is almost four PM by the time we get home, and I go straight upstairs. The guys are babying me; honestly, I don''t mind it. But I am not excited for them to ask me what happened. I don''t know what to say.
"Princess, do you want some juice? We got the berry lemonade that you like!" Kai tells me, carrying in a glass of my favorite juice. It''s from a specialty store and is hard to find since it is so popular.
I take the cup and have a big drink. "Thanks, Kai," I say with a smile. "Can we cuddle and watch a movie?" I ask them. That will make sure they don''t ask me any questions about today for the next few hours at least.
"Sure, you pick the movie while we go get some snacks," Jae tells me with a smile on his face. "Han." He adds, nodding to the door and asking him to go with him. "They''re going to talk about me, aren''t they?" I ask when they both leave. Kai smiles. "Yep." He says, laughing.
"I''m fine, you guys don''t need to worry." He tells me. "I know, but we will always worry about you, you''re so special to us." He says, reaching out to touch my cheek. "I love you." He says for the first time. "I-I love you too," I say, tears in my eyes.
I hug him and he pulls me into his arms, looking down at me with a smile and tears in his eyes.
"You are my favorite person; you''ll always be my favorite person. I''m so glad that you are my wife, but you need to let me protect you, it''s my job, so please, tell me what''s going on." He says, his eyes pleading.
"There''s not anything going on," I say, sitting up. "I just have always had anxiety and PTSD, sometimes it gets worse. It doesn''t have anything to do with anything going on." I tell him right as Han and Jae walk back into the room.
"All right, if you want to go with that story we can." He says, pulling me to lie down with him, "Okay, fine." I say, shaking my head. "Do you have any gummy bears?" I ask Han, who has his hands full of snacks.
He raises a brow "Of course we do." He says, tossing me a bag.
I catch it with a big smile, tearing the bag open. "HEY!" I yell when Jae grabs the bag and pours many gummy worms into his hand. "Those are mine," I tell him, reaching for the gummies. "And you are mine, which means, these gummies are mine too." He says with a laugh. "Hmm, if that''s how this works, then I have a lot of things," I say, laughing quietly. "So, I''ll take Kai''s Porsche when I go meet my dad this weekend." I stick my tongue out at him and he shakes his head. "Not my Porsche!" He exclaims. "I know, we will get you your car, that way you don''t need to drive ours," Kai suggests.
"Are you guys going to let me leave the house alone enough to use my car?" I ask, tilting my head to the side.
"Yes, once you stop having panic attacks," Han says, reaching over to poke my cheek.
"Hmm, deal. But just so we are clear, my husband, legally, your car is my car." I say but start laughing as he tickles me.
He mocks me while tickling me, and Han and Jae laugh with us. "Hey, you are the one who chose to marry me. Not my fault if you regret it now." I say, still laughing. "I don''t regret it at all," Kai tells me. "But as soon as you''re feeling better, we are gonna get you your car so you can keep your grubby little hands off my baby. And your short little butt out of my driver''s seat, you moved the seat up so much I couldn''t even get into the car!" He tells me, shaking his head.
"Hey, it''s not my fault you have freakishly long legs," I tell Kai, poking his thigh.
"Are we meeting with your dad this weekend?" Jae asks, holding a gummy in front of my mouth for me. I take the gummy and then nod. "Well, I am, I don''t think he expects you guys to come... By the way, how did you guys know my dad anyway?" I ask, sitting up and turning toward the pillows of the bed to face them all.
Well, you know that my mom and yours were best friends." Jae says, making me nod. "After she passed, my mom still looked out for you. She loved you like a daughter. Your dad got in debt with some loan shark when you were around ten. He owed a lot of money, and he was coming after your dad for not repaying. He contacted my mom who convinced my dad to help." Jae explained.
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"So, if it wasn''t for me, he would be like that guy you had tied up at the warehouse?" I ask, eyes wide.
"Yes, but he knows that. Which is why he kept borrowing from them, and why he never said anything when we took you. We called him that night after you went to sleep and told him you were staying with us. He wanted us to bring you home at first, of course, he''s your father after all, but we reminded him of his debt. If we didn''t have you, we didn''t need to protect him anymore." Han says with a shrug,
"So, he gave me away to protect himself? He gave me to you because he fears you?" I ask, tears filling my eyes. Did my dad not care about me at all?
