“Took you long enough,” Jaehwan quipped, leaning back on the couch of the apartment he shared with his friends.

That reaction earned a perplexed look from Daniel as he scanned the expressions on the faces of others present in the living room. After settling the problem with his current assignment, he headed straight to his friends’ house to report the incident and declare his intention to get back together with Hani.

“We were hoping that you’d end that pointless assignment sooner,” Jisung added, a relieved smile on his face.

He shouldn’t have started all of these in the first place. He should have rejected Madam K’s new assignment after his relationship with Hani ended. Now because she had seen him with another girl, she has doubted his genuine intentions to repair their broken relationship. Daniel let out a sigh, knowing too well that it was too late for him to regret his mistakes, “You guys saw that coming too huh?”

“Since you told us about meeting Hani by coincidence after the break up,” Sungwoon pointed out, taking a seat next to Jaehwan.

“Even the part where some other guy would be interested in Hani. You’ve got competition now Niel-ah,” Seongwu purposely nodded more times than necessary, trying to get his message across. Daniel was forced to recall how quickly and easily Hani left his side during their meeting at the club, as if she needed to be rescued from him by the new guy Dongho. He had to admit feeling his heart forming a thin crack after witnessing the scene. However, that is something for him to stress about on another day as there are more important things to be sorted out at present.

Minhyun pulled out an envelope, placing it on the coffee table in the middle of the room as Daniel glanced over the three Korean characters written on the cover, “You should quit from the agency, I’ve decided the same. Are you in?”

The younger boy nodded, “Without a doubt hyung, I don’t think I can live without Hani. I have to get her back,” he didn’t even think twice as he was very confident with his decision, “But how? Madam K won’t let us go that easily. You know how her contract works.”

Deciding to quit is easy, but the difficult part is to make sure their resignation would be accepted by the notorious head of the agency, keeping in mind of her preposterous contract. Madam K took advantage when Daniel was a gullible and inexperienced young man, convincing him to sign a contract for a part-time job with promise of a high pay. Resigning before the end of the agreed duration, in other words breaking the contract, would mean that he has to pay a ridiculously huge sum of money as a penalty.

Jisung spoke, vaguely answering the silent question in the younger’s head, “Minhyun found just the thing to make her dismiss you from the agency without any consequences.”

“The answer is in your contract,” the said male stated. “Mine is of course, pretty straight forward since I only work in HR but yours is a bit tricky. Luckily, I found a loophole.”

“And if this doesn’t work?” Daniel was in doubt.

Seongwu finally showed a subtly bright expression, moving to sit at the edge of the couch as he fished out a USB from his jeans pocket, “Easy, blackmail her.”

“The contents in the USB is our secret weapon,” Minhyun continued, his tone convinced and hopeful, “If she won’t let you go that easily, we won’t let her win that easily either.” Daniel frowned, curious if the contents in that small device would be able to solve their huge problem they were currently facing. But he was desperate and he’d accept any possible solutions for now.

*********************

Daniel almost jerked from his seat once he saw the caller ID, his hands trembled as he swiped the screen sideways to answer the call, “Hani? Babe is this really you?” It was as if Hani knew that he reactivated his number a few days ago, after he made the final decision to mend his relationship with her. Something inside him swelled to know that the love of his life still kept his number months after their break-up. It felt like they shared a telepathic connection that made her decided to suddenly give him a call after so long.

“Babe is something wrong? Why are you so quiet?” he carefully asked, the endearment he used to call her flowing out naturally from his lips. Daniel noticed that the other end of the line has been quiet since he picked up the call. His knuckles landed a few knocks on his head, punishing himself for being ignorant of the fact that Hani was still probably very furious at him, “I know you’re still mad at me and I deserve it.”

He heard rustling, which he figured as Hani shifting her seating position before taking a deep breath and murmuring something barely audible, “Daniel… it hurts so much…”

The tall male felt like his heart was stabbed a few times as he listened. Daniel wished that he could have the ability to teleport himself beside her right that instant and bury her in his warm embrace while whispering words of comfort and apologies. However in that moment, he was only able to offer support through his voice, “I’m sorry Hani, really I am. And I miss you so much.”

“No, it hurts so much right now…” Hani took some time to reply as he could feel the word ‘hurt’ translating into her own tone of voice.

Daniel was clueless of what happened at the other end of the line, because what he could only make out next was a loud thump and a crack, accompanied by the blaring sound of siren similar to an ambulance. He shot up from his seat, his heart thumping loudly and rapidly in his chest as he only managed to cry out his beloved’s name over and over again before the line went dead.

His legs gave away as he sunk back to the chair, knocking over the glass of water on the table as it shattered loudly upon contact with the floor. The sound successfully got the attention of other occupants in the house as someone dashed over to Daniel’s side, violently rocking his shoulders back and forth to shake him back to reality, “Niel-ah! What’s wrong?”

“H-hyung…” Daniel looked up to face his eldest friend, Jisung. “Hani, I t-think she’s in t-trouble. S-she was silent a-and then I h-heard a-ambulance and t-then…” he was stammering as he struggled to form the next words.

“Did she hang up?” Jaehwan asked as the rest of his friends rushed into the kitchen.

Daniel frantically shook his head, staring at his phone screen that had gone blank, “No, the line went dead.”

“Keep calling. If she’s really taken by the ambulance someone would definitely pick up,” Minhyun directed as he went to clean up the broken pieces of glass with the help of Seongwu.

Daniel went from fidgeting in his seat to walking back and forth in the kitchen while trying his best to get a hold of Hani. He cursed loudly after the fifth attempt when he was greeted by the voicemail. A few more calls afterwards, he was finally connected to the other end of the line, “Hello Hani? Babe what happened? Where are you now?”

He was flooded with more tension to hear an unfamiliar male voice answering the call, “Are you an acquaintance to Ms. Lee Hani?”

“Y-yes, I’m her boyfriend Kang Daniel.”

“Ms. Lee is now in the ER of Hanguk University Hospital. We did some examination on her and found that she needs a surgery right away. She is still unconscious and unable to give consent to the surgery. Does Ms. Lee have any family members?” The physician briefly explained.

“W-what?” Daniel was lost for words as he heard the hectic sounds of medical equipments and people yelling out commands in the background. It took a few seconds later for him to react as he stuttered, “Y-yes, but her grandmother lives in Busan.”

The doctor continued, “Ms. Lee’s condition is critical and we cannot delay the surgery any further. We will explain when you get here Mr. Kang. You have to sign a consent form giving us permission to perform a surgery on her. How soon can you get here?”

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