A Day With Kei

JAYB's POV

Kim Jiyeon…

Kei…

A member of Lovelyz…

And… the girl I loathed the most was standing beside me with her arms folded and with a smirk plastered on her face. Out of all the people in this world that had the potential to possibly bump in to me again, and the universe just HAD to choose HER.

"Ya… Kim Jinbo. Is that how you treat your ex?"

"Ex?" Shinhye said in surprise before snapping her head towards me hoping to get some answers.

I tried to speak and finally, my mouth opened. "Kim Jiyeon… what are you doing here?"

"Why NOT? The better question is… who are they?" She scoffed as she pointed out to the two ladies that were with meusing her thumb. She then laughed. "So you can't settle for one and just went for two? Very manly of you." She then turned to Jinwon. "Ya, how much is he paying you?"

The rest of the people who were nearby were giving us strange stares. Although she was speaking in Korean, the atmosphere that she was giving off was catching a lot of attention.

"Shut up and tell me what the heck you're doing here. Are you stalking me again?" I gritted my teeth to stop myself from hurting a woman.

"Again?" Jinwon asked as she covered her mouth.

Kei clicked her tongue as she placed both of her hands on our table to lean closer to me. "It's not nice to make up stories, Jinbo-ssi."

"Look who's talking? You know what? You're one sick bitch." I said in a cold tone as I glared at her.

She then gasped and pretended to get hurt as she placed her hand on her chest. "JayB-ssi, I'm offended."

"Shut up! You don't have the right to call my name. Leave before I call the cops on you." I told her.

She chuckled sarcastically. "And tell them what? We both know that you can't do that to a pretty lady like me, JayB-ssi."

"JayB-ya… what's going on?" Shinhye asked in a scared tone.

I turned to her and gave her a reassuring smile. "Everything's fine, Shinhye-ya."

"Shinhye? THE Park Shinhye? Wow JayB-ssi! You scored big this time. I guess you really did replace me now." She said in a sarcastic tone.

"What the hell do you want, Kim Jiyeon?" I said in a low volume while trying to calm myself down.

"Still straight to the point I see. Here…" She said as she grabbed my phone from the table and began typing her number. "Call me on that number tomorrow and I'll tell you where to pick me up."

"I'm not going to do whatever the hell it is that you're planning." I spat.

She rolled her eyes as she started to walk away. "I bet you will. We don't want what happened before to happen again, would we now?"

And just like that, she left. I was still staring at her number on my phone in disbelief. One thing that I tried burying in the past from this world is now coming back to come after me.

Kim Jiyeon…

What the hell are you planning this time?

__________

"Are you sure you're okay?" Shinhye asked over the phone.

Yesterday was really eventful. An old ghost from the past just came back to haunt me. I really didn't expect it to be like this. She promised to stay quiet after all after that day. Now, I'm here preparing for our "date" as how she described it when I called her earlier today. Shinhye was calling me from the airport as I decided to stay for a few more days to handle some businesses and to meet up with Kei.

I chuckled. "I told you, it's fine."

"Well, you didn't look fine yesterday. You really seemed out of it." She said in a concerned tone.

I sighed. "Shinhye-ya, I'm all good. Now you should go before you miss your flight."

"Are you SURE you're okay? You don't need back up?" She tried to confirm one last time.

To be honest, I wasn't sure. Kei was conniving, scheming and sly. I didn't know what she was up to. Heck, I wasn't even sure if I'd make it through the day without dying by her hands.

"I'm FINE. Now go. Have a safe flight home. Say hello to everybody for me." I lied as I tried to escape this conversation.

She was obviously hesitant as she kept quiet for a few seconds. "Alright. Just make sure to stay safe. I'll send your regards to everyone. See you when you get back."

I hummed before ending the call. Now my head was filled with questions and thoughts of what to do once I meet her. She gave me a very weird address to meet. It must be a trap. I hope not though. Although she sounded threatening yesterday I could feel her voice shaking and trembling as if she was scared of something. I've spent so much time with her to know her that much. If I REALLY did know her that much.

Well, whatever. I'm still curious what she's afraid of. Let's just see how the day goes.

__________

"Start driving. I won't tell you our destination. I just need you to follow my directions. Open the roof up and head towards Ocean Drive." Kei said as soon as she stepped inside the car.

I raised an eyebrow at her while pressing the button to open up the roof of the car. "What? Not even a good morning."

She gave me a sarcastic smile from my comment. "Drive. We have a schedule to catch up."

