My Possessive Secret Lover

Chapter Two: The Fiance

“Your daughter’s too pretty for her own good, sometimes,” Sola sighs, complaining to her uncle.

“I can see that,” Aria’s father says, eyeing her from his seat next to her as they ride to the gala, “Who’s your new friend?” he asks with raised eyebrows.

“I don’t know why you’re all making me feel like I’ve done something wrong,” Aria pouts, “He was just some guy and we were just talking, that’s all,” she mumbles, looking down at her feet.

“Jihyun is never just ‘some guy’. He thrives off of ruining women. He’s incredibly charming and incredibly dangerous and if I never see him near you again, it’ll be too soon,” Sola grimaces in displeasure, eyebrows furrowing worriedly.

“He didn’t seem so bad,” Aria comments, guilt beginning to seep into her chest at the worried look her cousin gives her.

“He never does,” Sola says and this time her tone is soft, understanding, “But he’s the worst kind. And you’re too good, always wanting to see the good in people but he doesn’t have any good in him, cupcake,” she finishes and the childhood nickname makes Aria feel like she’s a child again, coddled by the people around her. Sometimes she forgets that her cousin is eleven years older than her.

When they reach the gala location, they all clamber out of the car and are immediately assaulted by flashing lights. Lucas walks next to Aria, arm outstretched to shield her from the people that surround them as their fathers lead both Sola and Aria up the carpet.

Her father and uncle being famous CEOs of the most successful conglomerates in the country would obviously bring the press and Aria chastises herself for not anticipating the sheer force of people that would be there.

She can hear the questions being thrown at her, a majority of them having to do with Cedric and why they hadn’t arrived together. The two have been featured in gossip columns for years, their friendship always under analysis with Cedric also being from a prestigious family.

“Ignore them,” Sola says calmly, blocking off the people trying to jab microphones at them.

When they finally make it into the building, Aria grabs a glass of champagne for both her and Sola, downing hers in one go.

“Easy there,” a voice calls out and when Aria opens her eyes she makes out Cedric’s familiar gait as he walks towards them with a small smile on his face.

She wants to hide in his chest, the events of today taking their toll. Having been his best friend for almost ten years, she thinks she’s earned the right to exploit his height as her own personal shield so she gives him the saddest expression she can muster, lips jutting out into a small, unhappy pout.

“Aw, baby,” Cedric coos, reaching his arms out and encircling her within them.

“Aria’s had to fend off persistent men today,” Sola chuckles, “She’s probably emotionally drained.”

“What happened?” he laughs, stroking her hair soothingly.

“It was horrible,” she mumbles into his chest, “he looks like Prince Eric and he smells like apples and cinnamon but apparently he’s Satan incarnate. So not too far off my usual type then,” she complains.

Sola notices Cedric tense when Aria whines, an almost sad look passes on his face before he school’s his expression into an amused smile, “You’ll have to tell me what this Prince Eric look-alike did to make you so upset.”

They all make their way towards their tables, save for their fathers who found the open bar, drinks already in hand and slowly piling up atop the counter. Sola assumed they’d be fine with the bodyguards surrounding them, so she lets them know where they are and follows her cousin and pretend fiancé to their table.

The rest of the evening passed by blearily, nothing much occurring save for people coming up to their table wanting to congratulate Aria for the donations her family had made.

“How much begging did you have to do to get your dad to sponsor this whole thing?” Cedric asks curiously.

“He didn’t sponsor it, I did,” she tells him with a shrug, “I just wrote the cheque under his name,” she tells him. Aria glances at her fiancé, secretly pleased with the impressed expression on his face.

“Look at you,” he chuckles, “my fiancée’s more successful than me and I’m the son of a CEO.”

“Always the tone of surprise,” she grins playfully, making him chuckle.

The event carries on throughout the night, and by the time they’d left it was well past after midnight.

____

Jihyun, meanwhile, had stomped off to the shooting range in frustration after Soran had essentially scolded him for flirting with the pretty mafia’s daughter. He didn’t see what the big deal was anyway, it’s not like she’d discouraged him in any way. In fact, Jihyun thought she’d been rather accommodating, becoming a flustered mess whenever he so much as looked her way.

