Jin went back to the apartment drenched and full of thoughts. He threw off his wet sweater and walked around the kitchen’s counter looking for a glass to quell his burning thirst. Sitting in his sofa, the one who appeared silently without making any noise was Hoseok, and by the door, now stood a tight-lipped Daniel and a happy Jimin. If the three of them were here, then the Leader must be arriving anytime soon, for Taehyung never appeared anywhere without the company of his inner circle. 

“Jin, Jin, Jin,” Hoseok clicked his tongue when he saw how stony his friend’s face was. Sometimes it bothered him that nothing could crack that frosty facade of his. He wondered if Jin even had a weakness - because the man only ever wore expressions of anger or boredom. Otherwise, he was always too detached from everyone else. Not quite quiet, but very cold towards everyone. “What a grand welcome. I’m pretty sure Yeonwoo will like this look of you. Speaking of that witch, where is she?”

“Outside with Leader and Jungkook,” Daniel replied and tossed the umbrella into the door’s corner. His leather jacket made noises when he moved, even just a little, and it was truly a wonder how Jin had not noticed them coming in until they did. And by then, it was already too late. His lack of awareness towards his surrounding was a result of his preoccupied thoughts, something he blamed for his carelessness just now. The girl ran away from him. He didn’t know what to feel at the moment. Hurt, perhaps, but not without reason, too. Back then, Jin was sent away from the Rebel’s headquarter and only came back two weeks after Sera’s escapade. By the time he returned, Sera was gone and Daniel was punished heavily for helping the girl.

“Jin,” Irene greeted. The petite girl was hidden behind the broad back of Daniel’s. Her hair was now a deep shade of brown instead of the usual purple, shaping her lovely face and brightening her snow white skin. Jin glanced at the girl and gave her a scowl as the only acknowledgement. Jimin - the only one close enough to Jin - knew that for some reason, Jin was even crankier than usual. His frown for example, was a few degrees more curved and he didn’t bother hiding the annoyance in his eyes. 

Irene’s cheeks were blushing a deep shade of scarlet and she tried to avert her eyes elsewhere. Of all the people in the inner circle, she was considerably closer to Daniel and Taehyung, and, to a certain degree, Jin. Despite her poor attempt at hiding it, she still saw the glimpse of that bare torso and felt the room temperature rising a few degrees as a result. 

“This is the apartment you chose?” Jungkook came in first, followed by two others on his back. He was a boy who looked twenty or younger with the deepest set of eyes and lips that always smiled. He wandered around, ignoring everyone’s attention on the incoming party, oblivious and cheerful. Jungkook was the youngest of the group, although the title was often claimed by Jimin, who acted very much like an innocent, naive flower boy who knew nothing of this world. “How are we all supposed to fit in into this place?”

“Well, my bad, Genius. I didn’t expect that all of us were coming for this mission,” Jin snarkily replied. “Is there no one left behind to guard the Headquarter?” 

“Oh yeah, RM and a batch of newcomers. He’s being really pissy about the additions, but Leader has spoken,” Jimin ransacked through the refrigerator and found only dried food and sparkling water. Despite his brooding appearance, Jin was not so fond of alcohol and only drank occasionally out of politeness more than anything. Jimin continued to flip through all the foods and complained loudly, “Seriously, Jin? Dried food? Who eats dried grapes and figs nowadays? It’s almost like you’re suffering from constipation or something.”

“Stop pissing him off, Jimin,” Taehyung interrupted. His eyes were a little cold when they glanced at Jin - nothing unusual from their previous interaction. Jin had always known that Taehyung singled him out because of his affection for Sera - something the latter did not know of, but became painfully obvious for both guys. Unlike Jungkook, Taehyung’s dislike for this place was a little less noticeable. His eyes did not wander but pierced straight at Jin’s. “We’ll just stay in Irene’s temple like what we did during our previous visit.” 

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Jimin threw Irene a look. She still seemed a little scared from the trauma she suffered under the hands of those lesser miko*. Back then, the sixteen years-old Irene was still powerless, and without the backing of others, she was always mocked by the priests and priestesses. Despite her mastery of ability, the Senso-ji did not accept anyone from external bloodline, and for a half-blood like Irene, it was even worse. It was such irony for a temple that worshipped Avalokitesvara, the Boddhisatva of Mercy, to be so unforgiving and discriminating towards someone of their own.

(Miko - priestess in Japanese)

“Why would she try to refuse?” Yeonwoo cut off, rolling her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing. Irene’s initial voice of complain and discomfort was immediately swallowed back down. She casted her eyes downwards in silent misery and that did not go unnoticed by Taehyung. He was always very tolerant of Yeonwoo’s tyranny, no matter what she had done in the past, despite Sera’s obvious hatred of her. It was to no one’s surprise that Yeonwoo was growing more incontrollable by the day.   

