She awakes to an arm wrapped securely around her waist, the warmth it provided reaching the very depths of her tormented heart. And she knows in that moment he stayed. He chose to stay with her despite her constant attempts of pushing him away. And she couldn't understand why. Anyone else would have walked away by now, anyone else would have given up and yet still he remained relentless in his pledge of wanting to save her. She turned in his arms, her eyes drinking in his form, he looked like an angle, the peace flowing from his body. His aura was light, and she couldn't help but feel intrigued. His hair brushed down against his head, and the side of his face displayed, with the added effect of the sun that peaked through her blinds, highlighting his jawline. As she turned his grip tightened on her waist, but he remained asleep as she moved closer, a hand resting against his chest. She looked up at his face, captivated by the serenity of his face. Her hand picked up slightly, brushing against the flattened hair so that she could get a clearer view of his encased eyes. Her hand slowly brushed them away, her hand resting on the side of his face, with her thumb tracing small circles against his soft skin. Her eyes sauntered up, as she continued her small act until finally, as if she was forced out a trance her hand stopped. She moved back slightly, her hand retreating until the arm against her waist pulled her flush against his body, whilst his other hand, stopped her own. His hazel eyes opened into hers, the two searching each other's in silence. "I was enjoying that." He spoke, his voice husky and hoarse. She shot up from his arms, moving it before kicking the duvet back. "Why are you here?" She spoke, her voice rushed and tense. "You weren't complaining a few moments ago." She turned around glaring at him slightly as he looked at her, readjusting his position. "You didn't want me to go." She looked at him laughing in disbelief. "Yeah right like I would ever do that." He pinned her with his eyes. "You wouldn't let go of my hand Irene. What was I supposed to do?" "You should have left." He sat up, hair slightly dishevelled as he fixed her with a pointed look. "Stop fucking asking me to leave." "Then stop coming." He looked up at her. "You don't mean that Irene and I know for a fact that you don't. If you wanted me to leave why did you allow me to even come in, in the first place. You need me irene, and if it's not need then it's obvious that you want me, you're just to fucking scared to admit it." She turned away from him. "It doesn't matter. Listen to me when I'm saying something Jackson. I'm not saying it for fun. You need to stay away from me, because this, whatever it is, will get you killed." "I'm okay with that." "Well I'm fucking not okay!" Her chest heaved slightly as she whirled around. "Do you think this is fucking easy! Everyone that comes close to me dies Jackson, you saw the consequences yesterday. I'm not about to let that happen to you when you have no fucking clue what you're getting yourself involved in." "Then tell me and let's go through it together." "No. Stop. We need to draw a line, right here right now. Your world can never be mine okay? Neither can I allow you to enter mine, so stick to your own side and do not make the mistake of crossing over because you will get caught in the crossfire." "And how many times do I have to tell you I'm not leaving." She sighed, letting out a frustrated scream, her hands shooting up as she sat back on the bed, her head falling to her hands as she gripped against her hair slightly. He watched her for a moment before standing and crouching down in front of her. Gently he pryed her hands away from her face, his own encasing them in his warmth as he looked at her. "Stop pushing me away, Irene. Because I'm not going anyway." "Please don't do this." She spoke tenderly, her voice coated in fear, something he only just registered. His artistic fingers brushed against her chin, pulling her line of sight into his own. "No. You need someone Rene, we all do. And nothing you say or do to push me away is going to succeed. I like you and I don't want to see you hurt or in pain, I want to go through everything with you, as your weapon. As your shield. Whatever you need me to be, I'll be. But I won't allow you to push me away. If you do, I'll keep coming back." Her hand  moved against his cheek, as he nuzzled into it, before kissing her palms. "I'll wait. I'll be patient, and when you decide what you want, I'll be there. Okay?" He stood up slightly placing a kiss to her forehead, and offering her a small smile. "I know you're probably going to be busy with work today and the preparations, but if you need  me at any time of the day, call me okay?" She nodded slightly as he grabbed his blazer heading for the door, until he turned, his eyes meeting hers that were following his every movement. He walked back up to her, his hand on her base of her neck as he brought her closer to place a final chaste kiss to her forehead. He smiled at her, before leaving in the next moment.

Irene sighed, her head falling back into her hands as she tried to stifle the flare that erupted in her heart from his touch. She didn't have time for this, she kept reminding herself that, and yet like a disease her thoughts all stemmed back to him without warning. And still as she moved to prepare herself for her day, thoughts of him obstructed her rationality. A price that would ultimately cost her more and more with every passing second. Giving herself a final stare in the mirror she left, her self made haven to start bringing about what she was good at. Destruction.

