"What would you like me to do with him, Baekhyun?" Kyungsoo asked, nonchalantly twirling his pistol by its trigger guard. Baekhyun flinched when the muzzle nearly collided with his eye.

"Put that away, you might shoot someone." He eyed the gun as if it might explode.

"It’s not loaded."

"Then why do you carry it around?"

"To scare people. So, back to the question?"

Baekhyun sighed. “Where is he?”

"Basement of B-21, all tied up and ready for your verdict."

He tilted his head back in defeat, staring a the peeling ceiling of his main office in the basement of another branch of House of Venus. “Let him go. Tell him to work as per normal.”

"You serious? I mean, okay he didn’t do anything wrong, but he met up with Tao behind your back, doesn’t that say something? What if he does it again? And this time something actually happens?"

"Well I can’t fire him, he knows way too much."

"Kill him, then," Kyungsoo said simply.

"He’s too valuable to die like that. Tell the guys to set him free."

Kyungsoo clucked his tongue. “You’re too soft.”

"Do you want to be boss then?"

The younger male glanced away. “How’s Nara? Haven’t talked to her since that happened.”

"She’s doing fine. Look, it wasn’t your fault that-"

"It was, Baekhyun. I had one job, protect her, and I failed it. I failed you, and I failed myself. A young life was lost."

"I told you and Yixing not to follow us that day, if anyone, it’s my fault. And the diamonds… I should have kept them someplace else."

"It’s over, now. I’ll go check on Yixing. I doubt he’s just going to stay still so obediently. He’s second after me for a reason."

"Cocky bastard." Baekhyun chuckled. "Get out of my office."

~*~

Coming to work Monday after all that drama had indeed felt bizarre to her. She was half expecting things to come to a standstill for a while, but it didn’t work that way, life had to go on whether or not she almost got abducted by a man she trusted. It was only one person missing, yet the office felt so empty and cold to her. She sank down into her seat and glanced at the cubicle beside hers, it still had some of his things, and she guessed he must’ve really decided to run away from his job at the last minute.

She moved over to his desk, sitting down and just staring at the items on it. Then, she opened the drawers, not really looking for anything in particular; she just wanted to see from his perspective.

"Hey Nara, Lisa told us that Minseok resigned last Friday. She also mentioned that Minseok said we could throw away all his things as he wouldn’t have time to pack up. Why’s he in such a hurry? Any idea? You’re closest to him out of all of us."

"I have no idea either," she said.

"He didn’t tell you? Why so secretive… Anyway, if there’s anything you think is important to him, you should hold onto it first, then maybe you can pass it to him when you meet him. If you’ll ever meet him, that is."

"Yeah, I’ll do that." She gave a small smile and began checking through his things more meticulously. There weren’t many personal-looking items there, except a notebook and a watch he must’ve left behind but forgot to claim it a long time ago. She kept the things in her purse and returned to work. She had no clients as of yet, so she was just tasked to store all the year’s customers in the company archive. There wasn’t a set deadline to her assignment, so she could afford to go off track every once in a while. She fiddled with her phone, then decided to try calling Minseok’s number for the first time since he disappeared.

As expected, the number was no longer in service. She tried to think of any other way to reach him, but he never mentioned being on any social networking site. He really was gone, he wasn’t taking a day off. She could try calling up past acquaintances and dig for Tao’s contact number to get through to Minseok, but Baekhyun would seriously freak out if he came to know she was contacting the “enemy”.

"Nara, I sent you an email on my recent client, you can archive that if you’re free," said Woori, the only other wedding planner left now that Minseok was gone. A pity too, since he graduated probation not long ago. But it didn’t matter to him, did it? The job was just to get closer to her.

Wait, there's still his work email.

There was a chance it had been terminated already, or he would never bother checking that email, but it was worth a shot. She scrambled to open up the site, but her fingers froze over the keyboard when the page came for her to type in her message.

What was she supposed to say? “Hey, I know you tried to abduct me but didn’t in the end, and I forgive you.” Or was she supposed to say, “if Tao was going to hurt you if you failed, then I wouldn’t mind if you took me.”

She had typed and back-spaced everything multiple times, until she finally stuck with this:

You left your watch and notebook in your desk. The watch looks pretty expensive, I can give it back to you if you want. Just let me know when you want to meet.

She went back to work after clicking send, more to distract herself from the stupid-sounding email than to actually be productive at work. What was happening to him right now? Had he flown back to China already and reported a failed mission? Was he receiving punishment? Or was he… Already dead?

The possibilities were endless and she really wanted a reply from that email to set her mind at ease.

