#finally made cabby related art after a long time

[chocolatespyro]

[d-noona]

The Playboy Assignment

Summary:

Persuading a millionaire to part with a fortune seemed like mission impossible. Especially as the man in question turned out to be Min Yoongi - April's first love.

Eight years ago, Yoongi had stormed out of her life, believing she was having another man's baby. Convincing him otherwise, whilst sweet-talking him into helping a worthy cause, would be tricky. Even more so when he insisted negotiations take place in the bedroom! Suddenly, April was struggling to remember that the playboy assignment was business not pleasure!

Min Yoongi x Original Character

MASTERLIST

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

The sent of freshly made coffee filled the small café, and April paused in the doorway for a second to breathe her fill of the rich aroma. But one of her partners was already waiting in the back booth reserved for their staff meeting every Monday morning, so April strolled down the length of the long, narrow room and sat across from Seokjin. She winced at the hardness of the green vinyl bench. "I'm either going to have to start carrying along a cushion or convince the management to redecorate."

Seokjin folded his newspaper and laid it aside. "The cushion would be easier. This place has looked the same as long as I can remember. So unless you're looking for a challenge-"

"Any reason I shouldn't be?" April poured herself a cup of coffee from the carafe on the table.

"Only that redecorating isn't really a matter of public relations." Seokjin replied.

April squirmed on the bench. "I don't know about that. My particular segment of the public would have a lot better relations with the management if-"

"And we've already got plenty of regular business to tend to. Which forces me to point out that you're late." Seokjin's tone was matter-of-fact, without a hint of reproach or irritation.

April reached automatically for the pendant watch which dangled from a very heavy chain around her neck, "Five minutes," she said. "And I'd have been smack on time if there hadn't been a bake sale going on outside the high school I walked past."

Seokjin showed a faint interest. "At this hour on Monday morning?"

"Incredible isn't it? I thought any teenager who was enterprising enough to be selling brownies this early deserved my support." She pulled a paper bag from her briefcase and waved it under Seokjin's nose. "So I bought both fudge and chocolate chip cookies - But you can't have any until breakfast."

The waitress set an omelette in front of Seokjin and grinned at April. "What will it be this morning April?"

"Just a raspberry Danish, No hurry."

Seokjin picked up his fork. "Better make it bacon and eggs instead of more sugar, or you'll be bouncing off the walls by noon. Not that you don't most of the time, anyway."

"I didn't buy THAT much fudge." there was no defensiveness in April's tone; Seokjin's comment was too near truth to allow room for resentment. Of the three partners in BigHit Public Relations, Seokjin was the practical manager, Danie was the get-it-done-whatever-it-takes-sort, and April was the visionary, never short of idea. The fact that nine out of ten of those ideas went nowhere had ceased to bother her - because the tenth was always her winner.

Of course, that had been true all her life. For every good plan she'd come up with April Park had managed to find nine bad ones. Or sometimes, she though dryly, an idea so far beyond bad that it was worth nine all by itself. That whole thing with Yoongi. And that, April told herself, was enough of that.

Yoongi and the last of her disasters were eight years long in the past, and there was no point in rehashing the circumstances. The important thing was with two down-to-earth partners to keep her anchored to reality, her wilder ideas were squashed before they could get into trouble. Thinking of the partnership reminder her of the empty place where the third member of the triangle usually sat. "Tell me again when Danie's going back?"

"She said she was only taking two weeks off." Seokjin responds while stuffing a spoonful of egg in his mouth.

April raised her eyebrows. "You sound a little doubtful. Have you ever known Danie not to keep her word?"

"She's never been on a honeymoon before." Seokjin smirks.

"That's true." April admired the smooth glaze surface of her raspberry Danish. She was just about to take her first bite when a photograph in the newspaper Seokjin tossed aside caught her eye and made her forget about everything else. "What's Bang Si-Hyuk doing in the press?" She put the Danish down and reached for the paper. "Namjoon will be furious if he called in the media himself instead of letting the museum squeeze all the mileage we can out of the announcement..." her voice trailed off as she saw the headline.

