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AUTHOR'S NOTE: IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME TF (love that last chapt. I said I'll update AUGUST 2ND but that never happened XD)

This semester finally ended for me, so in the next remaining weeks of this AWFUL year, HATE will wrap up. Should have been finished 2 years ago if my wasn't being such an inconsistent piece of -

Anyways, um, I hope you all haven't left me yet hahahahaha... 

This chapter tested my patience a lot lol I wanted to give up so many times 'cause I couldn't squeeze a single scene out of my head. Buuuuut now that this chapter is over, I can finally rest assure and continue my update plan. There will be a DOUBLE UPDATE THIS WEEKEND. Well, this chapter was supposed to be out on the 15th and the next one the 20th. So yes, I will still update on the 20th. I need to push myself to stay on track. And I will. Sooooo see you all again on the 20th~

ENJOY AND LEAVE FEEDBACKS~ IT'S BEEN A WHILE BUT I STILL LOVE YOU ALL.

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    Usually, the two lovebirds would spend the night with each other. But Youngjae had called Jinyoung and begged for a sleepover, leaving Mark to go back to his suite with a long sigh. For certain reasons, Youngjae hadn’t been feeling well lately, and Jinyoung didn’t have the heart to leave his best friend alone. And of course, Mark encouraged Jinyoung to look after Youngjae. From what Mark heard through his boyfriend, Youngjae and his girlfriend fought quite a lot recently. It also seemed that Suzy started coming home later than usual or she didn’t come home at all. Mark wasn’t in the position to speculate anything, so he insisted Jinyoung to spend more time with Youngjae.

    After his shower, Mark propped up behind his laptop with a bottle of cold sweet tea. He scrolled through some documents for a good hour until a small box flashed in the middle of his screen. Accepting the video call, Mark finished his tea and threw the empty bottle in a nearby mini trash bin. On the screen, Jackson’s excited face appeared, smiling ear to ear. Mark waved, “hey Jacks. What’s up?”

    “Okay, good. You’re not asleep yet.”

    “Can’t sleep. Everything is not going as planned. I’m about to lose my .”

    Jackson dropped his smile as he puts on his glasses. “Don’t worry. I called you so we can work on it together. I need to report back to you about Brazil anyway. Also, I found something about that thing you asked me to look into the other day.”

    “Tell me about what you found first.”

    “The person you’re looking for is Bae Suzy. She’s an agent in Unit G,” Jackson paused, eyebrows knitted together, “isn’t that your unit, Mark?”

    Mark didn’t look up from the screen of his tablet to know how the worry etched deeply on Jackson’s face looked like. The fact that it was Suzy who planted that bomb to kill him was unbelievable. And the fact that he can’t really do much about it bothered him greatly. If he deals with Suzy, Youngjae will get involved, and if Youngjae gets involved, then Jinyoung will not hesitate to step in. The situation would just turn uglier. Mark refused to be put in such an uncomfortable place.

    Seeing how Mark uttered no comment, Jackson took a sip of his coffee. “What are you thinking, Tuan?”

    “I’ll let it go,” Mark simply answered, finally looking back at his friend through the screen. “Definitely keeping an eye on her, but it’s not necessary to do something about her right now.”

    “But-“

    “I’m still alive, aren’t I? Her plan failed.”

    “Don’t think I don’t see through your bull, Mark. Why are you defending her? She’s clearly working for someone! I bet whoever she’s working for is connected to the chain. There was no other reason as to why she would pull off such stunt. Why are you letting this slide?”

    Without saying anything, Mark offered a smile. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine. She’s not important for me to worry about at the moment. Right now, I need to figure out how to fix this mess before my gets shipped back to the States along with a beautiful demotion. I haven’t accomplish anything, yet things already not looking so well. If I don’t give a satisfying answer soon, then I’ll have to kiss South Korea goodbye forever. I don’t want that. I’m happily settling down here. I don’t want to be away from the love of my life. Long distance would .”

    Jackson let out a sigh while shaking his head, clearly frustrated with how Mark decided to handle this. But knowing that whenever Mark made the final decision, then that’s it. End of discussion. Jackson trusted Mark to make all the right choices. “You better come back here in one piece. I don’t care what you do.”