She walked through to her office, a flare about her that captivated the attention of all employees as she walked through to her office, slamming the door shut with a resounding bang, she looked at the table seeing all of her girls waiting with questioning looks directed towards her as she took haste steps towards the head chair, Lay, Sehun, and Kia, sat amongst the girls as Irene looked towards them all ready to address them. "We are moving forward with the plan, and we are starting now." "Irene." Begun Wendy. "No, hold on, there's some information that I found out recently, and in addition to that wends, they don't know what we have been planning, we have kept hidden because we weren't sure about the timing, but now, it's time." She looked towards the girls. "You know when I started this, I promised you all the justice you and your families deserved and today this is where we are going to start." She stood up walking towards a board. Gasps audible at what she had put together. "On 15th June 2008  Yeri and Seulgi, your sisters were murdered in a park, past midnight..."she watched as they momentarily stiffened. "Police were called at approximately 1:35 AM with a missing persons report and yet the police didn't do anything, as recorded in their call log, the received in the next five hours a total of seven phone calls. Yet nothing was done. One of your sisters boyfriend who happened to be Wendy's brother went to go looking for them, finding them both dead in the field and finally the police showed up, shutting of the scene for investigation, it was then found out that two officers took pictures with the deceased and sent them on a group chat,  not only trespassing the rights of the deceased but in the process destroying the evidence. The case was shut as a result and the killer was not caught. However I do suspect that it was Seulgi's sisters boyfriend who happens to be the district attorney's son, and hence why I believe that the negligence came out of him trying to protect his son." Irene paused looking around to make sure she hadn't lost them. "It makes sense considering the messy break up they had and we have been working to solidify the evidence. Now after that happened, Yeri's sisters boyfriend who happened to be an activist alongside both of your fathers with Wendy's started to speak up, and that's when things went wrong. They were all killed or preferably silenced." She looked up at them eyes softening slightly at the looks on their faces. She paused slightly walking towards Joy. "Your dad was friends with Wendy's, and when he was killed your dad was next to try and stand up. He took matters into his own hands and that's what got your family killed." Irene turned her back to look at the board. "It turns out  that somehow my family was linked to this. How? I'm yet to work out, but the connection we share goes far back then we realised." She turned back looked at the shock stricken faces. "I know this is a lot. And I know that you're all going to need sometime to process this. And before I let you do exactly that I need to tell you one more thing. I've told wends already, all of these cases were signed off under the name James Kang." Joy shot out her seat. "That fucking old man, we should have killed him when we had the chance. Rene why didn't you shoot him if you knew." Irene momentarily closed her eyes looking back at the younger girl. "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. I know he's trying to throw me off Joy, why else would he hand me that file regarding flight B32? He was trying to push me away from the goal but he hasn't realised how this is going to help. I have investigation privileges, meaning I have access to all of their files, I can now get my hand on anything that I need, old and new files." The girls eyes widened in realisation as Kai, Lay and Seuhn shared a look. "The best way to bring something down Is from within, it's the same tactic that this Samuel persona is using, and it is exactly that, that we need to follow." Seulgi looked up at Irene. "What's the plan?" They watched the small smirk play on her face, the seven of them sharing a look as Irene handed them something. "We are reopening the case. The plan is to leak the group chat first into the media. This essentially means as the only living family, Seul and Yeri, you two will need to go in. I'll approach you in public and take up the case. After the first hearing when I have cemented an argument I can then start linking in Wendy's and joys respectively. I want that done as soon as possible, but I also need you boys to be doing some investigation on the side, there's some stuff I'm not clear on, and therefore i need to cement the facts, I'll send you guys an email detailing what I want. From there I'm gonna exploit this as much as I can. There's something not right here, and I have a feeling that this is linked to more cases then one. It's going to take time but we need to strip this back completely. And this Samuel persona is giving me a headache, he keeps popping up and even in the files I managed to access, there was reference to him." "Rene how are we going to handle that?" "We aren't. At least not openly. Myvtheory is that this stems back to him. A district attorneys son, commits murder, he turns to his father who turns to his higher ups and friends. Who? The director of KI. And? The president? And Park industries met with president...its far fetched, but this is what I'm basing myself on, from there we are narrowing it down. Lay, Kai and Sehun, I'll call you guys in two days and we can work on investigating and you telling me what you've found cause I can see it on your face. I need to prepare for Ryujin's funeral-" she paused steadying her breath as they shot her a look of concern. "I want this started after. Wendy get in contact with your journalist friend and get this in the media as soon as possible. Preferably tomorrow when I'm busy to reduce suspicion." Wendy nodded. Irene released a deep breath turning back to the screen. "Let's burn this city to the ground."

TBC

Authors note:
Hey guys hope you enjoy this chapter. Let me know what your thoughts are in the comment section below. Lots of love and stay safe x