I am surprised that this is the end. I thought there would be one more chapter but this is it folks! I am so sorry if the ending looks rushed, this is what I can churn out at the moment and this is all. Firstly I want to apologize first if the ending disappoints, I really have no intention of doing that. And then thank you very very very much for everyone who read, who commented, who waited, who loved, who raved, who criticized, who promoted – and the list goes on – thank you very much for being with me all through the chapters. I am so sad right now T.T but I really hope I brightened up some of your lives with my story <3 Again, thank you very much and I love love love you all <3333 Oh, watch Let’s Eat, Doojoon is hilarious there omg haha! Daebak!

For floren, my best friend, who had to endure all of my nonsense rants and endlessly pushing me to write an update, thank you very much! Have fun during your holidays, dear <33333

Hyunwoo looked at a peacefully sleeping Yoseob. He was always amazed at how deep the younger man could sleep – and how quick he could fall asleep, but Hyunwoo thought it would be natural for the idol since he had to squeeze in sleep in between hectic schedules and all. And Yoseob was used to doing that.

The agent smiled to himself and pushed back soft strands of hair from Yoseob’s face. He continued watching from where he was seated beside the bed. The soft inhale and exhale, the shadows of Yoseob’s long eyelashes on his cheeks, slightly agape mouth. Hyunwoo could not hold himself back and extended a hand, gently caressing the inviting soft lips with his finger. Yoseob opened his mouth reflexively, his lips blooming under Hyunwoo’s touch as he woke up, eyes disoriented.

“Hey.” Hyunwoo smiled affectionately at Yoseob, finger still caressing Yoseob’s lips.  

Yoseob frowned a little, but then he relaxes instantly a moment later, knowing that it was Hyunwoo. He beamed towards the older man and took hold of Hyunwoo’s wrist, kissing his fingers, “Hey.”

Grinning now because Yoseob was so cute, Hyunwoo Yoseob’s hair slowly and leaned closer to the younger man, “Are you okay? How are you feeling?”

Yoseob pouted, “I want to go home with you. How long more do I need to stay here? I miss you.”

Hyunwoo’s heart broke at the sight of his lover. It had been three days since he was evacuated in and this was the first time Hyunwoo had visited him in those three days. Surprisingly, Yoseob had not been as clingy as he used to be. There were messages now and then, but no phone call, and the idol would not spam Hyunwoo if he did not reply. It was… normal. And Hyunwoo wondered if that was a good thing or not.

Hyunwoo leaned closer and kissed Yoseob on the lips chastely, “I miss you too. So much. But I need you to be stay here a bit more, okay. It’s going to be over soon and we will go home, I promise you. Now you need to sleep more,” Hyunwoo caressed the red and slightly swollen eyebags under Yoseob’s eyes, “I will be back before you know it.”

Yoseob nodded, “Are you going to be okay?”

Hyunwoo forced out a smile, because honestly he did not know the answer to that question. There was a blunder in the whole strategy, because basically they had unknowingly sent the nuclear bomb into the wrong hands due to one misunderstanding and miscommunication and others. It was said that the motive behind all of these commotions was unification, but because of one misinterpretation, Seoul was going to be ashes when the nuclear bomb got activated.

The location of the nuclear bomb had been found out – Banpo Bridge, Yongsan’s border – and the team was arranged to go to the location immediately. Hyunwoo had slipped out and asked Sooyeon for a moment to talk to Yoseob. A goodbye… if things turned out badly, although Sooyeon had claimed that she would not let anything bad happen to Hyunwoo.   

Hyunwoo cupped Yoseob’s cheeks and kissed the younger man’s lips again, “I’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. I love you so much.” Hyunwoo gave Yoseob a tight hug, memorizing the comforting heat emanating from the younger man’s body, every nook and cranny. Memorizing how perfect Yoseob was against his body. He kissed Yoseob’s hair before he released his embrace and walked to the door. He turned for a last look and Yoseob beamed at him, still sitting on the crumpled bed. “I love you too, Ahjussi.”

Hyunwoo gave a sincere smile, “We are going home, Kid.”

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There was a station on the bridge, it was dome-shaped, made of steel and glass. The construction and materials gave it a very chic and modern look. The atmosphere was quiet, a serene sight overlooking the river on the other side. The sky was blue, white fluffy clouds floating around. It looked like a scenic sight out of a postcard, if not for the armed forces and cars surrounding it.  

The place was besieged, fully-armed military ran about to secure the building, police siren filling the quiet space, while Sooyeon and her team – including Hyunwoo – built up strategies based on the blueprint of the station.

“Start it now without any mistake.” Sooyeon commanded, “Be careful, Byung Jin and Ji hun.” Both agents nodded and went to get their computers in the car.

