Please pay attention to the continuous shift of locations
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CHAPTER 9
"Looming" Arc
EP: FIVE
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Nighttime
Ward 1 of Dongjak District
"For crying out loud, no, you're not coming with me. Stay and watch Jiu."
"Since when did I listen to you? Look, I don't care what your client thinks about me tagging along because I'm not letting you go alone. Taehyun can watch Jiu."
The two pretty best friends (yes, they exist) were conversing on the sofa in the living room, facing sideways from the TV, an ancient heirloom that had a glorious crack at the middle of the screen resulted from the remote that slipped off Hyewoon's clumsy hands while she and Taehyun were fighting over it during one summer evening. [TMI: one of Yeosang's long-term goals include replacing their rusty ol' TV with a brand new one.]
The artisan, who had already closed his shop for the day, was trying to multitask, apparently, by sketching a reference on the small coffee table and talking to the dancer simultaneously after he tucked his daughter into bed early.
Wooyoung was planning to crash at his best friend's place for some days to get away from some personal issues. He rightfully claimed that the Kang's residence was his home away from home and a place to vent his worries.
Their conversation, however, turned into an argument of Yeosang convincing Wooyoung not to come with him to his gig, and his dear loud friend being strongly against it.
Yeosang could not understand what part of his contract deal with the youtube singer was "shady" according to Wooyoung. When he told him about the testing period that would take place at his client's studio, Wooyoung got worked up and insisted that he'd come along, which Yeosang thought was unnecessary for just a half-an-hour recording in a place that would take more or less than 20 minutes to walk from home.
"You're being too skeptic. I told you, there's no need-"
"You legit just said that your 'client' came with a mask on, and told you to switch tables when he noticed you were sitting by the window. I don't see a reason why I shouldn't be sus about this."
"HE, has a youtube channel. So he could be someone famous that we don't know." Yeosang argued, remembering the charming red-haired man who possessed innocent features, and the physique of Heracles.
Yeosang had forgotten the last time he had been active on social media, that is to say, since he had long lost contact with mainstream stuff, he wasn't able to tell if the guy was a celebrity or not. Though, Wooyoung might know if he were in his shoes.
"Doesn't sound valid to me. I said what I said, I'm coming with you on Saturday to that guy's studio." The latter asserted like he just made the final decision for a serious matter.
Yeosang admitted his defeat, pinching the area between his eyebrows, "Jeez, why are you more difficult to deal with than a toddler? I'm not a simpleton or a teenager. I don't get why you're obsessed with my safety much."
"Need I explain myself?" Wooyoung defiantly crossed his arms.
"Actually, forget i-"
"No, you listen," the loud male pressed on with many sentence stresses, "the last time I checked, you were hit on by a few of those 'clients' of yours, inappropriately might I add."
"But he hasn't done anything weird? At least we should give him the benefit of the do-"
"Not taking any chances. What if something happens? If you died, Jiu would be left all alone."
Yeosang being Yeosang, "okay. While you're at it, why don't you marry me and become the housewife since you fret much?" as Wooyoung faked a gag.
"Ew, no! I may be bi, but my taste in men is far from dating my homie, and is immaculate."
"'Immaculate'? You mean, that one fashion model." Yeosang corrected him sarcastically.
"Yes, exactly. Now, back to the point, what time do we go there?" Yeosang sighed at his friend's eagerness like he was ready to go on a special mission.
"Just... be ready at three. And I swear, if you attempt to bring any type of weapon like the last time, I will kick you out of my abode." The loud male rolled his eyes.
"Sheesh. Fine then, I'mma just do some warm-ups instead." Lifting his gummy bear pyjama pants that he borrowed from Yeosang, Wooyoung swung his leg to produce double side kicks in the air.
Being done with his friend, the blond went back to sketching, internally wishing the weekend to pass without any unfortunate mayhem caused by the devil in disguise that he had to take with him.
