Yixing wasn’t accustomed to taking cabs, but the Institute officials had also confiscated his family’s van as a part of their seizure. He pulled a bit on his tie; he wasn’t accustomed to wearing suits either. But he and Victoria were on their way to the inner city court house to file an appeal against the Institute’s confiscation, and his mother insisted that he show up looking presentable. 

Victoria was looking out the window, seated on the opposite side of the vehicle. Yixing looked down at the small, black device in his hands. It was Jinyu’s mobile phone, while the numbers 0-1-2 flashed up at him, warning him of his dwindling amount of time. Two weeks had gone by since they took Jinyu away.

Yixing leaned back against the leather of the car seats, thinking about her again. He’d been to the Institute several times after his encounter with Luhan. He’d tried arguing his way around the officials, he’d written letters, called for appointments, but their answer was adamant; Jinyu was their property now, they’d said. He felt disgusted at the word “property”, but it dawned on him that his fighting wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He had asked if he could just see her or give her a message, but they refused him even that. 

So, he and Victoria were headed to the real battlefield of society: the court. 

“Here we are,” Victoria said. Yixing stepped out of the cab as the older girl dug into her purse for cab fare. Victoria was dressed in a black dress and grey suit jacket as well. She looked older in these clothes, and more stern, like a mother. 

“Got everything?” Yixing asked, and Victoria raised a folder full of paperwork in one hand.

“All worked out,” Victoria said.

“Are you positive this will work?” Yixing asked. “The officials gave us compensation for the seized data, but we’re not even sure that Jinyu was counted along with the items they took.”

“I talked to a lawyer already,” Victoria said as the both of them ascended the stairs leading up to the courthouse. “Our appointment isn’t for another twenty minutes anyway, so we can talk to him to work out all the details.”

“Who’d you talk to?”

“A girl I used to work with has an older sister who interned for the district attorney,” Victoria answered. “Just look around for Jessica Jung. I think she said she’d be in the South-East Wing.”

“And she can help us, right?”

“We just have to plead our case the right way,” Victoria said. “Now, I know that this is a really emotional thing for you, but we have to sound professional.”

“But shouldn’t we appeal to their emotions to help our case?” Yixing asked. “I mean, it’s not like we’re here to ask for our laptops and hard drives back; this is Jinyu we’re talking about, she’s a person.”

“And you made that quite clear already,” Victoria said. “I know it’s painful, but please just keep cool. Just be calm and leave everything to – ”

Victoria’s statement was cut off when she accidentally ran clear into another person, sending her paperwork and the other person’s things flying into the air along with a high pitched yelp from her and muttered apologies from him.

“Oh, shoot, I am so sorry, I should have looked where – ” Victoria and Yixing bent over to collect the papers. But when Victoria straightened up again to look at the stranger face-to-face, her eyes widened and dropped.

“Nichkhun?” she asked aloud and Yixing was surprised to see him as well, and the two abandoned their task of collecting papers to gape up at Victoria’s fiancée. Nichkhun’s eyes widened in alarm upon seeing the pair, too. He wore a simple white button-up shirt and polyester pants, but he looked as handsome as ever with his innocent face and gentle smile. Victoria beamed.

“Oh, uh, hi,” he said to the both of them. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Same with us,” Victoria said. “I mean, this is such an odd place to meet up. Honey, what happened? I thought you were heading back home for a couple of weeks?”

“Oh, I did,” Nichkhun said shakily. “I just came back down to run a quick errand and then I was going to meet my mom at the station.”

“How is she?”

Nichkhun shrugged. “Same, I guess.”

Yixing smiled sadly at him, though he wasn’t able to get a word in between the betrothed pair. Victoria tucked a stray hair behind her ear and flushed suddenly.

“Well, silly me for running into your like that,” she said and then bent down again to pick up the remaining papers. “Say, what were you doing here anyway?”

