—

“So,” the woman whose name he couldn’t remember at the moment lit up a cigarette, “who’s Donghae?” 

Eunhyuk lifted his face from his pillow to give her a quick study. Did she look angry? Concerned? Heartbroken? None of the above. She just looked like she was looking to pass some time until dawn arrived and she had to do the walk of the shame all the way back to her apartment.

“Nobody.” He turned over and positioned the pillow under his neck. “Just some guy I work with.” 

“Uh-huh.” She didn’t sound very convinced. Then again, she didn’t sound all that interested either. “And the reason you cried his name out during is because…?”

“I did not cry his name out!” he immediately became defensive. Realizing his implicating reaction, he cleared his throat and tried to save face. “I mean…it was just a whisper, s’all.” 

“Yeah, that’s better.” She snorted and flicked some ash into a wine glass still containing some cheap red musty liquid from earlier. “So, you like this guy?” 

“Hell no.” He answered a little too quickly again. “He’s…a guy!” 

“Guys can like guys.”

“He’s annoying.”

“This coming from the guy who kept his socks on during .” 

“I’ll have you know that some people think that it’s cute.” Eunhyuk huffed with a pout on his face. The cartoon faces on said socks probably didn’t help. He couldn’t help it; he’s had a soft spot for Pororo ever since the first time he saw him on TV as a little boy. “Look, can we just drop this? I have to get up early for work tomorrow and I won’t get any sleep if you keep reminding me of that stupid…fish.” 

“Fish?” she barked a laugh. “Never heard that one before. So anyway, you planning on paying me anytime soon or what?” 

Eunhyuk’s eyes shot open. “Wh…?” 

“I’m just ting you.” She laughed as she dropped her cigarette in the same glass. “But you would have fallen for that, right? Damn, almost got away with it.” 

Eunhyuk narrowed his eyes at her. He picked up a pair of lace (obviously he wasn’t the only one expecting to get lucky tonight) from the floor and tossed it at the guffawing woman (who, now that he got a good look, looked so much more attractive under the lights of the bar earlier). 

“Out.” He said.

She was still going on about how priceless his expression was as she went on her way, conveniently forgetting to retrieve her brassiere from the ceiling fan. 

— 

Eunhyuk rubbed his hands together for warmth after pressing the button on the elevator. The doors were just about to close together when suddenly, someone put their foot in between and invited himself inside.

“Good morning.” Donghae looked pretty good for someone who was up at such an ungodly hour—8 AM. Eunhyuk missed his old job where he could stay up until midnight getting d by intoxicated women and sleep in `til noon the day after. “Coffee? Brought two.” 

“I don’t drink coffee.” Eunhyuk wondered if that sounded a little dismissive. It was true though. He never could stand the taste of caffeine. He could only kind-of-sort-of tolerate it after drowning it in massive amounts of cream and sugar.

“Neither do I. Have my cup then; it’s hot chocolate.” Donghae handed him the Starbucks cup on his right hand, then laughed when he saw Eunhyuk giving him the suspicious eye. “Relax. I know you think I’m a bastard, but I’m not that kind of son of a who would trick someone into drinking coffee. That would just be against my morals—I think coffee’s horrible.”

“You have morals?” Eunhyuk took the take-out cup and tries to peek inside the tiny opening in the lid. It didn’t smell like coffee. And he supposed even Donghae wouldn’t be that cruel as to toy with a man’s taste buds. He took a sip.

“I am that kind of son of a who would drug your drink though.” 

Eunhyuk immediately spit out his drink. Donghae roared with laughter and hoped the elevator camera captured that as he’d love to have a copy of it. 

“Kidding.” Donghae gave a very cheeky smile. “It’s a classic hot chocolate—your favorite.”

The doors opened on their floor and Donghae stepped out first. Eunhyuk wiped his mouth with his sleeve and shuffled after him, demanding to know how he found out what his favorite go-to winter order at Starbucks was.

—

After ten minutes or so, it became apparent that the rest of the team have never heard of showing up on time, and Eunhyuk could only take so much of being in the same room as Lee Donghae. Eunhyuk took his hot chocolate, showed himself out, and waited out in the hall by himself for someone else to arrived.

Sungmin was still hazy-eyed, but he was aware enough to realize that Eunhyuk was up to one of his dip antics yet again. “What, is the door locked?”

