Undercover operations were never a problem. But it’s safe to say that tonight might just be an exception.

With loose curls swept to the side, you wore a red dress that covered just enough to be deemed proper. And that’s topped with a pair of heels that’ll definitely start hurting in twenty minutes. Not a good outfit for busting an illegal auction, but great for sneaking into a lavish casino.

You couldn’t decide what was crazier, the fact that you’ve made one hell of a last-minute decision, or that you didn’t report any of this to your supervisor, who will probably fire you on the spot for pulling such an act. You did tell one teammate, Kihyun, who still gave you an earful before supporting your decision. He felt the same desperation, and knew just as well that tonight is your one and only chance. You must succeed, even if it means working with a criminal.

You exit your taxi, stepping out right before the casino’s grand entrance. And just as you expected, the guests tonight are none other than dolled-up wealthy individuals, many of whom with obviously questionable reputations.

Glancing at your watch, you waited by the curb for Wonho’s arrival. There’s still five minutes, just enough to go over tonight’s plan one last time.

“Are you alone, miss?”

You glance up, meeting a suited middle-aged man whose expression didn’t match the subtlety of his voice. But you quickly compose yourself and put on a convincing grin.

“I’m sorry, I’m waiting for someone.”

The man then makes obvious movements to look behind you before shrugging. “I’m not seeing anyone. And why would they would leave such a fine darling waiting all alone?”

You let out a giggle, simultaneously fighting the urge to grimace at his crooked grin.

“Say, why don’t you forget about the wait and join me instead?” He adds, taking a step closer.

Still with a smile intact, you were prepared to respond when a sudden presence distracts you from behind. You felt solid warmth press up against you, followed by an arm that quickly circles your waist.

“Sorry for the wait, sweetheart.” A soft whisper fawns over your ear. “Please forgive me.”

The familiar scented cologne brought your gaze towards the man behind you. And for the first time in too long, you were actually glad to see Wonho in your presence.

“It’s alright, I’ll let it go this time.” You smile in reply, earning a quiet chuckle from him.

“I appreciate that.” Wonho lowers his head. You weren’t sure what else to expect when he placed a kiss on your temple, right before looking at the older man.

“If you’ll excuse us.” He pulls you alongside him, which almost left you blatantly dumbfounded if it weren’t for your poker face. You do remember how much of a good actor Wonho can be, but you also know how much he likes to mess around. Perhaps you should remind yourself again; Wonho’s not an easy one to work with.

“Good timing.” You fold your arms. “But was that necessary?”

Wonho smiles, nodding his head. “Very.”

That’s when you got a good look at him, clad in a dark suit, perfectly accentuating his sculpture-worthy built. And it still frustrates you how effortlessly stunning he looks, because a criminal, or an ex-criminal for that matter, isn’t supposed to look like this.

For Wonho however, he’s a simple man. If he likes what he sees, he’ll get his hands on it. And having you in his arm is certainly a great start. He’s wondering though, if you intentionally wore this dress to tempt him, and it’s already taking a hell of a lot of effort to sort out his focus. But he’ll just have to try, since you are the reason why he’s here after all.

You wore a credible smile as you both approach the guarded entrance. Wonho swiftly reaches for his pocket, pulling out a small black card with nothing but a white ‘X’ printed on one side.

“By the way, I hope you’re not armed.” He states.

“Of course not. I figured they’d at least have a metal detector.” You were already eyeing the guards at the entrance, who didn’t bother concealing their weapons.

“Good.” He mused. “But…what if we need one?”

You turn to him with a shrug. “We’ll just have to get our hands on one.”

Wonho’s eyes widen for a split second before humming in response. “I like how you think.”

Getting passed the entrance was definitely the easy part. Right away, you were counting too many cameras spread out in every high corner. Security guards roamed all around, obviously too excessive for a typical casino. But that only raised your confidence. This is the place you need to be.

“Where’s the auction?” You murmur, leaning into Wonho’s shoulder.

“My guess is…” He turns you to your left. “Through that VIP section.”

You look past a sea of laughing gamblers towards an isolated entrance at in the back. There stood a handful of body guards, all armed with dark uniforms.

“They’re doing full body checks on everyone who enters there.” Wonho says, a hint of tease in his voice. “Hope that doesn’t make you uncomfortable.”

“You’ll be surprised that’s the last thing I’m concerned about.” You challenge, sensing a rush of confidence and excitement as you made your way over. Wonho holds up his black card as soon as the guards notice your arrival. One of them promptly takes the card, scanning it against an electronic reader on the door before handing it back.

“Welcome.” The guard bows. “Please be informed your participation in tonight’s event requires your utmost cooperation with our policies. We hope you understand.”

