“Hyukjae? Lee Hyukjae?” she repeats his name and when he lets out a chuckle, Ri Young can’t take it anymore. She throws her arms and circles them around his neck, hugging him tight. She continues mumbling incoherent sentences, closing her eyes and shutting out the world. Eunhyuk wraps his arms around her waists and pulls her closer, his breath tickling her ear as he chuckles. Ri Young pulls away and pinches his cheeks.

“Ow! What the hell, Ri Young?” he complains, prying her hands off of his face with a pout.

“Oh, thank God it really is you.” She breathes out, pulling him close again with a quick hug. When she pulls away from him this time though, she tilts her head to the side. “Wait, what the hell are you doing here?”

“No, the question is, what are you doing here?” he whispers before looking side to side. His expression suddenly turns grim as realization hits him. “If you’re here, that means he is as well, right?”

It takes her a few moments to realize Eunhyuk is talking about Aiden Lee.

“Well, yes – but, what does that have to do with anything?”

“It has everything to do with it. Hey, dance with me for a while. I don’t like how these erted old men are eyeing you and it is getting way too crowded with too many people potentially listening on.” He mumbles under his breath as he takes her to the dance floor, glaring slightly at the aged men who are mentally undressing the undercover agent. Ri Young is still confused but does as she is told, placing her hand on his shoulder as her other entwines with Eunhyuk’s. He places a protective arm around her waist that faintly reminds her of Aiden, but she almost immediately dismisses the thought.

“So spill it, Hyuk. What’s going on?” she asks once they start dancing to a slow beat. Ri Young consistently forgets how much of a good dancer Eunhyuk is with his constant clumsiness in the office.

“Why haven’t you been calling me?” Eunhyuk snaps and Ri Young seriously can’t help but laugh at the neediness in his voice. Even he seems to catch why she’s laughing and shares a chuckle of his own. “No, seriously. Do you know how worried I – we, were? An agent does not just… not update his or her superiors. We thought you were dead or something.”

Ri Young raises her brows and hits his chest playfully.

“I’m not that easy to kill off, if you haven’t noticed.” She says with a roll of her eyes. “I didn’t give you guys an update because there’s nothing to update you about. I’ve been cooped up in the manor with the only thing to keep me company is Heechul’s never ending paperwork. Tonight was kind of the only real action I’ve got for the past few weeks.”

Eunhyuk lets out a groan as he leads her into the dance, swaying his hips lightly.

“Lee doesn’t trust me. Hell, he treats me like his everyday ; just look at my dress!”

“Well, I do kind of want to say he did a damn good job picking the ri-”

“Hyukjae.”

“Right, sorry.”

“Actually, no, he doesn’t even treat me like his . Hell, his might have more information about him than I do. Hyukjae, I know nothing about Aiden Lee, seriously. He doesn’t trust me. The first day, he pointed a gun at me. I never saw him again until tonight and who knows how long it’ll take until I see him again after this charity ball is over –”

“Ri Young, I need to tell you something about that.” He mumbles and drops her hand, resting both on her waist as he leans closer to her ear, trying to avoid anyone from listening in. “This isn’t a charity ball. Well, it is, but it isn’t to the Chinese mafia.”

“What?” she whispers back, arms encircling his neck as they sway lightly to the beat of the classical music.

“There are some very promising deals that could be made here. Big hotshots who are a little more than bored with their missus back at home or addicts who are low on their drug supplies; it’s perfect for anyone in the black market. Some Chinese mafia families are here to do just that, and from what we had inquired, some of the most prominent ones are attending the event.” He tells her, his eyes darting from potential threat to potential threat. “And that’s exactly the reason why the police are here. We’re doing a raid in less than an hour, when all the guests have arrived and the auctions start.”

She squeezes her hands together behind his neck, taking in every word.

“Well, that’s good. Lee is here; you can arrest him and get this over with.” Ri Young mumbles, trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible, but still loud enough for him to hear.

“No, this is not good. Lee may be here, but this is too light. This will be like easy pickings for his lawyer.” Eunhyuk hisses, his breath hot on her ear. “No, Ri Young. We need something bigger than this. We need something that he can’t escape from.”

“Then what are we supposed to do? You can’t cancel the raid. You’re not authorized to do that just because you’re in charge of Aiden’s case.”

“No, we can’t stop it. But we can benefit from this.” She can practically feel him smirk against her neck. “You said Lee doesn’t trust you? Well after this, you just might be promoted to his right hand woman.”