    “Got it. Now, Brazil.”

    “All right. I don’t know how much Bambam told you, but here’s my report,” the C.I.A. agent took another long sip of his coffee. “You were right. Brazil is where all the money comes from. It’s the distributor of the chain. All the processing goes through there. While there, we were sooooo close to uncover a huge base, but as you already heard, they found us. Bam and I held our grounds for days until back-ups came bursting in. I’m about to send you a file of the evidences collected in Brazil. To be honest, it’s not much from what you’ve already found out yourself. But a little goes a long way. Besides, this just strengthened your stance that the head of this dragon lies sleeping in South Korea.”

    Mark moved his mouse over to his mail box and clicked on the first email on the list. Once the email opened, a small box popped up asking for the password. He inputted the password quickly and opened the file. Took about ten minutes until he looked back at Jackson, who was typing some paperwork. “Thank you. I owe you and Bambam a favor. Don’t hesitate to let me know in the future. You two really put your lives on the line just to help me out. Yet, I haven’t made any progress. I’m ashamed of myself.”

    “Stop it,” Jackson rolled his eyes, “you’re the one who’s playing hero twenty-four seven. You’re the one who volunteered to take on this mission. The government planned to force it upon the F.B.I. and Interpol but you decided to hop on. Sometimes, I don’t really understand you. It’s like you’re seeking for Death.”

    To this, Mark finally laughed wholeheartedly for the first time throughout the entire night. He can always counted on Jackson to make him feel a bit better. “No, I swear I just want the world to be a better place. I’m helping in ways that I can. Nothing’s wrong about that. I’ve worked hard to get to where I am, so I can have enough power to make a difference.”

    “Sounds exactly something only Mark Tuan would say,” Jackson gave up trying to talk sense into someone who’s so passionate about sacrificing for others before himself. This didn’t mean Jackson would stand by without doing anything. Just a few clicks, a team of professional guards was summoned to protect the E.C.I. Captain from the shadows. Mark will probably finds out about this in a few days, but at least Jackson can rest assure that his friend is safe and sound for the most part. Mark have entered the danger zone of this case. Sooner or later, bad things will start crumbling down on top of him. Jackson couldn’t stop shaking the unsettling feeling away. He can’t be there for Mark through this.

    The silence was enough for Mark to read Jackson’s mind. Though, he didn’t voice his observation, rather he allowed Jackson to do whatever. A little protection wouldn’t hurt anyone. Mark preferred Jackson’s protection over Jinyoung’s any day. His boyfriend was known to be a bit extreme. Besides, this wasn’t something that requires for Jinyoung to step in. For sure, Mark can handle it himself. The less people involved, the more convenient. More people just meant more prone to danger. Of course, no way in Hell would Mark risks putting Jinyoung’s life on the line. And if anyone tries to use Jinyoung against him, that person would not meet a pretty ending. He might not be as brutal as his Jinyoung, but Mark can turn someone into dust if he wanted to.

    Jackson stayed on the call for another hour before waving goodbye. Mark gave a short list of instructions through another secured email as soon as he finished up on his end. Standing up to get a quick stretch, Mark yawned and closed his eyes. Only if Jinyoung was here right now and in bed with him. Mark smiled and headed towards the bathroom to take care of his hygiene. In the midst of him brushing his teeth, his phone rang. Another small smile etched on his lips when he saw who dared to call him this late at night.

    “And why are you not sleeping yet?” Jinyoung’s tired voice sounded like a soft lullaby in Mark’s ear.

    “If you think I’m already asleep, you wouldn’t call,” Mark retorted, putting the call on speaker as he resumed brushing his teeth. Jinyoung didn’t say anything. Mark finished up brushing his teeth and washing his face. He picked up the phone on the way out of the bathroom. “What kind of service can I do for you, sir?”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

    “Stop that,” Jinyoung for sure rolled his eyes at the tease. “Are you going to bed now?”

    “Yeah. I was on call with Jackson earlier to go over some things.”

    A hesitant pause rested on Jinyoung’s side. After a couple seconds of going back and forth on his decisions, Jinyoung opted to stay out of it. “I hope things work out. I don’t want you to be in danger ever again.”

