So guys. Long time no talk. Sorry for the long hiatus but my life has been a crazy rollercoaster the past year. As a result, writing has been put on the backburner for me. Which , because I never like to leave things unfinished, but I just dont have the time or the energy to commit to finishing this story. So because of that, I'm going on an indefinite hiatus. But before I leave, I wanted to leave you with what I had so far. It outlines the general progression of the plot and gives you guys closure on the story. Obviously it is unfinished and unedited, so please don't expect the quality of writing you've seen in previous chapters. I just didn't want this story to become another 'Zodiac', because you guys don't deserve to be left on a cliff hanger like that. Sorry if this doesn't meet expectation. This wasn't the way I wanted to leave things, but it just can't be helped. Thank you guys again for following me on this journey. I'll never forget all the love and support I've gotten from you guys. 

 

Chapter 20

 

I felt a hard shake, interrupting my otherwise peaceful sleep.

“Get up.” Xiumin muttered, before disappearing into the bathroom.

“What?” I barely managed to sputter with still half closed eyes.

“We’re needed at the headquarters.”

“We?” I reemphasized, refusing to get out of bed without a proper explanation.

“Is this the kind of urgency you would have if someone broke into our house?” Xiumin questioned as he passed me to exit the bedroom. “Let’s go!”

“But I’m still in my pjs!”

“Trust me, you’re going to be glad you’re in your pjs and not your nice clothes.”

I let out a groan before following him outside.

Usually I quite liked my car rides with Xiumin. Despite my precarious position with him, I always felt safe in the passenger seat of his car. It must have something to do with his calm demeanor while driving. Unlike Tao, Xiumin was a very smooth driver. He took his turns slow and he never decelerated or accelerated too suddenly. I had always been prone to motion-sickness since I was very young, but I never seemed to have that issue with Xiumin. 

Tonight was different though. I could sense the panic in Xiumin’s turns. His fingers tapped impatiently on his steering wheel at every light.

 

I definitely wasn’t prepared for the chaos waiting for me.

“Stop being a baby.” I could hear Luhan muttered as he struggled to hold someone down.

The first thing I saw was red everywhere. From the floors to the couch, nothing seemed left untouched. A crumpled Kris lay in front of Luhan, unable to control his convulsions.

“ it hurts so bad! ing get help you piece of !” Kris yelled between winces as Luhan struggled with Kris’s limbs.

“See look, helps here. Everything will be fine!” Another man interjected as he made eye contact with us.

“You! You shut the up! I swear- …if I hear another word from you-”

“It’s just a flesh wound.” Luhan seemed oddly amused as he catered to Kris’s needs.

My eyes finally locked in on the gushing bullet wound in Kris’s right arm.

“Just a flesh wound? The bullet is still in his arm!” The panic in my voice was evident as I tried to understand the situation.  

“It’s still in my arm?!” Kris yelled, his voice even more panicked as he turned his head to try to look.

 

“Do your thing.” Xiumin said, motioning me forward.

“What? You think I’m going to fix this?”

“Well yeah. You’re the best we’ve got.”

“Where’s Yixing?”

“He won’t be back in town until Thursday.”

“Are you insane? I don’t know how to stitch someone up! He needs to go to the ing hospital or he’s going to bleed out!”

“You know we can’t do that.”

“Well call Yixing and tell him to come back early.”

“Do you really think we can afford to wait for Yixing to come back?”

“I’m not doing it! I will not have his blood on my hands if he dies.”

Xiumin let out a sigh before maintaining eye contact, his tone turning stern. “Do it while I’m still asking nicely.”

His comment had me regressing back to fight mode. “You know, you’re really not giving me much incentive to keep him alive.” I threatened.

“Why is it you always insist on doing things the hard way?” Xiumin’s frustrations seemed to finally surface.

“Me? How about you shove-” I started to say before Kris quickly interjected.

“My god! I am literally bleeding out here. Can’t your flirting wait?”

I turned to Kris, noticing the cold sweat he was breaking into. The color had drained out of his face and his usually statuesque features were marred by stress lines. He was losing too much blood and it wouldn’t be long before the situation escalated to something more life threatening. Underlying the pain, there was a layer of desperation in his eyes as he looked to me, as if I was his one life line, which I very well was.

I let out a sigh before turning to Xiumin. “Get me a laptop.”

Xiumin indicated for Luhan to oblige before asking, “What’s the laptop for?”

“Search how to mend a bullet wound on YouTube.” I ordered before reaching for the antiseptic wipes in the bin.

“What?! You’re using YouTube?!” Kris screamed, falling into a full blown panic.

“Man, you can find tutorials for anything on YouTube nowadays.” Luhan muttered as he watched over my shoulder.

Kris stared incredulously at the screen as I skipped to the critical parts. “Oh my god. I’m gonna die.”

As I watched the video, I became less and less confident, my insides churning at the sight of just breaking skin. Kris’s objections faded to the background as I tried to figure out the logistics in my head. Could I do this? The removal of the bullet itself seemed crude, but so was the clean up process. More concerning was the stitching process. I had done some embroidering as a child, but I hardly think that could compare to stitching human flesh. We lacked anesthetics beyond prescription drugs, which added another layer of difficulty. I mean, operating on a still being looks hard enough, but on a writhing man, even harder.  