Wonho nods. “Of course.”

“Please allow us for your body checks.”

You watch as the other guards approach, each equipped with a long metal detector. As they began patting you down, you glance over at Wonho, only to notice a security guard slip something under Wonho's collar. You were quick to realize though, it’s probably a tracking device.

"You're all set." A guard announced as he finally opens the door to a long carpeted hallway. You smile accordingly, rejoining Wonho.

"You alright sweetheart?" He coos, his hand returning to your waist.

"I'm fine." You reply in the same manner while the two of you strode down the hall. Yet right as you were both far enough, your smile drops.

"They bugged you."

"Yeah, I felt it." He whispers. "Gotta remove it somehow."

Just as you thought about all the possible inconspicuous places to detach a tracking device, an elevator besides you rings. Wonho seems to catch the same idea, and you both walk straight for the empty elevator.

You didn’t waste another second before reaching for his collar, yet Wonho quickly grabs both your wrists.

"There are cameras." He mouthed, eyes darting towards the ceiling. "We can't be too obvious.”

It took you a second to register, but you weren’t out of ideas just yet.

“Ok, then we’ll just have to do this the hard way.” You sigh, earning a curious look from Wonho.

You proceed to wrap your arms around his neck, closing any space between your chest and his. The added height from your shoes gave you the perfect boost--virtually eye level with him. You caught a hitch in Wonho’s breathing, and normally you’d be the one alarmed, but being in your government agent mode meant you’d do anything for the sake of this mission.

“Don’t just stand there.” You raise an eyebrow, caressing his shoulders as you lean closer to his ears. “You should be good at this, right?”

Wonho’s lips slowly curl, and his hands instantly find your waist. “You won’t be disappointed.” His fingers brushed against the fabric of your dress, before suddenly pulling your hips forward against his. You almost had to bite your tongue, yet you were in no place to recover when his breath began trailing down your neck. A sensation you couldn’t decipher came clashing down. And it’s this certain feeling you absolutely despised, as if you are anticipating for his touch. You swallow, fighting to neglect the heat of his fingers seeping through your dress.

“This good enough?” He whispers.

A part of you was long regretting this idea, since every idea involving Wonho ends up being more stressful than useful. But another part wondered why you still haven’t learned your lesson. Maybe you should just be glad that you weren’t the one bugged. The things he’ll do will undoubtedly break you.

“Not enough to impress me, but it’ll work for the camera.” You retort, despite your inner struggle.

You attempt to focus on finding the tracking bug, and began tracing your hands beneath his collar. And you swore if Wonho isn’t being such a prick you definitely would have removed it by now.

Wonho is fighting a battle of his own, stuck between a chaos of temptation and control. Not much is stopping his need to just devour every inch of your skin right there and then. And he’d just love to make you eat your words. But now isn’t the time, not in this situation. The twitching ache in his pants will just have to wait.

He kept still, standing patiently until you pushed yourself off, a smile on your face indicating you’ve removed the bug from his clothes.

“Where to now?” You ask, hiding the tiny device in your palm. Wonho takes out the black card from before, showing you the side with the letter ‘X’ on it.

“According to this, it’s on the tenth floor.”

You stare at the card briefly, realizing the letter is an indication of a Roman numeral. From what you remember of this building’s blueprint, the tenth floor is also where the power breaker room is located. That seems to spark an idea in your head.

The elevator soon opens to a spacious lobby, lavishly decorated with dim fluorescent lighting. Before you stood a crowd of high-class socialites, and to the front is a small stage with a female host currently auctioning some antique vase. You immediately survey the area, taking time to memorize the locations of all the surveillance cameras in sight.

“So what’s the plan?” Wonho turns to you.

“We’ll need to split up.” You mutter, swiftly tossing the tracking device in a fake plant nearby. “The electrical panel of this building is located on the east end of this floor. You think you can find it?”

Wonho tilts his head in a slow nod. “I should be.”

“But we’ll have to get ourselves an earpiece first.” You glance at the security guards spread out in the corners. “Get yourself one from one of these guards.” Smiling neatly, you gently pat his arm before heading past the crowd.

Wonho wets his lips, watching the incredible view that is of you walking away. And here he is on a mission that could potentially screw up this entire country, yet he still has to remind himself to stay on track. He puffs out a breath and makes his way out of the lobby.

You didn’t waste a second and went straight for a guard standing alone besides a bar. Faking an innocent grin, you gradually stumble towards him until he notices your presence.

“Ma’am are you-”

You instantly fall onto him, just to have him catch you around the shoulder. “I’m sorry.” You slur, “It’s getting a bit stuffy in here…could you take me to the balcony? I need some air.”

