lol what

“i see what you did there.”

“heck yeah. i got your back.”

“you better hope that i never meet him then.”

“you probably won’t-- don’t worry.”

“you’re the best brother xifeng’s ever had.”

“i’m the only one you’ve met. liwei is way better.”

“my advice is to keep it that way.”

“keep it what way?” he asked cheekily, winking

“That’s probably a good thing, it’s best to stay oblivious.”

“oblivious is my middle name.”

she couldn’t help but snort a little, crossing her arms and shaking her head as she looked out the window. “yeah– don’t quit your day job. or, i guess, in this case do quit your day job and go back to your freaky gang life, because you’re a really shitty hr rep,” she replied, watching the scenery go by as they started to drive again, one leg bouncing over the other, crossed. her eyes widened and she looked back over to him. “three days? on tv it takes, like, twenty minutes!” she exclaimed. she pursed her lips, considering his offer hard and looking at the ground as she weighed things over. she was still pretty overwhelmed, but it kind of meant a lot to her that he was making an effort. he wanted to spend time with her. and….if she was being honest, if this whole sibling thing turned out to be real, she wanted to spend time with him too. and her other siblings. and her dad. she wanted to reconnect and find her family again. she’d always just assumed she’d been abandoned; seized by the government and that was that. but they’d been looking for her. so they deserved for her to reach out, right? “i…..um….that’d be cool,” she finally muttered under her breath. “i think i’d like that.”

“holy fuck– she got shot? and she’s still alive? hardcore, man. do i get to meet her someday too, then? or is she like hera– does she not like all of her husband’s kids that she didn’t sign off on?” xifeng asked, visibly starting to loosen up. “oh– so it’s a… ‘we’ll stay together for the kids but it’s an open marriage thing’, but in this case the kids are the criminal empire. makes sense to me. what are they like? your parents, i mean. our dad and your mom. wait, does that mean my mom is dead? fuck, that’s kind of messed up,” she muttered with a little shake of her head. she’d never considered that her mom could be straight up dead. weirdly enough, it didn’t fuck her up as much as it probably should have. after all, now she had daquan for sure, and a dad too, right? that’s what she was getting out of this conversation. she looked at him harder, studying his face. “wait, dude, do you mean….you remember when they seized me, then? fuck, what was that like….because i can’t imagine a criminal organization would just take that lightly, or anything. and i can’t imagine the government would have been like ‘yo we got this one kid so we’ll just bow out now kbye’. doesn’t seem realistic.” she leaned in more, less worried about the dna test now, and more just excited to hear more. “you don’t gotta miss me now though, right?”

she nodded, humming a little to herself. “bitch wait– does that mean you watched my debut, then? nasty– i don’t want my family to see me dancing all sexy in music videos. i was okay with it because i didn’t have family before. what the fuck does dad think of that?” she groaned, rolling her eyes. none of the choreography was that bad, but there was that one part in the bridge in boombayah where they all kinda grind on each other. and also some weird twerking shit in whistle. she didn’t need a parent looking at that. “are you a fan, then? we don’t have a fandom name, but are you part of our hypothetical fandom? not that the fandom is hypothetical– we definitely have one. i just mean there’s no name for it yet….” she laughed. “wait, you mean there’s a korean leg of your gang? holy fuck! your gang is so big that there’s departments in it, like an office.” xifeng laughed again, putting on a weird voice. “’ah yes, over here we have the hong kong department. the swiss department is on a retreat this month….’” she paused, everything she’d just learned processing. “wait, that means i can stay here, right? you’re not going to take me away to gangland, china,  or wherever the fuck you operate from, right? because like…it’s cool that you exist and all and i’m really hyped to have family, but i’ve built a pretty good life for myself and it took a lot of fucking work to get here. and heirs just debuted and all those dumbfucks, all three of them….they’d never admit it, but they need me– i’m their leader. yerin doesn’t care enough to lead, and yiyeon and jooyong are just kids. i mean, i’m a kid, but i don’t act like one so…yeah, they’re just kids. and they listen to me better than hyunwoo. and hyunwoo and i have something good. and i’m finally liked and semi-successful…..like, i’m staying here. if you’re here to take me home, i’m not going,” she rambled.

