The weekend whizzed by fast, with Shin Hye, Shi Yoon, and Min Ho monitoring everything that’s been going on in the outside world in the confines of the Cabin. It didn’t take long for the authorities to find out that the wrecked Ferrari belonged to Lee Min Ho. And within hours, the media picked up the story and splashed the incident all over the news. For the entire weekend, it was the biggest bombshell to hit the country, even the outbreak of a dating scandal between two actors took a backseat to the mystery behind Lee Min Ho’s accident and disappearance. It made international news, too. Min Ho never imagined his face being flashed in channels all over the world for something like this. Not long ago was he dubbed the ‘golden boy’ and ‘Wang Gwan’s Prince’. Now, he was being called ‘the missing heir’.

“You’re so much more famous now,” Shi Yoon joked, trying to lighten up the mood in the much-bleaker Cabin. That was when they first watched the news on television. “I’m jealous! I want to see my face on TV, too.”

Min Ho wished he could laugh it off, but it really wasn’t a funny matter – what with all the negativity surrounding his disappearance. The news of his accident brought up old issues such his parents’ death, which, coincidentally, was also a ‘car accident’. Netizens who didn’t even know his family were quick to make generalizations. Even the female celebrities he was, at some point, rumored to be dating were brought up. His accident also provided unnecessary fodder for tabloids and dodgy media outlets to come up with conspiracy theories as to his disappearance, going as far as slandering his Grandfather and Wang Gwan. And it was doing major damage to Wang Gwan’s reputation. Reports about the company being in a state of panic affected stock prices, now plummeting to its lowest recorded value for the year.

As he watched every single report and read through every single article, it was like the Lee Min Ho they spoke of was a different person. He had to remind himself that it was him they were looking for and talked about. Sometimes, he would get lost in the words, because majority of the things being said were lies and half-truths.

“Chaebol.”

He looked up from the laptop and was met by Shin Hye’s blank expression. He didn’t notice her come in. As if he was caught doing something wrong, he exited the current article he was reading and went back to the files he’d been looking at before he wandered off to news sites. Shin Hye still stood there, looking stoic and indifferent. Sometimes he wonders how she can be so pokerfaced all the time. When they used to fight, at least he knew she was pissed. But now that they were on a truce, she just seemed empty and distant. 

His gaze fell to her hands. She was carrying a tray of food. He creased his brows.

“You haven’t had lunch,” she said rather coldly and laid it down on the table. “Shi Yoon said you refused to come down.”

Min Ho glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost two o’clock in the afternoon. He’d been sitting in the war room for almost four hours. It had to be noted that he didn’t even spend half the effort working in Wang Gwan as he was on this case. He sighed and looked down at the screen again which displayed some of his cousins’ financial records. “Shi Yoon asked me to take a look at a few documents. I didn’t notice the time.”

Shin Hye took a seat across him and frowned. “I can’t believe I’m going to say to you what Shi Yoon keeps telling me.”

Min Ho lifted his face to look at her again. This time, there was a trace of emotion in her eyes. He couldn’t decide whether it was annoyance or concern.

“Work can wait. You have to eat.” She pushed the tray across the table.

The side of his lips curled up. It wasn’t until Shin Hye mentioned the word ‘eat’ that he realized he was hungry. A moment ago, he would have been okay skipping a meal. He shut the lid of his laptop and pushed it to the side, pulling the tray closer to him. “Thanks,” he mumbled as he picked up the spoon and took a sip of Shi Yoon’s samgyetang.

Even as he focused on the food, he was fully aware of Shin Hye sitting across him. So much so that he instantly noticed when Shin Hye stood up from her seat. 

“Where are you going?” Min Ho cocked his brows as he looked up.

Shin Hye turned back around, her face blank again. “Downstairs.”

“Stay.”

This time, it was Shin Hye who raised her brows. “Eh?”

Min Ho was used to eating alone. Even when he was at the mansion, he always ended up having a meal by himself because his Grandfather was always too busy. So it was odd that he felt a little disappointed when Shin Hye stood up to leave. Maybe it was because he was reminded of all the times he was given food by the maids at the mansion, and then left alone to eat by himself.

“I don’t like eating alone,” he said.

She frowned. “Don’t you live alone?”

“Yeah, which means I have no choice but to eat alone. Since I live with two other people now, I prefer company.”

Shin Hye hesitated, but in the end, sat back down. She folded her arms and leaned back against the back of her chair.

Min Ho chuckled to himself when Shin Hye looked around the war room as if it was her first time being there. Since they got home from the motel two days ago, they’ve never gotten the chance to be alone again. Everything was too hectic, and Shi Yoon was always with them. So he must admit, being in the room alone with her now was a little awkward. But it was funny that Shin Hye was bad at hiding this; she was looking around to avoid looking at him.

“You’re so nice to me lately,” he quipped after taking a mouthful of rice. “It’s the only upside to this whole thing.”