“No.” Eunhyuk tried to seem nonchalant by sipping on his Starbucks.

“What are you doing out here then?”

“Just getting some fresh air.”

“What fresh air?”

“Um…”

“He’s trying to get away from me.” Donghae opened the door and casually joined the conversation as if he were in it to begin with. Has he been eavesdropping the whole time? Eunhyuk wouldn’t put it past him. “Kind of silly, really. But nevertheless, cute. By the way, good morning to you, blondie.”

Sungmin muttered something incoherent, probably something nasty, and brushed past Donghae to get inside the conference room, leaving Donghae and Eunhyuk alone once again. Eunhyuk has come to realize that Donghae was always either smirking or smiling impishly. There is no in between.

“Aren’t you going inside?” he asked.

“Uh, no,” Eunhyuk put one leg up against the wall, once again pretending to look casual, “I’m fine out here.”

“You don’t need to worry about me. I’m heading downstairs to the cafeteria to get something to eat.” He revealed as he puts his hands in his pockets. “You want anything?”

Eunhyuk only had a banana for breakfast, so he was pretty famished. “No.”

“Okay. Anything with strawberries it is.” Donghae turned his back on him and didn’t even bother to look at his perplexed expression.

“How did you—?” Eunhyuk sighed and decided he should just learn to stop asking. 

With furrowed brows, scowling lips and a stomach that was starting to upset, Eunhyuk entered the conference room and braved the seat right next to Sungmin. There had to be something seriously wrong when a man would rather take his chances with Lee Sungmin rather than Donghae.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Sungmin asked him pointedly. Eunhyuk has known him for some time now—he should know by now to always sit one chair apart from Sungmin. Basic rookie rule if you didn’t want to have your brains blown out before the end of the day. The only exception was, and only ever has been, Kyuhyun.

“Do you think Donghae is attracted to me?” Eunhyuk was aware that he sounded like an insecure teenager right now, but it’s been a while since he’s had to deal with this sort of thing and he’s not sure if the rules have changed. Now that he thought about it, he hasn’t been in a serious relationship in a long time. “I mean, he’s got to be, right? The man will not stop following me around. Somehow he knows all of this little things about me and though it can get really irritating and even a little scary, it’s kind of flattering, if you think about it. And look, just earlier, he bought me hot chocolate. Well, actually, it was coffee, but that’s not the point. Anyway, why would someone go to such great lengths to do all that for a person if he doesn’t like him, right?”

Sungmin remained blank-faced throughout his whole tirade. Considering his track record, he figured he’d be the last person suited to give advice about love. Also, he had no idea what made Eunhyuk think he was familiar enough with him to be confiding in him like this.

“You idiot.” Sungmin said. “He does that to everyone.”

“What?” Eunhyuk’s voice was tiny. He sounded hurt.

“The dude flirts with everyone.” He explained. “Just yesterday, he asked me why I liked pink so much. And then proceeded to reassure me that my height doesn’t make me any less of a great assassin or a ‘handsome man’. Plus, I’m pretty sure he and Heechul are ing. Have you not seen the looks they give each other?” 

Eunhyuk was more bewildered at the fact that Sungmin, someone who has been superior to him all this time and has scared the crap out of him from day one, liked pink and was insecure about his height. Eunhyuk never really thought of him as a short man, but now that he pointed it out…

“So get your head out of your .” Sungmin continued. “And get off your ego trip. Donghae sees everyone here as the same thing: something to play with and keep him entertained.”

“…Right. I knew that.” Eunhyuk suddenly felt very blue. He slumped in his seat.

He didn’t even bother greeting Heechul when he came in the room. Then again, Heechul’s appearance didn’t really garner him any positive feelings.

“I think I just saw Donghae making out with the girl from insurance.” 

“The one with the implants?” Sungmin didn’t sound surprised. “Nice.”

Eunhyuk felt kind of sick. When Donghae returned with a strawberry muffin, Eunhyuk rudely brushed him off without even thinking, and though this was typical behavior for him, Donghae actually looked a bit thrown off. Nonetheless, Donghae was confident in his own manly charm and believed that whatever it was that’s gotten into Eunhyuk, he could coax it out of him with a few honeyed words. But Leeteuk arrived to start the meeting before he could even say anything. 

