Word Count: 3,741

Note: After many chapters of fluff and relationship development between the characters, the tension and suspense is finally here! Since I haven't written in a while, the action scenes and the writing seems a bit rusty, haha. Please feel free to give me feedback and any other comments you have about the story! <3

Important Question: Someone suggested that I create an email separate from my main one so online friends and followers have a place to send me messages whenever and not through social media. If I create one, would you guys be interested? You would be able to contact me for whatever reason (writing, casual conversation, etc.). Please let me know how you feel about this!

~~

"What the happened?” Baekhyun whispers between clenched teeth.

The office doors are locked, the atmosphere heavy and the tension almost thick enough to pierce through the dense shadow of the dark room.

“Jongdae and I caught two men hanging around Hwayoung’s campus,” Sehun murmurs. “But they were waiting nearby the building of her final class. And just last week, Jongdae swore that there was a suspicious guy in the mart Hwayoung visits to buy your cigarettes. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that those men were in those locations.”

“What does that mean?” Baekhyun asks, his dim eyes growing into dark orbs filled with apprehension.

“Hwayoung and some of us aren’t just being followed,” Sehun hisses. “There’s someone giving them information. Somebody who knows when and where our men are stationed to avoid being caught. Somebody who has personal information about Hwayoung and each of us.”

“If they were waiting in the mart and near her campus, that means this person knows her schedule,” Baekhyun mumbles. “They know when Jongdae picks her up and when she’s asked to buy cigarettes. They have to be in close proximity to Hwayoung. Maybe they’ve even spoken to her before.”

“And these men were Jungmin’s men,” Sehun sighs. “One of their blades had the insignia that all men in Jungmin’s gang use. They even knew Jongdae’s left leg is a bit worse than his right and tried to knock it out.”

“If this person is able to find out all this information,” Baekhyun grumbles, “it’s got to be someone we trust. It better not be any of our men stabbing us in the back.”

“I don’t think so, boss.”

“Where the hell are those two guys you fought?” Baekhyun asks, inhaling sharply, death and bloodlust glowing red in his seemingly amber eyes.

“Locked up in the warehouse,” Sehun answers affirmatively. “One of them tried to bite his tongue to bleed himself to death, but we stopped him. He’s knocked out, but the other is conscious and tied up. Chanyeol’s been trying to force information out of him, but he’s not saying anything. If we beat him up anymore, I’m afraid he’s not going to stay conscious much longer.”

Frustration has Baekhyun burying his face and tired eyes into his coarse hands, teeth dragging over his dry lips, before he asks, “Do we have any clues hinting to this person giving Jungmin the information?”

“Well, we can suspect a few people, but there’s one who I have a bad feeling about,” Sehun sighs. “It was the man selling pictures and classified information that I couldn’t catch before. I thought he was selling the information to an unknown party, but turns out that this guy’s selling the info to some of Jungmin’s lackeys. I couldn’t observe him very well the first time, but I’m pretty sure I saw him again not that long ago. He’s a lot closer than you’d imagine, boss. I’m actually afraid of what might happen if his identity is revealed.”

“Have a few of Chanyeol and Jongin’s underlings stationed around the campus to watch over Hwayoung at all times, disguised and hidden,” Baekhyun orders. “There hasn’t been trouble with smaller gangs recently, so we probably don’t need as many of them on the streets. You and Jongdae continue to track down this person, but make sure to check in with Hwayoung from time to time. I have a few ‘business’ meetings to go to, so I’ll only take a couple of men with me when I go.”

“Are you meeting Jungmin?” Sehun asks, voice swathed in concern.

“No, these meetings are just a formality,” Baekhyun sighs. “We have to continue acting like a legal business if we don’t want to be exposed for our illicit activities. So for the next few weeks, I’m a businessman, not a mobster. The last thing we need is law enforcement on our tails.”

“Good luck with that, sir,” Sehun says, bowing briefly with respect. Being the youngest of his men, Baekhyun finds immense loyalty and admiration within Sehun.

