C H A E Y E O N G
The cards are dealt, facing down first, my eyes make little movement to see everything around me, but giving the illusion I'm only looking at Jongin. He looks cocky; in my two years here I've never played poker, yes I am good and I used to count cards to swindle idiots out of their money. May have nearly died when I was caught one time, wow Chaeyeong, you really are a slime ball.
Our upside cards were then dealt out, 10 of diamonds lay flat on top of Jongin's deck, not bad. Queen of hearts lay face up on my deck. Jongin looks up from my cards, meeting my deadly eyes as his smirk slightly faults. The dealer than places their own down, 7 of spades. So far Jongin and I have higher cards, just depends on our face down cards. Giving each other a slight nod we both look down at our cards.
King of hearts
Jongin slide in half his chips, being the bold person I am, I follow suit. Without giving Jongin enough time to process and think of a game plan, I start firing out my questions "So, what are you guys?"
"What?" He fires back way to quickly. Slightly on the defence. If I'm going to get any reasonable answer out of him, I need to break down his defences, scrabble his brain, beat him at his own game.
"You and the guys, what exactly is your little group?"
"We work here, same as you." He slight taps the table, thinking I didn't see his little gesture. I see you
"See, if it were the same as me, why don't I have one of those fancy watches or a radio ear pieces that you all wear?" He looks a little taken back by my observation, however; he's still smirking, whether he thinks he has the upper hand in Black Jack or he thinks I'll believe any lie he comes up with.
"It's not safe for you to be like us, we have them and other responsibilities to keep you and other safe." Before he can go on, my uncontrollable mouth buts in.
"See that doesn't sounds like something a club owner or higher up would say." I place my palm on the felt signally I'll stand. "You all wear fancy suits and dress shirts, drive fancy cars. You don't hire outsiders, as Baekhyun put it, which means you guys are apart of something outside of this club. Something bigger."
Jongin may never have let smirk fall from his face or the radiating confident dim, however; his nose slightly crinkle, his tell. His nose will crinkle when he hasn't got a good deck but will still bait the hell out of his opponents, it always crinkles when lies. He may not notice it, hell most people wouldn't notice the slight tug in his nose, but I do.
"Ahh, very deductive of you, Cupcake." He slides the rest of his chips into the pile. "I hope I'm the only person you watch this closely."
"Oh, I can be very deductive, you just wouldn't notice." I slide all my chips to mirror him. This is my game, Jongin. You're not going to win. "Don't flatter yourself, Peaches." I run my tongue along my teeth, another habit of mine when my confidence levels hit overdrive.
"Peaches? That's a new one." His eyes lingers on my lips longer, I've obviously distracted him. "If you're so deductive, why don't you tell me where all the guys are right now and maybe a little something about them.
Jongin stands
"Kim Minseok, looking casual yet deadly in his black t-shirt and black jeans. Sits in the far right corner of the casino, dark, secluded, more chance of counting cards. His eyes say Rottweiler while his puppy dog smile says loveable Pitbull. If I had to make a theory, he sits at more suspicious tables to catch card counters."
I take a short breath before continuing. "His ear piece sit in his right ear, very well hidden. He right leg also tap when he hasn't moved around for a while." Although I've never formally met Minseok, I still watched how he moved, he's quite hyper when it comes to it.
"Jongdae, in his normal attire will be standing by at the casino door. Every hour he shifts post, moving from the front door to the bar area, then he'll stand at the casino door for another hour before making his way to the private rooms, ending his route with a walk around the dance floor.
His left ear is occupied by his radio, his left leg has a taser holder on it, in case he needs it. The small black pocket knife may be well hidden in the top of his boot to the normal public eye, but I noticed. He normally wear his hair curly, but his recent haircut has left him wearing it slightly wavy and to the side.
Chanyeol is in room three, attending to Mr. Lee. Sehun is in room 5 with Senator Kang, why the senator is here, I do not know. I also don't know this Mr. Lee, but he's been to the private rooms multiple times before and every time Chanyeol has left the room annoyed and skulls a Kryptonite. They both wear their ear pieces on their right; however, they have mixed each other up before, Chanyeol's has a notch taken from when he dropped it.
Junmyeon is mostly likely upstairs, sipping on his orange juice, heavy ice and no pulp. Probably looking over paperwork for the club, sitting at his desk with his eyebrows furrowed, looking at one of the drinks Yixing has ordered or one of the stupid 'necessities' that Sehun convinced Chanyeol they needed."
I stand
"Yixing is obviously at the bar, most likely serving Mr. Jeon his scotch on the rock, listening to his workout routine for the tenth time. Unlike you guys his radio is more obvious as it sit on left hip, I have no idea why the left when his right handed."
"And you, Jongin; you never wear your ear piece properly, you enjoy playing gambling games, you enjoy peaches, hence the nickname peaches. You whoo women with a simple smile yet you have never managed to get me in bed, I'm a tough cookie to crack." He laughs lightly as my comment, we joke around a flirt quite often but come on, it's Kim Jongin, who wouldn't do that. He's not my type anyways.
