“You two, my office. Now.”

The order was short, and to the point and Ukwon quickly closed down his computer and shut the screen before getting up. He shared a worried glance with Minhyuk before following him back into Jieun’s office.

“Shut the door.” She ordered, taking her seat and leaning back into the chair as she watched them carefully sit down in the two chairs in front of her desk. “Do you think I’m stupid?” she asked, annoyance clear in her voice as she stared between the two of them.

“Uhm… Not at all…” Ukwon said.

“Then why the hell do you treat me like I am.” She yanked open the drawer next to her desk and tossed the sealed plastic bag onto her desk, the gun making a loud thump as it landed. “I sure as hell know what gun each of my subordinates carry, and Minhyuk. This is not yours.” Her voice was like venom as she tapped the gun. “Now I have given you plenty of opportunity to tell me what happened, but my patience is wearing thin. Jihoon has taken a leave of absence, I have one agent dead, and his girlfriend in holding for the abduction of Yoo, and I still have yet to get a statement from him. Now I know you two didn’t get along, Minhyuk, but do you honestly want me to believe that you were defending Yoo with a gun that was not your own, and you won’t even let me speak with the witness? Not only that but now you have this organization on a man hunt for people I have never even heard about and B.A.P is still god knows where!!”

Minhyuk sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, he glanced at Ukwon, “We need to tell her.”

“Damn right you do.”

Ukwon chewed his lip as he studied Minhyuk’s facial expression, ignoring Jieun’s clear annoyance at the fact that they weren’t paying attention to her. He let out a heavy sigh, “It’d be easier to show her… right?”

By now Jieun was studying her two agents, her confusion on high as she tried to figure out just what she was being left out of the loop for.

Minhyuk sighed, “Alright… Jieun… we haven’t been… completely honest, about anything these past few months… but, we need your trust, okay?”

“You’ve been lying to me, why should I trust you now? I should have both of you arrested for disrupting—“

“Jieun, please!” Ukwon stood up, “You know us… we wouldn’t do anything unless it was the right thing to do… at least hear us out… okay?”

Jieun eyed him before giving a heavy sigh, “One chance. That is all you have, and if I disagree, you will not see the light of day again, do I make myself clear.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Himchan chewed at his nails, his footsteps echoing in the long hallway as he took to pacing the line again.

“Chan, please… You’re driving me nuts…” Yongguk groaned from the living room.

“Oh, I’m sorry Guk, it’s not like a parade of police officers that have not only arrested us before, but want to do it again, are going to be showing up on our door step at any moment.” He said, the sarcasm evident in his voice.

Jongup smiled from where he was sitting at the foot of the stairs, “Himchannie hyung, don’t freak out so much… there’s no way that they can arrest us… there’s no records of any of our names being connected to that of B.A.P.” He said, “Minhyuk, Ukwon and P.O hyung’s made sure of that…”

Himchan groaned as he ran his hands through his hair, “I know, but still, it’s just… it’s the principle of the matter…. Why are they even bringing them here?”

“Because… Jieun wants to talk to Youngjae…” P.O said from his spot in the living room, he sat up from where he was reclined back against the cushions. “Speaking of which, where is he?”

“Upstairs, Daehyun’s making sure that he’s ready to you know… talk… She’s going to ask questions…” JB replied. He looked over at Himchan, who’s pacing had only increased. “C’mon hyung, just sit down… it’ll be oka—“

The ringing of the doorbell cut him off and P.O was the first to get up. “Alright… everyone stay calm okay… Ukwon hyung promised nobody would be armed…you guys are all clear too…”

“Of course…” Yongguk said, smiling. “We don’t want any trouble…”

P.O nodded and made his way to the door.

“And why the hell is Youngjae out here? If you two are playing some sort of trick, I swear I’ll have your jobs!”

P.O grimaced as he could hear Jieun’s voice through the door, and steeling himself, he took a deep breath before opening it. “C’mon in…”

Jieun narrowed her eyes a bit as she studied P.O, “So this is where you’ve run off too?”

