I found out a little too late by the morning that Jaehyun was taken away. Kidnapped by someone with apparent big guts. I do not know who it was, but I have a pretty good idea of how I would want to deal with him after. I sipped my tea calmly in the small cafe downstairs in the morning, even as my mind worked in chaos the entire time. It was a fine Friday morning when all of this happened, and the rain definitely did no help to lighten up the mood at all.

This was Japan. The longest I had stayed in was for four months, during a mission with the Rebel. At that time, Taehyung had wanted a connection with the Senso-ji where Irene came from, and decided to start it with a silent massacre that lasted for three whole days and nights. The scene was a bloody bath, but the event was kept tightly under wrap by the Japanese parliament and the CIA. He sent Jin, Daniel, and I together on the mission that lasted way longer than it should have had. At least the few big organisations knew better than to deal with them heads-on.

I am currently staring at my phone - or to be more precise, I have been staring at it for a while now. I find it ridiculous - foolish, perhaps - that the first person to pop up in my mind when I want to ask for help is Suho. The very same man who kept mum about his involvement in my ordeal. I am feeling extremely conflicted about it. I have always thought that I understand the kind of person he is, but it wasn’t until the General told me that I found out how wrong I was. He shares such similarity to Taehyung that I see a shadow of their souls interlinked together. They are both slick, very smart, and keeps their thoughts well-hidden.

I’m never one to keep phones for long. Or any other technology for that matter. Because the nature of this job requires me to swear absolute secrecy for the sake of my own safety. I bought a new one this morning after I found out what happened to Jaehyun. Maybe I should have established a mind link with Suho before I left, but for some reason, I could not bring myself to bid him goodbye. Or any of the others, for that matter. I never liked seeing anyone for one last word, in fear that the goodbye I said would be the last of me.

Just a call, I convinced myself. It’s nothing big. When did I get so nervous talking to Suho?

I picked up the phone and dialled his number from my memory. It rang a few times. It took three other calls before he picked up. Suho’s voice sounded extremely low and unpleasant when he just woke up. He was usually so delicate-looking, but he disliked morning phone calls from unknown number. He grunted loudly into the phone and yawned before asking, “Who’s this? If it’s you, Doctor Lee, there’s three more hours before morning comes. Whatever it is can wait until then.”

His raspy morning voice indicated how tired he was the night before. Suho worked eight hours more than average people every day, effectively sacrificing himself for the cause. He rarely had a good sleep, because if he ever did, he would not be waken up by mere phone ringing right beside his ear before the dawn. I bit back my lips and stared at the cup to hold back my laughter and replied, equally serious as he was, “It’s me.” Silence. A pregnant pause. “Well, if you’re not quite up yet, we could always talk sometimes later.”

Suho sighed from the other side. Or in his breath, because the sound was too similar to each other. Instead of hanging up like he initially wanted to, he stayed on the lane and cleared his throat to indicate his willingness to listen. The fatigue wasn’t completely gone, but he could care less. The erratic beat of his heart would not allow him a peace of his mind. “You know I’ll always have time to listen to you.” He dragged his feet to the mini fridge and grabbed a bag of tea even though he didn’t usually drink so often. The caffeine would keep him awake. “Is everything okay over there?”

“Hm,” My gaze dimmed a little. It was hard to miss the affection in his voice, which I played deaf to. “Not quite so. My mission has gone awry and I need help.”

“Okay, tell me what happened.”

He was neither hurried nor anxious. His calmness helped to soothe down the chaos. I bit my lower lips and told him in an equally slow and serious voice, “My target has been kidnapped on the way to his house in the Shibuya area, approximately eight to ten hours ago. I suspect that it was the CIA who did it, but I haven’t put any kind of tracker on him. And besides, the Rebel is directly involved in this as well. If I don’t move fast and get him out of whichever hellhole he is in, I’m afraid we will never have another chance to. My mission will be considered a failure then…” And you would lose half of your ability and the remaining of your life.

“Are you doing this alone?” He asked, even though he knew very well of the answer. With my head down, I did not reply, but even then, we shared a mutual, almost telepathic understanding with each other. I’m not used to anyone being gentle, and I’m definitely not used to anyone understanding my thoughts so well (with the exception of Taehyung, who quite literally could read minds, too). “I will ask someone to track him now, and give you news about it in an hour. Sounds good to you?”

“It’s perfect,” My moods lifted up and I chewed my lips even harder.

I miss you a lot, Suho wanted to say. Things hadn’t been the same since you left. But he felt it inappropriate for now and instead, kept a very bitter smile on his face. With Sehun and Kai gone from the vicinity, he felt even more worn out and used than ever. He didn’t know when he started feeling more sad than happy whenever he listened to a certain voice or saw a certain someone. “I want you to come back soon, Sera,” He chuckled and I swore my heart skipped a beat when he did. “It’s been quiet without you.”