Caught up in waiting, she had stayed long past her normal work hours with the excuse of wanting to archive everything by today as she was almost done. She was doing what she said, but it was also to check her inbox every ten minutes to see if she had gotten a reply. It was nearing eight thirty when she decided she wasn’t going to hear from him any time soon. She headed down while replying Baekhyun’s message on where she was. But before she could press send, she felt a looming shadow in front of her.

She looked up and stumbled back. “Zitao…”

He smiled warmly. “Hey.”

"What do you want?" She asked, trying to sound as brave as possible.

"Don’t look at me as if I’m going to kill you."

"You tried kidnapping me, how the do you expect me to react?!"

"It’s not kidnapping if you left Byun Baekhyun willingly. I know what he did to you, why do you stay with him?"

"It’s none of your business. From the very day you left me without so much so of a ing goodbye and explanation, my life has been none of your business. Leave me alone before I call Baekhyun."

"You trust him that much? Even after he destroyed your dreams? For all you know, he could’ve been so crazily in love with you that he knocked you up on purpose so he could be with-"

Her hand swung and struck the man on his cheek. “You don’t know anything about him. Or us, for that matter. You left me for China? Then stay there. Things were peaceful before you showed up.”

"Why are you so angry with me leaving?"

"You knew me, Zitao. You knew me like you knew yourself. And despite knowing how damn lonely I was, you left. That was enough for me to know that really, just like you said, I was really only your test subject."

"I left because I was dangerous, I could harm you."

"Well look at me now! I still got dragged into a world like yours, haven’t I?! And maybe if you’d stayed, I wouldn’t have met Baekhyun, wouldn’t have got pregnant, wouldn’t have to give up my dreams. If you just stayed, no matter how much danger you could bring to me, I would stay too."

"Did you like me?"

"Of course I did! But you had a girlfriend, so what did you expect me to do? Come between you guys?! Why did you approach me when you had someone else? Why did you keep tabs on me even after you left? If you wanted to get out of my life, then get out and leave nothing behind. If you try to tell me that you liked me back too and chose to left despite that, then I really never want to see you again."

Zitao had nothing to say in regards to that, and instead stepped out from her line of sight so a white van came into view. “Minseok is in there.”

Breath was knocked out of her at the news, and she immediately dashed across the empty road. She fumbled with the handle, but managed to slide open the door. Although dim, Minseok’s flustered face came into view. He must’ve seen her running from behind the tinted windows, but couldn’t find time or reason to hide.

"You ," was the first thing she said before she threw her arms around his neck. "I can’t believe you. I can’t ing believe you."

"I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that, I shouldn’t have agreed to-"

"Did he hurt you?"

Minseok blinked twice, lips quivering to find something to say.

"Why? E- Even after I took your trust for granted…"

"You didn’t. You didn’t do anything, and I have nothing to blame you for except not saying goodbye properly."

Minseok glanced across the road, where his boss was glumly kicking a stray page of a newspaper into the pavement.

"Don’t blame him either."

"What?"

"Tao just wanted the best for you."

"Don’t try to defend him-"

"If he wanted to abduct you for himself, Nara, he would’ve done so quite successfully in a heartbeat. At first I didn’t understand either, but when I called him to report the failure, and he didn’t punish me, I realised his true intentions. He doesn’t want you for himself, he wants you to fall in love properly, knowing what actually happened between you and Baekhyun. He wanted you to be happy with a man you chose for yourself. If you look at things that way, I didn’t fail my mission at all." Minseok smiled softly, her hair. "He just has difficulty coming to terms that you’re actually contented being with Baekhyun. And from the looks of it, you do too."

"What are you- what are you…"

"I’m going to say goodbye properly now, Nara."

"Don’t say it, don’t say goodbye!" She almost yelled. "If goodbye means I’m never going to see you again then I don’t want to hear it. Don’t say goodbye."

"Meeting you was magical, although our circumstances were a little messed up." Minseok smiled when she kept shaking her head. "Your trust in me might have been fractured a little, after finding out what I was here for. But even after I got exposed, you continued to trust me as if nothing ever happened. I don’t deserve that, Nara, I’m not that much of a good person as you think I am. Now I just want you to remember one thing, this whole time, everything I said to you, everything we did together, it came from the bottom of my heart. Everything else might have been props for my show, the job, the watch and the notebook, but you weren’t one of them." Minseok chuckled. "I read your email."

"Stop it, stop saying that-"

"I have a life to return to in China, though I’m not very proud of it. Meeting you, that was a fairytale, the kind of fairytale you believed never came true. But it did, it did for me. The ending wasn’t expected, but I have to return to reality now. So maybe, we can cross paths in the real world and start all over again."

"You’re making a promise you know you can’t keep."

