The folder is as fat as a well-grown pig. Ri Young remembers only seeing it up close once and yet, still cannot believe that a folder of such thickness can exist within their department.

Kibum breaks the silence by clearing his throat, picking up his briefcase and revealing a hidden laptop inside. Eunhyuk, having known the file already backwards and forwards, tells Ri Young to pick it up so that she can keep up while they give the briefing for next week’s operation. From their table, only the sound of tapping and flipping through pages are heard.

Kibum clears his throat once more and directs the attention back to him. He moves his laptop so that the monitor faces the two field officers. He presses enter and the presentation starts with a picture of a young man, his hair chocolate brown and cut terribly short and spiked upwards, there is no smile present neither on his face nor of a childish mirth behind his eyes. But those deep brown orbs are something Ri Young admits she can’t ever forget. He looks younger, skinnier, more mature and serious, sullen even – however, Ri Young recognizes the young man as easily as Eunhyuk next to her; Aiden Lee.

“This man, as we know, is Aiden Lee, a gift to the underground black market, so to say. He’s 25 this year; pretty damn young as compared to most crime lords present in Seoul, if I do say so myself. Three years ago recorded his first real crime; an accomplice to a murder for a family of three. The mother and son were not able to make it, unfortunately; however, the father is currently stuck in a coma and is on life support. Whoever the mastermind for the attempted murder for the family is unknown though; rumors say that it was Aiden’s former employer whom he eventually… disposed of.” Kibum pauses and moves on to the next slide.

The next picture reveals a more recent picture of the syndicate, wearing a sleek tailored suit as he fixes the seemingly expensive ray bans aviators perched carefully on the bridge of his nose. The picture seems to be that of the stolen kind as Aiden does not even bother to look at the camera, something seemingly unlikely for him to do.

“In recent times though, Lee has been much more influential and known, whether in the streets or with officials like us. Though mostly it seems Lee has been on the down-low with his assassination missions and has only recently stopped his kleptomaniac tendencies, and instead, began focusing on weapon trading in the black market. In simpler terms, Aiden has been feeding the American government and our own black market their share of weaponry.” Kibum continues. Both Eunhyuk and Ri Young listen attentively, not willing to miss a single one of Kibum’s words with any of their posing pointless commentaries.

He shows the next slide, a mere graph containing statistics on drug demands and transport from North America to East Asia. “Rumor has it though; there’s been an increasing rise in drug demands. With the increase of the demands, there has also been an increase for the trade. And who is influential enough to get away with the possibility of suspicion from the police?”

“Aiden Lee.” Eunhyuk and Ri Young call out in unison. Their coffees are left practically untouched, cooling and forgotten. Kibum flashes them a quick smile.

“Correct. But we can’t forget, no matter how influential and powerful Lee is he can’t do this alone. The police have been trailing him ever since he went off scot-free of that obviously guilty verdict. Every move he makes is heavily guarded, and yet at the same time, very incredibly planned out. We can’t catch him – no real solid evidence to convict him. Why? Because no matter how clever he is, he is still human and can still mess up. So how does he always end up so clean whenever we search him?” Kibum asks rhetorically. He grins wide when neither of the two answers and he moves onto the next slide.

“Simple really; Aiden Lee surrounds himself with various lackeys and assistants who changes rather regularly, being recycled faster than his women. These unlucky fellows usually take the dive for Lee or are the ones covering up his tracks.” He presses enter and the screen shows an unfamiliar and yet familiar face.

The man in the picture has milky white skin, a porcelain doll-like face and locks of soft, chocolate brown hair, slightly curled towards the ends. He has features that could give a female cosmetics model a run for her money with his soft, feminine features. If it isn’t for the file’s obvious statement that this lawyer is in fact a he, Ri Young would have thought of him as a woman. She recognizes him as a well known attorney though, having heard of his name being mentioned once or twice by her own father.

“This is attorney Kim Heechul,” Kibum introduces, pointing at the feminine looking man. “He is the one in charge of legal documents and concealing everything illegal Aiden does in terms of the officials and in court. He is one of the most amazing lawyers hirable in South Korea with a 15:1 win-lose ratio. The times he does actually lose is even carefully planned by him just because he dislikes his client, or so the rumors say. Atty. Kim is also usually the one handling legality issues on the outside, away from the black market,”

He presses the next and both Eunhyuk and Ri Young are met with an all too familiar condensing smirk. They have known this young man before, quite well actually having been brought into interrogation quite a few times already only to come up with less than what they have before. As a contrast to Heechul, this young man is all manliness, a cocky smirk on his face as he looks up with hooded eyes dark as midnight. His hair is unkempt and strewn about in what could be considered ‘after-’ hair and his whole image opposed to that of Heechul’s sleek and businesslike persona.