“Kris, you need to stop moving.” I muttered as I tried to reorganize everything in my head.

But he couldn’t hear. He had passed the point of being reasoned with. His complaints had turned incomprehendable. The murmurs around me had reached new decibels as more people started to congregate in the room.

“What the hell happened?” Chen asked as he arrived to a scene of bloody chaos.

Luhan let off a quick smirk before answering, “Kris got shot while he was taking a .”

“While he was what?” Tao jumped in.

“How does that even happen?”

“Why don’t you ask Taeil.” Luhan responded knowingly.

“Alright, everyone out!” I yelled my patience ran its course.

 

“Ow!” Kris wriggled, “I’m sorry, but did I do something to you?”

“You mean, besides the time you stuck your tongue down my throat?”

 

Operation is successful enough to hold things off temporarily until Yixing can return to reoperate.

 

“Bet you wish you could add that to your grad school applications, eh?” Chen quipped as I exited the room.

I found myself smiling at his comment. There was this high that still lingered in my veins that I had never experienced before. For just a brief moment, I felt like a god.  

 

 

Sehun twitted his fingers nervously as he waited for the questions to start rolling in. He knew he had nothing to be afraid of. After all, he had absolutely nothing to do with EXO. Yet he couldn’t help but feel jittery with both his career and freedom at stake.

“Now, I already know you aren’t the mole, but we need to go through the motions to satisfy the big guys. As far as you should be concerned, this is merely a formality.”

“Is that why you’ve got me hooked up to a lie detector?” Sehun commented, though he immediately regretted it. 

The agent gave him a hard stare, before turning back to the lie detector to check the readings. If anything, the comment had just aroused even more suspicion.

“I’m going to need you to stop shaking your leg. It’s messing with the readings.”

Sehun immediately stopped, planting both feet firmly on the ground. He hadn’t even realized he had been doing it until it was pointed out to him.

“So, Sehun, had you heard of EXO before you started working here?”

“No.” Sehun responded, before quickly backtracking. “Well actually, yes…kind of.”

The agent waited for him to clarify.

“I mean, I didn’t know them by name, but I knew there was a gang running rampant in this area. Actually, no, that’s not right either. I had read a few articles about some of the gang-related cases a few years back for one of my research papers. I didn’t realize until after I had come here that they were EXO’s doing.”

 

“Not that that has affected my perception on EXO at all.” Sehun was quick to interject. “I make it a point to avoid any material that has passed through the media’s hands. I find that articles tend to tell stories from a specific point of view which may lead me to form prejudices against the people we’re investigating.”   

The agent stared at him with parted lips, apparently---.

“You should- take note of that…” Sehun muttered meekly, before regressing back in his seat.

 

 

“3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate-7-phosphate? God, when the hell am I ever going to need to know what the that is!” Chloe muttered to herself out of frustration. There was an audible thump as she began banging the back of her head against the headboard.

As soon as he opened the door, she stopped, resuming her studies like a seemingly studious student. It was obvious she was trying her best to ignore his presence. He slipped into the bathroom to get through his usual night time routine, all the while, eavesdropping on Chloe. She had this habit of talking to herself whenever she needed to memorize large quantities of material, and he couldn’t help but smile at her silly mnemonics.

“Tryptophan, phenylalanine, tyrosine. Tryp…try-to phenyl tyres. Try to funnel tires. Yes Chloe, that makes sense.” She quipped sarcastically before repeating the phrase. “God. I’m going to make a horrible doctor.” She commented, just before Xiumin reentered the room.

She went silent again, sitting up a little straighter as he settled in next to her.

He checked the time on his phone, realizing how early the night still was, even for him. He unknowingly turned to Chloe for entertainment, before remembering she wasn’t currently talking to him. A deep sigh escaped from his lips as he resorted back to his phone, looking through sports news to keep himself busy. Soon enough, Chloe’s mumbling resumed.

He could tell her patience was thinning as her mumbles grew less intelligible. “The corepressor binds to the repressor, which binds to the operator, and ends transcription. Wait, what? Operator and repressor. Arginine. So arginine is the repressor. No, corepressor. Right? Yes, corepressor. Because it looks like a core. What the am I even talking about? A core isn’t even a shape. You mean a sphere, dimwit.”

She took a deep breath before resuming, trying to set it all straight in her head.

“So the operon is transcribed when there is no corepressor since the repressor can’t bind to the operator, but only when talking about a repression mechanism. An induction mechanism is the inverse. So the repressor can bind without a corepressor, and would block transcription, but in the presence of an inducer, it would bind to the repressor, inactivating its function and allowing transcription. Alright, I think I’ve got it.”

There was another pause as she let the information settle in her head.

“. I lost it again. So the operator attaches to the repressor, no- it’s the repressor that binds to the operator. Dammit!”

She was overthinking it now. Simply put, the repressor and the operator are always present, but what determines whether the repressor binds to the operator is the third component. This could be an inducer or a corepressor. As the name suggests, the inducer would induce transcription by preventing the repressor from attaching, while the corepressor would have the opposite effect. She had gone over the concept enough times over the past week that even Xiumin had managed to pick it up. Yet somehow, she was now struggling, not because she didn’t know the material, but because she was stressed out of her mind.