“You’re not comfortable with the temple?” 

Irene shot her wide eyes at Taehyung and bit her lips, unsure of what to say. Before, either Sera or Daniel was always speaking up for her. But now with the former gone and the latter punished, she had no one else to help her. “No…” She muttered a reply and hid her face deep into her shoulder. She did not want to meet any of her family ever again, and though she held no hatred for them, she would rather see them gone off from her life completely. Daniel squeezed her arms tightly and gave her a sympathetic nod of encouragement.

“We’ve wiped off half of them two years ago. Are you still not satisfied?” Taehyung asked gently. But Irene who had heard it, dared not sound any complain to her Leader at all. He had helped her out so many times, tolerated and supported her. It would be insensible for her to continue rejecting his idea. Satisfied by her reaction, Taehyung sat down at the couch. Although his face lacked of emotion at this very moment, he was not completely heartless as to move into the temple without any consideration towards Irene. Those so-called relatives of hers had treated her so badly that it would be a shame not to return this favour back to them. 

“I’m going to stay elsewhere,” Daniel intercepted. He shot Taehyung and Yeonwoo a glance,  apparently still bitter over their affair and his reluctance to kick Yeonwoo out of the group despite everyone’s obvious dislike for the girl, “I don’t feel comfortable staying in big groups.”

“I want to…” Irene spoke, but Yeonwoo rolled her eyes immediately and cut her sentence off, “If you’re going with Daniel, how will the rest of us face your family in Senso-ji?”

Jin saw the pale-faced Irene who was too weak to even retort. The three of them - Jin, Daniel, and Irene - were the ones who stood closest to Sera before, with Jungkook, Jimin and RM on the neutral side, and Hoseok and Suga on the opposition. It was understandable then, for someone who hated Sera so much, that Yeonwoo would be biased against the the trio. With the girl gone, they were the only ones Yeonwoo could vent to, and in all honesty, if it weren’t for Taehyung’s constant protection, Jin would have gladly finished her off a very long time ago. 

Irene was always so shy and soft-spoken, never defending herself nor offending anyone. Of all the people present, there was no one with enough guts and power to stand up against everyone else for her sake. Sera used to do that because of her value in Taehyung’s eyes. Jin clenched his fists and replied on behalf of Irene, more so towards Yeonwoo than against Taehyung. He did not have anything against the Leader, except for the fact that he had quickly replaced the position of Sera to someone foreign and dislikable. “She does not want to go back to the temple. If the rest of you are so keen in going, you should go by yourselves. Now that you’ve had half of them wiped off, they would be smart enough not reject your request, would they?”

“It would make more sense for Irene to return because she has her family there,” Yeonwoo suddenly smiled sweetly, one that Jin thought was more appalling than anything else. Even Hoseok disliked her - and that must have meant something because the man was the very definition of an -in-disguise. She hooked her arms onto Taehyung, who turned his eyes onto their linked hands in a complicated expression that bordered confusion and helplessness, and spoke coquettishly, “Don’t you think so, V? Tell them I’m right.”

“It would do you well to pay them a visit, Irene. What you do and where you stay after is entirely up to you,” Taehyung diplomatically settled the argument for both sides. He didn’t shake off Yeonwoo’s arms from him, but he didn’t try to embrace her closer, simply keeping her where she wanted to be. “All they felt for you was inferiority and envy - something you should take pride in yourself for, given how much better you are compared to their so-called pure bloodline. And I’m sure that we can also ask the temple for a few spots in the auction next week.” 

“We’re really going there?” Jin kept the irony to himself. All those long talks for the sake of the underground auction that was held once a year. It was completely secretive, and even for someone with a lot of connections, they were only able to reserve a limited number of tickets. They did not auction antiques there, but people - Transcendental potentials with high-quality ability, sometimes kept as slaves by a country or an organisation. The Union had always managed to win the highest bid every year, and Taehyung thought it was about time they dipped their feet into this muddy water. 

“Yeah,” His secret glance to Irene went unnoticed by the rest.

* * *

Jaehyun felt a little stifled when he saw the same woman now for the third time, almost as if she was waiting for him to appear again. That woman - Sera - did not bother approaching him last time, but her eyes were always watching him closely, and he didn’t know if he should be flattered or frightened. But unlike the tattoo man or the Japanese doctor, he didn’t feel any threat from her, only immense curiosity. Therefore, Jaehyun wasn’t as guarded with Sera as he was with the other two. And he also realised by now that his other colleagues (and even Baron’s owner) absolutely adored her presence. There were rarely any young woman in the vicinity, and she was one with such sweet-temper and easy to talk to. 