Ri Young pulls away and looks Eunhyuk dead in the eye. He smirks.

.oOo.

It’s as if it’s her first day all over again. Eunhyuk did tell her she only has one shot in this. There is less than half an hour to make an impression that would last with one Aiden Lee. Whether it would make or break her in his eyes though is something she dreads to think about.

Trying to avoid everyone’s eyes, she glances consciously at the grandfather clock near the arch doorway leading to the grand staircase. Aiden had been heading to the second floor, if she is correct. Heechul is most likely with him, Ri Young is sure she hasn’t seen him mingling with guests yet.

Perhaps there really is more than meets the eye to just a fancy charity ball for Aiden Lee and his big fat wallet.

She pushes the thought out of her head and takes another glance around the room before quietly slipping out and heading towards the stairs. Her heels make clicking noises across the marble steps leading towards the second level of the manor.

Ri Young is admittedly getting more nervous with every step she takes.

Once her stiletto clad foot lands on the second floor, she inspects the left and right wings. Years of training and planning raids has taught her to trust the room where lackeys crowd the entrance. The right hall is deserted. The left has two men positioned at the doorway. With a smirk, her confidence rises again as she tries to calm herself down.

She recognizes the two as part of Aiden’s field agents, those under Yesung. The taller, rougher, more masculine of the two is called Kangin. Ri Young doesn’t know much about him, only that Yesung has told her to stay away from him and to ignore any of his flirting. Ri Young’s not sure why, the few times he had talked to her, he seemed pretty nice – a little insensitive, but nice nonetheless. The smaller, baby-faced guy beside him is the only one who had trusted her enough to provide her with his real name, Sungmin. During operations, he’s called Vincent, he says. But he likes his name and hides no shame in doing what he does. Sungmin is one of the few people who actually talks to her on a daily basis. Ri Young thinks it’s only because he’s a kind guy and is just being polite, welcoming the newbie.

She stands in front of both and she sees just exactly how much they take their work seriously. Neither cracks a smile, nor even twitches at the sight of her for a greeting. It’s probably because they’re wearing shades to hide their eyes, but Ri Young can swear they don’t seem to be moving at all. She wonders if they’re still breathing momentarily.

With a shake of her head and a hand on her hip, she stares up at the two.

“Is the boss inside?” she asks, glancing warily down the hall. By estimation, she only has about a quarter of an hour left. She looks back at them, they don’t respond. “Kangin, Sung – Vincent, is the boss here?”

Kangin shares a look with Sungmin. Ri Young doesn’t know how they can communicate through their eyes when both are wearing shades, but the next thing she knows is Sungmin is dragging her deeper down the hall by her wrist. They’re a few doors down when he stops and takes off his shades.

“Jin Rae, what are you doing here?” he whispers hastily. It takes her a moment to remember she is Jin Rae. “You had orders from the Boss, didn’t you? What were they?”

“He said to stay put downstairs.” She mumbles, feeling intimidated by Sungmin’s sudden seriousness. He has always been very light-hearted and easy to talk to when conversing with her back in Aiden’s manor. His eyes pierce hers with a glare and she gulps almost instinctively. “No, this is important. And that wasn’t technically an order – he was just telling me not to go anywhere.”

“And that meant up here.” He hisses. Noticing he’s still gripping tightly onto her wrist, he drops it immediately and straightens his posture. “The Boss is doing some important business right now. It’s crucial for us.”

“So he is there, in that room Kangin’s guarding?”

“That’s beside the point, Jin Rae.” He shakes his head. “This is sensitive stuff. It’s not even a place for newbies; we’re dealing with powerful Chinese mafia right now. So just go back and do as you’re told.”

“And this is much more important than that.” She whispers back. Ri Young is already sauntering towards Kangin again as she talks. “If you don’t want to have all our work wasted by a police raid, you’ll let me through.”

Sungmin looks genuinely surprised and concerned. He catches up to her easily, “Raid? Jin Rae, what raid? Yah; talk to me.”

By now though, Ri Young has stopped listening. Kangin seems to be a bit distracted as it takes him a second too late to realize Ri Young already has a sound grip on the door knob. She pushes it open and stands by the doorway with a serious look on her face. The sight that greets her though makes her drop any sort of professionalism she tries to keep up with.

At the flash of light from the open door, Aiden instinctively pushes the half- girl sitting on his lap away from his face and cranes his neck to see who exactly is disturbing him. His free hand is already inching towards the gun hidden behind him as the other is still wrapped around the young woman’s waist, steadying her.