"Jagi, we spoke to him about you many times, he has known our intentions for a long time. He knew we would never hurt you. He loves you, but he has gambling problems.'' Kai tells me, wiping away my tears with his hand.
I nod, wrapping my arms around myself. "You are coming with me to the lunch on Saturday?" I ask, tilting my head. "Yes." Han answers simply. I give a quick nod before settling back against the pillows and lying down to watch our movie.
I don''t go to school for the rest of the week thanks to the doctor''s note from Doctor Broussard. Han, Kai, and Jae do go to school though, leaving me home alone during the days. I have gotten a few more cryptic DMs. Mostly saying random creepy things. The most recent one was this morning and it said. "Miss you at school." I''ve blocked the account twice, but a new account quickly pops up.
I''m in a particularly grumpy mood today since I woke up to a DM from the creeper this morning and on top of that, I am having very bad menstrual cramps.
Once the guys get home, I turn off my phone, not risking them seeing any harassing texts. "Princess!" Kai calls from downstairs.
"What?" I yell back, slowly making my way down the hall.
"Why haven''t you texted us back? It''s been like two hours since we last heard from you." Han says, his tone annoyed. I had turned my phone on silent and stopped checking it once the DM''s got overwhelming today. When I didn''t reply, the mystery person sent two more, one of them being a picture of Jess at the cafeteria.
"Luckily we called the guards who assured us you were in your room perfectly safe," Kai adds on, sounding annoyed as well.
"Well sorry, I don''t stare at my phone all day waiting for your texts," I tell them, rolling my eyes, arms crossed.
Han raises an eyebrow. "Drop the attitude." He says. "No!" I yell, frustrated. "I''m here, surrounded by your guards, nothing can happen. Stop being so controlling." I say, pulling my arm away when Kai reaches out for me. His jaw clenches.
"Princess. What is with the attitude?" Jae asks, his voice calm as usual.
"There is no attitude except for Han and Kai''s," I say, walking past them and bumping into Kai''s side as I do.
Before I can pass him Kai grabs me and pushes me against the wall of the entryway, not too hard though.
"You want to see my attitude? Do you want me to show you the side of me that you don''t see, my pretty wife?" Kai growls out.
Rolling my eyes, I push against his chest, but he doesn''t budge. "Let go of me," I tell him. His hands against my shoulders push me tighter up against the wall.
"I thought you wanted to talk about my attitude, now you want to walk away?" Kai asks, tilting his head to the side.
I push him harder, but he doesn''t release me or fall back. He laughs, which infuriates me. His laugh is humorless. This is the side of Kai that the Mafia sees that their enemies see. I can tell he is holding back a lot, but it''s in his eyes. The anger.
Before I can think about what I am doing, or the consequences, I kick my leg out, hitting him in the shin. He laughs again, moving his forearm to my chest, pressing it just at my collarbones, keeping me against the wall. "You want to see what the rest of the world sees of your husband? If anyone else gave me this attitude if they spoke to me like you just did, or if they dared to kick me." He spoke quickly, his accent thicker than normal.
His right hand barely moved lightning quick and suddenly a blade is pressed against my throat, causing me to yelp. "This is what happens when people piss me off." He taps my neck gently with the dull side of the blade. I look into his eyes, refusing to show him any fear. I know he won''t do anything.
"But this doesn''t scare you, because you know that I love you and I''d never hurt you." He says, shaking his head.
Han walks over and gently separates us. "Let''s calm down. Princess, want to tell us what''s going on? Why are you in a bad mood today?" He asks me, taking my hand in his.
"I don''t know. I guess because I''m on my period and I''m in a lot of pain." I whisper.
Han nods, while Kai frowns. "I''m sorry, Pip. I didn''t know. How can I help?" He asks me.
I shake my head. "I''m sorry for being grumpy," I say, looking at them.
Jae walks over and hugs me. "My poor baby, why don''t you pick what you want to have for dinner and dessert? Whatever you want." He tells me. I smile a little. "Can you get spaghetti and tiramisu from Pauly''s?" I ask hesitantly. It is all the way across town. "Of course, I can," Jae says, laughing quietly.