The couple sat motionless, the silence settling around them heavily. Even Heechul could not come up with the right words to say. Hankyung knew the woman had to be furious if she was this quiet. It wasn't a silence of acceptance or resignment; it was a silence that was building into something Hankyung knew was not going to end well. He stood up after a moment and put on a pair of jeans while waiting on her to gather her thoughts and getting as far out of arms reach as he possibly could. Not that she was actually hit him; she would never hit anyone out of anger. It was the objects around her that he feared for.

"Who are you?" The explosion Hankyung had been expecting could not have been worse than the quiet, still tone that Heechul was using now. He remained silent in shock.

"I asked you a question." Same icy tone. It sent chills down Hankyung's spine before he answered, sitting back down on the bed and gaging exactly how much the woman would be able to handle being told at the moment.

"My name is Han Geng. I was considered a third party to an undercover government operation that was led by a one Park Jungsoo with a young woman named Kim Hee Chul as his second-in-command. I was somewhat of a liason between headquarters and the unit. Being the only other one who would know their whereabouts, I left with this unit to go into hiding after the operation went wrong to make sure they all stayed safe and to limit the risks of their location becoming known." He tried to explain and quickly and efficiently as he could.

"So you lied to me." Heechul was now looking him in the eyes, glaring daggers. "You knew who I was and yet you refused to tell me who you were."

"You lied to me too Heechul. Don't play that one." Hankyung countered.

"You weren't supposed to have a need to know." Her voice was slowly getting louder. "You knew who I was. You could have called me out. We were involved in the same thing, Hankyung! What would have been the problem if you had just told me?! But no! You had me convinced that you were just some guy who come here looking to open a restaurant to make a better life for himself. I believed that you were the one normal thing I had in my life." Heechul looked away, fighting the tears that were stinging her eyes. "I believed you loved me." The words themselves were soft and could hardly be heard but their meaning spoke volumes.

Heechul's hand moved to the ring on her finger. It wasn't a wedding ring or even an engagment ring. It was simply a gift Hankyung had given her just to say that he loved her. The simple silver band had a single emerald encrusted in the center and matched the one Hankyung wore on his own hand. The simplistic style matched him perfectly but went against everything the made up Heechul, yet she still wore it as if it were the only thing keeping her together.

Hankyung noticed the subtle movement and grabbed her hands. Her face shot back towards his, the ice in her stare colder than he had ever wittnessed. He would have to choose his words carefully.

"There was too much of a risk, Heechul." She yanked her hands back, the ring coming off in his fingers. She got dressed in the nearest clean pair of jeans and sweatshirt and walked out the door, the slam vibrating the walls around him as her only response. Heechul made it as far as the alleyway around the corner before she broke down into tears, clutching her now empty hand to her chest. The first time she had cried since she was a child.

Hankyung fell back against the pillows, suddenly exhausted. He knew not to run after the girl. That would only make things worse. So he was simply going to wait for her to find her way back. The ring in his hand was heavier than it should have been. He looked at it as if seeing it for what it meant for the first time. A Promise. Stability. Trust. An Eternity. And A Past.

Hankung walked through the halls of the building trying to act as if he knew exactly what he was doing. Who was he kidding? He had no clue what was going on. He had just been told to find a man named Park Jungsoo and he would receive his assignment. His only rule was that no one besides this Jungsoo was to know his identity. It wasn't as if he had never been a third party liason before, it was just he had never been one for this large of a group. There were ten of them. That was large considering that it was an undercover project. He continued down the hallways lost in his thoughts when he heard a shriek come from behind him.

"JUNGSOO!!!!" A young woman with a decidedly determined walk made her way towards a white door at the end of the hall. She had fair skin set against piercing brown eyes that at the moment were furious and light auburn hair that reached to just above her shoulders. Her slight figure was accented by bright colors and patterns that seemed out of place in the sterile corporate atmosphere around them. An interesting woman indeed; but Hankyung immediately thought her beautiful. She paid him no attention as she passed him and stormed into her targeted destination.

"Get that THING out of my office! If I have to deal with one more computer that has a virus because of his video games, I'm going to kill the kid!" An odd laughter followed that must have been from Jungsoo.

"Oh come on, Heechul. Like you said, he's a kid. Let him have his fun." A loud bang.

"He can have his fun. Just. Not. In. My. Office." Another laugh.