Xiumin could hardly bear to listen to her insane drabbles any longer.

Next thing he knew, his hand was pulling the textbook out of her grip and throwing it on the floor beside her.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” She yelled, shocked by the action.

Before she could protest any more, he rammed his lips on top of hers,

He winced as she bit down on his bottom lip, drawing blood.

“Get off-” she tried to say, still struggling against him.

“A women that would sleep with me at the drop of a hat.” Xiumin said, gripping her wrists in front of him before she could resort to nail scratching. “Isn’t that what you said before?”      

She looked at him wide-eyed, shocked that the words she had spouted in a moment of anger, had come back to bite her in the .

“Are you kidding me? Of all the times to be horney, you choose now? My exam is tomorrow!” Her voice hitched at the end, surprised by Xiumin’s force as he dragged her further down the bed until she was lying flat on her back.

“Men are funny like that. We always seem to get at the most inconvenient of times.” Though her lips spoke protests, the rest of her body told a different story. Her hips rolled against his, careening him closer. “Now do what I hired you to do, doll.” Xiumin growled, his lips ravaging her neck.

“You-” She started to say as she pulled off his pants with an excessive amount of force, “are such an .”

“Yes, we’ve already established that countless times.” Xiumin spoke into her neck as he pulled her underwear down her thighs.

She seemed to quickly warm up to the idea, her hands already gripping his sides in anticipation.

“At least do me a bit of decency and finish fast.” She hissed between clenched teeth.

A sly grin crept on his face. “You and I both know that isn’t going to happen.”

She met eyes with him before suddenly grabbing for his . “We’ll see about that.” She responded before applying pressure at the base of his dorsal vein.

His whole body throbbed at the coldness of her fingers. She gave him a few pumps before kindly pointing him in the right direction. He could feel her clench as he moved into her, only working to heighten his pleasure.

The muscles in his arms tensed as he struggled to hold himself up. At that moment, every fiber of his body was yearning to possess the woman in front of him, but he held back, knowing things would end too quickly that way.

His lips hovered above hers, waiting to see if she would meet him half way. She didn’t disappoint, her fingers already tangling in his hair, pulling him in closer until they locked lips. The two of them began waging war with their tongues, both fighting for dominance until their lips felt raw from the friction.

The feeling of Chloe’s shirt bunching up at their stomachs, quickly peeved Xiumin enough to warrant a tug at her side. She seemed to get the message, quickly shedding the shirt all together.

It was exhilarating. With every push he gave, she pushed back.

 

He watched her expression intently, waiting for her eyes to close. Slowly, her lips parted and then he knew he had done it. He’d always watched for it because that was what got him off. It was the exact moment where Chloe’s mind would completely let go.

He felt his body grow hotter as he struggled to keep his mind calm. His ears twitched as a discernable moan left Chloe’s lips. Her fingers tugged at his roots, urging him on.

This wouldn’t do. He was going to finish too fast at this rate.

He turned her on her stomach, thinking that maybe if he couldn’t see her expressions, he would have an easier time keeping his cool. But boy was he wrong. The sensual arch of her back as she tensed from his s just turned him on more. He let out a grunt before burying his face into her hair, hoping the scent of her shampoo would distract him enough for the time being.

She protested to his slower pace, nudging her pelvis up against his. She definitely wasn’t making this any easier for him.

He knew he was getting close, so he purposely started edging off, but he felt a quick tug on his neck as Chloe turned around, her arms ensnaring him.

“Don’t you dare.” Chloe threatened before pulling him in closer.

She led on his bottom lip, unwilling to let him go until he had given her the proper release she was looking for. The tickle of her smooth legs retracting at his sides, sent chills down his spine.

“Please.” She begged breathily, her fingers trembling as they moved down the side of his neck.

As soon as she decided to take it one step further, moving to nibble on his earlobe instead, he was sold. He definitely couldn’t hold himself back anymore. 

She shivered in his arms as he pulled her off the bed and up against the head board. There was an audible gasp, followed by a hard nip at his ear as he seemed to be successfully hitting all the right places.

“.” He muttered uncontrollably as she grinded against him, her nails digging deeper into the muscles of his back.

He held onto her in a possessive manner, as if to claim her completely as his own, finally letting himself unleash his pent up frustrations on her. He ignored the loud creaking of their headboard as it buckled from the sudden extra weight, instead focusing in on the sound of her breathing.  

For once, he wanted to be the one supporting her in her time of need. Even if for only a few minutes, he wanted to be able to remind her that no matter the result, he would be there to comfort her.

Her cheeks turned a beautiful shade of crimson as her body finally released. He finished seconds after, letting her slump against his chest as he fought to catch his breath.

The nuances of their breathing broke through the eerie silence of the night, creating an intimate atmosphere between them. He noticed how uncharacteristically quiet she had become as she dealt with the aftershock of it all. She suddenly seemed so fragile and vulnerable in his arms, as if she could break down at any moment. Her fingers still clung onto his neck, as if it was the only thing keeping her from falling onto the bed.

“You okay?” He asked after a while, supporting her waist as she kept her face hidden in the crook of his neck.

There was a delay in her response before she finally sat up by herself. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She said before pulling away from him.

And just like that, her cold demeanor had returned. In that moment, he knew he had ed up.