"Goodbye, Nara. Live well." Minseok pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead, then pushed her away so he could slide the door shut and lock it. Her hands instinctively went back to the handle, but no matter how much she pulled at it, the door wouldn’t budge. Then, Tao placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You were right," he said. "If I really liked you that much I would’ve stayed no matter what. Which makes me believe that you won’t regret staying with him now, because he stayed despite knowing how much danger he could cause you, and you chose to stay too."

He made his way around the van and got into the passenger’s seat. She tried staring through the black windows, not so she could see him, but so Minseok could see her. Before the van could drive off, she uttered a soft, “goodbye.”

~*~

Baekhyun was getting worried from the lack of news. It had been an hour since he sent her the first text message, and she should have replied by now because there was a sign that she was typing back something, but never got to send it. Did Tao come back for her personally?

He grabbed his coat and flung the front door open, ready to get into his car, until he saw a hunched figure sitting by the swing on the veranda. Baekhyun called her name, and she looked at him with eyes that reminded him of a blackhole.

"What happened?" He asked, kneeling in front of her. Baekhyun glanced at the watch and notebook in her hands, which clearly didn’t belong to her. She looked stricken, but her eyes were dry. That was something Baekhyun admired her for. He couldn’t remember the last time she cried, but the one that lasted in his mind was the time they were both at the hospital, and she had lost her baby. That was the time he really saw her cry her heart out, as if she had spent her entire life holding back those tears and letting it out then.

She looked at him, then tightened her fingers over the items. Shaking her head and giving what looked like a reassuring smile—which didn’t do much of assuring Baekhyun—she stood up and entered the house. Baekhyun sighed and followed after her. He’d thought that after the so-called “confrontation” a few days ago, they’d have some progress. Clearly it had been wishful thinking.

When he got back to the bedroom, she was already laying on the bed but still in her work clothes. Baekhyun was sure she wasn’t asleep yet, so he went over and shook her arm, telling her to wash up then head to bed. She laid there for some time before getting up unwillingly. The way she quite literally dragged herself to the bathroom with a fresh change of clothes had Baekhyun smiling for some reason.

Although nothing had changed in her behavior and attitude towards him, Baekhyun could distinctively feel a layer of tension and misunderstanding already peeled away.

He was using his phone absentmindedly when she stepped out with a towel over her head, which was unusual, because she would always dry her hair before coming out. Baekhyun watched her with an amused smile as she went to the drawer to pick up her dryer before making her way back to the bathroom. She must’ve felt the need to explain because on her way back, she mumbled a soft and embarrassed, “forgot my dryer.”

She didn’t say that particularly charmingly or anything, but Baekhyun found himself diving face-first into his pillow to bury the love struck grin on his face that was sure to make him look foolish. Wanting to distract himself, he put his phone away and went to turn of the main light, leaving only the table lamp on her side on.

The scent of her usual body lotion filled the room when she stepped out once again, this time with her hair dry and clothes bundled up, ready to toss into the laundry basket by the door. Baekhyun kept his eyes on the ceiling as she made herself comfortable under the duvets and switched off the lights, engulfing the room in darkness that startled Baekhyun for a little bit.

He let a few minutes pass before asking, “so what exactly happened just now?”

She didn’t reply immediately, contemplating whether or not she should tell him. Baekhyun was just about to give up prodding when she said, “I met Tao.”

That had Baekhyun alert.

"Relax," she said, as if she could sense his panic even with her back turned to him. "It was nothing. We just had a confrontation, you wouldn’t know what we were talking about even if I told you, so."

"Were those items his, then?"

"No. I met Minseok. He was okay, Tao didn’t hurt him. And… We said goodbye."

Baekhyun felt relieved, and then felt guilty for feeling relieved when she was obviously pained by the farewell.

"Do you think he’ll be okay?" She asked, catching Baekhyun off guard.

"I guess he will. If Tao wanted to harm him, he would’ve done so already. But like you said, Tao didn’t, and probably won’t ever. Unless, of course, he s up again but for reasons that didn’t involve you."

"He said we could meet again, yet didn’t leave me any way to contact him."

"But he can contact you, can’t he? If he wanted to see you again, he’ll call you." Baekhyun surprised even himself with those words. He never really liked Minseok, even if he wasn’t working for Tao and sent on a mission to steal her heart, he still didn’t like the guy.

"I doubt he would."

"You really like him that much?"

She was silent, because she realised she was unknowingly rubbing salt into his wound.

"To me, Minseok was like the moon—shining on me in my darkest times, lighting my path so I wouldn’t stumble. Of course I like him. But never in my wildest dreams would I dare to pluck the moon out from the sky. That’s called not knowing my limits. But I would also never allow dark clouds to cover him. And I guess… To him, I was a dark cloud."