Jiyong stood outside the door to the principal’s office moodily adjusting his bra. He’d often wondered why girls were so easily annoyed, but he completely understood now. It was really uncomfortable to be all strapped up, and he’d only had to deal with it for an hour.

“You’re lopsided,” Taemin laughed and reached up to adjust the padding of his partner’s fake s.

At that moment, the door to the office swung open. A surprised looking man raised an eyebrow in question as he stared at Taemin’s hand grasping Jiyong’s chest.

Taemin stepped away and blushed, trying to bat his eyelashes the way that CL had taught him to do during training for the mission. He’d been told to do so if he ever needed get out of trouble. Apparently, he was quite good at it.

The middle aged man appeared flustered, clearing his throat and averting his eyes. Jiyong made a mental note to praise his partner’s excellent feminine wiles when they got to their room.

“Hello. You must be Principal Choi?” Oh, dear God, Jiyong thought he might just kill himself if he had to talk in such a high pitched voice for long.

The man nodded and held out a hand. “Yes, that would be correct. And you are,” he leaned closer, glancing around to make sure the coast was clear, “You two are from the agency?”

“We are!” Taemin nearly bounced in excitement. Missions always thrilled him no matter the location or the danger.

The principal frowned, apprehension nearly pouring off him in waves.

Jiyong scowled in annoyance. All he wanted was to settle into his room and start his job. The longer they spent talking, the longer the girl they were supposed to protect wandered around unguarded. Also, Jiyong had always felt uncomfortable around authority figures, had let his headstrong attitude and smart mouth get him into trouble more than a few times, and the principal was pushing his buttons. “Is there a problem, sir?”

“No, no! Only,” Principal Choi rubbed his neck sheepishly, still avoiding eye contact. “Well, it’s quite an important task, so I had assumed that they would send…different people?”

“You think that we won’t be able to handle the mission because we’re women? Is that what you’re saying right now?” Taemin asked with his eyes narrowed dangerously as if daring the man to say it. The Principal shook his head vehemently, quickly seating himself in his chair to put the whole desk between them. Taemin smirked.  “Good. Let’s get down to business. I’m Kim Maerin, and this,” he gestured to Jiyong who was watching the proceedings with a bored expression as he leaned against the wall, “is my sister, Kim Jaemin. We need to be in all of our target's classes, and we need a room as close to her as possible.”

“And we’ll need a list of all the students, faculty, and visitors for the school year,” Jiyong added with an approving nod.

The principal rapidly brought out a tablet from his desk drawer and opened the documents that Jiyong had asked for, standing and handing the object to him before returning to his chair. He laced his fingers together and rested his chin on his hands, staring at the wall right above Taemin’s head as if he was afraid to actually look directly at him. It amused Taemin. As a boy, people often found him too cute to be intimidating. As a woman, it seemed he made men—or at least this man—nervous. Huh. Maybe he should try it out on other guys...

“I’ll have to ask Secretary Kang to arrange the schedules when she returns from her lunch break. It certainly won’t be a problem.” Principal Choi smiled as he continued, “You’ll actually be rooming with Ms. Kwon, so you’ll be as close as possible in case you’re needed.”

Taemin’s mouth dropped open. Eunhyuk hadn't said anything about that in the briefing. “W-what do you mean rooming with her?”

“Her old roommate moved out when the death threats began. She didn’t feel safe-”

“I thought this was a girls school!” Jiyong interrupted with a shout, holding out the tablet far away from him as if it’d offended him somehow. Taemin stood and peered at it carefully. His eyes widened in surprise.

“It is a girls school,” Principal Choi began slowly. “My wife died when my youngest son was born. I couldn’t leave my boys alone, and I couldn’t quit my job here, so the school board had an emergency meeting, and they agreed to let my sons attend school here as long as they didn’t live in the dorms. The three of us live in a private home behind the soccer field. In fact, they should be here any minute to give you a tour.”

“You told them about us?!” Jiyong shouted again. Was their cover really blown before they’d even started? And he was furious that he had to be disguised as a girl when it turned out that he could’ve dressed as a guy all along. He was certain that the agency could have come up with some sort of cover story for two guys to enter the school if they’d bothered to try. Jiyong knew who was to blame. Eunhyuk was going to pay dearly for this.

Principal Choi paled in the face of Jiyong’s wrath. No matter what gender he was dressed as, an angry Kwon Jiyong was a terrifying Kwon Jiyong. “No! I’m the only person that knows you’ve been sent here; not even Ms. Kwon has been told. I swear to it.”

“Fine. Tae-I mean, Maerin, I need to make a phone call. Finish up in here and then meet me in the hall.”

Taemin nodded, long resigned to his partner’s mood swings.

Jiyong stormed out the door, and for a second Taemin almost felt bad for Eunhyuk, until he felt the cold draft blowing on his bare legs from the air conditioning and was reminded of the fact that he was wearing a skirt. And a bra. On second thought, he didn’t feel bad for his boss at all.

“Sorry about that. My partner can be a little grouchy.”

“It’s fine. I’ve been dealing with young women for almost thirty years with this job. I’ve seen much worse than her.”

Taemin smothered a giggle behind his hand. Just then, there was a quiet knock at the door and in stepped a boy that made Taemin’s laughter die in his throat.

“Ah, you’re here. Where’s your brother?”

“He had to use the restroom. He should be here soon,” the boy shrugged.

“Excellent, excellent. Kim Maerin, this is my youngest son, Choi Minho,” he smiled proudly toward his son. “He’s also a senior here, so it’s likely that you’ll be seeing a lot of each other. Minho, please show Ms. Kim around the school.”

Minho bowed his head toward Taemin, a wide, friendly grin stretching across his face. Taemin tried to make his mouth work in return, to make his own head bow, to make a polite introduction, but it seemed his body had gone on strike, leaving him standing there like a motionless idiot. Minho furrowed his brows for a moment before shaking his head with an understanding expression.

“You must be nervous starting at a new school, huh? Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”

Taemin flushed dark red, his cheeks burning. “Thanks…”

Minho smiled again, and Taemin almost had to shield his eyes from the brightness. “Let’s get going then, alright?”

Taemin could only nod helplessly, wishing that Jiyong was there to remind him that he was a well-trained operative and not a bumbling moron. Actually, Jiyong would call him a bumbling moron. He snorted to himself in amusement, a loud, obnoxious noise, almost like a goose honk.

“Are you okay? Did you get hurt or something?” Minho asked, peering around in confusion.

“I’m okay, just tripped.”

Minho laughed and walked out the door. Taemin followed behind and prayed the ground would open up and swallow him.