Previously on The Boss…

Sehun accidentally discovers that Lu Han is the mole inside Baekhyun’s organization, but they both agree – says Lu Han - that a proxy should take the fall. Sehun vows to keep silent about this to Baekhyun and promises to keep an eye on the organization’s affairs. Meanwhile, as Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kris and Tao fly off to New York - Kyungsoo and Jongin close behind - Sehun deals with some odd and old feelings….

The bar was finally mellowing out for the night, the crowd growing thinner and thinner by the hour. By eleven-thirty there were hardly enough patrons to raise the noise level over a steady murmur. But that was expected of a Wednesday night.

Unexpectedly, near the end of the hour the small bells on the door tinkled one last time, catching Sehun’s attention – although in hindsight he supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d become extra attentive of the sound for a few reasons this week. The first was for any sight of his friend, who had left for the US two days ago without a specified return date and had yet to contact him. The second was for Lu Han, who had just walked in.

Wordlessly, the man’s twinkling eyes met his from across the room. He passed with catlike elegance between the chairs and sat down in front of him, a small smile dancing on his lips until he looked away, suddenly more interested in the grains of wood on the bar than Sehun.

“I’ll have whatever’s on draft,” he said flippantly, and Sehun frowned in return. “Anything new on Byun?”

“Only that they’ve gone to the States, but I’m sure you knew that.” He stooped below the counter to grab a chilled glass from the fridge. “He may be an idiot sometimes but Chanyeol’s very careful about what he tells me.”

Lu Han only nodded. Sehun might have felt a bit guiltier spying on Chanyeol if the man told him anything in the first place. But since he didn’t, there wasn’t anything to hold him back - what bothered him more at the moment than his own questionable morals was Lu Han’s lack of response.

“You know, you’re becoming quite the regular here, Lu Han. A woman who came in earlier even asked if you’d be in tonight and tried chatting me up for details. Truth be told I think she was trying to get me to hand over your number. Though, I guess I’m not the one to ask.”

“I see,” was all he replied and seemed to take the rest in quiet contemplation, which confused Sehun. He had expected a witty retort at the very least to his short story – his reason for telling it – and was not about to back off until the other gave him his desired reaction. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d tried to pry a reaction out of the elder.

He set the beer down in front of the man, who seemed to only stare at it for a while, and then finally said, “I’ve never had a regular who’s never picked up his tab though, and I think you’ve racked up quite the bill – what with the free drinks once a week for about thirty weeks now. And with the information I’ve been passing along… I’d say it’s quite a payout.”

This caught Lu Han’s attention, and finally his sparkling eyes turned back in his direction. Sehun breathed a strange sigh of relief.

“A regular?” the other started, “That’s what you’ve been thinking of me all this time? My threatening manner just isn’t doing it for you?” He smiled a bit now.

Sehun merely cocked his head to the side with a small smirk. “It’s been a long time since you’ve felt threatening to me.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. What are you going to do about it?”

Sehun knew they were fighting words, but his chest swelled and he tried not to grin. Something was changing - something had changed – and he felt like he could no longer stand idly by. But he also had a very strong feeling that although Lu Han could very well punish him for such insolence, he wouldn’t. He was right.

“Nothing, apparently,” smiled the other, but his eyes turned down again, tracing invisible patterns into the lines of wood on the bar. “If you’ve forgotten how threatening I can be, then I’ve just as much forgotten how to be threatening to you, I suppose. You know it’s never been in my agenda to do anything other than extort money from you, and we both know it’s not really my agenda. So, it’s not like I really have the heart to-“ he cut himself off then and looked up at Sehun, who was looking at him with eager eyes. There was something like recognition, and suddenly he spoke more carefully, slowly, “I’ve felt myself entitled to a few drinks here and there as your handler, so maybe I do feel a little bad about drinking you dry. I guess I’ll make it up to you sometime, for the sake of us once being neighbors. Let’s just say I owe you a favor.”

“A favor?”

“Yeah, redeemable at any time. As long as it’s within my power I-“

“Buy me dinner?” Sehun breathed quickly without thinking. The thought appeared out of nowhere and before he could stop it was spilling off his tongue.

And although he faced an immense sense of dread, he had the rare pleasure of seeing true surprise on Lu Han’s face and his mouth hang open quite dumbly, suspended in a look Sehun wasn’t sure he could quite decipher. But before he could answer, his phone vibrated loudly on the counter, shattering the wall around the small world they’d created for themselves in that moment.