The fact that she’d been supposedly engaged to the son of a rival syndicate had only made her reactions all the more enticing.

Jihyun had met her fiancé once, when he’d been assigned to protect Jae while completing a deal with the family. He’d been boring and average at best, leaving no lasting impression on Jihyun other than that he’d come from big, old money.

His brother’s husband finds him shooting rounds into the dummies mechanically, Jihyun’s thoughts far away.

“The guys are ready to set out,” Jin says once Jihyun has noticed him. Jin gives him a soft smile, eyes sympathetic and Jihyun’s anger eases almost instantly. The older male offers to help him pack up, the large sweater he adorns, that Jihyun knows belongs to Jae, catching against Jin’s fingers and making the task impossible.

Jihyun scoffs, taking the casing from Jin’s hands as he packs up the guns and bullets, leaving the dummies for someone else to take care of. He follows the older man wordlessly, still sulking after Soran’s scolding.

“Soran told me what happened,” Jin commented offhandedly. When Jihyun didn’t respond he carried on, “I know you like to toy with things you’re not supposed to and you enjoy crossing lines you’re told not to. But, be careful with this one. This situation is delicate. The Morrigans and Lancasters have always held close alliances and Jae’s only started dealing with them. Anything and everything could go wrong if we’re not careful. And I’m not sure Jae has the power to make it go away this time.”

“I’m not an i***t,” Jihyun scoffs, “I know my boundaries.”

“Yes, but you never keep to them,” Jin sighs, “Remember that woman from one of the earlier drug cartels? The boss’s wife? We had to take out most of their men because he caught you sneaking out of the window.”

“It’s not my fault his wife was a compulsive cheater,” Jihyun shrugged, smirking at the memory.

“You’re not twenty-one anymore, Jihyun,” Jin chastised, “You’re not a rookie and you can’t expect Jae to be cleaning up after your escapades.”

“Urgh, fine,” Jihyun sighs, “I’ll be careful. I only flirted with the girl,” he grumbles as they make their way from the elaborate backyard and through the manor up to the third floor, into Jae’s study.

When they’d reached the room, they could hear quiet murmuring coming from inside.

“We have to be careful because they’re expecting us,” he hears a deep voice say as they walk in.

He’d already been briefed with the final plan, Jae coming to him regularly with ideas. It was a simple takeout, with only three possible targets but Jihyun didn’t trust the information they’d received.

“Hey,” Jae greets as they walk in, tall frame hunched over a map and a hand running through the newly dyed silver locks Jin had coerced him into trying, “heard you’re starting things with Morgan’s daughter. Be careful, little bro. He’s scary enough that I don’t think I could stop him from shooting you if he wanted to,” he grinned.

“I’m more worried about the cousin,” Jihyun chuckled, “Sola doesn’t seem to like me very much.”

“You did try to sleep with her the first night you guys met,” Jae recalls with a raised brow.

“And you were basically drooling over her cousin. Knowing how close the two are, you can’t blame the girl for wanting to shoot the creep mentally undressing someone she’s supposed to protect,” Soran retaliates.

“Spoiled sports,” Jihyun huffs as he strolls over to the armory behind Jae’s favourite painting, picking his favourite rifle and silencer from off the rack.

“The bodyguard’s really cute,” Ian adds, “don’t mess things up for me just because you have no impulse control.”

“I’m pretty sure her bodyguard wants to shoot you more than he wants to f**k you,” Jihyun scoffs, his friend frowning unhappily.

“How do you all know so much?” Jae asks, staring at the two with narrowed eyes.

“Jin dug up their records before they arrived and we went snooping,” Jihyun grinned. He made a swift duck as Jin tried to swat his head.

“You two are such brats, I swear. One day I’ll disown you both,” he huffs in frustration, hands placed firmly on the sides of his hips as he glares at them.

“You’d never,” Ian smirks cheekily, “you’d miss our loudness.”