Donghae tried to talk to him again once the briefing was over. But Eunhyuk rushed out of the room so fast that not even Donghae could figure out where he went.

—

Eunhyuk sought solace in the last place he’d ever go: the rooftop, which the employees have regarded as their own personal smoking area. The mess of cigarette butts and ashes scattered everywhere kept nagging at his obsession with keeping everything perfectly neat and tidy, but for the life of him, he didn’t want to touch the ghastly things.

“You are aware that this is the smoking area, right?” Heechul asked when he recognized his back view. “And you don’t smoke.”

“I figured it’d be the last place he’d go looking for me.” Eunhyuk was feeling kind of proud of himself. He believed he’s just outsmarted Donghae at his own game.

“Who? Donghae?” Heechul scoffed as he took out a cigarette from the pack in his pocket. “Nah, he’ll find you sooner or later. He always does.” 

Heechul sounded familiar with Donghae’s capers. Eunhyuk tried not to let this get to him. “Of course you’d know, since you two are hooking up and all.”

“Hooking up? Where’d you get that?” That was the funniest bit of gossip Heechul’s heard all week (and being friends with a lot of drama queens, he’s heard a lot). “Donghae and I aren’t ing. We flirt a little from time to time, and maybe when I’m in a good mood I let him grab my , but that’s all. Donghae’s hot and all but I wouldn’t want to get involved with him. Already got my heart broken once by a manipulative bastard. Don’t need to go through that again.”

“Manipulative bastard. Huh.” Eunhyuk thought that was the perfect way to describe Donghae. “So, uh, you think he’s bad news, huh?” 

“For someone just looking for a good time, maybe not.” He answered truthfully. “But for someone who’s looking for something serious? You’re done for.”

Eunhyuk frowned. He wasn’t looking for anything serious. He wasn’t looking for anything at all.

“You like him, don’t you?” Heechul asked him point-blank.

Eunhyuk sputtered and stammered and turned red all over. Despite the damning evidence, he still had the nerve to deny it. “What? No! Come on, you guys know me. I like girls. s and s. Those kinds of things.”

“I bet Sungmin said the same thing before Kyuhyun got to him.” Heechul said. “And Jungsoo is still saying that, but I’m sure he’ll be turning soon.”

“You think Leeteuk is…?” Eunhyuk’s eyes widened. Then he remembered the subject at hand and started looking for a way to get out of it. “Uh, whatever. I don’t like Donghae. I think he’s a bastard. And like you said, he’s bad news. He’s been a pain in the ever since the day he first arrived.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.” Heechul flicked some ash off the edge and the breeze blew it away. Eunhyuk decided he needed to get out of here before he became a nervous wreck from all the messes surrounding him.

—

“Can we talk?” 

Donghae had him cornered. Eunhyuk has been avoiding him all day, but Donghae finally managed to catch him in the elevator. This wasn’t that bad, Eunhyuk assured himself; he could always get off when the doors opened. But unfortunately, Donghae was one step ahead of him and pressed a button that shut the elevator down. Then he stood in front of the controls to prevent Eunhyuk from switching it back on.

Eunhyuk was already starting to sweat.

“Look, I might have given you the wrong impression here.” Donghae started off rubbing his neck. Eunhyuk didn’t think he’s ever seen him like this before. Nervous. Unsure. Awkward. It was like a whole new person. “I was just having some fun with you. I didn’t want to hurt your feelings or lead you on or anything.” 

“You didn’t lead me on. And you didn’t hurt my feelings.” Eunhyuk was still very curious as to how Donghae kept finding out these things. Is there some sort of recorder or office rat that he didn’t know about? “I feel nothing for you. You’re just a colleague. And a huge thorn in my side. But if my speculations are correct, eventually you’re going to get bored playing with the people here and you’re going to leave to go find yourself some new playthings. You won’t be here long, so for now, I can learn to tolerate you.”

“I like it here.” He said, avoiding his eyes. That was a first. Donghae always looked him straight in the eyes when he talked to him. A sure sign of confidence. “The people are fun. And attractive. There’s one guy I’ve found myself particularly attached to. He used to be an exotic dancer. Hates coffee. Loves strawberries though.”

“Enough.” Eunhyuk won’t fall for it this time. “I know your game now. And I won’t have any more of it. So, if you would please just turn the elevator back on so I can go home and pretend that you don’t exist?”

