My Possessive Secret Lover

Chapter Three: The Animal Handler

The next few days passed by monotonously for Jihyun, Nick working on finding out who’d given them false information on their heist last Sunday night. He had accompanied Soran on a trip to their usual information brokers, none of whom seemed to know anything about the gang they’d targeted, even after a good roughening up.

It was Wednesday now and a bored Jihyun lounges against the couch near Jin’s feet, letting his head fall against the cushion.

“Give me something to do,” he whines, prodding Jin’s leg with his finger.

“Go bake cupcakes,” Jin said absentmindedly, typing away on the laptop that rested on his lap.

Jihyun pouted, finding Jin to be of no use. His frown lasts all of five seconds before he staggers into action, “I’m going to find Nick.”

He heaves himself off of the floor and strolled to Nick and Ian’s shared room. When he entered it, he found Nick sat at his desk, lazily tapping away at his keyboard.

“What are you up to?” Jihyun asks casually, looking over Nick’s shoulder towards the screen.

“Solitaire,” the younger replied monotonously, “Nothing new’s coming in through the system and I’m so bored,” he slurs out in a petulant whine.

Jihyun chuckles at the younger man, ruffling his hair, “I may have a job for you,” he ignores the voice that sounds oddly like Soran, telling him this is a bad idea.

Two hours later, both Jihyun and Nick find themselves pulling up to an animal rehabilitation centre a few kilometers outside the city. They’d driven for more than an hour and a half, had almost missed the turn off entirely with how secluded the area was, surrounded by a thicket of forestry.

“You do realize you’re basically stalking this girl, right?” Nick comments in a playful tone as they get out of the car, a brow raised questioningly.

“Finding out where she works is hardly stalking her,” Jihyun shrugged nonchalantly.

“Okay. But if she calls the police, I’m telling her you held a gun to my head and forced me to do it,” Nick replies, handing lifting in the air as he shrugs.

They set off to the entrance, Jihyun admiring the sculptures lining the walls. They were small and plain, shaped in a variety of animals, from lions to elephants. When they reached the front desk, the receptionist looks at them warily, and Jihyun had only then noted that they were both in expensive looking tailored suits, hardly appropriate attire for an animal visit. He silently curses before tugging at the lapels of his coat and running a hand through his hair, striding up to the receptionist with a casual smirk.

“Can I help you?” she asked hesitantly.

“We’re here to see Aria,” Jihyun smiles at her, “we’re old friends.”

“Um, she’s currently giving a tour of the enclosures but she’ll be out in an hour,” the receptionist explains.

“Can we join the tour?” Jihyun asked.

“Yes, of course. It’s only just started. It’ll be one-hundred for each of you,” he pays the receptionist, rolling his eyes at Nick’s obvious excitement.

“Do you think they have lions here?” Nick asks, big grin making him look like a child. And suddenly Jihyun remembers that he’s only a little older than a child, twenty-one since last September. Jihyun ruffles the younger’s hair playfully, grinning when Nick protests half-heartedly before ducking out of the way.

“They do,” the receptionist smiles as she ushers them through the gates. They walked a few ways into the reserve, Jihyun curiously peering into the enclosures.

A variety of smaller animals were littered about, from snakes and crocodiles to birds and pigs. Jihyun looked up from one of the crocodile enclosures when he’d heard murmuring and found a small group of people huddled around something. He pushed his way into the crowd to find Aria standing in the middle of the makeshift circle, a large albino python slung around her neck.

“This is Lala,” he heard her explain, “She’s a two year old albino python. We rescued her from a snake park where they were underfeeding the animals to cut back on costs. Lala likes cuddles and burrowing herself in blankets.”

Jihyun watched as the snake coiled itself around her small figure, its head coming to rest in the crook of her neck.

“Are all the animals here rescued?” a boy in the crowd asks.

“Yep. We only deal with abused or under-cared for animals. We try to rehabilitate the wild ones so that we can release them but those that we can’t, we keep in enclosures here,” Aria explained.

“Do you handle them all yourself?” Jihyun asks, maneuvering himself to the front of the group so that she could see him, a playful grin on his face.

She looks at him for a few seconds, taken aback by Jihyun’s presence. Her eyes flit uneasily between him and Nick, who comes to stand just behind him, watching the snake with rapt attention.

