Gary hears a knock and wakes up from his nightmare, a bit glad he did because it was the worst one yet. In the dream, his mother had been chasing him down, a knife on her left hand, when she caught up she had stabbed him between the shoulders. Gary gets up from the bed and walk towards the door. Expecting Kwangso with another one of those viewing request, Gary didn't bother putting on a shirt. He pulls the door open and instead sees Jihyo's beautiful brown eyes staring back at him in shock. 

Although he felt embarrassed, Gary couldn't resist staring at her. He swallows loudly and pretend that he was not embarrass. "Can I help you?" His voice soft, yet rough from unknown reasons, surely it was from the nightmare, but really it isn’t. 

"My Lord, you are needed at the dinning," says Jihyo looking anywhere else but his face. She was not expecting to see her master's torso early in the morning. So, now that she has seen what his body looks like, she was having a hard time subduing a blush. Also....his voice, she didn't expect it to be so husky in the morning. 

"What for?" Gary inquires moving into his room, looking for a shirt to put on. As he search, he was unaware that the woman had followed him inside. When he turns to look in the bathroom, he was suddenly face to face with Jihyo, and they were falling. Gary caught the both of them just in time, Jihyo's head inches away from the floor. Gary gently place her head on the floor, both his hands now on either side of her head. 

If he moves his head just a little closer, he can kiss Jihyo, take her lower lip into his mouth until it’s red. Any maybe if he moves his right hand, he can untie that ribbon which holds her maid’s outfit. His eyes held Jihyo’s, reading her, wanting to see if he can do what he wants. Without thinking, his head is slowly descending as if it was under a spell.

"I'm so sorry," Jihyo squeaks.

Gary's mind snap back to reality when he hears Jihyo. He was so close to kissing her, so close to ing her shirt to explore her secrets. Gary immediately gets up, bringing the woman with him. "I'll be right out," he mutters, his head still clouded with lust. He goes to the bathroom, and turn on the shower, he steps inside and tries to clear his head. What is it about that woman that causes Gary to lose his self-control? When Gary finishes, he quickly get dress and heads toward the dining room. 

He was walking down a long hallway when he notices Jongkook speaking with someone. Gary deviate from his original plan, and move a little closer and sees that it was Jihyo that Jongkook was speaking to. Gary's vision blurred for a second, a sick feeling bubbling in the pits of his stomach. They look too friendly for his taste. He moves closer, feeling feral, it was like he was stalking Jihyo. When the distance is smaller he taps Jongkook's shoulders, his fingers heavy with anger he cannot place. 

"My Lord." Jongkook lower his head, clearly astonish from not hearing Gary approach.

"Get to the dining room." Gary's tone is harsh and unfamiliar. He brushes off Jongkook's questioning face.

"Yes, my Lord," Jongkook replies, lowering his head even further. 

Jihyo remains silent but her face says a lot. Gary notices the crease of her forehead, clearly surprise to see him. And is that a blush? He cannot tell from the poor lighting of the corridor. "I-I'm sorry...." Gary whispers, already sensing the change in Jihyo’s demeanour, it is more relax and friendly. "From earlier, I didn't mean to,” he clarifies -although he really wanted to- while trying to push down the want, the lust concerning the woman in front of him.

"It was my mistake, my Lord. You don't have to apologize," she mutters, her face seeming to be red. "Oh, Nix will be by the pond later," she stammers, and Gary knows he was forgiven of his actions. He needs to be careful not to push Jihyo, she is like a bird who will fly away once it is frightened.

"Will you be there?" ask Gary tilting his head, wondering if flirting with her is okay. 

Jihyo's head shot up, her heart hammering. "I-I..."

Gary grins, eyes full of desire. "Will you?"

Jihyo nods her head, blushing. 

"Good."

After breakfast, Gary was bombarded with Kwangso’s reports, and Jongkook’s description of Choi’s hold around the South. Gary’s thugs had a skirmish with Choi’s men outside the farmlands, Sukjin and Jongkook intervene and stopped  the fight before it escalated. Gary also share his talk with Choi with the three, leaving out the fact that Choi knows about  Gary’s family.

