Captives in the same prison, but we don't see eye to eye.

Ristorante Cracco
Milan, Italy

He took another sip of his Kurg champagne after checking the time again, his wristwatch ticking yet his companion for the dinner is nowhere to be seen.

The message he received from his dad was a simple order, 'cancel tomorrow's meeting,' but in his life 'simple' meant traveling to Mars and back. Therefore, he took the flight to Milan, inviting his lady wolf for a prestigious meal, to convince her to hold off on the meeting.

He didn't come here expecting it to be worth his precious time, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. And there it goes, another 15 minutes or so, until a firm clicking of heels against the golden tiles could be heard.

"You are late," he spoke, picking up his glass of champagne again.

"On such a short notice, this is the best I could do Mr. Jeon." Neither of them bothered for the polite greetings.

She took the seat opposite him, flicking the pages of the menu card. He eyed the smile she wore while placing her order to the waiter, a compassionate and kind facade.

She noticed how the magazine lying on the table seemed more intriguing to him than her presence. After all, she wore the lavender perfume, violet knee-length dress, and the pearl necklace he gifted her a few months ago on her 21'st birthday. Despite her dislike, she wore them for his satisfaction.

After spending 40 minutes curling her waist-length caramel hair, at least a 'you look lovely,' would have been a good enough compliment in the name of manners, but then she knew he never cared for such pretense.

Anyway, his sharp jawline, black suit, and silky dark hair reaching his brows made up for his lack of manners.

"Dad wants you to cancel the meeting tomorrow," he said, "this will be the 3rd time this week. I'm afraid they will get offended. Mr. Park adores you, so I'm sure a date with you instead would be a nice offer to him."

Haein held a hand against her cherry-red lips as she giggled, perhaps an adorable scene for the passersby but Jungkook didn't miss the evil glint in her eyes.

"A date with Mr. Park sounds exciting, but shouldn't you reconsider this?" her brown eyes blinked innocently, "I won't be the only one on a date tomorrow, just reminding."

He put the empty glass back on the table with a loud clunk, as he stood up. She enjoyed the death glare he graced her with. "Mr. Park will reach out to you. I expect you to not disappoint him."

"You have not eaten anything yet," she faked concern.

"I lost my appetite," because of you, he should have said but held off.

The mention of his dad canceling the meeting to go on a date with a rich woman was cruel on her part, she admits.

But what is the world if not cruel?

"I'm starving!" she whined, like a little girl begging for ice cream. He wondered if she would still act the same if he denied her of that.

"Bon appétit," he turned his back on her, already having enough of seeing her face. Now, a flight back to Seoul was all he needed, but then he stopped. A loud crashing of glass ceased the moving of his feet.

Upon hurriedly turning around, broken pieces of glass met his eyes, shattered on the floor covered in expensive champagne.

"I don't want to eat alone," Haein softly mumbled, bending down to pick a piece of glass. She held it to her wrist, turning to look back in his eyes, "you would stay, right?"

Junkook tensed. It wasn't a question or a request. He knew all the limits this woman could cross just to mess up with him, and a trip to the ICU was not how he wanted to spend his night.

Maniac.

He sat down again and spent a while eating the food she had ordered for them. "I can tell you didn't ask me to stay just for quiet company, tell me what you want?" he asked, putting the fork down.

She sighed. Darn him.

He could always read her through the roses and thorns of her expressions. "Talking while eating is bad manners," she clicked her tongue in annoyance.

He rolled his eyes. "Spill, before I change my generous mind back to Satan mode."

"Your friend," the food was no longer in her interest as she played with the napkin, "Kim Namjoon."

Jungkook squinted his eyes in disbelief. "What? Stay the hell away from-"

She groaned at his dramatics. "I need his intelligence to solve 'the mystery'. Not him, you knucklehead."

Ah, so now there was back to being college mates, no longer the business partners.

'The mystery,' she spoke of, Jungkook wasn't a stranger to that quest. It was also an impending task on his to-do list.

"You think Joon hyung can solve what we couldn't for years?" he questioned, seriously considering that possibility.

"We have plucked many petals, this is another one. If it works it works. If not, then we are back to nothing," she shrugged, "plus, I wouldn't mind spending some time with your golden retriever friend."

Jungkook scrunched his nose. "Don't call him that. And I'm going to be there with you two, so you don't try anything funny."

She chuckled. "It would be my pleasure to have your company, Mr. Jeon," now they were back into business mode, "set up an appointment with him on Saturday, or else I will make sure Mr. Park would never want to go on a date again."

Jungkook stood up to leave, fixing his suit. "You have my word, Ms. Yoon. Therefore, don't offend Mr. Park in any way."

"Is complimenting the heel of his Chelsea boots also considered offensive," she loudly contemplated while Jungkook walked away shaking his head at her dramatics.

__________

Jeon Jae-na and Yoon Jung-mi (Jungkook and Haena's mothers), were best friends. They used to live together in Milan until they got married to their husbands and came back to Seoul.

Jungkook and Haena grew up together despite not liking each other very much.

Everything was fine until his mother passed away and the year after that Haena's mother fell terribly ill.

And before she passed away, she made them promise her three things as she said this was also what Jungkook's mother wanted.

'The mystery' was one of the three promises.

The scene was still vivid in Haena's mind of when her mother clutched her hand with hers, breathing her last moments in this world.

Jungkook was beside her, holding her mother's other hand.

"Promise me you both will always stick to each other," her mother requested with moist eyes.

"Promise," they both agreed instantly.

"You will have to pay off the debt, promise me," she asked once more.

"We promise," they said in unison.

For the last one, her mother's eyes looked around the ceiling, noticing the cameras. She softly murmured, "Jungkook dear, the painting you made me that one Christmas, I still have it hanging in my room."

Haein didn't catch what her mother was attempting to do with that information, but Jungkook caught on.

After a week of her funeral, Jungkook showed the piece of paper that was attached to the painting.

A letter or perhaps a poem.

'In cracked buried bones, in bloody rotten flesh.
Your name is on my lips, I won't forget.
One could burn, the other could drown.
You won't get to live in peace for too long.'

They were sure it wasn't a goodbye note. Therefore, they spent some time trying to figure out what it meant, keeping it a secret from their fathers.

Now, Haein was sure an IQ of 148 would come in handy in solving this mystery.

________
Author: Posted this early for my dear reader AllDayInThePurple_7's puppy eyes.

Thank you for reading.