“Uh, we try not to handle the animals too much but some of them were raised through a lot of human interaction and sometimes we have to handle them to take care of them properly. Lala’s one of those animals,” she explains a few seconds later, stroking the snake’s head and dropping a soft kiss onto its nose when it picks it head up curiously.

The tour carries on until they finally reach the last enclosure where an old male lion slept.

“This is Scar. He was rescued from a circus,” Aria gestured to the black-maned lion.

“Why Scar?” Nick snorted.

“Because he looks like a Scar and I’m fond of the Lion King,” she shrugs with a playful grin.

Jihyun snorts at her answer, winking at her when she looked towards him. She drops her head, hiding behind a thick black veil of her own hair as she turned to face the lion again. She stuck her hand into the cage and Jihyun’s eyes widened in shock as the lion heaved itself onto its legs and strolled over to her outstretched hand, nuzzling against it.

“Scar doesn’t like many people, but he’s a friendly enough lion if you give him the chance,” Aria mutters, pecking the lion’s nose through the fence.

“Well, that’s the end of the tour,” she beams at the guests, “you can make your way over to the restaurant if you’d like. We have a gift shop next to it, all proceeds go towards taking care of the animals if you’d like to help out.”

She smiled at the group as they bustled away, thanking her for the tour. Jihyun and Nick stood towards the back, waiting for the last of the people to leave.

“What are you two doing here?” She asks once the last stragglers have gone, eying the both of them.

“Well, I came to see some endangered bats. I’m a little disappointed,” Jihyun fakes a pout, lips pulling into a little frown and he knows this look makes women fall at his feet.

“She sleeps during the day and I don’t like to wake her up for tours,” Aria shrugs, turning away and strolling over to the lion enclosure, completely nonplussed.

“Guess we’ll just have to stick around till night then,” Jihyun shrugs, hardly deterred.

Aria huffs, turning her attention back to the lion. Jihyun chuckles to himself and gestures silently to Nick, telling him to go to the restaurant. The brunet rolls his eyes but complies, giving Jihyun an encouraging pat on the back before turning and following the last few people through the doors to the quaint looking restaurant situated off to the side.

“So tell me more about this place?” Jihyun says as he nears Aria.

She turns around, thrown at his proximity. He was close enough that he could smell hints of cinnamon coming from her, wandering whether that was her shampoo.

“Um,” she replies, taking a step back from him, only to end up against the fence of the lion enclosure. He raised his hand casually, placing it against the cage above her head and essentially trapping her there. He c****d an eyebrow, smiling down at her as he waited for her to speak.

“So, it’s essentially a rescue and rehabilitation centre for wild animals,” Aria attempts and Jihyun smirked at the shake in her voice.

She rambles on about the purpose of the reserve and what they did, Jihyun paying little attention to what she was actually saying. Behind her, he could see the lion bristle, staring him down as he pushed closer to the uneasy girl. She’d attempted to take another step back, only to lose her footing, her feet sliding against the gravel.

Jihyun catches her in time, grabbing her waist and pulling her to him. Her eyes were blown wide, in both shock and embarrassment, and he chuckles down at her.

The lion growls a warning, already on his feet.

“I don’t think your lion likes me,” Jihyun comments as he pulled away from her, letting her stand straight again.

“Scar’s a good judge of character,” she chuckled, running a hand against her neck in an attempt to calm herself.

“That’s mean,” Jihyun sends her a mock pout, “I’m a nice person.”

“You’re part of an underground weapons trade syndicate,” she chuckles lowly, “Mafia.”

“Who even says mafia,” Jihyun rolls his eyes, “you make it sound like we’re in some bad gangster movie. And your cousin’s in the mafia too but you seem quite fond of her.”

“Unlike Scar, I am a very bad judge of character. And besides, Sola’s a really nice person.”

“Uh huh,” Jihyun laughs, smiling down at her, “can we go inside? Your lion’s making me uncomfortable. He looks like he wants to eat me.”

“Scar’s very fond of feet. Be careful or he’ll eat yours,” Aria jokes.

Jihyun escorts her back to the restaurant, hands in his pockets as he watches her walk a little in front of him. She’s wearing what he assumes to be an employee’s uniform, plain black shirt and pants, and Jihyun wondered why she’d even bothered when her father could probably buy out the reserve anyway. He wanted to ask but held his tongue, intuition telling him that she’d be the type to get offended at the question.

