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So they don't have enough proof to convict Jaerin of betraying the Seo Faction.
San had explained it all to them, why he was avoiding Mari and what he had been doing the entire time. Apparently, he was hot on Jaerin's tail, picking up on her odd habits and devilish attitude to try to uncover what she was hiding behind her back. He had to avoid Mari in order to do so, not wanting to link her to San's investigations and make her guilty by association. If Jaerin found out she was being clued in on what was going on, the pathological liar would find a way to accuse them of something heinous enough to put them both out of commission.
He had never been too fond of Jaerin's presence, finding something... off-putting about her and it wasn't shared with the rest of the Lee Faction. San just couldn't exactly place his finger on what exactly made her different from those around her, different from her own family. Despite her soft features and sickly sweet smile every time she batted her eyes at authority, it never felt like Jaerin was approaching anyone with good intentions. So he had steered clear of her, minding his own business and not wanting to get any more involved with the higher-ups of the faction than he already was.
That was until he overheard a conversation Jaerin was having. It was after the alliance between the Seo and Lee Faction had been officially formed, after the huge catfight between the two that Mari had caused in public. The Underboss was calling for each member of the faction that had witnessed the scene and forcefully sworn them to secrecy and San had snuck away just before anyone could have noticed he was gone. She was in a room by herself, pacing around impatiently as she spoke to someone on the other side of her phone.
San could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation, his mind already preoccupied with the act of defiance Mari had displayed earlier that day. He just knew she was furious, her body trembling in pure resentment for the events that had transpired. Jaerin was physically stopping herself from nearly screaming her vocal cords out of her throat. Her hands were clenched in vice grip tight fists as she whispered something soft yet threatening into her phone speaker before ending the call abruptly. It was eerily quiet after that before the smashing of glass against the hard floor echoed throughout the room, followed by a high pitched shriek of pure wrath.
The Underboss had found San before he could question the events before him, immediately switching gears to put his current worries at the top of his list of importance. He had tried to leave Jaerin alone after that, not wanting to dig into the situation any more just in case he was going to be led to his ultimate doom. But the longer San had left the thoughts unattended to, the more he began to think and wonder.
He ended up noticing small little things no one else seemed to be bothered by as well: random phone calls Jaerin would leave the room to answer, leaving the manor (to his knowledge) to meet up with what she would call friends from school, even her overall demeanor became more confident and at ease than she had originally been when she had first arrived at the Seo Manor. There were countless other details no one else but him had noticed as well, that's how San knew something wasn't right.
So one could only imagine the moment of realization when the Underboss had finally addressed the whole faction of their current situation, his brain connecting the dots between Jaerin's actions and the sudden warning of a possible Kim Faction invasion. The Seo Faction wasn't safe as long as Lee Jaerin was standing inside of it and they needed to get rid of her as fast as they possibly could.
But the Underboss and Consigliere weren't just going to believe four teenagers wholeheartedly. Mari was already known for disdain towards Jaerin, and Wooyoung and San were her close friends who obviously were going to take her side in situations like these. Yeosang was the son of the Consigliere as well, and the Consigliere expected his son to be unbiased and neutral when it came to Mari and her gang of merry men. They already knew her father wasn't going to believe them either, hung up on keeping the alliance between the Seo and Lee Faction by appeasing them to them as much as he could.
There were countless things the Lee Faction had to offer the Seo Faction: more soldiers for an impending attack, buildings masked as private organizations they could use, and countless amounts of money to supply them with. All these resources the Lee Faction had were usually completely and utterly unattainable because of the Lee Faction's history of neutrality. Mari's father wanted to keep these resources as long as he possibly could.
So they needed evidence. Not little rumors, not random hunches. They needed solid evidence of Jaerin's betrayal to the Seo Faction, they just didn't know exactly where to get this evidence from.
