"Hey, Gina." I greet my fellow agent at her desk. 

"Oh, Hi!"

She smiles brightly and shyly tucks her hair behind her ear. There are rumors going around that she has a crush on me. A gorgeous girl like her having a crush on a guy like me? I'm flattered but I don't want to jump to conclusions. It's just a bunch of rumors. 

"You said you found a lead?"

"Ah, that's right!"

She brings out a couple of folders from her drawer. As she closes it, she hands it to me. Our hands touch and she quickly releases as I have the folders in my hands. She doesn't make eye contact as she explains.

"Uhm, using the information we got from Moon Jongup... the last time he spoke with Jeon Nomin was three weeks ago. Jongup gave us Nomin's mobile number but the number isn't in service. We were; however, able to track the origin of the cellphone and it was bought Muan-gun¹."

"Muan-gun? Wow, that's pretty far. But if that's where Jeon Nomin is hiding, it's a start. Do you have more?"

"Well... we do have a report of a man withdrawing money from different ATMs. But strangely he withdraws the same maximum amount out of each ATM. This leads us to think he is compiling the money to purchase something."

"Is the man Jeon Nomin?"

"No. It's under a different name. Oh Chan."

"Is he a partner of Jeon Nomin?"

"Probably but we're not certain. He and Kim Byeong-ok used to work together in a company in their younger years. That's the connection we have."

"I see. Thanks, Gina. You did well."

I open the folders to read more on the information Gina gathered for us. There are photos of Oh Chan and Kim Byeong-ok captured from surveillance footage. There are also records of the cellphone that Gina mentioned. I go through each document and make sure I didn't miss anything. As I am walking back to my desk, I hear a girl call my name.

"Himchan-sshi."

I turn around and Gina walks over to me. 

"Is there something wrong?" I ask her.

"No no there isn't... uhm... I'm just wondering if... you read my note the last time."

"Your note? Oh! That note. Uh... Gina-sshi, I--"

"Agent Kim Himchan"

Am I popular today? Why is everyone asking for me?

"Yes, Chief?"

"May I speak with you? Follow me to my office now."

He walks away and I obviously have to follow him. I turn to look at Gina and shrug my shoulders. I guess we'll save this conversaion for later. I follow the chief to his office room, the old room of Kim Byeong-ok, and seated on one of two chairs is Bang Yongguk.

"Have a seat." Chief tells me. 

I sit beside Bang Yongguk and I look at him. He's leaning on the chair's arm and covering his mouth with his palm. He's not saying anything. Is he refraining from saying something stupid, as always? Chief sits on his revolving chair and places his elbows on the desk, hands cupped on each other. He looks serious. Am I in trouble? Was I called here to get fired? Because of me being kidnapped, maybe they thought I'm not good enough to continue as an agent. Oh God, what if that's it? Am I being kicked out? 

"I called you here, Agent Kim, for a favor."

"A favor?"

"As you know, Bang Yongguk is Ban Kimoon's grandson. Since this information is not anymore a secret and it is possible it will spread, we have to protect him. We can't erase Bang Yongguk completely but knowing Jeon Nomin is out there and wants him, we have to make sure Bang Yongguk is out of sight."

"I understand, sir... but what's the favor?"

"You and Bang Yongguk have to move in together."

"What?!"

➳➳➳➳➳

'You are his partner. You two have to be one unit. Where one goes, one follows. Do you understand, Agent Kim?'

No! I don't understand it at all! Why must I suffer? Is this punishment? Moving in with Bang Yongguk? Okay... I understand that this is kind of like a witness protection thing where you have to protect people that will possibly be kidnapped or murdered by a third party but why do I have to be a part of this? I don't understand the Chief's decision to have Yongguk and I stay under one roof. This is completely insane. 

Chief Ahn told us to move to an underground complex. We're living in a basement floor of a small building near NIS. We had our things packed and we moved in the new complex early in the morning and the daylight hasn't come. Chief said we had to be discrete. Moving out and moving in at day time would attract attention from threats. It's two-in-the-morning and I'm straining my back from carrying all these boxes from the van to the basement floor. Our new home is the entire basement floor accessible only through the elevator. There are no windows except for a small one in the bathroom. Without the furniture, this place would like a creepy chamber.

There are no more boxes to bring in and I'm exhausted. I lie down on the black sofa and take a deep breath. I stretch my arms and legs. It's almost three and I just want to sleep. I hear a ding and Yongguk walks out of the elevator. He looks at me and smiles. He puts his hands in his pants pocket and walks over to me. Instinctively, I sit up straight and have my arms in a boxing position.

"What are you doing?" he asks me as he laughs.

"We may be living under one roof but this isn't an invitation for you to do stuff to me."

"I'm not gonna do anything!"

I raise an eyebrow. Yongguk sits beside me on the sofa and lays his head back. His eyes are closed and he's breathing in and out slowly. Maybe he actually wasn't gonna do something to me. Huh. I lay my head back on the sofa as well. We should just rest. As I was about to close my eyes and try to sleep, Yongguk speaks up.

"I heard Gina likes you."

"Where did you hear that?"

"Around..."

There is a difference in his tone of voice. He doesn't sound normal. He sounds... annoyed. He sits upright and looks at me with sharp eyes. 

"Are you going out with her?" he asks.

"No."

"I heard from someone that Gina invited you out. Are you going?"

"What? No. And even if I am, it's none of your business."

Yongguk swings his body towards me and slams his hand against the sofa's back. His face is close to mine and he looks angry. What have I done now?

"Himchan-ah...do you love me?"

I am taken aback by his question. I avoid eye contact with him. I want to give him a straight forward answer but there has always been something that bothered me. I find courage to look at him straight in the eyes and say to him...

"I fell in love once. But that love disappointed me. If I love again, how am I sure I won't be disappointed?"

Yongguk leans back and I see the sadness in his eyes. I think he realizes what he's done to me in the past. I think he remembers that day. He removes his arm and he sits on his original position. He bites his lip and is thinking. I don't know what he is thinking. It's hard to know what is going on inside his head. Now that I've spoken my own mind, will this affect our future? Our work? Our... relationship?

"I'm sorry"

This is all he says before he stands up and walks to his bedroom. I feel the air thin and become awkward. How will I survive living with him? Please... I just want to hide.

➳➳➳➳➳

AUTHOR'S NOTE

[1] Muan-gun is the capital county of the South Jeolla province (south of Seoul, west of Busan)

I have ARC 2.2 ready to be written. I don't want to promise that I will update every day. I don't have the time. But what I will promise is that I will plan out the story for ARC 2 until the very end. I will make sure the finale will be awesome but I may need some help.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO HAPPEN IN THE FINALE?

Do you want some BangHim action? Do you want a sad ending? Happy ending? I want to hear your thoughts. 

SPECIAL MENTION to my new upvoters! Thank you very much !

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