"Very impressive, you just might be of better use than just a bartender." Making a mental note of his comment I shift his focus back to our game.
"Ready?" I question. He nods at my response and we flip our cards at the same time.
19
20
I won by one point
Jongin's deck was made up of his 10 of diamonds, 4 of spades and 5 of clubs. I sent wink in his direction, he finally met his Black Jack match. He gave me a small clap, congratulating me on beating him, now it's time to see if I won the whole game. The dealer flips their cards, 7 of spades and a 3 of hearts. The dealer decides to play hit, resulting in a 2 of clubs, a total of 12.
The smirk on my face grew into a smile as the cards where cleaned up and the chips were exchanged for cash. "Great playing with you, Jongin." I put my hands out for out signature handshake, which he obliges to, smiling along with me.
"You really are something, Chaeyeong." He laughs shaking his head slightly.
"I'm not just a drunken bartender, I'm much more than I pretty face." He laughs at my drunken comment before taking a sip of his peaches and vodka. "I have many talents." To be fair they all involved stealing and dwindling people out of their money.
I take my clip of my earnings and shove it in my back pocket, sculling the rest of my drink and giggling a little bit. Oh no the giggles are out. "What about Baekhyun? What he's doing right now?" His eyes shifted behind me.
"Well Peaches, judging by the way your eyes just moved I'm assuming he currently walking up behind me, with a serious face about to get me in trouble for something." The scent of red liquorice and mint started to become very prominent. "And by the light mint scent, I'd say Junmyeon is with him.
"Wow, you have a talent for this, Chaeyeong." I giggle at his excitement. "Oh and Chaeyeong, don't do that thing with your tongue, it is very distracting."
"What do you think you're doing?" Baekhyun's low honey voice reaches my slight rosy ears. He's dressed in deep taupe suit, missing the undershirt. His mesmerising eyes meet my slightly hazy ones. Junmyeon stands behind Baekhyun, a tight black dress shirt that's rolled up to his elbows makes his muscles more prominent.
"I'm winning at Black Jack." I flutter my eyelashes at him.
"I thought I told you no drinking." He voice growls lower the more aggravated I make him.
"You told me no drinking at work," I say standing up in front of him, tilting my head up to actually look at him. Curse my height! "I'm here as a customer, tonight. Plus it's not me you should be worried about, it's the guy counting cards in the corner." He turns to look at the shady guy in the corner, nodding at Junmyeon to check it out. I took this as my opportunity to sneak away.
Walking out to the bar, I lean over and place my empty glass into the sink. The colour of plum locks caught my attention, It can't be him. His signature leather jacket makes my heart sink, he can't be here for me could he? My small panic attack was thankfully interrupted by the one and only, Byun Baekhyun.
"Go home, Bambi." His voice was stern and the gripped he had on my elbow was firm to keep me from sneaking away again.
"Well unfortunately for you, I don't have my keys to get back in, meaning I need to catch a ride with Yixing when he finishes." I move my face closer to his, which to my surprise he doesn't move his away. Men usually hate when I get up in their face, you are something different Byun.
"Break in, I don't care, I'll pay for the damages." I can't help laugh at his stupid request. "I'll get Jongdae to hail you a taxi." Does this man ever smile? His obsidian eyes were mesmerising, they glisten like the whole universe was held in them.
Noticing Chanyeol walk out of the private rooms, I decide to test a theory. "If you're so persistent on me going home, I think I find Chanyeol." His eyes searched mine, trying to understand what game I'm playing at. "I mean he does know the way and he also has a key so..."
"Fine, do whatever you want, just don't injure any of the customers." I smirk at his defeat, his grip loosen from wrist and within seconds I'm making my way over to the stairs. I turn my head to notice that Baekhyun is still looking at me, he's quick to look away once I wink at him.
•
For the past hour, I spent my time dancing and laughing along with two of our regular girls, Jimin and Minjeong . The girls are both slightly taller than me and have tiny waists, they come here every Monday, Tuesday and Friday. They spend a few hours at the bar and then spend the rest of the night on the dance floor.
The whole time Baekhyun stayed at the railing, watching my every move, like a tiger watching its prey. Every now and then he'll tip his glass up, sipping on his drink. It didn't bubble or fizz so I assume it is just icy water.
Within seconds Baekhyun was gone, maybe he finally got bored. A man in his late 40's was starting to approach me from the left, his eyes were glazed over and mouth hung open. What drugs is this guy on? As I was preparing to tell this man to 'fuck off' my mind was immediately drawn to the warm hand on my face. Baekhyun held a tight grip on my chin while his other hand placed itself on my hip, his fingertips slight burn into my skin.
"I don't need saving-"
"Get in the car now." He cut me off before I could call him 'Candy'. He low growl was very serious it made my body bend at his will. He places his hand on my lower back to escort me out to his car and take me home.