“Cho Kyuhyun.” Eunhyuk says through gritted teeth. Obviously, he has still yet to forget the time this young man hacked into KNPA’s database and managed to locate some needed files from Eunhyuk’s computer. Needless to say, that had been a major setback to one of their operations. “Man, I hate that kid.”

“I do too, actually.” Kibum says nonchalantly, looking at the picture. Ri Young raises a brow in turn.

“Why? What’s so bad about him?”

“Oh, nothing really. But this is Cho Kyuhyun, genius IT graduate from a state university at age 19. That is practically unheard of, but he’s a prodigy in terms of cryptology, hacking, technology and basically anything concerning IT. Cho is in charge of anything that concerns Lee’s data operations, whether it’s his international banking or for deleting any sensitive, virtual and almost non-existent traces that could possibly lead the police force into convicting Lee once and for all.” Kibum, though claiming to hate the young man, still holds high respect for him, if his compliments are of any indication. “He is also responsible for any of the infiltration of hidden and secured files as well as hacking our system’s firewall and sending us back to square one with a simple virus. One he has created himself.”

“So in simple terms, he has been the one making our lives miserable?”

“Yes, pretty much.”

Kibum smiles at her and moves on to other information he needs to brief Ri Young with.

From under the table though, a hand reaches for hers and squeezes it reassuringly. From the corner of her eyes, she sees Eunhyuk looking worriedly at her. It must have been only now that the thought of possible dangers been fully registered in his head. Ri Young smiles though, squeezing his hand back to reassure him.

She doesn’t let go in fear that this might be the last time she’ll be able to hold his hand like this.

.oOo.

For a mastermind crime syndicate like Aiden Lee, he sure knows how to live the high life.

The manor as high as the tree tops surrounding the villa stares back at Han Ri Young. The afternoon sun’s rays cast a magnificent glow from behind the mansion while the façade emits an eerie shadow over the front lawn. Though one cannot deny its beauty, one can also not deny the intimidating aura radiating from what could be considered as the crime lord’s “home”.

Ri Young purses her lips and squares her shoulders in an attempt to stand tall. She lets her red stilettos take her towards the looming double doors. Ri Young raises a fist and raps the wooden door quickly. She braces herself for whoever is there to greet her, possibly with a gun or knife… or probably both.

In that moment, Ri Young hastily lists down the new facts about her they have created during the short meeting with Kibum at the café last week.

I am Jung Jin Rae. 24. Undergraduate-slash-drop-out from Kyung Hee University and once majored in business administration. Reason for drop-out; school administration found out Jung Jin Rae [rather – I] was connected to an underground syndicate. Said drug syndicate was my former employer. The drug syndicate was vindicated though, and no traces were found. Oh God, help me -

With the creak of the double door, Ri Young’s hand twitches and reaches for the compact gun hidden and strapped to her thigh. She is greeted expectedly by an unfamiliar face. Aiden Lee is not to be troubled by such trivial matters such as opening the door for someone who desperately wants to kill him.

Ri Young blinks back once or twice though, taking in the man in front of her.

He isn’t much older than her, she presumes, maybe just a few years or so older. He’s tall, looming over her even with the red stilettos strapped painfully on her ankles [or possibly, Ri Young is just much too short]. He has a bit of a muscular physique, if the black muscle shirt clinging onto him is to be trusted; the perfect size of a lackey. His hair is dark as ebony, curling around the ends, his bangs resting just above his eyes.

If there is any reason for someone with guts like Ri Young to be intimidated by the stranger in front of her, it is very well because of those piercing black eyes. She’s not too sure if it’s because of the slight eyeliner it seems he’s wearing, or his eyes are just naturally dark and cold.

The young man scans her from head to toe and for a split second, Ri Young forgets how to breathe. If she is found out this early, all her [and Eunhyuk and Kibum’s] hard work will be futile. She doesn’t want that. Her hair had to sacrifice so much to get to where she was.

“…Jung Jin Rae?” he asks, his voice husky and deep, and yet smooth like velvet. Without even giving her another moment to react, the young man steps aside, making enough room for Ri Young to fit through. “The boss has been expecting you.”

He turns and walks off, barely grunting an audible “follow me.” He pauses and looks over his shoulder, checking to see if Ri Young has moved from her place near the doorway. When he raises a brow, Ri Young flushes and manages to enter the manor with her head down, hands together, and palms sweating.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I know you’re name-“

“For people who do the dirty work like me for the boss, we don’t use real names here.” He answers curt and cold, as if ending the conversation completely. For a short moment though, he mumbles a name and Ri Young thanks her previous special training that she can still hear at such a volume, hearing the stranger mumble “Yesung” before the silence takes over once more.

There’s something very wrong with this scene. There is a reason Ri Young had been chosen as the agent to infiltrate the enemy’s head quarters and personal life other than because Eunhyuk trusts her enough to do it and not fall into Aiden Lee’s charismatic influence. It’s her overflowing confidence. So what’s happening now? Why in seven hells is the thought of seeing Aiden Lee again just too nerve-wracking for her that the great Han Ri Young is reduced to a nervous mess?