Her sudden serious demeanor made me sigh as I started the car. Over all I know that Kei wasn't a bad person. It's the people she's working for that's evil. But she DID ruin me back then without any hesitations. I drove silently as she leaned on her hand by the passenger's window seat. She was feeling the breeze as we drove. I stole some glances from time to time to see if she would suddenly stab me with a knife.

"I know I'm pretty but please keep your eyes on the road, dear. We'll end up in an accident if you keep stealing glances from me." She said in an aegyo tone that made me shiver a little.

"Me? Hah! I-I'm just making sure that you won't get to stab me with a knife by surprise." Her sudden comment really took me by surprise.

She sighed as she slowly shifted her gaze towards me. "Look Kim Jinbo, I'm not going to do anything to you yet. So just focus on getting us there. I have a schedule to get to tomorrow so I want to end this today. Besides, if I really did want to kill you, I would be the one driving."

I didn't say anymore and just focused on getting us there. It took us a while from all the traffic. We were almost at the end of the street that she asked me to drive through, and she hasn't been giving any more directions.

"Kei, we're almost at the end of the road. Where are we going? Just tell me." I informed her in a serious tone.

She then breathed in heavily before she said, "Ah, really? Turn around. We've missed it."

"Were you just sleeping just now?" I could not believe that this woman was just treating me as her driver.

She exhaled deeply as she massaged her forehead. "Just shut the hell up and turn the freaking car around."

When she said that I realized something. "We don't really have a destination for now, do we? You're having a hangover that's why you wanted to get some air first. Why di-"

"I said shut up! Just turn around and drive by the ocean again!" She yelled.

Without her consent I suddenly maneuvered the car around causing it to drift. Afterwards, I stepped on the gas causing it to speed up. I was careful not to go beyond the speed limit though. She was too shocked to scream. But as soon as we were stable she suddenly hit me on my shoulder. "What the hell was that?! Are you crazy?! Do you want to die that badly?!"

"Dying now isn't as painful as what you did years ago." I told her in a serious tone.

She was taken aback when she heard that. She tried to speak but stuttered along the way. "That's not… you know why… JayB-ya, I… we…"

"We're here." I cut her off as I hastily parked the car beside a diner cafe.

I didn't look back as she was yelling my name asking what we were doing here. I went inside the diner waiting for her to follow me. I ordered ahead as she entered the diner angrily.

She sat down as she asked, "What are we doing here JayB-ya? This is not what I told you to-"

"Here." I said as I gave her a small cup for hangover coffee.

"What's this? Did you already order for us?" She asked with a disgusted look on her face as I poured her some hangover coffee.

I sighed. "I did. It's hangover coffee. I thought it might help with your hangover.

She scoffed. "I bet it's just regular coffee. How could there be such a thing called 'hangover coffee'? And how did you even know about this place? Ah! I know! It's because you-"

"I found this place after you left me. I flew here with Yo Chul-hyung after that day and got really drunk. He brought me here the following day to help me with my hangover." I said as I took a sip of the coffee.

She didn't respond to that as she sat there staring at her mug. We sat there in silence as I scrolled through my phone while waiting for the food. As soon as it arrived, she was surprised with what I ordered for her.

"Pancakes with blueberry syrup and whipped cream on top plus just a dash of powdered sugar. Just the way you want it… unless… all of that was just pretend as well?" I said in a sarcastic tone.

She didn't respond as she took her fork and started slicing the pancake. I noticed that as soon as she took a bite a tear started falling on the side of her cheek.

I chuckled. "You can throw it away if you hate it that much. You don't have to cry."

"What?" She asked in a confused tone while wiping the tear away.

I sighed and didn't care about how she reacted. "Kei-ssi. What are you doing here? What are you planning?"

She stared at me in disbelief. "I have no plan, JayB-ya. I just needed an excuse to see you and be alone with you."

I laughed so hard. Her choice of words were really funny. "You do realize what you did 4 years ago can't be forgiven that easily, right? Kei, you played me. You pretended to be good friends with me and then betrayed me in the end. Do you not see that? What gives you the right to sit here with me? What gives you the right to even call my name?"

"JayB-ya, I know what I did was wrong. And I deserve all your hate and anger because of it, but I came here with good intentions." She tried to explain but my mind was already filled with anger and hate.

Suddenly… I recalled what happened that day as a flash back came into mind.

"No… no… you're lying. Please tell me you're lying." I was on the ground begging for her to tell me that this was just a joke.