❥•°❀°•༢
**Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying Korea Airlines. Welcome to Brisbane Airport. Have a wonderful evening.**
Hyewoon sat up from the uncomfortable chair after the plane had landed on the ground, attempting to tame her chaotic mess of purple and black under her hat before furiously slapping the sleepiness away.
This was the time where she stopped her identity as Hyewoon, the dramatic maknae of Kang household, and back to being Hazel Kang, the sleep-deprived international student of KQ. On her to-do list was a number of procedures, waving at her from the other side namely 'tomorrow'.
With bleary eyes, she got off the plane with her carry-on bag pinched under her arm.
After going through the immigration and customs, she retrieved her baggage and put them onto a trolley and pushed it tiredly to the concourse, nearly dozing off the more she looked out of the windows and see the pitch-black darkness that coloured the horizon. It didn't take too long before she was tackled and squealed into her ears by a particular strawberry blonde.
"You're here! Frackin' finally!!" The shorter girl tiptoed to wrap her arms around the 2-inch taller one's neck, almost choking her to death.
"Felicity? You're... hhraaarh~... waiting for me here?" Hyewoon questioned with a yawn after the shorter freed her.
"Duh~ Else how'd you find a place to sleep at 12AM with a truckload of bags??"
"My saviour." Hyewoon planted a lazy smooch on her bestie's cheek, which Seoyun grimaced in response as if she didn't appreciate the skinship. The strawberry blonde snatched her friend's trolley, while her other free hand linked around Hyewoon's as they walked to the exit.
"Where we goin' again?" Hyewoon asked while doing a 'morning stretc-- well, technically, 'midnight stretch' as they paused in the way to unload the trolley.
"I robbed my brother's *porker. We'll go to my house first. You can stay till morning."
"Cool." The taller girl snapped her jaw right when the shortie poked a finger into her yawn, attempting to bite it off.
The two best friends got to the outside of the terminal and walked a little where Hyewoon tripped twice or so on the way since she failed to notice the slopes and steps due to her blurry eyes and her long shadow that was cast by the streetlights.
When they neared an ink-black car, (or was it dark blue??) the strawberry blonde opened the boot and placed her bags inside. Hyewoon slipped into the backseat, groaning as she plopped down her fatigued limbs onto the leather upholstery.
"You gonna... oomph... drive?" Hyewoon felt like she was going to puke any moment when waves of nausea that ensued from constant disturbance of sleep during the past fifteen hours were swirling inside her stomach.
"Here! Hydration." Seoyun threw something from the driver seat when she saw her friend's condition.
"What is this?" Hyewoon peeked through her drooping eyes to make out what the sweating, clear bottle was.
"Homemade lemon fizzy," Seoyun replied while starting the engine.
"Seriously?"
"It helps with the dizziness, mate. Be thankful that I made it myself. Now, shut up and drink."
"Fine." Hyewoon twisted the bottle open and gulped down the colourless, acidy refreshment. But some gulps of soda weren't enough to make her fully awake.
"I need some shut-eye. Wake me up when we're there." With that, she leaned onto the car window and watched lampposts zoom out to distance one by one till her mind blacked out into slumber.
ꔛ♡
"Rise and shine, hazelnut! We're here!!" A blaring shrill rang in Hyewoon's ears while a pair of arms violently flicked her awake.
"Hey! Stop shaking me!" she groaned and rubbed her eyes, not worrying whether her glitter eyeshadow would stick on her fingertips or not, before stumbling her way out of the opened car door. She could hear the sound of grass being trampled under her sneakers. When her vision became clear and focused, she was confused to find a huge, fancy dwelling staring down at her.
Where was I again??
"At my house, dummy," her telepathic bestie answered. Eyes wide awake, Hyewoon pointed to the modern two-storey edifice in disbelief.
"THIS is your house?"
"Technically my bro's, but I also live here so... you get the idea," Seoyun shrugged.
