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“Soohyun-shii…is there any secret hiding behind these pendants?” The eldest Kim kept silent while staring at the picture that Woohyun was holding. Woohyun was not surprised by the silent reaction. He had been fighting with himself on whether to approach Soohyun on his doubts. He was kind of expecting Soohyun to give a stoic expression instead of slipping out with a gasp initially. Seeing Woohyun’s determined eyes, the eldest Kim sighed before he unveil the story behind the pendants. Woohyun listened while gripping his fists.

20 years ago.

“Mummy! Daddy! Don’t go to work!”

The petite 5 years old Sunggyu wrapped his small arms around his parents’ legs to prevent them from going out. “Yes! Don’t go to work!” Myungsoo, who was 6 years old, joined his younger brother by stretching his arms straight in-front of his parents to prevent them from getting to the door. Their parents chuckled at the scene and gestured the matured eldest son, Soohyun who was already 13 years old to help. The teenager tried to drag Myungsoo away while the parents attempted to unwrap the arms of their youngest son, Sunggyu from their legs. Though Mr and Mrs Kim could not bear to leave their kids so soon, they had to attend to their work. After they left the house, Myungsoo and Sunggyu were sulking on the floor. Soohyun and their grandparents had to cheer them up with food and toys.

The Kims had always been involved in intelligence & security for high ranks authorities for decades. The Kim brothers did not always have the luxury of having their parents staying in the house with them for long. Their parents were always deployed for assignments and the 3 brothers could hardly see them. Due to the nature of their jobs, Mr and Mrs Kim made it a point to be careful and to protect their family members and hence, they had their whole family information under classified. To the Kims, it would be a form of safety measures to protect their family against any potential dangers. The Headquarters had arranged the Kims to stay in a secluded mansion near hillside and the kids were sent to private schools under the care of the organisation. The kids remembered they had to travel long hours for school and they were always grumbling and exhausted due to the long journey.

One sunny afternoon, Myungsoo and Sunggyu were waiting for the car to arrive when they decided to turn defiant and ran away from their chauffeur. It was fun at the beginning, hiding and escaping from the driver but it soon became a nightmare when they were grabbed by strangers who had muffled their screams and pushing them to a vehicle. The abductors did not give them food nor water for two days and when they were rescued by their parents’ colleagues, they were already covered with bruises on their faces due to the hard slaps from the captors and their blood stained school shirts that were from the cuts and burnt tortures. The young ones were hardly breathing when they were sent to the hospitals. While they were hospitalised, they did not see their parents at all and their eldest brother, Soohyun was very quiet and often appeared with swollen eyes. The younger ones kept whining and asking for their parents but to no avail. Gradually they stopped checking on their parents’ absence, thinking they had abandoned them.

At the same time, news of a huge explosion involving their parents with high rank officials appeared in news and tabloids, with a surprise leakage of a photo with the two young Kims in it. The kids were surrounded with beefy bodyguards and many of their parents’ colleagues came by to accompany the young ones, but without telling them anything relating to their parents.

A week and a half later, the kids were confused when they were told to pack their stuff into the luggage and leave hastily to overseas with their grandparents. And a few weeks after they arrived, they were informed of their parents’ demise where the kids kept asking what happened to them and if they were still coming back alive. They sobbed hard that day and fell asleep with exhaustion. Ever since then, the young ones were instructed to put on thick rim spectacles at all times and stayed in the peaceful outskirts of a small town in London.

“Soo… Gyu…” The little boys came running towards their grandparents upon hearing their names. Grandma Kim placed a necklace each on the boys and reminded them to wear it always like a protection charm. The kids were baffled but they obeyed the instructions given by the elders and since then, the necklace never left their side.

“Our parents were threatened to set explosion in the car where they were with the officials!” Soohyun punched his balled fist onto the table hard. “They saved the officials by throwing them out of the car before it exploded! How could those officials blame that it was our parents’ fault!” The eldest Kim gave a frustrated sigh. “I saw… saw them…covered with bloody bandages on their burnt skin… they wanted so much to see Soo and Gyu…” Soohyun’s eyes were now flooding with tears that was about to roll down angrily. Woohyun stood up and pat his hand on the eldest shoulder. From the slight tremble of the shoulders, Woohyun knew the oldest brother had broken down his façade and he patted gently on the older guy’s back as a form of comforting.

Sunggyu took note that Woohyun seemed to be distracted and more quiet lately. He sensed that Woohyun often seemed to have a lot of thoughts running through his mind. Seeing Woohyun with a troubled look, Sunggyu was worried for him. Woohyun tried to assure that he was fine and that he was focusing on gathering information for his current assignment, in the hope of fending off Sunggyu’s suspicions. Sunggyu did not probe further as he knew the confidentiality of the assignment and casted away his doubts for the time being. After discharging from the hospital, Sunggyu was brought to a guarded safe house where Myungsoo had been staying after the attack. Though they were both doubtful on this arrangement, they did not probe much due to Soohyun’s no-nonsense instructions for them to get a break from work.

“Is this a burnt mark?” The young pair were washing the plates after dinner and Woohyun was scanning the coarse skin on the wrist. Sunggyu quickly yanked his sleeves down to his palms. Woohyun noted his knitted brows. “Did you get it during the missions?” Sunggyu remained silent, wiped his hands dry and walked away. Seeing Sunggyu leaving, Woohyun immediately placed the last washed plate away and wiped his hands befo