When they made their way inside, he spots Nick sitting alone at a table near the back, shoveling a burger into his mouth. Another plate was set across from him, also adorned with a burger, and Jihyun made his way towards the table. He’d grabbed Aria’s before she tries to escape, throwing a “Come have lunch with us,” over his shoulder as he towed her along with him. He pulls over a chair from one of the other tables, gesturing for her to sit in it.

“I can’t have lunch, I’ve already had my lunch break,” she protests, trying to walk away.

“I’ll take care of it, just sit down,” Jihyun counters, tugging on her arm lightly. She huffs, falling into the chair with a frustrated sigh. He slides her chair in for her before making his way over to the counter.

“Aria’s taking a break,” he says to the cashier, getting out his wallet and throwing a few hundreds onto the desk, “Also, I’d like three chocolate milkshakes.”

When he strolls back to the table, tray of milkshakes in hand, Jihyun notes the annoyed expression on her face. He set their milkshakes down, sliding one over to her.

“What?” he asked, feeling her glare intensify.

“You can’t just bribe my coworkers,” she snaps angrily.

“I just did though,” Jihyun grins, his smile cocky as he sips the milkshake, “If it makes you feel any better, I bought you a chocolate milkshake as a peace offering because I knew you’d be mad.”

She folds her arms and continues to glare at him, not acknowledging anything he’d said. When he shrugged and turned to his meal, she stood up to leave.

“Wait, please,” he says quickly, grabbing her hand as she made to leave, “I’m sorry. I’m used to doing these kinds of things and having no one disagree. If you’re that upset, I’ll go take back the money.”

“Good. Go take it back and let me get to work,” she huffs.

“I’ll take it back if you tell me what time you finish work,” he grins, “So you can show me the bat,” he added when she’d shot him a deadpan look.

She sighs, staring up at the ceiling for a moment, seemingly contemplating something before turning back to him again, “I finish at six.”

“Great,” Jihyun grinned. She’d tows him to the counter and makes him take back the bribe, Jihyun smiling sheepishly at the cashier. She’d then left him there, strolling into another one of the enclosures.

“6 o’clock is three hours away,” Nick comments when Jihyun returns, “What exactly do you plan on doing for three hours?”

The younger rolls his eyes when Jihyun shrugs distractedly, watching the little black-haired woman walk away.

They’d wandered around the reserve for a while, Nick wanting to see the other animals. At around 4:30 Jihyun begins to grow bored of following Nick around so he sets off in another direction, in search of Aria.

He finds her sitting on the floor near an open enclosure; her head leaned against the stone, her hands gesturing wildly as she speaks.

“I’m serious Cash Money, he’s so pretty and it’s such a problem because you know how weak I am for pretty things. But he’s really bad, probably a really horrible person, has probably killed people, will probably kill people and I don’t know what to do about it,” he heard her say as he neared her, “I wish he’d just leave me alone, I feel so guilty every time he’s around and I get butterflies.”

“Is that…are you speaking to that tortoise?” he asked skeptically, peering into the enclosure where he spotted a small tortoise trotting about and pointing to it with a raised brow.

She shoots up like a bullet, eyes blown wide, “What are you doing here?”

“Got bored,” Jihyun shrugs, “So you named the tortoise Cash Money?” he asked amusedly.

“How much did you hear?” she asked warily, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Nothing at all,” Jihyun shrugs, jaw clenching at the knowing smile threatening to break free. She heaves a sigh of relief, visibly deflating when he adds, “So who’s this pretty boy you’re so conflicted about? Do I know him?”

She stares up at him in shock, her mouth hanging open slightly as a look of mortification slowly makes its way across her face. He simply grins and she buries her face in the palm of her hands, groaning loudly.

“I’m just going to die now,” she mumbles, “maybe they can feed me to Scar.”

“It’s okay,” Jihyun chuckles, “I’m flattered that you think I’m pretty.”

Aria continues to hide behind her hands and eventually Jihyun grows tired of her shyness, scooping her up off of the floor and setting her down on her feet as he pries her fingers away from her face, “You’re being really rude, not introducing me to Cash Money,” he says, his eyebrows scrunching seriously as he c***s his head towards the enclosure.

