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C H A P T E R      T H I R T Y
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»Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty.«
– William Shakespeare

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With a big sigh, I closed my bag. I had finally finished packing the last of my stuff for the upcoming weekend trip to Busan. I had packed a few cute dresses and everything that went with them. I gasped. I almost forgot to take my new ID card with me. I suppose my nerves were the ones to blame. Once again, I found myself more nervous than usual. It had almost been like that non-stop since I first met Mr. Nakamoto, or since I re-met Taeyong that day... and almost slept with Lucas the same night.

Get it together, Cami!

I grabbed my car keys and closed the door behind me that locked itself automatically. As I walked down the hall to the stairs, I fumbled with my earrings which Lucas had prepared for me (more or less illegally but whatever); with the tiny almost invisible speaker and microphone inside them.

"Morning, Cami," Mark greeted me with a big smile on his face, which suddenly started to fade as if he remembered something.

"Good morning," I greeted him back, watching him suspiciously, "Why that face?"

"Oh... uh, it's..." He paused, sighing and shaking his head slowly, "Just the usual actually." I raised an eyebrow.

"Do you want me to say okay and pretend nothing's wrong?" I asked him.

"Wow, that's so scary right now, because that's exactly what Lucas said a few hours ago," he let me know, a little bit amazed.

"I guess once I'm back from Busan, we're gonna have some catching up to do," I assumed, only earning another sigh from Mark.

"Yeah, that would be nice!" A happy smile crossed his face, but I could still see that something burdened him. And Mark being Mark I knew he wanted to share whatever weighed on his shoulders, but somehow he couldn't do that. I knew I had to elaborate on that when I was back. Hopefully, it was a private problem rather than anything concerning the mission. Because if it had to do with the mission, he would've told me, right? "Like the gang gang's we used to have."

Gang gang was the shortcut for the fancier, richer and more elite sounding name gangster gathering, according to Mark. It was what he used to call whenever all of us would come together, oftentimes after a mission. These meetings often came about by chance and before we knew it we had found ourselves in the middle of an action movie marathon. I had many memories of our gang gang's.

Since Taeyong and I had somehow officially started our relationship on my 18th birthday, as fate would have it, we hadn't told anyone about it. Only him and I; For several weeks. The other's hadn't even wondered why we hadn't argued anymore. They just thought their prayers had been answered and we had finally agreed on being civil.

Back then, they hadn't been wrong per se.

.

It just depended on the interpretation of civil.

.
.

I sighed. Today was one of those days again. I had tried to be alone with Taeyong a number of times over the course of two weeks, but our schedules just didn't allow it. Every time I was in Taeyong's office, someone else was with us. In the night I was already asleep in bed when he would send me a text message or knock gently on my door. And early in the morning, he was the one sleeping, having worked through the night. Even if we each had a phone to communicate with, I missed Taeyong's proximity, the feeling of his warm skin. Holding hands secretly didn't particularly satisfy the need.

Nowadays, the headquarter was too crowded: Jungwoo's and my father. Mark's father. Doyoung's father. Sicheng's father. Ten's father. And of course, Taeyong's father. They all had hundreds of tasks to do. In addition, each of them had their own followers and workers, and the fact that there was simply not enough space for everyone was too much for me. For this reason, I preferred to simply go to the Rose Garden Hotel and book the huge suite on the top floor - booking was the wrong word because the hotel belonged to my father, I wouldn't pay anything. Apart from that, the bathroom had to be renovated, which is why the suite couldn't be available to any guest anyway.

A few times, Lee Sayeon had even accompanied me so I wouldn't be alone. And probably also because she couldn't stand being surrounded by so many people and needed her space every now and then. Although she was Taeyong's older sister and a lot older than me, considering that even Taeyong and I had a three year age difference, I got on very well with her. She became my friend, and I really didn't have many of them.

As already mentioned, you couldn't just be part of the mafia. It only worked trough blood. Meaning you were born into it. Or you could take the damned entrance test that the devil must've personally prepared - that's how morally wrong and dangerous it was. One thing you could be sure of: everyone who didn't belong to one of the six families must've had passed this test.

Because of this, there weren't many women on the team. Quite simply, because all women there were born into the mafia. With the best will in the world, I couldn't imagine that any mentally stable woman out there wanted to volunteer to be part of this madhouse. This meant no woman here had to do the test, and no woman probably ever would.

That's how Sayeon and I became friends - we simply had no other options.
She was the proud Lee daughter, her family's diamond, her father's darling. Sometimes I even envied her for her good relationship with her father. Because unlike me, she was valued and appreciated by her father.