We were in a parking lot of SM Entertainment. I made my way there to confirm that she wasn't what my father said she is. It was too late when I realized that her father was conspiring against the Kim Group. He used Jiyeon as a spy to make me transfer some of my shares to her father thinking that their company was in need of saving, and it was an investment.

She scoffed as she pulled my hand away from her foot. "Look at you. I can't believe that the great business prodigy would result to nothing in front of me. This is gold!"

She laughed as she continued to mock me. "You know what? I can't believe that you completely fell for my 'loving you' act and quickly transferred your shares to my father making him one of the biggest shareholders in the Kim Group."

"No… 14 months… Jiyeon-ah… We dated for 14 months." I tried to rebut her but my mind was still trying to process what just happened.

She spat. "Yeah, I wasted 14 months of my life trying to get you over to my side and transfer all those assets to my father. Took you long enough. And oh… FYI, we weren't a THING. Okay? There was never an us."

"So… everything was… fake?" I asked as I slowly stood up.

She sighed. "Ya. Kim Jinbo. Let me spell it out for you." She then pointed back and forth between me and her. "WE… are cousins. We were never meant to be. I did all this because my father asked me to. It's your fault for believing in love. Next time, be careful who you trust your heart to. Now if you're done whining like a loser, I'm going to get my share of the pie. Bye now."

She then boarded her car and drove away as I called out to her name while chasing after her car before tripping over and passing out from exhaustion.

Now, the woman who betrayed me years ago was crying in front of me. It's still probably just an act.

I stared at her teary eyes and smirked. "Go. To. Hell."

Before I could walk away, she grabbed both of my wrists and held it tight. "Please. Please… I'm begging you. Don't go. I need to tell you something."

"Will you stop?!" As soon as I said that, everyone in the diner café stared at us.

"I just need to tell you something. You can do whatever you want with that information. I'll leave afterwards." She said with tears in her eyes.

I didn't want to fall for her tricks but hearing her out wouldn't harm me. The owner of the diner café then approached me and patted my shoulder. "Everything alright here, Jin?"

"Everything's fine, Albert. Uh… listen… is it okay if I rent out the place for 30 minutes. I promise to pay you extra." I said as I gave him a smile. He knew me since I came here a lot in the past. He was shocked that a kid as young as me was getting himself drunk almost every night.

"Sure thing." He gave a nod at the cashier signaling her to ring the bell indicating that everybody should head out.

The costumers groaned as they stood up. I then offered up to pay for them which made them happy as they started clearing the place up.

I sat back down and glared at her. "You have 15 minutes."

She stared at me in confusion. "But you rented the place for 30 minutes…"

"10 minutes." I said as I folded my arms not breaking my glare at her.

She sighed. "Fine…"

I eyed her as if telling her that her clock was ticking down. She then nodded at me, "First, let me clarify something. I'm not really your cousin."

She paused as if she was waiting for my reaction. "You don't look surprised. Why don't you look surprised?"

"Because I know." I answered.

She leaned back a little from the surprise before she composed herself. "I guess you did your homework."

I shrugged. "I needed to know more about the person who betrayed me in order to pay her back a hundred fold."

"Then you know that I'm adopted." She said not minding what I just said.

I simply just nodded at her and told her the details of the extent of the things that I knew on my end. She smiled. "You really did some digging. But that's not it. My father… or should I say, the director for Kim Group, Kim Doram, trained some spies to slowly destroy Kim Group from the inside."

She then took out something from her bag and slid it across the table. I slowly opened the large brown envelope and scanned through the papers. She then continued speaking. "These are the names of the people that he planted all across Kim Group's businesses globally. There are still more that are coming in, but some of the other escapees and I are going to find them and will forward it to you."

As I was slowly absorbing what she was saying to me, doubts started to creep in. "Why should I believe you?"

"You're right. You shouldn't. But know this… I've… changed. And Besides, ask yourself, why would I risk my life coming to you with all these information?" She said in a melancholic tone. I was about to speak up but she stopped me by raising her hand. "Let me finish."

I sighed and motioned for her to continue. She then dropped her hand and said. "When we were still... together. Kim Doram implanted a bomb near my heart."

When I heard it, I felt like my world started to collapse. For some reason, I actually believed her. Spies in this world had bombs in their body which would detonate when they reveal classified information or if their mission was compromised. I just didn't expect it to be THIS real. And to have it happen to a person that I know. It feels weird.

When I found out that she could explode in moment when she revealed this information, I slowly stood up. She then smiled. "Don't worry. I had it removed years ago."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes. When I got my share from the… mission."

"Sure… call it that." I said in a sarcastic tone.

