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Jungkook gazed up at the other man.  Shocked at how short Bora’s father was.  He couldn’t be more than five feet tall.  Jungkook outstripped him by nearly a foot.  Jungkook furrowed his brow at him.  

“You brought your appa’s bodyguards and my daughter.”

“She brought herself.  And my bodyguards.”  Jungkook glanced at her.  “I had lost them.”

Her eyes met Jungkook’s.  He could see the fear in them.  

So could her appa.

Her eyes flew to his face.  “If you so much as touch Kookie, I will hate you forever!” she warned him viciously.

The corners of her father’s lips quirked.  “What makes you think I want to hurt him?” he murmured in a low tone.

Outraged, she held his gaze.  Her eyes dueled with his.  “Because you told me you’d have him killed if I didn’t break up with him.”

His eyes slid around his establishment.  “Bora,” he rebuked her in a quiet voice.  “This is hardly the place for this conversation.  And we both know that’s not what I said.”

“You picked this place!” she shot back.  Her eyes filled with tears.  “I hate you.  I hate you for holding me here in this life that isn’t of my choosing!  You don’t love me.  You’re just using me!”

She turned and buried her nose against Yoongi’s shoulder.  She sobbed against his chest.  Her appa watched her for a moment.

“Yoongi, get her out of here.  She’s making a scene.”

She turned furious eyes on her father.  “I will make many more scenes if you touch one hair on Kookie’s head.”

“I’m not going to harm this boy tonight.  You have my word.  Now.  Go with your cousin.”

She bristled.

“Bora.”  It was Jungkook’s gentle tone.  

Her eyes met his.  He bobbed his head up then down.  Once.  That was all.  Her face melted into a smile.  Then she slid out of the booth and reached for Yoongi’s hand.

“Come, cousin, let’s dance,” she murmured and then pulled Yoongi towards the tiny stage boasting the even tinier rhythm and blues band.

When they were out of earshot, her father turned towards Jungkook.

“Do you truly want to work for me?”

“No.  I want free of this whole life.  For myself and Bora.  But you don’t seem interested in freeing your only daughter from this horrid world you’ve created.”

“I didn’t create it.  I’ve just come to rule it.”

“Just like my appa,” Jungkook muttered under his breath.  “Why aren’t you two friends?  You believe the exact same things.  You fight for the same things.  You should be allies.  Not enemies.”

“Ha.  Gwan Bongju is definitely my enemy.”

“And you think that makes me your enemy too,” Jungkook surmised.

The older man quirked one dark eyebrow.  “Doesn’t it?”

“Only if you are Bora’s enemy.”  Jungkook met his gaze.  “Are you?”

Her father sniffed.  “Of course not.”

“Prove it.”

“Prove it?” He barked with laughter.  Then his tone turned vicious.  “Look, you sniveling brat.  I don’t have to prove anything to you.  Bora is my daughter.  And nothing you do will change that.  She is everything to me.  And nothing to you.”

“That is not true.  I would die for that girl.”

“Why don’t you do that then?”

Jungkook’s eyes met his.  “Because I would leave her heartbroken.”

Lee Kwangjo chewed on the inside of his lip.  No man had the power to make him nervous.  So why did he feel butterflies around this kid?  

But then his eyes traveled towards his daughter.  He knew exactly why.  “Have you taken her to your bed yet?”

It was a good thing Jungkook wasn’t drinking anything.  He would have choked on it if he had been.  He met the other man’s eyes steadily.

“I will not dignify that question with an answer.  Suffice it to say that I have the utmost respect for your daughter.”

“That’s your way of saying she hasn’t let you into her bed yet.”

Jungkook just stared at him.  Let the cretin think whatever he wanted.

“Once she does, you’ll tire of her.  So go ahead.  Find out what you’re missing.  Then you can skip off and leave her to me.”

In that moment, Jungkook despised her father.  “Do you have so little respect for your own daughter that you would tell me to bed her and then leave her with a broken heart?”

“Her heart will recover.  So will her body.  And I have several men who would take her hand in marriage.  They’re just waiting for my approval.  They don’t care what condition she arrives in.”

On second thought, he wished he had that drink in his hand.  Then he could have thrown it in her appa’s face.  Jungkook stood up.  

“I thought you loved your daughter.  I thought I could reason with you.  I was wrong.  The only person you care about is yourself.  You’re despicable.”

He walked away from her father.  But he stopped five feet later.

“Can I count on your loyalty?” her appa’s voice sounded behind him.

“To Bora.”  Jungkook paused.  “And only to Bora.”