It had grown dark outside when there was a knock on the door of the hotel suite. And a few seconds later six heads entered the room. The boys had just returned from a mission and instead of going to the Headquarter, they decided to come to the hotel, from which Mark's gang gang had its roots.

"Gang bang!? What kind of criminal are you, Mark?" Jaehyun eyed Mark sideways with a disgusted look, but the right corner of his mouth raised a little, as if he was making fun of him.

Mark rolled his eyes, slightly annoyed, "Actually, I'm not even surprised you're the only one who gets it that way."

"What are you tryna say?" Jaehyun looked at him challenging when he balled his hand into a fist, suddenly the atmosphere becoming all pent-up.

"Nothing," Doyoung intervened, looking all annoyed and bored at the same time, while he pressed a cool pack on his eye and zipped through various tv channels, "We're all exhausted and stressed, Jaehyun, try to calm down. It's been a hard day for everyone, so don't let some minor comment provoke you."

Then he turned his head to Mark, "And you," The addressed one looked at him questioningly, "If you don't want to die, I recommend you to shut up."

"I second this," said Jaehyun warningly, whereupon Mark showed him his middle finger, causing Jaehyun to get up from his seat with a jerk, seconds away from lashing out at the smaller one if it hadn't been for Taeyong's quick reflexes to hold him back.

"Sometimes I really don't get them," Sicheng sighed looking at the three people, while he dabbed the alcohol-dipped cotton pad on Ten's wound.

Apparently the mission hadn't gone as well as planned. All of them were still breathing heavily, their moods were down, their hair was sticking to their sweaty foreheads, just like the T-shirts and tops on their upper bodies, and it only needed a little spark for them to start a mass brawl.

"I don't even try to understand. They will never change," Ten replied dryly watching Sicheng cleaning the cuts on his side before he looked up to Jungwoo with a sweet smile, "Can Mr. uwu order us some pizza? Since Worst-Hostess-Cami is apparently intending to let us starve." Jungwoo laughed and pulled out his phone whereas I ignored Ten's comment.

Again and again, my eyes darted to Taeyong, who was standing between Jaehyun and Mark, trying to sort out the tense situation. He looked so damn hot. Taeyong's skin shone in the artificial light of the lamps. His muscles made my knees go weak. The feeling of lust was nothing new to me; the burning desire that built up inside me, tingling my senses.

And also later, when we decided to watch a movie Doyoung had picked for us to soften the mood, I wasn't feeling any different. I couldn't take my eyes off Taeyong as he was distracted by his phone. Apparently I wasn't the only one who had other thoughts. I played with the hem of my blouse instead of concentrating on the film and he was absent-mindedly scrolling through Instagram. I suppressed the feeling of wanting to be with Taeyong, repressed thoughts wondering how his muscles felt under my hands or how he would press me against a wall with his strong arms and kiss me greedily or how-

I shook my head. Not here. Not next to the others.

But... the hotel was big. And somewhere else I could be close to him. Have him for me. The feeling grew stronger, pushed further into the foreground. Taeyong's eyes looked up from his display and found mine as if he'd read my mind.

With a smile on my lips, I broke eye contact and took the phone out of my pocket. An idea had spread through me.

TAEYONG
online

Me
Go to the restrooms,
I'll follow in a few minutes.

Taeyong
What about the CCTV?

Me
No cameras on this floor

Taeyong's aura was so strong that I felt it, even though several inches separated mine and his body. With an excited sparkle in his eyes, he looked at me, looked at the other guys, then at the clock before he nodded in my direction. He pretended to have received a call and left the hotel suite with quick steps.

An electric feeling shot through my body. I was so happy, I could hardly hide my enthusiasm. I could close my arms around Taeyong again soon. I waited a moment before hurrying to the toilet, I could hardly think clearly, there was a mess of knots in my head, hard to pull apart. For the first time since I had occasionally used this suite, I was glad that the bathroom was being renovated and therefore couldn't be used.

The hotel's public restrooms on this floor weren't that far from the suite, so I was there in less than a minute. With haste and excitement, I almost opened the door a little too wide.

The black tiles on the wall shone towards me, exactly how I looked at myself in the golden mirror. Shiny hair, glowing skin, rosy cheeks, and large pupils. I licked my lips briefly, then scanned the room for Taeyong with my eyes. Before I could wonder where he was, an arm reached out of a cabin and pulled me into it.

The air from my lungs was pushed out when I was pressed against a wall. Everything happened so fast.

Taeyong was suddenly everywhere.