"You okay, princess?" Hongjoong's voice rang through Mari's ears as he sat down next to her. The two were at Mingi's house, sitting on the patio sofa in his backyard near the pool once again. Mari had originally planned on heading straight home after the school day had ended, her eagerness to finally rid Jaerin from her daily life needing to be quenched. But Hongjoong seemed to have other plans for her, snatching up Mari right from under Wooyoung's grasps and taking her along for the ride on his motorcycle without second questions.
She didn't know exactly how Wooyoung was going to get out of this situation, as showing up at the Seo Manor without her end in his demise or at least a horrible scolding. Mari just hoped he decided to stall time and wait for her to come back instead of facing her father's wrath on his own. She had more important things to worry about than him being punished.
Hongjoong's eyes bored into her head, waiting patiently for an answer that she couldn't quite make up. "You've been... quiet since you arrived. Usually, you've got something to talk about but you've just... not really spoken to me since we stepped into the house."
Mari glanced up towards him, the dim pool lights illuminating their faces as the evening skies began to roll in. His scarlet red hair was vibrantly popping against the soft red and orange hue of the skies, making Hongjoong stick out like a sore thumb compared to everything around him. Even so, his mere presence was like eye candy to her. "Yeah I'm fine, I've just..." She began, unable to shake the thought of Wooyoung from her mind after staring at him for so long. "I've got a lot on my mind."
Hongjoong seemed worried, not completely stomaching her answer as he turned towards her. "You've always got a lot on your mind, though, that doesn't help me at all." He was right, Mari did a lot of thinking whenever she was around him. Every time Hongjoong came around she always had something on her mind, the gears in her rather small brain doing their best to spin and turn to process all the information she was often force fed.
She felt bad, they never really just did anything because they wanted to. It was always in an attempt to escape the reality they had to endure.
"Sorry," Mari chuckled, a bitter half smile stretching across her face. "A lot goes on in my life and I'm just... forced to think sometimes. Chaos doesn't like to settle every time I'm ready to go back to normal."
"I promise you, we are one in the same princess," Hongjoong stated, gesturing to the both of them. "Recently it feels like there is no air breathe anymore, I feel like I'm gonna suffocate if I stand still for any longer than a minute in my house." He shuddered at the mentioning his home life, clearly not very fond of the thought of it. Mari wouldn't be either with the type of parents he was forced to live with. "You know... sometimes I think I'm just gonna leave."
Mari gave him a once-over, confused by the words he suddenly dropped out of his mouth. "What do you mean by leave?"
"You know," Hongjoong urged, lifting up his shoulders for a quick half shrug. He held out his hands in front of him, reaching out towards the setting sun as if it was tempting him to come catch it. "One day I just pack my bags, grab my keys, and drive off as long and far away from my parents as I can possibly get. Finally have a taste of true freedom that's always just been a little too far for me to get a hold of."
"It seems like you've been yearning for this a lot longer than it seems," Mari commented, a smug smile spreading across her face.
Though it immediately softened when Hongjoong turned to face her, his eyes sparkling with pure bliss and a bright smile playing on his lips as he spoke to her. "Yeah, I have. Literally dreamed of running away in secondary school but I just never took the chance to do so. But now?" He stated, "It's a lot more tempting than I could have ever dreamed of it being. I can almost taste it, the feeling of independence and freedom I've only been able to see through a window."
Hongjoong was definitely more starry eyed than Mari had originally thought when she first met him. Yet despite that, his head in the clouds' personality was rather endearing to watch unfurl as he grew exceedingly more comfortable around her. "So that's the plan? Graduate and run away once you get the chance?"
He nodded his head, running his hands through his fiery red hair for a second before looking at her. "I would like it to happen right now if I could. But I'd just be missing too much if I did."
