Hyun Bin POV
"On your way to play cards?" Mom asked me through the phone.
I was on my way to my friend's casino, and of course, guarded, when I tried to say goodbye to my mother.
"Yep, Mom. Chips are down, and I have an ace in the hole."
Cards and numbers are my things. She was the one who taught me to play cards like blackjack and poker, while Dad taught the math and markets. Since making money by counting cards was illegal, I learned to calculate numbers and trading stocks. But I never leave this night gambling game, at least until Yejin came into my life.
"Your wife is missing and you are going to a casino to play cards?! You really are your Dad's son!"
"I am your son, Mom. I said I have an ace in the hole, soon I will have straight flush but you have to help me, keep Dad busy, will you?"
"I get it. What now? What's next?"
"Can you cover for us? We won't see each other for a few days, Mom. But I'll reach you out later. Don't cry again, please. I love you, Mom."
"You can't just keep running, at some point, you have to stop."
"When Dad finally wants to become a father, I will come back home. Home, Mom, not Blue House."
"Good luck, son. Keep Yejin safe."
"I will."
I prepared my necessities and a pair of fresh clothes for Yejin. I dressed in casual clothes, brought caps and glasses to blend in.
To escape from people like PSS agents was tricky, but not impossible. I had noticed there were times where they don't pay attention to me but stand outside the door, like when I was in a kinky bachelor party or playing cards with my regular buddies.
Since I have promised Yejin to quit the first one, I was going to use my poker buddies to blur the situation and escape.
I tricked my agent to take me to a friend's casino where I had prepared my needs. Luckily I was befriended with powerful rich bad boys who won't badmouth each other's sins.
In the casino, I asked the agents to stand by in front of the private chamber, where celebrities were playing. This used to be my weekend habits, and they didn't get suspicious at all. I used to play for hours and get wasted there until the morning when they will come inside and drag me out.
I still need to pull a thing and one name was crossed my mind. I asked the casino owner to invite him in tonight. I knew he would be thrilled to have a rematch with Hyun Bin, but this time not in a club but on a blackjack table.
He has waited for me there with that smug on his face.
"Rematch on blackjack, Hyun Bin? Are you that good? What's the bet?"
"Prince Alastair, thank you for coming. I need three seats on your jet plane to Nice tonight."
"If you beat me, have the jet for yourself. I will ask another to come and get me later."
I smirked and told the card server, "count the jet as the bet."
Of course, I counted the cards and won easily. I left the chips for Alastair, trade them into a car to be borrowed once I land in Nice Côte d'Azur later.
Free from the agents' eyes, I saw a box on the table that a friend has prepared for me. There were three fake passports, two Glocks, cash, and burner phones. I went out through the special exit door and as requested, a black SUV with fake plate numbers.
I drove in the middle of the night to an address Youngjae had given me. It was an old house. It looked neat from outside but strangely quiet. I knocked on the front door.
There was a man opening the door and greeted me with no smile at all.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"Tiger1 for Amethyst1 and Choi Boy."
He opened the door and let me in, the led me inside to a bigger room, like a living room.
There was Choi Youngjae, laying on the couch, bare chest, and some bandages were on his arm and chest.
"You should get another code name, Choi Boy," that man who opened the door said to Youngjae.
"That's why it's called code. Only Tiger1 called me Choi Boy," he snorted.
"I also call you loverboy, by the way," I chuckled.
"Bin. Take a seat. I thought you can't make it here."
"Same as yours, I have my ways. What happened to you?"
"Just some scratch from missed bullets. It's nothing."
"Where is Yejin?"
"She is taking a bath. Oh crap, I haven't found any women clothes for her. She is in that room, there is a closet there, I think I have some old but clean shirt left there." he nudged a door across the couch.
"I have her clothes with me. Who's house is this? Yours? I thought Choi Jaewook lives in a mansion, " I looked around and drawn to some old photographs of a woman and a toddler on the wall.
"It's mom's after my Dad left her."
Oh. Mom. My birth mother. I pulled my lips together, not sure how to react. I paid attention to her features. She looked beautiful and elegant, like my mother who I have known from a child.