He watched as she retreated into the bathroom, the shower turning on a few moments later.

 

I winced from the bright light of the bathroom, stumbling along the tiled floors until I reached the shower. The water that greeted me was refreshingly chilled, calming me with its almost baptismal-like quality. I waited until all traces of Xiumin had been washed away before letting all my anger and regret resurface.

How could I let myself get pulled in like that again? After I swore to myself that I’d never let his gorgeous face move me again. Gorgeous face? What am I saying? Chloe, get a grip! This is not you!

I stiffened as I heard him enter the bathroom to clean himself off, and only relaxed again once he left.

I still yearned for him, even after all he had done to me. God what’s wrong with me?

It was shameful what I was doing. What happened to my pride, my sense of propriety?

Why even bother with the pretenses? I might as well just walk around with a sign on my forehead stating I was open for business. Because that’s what I was now. Nothing better than a common .

My tears mixed with the shower water. I couldn’t even complain, because I had brought this all upon myself. I deserved all of this. Call it karma or whatever you will. You know, it’s true what they say. Karma really is a .  

When I came back into the bedroom, Xiumin’s eyes stayed trained on me, attempting to read the thoughts that ran through my mind.

I picked up my textbook which still lay discarded on the floor, placing it on the night stand before silently slipping back into bed. I purposely turned my back to him, closing my eyes tightly, waiting for sleep to finally take over me.  

“Chloe.”

“Don’t.” I said, my voice coming out dejected and tired as I flinched away from his touch.

Frankly, I was in no mood to partake in pillow talk.

His hand hovered over me a bit longer, before finally retracting.   

 

 

“Kyungsoo, did you know of EXO before you started working here?”

“Yes. They’re pretty notorious in the area I grew up in.”

Onew nodded along before continuing. “So what was your opinion when you first heard of them?”

“I thought they were arrogant bastards with too much time on their hands.”

“And now?”

Kyungsoo let off a scoff. “I still think they’re arrogant bastards with too much time on their hands.”

 

“Look, I’m just here to do my job. I’m not the mole you’re looking for.”

 

 

“Xiumin.” Yixing spoke up as everyone was leaving.

“Yeah?”

“Can I talk to you in private?”

Xiumin met eyes with him before nodding, prompting Chen to shut the door on his way out.

“What’d you want to talk about?” Xiumin asked once they were alone.  

Before starting, Yixing prompted with a quick

“I’ve always believed in you and your abilities, and I have never once questioned your judgements, but I can’t look past your decision to keep Chloe around. She’s betrayed once, and she’ll do it again if given the opportunity. I can’t afford the risk. Especially not now, with the condition my grandmother is in. I need assurance that you’re still looking out for our best interests.” Yixing said,

“Your grandmother’s condition has gotten worse?” Xiumin asked,

Yixing nodded, choosing not to elaborate on it any further.

Xiumin let out a sigh before asking, “What kind of assurance are you looking for?”

Yixing ticked his head to the side before answering. “I’ll leave that part up for you to decide.”

 

“It says here that your older cousin was shot and left partially disabled in a gang related incident.”

“Yes.”

“So when you were first transferred to this department, were you aware that this district was high risk for gang activity?”

“This is ridiculous. Do you think I’d actually give information to those pricks?” Chanyeol stated, throwing his head back.

“Have you ever considered that maybe the whole point of that call was just to let paranoia set in between us?”

“Instead of actually putting our efforts into jailing these guys, we’re here answering these pointless questions and wading through piles of bureaucratic paperwork.”

“Look, if you really want to smoke out this mole, you should try giving out false information. Hold out some bait, and see which fish bites. Plain and simple.”

 

A while into the interrogation, things take a turn for Chanyeol when he makes a slip up.

 

Baekhyun was the one that turned Chanyeol in.

During interrogation, Chanyeol tries to use Baekhyun as evidence of his moral character.

“Ask Baekhyun. He knows me.”

“I’m not so sure that would do much good for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Who did you think tipped us off?”

Later Chanyeol confronts Baekhyun about his betrayal.

“I wanted to see you face the moment your got caught.” Said Baekhyun

Chanyeol does investigations while on parole. The phone in his possession(Xiumin’s) was forcibly turned over to police custody.

Xiumin comes to visit Chanyeol while Chanyeol’s on parole.

“Well isn’t this an interesting turn of events. I mean, I knew I wouldn’t be the one in a jail cell at the end of the day. But to think that you would be the one to take my place…” Xiumin stated as he took a seat in front of Chanyeol.

“You know, you visiting me like this isn’t really helping my case.” Chanyeol muttered.

 

 

“Chloe. Come out here for a second.” Xiumin called from the kitchen as he arrived back home from work.

I considered whether or not to ignore his call, but ultimately decided against it.

I was surprised by the dinner spread when I came out of the bedroom. Laid out in front of me were various types of rolls and sashimi. It all brought me back to my first dinner with Xiumin.  

“What’s the occasion?” I asked, taking a seat at the table.

“No occasion.” Xiumin responded, not bothering to elaborate.

I hesitated, finding it difficult to just throw in the towel and dig in.

“Sit down.”

