Chapter 15

Few hours later, Same day.

After an eventful day, the F4 were gathered at Yoon Ji hoo's place to discuss the happenings of the day. It was a luxurious and landscaped house, with stylish furniture but still gave off warm feelings as the creamy colour of the walls felt welcoming.

The F4 would usually meet at Song mansion, a place they had practically grown up in. However, at the moment, using Song mansion as a meeting place was currently dangerous for their plans.

The Song family had taken all of them under their wing due to their less than ideal family situations. They were unofficial wards of the Song family ever since they were six years old. Realising how much they mean to each other, and dangers they could be subjected to due to their status, the Song family made sure their ability to defend themselves was excellent, their mental condition was stable, they had approachable parental figures in their lives, they were loved, and most importantly, they knew they had a family. All the F4 members trusted and held Grandfather Song and Woo bin's parents in much higher esteem than anyone else, including their own parents. The Song family was their family, and definitely meant much more to them than their own families.

Jun pyo was kidnapped when he was around six years old. Everyone was worried about him. After a couple of days in captivity, the Gu family received a ransom call. And to everyone's shock, they downright refused to pay, stating that paying once would make Jun pyo much more vulnerable to such attacks by setting the trend. When grandfather Song came to know about this, Jun pyo was rescued as soon as possible due to the Song families involvement. But it was already more than a couple of days when he found out. After that incident, the Song family became more of a family for him than his real family. His noona was the only person in his birth family who cared about him, loved him and vice versa.

Ji hoo's parents had passed away in a car accident when he was merely a child, and his only living relation, his grandfather, abandoned him after this parent's funeral, when he needed him the most. He still missed his family, even his grandfather more than anything, but he had family in the Songs. He found acceptance, care and love from that family. If it wasn't for a dear friend, the Songs, and F4, he would have been much different and definitely a less kind person.

So Yi Jung's family was dysfunctional at best. His parents never had a functional relationship, and it impacted him and his elder brother a great deal. His father was a well known player, and his mother was a pure soul when they were forced to marry. Unfortunately for her, her husband never changed his ways, and it became a constant torment for her. Yi Jung's greatest fear was turning out like his father. Predictably, his father and himself never got along, and the possibility of that happening in days to come was even slimmer. But a ray of hope was he had the Song family to be there for him.

The three were loved like their own children by the Songs, and it was reciprocated equally. They felt the care and love with the Song family they had never experienced with their own families, or had lost in Ji hoo's case.

But their current point of discussion was what should be their next move against V4. It was something worth their time, as it was the first time someone had challenged them, even if that someone was a member of their extended family. And this prevented them from getting bored out of their minds, which was definitely a plus point.

"Was there anything on security camera footage?" Asked Jun pyo, his gaze towards Ji hoo, who was one of the best individuals with tech in the country. Perhaps even the best before V4, but with Navya's arrival, he had a tough competition.

Ji hoo shook his head in negative, his hairs moving along with the movement of his head. Sighing, he said, "there is no footage on cameras from around 2:15 to 4:00 am, so I would assume they were turned off during that time period."

"I don't think we would be able to find anything of footage guys, to be honest I would be concerned if we find anything about how V4 pulled this off, considering the training she'd gone through," Woo bin replied, with a small smile on his lips and tinge of pride in his voice as he talked about his cousin.

"Yah! Woo bin ah! What do you mean by that? All of us went through the Song family training since we all were children! While two of the V4 didn't! We have an advantage over them." Jun pyo said with irritation. Yi Jung and Ji hoo, along with Jun pyo were now staring at Woo bin, waiting for his answer.

Woo bin looked towards them, surprised. "Jun pyo, when a woman is in the position of leader, in a male dominated field, she has to make sure she's not just equal, but better than anyone else in the field. And Navya has been the unofficial leader of the American branch of the Song group of industries since she was fifteen. By that alone, I'd say she can take any of us in a fight with relative ease." Leaning forwards, he continued, "besides I'm not sure if Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul are untrained as we previously thought. I've watched Chu Ga eul practice martial arts, and trust me, she's not a novice. Possibility is, they were trained under grandfather without us knowing about it."

The others were more than a little surprised about this, but it was a minor obstacle for them. Because even if they were trained in combat and espionage, they lacked the fame F4 had gathered over the years.

"How are we going to deal with this then?" Asked Yi Jung, impatiently. He was more than a little irritated with the incident with his missing clothes that afternoon. Something he was teased about mercilessly when his friends found out.

"I say, let's take this on an individual level now. Before it was against a group, now they've gone personal. And I have no problem with following their lead in this matter. Besides, it'll give us freedom to do as we please without getting in each other's way." Ji hoo said with a mischievous smirk playing on his lips, pointing towards Woo bin who was still adamant about not engaging in a prank war against his cousin .

Jun pyo leaned back on the couch, his expression mirroring Ji hoo's, "Sounds good to me." Eager to put the plan into action after all the girls in Shinhwa started following him around like lost puppies, which annoyed him beyond measure. He liked, and in fact needed, his space from the Shinhwa population, thank you very much.

"Fine by me as well," said Yi Jung, a mischievous glint in his eyes, clearly thinking of something to make the score even.

"Works for me." Nodded Woo bin.

"Now, I won't mind having porridge for dinner, what about you guys?" Asked Yi Jung with a smirk.

In the porridge shop, all girls of V4 were having fun while teasing each other and helping Ga eul and Jan di out. It was not a busy day, there were scarcely any customers in the shop, so they were free to do as they pleased. The aroma of porridge was still lingering in the air. The chef, who was called Master, was busy in the kitchen while sorting his spices and taking care of utensils.