The little boy on her arms must be Youngjae. If I do the math right, Youngjae was two years old when she died. I never met my birth mother but I have a mother. On the other side, Youngjae didn't have one until his teenage years when his father remarried a former staff in the National Assembly.
"I'm going to give the clothes to her, " I snapped my self back to the reality and left Youngjae to the room where Yejin was supposed to be there.
I opened the door and heard sound of a shower from the bathroom. I didn't want to scare her so I waited patiently sitting on the bed.
When the sound of water were stopped, not long after that she came out from the bathroom, still wet and wrapped in a small towel.
"Oh my God! Bin!" she almost screamed.
"Baby, it's me, " I approached her.
"God...Bin, I just don't expect anyone will be waiting for me here, " she hugged me.
"Thank God you're okay." I leaned down and kissed her lips passionately.
She moaned at my kisses. I grazed my hand through her sexy curves and for a moment I forgot where we were.
"Oh baby, this is very bad timing," she pulled off.
"I know. Sorry, I can't help it. I think the timing is good, baby. I'm bringing your clothes."
"Thank you. I'm happy that you're here," she smiled.
When Yejin was done, the three of us got in my SUV and I drove them into an area in Incheon where private jets were parked.
"How did you manage to escape from the agents?" Yejin asked me.
"The poker game. I have a bad habit that the agents know that I will get wasted until the morning so they will let me inside the private chamber until the morning. The owner is our friend and he let me use the exit door and lend me this car."
"Our? Oh, Youngjae, you are friends with the owner too?"
"Choi Boy used to be one of us, baby."
"Stop calling me Choi Boy, you spoiled brat."
"Who do you think you are? Who had the 17th birthday bash on a yacht in Miami? I spent mine in a dorm studying Lancelot du Lac for the morning exam."
"Not my fault you're shipped to a private school in London. Maybe if you behave better you will have it on a mega yacht."
"Boys...were you close before? Seriously? Were you both part of that beautiful people?" Yejin asked curiously.
"Not that close, baby. But in that circle, you know everyone and everyone knows you. Choi Youngjae is pretty famous."
"But then why you join the military, Youngjae?" She asked.
"I had a problem with my Dad. Every time he gets mad at me, he said that I'm not his child. Said that my Mom wasn't a good wife so he was hesitant about me as well. I hate it, and one day I chose to left him and my old life."
"Your Dad is a jerk," I said.
"So is yours. Look where we are now, thanks to your Dad," he replied.
"Okay. Enough, gentlemen. Where are we going anyway, Bin? We're not going out of the country with this car, are we?"
"Time to do my part. We'll fly Monaco's prince jet, it's parked in Incheon now," I smiled.
"Monaco prince? Alastair? Didn't you get into a fight with him? That's like a day before I was assigned to you," Yejin hit my shoulder, "how about the passport? Can we use ours? Wouldn't the government detect us then?"
"Got it covered, babe," I pulled out three new passports from my bag.
"Oh my God, Bin. Who are you?"
"Why do you look surprised, baby?"
Yejin just laughed at me.
"The PSS should give me codename Eel1 instead if Tiger1, " I handed Youngjae his new passport.
"Thanks," he mumbled, "What's your plan, Bin?"
"Prince Alastair is supposed to fly back home to Monte Carlo now but actually he is still playing poker in the casino, so he will fly back home late," I explained.
"How do you get his plane? On a bet?" Youngjae asked.
"On a blackjack. I count cards," I smirked.
"I should have known that..." he chuckled.
"Even this car and those fake passports. I cashed my chips into favors. That's why I like to play with those that you called spoiled brats."
I peeked from the rear mirror, Yejin took a glance and smiled at me. Impressed, Mrs. Hyun?
Nice Côte d'Azur Int'l Airport, France.
Alastair kept his promise. a comfortable plane to the nearest airport from Monte Carlo and once we landed, a black Range Rover were stood by, full tank, and ready to go. We wasted no time and drove off from the airport.
Youngjae crushed our cellphones on our way to Incheon and now we were here he activated the new burner phones with local France numbers.
"We have to stick together but we might need this as well," he gave each of us a phone.
I looked at my fake passport and said, "So by now the PSS agents must be realized that I'm not in the casino anymore, but I hope that no one can trace us here that soon."