His arms were wrapped around my waist, his full lips on mine. His breath stroked my cheek, his chest pressed against mine. I couldn't even keep up breathing properly. I longingly clung to Taeyong's shoulders and welcomed his tongue on my own. I literally felt like glowing under his touch.

I felt like I could finally breathe again. I had missed him so much, even though he was almost always with me. Finally, finally I was allowed to follow my feelings and fully enjoy them.

I slowly let one of my hands go down Taeyong's spine and pressed him closer to me. It felt like a fire was starting inside me as he came to my touch and moved one of his hands smoothly under my blouse. A groan escaped my lips so that our lips parted. He looked me straight in the eye when I opened them. The look in his eyes was so captivating that I was overwhelmed by a wave of affection.

"I missed you," it slipped out of me. I lovingly stroked his back with my hand. What I said was an understatement. I could hardly put into words how much I had missed him. My feelings for Taeyong were almost scary: He made a minor thing and I automatically drowned in said feelings. Just as that, I drowned in his bittersweet midnight eyes, the pupils of which barely recognizable but obviously as large as mine.

"I missed you too, cherry," Taeyong whispered back and my heart melted. Our lips met again, but more gently this time. The kiss was slow, as if trying to catch up on the closeness we had missed.

Taeyong's hands were on my skin under the blouse, stroking my stomach, my sides, wandering up and landing on my lace bra, cupping one of my covered boobs with his hand, making me sigh into the kiss. Everything was so perfect.

Until-

-the toilet was flushed in the cabin next to us. Immediately Taeyong and I froze, I clung to him and held my breath. Even if my heart had previously been beating faster than normal, my chest was now pounding almost painfully.

I noticed the blood drain from my face, even Taeyong's presence didn't reduce the nervousness. I didn't have to ask myself who the person in the cabin next door could be, because the only person who had access to this floor besides us was my father himself. All possible horror scenarios went through my head.

Was this the end? Did we lose what we had in this short moment? Just because my heart had asked for him?

I wanted to hide, forever, so the world would never see me again.

Taeyong's face was still just inches from my face, the tips of our noses touched. He was tense, but unlike me, he showed no signs of fear or nervousness.

He held me in his arms as I silently counted the seconds that passed after the person made himself known.

I didn't know how long we had been in this position, but it was certainly minutes.

"Come out." The voice cut the silence, and my heart dropped into my pants. The voice seemed incredibly familiar to me and I knew exactly to whom it belonged. Contrary to expectations, the voice wasn't my father's. It was female.

Taeyong let go of me, and put a finger on his lips, signaling me to be quiet, before he unlocked the door, pushed it open, and left the cabin without showing me.

"Sister," I could hear the smirk in Taeyong's voice as he spoke, "Now, didn't we have this before. How can I ever introduce you to one of my girlfriend's if you disrupt our intimate love game? Don't want her to-"

"I know it's you, Cami." I closed my eyes defeated and bit my lip.

I looked straight into Sayeon's face.

The tall woman stood in front of the sink with her arms crossed.

Heat shot into my face. I was relieved that it was Sayeon who caught us. But I was still ashamed that she had to find out about us like this.

I slowly approached them as well and positioned myself next to Taeyong. The silence was oppressive. Not even water drops were trickling from the tap like in all the movies.

Sayeon sighed softly. She seemed overwhelmed. "Please be more careful. You were lucky that it was only me who heard you."

"Yes, we-" Taeyong started, but his sister cut him off.

"You could've also told about... your relationship." I realized how hurt she was. Of course, she was hurt. He was her brother and I was her friend. We had known each other since we were born and had pulled through tough times together. Secrets weren't common.

I apologetically took a step towards her. "Sayeon, we-"

She took a step back. "No, it's okay. You must've had your reasons." She paused for a moment. "We should go back to the others."

A lump in my throat made it difficult to breathe. I felt terrible. I looked uncertainly at Sayeon, whereas Taeyong looked everywhere but at his sister, trying to hide his emotions.

Without a word, I followed Sayeon back into the suite, while Taeyong no longer joined us that evening but drove to the Headquarter.

And even though I had a bad feeling that day, Sayeon never revealed our secret, proving the saying one loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.

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A/N
You wished for some Taeyong, I gave you some Taeyong.

Unfortunately, it was a flashback, but you need to understand I can't fully jump to a TaeyongxCami present-time-make-out-session-turning-into-hot-sex-scene without explaining their full past. Besides, you will soon notice that the present becomes quite a bit... intense. Just wait and see.

Also, I had to cut this chapter. Otherwise, it would've been too long.

Next chapter in less than 24 hours.

xx, Lyra