"But you never told me about moving out from the dorm to live in a freaking mansion!" Hyewoon gave the shortie's bum a light whack as Seoyun sported a loud giggle.
"It was supposed to be a surprise, hon. Now, are you gonna sleep standing at the entrance?"
"Absolutely not!" The purple-haired girl dragged her luggage and followed the strawberry blonde into her residence. Fortunately, she did not trip this time thanks to the bright lights along the stone path to the front door.
Unlike the dullish facade that only had black and white hues, the interior was more chic and vibrant. Minimal line art of daffodils were framed and aligned on dark grey walls, modern furniture of cream and black in an asymmetrical balance, and a few yellow and red geometric rugs were laid beautifully on the pristine marble tiles. The floor-to-ceiling windows were adorned in white blinds for blocking unwanted rays and heat.
A beaut indeed, was the first thought crossing her half-awake mind. The second thought escaped her mouth.
"Who do the cleaning here??" Seoyun bursted out into laughter at her question.
"Will you be surprised if I tell you that my brother and I play paper, scissors, rock to decide who'll vacuum the whole house for the week?" Hyewoon shuddered at the idea of maintaining this hugeass place all by oneself.
"Jeez. I'd get back pain if I have to do that. Why don't you hire maids?"
"Well, since both of us are rarely indoors, big bro said he didn't wanna give access to his place to maids and stuff. Trust issues, I guess." Hyewoon hummed while her eyes examined the LED indirect lighting in awe that was capable of illuminating the spacious living room just enough - not gonna lie, it looked more sophisticated than those overrated chandeliers.
Upon mentally drooling over the luxury the Park siblings had, she did not notice they were heading toward a black timber door that was decorated with two signs of 'study room' and 'do not disturb' on which Seoyun knocked.
"Hwa! I got Hazie! Give me the guest room key."
Hyewoon heard some footsteps shuffling to their way before someone came out from the room, in a checkered cardigan and regular jeans, holding a coffee mug and a key ring. No signs of drowsiness were found in his clear, obsidian eyes of which the upper half was obscured by stray, curvy locks.
Hyewoon heard a lot about Seoyun's immigrant brother, who worked for a publishing house if she remembered correctly, but this was her first time meeting him in person. And the very moment when she realized that real estate agent dude had won in life by having this type of boyfriend.
"Hello. Seoyun's friend, was it?" The brother greeted her in Korean, with a surprisingly gentle voice despite his intimidating features. Hyewoon connected the dots of how the house took the form of its owner.
"Yes, Kang Hyewoon or Hazel, good sir. Nice to meet you."
"Seonghwa. The pleasure is mine." Both of them exchanged bows before the guy handed the strawberry blonde the keyring with several plastic labels attached to it.
"Up. To the left of the stairs," he instructed.
"Kay! Wait, don't tell me you're getting another refill again??" Seoyun asked after peeking a glance at the dark residues of coffee sitting at the bottom of the red mug.
"My work isn't done yet, so, yeah..." The man then turned to Hyewoon.
"Ms Hyewoon, Hon-- I mean, Agent Kim will bring the landlord of your lease here around 9-ish. So make yourself home and rest. You must be tired from the long flight." The gentleman showed a polite smile before he disappeared into a corner, seemingly to the kitchen to grab the caffeine he desired.
"Is he pulling an all-nighter?" The taller girl nudged the shortie.
"Depends on the deadlines he's dealing with." Hyewoon's lips parted with a heartfelt 'wow'.
That Seonghwa guy earned her respect just by casually sitting and typing on his computer IN JEANS at this hour. If it were her, she would probably be rolled up in her bed, with panda eyes, scrolling through multiple SNS and piss-farting around with several undone paperwork spread around her like a folding fan choreography.
What more shocking was that it turned out Seoyun was not joking when she said Hyewoon could make the lease at her house, where Agent Kim happened to come often to chill with his boyfriend. [Keyword: chill.]