P.O nodded, “yeah… Keeping Youngjae company and all…” He said, shrugging softly as he let them into the large house. “Everyone’s in the living room.”

“Everyone?”

“Jieun, please…. Stop asking questions for just a few minutes, okay?” Minhyuk asked, motioning for her to follow as he headed in the direction of the large room.

The second Jieun rounded the corner, she brought her gaze up and her eyes widened. “Oh, no…” She shook her head, whipping around quickly to glare at Ukwon, “So not only is one of my best agents dead, but now my other two are traito—“

“Don’t use that word!” JB stood up quickly, his eyes wide as Jieun turned her icy glare towards him, “U-Uhm… please?”

“And why the hell not. I simply asked to speak to Youngjae, and here you all are, fraternizing with the enemy! If I didn’t know better, I would have guessed that it was you two that helped them escape in the first place!” The second Jieun caught Minhyuk’s and Ukwon’s looks of shame, she shook her head, “Unbelievable… All of you. You are so lucky that you made me disarm in the car.”

“If you wouldn’t mind, do you think you could keep the talk of violence to a minimum… we try our hardest to keep everything peaceful here.”

Jieun turned to the deep voiced speaker, her eyes narrowing at Yongguk, “Yeah, and whys that, gang full of killers to big and bad to make threats…do they scare you or something?”

Yongguk matched her stare, “No. But they are traumatic for Youngjae, and we are trying to help him heal, not make him worse.”

Jieun held his gaze for a fraction longer before rolling her eyes slightly, “Where is Yoo anyways. He should have come into the office after we took Hyuna into custody and it was safe again.”

“I’m sorry, Jieun, but at that time, I was unable to get out of bed…”

Himchan looked up from where he was sitting at the edge of the couch, having been forced to cease his pacing by Jongup, his knees bouncing in nervousness as he still chewed at his nails. He scanned over Youngjae quickly, trying to see if was displaying any signs of discomfort but all he could find was the look of pure determination.

Jieun eyed Youngjae, “You don’t look that hurt… it’s only been what… a month and a half, almost two… you would still be in a cast if he broke anything.” She said, crossing her arms as she walked over. She reached up, taking Youngjae’s jaw lightly into her fingers as she turned his head to the side, “Little bit of scaring, but it’s just a few cuts… was Minhyuk’s shooting justified?”

Youngjae took a deep breath, closing his eyes, “My face is not where he left his marks, Jieun…”

“You have to be less cryptic, Youngjae. Minhyuk shot another officer, I need reason so that it isn’t pinned back on him. And then I need to know why the hell you are here with B.A.P and why you haven’t turned them over to the police once more.”

Youngjae slowly exhaled, “Because… They are my family?”

“Youngjae-“

“There is not a single thing that this group has ever done that is worthy of jail time sentencing. I am sorry, Jieun, for lying to you… but… There are a lot of things you were left out of the loop for, and now, you need to know…” Youngjae took a slow and shaky breath, and the only thing that kept him grounded was Daehyun’s hand that was still clasped to his own, “Starting with what H-Hyunseung did.”

Daehyun tightened his hold on Youngjae’s hand, his eyes widening as Youngjae reached down and slowly pushed his hand away. “Jongup, can we use the office?”

Jongup looked up, nodding slowly, “Uhm, yeah, go ahead…”

“Jae, do you need me to come wi—“

“It’s okay, Daehyun… I’m just going to talk to Jieun…” Youngjae motioned for his former boss to follow him and lead her into the study, carefully shutting the door behind them.

Jieun leaned back against the desk, folding her arms, “Youngjae, you… You have a lot of things to explain, starting with why the hell you are here with B.A.P.”

“Like I told you… they are my family…”

“Youngjae—“

“No, listen to me, please, Jieun… I wanted to do my job, I swear… but… You don’t know them like I do. I’m not brain washed, they didn’t influence me or anything! I made my own decisions!”

