"I knew this was going to happen." YoUngjae tsked as he pulled the thermometer out of Eun Ah's mouth.

Eun Ah pouted with a sniffle while she tugged the towel closer to her.  "Yeah, yeah ,yeah, Dr. Yoo, I know. You're a fortunetelling, genius doctor. You're smarter than all of us, you're a God. We should all bow down to you." Her face felt swollen and numb and felt thick and scratchy.

"Your words not mine."

Yongjae had pulled a new set of clothes from the closet in Yongguk's  their room and let her change and she was now sitting on the bed with a hot pack on her back.

He snickered and read her temperature. "Yup, you definitely have a cold. You should rest for a while, we'll bring you something to eat, but for now you should just sleep it off."

Eun Ah fell back on the mattress with a groan. "I have to go to work though!"

Yongguk leaned on the doorframe with a towel over his head and shook his head, "As long as you're sick, you're staying at home."

"Whhhhhyyyyyyyy?" Eun Ah whined, her voice was nasally from the cold and her head felt like it was made of lead.

"If you feel better by 4, I'll take you, but until then, you're stuck at home."

Eun Ah let out a dissatisfied sound and tried to glare weakly in his direction. "Why am I the only sick one?"

YoUngjae laughed at her and walked towards Yongguk, "Because you were the only one who ate ice cream in the rain, pabo noona. How are you even older than us?"

Eun Ah huffed but her eyes slipped shut, ending her complaints when sleep took over.

"I don't know if she'll be okay by 4, but she's going to need food if she's going to feel better by tomorrow." YoUngjae instructed cheekily to his leader. "I'm guessing that you'll be cooking?"

Yongguk snapped his head to the younger boy, "Excuse me?"

"You never cook for anyone since Yongmi and Junhong turned 18, no matter how much they beg, but I'm guessing that you'll make an exception for her?"

"Why do I have to do it?" He asked incredulously.

Yongjae smirked, an action he never does, and patted the elder's shoulder, "Cause that ring isn't on any of our fingers."

Yongguk opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out.

"I wonder what she'd say if she found out her husband was actually a great cook? And don't even try doing any of that take out crap, they always put too much MSG. It won't be good for her." 

Yongguk squinted his eyes, "Get out."

Youngjae snickered and skipped out of their room, leaving the two of them alone.

The other members were busy drying off in their rooms and some of them had already headed out on errands, so the house was relatively quiet. He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed beside her.  

He reached out and pulled strands of hair that was stuck to her face and neck from sweat out of the way and placed the damp towel that Youngjae left in a basin, on her forehead.  

He watched her sleep for a while until she started shifting on the bed. She turned to face Yongguk, who was leaning his back against the headboard beside her and wrapped her arms around his waist, thinking he was just another pillow.

His body froze and he remained motionless as she pressed her cheek against his waist, her fingers slipped under his sweater and dug into his hips, trying to cool herself down. He shivered at the sensation while she sighed contentedly when her overheated skin met his cool body.

He softened, feeling bad for her, and gently placed his hand on her back and thoughtlessly rubbed soothing circles while his other subconsciously started running through her hair that was spread over his legs.

She looked so weak, a few hours already brought out sinking eyebags and strained breathing. Her face was pale as a sheet and she would let out little whimpers, causing his hand to push her closer to him.

He felt so guilty that she looked so helpless. Yongmi never really got sick and was really careful about her health and when the other guys got sick, Yongguk would just make sure it wasn't life threatening and then make fun of them for being weak.

He looked down at Eun Ah and felt a weird tightness in his ribs. He didn't know where the two of  them stood now, in their relationship, he wasn't sure if she still hated him or not, but it wasn't important right then.

Yongjae had said that her cold wasn't too serious but he was still slightly concerned that her skin felt so hot, so after a while, he untangled himself from her grip and moved downstairs to the kitchen.

Jongup was drinking out of a water bottle when he bumped into his leader. "What are you doing?"

Yongguk rubbed his neck and looked into the fridge. "She needs something to eat if she wants to get better."

He pulled out the needed ingredients and dumped them on the counter.

"Oh." Jongup's unimpressed voice caused Yongguk to look up.

"Can I ask you something? Why don't you like her?"

Jongup didn't hesitate to answer him, "She's just going to cause problems. I don't like problems. It makes things too complicated."

