7 HOURS LATER :

"I never thought I would actually be happy about anything that wicked old lady did but I seriously find myself giddy with her gift to you!" Soyeon sprawled on the couch of the sitting room facing the large windows open to the beach and sea outside as she munched on a bowl of grapes placed on her stomach.

"Like, I didn't even know she had this house!" she turned her head to look at the three figures drenched in sweat, tirelessly working in getting the remaining furniture placed around the house, panting like donkeys after a gruelling day of work, and lazily asked, "Did she really hide this place from your family and then just write it down in her will to you Anya? Like, really?"

"WHY DON'T YOU-" wheeze "MOVE YOU BUTT-" wheeze "INSTEAD OF SHAMELESSLY-" cough "LOUNGING IN THE-"

"Oh dear, are you okay?" Soyeon looked at Mira with big innocent eyes, irritating the girl who was still trying her best to move the big sofa to the place she wanted. "The house is already filled with everything. Its your taste in décor that is making you rearrange things. I for one, am completely satisfied with the layout. Why would I work pointlessly when I can enjoy this magnificent view?" Soyeon pointed out.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr" Mira growled at her.

Anya sighed and then flopped to the carpet where she was working. Soyeon was spot on, as usual. "No." Anya answered her question quietly, "No one in my family knew about this house. Not even my uncle."

"What??"

"What??"

So Hyun and Mira collectively exclaimed, stunned at her answer.

Soyeon though, nodded thoughtfully in response. Her gaze a little unfocused, she mused, "Which makes this beyond weird. Judging by the way your Uncle's family reacted at the time of reading the will, I vaguely suspected this to be the case."

"No! wait!" So Hyun stopped Soyeon while waving his hands, "Keeping aside the miracle of a usually slow person like you actually being capable of making such a suspicion-"

"Oyii!!!"

So Hyun overlooked Soyeon's protest and turned to look at Anya with the broom in his hand, "How, on earth, did the beloved son of your grandma not know about her property??"

"Tell me about it!" Mira added in a still dazed voice. Sitting down on the still-out-of-place sofa, she too trained her gaze at Anya, "The money grabby Uncle of yours was obsessively cherished by your grandmother as her ONLY son. She did not lose any opportunity in making sure your father understood that he is not her biological son by gifting everything valuable she had to your uncle. Assets, shares, paintings! Just how, did your uncle not know of this-" she waved her hands around to indicate the huge mansion, "house attached with a private beach? The market value of this property will easily be in millions!"

Anya closed her eyes. None of her friends were wrong, neither in their thoughts nor in their exclamations.

Anya's father was the rightful 2nd son of the small newspaper empire that their grandfather had made, but he was not the son who was born from the lawfully wedded wife of her grandfather. He was an illegitimate son from an affair grandfather had while grandmother had been pregnant.

That was a deep wound which her grandmother could never really forget, or forgive. Understandably so.

To compound matters, grandfather had brought Anya's father home, right after he had been born. He gave his newborn illegitimate son to his wife who was still nursing their baby. The betrayal was truly unforgivable. Especially when her grandfather did not repent over his mistake at all. He never felt he was wrong, chalking it up as the very reasonable conclusion of a man having needs while he could not touch his pregnant wife who was having a difficult pregnancy.

Her grandfather, was truly disgusting.

But, he was rich and divorce was not really an option to her grandmother who had come from a village.

Hence, the resentment, the hurt, the anger, the pain in her grandmother grew.

It not only encompassed the man she was married to, but also fell on the innocent illegitimate child. Which resulted in her grandmother, never really loving Anya's father. Not only that, living with her was a struggle in growing up in an atmosphere where hatred was rampant and jealousy a constant blade beneath the skin on seeing the blatant difference in the treatment between the two sons.

Thankfully, or unfortunately, Anya's father was intelligent and more savvy in business than his half brother, which earned him the full support and love of his father, minimizing a lot of negativity.

But the emotional void of not being loved by the woman, remained to this date.

When Anya's father married, her grandmother could not find it in herself to spare even an ounce of pleasant outlook for the new members. She hated Anya and Anya's older sister.

Hated them with a vehemence which got stronger and heavier when she learnt that her husband had left majority of his company to the more capable illegitimate son rather than the rightful older son.

Anya's childhood had been particularly bad due to the circumstances of her having to stay in her grandmother's house. No matter how much she tried to please her grandma, no matter how much she obeyed her, how much she loved her, the old woman only had biting words and stabbing hatred in return.

So, owning such a prime property which her beloved eldest child had no idea about, was resoundingly strange.

More so the fact that Anya had been bequeathed with it.

"What about Jae Hyoon?" Mira asked again.

Jae Hoon was the son of her Uncle. Her only cousin.

Her revolting and repulsive cousin.

