Baekhyun stepped in front of his mirror as he slipped on his leather gloves, the kind that were up to the knuckles, and proceeded to put on his heavy, multi-functional belt that had his name engraved on the metal buckle. The look was completed with his black fitted shirt, cargo pants, and combat boots, his glasses stored inside one of the mini compartments in his belt. The corners of his mouth tugged upward, a sense of comfort taking over him just by looking at himself in his M-LX uniform. It wasn’t too long ago, but it felt like ages since he wore it.

Three knocks on his door interrupted his train of thought.

“Come in,” he said, turning around to see who it was. It was Kyungsoo, also fully dressed.

“What’s up,” Kyungsoo greeted casually, closing the door behind him.

“Hey, how’s it going,” Baekhyun said, unconsciously sizing up the boy. Only a couple of weeks had passed since the last time he took a good look at Kyungsoo and just like Hyerin, he changed a whole lot; he was tanner, his biceps were more cut and his chest was broader. His stance and aura felt different, intimidating even, and just the way he carried himself had an air of masculinity. Baekhyun almost forgot that he was much older than him.

Baekhyun cleared his throat, fixing his slouching posture as he walked over to his bed to pack his weapons. “So,” he started as he gathered his things, “what made you stop by?”

“For several reasons. But first of all, is everything set?”

Baekhyun nodded. “Agent M, Agent Zero, and I had a small meeting earlier this morning to finalize everything. Aside from our unit, fifteen other agents will be joining this mission.”

“Only fifteen?”

“Yes. No more than that or else we’ll be short on men if ever the ones we bring with us die. We have only a few agents left and we can’t risk it.”

Kyungsoo sighed, folding his arms. “Alright,” he mumbled under his breath, looking a little agitated.

Baekhyun glanced over at Kyungsoo. “What? You nervous?”

“No, I have to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“I’m not leaving with them.”

Baekhyun shrugged, zipping up his backpack. “I know. Agent M told me. It’s actually a good decision because we definitely need your strength for our missions after we get Hyerin out of here. Plus, seeing how…buff you’ve gotten I would want to train with you.”

Kyungsoo chuckled slightly, almost humorlessly. “That’s the thing,” he said. “I’m staying. You’re leaving with them.”

Baekhyun stiffened. Slowly, he turned around to face Kyungsoo, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.

He blinked several times. “M-Me?” he stuttered. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re going to leave with them, Baek, that’s what I’m talking about,” he repeated.

“But,” He stopped midsentence, switching from one foot to another as he looked at Kyungsoo with a mix of panic and uncertainty, “but that’ll ruin the plan! That’s not what we decided on, D.O, everyone will be mad.”

“I already talked to the two heads about it, it’s going to be fine,” Kyungsoo reassured.

“But they would have certainly told me about that if you did!”

“They know how you would react so they decided not to mention it. I volunteered to tell you,” he said, shrugging. “That’s why I’m here.”

“D.O.,” he started, looking at Kyungsoo helplessly. “The rest of the guys would go crazy mad once they find out. Hell, they didn’t even allow the two head agents to give me information about where Hyerin is staying outside of Seoul! Do you know what they’re going to do to the both of us? They’ll kill us!”

“They won’t as long as I’m around,” Kyungsoo said with a sense of authority. He stared Baekhyun in the eye long and hard. “I’m staying because it’s the right thing to do, and right now I’m telling you you’re going to leave with them. So hurry up and pack your things,” he said, opening the door to leave. “Don’t bring too much stuff.”

“Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun called out.

The boy turned around.

“Why me? Who assigned me to leave with them?”

“Me,” Kyungsoo said simply. “I personally chose you to replace me.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re smart,” he said. “You have good leadership qualities and I know, alongside with Kris, you’ll be able to take care of the others.”

“You mean Hyerin,” he corrected.

Kyungsoo’s gaze lowered to the ground. “Yeah, Hyerin,” he mumbled under his breath. His eyes went back up to Baekhyun, sobering up. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure everyone in here would protect Hyerin with all their strength but I know you’ll go to certain extents for her because you care for her. A lot,” he said. “Probably as much as I do.”

Baekhyun took in a deep breath. “Why don’t you do it yourself, then?”

“I already told you,” he said. “I’m not finished here. Not just yet.”