You watch with hooded eyes as the guard seems to hesitate for a while, but you decide to give him a little push by biting your lips. “I’ll be sure to thank you later.”

That was enough to convince him, and the guard smiles as he grasps your shoulder. He quickly leads you out the lobby and into an empty corridor, and right away you found yourself smiling at the lack of any surveillance in this area. You kept your act, and just as the voices from the crowd disappear, you raise your elbow, instantly knocking the man to the floor.

For a second, you almost felt bad how easy this was. The man is out cold, and you ripped the earpiece from him before hooking it on yourself. A whirl of static noises came rushing in, followed by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

“That’s brutal.”

Your body tensed at the voice, but the sound of soft laughter afterwards brought your guard back down.

“I’d hate to be that guy.” Wonho’s low voice flew into your ears.

“Glad you found one without a problem.” You sigh, only to realize something isn’t right.

“Wait, you can see me?” You stand up, eyes darting for signs of a camera. You could have sworn this area was hidden.

“Oh yes sweetheart. Didn’t think they were this good at hiding cameras, huh?”

An uncomfortable wave of cold sweat strikes you, and you shudder at the thought of almost screwing everything up just now.

“Wait…how? Where are you?” You ask while dragging the guard’s body to a corner.

“Turns out, the electrical panel is also the same room where they have all the monitors. I can see the display for every camera in this building.” Wonho says, grinning. “You should be glad I got here before you knocked that guy out.”

You had to agree with him, as rare as it is. “And no one saw you break in?”

“Nope. There was only one guy watching this place.” He sighs, “They really shouldn’t have trusted those tracking bugs so much.”

“Works out for us.” You chuckle while pushing a potted plant in front of the curled up guard.

“And I cut off the signals in all the other guard’s earpieces. Yours is the only one that works.”

You let out an impressed scoff, pleasantly surprised by his work. “Nice move. Didn’t know you had this in you.”

Wonho laughs softly. “Thanks, I learned from the best.”

“And who’s that?”

“Wanna guess?” You could hear the slyness from his voice. “I’ll give you a hint.”

“I’m listening.”

Wonho drew in a breath. “She’s someone who just knocked out a man twice her size and hid his body in a corner, all while wearing a pretty little dress.”

You press your lips together, stifling your laughter. “She sounds badass.”

“Oh you have no idea.”

You almost wanted to keep the sarcasm going, but you had a time sensitive job here. Checking the potted plant one last time, you headed back towards the auction crowd. The host is now introducing some 18^th century Japanese katana, which you’re sure was just as illegally obtained as everything else being sold tonight.

“Wonho, can you see everything on the auction floor?” You murmur, standing a few feet away from the nearest person.

Wonho closes in on a monitor that captures every item on stage. He took a moment to study each one, until one particular object caught his attention. It’s certainly the strangest one in the bunch, and it’s the next item for auction.

“Yeah.” He said. “You see the next item that’s going up?”

You peer over a few heads, noticing a small rectangular object lying on the table. Yet, your eyes narrow in confusion as you couldn’t quite believe what you’re seeing.

“It’s…a smart phone?” You looked over the other objects, which were all antiques except this oddly placed cell phone. You didn’t quite want to consider the possibility that your country’s most classified secrets are being kept inside a tiny, cellular device.

“And what’s that-”

“It’s the cell phone.” He spoke, unusually confident. Wonho has kept this to himself, but ever since the security breach crisis, he’s had some theories and doubts about the situation. But seeing that cell phone likely confirms his speculation. “I’ll explain later, but the stolen data is in that phone.”

You didn’t have the time nor place to question him. The phone is about to go up for sale, and you must take it before the current item sells.

“Alright, did you locate the main breaker?” You whisper, watching your surroundings before walking closer to the stage.

“Yeah, it’s right next to me.”

You inhale gently, taking a moment to calm yourself. “I’ll count to three, you shut the power and I’ll grab the phone.” You spoke. “And you must leave this floor immediately.”

“What about you?” His voice sounded oddly gentle.

“I’ll be fine.”

Wonho eyed you through the monitor, with one hand hovering over the main electrical switch. He then hears your voice in a slow count, and right as you spoke the last number, he pulls the handle.

Everything turns to black, but you had your focus on the target. While voices around you rose in confusion, you stepped right up to the stage, grabbing the phone and headed straight for the emergency exit.

The guards in the room immediately shone their flash lights, telling the audience to remain calm. A few others drew their weapons and raced to block every exit on the floor. But you were long gone.

You weren’t exactly relieved just yet. The real challenge is getting out of this place, which means walking down ten flights of stairs in the dark, in heels. You brace yourself, ready to take the first step when a hand suddenly grabs hold of your forearm. You were just a heartbeat away from punching whatever’s touching you until a calming fragrance hits your senses.

