Crimson Madness #1 ⚖️: Commencement || SVT CRIME AU

14: Make Up

It felt like I had waken up from a beautiful dream. As soon as I opened my eyes, the first thing I remember was last night. Gliding across the grand ballroom as Seungcheol held me in his arms. It just felt so surreal, yet it was vivid so there is no denying that it really did happen.

I sat down on my bed, the sunlight beaming from the window caught my eyes. I turned my attention to it, staring out the latter where I can see a glimpse of the garden in the backyard. I have nothing to do today and it's just the second day of no school, I should probably loosen up a bit since I've already digested a few cases last night.

I rolled out of bed, and made my way downstairs to the dining room where I was greeted by Jihoon and Soonyoung. "Late breakfast, huh," Soonyoung stated as I sat beside Jihoon who sat across him.

"It's just ten in the morning," I responded.

"The people here usually have breakfast by six or seven,"

"Ah I see, you are all early birds, huh," I poured myself some coffee and ate the bacon and eggs that have been laid there on the table.

"Yeah, we're also night owls, little red," I was about to take a bite of my food when I heard Soonyoung say it.

"Tell me what, why do you all keep calling me 'little red'?" I quirked my eyebrow as I diverted my eyes from Soonyoung to Jihoon, who just shrug his shoulders.

"I don't know. Go ask Jun, he's the one who started it and we just went along with it because we thought it was an awesome nickname," I scoffed at Soonyoung's explanation.

"Little red? tsk, you made me sound like some kind of kid,"

"You are wrong about that, sweetie," I was startled upon Junhui's appearance. He grabbed the kettle from the table and poured some on his cup before sitting down beside me. Shamelessly, he placed his foot up the table.

I shot him a glare as he did that. "How rude, Jun. Put your feet down and you're even wearing your shoes," Jihoon scolded, but he just chuckled.

"My bad," he muttered before doing as he was told.

"Anyways, as I was saying," he trailed off as he faced me.

"The reason why I called you 'little red' was because when we were in the car, the first thing I saw on the rearview mirror were your red lips,"

"Really? that's it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

   I find the nickname adorable, but I don't think it suits me. Not that I mind, but I think I prefer being called by just my name.

"Yeah, I pretty much give everyone a nickname like Jihoon. I call him pinkie because he wears pink under—"

"Wen Junhui!" Soonyoung cackled upon Jihoon's exclaim.

***

After having breakfast, I was about to go upstairs when Joshua came and told me to come to Seungcheol's office, so I did. I didn't even have the chance to doll up! not that I want to impress him, but isn't looking presentable should be done?

"All right, fuck it. He probably forgot about it," I muttered as I took a deep breath before reaching out for the doorknob.

"Here we go," I twisted it and entered. I was just expecting him to be there, but I was a little astound to find my father in there too. Seungcheol sat on his desk while my dad sat in front of him.

"Darling, you're finally here,"

"What brings you here?" I raised an eyebrow as I closed the door.

"Well, I'm just here to check up on you," I crossed my arms as I leaned on the wall.

There was a heavy tension.

Dad cleared his throat before speaking. "Seungcheol, do you mind stepping out for a moment?" Without a word, Seungcheol did step out, and he walked past me without even looking at me.

"How have you been-"

"Fine,"

"Well...are they treating you well-"

"Much better—all right, this conversation is over," I was about to walk out, but then he called my name, raising his tone which made me flinch.

"Let's talk about this, don't be like that," I rolled my eyes as I groaned, making my way to him and sitting on the chair next to him.

"What do you even wanna talk about? your corruption?" he scoffed.

"Are you kidding me? are we really still gonna talk about this?" I raised an eyebrow at him which made him heave out a sigh.

"All right, fine," he trailed off.

"This Choi Crime organization that you're talking about is a good one. Sometimes, a little bit of corruption is also good—"

"I know that, Seungcheol already told me that," I said as I crossed my arms, leaning on the seat as I crossed my legs.

"Just so you know, Seungcheol has a connection with the government and they try their best to do things in the legal way possible instead of wreaking havoc like what their predecessors used to do," I looked out by the vast window by the dark brown desk, where the sun can be seen.

"You should understand why I'm doing this for you. I can't just trust the authorities because who knows? some of them are corrupt too and some bend too easily with just a small amount of bribery offered," he suddenly held my hands as he looked, straight into my eyes.

"But this? this crime organization that you called 'criminal' are more ethical and firm because they've been through shits. They clearly know what they are doing," his voice got soft as he explained.

"Just hold on, okay? this will be just temporary. I just want you to be safe and sound while you take the bar exam," he smiled.

Right, In just a few months I will be a bar taker.

"Right after we guarantee that you pass the bar, you can now leave this house," I smiled back at him as he gave me a hug.

***

I know Seungcheol and my dad have got something to discuss, so I left the office. As soon as I shut the door, Seungcheol's figure greeted me. He leaned on the wall, arms crossed.

"You know, you should be thankful that you still got your dad," he trailed off.

"Because you don't know what it feels like to have none of the either," he walked up to me and looked, directly into my eyes.

"It's good that you made up with him," he patted my shoulder which made me flinch as he walked past me with a smile.