Bang Si-Hyuk, industrialist, dies suddenly. The announcement was cool and dispassionate. Even the headline was discreet black type, not the sort which blared from the page. If it hadn't been for the photograph - outdated by at least twenty years but still unmistakably Si-Hyuk, with the enormous nose which hadn't changed an iota with age - she'd missed the story altogether.

"He can't die." April said flatly.

Seokjin glanced at the page. "Well I doubt the tribune published his obituary as a practical joke, why can't he die anyway? At seventy-eight, I'd say the man has a right."

"Because he hasn't rewritten his damned will yet? That's why! At least, he hadn't the last time I talked to Joon."

Seokjin nodded wisely. "I'd already gathered this is the millionaire art collector you've been dangling after for months."

"I wouldn't call it dangling, exactly," April objected.

Seokjin raised an eyebrow at April "The one who was so sensitive about causing speculations that you couldn't even tell Danie and me exactly who he was."

"It's not that I didn't trust you," April pointed out. "Joon was afraid if there was talk -"

"-That the mysterious collector wouldn't donate his pretty picture to Namjoon's museum after all." Seokjin flat out cuts off April.

"They're not pretty pictures." April saw the gleam of humor spring to life in Seokjin's dark handsome eyes, and she wanted to bite off her tongue. "Wait a second. Let me rephrase that."

Seokjin was hooting with delight. "Oh, All right," April admitted. "Some of them - most of the modern art pieces, in fact, are about as far from pretty as it's possible to get. What I meant was they're more than just random painting. It's a major collection, and it would mean the earth to the Moonchild Museum."

"Plus putting a finger in the eye of all the other places who'd like to have it?" says Seokjin.

"Seoul is a big city," April said stubbornly "Why shouldn't it have another big art museum?" Her Danish had cooled, and the raspberry filling had congealed. She pushed the plate aside. "Of course, it has a moot point now, unless Si-Hyuk signed a new will since I talked to Namjoon. He might have had time, I suppose, but -"

Seokjin sighed. "All right, I know better than to think your mind will settle in the week's work schedule until after you've found out what's going on at your precious museum." April jumped up and gathered her purse and briefcase. "Seokjin, thanks a million! You really are the anchor that keeps Bighit from drifting off, you know."

"Cut out the poetic language and just go," Seokjin said tartly. "Before I change my mind."

April grinned and flung an arm around Seokjin's broad shoulder for a quick hug. Seokjin shrugged her off, but he was smiling. "Keep me posted, okay?"

April feigned a look of shock at her co-worker slash best friend. "But of course. After all the Moonchild is Bighit's client - not just mine." she hurried out to the street before Seokjin could return an acid answer.

Morning rush in Seoul was no time to be hailing a cab, but today she was lucky. The taxi was going the wrong direction, but that was a minor problem; the cabbie screeched tp a halt in the traffic lane and April darted across the street and flung herself into the back seat. "The Moonchild Museum," she gasped, "and hurry."

Horns honked behind them, and the cab screeched off, flinging April against the seat.

"You want me to make an illegal U-Turn, of can I take a minute to go around the block?" asked the cabbie dryly. "What's the rush anyway? That place don't open till 10."

"I know." April sighs.

The cab driver muttered, "People watch way too much movies these days. that's the trouble. Somebody's always shouting "Follow that car" - and thinking he's a comedian."

April smothered a smile and refused to let herself be drawn into a discussion. Instead she stared out the window at the streets of Seoul as the cab sped down Han River. Despite the hour several people were already at the area, their bright smiles in the early morning breeze. The cab turned toward downtown, and soon they were in the worst of the morning rush, fighting their way block b block between the skyscrapers, through the dark cold caverns where sunshine fell. It was several weeks yet till summer officially arrived, but some of these streets would still feel chilly.