“Nick’s loud enough for the both of you,” Jin scoffs in retaliation.

“Hey,” Nick pouts from where he stands, contemplating between two pistols, “I’m loud but I have morals. Those two don’t, dogs the both of them.”

“Ian’s less houndish than Jihyun, though,” Jin grins, openly laughing when Jihyun sends him a scathing look.

“Enough about my man-w***e baby brother,” Jae sighs fondly, “You guys are gonna be late if you bicker even more.”

“Take it to the car, kids,” Soran says and even though he’s not much older than them, they all pile out of the room like ill-mannered children. He motions for them to follow him. Nick, Ian and Jihyun playfully shoving at each other as they do; Jin and Jae following behind with fond smiles.

“Try not to bleed out this time,” Jae calls out after them. When Jihyun turns to send him a reassuring wink, he spots Jin grasping Jae’s palm, rubbing soothing circles to calm him down.

Jin had whispered something to his older brother but Jihyun was already far enough that he couldn’t catch it. A pang of longing shot through him for an moment as he stared at their intimacy but it doesn’t take more than a second for him to shake those thoughts away, slinging the rifle over his shoulder as he prepares himself for their takeout.

When they’d neared the area they’d all separated, Soran and Ian going through the back entrance of the building while Jihyun scouted them from his position in the building next to their targets.

“They’re on the 8th floor, in the room Jae said they’d be in,” Nick said through the communication piece in his ear, hacking into their surveillance systems from the car a street away.

“It’s clear,” Jihyun added, “You guys can go in.”

Ian and Soran had stormed in, guns blazing and the mission had been carried out effortlessly. Until Jihyun had spotted another van pull up to the entrance and five men clamber out. He sighed to himself, hating that he’d been right about their information being wrong.

He’d managed to shoot three of them from his position, watching their bodies fall to the floor satisfactorily before warning Ian and Soran of the extra targets. He’s started packing away his rifle when a blow struck him from behind, his vision going black for a second.

When he turned around, two men stood behind him, knives in hand as they glared down. He cursed, clutching at the back of his head and feeling a warm, wet stickiness on his fingers, probably blood, he assumes.

“f*****g two faced pansies. I knew they’d give us fake info,” he sighs.

He doesn’t give them time to react, springing into action and knocking them out swiftly. He takes the knife from one, slitting that one’s throat before turning and plunging the knife into the one keeled over. Blood splattered onto his jacket and he sighs, knowing Jin would give him an earful about ruining expensive suits when he got home.

When he’d taken care of the both of them, he’d informed Nick about the two extras and waited until the cleaning crew had shown up before making his way towards the car.

“You okay?” he asked worriedly when he sees Jihyun, eyeing him for any injuries.

“Just my head,” Jihyun sighs, “I think I’ll be fine.” He tossed his ruined jacket into the van carelessly as he rested his head against the seat and concentrated on breathing.

“Want to go back?” Nick asks, looking at him through the rearview mirror.

Jihyun thought for a moment and decided that he’d need to be significantly less sober to take on the lecture Jae was sure to give him about being aware of his surroundings. “No,” he replied, “Let’s go out,” he offers.

“to Tempest?” Nick asks and Jihyun nods, closing his eyes and leaning against the seat’s headrest.

“Jihyun,” Soran warns as he shoots him a glare from the seat at the far end.

“Calm down,” Jihyun sighed, “I just need to blow off some steam. Come with us. The dancers there are really accommodating,” he gives Soran a large grin, more predatory than inviting and Soran rolls his eyes but acquiesces.

Soran patches Jihyun’s wound as best he can as they drive, “You should probably still get it checked out,” he tells him, “You might have a concussion.”

“I’ve had worse things happen to me, I’ll be fine,” Jihyun scoffs, ignoring the worried look Soran sends him.

They reach the club after a few minutes of Nick’s maniacal driving. It’s a little after 1AM but the line outside the club still runs around the building. They all make their way to the entrance of the club, the guard noticing them immediately and ushering them in with a polite greeting.

