\ \ \ \ \

 

Siwon rose early in the morning with a light heart and a bright smile. Before turning in for work he stopped by a pharmacy and purchased some ointment, pain killers, and more bandages. Returning to his car on the street he the radio and immediately started humming to that morning’s music. 

 

He pondered over the thought of whether he should call first or not. At last he decided it’d be nice if he surprised her. Siwon really wanted to see that happy, grateful smile light up her face the moment she saw him. Just the thought of him made him somewhat more excited. 

 

Parking on the empty street that morning he cheerily started toward the apartment building and up the stairs. Siwon randomly greeted an old couple leaving their apartment and quickened his pace. Once in front of the apartment door he recognized he paused to clear his throat and looked over his outfit just in case it was dirty. Finally satisfied with himself he cleared his throat once more before raising his hand up stiffly to knock on the door. A wave of nervousness was suddenly overcoming him. 

 

It’d been a long while since he dated. All women currently in his life were mere acquaintances and he had a feeling that he didn’t want Seohyun to be another boring acquaintance. He was also positive that his parents would like her the moment they saw her. Siwon, though, wanted to wait for the perfect timing in order to talk to her about his feelings. Surely, his feelings had been cloudy from the start but he was becoming more and more confident that he wouldn’t brood over Victoria. Whether he had backed off because of Donghae or because of himself, Siwon was sure he wouldn’t be able to find the answer just then. 

 

The door opened and Siwon readied himself to speak, but all else in him ceased to function the way he’d wanted them to when Victoria stared back at him. A small ounce of unexplainable guilt flushed through him when he saw a flare of expectation in her eyes. 

 

“Hi,” she greeted with a warm smile. 

 

“Oh…hi.” he awkwardly nodded. 

 

“Do you want to come in?” she wondered. 

 

“No,” he impulsively refused the kind offer startling her. “I…just came to give Seohyun this.”

 

Victoria stared down at the bag he urged toward her.” 

 

“She got hurt on our trip yesterday,” Siwon told.

 

“Sure,” Victoria reluctantly replied taking the bag from him, “I’ll give it to her.” 

 

Siwon glanced toward the brown door uncertain if he should say anything else. Whether he should ask if she was doing fine, if she’d been busy lately. However, nothing else trailed out from his mouth. It felt unkind and unjust of him to ask her when he didn’t come for her, but Seohyun. 

 

The slight drift of romantic tension and ambiguity he’s experienced with her slightly wavered between them. He realized he couldn’t stand still and let emotions run free when he was already confident of his feelings. Betraying his own words would make him seem like a coward if he decided to sway from Seohyun. Not to mention he was already rooting for Donghae. 

 

Siwon smiled, “I’ll be off now. Tell Seohyun I hope she gets better.” 

 

Victoria nodded quietly before he turned around and headed back down. 

 

\ \ \ \ \

 

Unable to force herself to close the door she watched Siwon’s back disappear before turning around. Quietly closing the door behind her and walking pass the sleeping Luhan in the living room she glanced into the bag to see bandages, pain killers, and a bottle of ointment. Without asking she suddenly realized who Seohyun had been with yesterday while she was busy running with Luhan. Whether she felt a bit of disappointment and sadness Victoria didn’t feel like dwelling on it. She wanted as much focus as she could on getting the ‘Golden Mary’. 

 

The sound of a yawn made her turn in the middle of the hallway to see Seohyun stepping out of her room. What Victoria first saw were the bandages on her arms and knees with marks of dried blood. 

 

“What happened to you?” Victoria asked. 

 

Seohyun looked at her and said without concern, “There was some kind of undesirable event yesterday. What’s that?” 

 

Victoria the bag forward, “For you.” She didn’t want to say Siwon’s name, but a heavier fact weighed on her that she didn’t want to lie to Seohyun. “Siwon came.” 

 

Seohyun’s face lit up with pure joy and an ache throbbed from inside Victoria. She turned away so that she would no longer witness the happiness on Seohyun’s face. 

 

“I’ll be back. I want to see if he already left or not,” Seohyun’s excited voice said before her footsteps disappeared out the door. 

 

“Seohyun!” Victoria suddenly turned around calling desperately. 