"He cornered me as soon as the will was finished being read." Anya answered in a hollow voice. "I somehow got away."

"BULLSHIT!" So Hyun burst out, "Did that rotten piece of shit touch you???"

"Calm down." Anya got up from the floor right away, and smiled back at So Hyun who was worked up. Not only him, but Mira was alarmed as well.

After all, they had reason to be.

"I was still in my father's house. He wouldn't dare to do anything to me." Anya answered lightly.

"Anya. . ." Mira breathed out slowly, then tentatively asked, "You came sobbing to our house and wouldn't say anything nor let us touch you-"

"No" Anya frantically shook her head "I was just scared by him. He said it will not be long before he forces me to marry him. That threat was especially forceful that day. It was like he would drag me-"

"Son of a bitch!!"

So Hyun's shout silence them all.

Only the sound of the blue waves crashing on each other on the beach painted pink with the hues of the setting sun was heard.

Anya turned away from her friends to look at the sea, her eyes unfocused. The old fear in her was rising again, making her hands cold. A shiver passed through her body in the summer heat from remembering what her consciousness tried to suppress each day

She felt Soyeon approaching her and was enveloped in her warm and secure embrace, "We are here Anya. He wont be able to touch you." Soyeon whispered in her ears while she soothed her back, comforting her gently.

"Namjoon will be back soon. Once he is, Jae Hoon will suffer." Soyeon's voice had a vein of extreme violence barely repressed for her.

Hearing her, Anya drew in a deep breath, trying to calm her mind. Trying to control her nightmare from taking root in this moment of happiness.

Because she knew Soyeon was right. Once Namjoon came back, everything would go back to being absolutely perfect.

But,

"How do I tell him?" Anya's question had a helplessness of an innocent child. It had the heartbreak of a wounded little animal, afraid of going towards the warmth of a loving shelter.

"WHY ARE YOU ASHAMED?" So Hyun shouted at her, his eyes filled with unshed tears, "He was the one who is a stain of rancid garbage not even capable of being stuck underneath our shoes!!!"

Anya cracked a sad smile, "Still, its not really easy telling the one you love about what happened, is it?" she paused, then buried her head in her arms as she drew up her knees, "Should I just meet Namjoon and say someone got the opportunity to hold me and almost-"

"ALMOST. Almost. Not. . . not. He only beat you. He never-he couldn't-he did not touch you-" So Hyun struggled with his words, Mira and Soyeon not better off than him, biting back their chokes.

Anya remained quiet, then replied with pain, "Scariest part was, I wasn't even surprised. I expected it. When the room was inadvertently opened by Grandmother, she actually apologised to Jae Hoon for intruding." A sarcastic laugh burst forth, "In rich circles like us, girls being subjected to such harassment is an open secret no one really bothers about. Its normal to just bear with it if you are caught and expected to never complain."

The three people in the room felt different emotions of rage and pain, their heart responding violently to the sadness of the beautiful girl they loved and cherished.

Mira grinded her teeth and looked at her brother who was gripping the broom with a grasp that was sure to hurt. It was So Hyun who felt the most distress. Since childhood, he had seen Anya as his second sister. Not being able to do anything in retaliation destroyed him.

"Someone from Kang family is supporting Jae Hoon." Soyeon broke the silence, "Otherwise it would not be possible for Jae Hoon to come this far. In that ongoing event, with the amount of security arranged by Joon, he could only isolate you if the Kang's helped."

"I know." Anya shakily smiled and slowly leaned back on Soyeon, both the girls sitting on the carpet.

"They know how much Namjoon loves you. That must be the way of them exploiting him-"

"So I am his weakness?" Anya murmured. She never wanted to be the reason to be his misfortune.

"Anya No!" Mira and Soyeon said together when suddenly So Hyun laughed.

"Weakness?"

For a moment, his full bellied laughter ringing with genuine amusement in the wake of the ugly past memories, sounded surreal.

He kept laughing, perplexing Anya, who watched him sit down beside Mira, wiping small tears from the corner of his eyes. The three girls raised their eyebrows as they waited for his laugh to turn in chuckles.

"Oh Anya. . ." So Hyun spoke at last, "You can never be his weakness."

Anya scrunched her brows, forgetting the few minutes now faded in the past and spoke, "Joon's family is vicious So Hyun. If they are using me against him then-"

"-then they are committing their Last mistake in their life." So Hyun finished her sentence. He leaned forward, resting his chin on the handle of the tall broom, "You are not a weakness to be exploited Anya, You are equivalent of a button to the launch of complete annihilation. Namjoon usually deals with people in measure of the crime they did, but if anyone dares to touch you?"

"Their lives will end."

Anya absorbed the words, not even questioning So Hyun. He was the one friend Namjoon was close to, making what he said, a truth.

