“Tell me the truth,” Jiyong hissed into his phone after making sure the hall was empty, “Is this payback for that time everyone played spin the bottle at the company party and I had to kiss Donghae?”

“I already told you: all of our female agents were either too old or already on assignment, and you and Taemin were the only two left that the data department determined could pass as fem-” Eunhyuk cut himself off with a large gasp. “Wait! What do you mean ‘I had to kiss Donghae?’ Do I know that person? Because there’s certainly no way that you were talking about my Donghae, right?”

Jiyong mentally berated himself for letting that slip. The kiss hadn’t even had tongue or anything. Definitely not his best work so he didn’t know what the big deal was, but he was now regretting that he hadn’t taken Donghae seriously when he’d sworn everyone at the party to secrecy.

Thinking quickly, Jiyong redirected the conversation back to the source of his own fury before his boss could get any further.

“That’s not the point! Why couldn’t we have been undercover as men? We could have been janitors or worked in the dining hall!”

Eunhyuk sighed heavily, causing static to crackle in the receiver held against Jiyong’s ear. He pulled it away with a frown but had to pull it back when his boss began speaking again after a long moment.

“I don’t know what you want me to say. The assignment was handled the way the higher-ups said to do it.” There was a deep breath and a pause. “Are you backing out, Ji?”

Jiyong thought that the older man sounded exhausted, and he could almost picture Eunhyuk taking a long drag off of one of the cigarettes that he’d sworn he’d quit two years ago whilst rubbing a hand over his tired eyes. It made him feel guilty.

“Don’t be stupid. Someone has to be here to look after Minnie.”

“He’d kill you if he heard you call him that,” Eunhyuk snorted.

Jiyong smiled fondly as he pictured Taemin’s angry scowl whenever he called him by that nickname. “That’s why I only do it when I’m bored; I like the entertain--”

“I’m sorry, but the student you are speaking with is breaking school rules by using her cellphone in the hallway during school hours. You will have to call back at a more appropriate time.”

Jiyong stared in shock as the stranger who had taken his phone ended the call and stuffed the device into the pocket of his suit jacket. The man had the audacity to smirk down at him with a raised eyebrow, eyeing Jiyong in a way that made him hate the ridiculous skirt and wig he was forced to wear even more than he had before. It wasn’t a creepy glance, but rather one of challenge as if the man was deciding whether or not Jiyong was worth speaking to at all, and that caused his already strained control to snap.

“What do you think you’re doing? I’ll report you for stealing,” he growled as he lunged forward to retrieve his phone from the pocket that it’d been placed in. It had important secret information on it, and he needed it back badly. Coded, impossible to retrieve unless with specific training information, but still. Jiyong hated that it'd been taken so easily, and thus, he hated this stranger.

The man side-stepped Jiyong and merely smirked even more infuriatingly. “And how are you going to do that? It seems to me that you don’t have a phone at the moment.”

“I’m warning you: give it back or I won’t be held responsible for what happens.”

The man laughed, a look of disbelief and amusement dancing across his handsome face. Fuming, Jiyong moved into offensive stance number four that he'd practiced thousands of times before and even used twice on other missions. It was uncomfortable, causing the skirt to raise a bit as he bent his knees, the material pulled taunt over his thighs from the wide placement of his feet.

“That’s really no way to talk to a teacher on your first day, Miss Kim,” the pest said as he stepped forward, and he even had the nerve to chuckle again at Jiyong’s confused frown.  “Let’s start over, shall we? I’m Mr. Choi, the physical education teacher. You must be one of the new Kim sisters that my father said were transferring to our prestigious school.”

Paling rapidly, Jiyong was only angered further by the feeling of his embarrassment. Why should he be embarrassed at all? Doing his best to keep his frustration in check, he let his hands fall to his sides and relaxed his stance. He wore the fakest smile that had ever existed as he replied, “Yes, I’m Kim Jaemin. The stress from the new environment must have made me behave badly.”

He hoped the man would be appeased with that because Jiyong absolutely refused to apologize to the smug jerk.

*****

Taemin was sweating pitifully as they left Principal Choi’s office. Walking beside Minho was like sitting in a sauna or dancing on the sun. He was just so bright and friendly and shiny and—

“Look, I’ll take you to your room now because my father asked me to but don’t think that it makes us friends. In fact, it would be great if you didn’t speak to me again. I don’t need the annoyance.”

Or maybe he wasn’t any of those things at all. Well then.

“I-I don’t want to be your friend anyway. I don’t even know you, so why would I want to talk to you?” Taemin responded indignantly, but the blush on his face made it a pointless denial.

Minho snorted and shook his head. “You girls are all the same. Because my brother and I are the only young guys around here, you pester us all day: following us around pathetically like lost puppies, cooing over us one second, and fighting each other for our attention the next.” He stopped in the hall, turned toward Taemin and looked him directly in the eye. Taemin felt like a mouse being toyed with by a cruel feline, knowing that danger lurked right in front of him but unable to save himself. Minho smirked knowingly.

“I have a girlfriend. I love her, and I doubt that’s going to change anytime soon. So save yourself the humiliation and heartbreak, and stay away from me. Got it?”

Hurt stung Taemin harshly. How could he have been so wrong in judging Minho’s character? Looking away from the taller boy’s darkly amused eyes, Taemin tried to be strong and think of what his partner would do in the situation. Jiyong wouldn’t let some arrogant kid talk to him like that. Jiyong certainly wouldn’t let himself be affected by the words of a useless jerk he’d just met. No, he’d brush it off and focus on the case which was exactly what Taemin decided to do.

