The next morning Hyein reached Taehyung's Apartment (can you even call it that?) early. 

His apartment was closer to her home than she had expected. Ringing the bell, she waited on the shiny marble porch in the front, decorated with a little greenery here and there. It was quite pretty, maybe a little too luxurious for Hyein's taste but it was still nice to look at. The door clicked. Hyein pushed the door open and strolled in. 

The inside was quite something else. It was spotlessly clean, modern lights and paintings adorned the walls and an occasional sculpture stood tall here and there. For a moment she wondered if she had walked into a museum by mistake. Turns out Taehyung liked to collect a lot of antiques, and they were placed neatly in rows on his shelves in interesting shapes and colors. Hyein couldn't help but marvel at the sight of it.

"Secretary Lee!" 

(Turn on the media for an immersive reading experience.)

Snapping out of her momentary daze, Hyein walked past the sculptures and antiques into his living room. He was sitting on his sofa in his pajamas, working on his computer as papers lay sprawled out by his side. His hair was down and kind of messy as if he had just woken up from his bed and he was wearing glasses that made him look gentler than his usual, more arrogant self. 

"Mr.Kim, you are not ready yet?" Taehyung looked up briefly acknowledging her presence before he went back to his work. "I'm not going to work today."

"Alright, then." Hyein immediately turned back, taking that as her cue to leave when Taehyung's deep voice spoke up from behind, "I didn't say that you could leave."

And there she was hoping that she would get a day off. Of course, she should have known that it won't be that easy.

"I need to go somewhere. Drive." He ordered throwing his keys into the air and it shot past Hyein narrowly missing her head by an inch. She glared at him as she picked up the keys.

"Do you know where you are going or are going to pull the same trick you did yesterday?"

Taehyung gasped looking up from his laptop, "I'm not that lame." He replied acting as though he were hurt.

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that," Hyein replied simply and he smiled back cheekily, in response.

A few minutes later Hyein was in his sleek black Maserati as Taehyung himself sat beside her. Tucking in his seatbelt, he cried, "Let's go!"

The engine revved. The Maserati smoothly rolled out of the driveway onto the street and flew past the neighboring houses leaving a trail of wispy smoke that faded out into thin air.

Hyein drove him around several places that day and currently, she was sitting in the car, waiting in front of a humongous book shop that looked quite interesting. Minutes later, Taehyung emerged from the store carrying a huge bag of books and she wondered if she should help him. She shook her head almost immediately. Why would she help a jerk? Besides, it was getting suspicious. Taehyung hadn't done anything so far to irk her. Hella suspicious.

But she got the answer as soon as she started the car. Taehyung was pulling the same trick again; except, this time he was telling her to turn the car at random intervals. Hyein would exit a highway only to re-enter it minutes later. She drove the car in circles only to end up at the same path she began with. He was being eerily serious for a prank and his eyes were fixed on the rearview mirror. Hyein frowned. Was there something behind them?

"Stop right there by the park."

Taehyung instructed and she did as he said. Getting out of the car, he speed-walked into the park, his expression somber. He didn't even wait for her. Locking the car quickly, Hyein ran to catch up with him.

___________

"Why are we here at the children's park again?"

Taehyung had been walking around the park for quite some time, looking around the place. He was probably just doing it to annoy her or perhaps to make her do extra work since that was his main intention of hiring her. To make her life a living hell.

"Someone's following us." He replied suddenly making Hyein backtrack.

"Really, where?" Hyein turned her head around, looking to see if there was anyone suspicious lurking around in vain. There were none except for a few little kids and their parents. There weren't too many places to hide either and none of them looked suspicious enough.

"Someone's here." He said again. Hyein narrowed her eyes. Does this guy seriously think she was going to fall for it?

"There's no one here, except the kids."

Hyein sighed, rubbing her temples, "Look, if you're trying to play a prank on me or something, it won't work-"

Hyein was cut off when he suddenly pulled her towards him. She barely managed herself from tumbling further onto his chest as he placed his hands on her shoulders and slowly bent down, eyes glinting mischievously. Hye-in was too stunned to respond. What was this guy doing? 

Something thumped painfully into her back and Hyein turned back to see a baseball roll to a stop. A baseball? And the realization hit her. 

He was using her. As a shield. From a freaking baseball.

"You-you!"

"What? I was just protecting myself from a potential threat." He replied innocently. Hyein turned a seething red, her cheeks the color of scarlet as she shot him the deadliest of glares. "Why you-"

Taehyung burst out laughing, his voice deep and raspy. It wasn't that of mocking or tease. It was genuine laughter that resonated in the air. It sounded free and of pure happiness. Childish despite his age. It left Hyein speechless as she stood there helpless watching him chuckle with mirth.

It was the most genuine she had ever seen him.

______________

Hyein dropped Taehyung back home by noon. He was still chuckling about what happened earlier and it was infuriating. She mentally cursed the arrogant, smirking being over and over again as he waltzed back inside his home in high spirits. 

Following him back into his living room, she plopped herself onto the soft plush couch and he went inside with his books. She gazed outside through the glass window as she waited for his next order.

Strangely, she felt something odd. Something didn't look right and the feeling tickled at the back of her mind. But it was until she looked around and her eyes fell on the window did she realize what it was. The window had a red smudge on it that she hadn't seen before. The last time she was there, the place was spotless. There were little residues of dust near the window as if someone had walked around in their shoes but Taehung never wore his shoes inside.

Hyein walked up to the glass and observed the smudge, running her fingers over it, feeling its texture. It was a paint smudge. It was still a little bit fresh.

And then there was a scream.

"AAAaaaaahhhhh!"

Taehyung.

She ran.