“Yeah,” I tasted the blood from my lips and held my breath in anticipation. The dark clouds had cleared up, the rain stopped, and the confusion finally dissipated. It was such a weird feeling, and yet, I knew I wanted to go back and see him. I didn’t bother thinking too much into what it was. I always tried to be honest and upfront about my feelings and this time it was no different. “It’s so strange that I feel this way, but I miss you.” Maybe more than I ever knew. “It’s been boring without you, too.”

Suho didn’t want to admit it. He was falling. Hard. It started out slow and unnoticeable but it happened. His affection had gone deeper than mere attraction and crushes, and sometimes, it scared him that this might be the first time he actually felt something more. Something real, and raw, and exciting, but at the same time, sour and bitter all the same. His heart fluttered in the most beautiful way, like it threatened to burst out of his chest and it was beating so hard that he found it hard not to choke. “I…” He paused a little while, and leaned his forehead against the cupboard, “I miss you too. Come back quickly.”

I didn’t know when it started. But gradually, we started taking steps closer to each other.

* * *

Taehyung straightened his tie as he gave the invitation letter to the person with the golden mask. It was hard to tell the clear outline of his face behind the mask, but Taehyung’s eyes saw right through it. He was always gifted with the sight, and it became even more developed with the help of Jimin. All of them were present, minus Irene who could not do much to help, although they were located in different positions based on their abilities and function. And besides, they needed to split up to avoid suspicion in a world-scale auction like this one.

Yeonwoo stood by his side, and as always, their hands were tangled together. It had been that way since Sera left. The redness of her lips were glaring, almost blood-like under the light. Her perfect legs were parted and shown with a middle slits. To many, Kim Yeonwoo was a beauty in a million. And Taehyung had to admit that despite the push-and-pull, he was still attracted, or at least physically. But her presence alone was too much of a reminder to Sera. Their breakup still had a huge impact on him even after years.

Taehyung looked down at his hands and sighed. Their mind link was getting weaker, and right now, he could only feel her pulse beating, but not their hearts connecting. It was almost as if she was sleeping soundly, and he was left awake without a company. It had been that way for a while now. And funnily enough, when he used to hate being bounded to anyone, now he was searching for her figure in his dreams and reality, even as he was holding onto the arms of another who loved him so. Taehyung thought that, despite of everything that happened, she deserved a heartfelt apology.

“Is everything ready?” During missions and public performance, Taehyung was rarely ever compassionate. Friendly, maybe, but no more than a good facade to show. He needed to keep up the pretense. Beside him, Yeonwoo finally let go of his arms obediently but stood close by, claiming the spot next to him. She glanced at the two other men, Jin and Daniel, and frowned immediately. She had never liked them much for how close and defensive they were towards Sera. The younger girl was not without imperfections, and her life was filled with as much hardships as anyone else in the organisation, but Yeonwoo wanted everything Sera had that she did not. Like Taehyung and the spot she took next to him. This was their throne together, with the girl finally out of the picture.

“Yeah, everyone is,” Jin replied, but the smirk on his face was hanging so lowly towards Yeonwoo, almost like a personal attack she didn’t take well. His sneer was obvious to everyone, as was his long-lasting grudge, but no one spoke a word to defend the girl or stop Jin, even Taehyung. He looked so detached in his greyish-blue shirt, his purple eyes glowing dimly under the chandelier, and he shook away Yeonwoo’s hands gently when the masked man came back and approached them with a set of bidding boards.

“Sire, the Grandmaster is very pleased to welcome you for the first time in the auction.”

The auction was held once a year, in various places all over the world. No one knew how it started, or who was in charge, they all knew there was someone powerful enough to hold this event without being investigated or questioned by the higher authority. The Grandmaster-in-charge was a very reclusive man (or woman), whose face was never made known to public. Even Taehyung, who had inquired several times over, reaped no result over this curious wonder.

The four were soon led into a large room where everyone mingled around and interacted with polite smiles and distant conversations. There was not a single face they had not seen from newspaper or classified information. As per usual, Taehyung and Yeonwoo walked in pairs, and although he wasn’t very keen in socializing tonight because of how risky it was to have his identity exposed, curiosity still took over the best of him, and he ended up bringing her across the room to chat with numerous people from all over the world. Taehyung was always an extrovert given how good he was with people and how much he loved being around them, so socializing was his strong forte. Jin, on the other hand, was suffering silently in one corner, watching with narrowed, and apparent bored eyes as everyone around him exchanged feigned interest with each other.

Daniel saw how miserable he was at the social setting and went over to talk to him. He was dressed in a dashing black suit that fit his lean and muscular body, looking extra dapper tonight as he caught the attention of the ladies in the room. Unlike Jin who was always brooding and gloomy, with a frown so deep it seemed like a permanent mark on his face, Daniel was the sunny afternoon who glowed brightly and warmly wherever he went. He grabbed two glasses of champagne and gave one to Jin, who unhappily downed it in one shot.