“Be careful,” Baekhyun reminded.

Kyungsoo shook his head as if dismissing the idea. “You shouldn’t be worrying about that. I want you to look after Hyerin. And look after yourself too, because you deserve this freedom more than anyone else,” he said. “That’s all I want you to do.”

Baekhyun let out an airy, sad chuckle, still in disbelief. “How can you just trust me with such a huge responsibility?” he asked softly. “I know how much she means to you.”

Kyungsoo looked down on his shoes, sighing. With slow, relaxed steps, he walked over to Baekhyun and placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

“You’re my brother, man,” he said, “that’s all there is to it.”

Baekhyun’s jaw clenched as he looked away, the back of his eyes heating up. “Okay.” He nodded. “I’ll do it.”

Kyungsoo looked at him, relieved, before nodding once. “Thank you,” he said with gratitude, patting him some more before leaving the room.

“No,” Baekhyun whispered when he heard the door close. He wiped the tear rolling down his cheek. “Thank you.”

---

Baekhyun held his handheld transceiver to his mouth. He pressed a button before speaking. “Baekhyun here, ready to start the operation. 982?”

Static sounds came before someone finally responded. “Frequency is clear,” Kris announced from the other line. “We’re boarding our vehicle. Unit A’s 10-20?”

Baekhyun turned around from the driver’s seat to look back at the agents entering the van.

“Dude,” Chanyeol mumbled distractedly, patting his pockets as if looking for something. “Where’s my walkie-talkie?”

Kyungsoo crouched down to enter the vehicle, with Hyerin and Suho following behind him.

“Your what?” Kyungsoo asked, raising a brow.

“My walkie-talkie!” Chanyeol exclaimed, now looking through his backpack. “I don’t know where it is!”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “You mean your transceiver?”

“My walkie-talkie!”

“For crying out loud, Chanyeol, we’re not in the goddamn third grade! It’s a ing transceiver!”

“I don’t care what you think, it’s a walkie-talkie to me!” he exclaimed before exiting the van to get his transceiver.

Baekhyun sighed, turning back to face the front. “Almost everyone is in the vehicle except for Chanyeol. He forgot his transceiver, just give him five or something.”

On the other line, Kris sighed. “Alright. We’ll head first then.”

“Understood,” Baekhyun replied, setting down his transceiver.

“You guys ready?” Suho asked the others.

“As ready as we could possibly be,” Luhan said, shoving his laptop inside his bag.

“What about you, Hyerin?” Suho turned towards the girl. “Did you say goodbye to your dad?”

Hyerin nodded, sighing. “We both had an agreement not to cry. It’s not like we’re not going to see each other again.”

Suho and Luhan gave each other concerned looks. Kyungsoo turned away and leaned forward to talk to Baekhyun who was at the driver’s seat.

“Hyerin, I’m confident that you’ll see each other again but still we’re not so sure-”

“I know,” she interrupted. “Just…just to make ourselves feel better about the situation, y’know?”

“Of course,” Suho said, nodding rapidly.

The door slid open and Chanyeol walked in breathless.

“Okay,” he wheezed. “Let’s go.”

From the driver’s seat, Baekhyun nodded and the engine.

Three generic SUVs emerged from the M-LX’s spiraling ramp leading to the city. The cars exited and ended up in a secluded, hidden alleyway. From there, they drove to the main street.

The city was still quiet and dirty, but it was better than the first few days after the takeover; people were finally going out and a few cars were driving around the streets, but it was not the same – the feeling was not as familiar and homely. The people were still afraid, and they would continue to be afraid if the agents didn’t do something.

Hyerin looked out the window, watching as the amount of people loitering around lessened, as well as the buildings becoming more and more destroyed and the air dustier than normal. The bright sun shining above gave the area an orange, desert-like hue, looking as if the city was humid and scalding despite it being the middle of November.

“Sad,” she muttered under her breath as she blankly watched the disintegrating buildings. “This is all so sad.”

After driving a couple of more miles, the car slowed down as the road became bumpier because of the crushed pavement they were driving through.

“We’re here,” Baekhyun announced, making the agents sit up straight and stretch to prepare themselves to get off the van.

“Where are the others?” Chanyeol asked, peeking out the window.