Shin Hye shifted uncomfortably in her seat but said nothing. Min Ho kept smiling to himself as he ate.

“Find anything suspicious so far?” Shin Hye asked, breaking the silence between them.

“Aside from how my cousin Hae Ra has been spending ridiculous sums of money on shoes? Nothing else pops out. I mean, I splurge now and then but she’s just crazy. Who spends 100,000 dollars on a pair of shoes?” He huffed before taking another bite.

“Didn’t you spend 2 million dollars on a car?”

Min Ho looked up from his bowl, looking offended. “Hey. Way to rub salt on my wound. I still think about my Ferrari, you know. The scene of it tumbling down the cliff keeps me awake at night.”

This time, he detected her lips twitching into a small smile, but she’s obviously repressing it.

“And correction, it’s 1.5 million, not 2. And just so you know, a state-of-the-art, rare collector’s item Ferrari with a 1,240-horsepower engine and a top speed of 442 glorious kilometers per hour doesn’t compare to a pair of shoes, no matter how shiny they are,” he continued. “Women are strange.”

Shin Hye kicked the table underneath, causing Min Ho to lurch back in surprise. His jaw dropped, but he was actually tempted to smile. It was the first time in a while that Shin Hye was paying him this much attention, even if it was to 'bully' him. When he met her gaze, her normally big doe eyes were narrowed. “Don’t generalize. I don’t like those type of women, too.”

“Ya, I’m eating!” He playfully frowned. “I bet you don’t shell out for shoes but pay big bucks for your… weapons,” he scrunched his face at the last word.

Shin Hye’s eyes lit up for a second, before they retreated into a blank stare again. “Why do you hate guns so much anyway? Normally, a guy who loves fancy cars are fascinated with any type of sleek machinery. I would think you’d be the type to gawk at anything cool. Guns are cool.”

Min Ho gulped down the rice he was chewing and glanced briefly at Shin Hye before looking down again. The truth was, he’s been debating within himself if he should tell them about his parents, and how they didn't die in a car accident and were, in fact, shot to death -- the reason why he hates guns. He’s been considering the possibility that the people after him now, were after his parents, too. The only difference is, they succeeded in eliminating them, and have yet to kill him.

He winced at the thought, feeling a slow burn of rage in the pits of his stomach. If that were true, then he has an even bigger reason to track down whoever these people are, and make sure they pay tremendously for everything they’ve done. Even if they turned out to be his blood, he wouldn’t hesitate to give them hell. They deserve nothing less for what they’ve done to me. To my family.

Unconsciously, Min Ho gripped his utensils hard, not realizing that his hands were now trembling from the force he exerted.

“HEY!”

He snapped out of his trance and saw Shin Hye leaning forward, looking at him curiously. “What’s wrong?” She asked, a hint of urgency in her voice.

The chopsticks and spoon clanked on the table as he released them. As if gaining his senses back, he flipped his hands over and saw reddish outlines on his palms. He really must have been gripping them too tightly. “Nothing,” he responded, closing them into fists and putting them under the table.

He didn’t know why he was hesitant to tell them about his parents’ death. Was he still trying to protect their family’s darkest secret? Did he not trust them fully yet? He wasn’t really sure. All he knew was, he wanted to keep this information to himself for now. This was a personal battle, something that Shin Hye and Shi Yoon didn’t need to know. And when the time comes when he has finally uncovered the truth, then the whole world will know what really happened to the Lee family.

When he looked back at Shin Hye, her brows were still furrowed. He could almost sense her brain working as she scrutinized him and analyzed what’s on his mind. In the few days he’s worked with her, he found out that she’s an excellent profiler. A skill she sharpened in her years as a mercenary.

He flashed her a smile. “I just don’t like that guns are always associated with death,” he told her, hoping she’d be satisfied with the answer. It wasn’t the whole truth, but it wasn’t a lie either.

Shin Hye’s lips formed taut line as she sat up straight after hearing his answer. 

“Guns protect. And defend. It’s an equalizer. A 200-pound man can easily crush a woman half his size. But when they both have guns, they’re on equal footing. No one is stronger, or smarter, or richer,” she spoke with conviction, a determined glint flashing in her eyes. “It’s not the gun that kills. It’s the person who decides to pull the trigger. So it's people you should be afraid of. Not guns.”

He held his breath the entire time she spoke. Min Ho didn’t know why, but he couldn’t tear his eyes off hers. Shin Hye has always been interesting, but there were these moments when he found her extremely fascinating. It was entrancing how a beautiful face can talk about violence and death and guns and make it sound so… poetic. Like there was something beautiful in tragedy.

And it wasn’t just that, he heard pain in her voice. As if he wasn’t already so curious, it made him want to know about her past even more. There must be a reason – something that happened in her life that hurt her so badly, and turned her into the person she was today. She always sounded so sure of herself, confident and charismatic. But it didn’t take a genius to know that she was broken, too. She rarely smiles or laughs, even with Shi Yoon. He only just met her but he can tell that her whole world revolved around this job. 

