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C H A P T E R     F I V E
➎

»It's so ironic.
The people in my life who say,
'I'm always going to be here for you.'
are the ones that walk away first.«
– anonymous

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It was a huge global network, originally made up of seven families, currently consisting of six families. The seventh family ended in a tragic way, long before I was born, and from my knowledge there were no descendants left.

As for the other five out of six families, I learned many new things about them and their heirs today.

Because today, I learned that my twin was managing the family business, and with business I talked about a family that for decades had no job but to be rich and inherit, just to be richer and inherit more. That's it. Hotels and restaurant chains were just external jewelry to show off and with which our family loved to pass their time.

Doyoung was a lawyer, I was expecting this, since he came from a family full of lawyers and judges. To read, understand, and interpret the law in their own favor was in his blood.

Sicheng was a doctor, also expected, the argument is the same. It was too obvious, they were a family of doctors from China  and owned several private hospitals, also known as the world-renowned Dong Hospitals. Of course their son would follow them.

Ten was... Ten.
Well, living in the heart of Thailand, his family was by far one of the best suppliers worldwide in terms of weapons (or anything else belonging to the mafia existence) and so was their son.

And what Mark was doing was still a mystery to me. But that's not important since it had always been a mystery. He was something like an all-round-package: assistant, friend, supporter, organizer, person dealing with everything that's going on when no one else has time. Foreign contacts, foreign investment, international trade. Thinking about Mark's family, those thoughts came to mind. It was in their genes to complete the perfect deals to maximize their own profit. So far, I'd thought that Mark might've had a mutation, but by now I wasn't sure anymore.

There were only two other names left from the old crew.

One I didn't wanna know.

One who probably didn't want me to know.

I really tried to pull myself together, but failed miserably when I asked about the latter.

"What's with Jaehyun by the way? Is he still as grumpy as I remember?" I looked expectantly between Mark and Jungwoo.

"Oh", made Mark as if he didn't expect to hear this name. "Jaehyun is... well... he, um... he left shortly after you. I thought you'd knew."

"What!?" I gasped, and almost choked on my spit.

Jaehyun left the mafia after me? He would never – I repeat, NEVER – leave Taeyong. He was his childhood friend after all, his best friend, his right-hand man, his brother from another mother, his other half, his soulmate, his twin flame or whatever you wanted to call it. Hearing this, really took me by surprise. Maybe even more than seeing Jungwoo again.

"Yes, he... um... I heard he moved to America and recently graduated from college." I didn't even know that Jaehyun had a High School diploma.

"Do you know why he left?" I asked Mark, since Jungwoo looked at the table as if he didn't want to talk about Jaehyun.

"Not really. It was something between him and Boss – I mean Taeyong." Mark babbled - intentionally or not - but I was so blinded by the news that I hadn't heard the mistake he made.

"No, it makes no sense. I mean, why would he leave Taeyong?" I thought aloud.

"Why did you?" Mark asked without expecting an answer.

In all this confusion, I didn't notice that I had said his name out loud. After more than 730 days without calling his name, flinching everything someone near me did and trying to forget about him, I – myself – was the one saying his name again.

"Taeyong" I repeated his name just to myself; it was less than a whisper, the same moment when Jungwoo was telling Mark that he had no right to ask me such a question. I honestly didn't care about the question Mark asked, I already forgot about it again.

But saying Taeyong's name out loud put me in a kind of trance.

"All those years, I kept a secret from the world" His clear voice sounded as if he was standing next to my ears. "A shed of faith." I shook my head, because I didn't want to remember. I didn't want to see that memory...

It was a sunny day in mid-August when Taeyong and I decided to have lunch outside the building. There was a secret spot we knew, we didn't have many of them; only the rooftop and that place. It was behind the abandoned factories, in the middle of the industrial area, there was a narrow alley. If you followed that alley, and turned left, there was a very old, very rusty, very abandoned playground where no child would play. It could turn the place into a horror adventure at night, but during the day, it was a nice place to chill. To be alone. To appreciate the time.

And Taeyong and I happened to find this place one day. This is a whole other story, but since that day, we came here whenever we needed a break from everything going on in the headquarters; either alone or together. The best thing about this place was the cherry tree next to the sandpit and behind the slide.

"Oh, I love our lunch dates!" I declared happily, seeing all the ripe cherries on the three, waiting to be eaten. "Let's continue keeping this a secret place only we know, because I KNOW the others won't leave us anything once they find out." Taeyong laughed and it almost sounded like a melody. "What?" I asked him.

He just shrugged his shoulders and bit his lips to stop himself from laughing again. "You're just cute, that's it."