 

“So what are your plans for tomorrow?” Xiumin asked, trying to make casual conversation

Did he think it was as simple as just sweeping it under the rug? Absolutely nothing had been resolved from last night.

 

I let out a scoff before throwing my chopsticks on my plate. “I can’t do this.” There was a loud screech as my chair scratched against the hardwood floors as I stood.

“Chloe.” He said, grabbing my arm as I passed.

His expression seemed genuinely concerned.

How dare he act concerned. After what he’s said and done to me, he had no right.

“Look, I’m sorry. I don’t know how to deal with people who are so emotionally stupid. What the hell do you want from me?” I yelled, throwing .

“I don’t see why we can’t be cordial.” Xiumin responded,

“You crossed a line! I think we’re past the point of acting cordial.”

The sentence seemed to ignite something within Xiumin. “So did you!” Xiumin retorted.

“Well can you blame me?” I yelled, “In case you’ve forgotten, you’re the one who broke my heart. I am allowed to feel angry and do things out of impulse! Because unlike you, I actually experience emotions.”

As soon as I said those words, I regretted them. To even imply that Xiumin was incapable of human emotions was cruel, even by my standards. For the first time, Xiumin seemed genuinely hurt by my words.

I was surprised by his next response.

“Fine then. Leave.”

“What?”

“I’m giving you an out.” I thought I had misheard him at first. “If you hate me so much, just leave.” He continued.

There was a pause as I gathered my thoughts.

“Why the sudden charity?” I asked, watching his expression.

“Just take it before I change my mind.”

“No. Why are you giving me an out?” I insisted.

When he couldn’t answer, I spoke up for him.

“Admit it.”

“Admit what?”

“Just admit that you love me! That’s the only reason you would ever give me an out. Why else would you risk letting someone who knows so much about you, just walk away.”

“So ing what! I love you. It’s even more reason for you to leave!” Xiumin yelled.

It felt like someone had punched me in the gut. To have him finally say the words that I wanted hear for so long, and for it to be under these circumstances, it infuriated me.

“I love you so much that it physically pains me to see you so unhappy every day. So if that’s what you want, leave.”

I felt tears of anger well in my eyes as I couldn’t control my emotions. “You know, you’re really ed up in the head.”

He went into another surge of heat.

“Do you think I like constantly worrying and thinking about you? I swear, I’ve never met someone so stupidly stubborn! It’s going to get you killed one day!”

“Well I managed to survive just fine before I met you, haven’t I?”

“You realize you are single handedly ing up everything that I’ve spent years to build. You’ve affected my ability to make rational decisions and I can’t afford to make any more mistakes at this point. Too many people are relying on me.”

He was my world, but it seemed he only saw me as a hindrance. How could I not feel angry?

“I’m ing things up for you? Are you kidding me? Do you really think you have any right to say that after you basically uprooted my life and turned it on its side?” “Because of you, I am now an accessory to two murders! So I’m sorry if I inconvenienced your already ed up life.”

 

“So what now?” I asked, jumping to the root of the problem.

He averted his gaze again before answering. “You need to leave.”

“Are you asking me to leave, or are you telling me?”

He remained silent, conveying his answer through his eyes.

“Fine.” I finally responded, picking up my bag which was resting on the counter. “I’ll be staying at my parent’s house. I’ll be back tomorrow to get the rest of my things.”

 

Chapter 21

 

A body is found at a construction site, 20 feet underground.

“We think there’s a connection between this guy and the guys they found in the bathhouse in Gyeonggi.”

“What happened in Gyeonggi?”

“Apparently one of the bodies belonged to the head of the most prominent gang there. There was only one witness. Said she saw a handsome guy in his mid-twenties, enter and exit the scene of the crime just before the bodies were discovered. He was wearing a single earring on his left ear. Sound familiar?”

“This guy--- There were signs of strangulation, and bits of skin particles underneath his nails, but the body was too far contaminated to get accurate results from testing. There was no identification on the body, besides a tattoo on his back, marking him as an associate of the same gang in Gyeonggi.”  

 

 

“We need to expedite the deal with the foreigners if we want to make up for funds lost in our previous deal. The problem is we don’t know if we should get a middle man to help with communications or if we should risk getting lost in translation.” Luhan says

“Tell Kris to deal with it. I’m not in the mood.” Xiumin muttered,

“But- I really think you should make the call. Kris can be a little too…soft-hearted.”

“Then get Yixing!” Xiumin snapped.

Luhan seemed surprised by his strong response, quickly turning to leave. “Right away boss.”

Xiumin let out a sigh before noticing Luhan was still lingering at the doorway.

“Hey Xiumin…” Luhan whispered with his back turned. This caught Xiumin’s attention. Luhan rarely ever call him by name, despite how much Xiumin showed his distaste towards the title of ‘Boss’. “You do know that…if you ever need to talk, I’m here…right?”

“Just get back to work.” Xiumin muttered, ignoring the words. He waited for the click of the door closing, before sitting back in his chair.

He found himself reevaluated the mounds of paperwork that were starting to take over his desk.

Somehow, it all seemed so pointless now without an end goal. Without her. To what end would he have to sacrifice his own health and happiness for others?

 

“I still want to meet him. Especially since you’ve been trying so hard to keep him from us.”

I hadn’t told my friends that Xiumin and I had separated. I was scared to tell them, because I feared saying it out loud would only make the situation that more real.