“What will you give me this time?” She asked with a winning smile, and Jaehyun, despite his initial reluctance to continue the conversation, still replied to her awkwardly, “It’s called ‘Death in the Afternoon’. Take it down slowly.”

“Mm, Ernest Hemingway. Classy,” Sera took the glass from his hands, lightly grazing her fingers against his before she ignorantly pulled away with an expression of naivety. At first, she was repulsed to find out that this undercover mission was about babysitting a grown man, but now that she got to know him a little better, she thought he was a fine distraction from the usual type of guy around her. Innocent to a fault, anti-social and painfully awkward. She liked the fact that he kept a polite distance away from her. 

During her time with the Rebel, each of her mission required a fake identity to be used in order to mask off her real one, and she was so used to faking them that she felt no qualm acting out certain roles for the sake of the mission’s success. She found out that it wasn’t touches from men she despised - it was intimate encounter with people she couldn’t trust because it threatened her personal space and triggered the self-disgust that she had after her defilement. She couldn’t help but thought of Suho again. She didn’t even have one last conversation nor did she bid him any words of farewell. Hopefully he would not despise her much. And then there was Sehun, who made her feel all warm inside. Both men equally confusing, but kind.

“Do you know the man with the tattoo that came before?”

Jaehyun stopped wiping the non-existent dust on the plates and stared at her suspiciously. Sera pretended that she didn’t see the glare directed at her and continued looking at the bubbles in the glass. There was nothing interesting to see in here, with the purple lights and nineteenth century's Victorian era. Sure, it had a very classy feel, but Sera wasn’t really one to enjoy the night scene or the olden days atmosphere. Jaehyun approached her and tapped his fingers impatiently, “Why are you asking? Are you here to spy on me?”

Amateur, Sera smirked mentally. Too honest. He just admitted that he knew something about his foster father’s job. This alone, could put him in an endless interrogation with the CIA. And their agents were literally everywhere. She could place the bet that some of them must already be here, watching and listening, as the two of them talked. “Spy on you?” She blinked her large eyes in confusion, hoping to work her charm on the clueless young boy about how right he was, “Why? I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ for everything. He hit the old man because of me, right?”

“Oh,” He replied, blushing, and went back to cleaning. Jaehyun thought he was thinking too much. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Sera adjusting the oversized sweater that fell onto her shoulder, and again, the redness that had started to subside suddenly started to spread all the way over to his neck and ears. She almost laughed right then when she saw how tense he was. “I don’t know that man. I don’t remember any of my customers.” Lies. He had a borderline photographic memory. 

Sera hummed, but deep inside, she was a little disappointed. No one liked being lied to, even if she knew well where he was coming from. She knew exactly who that man was, but she chose not to remember it. No matter how well she was treated, it was better to leave Jin behind in the memory, and not her present. Not anymore. “Well, no matter what he’s done, it might be better for you to stay away should he appears again in the future. A man who fights like that is all trouble. You’re better off not entangling yourself with his kin.”    

Jaehyun did not answer, but she knew he was listening. There wasn’t much to find out about this boy, and she liked to take things slow. The General did not issue a time limit for this mission, but she knew that the quicker it was done, the better it would be for Suho before his body deteriorated even further. For Transcendentals like them who lived their lives on line because of how consuming their abilities were, Suho would not last more than a year without half of his lifeline. The General’s threat was very effective against her, and his warning even more so, because Sera was not ungrateful, and she knew how to repay him for the kindness he had extended during her worst. 

It was midnight when she left. Jaehyun subconsciously checked his watch every time she did. The girl always gave a huge sum of tip, despite the norm of non-tipping in Japan. She could give less about how discourteous it was because where she grew up from, tipping was a tradition. It was raining again, a common occurrence in the unpredictable June weather. She did not have an umbrella, and there was no convenience store nearby for her to swing by. The small alley was dead quiet tonight, with fewer guests than usual. She was better off waiting here than inside. Hopefully the rain would stop soon.

There was a man heading her way in the stillness of the night with a large black umbrella on. The tip of his grey pants were wet by the water, and his shoes were tragically drenched to the core. Sera could not quiet catch his facial features, but guessed that he must be one of this bar’s midnight guest, so she stepped aside to give him enough space for the entrance, even as the rain splashed onto her brown hair. It was cold, and Sera hated cold. It was until he gave away the umbrella to cover her that she finally saw who it was. 