Finally the cab swerved almost onto the sidewalk in front of the converted warehouse where the Moonchild Museum had found a home. At street level were retails shops; on the upper floors were small apartments, and the Moonchild was sandwiched in between. This years goal would raise enough funds to improve access for the handicapped; April's proposal for organizing the appeal was lying on her desk. The Moonchild Museum, named for the frontier fort which occupied what later became the city of Seoul had been one of BigHit's first clients. In fact, the tiny public relations firm and the struggling museum had come to life at about the same time, both bravely taking on the challenge of competing with far larger and more established organizations.

Perhaps the similarity was the reason April had so quickly taken the Moonchild to her heart. At any rate, Danie and Seokjin had been delighted to leave the museum to her as April was to take it on.

For three years now, she'd work with the staff which actually meant, of course that she worked with Kim Namjoon, the young director. And she'd been as thrilled as anyone when Namjoon had first made contact with Si-Hyuk and learned that the old man was considering the future of the collection he'd so painstakingly built. April paid the cab driver and walked around the warehouse to the unmarked back entrance. She pressed the intercom button and gave her name, and a moment later a buzzer sounder and the lock was released. She frowned a little as she climbed the narrow steps to the museum floor, wondering if Namjoon had considered adding security. Though the Moonchild present collection wasn't shabby, it also wasn't the sort to draw the attention of thieves. But the Bang Si-Hyuk pieces would be different...if, of course, the Moonchild ever got them.

Namjoon was in his office, a small shabby, industrial green room to one side of the stairwell, and the moment April saw him she knew she didn't have to be the one to break the news. His brown hair, normally so neat, was wildly disarranged. Even more than unusual, his tie was at an angle, and the collar of his shirt curled up at the back.

"You look almost like one of your artist friends." she dropped into the rickety chair beside his desk. "The Bohemian kind who think that even owning a mirror is narcissistic."

Namjoon's hand went automatically to his hair, even as he said "That's not funny April."

"I know, I saw the newspaper." she hesitated. "It was a shock to you, too, obviously."

"Shock is hardly the word. Nuclear attack is more like it." Namjoon sank into his chair and rubbed his temples. April's heart dropped to her toes. "He hadn't finished the will?"

Namjoon shook his head. "If I only pushed a little harder! He was talking about the details last week when I saw him, and if I'd urged him to stop talking and get on with it-"

"If you pressed he might've backed out all together Joon."

"I suppose so. But if I could have just made him see that the fine points could be adjusted anytime-"

April had stopped listening. The fact that they had lost the collection was settling cold and hard in the pit of her stomach. Only now that the prize had been snatched away did she realize how much she had come to count on it. For months she'd been tentatively making her plans around the Bang collection. The announcement would be the boost to public recognition of the museum. The visitor list would increase dramatically, and fund-raising would be a snap. Of course, she admitted, not all of her motives were so entirely selfless as those. The renown would be her job instantly easier. And part of the glory of the museum's success would reflect on BigHit, and therefore on April...

She sighed. "Back to the drawing board," she thought.

"It was odd," Namjoon said. "The way Si-Hyuk was behaving last week, I mean. I didn't realize it at the time, but-"

"Maybe he was already feeling ill?" April asks.

"No, that's not it at all. It was like he was teasing me, holding something back."

Possible, April thought. It was equally possible that Namjoon's perceptions were colored by twenty-twenty hindsight. "Si-Hyuk was a world class wheeler and dealer. Perhaps he wanted you to offer him something else? Something extra, in return for the collection?"

"Then why didn't he just ask? Anyway, what else could he have wanted?"

April shrugged. "More power to influence the museum's future, perhaps."

"We'd already offered him a seat on the board."

"I know. Or maybe he was just playing out the game, for the fun of it and the attention it got him. He certainly liked having everybody dancing attendance on him." as April pulls out her fudge brownies and chews on them while she hands some over to Namjoon. Namjoon rejects then sighs. "And he waited just a little too long to get down to business?"

