Emi’s expression was a mixture of confusion and incredulity as she stared at the man standing in front of her.

          “Asking you a few things about you, where’s the harm in that?” Kris questioned Emi.

          Emi shut her eyes close, furrowing her eyebrows as she slowly opened her eyes. Her head still remained in a tilted position, shaking her head slightly. “Do you even know what you are saying now, Kris?”

          “Yes, and what’s wrong with it?”

          “…you detest me, Kris. Didn’t you say you hated people like me?” Emi pointed her finger towards her, disbelief evident in her eyes as she raised an eyebrow.

          “I did. I hate criminals, all kinds of criminals.” Kris nodded his head at her and she let out a snort, rolling her eyes.

          “Then why are you trying to get to know me? You hate my presence, you detest my existence and yet welcomed me into your family, which I have clue as to why you would do that! And now, you want to ask a few questions about me? About my life?”

          “Winters, you are misunderstanding something here, I welcomed you to this family because everyone seems to like you, and I felt it was only appropriate if I did it too. I didn’t welcome you in because I wanted to.” Kris explained it to Emi, whose jaw gaped opened at his words and proceeded to sneer at him after he finished his words.

          However, to Kris, his last few words sounded odd to him, he himself knew what he spoke wasn’t entirely true. Somewhere, deep inside, he knew he didn’t welcome her into the family because of the rest of his comrades, he welcomed her because he wanted to.

          Nevertheless, he didn’t want to admit it to himself.

          “So, you didn’t welcome me into this family because you wanted to but because you had to, right?”

          “Yes.” Kris answered hastily, afraid that if he delayed any longer, he would be more hesitant to lie.

          Emi was slightly taken aback at his quick answer and she frowned, her heart squeezing a little painfully.

          What’s wrong with me?

          Why do I feel as if, he just said something so hurtful when it is supposed to be true?

          He hates me, of course he doesn’t want to accept me into this family.

          Her swirling thoughts made her heart squeezed even more in response as she struggled to swallow her saliva.

          “S-so, is knowing more about me some sort of family tradition here?” Emi questioned, trying to sound nonchalant.

          Kris gazed at her, the answer in his mind contradicting against his heart. He hesitated and she furrowed her eyebrows at him, curiosity sparkling in her eyes as she held a confused expression on her face.

          His mind was telling him to answer ‘yes’, since he already admitted to saying he disliked her. Despite that, in his heart, he knew the answer was just ridiculous, there was no such tradition and he genuinely wanted to know more about her.

          He wanted to know the reasons behind her scars on the back of her body.

          He wanted to know the reasons behind the moments of vulnerability he saw in her.

          He wanted to know the reasons behind why she became a thief.

          He wanted to know so, so many things about her and it was killing him.

          “You know what, Kris? If it is that difficult for you to answer me, then stay away from me. You hate me, it’s obvious that you wouldn’t like to know me because you want to.” Emi hissed coldly at him, turning around and walking away from him. Unfortunately, before she could walk away any further, someone grabbed onto her wrist, pulling her back. Her eyes widened a little as she stumbled backwards, hitting against a hard and warm chest.

          “It isn’t a tradition, but knowing a little about your background is required.” Kris spoke, his words urgent as he finally answered her.

          “Then, don’t you already know enough?” Emi growled out, tugging her wrist away from his grip but he only tightened it further, the warmth from his palm seeping through. Her heart skipped a beat when she became aware of her back pressed against his broad chest, and the callous hand wrapped around her small wrist.

          No, not enough.

          “…but you, Emi Winters, you are an exception. The little background knowledge I have about you isn’t enough.” Kris told her, his voice becoming softer, deeper as Emi felt his breath blowing on her ear, making her flinch.

           “Get. Off.” Emi said through her gritted teeth, failing to stomp her foot on Kris, to which she proceeded to shove her elbow against his abdomen.

          “Oof.” Kris groaned out and staggered backwards, allowing Emi to extricate herself from his grip. She glared at him, her face beet red as she rubbed her sensitive ear and Kris winced, his arm around his abdomen, looking up at Emi with a glare too.

          The sight of Emi’s embarrassed state made Kris’ glare dissipate slowly as he blinked rapidly, his expression a mixture of amazement and puzzlement.

          “Yo-you are being ridiculous—exception? Wh-where did that even come from? What do you ev-even mean by that?” Emi stuttered out nervously, disregarding the palpitating heart in her chest but to no avail.

          Damn it.

          Why am I this affected by him?

          The hugging scene flashed through her mind again and making her breath hitch, blushing further as she ducked her head down.

          God, this is driving me crazy!

          What the hell is happening to me?

          Emi heard footsteps approaching towards her and she lifted her head up, startled at the fact that Kris was marching towards her. She unconsciously took a few steps back with every few steps he made forward, until her back hit onto something rough, realising it was a tree.

          She tried to step to the side, only to be blocked by a hand slamming against the side of her head and she reeled back, heading to the other direction, only to be blocked with another arm too. She leaned back as far as she could when she noted the distance between her and Kris, her heartbeat speeding up; butterflies fluttering wildly in her stomach.

