He sees darkness; the streetlight from outside the window the only thing lighting up the whole room. Everything was in order: the stacks of books on the desk, the piles of design magazines by the dresser, the polaroid photos on the fridge door. The only thing out of ordinary is the bag at the foot of the bed. It contains only the necessary items. The things he wants to bring, such as those polaroid photos, he can’t.

A letter is placed on the desk, folded and addressed to Junhwe. “I can’t take it anymore”, it says. “You’re always away. I feel lonely”, it reasons out even though it’s a lie. He’s never been lonely with Junhwe even though he has episodes of being away due to his job. “Please don’t look for me”, it adds before the standard apology.

“Please be well. Goodbye.”

He sighs, blinking his eyes to keep the tears away. Be strong, he tells himself. This life has never been meant for him anyway. He was born in the shadows and will die in the shadows too. His past will forever follow him and honestly, he isn’t against it at all. At first. He was okay with it even after he decided he can’t kill his hyung for family politics. Then he came along showing him the world outside the shadows. He was enlightened and for a time he thought he could keep on going like this. With Junhwe.

“You are too kind”, hyung had told him that day he was exiled. “You got out so don’t ever look back. Whatever happens, look forward.”

He has been looking forward. The problem is he can’t turn his back to him while doing it.

“I’m sorry.” he whispers as he kneels beside Junhwe’s sleeping figure, eyes memorizing each feature of his face. I’m so sorry, he repeats in his mind. He has to save his hyung. He’s the only one who could do it but once he leaves to return to the shadows, he could never go back.

He couldn’t and he won’t. Not when there will always be blood. Not when Junhwe will be dragged to it.

Gasp.

Donghyuk opens his eyes, breath hitched. He gulps and tells himself to calm down. He’s in the hotel room, in a double S Code Red mission, as Ezra.

He starts wondering why he’s in his bed but stops himself because who else would carry him there? He glances to the other bed, a smile unconsciously forming in his lips, but there’s no one.

He shrugs and looks away. Disappointment is building up in him so he uses logic again. Agent 14 probably went out for the hidden safe he mentioned. A drop of liquid falls on his hand so he blinks and touches his face to find out it’s wet. He’s been crying in his sleep, huh?

Chuckling humorlessly at himself, he wipes the tears off with the sleeves of his dress shirt. That dream is mocking him; reminding him of how hurt he was when he left.

Closing his eyes, he breathes in again and tells himself to pull his together. He’s in a mission. He has a duty to fulfill. Forget about “Junhwe”.

.

.

.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Junhwe asks in a low voice as he quietly walks towards him. The two of them are concealed in the shadows at the back of Big Bad’s estate.

“I have something to crack too, you know.” he says after pulling down his black mask. “You think I got the fingerprint just for you?”

Donghyuk sees Junhwe open his mouth to retort, just as he reaches inside his leather jacket to take out a wireless metallic ear-mouthpiece the size of a coin. Junhwe frowns when he takes his hand and places the gadget on his palm.

“Here, wear this. It’s the latest tech. Not even the CIA has that.”

“I don’t need this.”

“You might. Just take it.” He pauses. “Consider it as my thanks for not leaving me out cold on the floor.”

The frown on Junhwe’s face turns deeper but the other agent still takes the small gadget, pausing a couple of seconds to study it before wearing it on his left ear.

“Don’t get in my way.”

Donghyuk smirks and pulls up his mask. “Likewise.”

They enter the building through a 2nd floor balcony window, unlocking the latch with the tried and tested use of a thin wire. The guest room is empty but a quick peek outside confirms the presence of stationed guards.

“That’s a lot more than during the party.” Junhwe remarks as he plasters a sound-proofing device on a wall and activates his surveillance black-out one. Donghyuk just nods, his gloved hands stretching and ready to pull out the knives around his hips when needed. He watches as Junhwe pulls out a gun before he pushes the door open. They have roughly an hour to finish.

Donghyuk moves first, not bothering to inform Junhwe of how he plans to take the guards on since he knows the other agent can just read the situation. He attacks silently and cleanly, knocking out the guards on pressure points that would make them unconscious for a whole day. When he’s done sweeping off half the hallway, he glances at his companion to see him done as well. The lack of blood on the marble floors means he only knocked them out too.

They don’t need to tell each other they need to separate from then on. Giving each other a curt nod, Donghyuk waits for Junhwe to go first before making his way out of the hallway. He navigates easily and recalls what he had observed earlier to get back to the wine cellar. With the input of the passwords he hacked, he entered it with no problem.

