Even when he does have some of his luxury back, there is still one necessity that he has not been able to get back just yet. He was starting to regret just walking out of the house the other day. But it would have been difficult if he had stayed, so what choice did he have.

And because of the lack of a car and means of transport, the otherwise privileged heir of Jeguk Group found himself holding onto a dozen or more shopping bags, waiting for the next bus. Maybe he should have brought SeungHo along instead of just letting him drop him off at the boutique earlier on.

Sighing, he tucked his hands inside his pockets and leaned back into the cool plastic. As he balled his hands into fists he felt a metallic rectangular object in one of his pocket. He jolted up awake. He almost forgot that he had a handphone. For some time after first leaving his home, he had left it on. But then decided it would be better to just turn it off completely. On a normal day, he couldn’t even dream of turning the device off. It was like a lifeline for him. But now that he had a taste of turning it off, he might turn it off sometimes.

There was no use in turning it off anymore so he turned it on and heard the familiar ping as it . He let his hand slide down to the bench for a while to let it finish setting up. After a while there was a succession of pings as all of his past notifications came in all at once. Some, he knew, were from his parents. Others, were probably from work where people were frantically looking for him. That is before an order was issued by his father to run business as usual and there was probably a replacement for him too.

Once everything has calmed down, somewhat…He cleared every single one of those notifications. After feeling the freedom, he found out that he could let go and everything would go on as usual. If he was given back his working privileges, he would be able to assess what mess they had made anyway. So why not keep the peace for a little while longer?

With his phone in his hand, he could feel the lids of his eyes getting heavier and his breathing getting softer. The headache was gone thanks to the breakfast earlier on, but he could do with a little more sleep. The last thought that he had before giving in was that he hoped it would not be a habit. He remembered that he once went three days straight without sleep just to meet a deadline.

….

“Wae….” SeungHo murmured to himself. He had barely finished packing when his phone had rang. He checked who the caller was and almost cursed. “Shi…” It was a very familiar person that he always got calls and messages from these days, even when he didn’t want to. He had the special person saved under the name ‘crazy tiger’.

He managed his temper before answering the call.

“Yeoboseyo?” He answered, smiling as he did so he could at least fake some of the politeness in his voice. He wasn’t even surprised with the requests anymore.

“Yes, alright, okay…” He said, with no emotion in his voice. “I’ll make sure he arrives safe and sound…” He smiled, as if he was talking to the concerned parent of a child. Yeah, a 31 years old grumpy child, he thought to himself. Hanging up, he continued packing. Everything was moving so fast and he found himself working up from working as a measly security guard to the driver of the heir of one of the biggest chain of companies in South Korea. Talk about life changing over night.

“Knock…knock…” A knock on the door halted his packing progress once again. “SeungHo ah…” said a frail sounding voice from the other side.

“Oh…halmeoni….” SeungHo replied before continue on packing.

Halmeoni Lee who was actually a neighbourhood ahjumma that has been close to SeungHo and his mother since they first moved in when Seungho was just 9 years old. Since then, she had helped by taking care of SeungHo as his mother went out to work and when SeungHo started working, halmeoni has had a lot of free time on her hands. That is until SeungHo’s mother fell ill. She has then had to take care of the mother while the son went off to work. She didn’t mind it though. She had no other family, no husband, no children…So she has always regarded the two as her child and as her grandchild.

“Are you going to be gone long?” Halmeoni groaned as she sat down on the floor.

“I don’t know yet.” SeungHo said.

Halmeoni sighed. “SeungHo ah…”The caring hand she put on his arm made him stop dead. “You know I have supported you your entire life…and I know you love your eomma so much…” Tears started forming in her eyes as she struggled to say what she was about to. “But you know…the condition of your eomma…” She started quivering. “”SeungHo ah…she isn’t going to get any better…and we don’t know how much time that she has left.”

SeungHo pulled his arm away, more in guilt and denial than anything else. “I know…” He said simply. Meanwhile, halmeoni had been shocked by the way he had reacted. “I need the money for the treatment.” He stuffed the last of his stuff into his bag.