"That's your only reason?"  Jongup nodded with a shrug.

"Aren't you worried that she'd be dead weight? We're taking a lot of responsibility for someone who isn't part of B.A.P, she could get in the way."

Jongup was always the serious one, but Yongguk was surprised at how much thought the second maknae put into it all.

"I get what you're saying, but remember that if anything, she can be the key to taking Ryu down."

The boy thought about his leaders words before he continued, "So cut her some slack next time."

Jongup snorted, "I'll cut her slack when she deserves it."

Yongguk watched Jongup walk away before pulling out a knife to start chopping vegetables for a stew.

"You're cooking? YES!" Junhong came sliding in, in his socks with his red hair slightly damp and jumped on the  counter beside Yongguk.

Yongguk grunted and started nimbly chopping the vegetables up with the same precision he'd use on an enemy.

"Are you cooking for Eun Ah?"

Yongguk kept his eyes on the knife and nodded in response.

Junhong grabbed a slice of carrot and popped it in his mouth while watching Yongguk work.

"You're going to make some for us too, right?" Junhong gave his leader a cute smile and puppy eyes, hoping to melt him.

Yongguk gave the boy one look before sighing in defeat. "Fine."

You'd think he's use his ageyo on bigger things than dinner.

"Yongguk, do you like Eun Ah?"

"She's fine."

Junhong kicked his feet against the banister, "No, I mean like like her."

Yongguk looked at Junhong with a look of complete confusion. "Why on earth would I?"

Junhond shrugged, "I don't know. Why not? She's nice and she's pretty. Not to mention you two are already married. I think it's about time you find someone."

Yongguk gave him a weird look and looked back at the chopping board. "Don't hold your breath Hong, that won't be happening any time soon. I don't have those type of feelings for anyone."

"Why not?"

"I don't see her that way and I doubt she sees me that way either. This is just a temporary arrangement and there are no real  feelings involved. The illusion of marriage doesn't mean that it's the real thing."

"But-"

"Don't you have something to do right now?" Junhong smiled at the elder's stern look and skating on his socks out of the room.

He didn't looked up when Himchan walked in from the front door and strutted into the kitchen.

"Wow, how domestic of you."

Yongguk finished chopping and continued with the soup, "Why is everyone just parading in and out of here today?"

Yongguk starting boiling water and glanced up at Himchan before cutting into the raw chicken.

"Did you get the painkillers?"

Himchan tossed him the bottle, "Yup."

He looked at the ingredients and a smirk drew up his face, "She's got you cooking for her? I thought she was your wife, not your slave master."

Yongguk glared at Himchan and pushed the bag to rice at him. It was better to avoid the topic of the marriage when he was around unless they wanted fists flying, even if they were on better terms, Himchan still didn't approve of the plan. "Start on lunch. Everyone's eating here today."

Himchan obediently sliced the bag open and poured it into the cooker.

"Daehyun is doing recon on the laundry mat that Bohye is working out of. It doesn't seem like it's going to be easy to infiltrate it, but we have to move soon if we want to beat their next shipment."

Yongguk nodded thoughtfully, "How soon?"

"We have until the end of the month and I've already debriefed EXO. I figured that the 12 of them should be more than enough backup."

"We need to make sure that word doesn't get out about our attack, we need to ambush them, not to mention the Chief is getting antsy with the false leads I've been giving him."

"Yeah I heard about that. why are you leaving him out of the loop?" Himchan leaned beside the rice cooker and looked at Yongguk.

"Simple. The cops want her alive, I want her dead. We're after the same people but we have different agendas. Bohye is going to die in my hands and not even Woon is going to get in the way of that."

Himchan sighed, "You need to stop being so hard on yourself. She had all of us fooled, killing her isn't going to change that fact."

Yongguk laughed sarcastically, "Really? YOU'RE giving me advice on mercy?"

Himchan smirked and shook his head, "Not mercy, I'm just telling you to be prepared for after you kill her. You've spent so many years trying to take her down, what will you do once she's dead?"

"Other than dance on her grave?"

"You've spent so much time and energy,  you've been obsessed with finding her. So once she's gone for good, what's left? Other than Ryu, what are you going to do with yourself? Be prepared for that post partum depression, man."

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter