At the soft thud of the door closing Namjoo’s eyes finally opened to stare up at the ceiling. Catching sight of a figure walking across the foot of the bed she propped herself up on her elbows and narrowed her eyes. Once her vision cleared she saw that it was Luhan who had returned with a brown paper bag and two drinks.

“I thought breakfast was on me,” Namjoo sat up never minding her disoriented hair and rubbed her eyes.

“Go wash up and come eat,” Luhan set their food down onto the table before hovering his hand over his hair, “your hair’s kinda…”

Placing her hand on her head she groaned and slid off the bed before walking into the bathroom. A few minutes later with her chair turned toward the table, Namjoo greedily chewed her sandwich while they started on business: drawing up an offense strategy.

“Lets look for Tin,” Namjoo spoke through her full mouth.

“Who?”

“Tin. The officer who interrogated me talked about him,” Namjoo explained then swallowed the food before going on, “I’m assuming he’s been brought in several times already.” She let the information sink in then recalled, “Oh yea, the pig, there were drugs in the pig. Perhaps the gang stored drugs in the pig and it was meant as a trap for other gang members and we ruined it.”

Luhan’s lids fluttered simultaneously and asked surprised, “You think there are drugs involved?”

“Well why not?” Namjoo shrugged. “Mario says his people are undercover everywhere. Those homeless fakes could be passing drugs along the streets. Disguises works best in these situations.”

“Then we have to catch them in action…”

“No,” Namjoo immediately shook her head and watch disdain fall over Luhan’s face. “Who knows if the cops are keeping their tab on this. If word gets to the higher-ups, you know you can get in trouble.”

“I’ll take responsibility.”

“We look for Tin,” Namjoo grounded her statement dismissing his readily said statement, “gangs know things about each other. He’s going to know something about Mario.”

“And why should we take your plan?” Luhan fought; the two of them suddenly forgetting about breakfast.

“Because you have more to lose than me right now!” Namjoo raised her voice. “And you can’t fight them alone.”

He bit his lower lip and heaved a long, loud sigh. “I’m not alone. You’re here with me, aren’t you?”

His words hit home and Namjoo felt the hot armor around her heart cool. Of course, Luhan wasn’t heading to the front lines alone. She’d be there every step of the way. The words also rang a bell at the back of her head, but she quickly let the subject off.

She hesitated before saying, “I’m just saying; we’re going to need help. You don’t need me to remind you that we know nothing about Mario. If luck is in our way, this Tin guy will know something. Knowledge is what we need right now, and if that money is linked to those drugs…we’ll deal with that later.”

Luhan still looked unhappy with the suggested method she was trying to push through.  

“They can’t get their hands on the key anyway. We don’t have it and we don’t know where it is,” Namjoo reminded. “In the meantime, we can only lay low and dodge as many of their attacks as possible. At the same time, we look for things we can use against him.”

Lowering his eyes he sealed his lips together without comment.

“Fine, if you want to do it that way,” Luhan gave in, “but Namjoo, we’re going to need to protect ourselves somehow. You know those guys are ruthless. Laying low won’t just cut it.”

“I no longer have a gun license, you know that,” Namjoo told.

The one registered under her name as an agent was at her house and obviously she hadn’t been able to bring it. If they were to take the defensive, they’d have nothing to protect themselves but mere hands and legs. Their biggest disadvantage was that she was no longer strong as she once was. If a fight were to break out, she might not be able to do a thing. To have Luhan protect her wasn’t something she wanted. This time around they could really try to kill him and they wouldn’t come out so lucky.  

Luhan was silent for a long time, which left her confused and curious. Looking at him she asked, “What about you?”

“I don’t have mine with me,” Luhan replied. “I didn’t know it would turn out like this.”

Then what were they going to do? They couldn’t buy one without a license and registering for one might require them to have citizenship and could take up a week to process. Time would be wasted.  

“We could make connections,” Luhan suggested.

Namjoo’s eyes flickered at his absurd suggestion. “That’s against your job, Luhan. Your whole career is dedicated to putting those people behind bars, not working with them.”

He slightly gritted his teeth.

“It’s either we’re on the same side as Mario’s or we’re not, easy as that,” Namjoo pointed out. “We’re not associating with the black market.”

“It doesn’t technically make us the same kind,” Luhan tried patiently. “We all have different motives. This time around if anything should happen, neither of us should be hospitalized. It’s going to cost time.”

Namjoo deepened a brow in opposition. Luhan would attract trouble, he’d get in trouble. He could be suspended from the team or worse yet, fired. His job meant a lot to him, she knew that really well and she wasn’t up to letting him lose anything like how she lost her job. Losing her job took a part of her and what other interest did Luhan have? It’d be difficult for him to look for something else that would be worth his while. And that would be even more of a waste of his time.

On the other hand, they couldn’t go about arguing. It’d last an hour if they wanted to lay their voices out flat. They had to work something out. They had to compromise.

Namjoo was really against trying to gain connection to get to the black market. She didn’t really want to get to the dark side of the human population. She didn’t want to have to do anything with criminals, but she didn’t want to die at the hands of Mario or his gang. Luhan shouldn’t have to die either. 

“One deal,” Namjoo stated after weighing out her decisions, “I do the bargaining.”

“No,” Luhan immediately rejected.

Namjoo accidently gripped her hand around the sandwich so hard that she dug her fingers into the bread.

“It’s dangerous for you,” he reasoned; the worst kind of scenarios coming to his head, but he couldn’t speak of them.

“What else could be dangerous?” Namjoo contradicted upset that he was always trying to shoot her suggestions down. “If they ever find out your name, they’re going to come after you if something unsatisfactory happens to them. They’re going to create havoc for you and you’re going to lose everything. I have less to lose. I’m doing the bargaining if we’re going to get that gun. If you don’t want to go along with this, then we drop the subject.”

Suddenly locked in a staring faceoff their eyes became furious; Luhan gripping the table and Namjoo gritting her teeth.

“Fine, but I’m still going with you. I’m not letting you deal with those guys by yourself.” Luhan grounded.

#####

Heaving a sigh later in the afternoon with crossed arms he turned from the window when he heard Namjoo get up. There was a bag in her hand and she looked prepared to head out.

“I’m returning these.” Was all she said before turning.

“To who?”

Namjoo twisted her head back to look at him, “Tina. You want to come along?”

At the mention of the girl Luhan felt like biting his lip.

“I won’t be long,” Namjoo continued then turned away.

Luhan called out on instinct and watched her twist her head back to look at him. “You owe me a coffee date.”

A frown of confusion lifted itself onto her face, which brought to Luhan the urge to shake her into her senses. Was she a goldfish? How could she have forgotten?

“You set me up, remember?”

“Oh…but that…”

“I thought we were having coffee,” Luhan cut her off. “We should at least finish what you started that morning.”

Namjoo eyed him and half-rolled her eyes tired of arguing with him. Then shifting to the door muttered, “Whatever.”

When the door closed he felt a smile rove over his face.

#####

Coffee date? The sound of it was absurd. What exactly was Luhan trying to pull her into? Namjoo paused in her steps and frowned to herself lost then with a face of disbelief. Twisting around she stared up at the window of their room wondering what other things he had up his sleeve.  

Kat and her daughter seemed to be busy with business. Customers entered and exited the shop simultaneously when Namjoo neared it. Catching a whiff of Kat’s infamous stir fried noodles she slowly stopped and tightened her grip on the handle of the bag.

Tina’s scarred heels were weighing down the bag. She felt guilty for returning them in the condition they were in even when they already had hints of age in them. However Luhan’s dragging her around really did them in and Namjoo really had no explanation for the ruined heels. Well, Namjoo supposed that if the girl wanted a refund or new shoes she would have to comply.

With a sigh Namjoo felt her head droop forward. She took a step closer to the building, but quickly paused. The first time she approached Tina she’d taken the ring off. To do the same thing again or not? Namjoo debated for quite a long time before quickly taking it off.

Sliding the door open she poked her head in. All the tables and chairs were stuffed with crying children and adults, and she immediately spotted Kat at the cashier ringing up bills. Closing the door shut she stood by the wall out of the way of the waiters and waitresses. Namjoo eyed each one of them as they walked by carrying platters of food and trays of water skillfully as how they’d been trained to.

God, everyone looked so happy that afternoon. Delightful smiles and unceasing laughter between the families there flared a kind of envy in her eyes. A few teenagers were shrugging off their mother’s care with the need to look cool and babies in high chairs were giggling at what they didn’t understand. Looking at this made Namjoo want to be back in Seoul inside a restaurant with Mi Yun.

“Namjoo!” she heard Kat holler for her underneath her voice. She was waving her arm out when Namjoo turned and quickly walked over so as not to waste her time.

“Hi,” Kat smiled. “What are you doing here alone?” Then she clapped her hands together, “Oh! The cruise was this weekend, wasn’t it? Did you and Luhan go?”

“The cruise?” she repeated lost.

How did she know about the cruise?

“He told you about it, didn’t he? Or did you two not go?” her face became that of utter disappointment and Namjoo quickly grasped the situation.

“We went, we went,” she hurriedly told. “It was fun.”

“Ah…that’s good! Since you two are here you two should do as much as you can! I’m glad you went! When you have children it’s going to be even more meddlesome and you’re never going to have time for each other.” Then she paused, “You two don’t have children, do you?”

Briefly laughing and smiling pretentiously Namjoo handed the bag to her, “I borrowed some things from Tina. If she has any problem, tell her to call me.”

If anybody here knew she and Luhan had a daughter; situations might become complex and Namjoo didn’t want to deal with any kind of situation than the one she already had on hand.  

“Is that all? You’re not going to stay?”

“I’m kind of in a hurry,” she lied. “Thank you.”

Upon hurrying out she slid the ring back on and headed back to the hotel.

#####

Luhan turned when the door abruptly opened and closed.

“What are you doing?” Namjoo asked when she sighted the game board he had on the table.

“Oh…” Luhan turned to look at the board, “I borrowed it from downstairs. Want to play?”

Sliding out the chair from across him she sat down with elbows against the table, “What is it?”

“Can’t you tell? Monopoly.” As Namjoo made a face he pointed to the two characters he had at the start square. “I already picked out our players.”

He watched her pick up her game piece and stare at it.

“Should we play?” he waited expectantly.

“Fine,” she turned to look at him, “lets play.”

And twenty minutes later Namjoo was already losing most of her cards. While her bank account was draining into negatives, Luhan, by far, was having the upper hand. A chuckle of satisfaction escaped from his lips after rolling the dice. His eyes swam over to the last two cards Namjoo was holding before she quickly grabbed them.

“Have some mercy,” Namjoo begged easing back from his stare on her cards.

“Aw…come on, it’s just a game,” he cooed. “I’m buying that street. Give it to me.”

Holding his hand out he waited.

“No,” she stubbornly went on hiding the cards behind her.

“Don’t be so petty, give it,” Luhan stood up from his chair and leaned forward.

“Can’t you forget it?” Namjoo scooted her chair back against the carpet.

“It’s just a game.” He made a jump and tried to reach over.

“Then why are you being so pesky?” She dodged.

With a frustrated groan, he edged out of his seat to stand beside the table. “Give me the card, Namjoo.”

Getting up to her feet too she pointed to the floor, “Uh-uh! You’re crossing the line!”

He frowned and stared at the ground before he caught the movement of her feet heading toward the opposite direction from him.

“Namjoo!” he hurried after her and finally grabbed her arm when they fully circled the table.

Twisting around Namjoo pressed a hand against his chest to push him back and that was when he sort of froze. Namjoo was left struggling by herself, his hand locked around her lower arm, her hand at his chest, and his eyes on her. As if her voice were the background music to the beating in his ears he couldn’t hear what she was saying. The expression on her face became upset before she realized he wasn’t paying attention to her a half second later.

As her earlier expression died down to blankness he loosened his hold on her. Namjoo’s eyes searched through the galaxy in his eyes before she took a step to the side so clumsily that her feet twisted. Quickly grasping her lower arm again to steady her he also stepped toward the side since they were caught in the narrow aisle between the table and the bed. Instead, he knocked his ankle into the leg of the chair and let out a loud shout of pain.

Releasing her he tried to bend down to rub his knee, but idiotically brushed his head against her shoulder. Letting out another shout of unintended pain he reached up to rub his head and jumped on his uninjured leg while listening to Namjoo groan as she rubbed her shoulder. Quickly losing balance he wavered back and forth. Dropping the cards, Namjoo grab his arm to push him back, but his weight was too much for her. So as not to fall back into the wall she pivoted on her heels and they tumbled onto the bed.

The pain was suddenly extinguished when he felt Namjoo become trapped under him and his eyes lingered over her face. He gulped and his fingers hesitatingly pressed into her arms. Thoughts about moving his hands down her body and kissing her infiltrated his mind. 

***Being a stubborn idiot can really turn a situation around xD

***Luhan finds out about Namjoo's search for an apartment next chapter!