“There’s nothing wrong with that…”halmeoni sniffled. “But you need to spend time with her…SeungHo ah…while you still can…” And she started crying.

“I will…”SeungHo grabbed his stuff and walked out the door. “See you later….” This was barely heard.

…

SeungHo was in that fine line of sleep and awareness. That is…until that limbo was broken by the sharp honk of a car. He awoke with a start and thank goodness the clothes that he was holding was already set down, otherwise they would have been scattered everywhere.

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. And he awoke to a luxury brand, black car in front of him. And for one dumb second when has the public transport of South Korea progressed this much? But then he saw the guy driving the car. His brow knitted together in frustration. His abuji must have sent this guy.

SeungHo jogged out of the car and with a straight face. “Here…” He grabbed the shopping bags before Won could do or say anything. “Let me carry those…” He walked back to the car without saying another thing. A fleeting thought went through Won’s mind of not getting on the car at all, but just walking all the way home.

Coming face to face with SeungHo again he was brought back to the night before. The three had come back from a round of drinks with SooJin drunk out of her mind and he himself was beginning to feel out of his mind. Seeing this, SeungHo had made a move to carry SooJin to her bed. For a moment, Won was so aloof he didn’t know what was going on. But then a moment of clarity hit him and he rushed over ‘I’ll take her upstairs!’ he almost declared.

Remembering last night made him embarrassed. He didn’t really know why he had done that. “Are you coming or not?’ SeungHo’s voice ended the flashback. He had asked it in a polite and indifferent manner which infuriated Won.

Then a realisation hit him. Hang on…If this guy was assigned to him then it must mean that from now on, he had a new servant to toy around. Clearing his throat, he straightened his posture and walked towards the car like SeungHo was just a nobody.

“Come on then…Why are you so slow?’ He said in an arrogant manner.

SeungHo clicked his tongue. ‘Just who is late right now..’ SeungHo was annoyed and wondered why he had agreed to be a slave to this guy. He slammed the door shut a little too roughly and went to his designated seat.

“So, where to now?” SeungHo sighed and reminded himself that it was only a job and there was no need to murder the guy sitting in the back seat. Or maybe he could, and make it look like an accident. How much was the sentence he was going to get? The bright side is in prison he didn’t need to worry about shelter and food.

But then his mind wandered to the only person that mattered to him and with that person in mind, he put the car in reverse and pulled out onto the road.

“To my father’s mansion.” Won said, as if it was nothing. SeungHo on the other hand, nearly choked at the statement.

“Excuse me?” He wondered if he had heard wrongly.

“I said, to my father’s mansion.” Won repeated. Another thing that has changed about him since he has been locked out of his own home was his patience. If before he would only have to glare at the guy, now he would calmly repeat his orders and if the person does not get it on the second try, he might as well fire the guy.

SeungHo opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came out. Instead, he set the location into the navigation system even though he didn’t need it. This guy was crazy, SeungHo had decided. Sure, his father was back to supporting him financially. But after running away from home and pulling the stunt that he pulled and with a demanding father on top of that? There was no other explanation for his behaviour.

There was something he wanted to make sure with his father and also, he missed his own room and his toys. His car must be missing him right now too. What he would do to take it for a spin.

And in no time, they had pulled up to the mansion. “We’re here…” SeungHo announced with a flat tone.

The jerk of the car as it came to a stop was what made Won realise that they were there rather than SeungHo telling him. He cleared his throat and said “Wait here…”

“Yes your highness…” SeungHo’s one simple comment earned a glare from Won and an all too rough slam of the car door.

…

The spacious foyer was not something that Won thought he would miss. But as he stepped in the house, he felt an aura of warmth surrounding him, or maybe it was just the huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling. His body remembers the direction in which he was heading. On the second floor of the east wing there is a room where he usually storms in or out if they was anything in regards to his love life.