          She met his eyes, instantaneously glancing away and sliding down to get away from this nerve-wracking position, unfortunately, yet again, she was blocked by Kris. She squeezed her eyes close, hesitantly sliding back up and slowly opening her eyes to see a pair of piercing black eyes, amusement evident in them.

          Kris’ lips curved into a small smile, the jittery and embarrassed state Emi was in made him oddly gratified, knowing he was the one who caused it. All of a sudden, telling her the truth didn’t seem so horrible to him anymore.

          Emi was dazed by his smile, despite it being small, it was the very first time she saw him smile, along with the cheeky and amused look on his face.

          “You know, Winters, by exception I meant that I don’t hate you anymore and…” Kris spoke, leaning in closer and Emi pushed herself back as much as she could.

          My god!

          How close does he want to be?

          Is he trying to kill me? My heart is beating like crazy!

          “If-if you-“

          “I just want to know more about you, because I want to.” He interrupted her, moving his hand towards her face and she held her breath when his hand took a few strands of her hair, resting them on his palm.

          Her wide eyes traced his hand that was playing around with her hair and she was too stupefied to even move now, her heart and the butterflies in her stomach not helping with her situation.

          “One more thing, when I said I welcomed you into the family because of everyone, it was a lie.”

          “Wh-what?”

          “I said it because I wanted to welcome you too.” Kris leaned in further, their nose inches away from each other now and Emi could only freeze up at the distance.

          Both of them stared into each other’s eyes and Kris felt his heart skipping a beat at her beautiful eyes.

          The strangest thing was, he didn’t dislike the feeling she was giving him at all, or the feeling he was giving her. Instead, he enjoyed it, maybe a little too much.

          He remained in this position for awhile longer, before stepping back but not before combing Emi’s hair through his hand, noting the soft quality of her hair in his mind.

          “I’ll ask the questions later, Winters.” Kris smirked at her, sauntering off and she let out a shaky breath, watching him walk away as she collapsed down onto the ground.

          “Ohhhh, my god.” Emi breathed out, her hand on her chest as she tried to calm her heart, which was beating too quickly for her liking. Her face was burning and she shook her head, burying it in her knees.

          Goddamn it.

         

         

          *******************************************

         

         

           The next few requests arrived and everyone gathered at the table, picking the requests that they wanted to be assigned too. Kris, as usual, designated who would be the leader of the mission and Emi folded her arms across her chest, leaning on the wall.

          She avoided eye contact with Kris all the way, not even wanting to let him into her line of sight but alas, it was impossible but at least, she didn’t made eye contact with him once after that discussion in the woods.

          Emi felt an arm wrapping around her shoulder and she rolled her eyes, knowing who it was. “So, which one of the requests are you going for?”

          “Zak, you should know that my occupation is a thief and I should not be in any of this mission, right?”

          Kris noticed Emi and Zak chatting cozily at the corner, Zak laughing heartily at something Emi said and in response, Emi shoved him away, rolling her eyes and a tiny smile tugging at her lips. Annoyance bubbled in his stomach as he watched them, a frown on his face.

          “Winters! Come over and choose the request you want!” Kris hollered out and he widened his eyes in shock as he saw the laid-back manner of Emi changing quickly into a tense and nervous one.

          “Do I really have to-“ Emi uttered out, only to be interrupted by the exuberant atmosphere of everyone telling her to come to their teams.

          “Erm, I’m sorry, I don’t think-“ She said, but it was drowned out by the noisy crowd.

          “She’ll be on mine.” Kris announced and Emi shot her head towards him, wide-eyed.

          “Wh-what? But I haven’t decided yet! And I don’t have any interest in doing a request!” Emi exclaimed, immediately looking away when their eyes met and she bit on her lip.

          “Doesn’t matter, you’ll have to come along anyway.” Kris demanded and Emi narrowed her eyes at his command, turning to look at Yun who shrugged at her.

          “He’s right, if he wasn’t here, you’ll end up stealing the necklace.” Yun commented and she sighed, knowing that they’ll look through her plan to steal it.

          “Alright, fine.” Emi agreed begrudgingly and she saw Kris staring at her from her peripheral vision, her face becoming slightly warm; her heart skipping a beat too.

         

         

          *****************************************

         

         

          On the journey towards the area, Yun glanced back and forth between Emi and Kris, he was in between them, since Emi desperately insisted him on being in the middle. The rest of the team trailed behind them, while the three of them were at the front, the horses cantering on the gravel path.

          Arriving at the destination, their mission was to find the base of the drug lord in this town, since the source said that he was hiding out here in this secluded town while he conducted his illegal businesses in the major cities.

          It was near to evening time when they reached, knowing they had to find an inn to stay in, the mission was bound to take a few days afterall. They only brought ten people along for this request, the lesser amount there is, the lesser chance of being detected or spotted.