“I’m going to trust you and Jongdae with this,” Baekhyun announces. “Do you know where Jongdae is right now? Is he picking up Hwayoung?”

“About that,” Sehun murmurs, eyes falling to the floor. “Jongdae went to her campus, but Hwayoung was nowhere to be found. He’s been calling her and looking around for the last forty minutes.”

Forty minutes.

Jongdae is the best tracker in all of Exo Credit Union, but despite his excellent abilities, Baekhyun knows that if Hwayoung has been taken by someone as cunning and sneaky like Jungmin, it could take Jongdae days to track down her location.

“Alright,” Baekhyun sighs, attempting to feign ignorance but his white knuckles trembling with anger giving away his frustration, “you find the man selling the information. I’ll check up on Jongdae. If something happens to Hwayoung or any one of us, I’m going in to deal with things myself.”

Sehun nods in understanding before leaving Baekhyun’s office. Before closing the door, he takes a final glimpse at the male seated at the desk, hands drawn into knuckles and a menacing glower in his eyes, a look that Sehun has seen whenever Baekhyun is brutally striking his enemies down or is relentlessly pursuing his adversaries.

Though Sehun is praying that Baekhyun won’t let his anger spiral out of control and lead him to throw himself into risky situations, he has problems of his own.

He has a man to catch and bring back.

But Sehun knows a certain someone will not be happy when finding out who this person is.

~~

Hwayoung finds herself staring at her feet while her hands curl tightly around the bag on her lap. The walls of the spacious car seem rather cramped, the tense atmosphere slowly closing in around her anxious figure.

She feels uncomfortable, the familiar figure sitting beside her in the backseat more daunting than usual.

“Are you alright?” he asks.

Hwayoung barely spares a glance toward the male sitting beside her.

“I’m fine, Minho,” she mumbles.

“You seem uncomfortable,” he sighs, hurt evident in his defeated voice. “Well, we haven’t talked recently, so I guess it would be awkward for me to suddenly ask you to come with me like this.”

It had been after her final class that Hwayoung had seen the male pacing around the building, hands awkwardly shoved in his pockets.

She didn’t want to face him.

After all, she cruelly rejected his kindness and betrayed him by trusting Baekhyun, a wily mobster, over her best friend of several years.

But she knew she would have to face him one day.

“I’m sorry that I showed up out of nowhere and asked you to come with me,” Minho murmurs, “but I think we need to talk. I promise I won’t bother you from now on.”

“That’s fine with me,” Hwayoung answers tersely. She doesn’t know how to speak comfortably to her best friend like she once did after hurting his pride so badly.

Unsettling silence falls upon the two figures in the backseat of the car once more, the dense stillness interrupted by the soft humming of Hwayoung’s phone. She hastily rummages through her bag to find it, the dimly lit screen displaying a rapid fire of messages.

“If you need to make a call, that’s fine with me,” Minho says.

“No, it’s not anything important,” Hwayoung says, before switching her phone off.

She wants to talk with Minho and set things straight so the two of them can at least walk past each other on campus without avoiding each other’s gazes. But she knows she can’t do that with Baekhyun or Jongdae showing up and interrupting.

Baekhyun and Jongdae won’t mind if I go somewhere just for the evening, Hwayoung thinks. After all, what could go wrong?

~~

Hwayoung expects Minho to take her someplace expensive, with the tempting aroma of Italian or maybe Japanese cuisine, but she’s surprised when he takes her to a small, plain diner.

“We came here a few times when we were younger,” Minho smiles, nostalgia bringing a gentle smile to his face. “We had extra classes after school near here, and we would always come to this diner together afterwards.”

Hwayoung has spent countless days with Minho, and she doesn’t know how he’s able to remember each detail of the places they would spend their days as children.

“Listen, I’m really sorry about that other time,” Minho says with a downcast countenance, hands awkwardly wrapped around his mug of coffee. “I just wanted to help you, and I got angry because you always refused my help, even when you looked like you needed it. It still makes me mad to think you’re hanging out around that ga