“You’ll meet him someday.” I said, giving her a light nudge in the direction of the sushi restaurant.

“So secretive.” Luna said with a smile as she swung the door of the restaurant open, bring with it, the scent of raw fish.

We took a seat, placing our orders and making small talk as we waited for our food to come out. When it finally did, I found I couldn’t eat.

I had lost all sense of an appetite since I had left Xiumin’s home. What made it worse was that I couldn’t help associate sushi with my first night with Xiumin. I thought back to the emotions that I had felt that night, the fear, the anticipation, the excitement. I really had no clue how hard I would fall for him. 

“Why aren’t you eating?”

I gave her a smile, forcing myself to eat a piece to satisfy her. As the taste touched my tongue, I felt my gag reflexes kick in. I immediately excused myself, running for the single occupancy bathroom to spit the food out. I started retching in the toilet, releasing more contents than I had even consumed these past few days. As I wiped the splatters of vomit which lingered on my lips, I heard a light knocking on the door.

“Are you okay?” Luna said, checking on me.

As I straightened out, I felt a slight dizziness. “I’m fine.” I quickly responded before flushing the toilet. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, seriously, go eat. I just needed to piss.”

She left soon after, giving me time evaluate myself in the mirror. My cheeks looked unusually flush and the lingering smell of vomit set my stomach on edge. As I the sink to wash my hands, a scary thought occurred to me.

I was late.

I panicked, running through the past few days in my head, reevaluating my sudden loss of appetite and nausea. I double checked the calendar on my phone, confirming that I should have gotten my period last week.

“Holy .” I muttered to myself as I gripped the edge of the sink to keep myself from falling over.

I looked down to my abdomen, my left hand hovering over it as I came to terms with the possibility. But I couldn’t be sure until I’ve taken a test. There was no sense in freaking out just yet. I took in a deep breath before exiting the bathroom.

I told Luna that I must have picked up some sort of stomach virus. I felt horrible cutting our lunch date short, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to tolerate the smell of raw fish for much longer. We both took our meal to go, and parted ways in the parking lot.

But before I could go back home, I needed to make a stop at the closest retail pharmacy. I remember sitting in the car for at least twenty minutes before finally packing up enough courage to go inside to buy the pregnancy test. I decided to buy three different kinds for extra assurance. When it came time to pay for the tests, I couldn’t even meet eyes with the cashier. Thankfully, when I arrived home, both my parents were out, leaving me plenty of time to confirm things on my own.

The five minutes that it took for the tests to show results, stood to be longest five minutes of my life. When I finally stood to check the results, I felt all strength in my legs disappear.

“Dammit Chloe.” I muttered to myself as I dropped to the floor of my bathroom, holding the third positive pregnancy test between my fingers. “You’ve got impeccable timing.”

 

Xiumin lifted his head, his eyes looking to the phone ringing at the edge of his desk. He immediately jumped for the phone when he saw the call was coming from Chloe. After his initial excitement, he hesitated, realizing Chloe would only call him with serious news. He cleared his throat before picking up the call.

“Hello?” He greeted with an uncertain tone.

“Hey.” Chloe responded simply. The word came out slightly breathy, as if she had been holding her breath until now.

There was a long moment of silence, as both of them struggled to find the right words to continue with. It had been weeks since they had spoken, and it wasn’t like they could just talk to each other in their usual casual manner, especially with the way they had last left things.

“Why’d you call?” Xiumin finally asked, growing slightly impatient. The words came out harsh, but he hadn’t meant for them to be. After all, Chloe was calling him for a reason, and he wanted to know why.

“Sorry.” Chloe responded quickly, “It’s just…I’m having trouble think straight right now.”

The tired tones in her voice worried Xiumin. “Why? What’s going on?” Xiumin asked, his voice growing more urgent. “Did something happen to you? Have you gotten into an accident?”

“No! No. Nothing like that.” Chloe clarified, before leaving him with another long pause.

“Well, what is it then?” Xiumin rushed.

“Xiumin! Would you just shut up for a second?” Chloe yelled, her voice growing more strained as her breathing grew more forced. “This is already far too much for me to handle, so if you could just– …at least, let me get this out at my own pace.” 

Xiumin held back the urge to speak up again. He wanted to know where she was, who she was with, what she was doing. Obviously she was breaking down, and it troubled him to think of her going through whatever this was, alone.

Another minute of silence passed by before she spoke again.

“I’m pregnant,” was all she said, but it was enough to throw Xiumin’s whole world out of whack.

Now it was his turn to harbor the extended silences.

“See. Not so easy to speak now, is it?” Chloe quipped. 

So many things came running through his head as the information settled with him. This was it. This was the reason everything has happened until now. The marriage, the deaths, the set back in his plans, all of these things have finally come together to bare him fruit.

Which reminded him, “What’s the of the baby?” Xiumin asked, breaking his silence.

There was an audible scoff as Chloe reacted to the question. “Are you serious right now? I just took an over-the-counter pregnancy test twenty minutes ago. I don’t know what the ing of the baby is.”

Of course. He was jumping the gun.

“God, even now, all you can think about is your damn syndicate. That’s your problem. You’re too busy thinking five steps ahead, that you never take the chance to live in the now.”