 

Her feet carried her after Seohyun, but her mind forced her to come to a stop at the closed door. Questions bombarded her. What was she doing? Why was she even bothering to follow Seohyun? Was she, perhaps, hoping to stop Seohyun from meeting up with Siwon? Was she that terrible of a person? 

 

A hopeless breath of exasperation fell from her lips. Victoria felt so conflicted and confused with herself. Did she like that man so much that she didn’t want Seohyun happy? 

 

“What? Is someone at the door?” 

 

Victoria abruptly turned to see a bed-headed Luhan standing at the doorway of the living room. 

 

“No.” 

 

With head tilted toward the ground she started to walk away.  

 

“I’m going to go see Cha Tae Sung today.” Luhan’s voice stopped her. “Do you want to come with?” 

 

\ \ \ \ \

 

Seohyun ran out of breath at the bottom of the stairs and burst out the door in time to see Siwon sitting inside his car. A smile appeared across her lips relieved that he hadn’t yet gone. Walking over to his car she stared in through the window. He was so handsome that his side profile was even more appealing. Siwon was so perfect in every little way. 

 

Siwon turned when she knocked on the window. A smile, too, appeared across his lips. She waited patiently while he stepped out of the car making his way around the car toward her. 

 

“I thought you were sleeping in,” he commented stopping in front of her. 

 

“Then I got up just in time,” Seohyun beamed with a smile. 

 

The smile on his face refused to disappear as his heart shyly jumped inside him. They stared at each other and laughed after a few seconds from all the feelings of happiness, shyness, and nervousness jumbled together. From afar they really did look like a pair of young lovers in lover for the first time. 

 

“Thanks for this,” Seohyun lifted up the bag. 

 

Siwon nodded, “Does it still hurt?” 

 

She shook her head, “It’ll be perfectly fine after I use these.” She gestured her head toward the bag. 

 

“I should be going now. I’ll call you later,” Siwon awkwardly waved wondering if he should give her a hug, but his feet was already backtracking toward his car. 

 

Seohyun waved back enthusiastically. 

 

When she returned to the apartment she found Luhan sitting with Victoria quietly in the kitchen eating their bowls of cereals. The sight immediately brought to Seohyun the thought of a young newlywed couple spending their first morning together in their new home. Unconsciously a soft smile spread itself over her lips. 

 

“Why are you smiling while looking so dumbfounded?” Luhan questioned. 

 

Breaking out of her daydream she turned to Luhan with a small glare before starting toward the shelves to grab herself a mug. 

 

“You should be glad to know that I just saw a newlywed couple,” Seohyun smirked mischievously at Luhan who frowned in return. 

 

“Is something wrong up there?” Luhan pointed to his head. 

 

“Forget you,” Seohyun snapped before Victoria got up from her chair. 

 

“I’m done,” Victoria told. “Seohyun, stay in today.”

 

“Wh…why?” Seohyun stared at Victoria before the sight of the two appeared in her eyes. “Where are you guys going?” 

 

She immediately turned her attention to Luhan wondering if he was behind anything. He stared back at her with unreadable eyes before turning to look at Victoria. Seohyun couldn’t help but feel left out. Where were they going that she wasn’t invited? 

 

“I’ll let you in on it later, so just rest today.” Victoria said. 

 

“Why? I’m not that hurt,” Seohyun tried, “if you think…” 

 

“Seohyun,” Victoria called. 

 

A look of disappointment as if she’d been unjustified flushed her face covering her eyes in a layer of a childish tantrum. 

 

\ \ \ \ \

 

“Are you sure you had to do that?” Luhan asked when they stepped outside. 

 

Victoria who felt somewhat cold and different that morning continued walking ahead as if nothing else mattered. Luhan turned back to glance up at the apartment building wondering how Seohyun would fare her day alone. Seohyun would, for sure, become suspicious of them. He turned back to look at Victoria’s lone back. 

 

“Say, Luhan,” Victoria said pausing in her step, “you know Seohyun quite well, don’t you?” 

 

Luhan, who was now beside her, only turned to glance at her curious to what she really wanted to know. 