"Thanks, I'm trying hard." I sarcastically said turning around and stretched out my hand to grab a branch full of cherries. But before I could pick them off, Taeyong stopped me by grabbing my hand softly and intertwining our fingers. Confused about why he kept me from eating my beloved fruits, I looked at him. In that moment the sun shone in between the leaves and made Taeyong's skin glow.

As a matter of fact, he was a handsome man in any time of the day, but now, standing under a cherry three in bright sunlight, his divine beauty couldn't be described in human words. I knew that I looked at him with dreamy eyes and I also knew that he was going to tease me about it, but I didn't care. Not until an actual laugh escaped his mouth. But it was not the type of laugh I was used to. It was short, and not the sarcastic one or the honest "omg this is hilarious" or the "what the hell" and also not the "you're just cute, that's it" type of laugh. It sounded almost... amazed.

"Your eyes..."

"I know, I know, you can tease me all you want, but it's not my fault you're good-looking." I justified my staring. I braced myself for his "watch out please, you're gonna drool" but it never came.

"No, no. Your eyes... they're honey." He explained to me and continued looking at me in a fascinated way.

"Huh?"

"Your eyes are the color of honey. I never noticed this before, but when the sunbeams hit you... it was... just wow."

"I know, Jungwoo has the same eyes." To me it wasn't really special, it was just another shade of eye-color many people had.

"I only noticed it today." He kept looking into my eyes.

"And for how many years do you know me now?"

"Come on, that doesn't count. I spent the majority of my life with ignoring your existence." He wrapped his arms around me and smiled sweetly at me, so that his white teeth could be seen.

"And what did you miss? My honey eyes." I jokingly lectured him.

"Your honey eyes" He repeated laughing, throwing his head back, and pulling me closer to him in the process. Next thing I felt was how he gave me a kiss on the top of my hair. "Can I be honest with you?" All fun in his voice was gone, it was pure seriousness left.

"Always." I whispered and looked up to him.

"All those years, I kept a secret from the world: A shed of faith." He revealed and I knew how hard it was for him to talk about it. He hated being vulnerable - at least that's what he thought he was when he talked about himself. And it meant so much to me, that he opened up to me. I followed his words curiously.

"See, I never believed that life..." he made a short break, looking in the distance, "the universe, a higher power, whatever you want to call it," his honest eyes searched mine again and I couldn't describe the intensity in them, "that nothing... would allow me to suffer so much and then die... without knowing true love." He took a strand of my hair between two fingers and lovingly brushed it out of my face. "It'd just be too cruel. And when I met you... my faith was rewarded."

"So... basically," I tilted my head teasingly to the side and smiled sweetly at him, "I'm an angel."

He gently grabbed my face with both his hands and looked me straight in the eyes. Our faces were separated by mere inches.

"Kim Carmen..." he sighed and his hot breath touched my skin, "to me, you're the whole damn world."

"Cami? Cami!" Mark repeatedly flicked his fingers in front of my face. "Are you okay?" I blinked a few times, realizing I was still in the conference room with Jungwoo and Mark who looked at me with concerned eyes.

"Um, I, uh" I stuttered and hid my trembling fingers under the table. "Sorry, did I zone out? I didn't sleep well last night." Funny thing was, it wasn't even a lie. "And I think I need to use the bathroom. I'll be back in a minute."

And that's how the circle closed: the sixth family was Lee Taeyong's family. His family was actually the royal family out of all families. There was a reason why Mark had called him boss, and why he would keep calling him boss.

They were the ultimate rulers; the ones who owned the kingdom.

Their family business - the Lee Group - owned at least 40% of the world's petroleum, with the remainder split between Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.

Money and power meant everything to them, but at the same time, they would most likely be the first ones burning bank notes to keep themselves warm in winter, in case they ran out of firewood.

This family was the reason why the six powerful families, why the network, why the mafia even existed.

They were dangerous for anybody, but for me, the danger even doubled and tripled, because of a special someone.
I didn't know why I kept thinking of him, why I always saw the past in front of my eyes. I just knew that I wanted it to stop!

My head felt dizzy as I walked down the corridor, hoping that the bathroom was still exactly where I remembered it, because right now, the only thing my body wanted to do was puke.

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A/N

Okay, okay, I know what you're gonna say *cheesy writing alert* but I HAD to put the flashback in this chapter

It's important regarding future chapters to understand Cami's and Taeyong's background. And now that we finally know more information about the "mafia", their structure and the six families, I think the real deal can begin, right?

Btw, the password for Lucas' room (in Chap 2) was inspired by the following photo.

Everyone say thank you mnet :)))

(I know it's just a screenshot from an unintentional oopsie moment)