"Yeah..it should be Yoon Se-ri, Ri Jeong-hyeok, and Gu Seung-joon who flew to Nice," Yejin smiled at her new passport.
"Bin, where are we going?" Youngjae asked.
"London."
"With this car?" Yejin sounded surprised.
"Yep. It's only a day drive through France if we were not being stopped by Interpol. It would take longer through Switzerland but the views are better. Choose, baby."
"France should be the fastest route," Yejin said.
I took the car to the Avenue Auguste Maicon exit, heading to Marseille. I took the route through Antibes because I liked the view there.
"The views are amazing here in Antibes. I wish we can go back here on a family vacation," Yejin said.
I was chuckled at the word family. Youngjae was family too, I wonder how he accepted that fact if he happens to have known it too.
"Aren't you both hungry? How if we have breakfast in Antibes?" Yejin suggested.
"Sure, why not? There are pretty cafes with great breakfast around Antibes." I grinned.
We parked our car and walked through the street of this old town. Yejin looked like a tourist rather than someone who's on the run. She flaunted her beautiful smile and I was carried away with her happy mood.
"Which one has the best breakfast?" She held my arm and leaned closer.
"Chez Fieu," I answered.
"Sweet Caffee has better breakfast choices," Youngjae answered.
Sigh. Were we going to always have different opinions like this? Yejin had to choose one and I thought she will just trying to balance between us.
"Well, I will choose Patisserie Bourdier," she casually said.
"No one answered Patisserie Bourdier," Youngjae protested.
"Trip Advisor did. It ranked better than the two. Let's go!"
I rolled my eyes of her antics. We had breakfast there.
"Too bad we don't have a camera. Even this burner phone doesn't have one," she complained.
"We're fugitives, not tourists, Yejin. We even can't use credit cards here," Youngjae responded to her.
"But this is a rare moment. Well, then I will treasure this moment and keep it in my mind. One day we will have to go back here, with a camera. Promise me!"
I smiled and nodded, so did Youngjae. Yejin was too adorable at this moment.
"This is the route we're taking to London," I showed Youngjae the GPS.
"But we have to prepare for the possibility to spend more hours on the road, change, and take longer routes. Are you fine, Yejin?" Youngjae asked.
"I'm good. I'm glad that Bin is here with us. I should be the one who asks, are you okay, Youngjae? Your wounds.."
"I'm okay, don't worry."
We went back to the car and continued the journey. Yejin was checking on her watch and took out a first aid kit from under the driver seat.
"Youngjae, it's time to change your bandages. Move to the backseat here, I will take care of your wounds."
"We can drop you in any hospital if you want to rest," I suggested, intended to kick him out. I didn't like that Yejin was attentive to him.
"Bin, it's only a small medical treatment. I can do it here, it's more efficient." Yejin disagreed.
Youngjae hopped to the back seat next to Yejin. I peeked through the rear mirror.
"Take off your shirt, please," Yejin asked him.
He took it off, showing his toned but wounded abs and arms. Yejin opened the first aid kit and started to work on the wounds. She was focused on the wounds but honestly, I was worried about the way Youngjae starred at her. He didn't even blink when Yejin dabbed the open wounds but kept starring at her pretty face.
I didn't like it at all.
"Youngjae, you look like you're much better now. Can you use your arm?" I asked.
"Yes, I can."
"Then drive. It's more than 400 kilometers highway so you don't need a navigator. My neck is a bit sore."
"No problem."
I pulled off the car and moved to the back seat. But Yejin also moved to the front with Youngjae.
"Babe? Why did you move to the front?!"
"I'm giving you space to lay down, along with the back seat, Bin. Sore neck caused by tense muscles needs a proper laying down to relax. I can help Youngjae with the map here."
Not a chance, baby.
"But I need a neck massage. Move back here." I patted the seat next to me.
Yejin chuckled then I helped her hop to the back seat. I pointed at my nape to get her attention. She smiled and sat behind me. I kissed her lips then she started her massage on my neck.
"Jealous much, Bin?" she whispered.
I could see Youngjae's sharp glance from the rear mirror. Enjoy the view, brother. Rather than intense, I thought this runaway trip was going to be fun.