One Temptation | Choi Yeonjun Fanfiction

Chapter 11 - Broken Bones

"Okay, okay, your highness." Yeonjun rolls his eyes sarcastically. "Would you like... Mind putting away that weapon of yours." He points at the sleek pistol that was tightly clenched in your hand.

Oh, shit. No way I was about to walk out with this still in my hand...

You curse yourself internally for being so stupid. You clear your throat mumbling, "Ah, yes. Right." before bending over and parting your gold glittering dress by the slit until your right thigh was exposed with the holster still tightly attached to it in the middle.

You tuck the pistol back into its spot on your inner thigh and stand back up straight – only to see that Yeonjun had his head turned to the left while his right hand was placed in front of his eyes. "I would have very much appreciated a heads up, you know?"

You lift both of your eyebrows and snort in disdain. "I wasn't doing a striptease for you. You flatter yourself too much."

"Gosh, woman, your words!" Yeonjun exclaims in a shaky exasperated breath, dragging his palm down his face.

He adjusts his coat and collars, then steps out of the men's restroom after giving himself one final look in the mirror with a satisfied nod. After a brief moment, you hear his voice. "No one's outside. Hurry up and come out." He pops his head back in through the door and whisper yells at you.

You rush out of the restroom, slipping past Yeonjun and into the women's restroom right in front of the door through which you exited after getting the green signal from him.

As soon as the door of the women's restroom clicks shut behind you, you press your back against the cold door and slump down, exhaling and groaning at the same time. The soft and sweet floral scent of the restroom fills your nose, doing very little to calm you down.

I'm fine. Everything's fine. It was just a little mistake. Relax.

You repeat those sentences over and over again in your head until the gears of your brain switch from confusion and surprise to careful contemplation. Since it wasn't Yeonjun, who could it be?

Hmmm... Think, think, think.

You weren't sure if it's possible to hear your own brain spark and crackle as it gathers different pieces of a puzzle available in front of you and tries to put it together, but at least for now, you could hear the insides of your head whirr as it recalled every information that could be related to today's events.

I don't believe that it is necessary for someone to threaten me just because of something I might have done tonight, right? Right. It could've been a result of some bad blood long before tonight... And maybe that person might have taken tonight's event as an opportunity to intimidate me. But, that person needs to have a status high enough to get into this party AND have animosity towards me...

As much as you hated to admit it, only one face seems to appear before your eyes. A face that makes your blood seethe dangerously.

Liam fucking Archer.

He ticks off all the boxes that you could think of. Bad blood? Check. Works under the CEO of his company? Check. Threatened and insulted you in the past? Check.

Even if, suppose, in some parallel universe, he wasn't the mastermind behind tonight's shit-show, then you'd still rather put the blame on him than anyone else. He deserves it, actually.

You spend the next couple of minutes trying to convince yourself to not do anything stupid the moment you see him tonight, even though you didn't up till now. But, there is still a possibility he might run into you at some point.

Making sure you look as flawless as you did when entering the gala, you step out of the women's restroom to head back over to your assistant before she starts worrying until she passes out.

You make it a few steps out of the restroom when you feel someone grab your ass-cheek tightly.

Your body reacts before your brain does as you grab the person's wrist and spin around to dislocate the wrist, hopefully.

Which, you think you might have, judging by the feel of something crack under your palms, if not actually hear it over the rush of blood through your ears and your heart now pumping pure adrenaline instead of blood.

The color from the man's face drains faster than you could blink and his lips part, indicating he might be trying to speak or simply whimpering due to the pain, but you're unable to hear anything.

"I d- didn't d- do anything!" The man pleads in a wobbly squeak.

"What-" *crack* "Did-" *crack* "You-" *crack* "Say?" *crack*

You finally let go and the man drops on his knees, his eyes as wide as they could go as he looks at his disturbingly twisted wrist and arm in complete horror. His entire being shakes as he fists his mouth with his other hand to bite away the pain while he cradles his dislocated arm as if that is supposed to be of any help.

"R- really- I- I'm so-" The man tries to apologize but immediately shuts up when you take a step forward and your heels come into his field of view. He slowly lifts up his face and when his eyes meet yours, he immediately staggers back as he pushes himself away. He raises his working hand up in a prayer and begs incoherently, "P- please s- spare me! I- I didn't know it w- was you!"

"Hah?!" You spit out a laugh in utter disbelief that makes the man flinch. "What's your name?"

"I- Ian! Ian Archer!"

Of fucking course.

He answers without wasting a second like giving away his name is going to save him from his impending doom.

You give him one last look before turning away, not wanting to waste your breath breathing the same air as him and leaving him to his own misery.

You find Yuna standing anxiously in the exact same spot you left her in a few minutes ago. Her eyes dart across the room, unmistakably searching for you. The moment her eyes land on you, it's like a huge boulder had been physically been lifted off her shoulders as she darted forward in your direction.

"Ms. y/n! I- I thought something happened to you!" She releases a shaky sigh in relief, that makes you smile a little.

"Nothing can ever happen to me~" You pat her cheek and move towards the bar.

"Wait, Yuna. I have an important task for you." You stop midway and she nods, listening attentively. "I want you to go back to the company and search up each and every guest that came here tonight. And when I say search, I mean everything."

Yuna's eyes go wide in surprise, her mouth parts but no words come out.

"It's about time you put that degree of yours to some good use." You give her a wink that snaps her out of whatever trance she was in. She nods frantically, mumbling stuff like yes ma'am, I got it; over and over again before leaving quickly.

You sit down on the only empty barstool available and give the bartender your order. The person sitting on your left slaps his hand on the counter in front of him, pushing forward a couple bills for his drink. His shoulder shake ever so slightly, as if laughing silently.

"We meet yet again." He straightens his spine and spins the stool to face you, revealing the hideous face you want to rip apart from your bare hands.

Liam Archer.

As if the night couldn't get any worse.