32 Days until the Auction House

Gold plated pillars, pristine marble floors, classic tuxedos and slinky silk dresses.

A sultry singer, red velvet curtains, endless champagne.

Glittering diamonds, silver spoons.

Whispers.

Her skin was cool to touch as he pressed a hand lightly to the small of her back. They swept out of the party in a fit of stifled giggles and stolen glances. Red, red lips curled with invitation as their shoes hit a mismatched rhythm toward the elevators. Service workers pretended not to see them as they strode passed carrying trays of delectable dessert and wine.

The woman’s handsome companion murmured a soft joke against her ear, bringing forth another round of muffled laughter. His dark gaze lingered on her tinkling silver jewelry, before gliding smoothly down her jaw and finally up to her eyes as he pulled back to smile. Hushing her lightly, he nodded toward the open elevator.

“You’re quite tipsy already,” he remarked as the doors slid shut and she fell against his chest. With practiced ease, he caught her by the waist, holding her in place—neither pulling nor pushing.

“I’m still perfectly aware of things,” she slurred slightly, batting long eyelashes.

“Is that so?” he mused, his thumb faintly across her hip.

The woman shivered, pressing herself closer to him. “Yes.”

The doors opened. Swiftly, he spun her around, keeping an arm around her as they exited the elevator. He slipped the room keycard out of her hand and led them down the quiet hall. “You’ll have to excuse me then,” he spoke softly, lips brushing her cheek, “my boss will want me back downstairs in a few minutes.” At the same time, he unlocked the correct hotel room door, turning the handle and guiding her inside.

She clung.

Jolting forward, the man stumbled inside after her. He cracked a smile, exasperated.

She gazed up at him, clutching him by the lapels of his tux. “Just a bit is okay, right?” Tilting her head up, she rose up on her toes.

A finger pressed against her puckered lips, stopping the advance barely a breath away. Unreadable eyes watched her carefully as a smirk curved his mouth. “Ah, ah,” he tutted playfully, “I can’t go back downstairs looking debauched, now can I?”

A faint blush rose on her face. “No…I guess not,” she sighed, disappointment obvious.

“Next time,” he promised, tipping her chin back up, thumb gliding softly across her bottom lip. His other hand brushed through her hair, tucking loose strands behind one ear. Her eyes fluttered shut, a small noise bubbling up from her chest. He chuckled, fingers lingering momentarily around her ear before slipping away.

With a final smile, he departed, shutting her door firmly.

Immediately, he strode to the fire exit, shouldering open the door effortlessly. The alarms had long been shut off. He withdrew a small black earpiece from his pocket, inserting it and tapping it to life. “Retrieval complete.”

“What’s your location, Gamemaster?”

“Fifth floor fire exit.” He rolled his eyes at the code name. “No one else is in the surveillance truck. Drop that stupid name.”

A laugh. “It’s a good one though! Okay whatever. Exit the stairwell on the second floor. There’s a laundry shoot next to room 203. That’ll be your pick-up point.”

“Is that really necessary?” he scoffed, but immediately took back the words as he heard the stampeding feet of at least a dozen men from a few flights up. He didn’t bother to listen further and sped up, leaping down the remaining flight to stairs and throwing open the second-floor door.

“Everything alright?”

“Things just got urgent.” The agent flew down the carpeted hallway, both hands fisted, but only one of them prickling from the pain of a diamond earring digging into his flesh. His eyes darted past each room sign, noting the numbers were shrinking.

Another few feet and he would see it. Just as that thought passed through his mind, he caught sight of bold black words against a gold plaque.

Laundry Service Chute

“Isn’t this kind of small?” he hissed, tugging the handle bar down to reveal a three-foot-by-three-foot chute. Cold wind rushed up at him and the sound of street cars echoed up the metal tunnel.

“Is it?”

A door slammed shut in the distance.

Panic shot adrenaline through his veins. “Forget it!” Taking a harsh breath, he swung one leg over the edge and then the next, feeling slightly queasy. “You swear there’s something waiting for me down there?” Before he got an answer, the voices of his pursuers became clear.