"Please let me finish." She stopped me again. My anger and pity were clashing at the moment so I didn't quite know what I really feel right now.

She then spoke again, "As I was saying, I used the money for an operation in Atlantis. When I came back to Korea, you weren't in SM anymore. So I continued to be a trainee as my cover. They still think I'm part of the Coup. But I'm working with fellow escapees to take them down. That's why I'm here."

I was still trying to process the new information. Then I tried to ask questions in my head about the situation. "Assuming that I believe you, which I don't by the way..."

She gave me a sad smile. "Fair enough."

"Why did you approach me now? You took out the bomb years ago. Why now?" I asked.

She sighed as she was trying to compose herself from the trembling. "JayB-ya, before I explain. I would want to apologize for what I did years ago. I know what I did can't be forgiven, but I still want to apologize for it. You know I had no choice. Everything we had… was real… My feelings were real."

Hearing her apologize took me aback, but I tried my best not to show it. She then gave me a sad smile. "The reason why I took so much time is because I needed to gain Kim Doram's trust again. I suddenly went missing for a month because of the operation. They actually believed me. My doctors planted something in me that would show them that I still had the bomb in me. It also took some time to get the list. Besides, it's not easy to get close to an idol like you. Remember that you debuted first before I did."

I chuckled at her response. "Fine. But still, getting the list and finding the opportunity wouldn't take you 4 years, Kei."

She frowned. "You were busy with your debut, drama, and I even heard about what happened between you and IU-sunbaenim. Which is not cool by the way... And those fans of yours? Their just unbelievable with how they reacted. Plus, I also heard rumors that the syndicate leader, Choiza was hunted you down. A lot of things happened in your life, JayB-ya. I couldn't just butt in when you were experiencing these things."

I nodded. Her reasons were actually valid. If she approached me then, I would have pushed her away without thinking much. "So how did you find me?"

"The writer for your drama is one of the escapees." She answered bluntly.

"I did not see that coming." I said still surprised by her answered.

She chuckled before we both just sat there in silence as we sipped our coffee. There was honestly a lot to think about. I need to protect my company. But I can't do it while I'm still in the industry.

I lifted my head to look at her. There was a hint of worry and sadness in her heart. I could see that the memories that she was recalling were all painful. "I forgive you, Kei."

She snapped her head towards me in confusion. "What did you say?"

"With all the things that you've done. I forgive you." I said in a serious tone.

Her eyes widened slowly. "Does that mean…"

"But we can't go back to the way we were. And that doesn't mean that I fully trust you again." I said as I slowly shifted my gaze away from her.

I could hear a tinge of hurt from her voice as she replied. "I understand."

The atmosphere was getting awkward again, but Kei decided to break it. "So… what's your plan?"

The moment she asked me that question, all the years of hate and anger towards her flushed back in. This time, it was directed at the source of it all -- Kim Doram. All the years that she had to suffer for the mission. That guy planted a bomb inside teenagers. It's truly unforgivable. When I turn to look at her, I gave her a smile. But I could see her flinch when I did. I could even see her shivering a little. "My plan?"

I chuckled before continuing to speak, "That's simple… make them eat their own poison."

She didn't respond. I could feel her holding her breath as if she couldn't breathe. After staring at her reaction I decided to clear the cold atmosphere. "Want to head out?"

She was still visibly shaken from what I just said as she responded with a nod. Even as she stood up I could see her wobbling. I gave her a smile as I helped her up but turned serious the moment she was able to stand up straight. "We have work to do."

We both exited the diner café. She was slowly following me from behind. I guess she didn't know that side of me existed in the first place. I'm not the same naïve boy that I was 4 years ago. I've changed.

"JayB-oppa…" I turn to see Yuna behind me with Alpha and Twice.

Oh no. What are these guys doing here? They shouldn't be here. They can't know what's happening inside my company. If they found out now, Kim Doram might come after them too. I can't let that happen. I have to fight this battle alone for now. Besides, they hate Kim Jiyeon as much as I did.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"Funny… we should be asking you that question." Jeong Do said as everyone turned to look at the girl beside me.

"Hey… guys…" Kei said in a shy voice.

Oh boy. This is going to be hard to explain.

__________

AN:

The title of the second volume is On The Rise. It doesn't speak about the career and fame of Alpha. It talks about the issues that are continuously rising. As you know this volume was full of it. I noticed that after JayB and IU's break up, the readers decided to call it quits. Well, I guess they wanted the story to continue like that. But... if you really finish this story, you'll know why these things happened.