!!” Mark laughs, clapping delightedly.

“Aish, you’re doing this on purpose— oh .” I close my eyes, realizing that I’ve been speaking in Korean again. 

“Aish, you’re doing this on purpose, oh .  That was a total of...8 words.  Wow. Not even 10 minutes and I already have 9.000 won!  Maybe I should start an English tutoring service free of charge with this kind of method!”  Mark says, waving his fingers in front of my face.

I scowl.  “Mean!” I yell in English, pointing at him.

“I can also tutor Mandarin.  Jesus, I can be a ing billionaire!!” Mark laughs gleefully.  “Taking that all my students are as bad as you.. and I tutor 5 hours a day minimum.... that’s 270.000 won a day, per person!  Oh my GOD!”

“Mark!!  Come on!  Help me!!”

“Help you with what?  Start talking!  And then I’ll help you.” 

“Don’t laugh!” I say, waving a finger in front of his face.

“Okay, okay  I won’t.”  Mark clamps a hand over his mouth.

“Hello, my name Seo Iseul!”  I pause.  “Uhh, I is twenty years old.  I.. I.. is studying.. Mathematics!  I study Mathematics in Korea’s top school, SNU!”

“Why are you stopping?  Go on!”

“Wait!” I say.  “Uh.. I have older sister, and she is Jae!  But she’s not in Korean, she’s live in the US currently.  I like to watch Korean dramas, and I like to eat and sleep.  Also.  I... my.. type is B!”

Aish, what else?!

“I have a best friend and his name is Suzy!  She... is a computer expelled.  I life with her—“

“CUT!!!! CUT!!!” Mark screams, banging his fist on the table.