he himself suppressed a laugh, glancing sideways at her and shrugging. “what can i say-- i don’t have any training. i never for a second thought i’d even be doing human resource stuff,” he admitted. “wasn’t really part of the tutelage my father gave me to prepare me for the triad. i’m mostly just winging it. i should probably do some research into how to make it seem more passable...” he admitted, shaking his head. he furrowed his brow, rolling his eyes. “that’s because on tv, an episode is 25 minutes to an hour. they don’t have time for it to take that long. in real life, science takes a while. sorry. i mean, we seem to be getting along so far, at least? spending a couple days together waiting for results isn’t the worst thing ever.” he sighed. maybe he was pushing too hard. she just found out they were related, after all. but when she replied, saying that it probably wasn’t the worst, he couldn’t help but smile, reaching over and squeezing her hand impulsively. “i think i would too.”

“yeah, wrong place wrong time sort of thing. shot through the abdomen, uterus didn’t survive. spine barely survived-- apparently it took a lot of physical therapy for her to be able to walk again. from what i’ve been told, she used to be a bit of a firecracker, but now mostly she just works the business side of things. accounting and other boring shit, you know?” he shook his head. “no, mom likes all the kids. she can’t have any more of her own, and she wanted lots. yeah-- open marriage is a good way of putting it. she herself doesn’t really see anyone else, but any kids my dad has are welcome with open arms. and dad is still good to her, even if he hooks up with other women from time to time. it’s....really unconventional, but you know.....is anything really conventional in the middle of a crime syndicate?” daquan pointed out. “um....dad is pretty tough. seems cold, but is only that way for business and is actually a softie on the inside. pretty moral for a criminal, if you ask me-- doesn’t do more than he has to. like a good bad guy, you know? very loyal to family-- that’s why i’m here. mom is the toughest person i’ve ever met. she keeps everyone in line and running. nothing would work without her. oh...um.....last i heard, your mom was in prison i think? i dunno. i’m sorry. i never really kept tabs,” he admitted. 

“um...you were two. i was seven. i don’t remember a lot, but i do remember gunshots going off. we had a secret cellar, so my mom and dad started hiding the kids, but you were off playing somewhere. you were always an adventure and a half-- i’m pretty sure you probably got away from whoever was watching you and were off on your own and a police officer just happened across you. i didn’t see anything-- the cellar had a tunnel and everyone who was down there was evacuated before we could get caught. i just remember being scared. and thinking it was fucked up we were leaving you behind. part of me thought you might be dead, but the government wouldn’t really do that i don’t think..... i dunno. i think they arrested a lot of people that night. a couple casualties. you were the only one to get seized. of the kids i mean. like i said-- we were all together except you. you were off exploring.” he smiled softly, nodding. “you’re right. i don’t have to miss you anymore.”

Tia shrugged, playful grin present underneath her mask. “I was just wondering and figured I would ask ahead of time,” The amount of unexpected or unusual things happening recently had spiked significantly and she was attempting to be more observant of it all. Like asking more questions. She felt him take her hand..nothing abnormal. Randomly asking if she trusted him was a bit on the stranger side of things at the current moment. Her eyes quickly scanned his face. “ Okay, cryptic. Of course I do. You haven’t given me a reason not to…Why?” 

the playful attitude he had been sporting before dissipated as his brain sprung into action. “good. no time to explain,” he said quickly, taking her arm-- firm but gentle-- and pulling her along quickly, before ducking into an alley, hoping to lose the tail in the crowd. he pushed her behind a dumpster, sitting beside her and pulling out his phone to try to call for some back up, but he wasn’t quick enough-- the people following had spotted them and followed them into the alley. it was a dead end, and daquan wasn’t armed (tia would have noticed a gun strapped to him right away. “fuck,” he muttered under his breath, eyes flashing between tia and the thugs. “stay down,” he told her quietly. he didn’t know if they were armed. if they weren’t, he would have to deal with them quickly. if they were, he’d have to deal with them before they drew their weapons. he sure as hell didn’t want her to get hurt in the process.