She chuckles, smiling at him gratefully for changing the subject before turning to the tortoise, “Cash Money, this is Jihyun. He’s the friend of the really pretty guy with the cute rectangular smile.”

Jihyun stared at her in confusion for second before realization dawns. He narrows his eyes at her, annoyance beginning to set in when he realizes that she’s implying that Ian’s the one she’d been talking about, not him.

Aria, noticing his expression, giggles and sends him a smug smile, before nudging him playfully, “I’m kidding.”

“I’ll have you know, that I’m much prettier than Ian,” Jihyun huffs, lips tugging into a petulant pout.

“No don’t pout,” Aria chuckles, “You look so sad when you pout. I’m sorry, of course you’re prettier.”

Jihyun grins triumphantly, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the tortoise enclosure, “Show me around.”

Aria takes him around the reptilian section, stopping at various animals and formally introducing them to him in a cheesy announcer voice that has him stifling giggles. He entertained her antics, albeit secretly enjoying himself, too. When they reached the exit, she turned to him with a bright smile.

“I have to feed Ellie, but after that I can leave,” she explains.

“Who’s Ellie?” he asks curiously.

“Our baby elephant,” her smile grows wider, a fond glinting in her eyes as they seem to melt.

At the mention of a baby elephant, Jihyun softens, always having had a weakness for them, “Can I come, too?” he asks hopefully.

“Of course,” she grins and this time she grabs his hand and tows him through an inside hallway that leads out to a private section of the reserve, where she leads him to another enclosure, this one much bigger than the rest and decorated with an assortment of trees and bushes.

“Her mother was killed by poachers three months ago and she’s been here ever since,” Aria says softly as they neared the enclosure. Sitting at the far end was Ellie, lounging under the setting sun.

“How old is she?” Jihyun asked as he watches Aria ready a milk bottle.

“Seven weeks,” she sighs sadly, eyes drooping as she gazes at the animal. When they enter the enclosure, Jihyun notices how ruffled and bruised the elephant looked, her ears sporting cuts and holes here and there. He’s instantly reminded of his mother, of their trips to elephant parks when he was younger and he feels an unpleasant tug of emotions stir in his gut. He tries to shake the feeling away, gaze zeroed in on the two in from of him as he watches the animal wobble to her feet and give a happy toot as Aria nears her.

“Hey, baby,” she coos, crouched down and letting the elephant nuzzle into her for a few minutes before she starts to feed her. Jihyun watches them with a soft smile, hands in his pockets.

“Would you like to feed her?” Aria asks, glancing at him.

“Yeah,” Jihyun beams, walking closer and crouching down. The elephant starts, pulling away slightly as he nears them.

“It’s okay, he won’t hurt you,” Aria hushes it, stroking its trunk soothingly. She grabs his hand and places it on the elephant’s trunk, encouraging him to do the same. He smiles as the elephant gave a soft cry, seeming to enjoy the attention.

When Ellie had grown used to him, Aria replaces her own hand with his on the bottle and allows him to feed her. He continues to stroke Ellie’s trunk until she’d finished the entire bottle.

“My mother used to love elephants,” he begins, not really knowing why he’d started speaking in the first place, “We used to go to elephant parks all the time. I used to love feeding them as a kid.”

His tone stirs something within Aria and she gazes at the expression on his face, soft and nostalgic, with a curious expression. His eyes are tugged down into a sad droop but his lips are turned up in an unconscious smile as he strokes the animal softly.

“We don’t usually let her interact with too many people because she’s quite adverse to humans but she seems to like you,” Aria says after a while, voice soft. She gives them an amused smile as Ellie bumps her head against Jihyun’s calf as he stands.

“She just likes trunk rubs,” Jihyun chuckles, handing the bottle back to Aria and dusting his hands, “will that be enough?” he gestures to the empty bottle.

“We give her one bottle every four hours, so someone in the night shift will feed her later,” Aria assures him, fond smile tugging at her lips when he glances at the elephant in concern.

They set off back to the entrance in a comfortable silence, shoulders brushing every so often. Nick stands by the front desk, leaning against it as he chatted to the cashier. When he spots them, he sends Jihyun an amused grin, eyes shifting to the minuscule amount of space between him and Aria. Jimin furrows his brows, head shaking once in answer, irritation blooming in his chest once again.

