“The inside from headquarters is here.” From the look on Heechul’s face, Leeteuk only assumed that Hangeng had beaten him to the punch in telling her about the new step in their plan. Without a word, the three of them made their way into the living room where a young woman about their age sat on one of the couches. She stood up when they entered the room.

“Hello. My name’s Victoria.” She immediately walked to Hangeng, never breaking eye contact.

“I should have known you would be the one they sent.” Hangeng responded, a light smile on his face.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” She smiled as she enveloped Hangeng in a friendly hug. “It’s good to see you again, Hangeng.”

“It’s good to see you too, Victoria.” Hangeng pulled back from the embrace. “I go by Hangeng now. These are my flat mates,” Heechul stiffened at the word. “Heechul and Leeteuk.”

Victoria looked at the other two of the room’s occupants.

“Hi. It’s nice to meet you both.” She shook their hands. Hangeng led them into the kitchen where they all sat down at the table.

“Victoria and I worked together back at headquarters. She was my partner before I was assigned as your liaison.” Hangeng explained the obvious previous connection between him and this new woman. Heechul remained silent as Leeteuk nodded his understanding.

“Well, we thank you for coming to help us with this.” He dimpled.

“You never go out of your way to see anyone without some form of major news, Victoria. What do you have for us?” Hangeng asked, watching the woman sitting next to him carefully. Leeteuk took Hangeng’s momentary distraction to move his foot under the table, crossing his ankle with Heechul’s in a supporting gesture. He removed it the moment she visibly relaxed, not wanting to be caught by the girl’s boyfriend.

“You know me too well.” Victoria smiled as she pulled a file out of the bag that sat by her feet and handed it over to Hangeng. “The Dragon is dead.” The other three froze where they were and looked at the woman. She continued when none of them spoke.

“The latest attempt on your lives ended up taking his. Something knocked him out as he was trying to escape and he ended up burning with the building.” Heechul felt the chill run down her spine at the memory of the voice. That had been her attacker.

“I would say this is a good thing but…” Hangeng trailed off after a moment.

“But what?” Heechul asked. She didn’t see what was wrong with the situation. The man that was after them was dead. Wasn’t that supposed to take at least that stress away from them?

“When one assassin is taken down, another is put in his place. This one could very well be worse.” Victoria nodded at Hangeng’s assessment of the situation. “Who are they sending this time?”

“Phoenix.” The younger man swallowed. This was not good. This was not good at all. “He’s on par with Dragon if not better. You three have to be extremely careful this time. All of the information on the cases he’s taken care of is in that folder. I can’t seem to figure out a pattern to his work, though, so I’m not sure how to help you.”

“You’ve done more than enough just bringing us this, Victoria. Thank you.” Leeteuk answered.

“It’s no problem.” Victoria stood up and started to gather her things. Hangeng reached over and grabbed her wrist as she tried to pick up a few loose pieces of paper that had fallen out of her bag.

“Would you like to stay for dinner? It’s been forever since we’ve seen each other. I kind of want to catch up.” He offered, looking to Heechul and Leeteuk for approval. Neither of them gave it. Leeteuk nudged Heechul from under the table, warning her to calm her glare.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to tonight, Hangeng.” Victoria answered, noticing the small exchange between the apartment’s current residents. “But thank you though. Maybe some other night.” Heechul could have sworn the woman smirked as she ran her hand over Hangeng’s hair as some form of apology. Hangeng got out of his chair and walked her to the door, saying a final goodbye before closing it softly behind her. By the time he got back to the kitchen, Heechul was no longer there and Leeteuk was taking out pots and pans, getting ready to make dinner.

“I’ve got that, Leeteuk. You go sit down.” Hangeng insisted. The older man looked at him through narrowed eyes.

“No. I’ll cook tonight. You’ve got a hurt hand, remember?” he glared. “Besides, you need to go talk with Heechul.”

“Why?” Hangeng asked. The question was merely an attempt to buy time. He knew how he had acted just then with Victoria and he knew it would make Heechul jealous. If she couldn’t trust him more than she trusted Leeteuk then he was going to make sure her jealousy was enough to make her hold on to him that much tighter.

“I’m not even going to grace that with an answer.” Leeteuk turned back to the now heating pan. “Go apologize.”

