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"What do you want?" Mari hissed, closing her room door behind her cautiously as she stepped out. Yeosang had arrived at her room earlier in the day to bring her news that her presence was needed by her father. She hadn't immediately made a mad dash for her father's office as she had just returned back to the Seo Manor and spent a few hours with Wooyoung in comfortable yet complete silence, so with that being said she was rather late to her meeting with him. Mari had intended to approach her father when her energy had been rejuvenated from the former events, as she knew she'd need a lot of brain power for whatever he was asking to speak to her about.

Yet unfortunately it seemed as though she was going to spend her energy on something different and more difficult to penetrate. "I just came by to greet you," The sickly sweet voice of Jaerin told her, smiling at her so widely that she could see every lie she was going to spite from her mouth. "I mean... you disappeared for almost a whole week! Your father and my father had held a dinner with our respective Consiglieres and Underbosses in honor of the Lee-Seo alliance. What did my father call it? The Amphithere Alliance I believe."

"Yeah? Well I wouldn't want to have dinner with you anyways," Mari replied, her eyes mimicking Yeosang's annoyed stone cold gaze as she pushed past the Lee Faction heir. She could only imagine how awkward and tense that dinner would have been if Mari was present. The two daughters of their respective mafia's staring at each other with murderous intent for their past encounters that neither of their families knew of. "Just looking at you would make me lose my appetite."

Jaerin hummed in response, her smile twitching in annoyance to Mari's jab. Though she continued after her, following behind her steps as she began to pester her. "I can only help but wonder, where did you go? I knew snakes were very good at camouflaging with their surroundings, but you quite literally disappeared into thin air." She told her, referencing the Seo Faction's so-to-say mascot, a venomous snake, in her analogy.

Mari stopped in her tracks forcing a smile to play on her lips as she faced the girl. "Where I went, Jaerin, is none of your business. Now if you excuse me, I have somewhere to be right now." She growled, scanning the girl's appearance and silently judging her in her head. The girl truly did dress like fake royalty, using the moment her faction earned and spending it on expensive clothing brands. How typical for a spoiled princess such as herself.

After a few seconds of pure silence, Mari started making her way down the hallway. She slowly began to inhale and exhale, not letting a petty temper overwhelming her thoughts and actions. One wrong step and Mari might bite Jaerin's head off for aggravating her so much. "Am I not even allowed to guess?" Her voice piped up after a few seconds, talking about that sounded a little more taunting than need be.

"No," Mari answered, trying to keep the conversation as short as possible. "You don't get to guess where I've been. That's my business and mine alone."

"Oh don't be so crude, Mari," Jaerin scoffed, fastening her pace and putting her hand on her shoulder to emulate the feeling of fake comfort. "I don't really need to guess to know that you've been sneaking around with the boy from our school." She told her, making Mari freeze in place almost immediately. "Yunho, Seonghwa, Mingi, and especially Hongjoong, that entire posse of boys. I didn't strike you to be for multiple men at once but you just continue to surprise me."

Mari's eyes widened at the mention of their names, shrugging the girl's hand aggressively and turning to face her. "What did you just say?"

Jaerin laughed, nearly turning red from the Seo Faction girl's reaction. "If only you could see the look on your face! I'm only joking, why would any of them even like you of all people? I mean you are...," The girl stepped back to get a good look of Mari, an extremely judgmental glint in her eyes as she glanced at her from head to toe. "Well, you are you after all. I mean look at you! Do you really think they're impressed? They have such high standards! I don't even understand how Hongjoong could look at you for more than two seconds."

Mari felt several emotions bubble instead of her, banging on her chest like a beast trapped inside of a cage. If only there weren't people walking through the hallway every few minutes, she would have clawed the girl's eyes out by now. "What do you want, Jaerin? Clearly you're not here just to see me after my absence from the manor." She replied, crossing her arms and beginning to get slightly defensive in the girl's presence.

Jaerin gasped, clasping her hands together as a mocking laugh escaped her mouth once more. "Don't tell me? You really think he likes you, you must be out of your goddamn mind!"

