“Chen,” Hyerin whispered, propping her chin on top of her palm as she watched the boy do his homework. “Chen.”

The boy didn’t flinch and continued writing on his notebook. It’s as if she wasn’t there.

“Hey, Chen.”

No response.

“Hey.” She poked the boy next to her on his side, making him jolt in his seat.

Chen closed his eyes, sighing. “What, Hyerin?”

“Why are you not talking to me? I’ve been here for five minutes already,” she complained, folding her arms on the table.

He opened his eyes and turned to her. “As you can see I’m working on a paper here,” he said, pointing at the notebook on the desk.

“I need you to listen to what I have to say to you right now. I need us to be friends,” she said desperately much to her distaste. “And you know I’m not into being touchy and emotional and all that crap. That’s not my thing.”

“Then why are you doing it then? No one is forcing you, Hyerin. Just waste your time somewhere else because I have to work on a very important essay right now,” he said, turning his attention back to his paper. “School was over twenty minutes ago, Hyerin. Go home.”

Hyerin sighed. This was all Kyungsoo's fault. If he didn’t act so stubborn during their training at the shooting range the other day, Agent Zero wouldn’t have scolded her. Not only that, but he wouldn’t have told her dad about it, too. Once Myungjae found out about Hyerin and Kyungsoo not being on good terms, he told her to be friendlier with the others seeing that they were going to be around each other for a while.

Which lead to this.

“Okay, wrong choice of words. I don’t need us to be friends. I want us to be friends,” she said, resting her chin on top of her folded arms. “I want to make things right with everybody, and that includes you. I know we all think it’s cool now, that everything is okay, but really, it’s not. I know in your head you’re probably thinking of ways to torture me for getting you into this mess. And I don’t like that, so I want to start over,” she said, watching as his right hand stopped moving. Her eyes darted up, only to see him already looking down at her.

 “Please talk to me, Chen,” she mumbled, frowning. “I’m sorry.”

He gulped and looked away.

Chen turned to her again, sighing in defeat. “Stop apologizing.”

Hyerin’s face lit up, sitting straight. “Friends?” she asked, holding out her hand. He rolled his eyes before taking it.

“Friends,” he said, electrocuting her slightly in the process.

“Ow!” she yelped, pulling her hand away and cradling it. She earned a few glares from the students inside the library before cursing at Chen.

“What?” he asked innocently as he continued to write. “That’s the seal of our newly discovered friendship,” he sarcastically said, dodging Hyerin’s punch.

Before she could give a snarky retort, a faint beeping sound stopped her.

Chen and Hyerin looked at each other suddenly. Realizing what it was, they nodded and fished out slick, black devices from their pockets.

These devices were an enhanced version of a phone, with special features not found in regular mobiles such as a wide-ranged GPS and a hacking potentiality. It was the ultimate phone and it was exclusively customized for M-LX agents only.

They checked their phones and saw that they received a text.

From: Agent M

Headquarters now.

Cars are waiting for you outside.

--Message will automatically be deleted in 15 seconds--

Upon reading the message, they gave each other knowing looks and quickly took their things and left the library.

---

When they arrived at the M-LX headquarters, they were met with a cheerful Agent M and an unhappy Agent Zero.

“Good afternoon, kids! I assume you’re all tired from school,” Myungjae chuckled. Zero rubbed his forehead wearily.

“Why did you call us right now? I don’t remember having training on Tuesdays,” Chanyeol asked, genuinely confused.

“No, there will be no training today. I just have something to announce,” he said, fiddling with his glass of red wine.

Agent Zero sighed. “Agent, I still don’t think this is a necessary thing to do-”

“You all shall go out and spend time together this Friday!” he announced enthusiastically. “You know, just to get to know each other better since you all are in the same situation. It’s normal to bond with each other you know, so why not? And with all the stress you’re going to be under while training, you need some time to relax, right?”

There were mixed reactions, ones that were whooping with joy and ones who were whining to stay home. Hyerin ran a hand through her face, knowing it was because of her that Myungjae was trying so hard to get them to get a long with each other. 

“Hell yeah!” Xiumin exclaimed, bumping fists with Tao.

“Oh, brother,” Baekhyun sighed, while Kris rolled his eyes.

“What? You guys don’t like it? You guys don’t want to hang out?” Agent M asked, genuinely confused. “Don’t teenagers party all the time?”

“Sir, it’s just that training quite worn us out and we’re very much in need of rest,” Luhan explained.

“Oh, stop being pansies,” Hyerin snorted. “You all need to get along and try to not bicker every single time you’re with each other. You need it, honestly.”

“You’re no exception to this, Hyerin,” Agent M said.

“Wait, what!?” she exclaimed. “What the hell am I supposed to do with these losers?”

Myungjae gave her a deadly glare.

“I mean…‘heck.’”

“Honestly, you’re all in need of rest, but if you’re not going to try to get along now, then when?” Agent M said, giving Hyerin a knowing glance. “I’m trying to set this gathering for your own good. I just can’t stand back here and see you all not cooperating with each other. In less than two months, you’ll be ready to tackle missions under M-LX, and you won’t accomplish these missions if you guys don’t get along. I have no choice but to force you to do this. Do you get what I’m saying?” he asked.

The others quietly nodded. They were fully aware of how complicated their relationship was, and they were also aware of the fact that no one was doing anything about it. Thinking about it, spending time with each other even just once will be a big step to being a team.

“So…where are we going then?” Baekhyun asked, adjusting his glasses awkwardly.

Agent M sipped his wine, shrugging lazily. “I don’t know. You’re the young ones, shouldn’t you know that?”

“Agent M is right you guys. Who would know it better than the young ones? Who would know it better than me?” Xiumin said, stepping forward casually with a wide grin on his face. “I know exactly where we should go.”