Ah, her heart mellowed a little every time she saw him. Sera couldn’t help it. Jin had this pair of soft eyes that stared right into you. He did not smile at her - he rarely ever did. Instead he frowned, and despite the fragility behind those words, he chose to harden his heart and asked in an accusing manner, “Are you going to run away again?”       

Sera could not. Not when she was asked in that way. And not when he was half-drenched because his umbrella was now sheltering her. She stepped closer, and Jin flinched a little. He could catch the whiff of Victoria Secret’s Noir Tease - the same old perfume she liked to use. Not much had change from then. Sera still stood a half-head shorter, her hair was now longer after she cut it off two years ago when she left, broken-hearted, and her voice was still so low and soft, despite the snarkiness behind each words. Then it was as if nothing had changed for him. He could feel the pounding of his own heart against the chest whenever she was close. But Jin was never one to express himself openly. He always looked disdainful most of the time, like there was a permanent scowl settled onto his face.

“Why are you here?” She asked. He still felt that strange aching, the strong longing that was intensified over the years. Of all the faces he had met, Sera was still the only one to make him feel so much. “I’m here on my own accord. Don’t worry. I didn’t tell V about your whereabouts here.”

Her heart skipped a beat at his honesty. She knew Jin would not betray her. Maybe she didn’t trust him as much as she trusted Daniel - not the kind where you could jump into a running train or bite off a bullet for him. There was a distance that she always had to maintain in consideration of Taehyung’s feeling, despite the latter’s disinhibition for intimacy with the opposite gender. “I know you won’t.” They stared at each other in the dim light, “But still. What are you doing here if not for him? You… can’t be here for me, can you?”

Jin did not reply. He tilted his head and let the sound of water dropping filled in their silence. His mind was swirling with thoughts of summer, of winter, of the coldness of her lips, and the crack between her lovely lips. Jin was not one for many words, so it was nothing unusual for Sera to bask in the stillness of the moment. Her mind was thrown into disarray when she didn’t know whether she should run away from him despite the heavy rainfall, or wait until it subsided. They were still closely attached to each other, even though their skins did not touch, Sera could feel the electricity in the distance that separated them.

“You’re here for the boy inside, aren’t you?” Jin finally asked. His voice was cool as the breeze. Sera did not answer. It was a protocol to keep the mission - whatever it was - in complete secrecy. She quirked her brow, not a change of expression. Based on his reaction, Jin was here for Jaehyun, too, but for one such boy, she could not understand why two organisations would vie for him this way. Wasn’t he just a stepson of a dead CIA agent? The Union had never been short of Transcendentals with potentials before, and they rarely took anyone over seventeen into the organisation.

“You should be careful in Tokyo, Sera,” He set his gaze inside the bar, the hand that held onto the umbrella tightened considerably. “This is no ordinary mission, and six of the Knights are here with V and two other from the inner circle. If he ever sees you again, you can forget your freedom and daylight.”

Sera suddenly stumbled forward, unable to keep her balance. Jin caught onto her and saw how pale and shaken she was. His heart ached when he saw how fragile she was, eyes darting to the side nervously. All of them knew the kind of impact Taehyung had on her, and how depressed she was when they were torn apart. Despite her stronger, calmer self, Sera could not shake off the past that shaped her today, and a large part of it was Taehyung - his smile, his frown, his happiness, his sadness and the thoughts of their finite future together.

“You’re here to warn me, then?” She gritted her teeth in anger. 

Jin wanted to deny, that he wanted to protect her from Taehyung. But words like these were empty lies. She turned and started running into the rain, despite how cold it was and how much she hated it. Without a second thought, Jin ran after her and grabbed her hand, the umbrella now forgotten in the corner of the bar’s entrance. Both were soaked, but one was drowning in her own pent-up frustration, and the other in worry that she would do something reckless again. The boundaries existed before that separated the two from a proper communication, but now it was gone, and Jin no longer had to hold back.

“Let me go!” Sera said, glaring at him fiercely. For some reason, her heart started chanting for help even if the person holding her was someone she knew well. Suho and Sehun’s faces appeared in her mind for that one second and she swore she could almost hear someone’s voice trying to reach out to her. Sera wasn’t used to the length she could utilise with this newly acquired ability. Water was preventing her from speaking coherently, “Jin, let me go. I won’t try to control your mind out of regards for our old friendship.”      

As soon as he let go, Sera slipped away quickly, and this time, she did not look back. 

A/N: Okay, not edited again, so please forgive the grammar. You can expect this kind of chapter for unedited options (which of course, comes faster than the usually heavily edited ones).