Chapter 177
Seoul, Korea
Gwangjin District
Pan Jin sat in the backseat of the car, her knees bouncing from nerves.
“Did you want me to go in with you?” Dae-Ho asked, pocketing his mobile phone.
Tae-il had messaged him to let him know he got home okay and that he missed him already.
No one had ever missed him that quickly, or ever for that matter, before.
Dae-Ho was contemplating sweet talking Lucien into taking him over to Tae-il’s place after they dropped Pan Jin off since he missed his boyfriend already.
That wasn’t normal for Dae-Ho, but he liked having a boyfriend. It was a first for him, and he didn’t want their impromptu vacation in Europe to end.
“Did you?” Dae-Ho asked, looking over his shoulder since she didn’t say anything.
Lucien shook his head from the driver’s seat.
Pan Jin offered a smile. “No thank you, Mister Dae-Ho. It’ll be okay. I’m just glad Tae-il and Myo Mi-Sun aren’t with us in case you hear my mother from the street. That’d be unbelievably embarrassing.”
“It’ll be okay,” Dae-Ho promised. “Trust me, Cousin knows all about embarrassing. Some of the stories we could tell you about her crazy mother or my horrible wench of a mom. Ugh!”
“It is nice of you to try to make me feel better,” she said.
“Trust me,” he said, turning around in the front seat so he could look at her. “I’m not trying to make you feel better… Well, I mean I am, but not lying in order to do it. My mom was so bad that she stole all of my Christmas presents, leaving the wrapped boxes, and thought it was hilarious when I opened nothing but empty boxes while she laughed. Father wasn’t amused and it caused a rather explosive holiday to remember.”
Pan Jin snorted. “Sounds like my 5th through 9th Christmases,” she said. “Finally I just stopped expecting anything from her other than disappointment.”
Lucien shook his head; this wasn’t going to end well and there was no way to prevent it now, he knew.
“Sounds like our crazy mothers could be twins,” Dae-Ho teased, getting a chuckle from Pan Jin. “I will come in with you and explain you were working. If she gets stupid, I will remind her with what losing her meal ticket means if she can’t keep her mouth shut and hands to herself.”
“That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever offered to do,” she said before making a face and he chuckled.
“I will,” Dae-Ho promised.
“I know you will,” Pan Jin said. “We’re a lot alike when it comes to what we perceive as injustice and addressing it. But I’m like Seon Rain when it comes to knowing when to keep your head down so not to be targeted if at all possible. There’s something strangely reassuring about that.”
“No,” Lucien said, pulling up in front of the building where Pan Jin lived with her mother. “Never settle for hiding in the shadows in order not to be a target. If you like, Lula will teach you how to fight back with your fists if needed, and I can teach you how to defuse a situation with your words.”
The other two gave him an identical look, making them appear as if they were twins.
“I will escort you to your apartment since I am armed,” Lucien said with the nod of his head.
Pan Jin laughed, shaking her head. “You are not shooting my mother… At least not a lethal shot. But a flesh wound is completely acceptable.”
Dae-Ho smiled. “That’s the spirt, President!” he beamed, giving her two thumbs up, teasingly.
“Very funny, Mister Dae-Ho,” she said, blushing. “Thank you again for everything, and please do not think any differently of me if you hear yelling or screaming coming down the stairs.”
His smile fell. “I am coming with you. I am the son of your boss, the next in line to head the company you work for, if I wanted. Surely if that isn’t credentials and reason enough as to where you were for work I don’t know what is.” He got out of the car before Lucien could stop him.
“Sh*t!” Lucien hissed under his breath, getting out of the car then got the door for Pan Jin. “Dae-Ho, you stay back and watch our rear… Not my ass like you always do, but make sure no one sneaks up on us. Okay? I am promoting you to field operative since I am without my team.”
Dae-Ho gave him a look before smirking. “Do I get a gun?” he asked, giddy.
“No,” Lucien said, handing him a baton. “You get a stick. Stab it into someone and press that button,” he said, showing him the hidden button on the handle. “It will electrocute them into unconsciousness, but the batteries will only last for ten or so charges. Understand?”
“Awesome!” Dae-Ho beamed, taking the baton then started swinging it through the air as if it were a sword and making swooshing sounds.
Pan Jin shook her head. “You gave a toddler a loaded weapon,” she scolded, walking past them then started up the stairs to the apartment she shared with her mother.
Lucien nodded, following her, splitting his attention between Dae-Ho and the young woman in front of him then something registered with him two seconds too late. “Dae-Ho, I have to warn you, when someone is electrocuted they more, often than not, have an uncontrollable bowel evacuation,” he warned.
Dae-Ho stopped in mid-swing. “I can never tell when you’re joking.”
Lucien chuckled. “Shock yourself and see if I am or not, but I would take my word for it in this case.”
Dae-Ho looked between Lucien and the baton in his hand them smiled wide. “Are you sure I can’t come in and stick it to her mother?”
Pan-Jin shook her head. “No electrocuting my mother, yet,” she called out.
Lucien wagged a scolding finger at Dae-Ho and gave him a look. “Behave or you are grounded, got it?”
He made a mocking face. “Don’t be too long otherwise I’ll play superhero and take on a crime syndicate or something with my stick.”
“Those in your family are hell bent on being villain now, aren’t you?” Lucien rhetorically asked before hurrying after Pan Jin.
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