She placed her hands on Mari's shoulders firmly, refusing to budge no matter how many times she shrugged to snatched her hands off of her. "I feel so sorry for you, being stringed along like a moth to a flame. You're only gonna get your feelings hurt in the end I can already see it! You aren't like me, you know nothing about him. Naively following behind him like a puppy is going to get you hurt."

"Why should I listen to the girl who spiked my drink because she was too jealous of someone getting more attention than her?" Mari questioned her, shoved her away from her with a little more strength than she intended. The girl yelped when she tumbled to the ground, hitting the floor with a heavy thud that was a slightly louder than either of them had expected. "Why should I listen to the girl who had Jongho so frightened of his own faction that he thought he was going to die by the hands of the Lees? Everything that comes out of your mouth is just some silvery lie that I refuse to fall victim to."

Jaerin's eyes widened for a moment, the shock from Mari's words slowly morphing into an angry glare. The girl's petty threats weren't working on her like she had planned, especially when Mari was right at home on her faction's territory. "I see how it is... I see very clearly," She responded, lifting herself off of the floor and dusting off any dirt that collected on her clothes. "Keep on walking down the path you're on then, please continue I won't stop you anymore then I already have. Get your little heartbroken by a boy you barely even know! You're nothing more than a pawn in his chess game, too easy to snag up and use for his own purposes."

Mari laughed, forcing a tight smile on her face as her jaw clenched even tighter with every passing second. "I've been trying to keep my composure this entire time yet you continue to pester and annoy me to no end," the girl swore, cracking her knuckles as she began to walk towards the Lee Faction heir. "And frankly I'm beginning to run out of patience with your attitude in my territory of all places."

"Our," Jaerin hissed, putting as much emphasis on the word as she should muster. "I believe you mean our territory, according to the Seo-Lee alliance."

The girl gasped in response, faking her interest in the other girl's words as she continued to walk towards her. "Oh I'm sorry, you're right. This is our territory now. But when I'm done with you you're not going to want to return back here and claim it to be yours anymore." She threatened, lunging towards the girl like a angry beast. Mari couldn't help but attack her no matter how much she tried to ignore the urge to hurt her. Jaerin was wildly good at getting under skin, so the Lee Faction heir better be happy she didn't have any sort of weapon on her.

"Get off of me!" Jaerin screeched, the fear of Mari actually hurting her evident in her voice. "What are you?! Some kind of rabid dog? Get off me, get away from me you fucking heathen!"

Mari had to keep herself from attempting to seriously injuring the girl, meaning she had to ignore the urge to choke Jaerin out whole she had the chance. Instead she simply grabbed a handful of the girl's silky long hair, tugging on the strands as hard as she could like it was a chain. The girl screamed in agony, squirming around under Mari's body and trying to force her to let go of her. Jaerin's yells echoed through the hallway, catching the attention of anyone in the area who could hear her. Footsteps rushed into the hallway as fast as they could at the girl's pleas for help, gasping of the one-sided catfight the two of them were in.

"Mari, what in the good hell are you doing?!" Wooyoung's voice hissed, following by a pair of footsteps that went racing to her side. In a flash San had appeared in between them, forcing the girl's hands away from Jaerin's hair and separating them from each other.

Jaerin squirmed backwards, getting as far behind San as she could be a safe distance away from the Seo Faction heir. "Is she insane? Put that girl on a leash for god sake! Train her even! She's like a deranged animal!"

San's head snapped towards Jaerin with an offended look in his eyes, as if he was going to take the chance and jump Jaerin for letting such words fall out of her mouth. Mari immediately lunged towards the Lee Faction heir again, her nostrils flaring like bull's and her face turning into an angry shade of red in pure frustration. Wooyoung was able to stop both of them though, having one arm slung around Mari's waist to restrain her from moving forward and the other hand holding San's wrist tightly to keep him in place. Wooyoung looked like some sort of beast tamer as he tried to keep the two of them from slaughtering the girl.

"What is going on here?" A voice boomed down the hallway, the small crowd that formed around the teenagers beginning to split like the Red Sea. The three turned their heads instinctively in almost exact unison, their eyes widening at the sight of Mari's father walking towards them.