Five hours past in a blur of planning and sharing information and vodka. Gary stretched and dismissed his group with a smile that  earned him a quizzical look from the three, however they left with a bow.

Gary finds  Nix already in the pond, her hair tied up high preventing it from getting wet. He approach the little girl, making a lot of noise as to not scare her. Nix looks up and wave happily to Gary. He smiles slightly, unable to resist. 

"My Lord! Look at the kois!!" Nix exclaim. She reach for Gary's hand and led him into the huge pond. Gary's hand looks gigantic against Nix's small fingers. How can one little girl have so much power over Gary? An unfamiliar feeling of content and happiness brews inside of Gary, and for once, he lets the emotion show. 

"You're going to scare them," Gary chuckles, tightening his grip around Nix's fingers. "Do you want to feed them?" Gary stares down to see a confirmation, and he laughs at what we saw. Nix's face was contorted into a huge grin, her eyes bouncing with giddiness. 

"Can we? Are we allowed?" She muses, completely forgetting who she was speaking with. 

Gary let out another chuckle, his throat feeling weird as he does so. "Of course. Let's go to the kitchen." However, they stop their attempt climbing out of the pond when Jihyo arrived. Gary avoids her gaze by pulling out a small weed from the pond.

"Annyeoung," Jihyo whispers, rolling her sleeves.

Gary pulls another weed pretending he cannot hear Jihyo but he can, and he can’t help but smile. He steals a glance sideways, and sees Jihyo re-tying Nix's hair, her face focus. Gary, mesmerize, unexpectedly reach out and tuck a strand of hair behind her ears. They look at each other, Gary tries to look normal –no lust whatsoever- but he was pretty sure he failed. Nevertheless, Jihyo smiles shyly murmuring a ‘thank you’. 

Gary nods, his fingers still tingling from the contact.

After a few hours of focus silence between the three, Nix stretch her arms and announces, "I'm hungry!"

Gary and Jihyo does the same, smiling down at the little girl between them. "Dinner must be ready.” Jihyo takes Nix's arms and lead her to the edge of the pond. Gary follows the two, feeling unusually comfortable and blissful, and also tired. 

Nix takes Jihyo’s and Gary's hand and drags them towards the kitchen. When they got there, Jihyo immediately set up plates on the able and take food out of the pots left by the cooks. Gary sits down on one of the bar chairs, watching Jihyo move, unable to look away even if he wanted to. Suddenly, Nix jumps onto his lap, and rests her head against his shoulder. Gary, flabbergast, looks down at the little girl, unsure of what to do. 

"Oh..." Jihyo places the food on the island, her face worried. "I'm sorry my Lord...she, Nix is very outgoing, she forgets-" Jihyo is in the process of taking Nix from Gary, but he stops her with a shake of his head.

"Where does she sleep?" Gary wrap his arm around Nix, supporting her head and legs. 

Dumbfounded, Jihyo points to a door beside the fridge. "I can take her myself, my Lord..."

Gary ignores Jihyo and walks toward the door, and waits for Jihyo to push the door open. "I can do it. Could you please?" He gestures to the door.

Jihyo considers Gary for a moment, but eventually push the door open, and leads the assassin inside. It was a long, dark hallway with doors on the side, what Gary assumes, are the bedrooms of the staff. He wants to ask Jihyo what a little girl like Nix is doing as a maid, but keeps his mouth shut. Jihyo stops in front of a door, and pulls out a key from her pocket. “We share a room…” She steps inside and Gary follows.

The room is small, it’s as big as Gary’s bathroom in Seoul. He feels guilty for a moment, but shakes it off. He sees two small beds, and he places Nix on the bed with a small stuffed dog. “She really likes you,” states Jihyo trying to tidy up the already neat room.

He looks at Nix’s peaceful face, and is abruptly reminded of a memory…of a girl, her face tear stained as Gary stands over her, the gun shaking from his grasp. Gary was only fourteen when his father had ordered him to kill the little girl, an heir to some up-and-coming drug cartel. The memory was so vivid Gary slumped back against the door, his breathing laboured.

Jihyo turns around, surprise. She approaches Gary cautiously. “My Lord, do you need some water? You look very pale.” She close the distance and touch Gary’s cheeks with her left hand.

