Empire | ATEEZ

041

"Jeez, Seonghwa, I get that you're dating now but you're acting more like a sugar daddy than-"

Yunho's words were cut off as the blond behind the wheel immediately hit the brakes and the car came to an abrupt halt, the force sending the advisor's head directly into the back of the headrest of the driver's seat, earning a grunt and a low apology from the man which immediately made Seonghwa speed up again.

"Was the dress necessary, though?" Yunho mumbled, rubbing his forehead with furrowed brows as his eyes trailed down the second-in-command's arm to his hand which was resting comfortably on my thigh as always.

"If I'm not wrong, you were the one preaching about 'the less attention the better' back home so why- Oh, would you stop glaring at me? I can see you staring through the rearview mirror and it's creeping me out."

"Whether or not I spoil her is up to me," Seonghwa drawled, "Are you jealous?"

I fought the urge to laugh as Yunho's jaw went slack and the tips of his ears flushed, already drunk on excitement over the fact that Seonghwa had stayed true to his promise about bringing me along, about letting me be a part of his life.

"Then drop it," he added, and Yunho nodded, mumbling something under his breath which would undoubtedly have gotten him in trouble had I not spoken up.

"So who are we meeting?" I asked, looking back across my shoulder to face the advisor whose eyes immediately lit up at the attention.

"Kaleido and Hypo," Yunho said, immediately adding, "The 'butterflies' Hongjoong are always ranting about, dragonflies, really. The others' mark is the scorpion," to help me remember.

"Why both? Mingi and I only met with one group and there was already plenty of tension-"

"Information," Seonghwa simply said, turning onto an abandoned road that seemed impossibly dark as we got further and further from the billboards and street lights within the city.

"They have a special," Yunho began, hesitating for a moment before adding, "bond." I frowned a little, finding it hard to believe.

"Their inner circles are very close. Seungcheol and Hyunwoo are both quite peaceful considering their line of work so they don't cause us a lot of trouble in general which is why we decided to kill two birds with one stone."

"Aren't you supposed to help Hongjoong with financial and legal matters, though? Why are you-?"

"Being dragged along?" he scoffed, glancing at Seonghwa's back as if debating whether or not it would be smart to glare at him before seemingly deciding not to, "Assisting the leader doesn't cover all of it. I also work as the right-hand man to the second-in-command."

"What about Abyss, then? Are they not on good terms with the other groups or is there some other reason they won't be there?" I asked, remembering the leader, Taeyong, and the way power had seemed to emanate from him.

"Surely they must know something-"

"Oh, they do, and they're desperately trying to make up for their slip-up months ago. They've been scrambling after Hongjoong for a while, picking up pieces and fragments of information, trying to get back in our favor," Seonghwa said.

"Taeyong isn't exactly enjoying it, either," Yunho chuckled, as if toying around with criminal bosses was neither intimidating nor dangerous, "He's pissed, as a matter of fact. We haven't even heard from Jeffrey since Mingi came back after his last visit."

"Wait- who's Jeffrey?" I frowned, going over the names I could remember in my head but falling short as I remembered the sheer number of members.

"Jung Jaehyun," Seonghwa drawled, tightening his grip on the steering wheel as if the sound of the name on his lips made anger well up inside him.