"Well you're not wrong there," She agreed. "Seonghwa seems like the type to nag, he'd probably go ballistic at the mere thought of you running with no intention of never returning. Same goes for Yunho and Mingi, but minus the nagging part. Yunho looks like he'd break down into tears if you suddenly disappeared from his life. And Mingi—"
"That's not... exactly what I'm talking about," He interrupted. "I mean don't get me wrong, you're absolutely right about Seonghwa and Yunho. But Mingi would probably scream with pure joy at the thought of me leaving since I made a promise to him if I ever did run away he can grab whatever he wants from my room and I'll never ask for it back, but I wasn't really talking about them. I was kinda... talking about... you?"
"You wouldn't be missing a damn thing, I promise," She snorted. "My life is full of chaos, Hongjoong. Honestly, I think you'd be a lot better off than listening to me ramble about what goes on in the hellhole I call home."
He laughed at her response as he crossed his arms, looking up towards the growing dark skies as the sunset slowly came to its end. "Yeah, you're right. Because I'd take you with me."
Mari choked on her own spit, pounding her fist against her chest as a result. "I'm sorry... what?" She said in between coughs, rising off the patio sofa to stare at him. "Take me with you? Not that it's not a cool offer and everything, but I wouldn't be able to. I can't do that whether I want to or not. My father is already on the verge of becoming a helicopter parent and Wooyoung! He'd follow me to the ends of the Earth. I wouldn't want to force him to do that. Don't even get me started on Jaerin of all people—"
"Jaerin? Lee Jaerin? Her?" He questioned, his face contorting into a look of disgust at the thought of the girl. Mari thought about it for a moment, unsure of whether or not she wanted to answer his question. Though she hesitantly nodded her head, her face twisting with confusion at Hongjoong's reaction. "What does Jaerin have to do with anything?"
"Jaerin's always talking about how much I don't know about you," Mari explained. "And how she's closer to you than I am and how much her parents like you and all. She'd literally turn into a demon if I ran anywhere out of her grasp with you. Frankly, I don't want to deal with that when she's already caused so much trouble for me as is."
Hongjoong groaned, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance. "God... she doesn't know how to leave people alone, does she?"
"Hell no," Mari responded, calling back to all the times Jaerin decided to shove herself into her life and cause problems. The girl wished she could just spill every single time the Lee Faction heir had started a fight between the two of them, but that would lead to her saying some extremely classified information. "She came up to me like a day or two ago trying to borrow you from me like you were some sort of object that can be passed around. Apparently, her mom is super interested in you?"
His frustrated expression immediately dulled, sucking in air through his teeth at her statement. "Ah... not this again."
"Again?" Mari repeated. "What's happening again?"
Hongjoong stood up from his seat on the patio sofa, his hands deep with his pockets as he walked up to her. "I'm going to assume Jaerin decided to blab on about how her mom is trying to set us up together as subtle as she possibly can. She's been doing this for a few years now before I even met you."
Mari's hands fell to her side, tilting her head in confusion. She wasn't sure about what he meant, but it had already been established early on that Mari had no sense of understanding in her when she really needed to be. "But... why? What is the point in doing that if you're clearly not interested in her?"
"Her dad and my dad are close business partners. Well not business partners but her family being a fairly large stockholder for one of my dad's business or whatever," He explained, shrugging his shoulders. "Apparently her mother is stuck in this mentality that if we get together it'll strengthen the bond between the two families or whatever. Plus Jaerin is genuinely interested in me and that woman will do anything just to make her daughter happy."
"There's no way you just didn't tell them no, right? She asked, giving him an intense stare as she hesitated to respond to her question. "Wow... you're a rebellious teenager and you can't even tell them no? That's so weak Hongjoong."
"I tried to, I really did!" Hongjoong complaining, rubbing his arms as goosebumps began to form to the thought of the older woman. "But she's a terrifying person and persistent. I've told Jaerin no multiple times, don't get me wrong. But her mother just refuses to take any other answers, going as far as to plan things behind my back with my mother and trick me into following through with them. My only option when dealing with Jaerin and her mother is to smile and nod like nothing is happening."