    Mark got in bed and pulled the blanket over himself. “That is a very difficult thing to do in this line of work, sweetheart. And well, now I am associated with the, possibly, most powerful person on Earth, I don’t have to be seeking for danger. It’ll naturally come find me on its own.”

    A sigh this time. “You promised…”

    “I’ll try my very best,” Mark made himself comfortable and place the phone right next to his face. His eyelids finally started to feel a little too heavy. “How’s Youngjae?” He changed the subject.

    Jinyoung decided to also not pry this one further. It’s been a long night, he just wants a peaceful conversation with the person he’s missing the most. “A lot worse than I thought. Makes me hate that even more. But I hate Youngjae the most. So damn stubborn and stupid. He’s getting his heart stepped on by her, yet she’s probably out in some other bastard’s arms.”

    “You think she’s cheating?”

    “No. She’s not that type. I think she did something horrible that would affect Youngjae badly if he ever finds out.” The switch in Jinyoung’s voice was enough to wake Mark up a little. Jinyoung sounded exactly how Chairman Park would sound when someone betrayed him. “She’s not cheating on Youngjae. She offended me.”

    From laying comfortably to immediately sitting up, Mark cleared his throat, “Jinyoung-“

    “Sorry. I was trying to hold it back. Didn’t want you getting upset at me.”

    The drop in Jinyoung’s serious tone was all the assurance Mark needed to lie back down again. Mark sighed in relief. “Please, think about Youngjae before you do anything you’d regret. She’s not worth for you to put your friendship on the line. Before you say that it’s about me, I just want to remind you that your friendship with Youngjae, who’s like a little brother to you, runs deeper and longer than our new relationship. Even if you decided to do something about Suzy, and Youngjae turns to hate you forever, I won’t be able to live like that. Because of me, you lost someone so dear to you. I don’t want that. I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position.”

    “You’re always lecturing me… I’m not a child, I know what to think.”

    “You’re missing the point here-“

    “Okay, okay, okay, I got it. I wasn’t going to do anything anyways. I trust you to handle things. I trust you a lot. I always do. Maybe sometimes I don’t agree on the ways you’re handling things on your own, but I trust you to make it work. I trust you to return to me no matter what. Do your heroic actions scare me? Yes, they do. They scare me to the point it physically hurts. But I’ll just patiently wait for you.”

    A lighthearted conversation really turned depressing in the span of mere minutes. Mark closed his eyes, he thought how he could listen to this voice all day without getting bored. Everything that comes out of Jinyoung’s mouth lulled Mark to a state of serenity. “You know, I’ll never keep you waiting for long.”

    They didn’t have to go into specifics. Jinyoung knew Mark was going to leave one day. He knew Mark can’t always stay by his side, but he don’t mind the wait. If that person is Mark, he’ll do anything. Though, it still hurts. Jinyoung stayed on the line, filling his boyfriend in about what happened at dinner to revert back to a normal atmosphere of two people in love, until he heard Mark’s soft breathing. “Goodnight, love,” he whispered and hung up with a smile. Glancing back at Youngjae’s body spreading all over the bed, Jinyoung shook his head. He didn’t plan on sleeping over. But seeing how much alcohol Youngjae forced into his system, Jinyoung wanted to stick around until morning at least. The least he can do is to make sure his best friend gets to work safely.

+

+

+

    Sometimes, Jaebum wanted to smack Mark across his handsome face. The morning had yet to start. Mark already said some to piss him off. Jaebum crumbeld the paper cup in his hand while keeping his eye contact with his best friend. The intesity between the two gorgeous agents can be felt all the way across the cafeteria. Other agents scurried off to protect themselves from invisible bullets bouncing all over the place. Mark broke the stare first with a long sigh. He knew Jaebum would be mad. To be honestly speaking, though, if he was in Jaebum’s place right now, he’ll be pretty angry, too.

    They settled down at a table in silence. Jaebum’s sharp gaze pierced through Mark like daggers. Between them, feelings like anger and things like arguments never really exist within their friendship. Even if they fought, it was never meant to be serious in any type of form. They’ve been through Heave and Hell together. Nothing can break them apart. However, in this very moment, Jaebum wanted to risk it all and shoot Mark dead. And Mark won’t stop Jaebum from doing so. Jaebum held all the rights.