 

“You would have a picture in your head of how Seohyun would react when she finds out what we’re keeping from her,” Victoria pictured an enraged Seohyun with red eyes full of angry tears, “that you know our identities, you know about the ‘Golden Mary’, and we’re working together without her to get it. The ‘Golden Mary’ is a top priority in our job so it’s most important to Seohyun and you should know she’s quite short tempered too. Would you be able to face her when she finds out?”

 

With Victoria’s words, Luhan envisioned himself a pissed off Seohyun. Would he receive a slap or a punch? One thing was for sure, Seohyun wouldn’t look at him the same again if she knew he had been aware of the ‘Golden Mary’ all along. He would look like a liar. It would make him look like he’d betrayed her and their friendship. It would be him, again, who had tarnished their friendship. Seohyun would more or less hate him. 

 

“I want to end things in a clean a way as possible,” Victoria said, “without dragging anyone from the outside in. Seohyun wouldn’t want anyone to die, if someone is to die it should it be someone from inside this mess. Do you know what I’m saying?” 

 

He continued to stare at her. Luhan hadn’t thought about it beforehand, but Victoria was right in every way. She had been thinking so deep into all this when all he had been worried about was finding his father, An Kor, and tracing the steps of the ‘Golden Mary’. He could only conclude that he was insensible to all else. Victoria, whose job only required of her to find the ‘Golden Mary’ at all costs, was worried about everyone else even when her job didn’t require her to. Would Victoria start to carry all else by herself in the end only to be burdened? Was this what he had feared about Victoria from the start? Her kindness would only bring her down. 

 

“I,” Victoria turned to stare right into his eyes, “am doing this for you too. So, for now, everything that happens is to be kept between us only.”

 

The longer he looked into her eyes, the stronger her authority over him seemed. Whether he had been forced to nod, or if he had done it out of his own accord, Luhan didn’t know. 

 

\ \ \ \ \

 

“Coffee?” 

 

Inside the cool headquarters Donghae sat with his legs fanned out, his feet resting on the opposite chair comfortably. A magazine of the year’s latest business revenues sat in his hands, his mind obviously bored the more he flipped through it. He was ready to sigh and call it a day already. On his birthday with lots of planned fun, why did he have to work? Rolling his eyes to the back of his head he forgot that he now had two birthdays to keep in mind. His own and Lee Donghae’s, if ever anyone was to surprise him with a cake on a day in which he wasn’t born. 

 

Donghae turned his head to the side and lifted it up to see Siwon with a cup of fresh coffee in hand. 

 

“It’s mocha, your favorite,” Siwon said before dragging out a chair to sit beside him. 

 

Taking the cup without a “Thanks” he took a sip almost burning his tongue. Letting out a shout he jumped forward dropping his feet from the chair ahead of him. 

 

“Shoot, that’s hot!” Donghae shouted. 

 

Siwon looked at him amused before crossing his own arms, “Where’d you get that?” 

 

Donghae turned to look at him and Siwon gestured toward the large bandaid on his arm. 

 

Feeling boastful, Donghae bragged, “Got it on a date.” 

 

A little let down by Donghae, Siwon’s smile drifted before he quickly brought it back. 

 

“I was just kidding,” Donghae said turning away oblivious to everything around, “I wished it was a date, but we just ran into each other. Then some drunk came along.”

 

“Nothing bad happened, right?” 

 

“No,” Donghae replied and Siwon felt somewhat relieved, “Victoria slammed the guy real nice. I don’t think anyone would try to jump her with those defense skills.”

 

Donghae turned to Siwon happily. 

 

“Oh yea, she even suggested coming over to my place for a bit. I think she was a bit sad, though. Victoria talked a lot about her parents,” Donghae babbled on before sighing with a smile. “I want to see her again.” 

 

As Donghae’s mind drifted off, he forgot to see the ambivalent expression on Siwon’s face. 

---

***Uh-oh, seems like there's still something between WonToria 

***I initially don't plan any romance for Luhan, but we'll see how the story turns out. My only plan for him was to become the big 'goer' after the 'Golden Mary' and become a good friend to Vic, but since things always change when I'm writing we'll see how everything becomes as this story further progresses :) 

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