Although she herself felt conflicted, "So Hyun. . ." Anya haltingly replied, "I am not sure what to feel about what you shared. If what you say is true-"

"It is." So Hyun replied with stable confidence.

"Then. . . Is it a good thing?" Anya asked.

"Huh?"

"What?"

Mira and Soyeon both looked at her as if she was dumb. "Of course it's a good thing!!" Soyeon exclaimed, "Oooh a man wildly in love with me who is so damn handsome and mega MEGA rich, who protects me, cherishes me and will hurt people who dare to wrong me??? Anya are you a pumpkin dropped on the floor???? THAT'S THE STUFF OF LEGENDARY FANTASY!! Oh how I wish I could have gotten such a person!"

"Excuse me?!?!?!?" So Hyun's confident smile broke apart at his girlfriend's words, "You already have a Rich, Handsome, Loving and protective Fiancé!!!!!"

Soyeon placated him, "Of course, of course honey."

"No! No! wait a minute! What's with that pacifying tone??? I am HANDSOME!"

"And dumb." Mira rolled her eyes as she got up.

"HUH???" So Hyun's head whipped to his sister, "Call me that to my face if you dare!!"

Mira looked bored as she turned back to face her enraged brother, "Dumb."

So Hyun, "......"

Anya tuned them out but her mind kept thinking about the concern she had always had. She knew the Kang family, although she did not know what all they had done to Namjoon.

Her Namjoon was always so courteous, so polite, well spoken and gentle. His eyes always had a soft patience in them when he looked at her, his mannerisms reserved yet protective.

Although the world, his family, his best friend So Hyun knew Namjoon as a cold, dangerous and ruthless person, Anya still now had never even caught a glimpse of his dark side.

Even though she had known him since she was 11 years old. Even back then, she had been fascinated by the 16 year-old sombre boy standing silently, gazing at the world with unfathomable eyes.

She had asked him countless times, if what others perceived him as was just a façade, or perhaps, their misunderstanding. But Namjoon had been firm in his gentle reply.

"To you, I will forever be the one who guards you the way one will protect one's breath. To them, I will always be a monster."

His reply had pulled at the strings of her alarm. If a person could so easily accept and know himself to be a monster, could be so calm without any trace of distress on being slandered, then could it mean his perception of himself was the truth?

If so, how could anyone be ruthlessly vicious enough to induce fear at the same time claiming to be protective?

If so, then does the protection come from defending someone, or does it come from turning others to ashes?

Then, is it protection? Or a trigger of a loaded gun?

Both protected, the bullet by taking life and harming others, or the gun by just keeping others away.

The question was, what was Joon? The Gun which by showing itself made people fear him, or the bullet which extinguished life?

"Anya?"

"Hmm?" Anya looked towards Mira absently

"Its getting colder now that its evening. Lets settle in, yeah? Have to make dinner, then arrange the beds."

Anya nodded and stood up.

"Ah!" Mira beamed at her, "Doesn't matter even if its from your grandmother, I love this house! Its very positive! The vibes in here are so soothing and welcoming!"

"Wow look at that Anya," So Hyun helped Soyeon up as he drawled, "The Feng Shui master has given her approval, no need for protective talisman anymore."

"Ridiculing me won't change the fact we are the blood descendants of Heo family with exceptional spiritual powers." She paused, "Oh right, sorry. A dumb poodle like you doesn't have that capability." She flicked her hair and took her light wrap from the sofa and put it on while helping Anya stand up.

"Hey! Stop with saying that!!"

"Oh baby," Soyeon placed a sweet kiss on his cheeks, "I still love you even if you are a bit dumb."

Feeling good about the first half of her statement and her kiss, So Hyun blushed a little then abruptly scowled at the late realization of Soyeon's sentence, "What do you mean by that? Oyii hang on!! I am not dumb!"

The three girls laughed and went deeper in the house with So Hyun following them with his complaints, all of their happiness genuine. Their laughter, easy.

Outside on the beach, two figures stood looking at the house, their silhouettes shrouded in the evening. One of the figures reached up to wipe the sweat on his forehead, his shirt sticking to his back, and whispered, "I want her."

The other figure softly laughed and similarly wiped his face on his handkerchief, "You are already betrothed to her sister." He paused, his eyes gleaming with a cruel glint, "But I am not. My play on her father's investment will hit him tomorrow. When he comes to me asking for help, I will ask Anya's hand in marriage in exchange of help."

The other person grunted, "At least let me fuck her?"

"Once she becomes my wife, she will exist only to serve us. Fuck her all you want, brother. Might also bring your buddies if you want to. Just wait a few more days."

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A/N : Yo! Needed to get this to make you guys understand Anya's family a little. . .

Please to vote and comment if you are intrigued . . .