    Mark really should have saved this conversation for a later date, maybe over a candle-lit steak dinner or something of equivalent. He disregarded Jaebum’s feelings with this sudden news break. Mark only decided to tell Jaebum after hiding it very well for the past month. It’s been a long time since the last time Mark seen Jaebum this furious. His best friend was not the type to express any sort of intense feelings. The last time Jaebum was mad, it was over some problems with his own toxic parents. That was years and years ago. Mark looked up from his cup of coffee to check the situation. Jaebum looked like he’s about to straggle Mark in the next ten seconds. So, Mark went back to staring at his cup of coffee. Mark should have known the call with Jackson that night from a month ago would be the decider of his fate with Jaebum.

    “I have no more words for you,” Jaebum said, voice calmer than the boiling expression sitting on his face. “I thought you would quit it after what had happened. Of course, you wouldn’t. Now, you’re not even telling me who set you up. What’s the point of telling me all the s with that stupid operation of yours if you’re not going to take my one suggestion on it? You clearly want to do this on your own and ing die. You know what, I don’t give a about you anymore. If you want to die, then yeah, go do that. I’m done trying to drill a hole through your ing head. Not wasting my time on you anymore.”

    “That’s a lot of words for someone who said they have no more words…”

    “Mark-“

    “I’m sorry. I rather me out there then you, or worse, Jinyoung.”

    “So it’s really just about Park Jinyoung, right?” Now, the anger switched to annoyance. “You can’t seperate your personal bull with work, Mark? Do I need to personally write a report to the American government and have them force you to go back? Seems to me Jinyoung is a distraction for you. The capable Mark Tuan cannot do his job correctly because of Park Jinyoung. Don’t make me split you two.”

    It wasn’t Mark’s plan to also get annoyed, but Jaebum was pushing it. “Don’t give me that , Im. You know it’s not all about him. I didn’t tell you all that just for you to throw an attitude back at me because you’re jealous someone else stole my attention from you.”

    “I never-“

    “Doesn’t feel great being called out now, does it?” Mark stopped avoiding Jaebum’s gaze and took it directly. Jaebum can be angry all he wants, but when Mark gets angry, it is best to shut the up. “How about you stop acting like a ing child and we both can get over this. I didn’t wreck my brain for a whole month, thinking of ways and time to tell you about my situation, for you to on me like this. You’re better than this, Jaebum.”

    “…”

    “I can take you ting on me because of my stupidity, but I cannot sit and let you think that I only care about Jinyoung. I care about your safety and everyone else’s as much as I care about his. Don’t discredit me just because you felt the need to vent about Jinyoung.” Mark didn’t back down. The more Jaebum clenched his jaw, the more Mark stood his ground. After so many years with each other, he couldn’t believe Jaebum have the audacity to think of him like that. Jaebum didn’t have any issues with his past lovers, so why now?

    Catching the suspicious look on Mark’s face, Jaebum quickly recovered himself to avoid further conflict, “before you accuse me of anything dumb, no, I DO NOT have any ROMANTIC feelings for Jinyoung.” The tension in the air dissolved a little. Jaebum felt better when his best friend cracked a tiny smile. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I know you always care.”

    Mark sighed and lowered his head, back to staring at the empty paper cup in his hands. “It’s fine. I hope we don’t have this conversation again. You know me better than anyone. So don’t be petty.”

    “I just don’t want you to keep throwing your life away-“

    “I’m fine, Jaebum-ah. I got this.”

    “Can I help, please? Even for a little bit…”

    Mark shook his head, “I’ve already made up my mind. Jackson and I already started another mission since the call. it’s been a whole month now. It’s too late to put you on.”

    “You really planned this carefully, huh. You planned to tell me a month later, because you knew I would ask to be involve.”

    “Like I said, you know me best, Jaebummie~”

    The Captain rolled his eyes, but his heart felt lighter. Thank God they’re back to normal. “Mark-“

    “What are you guys talking about?” The interruption of a third party surprised Mark but not Jaebum. Vice Captain Park invited himself to sit down in the seat between the two best friends. His gorgeous face bared a friendly smile, but Jaebum knew his Vice’s smiles were never just a simple smile. “No wonder I couldn’t reach you, Mark,” Jinyoung’s eyes kept still on Jaebum’s face, “turns out you were down here having a little coffee date with my Captain.”