“Ian wants to go to the Italian place,” Nick informs Jihyun as they near him, “For dinner.”

“You should come with,” Jihyun offers on impulse, turning to Aria with a small smile.

“Um, I don’t know,” she hesitates, “That doesn’t sound like the best idea,” she tugs the bottom of her lip with her teeth, chewing it worriedly.

“Jae and your father are business partners now, so we’re basically extended family,” Nick reasons, throwing her an encouraging smile.

Jihyun remains silent, her hesitance stirring up an unsettling feeling in his chest. He’s suddenly reminded of her words from before, how he’s a bad person, and a sudden desire to both prove her right and wrong war within him.

“That’s not what I-“

She’s cut off by someone shouting her name from outside the entrance. When they turn towards the voice, they spot Lucas and an infuriated looking Sola striding up to them.

“Why are you here?” Sola snaps once she reaches them, hand whipping past the side of her waist and suddenly she’s pressing a gun to Jihyun’s chin, glaring at him fiercely.

“Easy,” he says in a warning tone.

“Sola!” Aria cries out, eyes wide with shock and fear as she looks between the two, “He didn’t do anything, put your gun down.”

“You should listen to her,” Nick says and when Jihyun and Aria turn to look to him, he has a gun pointed at Aria’s chest, a warning,

“Nick,” Jihyun snaps angrily and his partner scrunches his eyes in confusion at Jihyun’s tone, “Put your gun down, you asshole. You’ll scare her.”

His gaze slides over to Aria and his stomach drops when he sees the tears gathered at the corners of her frightened eyes, chest heaving quickly as she tries to calm herself. He wants to react but his desire to isn’t quick enough and by the time he takes a step, Lucas has her pushed behind him for protection, gun aimed at Nick.

“s**t,” Sola cusses, immediately dropping her hand and rushing to her cousin, trying to calm her down.

“I’m okay,” Aria tells them with a wobbly smile, an obvious attempt at trying to reassure them but she’s shaking slightly. Jihyun watches her helplessly, wanting to fix whatever had happened but not knowing how.

It’s Lucas who eventually helps her calm down, standing directly in front of her so that his shoulders block her from view entirely and murmuring softly to her. Sola joins them once Aria is calmed, a look of sheepishness on her face as Jihyun watches her cousin scold her. He doesn’t understand how someone so tiny can make someone as scary and intimidating as Sola look guilty but Aria manages it.

After a while, Sola strides up to him and Nick with a sheepish smile, “I’m sorry,” she tells them, “I get a little overprotective sometimes.”

“I see that,” Jihyun mutters in a deadpan look.

“So why were you here?” Sola asks curiously, eyes flitting from him to Nick.

“To learn about bats,” Jihyun replies, “Although your cousin’s not very accommodating. I’ve been here since two and I’ve yet to see any bats.”

“You’re entirely to blame for that,” Aria says in a shaky voice and when Jihyun turns to look at her she gives him a small smile, “I didn’t want to disturb your time with Ellie.”

Jihyun grins at her playfully, “I have a way with females.”

“We know,” Sola rolls her eyes, “Why were you here since two? Have you been pestering my cousin? Do I need to shoot you? Do I need to shoot him?” she asks, turning to Aria but her threat holds no weight.

“No, it’s fine,” Aria chuckles, “he’s honestly not that bad. Ellie seems to like him.”

“You used the elephant to charm your way in?” Sola asked skeptically, “I can’t decide whether that’s genius or just really low.”

“Sola!” Aria chastises, hitting her cousin playfully and she seems like she’s almost back to normal now, voice steady and relaxed, “Leave the guy alone before he decides to actually shoot you.”

“He can’t shoot me,” Sola shrugs and Jihyun thinks she’s going to tell them about their sparring match a year ago and how she’d kicked his ass. Her next words surprise him because he’d never expect that kind of teasing from her, “That would ruin his chances with you.”

At this point Jihyun had been blushing lightly, cheeks dusted a rosy pink; Sola’s blatant teasing throwing him off. He’s used to the rapid change, Sola going from deadly to playful in the blink of an eye but the look on Aria’s face tells him that she isn’t used to seeing this side of her cousin. He scoffs, rolled his eyes at her and turned away, shoving his hands into his pockets and silently admitting that she might be right.