“Shh…it’s me.”

Your limbs were still frozen, but at least you’re able to breathe again. “Jesus, Wonho.” You hiss, “You really need to stop sneaking up like that.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean it.” He sounds barely out of breath. “Did you get the phone?”

 “Yeah.” You tighten your grasp around the device. “Now we just have to make it out alive.”

Wonho sounds to be laughing quietly to himself. “Then let me help you with that.”

You couldn’t quite register his sentence when you suddenly felt your entire body lifted from the floor. The darkness only added to your blood-rushing confusion, and all you can feel is his chest next you and his arm under your legs.

 “You weren’t planning to walk down these stairs yourself were you?” You can practically hear the smirk in his tone.

“I’ll do what I have to.” You spoke, as confident as you can manage. You were just glad the darkness is hiding your flushed face.

Wonho began descending the stairs, his grip tight around your body. And it’s strange how you found yourself trusting him, but it’s still nerveracking knowing he’s walking through the dark. Thankfully though, he hasn’t tripped yet.

Right as you both reached the first floor exit, lights came flashing back on, followed by the sound of sirens blaring through the walls. But neither of you bothered to look back and made a run straight for the parking lot.

Without a moment to spare, you hopped into a sleek black Cadillac as Wonho turns the ignition. You had no time to even awe at his car since the only thing on your mind is to get the hell away from this place.

“You have a lot of explaining to do.” You spoke, releasing a long sigh as you two finally hit the city streets.

“Then where should-”

Wonho cuts midsentence when a bullet suddenly flies past, shattering the driver side mirror. You immediately peer behind, counting about three cars gaining on yours.

And just when you thought things actually went pretty smoothly so far.

“ how did they…” Your voice fades when your eyes land on the smart phone blinking in your hands. And that’s when you wanted to slap yourself. Of course the damn thing has its own GPS system. You were so occupied with running away that you didn’t even think of something so obvious. But you quickly press on the button, only to have your stomach tighten at the sight of a security screen.

“It needs a pass code.” You called, feeling the agony crawling beneath your skin.

“Try 0126.”

Wonho kept his focus ahead, yet you turn to him with the dumbest look on your face. “What?”

He raises his voice. “zero, one, two, six.”

You forced your attention from Wonho to the phone in your hands, typing in the numbers as he said. And just when you thought things couldn’t get any crazier, the phone unlocks to the main screen. A billion questions were already racing in your head, but you rush to disable the GPS. That doesn’t solve everything though, there are still cars chasing behind.

Ignoring the burning questions, you turn to Wonho with desperate eyes.

“By any chance, do you have a gun?” You were ready to expect a denial when Wonho reaches into his jacket, pulling out a semi-automatic pistol.

“You told me to get my hands on one if I needed to.” He grins, handing you the weapon.

Despite being at a complete loss for words, you felt the strangest urge to burst into laughter. Wonho was always unpredictable, and you knew that, but you sure never got used to it.

You grabbed the gun and immediately roll down the window. “Keep the car stable for a few seconds.” You shout while snaking your body out the window.

Wonho stole glances at you with wide eyes, but he was in no place to question your actions either. You moved quickly, using the few seconds the other person is taking to reload his weapon. Aiming back, you pull the trigger that successfully busts the other car’s front tire, sending it swerving into the cars following behind.

“Okay, now we can talk.” You huff as you return to your seat, throwing the weapon in the glove box.

Wonho was dead silent before he rose into laughter. He’ll need a moment to digest what he just saw as well. “You are just full of surprises.”

“That’s funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you.” You click on your seat belt. “Because this phone, you clearly know more than I do.”

Wonho exhales and runs a hand through his hair. “I had my doubts in the beginning, but I’m pretty sure I know who did all this.” He began. “And you might know him too.”

You narrow your eyes, turning to him with a raised brow. “Please don’t make me guess.”

Wonho chuckles again. “He’s the genius hacker, goes by the name I.M.”

Your eyes grew for a good moment. That name, you’ve definitely heard it. He’s been on the wanted list a few times, but hasn’t been heard from for a long period of time.

“How do you know it’s him?” You add.

“It’s the phone, that’s his preferred method of storing everything.”

With still too many questions running around, you weren’t sure where to begin, and Wonho seems to catch the perturbed look on your face.

“Look, why don’t we head back to my place? I’ll explain everything.” He says.

You stare at him, not sure if you had a better option. “It better be a good explanation.”

He smiles. “I’ll try my best.”

A/N: Next chapter will be the finale! I don't want to get carried away like what I did with the scoups fic, so I apologize for cutting it short. (And next chap will be rated beware cringey )