Four am, Monday Morning 
  
Rica cuddled under Ko’s warm chest as the two slept blissfully in the safe apartment. “Munya~” she muttered in her sleep with a smile on her face, until her buzzing phone snapped her awake. “Ai-ya!” she cried while answering. “Hello? Big sis Kitty? What’s up?” 
  
As Rica listened on the line she pulled herself out of bed, waking Ko who mumbled her name. 
  
“Rica?” 
  
“Ssh~ sleepy puppy.” She kissed his lips to pacify him. 
  
“Mmm~” Grinning, Ko rolled over and nodded off again while Rica exited the bedroom to keep her call private. But as she stepped into the kitchen, wearing his t-shirt, her smile faded when Kitty told her who they made a deal with. 
  
“The Kims? But Kitty that guy- Yes, I understand. It’s fine, yeah I’ll talk to Sam, and no I don’t think he told Ko about the Chaebols,” she whispered. “Hmm? No, I haven’t told Ko about any of this, but big sis.” She looked around before whispering, “Have you considered my suggestion? Oh yeah? Great, then I’ll text you later, bye.” 
  
Rica hung up and reached for a pen and paper to write out instructions for Ko to head to Tara’s studio. Afterward she bounced right in the bathroom to shower and get dressed since she had a busy morning ahead. 
  
Two Hours Later: Six am, Flushing Queens 
  
Sam Yoon, right hand man to Kayla’s deceased father, and current boss of the Han clan, slept soundly in his spacious Flushing home. Until his mobile phone frantically buzzed. He muted the volume while gaping at the unlisted number on the display. Who’s calling me?He thought as he hustled through the house and into his garage, so he wouldn’t wake his wife. 
  
“Ahem! Hello?” 
  
“Sam? Sorry for the early call, it’s Rica, how are you?” 
  
“Who?” Sam hesitated a moment before vaguely remembering the name, “Rica? You’re Tara’s little capo right?” He recalled meeting her once, but he didn’t give her his number. 
  
“Yes, that’s me.” 
  
“Right. I don’t know you but you’re calling me. Is there a problem?” he asked. 
  
“Yes, and I won’t beat around the bush. Boss Tara made a deal with Jun-Seo Kim.” 
  
“What?” Sam nearly shouted. “Why would she do that? The Han’s have an alliance-” 
  
“I know, that’s why I’m calling you now because Jun-Seo’s claiming he has pull with the Korean shipping Chaebols. I need to know if that’s true or is he lying?” 
  
“Tsk!” Sam sucked his teeth, “That son of a bitch is telling you a half truth. You see Jun-Seo’s godfather is Charles Kim, an international lawyer here in New York. And he works with the shipping Chaebols, but that doesn’t guarantee Jun-Seo can get them to the table with Tara.” 
  
“Do you know this Charles guy?” Rica asked, with hope in her voice. “Would you be able to contact him?” 
  
“I do know him. But I dare say he’s not friendly with the Hans, but I can set up a meeting with him,” Sam assured. 
  
“Hmm..” Rica gave a long pause before asking a follow up question, “Sam, would you say this Charles Kim is not friendly with the Hans themselves or not friendly with the Han leadership, meaning you?” 
  
“Hm?” Rica’s tone shifted in his ear. “Ms. Rica, Charles is Korean and he’s about money. So any personal issues he may have with me will take a back seat since this is strictly business.” 
  
“Do you really think so?” 
  
“I know so!” Sam growled. 
  
“Good. Then I’m glad you understand, Sam.” 
  
“Of course!” He nodded, “Umm, understand what?” 
  
“That it’s all just business-” Click! 
  
“Oh no!” Sam’s heart raced. For in his twenty five years in organized crime he knew full well what followed the words, just business. But as Sam stepped into his kitchen two masked brutes emerged from the shadows with each man pointing a silenced thirty eight revolver in his face. “Ah!” Panic forced the veteran gangster to raise his hands up before pleading for his life, “Wait, I can hel-” 
  
But the armed men didn’t wait, blink, nor hesitate to pull their triggers and shoot Sam Yoon point blank in his face and heart, until he lay dead in a pool of blood on his kitchen floor. Boss of the Han clan, no more.
  
Underrated 
  
Sam Yoon’s killers exited the rear of his home before his wife woke up. Once outside the assailants hopped a fence and hustled through empty backyards before reaching and entering their dark SUV parked on a street corner. Meanwhile inside the truck’s rear seat, Rica Reyes waited patiently for them in her school uniform. 
  
“Little boss!” The two wolves, Bling and Ian, greeted Rica who kept her eyes on the dark street. 
  
“The sun will rise in two minutes, let’s go!” she barked. 
  
“Right!” said Bling as he put the truck in gear and sped off. In the passenger seat his partner Ian brandished one of the revolvers used in the shooting, “Boss, check it out!” he pointed at the jumbo sized suppressor attached to the barrel. “See that? That’s an old school police issue thirty eight with hush-puppy silencer. No shell casing and no one heard a thing! Heh heh.” 
  