He takes a moment to look carefully at every corner of the room. So far there are no signs of added security so he walks to the mahogany desk and engages the dent. As he expected, it’s a fingerprint lock. He takes off the glove from his right hand and carefully presses his thumb on the receiver. A yellow light blinks three times before a green one appears, making him smirk. The fake copy Agent 14 made worked perfectly.

Something clicks from the rows of wine so he turns around to see what it is. A red wine bottle from the middle is replaced with a protruding silver box, as if offering itself to be taken. He makes his way there and opens the cover to see a rectangular steel with uneven jagged edges on its left side. A key.

Donghyuk clicks his tongue as he takes it out of the box. He flips it a couple of times on his palm, thinking. Then he remembers Junhwe and his hidden safe. Well, well.

He pushes a button on his earpiece to activate the mic.

“I got your key.”

Junhwe grunts from the other line. “Figured. What are you wasting time for?”

He rolls his eyes and turns off the mic.

He closes all that’s needed to be closed and makes sure he doesn’t leave any traces before exiting the cellar. However after walking a few steps, he stops. It’s been very faint since he reached the door but now the presence is obvious. Someone else is there and the person’s not a simple guard.

He turns on the mic again. “Enemy sighting. I might be a bit late.”

“Hurry up then.”

He turns the mic off again and faces said enemy. One quick look and Donghyuk knows it’s a fellow shadow agent, perhaps from one of the eastern Chinese ones, or even someone sent by the Japanese mafia.

Not saying anything, he pulls out both his knives and goes into his preliminary fighting stance.

***

8 minutes and 27 seconds. That’s how long it took for Ezra to get to where he’s located.

Junhwe gives the other agent a once over. No injuries or broken bones, as far as Junhwe could observe. Very impressive.

He nonchalantly bounces off from the wall he’s leaning on, holding out his hand as the other male tosses the key to him. He inspects it for a moment to confirm the structure before making his way to the semi-opened safe.

Donghyuk walks to stand in a cautious distance, watching as he pushes the key into the slot. There’s a faint sound of gears moving and the safe door is finally opened. However…

“That’s a lot of lasers.” his fellow agent remarks in amusement. Junhwe just crosses his arms. Inside the safe is a silver capsule about the size of a hand, but around it is a dozen of red lasers that are too tightly positioned for comfort. Okay, he could forgive the cliché bookshelf hiding spot now.

He faces the other male. “I can take 7 minutes to hack into the lock system and deactivate the lasers. You?”

“Faster.” Ezra doesn’t need to be told what to do. He moves to his other side, where the lock system is, and takes out a hacking device from inside his coat. “Please be a dear and stand guard.”

Junhwe glares but still backs away.

“Don’t talk like that.”

“Why? I’m just being polite.” Unlike you, the insinuation says. Junhwe glares again.

Not more than 5 seconds after that, the door burst open and in came a man looking every bit as spy-ish as them. He automatically takes out his silenced revolver.

“Looks like your kill managed to call back-up.” he calls out to Donghyuk as he points the gun to the intruder. The guy pulls out a long knife.

“Need help?” Donghyuk speaks back. The enemy spy jumps towards him but Junhwe shoots his leg and quickly blocks.

“Hah. Who do you think I am?”

This time, Junhwe attacks. He shoots again but the enemy swivels and moves to tackle him. He avoids it without problem, loops one arm around the enemy agent’s neck, and hits the magazine of his gun on the other’s temple. The spy’s body instantly limps.

“I’m done.” Donghyuk reports so he releases the body to let him fall on the floor.

But there’s suddenly a small muffled explosion and he whips his head towards where Donghyuk is.

It was just a small moment of losing his focus, his mind suddenly switching priorities to see if Donghyuk’s alright. He registers smoke from inside the safe and a glove being thrown at the floor, before he feels a stabbing pain near his appendix.

, looks like the enemy’s weapon is sharp enough to go through his anti-assault vest.

He feels the adrenaline pumping in his vessels so he quickly regains his focus. He hits the spy’s arm to let him go, pull out the knife, tackle the spy to the ground, and get him into an arm lock with his revolver pointed on his head.

“Well done stabbing me. Now talk or I’ll blow your head off.”

The spy struggles in his arm so he locks him in tighter. Then there’s some noises of teeth grinding and suddenly, the enemy’s body violently shakes. Junhwe lets go and cautiously watches as white foam forms on the enemy’s mouth. Did he commit suicide?

“It’s a typical move for lower-ranked Japanese shadows like him. They have a fake tooth acting as a poison dispenser when destroyed. Better to die than to implicate their masters.” Donghyuk explains, the capsule nestled within his left arm while he shakes his right hand. Junhwe notices minor burns.

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