House Of Cards || NCT Mafia

Chapter seventeen : New alliances

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Iseul made her way back to her house, drained by the long day she had. Her body was sore from all the physical activity, and her shift at the store didn't make her situation any better.

The several bruises on her arms were getting visible, speckling her light skin with dark spots. She sighed, already anticipating her parents' questions about it. They had always been overprotective of their daughter, and as much as she hated being constantly treated like a child, Iseul had learnt to live with it.

She also noted that her parents seemed to back off a bit when her self-defense instructor had told them Iseul was the best student of his class, meaning she was completely capable of taking care of herself.

She pushed the front door of her house open, and was greeted by the sound of people happily talking. The voices seemed to come from the living room, accompanied by the light sound of glasses clinking. Her father suddenly appeared on her left, coming out of the kitchen. He had a bottle of champagne in his hand and smiled wide when he noticed his daughter standing in the hallway.

"Iseul, honey, you're back. Go get changed and meet us in the living room, alright? We're having a business dinner," he said, already getting back to his guests.

The girl nodded and went to her room. Truth was, she just wanted to take a long relaxing bath and go to sleep, but she knew she had no choice but to comply to her father's wishes. She wasn't surprised by the fact that her parents had organized a business dinner without telling her, it was a common thing.

Since she was a child, she had been used to the endless dinners, surrounded by her parents' employees or associates, talking about things a young girl couldn't care any less, such as the company's new business partner, or financials.

"Here we go again," she sighed while putting on a clean outfit.

She went down the stairs, mentally preparing herself for the boredom that was about to come. As soon as she appeared in the frame of the door, her father got up from the couch to greet her in front of the guests.

Iseul looked around the room and politely smiled at everyone, recognizing a few faces like Chaewon's dad or old associates of her parents'.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet to meet my precious daughter, Iseul," her father said proudly while putting an arm on her shoulders, like he was introducing a trophy.

After greeting everyone, her father guided her towards the couch, where her mother and a man were talking.

"I'd like to propose a toast," her mother spoke up, interrupting the chatters around the room.

A maid offered a glass of champagne to Iseul, and the girl got closer to her father. "What are we drinking to, exactly?" she whispered.

Kang Kyung-Ho smiled at his daughter, and she could swear she saw the glimpse of a spark in his eyes. "We're celebrating the fall of one of our rivals, and the beginning of new alliances," he said while winking at the man, who, in response, raised his glass.

"To new alliances," he repeated.

That voice, Iseul thought, observing the stranger, I know it...

"Oh, right, what was I thinking," he said when he noticed Iseul staring at him. "I didn't introduce myself, I apologize for my terrible manners," he extended his hand in her direction, "I'm Park Min-Seok, new associate of your parents'."

He gently shook Iseul's hand and went back to his previous discussion with her mother. The girl was still slightly disturbed. She was sure she had met him before, or that she had heard his voice at least, but where? The uneasy feeling made her suspicious, and during the whole evening, she kept her eyes on the man, trying to find out in her distant memory, why he seemed so familiar.

It's only a few hours later, during dinner, that realization hit her like a truck. The man tried to get up, but didn't notice Iseul's mother behind him, causing her to drop her glass spilling its contents, which was red wine, on the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I should have been more careful!" he hurriedly apologized.

The stranger on the streets earlier, the one who crashed into me when I got out of the store, it's him, she realized.

She unconsciously kept her eyes on him, still ignoring where she had first met him, and the man seemed to notice someone watching him because he turned around to look for the unknown observer.

When it came to his attention that it was Iseul, he sent her a smile and excused himself to answer a call in the room next door. Her curiosity took over, determined to find out who he really was.

Iseul tried to excuse herself as well, but was held back by a guest, to whom she politely replied with the sweetest smile she could fake, quickly cutting the conversation to follow the man who had already disappeared in the kitchen.

When she finally freed herself out of the room, she quietly approached the kitchen's door, hiding in the shadows of the corridor. Park Min-Seok was still on the phone, and Iseul tried to understand as much as she could, but the fact that she needed to stay at a reasonable distance and that she only had one side of the conversation made her task more difficult than she thought.

The man's voice was muffled, as if he didn't want anyone to hear, but the young woman could still catch a few sentences.

"No, I don't think she knows. She kept looking at me during dinner, but I don't think she recognized me, don't worry."

Iseul assumed the person on the other end of the line was talking, because he suddenly went silent.

"Yes, I know I have to lay low."

She couldn't assume that he was talking about her right away, but the little she could hear definitely confirmed her intuition.

"No, Kang doesn't know we met before, he would kill me if he did, and our alliance would go up in smoke."

His tone was now getting impatient, angrier: "I know I should have been more careful, but how could I possibly know that she was his daughter when I saw her for the first time? It's not like it was written on her forehead!"

Things started to get interesting when suddenly Iseul's phone rang, catching the man off guard.

"I gotta go, talk to you later."

The girl cursed under her breath as she struggled to turn down her phone with shaky hands. She could hear the sound of Min-Seok's footsteps getting closer to where she was hiding, as her heartbeat started to race in her chest.

"Min-Seok?"

The sudden appearance of Iseul's dad by the other door of the room saved his daughter from being discovered, and she silently thanked him when the man turned around to join Kyung-Ho.

"How about a drink between men in my office?" he asked.

Min-Seok turned his head one last time behind him in Iseul's direction, before facing her dad with a smile "That would be my pleasure."

The girl waited a few seconds to make sure the two men wouldn't come back to come out in the light, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Well, that was close."