Suddenly Namjoon's face brightened. "You don't suppose Si-Hyuk made that will anyway, do you? Maybe he didn't tell me because he didn't want the attention to stop."

April had her doubts, but this was the first positive note Namjoon had expressed and she thought it was hardly the time to discourage him. At any rate, before she'd gathered her thoughts , he'd picked up the phone and was fumbling through his desk. "Si-Hyuk's attorney - what was his name? I've got his card in here somewhere..."

The business card he eventually produced had once been crisp and elegant, April was certain. Now it was dog-eared, the edges frayed and the type rubbed and blurred but not so damaged that Namjoon couldn't read the phone number. "I don't think he can tell you anything," she said as he dialed. "What a client puts in his will is a confidential matter."

"I'm not going to ask whether what's in his will, just whether Si-Hyuk made any changes recently.: He spoke into the phone "Kim Namjoon calling for Mr. Jung Hoseok, please."

The way Namjoon's voice deepened whenever he wanted to impress someone had never failed to amuse April. She wondered if Namjoon knew what he was doing. Probably not, she decided; the habit could well be so ingrained he was no longer aware of it. As Namjoon asked his question, he began to tap his pencil on his desk blotter at even intervals, and by the time he put the phone down the steady rhythm had almost driven April mad. She took one look at his his glum face and forgot the tapping. "I told you he wouldn't answer the question."

"Oh, he answered." Namjoon tossed the pen aside. "Si-Hyuk hasn't changed his will in years."

April sighed. "I guess that's that."

"Unless he went to some other attorney, of course."

"Come on, Joon - how likely is that? Maybe we should look on the positive side of this whole thing." April tried to laugh, with little success. "With all those valuable paintings, and the publicity we expected to get, security would have become a massive problem. We'd have been begging for handouts in the streets just to pay the guards."

Namjoon didn't hesitate. "We wouldn't have any trouble fund-raising for security."

Didn't the man have any sense of humor? April thought to herself. "Okay, so it was a bad joke. But you may as well accept the facts."

"And if things had gone right we wouldn't have had to worry securing this place at all."

April frowned. "What does that mean?"

"I shouldn't have said anything." Namjoon looked a bit shamefaced, "But oh- what difference does it make now? I'd hope that Si-Hyuk would give his house to the museum too."

April had never seen Si-Hyuk's home, but Namjoon had told her about the huge old mansion Si-Hyuk has. "And move the present collection there?" she shook her head. "It certainly makes our current troubles with access for the handicapped look like peanuts."

Namjoon dismissed the problem with a wave of the hand. "Si-Hyuk installed an elevator just last year."

April rolled her eyes. At least, she thought, that harebrained scheme would never have gone along with it. On second thought, however, she realized that there was a method in Namjoon's madness. In fact, the idea made a sort of sense. In its downtown location, the Moonchild would always be just one among Seoul's prominent art museums. But in the suburbs, it would stand alone, surrounded not by competition but by middle - higher class families with time and money for cultural activities - not only visits but art classes, lectures, tours...Possibilities poured through her mind.

"Well why not?" Namjoon said defensively. "It's not as if Si-Hyuk had a family to leave it to? Besides, his pictures were the most important thing in his life. Why not leave them in the setting he created for them?"

Reluctantly, she pushed the stream of ideas aside. It was too late for them. And too late, April thought, for sympathy to do Namjoon any good either. She said, finally, "What about the funeral? Shall we go together?" For a moment she wasn't certain whether Namjoon hadn't heard her of if he intended to refuse. Then he gave a harsh bark of laughter. "Oh, why not?" he said. "Doesn't every fisherman like to get a last glimpse of the one that got away?"

