章節 5: The Calm Before the Storm 2

Minwoo searches the whole crowd for his driver. He got a picture from his mother and confirmed that the man has a very distinctive look, but it is really impossible to spot anyone in this crowd of people waiting for the arrivals of their clients or loved ones.

Forget that. He already sees him; standing taller than the rest, with his sharp jaws and eyebrows. Had he known the man is as tall as a giant, he would not have scanned the crowd that thoroughly. He waves his hand towards the man and flashes him a quick smile but the man just stands there with no reaction. Only when he gets close enough that the man nods slightly as an acknowledgment.

'Young master. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm your new household's butler, Chris.'

'Just call me Minwoo.' He replies. He notices the man is still bowing 90 degrees and feels really uncomfortable with all this formality. What should he do? 'Erm, nice to meet you too Mr. Chris. Please take care of me.' He bows back.

And the man bows lower. And so does he. And the man. And he. 'How long should we bow?'

The man cleares his throat and stands back up, clearing his throat once again, loudly to let his new master know to follow him. 'We'll go straight to your grandmother's house. Your parents are already there.'

'Alright. But I need to take out some souvenirs from my bag first. Let's go somewhere to sit.' Minwoo is about to head towards the bench before, 'Young master, can't you do it at home? Your grandmother expected you to be there in half an hour.'

Taken by surprise, Minwoo stares at the man. He is very rigid and uptight, not that surprising considering he has this face that looks constipated. Okay, maybe not that. But only a few minutes passed from their meeting and he already finds the man annoying.

'We're gonna be late anyways so what's 10 more minutes?' he tries to bargain.

'If we keep on arguing, we might be late for another 20.' Truly shocked by the reply, Minwoo glares up to the man, who still has his emotionless face on. Refusing to argue further, he sighs, 'Fine.'

'This way, young master.'

'It's Minwoo.'

'I realized.' Minwoo rolls his eyes.

They made it in time anyway. With the butler hitting every traffic light and racing with nobody. And almost killing Minwoo from shock in the process.

Minwoo feels very light-headed once his feet touch the earth. The man finally stops somewhere near his house and Minwoo got out as fast as he could. And spills his gut. A box of tissue paper, and a bottled water is passed to him. 'We have another five minutes. Please calm yourself down. And here, breath freshener.'

Minwoo grabs the damned freshener and sprays it, eyes locking at the young butler. Why did his grandmother trusted him, her precious grandchild, with this crazy man?

'We should head home now.' Chris states monotonously, not even caring about Minwoo who is still catching his breath, 'No I need a few more minute.'

'We don't have a few more minutes.' The young alpha is about to fight for his time but decides against it when he sees the man's face. He has this eerie vibe that made Minwoo thinks that he will die if he does not comply. And so, although ashamed of himself for chickening out, he gets back inside the car anyway. And fastens his seat belt, unconsciously gripping it hard.

And they make their way home. In normal speed. To Minwoo's relief.

#####

'Minwoo-yah!! You're here!' His mother welcomes him with a huge hug and a back rub. 'How was the ride from the airport?'

Minwoo looks back at the butler who still has his rigid face, and decides to keep his mouth shut. 'It was nice. I puked.' A peek towards the man, and still no reaction. 'But it's probably just jet-lag.'

His mom laughs at his 'joke' and leads him inside where his grandmother is waiting. He gets another tight hug from the old woman, and another from his dad. And another from his two sisters. All the while, he just wants to put a shield up to prevent any more hugs. 'Aren't you guys, like, in your husbands' hometown or something?''

'Would we miss our lil brother's homecoming?' Seoyeon answers followed by a nod by Seolhyun.

'Awww I missed your ugly faces too!! Ahk!!' Minwoo feels a knock on his head. He forgot his grandmother is there which meant no disrespecting the elders. Including his two annoying sisters. Even with playful intention.

'Anyway, lets get you introduced to our new staffs.' The old lady parades him around, forcing the tired lad to greet and introduce himself to each and every staff of the household. Minwoo honestly does not understand the need to do so. They will be seeing him often, but it is not as if he will interact with them. Why does he need to learn their names?