“They’re already at their designated destinations. Get ready,” he said, grabbing his transceiver and positioning it close to his mouth. “Agent, we’re ready to go forth with the operation.”

Static sounds. “We’re at our designated position. 982?” Kris responded.

“Affirmative. I’ll get back to you later.”

“Understood. Good luck, agent.” Click.

Baekhyun let out a huge breath as he rolled down the destroyed, bumpy road, the infamous wall standing tall and gigantic in front of their car. At the corner of his eye, he spotted four guards approaching the vehicle, all the Xinths clad in black.

“Everybody stay silent,” he said before rolling down his window. The act startled the guards, but as soon as they saw Baekhyun, they relaxed.

“Sir,” one of them greeted.

Baekhyun nodded in return. “How’s the wall holding up?”

“Doing fine, sir, but it needs to be fueled. We’ve been seeing slight malfunctions here and there. Not at all major but can definitely cause a lot of problems if not fixed right away,” another answered.

“Well, that’s what I’m here for. I have fuel with me straight from the city hall. They told me to bring it here,” Baekhyun said in a casual manner. “Let me in so I can install it, yeah? Thanks a lot.”

“Wait,” one said, raising a hand. “We need to check the vehicle first. You know the rules.”

Baekhyun swallowed, blinking a couple of times. “Of course,” he mumbled, nodding.

With that, Baekhyun rolled forward to give the four guards more access to the van. Once they left to open the back, Baekhyun whipped around to give the hiding agents a signal before stepping out of the vehicle himself.

One of the Xinths took the door handle and pulled, lifting the car’s back door. Once it opened, what greeted them were bullets piercing their bodies until they were lying lifeless on the ground. With hurried steps, the agents jumped out of the vehicle one by one.

Chanyeol was in the middle of tossing the heavy duffle bags to each agent when Baekhyun rounded the van and met them at the back.

“This is Baekhyun,” he muttered into his transceiver. “We’re going to cross now. Coast is clear so far.”

“Good. Do you need further assistance?” Kris responded.

“No need. Just enter the vicinity and resume with code 14.”

“Understood. We’re on our way.”

“10-23.”

Baekhyun slung his bag over his shoulders. “Proceed with the operation. D.O. and I will Hyerin and Tao first while the rest of you stand by until the others come around.”

“Understood.” Suho nodded. “Do what you gotta do. Should I let the others who are leaving go ahead and run to the wall?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there to get them.”

“Sounds good. We’ll just be right here. Chanyeol, go hide our vehicle somewhere while we set up. Hyerin,” he said, turning to the girl, “you take care, alright?”

Hyerin felt her heart thumping like crazy as she bit her lower lip. “You, too,” she said, turning to Chanyeol. “Be careful,” she reminded.

Chanyeol gave her a sad look before enveloping her in a hug. “I’ll miss you,” he mumbled, letting go suddenly and pushing her away. “Go.”

Kyungsoo grabbed a new magazine from his belt and inserted it into his rifle. “Ready?” he asked, raising a brow at Hyerin.

“Yeah,” she mumbled, letting herself be pulled by Kyungsoo as she looked back at Chanyeol and Suho who were now busy setting up. With one last sigh, she turned around and jogged to catch up with Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, and Tao, who was being rolled in a wheelchair.

As they neared the wall, they noticed a camouflaged metal door smack in the middle of the wall, only giving access to people who were recognized through physiological detection. Once they were in front of the wall, a detector automatically emerged and scanned Baekhyun from head to toe. It retrieved back once it recognized Baekhyun and the door slid open shortly after.

Everyone, excluding Baekhyun, was surprised to see they weren’t met with the other side of the wall but instead, greeted by a dark hallway leading to either the left or right wing.

Without hesitation, Baekhyun lead them to the right wing.

“This is the exact opposite of what I was expecting,” Kyungsoo said, as they hurriedly walked down the pathway.

“Did you not notice how thick the wall is?” Baekhyun asked, a little sarcasm in his voice. “They wouldn’t make it that easy for people to escape.”

“Well, geez, when they said ‘wall’ I didn’t expect a secret passageway of some ,” Kyungsoo mumbled under his breath.

“What was that fuel thing you guys were talking about earlier?” Hyerin asked.

“You’ll see,” Baekhyun said, turning sharply on a corner.