“Yeah man, revolvers are underrated,” Bling chimed in as he drove the vehicle out of the neighborhood. “But little boss, why’d we kill Sam Yoon? I thought he was on our side?” 
  
“No Bling. He wasn’t on our side. If anything Sam was our enemy since he let the war with the Turks and the Kims get out of hand. After that he came crying to us offering Tara more on the docks if we could fight the Turks for him with barely any Han clan skin in the game, except for giving us Ko!” said Rica, justifying Sam’s murder.  
  
“So who ordered the hit on Sam? Boss Tara?” Bling asked. 
  
“No,” said Rica. “Jun-Seo Kim asked us to kill him in good faith.” 
  
“What? We’re working with that Korean queer?” Ian growled. 
  
“Yup. Seems last night the Kims brought Ahmed to Tara,” said Rica. 
  
“Oh snap! So that means the war with the Turks is over?” Bling asked. 
  
“Not yet. But we had to prove our part of the deal to the Kims. And Jun-Seo wanted Sam Yoon dead, specifically by my hand,” she answered with zero emotion. 
  
“That fucking guy! I should’ve kicked his ass in that cafe!” Ian growled. “But wait, I thought we’re allied with the Hans?” 
  
“We were.” 
  
“Damn, that makes us some double crossing sons of bitches,” said Bling, “But little boss, what about Ko? Does he know we just murdered his acting boss?” 
  
“Sam Yoon was never Ko’s boss,” Rica grumbled as she stared out the window. “And no, he doesn’t know. And if you see Ko don’t breath a word about any of this! I’ll deal with him.” 
  
  
Seven am, St. Mary’s School for Girls, Midtown 
  
Rica arrived at school twenty minutes before first period. She wanted to get in early to veg-out for a moment as she analyzed her situation. This included a guilt trip for not being honest with Ko about everything going on. 
  
Better this way for now. 
  
Yawning while tightening her ponytail, Rica greeted everyone in the corridors with a smile, even though she wanted to sleep. But before anything she needed to speak with Donna Park about a matter, and bee-lined to Donna’s morning science class. Not two seconds later she spotted her in the hallway. 
  
“Hey, Donna!” 
  
“Oh? Good morning, Rica!” 
  
“Do you have a minute?” 
  
“Eh?” Donna turned red and hesitated. “Um, are you mad at me because of Saturday?” 
  
“What?” Rica smiled, “No honey, I’m not mad at you. I’m worried about you actually.” 
  
“Really? Why?” 
  
“Because I heard about your new job, and Ko told me he asked you to quit,” said Rica. 
  
Donna stopped smiling, “What the heck is up with you guys trying to get me to quit, who are you, my parents?” 
  
“Donna, come on, you know I don’t mean it like that. I’m speaking from what I know. And what I do know is that the owner of that club is not a nice perso-” 
  
“Rica, stop!” Donna fired back and dug in her purse. “If the owner is such a bad guy why’d he give me a hundred dollars on top of the two fifty I’d already made in tips? And I just work coat check!”

Donna’s loud response caused students in the hallway to stare at the two. Rica noticed, but stayed calm. “I hear you,  you had a good night. But I’m just sayi-” 
  
“You’re not saying anything, Rica. And I’m not quitting, now can we talk about something else?” 
  
Rica nodded, “Yeah, I’m sorry. But let me ask you something?” 
  
“What?” 
  
“When you were at the bar with Ko-” 
  
“Rica, I-” 
  
“No, Donna, it’s ok. I’m not worried about that. What I want to know is what Ko told you about the club. Did he say anything else to you besides telling you to quit?” 
  
“Not really. I mean he basically said the same thing you did. Only that he’d heard the owner was-” She glanced around before whispering, “Korean mafia!” 
  
“Eh?” Rica smirked. The way Donna said mafia sounded as if she liked the idea of working at a gangster bar. “What if they are Korean mafia? Does that make you feel edgy?” 
  
Donna smiled, “A little, I guess, hee!” 
  
“I see.” I see that you’re a naive girl and I can’t say anything more to you without letting on that I know the club owner. And he’s a killer. “What else did Ko say to you about the club?” 
  
Donna blushed, “H-He didn’t say anything else to me.” 
  
Rica crossed her arms with a squint. “Donna, are you sure you’re telling me everything that Ko said to you?” 
  
“Yes, Rica. I told you he just wanted me to quit, and I’m not going to so if you’ll excuse me I got to get my homework finished before the class starts.” Donna tried to walk past Rica, but the little boss blocked her for a moment.
  
“Sure, I wouldn’t want you to be late,” Rica grumbled. 
  
“Right! So we’ll talk later!” said Donna with a guilty look. 
  
“Yeah,” Rica stepped aside allowing the pretty Donna to escape to the safety of her classroom, “We’ll talk later.” 
  
After a moment in the doorway Rica finally turned and walked off to her own morning class, but she knew the truth. 
  
Sweet naive Donna, I know you’re lying to me, but it’s cool.

..