Donghae sighed. “Sometimes I don’t even know I’m doing it, you know? Flirting. It just comes naturally. And people just naturally respond to me and in a way, it makes me feel kind of powerful.” 

“What a typical douchebag thing to say. Do you want me to applaud you?” Eunhyuk s his hand behind Donghae’s back and turned the elevator back on. It was surprisingly easy to catch him off guard. “Look, you go do your own thing and I’ll do mine, and as much as possible, let’s try not to cross paths.” 

Donghae didn’t stop him from leaving, though on any other occasion, he probably would have. He lit a cigarette and stood in the middle of the lobby for a while, just thinking to himself and about his next move.

At exactly 10PM, he left the building as well.

—

“Fancy seeing you here, blondie.” An obnoxious drawl came from behind.

Sungmin let out a small sigh of annoyance and slightly put his rifle down from its set position. He then decided that he was this close to killing his mark and raking in all of the pay Leeteuk offered them for this assignment, and he wasn’t about to let a lothario wannabe ruin that, so he paid no heed to the unwanted visitor and put the gun back in its original setting.

Sungmin didn’t even know why he tried so hard anymore. Ever since Leeteuk’s involvement in his and Kyuhyun’s breakup, Leeteuk has been equivalent to a piece of to him. He did this purely for the money now (not that he did it for much else before), but even money didn’t seem all that great these days.

“When Teuk mentioned our guy owned a chain of successful fashion outlets, I immediately thought of that Chinese entrepreneur, Zhou Mi. Found out he’s been stealing from other companies to fund his own, including ours apparently, like Teuk said earlier.” The guy’s been on the news a lot lately and something about him just didn’t quite strike Donghae right. So he did some digging. He figured it was only a matter of time before he crossed Leeteuk’s deadly path. He was right. “I see you thought the same thing.”

Leeteuk always knew everything about their latest mark except the identity of the mark itself. Sometimes Sungmin thought he could do Leeteuk’s job better than him. “It wasn’t hard to figure out.”

“How long have you been out here?” Donghae inquired as he took his lighter out and started playing with it.

“A couple of hours.” 

“You’ve wasted your time.”

“What?”

“He’s already dead.” Donghae showed him a leather wallet—Hugo Boss—and opened it, showing its contents to the confused blonde. “I killed him just a half hour ago before coming here. Knocked on his apartment door and shot him in the forehead. He had a long nose, I noticed. I thought his wallet looked nice so I took it.” 

Sungmin grabbed the wallet from him and checked all the cards in the compartments. All of them belonged to Zhou Mi. It checked out. Dammit.

“Don’t worry. I don’t care about the money. I do this purely for fun. You can take whatever Teuk’s paying.” He put an unlit cigarette in between his lips. “You can keep what’s inside, but I’m taking the wallet.”

“What for?” Sungmin wasn’t happy to find out that he’s been robbed of a job, but at least he would still get paid anyway. And with a wealthy entrepreneur’s wallet and all his credit cards, he just landed himself some allowance. 

“I’m quirky.” He said with a shrug. “By the way, just between the two of us, any guy who keeps rejecting your affections is not worth it.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“Kyuhyun. Your ex, if I’m not mistaken.” Donghae lit the end of his cigarette. “Let’s face it. He’s pissed. And no matter what you do, he’s going to stay that way. It’s time to move on.”

Sungmin didn’t miss a beat when he whipped his gun out from his belt holster and placed it in between Donghae’s eyes. “Just how the hell do you know so much about our personal lives? What are you, some kind of spy? Some kind of P.I? What is it?” 

“Like I told Hyukjae, I have connections.” Donghae smiled. “And you happen to be a very interesting bunch of people.” 

“Curiosity killed the cat.” Sungmin said, his eyes glaring daggers.

“Not this cat.” Donghae, totally unfazed, pushed the gun away from his face. He blew cigarette smoke in Sungmin’s face, gave his buttocks a light slap and then went on his merry way.

—

Eunhyuk was just walking out his latest floozy to the door when he spotted something curious on the welcome mat. He let the unnamed woman kiss him on the cheek before leaving, her red stilettos clacking on the way. Then he bent down to give the foreign object a closer look.

It was a wallet. From Hugo Boss.

Eunhyuk could make a wild guess who left it here.

—