Instead of being met with concrete walls, they were now in a pathway walled with a fence on the right, giving them a view of a cylindrical, metal container at least five feet tall filled with illuminating blue liquid. Wires were attached to its body and extended to the floor, ceiling, and the walls. Fans were attached to the fences that provided air for the giant container.

Kyungsoo started to walk a little slower. “How the hell did this big thing fit in a ing wall? Hell, how the heck did this maze fit in a wall!? How did we fit in this place that’s supposedly a wall?”

“The more important question is what the hell is that thing,” Hyerin said, pointing at the container.

“Well at least now you know it’s not just a wall and that in fact, its width is that of a building’s,” Baekhyun said. “But that thing over there is what fuels this whole place.”

“What is it?”

Baekhyun cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Remember how they drained Tao’s power?” he mumbled quietly.

Hyerin’s eyes widened. “O-Oh.”

“Wait. Speaking of Tao, where is he?” Kyungsoo questioned.

“Right here, right here,” Tao called out from somewhere. “You guys are running around too fast. You're forgetting the fact that you have a disabled person with you all.”

Hyerin shrugged. "Sorry."

Tao finally appeared from the end of the hallway and proceeded to roll towards them. “It’s all good. I figured you guys would be too caught up with all this so…hey! What’s that?” Tao asked, extending his neck to see the weird contraption in the middle of the room secured by fences. “That looks-”

Tao stopped talking all of a sudden. His eyes were permanently set on the container, first staring at it blankly until a couple of seconds later when he suddenly started to shake. His eyes roamed around the room, looking lost and afraid as he began to thrash around, so violently that he slid off his wheelchair.

“Oh my god, Tao!” Hyerin exclaimed, the three of them immediately rushing towards the boy.

“Help!” Tao yelled, his face pale and full of terror. “Help!”

“Calm down!” Kyungsoo said, grabbing Tao from behind and securely holding him down with one arm. He turned towards Baekhyun. “What’s happening!?”

“I don’t know.” Baekhyun shook his head, agitated. “Probably a reaction to the substance in the container? But he didn’t even touch anything! M-Maybe he recalled something from looking at it? I don’t know!”

“Quick, Hyerin, help me put him back on the wheelchair,” Kyungsoo said, lifting the boy up while Hyerin positioned the wheelchair in front of him.

Baekhyun wiped his sweaty palms on his pants, looking around the vicinity with panicked eyes. “I think we need to hurry-”

Static sounds from Baekhyun’s transceiver interrupted him. He grabbed it from his belt and placed it near his mouth.

“Yes?”

“Agent, we have a code 99 up in here,” Lay reported.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened. “What’s the emergency?”

Outside the wall where the other agents were on standby, Lay hid behind the entrance to the wall, a heavy iron gate that was around twenty feet tall. He was looking up at the sky as he spoke.

“There seems to be an unidentified object in the sky. I have no idea what the hell it is,” he replied.

“What? Maybe it’s an airplane or something.”

Lay scoffed. “I’m not dumb, agent. I know an airplane when I see one. This is not an airplane.”

“Then what the hell is it?” Kyungsoo asked, more to himself.

“It’s becoming larger and larger. Now I can kind of see it a little bit clearly. It’s black and it looks as if it’s made out of-”

Silence.

Baekhyun’s brows furrowed. “Agent?”

“….”

“Agent?” Baekhyun called out again, worriedly glancing up at Hyerin and Kyungsoo.

No answer.

“Agent? Agent!” He was starting to panic now. “Agent, you said the object is becoming larger? Agent?”

The line remained silent. No one talking, breathing, not even the static sounds were there. Baekhyun even had to check if the device was on.

“Hello?” he called out again, heart thumping like crazy.

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were crouched down on the ground, listening intently if anyone might respond to them. Hyerin had her arm securely around Tao who was now passed out.

The silence was deafening; so deafening that when the largest, loudest explosion erupted outside of the walls, they fell down to the floor and instinctively covered their ears. It was so loud it left a ringing sound, possibly damaging their eardrums.

The three of them struggled to get up. Baekhyun crawled to the other end of the hallway to retrieve his transceiver.

“What the  was that?” Baekhyun questioned. “An explosion!?”

Finally, Lay responded. “No, not an explosion. Something-” he paused. “Something…landed.”