April was on her mobile when Seokjin tapped at her office door and put his head in. April beckoned him in and said, "Yes, Mrs. Kang, I know exactly how disappointed you are. I've found, however -"

Seokjin sat on the edge of a chintz-covered chair, looking half afraid that the deep, soft cushions would drag him down like an undertow. Funny, April thought, with half her mind still on Mrs. Kang, how different the partners were. Seokjin could sit like that, hands folded like the CEO of a big corporation, for hours. Danie, if forced to wait, would probably have reorganized the bookshelves. April would have flung herself on the overstuffed plaid couch and at least pretended to take a nap.

Finally she soothed he client into hanging up, and rubbed her ear as she put her phone down. "Some day," she said, "I'm going to try to hang up the phone and discover that I can't because it's melted into my ear and become a part of me." She looked longingly at the couch, but she knew better than to chance wrinkling her skirt. Linen -even black linen - showed every crease.

Seokjin smiled in sympathy. "Janna told she'd put through calls from every single member of the Moonchild's board of directors today."

"Oh she has. I can't decide whether to thank her for being such an efficient secretary, or yell at her for exactly the same reason." April's voice was dry. "Thank God that was the last of them, at least for this round."

"What's on their minds? Or did they all know about Si-Hyuk" Jin asks.

"No. Not by name, at least. But the news seems to have leaked just this morning that all hope of getting the collection has gone up to smoke, and every person who isn't running for cover is making threats instead."

Seokjin's eyebrow rose a fraction. "What kind of threats?"

"Oh, the usual noises about hiring a new director." April waved a hand. "I think I got most of the feathers soothed. Eventually they'll realize it wasn't Namjoon's fault - and also they can't hire anyone else for what they're paying him - and everybody will be back on good terms. What's up, Jin?"

"Namjoon, actually. Janna sent me up to tell you that he's waiting downstairs."

April stood up, smoothed her skirt, and slipped her black jacker on over her white snowy blouse. "Good. I mean, I'm not looking forward to Si-Hyuk's funeral, but it's better than dealing with the phone." She picked up her wide-brimmed black hat and glanced in the mirror mounted on the back of her office door.

"I know, that's why Janna asked me to come up and tell you - because she didn't want to break into your call." Seokjin paused in the doorway. "You and Namjoon look like a matched set, by the way, except you don't have a black tie and he wouldn't look nearly as good as you do in that hat."

April paused as she adjusted her hat. "You're sure it isn't a little over the top? I don't want to look like a professional mourner. But I did like the old man, and as a mark of respect..."

"You look great," Seokjin said. "If I weren't swamped with work I would have accompanied you, but work beckons and if I could wear a hat with that kind of dash, I'd never take it off."

April smiled in spite of herself. "They really get in the way when it comes to being kissed you know."

"Just as I said - I'd never take if off." Seokjin grinned and started up the stairs toward the top floor production room.

"If you stopped being picky, Jin, you'd have lines of women wanting to kiss you!"

Seokjin didn't even pause. "Really? Well, since I don't have the time for that sort of nonsense, and I'm perfectly handsome and happy by myself, I'll DEFINITELY have to look for a hat."

April made a face on her partner's back and turned toward the staircase to the main floor. Namjoon was standing in the receptionist's office, hands clasped behind his back, shifting his weight from toes to heels and back again. He was staring at the framed posted which hung near Janna's desk, but April doubted he'd even seen it, or hear her come in. She was wrong on both counts.

Namjoon stepped back from the poster and said, "I could get you something really nice to hang there."

"On BigHit's decorating budget? I doubt it." She let her gaze run over him. In his dark suit he looked really nice. He was six feet taller or so at least, even when April was wearing her heels she seemed small. She noticed his tie wasn't black it was charcoal. Seokjin had been wrong. But he'd been correct about the rest. They couldn't have matched more perfectly if they'd been dressed by a single designer. Janna, she noticed, she looked impressed.