“The nuclear level has been confirmed, the nuclear weapon is definitely inside the building.” Hyunwoo reported to Sooyeon. “Where are you going?”

“Take over for me out here” Sooyeon cocked her gun, “I want to see what the situation is inside.”

“First we need to hear what Joong Won’s demands are.” Hyunwoo argued.

“I told you, Joong Won doesn’t have any demands. When the time comes, he plans to detonate the nuclear bomb to start a war.” Sooyeon explained.

“Let’s go together then.” Hyunwoo was walking when Sooyeon stopped him, “You need to be in charge out here. Please.” The glint in Sooyeon’s eyes conveyed that she wanted to say more, but she did not say anything. Hyunwoo got it though, it was Yoseob. He needed to stay alive for Yoseob, so Hyunwoo nodded instead as he watched Sooyeon slithered through the back entrance.

The atmosphere outside was tense, Hyunwoo had no idea what was going on inside until Sooyeon’s voice finally broke through the intercom. “Direct all of our forces to the second islet. Please be on standby.”

The command was clear. Hyunwoo immediately gathered his team and went into the building, finding a beat up Sooyeon. Hyunwoo grabbed Sooyeon and frowned, “Are you okay?”

Sooyeon nodded once and at that moment they heard a gunshot. “We have to hurry! Let’s go!”

When Hyunwoo and Sooyeon came with their teams to ambush the lobby, guns pointed, ready to shoot, the situation was worse than what he had imagined. Hostages were lying on the floor, some dead some alive, while at least ten of armed men (the terrorists) surrounded a round metal object with cables running around the shell connecting to a center machine – Hyunwoo was sure it was the nuclear bomb.

Yoogun was already there, ready with his gun pointed to Joong Won, the brain behind all of the nuclear attacks.

“I have been waiting for this.” Joong Won said as he opened up his military uniform to show some cables attached to his body, “Do you know what this is? This is a heart detonator. When you kill me and my heart stops, you all die with me! The moment my heart stops, the countdown will begin.”  

“A unification achieved with so many sacrifices would be meaningless.” Yoogun countered, still with a ready gun pointed at Joong Won.

Joong Won smirked, “To those who are complacent, the reality of unification may seem like a burden. But to us, who have been living under the control and rejection of other nations, this is the only way to survive.”

Yoogun lowered down his gun, while everyone else was still ready in their positions, “You say you are the representative of the people?” He scoffed, “Don’t delude yourself, Joong Won. That’s just your pent up anger. Don’t you get it?”

Joong Won laughed like a mad man, loud as it echoed through the quiet building, even with so many people. He bent down to take his detonator, “My resolute step today will serve to recover the pride of the people of the Republic and give them hope. Don’t you – “

Suddenly without any warning, Joong Won was shot right in the head. His eyes widened in shock as his body fell slowly to the ground slowly, revealing a smirking Shih Hyuk who stood with a gun behind him. Shih Hyuk killed Joong Won in cold blood. The situation quickly turned chaotic after the shot and Hyunwoo immediately shot Shih Hyuk a few times on the chest, while the terrorists started shooting and the armed forces shot back.

There was nothing on Hyunwoo’s mind except for Yoseob. He would make it through this and go back to Yoseob. He could hear nothing but Yoseob’s laughter mixed with gun explosions, he could feel the bullets coming to him and he rolled on the floor to avoid them. More armed forces came in for back up and he felt a pair of hands pulled him behind a pillar while continuous shooting happened in the lobby. After a while, everything stopped completely.

“You okay?” Sooyeon asked, “You need to be careful. You need to get back to Yoseob.”

Hyunwoo nodded as he reloaded his gun. Sooyeon stopped him from walking out, “It’s over, they are all dead. It’s done.”

“I will make a last check on them, just to make sure.” Hyunwoo said, as he walked around the lobby to check on the bodies. There was a soft tug on his pants and Hyunwoo turned his head down to see a dying Shih Hyuk still smirking so devilishly as he tried to talk and choked on his own blood, “Is he a –“

He was cut off immediately when Hyunwoo shot him a few times right in the head. The agent knew too well which “he” Shih Hyuk was referring to, and he was not taking any chances for Yoseob’s safety. Hyunwoo killed Shih Hyuk in cold blood.

Because Joong Won was dead, the nuclear bomb was automatically detonated, and they had to find a way to deactivate it and prevent Seoul from vanishing into dust. They only had fifty-three minutes to do so and the only way was to bring it to the shooting range in an isolated island.

“I’m coming with you.” Sooyeon insisted.

Yoogun replied with a soft smile, “I’ll be back, just think what you want for dinner later on.”

“Oppa…”

“Sooyeonah, I’ll be back.” Yoogun said with a tone of finality.

