'Till I Met You

Finally got everyone in the same room. Now all I need to do is make sure they don't kill each other. Kris is not a traitor, I would bet my life on that. Although Kris never really let anybody get close to him, he is a very honorable man. He would never have jeopardized my safety when he was my bodyguard.

I hid a smile as I watched Chanyeol and Kris giving Baekhyun identical expression of frustration on their faces. Both were born natural leaders which is why they often clash. In a group, there can only be one alpha male. Kris by a set of unhappy circumstances became the Omega. The lone wolf. It is time to bring him back to the fold. He can kick and scream if he wants to. But this bitch will make sure that her husband's family is complete.

"By the way, try not to kill Baekhyun. We need him alive at least until after the christening of my daughter. You too Kris. The two of you are going to be godfathers. Congratulations." I spoke drily at them.

"ANDWE!!!!!" Chanyeol, Kris and Baekhyun shouted all at the same time.

"Jagiya, I can sort of understand why you chose Baekhyun but please not Kris!" Chanyeol pleaded.

"Why do I have to be the godfather?" Baekhyun whined.

"Seriously Lana, I keep telling you I cannot be the godfather either. What does that even mean? What does a godfather do anyway?" Kris was objecting almost simultaneously as the other two.

"Jagiya, there are several other men in this room that could be godfathers, why not choose someone else?" Chanyeol was rapidly switching gears when he saw me starting to put on my stubborn mule mode.

I glared at Chanyeol and simply asked, "Why? You don't plan on having other kids?"

Suho, Kai, Lay, Chen, Xiumin, D.O., Sehun and Tao all formed a silent O with their mouths. Even Kris and Baekhyun were suddenly quiet as they saw Chanyeol and I starting to fight.
Suho did a fake cough to brake the tension.

"Okay, we are digressing from our main point. I believe it's time to talk about the main issue that Lana asked me to investigate. Why does this group consider you, Kris, as a traitor?" Suho turned towards Kris and spoke calmly.

Kris was clenching his jaw and fists tightly while glaring at Suho. He snorted and threw Chanyeol a disdainful glance. "Why don't you asked that bastard over there. I am sure he already got me all figured out."

"You...." Chanyeol was lunging for Kris but Tao and Sehun visibly held him back.

"Enough! I wan't somebody to start explaining. No more insults and punches. Please! I don't want my daughter born into this atmosphere." I pleaded at the two men frustratedly. It was the please that did it. Both men took deep breaths and tried to calm down.

Chanyeol spoke first. "Remember when I told you that I made it my mission to weed out the traitors from the security team your father left behind to protect you? Your guardians were slowly trying to put in their men in this team so they can leave you vulnerable for assassination. Kris was one of those men." Chanyeol spoke quietly like he was stating facts.

"Kris is this true?" I asked him as I looked him squarely in the eye.

"No." He replied simply without flinching and without breaking eye contact. The one thing I had been good at through the years is to see who are the people lying to me. He was angry and indignant. But Kris was telling the truth. Of that I am absolutely sure.

"Liar! There were three attempts on Lana's life that week. In each case you were always conveniently away or arrived too late. And you had a suddenly large amount of money deposited into you accounts on three different days. I asked you outright then and you never bothered to deny anything." Chanyeol snarled his words at Kris who was glaring at him.

Suho cleared his throat. "Ahem! I can shed some light on that. Two of the deposits were money he received as inheritance upon the death of his father."

"His father is still alive!" Chanyeol bit out.

"His stepfather you mean. Kris' birth father died and left him a large amount of money which by the way has not been touched in a long time." Suho calmly explained to Chanyeol.

Baekhyun stepped in and asked the question others were thinking. "You said there were three deposits of money in his account. Where did the third deposit come from? We were never able to trace it. Xiumin hyung, did we?" Xiumin shook his head.

"It came from me." I calmly replied. "I was the one who transferred it to his account". Suho added.

"Why the hell was the money untraceable?" Xiumin asked.

"Because if he could trace it he would have returned it to me. He had too much pride to ask but he badly needed that money. His mother needed to go to pay off creditors that were threatening his grandparents. His grandparents took out a loan to send him off to school when he was younger and used their small farm as collateral. The creditors took advantage of his grandparents and the loan and interests ballooned over the years to an amount they could not possibly pay off." I told everyone simply.

"I thought we were family. How could you keep this to yourself? How could you turn your back at us and not explain?" Chanyeol was shouting at Kris. He made a dive for Kris and pulled him up by the lapels of his coat. Baekhyun and Tao tried to grab him but he shrugged off their hands.

"I thought we were family. How could you not trust me?" Kris whispered as tears fell from his eyes. He was clenching his fists at his sides refusing to defend himself from Chanyeol's angry words.

Chanyeol looked at Kris for the first time in years without any anger or judgement. And finally saw the truth that didn't need words to explain itself. It was right there in everything that Kris is and was. Honorable. Slowly his hands which were gripping the lapels of Kris's coat loosened and fell to his side. "I am sorry hyung. I misjudged you." Chanyeol extended his hand to Kris. "Please forgive me." Kris looked down and stared at Chanyeol's hand. It seemed like a lifetime, but Kris finally clasped Chanyeol's hand and shook it. Chanyeol tugged Kris for a brotherly hug. Soon the entire room was a mess of hugs, "I'm sorry" and tears.

Lana and Suho remained seated on opposite couches. They nodded at each other and smiled. They both did good today.

There was a loud knock on the anteroom's locked door which interrupted the happy reunion. Several guns and knives were suddenly out. Ten men were suddenly tense again. This time Lana was glad that Kris was with the team.

"Uh, Madame? The chicken dinner is here." Mrs. Choi's muffled words could be heard thru the door.

Suho got up to let the woman in. D.O. double checked the hallway as Mrs. Choi was coming in. She wheeled in a small trolley packed with boxes of fried chicken, soda, water, juices and a large chocolate cake. Her gaze zeroed in on Kris who was now suddenly turning pale. "Hello there cutie pie! I haven't seen you in a while. Would you like to have some chicken for dinner?"

"Chicken is not my style." Kris replied and ran to the adjoining bathroom. A loud click can be heard as the lock was turned.

Notes