Gary moves away from her warm hand. “Don’t.” He unlocks the door and leaves.

Even in the cool night Gary is sweating profusely, he feels his shirt cling to his back. No, Nix wasn’t the little girl, she’s alive, he won’t kill Nix Gary reminds himself. No, he will not be murdering Nix. Gary was so deep in his thoughts that he only hears Kwangso calling him when they were already in close proximity. “My Lord, are you alright?” Kwangso asks, and Gary nods in response. “Um, my Lord. Your father…he’s here.”

“What? .” Gary swears, of all the days his father visits, it had to be today. “Where is he?”

Kwangso leads him into Lee’s study, as they walk Gary notice that Kwangso was also sweating which can only mean that Gary’s father is very angry. They stop in front of the familiar door. “Come save me in twenty,” Gary jokes, but Kwangso only frowns.

He enters, and he can already feel his father’s anger. Gary clears his throat in greeting. “What the have you been doing?” His father instantly bombarded him with his fury.

“It’s only been three days-“

“Shut your mouth!”

Gary ignores him and says with gritted teeth, “It’s only been three days. You can’t possibly expect results in a short amount of time.” Gary finishes and he suddenly finds himself against the wall, his father’s hand around his throat. Gary gasp, totally unprepared with his father’s strength.

“What the have you been doing, Hee-gun?” His father grins, his eyes looking like a wild dog. Gary looks away, he knows what his father is asking, and he is not about to share . His father grip his throat tighter when he didn’t answer. “Speak. Don’t let me do anything you will regret.”

“I have been following your orders father,” he spit out the last word.

The older man let go of Gary and snap his finger. Lee suddenly appears, Jihyo and Nix in tow. Gary attempted to hide his anger and shock, but was unsuccessful. He let out a low growl, his hands hovering dangerously over his gun.

“Ah, there it is,” the older man smiles, glint in his eyes as he study his son’s distraught expression. The older man walks towards Jihyo and he takes her face in his hand. “My son, now I see why you have been distracted.”

Gary clenches his jaw unable to subdue his fondness towards the two in front of him. For the first time ever, Gary is uncertain of what to do. He always had his gun to make everything right and proper but a firearm might not be the best idea right now, especially when his father is the current enemy. “Sit Hee-gun. Lee, place them there, and leave us.”

When Lee left the study room, Gary sits on the chair closest to the girls. He makes eye contact with Nix and smiles which can hopefully calm her down. “I don’t know why they have to be here.” Feigning ignorance is the best Gary can come up with.

“What’s different about her? The child? If your libido is so high use Jung-in! For the love of God! Why are you all of a sudden playing house?” His father yells, anger flaring up. He smash his palm on the table with so much force the paper and pencils on the desk fell off.

Gary was about to yell back however his father had a point. Although he does have this unversed yearning towards Jihyo, he can’t really place a specific thing why he is so attracted to Jihyo. What is different about Jihyo? Is it because she didn’t look like a high-end hooker? Because she was not part of any mafia family? Because she didn’t know how to fire a gun? Gary didn’t know what to say.

“Since you look so conflicted my son, and since I am a good father. I will forgive you this one time.” Gary glares at his father. “You and Jung-In will get married this weekend.”

Gary holds his father’s eye for a second until he succumbs, and slowly nods in agreement. Jihyo is better off without Gary, especially Nix, it’s better this way. He stands, regaining his confidence and stoic stature. “In the afternoon, by the pond, Kwangso will let Jung-In know.” Gary announces.

He strides out of the study without a backward glance towards the two women who have penetrated Gary’s sanity. Who had given Gary some hope that there still remnants of humanity in him. He walks with purpose, and suddenly he is sprinting toward the garage. Gary finds the key to his Range Rover and starts the engine, the humming of the machine giving him some comfort. He expertly maneuvered out of the mansion and press on the gas until the engine roared in anger.

Choi listens intently. “Are you certain he is here?”

“The spy confirmed it, sir.”

Choi smiles, his white teeth like medals. “Good. Time to visit an old friend.”

OMG my poor gary!! And who is our spy? or spies? Have a good week everyone! Thanks again for reading!