“Uh, uh,” Nichkhun said, bending over to pick up a small piece of paper before Victoria could touch it. But he was too slow, and Victoria had snatched up the small piece of paper before he could grab it from her. Victoria straightened up and sighed.

“Well, here’s your paper,” she said, handing it to Nichkhun. But a flash of numbers on the sheet made her widen her eyes, and she snatched the small paper back from Nichkhun and held it up to her face with a slightly horrified expression. The piece of paper in her hands was an official check, paid to Nichkhun by the Institute of Science and Technology in lieu of… 

“Reward for valuable information,” Yixing read aloud when he caught sight of the check. Victoria’s heart dropped to floor and shattered like delicate china plates falling off a shelf. Yixing’s face went completely blank. The ripping sensation in Victoria’s chest transferred to her eyes, and there was a stinging behind them that made her shake slightly.

“Nichkhun,” she whispered softly. “Is this… Is this the reward money for… for…?”

“I can explain,” Nichkhun said, his voice laced with the same pain that they were both experiencing. “My mother was sick. She needed treatment, I didn’t know of any other way to get money that fast, I just – ”

“So you squealed on us instead?” Yixing asked, his eyes filling with angry tears as well. “I’m sorry to hear about your mother, Nichkhun. But you… you promised you’d protect her, just like we all did. We all trusted you. Jinyu trusted you. You promised.”

“Yixing – ” Nichkhun called. But Yixing shoved the rest of the papers back into Victoria’s arm before turning his back on Nichkhun and running away, all his faith hanging on by mere fractions. Victoria watched Yixing run away, but she stayed behind a little longer. Her chest was starting to heave as heartbreak continued to press against her. She looked at Nichkhun’s eyes and tried to look for some sign that he was joking.

But Nichkhun’s eyes were as sad as hers, if not more so. She couldn’t believe what he’d just committed. Victoria swallowed a lump in ; her mind was swimming, she had no idea what to think, do, or feel at this point. The faith upon which her entire world rested was crumbling around Nichkhun and herself, and she was helpless to stop it.

“Victoria,” Nichkhun whispered and tried to reach out to her. Victoria took a step back from him.

“I’d better follow Yixing,” she said. “There’s still a lot to do.”

“Please wait,” Nichkhun said, holding onto her forearm firmly and holding her gaze. “I didn’t mean to betray anyone, Vic. I was desperate. I never meant to harm her.”

“Can we talk about this later?” Victoria asked, closing her eyes. “Not now. I need some time to think. I need some time away.”

Nichkhun pressed his lips into a tight line. Slowly, Victoria began to pull her arm from his grip, and he savored the touch of her skin gliding past his fingers, trying to hope that this wouldn’t be the last time he saw her. Nichkhun swallowed.

“I’m sorry,” he said. Victoria took a deep breath before saying anything else.

“You should be,” she whispered. There was a short silence, thick and heavy, as it had never been before between the two of them. The tender moment was passing by and Nichkhun could feel her retreating. Victoria slowly turned away.

“I love you,” he said. Victoria stopped. She closed her eyes for a moment and then looked back at Nichkhun. Her heart had swollen up so much because of him and no matter how angry or disappointed she was, a part of her still didn’t want to let go of everything they had. She looked at Nichkhun and once more felt everything she had ever felt toward him. But something like this, a betrayal such as this, wasn’t likely to just disappear. Especially not after all the hurt they’d caused their friends.

“I love you, too,” she said slowly. Nichkhun almost smiled but he stopped himself. Victoria continued. “You know, Yixing loves Jinyu, too. You should have thought of that.”

Yixing was sweating clear through his cotton shirt by the time he reached his front door. His original plan was to hail a cab to take back to his house, but when his anger wouldn’t subside, he decided to run all the way home and take a few laps before arriving at the front door. He grabbed the door knob and shoved the door open with a violent twist.