She was right. He was focusing on the wrong things. Chloe was with child. She must be terrified. It didn’t help that they were at odds. This type of news was supposed to be a cause for celebration, not stress.

Xiumin felt a sudden wind in his conviction as he instantly decided to put all differences aside. “Where are you now? I want to see you.” Xiumin said, immediately standing from his chair.

“No.” Chloe said, throwing him off. 

“What do you mean, no?” Xiumin questioned, stopping his progress before he reached the door.

“I want to make things clear. I don’t want you to have any involvement with this child.”

“What?”

“I only called because I thought you deserved to know, but from this point on, if I ever see you or your men around me, I’ll call the cops. I want a clean break, for the sake of our child’s wellbeing. That means I don’t want any of your blood money, or your influence over me. None of it.”

“Chloe, you’re not thinking straight. Let’s just meet in person and we can talk about everything face to face.”

“No. I’m serious about this. I’ll put out a restraining order if I have to.”

“That’s my child too! You can’t just one-sidedly decide to keep the baby away from me!” Xiumin yelled, falling into a panic.

“Actually, I can, and I will. I have no doubt the law would side with me if things ever came to that point, so I would heavily warn against you taking legal action. I’ve said what I needed to say, so I’m hanging up now.”

“Wait, Chloe!” Xiumin yelled helplessly as the line went dead. “Chloe!”

He threw the phone against the opposite wall in a bout of rage, leaving a small dent in its place. She was right. No matter how good a lawyer he hired, there would never be a judge on earth who would rule in favor of a Mafia boss over a future doctor. If this was her prerogative, then he was helpless to fight against it.    

He ----- as a deep realization his him. This must have been what his father felt. It’s funny how history has a way of repeat itself.  

 

 

“What do you mean you’ve reached a dead end in Xiumin’s investigation? This guy is ting right under your nose, and you still can’t book him?”

Suho didn’t know how to respond, keeping silent during the long lecture from his superior.

“This is why I’ve been saying you guys need to turn over the investigation to the FBI.” Minho responded

“With all due respect, no one in the FBI knows these guys better than we do. We’ve put years into this investigation, we can’t just turn it over!” Suho finally spoke up, growing heated.

 

“And what’s this I hear about this girl you’ve taken a liking to?”

How’d he even hear about that?

“It’s a ridiculous notion. You don’t actually believe such rumors, do you?”

“I’m inclined to consider them, given your past history.”

“Past history?”

Minho let out a sigh before responding. “Beautiful women have always been your kryptonite. Even since way back in our college days.” 

Suho was at a loss of words, disappointed by his friend’s words. He took the moment to gather his thoughts, “Look. There is nothing going on between me and this girl.”

Minho raised an eyebrow to him. “So there really is a girl.”

“What? No!” Suho quickly withdrew.

“Really? Of all the girls in this world, it just had to be the wife of the one guy you’re trying to throw in jail?”

“All the surveillance footage and interrogation transcripts are to be transferred over to us by the end of the week.” Minho said, his mind apparently already made up.

“No!”

“This has been a federal case since the very beginning! You’re lucky you’ve had jurisdiction over it for this long.”

 

“I just want to make something very clear. The only reason you’ve had this case for so long was because I was doing you a favor. You said you would be able to put Xiumin behind bars, so I let you take the reins so that you could get that damn promotion you’ve chasing after for the past three years.” Minho let off a scoff. “I can’t believe that this is how you’re repaying my kindness. I’m disappointed in you Junmyeon.”

 

“So what happened?” Baekhyun asked, running to meet Suho as soon as Minho left.

“It’s out of our hands now.” Suho muttered in defeat.  

 

 

 

While Chloe is running errands, she runs into Tao.

“Tao?”

He tries to obscure himself once discovered, alerting Chloe that he had been following her.

 

“I’m calling the cops.” I said, pulling out my phone.

“You know you’re being unreasonable.” Tao said, trying to save the situation

“I made it very clear with Xiumin that I didn’t want to see any of you guys again.”

“Xiumin loves you.” Tao said suddenly, putting a stop to my actions. “He won’t admit it, but we all know he does. He’s really worried about you. At least see him in person so you guys can talk things out. You owe him at least that.”

I pulled my bag out of his grip, before answering. “Just to be clear, I don’t owe him .” I quickly slipped into the driver’s seat. “Now leave before I run you over with my car.”

He took a step back, watching helplessly as I pulled out of the parking spot.

 

 

 

Chapter 22

 

I wasn’t sure how to take the next few moments of my night. Honestly, I was still trying to figure out whether or not it was all a dream.  

I had been in my room at my parent’s house, woken by the sudden urge to hurl. After I ran into the bathroom and hurled my last meal, I sat unmoving on the cold tile floor, my throat still burning from the lingering gastric acid and my eyes tearing from my agitated gag reflex. I leaned my head back on the closest wall, hoping to still the perpetually spinning room. I felt like my body was breaking down. Every inch of me felt bogged down and slow. Even food couldn’t comfort me like it usually did, because I’d just end up vomiting it all up anyways.

The mood swings weren’t helping either. I felt like I was systematically pushing all the people in my life away from me. All my friends knew something was up with me, but I refused to acknowledge anything had changed. My mother managed to piece it all together. Too many times, she had caught me running for the bathroom with a light sheen covering my face. I guess you can never really beat a mother’s natural inborn instincts.