    “You… Call…?” Mark looked at his boyfriend in confusion.

    Jinyoung tore his gaze from Jaebum and landed his eyes on Mark. He held up a phone. “Yes, I did. And seems like you were in such a rush to be with Jaebum that you left your phone in the office, Vice Captain Tuan.”

    “You need to stop it. I don’t want your man, Park.”

    Head snapping back at Jaebum’s direction, Jinyoung’s smile dropped, “then stop taking him! Why are you having coffee with him? Are you his lover? No! So why are you sitting here with him?!”

    Jaebum looked at Mark and gestured for his best friend to do something about this injustice. Mark avoided Jaebum’s eyes. Scoffing, Jaebum wanted to bash both Jinyoung and Mark in their heads. “FINE. You sit here with him then. Jesus ing Christ. Can’t even have a talk with my BEST FRIEND without you wanting to fight me every time. Get your jealousy in check, Jinyoung. It’s not cute.” With that, Captain Im left.

    Waited until Jaebum disappeared into the elevator, Jinyoung turned to Mark. “So what were you two talking about that you specifically singled out Jaebum?”

    “It’s not like I don’t want to tell you,” Mark said, hand reaching up to Jinyoung’s cheek. “I think you have your ways of finding out without me saying anything. I remember you said you trust me, so even if you happened to find out. I hope you’ll be a good boy and stay out of it, yeah?” He leaned over and kissed Jinyoung’s cheek.

    Still not used to Mark’s sudden softness sometimes, Jinyoung held himself back from blushing if that was possible. Because of Youngjae’s problem, they haven’t been spending much alone time together. A whole month of no dates and no sleepovers drove Jinyoung up the edge of a clIff. He misses being wrapped in Mark’s arms late at night while they have their little pillow talks before they both drift away in the comfort of each other’s scents. But Jinyoung couldn’t leave Youngjae in a tattered state. He wanted to a couple times, because it was starting to affect him mentally, too. Mark didn’t let him. Mark called every night to keep him sane throughout.

    “I know already,” Jinyoung said, leaning into Mark’s touch. “I’m not going to say anything. You probably had an earful from Jaebum.”

    “I’m sorry.”

    “It’s fine…” The slight shake in Jinyoung’s voice didn’t go unnoticed by Mark. “If anything, I’ll bring you back home by myself.”

    They shared a loving look before Mark cupped both of Jinyoung’s cheeks in his hands and frowned. “Did Youngjae not feed my baby? You look so much thinner.”

    “He did. I just didn’t eat much, because he didn’t eat.”

    “Is he okay?”

    “No, I think they’re going to break up. Youngjae wanted to propose, though. He got the ring and everything.”

    Mark pulled Jinyoung in for a tight hug. “How about… I ask Jaebum for a day off for both you and I. You take me back to your place, and I’ll cook for you while you can tell me more about this.” The negative energy radiating off of Jinyoung started to worry him. Homemade food has always been an excellent remedy. It’s also been a while since they sat down and had a proper meal with each other.

    “Are we ing afterwards?”

    “Jinyoung-“

    “I’m just asking, so I can have the maids clean my room. It’s a mess right now…”

    “I was trying to be wholesome-“

    “We haven’t had for a whole month. I think that’s enough time of being wholesome, Mark.”

    Breaking the hug, Mark held back the urge to roll his eyes. “Whatever you want, Your Highness.”

    “I want to have lunch with you, and then we in bed until dinner time, okay?”

    Mark sighed and rolled his eyes, unable to control his expressions now. “Yes, yes, yes, of course. Use me to relieve your stress.”

    Jinyoung smirked, “oh, I’ll definitely use you.”

+

+

+

    For the past hour, Jackson had been trying to call Mark. It should be daytime over in Korea, but Mark wasn’t picking up at all. Jackson concluded that Mark was busy with work. Frustrated, Jackson started pacing around his house. New orders were given out about Mark’s operation, but Mark for sure will not be happy to hear about this. Desperate to reach Mark, Jackson finally decided to just call Bambam. They haven’t keep contact since they parted their ways after Brazil. But Jackson still kept Bambam’s information.