          After finding an inn and renting the rooms, Kris laid the map out on the table, discussing the plans to everyone in the room. Meanwhile, Emi definitely did not want to be anywhere near Kris, hence, she was at the far end of the table, listening in to the conversation, nodding her head to the plan once in a while.

          They decided to send out scouts to locate for any suspicious activity and also for them to find out any rumours about the drug lord.

          “What are we supposed to do in the meantime?” Emi questioned, frowning at her free time.

          “We have to wait, can’t risk having too many people out there at once, it’ll blow our cover.” Yun answered her, his tone disapproving.

          “That’s right, Yun’s correct.” Kris nodded his head in agreement and Emi just nodded awkwardly.

          “We can have a nice, long chat.” Yun grinned at Emi brought her head up, pointing towards Kris, her and Yun.

          “The three of us?” Emi asked and Yun nodded eagerly at her. Emi paused, unsure whether to agree to the chat or not but if Yun is there, she felt more comfortable.

         

         

          *****************************************

         

         

          Chatting animatedly, Yun’s lively words and wild gestures made Emi chuckle softly to herself and Kris could only shake his head, an amused smile on his face.

          “Can you believe that?” Yun spoke excitedly and Emi rolled her eyes, agreeing to whatever he was saying.

          All of a sudden, a loud commotion filled the whole bar, which was located in the inn and Emi turned her head, hearing the rowdy cheering as everyone crowded around this table.

          “What’s happening?”

          “Probably just some arm wrestling.” Yun mused out, letting out a sigh.

          Emi raised an eyebrow before turning back, to continue the conversation, however, the conversation was discontinued due to someone shouting loudly behind Emi. She jumped in shock, her slightly wide eyes staring at the scene behind her, trepidation about where it was about to head to.

          Just as she predicted, a man came flying towards her direction and she stumbled out from her seat, hastily avoiding the man from crashing onto her when an arm curled around her waist, pulling her away from it.

          The man groaned out, wiping at his lip as he stood back up, storming towards the crowd who made way for him. Before Emi could catch a glimpse of the scene any further, it was cut off by a black shirt and she glanced up, gazing into a pair of mesmerizing black eyes.

          “Are you okay?” Kris asked, concern evident on his face as he frowned, looking down at Emi who nodded slowly, dazed at the sudden turn in events.

          “Crap, it’s a brawl, we better get out of here or head back to the rooms.” Yun clicked his tongue, spinning around to dash to the rooms.

          “Whoa there, that is a little…” Yun said, his eyes wide as a mischievous smirk formed on his lips, the two people right in front of him in a passionate hug.

          “Huh? What? Oh—uh, crap, this is not-“ Emi sputtered out, shoving Kris away but he only squeezed her tighter, not letting her go and she gave him an annoyed glare, feeling herself on the verge of blushing.

          “Let. Me. Go. You idiot!” She whispered, frustrated at him for not letting go, butterflies fluttering around wildly in her stomach when he smirked cheekily at her.

          “We better go.” Yun said and Kris nodded at him, releasing Emi from his hug but entwining his hand with hers and she could only stammer incoherently.

          They dashed towards the room, and for the whole time, Emi focused her gaze on their hands entwined together, a small elated smile involuntarily appearing on her face just as Kris reflected the same elated look.  

         

         

          *********************************************

         

         

          “Well…that was exhausting.” Yun grunted out, all of them gathered in Kris’ room and he noticed their entwined hands, the smirk on his face growing wider.

          “I’ll head back to my room first, I have some things that needs to be done.” Yun said and before Emi could protest, he was already out of the room, the door closing behind him.

          Emi gulped nervously, darting her eyes around the room furtively, trying her best not to meet the gaze of a certain someone. She knew he was staring intently at her but she tried to ignore it, jerking her hand away from his. Whereas, Kris stared at his hand, frowning at the sudden loss of warmth.

          “…I have a lot of unanswered questions about you.” Kris spoke, breaking the awkward silence and Emi squeezed her eyes close, forcing herself to look at him. Her heart gradually speeding up, her eyes widening a little at the sincerity in his eyes.

          “Why…do you want to know so much? About me?” Emi asked, registering that this was the only time that she directed her words towards him after their intense discussion earlier.

          Opening his mouth, Kris wanted to answer her question only to be abruptly stopped by the multiple knocks on the door. Kris narrowed his eyes, sighing out in irritation as he approached the door, swinging it open.

          “I found out…the drug lord’s alias.” His comrade panted out and Kris understood that he must have come running here after learning of the important news.

          “What is it?”

          “Rui.”

          Emi gasped out instantly, making both of them turn towards her in surprise.

          “You know him?” Kris probed, raising his eyebrows.

          “…yes, I do, he is an important business partner afterall.”

          “Of who?”

          “Sergi, and if it is really the Rui we are talking about, he may have already seen us, Kris.” Emi informed, biting on her lower lip as she frowned while Kris widened his eyes at her reply.

          “If he tells Sergi of my location, Kris, we are all in big, big trouble.” 

 

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Sorry for the late update guys! I was busy with stuff D;