“Do you know how many crimes they have commited—“

“They didn’t do it, Jieun! That’s the thing!” Youngjae had begun pacing as he ran his hands through his hair, “If they had, I wouldn’t have gone through all of this to keep them safe, to get them out… Jieun, please… Yongguk started B.A.P as a false front! It was never real, they were never real! They just hid behind the name so that they could live in peace… Minhyuk and Ukwon have proof of everything that has happened before.”

“Alright… say that this holds some grain of truth,” Jieun started, watching as Youngjae stopped pacing, trying to keep his attention focused as he began to chew at his thumb nail. “Say they are innocent… Why the hell do I have a dead agent.”

Youngjae sighed heavily, slowly looking up at Jieun, “D-Do we have to talk about him?”

Jieun nodded, “Youngjae, you know just as well as I do that someone can not relate your story to me. I need to talk directly to the witness, in this case, you.” She studied him carefully, watching the small nervous ticks as he suddenly refused to look in her direction, his blinks becoming  a bit more rapid. “Youngjae… what did he do to you?”

Youngjae shrugged, still avoiding her gaze. “A lot.”

“Youngjae… I need details!” Jieun said, standing up straight, “I want to believe you, really, I do. You have always been honest and trustworthy… but… You look like you are doing okay right now… I have to know that Minhyuk’s shooting of Hyunseung was justified—“

Youngjae’s laugh was sad, “You think I’m doing okay?” He asked, looking up at her. “Jieun… you really, really don’t want to know…”

“Youngjae—“

“He was about to blow my brains out of my skull, okay?” Youngjae snapped, “And hyung should have let him!” Youngjae sank back into one of the chairs near the book case and put his face into his hands. “God… I am so… tired, Jieun… I’m tired of not sleeping, of pretending like I can’t still hear him. Pretending like I can’t still feel it all in my skin and in my bones. Do you honestly think I look like I am alright?” he looked up at her, “Because clearly we are not seeing the same person here.”

Youngjae put his palms onto his knees and stood up slowly, “You really want to know what he did, Jieun?” Instead of waiting for her to reply, Youngjae grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling it up to his shoulder to expose his back before turning around.

Jieun stared in horror at the crude, separated scar lines that were grouped together to form each letter of the brand across Youngjae’s back, a clear sign that the skin had been cut open repeatedly. Deep bruises were set into his skin, and Jieun found herself biting down on her lip. She tried not to show any reaction as Youngjae flinched when she reached out. He stayed still though, his breathing only changing slightly as her fingers gently traced over part of the scar. She tugged at the hem of his shirt, pulling it back down over his skin. “Youngjae… I… I’m sorry…”

“You didn’t tell him to do this.”

“No… but I forced you into this. I shouldn’t have made you go undercover…” She sighed softly before leading Youngjae to sit down. “Can you start from the beginning for me… when you first met B.A.P?”

“They’ve been in there for hours… is Youngjae okay?? Can I at least go in and check on him… I can pretend like I want to bring them tea, that’s a good idea, right—“

“Daehyun, seriously, just sit down already, Youngjae is fine!” Ukwon said, running his hands through his hair, his fingers catching in the red locks as he tugged a bit at his hair, “You are driving me insane.”

“I just want to know if he’s okay!” Daehyun said.

“Hey, you two should really shut up now, I think they are coming out…” Minhyuk said.

Jongup leaned over in his chair, turning his head to the side to see just around the corner where he could make out the door to the study just down the hall. “The door just opened.”

Before anyone could make a grab for Daehyun, he dashed down the hall, nearly running into Jieun as he side stepped her to make sure Youngjae was okay. His hand instantly went to Youngjae’s cheeks, “You were crying…” He said quietly, rubbing his thumbs gently against the still damp skin beneath Youngjae’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

Youngjae smiled a little, “Yeah, Dae, I’m fine… I cry… you know this.” He said, reaching up to take Daehyun’s hands from his face. Before he could manage that, Daehyun quickly stole a kiss. There was no shame in his smile though as Jieun cleared .

Youngjae shook his head a bit, whispering a soft “Babo” to him as he blushed a dark red at the display of intimacy in front of his former boss.

Jieun shook her head, “Well, if  you too would rather continue… I’ll see myself to the living room.”

