$ t w o $
Yifan grinned a sly grin, leaning forward on his desk, propping his elbow atop it. His brown eyes darkened as he spoke in words that were meant to be playful and friendly banter otherwise, but his tone led on something else. "You little shit. If I had known this was you, I'd have called you up here sooner, so we could catch up on old times." As he spoke, Lu Han bowed respectfully and exited the room. But it was highly likely that he was standing at the other side of the door--listening to everything. Monitoring them.
Junmyeon flashed a guarded smile, but said nothing.
Last he saw Yifan was several years prior when he had sworn to destroy Junmyeon and his organization. The angered words of a man who hadn't been loved by the woman he wanted.
Both of them--formerly best friends--had fallen in love with Min Hani, the daughter of a wealthy politician in Seoul. It was difficult to imagine that such a person would fall into a crowd like the Korean and Chinese mobs, but Hani had actually been around them her whole life. Her father had been a corrupt politician who had secret dealings to protect the mob from the law. In return, they protected him and his family from everyone else.
Hani had fallen in love with Junmyeon from the start, and when the two got married, Yifan decided to leave the pack. He branched out, with six of the members which followed him out of loyalty, and they formed their own group called The Coven.
From what Junmyeon knew on the tabs he kept on his former best friend, Yifan was running the same drug business in China. His wealth had grown and even surpassed that of his Korean counterparts because of the size of the nation. Korea was merely a speck in comparison to China. But just as it had been for Junmyeon, starting out in China hadn't been easy. Junmyeon was amazed at what Yifan had achieved, and he might have congratulated him if he didn't know him well. Yifan was still hurt over losing Hani--as he saw it--and he thought that Junmyeon had taken her away from him.
"Junie, remember when we were two homeless kids and we lived at the underpass of the bridge?" Yifan once again called him by a different name, his words taking on a tone of reminiscence.
Junie and Fanfan had been their nicknames for each other when they were children. They grew out of them once they got older and chose new nicknamed--Suho and Kris.
Junmyeon felt a smile tugging at his lips. It didn't sound like the best of lives in the slightest, but as he thought back on it now...everything was so simple back then. It was just him and his bestfriend, the two homeless boys without a family who yearned to be rich someday and live in a nice house. They had everything they wanted now, but even as they continued to make more and more money, Junmyeon was never actually happy with all of it.
That was until Hani arrived.
"We used to climb up there and spit on the passing cars." Junmyeon said with a laugh, remembering two scrawny boys with tattered clothing making fun for themselves.
Yifan nodded, and then leaned back in his desk chair, gesturing to the room around him. "And look at us now. Self made men who achieved all their dreams. But out of another coincidence, you are now indebted to me." The entire back wall behind him were security televisions which kept surveillance of the casino. The five screens were dead focused on five specific people--Jongin, Sehun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun--all who had been left behind on the way to that office. Yifan was more careful than Junmyeon thought.
With a sigh, Junmyeon made his offer, his tone serious. "I will not have the money immediately. But--"
"We're friends!" Yifan interrupted him with a laugh. "I'll make all of this easy for you."
"You will?" Junmyeon eyed him suspiciously.
Yifan nodded his head. There was a small hint of sadness in his eyes as he said, "Of course I will. I will never forget the one person who took me in when my parents abandoned me."
Junmyeon remembered that.
Yifan came from a middle class family in Guangzhou, during a time when the one-child policy was in place in China. They had found out that another baby was on the way, and they did not qualify for any of the exceptions to the rule. His family then planned a trip to Korea, during their vacation time. They were there for three days until his parents left without their eight year old son. He had been crying on the street when Junmyeon found him, and invited him to share his home. An old tent underneath a bridge.
He became Yifan's only family. When they acquired their fortune, Yifan had gotten a private investigator to find them--his parents. He personally went to see them. They had two more children, a boy and a girl. The law in China allowed a family to have a second child if the first was a girl. Yifan had eyed their family portraits with disdain.
He killed his parents in a rage the day that he found them--still resentful at the fact that they had abandoned him for their own selfish needs. He did nothing about his siblings, knowing that being born had not been their fault.
As Junmyeon was pulled out of his memories, he nodded gratefully towards Yifan. "Thank you. I really appreciate you doing this for me, even after everything that happened."
The leader of The Pack did not feel guilty that Hani had chosen him over Yifan. But he did deeply lament losing his friendship. Even before Hani had made it into his life, the only person who had ever been there for him was Yifan.
"I'll make you a deal." Yifan began to explain. "One game of poker against me. If you win, your debt will be cleared. But if you lose..." He trailed off, and Junmyeon knew there would be some kind of catch. Junmyeon never lost to Yifan at cards.
"If I lose, you can have my head." Junmyeon offered.
But Yifan gave a shake of his head. "That's no good. I want something even more valuable."
"What do you mean?" The pack leader narrowed his eyes at him.
"Why don't you bet me your wife?"
-
chapter two for this story, and i hope you're all liking it. i am officially now on vacation. but i caught a really bad cold so as of this moment i am bed ridden. hopefully it will go away soon because i will start working at the library on monday.
thank you all for reading and supporting this story. also, thank you for getting it to 200+ reads! it means a ton.
have a wonderful and safe weekend!
-clary xx