“What do you mean landed!?” Kyungsoo demanded, helping Hyerin get up from the floor.

“Literally landed, agent!” Lay exclaimed. “We are on a code 99 here! I repeat, a code 99!”

“Bring out the backup agents and tell the other EXO agents that are going to escape to come here! Now!” Baekhyun ordered, placing his transceiver back on his belt.

“What’s happening?” Hyerin asked frantically.

“I don’t know but…” Baekhyun’s voice faltered, staring down at the ground as if realizing something. His brows furrowed as he looked back up at them, eyes wild and terrified. “.”

“C’mon, man, what is it?” Kyungsoo asked, getting nervous himself.

Baekhyun said nothing and ran behind Tao, pushing the wheelchair and hurriedly continuing down the hallway. “Let’s go! We need to get out of here!”

“Why!?” Hyerin and Kyungsoo asked in unison but following the boy anyway.

“Stop asking questions!” Baekhyun exclaimed as he ran. “We need to go! NOW!”

They continued to run down the hallway quietly, afraid and nervous of what was going on outside. They were turning their last corner when someone began talking in their transceivers.

“Unit A! Are you still there!?”

“We’re here,” Kyungsoo answered. “What is it? What’s happening?”

“After the ship landed, TOP and Blue emerged from the gates with a lot of men. Unit B’s taking care of the Xinths, but TOP and Blue are nowhere to be found. Xiumin reported that they entered the wall.”

“Oh, ,” Kyungsoo hissed, pushing the others to hurry. “Understood, agent. We’re almost at the other side.”

“Okay.” Click.

“They’re inside!?” Baekhyun asked anxiously. “!”

“Wait,” Hyerin hushed, stopping everyone from running to listen. A couple of feet away, she could hear footsteps.

She looked at the others, horrified. “They’re here.”

Kyungsoo looked from her to the end of the hallway. With a huff, he pushed Baekhyun and Hyerin to the other side.

“Take Tao with you guys. Go on ahead. I’ll take care of them.”

Hyerin’s eyes widened. “Wait, hold on-”

“Okay,” Baekhyun agreed, taking Hyerin by the arm while pushing Tao’s wheelchair.

“But-” Hyerin looked back at Kyungsoo, hesitant to leave him.

“Go!” Kyungsoo nodded. “It’s okay, I’ll come back for you later.”

Hyerin pressed her lips tightly together, nodding, as she let Baekhyun pull her.

Kyungsoo turned back to the front and let out a breath. He planted his feet firmly on the ground and took out a pistol from his waistband, only able to hold it with his left hand. He could hear the footsteps quickening from a distance and he readied himself.

Kyungsoo smirked as Blue and TOP emerged at the other end of the hallway, startled to see the boy standing there in an arm sling and a pistol in hand.

Blue’s eyes brightened with amusement. “What a pleasant surprise!”

Beside him, TOP was gazing at Kyungsoo with a smug, impressed look. “Pleasant, it really is.”

The two looked significantly different since the last time Kyungsoo saw them. TOP was more muscular now, evident from how tight his shirt was on him around the chest and bicep area. His hair was whiter and his eyes were now grey instead of black. Blue also became leaner, only now he had multiple scars running along his arms, neck and face from his fight with Hyerin. His blue hair was long and shoulder-length and looked like it hadn’t been washed for days, fringe tucked behind his ear. A wide, crazy grin was plastered on his face.

“I didn’t think you’d get back in the game after what happened to you,” TOP said, amusement lacing his voice.

“I don’t give up that easily,” Kyungsoo snarled, pointing the gun at them. “What you did to me only served as motivation.”

“Motivation?” TOP chuckled. Shortly after, his eyes darkened, taking out two daggers from his trench coat. “We’ll do this fair and square with no powers, no bull. In return, I better see that motivation you’re talking about.”

The corner of Kyungsoo’s mouth tugged upward. He cracked his neck to the side. “Oh, you’ll see,” he nodded, tightening his arm sling, “you’ll see it real good.”

---

“It’s been fifteen minutes,” Hyerin whispered to Baekhyun who was sitting beside her inside the cramped supplies closet where they were hiding. Tao was at the very end next to Baekhyun.

“We can’t leave this closet, Hyerin,” he said peeking out of the small crack of the door. “If Kyungsoo doesn’t come back in the next five minutes, that’s when we get out.”