“Careful there. You might get drunk before the fun even begins,” Daniel warned.

His advice was met with a snort but Jin no longer drank any other glass after. Cocktails wouldn’t get him drunk, and he had always hated the sweet taste mixed with alcohol. He was thinking of the aftermath of his recklessness – all that pent-up emotion swirling inside him after so long. It was with this that he found Taehyung and Yeonwoo all the more repulsive – the kind that sent chills into his stomach because of his longstanding hatred.

Daniel was a little subtler in his expression. He wished to be anywhere but here, even if it was with Hoseok, whom, quite frankly, he found insufferable (although to be very honest, Hoseok was always that way with anyone else except for Taehyung). He was suddenly reminded that it was halfway through the year, and June meant it was Sera’s birthday coming soon, and from a bitter, brokenhearted twenty-two years-old, she would transform into someone stronger – or at least so did Daniel hope.

“I must applaud you for staying,” Jin opened up for the first time. “If I were you, I would have left with Sera back then. She still trusts you more than anyone else in this world.”

Daniel smiled bitterly. This was where he found himself most different from Jin. He didn’t hold as much romantic love for her as Jin did – or at least, so he thought. He had learnt to keep his feelings at bay, and overtime, it turned to a more platonic friendship that grew stronger overtime. He couldn’t be Jin, who was always ready to act. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Taehyung would kill us both if we escaped together, and I thought, back then, that I should at least help her distracting Taehyung’s anger for that period of time as she ran. I had absolutely no doubt that she would survive. And besides, Sera needed time and space away from anyone else. I was, in a way, giving her all the freedom she could never have in this lifetime.”

“Heroic fool,” Jin chuckled. He could almost taste the sweetness of this irony. They both envied each other, but they wouldn’t give up their current positions to the other, or anyone else for that matter. Daniel would always be the best friend that a girl could have – a brotherly figure that was constantly there, even though they were separated halfway across the world. And Jin would maintain the ambiguous stance of a friend that was not quite friend, at least until he could get his feelings clear.

“Aren’t we both?” Daniel grinned and clinked his glass into Jin’s empty one. Then he proceeded to down it all, in the same impulsive manner Jin did, and heaved a sigh after. The alcohol wasn’t nearly enough to keep his sorrow at bay, but it was enough to clear up his muddle-headedness. It was nearing eight now, and the auction should have started anytime soon, but there was no sign of it at all. It was then that both their eyes went to the door at the same time. Heart racing, they stared at the red-dressed woman descending down the stair in all her glory.

Jung Sera was beautiful in a way that she had absolutely no idea that she was. The room might be enraptured by her presence and she would still remain oblivious – another reason to be added onto Yeonwoo’s list of why she hated Sera with passion. She didn’t need to turn around to know that Taehyung had his eyes fixed on her, as if the world didn’t matter anymore. It had been two years since, and not a thing had changed since she left. The way he looked at her was still the same intense gaze, as if she were the only girl he could see.

Sera had prepared for the day that they would meet again, but no matter how much she steeled her heart, it never worked when it came to the one and only Kim Taehyung. He was not her first love, not the first broken heart she had gotten, but it was the first time she had ever loved someone as deeply. It was the first time she had ever met someone she connected so deeply with, a man who understood her well enough to support and sweep her off the ground. With Kim Taehyung, her whole world changed. With Kim Taehyung, she matured. With Kim Taehyung, she was no longer the same starry-eyed seventeen years-old without a home to belong to.

Sera didn’t want to feel this way when they met again. Like her heart was ready to burst out, and she would break down anytime because it was so intense and overwhelming. And still, in all her attempt to be the cool and composed ex-girlfriend, she straightened her back and smoothened the front dress on the part of her stomach. She swept Taehyung an apathetic glance and no more. Instead, she headed to a corner where there were fewer people, coincidentally spotting Jin and Daniel in the progress.

Her eyes turned a little warmer and she gave them an acknowledging nod but made no move to approach them. She didn’t want to implicate herself with the Rebel anymore. Jin’s dark eyes swept over her and his hands almost bled from clenching too tightly.

Yeonwoo was the first to come over, dragging Taehyung in her arms, completely ignoring the Prime Minister of Japan, whom they were talking to at the time. She would much rather immerse herself in the business of catfighting than political and economic conversation that almost bored her to death. Her blood red dress swept the ground as she came closer. And Sera stiffened. It didn’t hurt as much as it used to, but that didn’t mean that she would like to see them hands-in-hands ever again. And with this, she turned around with icy expression to face her lifetime enemy with a smile that was not quite a smile.

“Hi, Sera.”