Loud music pulses through the speakers, deep and sensual as the dancers sway along to the beat atop the high rising stages spread throughout the first floor. The lights are dimmed to a soft red the smoke throughout the floor muting everything around them into a soft haze.

“I’ll get us some drinks,” Nick offers as he makes his way towards the bar at the far end of the club.

Jihyun nods, making his way down the stairs and into the throng of people on the makeshift dance floor as he leads them to their usual spot. Their group maneuvers through the crowd, Ian getting pulled into the mass of people by a pretty blonde haired woman. Soran and Jihyun leave him be, strolling into the VIP section where a littler of booths surround the private dancers.

Angel, one of the club’s more popular dancers, spots Jihyun and winks as she shimmies her hips. She gives him a little wave of her fingers and he returns the greeting with a pleased smirk.

Turning away, he and Soran slide into the booth towards the far end and a little while later Nick joins them with a tray of drinks.

They converse amongst themselves for a few minutes, downing shot after shot until Jihyun feels the familiarity of a pleasant buzz making his head fuzzy. Angel makes her way over to their table once her performance is over, still scantily clad in a sparkling bikini set.

She greets the men with a charming smile, seating herself on Jihyun’s lap and burrowing into him under the pretense of leeching his warmth.

At one point into the night, her lips run across his neck, nipping and kissing the skin softly as she rolls herself over his thigh. Jihyun lets her have her way with him for a while, until he grows impatient and tugs her into one of the restrooms.

He saunters out the bathroom after more than an hour with Angel slung under his arm, sporting the buttoned up suit coat he’d been wearing.

His friends give them both questioning glances before Angel chimes in with a giggle, “Asshole ripped my top open so now I have to wear this,” a light blush makes its way up her cheeks as she rolls her eyes in an attempt to seem annoyed.

“I don’t think what you had on before could have been counted as a top,” Jihyun jokes and chuckles when she slaps his arm in mock offense.

She bids them goodbye before retiring for the night, Jihyun’s coat still slung over her shoulders.

“Had fun?” Soran asks Jihyun with a raise of his brows.

Jihyun doesn’t reply, simply tilts the rest of his drink back with a sly grin.

They leave the club after a while, making a detour into the city to find an open restaurant when Nick complains that he’s craving MacDonalds.

“It’s almost four in the morning, why can’t we just go home?” Soran snaps irritably.

“I want nuggets,” Nick pouts into Soran’s shoulders, just a little bit more than tipsy.

When they finally find one, Nick gives a cry of victory, “Yes,” Nick sighs, “I need food in me right now.”

They’re about the exit the car when Jihyun spots a familiar head of black hair, his eyes widening as he stares at the vehicle in front of them.

He watches as Aria, Sola, Lucas and another man make their way out of the car and into the fast food joint; Aria tugging one of the male’s hands as he laughed down at her affectionately.

“No f*****g way,” Ian’s eyes widen in surprise, sobering up almost instantly, “Isn’t that Morgan’s daughter? What’re they doing here?”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you planned this,” Soran sighs tiredly as he gives Jihyun a once over, who looks equally as shocked as Ian.

“Which is the one Jihyun kept harassing?” Nick asks curiously.

“The short one,” Ian replies.

“She’s cute,” Nick quips and that earns him an elbow to the ribs, courtesy of Soran.

Soran orders them to wait for fifteen minutes before following the group into the building, eyeing Jihyun suspiciously.

When they enter the resturant, Lucas is the first person to spot them, gaze narrowing suspiciously as he watches them walk in. Jihyun chuckles, noticing the defeated look Sola sends them before tapping Aria on the shoulder and pointing towards them.

She’d been in the process of eating a fry and Jihyun’s smirk grows wider as she turns to him, hand midway to her mouth and eyes blown wide in surprise.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he greets as he reaches their table.

“Who’re you?” the man sitting next to Aria asks warily and Jihyun assumes this is Cedric Lancaster.

“Uh, this Jihyun Park,” Jihyun hears Aria mumble to her companion.