Yesung stops in front of double doors almost as high as the ceiling. Ri Young isn’t exactly sure where the eerie looking doors and halls lead to. But she’s determined to follow her schedule – by the weekend she should have this place memorized like the back of her hand.

Yesung knocks a steady beat at the wooden doors and from behind the door, both can hear a gruff grunt of approval to come inside the room. Twisting the knob, Yesung effortlessly pushes open the door, giving her a glimpse of the chamber inside.

The wall opposite to the doorway shows a window just as high with the curtains drawn, but a translucent cloth still remains, diffusing the sun’s strong rays. The room itself isn’t as grand as the rows of windows in it. There is barely any furniture other than the book shelf stacked to the brim for self-help and occasional coloring books, the couches arranged to surround a low-rise coffee table and the 40 inch flat screen television opposite one of the couches. The cream walls are almost bare, with only various papers and newspaper clippings featuring a certain Aiden Lee pinned to the wall and a dart board with three steel tipped-darts stuck on the bull’s-eye. There doesn’t seem to be anyone here until Ri Young spots a young man sitting as lazy as a king on his throne of black leather and cushion, a cigarette dangling on his lips.

Yesung steps aside, letting Ri Young enter the room. The young man sitting gallantly on the black recliner barely glances up to acknowledge her. He seems much too absorbed in all the paperwork scattered across the coffee table and his lap. Ri Young takes small, tentative steps towards the comfortable looking couches.

The young man scoffs and removes the smoking cancer-on-a-stick from his mouth, snuffing out the spark by crushing the end in a nearby ashtray. The smoke residue is still evident in the air and it takes most of Ri Young’s willpower not to rudely open the tall windows in an attempt to let fresh air in. The smoker looks up though, revealing a beautiful, almost feminine face; a great contrast to his crude manners. Within a week, she has memorized this face already; Atty. Kim Heechul.  

“Don’t bother sitting down, Aiden’s coming back real soon.” Heechul says curtly. Ri Young stops in her tracks and lets Heechul practically scan her from the baby hair sticking up from her dyed sandy brown hair to the tip of her red stilettos. After scoffing and possibly telling himself that he is still the most beautiful one in the mansion, he acknowledges Ri Young once more. “So you’re the new kid, right? Jung Jin Rae? The name’s Atty. Kim Heechul, I’m the guy who gets you out of that the police keep throwing at us.”

Before Ri Young can have open to greet him and possibly compliment him in order to get to his good side as Kibum had so kindly suggested the week before, the door opens again with Yesung once more at the doorway.

“Search her.” A firm command, his tone unwavering and so familiar it makes Ri Young practically freeze in her spot. Yesung slips a hand to under her little black dress, his palm caressing the skin lightly until he easily takes out the compact gun strapped to her thigh. He doesn’t say a word and instead, retreats to the doorway, passing the gun towards his boss before finally leaving the room. Kim Heechul stands in acknowledgement of the new arrival. However, Ri Young can’t seem to stop the multitude of possibilities for her end in the split second it takes for her to hear the gun’s safety being turned off.

She turns though, slowly but surely, hoping that all those weeks with Eunhyuk for building up her poker face has been useful.

Ri Young is met face to face with a wet, half-dressed young man leaning on the doorway. He merely seems to be admiring the Ruger SR9C compact pistol, twisting it around without a care in the world. His bronze-blonde hair is still dripping wet, and with only jeans to cover his body, this seems like quite the unusual sight for anyone unused to Aiden Lee’s unpredictable behavior. This doesn’t seem to faze Heechul one bit though, as the older man once more lazes back in his recliner, eyeing the situation hungrily.

“So do you carry out guns a lot for self-protection? Or did you just want to shoot me?” he asks nonchalantly, still not looking at anything but the gun. Suddenly though, he points the gun in between Ri Young’s eyes and finally meets her chocolate orbs with his own bright brown eyes. The times she has seen those pair of bright brown eyes flashes through her head and she can only hope against hope that Aiden Lee is not a mind reader nor can he remember ever meeting someone as insignificant as Han Ri Young.

Aiden Lee stares blankly with wide eyes towards the only female present in the room, still leaning against the doorway with his good-boy look. How he can look so innocent while still pointing a loaded gun towards her, Ri Young will never know. All of a sudden, his features break into an easy grin. “You’re Jung Jin Rae, right?”

A/N: As promised, here's Donghae! ;D This one is a lot more wordy compared to the others. I hope you weren't bored! It actually gave out a whole lot of info that I still need to elaborate more in the next chapters. I'm sorry for the terribly late update, however, I hope you appreciated this very long and informative chapter. ;Q;

I think I may need to change the rating of this fic. I'm not too sure... xD;; ahahaha.