I'm staring at a familiar ceiling. Not my house, but I weirdly feel at home.
I turned around and saw the door of a rotating cabinet I used to hide in.
"Ah! Shua-hyung!" Chan entered the room and resisted from jumping while holding a tray on his hand.
"Oww." I tried to stand up but I felt a pain on my lower body. So I'm alive, huh.
"I'll help you." Chan left the tray on the small table and assisted me in sitting up.
"Thanks."
"Jun made this soup, it's so good. He used fresh crab meat in this." I gave the soup a smell test and sensed the mixture of crab and corn.
"This is going to be good."
"Right? Now open, ahhh." He pointed the spoon to my mouth.
"I can feed myself, it's only my legs."
"Come on. Ahhh."
"Ahhh."
I slurped it and felt the energy flowed back my body.
"It's good. Have you eaten?"
"Yeah, done."
"How about the others? Jeonghan?"
"Oh. Well, uhm. They're done."
"Where are they?"
"Jun-hyung is with Minghao-hyung fixing the windows. Then Mingyu-hyung is tending Wonwoo-hyung. Then Hoshi-hyung is with Seokmin-hyung."
"What is Jeonghan doing?"
"Oh! I forgot something-"
I pulled Chan's wrist when he tried to run away.
"You forgot to tell me something else."
"Really? I don't-"
"Did I fail to save Jeonghan?"
"Huh? No. But.."
"But??"
"He left."
"And? Where is he?"
"Shua-hyung, listen. Jeonghan-hyung has some business that he doesn't want to tell anybody. So. He left."
What?
I forced to stand up even though I feel like my thighs are going to rip out.
"Shua-hyung! No."
"LET GO."
I hold onto the door while Chan's pulling my shirt back to the room.
"I NEED TO FIND HIM! I NEED HIM!"
"Calm down!"
"LET GO!!!"
SLAP.
I stopped and Chan carried me back to my bed.
"You little prince brat." Minghao said while he dust off the palm he used to slap me.
"Minghao!" Jun rushed inside the room, holding a packaging tape.
"Hey, I-"
"You said you'll never resort to violence?"
"It's just one slap!"
"Minghao!"
"Okay okay. I'll go and meditate. Bye guys."
He walked out while uttering some words, ranting maybe.
"I'm sorry about that." Jun sat beside my bed.
"Jeonghan.."
"He'll come back, okay?"
"But no one knows where he went."
"I'm currently on it. Seokmin and Soonyoung, too."
"What if he walked into some kind of danger? How could I.. save him."
"Joshua. You saved him. He wasn't able to thank you personally but wait for him and he'll tell you that."
"What's with the packaging tape?" I noticed he placed it on top of my thigh.
"Oh, this?"
"Jun-hyung!" Mingyu opened the door. "Oh, Jisoo! Thank god you're awake!"
I remembered that Wonwoo got shot, too.
"How is Wonwoo?"
"He woke up this morning. He's doing good. And speaking. Why did Minghao barged into our room, sat on the floor and closed his eyes??"
"He needs to meditate." Jun answered.
"In OUR room?"
"There are no more peaceful room, you see?"
"No way."
Mingyu pulled a chair and three of them stared at me.
"Haaaay." Jun exhaled a deep breath.
"Did something else happened? How long was I asleep?"
"Just more or less 24 hours." Chan said.
"Really.."
"Well.."
"Oh goodness gracious! Every time Jun brings in some guest, our windows get broken. Can't you party without wasting our money??" I can hear Jun's servant rant together with the sound of brooms and glass.
"Broken windows?"
"You see, when Seokmin and Hoshi went out to investigate, while Minghao checked on Nico's house for traces of Jeonghan, Hansol's men invaded the restaurant." Mingyu answered.
"Vernon? He came here?"
"No. Only his men. We prioritize you and Wonwoo so we didn't engage much. But."
"Shua-hyung! I'm sorry!!" Chan held my hand.
"What?"
"I tried to get the jasmine and hide with it."
"Huh?? That's dangerous!!"
"That's what I told him." Jun butted in. "He was almost killed."
"Chan!"
"But I'm clearly fine!"
"Don't do it, ever, again!"
"I- okay. I'm sorry."
"He's safe, but they got the jasmine."
I paused. Well, I don't even know what should I do with the jasmine. But dad got killed saving the jasmine. What should I do now?
"I'm so sorry, Shua-hyung."
"No, you're good. As long as no one got harmed. You're more important."
"See. I told you that's what Jisoo will say." Mingyu leaned back and put his hand on the back of his head.
"Anyway, I know you just woke up. But the day Jeonghan got abducted, I actually got some new information."
"You can tell me now."
Jun started discussing while Chan feeds me the soup.
"To be honest, I still don't know what's with your jasmine. But in the Korean mafia headed by your dad, Nico, brought in an American-Korean underboss known as Jas."
"A foreigner?"
"Well, she was born in America but she is pure Korean, both parents being Korean. Nico was the mafia boss during the time when he went to Los Angeles. It's his father's command actually, because, quote unquote, Nico is useless to the mafia.
Now, without his father's consent, he went back to South Korea with the new girl Jas. He said that Jas can help the organization expand its influence in the US, particularly in Los Angeles. The organization was actually intrigued and interested. And his father said, quote unquote, finally, my own son gained some braincells."
"I can tell that his father is not the best." Mingyu commented.
"I agree." Chan added.
"Well, yeah. Anyway." Jun continued "It didn't go as they expected. What happened is the opposite. Jas actually went to South Korea to dominate the Korean mafia. And that attempt was coercive. She took the trust of the organization to sneak in her fellow mafia from Los Angeles and killed many Korean members. That's how she got her nickname 'the infamous Jas'."
"Maybe.. This is the reason why older mafia don't trust Vernon." I said.
"I think so, too. Getting involved with an American is risky for them now." Mingyu said.
"You didn't know this?"
"We were told about the American occupation lead by Jas and that's it."
"Jas was also a nickname. She's actually Park Ja Nee. That occupation happened in December 30, 1995. I think your jasmine really has some purpose." Jun added.
"Right, the date on the paper wrote 12/29/1995. Also, December 30, 1995 is my birthday by the way."
"Really.. You see, your jasmine also has your father's name on it. As if Seung Su gave it to somebody. You see, Joshua, there's also some news that Jas rejected Nico because, wait, a cringe warning here,
Jas rejected Nico because she loves Seung Su."