“So your idea of sensitive business deals is ing some random Chinese e?” she practically shrieks and Aiden coughs to hide his amusement at her word choice.

“e?” the Chinese seethes and grabs the gun situated near the couch they were on. Her anger gets the better of her though and she shoots once without much accuracy, though Ri Young swears she saw Aiden intentionally shifting his legs so the Chinese sitting on his lap falters just slightly.

“Wang Feifei is the current second in command of one of the biggest families in Chinese mafia. We’re busy negotiating and working out some kinks with the current offer.” Aiden explains calmly. He shifts to a more comfortable position as Fei smirks in his direction. “I wouldn’t exactly go around calling her a e, if you want to keep alive, that is.”

“Yes, well, I wouldn’t exactly go around ing mob bosses while you have less than ten minutes to get the hell out of here, if you want to keep alive that is.” With a sneer, she shuts the door and stares at the two body guards. They hear at least two minutes of continuous screaming and cursing in Chinese inside before a gunshot is heard and an eerie silence overcomes it.  Aiden exits the room, closing the door behind him.

“You were saying?” he asks her, fixing his suit.

.oOo.

Ri Young manages to stay on time as they exit the manor and manage to find Heechul already outside with a cigarette in his mouth. No sooner had they left the location, Eunhyuk had given her the final warning that they were doing the raid in a minute and asked her to exit the building.

Now, alone again inside the dark car with Yesung quiet in the driver’s seat, Ri Young finds herself in a similar position as earlier. Aiden is once again on the other side of the vehicle, scotch glass in hand and his head in the clouds as he stares absentmindedly in front of him. Ri Young keeps her distance and stares outside of her side window.

“How did you know that?” Aiden asks her, glancing through his peripheral vision as he flirts with his scotch glass.

“I am more than familiar with the police force and their agents.” She says as innocently as she can. Telling half truths has always been her best skill. Aiden doesn’t respond until his scotch glass is only half full and his bottle empty. The mini-fridge inside the spacious car is devoid of anything else other than a few water bottles, and even with Ri Young’s throat dry from nervousness, she can’t will herself to take them.

Yesung manages to reach a red-light and pulls over. Aiden tilts his head to the side and calls out to him.

“Yesung, put the divider up. Do not put it down unless I say so. Not even if you hear a gunshot.” He says with scary nonchalance. Yesung does not respond but Ri Young catches his eye in the rearview mirror. The silent man does as he is told. Nothing is a request with Aiden Lee.

“Let me make one thing clear, Jin Rae.” He finally addresses her and sets down the scotch glass in a cup holder. “There are only two things I want my subordinates to be able to do; to be able to shoot my enemies, and to be able to shoot themselves if I say the word.”

Ri Young recalls the numerous scolding she had received when she had been an intern in the agency by a certain assistant chief. She has received enough to know she shouldn’t talk, much less boldly look him in the eye. She stays silent and with her eyes trained at the divider. She wonders if Yesung really can’t hear them, or he just chooses not to.

The car moves again and Aiden forcefully makes her look him straight in the eye, his fingers gripping her chin.

“I don’t trust you. I don’t trust people who defy me, and my orders.” He mumbles, leaning closer to her. Ri Young doesn’t remember how he had managed to corner her within a few seconds. “If you don’t want to die just yet, do not disobey me.”

“I kept us alive.” She finally retorts, her impulsiveness getting the better of her. He finally smirks.

“And that’s exactly the reason why you’re still breathing. The only reason.” He tells her. His eyes are piercing and cold. She thinks it’s oddly beautiful though. “You kept me alive. The question is, how?”

“Sir,” Yesung’s voice cuts them both. He doesn’t look behind him but his eyes are trained on their figures through the rearview mirror. “We have arrived.”

Before he leaves the vehicle though, he murmurs something under his breath; something only she can hear with her skin still tingling at the sensation of his hot breath tickling it. “Good job, Jung.”

She’s not sure whether he was being sarcastic or had been genuinely impressed by her performance that night. All she knows is, by the next morning, she has been promoted to becoming a field agent with both Kangin and Sungmin under her. And after coming home from shady business deals and shadier transactions, she is officially introduced to Cho Kyuhyun by none other than Aiden Lee himself.

A/N: Hello! :) Well, this is certainly a faster update than normal. Hahaha. I seem to work best when writing under pressure. OTL Like the new format, though? ;)

As per usual, thank you for reading! Comments, subscriptions, and the like are well loved.