My eyes trained on a dark figure looming about in the doorway. I nearly had a heart attack from the scare, my hands fumbling for the plunger beside the toilet, but I immediately relaxed once I recognized the all too familiar dimensions of my guest.

“What the are you doing here?” I hissed as my hands moved to my temples, trying to relieve the tension still lingering there.

“Why are you on the bathroom floor?” Xiumin asked, moving under the range of my bathroom light.

How was it that he always managed to find me in my weakest moments?

“I’m barfing my god damn brains out! Is that not obvious?” I yelled, keeling over as my migraine increased two-fold. The burning feeling at the base of my throat returned, and I fought to hold it back, taking deep breaths until the sensation diminished.

I looked back up at him, noticing the worry that had taken over his face.

“You! You did this to me, you er!” I said through clenched teeth, my tears threatening to resurface.

“Doll.” Xiumin whispered in a sympathetic tone. He knelt down in front of me, his arms wrapping around my folded up body. “Let’s get you to your bed.”

I suddenly felt the cushioned surface of my bed below me, with Xiumin still propping me up against his chest. His body was so warm against my back, and his fingers which soothed my stomach proved all too much for me to handle at the moment. He was doing it again. Messing with my emotions, playing into this fantasy of him I had made up in my head.

I hid my face in my hands as a tear finally escaped. “Why are you here?” I asked, my voice unstable and muffled.

“I wanted to see you.”

God. How’d he do that? It was like he could read my mind, spouting the exact words I wanted to hear most.

“I thought I told you not to come near me.”

“Well, I’ve never really been good at taking orders.” Xiumin said, moving all my hair to one side.

“Xiumin…I can’t deal with all this right now. I don’t want to think about the ed up life our child is going to be born into, or the people who are going to be clamoring to get a piece of her.”

“Her?” Xiumin caught my slip, his head craning to see my expression. “We’re having a girl?”

Anger quickly took over any feelings of remorse. “Why, are you disappointed. Not exactly the heir you were hoping for, is it?” I snapped, turning away from him.

“Chloe, stop it. Contrary to what you may believe, I do care about other things besides EXO.”

I let off a scoff, pulling away from him, but he quickly tightened his hold around my torso. I didn’t have the energy to fight against him, so I kind of just slumped against him.  

“So we’re having a girl?” Xiumin reiterated in a lighter tone.

I found myself giving into his conversation. “Well…at least, my mom thinks it’s a girl. She has this theory that if you have really bad morning sickness, you’re going to have a girl.”

Xiumin threw a blanket over us, tucking in the edges at our sides so no draft could come through.

“Has it really been that bad?” Xiumin asked, his hand moving back over my stomach.

I refrained from answering, afraid that I would just come off as a complainer. I’m sure there are plenty of women out there who experience symptoms way worse than my own.

“You know what? Let’s not talk about that.” Xiumin said after a while. “Let’s see…what do normal people usually talk about? Oh, I know, how about baby names?”

I let out a conceding grunt.

“English, Chinese, or Korean?”

“She’ll probably have an easier time if her name’s Korean.”

Xiumin nodded in agreement. “I like names that end in –yeon.”

“-yeon meaning beautiful or graceful?”

“Beautiful.”

“So basic.” I responded with a sigh. He seemed offended by my comment, looking to me. “Fine –yeon what?”

“Chaeyeon? Juyeon? Boyeon?”

“You would like Boyeon…” I muttered, noting that bo- can be interpreted to mean father or filial.

He chuckled before continuing. “Soyeon? Ayeong?”

“Ew no. No names that start with an A. The iest people I know, all have names that start with A.”

“You’re so hard to please.”

“Look, I’m not going to raise no bully.” I said concisely,

He quickly conceded.

“So you were bullied as a kid?”

I let out a sigh before responding, “Hasn’t everyone dealt with bullying to some degree?”

“I haven’t.” He countered. “But then again, I was twice the size of everyone else back then.”

“What?” I asked, trying to figure out the logistics of it all. He wasn’t exactly small per se. He was a good four to five inches taller than me. But by no means could Xiumin ever be considered big either.

“I was a chubby kid.”

“No way!” I said, turning around to meet eyes with him. “How chubby?”

He rolled his eyes at my sudden excitement, before pulling me back against him. “Chubby enough that I could crush a kid with my weight alone if they ever tried to pull something on me.”

“Oh! Is that why you work out every morning?” I asked, finally putting two and two together.

“Why is it so hard for you believe that I just like working out?”

“Because no one actually likes working out. Anyone who says otherwise is full of .”

He just laughed at the comment, before continuing.

“Actually, that does explain a lot.” Xiumin muttered,  “I mean, the trust issues and everything.”

“You know, you really have no right to talk to me about trust issues.”

Xiumin seemed to sense the sensitivity of topic, quickly changing the direction of the conversation.

“I’m trying to imagine a more docile, innocent child version of you, but I can’t.”

“Ditto. You must have been one of those kids that went around stealing lunch money.”

“Nah. I was more the type that would stay indoors all day watching ‘One Piece’.”   

“‘One Piece’?” I repeated, with