"You will refrain yourselves from being any inconvenience during my working hours, is that understood?" Aera raised her eyebrow menacingly at the trio who were calmly watching her pacing back and forth in her living space.

Yoongi nodded as he made eye contact with the woman in front as they both looked at the two other people present who were blankly watching Aera.

"What?" Jieun questioned with a shrug.

"Please. I am requesting you. Don't pull any kind of stunt while I am not around. I have to stay with Jimin all day. And I possibly can't be in two places at once. Try not to kill someone while you can." Aera clasped her hands in a pleading stance in front of her.

"I told you I was going make Aera plead in front of me one day. I guess my lucky day has arrived." Jieun sighed as she swung her right leg over the left, giving them an arrogant smirk.

Aera slapped her thigh making her wince instantly as she scowled at her superior.

"No funny business. I mean it." Aera said in finality as she walked to the foyer of her place sliding into her shoes.

"Bye Aera!!! Have a good day!!" Minhyuk waved at her, receiving a curt nod in response.

Walking down the side lane of the house, Aera could make out Eunwoo's shadow near the portico of the mansion as he was skimming through his iPad. She silently stood beside him with her hands clasped behind and eyes trained on the entrance of the house.

"Where the fuck—" he muttered as he gazed beside only to flinch in fear as he held onto his chest for dear life.

"Holy shit Aera!" He shouted as he patted his chest to normalise his uneven panting.

"Well, Good morning to you too." She said in reply before turning over to the door.

"I heard your military friends decided to drop in for a visit yesterday." He said as he kept his gaze trained in the digital screen.

On not receiving any response to his statement, he looked beside to find Aera in deep thought as she spaced out while watching the gravel laden foot path in front.

"Hey...you alright?" He asked with concern.

Aera blinked as she came back to life and looked at him with her blank face and nodded in agreement.

"If you want to talk, you know where to find me." He said as he patted her back gently to soothe her nerves.

"Good morning."

The deep baritone from in front broke their conversation as they both glanced forward to see Jimin walking out in all his glory—just like usual. He smiled at both of them as they bowed at him before making his way to his car.

"Aera...I want you to drive today." Jimin said before climbing inside the car and shutting the door.

She huffed out a rugged breath before mentally preparing herself for all and any kinds of questions that her boss would probably shoot in her direction in the short but long twenty minutes of their ride to the office.

The atmosphere inside the car had never been this dense with tension before. Eunwoo kept looking sideways at Aera who was driving the car and was wiping her sweaty palms in her pants occasionally. Jimin was intently staring at her, burning holes in the back of her head.

"Umm—" Eunwoo began talking but Jimin cut him in between as he voiced his question.

"Eunwoo, do you know Aera's friend Jieun?" He asked out of the blue.

Aera stopped breathing for a second before exhaling out a stream of air as she registered the question.

Jimin has been thinking all night about the incident in the hotel the night before. The way Aera had reacted out of place when her eyes had landed on the particular female named Lee Jieun, had not gone unnoticed by him. The way her eyes had become a bit glassy but she had gulped down her emotions and had become stoic, had also not escaped him.

He had seen her interact most with Eunwoo in the years that she had been serving him. He wanted to know if he knew anything about her friend who had managed to extract such a huge reaction out of her when he had not managed to do so in three years. Somewhere along the line, he wished silently that Eunwoo wouldn't know who the hell Jieun was but the odds of the fact could be ruled out unexpectedly.

"Yeah....I know her." He said as he slowly nodded his head.

Jimin found himself clenching his jaw as his eyes kept staring at Aera who was finding it more important to keep her eyes on the road rather than looking here and there.

"In fact, not only Jieun, Minhyuk and Yoongi have come too. I met them in the morning."

This made Aera blink hard as she licked her dry lips which seemed to be getting dry due the stress she was experiencing. She was contemplating the odds of whether stabbing Eunwoo at places that would hurt like hell or whether to simply push him out of the car as she rode it at full speed.

This piece of shit.

She cursed him in her mind for a million times for opening his mouth and saying that.

"Is it? I didn't know about it." Jimin said, dejection evident in his voice.

Aera could feel her stomach wrenching when his voice rang in her ears. The disappointment of not being informed about the fresh arrival in his property would have made him angry nonetheless but she didn't understand why he was sounding so—sad.

"They arrived without informing me before hand. I am sorry sir for not asking you before allowing them to stay. I would make sure they are resituated to a hotel before you come back home. I apologise for it." Aera said as she turned a bit and bowed before looking forward.

Eunwoo could feel the flames of anger coming towards him as he saw Aera death glaring at him before she took hold of the steering wheel tightly. He gulped as he imagined all the ways he was going to get punished for opening his mouth at the place where he probably shouldn't have.

"It's fine. They are your friends. They can stay with you. It is your personal space. You get to decide who stays with you and who doesn't. So don't apologise. But I would like to meet them. If you don't mind." Jimin said as he calmed himself down from his previous envious mode.

Aera looked at him from the rear view mirror to find his gaze locked on her face. She didn't know why Jimin wanted to meet her friends but if that could eliminate the awkwardness of the situation then she was willing to push the excuse for her friends in front of his intimidating personality.

"Of course. I will tell them about it."

"Great. I will meet them at dinner then." He said as he finally looked outside to see his office coming into view. His attraction to Aera was not unusual to him. And what else could be better to step a bit closer to her than being friends with the people who have known her for years? With that thought in his mind, Jimin giddily walked inside the building awaiting the dinner where he would unravel a part of the mystery called Aera.

                 ___________________