Lu Han stood quickly and the babble of the remaining patrons of the bar seemed to rush back into Sehun’s ears in a wave, disorienting him briefly. The other looked back at him with his phone to his ear, and the smile he gave him was so pitying that Sehun was struck with a sharp pang in his chest. As Lu Han walked out, his drink untouched, Sehun suddenly felt like he may have done something irreversible, and for the first time in a long time he felt something like regret creeping in on his consciousness, whispering in his ear that he’d made a mistake.

-

Lu Han almost couldn’t hear the man on the line, his ears still ringing from the shocking words that had come out of Sehun’s mouth. He shook his head – he was sure the kid didn’t mean anything by it. But the way his eyes had stared back at him so eagerly, glistening as they waited for response… it was almost like he’d returned to that time, so long ago…

“Lu Han!” the gruff voice shouted again, and he snapped back to attention, albeit rather slowly for his own liking.

“Hong Lei?” he asked slowly.

“What’s the matter with you?”

“Nothing,” he responded immediately and cleared his throat. “Why are you calling? Looking out for me again?”

“Not this time.”

“If you’re going to say ‘It isn’t personal, it’s just business,’ then I’m going to stop you right there and tell you that if you ever say something cheesy like that again I really will kick your this time.”

Hong Lei sighed heavily, clearly annoyed. “I just wanted to let you know that the plan is in motion now. The first phases have begun.”

This stopped Lu Han dead in his tracks as he was rounding the corner. “What does that mean?”

“The Hong Kong operation will begin soon and we’ll need you here for preparation. You’ll be recalled very quickly, I expect.”

“Recalled? My work here has barely begun. They’re going through with this half-cocked idea when we’ve only just started to understand how their operations work,” he spat angrily. “Are you serious right now?”

The line was quiet for a second. “Are you serious?” Hong Lei asked finally, disbelief prudent in his tone. “What’s going on with you? Are you starting to get sentimental about your time in Korea? I thought you hated it there.”

“I do,” he replied, too quickly.

Hong Lei sighed. “You knew this was coming. It was in your job description. You must have sensed that the end was n-“

“Look, if that’s all you have to say to me then I’m hanging up.”

“Lu Han, wait-“

“See you in Hong Kong.”

He couldn’t have ended the call faster if he’d tried.

---

Lu Han didn’t come back to the bar that night, and as the days passed Sehun’s nerves grew weaker. He was half afraid that Lu Han wouldn’t come back at all, sending a proxy in his stead. But he feared even more that Lu Han would appear as he always did and then reject him outright.

Only a little over a week later, the unthinkable happened.

The night was young, the clock had barely struck 10, but people were already coming and going from the bar with frequency this Saturday. Though it seemed that with every tinkle of the bells on the door lately Sehun’s eyes would travel to the entrance without fail. But when Lu Han finally walked through the door, it seemed that all those repeated disappointments didn’t matter. In the time it took for the older man to walk from the door to the counter, it seemed like Sehun had forgotten how even to inhale.

Lu Han walked directly to him where he’d paused, his eyes that glittered even in the dim light focused intensely on Sehun, paralyzing him with fear. Sehun inhaled sharply.

“Do you want to have dinner with me?” Lu Han asked quickly. “Right now?”

It felt like the first time he’d ever breathed when he exhaled, “Yes.”

Robotically, Sehun untied the apron from his waist and ducked under the bar. His words were stiff as he gave charge and keys to the head bartender, before he followed Lu Han out the door and down the street.

They walked in practical silence only a few blocks until they reached a barbeque house – one of the only few open eateries in that area at night – and sat at a booth in the back corner. The sounds of the other diners where both loud and claustrophobic as they cut off the two from the rest of the world, leaving them to confront their own silence.

Thankfully, they were approached quickly by a server, and ordered meats, vegetables and soup. But as soon as she was gone the quiet returned, and Sehun couldn’t help but wonder why Lu Han was so silent now. Where had that determination gone from only minutes ago? Why did his eyes no longer sparkle with the light of a joke only he understood? Why wouldn’t he look at him?

“What happened to you?” he asked aloud but rather quietly, without really meaning to. Lu Han finally looked back at him, and Sehun could clearly see that the fire inside him was dying.

“Nothing. I’m fine,” he replied, a small, fake smile stretching his lips.

Sehun shook his head, his hands folding in his lap as he pushed on. “No. I mean, what happened to you? You used to be so cool. You were a model student in the neighborhood. We all looked up to you. I’m sure you knew, but I looked up to you.”