Namjoon had a tiny sports car in front of BigHit's converted brownstone. He helped April into the passenger seat, and she tried to keep her skirt from sliding impossibly high.

"At least it's a pretty day," she said as he got behind the wheel. "I wondered why the services where delayed so long, but it worked out beautifully, didn't it? After the rain yesterday and the day before-"

Why was she babbling? The urge to talk simply to fill the silence was a sensation she'd never felt with Namjoon before, and it took April by surprise. Theirs had always been an easy and professional relationship.

"The funeral was put off for the heir's convenience." Namjoon replied.

April frowned. "What heir?"

"Didn't I tell you what I found out? The will currently in force was made more than ten years ago and -"

April interrupted with a long, low whistle. "You've put the delay to good use haven't you?"

Namjoon shrugged. "I don't know what use it is to know that Si-Hyuk left everything he possessed to a son of an old flame."

"Well well," April drawled. "Who'd have thought of it Si-Hyuk?"

"I know," Namjoon said bitterly. "It's hard to believe that somebody as savvy as Si-Hyuk didn't bother to update his will now and then, even if his financial circumstances hadn't changed. A ten year old will is ridiculous...to say nothing of his leaving everything to somebody who wouldn't even bother to cut his Hawaiian vacation short so the funeral could be held on time."

"That wasn't quite what I meant." April said. "It just occurred to me that perhaps the son of the old flame might be Si-Hyuk's son, as well."

Namjoon looked startled. "Oh, I don't think-"

"Even Si-Hyuk was young once. And now that I think about it, there was a certain twinkle in his eyes sometimes."

Namjoon snorted.

There were to be no church services, only a gathering in the cemetery. A surprising number of cars were already parked along the narrow, winding roads which cut the grand old cemetery into segments, and Namjoon had to park at a distance. April glanced from the gravel lane to her shoes and sighed. But before they'd gone far, the inconvenience of walking across grass and gravel in heels had given way to April's love of old cemeteries. She'd almost forgotten how much she loved old graveyards, full of elaborate monuments and family histories carved in stone in a kind of shorthand only the initiated could read. She'd been good at that, once, deducing from names and dates what had happened to the people who lay below the quiet soil. But she hadn't gone exploring for years now.

Eight years to be exact...

"But how do you know?"

The question echoed in her head, in an almost plaintive baritone that she hadn't heard in the better part of a decade. Funny, she thought, that she could still hear it so clearly...

"How can you tell from a tombstone that life was rough for women?" Yoongi had asked on a crisp November day, as he stood beside her in an old cemetery back in Daegu. "It's a man tombstone, at that?"

"That's right," April had said. "The monument is for the patriarch, but look on the back at the list of names. His three wives didn't even get a stone to themselves. He married them one at a time, or course, but now they're all lying here beside him, together for eternity."

"But how?" Yoongi had asked, very practically. "He's only got two sides."

April had found the comment hysterically funny, and she'd finally wobbled over to a low flat stone nearby ad sat down to recover from her fit of laughter. But in fact she'd never managed to get her breath back, for Yoongi had joined her there and kissed her...

And she hadn't walked in a cemetery since.

"What a nuisance this is," Namjoon said. "Trust Si-Hyuk to make things inconvenient."

"Shush." They were getting close to the small tent where the crowd had gathered. A soft breeze tugged at April's hat and ruffled the corned of the South Korean flag covering the casket. She hadn't known that Si-Hyuk had been in the armed services. But then April thought, there seemed to be lots of things that they hadn't known about Si-Hyuk. They were almost last to arrive, and only a few moments later a man in flowing robes began the service. April tipped her head a little, allowing her hat to shield her eyes as she glanced around the crowd.

She saw vaguely familiar faces, but no one she knew well. And try as she might, she couldn't locate any likely candidate to be- what was it that Namjoon had called him? The son of the old flame, that was it. No one stood out from the crowd. There was no row of chairs, no one obviously fighting strong emotion...