Hyunwoo watched everything silently, because this was exactly what happened with him and Yoseob. He knew something was wrong, he could get that Yoogun planned something he was not sharing with them, but he made no mention of it. “Team Leader Jung, be careful.”

Yoogun nodded at Hyunwoo and smiled to Sooyeon the last time. He got on the helicopter with the active bomb and flew away, so that it would explode in the sky over the isolated island in the middle of the ocean far away and minimize any radiation on human beings. Yoogun would explode together with the nuclear bomb, that was the only way. When the plane took off, Sooyeon started screaming and crying, and Hyunwoo was helpless other than giving her a walkie-talkie to communicate with Yoogun.

“I love you so much, Ji Sooyeon.”

Those were the last words Hyunwoo heard from the other side before the connection was cut. Sooyeon crumpled to the floor as she shouted into the walkie-talkie, calling Yoogun’s name.

The sunset was red that evening. Bathed by the blood of innocent ones, wicked ones, beloved ones.

Hyunwoo would never forget how the sky seemed to bleed for the pain of losing loved ones.

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Epilogue – 3 months later.

Hyunwoo wiped the locker affectionately as Yoseob was busy arranging baskets of flowers on the floor.

“Yah, don’t mess up Team Leader’s and his parents’ pictures!” Yoseob shoved Hyunwoo’s thigh roughly.

Hyunwoo rolled his eyes and looked down at Yoseob, “Don’t mess up the flower arrangements! Just tell me honestly, you cannot do it.”

“Yes, I can! Don’t look down on me.” Yoseob answered stubbornly as he frowned, focusing his whole being to arrange the flowers beautifully.

“Oh, you guys are here too.” A soft voice came and both men turned their heads to the source of the voice.

Yoseob jumped up and immediately hugged Sooyeon, “Noona!” Hyunwoo smiled and gave her a nod, “Ji Sooyeon.”

Sooyeon laughed as she was suddenly with a handful of boisterous idol. “It’s good to see you guys here again, as always.”

“Oh, Noona, isn’t my flowers arrangement pretty? I did it myself but Ahjussi said I was no good. Look at him wiping the locker, he will mess up the pictures, don’t you think so? Oh let me arrange those flower you have together with ours. It is going to be so pretty.” Yoseob rambled along as he took Sooyeon’s flowers and squatted again to merge the flowers into one really pretty flower arrangements.  

Sooyeon laughed at Yoseob’s behavior, he had not changed and she hoped so hard he would not change one bit, because that was the spirit that Hyunwoo needed in his life.

“How are you?” Hyunwoo asked softly, still watching his lover in amusement.

Sooyeon smiled and sighed contentedly, “I’m good. I’m guessing it’s pretty good for both of you?”

Hyunwoo nodded and smiled sheepishly, “Yoseob was busy with his schedules and I’m busy with being Team Leader as of now, but we still manage. We still live together and it’s really good. I’m thinking of proposing to him this month, buy some rings and all. Although it is not legal here but at least we have a bond between us. ”

“Wow, that is super great! I never know there is a romantic inside of you.” Sooyeon nudged Hyunwoo teasingly, “I am happy for both of you. Yoseob is good for you.”

“Do you want to come back, Sooyeonah? To NSS? Chief Director is asking for you again. You might want to think about it.” Hyunwoo asked.

Sooyeon shook her head slowly, “I have told him that I need time. I am very much honored to have the opportunity, but I need some time before I can go back. I will go back, one day. But for now I need some time.” Hyunwoo nodded and squeezed Sooyeon’s shoulders comfortingly.

“Okay, that’s done!” Yoseob jumped up happily. “I have merged Noona’s flowers with our flowers and they are so pretty together. Oh, do you want to have dinner with us? Hyunwoo is buying because he lost a bet to me.”

“Is that right? Hyunwoo is buying? Of course I’m coming if he is buying. Can we have some soju then?” Sooyeon teased.

“No… no soju for Yoseob, he would never stop because he drinks too much and he would be drunk and it would be terrible.” Hyunwoo protested.

“Yoseob is a terrible drunk?” Sooyeon asked in amusement and Yoseob nodded with a big smile on his face.

“Let’s have soju then!”

Sooyeon and Yoseob laughed at Hyunwoo who growled in pure distress.

People tried to find someone who fits, who matches, who is perfect for them. But they often forget that everything doesn’t have to fit to be perfect. It’s just a matter of how we see it from our perspective. Life is a collage – it doesn’t fit, it is built on different characters, different situations, different understandings. Sometimes they do not fit at all. But when they are collated into one big picture – all of them together without having to mold themselves to fit each other like a puzzle – they are perfect nonetheless.