His Royal Arrogance | KTH | ✓

17.

"You've got another party invitation. It's happening at your home."

Hyein fixed her glasses on top of her nose awaiting a response. It didn't come.

"Mr.Kim?" Hyein looked up to see Taehyung staring out, lost in thought, at the mist clouded windows. What's he thinking about?

"Mr. Kim?" Hyein tried again, a little louder this time and Taehyung's eyes drifted back to her face. His face still remained in that thoughtful melancholic expression as he hummed in question, "Hmm?"

"You have a party invitation. It's taking place at your home." She repeated.

Taehyung made a disinterested 'tch' before going back to his melancholic gazing out the window again. 

Hyein observed that he was acting a little weird all day. He seemed to be deep in thought about something. Often she would catch him staring, but it wasn't even his normal creepy stare. It was the kind of look a judge would give a defendant before giving his final verdict. Hyein didn't know what had triggered it, but given his personality, he doesn't always need a trigger to his mood swings. Hyein took one last look at the expensive looking invitation card printed in elegant cursive with purple and gold details. It was a piece of art, alright? It must have taken quite a few bucks to print them all out. Hyein was about to toss it towards the nearest trash can when she found the little writing at the bottom that didn't quite look like it belonged there. "Mr.Kim?"

"I'm not going."

"Look." Hyein pointed at the bottom of the letter where there was a handwritten note.

Meet you there. Love the Irises.

"It's the X man." She whispered ominously causing him to look up. X man was the name Hyein gave for the intruder since she found it such a bother to keep calling him 'intruder' or 'culprit'. X man was simple and it rolled off her tongue smoothly, but for some reason Taehyung seemed to dislike the name. That was all the reason she needed to keep it.

Taehyung took the card from her hand, cautiously as if it were a ticking time bomb. After reading the letter, he exchanged a look with Hyein, who nodded her head in confirmation. Lowering her voice to a tenor, Hyein asked in her best impression of a mysterious detective on the verge of cracking the case. "We are catching him tonight. Are you ready?"

That brought an equally excited light to his eyes as he smiled.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

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The pair strode inside the grand mansion that was Taehyung's home. Hyein walked onwards, marvelling at the magnificence of it all. The building was truly stunning, built in modern gothic architecture, it radiated with a sense of importance. The vast lavish garden, potted with flowers of vibrant colors were truly astounding and Hyein couldn't help but let out a dreamy sigh as she imagined herself as the owner of it. It would be truly amazing. She would have tea parties all the time with Hobi. Now, she felt like an excited ten year old.

Now's not the time Hyein. Come to your senses. We are here to catch the culprit.

Pulling herself back to reality, Hyein looked up to her boss who observed the grand living room milling with guests, with keen and observant eyes. For a brief moment, Hyein's eyes lingered there. Was he always this handsome? Hyein shook her head. What was she thinking? Hoseok was really getting to her.

"This is obviously a trap and we are to pretend that we took the bait."

"I'm not stupid enough to think that it's not a trap, Ms.Lee."

"I know, I was just going over the plan Sir. Our strongest suspect is Jimin, although we can't rule out Jungkook either. So here's the plan. Pretend that you got separated from me. I'll go around and watch the two of them. I'm sure one of them is going to approach you somehow later in this party. Since I am stalking them, I'll know who it is even if they try to remain anonymous. And we'll catch them. Whatcha think?"

Taehyung only nodded at her impressive, well-constructed plan. At least he could have looked a little more enthusiastic about it.

"But, I have a question. What did he mean when he said, 'love the Irises' ?"

Taehyung glanced back at her. After looking around to make sure there weren't any potential eavesdroppers nearby, he bent down to her ear. Softly, he whispered, "You don't need to know."

Are you serious? Hyein scowled at him, annoyed and that brought a little smile to his lips.

Not so long after, Hyein had strategically separated from Taehyung and edged herself towards the table of food. Snatching a little dessert for herself, she embarked on her mission.

Hyein supervision activated.

Eyes narrowed, she examined the crowd. There, chatting among some wealthy looking men, stood Jeon Jungkook. He didn't look that chummy with the little crowd. In fact, his face remained cold and placid throughout the entire conversation. Occasionally, a colleague would crack a business joke causing everyone to choke out an awkward laugh but Jungkook never joined in. His eyes remained focused solely on the men who would all then awkwardly smile exchanging nervous glances towards each other and soon they found another subject to talk about. Everyone seemed to be spewing out details, just to keep the conversation going. It was evident from their stance that they were all intimidated by the silent man's gaze. The said man elegantly raised his glass of wine, even more elegantly took a sip of it. He radiated a certain elegance in everything he did, and Hyein stood admiring the view. He was handsome to say the least. She watched as he carefully put the glass back down onto a nearby table and his gaze swept over the chattering men who stood around him and finally, it landed on her.

Hyein muffled scream as she quickly diverted her gaze and walked away, hoping that he hadn't actually seen her. If he did, there would be complications to the plan. Stupid Hyein, stupid, stupid.

She slipped out of there and decided to pursue her main suspect. Park Jimin. It wasn't too hard to find the guy considering that he was wearing the flashiest red suit Hyein had ever seen, laughing and flirting around a crowd of ladies who stuck to him like glue wherever he went. Hyein did a mental eye roll. Of course, he wasn't named as the Casanova of Ethereal for nothing.

It was exhausting to watch the Don Juan flirt with all the giggly girls. When Hyein says, she almost puked, she isn't lying. The chuckles of laughter seemed to subside and Hyein perked up from behind the potted plant, where she was currently hiding. Jimin was waving a sorrowful goodbye towards his crowd of admirers as he excused himself to go somewhere. Yes, yes, yes.

Hyein mentally cheered as he walked away on his own towards somewhere she wasn't sure of. Finally! Hyein stepped out from the shadow of her potted plant, briefly stumbling in her long dress before walking towards his way, carefully weaving through the crowd in order to not draw attention towards herself. She was following Jimin's trail, eyes trained solely on him in order to not lose him when, all of a sudden, a wall of velvet green suddenly blocked her path, causing her to bump into it. "Ow!"

"We meet again, Hyein-ssi."

A velvety smooth voice greeted from somewhere above and Hyein looked up. That's when she realized that the wall she had bumped into wasn't quite a wall. It was human.

A human she was very much familiar with.