Perhaps, she thought, Namjoon was wrong and the heir hadn't showed up after all?

The service was brief. From a distant hillside, a rifle salute cracked the air, taps sounded, and an honor guard briskly and efficiently folded the flag which had covered Si-Hyuk's mahogany casket.

April watched with interest as they presented it to a man standing nearby. But all she could see was the back of a well-groomed head and a brilliant white shirt collar showing between sleek black hair and a gray pin striped suit. Not black she thought, with interest.

"That must be the old flame's son," Namjoon muttered into her ear. "Wish I could get a better look."

The pastor said a final prayer, then looked out over the crowd, drawing them all together with his gaze, and said. "Si-Hyuk's request that everyone who attended this service be invited back to his home immediately afterward, for a party."

April smothered a gasp. "That's insane!" she whispered.

"I know!" Namjoon muttered, "is a waste of money the museum could have put to far better use. A party?! What nonsense."

But instead of turning back towards the Moonchild and BigHit, Namjoon followed the trail of cars toward Si-Hyuk's home.

"Wait a minute," April said. "Sure you don't intend to go to the party, Joon? Both of us thinks it's bad taste -"

"That's beside the point," Namjoon said grimly. "Odds are the old flame's son has equally bad taste, or he wouldn't have gone along with the idea."

April thought about that sleek dark head, and frowned. "I don't quite see -"

"He probably doesn't have a clue about what to do with Si-Hyuk's old pictures. Maybe he doesn't even realize that they're important. So maybe I can introduce myself and make another stab at the collection."

"Joon isn't it time to give up?" April hesitates.

"What kind of PR person are you, anyway? We can't lose by just asking. You'd feel like an idiot if he gave it to somebody else - or threw it away because we didn't tell him we're interested."

He was right, in any case, she was going to end up at the party, since throwing herself out of a moving car was out the question for April as much of an option. So she might as well give the idea a stab.

Bang Si-Hyuk's mansion was the most elaborate that April had seen. Towers, porches and balconies sprouted from everywhere she looked. The details of ginger bread and moldings and finials had been picked out in a palette of soft greens and browns, with an occasional startling touch of red.

"It would make a great haunted house," she said. "All it needs is a full moon and a few spider webs. But I don't see it as a full pledged art museum - there can't be enough big walls."

Namjoon shrugged. " We could have build a new wing. But that's out of the question now. This house is worth a fortune, the heir wouldn't even consider donating it."

April paused. "The paintings are worth a fortune too."

"But everybody has an idea what a house like this will sell for. On the other hand, to an inexperienced eye, the paintings might not look much at all."

"Namjoon, you can't misrepresent -"

They reached the front door, standing open to the summer breeze, and the murmur of the crowed reached back inside, so she bit her tongue and resolved to have it out with Namjoon later. They stepped across the threshold into the enormous dark paneled front hall. Despite April's hat the change from sunlight to dimness blinded her for an instant. Before she saw the heir, who stood in his black almost squarely to the door, Namjoon had already moved toward him, pulling her along. His right hand went out, demanding the heir's attention, and the deepest voice she'd ever hear Namjoon use, he said, "I'm sorry we meet on such a sad day. I was a friend of your...I mean, of Si-Hyuk's. I have a bit of an interest in art too, you see."

April stared at him in shock. A bit of an interest? She thought.

"Indeed," the heir said, and his voice echoed through April's brain like the boom of a cannon.

Like a wooden marionette who could move only one joint at a time, she turned away from Namjoon toward the heir. Under the wide brim of her hat, she spotted the monogram on his shirt cuff as he reached out to shake Namjoon's hand. M.Y, it said, in delicate embroidery.

M.Y...Min Yoongi.

Yoongi, who had been the single biggest mistake April Park had ever made. Yoongi, who had prompted the most disastrous idea of a long and varied series.

Yoongi.

Slowly, afraid of what she would see, she lifter her eyes to his.