Heechul sat in the bedroom fuming. Who was that girl, thinking she could come into her own home and flirt with her boyfriend like it was nothing? And what was with Hangeng’s introduction? That had hurt worse than anything else. And the way the woman had looked at her before she left was nothing short of condescending. Even Leeteuk had seen it. He had tried to stop her from leaving the kitchen while Hangeng escorted Victoria to the door but her jealousy and anger at the younger man far outweighed her care for the elder at that moment. Leeteuk was the one that cared for her. So why did it hurt so much to be falling for him the way she was?

The door to the room opened slowly. Hangeng walked in, closing it behind him.

“Hey. Leeteuk’s making dinner. Is there anything in particular you want?” he asked, trying to break the ice. He hadn’t meant to make her this angry. Now he knew he was in trouble.

“I’m not hungry.” Heechul glared.

“Heechul. Seriously. Victoria’s just a girl. What are you so upset about?”

A sharp slap echoed through the silent room. For a moment, the only sound that followed was Heechul’s labored breaths and the rustling of a shirt as Hangeng reached up to touch his now stinging cheek, Heechul’s handprint leaving the only white mark on that side of his face.

“Is a ‘roommate’ really all I am to you?” The woman finally broke the silence and her seemingly calm demeanor, letting her emotions speak for her. Hot tears stung her eyes, threatening to spill over.

“Heechul, you know that’s not what that was.”

“No, I don’t Hangeng. Please elaborate on why you think you can introduce me as nothing more than a you keep around for when you need a bit of company then dispose of when you’re done. Am I really that embarrassing?” Heechul was furious. She had never been more embarrassed in her life. She had thought Hangeng would introduce her to this new girl as his girlfriend but the title ‘flat mate’ had sent her into shock. Only now was she beginning to feel the pained anger rise in her. How could someone she thought loved her treat her that way? The tears finally began to fall.

“No. You know what’s embarrassing?” Hangeng started. His temper was boiling at this point. He was tired of holding all of this anger and frustration in. “Walking in on my supposed girlfriend and my coworker making out in the middle of a bedroom!” Heechul froze. Everything made sense now. The distance. The protective, possessive glances. The over emphasized physical affection around Leeteuk.

“You saw-”

“Of course I saw, Heechul! You don’t want me to treat you like a ? Then stop acting like one!” He interrupted. His shouts rang off of the walls surrounding them. To Heechul, those words stung worse than anything that had ever happened to her.

“And yes. Victoria and I did have a thing when I was working at the main branch. I want to confirm that in case you were thinking it.” Hangeng added. His anger was getting the better of him.

“Then why don’t you just go back to her if you’re that tired of me?!” Heechul shouted, pointing out the door in the general direction of where the other woman had exited.

“At least she wouldn’t go behind my back! And if she did, she’d own up to it and not act like everything was fine!” He answered. Heechul froze. She hadn’t expected him to say that. In truth, she had no idea what to expect but those words stunned her and only broke her heart even further.

“Get out.” Heechul whispered, forcing the tears back from her eyes. The tightness in her chest was excruciating. Whispering was all she could manage. “Get out.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Hangeng answered, standing firm in his spot and showing no signs of wavering. Heechul dropped her hand limply by her side.

“Fine.” She was the one to move first. She started packing her things, stuffing as much as she could in the first small duffle bag she saw. The door slamming was her only addition to her goodbye. She walked briskly past the kitchen. At that moment, Leeteuk turned around and saw her wipe her face. Ignoring the contents of the pan, he ran after her. He was just a second too late and the front door slammed in his face.

Once Hangeng could move again, he sat down on the bed, his head in his hands. He hadn’t meant to say any of that to her. But there was no excuse. It had been a jerk move and he knew it. And the fact that she had just walked out didn’t make it any better.

“I thought I told you to apologize to her; not kick her out.” Leeteuk said, opening the bedroom door.

“I didn’t kick her out. She left of her own accord.” Hangeng was not going to take Leeteuk putting him down for something he didn’t even mean to do. He was sorry he did it, but it was too late to take back what was already said. Leeteuk sighed and turned back towards the kitchen.

“Dinner’s ready when you are.” He called over his shoulder before disappearing into his own room, foregoing his own dinner altogether. He would give Heechul some time to cool off before he started looking for her later that afternoon. She was a grown woman. She could take care of herself. But that didn’t stop the chill that ran down his spine when a black car with out windows slowly drove past the house heading into town.