Chapter VIII. Complications

It took him about a few seconds to catch that shadow and realize his attention was casted around the area in the playground where Manse was. It instantly rang bells of danger when he noticed the shadow was wearing a mask and something that looked like gloves.

“Mirae... we are going to get up from this bench as if nothing is wrong.” Kyuhyun spoke as he kept his eyes towards Manse and started getting up from the bench.

“What?” she looked towards him confused, moving to see where exactly was Kyuhyun looking.

“Just act as if nothing is wrong.” He spoke and then smiled a bit, moving his hand towards her, waiting for her to pick it up and then move together. “Smile even.” He added and then the two of them started moving towards Manse.

“What is going on?” she whispered, feeling a bit panicked about what was going on.

“Stay behind me at all times even if I turn around or move to the sides.” He added and then signaled to her younger brother to move closer to them.

Manse was a smart kid and Kyuhyun was grateful for it because he didn’t even have to shout his name nor shout in general to raise the attention of others. The boy moved closer to the two and Mirae took his hand, pretending to be as normal as possible thought that was not quite easy to do. She was pretty sure her face was showing obvious signs of concern and maybe even panic and by simply feeling the strong hold on her hand, she was pretty sure Manse had already understood something was wrong.

“Now... as we move back to the car... stay in front of me.” Kyuhyun continued as he moved his head to the headset in his ear and then activated his connection with the support team back at the headquarters. “I need a secured car at my current location A.S.A.P.”

“You need to tell us what is happening.” Mirae turned her head to look at Kyuhyun.

It was in that moment that she also caught with the corner of her eye the person being extremely suspicious behind a structure of poles and pipes where kids could grasp and hold and bounce and everything. It took the fraction of a second to realize it meant someone was following them, maybe her or maybe Manse and she was pretty sure gloves and mask was not a very good sign and that only made her heart beat faster and her eyes shifting back to Kyuhyun, opened wide in surprise asking, no, begging for help.

“Let’s head into the small shop there. Nothing will happen inside.”

It took only a few seconds for them to enter the place and then take a seat as deep as possible inside of the location. His eyes instantly looked outside and then towards the two, feeling bad that he had scared her and the little kid though that was not his intention.

“I need a checkup of all security cameras around and eye witnesses. If there isn’t any, find me the car in which a suspicious dude got inside and send me the license plate.” Kyuhyun spoke as quietly as possible though not loud enough to be heard by the rest of the people inside.

“Was that man following us?” Manse asked, surprising the two adults with the fact that he had seen or realized there was someone they were avoiding.

“I am not sure but it is better to be safe.” Kyuhyun smiled towards Manse, his hand moving involuntarily towards Mirae’s right hand to hold it and reassure her.

He looked to the side for a few seconds and his eyebrows furrowed a bit as he listened to the information received in the earpiece. His body relaxed instantly and that didn’t escape the eyes of the siblings. It made them think everything was alright and maybe everything was alright so they soon relaxed as well.

“The guy realized I spotted him. He ran. I guess it is safe to assume his business was about the two of you.” He spoke as he signaled the waitress to come. “I’ll keep my eyes on the surroundings. A car should be here to pick us up in ... at worst 10 minutes.”

“So we are safe now?” Manse asked as he arranged his glasses back on his nose and then tried to smile so that the lady that appeared to take their order would feel weird at all.

“I’ll look around just in case the guy was a distraction.” Kyuhyun smiled a little. “But yes...we should be alright now.” he quickly added, realizing that what the two needed that that moment was a bit of reassurance that they would be alright compared to something vague that could make them even more scared.

There was no conversation after that, when the waitress returned with their orders. Mirae was more concerned to look after her brother and talk to him about trivial things so that their thoughts wouldn’t get stuck on what had just happened. Kyuhyun was too busy almost glaring at everyone that passed by or entered the small coffee shop.

“I am pretty sure you almost freaked out that guy with a green jacket.” Mirae spoke towards Kyuhyun finally, once their car arrived and they were about to enter it, in safety.

“Well... I wasn’t going to risk a maniac deciding it’s alright to kill everyone around just to get you two.” Kyuhyun showed a grin while he opened the door for her to enter inside.

“I am sure he couldn’t possibly hide more than 2 small guns inside his jacket. But I appreciate it.”

He simply smiled and then took a few seconds to decide between sitting in the back with them or in the front next to the agent. There weren’t two other agents in the car behind them and that was an option too but in the end he just let out a sigh and got in the back, signaling Mirae to move to the other side a bit more.

“There’s not enough space.” She grumpily spoke as she tried gathering her jacket so that he wouldn’t sit on it.

“I’ll stay in the middle.” Manse cut the two of them off and then just moved on her lap and rotated until he landed on both of them.

“Well... I am glad we didn’t do this in a moving car.” Kyuhyun chuckled a bit as he was hit a bit in the head when the boy moved around.

“Is this even safe?” Mirae asked as she helped settle the legs of her little brother properly on the remaining empty spot between them now that the two adults could sit properly in the back.

“Not really.” Kyuhyun agreed. “But it will be fun.” He added and then tried to tickle Manse.

Even the driver ended up laughing as he started the car when the passenger seat in front started moving a bit, probably from the knees that bumped into it as Kyuhyun continued tickling the little kid, which occasionally made Manse slightly kick her from time to time.   When the car finally stopped, Kyuhyun moved to take Manse in his arms and then got out of the car together with him.

“Thank you.” Mirae spoke as she reached Kyuhyun once they got out of the car, looking towards her brother that ran all the way towards the entrance of the building.

“For what?” Kyuhyun asked as he turned his head to look at her.

“For tickling him... helping him have fun again after the scare. He might be extremely mature and responsible but he is still a kid. So thank you.”

They were just words but they were words spoken with a smile and that smile was genuine. Even though she was walking towards the entrance just like her brother had ran a few seconds before, it made Kyuhyun feel good. It was as if she was finally appreciating his work and what he was trying to do for the two of them.  It meant his work was being rewarded in one way of another and that made him feel much better than that day of the month he got his salary or a ‘good job’ told by his boss.

So he walked all the way inside with a smile on his face though he was pretty sure that was weird since they had just been in a very dangerous situation or a situation that could end up extremely dangerous in a short amount of time. So he cleared his voice and adjusted his posture just as he entered inside. He almost whimpered when he saw Sungmin waiting for him, the grave look on his face speaking more than was needed.

“How bad?” Kyuhyun asked as he followed the other.

“Well... you made a nice call in the playground. I think it’s more....” Sungmin spoke as he walked, stopping his steps right in front of the doors that lead to the entrance to the President’s office.

“Wh