He didn’t know how long they held each other’s gaze, but every second felt stretched. He found himself searching for truths in her eyes, maybe even the hint of vulnerability she rarely showed. She stared back at him without blinking, her eyes firm but not hostile.

It was Shin Hye who broke off their staring contest and stood up from her seat without a word. The grating sound of the chair against the floor filled the whole room, as Min Ho reeled from what seemed like a daze.

And this time, before he could ask her to stay, Shin Hye had already left.

Shin Hye entered her room and leaned her back against the door. Her heart was beating abnormally fast, something that only happened when she was working out or when she was in an intense fist fight with someone. She had stared into the eyes of many targets, but not once did her heart race. It was the opposite, actually. She had to be calm and collected for the shots to be precise.

So why, then, was this happening now? She shook off the image of Min Ho’s eyes that seemed to pierce through her just a while back. She didn’t know how long they maintained eye contact in the silence, but she knew it was too long.

Maybe it was the way that he was looking at her. Her targets had always looked at her with fear or contempt or anger. But he looked at her like he was peeling off her layers slowly, as if he was searching for something. It was gentle but intense at the same time. Enough to make me feel uncomfortable, she thought. She lifted a hand over her chest. She really didn’t like the chaebol’s effect on her.

Shaking off thoughts about him, she walked to her closet and opened it. Today was the day she was going into the police station to meet Kim Soo Hyun. Inasmuch as she was only going there to get the information they need, the thought of seeing him was still making her anxious. She hadn’t seen him in seven years. And while they used to be friends, she was a different person now. Will she be able to bring back the old Shin Hye long enough to sustain a conversation with her sunbae? She wasn’t certain. That lifetime seemed so distant.

She her clothes, looking for something appropriate. What would the old Shin Hye wear? Almost everything in her closet was either black or grey. Maybe something less harsh. She clutched the hanger that held a crisp white, button down shirt, when something else caught her eye.

 A green dress sticking out like a sore thumb in her grayscale closet.

Almost immediately, her thoughts wandered off to the chaebol again. She’d been observing him nonstop this past weekend. There was always that hurt expression on his face whenever he heard news about the accident, or read something nasty online. When she entered the war room a while ago, that same expression was on his face.

She couldn’t help but feel bad for him. The man really just couldn’t catch a break. But even through everything, he’d make an effort to smile or laugh, he would even sometimes joke with Shi Yoon. She rolled her eyes every time, because she knew both men were just trying to cover up the stress with inappropriate jokes. She, on the other hand, didn’t have time to pretend that this wasn’t a serious predicament.

And then there were times when he’d stare off into space, lost in his own thoughts. His brows furrowed a little, and he would rub his lower lip with his forefinger. This would go on for a long while, and she wondered if he knew he had this habit. That one time she asked about the lip-rubbing habit – not because she was dying to know, but just to snap him out of his reverie – he smirked and asked if it was a habit of hers to stare at other people’s lips. Shi Yoon burst out laughing, to her dismay. But she couldn’t really snap at Min Ho because she knew it was a defense mechanism. It was clear he was having an extremely difficult time, but he kept it to himself.

She revisited the time when she first did research on the chaebol. She had an image of Lee Min Ho in her mind: spoiled, arrogant, smug. Not to mention, a ist who played with women like they were toys. She was so convinced that a man of his upbringing was bound to be a jerk. 

Never did she expect that he’d be gentle. She remembered how he carried her all the way to the highway, and took care of her sprained ankle. He had depth to him, if their conversations – both times at a motel – were any indication. He was clearly trying his best to be useful to the team, even when he really didn't have to. And even if he did have his ‘prince’ moments, he was surprisingly grounded and down-to-earth.

“Shin Hye. Shin Hye.”

A voice broke off her thoughts and she whirled around to check who it was. For a moment, she hoped it wasn’t the chaebol, or she’d probably feel embarrassed that she was thinking about him just now. Thankfully, it was Shi Yoon’s head that peered through the door.

“Ya, I kept knocking and calling your name,” he pushed it open and came inside. His eyes flitted to the opened closet. A grin made its way to his face. “I see why you’re so dazed. Worried about what to wear when you see your first love?”

Shin Hye rolled her eyes and proceeded to tug down the shirt she was eyeing a while ago. She grabbed a pair of skinny jeans and laid them both on the bed. “Run through. Get flash drive, go to police station, plug it in any computer, make small talk until you tell me to stop. Did I get that right?”

Shi Yoon walked to her bed and sat down comfortably. “Pretty much. And way to go, changing the topic.”

She let out an exasperated sigh and pointed to the door. “Would you mind leaving? I have to get dressed now.”

Shi Yoon clapped his hands together and lay do