“No, no its okay, he’s just being weird…” Youngjae said, pretending to push Daehyun away. He took a hold of his hand though, intertwining their fingers as he followed Jieun to the living room where everyone was still gathered.

Jieun walked with purpose across the room, ignoring the looks and stares as she approached one person in particular. She stared for one second, crooking her finger, “Come with me…” She said. “And that isn’t a request.”

Himchan looked frightened as he stood from his spot, staring back at Minhyuk with pleading eyes, the other merely shrugging back in confusion and mouthing out an ‘I don’t know’.

Jieun rolled her eyes, “I just have something of his in the car, geez, do not act like I am hell bent on murder or something.” She said, holding open the front door and letting Himchan walk out first. She let the door fall shut behind them before falling into step beside Himchan. It was quiet, the only sound in the air were their shoes crunching on the gravel until Jieun decided to speak up, “You’re name is Himchan, right?”

Himchan nodded slowly, “Yeah…” His eyes widened again and he stood up a bit straighter, “I mean, yes m—“

“No need to try and be respectful towards me, Himchan. Respect is earned, not given.”

Himchan stopped, a slow smile appearing on his face, “Youngjae told me the same thing when we first met…”

Jieun smiled back, “I’m surprised… He used to be of the belief that he had to show respect and politeness to everyone… I’m glad that you all broke him out of that shell.” She said, opening the passenger side door of the car, popping open the glove compartment. She tore open the seal on the plastic before handing the gun to Himchan, “I believe this is yours.”

Himchan blushed darkly, looking at his feet. He reached out, taking a hold of his gun lightly, “I don’t regret shooting him, sorry.”

Jieun smiled, “You shouldn’t…  Anyways… we should go back inside now… I see P.O staring out the window over there… They are all pretty paranoid here, aren’t they…”

Himchan shrugged, “No offence but… you kinda did try to send us to prison…”

“Yeah… Sorry about that… “ Jieun said. She held open the door, allowing Himchan to go in first before following behind him. She smiled as she walked into the living room behind him, noticing the minute looks of relief on everyone’s face as though they honestly thought Jieun had planned to harm Himchan in some way.

She stood to the side, watching everyone interact for a minute. Youngjae was sitting on the couch next to Daehyun, curled up into the older boy’s side as he rested his cheek on his shoulder. Youngjae’s eyes were closed and Daehyun was gently running his hand through his hair, soothing the boy.

All the while, Daehyun seemed to be holding a conversation with P.O, the two going at it as JB held a sort of middle ground with a smile on his face. Minhyuk was resting back on the couch next to Yongguk, talking in a low voice with him.

Jieun turned her gaze to where U-kwon sat, a smile on his face as he played different hand games with Jongup and Zelo. She sighed softly, crossing her arms as she came to the realization of what she was going to have to do. “Yongguk.”

The idle chatter died down instantly, the leader looking up to meet Jieun’s gaze, “Yes?”

“I need you to come down to the station with me.”

The reactions were just as she had guessed they would be. Minhyuk and Ukwon looked on with shock at the request. Daehyun looked absolutely outraged and Jongup merely looked worried.

“Why.”

Jieun stood up straighter, “Well… obviously we need to go over our reports…”

“Our reports? I’m not sure I’m following.”

“Well, I think it’s time that I am allowed to unclassify this undercover operation. Because, obviously, B.A.P was just a fake front that was set up to pull…” She glanced at Minhyuk, “Exo, right?” When Minhyuk nodded, she continued on, “Yes, Exo out of hiding. The operation was secret enough that I had to keep it between us two, correct.”

Yongguk watched Jieun for a moment before a smile spread on his face as he realized what Jieun was doing for them. He stood up, nodding his head, “Of course, Jieun.”

Next chapter is the epilogue... *sigh* where has this story gone. TT^TT I can't believe its the end already! *sigh*

Also, i am working on the from last chapter in a seperate tag, I will link you guys to it if you wanna read it in the next update. I hope you guys enjoy this update... sorryt hat it's not that long... I'm going to bed now... OTL

Cuddles,

Lynn