“The Prince Eric guy?” Cedric asks her with raised eyebrows and Aria’s eyes widen in shock for a second before they narrow in a harsh glare. She nudges her fiance’s side, muttering for him to be quiet.

“Prince Eric?” Jihyun asks with a quirked eyebrow, eyes glinting mischievously, and chuckles as Aria flails, embarrassed about being caught.

“I see,” Cedric says, eyeing him warily before he looks down at the girl next to him, rubbing her shoulder soothingly.

“What do you want?” Ian asks from where he’s standing at the counter interrupting them to take Jihyun’s order.

“Um,” Jihyun hummed, not prepared for anything that didn’t have alcohol in it.

“You look like hell,” Aria commented, “You should have an ice-cream.”

“I’m not five,” Jihyun scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“Don’t be such a guy. Drop the aggressive masculinity and order a McFlurry. You’ll thank me later,” she counters with a playful smirk.

Jihyun quirks his eyebrows at her newfound confidence but acquiesces, nodding his head towards her as he looked to Ian. Receiving the message, his friend nodded once, sending Jihyun a teasing smirk before turning back to the lady at the counter with a charming smile.

Jihyun takes a seat opposite Aria, making himself at home as he leaned onto the table towards her.

“So why are you guys in MacDonald’s?” he asks, stealing one of her chips and making a show of chomping into it playfully, eyes never leaving hers.

“Gala food is both really expensive and really unfulfilling. I needed a cheeseburger,” she shrugs, looking slightly affronted at the chip in Jihyun’s hand.

“You’re obviously living your life wrong if you’d choose a cheeseburger over their Spicy Chicken burger,” Jimin smirked.

“That’s what I’ve been telling her,” Cedric chimes in and Jihyun has to stop himself from kicking the man in the shin.

“If I eat that, I’d be too full for ice-cream. And then what’s the point of coming to MacDonald’s if you can’t have ice-cream,” she huffs, throwing her hands in the air childishly for added effect. Jihyun chuckles, finding her antics rather endearing albeit a bit immature.

“I swear you’re five,” Lucas says from the other end of the table, gaze unimpressed as he stares at her.

“I relate to you,” Nick adds, sharing an empathetic look with Aria.

“That’s Nick,” Jihyun introduces, “he’s a man-child.”

“And I can still take a punch better than you, pretty boy,” Nick grinned, his nose scrunching endearingly.

Ian arrives with their orders a few minutes later, setting down the ice-cream in front of Jihyun. Aria looks at him expectantly, a little hopeful. Jihyun sighs, taking a spoonful before closing his eyes appreciatively. It had been so long since he’d had ice-cream and he’d forgotten how much he enjoyed it.

At first the atmosphere is tense, more than a little awkward with how on edge everyone seemed to be. Ian is the first to make conversation, his easy smile doing the job and relaxing most of them. Lucas still remains on edge, silently glancing towards Sola every time Jihyun so much as glances Aria’s way.

She’s wary at first, Jihyun notices, effectively ignoring him in favour of speaking to everyone as a group, eyes avoiding looking directly at him. He doesn’t know what it is, she’d been more than accommodating earlier so he suspects Sola’s fed her cousin horror stories about him.

It doesn’t help that Cedric has a hand loosely interlaced with Aria’s, placed on the table as a silent declaration: she was his. Jihyun ignores it as best he can but his mood only sours further, until Cedric gets up to answer a phone call and announces that he has to leave.

Jihyun practically beams as he watches Cedric stand to leave, the casual peck he shares with Aria hardly deterring him.

He’d seen the distressed look Aria had sent her fiancé, almost looking as though she wanted to follow him out, so he chimes in before she can, “Would you like an ice-cream?” he asks, hoping to draw her attention back to him.

He’d found the look of indecision on her face amusing as she contemplated the pros and cons of Jihyun buying her an ice-cream. She’d conceded and he’d helped her stand as they made their way towards the counter. He shifts until his body provides a shield between her and the rest of her companions at the table, not wanting the distressed looks on Sola or Lucas’s face to deter her.

