$ e i g h t e e n $
"Whose house is this?" Miran wondered as they drove up to yet another different place than the ones she had seen the night before. While Baekhyun had showered and changed into a fresh set of clothes, Miran was still wearing a pair of sweat pants and a crew neck sweater that belonged to him, since she had no clothes of her own to wear. She would ask him to take her out for clothes after his meeting, which seemed to be very important by the way that he hurried her out of the house.
Baekhyun parked his car out front and shut off the engine before replying. "Our assassin lives here. He asked me to bring you here as a favor to him."
She gulped nervously. "You want to leave me alone...with him?"
He shook his head, placing a hand on her knee and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I told you that if anyone wants to hurt you, they have to go through me. Satan is going to the meeting at alpha's house with me. He probably wants you to stay and watch over something or someone. Maybe he got a dog."
Miran exhaled with relief. "Oh, okay."
Baekhyun stepped out of his car and went around to get the door for her, which made Miran blush. One moment he was messing with her, making comments about his morning wood, and the next he was treating her like he was a gentleman. But he genuinely seemed to care about her and accept her as a new member to the family. She followed him into the house and they were greeted by the pack's assassin.
Just by looking at him, Miran thought that he didn't look one bit like an assassin--let alone someone who was nicknamed Satan.
He greeted Baekhyun with a shake of hands and pulled him in for a hug. He appeared slightly weakened, a bit pale, and with dark circles beginning to form under his eyes. It was a stark contrast to the condition Baekhyun had seen him in about twenty four hours earlier. Placing a hand on his shoulder, the two walked towards the living room couches with Miran following behind them. Kyungsoo sat in one and then Baekhyun sat on the other with Miran by his side.
"What happened to you?" Were the first words that came out of Baekhyun's mouth.
The other shook his head, preferring not to waste time. "Long story. I'll tell you when we get back from alpha's house. Right now I need your girl to help me with something."
"Depends on what it is." Miran spoke up, mustering up all of her bravery to get the words out. She didn't want to agree to a favor before knowing what it was.
Kyungsoo chuckled lightly, sensing her fear and hesitance. "Its nothing out of the ordinary. I just need you to watch over Jagi."
"So you did get a dog. I suspected as much." Baekhyun concluded from his friend's words. His eyes searched the living room with excitement. "Where is it? Can we play with it a little bit before we go?"
"No, hyung." Kyungsoo shook his head. Baekhyun was serious when he had to be. But when given the opportunity, he was very playful and childish, and sometimes he felt that his hyung was younger than him. "Its not a dog. Jagi is a person. I found her nearly dying in an alley and I had to help her. I need your girl--"
"Miran." She corrected him.
"Yes, Miran. Sorry." He nodded. "I need Miran to watch over her until I come back."
Miran thought about it for a moment. Her only choices at that point were to stay at Baekhyun's house on her own, or take care of Jagi and at least have some form of company. With a warm smile on her lips, she told him, "I'll stay here and take care of her. You boys don't have to worry about a thing."
"Thank you." Kyungsoo nodded gratefully.
He led Miran to his room, where Jagi was still unconscious, and the two boys left the house together.
-
During her first morning in what she considered to be her prison, she stirred in her bed and reached for the opposite end of it, hoping to find her husband there by her side. But she was alone. Her mood already plummeted so early in the morning, she refused to get out of bed and she refused to go down to the dining room for breakfast. Yifan was upset by her her decision and instead has her food delivered to her. Before leaving for the casino, he made some calls and had someone familiar come to see her--someone who was on the coven's side, no less.
She arrived accompanied by her husband with a worried look on her face. She was on the verge of tears when Yifan opened the front door of his house to her. "Where is she, duizhang? Where's my cousin Hani?"
He rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh at what he felt was her over dramatizing the situation. "She's up stairs in her bed room, and she won't come down for breakfast. She's lucky I love her enough not to hurt her because I hate people who disobey me." Beckoning one of the servants over, he continued, "I thought she'd like the company of someone neutral--someone she thinks is neutral at least. I want you to tell me everything she tells you, Hyuna. Understand?"
Hyuna nodded her head and kissed her husband on the lips before following the servant up the stairs to Hani's room. As she disappeared from sigh, Yifan turned to Minseok with a sigh. "Hopefully your wife can calm her down. Seeing her cousin everyday will help her get used to living with me."
"But nothing will make her love you, duizhang." Minseok informed him bluntly. "Its best to accept it from the start."
"She will love me." Yifan said, determined. "I'll force her."
"That's not the way love works." Minseok insisted. "You can't just force someone to fall in love with you."
Yifan huffed in exasperation and walked towards the door. "We have to go to the casino now. We have work to do before returning to China."
"Chen asked for the day off." The coven's adjutant informed his duizhang. His rank was third in command, only after Kris--as duizhang, and Lu Han--as guardian. Yixing--as enforcer, was one rank below him, Chen was two ranks below as kyres, and Tao was their lowest ranked member as novice.
"Why?" Yifan wondered.
"He said he almost died last night, so he needs a day off to live again."
Yifan let out a grunt, but he accepted the excuse that his kyres offered. "Fine. But I want him on night duty tomorrow. Then he'll know what living really is."
-
another update for tonight. i'll probably post another that im working on right now, but i'll post it in the morning. i'll be gone for one to two days starting tomorrow. on christmas i spent it with my sister, her husband, her sister in law, her sister in law's bf, and her husband's cousin, getting drunk off our asses.
anyway, i'll be back on new year's eve or new year's day. thank you all loads for reading and supporting this story.
-clary xx
