The drive to Chan's penthouse was silent, and I was glad for it. I was in no mood to talk to the man that was my husband. Minho's car followed close behind and we arrived into an underground garage. Chan grabbed my bags, the only few that I had needed to bring. Everything else of mine had already been brought over.

"The whole building belongs to us," Chan said on the elevator. His penthouse was right at the top. "Minho's penthouse is on the floor below, and the rest of my closest members have their respective floors too,"

"Can they access ours?" I wasn't particulary keen on the idea of any one of Chan's men coming into what was going to be my new home.

"No, they used to, but now that we're married, that won't be happening. Besides, most of our business takes place a little further from this building,"

The door opened, revealing Chan's residence, and I found myself in a wide, open space. The walls were dark, and mahogany wood lined the doors. Two grey sofas sat in the middle, and the windows were floor-to-ceiling, presenting a glorious view. A staircase led up to the second floor of the house, and as I moved in further, I spotted a large kitchen and a few spare rooms. 

"Your things are in our bedroom upstairs, you can sort them out a little later,"

I glanced over at my husband, who had been watching me with interest. He continued speaking. "A maid comes once a week to clean and things like that, but other than her, and some of my men, it'll be just us,"

"Why does she only come once a week?"

Chan's expression darkened. "I don't trust many people," He said dryly. 

I nodded, turning towards the balcony that led to a garden sort of area. "Can we go outside?"

Chan opened the doors, and we stepped into the slightly cold breeze. The view was stunning, and I tried to take it all in at once. Perhaps Daegu wouldn't be so terrible.

"Will you jump?" My husband looked at me, noticing my fingers gripping the rails.

"Of course not," I answered. "I would never do that,"

"Some women do. They think it's the only way out of a marriage that may be suffocating them,"

Death was inevitable, and in our world, the mafia world, it was so much more closer. I looked down, the distance between where we stood and the ground. It would be an instant death, but jumping had never appealed to me. I would run.

"Some women do, yes," I agreed. "But I have Bitna, Chaewon and Junseo to think about. I've already left them in Seoul, I won't leave them in life,"

Chan tilted his head, as though he understood my reasoning. He placed a hand on the small of my back as we returned inside, shutting the door so that we wouldn't get cold. "I have a meeting in a few minutes, and won't be back for a while, but after that, we could explore the city,"

"Yes, that would be lovely," I smiled, and to my surprise, Chan too had a ghost of a smile on his face. 

"Changbin will keep guard, if you need anything, just go to him or message me," I gave another nod, and he seemed satisfied. "See you later," He pressed a kiss to my lips before leaving as I stood pink-faced.

My hands glided over the banister, moving upstairs into the room that Chan and I would be sharing. It was the biggest of the lot, a king-sized bed facing the enormous windows. A walk-in-wardrobe was on one side, whilst the other led into the vast en suite. The room itself was painted in dark colours.

"Nayoung?"

I spun around to face my bodyguard, his muscled arms carrying my bags, offering me a grin. "Do you want me to put these here for you?"

"Yes please, I'll sort them out myself," Changbin nodded, placing them down before turning to me once more. 

"I'll be downstairs if you need me," With that, the stocky boy walked off, his footsteps echoing slightly as he went down the stairs.

I started unpacking, piling and organising my clothes and a few miscallaneous items into the walk-in-wardrobe, sorting them the way I did back in Seoul. A polaroid photo in a frame caught my eye.

Bitna and Junseo were grinning from ear to ear as Chaewon and I had our arms around each other, smiling alongside them. The picture had been taken for Junseo's birthday, and had remained my favourite. Tears sprung to my eyes. Seoul wasn't that far from Daegu, but I doubted that I would ever see it much again.

...

Chan had returned a few hours later, where at that point I'd changed into a pale pink dress that skinned my knees, a white cardigan over the top to keep me warm. It had taken a while for the make-up to do its magic and hide the red in my eyes from crying, but there wasn't really much that I could do.

Chan had noticed quite quickly, but his gaze was on the photo of my siblings, yet he said nothing, only taking my hand, leading me out of the penthouse and into the car, driving through his empire which he had fought for.

"You look beautiful," He said quietly, a small smile making its way onto my face. 

We continued to drive down through the streets of Daegu, before arriving at a sort of alleyway. Chan parked the car and took my hand as we walked down the little path, each side housing various restaurants of different nationalities.

"What are you up for eating?" He asked as I looked around before spotting a Mexican themed restaurant. 

"I've never tried Mexican,"

Father had never really been a big fan of international foods, and so when we went out to eat, he would opt for fine-dining Korean restaurants.

"We'll change that,"

We took our seats, and Chan said a few words to the waiter. "Their menudo and cochinita pibil is quite delicious. I think you'll love it. You're not allergic to pork are you, or vegeterian?"

I shook my head. I ate nearly everything apart from a few foods, but that wasn't because I was a picky eater or allergic, simply because I wasn't fond of the taste.

The meal had arrived within a few minutes and as I sipped the stew, I let out a sigh of pure love. Chan had been right, they were delicious, and I knew I had to come back to this restaurant another time. 

...

The feeling of calm after the restaurant with Chan had defalted as we entered the penthouse, my husband opening the door to our bedroom. I disappeared off to the bathroom, ridding myself of my make up and pulling on a nightgown.

When I'd come back in, Chan was in grey sweatpants only, his torso muscled and strong, as he came towards me. 

I looked up at him. I was not ready for anything more than kissing, and if he hoped to consummate our marriage tonight, then he was far more expectant than I thought. 

But he did none of those things, instead, his fingers grazed my cheek, before taking my hand. Hesitantly, I dragged my own fingers across his palm, frowning at the hardness of the skin. I examined it, only to see a scar there. "What happened here?"

"Knife fight," He shrugged. Sometimes I forgot how used to pain the men in our world were. Scars slashed all of Chan's back and torso. 

"Doesn't it bother you that this is the world you grew up in? One filled with blood and death, and horrible things?"

Chan let out a laugh, his hands wrapping around my waist as he pulled me into an embrace. I stiffened for a moment, but then relaxed in his hold. He was warm and comfortable, and I leaned against his firm form, listening to the rhythm of his heartbeat.

"You grew up in this world too,"

"Yes, but I grew up in a golden cage," I pointed out. "We were never told the gruesome details,"

"Don't tell me that you never saw anyone in your family ridden in blood,"

I paused. There had been one time, when Bitna and I were twelve and thirteen. We'd sneaked out of our rooms, into the living room to watch a movie when we weren't supposed to. It had been well after midnight, and we'd been so invested in the film that we hadn't noticed our uncle, Father and cousin come in. They had switched on the light, and Bitna and I had been horrified at the sight of our uncle and cousin's white shirts drenched in blood.

"It never bothered me," Chan said honestly. "My whole life revolved around becoming Capo,"

"Even when your father didn't want you to take over,"

Chan's expression fell, and something dark, something twisted and terrible came upon his face. "My father was a bastard,"

That was all he said before he fell silent and moved towards the bed.

I mentally slapped myself. I should not have mentioned his father. Manseok had told me of their strenuous relationship before Chan had killed the man. He had closed up once more.

I lowered myself onto the bed, and he flicked off the lights, leaving us in the grasps of darkness. For a second, I thought he would ignore me completely, but to my surprise, one of his arms went across my waist, and his other hand pulled me closer to him so that my chin was buried in the crook of his neck. 

"He was the past," My husband murmered, his fingers playing with my hair. "I don't dwell on irrelevant things, but instead, look towards the future,"

"I understand," I said softly, relaxing as he continued to twirl strands of my hair, my eye-lids drooping before I fell into slumber.