C H A E Y E O N G
The week was... icy and quiet. Beside the slight warmer whether coming in and blooming pinks and purples of the flowers that hang from tress or sit in bushes, the atmosphere in the Byun house was frosty. Like the coldest winter had come and was yet to melt.
Baekhyun stopped coming down for breakfast, stopped offering to get dinner together after work and didn't drive me to work anymore.
I asked Junmyeon if he could teach me some things before work which in turn resulted in him picking me up and spending hours upstairs at the club. He taught me how to spot little recording devices or where is the best place to hide them. He also taught me how to make tiny cameras as well as listening devices. He was patient and never once became frustrated with me.
I can't say the same for Kyungsoo. Coding and learning how to hack on Friday proved to be the bane of my existence. Kyungsoo grew frustrated with my fail attempts and hit me upside the head every time I messed it up.
Baekhyun managed to keep himself either locked up in his office or he'd find other things to do away from the club. Saturday I spent my morning learning everything I needed to know about bombs and explosives from Minseok. The office upstairs and club was rather quiet as Baekhyun, Sehun and Jongin were out all day and night.
Minseok may look like he could rip my throat out and not even batter an eyelid but he was actually a big softy, like a small fluff ball of a cat. Yixing had to drive me back to my new home that I was slowly starting to feel more comfortable in, which turned into a prompt driving lesson.
My upbringing was anything but normal, so getting my driver's license was definitely not something I did.
My Sunday consisted of finally getting a sleep in, when I finally did wake up at 2 in the afternoon the house was oddly quiet. That of course didn't last long when Jongin burst through the front door demanding that it's his turn to train me. Still no sign of Baekhyun
Jongin's lesson's on body language and manipulation ran all through the night, He spent that valuable time teaching me basically everything he knew. I somehow mange to retain very bit of information while still being able to serve every customer.
When I finally asked Jongin where Baekhyun was when he dropped me off, all he told me 'It was business and not to worry my pretty little head about.' Well that's helpful, Thank god Monday I can finally relax
•
My phone buzzed on the counter top of kitchen where I was finishing my breakfast, at midday. The unknown number had sent me an address, not just any address but the one of a café near the Lee estate that Taeyong and I used to visit years ago.
I know the unknown number was indeed Taeyong, I knew it wouldn't take him long to find my new number and use that knowledge to annoy the absolute shit out of me. After washing up my plate and glass I left a sticky note for Baekhyun;
Baek,
Had some errands to run,
I'll be back in a few hours.
Chae.
Whether he sees the note or not at least I tried. I quickly tie my converse laces and throw a jumper on over my red shirt and head for the address. I managed to grab a taxi not too far from Baek's house and found myself sitting in the café waiting for his royal highness to finally make an appearance.
I was on my third coffee, wildly tapping my fingers against the wooden table. The nerve of this man! 45 minutes late, typical Taeyong. I started to look around the small and warm café, finding anything to cure my boredom.
"Looking for me, Princess?" There you are.
"Took you long enough, Tae." I stand up to reach his height, looking at his smirking face. "Why did you want to meet? I already spoke to Ten last night."
His eyebrows furrowed at my mention of Ten but quickly brushed it off and continued on. "I'm not here to probe you about 'Exo', I thought you'd want to see your mother."
"Led the way." I say to him, smirk pulling even harder on his face. He led me out to his matte black sport car and even opened the door for me.
"What?" He questioned once we were in the car, referring to my frowning face.
"Why are you being nice to me?" My hand immediately goes for the AC and moves the dials to slighter warmer.
"What do you mean? I'm always nice to you."
"We both know that is a lie." He laughs at my response before shaking it off. "You said you spoke to Ten, how did that go down?" He looked at me briefly but I could tell he meant nothing other than concern.
"He apologized." My answer was short and sweet.
"What did you say? Did you forgive him?" I told Taeyong after the whole incident that I would never forgive Ten and I still stand by it.
"Of course not, I felt like I could have murdered him if he tried to step any closer to me." He once again laughed at my violent tendencies.
It didn't take long before we reached the Lee Estate, I also didn't waste time in running through the house and up the stairs to my mothers room. When I burst through he door, Lucas stood there gripping his chest from my sudden rudeness.
"Sorry." I quickly bow in apology before making my way over to my blank mother. "Hey mum, how have you been?" I know she can't respond but still I wish she could.
I move to kneel in front of her, grabbing her hands with my own, trying my hardest to warm her hands even through mine are always cold as well. Lucas makes a silent exit and closes the door behind himself, giving my mother and I some privacy.