'…and you met Chris. He's going to be your personal butler until you settle down.'

Minwoo shivers at the statement. Just the thought of spending his time with the man is enough to irk him. 'I'm okay by myself,'

'He'll also be your bodyguard.' Well he seems to suit that job more than a butler. People would probably get killed just by looking at that face. 'I might get killed by him though…' Another hit on the head.

'He knows martial arts. Lots of them.' His first sister whispers. 'And I heard that he's also connected to the Chinese mafia.'

He gulps. Now he is really done for. There goes his plans to play around before school starts.

#####

In the 15 minutes he spends in the shower, Wonho heard the door closing four times already. Either someone came in and left, or all four of his friends are already in his room. Just what is with his room that all of them love to just sleep and hang out here? Ignoring the feeling to rush out, he wraps a towel around his waist, and takes another one to dry his hair.

'Why're you guys here?' he asks the moment he steps out of the humid bathroom. The oldest man swiftly looks up at him, turns to his wristwatch and demands, 'Wono, hurry up and dress. We're going out.'

'I'm tired…' Wonho mumbles, already dragging his feet while walking towards the closet. He is really positive they are going to some bar to play pool or something. And he really, really wants to just stay in his room and read the book he just borrowed from the library. He still needs to study for his exams, so he only has a few days to finish the book.

'Just a few hours then you can go back and read your book.' Junjie states, rendering his excuse useless. Owh how he hates the man for being able to read his mind. 'You already half-way through, right? This won't even take a day.'

'Jun, shut up.'

'Owh, just so you know, we're heading to a bar. And someone just tweeted that they saw one of your favourite authors there.' Sangcheol continues. If he has a tail and dog ears, Wonho's would perk up in excitement just hearing that last statement. 'But that's like 45 minutes ago so I dunno if he's still there.'

'Who??!' He asks, almost too enthusiastically, while rushing to put on his T-shirt and jeans. There are no immediate answers though, and the silence is killing him. 'Ryuu-hyung, who??'

'Wait I'm searching for the name.'

Wonho dries his hair with a towel roughly and starts to look frantically for his hair dryer. He usually prefers it to dry naturally but ain't nobody got time for that now.

'Aww look at our excited Wono-hyung,' he hears Mengyao teases.

'I can see his tail wagging.' Junjie joins in and he can only roll his eyes. Where the hell is his hair dryer??

'Chansol, give the poor man his dryer. Behind you.' Sangcheol requests, pointing out towards the shelf and Chansol complies. Wonho wants to swear at how the man could have given him the thing earlier but holds his tongue. 'The name's Yunho? You like him right?'

'Yes! He's my top 10!'

'The fact that you know more than one author always amaze me,' he can feel Junjie's stare and decides to focus on drying his hair instead. Yes, the two things he is crazy about are books and hip-hop. Hence why he can only name rappers and authors instead of pop bands and idols. Which usually makes it hard for other people to communicate and relate to him, but then again, who cares?

Wonho styles his fringe up and puts on his leather jacket that he reserves for special occasions. 'Aren't you hot in that?'

'Fashion requires sacrifice Chansol. Keep that in mind,' he states naturally, staring at the mirror. He can feel his best friend's smirk, feeling like he won. Because that is the exact thing Junjie always tells Wonho and the latter would always disagree, preferring comfort over fashion. But there is always an exception for everything. And tonight, is that.

'You good?' Sangcheol stands and walks up to him towards the mirror to check on himself. Satisfied, he heads towards the door. 'Getting a little excited, aren't we?' Sangcheol asks and Wonho grins widely.

'But you need to be careful not to attract other alphas though,' his senior continues, 'and you need to tell me what kind of perfume you use later. We have to go now if we're gonna catch Yunho.'

Junjie looks at him innocently, and Wonho lifts his shoulders, not understanding what Sangcheol implied. The former walks behind him and takes a sniff, only to make a disgusted face all the way out the door. Mengyao does the same but is reluctant to do the distorted face because of Wonho's cold stare. He sniffs himself and the smell of leather occupies his nose, making him crinkle.

Leather really does not smell that good. But maybe alphas like it. Who knows?