“Hey, cool your jets, would you?” said a deep voice from the far side of the room. Yixing looked up and wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. He was a bit alarmed, however, to see Luhan. The doe-eyed boy seemed a bit nervous as well, probably remembering the fight they had at his stately home some weeks ago. Yixing wasn’t sure how to start up another conversation. It had been years since the last time things had been awkward between the friends; they weren’t exactly sure if they were supposed to act strangers now or forget the whole ordeal. 

“Uh… hi,” Yixing said.

“Yeah, hi,” Luhan replied. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes.

“Seriously, quit acting like eleven-year-old girls, you two,” Kyungsoo said. “Luhan came by and wants to say something.”

Yixing looked from Kyungsoo back to Luhan. Luhan let out a deep breath and finally spoke up:

“You’re thinking of ways to get Jinyu back, right?” he asked. Yixing widened his eyes and slowly nodded.

“Yeah, have been for the past two weeks,” he said. “Why?”

Luhan stepped forward: “I want to help you.”

Yixing took his hands from his pockets and looked Luhan directly in the eye. When a few seconds had passed and Luhan’s words had sunk in, Yixing shrugged.

“Thanks,” he answered. “But at this point, I’m really not sure how we’re going to do that.”

“How did it go at the courts?” Chanyeol asked. Yixing frowned.

“Not well,” Yixing answered. “Vic and I ran into Nichkhun there.”

“I thought he was headed up North to meet his mom… y’know, before making arrangements for the wedding.”

“The wedding?” Luhan asked.

“Vic and Khun are tying the knot in a few months,” Kyungsoo explained. Yixing frowned again.

“It’s going to more than a few months now,” Yixing said. “Not sure how they’re going to work stuff out.”

“What do you mean?” Chanyeol asked. Yixing clenched his hands into fists by his sides again. He took a deep breath before explaining what had happened at the courthouse steps. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo felt equally appalled.

“Little ,” Chanyeol exclaimed. Luhan hung his head in shame, knowing that he had a hand in these happenings. But hearing the story also gave him even more drive to make things right. He’d made many mistakes against Jinyu and his friend. Luhan wanted to fix the bonds he’d harmed. 

“Haven’t you tried any other ways of helping her?”

“I’ve tried all the ways,” Yixing said. “They won’t even let me see her or talk to her or anything. I think they’re quarantining her in a special section of the building. Only certain people are allowed in.”

“I know some people there,” Luhan said. “I can make phone calls. I can try some things.”

“Well, you’re certainly welcome to.”

“What if we just did it the old fashioned way?” Kyungsoo asked, and the other three turned to him beckoning for an explanation.

“You know,” Kyungsoo said. “Bust in, grab the girl, bust out.”

“You are just in your own little Mission Impossible film, aren’t you?” Chanyeol asked.

“Well, desperate times call for desperate measures,” Kyungsoo said. “And you weren’t complaining about it when I asked you if you’d do it for Sulli.”

“It would take a lot of careful planning, though,” Luhan said. “And I don’t think any of us are really… Tom Cruise enough for that.”

“All you’d really have to do is get everyone out of the building though,” Kyungsoo said. “You can pretend you’re on a college field trip visiting their facility and then bust out a gun and order everyone out of the building while the rest of us find Jinyu and get her out of Dodge.”

“…bust out a gun?” Luhan asked Kyungsoo, raising an eyebrow to the ridiculous suggestion.

“Well, alright, what’s your idea, smartass?!” 

“Hey, don’t look at me! I just – ”

“Actually,” Chanyeol said, bursting into the conversation with a toothy grin. “I think I might have a plan.”

The three boys looked at Chanyeol curiously. When it came to plotting things out, Chanyeol wasn’t usually the first to jump up and offer ideas. But there was a glint in his eye that told them that this time, for sure, Chanyeol was onto something. 

The boys discussed, and Yixing looked around the room, taking in the emptiness and the strangeness that now aded the area, and he pressed his lips together. Then, he looked down at the couch where Jinyu slept and noticed a small splash of orange by the couch-side table. Jinyu had left her goldfish again, and it was still safe and sound. Or at least for now.