It was another late night at the office. The only sound was a furious typing as I chipped away at the firewalls that have been placed around the information I was trying to get at. It had been more than a day since I started and progress was extremely slow. Heaving a sigh, I leaned back and stretched, wishing I had some coffee to help my dwindling attention.

“How’s it going, princess?”

I whipped around to look at my colleague and boyfriend. His eyes twinkled as he came over and handed me a cup of hot coffee. “You might need this.”

“How do you always know what is it that I need?” I smiled and accepted the coffee gratefully. 

Yongnam pretended to look thoughtful. “Hmm…maybe because I am kind, thoughtful and handsome?”

I mockingly rolled my eyes. “Yes, handsome prince. Do you not have work to do?”

He grinned. “My job is to take care of you, princess.”

Each time Yongguk smiled at me, I felt like someone was stabbing my heart. Over and over again.

How was this possible? My head hurt and I pressed a hand to my forehead to try to ease the throbbing.

Yongguk seemed noticed my discomfort. “Maybe we should adjourn the meeting. She doesn’t look very well.”

“I’m so sorry,” I muttered. “I think I need to go and lie down for a bit.” There was a chorus of “It’s okay” and Himchan added, “We can always have the meeting another time.”

“Is she going to faint again?” Daehyun spoke in a loud and harsh tone as I got up from my seat. Yongguk gave him a disapproving look and gave me a warm smile.

It was the same smile; the one I missed seeing everyday since he was gone.

Unable to return the smile, I glanced away and started to navigate my way through the room, determinedly avoiding eye contact. Jun Hong leaped eagerly to his feet to support me but Jongup was faster; in a flash, he was next to me, holding me up. “Let me you to your room.” His tone was kind but the grip on my arm said otherwise.

Steering me with an iron-vise grip, he leaned in and whispered, “Your expression was priceless.”  Shocked, I tried to wrench my arm from his hold but to no avail. His smile widened. “Hush now. We don’t want to make a scene where they can still see us.”

When we reached my room, I managed to pull my arm from him and turned around to face him. “What are you playing at, Moon Jongup?”

He held a finger to his lips. “Hush.”  But I was too agitated to be calm now.

“Who is Yongguk? How is he related to Yongnam? What are you planning on doing?” My voice rose a few octaves. If I had been calmer, I would have noticed the slight annoyance on Jongup’s face. Instead, I continued with the rapid questions.  “Who are these people? Why-“ 

“I said, quiet.”

He had moved so fast that I didn’t even have time to respond. His hand was clamped over my mouth while the other one was on my shoulder, pulling me towards him so that I couldn't shield away. My chest heaved as I struggled to breathe through the tight grip.

“Rule number one, No questions.” His eyes were hard as he stared into mine. “I don’t like it when people ask me questions. Do you understand?”

I couldn’t move much but I managed a small nod. He looked satisfied and released me. Coughing, I backed away from Jongup until I was at a safe distance from him. He flexed his wrists and I instinctively took another step back but he only reached into his pocket and pulled out a thumb drive.

“If you’re so curious about Yongguk, you can go and ask him yourself.” Jongup tossed the thumb drive to me. It was a simple black thumb drive, nothing special. I looked up at him questioningly.

He slid both of his hands into his pockets. “I want you to go into Yongguk’s room and download his files into that thumb drive.”

I frowned. “Why would I do that?”

Jongup took a step towards me and I tried to back away, only to realise I was already at the wall.  He leaned in closer, an ugly expression on his otherwise handsome face. “You forgot why you’re here.”

I looked away. “No, I remember,” I replied quietly.

He stretched out his hand and gently tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear. “That’s my girl. “ Slim fingers caressed my cheek softly. “You know what to do.”