Aria almost trips in her heels, Jihyun’s arms shooting out to catch her just in time. He kept a hand at the small of her back just in case.

When she’d ordered a strawberry sundae, Jihyun sent her a questioning look, “who orders strawberry when there’s chocolate?”

“I like strawberries,” Aria shrugs. Jihyun’s eyebrows raised further so she adds, “look, I’m not here to be judged for my opinions on ice-cream flavours.”

“Fine,” Jihyun chuckled, spotting her pout a little. He ordered them both strawberry sundaes, absentmindedly playing with her hair as they waited for their orders to arrive.

“I thought you didn’t like ice-cream,” Aria giggled and Jihyun feels a rush of satisfaction at how relaxed she’s become again.

“And I thought you were shy,” Jimin countered, “where’s this newfound confidence coming from?”

“Alcohol,” Aria answers cheerily, “I’m tipsy enough not to internally flail every time you smile.”

“Is my smile that enticing?” he smirks, smug at that revelation.

“No, it’s disarming. One moment it’s cocky and obnoxious, like right now, and the next it’s kind of sweet,” she shrugs, only registering what she’s saying a moment too late. She ducks her head in embarrassment, “I’m going to stop talking now.”

Jihyun let her be, chuckling to himself. When they’d received their ice-creams, he pays and carried them over to the table, helping Aria into her seat before sitting down himself. He ignores the looks he receives from both Ian and Nick, certain they’ll have their fun teasing him on the drive home.

He turns to Aria, only to find that she’s already attacked her ice-cream, happily spooning it into her mouth delicately. He chuckles when she’d gotten ice-cream messed over the side of her mouth.

“So messy,” he chastised playfully, picking up a napkin and dabbing at it. He sees Ian shoot him an amused grin but chooses to ignore it.

“Thanks,” Aria mumbles, slowly lowering her spoon and glancing down at her ice-cream shyly.

“Don’t stop eating,” Jihyun adds, “I think it’s cute that you’re so passionate about strawberry sundaes.”

Aria curls into herself again, and Jihyun thinks he’s said something wrong before he spots the grin on her face. He’d enjoyed the satisfaction of making her smile for only a few seconds before her smile drops.

“Is that blood on your sleeve?” she asks, glancing at his shirt. Jimin pulled back his arm, silently cursing as he hides his sleeve under the table. He’d completely forgotten about their messy job earlier, and he still adorns the loose white button-up he’d sported when taking out those men.

At the mention of blood, all eyes are on them, and he catches the wary glance Lucas and Sola share. He chastises himself for being so careless, mentally cursing when Sola stands to leave and Aria follows.

“We should get going,” Sola says. Jihyun wanted to protest, to keep her there for a few more minutes. He grabbed her hand as they left, glancing up at her with wary eyes.

“We should have ice-cream again,” he says just for something to say.

“Um,” she says unsurely, eyes flitting to the hand with the blood stain hidden under the table.

“So I have an excuse to order one for myself,” he grins teasingly.

Her lips c**k into a half smile at that and she nods shyly. Jihyun smile back, his smile falling as they left the building.

“Better luck next time,” Ian sighs, patting Jimin’s shoulder. They wait for a few minutes, the table silent as Jihyun sulks.

“I’ve never seen Jihyun so gentlemanly,” Nick teases, nudging Jihyun’s side with his elbow.

“He’s upped his game,” Ian jokes, “This one’s a hard one. Especially with a fiancé like that Cedric guy.”

“He’s no threat,” Jihyun scoffs angrily, “Not if he can leave his fiancée alone with a man who’s obviously attracted to her.”

“Not everyone has trust issues like you,” Soran rolls his eyes, “And she wasn’t alone. She was with two people who hate your guts. You’ll be lucky if they ever let you near her again.”

Jihyun sends their enforcer a scathing glare, abruptly standing and storming out of the shop. He strides over to their SUV, pulling out a cigarette and attempting to calm himself as he waits for the rest of his members.