Wooyoung's grip on the two slowly faltering at the sight of the man himself approaching them with a fuming and disappointed expression donning his face. When his hands dropped him San, he immediately lowered his head in respect, not even daring to lift his head up and meet the man's gaze. Unlike Mari and Wooyoung, her father wasn't a father figure to him. He was San's superior and always put the treatment of his superior over his own. Wooyoung copied San almost immediately, having been in trouble with the superiors of the faction for covering up for Mari big time.

Mari, however, stood her ground just as she had always done. She was breathing fast and hard thanks to the sudden adrenaline rush from attacking Jaerin and was flexing her fists that sat by her side, yet she kept eye contact with her father. Both gazes holding the same fiery aggravation for each other's actions, though her father's had a hint of disappointment compared to Mari's intense glare. "What is the meaning of this?" He questioned her, his tone silvery and cynical.

The girl didn't respond, the only noise coming from her was the heavy inhale and exhales like she was an exhausted animal. She looked rather animalistic at the moment to begin with, baring her teeth at Jaerin like a predator would do to its prey to intimidate it. "Well, do you have an explanation for yourself or would you like to embarrass yourself in front of every colleague that can hear us right?" His father asked her, gesturing to the many soldiers of the Seo Faction that had rushed to see the action.

Jaerin smirked as she finally lifted herself off of the ground, holding her hands behind her back as she slid behind Mari's father for the utmost protection. She gave the girl a knowing smirk, her head held high as she watched Mari and her father carefully. The girl took a threatening step towards the Lee Faction heir, causing the girl in question to flinch away in order to keep her distance between the two of them. Wooyoung held on Mari's hand in retaliation, squeezing it tightly to calm her nerves and hopefully give her the reassurance she needs to face her father professionally in front of such a big crowd.

"I don't need to explain myself when it comes to her," Mari told him, nearly spitting at Jaerin as she spoke. "She's all bark and no bite. It was only a matter of time before someone finally brought that 'untouchable ego' of hers down to earth."

"Mari," Wooyoung hissed, shaking her slightly to bring her back into reality so that she could realize her situation and who she was talking to. She didn't seem to notice him desperately trying to fix her attitude, directing her annoyed glare towards both her father and Jaerin.

Her father scoffed, crossing his arms at his daughter's attitude. "You've become too comfortable with the life that has been provided to you." He told her, earning confused expressions from both Wooyoung and San. "I don't tolerate disrespect from anyone in his faction, even from you."

Mari's fiery glare never died out despite her father's words, in fact one could say he only added fuel to flame even. Without a moment's notice, the mob boss grabbed the girl's wrist and began dragging her down the hallway against her will. She dug her heels into the ground, trying to resist his pull and stand right where she was. "Let go of me!" She demanded, trying to snatch her hand away despite his tight grip on her. "Let go of me, let go!"

"Mari—" San began, taking a step forward to try and intervene between the two. Though Wooyoung blocked the way with his hand, mentally deciding it was best they don't try to intrude on the two. So they stood right where Mari and her father had left them, forcing them to watch as the girl desperately threw a childish tantrum in front of an entire crowd to see

The mahogany door closed shut behind the two as the father and daughter entered the office, Mari still kicking and screaming like a child for her to be let go of. Her father's grip on her wrist finally loosened and she quickly snatched her hands away from him, a look of betrayal growing on her face as she slumped to the ground. "Are you out of your mind, Mari?" He asked her, towering over her figure as he tried to conceal the amount of irritation that was bubbling up in his mind. She didn't respond to his words, her hands balling up into a fist with each word that escaped his mouth.

"Why of all the people in this manor right you, you attack Lee Jaerin?" The man criticized her, his voice rising over his usual calm inside voice and into a bitter booming tone. "Has Yeosang not caught you up to speed yet? We have an alliance with the Lee Faction now, this is a once in a lifetime chance we have right now. I cannot afford you to sever this relationship because you attacked the only daughter of the Lees!"

"Is that all you care about?" Mari bite back, quickly rising to her feet in a surge of anger. "Some alliance to a faction we don't even need on our side right now? You were going to take that witch's side whether you heard out what I was going to say or not! You're going to choose some wealthy petty little girl over me, your actual daughter, in a scenario where I actually wasn't wrong this time? That girl has been instigating fights me since we first met, before she even knew who I really was. You really expect me to just sit and be obedient?"

