𝙫𝙚𝙞𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 ↞ 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑇𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑦

Eun's POV

"What do you mean you didn't know Peniel?" He growled, gripping onto the bed sheet beside him.

"I-"

"Tell me the truth. I swear to god if I find out you're lying to me-"

"I didn't get given a choice!" I lied.

"About what?!" He snapped back.

"He... He thought I knew something about someone... But I didn't."

I couldn't help it, these lies just started to spill from my lips so quickly, I had no intention of doing this but I couldn't seem to stop myself.

"If you know something about him you need to tell me."

"Why do I need to tell you?"

Now that I'd started to lie to him I wanted to express how I really felt about this entire situation. No one could stop me. He couldn't stop me.

"If you don't tell me exactly what he said or did, I can't keep you safe." He glared down at me, drawing his lower lip between his teeth.

"I don't need you to keep me safe." I cleared my throat, looking away from his gaze. I always struggled to keep eye contact with him, it was almost impossible for me to do it.

"You think I'm gonna believe that after what happened with Dohyun? Yeah, right." He scoffed.

"I can look after myself! You're not my boyfriend!"

Why did I say that....

I immediately felt guilt rush over me, instant panic drawing up across my face.

"I-I didn't mean-"

"No." He shook his head, "You're right. I'm not your boyfriend." He sighed, "But your under my protection. I have every right to at least try and keep you safe."

"Chan, I-"

"I know what you meant!" He growled, tightening his fists before relaxing them again, "You don't have to explain yourself to me. I understand it."

"I'll tell you..." I sighed, dropping my head. "My father said Peniel wanted to kill him..." I widened my eyes immediately, realising what I'd said.

"Your fathe-"

"No! You got it mixed up!" I lied again, it seemed to be getting easier to do and I hated it. I couldn't call him my father, he'd catch on.... "I spoke to my father about what Peniel had spoken to me about... We spoke before you found us... Anyway, my father assumed Peniel wanted to kill Daehyun..."

"You know him?"

"Daehyun?"

Fuck, I couldn't seem to stop spilling information.

The lies just kept coming my way.

"My father had heard of him, we didn't know him personally. So don't even think about questioning me."

Great, did I just make it more obvious?

"Don't worry, just tell me what you know."

Wow, he didn't seem to be catching on.

"After I told father about what Peniel said he managed to piece things together and he was just going out on a limb thinking he was after Daehyun, he knew they worked together."

"Peniel and Daehyun?"

I nodded. "Yeah, they worked together before-"

"Before what?"

I shrugged my shoulders quickly, struggling to think of a good response, "I don't know. Like I said before, I know nothing about him. I don't know him personally."

"Do you know anyone else he worked with? Other than Peniel?" He gritted his teeth, waiting for my response.

"I already said... I don't know any of them personally..."

More lies.

"You didn't see anyone else when you were with Peniel?"

I nodded, "There was one guy... Sungjae? I can't remember his name-"

"He was there???"

Shit. How far am I actually gonna go with this?

"Why..? Is it important?"

"Very. I have to go." He began to stand up from the bed.

Uh oh.

I grabbed his hand, pulling him back as I cupped his cheeks, pressing my lips against his.

I pulled away slowly, his cheeks still cupped in my hands, "I'm sorry for what I said..."

"Don't be, you were right."

I was hoping he'd stay, and I'd be able to distract him from doing anything with the information I gave away to him. But, he didn't seem to stay.

He stood up, walking towards the door.

"Where're you going??" I called out to him.

"I've got things to do. Stay in here."

"Don't do anything dumb..." I mumbled, watching him turn around.

"I don't take orders from you. You're not my girlfriend." He mimicked me, leaving the room and slamming the door shut.

Chan's POV

I called a meeting, asking everyone to go down to our meeting room as soon as they could get there.

Once I walked in, they'd already gotten there before me, sitting at their seats waiting for me.

"And he's finally here." Woojin chuckled, flashing me a smile, "What'd you need us for?"

"It's the girl-"

"Was I right?" Woojin raised a brow, turning his head to me as I sat down at the end of the office table.

"I'm not saying you were right..." I started, scratching my neck, "But you're definitely onto something." I sighed, feeling stupid for admitting he knew more than I did.

"We all make mistakes..." He nodded, "Just tell us what you need done."

"She mentioned Peniel...saying she didn't know him but then changing her story to knowing him slightly, but knowing nothing about Daehyun, but she seemed to know the fact that they were previously working together."

"She knows more than we thought..." Hyunjin scowled, shaking his head, "We should've observed her more closely. We should've got Felix to interrogate her."

Felix nodded, "If need be I can still do it. We need this information more than anything. You know we do."

I held my hand out as if asking for everyone to stop talking, silence finally filled the room. "I don't wanna scare her... She's already terrified of my father. I don't know what he said to her but she's a little freaked out. Having Felix interrogate her will make things worse."

"Do you care more about our task or her emotions?" Seungmin furrowed his brows.

"Does it matter?"

Seungmin nodded quickly, "Of course it does. We need the information. At least think about it?"

I took a minute to think, eventually sighing, "I'll think about it... But I need a favour from all of you."