“Why didn’t we just go straight outside and meet everyone there?”

“If it hasn’t been that obvious to-”

Creak.

The sound made Baekhyun stop and look at Hyerin who was staring at him with wide, panicked eyes. Someone was inside the storage room.

Baekhyun peeked out a little and saw Blue entering the room with slow, quiet footsteps, his two humongous blades at hand. He turned back to Hyerin and placed a finger to his lips, telling her to keep quiet.

Hyerin was breathing quite heavily as she watched Blue walk around the room casually, picking up little supplies and placing them back where he got them. It didn’t even seem like he was looking for anyone.

At least two minutes passed of him just walking around before he finally went back out of the room, closing the door behind him. Once they heard the click, Hyerin and Baekhyun let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Jesus,” Baekhyun muttered under his breath, face soaked with sweat from the heat.

Beside him, Tao began to stir, waking up from his unconscious state. Baekhyun began patting him in the back when he suddenly jolted up and yelled. Baekhyun immediately clamped his hand over the boy’s mouth.

“Tao, be quiet!” he hissed, but it was too late.

The door opened once again and Blue emerged, already laughing hysterically and looking right at the closet they were hiding in. With crazy eyes, he swung his blade back and threw it towards their direction, not even bothering to open the closet.

They ducked in time, the blade cutting through the closet doors and barely missing their heads. Baekhyun nodded at Hyerin before summoning his powers, forming a big illuminating ball between his hands, throwing it at Blue’s direction after kicking the closet doors to get out of the cramped space.

Blue managed to dodge it. He immediately pounced at Baekhyun as soon as he came out of the closet. He threw a punch across his face before taking his blade to stab Baekhyun in the face. Just when he was about to it into Baekhyun’s skull, the boy attempted to stop the sword with his bare hands, the sharp blade cutting Baekhyun’s palms as it slid through his hands, the pointed edge slowly approaching his face.

But just when the blade was inches away from killing Baekhyun, Kyungsoo came into the room and shot Blue on the shoulder, making the crazy man release his grip and fall to the floor beside Baekhyun.

Kyungsoo came over to help Baekhyun stand up. Across the room, he nodded at Hyerin. “Let’s go. We don’t have much time. The other guys are stalling TOP right now so I can come here and get you.”

“Let’s go,” Baekhyun said, nodding, as he wiped his bleeding hands against his pants.

They were back to running along the hallways, fairly easy now since the other agents were fighting the opponents to give them more time to escape. After several minutes they finally arrive at a thick, heavy-looking steel door. Kris, Sehun, and Luhan – the others who will be joining Hyerin to escape – were already there, waiting for them.

“Good. You guys are here,” Kyungsoo wheezed.

“We need to hurry,” Luhan said, sweating like a pig. “We don’t how much longer they can prevent Jiyong’s men from coming in.”

Baekhyun staggered tiredly to the front to punch in the code, his hair sticking to the sides of his face because of sweat. With a loud beep, the door opened automatically.

Without any hesitation, everyone ran outside towards the van Baekhyun prepared especially for the escape. Everyone started loading the car, their bags and weapons unfortunately left behind because of the unexpected turn of events.

“Help me get Tao inside the car,” Kyungsoo said to Sehun who immediately obliged.

“Is everything all set?” Kris asked.

“Yes. We’re ready to leave,” Baekhyun said, setting up the GPS on his phone.

“Wait a minute,” Hyerin held up her hands. “What do you mean ‘we’? I thought you were staying?”

Baekhyun looked up at Hyerin, a little scared of her sudden hostility. He turned to look at Kyungsoo for help.

Kyungsoo closed his eyes briefly, trying to catch his breath before gesturing to the others to go inside the van. “You guys go on ahead. Hyerin, come with me for a sec.”

The others nodded, bidding Kyungsoo their sad goodbyes before entering the vehicle.

It was just the two of them now. Hyerin was just staring at Kyungsoo, her confused eyes following his every move like a mother about to scold her child.

“All I know was that you’re going to stay behind. You didn’t tell me about your replacement,” she said, nodding at the van.

“I need someone to look out for you while I’m gone,” he said breathily, running a hand through his jet-black hair.