A small spark flickered in the other’s eye, but he maintained composure. “Is that so?”

“You were always smiling. What exactly happened to make you this way? That day I saw you... what happened?”

"That day," he repeated, eyes wide and lost in memory. As if on cue, Lu Han’s gaze fell to his lap, his faux smile falling off his face. “I really wish I knew.”

---

A stupid, happy little family - that’s what they were pretending to be in Lu Han’s eyes. Fake.

His mom adjusted the hem of her skirt again and fussed about with her hair. Before she could harp at him one more time to ‘make his hair manageable’, Lu Han shifted the plate of cookies to one hand and rang the doorbell. He would rather get this over with than spend another second watching his mother panic unnecessarily. There was no need to make a good impression, because by his figures, they’d be moving again in about six months anyways.

From inside their neighbor's house shouts rang out - both adult and child - a dog barked, and bare feet squeaked across what he assumed was a pristine hardwood floor. Their neighbor opened the door in a flurry of movement. She was tall with long, dark hair, an impeccably styled power suit, and stunningly sharp, young features for a woman probably in her mid-forties. She greeted them with a blinding white smile.

“Hello. Can I help you?”

“Hello!” piped up Lu Han’s mother with enthusiasm, her thick Chinese accent stumbling to find purchase around the foreign Korean tongue. "My name is Lan Fen and this is my son, Lu Han. We just moved in next door and stopped by to introduce ourselves. My husband, Jian Jun, is at work right now and couldn't come over, but I'm sure you'll see him around!"

The woman looked taken aback at the sudden introduction but not altogether displeased. "I didn't know we were getting new neighbors! I forgot the Kims had moved, actually… Either way, it's nice to meet you both! My name is Oh Minyoung." She held out a hand for both of them to shake, then Lu Han quickly handed the plate to her, already tired of the interaction. He put on his best false smile.

"My mom made these for you guys," he said, falsely cheery to match her tone and examining her expression. She seemed real enough, but he never trusted anyone who was this excited to meet strangers.

"Oh excellent! We love chocolate chip," she nearly shouted, then turned over her shoulder and yelled into the house. "Sehun! ...Sehun! Come here!"

From the depths of the hallway shuffled a young boy with dark hair. He was lean and tall for a kid, but his baby fat still clung to his pointed face, marking his age. Lu Han estimated he was probably only 10 or 11, and a slightly taller boy with glasses and ruffled hair hovered behind him shyly.

"Sehun," Ms. Oh said, "This is Lan Fen and her son Lu Han. They're our new neighbors. Lu Han, this is my son Sehun and one of his friends from school, Park Chanyeol. They're a bit younger than you, I think, but you'll probably end up in the same high school in a few years."

Lu Han nodded and waved at the boy, who seemed to be eyeing him with as much scrutiny as he returned. "Hey."

Sehun nodded back.

"Take these to the kitchen, will you?" Ms. Oh said, handing the plate over to Sehun. "And answer the phone. I can hear it ringing."

Sehun took the plate quickly and he and his tall friend scurried back into the house.

"He seems quite shy," commented Lan Fen. "Lu Han too."

Lu Han privately rolled his eyes and dug his hands deep in his pockets, swaying on the balls of his feet. He silently prayed their interaction would end and he could go back to unpacking his boxes.

But Ms. Oh turned to him. "How old are you, Lu Han?"

"Sixteen, Ma'am. I'm in my first year of high school."

"Oh, that's excellent. And do you study well?"

His mother answered for him. "He's been the top of his class since grade school. I know it’s crass to boast about but we're quite proud," she laughed.

"No, not at all. That's good to hear! Sehun still needs a lot of help with math. Maybe you could help him out sometime? We’re worried about his middle school examinations."

Before Lu Han could open his mouth to answer Lan Fen butted in, nudging him in the side to silently comply. "He would love to!"

Ms. Oh looked like she had quite a bit more to say, but before she could get into it Sehun was tugging at her sleeve, the phone in his hand and his skin pale white. She drained immediately. "What is it?"

"The police," he said meekly.

With shaking hands she took the receiver from him. "H-hello?"

She listened and she nodded, answering in the affirmative to a few things before hanging up. When she did, her knees gave way and she fell into the wall. Lu Han and his mother both lunged forward to lend a hand, helping her to stand back up.

She looked at Sehun. "Your uncle... he's been in an accident." He nodded back stiffly.

She scrambled suddenly back into the hallway, grabbing a coat off the rack near the door and searching a small table frantically unti