Goodbye, Golden Card

A huge chilly wind blew against their pale faces as they stepped out of the helicopter into the night air. As they were lead into the security check areas, Ashe tried to take in what was happening around her. Bodyguards lined both sides, staring in all directions.

Chills walked on her skin as a lady guard called her over for a body check. Ashe lifted her hands and the metal detector beeped as it hovered over her pocket. Confused, she bent down and took the thing out of her pocket in front of the guard's eyes.

It was the golden card. Ashe clutched the card tighter in her hands and felt it burn against her skin. It did save her one time…but if this card goes away again, it would go to Lucas. She can't let that happen. 

The guard reached forward for the card to keep it for safekeeping but Ashe held on to it. "No wait," she said before holding its both ends and with a few tries, it went crack!

The card was broken into two now, little pieces of thin wiring escaping its insides and sparking with static. Ashe let out a breath and dropped the card to the floor. The guard nodded and let her pass through the barriers. 

Once they were all done and checked, they were lead into the dining room. Ashe's jaw dropped at the sight. She had seen many exquisite hotels in her time but this…was something else. She couldn't believe just one family needed all this.

Shining cutlery shone on the tables and sparkling silken robes were draped over the tables and chairs to give the royal feel. 

Ashe suddenly felt cold. Her face turned and saw that she had actually lost Adrien's side among all this. Now, he was by the far end window, ogling at all the food placed on the tables. He reached to the other side and patted Kai on the shoulder. 

Kai laughed and looked at Adrien in happiness from getting so much luxury. Romeo jumped in punched them both continuously in happiness. And they rest of them broke out laughing. 

Ashe sighed from the other end of the room. Her eyes caught something move and walked over to the door to see Tasha talking with an older man of about 40 or 50 years. 

She didn't feel hungry then so she just pressed her ears to the door and listened.

"…he refuses to say until tomorrow morning when you are all refreshed," the older man whispered.

"Tomorrow? Is it fatal? What's going to happen to the company?"

The man nodded in a reserved fashion, "All will be cleared tomorrow with the President himself. Right now, he has gone to sleep. He needs his rest."

Tasha nodded reluctantly, "Yes I understand that, but—"

 "Good night, Ms Harris," he gave a slight bow before turning around and walking away, his footfalls a mere echo in that huge expanse of white hallways. No wonder it was called the White House. It was hard to find any other dominant color, even in the toilets, the only color was of the paintings of personality hung in there. 

Tasha sighed and ran a hand through her curly hair, loosening its ties a bit. She held her jacket and felt for the gun only to feel that it wasn't there. The President's assistant had a one on one with Tasha because of the gun. It wasn't the best thing to be seen around in a place like this.

Ashe slowly appeared out of the shadows and held Tasha's arm, "Any news on Darren?"

Tasha shook her head, "They're refusing to tell us anything until tomorrow morning." 

Ashe's face fell and she slouched against the wall. Was his condition that bad? Or maybe it was good but they wanted to tell them only tomorrow after everything is taken care of? 

A last call for dinner was sounded and the two girls walked in at least to give their tired tummies even a morsel of food. They sat around a long table with the head chair left empty.

On either side of the head chair was Romeo and Jae-suk, sitting opposite each other. After Romeo was Kai, Ethan and Adrien. After Jae-suk was Luca, Tasha and Ashe. 

Ashe didn't look up from her food as she slowly bit into her salmon, not wanting to meet Adrien's eyes, if they were staring through her that is. It would be all too awkward. She had zero idea what they were. But they were clearly not 'just friends.' No, not after that helicopter moment. 

Romeo's shoe accidentally slipped off as he was eating and he grunted in frustration. Abandoning the fork on his plate, he bent down in the most animal like fashion to retrieve his shoe. He reached further under to get it when Jae-suk's legs re adjusted and sent the shoe tumbling farther away. 

Above the table, Jae-suk widened his eyes and look at the empty chair in front of him. He frowned and bent under the table to meet Romeo's sheepish eyes staring right at him. For a moment, Jae-suk forgot how to breathe. 

"What are you doing?" he whisper shouted to the short red head. Romeo bit his lip and pointed to under Jae-suk's chair, "My shoe…"

"Oh!" he said, proceeding to get it when Romeo gripped his ankle and tugged, "No need, I'll get it myself." 

Romeo crawled further in, completely disappearing under the table to finally grab his shoe. Jae-suk didn't sit back up and he watched Romeo crawl out slowly. 

"Romeo," he whispered, before the other boy could sit back up. Romeo looked up in surprise. "Yeah?" 

Reality slapped Jae-suk again and drove all unwanted thoughts from his mind. He shrugged, slipping back to his stoic self, "Nothing." And he got back up, returning to his plate. 

Reluctantly, Romeo did the same and put his shoe on lightly before returning to his plate, chewing slowly, contemplating what was inside Jae-suk's head. 

A tall lady in formal clothes walked in to the hall and stood on one end and gave them a brief on where to freshen up, what rooms to take, when the next day's breakfast will be and when the meeting with the President would take place. 

They all nodded dutifully and finished their food. 

Ashe found it weird that there was no noise inside the House. It was calm and quite as a spring lake with nothing to disturb its stillness except the murmur and footfall of the new guests of the House. 

She walked out of the washroom and into the large expanse of a hallway away from the rest. Adrien saw her go and decided to follow her. Who knew where she could get lost in this huge place?

Ashe studied the paintings of the wall slowly…letting her mind wander. As she reached the end of the hallway, she halted. From inside one room, she heard low wails. Frowning, she peeped inside and saw a small girl in stocking wailing. A nail had gotten inside her knee. 

Ashe covered her mouth, "Oh no…" she walked inside and the girl looked up, tears pooling under her eyes. Ashe recognized her very well. She had seen her face in some of the magazines. 

It was the President's only daughter.