“Here we go again with this ‘taking care’ issue, Kyungsoo-”

“Look we don’t have much time,” he cut off, placing his hand on her shoulder. “I put Kris and Baekhyun in charge of this operation and I’m trusting you to listen to them. Don’t do anything crazy or stupid, okay?”

Hyerin glared at him first before sighing and nodding wordlessly.

“Don’t leave each other behind and make sure to stay low key.”

“When are we all going to meet up again?” she asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” he answered sternly. “I won’t have any information on where you’re hiding just in case Jiyong has some crazy device to in information out of us or something, so I don’t know.”

Hyerin swallowed the lump in . “I didn’t even get to say goodbye to the others,” she mumbled.

Kyungsoo’s eyes wavered a little. “I’ll tell them you’ll miss them.”

“I’ll miss you.”

Kyungsoo sighed. “I’ll miss you too,” he mumbled, finally enveloping Hyerin into a tight hug.

“Please be careful,” he mumbled into her hair.

“I will,” she said, voice wobbling and eyes starting to water.

“Don’t do anything stupid, okay?” He squeezed her tightly as he closed his eyes. “It’s not going to be for too long. It’ll only be for a little while. Just hold on for a bit, okay?”

“It would be more bearable if you were with me.”

“Please don’t say that,” he whispered. “Or else I won’t be able to take it and leave with you.”

He pulled away, placing a safe distance between them. He looked at her eyes, her nose, her lips, her whole face, memorizing every detail as if he won’t be seeing her again.

He wiped her tears with his thumb before pushing her back. “Go.”

Hyerin nodded slowly, hesitantly backing away without taking her eyes off of him. Her heart sank at the sight of the boy keeping a straight face, knowing that she should be doing the same thing.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to keep her cool. Her face hardened as she nodded at Kyungsoo before turning on her heels. The tears started to form at the corner of her eyes again when she reached out for the van’s door, but before her fingers could even grasp the handle, a hand wrapped tightly around her wrist.

The hand forcefully spun her around and before Hyerin could even realize what was going on, Kyungsoo already closed the space between them. He rested his forehead against hers, his dark brown eyes wide and excited and nervous and in love. He looked as if he drank ten cups of black coffee as he took in the sight of her taking in the sight of him. The limited space between them left her speechless; she couldn’t say a word and was not given the opportunity to say a word when the said space became nonexistent.

His lips met hers desperately, intensely, that it forced her to shut her eyes and bask in this feeling that she couldn’t quite explain. It was surprising, yet something in the back of her mind told her he should have done this earlier. Maybe a couple of hours ago. Or days. Weeks. Months. Maybe the first time they met.

Any time but now, when they were just about to separate.

That didn’t matter though as she found herself kissing him back, her lips meeting with his like the ocean continuously meeting the shoreline no matter how much it’s sent away. It was long and deep and intense and everything around them suddenly was beautiful; the dry and hot weather turning into a blessing in return of the cold nights they had to endure. The painful wounds they had gotten turning into honorable battle scars they earned. The sounds of raining bullets and bomb explosions in the background turning into fireworks setting off just for them and this moment. Nothing else mattered. Just them.

The moment was interrupted by the crackling from Kyungsoo’s transceiver, making the both of them pull away breathlessly. Kyungsoo ignored the reports the other members were sending through the device and gave Hyerin one last look.

“I’ve been wanting to do that,” Kyungsoo whispered in a raspy voice, eyes hazy and a little dazed. “Take care of yourself,” he added, giving her another peck on the lips before pushing the stunned girl inside the van. He shut the door after her and waved goodbye.

Only when the car started moving did Hyerin snap out of her trance. Realizing what was going on, she fumbled to roll down the window to peer out.

Her hair was flying everywhere because of the wind as she craned her neck out the window to look at Kyungsoo. She watched as he slowly backed away, eyes not leaving hers. She couldn’t even lift her arm to wave goodbye or open to say something, anything. She really should have said something.

Kyungsoo blinked a couple of times before finally turning around to return to the other side of the wall – to return back to the danger. She couldn't bear the sight.

Hyerin’s jaw clenched as she returned to her seat, lifting her legs up and burying her head into her folded arms. She didn’t know what to do, how to react, or even know what to think. All she knew, as she closed her eyes, was that she will never forget about that kiss nor will she ever stop thinking about it.