Why reject their generous offer when she can conveniently have a place where she could recharge herself and get her work done at the same time, right?
Taking the stairs to the second floor and turning left just like what the brother said, she was brought to where the Park's deemed to be the guest room.
"This is where I crash?" Hyewoon's body reacted faster than her mouth as it dropped all the bags and threw itself onto the soft mattress before even waiting for a response from the shorter.
"Yep, nothing much than a hotel but-"
"Are you serious? This is the best!" she shot a big thumbs-up and a finger heart to her bestie, then shifted to a more comfortable position, not even having the energy to change or wash up.
Seoyun dropped her friend's baggage near the nightstand. "Hygiene stuff is ready to use in the bathroom, just unwrap the plasti-" The strawberry blonde cut herself off when she heard faint snores from the person on the bed.
"Night-night then, I guess~" she whispered and crept out of the room after turning on the nightstand lamp.
❥•°❀°•༢
'New Tokyo' Residence, Japan
While other residents were in deep slumber at 7 minutes past midnight, there was one room that still had its lights on.
In the dimly lit bedroom sat a man on the bed. Fiery red hair was roughly tied into a ponytail, therefore, messily falling onto the eyelids, but the deep frown and relentless pupils were just enough to prove that he did not care at all about the stray strands obscuring half of his vision. Neither did he notice the black-haired man that entered his room after a knock on the door.
Sighing quietly at the sight of the red-haired man who was too lost in thoughts to notice his presence, the black-haired man sat on the edge of the bed and gently passed an open folder in his hands to the other.
"Honey, is this really what you wish to do?"
His partner, the red-haired man, was jerked awake to reality by the gentle touch of hand radiating warmth on his shoulder.
"We could get into serious trouble if it didn't go well. And I'm afraid it will cause damage to both sides."
The red-haired man did not say a single word yet until he was done thumbing through the files.
"You said you've researched enough, right? We will just act within the law. What are you worrying about?"
"That's that, but still-"
"Young-san, please. I've made up my mind. Don't try to convince me otherwise. All you need to do is to get me the upper hand with your skills, as a lawyer should. If you're feeling guilty about this, you can backtrack. I won't stop you," the red-haired man for a moment stared into his partner's eyes and met with his uncertain gaze, at which he scoffed before looking away again.
"I'm not backing out. I promised that I'd help you. I even looked up orphanages and looked into adoption rights. Truthfully, we're at a disadvantage, but with my weight, it shouldn't be much. I'm just afraid... that you might regret that later," the black-haired man bit down on his lips as if unsure of how to phrase his words harmlessly.
His partner took the worn piece of paper lying on the sheets, a mix of grief and resentment started to glisten in his eyes as he read the same miserable words for the hundredth time.
The paper had a few stains here and there, far long dried out but spreading the ink and blemishing the syllables. Thus, some characters weren't even decipherable anymore unless the person reading it had already engraved every bit of them in his heart.
The red-haired man gritted his teeth and closed his eyes to retain himself from travelling to a particular memory as he folded the letter with shaky hands and put it back in the drawer where it belonged. His knuckles were turning white from the tight grip as he stared at the floor and enunciated each word slowly.
"I'll regret more if I don't act now. My niece... she doesn't deserve to be raised by that bastard."
-to be continued-
⋆┈┈｡ﾟ❃ུ۪ ❁ུ۪ ❃ུ۪ ﾟ｡┈┈⋆
*Porker n. - Aussie slang for Porsche
*'piss farting around' phrase - Aussie slang for 'procrastination'
my brain: don't you fucking dare
me:...
my brain: isaidshutyourass-
me: liKe mAte sToP pRocrAstiNatiNG~
the Park's mansion will be revealed in the next chapter.
For now, I present you one of Park Seonghwa's ethereal details ^^
his skin says: ✨✨✨✨
as for the last scene, guess who the two suspicious men are and what they're up to *raising eyebrows*