Syndicate ㅡ MYG

Fifty-one

Ellen

"Is he always like this?" I rolled my head leaning on the headrest facing Hoseok who was staring out the window obviously annoyed at Seokjin's bickering.
"You mean how he acts like a fucking child even if he's the oldest one?" he remarked sarcastically and loud enough to catch Jin's attention.
"Oh and where's that coming from?" Jin who was sitting in the passenger seat had paused his bickering with our driver Jonghyun to turn his head towards us.
I rolled my eyes as both of them had now begun to argue over who was the loudest of the group.
"How far are we now?" I turned to the guards in the backseats who were also clearly annoyed at their bosses behavior.
"Not too far Miss Ellenㅡ" he smiled at my annoyed expression.

"You'll get used to itㅡ" he whispered before I turned back around, just as I was about to doze off into my thoughts my phone began to ring.
My mind quickly went to Yoongi as I rushed to take my phone out of my purse.
I sighed relieved as I saw Sori's contact picture flash on my screen.

"Shut up!" I glared at both men as I slid the green circle to answer after the continuous vibrating.
They sat back down into their seats and shut their mouths but their eyes remained on me as I put the phone to my ear.

"Have you seen the news!?" was what I was greeted with before I could even answer.
"I don't know if you've noticed but I'm not one to watch the news" I replied with a sassy tone.
"Okㅡ whatever it's all over SNS" I could see her rolling her eyes "you and boss are all over..."

My heart dropped to my stomach just before I interrupted her "What!"
Seokjin and Hoseok jumped at that as well as our driver, immediately Hoseok tried to take my phone but I slapped his hand away trying to pay attention to Sori's words.

"How did they find out about the shooting?" I whispered to myself but it was loud enough for her to hear.
"Shooting? What shooting?" she completely stopped her previous statement and began to question me about the newly discovered news.

Ah shit I forgot she wasn't aware of the other night.

Nobody was, for that matter I searched through the newspaper, news channels and nothing came out, it was as if it had never happened but I knew it was Yoongi's doing.

"Ellen! What shooting?" she sounded worried now.

"Forget about itㅡ I'll tell you later now tell me why are we in the news? Are you sure it's us?" I felt paranoid not only because she now knew something she wasn't supposed to know but if it wasn't about the shooting then what exactly was she talking about.

"Oh! I don't know I'm pretty sure I can recognize you in some fancy dress and mister mafia boss holding hands outside a hotel!" she said sarcasticallyㅡ genuinely confused I had no idea what to say but she began to read off whatever news page that picture was on.

"Seoul's well known millionaire bachelor Min Yoongi cozying up with a mysterious lady-friend?" she read aloud with a mocking tone.
"The young CEO and owner of various businesses in the country was seen outside of his own hotel hand in hand with this woman. Eye witnesses say both were side by side the entire night enjoying the newly remodeled casinoㅡ do you want me to keep reading?"

I exhaled loudly and glanced at Hoseok and Jin who impatiently stared at me.

"Ellen how? You know the only reason this worries me is for your safety" she began to speak slowly "I mean both of you have a lot of enemies out there and to be caught like this in public and shared all over the internet..."

"I know, I knowㅡ I'll talk to Yoongi" we pulled up to a deserted parking lot but the horn of nearby boats and the beeping of trailers signaled we had arrived.
"I'll call you later I need to take care of some stuffㅡ thank you for telling me."
I abruptly ended the call pretty sure I would get hell from her later.

"What was that about?" Jin asked as we began to get out of the truck.

"Yoongi and his mysterious new girl are all over the news apparently" I replied "How is that on the news and not the shooting?"

"Well we own half of the pressㅡ hyung has most of the say on what goes out to the public" Hoseok answered walking in front of me.

I inspected the area and nothing seemed put off--anyone could drive by here and have no idea the stuff that was going on. Seagulls flew over our heads in groups making the noise unbelievably loud. I followed behind the men side by side with Seokjin as we walked through piles of trailer boxes.

"What about the police?" I asked after a while.

"Some of them work for us as well" this time Jin answered nonchalantly as if it was the most normal thing ever.

The sound of engines became louder as we descended the long set of old wood stairs into the dock. Two huge boats were on either side and men unloading boxes yelled over the loud noise to each other still unaware of our presence.

"Wait!" I called out making both of the guys and the guards to stop abruptly to look at me.
"If the press works for us why did the "Yoongi's new girl" articles come out?"

"Money nor threats can ever stop the gossip, it's entertainment, journalists would rather get shot than lose a juicy articleㅡ trust me" Hoseok smirked before he turned back around and the men continued their way.

"Good morning gentlemen!" Seokjin shouted interrupting all other conversations and ruckus the workers were doing.

"Good morning sir!" they all yelled in unison "Mr. Choi is inside the other boat checking out the cargo and inventory."
Without a second glance both Hoseok and Jin made their way to the second boat and I trailed behind them.

"Who's Mr. Choi?" I asked Jonghyun who was walking behind me.
"He's in charge of boss's imports-- who sends it, how much and makes sure nobody interferes with the merchandise" he whispered as we got interrupted by a loud rattling noise.

"Ah good morning gentlemenㅡ it's been a good while!"

Jonghyun saw me stiffen up and shot me a worried look but I ignored his glance.
"This is Ellenㅡ she's the boss's girlfriend" Seokjin introduced me after all the men shook hands.

The man took my hand without saying a word and bowed, I had no idea who he was but I didn't like him.
"Walk with me..." Mr. Choi said waving us towards a small office room on the opposite direction of the boats.

I trailed behind again as the men spoke over numbers and names that I've heard Yoongi speak of a couple of times. Occasionally catching some points of the conversation I observed some of the men who were carrying boxes into the office.

They looked like normal workersㅡㅠlike the ones that unloaded boxes at grocery stores.
God how long has it been since I've been to a grocery store.
My mind began to drift into other thoughts as we stepped into the small office the old man plopped down on his desk chair but the guys remained standing.

I sat on the small couch further back by the wall--a faint conversation coming from some men standing by the door caught my attention.

"Did you get the directions?" a bald man said as he chewed on a toothpick making unnecessary chomping noises.
"Noㅡ I thought the others were taking care of it" the younger man replied quietly fidgeting with his fingers.

"You idiot! We need to have all settled by the time Koosung calls us!" he whisper-yelled and smacked the younger one on the head.

Koosung?

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