The Hunt

82

"That's a pretty nice turtleneck, Jungkook," I said as we neared my parents' apartment building in Gangnam.

After Jaehyun was named the heir and all of my siblings had left home, my parents had moved out of the family homestead and into a penthouse apartment. Jaehyun's family occupied the house I had grown up in. I had only visited my parents' apartment a few times before cutting ties with my family.

"Thank you, Waffles!" Jungkook glanced at me in the rear-view mirror, his eyes round and hopeful. "You don't think it's too much?"

I couldn't help but smile at his innocent enthusiasm. "I think it's perfect. You look like a legitimate bodyguard."

In the reflection of the mirror, I watched the corners of his eyes crinkle as he smiled before returning his attention to the road.

I smoothed out my dress on my legs for the umpteenth time in a sad attempt to calm myself down.

"Thanks again for driving, Jin," Jimin said, and reached over to take my hand in his. With a reassuring smile, he gave my hand a little squeeze.

"No problem," Jin replied. "Parking can be tricky here. Besides, it would look weird if your bodyguard showed up after you because he had to park a few blocks away."

The remainder of the drive was mostly silent save for a few comments from Jin about the traffic.

We pulled up to the curb outside of a pretentious-looking building with a jewelry store and espresso shop flanking the ground floor lobby. As soon as the car was in park, Jungkook hopped out and quickly opened my door. Once Jimin joined us on the sidewalk, I led the way into the lobby of my parents' building.

A large black marble-topped reception desk stood between the doors and the bank of elevators. A small, middle-aged woman with full, round cheeks sat at the desk and greeted us a with a warm smile.

"Welcome, dears. Who are you here to see this evening?" Her eyes scanned over each of our faces as she spoke.

Disarmingly friendly, but she's the gatekeeper for a luxury apartment building housing some prominent families. Definitely not human. But what is she?

"Mr. Choi Seunghan," I answered and tried to pinpoint exactly what this woman was.

She was seated, but appeared to be of short stature. Her hair was streaked with gray and fine lines branched out from the outer corners of her eyes and mouth. Her smile was kind, but her eyes were fierce.

She pulled a tablet out from under the desk and began typing. "Ah, yes. I see that Mr. Choi is expecting guests this evening. May I see your IDs, please?"

We all pulled out our driver's licenses and handed them to her. After checking them against the tablet, she passed them back.

"I see that Ms. Choi and Mr. Park are both expected, but Mr. Jeon is not on the list of approved visitors."

I glanced at Jimin and Jungkook, but both neither showed any emotion.

Jimin cleared his throat. "Mr. Jeon is our personal security. As I'm sure you are aware, my cousin was recently murdered. As the investigation is ongoing, my family felt it was best that I have a bodyguard when leaving the house until the murderer is apprehended."

"Of course." With a hard look at Jungkook, she began quickly typing once more.

I glanced around the stark lobby while we waited to be cleared for entry. I spotted several different cameras positioned around the room in a way that left zero blind spots. The walls and floors were a white Carrara marble, the only contrast other than the reception desk, was the dark gray rug that lead up to it.

"Wolverine," Jimin whispered into my ear. That's why she made me uneasy! Wolverines are terrifying.

"Alright," the middle-aged wolverine said as she put her tablet away. "You may head up to the penthouse."

I gave her a polite smile before following Jimin to the elevators, Jungkook a few steps behind me.

As the elevator doors closed, Jimin held my hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "We got this."