He let go.

Stifling a scream, the agent shot down the chute, bracing himself in case there was nothing to catch his fall.

3 seconds.

He landed with an audible grunt in a pile of dirty towels. At least there was something. Besides, he had to dry clean the tux anyway. Dusting off, the agent climbed over the edge of the industrial laundry basket and was met with the sight of a black van. The back doors clicked open and he quickly jumped up.

Before the doors had even shut, the van was rolling forward.

Yanking at the bowtie, the black silk unfurled easily, and he proceeded to loosen the top three buttons of his oxford. His heart was still racing, eyes bright with energy as he strode over to the seated man observing a set of surveillance feeds. Leaning down, he glared at his associate. “You didn’t know it was that small of a chute, my ,” he growled. “You could clearly see it, Eunhyuk.”

The man named Eunhyuk offered a -eating grin. “I knew you’d be okay. You’ve squeezed out of tighter spots.” He snickered, holding out his hand. “Now hand over the data, Kyuhyun.”

Rolling his eyes, he tossed the diamond earring at the other agent before falling back into a chair. “So? Is it what you wanted?” He ran long fingers through his slicked hair, ruffling the locks until they fell in a rumpled mess around his face.

“We’ll have to analyze in depth later, but…,” Eunhyuk lifted the earring up to the dim light, squinting, “looks like a successful mission. To be expected from the top SME agent.”

Kyuhyun smirked. “Praise me more. Lord knows I don’t get enough of it for all I do.”

The other man snorted. “I’ll admit it’s insane that you’ve never failed a mission in—what? Your entire career, right?”

“That’s what the record says.”

Eunhyuk laughed. “Right, right,” he nodded, placing the diamond earring in a metal case. “But I do have a question.”

“What’s up?” he muttered, unclasping his cufflinks.

“Why didn’t you kiss her?”

Kyuhyun paused. He set the cufflinks on the short tabletop near Eunhyuk’s elbow before answering. “Were you interested in getting a show?”

“What? No!” he blustered. “It’s just, there’s no harm or foul really in a kiss or two when you’re undercover in this type of mission.”

The agent shrugged nonchalantly. “It was a success. There was no reason to play with the target’s emotions.”

Eunhyuk looked unconvinced. If he had never met or worked with Kyuhyun before, he would’ve probably believed the claim, however, they had been informal partners on missions for years. He knew the guy had a pretty serious weakness for flirty types. Whether Kyuhyun didn’t know how to say no or if he liked that kind of person—Eunhyuk couldn’t say. The point was that things had changed in recent years and perhaps it was his fault for not noticing the subtle change in Kyuhyun’s behavior until now.

But, that didn’t change how evasive his associate was being.

Was there really a reason behind it? A flash of bright smiles and tender looks and an infectious laugh rattled his brain. It felt like being assaulted by a long forgotten, but ever nostalgic memory. Was that part of what had changed? Kyuhyun had hardly seemed affected on the outside when that particular assignment had finished.

Furthermore, so many years had already passed. It was unlikely that such an affair would still be influencing his work so strongly.

Right?

Now Eunhyuk wasn’t sure. Kyuhyun was private—like most of their agents—and therefore, no one really knew the extent of that old cover. It had been treated like an actual private citizen's life.

After all, he had been “married” for three years. Parading the details of such a relationship around the office was asking for trouble. Or well, Eunhyuk had thought so. Was there another reason Kyuhyun had kept his marriage private from the agency’s prying eyes?

“You’re overthinking things, Eunhyuk.”

He blinked, looking up to see Kyuhyun watching him with amusement. “What do you mean?”

Kyuhyun just grinned, closing his eyes and leaning back, arms crossed over his chest. “I’m just more mature these days. I don’t need to play around to get my kicks and giggles.”

His eyes narrowed at the other man, but Kyuhyun gave no indications of cracking. With a small sigh, Eunhyuk let it go. “Well, if you say so.”

“I do.”