"Alright, send him in here if he does it again. I'll talk to him. But you know it won't do any good." Heechul gave an exasperated sigh and walked out and around the corner, still not noticing Hankyung staring after her. He finally came to his senses and walked to the white door that had been left open. He knocked on the frame. A man with black spikey hair looked up from his work and smiled warmly.

"Can I help you?" he asked. Hankyung smiled back.

"Uh. Yes. I'm Han Geng. Headquarters sent me here to speak with a Jungsoo."

"Well you've come to the right place. Close the door behind you and have a seat." Hankyung did as he was told and looked around the office, unsure of where to start. Everything was white. White and silver. "I apologize for just a moment ago. You must have heard the little exchange." Hankyung nodded, a slight smile on his face.

"Who is she?" he decided to ask in a bout of courage.

"That's my second-in-command, Kim Hee Chul. Frightening woman really." Jungsoo answered, a fond smile spreading across his face. Hankyung now noticed the dimple that was prominent on the man's left cheek.

"Seems like it." he answered.

Hankyung didn't know when he fell asleep but when he finally woke up it was two o'clock in the morning. And Heechul still wasn't back. He looked at his phone. There were no missed calls, no text messages. No indication that the woman had tried to contact him. He walked into the kitchen and living room on his way to her study. She wasn't there either. His heart began to pound when he came across the white envelopes again containing the threats on their lives. Automatically, his mind came up with the worst case scenario. Her body sprawled out in the shadows of an alley, bruised and bloodied, dead. But if he went out after her, he knew she would never come back. She couldn't stand him at the moment. Yes, he had lied to her. In fact, he had no clue why he hadn't told her who he really was in the first place. He had just wanted her to have some normalcy in her life. He had watched her for the past ten years, keeping a special eye on her to make sure she stayed safe and take care of her from a distance. But when Sungmin found out who he was and what he had been doing, he suggested that Ryeowook and Yesung introduce him to her. The pink loving man knew what the woman needed and knew that Hankyung could give it to her.

Without thinking, he picked up his phone and dialed the first number that came to mind. The one person that Heechul trusted with her life that she would actually listen to: Leeteuk. Hopefully he would know where she was and be able to convince her come back and forgive Hankyung.

"Hello?" came the groggy answer from the other line.

"Leeteuk?" Hankyung's voice was strained and tight, like he was on the verge of tears.

"Hankyung? What's wrong?" Leeteuk's voice was suddenly clear as if he had been shocked out of his sleep. He probably had been. "Is Heechul alright?" Yep. He was definitely awake now. Hankyung cleared his voice before he spoke again.

"We got into a fight earlier tonight. She ran off and I have no clue where she went." Hankyung took a breath trying to calm himself down. "She's not going to listen to me if I go after her and you're the only other one that would have any idea where she went."

"Alright. I'll go find her. I think I know where she might be." Hankyung heard shuffling on the other end of the line. Leeteuk getting out of bed and throwing on clothes that were appropriate to go out the house in. "I'll bring her back as soon as I find her." 

"Thank you." Leeteuk hung up after throwing his shoes and jacket on. He ran out the door and down the road to where he had a feeling Heechul would be: the outdoor bar-b-que joint on the corner. And that was exactly where he found her leaning on the table, tipping a bottle of soju down . Not exactly the most lady-like action. He sat down across from her and took the bottle from her loose grip, taking a gulp for himself. He'd need it if he was going to deal with her in this state. She gave him a drunken glare and her words were slurred when she spoke.

"That's mine." She pointed to the bottle Leeteuk now kept on his knee.

"And?" he answered, taking another sip. The alcohol felt good in the freezing morning air. Heechul put her head on the table with a thump.

"Come on. Let's get you home." Leeteuk drained the last bit of the bottle and threw enough money money on the table to pay for the multiple containers of alcohol surrounding them. Heechul's head shot up; Leeteuk could see her head spinning from the sudden action.

"I'm not going back there." Her eyes were unfocused. "He lied to me." After a bit of silence where Leeteuk could see the remnants of tears in the corners of Heechul's swollen eyes, she spoke again, pointing her finger. "You lied to me too. You knew who he was and you never said anything."

"And you're mad at me?" He asked, as if it wasn't obvious. One sharp nod was his answer.

"I hate you." The words were hardly discernable they were so slurred together.

"Well, I hate you too. Now let's go before you get yourself into any more trouble."

With that, Leeteuk hoisted Heechul onto his back and started the long walk back to the apartment.