Jae kyung was sitting on a chair with her legs stretched out and crossed on a table. She folded her hands in front of her chest and grinned lazily, "Today was totally worth it. I wonder why we never came to this country before?" She asked no one in general.

"Because you never told us what really happened back then and after watching your reaction we never pressed?" Ga eul said with a raised eyebrow.

"And South Korea was a big 'NO' for you. I wonder how she came here at all!" Jan di supplied, pointing her last statement towards Navya.

Jae kyung sobered up at this. Sitting up straight with a nervous expression on her face, she gazed towards her friends, and decided after everything they did deserve the full story. Not knowing something like this was not fair on them, besides this was only thing in her life that they didn't know. Whatever they knew was because of guess work… but before this, whenever she had tried to open up about this particular topic, she just couldn't bring herself to say anything. She was afraid to face her past, but now that it was standing in front of her, everything didn't seem as daunting as it did before. Or perhaps, facing him again had actually helped her anxiety about this particular topic in some way with help of her friends, They were with her ever since she could remember, and they need to know details about her now that they were in close vicinity of her past.

Sighing, she started, "You remember the holidays before freshman year in high school when Song Woo bin was spending holidays in the states? The one when you two were spending time in Europe?" The others nodded, clearly remembering the time frame she was mentioning. "We… or at least I fell for him," she continued in a small voice, looking away. "And he didn't," she almost whispered. Her face was devoid of any emotion.

Having observed her cousin's reaction to her friend's presence, Song Navya was not ready to believe this assessment. She gently asked, "What made you think that Jae?"

Ha Jae kyung looked up, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. She continued in a soft voice, "I received an email a few months after he went back.. we had decided to be in a long distance relationship.. I was certain that I loved him and that he loved me just as deeply. I had fallen too fast and hard for him… that email was anonymous, but it contained images of few women all over him.. he.. he was cheating on me." And she looked away.

The other girls gasped at this proclamation. "He what? Are you certain those images weren't photoshopped Jae?" Navya asked, unable to believe her ears.

Ha Jae kyung scoffed at this, "Of course I am! Your family made sure all of us know basics like that."

"What did you do afterwards Jae?" Geum Jan di asked calmly, taking the charge of the situation to calm her friend before anything could get out of hands.

She deflated at this, "I.. nothing. I didn't do anything. He might have been cheating on me, but at the time I felt like I needed him in my life despite everything. I waited for him to call me…" looking down and twiddling her fingers, unsure how her friends would react to her statement, she softly continued, "but he never did. No call, nor even a single text message. Nothing."

Daring to look up in the eyes of her friends, she noticed pain, hurt and anger written on their faces.

"Oh Ha Jae Kyung, why did you never tell us about all this?" Ga eul asked, getting up from her seat and going towards Jae kyung, embracing her, hoping to provide some comfort.

"I wasn't ready to confront all that happened. At the time, it just felt like I was somehow not good enough, for anything or anyone. I didn't have strength to open up about it." Ha Jae kyung replied, with a resigned sigh. "But now that he's in front of me, everything just got more real and yet somehow more bearable as well. As though all I needed was to face him to move on in my life." She looked up, a tentative smile forming on her face.

Taking one of her hands in her own, Navya calmly stated, "You are more than good enough Jae, not just for him but in everything you have done in your life. You are a kind, passionate and loving individual who is full of life."

Coming to stand on her other side, Geum Jan di said with a smile, "And trust me Jae, that git never deserved you. And he cheated so that was his fault, not yours. He is not worth your attention."

"Besides, this impromptu prank war is giving us ample opportunity for revenge," Chu Ga eul said with a smile, trying to lift up her mood.

Her attempt worked well enough and Ha Jae kyung started chattering about what she had in mind for the next step in their prank war, and the heavy mood was effectively lifted from the porridge shop.

Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul resumed their work while Song Navya and Ha Jae kyung were sitting with their laptops open in front of them. All of them were bantering and sending witty remarks back and forth to amuse themselves when three Lotus elise cars and a motorbike parked in front of the small porridge shop.

Three impeccably dressed gentlemen got out of the cars while the fourth individual, equally impeccable in his white suit joined them. With a dimpled smile and dark hair, So Yi Jung fell into step beside their tall, curly haired leader, and all of them went towards the entrance of the porridge shop.

Pushing the glass door back, all of them went inside the shop. With Yi Jung saying, "Didn't I tell you it is quite a place Jun pyo ah?" With a smirk on his face. His eyes were unreadable while others each were sporting the bored look they usually assumed. Thoroughly shocking V4 who were the only ones in the shop except for the Master.

Hello guys.. so this is the next chapter I guess...

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for reading and reviewing.. your response was really heartwarming guys... And my sincerest apologies for delay in update.

I have to prepare for my university final year exams now as there was uncertainty about whether they would be held or not in my country. Finally the decision of supreme court is that exams must be taken and that too soon, so I have far less time to write and update this story.

Besides this, I was in quarantine. I wasn't in state to write anything unfortunately. This is only chapter I've written so far, and it might take some time to write next one.

As for questions regarding story, about seperation of girls, I'll explain that soon, when flow of story would allow me to. Next, F4 now know about Jun pyo's pranks on girls. Hence their combined efforts in this chapter. Reactions of girls would come in next! To reviewer who was asking about guy in first chapter, I'm sorry but I didn't understand if you were referring to Alex Hawk or Jay desai, but rest assured both are going to show up in this story at some point!

Thanks to my wonderful beta KyliEisMC2 for editing this and rest of the chapters I've posted before.

I'll post next chapter when I complete it, so stay tuned! And I hope this one was satisfactory...

Enjoy reading!

'till next time...

~Crazydreamer33