Mari rolled her eyes at the thought of the two women, they truly did uphold the "like mother like daughter" agenda. She had never seen the girl's mother but she could only assume that Jaerin was nearly identical to her from what Hongjoong described. But didn't San say that Jaerin radiated s different type of energy compared to everyone in her faction? "That's why she's so determined to make me stay away from you? So that she can force you to be with her?"
"That's what it sounds like." He agreed. Though a smile began to form on his lips as he looked at Mari, amusement gleaming in his eyes as he reached out to play with a strand of her hair. "Why are you so worried about that though, princess? You afraid that Jaerin might just swoop me off my feet one day when you're not looking?"
"Stop it," She hissed, swatting his hand away as he laughed at her. "And no, I'm not worried about anything. I'm completely normal. Jaerin has just been very... annoying lately to say the least. While not reassuring to know that her mother is nearly the exact same as her, it's good to know where her personality comes from. I just hope they share the same intentions..."
Hongjoong leaned towards Mari, forcing her to shuffle away from him in order to put a distance between the two of them. "Are you sure about that?" He questioned her, filling up the gap between them. "No hint of jealousy anywhere? Really?"
"Of..." Mari stuttered, practically digging her heels into the ground as she leaned away from him. She was stuck on the edge of the pool now, if she tried to move any further she'd be sent diving straight into the icy cold water. "Of course, I'm not? Why would I ever be jealous of Jaerin? I could kick her ass if I really wanted to. Plus I trust you not be swayed by her lame attempts anyways."
"You trust me?" He repeated, though more like trying to get confirmation over the idea of trust between the two of them. Hongjoong smiled at the thought, invading the space she had placed between to get in closer proximity to brushing a strand of the girl's hair away from her face. "You trust me, Mari?"
Mari didn't even realize she was holding her breath, frozen in place, and unable to form any words whether she wanted to answer his question or not. Her brain was running a marathon, going into low battery mode, and shutting down all the functioning parts of her brain. The only thing that seemed to stay afloat in the chaos of her mind was the thought of Wooyoung and his confession. She couldn't stop thinking about it, why couldn't she stop thinking about it? "I...uh... I... do?"
His smile grew even larger at her answer, silently letting out a sigh of relief as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Good," Hongjoong told her. "Now keep it that way." Mari was going to ask what he meant, unable to keep eye contact with him anymore until she felt him push her.
It was a light nudge off of the edge of where she was standing but created a rather huge splash as she plummeted into the pool water below her. Mari panicked when the icy cold liquid touched her skin, the air in her lungs suddenly forcing itself to a halt as she tried to comprehend what was happening. The water distorted the sound of laughter on the surface, echoing through the waters and trapping itself below the surface. Mari scrambled to bring her head up above the water, gasping for air as she clung onto the edge of the pool for support. "What the hell was that for?"
Hongjoong couldn't hear her over his loud and giddy laughter, finding amusement in Mari's reaction. She gritted her teeth together in frustration, struggling to lift herself out of the pool so that she could attack him. "You should have seen the look on your face!" He exclaimed, stumbling around and losing his balance as he laughed. "It was so funny!"
"No, it's not!" She yelled back, pushing her drenched hair out of her face so that she could see him better. "That was so mean you asshole!" He didn't seem to be paying any attention to her and Mari took that as a sign to take her swift revenge. She slid the snake ring off of her finger and slid it across the ground so she wouldn't lose it in the pool before grabbing a hold of Hongjoong's leg when he stumbled her way. He yelled a string of curses when she pushed herself off the wall of the pool, dragging him down into the water with her.
Mari took hold of the pool's edge as quickly as she could, genuinely not having much experience in swimming and not wanting to risk the threat of drowning in Mingi's backyard. Hongjoong came up after her, breaking the water's surface and shaking out his hair as if he was a wet dog. "Okay I get it," He commented as he slicked back his hair. "I deserved that, huh?"
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the comments from yesterday
were just too funny I had
to give everyone another
chapter after that