"Yes, actually, I do!" He argued back, his aggressive tone taking Mari off guard for a moment. Her face twisted into a look of hurt, baffled by her father's quick answer. "This is one of the most important alliances in the history of the Seo and Kim Faction. We have even higher chances of officially crushing our rival faction, ending them once and for all after all of the pain and suffering they've caused for us not only in the past but in the present as well. I need to be prepared for a potential war and getting on Lee Faction's good side is an important step into reaching the goal. Total annihilation of our enemies and control of the underground works of the country."

Mari scoffed, her heart aching for her father's lack of sympathy. "You're joking, why are you so hyper focused on this one singular goal that hasn't been achieved for literal years. The Seo faction literally dates back how many years and no one has been hungry for power that they neglect their own children's feelings and worries. You really think mom would sit here and let you do this to yourself?"

"She's not here anymore!" Her father yelled, driving a knife straight into Mari's heart. "The Kim Faction murdered her in cold blood just to keep us from advancing higher than them. And don't think I don't know of your little research plans with the Consigliere's son, I know you're being targeted now too. They're trying to kill us off Mari, and I won't let them take the last member of my family away from me anymore. I'm doing this to avenge my wife, your mother. I'm doing this to protect you."

The girl took a deep breath, attempting to resist the hot tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. "Are you doing this to protect me, or are you doing this because you want power and territory that the Kim Faction holds? You don't care, you stopped caring the moment my mom died."

Her father opened his mouth to retaliate, trying to turn the subject around and explain himself but Mari was one step ahead of him. "I mean, what's next? Next thing you know you're going to take Wooyoung and San away from me in place of some blood thirsty men who are too trigger happy for their own good? Are you going to force him to stay in the manor for the rest of my life because you don't want the next step in your legacy to walk out of the house and never turn back? At this point it's making me worry if you would even mourn me because I'm your daughter and not the next chapter in your story if I died!"

Mari wanted to turn heel and run out the door again just like she had done to Wooyoung. She wanted to run back to Mingi's house, she wanted to run back to Hongjoong. She felt suffocated being in the same vicinity as her father knowing his goals and ideals had done a complete one eighty. "Let me out of here," She demanded, turning away from her father and staring towards the closed mahogany doors. "Get me out of here, right now."

She heard her father take a deep breathe, a moment of uncomfortable silence encasing the room. Oh how she longed to be out of the office, somewhere far away from her father's unnecessary wrath. Whether it was with Wooyoung in her room or with Hongjoong at one of his hideouts, it didn't matter which one. Both of them could easily get her mind off of the current turmoil of her unfortunately tiny family.

"Mari," Her father spoke, his tone of voice much softer than it was earlier. It seemed as though those deep breathes he took a few moments ago had truly calmed him down. "I'm sorry, that it feels like I don't care anymore, but there's only so much I can do to make your life normal. Your mother had taken the job of trying to let you live as normal as possible, but she's gone now. I can't even focus on normal anymore, not when every day we are on the verge of a all out war with the Kims. There's just no way."

He placed his hands on her shoulders before bringing her into an unwanted hug, the fatherly warmth she thought had disappeared a long time ago wrapping around her body. "Everything I do, every step I take and every word I speak, it's all to make sure that you can live well once I finally pass the torch to you. You're the heir of the Seo Faction, Mari... nothing will ever be the same as long as you hold this position."

Mari bit her lip, nearly puncturing it and drawing blood. She was frustrated, she was irritated, she was distraught. The girl never wanted the position of heir, but fate loved the play with her emotions and forced her into it anyways. She could only wonder what other unfortunate situations she'd have to face due to this curse of being the Seo Faction's one and only soon to be Godfather (or mother in her case).

"I want you to take this," Her father told her, letting go of her and walking towards his desk. There he picked up a small black ring box, tied with a white ribbon it to make sure its insides stayed there. "It was gifted to your mother by mine when we had gotten married, and she had always talked about passing it down to you one day, she just never found the right time to do so. I know this doesn't make up for what I've said and done today, but I hope it provides at least a little comfort for the loss of your mother and a small apology for my actions today."