𝗮𝗴𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘆 • 𝘀𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗵𝘄𝗮

ｅｌｅｖｅｎ

chapter eleven:
"i am fucking possessive of you."

"what's happening here?" yeoju questions upon seeing her nephew firmly holding seola in place. "stop fucking invading my house" seonghwa cuss. he's way too frustrated to deal with anyone. and when he said anyone, he meant his aunt. "let go of seola" yeoju demands. seonghwa halts, the female still on his shoulder. "let me down, seonghwa. i'm coming with you so let me down now"

"i don't listen to you anymore"

he was surprised himself but he ignored it and began walking to his room. he shut the door behind him and let the female down on his bed. seola immediately sat up and stood as far as possible from seonghwa. "stay here. don't go to work in the mean time. not until i deal with that lawyer" seonghwa calmly explains. "no." she shakes her head. "i do not accept a no. i did not ask nor tell you if you have anything to say here"

"you're really unbelievable."

"do you plan to lock me in here?" she harshly questions. "if i have to, i will!" seonghwa shouts. "this is totally unnecessary! i am not his target! you are!" she shouts back. "it is necessary! i cannot sleep, eat or even drink thinking that anytime you can get hurt! i could take countless abuse if it means you're not getting hurt! tell me, was i insensitive? am i not thinking of you?! all you ever think was i'm an aggressive cold blooded jerk and that i do not care about you!"

"do you think i like pushing you away?! goddamn it, i want you so much. i want you around me and i hate that you're always away. i was pushing you away yet i was the one that kept coming back! stop fucking questioning me cause this is how i work" seola huffs. even his confession does not fazed her away. she hates the idea of being locked. "by locking me up?!"

"yes! if i have to keep you away from the world, i will"

seola scoffs, aggressively pushing her hair back and glares at seonghwa. she never wanted any of this. she's feeling something at the moment. regret. she regrets liking park seonghwa and entangling with him. she regrets it. "i never wanted any of these! i never asked you to keep me safe when i know damn well i could do it myself! i never asked for this, park seonghwa!"

"then, you shouldn't have captivated me like this!"

she froze. seonghwa was angry. no, not angry. fuming. his nose was flaring and his chest was rising and falling. "i hate getting involved with women. i tried so hard not to mess with them yet you came and suddenly all my doors are unlocked for you to come in. you were welcome openly and i hate that i'm acting like a possessive bastard but i am. i am fucking possessive of you."

"you don't know how many sleepless nights i had just because i think about your safety"

"you're not even safe from my own family." yeoju sighs, retrieving her hand from opening the door. she wanted to call her nephew to talk about the whereabouts of seola but what she heard made her stop. "locking me up here won't do anything good, seonghwa." seola let out. "it will. it will stop my head from going places" yeoju realizes it now. she can't stop seonghwa anymore. there's nothing she can do but support her nephew. that's all.

after all, there's no stopping park seonghwa.

"i'm sorry. i've never said sorry in my whole life but i'm sorry, i'm sorry because this is the plan i made to keep you safe. i know it's immature and fuck, absurd but this is what i came up to. i came up with the idea of locking you up for the sake of my insanity"

"and yet i never asked you to do so."

that was the last thing seola said before walking past seonghwa and opening the door. she shut it behind her and exited, finding yeoju listening to their conversation. "i am leaving. like what you always wanted" she said one last time before walking down the stairs but was stopped by the woman. "wait"

"are you really leaving? after what my nephew has said?"

seola sighs, facing the older. "it was never in plan to be locked up by seonghwa. people are coming for him, not for me. i don't know why you can't understand that" she argues. "i think it's you who can't understand a thing here. i talked to you multiple times, i warned you to get away from seonghwa because this is what he brings. he brings messed. you committed to it. you brought this upon yourself and now that seonghwa is uncontrollable, you don't want to be controlled?"

"i am a woman with dignity. i do not need seonghwa to protect me"

yeoju sighs. she's seeing herself in seola. seola has too much pride and she knows her worth. seola has respect for herself and won't ever bow down for a man. yeoju like her. she likes that seola is not the type to throw herself to men like seonghwa.

"but he wants to protect you despite not needing one"

•

"mr. song, someone's here for you. however, he said he doesn't have an appointment. he identifies himself as kim" mingi lifts his head, removing his glasses off. he never remembers knowing someone that comes in kim. and even if he knows one, he won't remember. there are loads of korean people that comes with kim as their last name. "tell him to book an appointment." he spoke after a while. "but he said it's urgent."

"he said it has something to do with your current case"

"i'm a very busy man, tell him to book an appointment" his secretary nods, knowing his mind is set into not meeting this client. mingi sighs and stands up. he walks in a connected room in his office and closes the door behind him. his eyes directly set on the board where a map is paste and a few pieces of notes sticking. all symbols. none of them form a word.

his eyes observe the ties he connected with each symbol. his frown deepens as he slowly unveils the form of the ties he tangles. "they're constellations" he mumbles, arms crossed.

"hercules"

"ophiuchus"

"nebula. orion nebula"

"gemini"

"hong" he mumbles, connecting every dot. someone named hong is helping him. mingi looks back at the board, trying to solve the rest of the cards but it gives him no word. it was rubbish and nonsense. he took a deep breath and tried his luck, as if he has the mind of sherlock holmes. he flip the board, vertically and horizontally. he stares at it again, observing everything. "runic alphabet" he mumbles, turning his heels and grabbing a book he remembers he owns.

"j"

"o"

"another o"

"n"

"g"

"hong joong" he breathed out. he solved it. hongjoong. now, who is hongjoong? he don't know. if he is this smart to send messages that even mingi did not realize was a message, hongjoong is extremely smart. very brilliant as well. he observed the board again until one note that he hasn't solved yet caught his attention.

"k...f...z..b...q...l...j...b...b...q...r"

"what are you?" he asked, particularly to himself. this riddle solving is making his head ache. he doesn't understand it anymore. he solved everything from the constellations and runic alphabet but he doesn't recognize this anymore. that is, until something clicked inside him. "cipher"

"caesar cipher"

he pulled out another book consisting of the caesar cipher alphabet with his pen on his hand. "n..i...c..e" he mumbles. "nice"

"to"

"meet...u"

"nice to meet u.... hongjoong"

there it is. he connected it. just who the hell is hongjoong and what is his connection with mingi's case that's all about park seonghwa?

mingi walks out of his office, his briefcase on his hand and his coat hanging on his broad shoulder. he had decided to call it a day. it's too much work for him. in addition to that, this hongjoong guy. he is certain it's a name. but he's got no clue as to who he is or what he is. no clue, no nothing. just like sherlock trying to solve for some fictional character.

"mr. song, someone left this for you"