Not bothering to knock, he came in to be faced by his frail father sitting on a leatherback chair. He was shocked at the sight of the man that had been forcing him to do things that he didn’t want to do. He didn’t look that strong anymore, and less intimidating. It was what Won had dreamed about his entire life, to be the stronger one. But now that it was really happening, he was scared. He was scared of what might happen.

He intended to come in with an expression of resolve but instead, he came in with an expression of worry.

“Oh Won…” The chairman cleared his throat. It sounded more rough than it used to be. “Sit…Sit…” He gestured to the chair in front of him as he reached in for a handkerchief for him to cover his mouth as he coughed into it. He wasn’t feeling that well recently, but that was alright, he managed. Although he was still on the waiting list, he didn’t mind. Consider it as a payback for all of his sins past. He looked up to his son who looked like he had just seen a ghost.

He waved his hand and said, “I’m fine…I’m fine…” Then he decided to get right down to business to take the attention away. “I have something that I want to discuss with you…” He said. He had already expected that his son would come running back on home once everything was settled.

Won, upon hearing this had his attention back on guard. He didn’t know what his father wanted from him now, but if he over reacted in anyway,he could risk losing his privileges again.

“You know how businessmen are, some prefer to say it in a more cryptic way and others prefer to say it out directly. I’m the second one.” His father’s business tone had come back. “What I want is simple…It’s for you to come and live with me.” That in itself was already shocking to Won. Ever since he had been living away from home, he hadn’t had the luxury of being waited on, but he had enjoyed the freedom that he had. He wasn’t quite sure that he was ready to give that away just yet.

And as if that wasn’t shocking enough, what his father said next nearly gave him a heart attack. “And I want you to bring your girlfriend with you…”

Won couldn’t believe what he was hearing. There was no way his father was serious about this. He knew that if the both of them were there, then his father would have total control over them. “Excuse me?” He said in response to the ridiculous question.

“I’m not going to repeat myself…” The Chairman was not kidding and it was scaring Won.

“No…” Won said, at last. His voice sounded small at first. But when his father glared at him, there was no turning back and that increased his confidence. “No, I don’t think so. We’re doing just fine on our own.”

“Pack up your bags by tonight, I’ll be waiting…” The Chairman got up to leave and for some reason Won flinched, as if his father was about to hit him with the cane that he needed desperately to stand up.

Slowly, he walked over to the door, hobbling as he did. “And oh son…” He stopped halfway to the door and it made Won straightened up, when he was just about to sigh a sigh of relief. “I’m not asking. And that boy…SeungHo….He’ll be your personal assistant/driver.” He coughed into his handkerchief. “You’re not getting any younger son, sooner or later you’re going to need help just dressing up. Better start now and…build that bond.” After that statement, he continued to walk out the door.

And meanwhile, Won felt like he had just woken up from a hypnotism. And that’s when the anger flooded in at how slow and dumb he was being. This was followed by worry. He couldn’t say no after not saying anything and his father had already said that it was not an order. There are many scary (literally and figuratively) businessmen that he had to deal with throughout his career, but the only person that he has a hard time defying is his own father.

In the midst of worrying about what to tell SooJin, he found an interesting item on his father’s desk. It was just there, in plain sight, as if his father wanted him to see it. And what he didn’t know is, it was one of his father’s last weapon. He knew his son has somewhat softened his juvenile attitude. Even more so after he has tried living alone and also when he has been living with SooJin. So he knew Won could never say no after finding the info that he had purposely left scattered around.

It turns out the Chairman was right and after placing the item back on his father’s desk, he dutifully went out to meet up with SeungHo who had already gotten the car started.

A/N : Guys... it's been awhile since I've updated and I have to admit that I'm pretty busy with my internship these days. Even though I have been through just a week out of 10 that is mandatory for me to graduate and get my degree, I already think that the a 9 to 5 job will not suit me. Maybe I'll be a part timer, who knows?

I held back from uploading this chapter because it's more about SeungHo and less about our two main characters, so i wanted to publish it as a set with the following chapter. As always, happy reading. And please root for me and my internship XD