    Bambam picked up after the second ring, “hello?”

    “Hey, it’s… Jackson.”

    “Jackson? What’s up?”

    Surprisingly, Bambam sounded totally normal. Not awkward at all. Jackson wanted to smack himself for being the only one feeling some type of way for the younger after their little incident in Brazil. It wasn’t anything serious anyways. “Yeah, um, is Mark there? He’s not picking up his phone.”

    “Oh. Vice Captain Tuan is not here. He left earlier with our other Vice Captain. I don’t know where they went.”

    “He did? Why? Isn’t he working?”

    “I’m not too sure. Captain Im just said they both asked for a day off. We’re not doing much today except for some paperworks here and there, so our Captain approved the leave.”

    “How long ago was this?”

    “It’s been three? Four? I’d say three hours.”

    Jackson stopped pacing around and plopped down on his couch, “okay. Thank you. If you can reach him, please let him know that if he doesn’t call me back soon, the government is going to personally ship him back to the States.”

    “SERIOUSLY?” Bambam gasped, now sensing the seriousness of the situation.

    “Yes. Since you helped out before, I’ll let you in a bit on what’s happening. Mark didn’t make any critical progress, so the higher-ups are pretty angry that he’s wasting their time and resources. The information we obtained from Brazil suddenly hits a dead end. The past month, Mark and I, mostly Mark, have been risking everything back and forth in hope of gaining new clues. But they caught on and now we’re back to square one. On top of that, they’re probably aware of Mark’s existence and intentions. Mark is in danger, so the higher-ups decided to pull him back. Mark is a vaulable asset to the States. They can’t have anything happen to him while he’s in Korea. I need to relay all of this to Mark, so he can think up of something before they send the special forces over there.”

    “What would happen to him if he goes back…?”

    “Worse case scenario is he’ll get fired, but I doubt it. His position as E.C.I. Captain will be stripped for sure. He’ll get demoted until he can make enough merits to cover for his failure. This is huge. Mark worked his off to get to where he is right now. It’ll hurt him, and me, a lot if all that gets taken from him. Bambam, please, let Mark know that I need to talk to him as soon as possible.”

    “,” Bambam cursed under his breath, “okay. I’ll let Captain Im know. He’s the only person who knows Vice Captain Tuan’s whereabouts right now.”

    “Thank you.” When Jackson hung up, he buried his face in his hands. He felt so useless for being unable to stick up for Mark in the meeting room this morning. All he did was stood there as those ers yelled at him and on Mark’s incompetence. Everyone in that room knew exactly how capable Mark Tuan was. Groaning and pulling on his hair, Jackson’s heart raced with the guilt pumping through his veins. He could have said a few words, but he didn’t.

    Because he knew the progress of the operation. The person who knows the status of the operation the best is Mark. Jackson knew how Mark was feeling about this whole mess. No one was more frustated and disappointed than Mark regarding this matter. Mark knew exactly what was going to happen. He knew he was putting himself in danger. Knew he was giving his enemies a clear shot of his head. Knew all the efforts he’s been exerting towards this sole operation were going down the drain day by day. Knew he was going to return with empty hands before Failure could knock on his door. Mark knew everything.

    Jackson sat there for another hour, eyes never leaving the screen of his phone. Each second felt like an hour. Time definitely had its fun testing his thin patience. He swore if Mark don’t call him in the next ten minutes, he’d fly straight to South Korea. Of all the time for Mark to have his phone off, this wasn’t the time. Mark has to know before-

    The screen lit up as the device buzzed loudly against the glass table. Jackson immediately grabbed his phone. “Mark-“

    “I know,” Mark never missed a beat, “I’m not at my suite right now, but I’ll hop on video call with you in a minute. Let me go somewhere private first.”

    “Mark… I’m really sorry…”

    “It’s not your fault,” Mark sounded a bit out of breath but the tone of his voice was serious enough for Jackson to swallow the guiltiness. They don’t have time for mushy feelings. They need to fix this. “Be ready. I’ll call you back.”

    Jackson heard the ruffling of clothes and closing of doors. So that was why Mark couldn’t pick up. Jackson could be very much be raging right now, but he had no right to. “All right. See you in a bit.”