Standing up to his full height, Taemin tossed the long hair of his wig over one shoulder elegantly, and rolled his eyes. “I hope your father is paying her a lot because I know that’s the only way that I would ever consider dating someone with such an awful personality.” His brand-new shoes squeaked on the tile as he his heel and continued in the direction they had been heading without waiting for Minho to lead the way, choosing to find the room on his own instead of remaining in the other boy’s presence. Pausing, he glanced over his shoulder and coyly batted his eyelashes. “I have a boyfriend that I love very much. You should save yourself the heartbreak and stay away from me.”

Without waiting for a response from the stunned looking Minho, Taemin quickly continued on his way. He walked fast through the halls, not knowing where he was going but unwilling to return and ask the cocky, over-confident jerk for directions. His heart was racing as were his thoughts as the black and white tiles of the floor passed by his eyes.

Why had he said he had a boyfriend? Was the momentary satisfaction of knocking Minho down a peg or two really worth the risk? That sort of lie was something that could easily come back to bite him in the future. Only reveal information that is pertinent to maintaining your cover. It was another of the top five agent rules that he’d completely ignored. He was disappointed in himself.

“Yes, I’m Kim Jaemin. The stress from the new environment must have made me behave badly.”

The sound of Jiyong’s voice, even the girly undercover version of it, roused Taemin from his musings. He carefully peered around the corner to see his partner smiling in a way that was more of a glare up at a handsome man that was notably not dressed as a student. Taemin wondered what Jiyong had meant by behaving badly, but he figured it would be better to ask after he’d saved his partner from punching the man in the face as it looked like he was seconds away from doing.

Darting forward, he smiled brightly and looped his arm through Jiyong’s. “Jaemin, I’ve been looking for you everywhere! What’s going on?”

Jiyong sighed in relief. “Sorry. I was talking to Appa on my cellphone when Mr. Choi showed up. He was kind enough to inform me that using such devices during school hours isn’t allowed.” With stiff movements, Jiyong faced the teacher. “Mr. Choi, this is my younger sister, Kim Maerin. May I p-pl-” Taemin elbowed Jiyong in the rib. Sighing angrily, Jiyong spit out the awful word, “May I please have my phone back so my sister and I can go find our room?  It’s been a very tiring day.”

“It is a pleasure to meet another one of my wonderful students. Look forward to gym class, okay?” He winked toward Taemin and gave a small bow, acting completely opposite of how he had with Jiyong only minutes before. Jiyong narrowed his eyes and huffed.

Smiling in a friendly manner that made Jiyong want to kick him, Mr. Choi pulled the phone out of his pocket and handed it back. “Miss Kim, please be sure to follow the rules in the future. I am sorry that we’ve had to start off on the wrong foot like this.”

Jiyong snorted derisively. The jerk didn’t look sorry at all.

“Where’s Minho? I thought that he was supposed to show you to your room?” Mr. Choi asked Taemin with his head tilted in interest. Taemin blushed.

“Oh, umm... Something came up quite suddenly. It’s okay; I’m sure we can find it on our own.”

The teacher obviously wasn’t convinced, but he let it go. Blatantly ignoring Jiyong’s displeased expression, Mr. Choi insisted upon showing them the way. He spoke only to Taemin on the short walk through the halls, occasionally smirking in Jiyong’s direction annoyingly when Taemin wasn’t looking. It was infuriating. Luckily, the trio soon made it to the west wing of the school that was dedicated to the dorm rooms. After a few more minutes of walking (and silent fury on Jiyong’s part) they arrived at their destination.

“Well, here it is. Miss Kwon should be in class now, so it will be okay to just go in,” Mr. Choi said as he unlocked the door and turned the handle. “All of your belongings have already been placed inside; feel free to organize them —Minho!”

“Seunghyun-hyung,” Minho replied with a calm nod while he removed his hand from the shirt of the girl that was pushed against a desk inside the room.

Jiyong watched with interest as—Seunghyun sounded much better than Mr. Choi—Seunghyun’s face showed something other than irritating amusement for the first time. The older man was scowling at his younger brother. Stalking forward, the teacher grabbed Minho by the ear and pulled him to the door, leaving a blushing, and heavily breathing girl behind.

“That is no way to behave in front of new acquaintances. You knew they would be coming to this room at this time, so why would you do this now, you brat?!” Seunghyun hissed quietly before pushing Minho out the door. With a smirk aimed toward Taemin, Minho turned and blew a kiss to the girl on the desk and then left.

Jiyong frowned as he noticed Taemin’s mood shift to tense. The girl, pink-faced and still panting, straightened her shirt and gave a small bow to Seunghyun and then to Taemin and Jiyong.

“Hello, I’m Kwon Yuri. I look forward to being your roommate.”

Hesitantly, Taemin bowed back. Jiyong simply nodded, not missing the disapproving dark gaze of the teacher as he did so. After a long moment of silence as everyone stood perfectly still sizing each other up, Seunghyun clapped his hands together loudly and moved to the door. “Well, I’ll let you three get settled. See everyone tomorrow in class!”

As soon as he vacated the room, Yuri narrowed her eyes and flopped on her bed.

“Thanks for ruining the moment,” she said sarcastically.

Jiyong shot a worried glance toward Taemin who’d remained uncharacteristically quiet. Taemin was busying himself with putting away his belongings and carefully avoiding his partner’s eyes.

That night as they fell asleep in their respective bunk beds while Yuri chatted loudly on the phone to Minho from her queen sized bed across the room, both of them silently came to the realization that they were going to regret taking the assignment.