This visit was a much shorter one, however a much needed one, I spent the last couple of hours reading my mother favourite book to her until Lucas reentered the room informing me it was time for her meds. I took that as my cue to leave.
Making my way to the stairs case, voices could be heard coming from Dohwa's office. The normally soundproof office was now very loud, it seems the door was left ajar letting sound travel out freely.
"How are the accounts looking, Mr. Park?" The voice of Dohwa asked.
"You have plenty of wiggle room to try out your new idea, Mr. Lee." New idea?
"That wonderful news, Xion and Honee seems to be doing well on their own, but their sales seem to have dropped a bit." Dohwa spoke with a kind of disappointment in his tone.
"I have heard some complaints, Xion being to much of an upper while Honee is too much of a downer, both causing side effect people don't want to have to deal with." The scratchy voice of Mr. Park bounced out the door, being as he was closer to the threshold.
"Which is why I have a plan," His voice turned mischievous. "I have a Xion and Honee mixture in the works. We tested it out in a few club already, however; I plan to get it through 'Exo Planet' relatively soon."
The sound of rather loud foot steps caught my attention, I stopped eavesdropping and slide down the large marble staircase to Taeyong waiting at the bottom.
"Ready?"
•
Taeyong drove me halfway before letting me get out to catch a taxi the rest of the way, I did indeed stop for some food before going back to the house which resulted in me getting home around 4:30ish.
The house was filled with loud laughs and jokes being flown around. I could tell by the rambunctious noise that it was indeed Chanyeol and hopefully Sehun. "Well hello there, Chae. Lovely of you to grace us with your presence."
"Always a pleasure." I smile back at the sliver hair boy. Sehun was perched on the couch, twiddling a small dagger in and out through his fingers. "Let me guess, we have some training to do."
"That we do, go get changed and then we'll start." Chanyeol ushered me out of the living room and up the stairs.
Once I was changed into workout gear we made haste to the backyard and started with Sehun. It was time for weapon and combat training finally. Sehun's first method of training was how to actually hold knives like daggers and how to properly throw them.
The atmosphere was a tiny bit awkward but he gradually warmed back up to me and was even started to crack a tiny smile at my wittiness every now and then, I'm glad he's not holding a grudge. His hatred towards me hurt me the most to be honest.
Before we ended our little training session Sehun had wrapped my finger in tape to stop all the tiny cuts on my finger for bleeding and making it easier to grip the knife. I always thought you just grabbed the knife and stabbed, I didn't realise it was this intricate and fiddle-ly.
Baekhyun finally made an appearance, his eyes were sullen and lined with dark circles, like he hadn't been to sleep in a long time. He loosely fitted shirt was untucked from his denim jeans and his hair slightly disheveled. He seriously needs some sleep, why is he working himself so hard?
"For someone who is very clumsy, you're not to bad with handling knives." Sehun half complimented and half insulted me at the end of our training session after he taught me where are good places to hid and a knives. Places that are well hidden but also wont stab me in the process.
"I will take that as a compliment." He laughed at my comment while handling me a water bottle. We had a quick breather so I could gain a bit of energy back before Chanyeol would train me.
"I'm sorry, for not hearing you out." I paused my drinking to fully turn and look at him. "I should have at least let you explain everything before I turned on the defence."
"No, I'm sorry." I grabbed his large hands in mine. "I should have been my honest with you guys." I looked down start to feel guilty that I'm once gain lying to the people I care about.
"Alright lets get on to my part of the training!" Chanyeol exclaimed as he walked out the back door, Baekhyun hot on his trail.
"And what exactly is your training?" I questioned the tall male. "Firearm training." He pulled out a shinny silver handgun and my breathing stopped.
My mind became hazy and memories from the night my father was murdered started to zap my brain. My fingertips felt as though they had been dunked in icy water. I didn't realize I topped breathing until Chanyeol's calls pulled me from my trance.
"I'm not touching that." I say sternly and move to walk back into the house. I didn't realize Baekhyun had followed me until he grabbed my wrist and spun me around in the kitchen.
"What the hell is your problem?" He raised his voice at me. "First you have little rendezvous with that Lee boy then you start sneaking off to the Lee Estate and now you won't even pick up a gun!" My teeth started to grind at his observations.
"What exactly are you playing at? Plan to betray us to your father?!" He voices was getting louder, Sehun and Chanyeol had come in from outside to witness our commotion.
"He's not my father!." I spat back at him.
"What?" His voice became softer at my remark.
"I'm not a Lee!"