“Can we please go now?” Aria asks; voice a few octaves higher as she glances down at her feet.

“Will you join us for dinner?” Jihyun asks, turning to her as he remembers his offer from earlier. She looks up at him, brows scrunched cutely as she thinks and he thinks she’s just about to agree when Sola speaks up.

“You were supposed to meet Cedric for dinner,” her cousin reminds her, slightly annoyed expression on her face.

“We had dinner last night,” Aria shrugs, “I want a break from hearing him complain about office drama.”

“Aria,” Sola warns in a low voice, hands lifting to cross over her chest, “He’s your fiancé.”

At her words Aria bristles, irritation warping her pretty face, “Really?” she shoots back.

Jihyun battles with himself for a moment before sighing softly, “Maybe another time then,” he turns to Aria with a soft smile. She doesn’t look at him, eyes still trained on her cousin challengingly.

“Aria,” Sola says more insistently, “Your fiancé is waiting for you at home. We need to leave.”

Jihyun doesn’t know why she keeps emphasizing the word fiancé, directing it more towards the shorter woman than what he had first presumed was a warning for him.

Aria sighs heavily, head drooping in defeat, “Okay, fine,” she mutters and her sad tone makes a spark of anger ignite in Jihyun as he glares at Sola. The taller woman doesn’t spare him a glance, simply grips Aria’s hand in hers and tows her to the car without a chance for them to say goodbye.

Lucas stays behind, seemingly contemplating with himself before he turns to Jihyun, “I know this is probably some game to you but she’s not a toy,” he says in a soft voice, “I will not hesitate to protect her, even if that means starting a war.”

His words would usually stir up anger, offense, in Jihyun and usually the dark haired male would welcome the potential of a bloodbath. But currently, he doesn’t feel anger, just hollowness and confusion at his words. He doesn’t know why Lucas calling him out on toying with Aria makes him feel so indignant because that’s essentially what he’s doing.

Jihyun doesn’t reply, simply strides past him and to their car a few spaces away.

“How was work?” Sola asks in a soft voice later that night, giving her cousin a small smile but the cold stare Aria gives her in return has her cringing sheepishly, “You’re still mad, I take it.”

Aria doesn’t reply, simply stares at her with her arms folded across her chest.

“I’ve already apologized,” Sola throws her hands up in frustration. “Things like that happen sometimes in our line of work. It wasn’t even the first time I held a gun to his face,” her explanation doesn’t do anything to ease the glare Aria gives her, only worsens it further.

“Please say something,” she eventually musters in a small voice, little pout on her lips as she stares at her cousin.

Aria takes a moment to stare at her, gauging her cousin’s expression before inhaling delicately, “I’m more scared than angry,” she says after a long while, “I’ve never seen that side of you before. I knew that part of you did exist, I’m not a child, but you used to hide it really well. It was just that seeing it kind of terrified me,” she finishes, voice trailing off guiltily. She doesn’t intend to make it sound so harsh, like her cousin is a bad person but it comes out that way anyway.

Sola remains silent this time, lips turned down into an unhappy frown. It takes a while for her to steady her voice, “I’m sorry that you had to see that. I just hate that you’re so close to what we do. We’re all just terrified of you getting caught in the crossfire.”

“I know,” Aria says with a soft smile, eyes sympathetic as she looks from her cousin to Lucas, who’s been staring at them with open worry since they’d all gathered around the kitchen counter for cups of tea before bed, “I’m sorry I reacted so badly to what happened,” both Lucas and Sola look as though they want to protest but Aria lifts a hand to silence them, “Can we talk about something else? Talking about it makes me uneasy.”

So Lucas tells her about how well the injured squirrel she’d found the other day is doing. He relays status reports of the squirrel like he would relay raid reports to her father but her praises are significantly more satisfying. She looks at him with wide, happy eyes, glistening slightly when he tells her that he’ll be able to release the squirrel in the next few days.

“Thank you,” she replies with a quiet, shy smile and the utter chaos of having to babysit a wild animal seems incomparable to the happy smile she gives him.

He silently curses how soft his best friend has made him.