The week passed ever so slowly. Jisoo was constantly on guard, in anticipation of encountering Taehyung at Incra. So far, she only saw for seconds at a time. Yesterday, she saw him and Teddy talking as they passed her in the hallway. Teddy nodded at her, but Taehyung didn’t bother to acknowledge her. He continued to excitedly share his ideas with Teddy. Jisoo would be lying if she said she wasn’t a little surprised, but she was more than fine with it.

Incra was Jisoo’s territory. Taehyung was not considered a genius for nothing. It would not be wise for him to harass her in an environment with so many eyes on them. He needed to prove his loyalty to Incra. They had never had a double agent infiltrate the organization as a mole, but there was a first time for everything. Jisoo didn’t want to even entertain the idea, but there had to be a deeper motive for their defection to Incra.

It was not a coincidence that Taehyung happened to join Jisoo’s team within weeks of discovering she was a spy, too. Jisoo had the utmost intention of finding out what his motives were, but patience was key. If she waited for the right moment, it might reveal itself without any hard work on her part.

“Hey, Jisoo. Do you have a moment?” Yoongi, Namjoon, Hoseok, and Jin approached her as she was making her way to the training room.

Jisoo raised an eyebrow. She didn’t have a reason to be mad at the other boys, really. But their association with Taehyung and complicity in his decisions didn’t make her particularly want to be best friends with them, either. “Sure. What’s up?”

Yoongi stepped forward. “Jimin and Jungkook are busy working with Rose and Lisa right now. But on behalf of all of us, we wanted to apologize to you.”

She almost choked on the water she was sipping on. “Why?”

“Well, I’m sure you know that we’re… aware of everything that has transpired in the past few weeks. With Taehyung in LA.” Namjoon explained.

“Don’t remind me.” Jisoo tried to keep her tone light and joking, but she couldn’t help the harsh undertone that came out.

“Taehyung is an interesting person. He’s quite different. We know he can be a . We’re kind of just a big group of s at the end of the day. So I hope you’ll bear with us.”

They seemed sincere enough. Jisoo had the urge to ask them more about why they decided to come to Incra. “I’m a little curious, like everyone else, as to why you guys came here all of a sudden. As BTS, the seven of you were an independent group. You didn’t have to answer to anyone. Now, Incra essentially has a hold on your lives.” That last sentence made her feel a twinge of sadness. Incra had a hold on her life. It never really bothered her, but also Incra never made her question her loyalty. They didn’t give her a reason to. But trust Taehyung to it up. Or something along the lines of that.

They all shared a look. “We can’t really answer your question right now. It’s not that we’re trying to be suspicious but there were a couple of reasons that are confidential. If you get placed on a mission with Taehyung, which will eventually happen, you’ll probably be briefed. Essentially our employment at Incra is mutually beneficial for both parties involved. Incra gets a highly knowledgeable, experienced spy group and in return, we get more resources to help us take care of some personal, yet urgent business.” Jin was kind enough to get her more information.

It was still annoyingly vague. But it was good enough for now. Jisoo nodded slowly. “I suppose I won’t pry any further. Anyways, I appreciate the apology. Really—I do. Up until now I had been a little resentful and uneasy about working with you guys, if I’m being completely honest. But I’m sure we can fix that over time.”

They gave her grins out of relief and she felt herself breaking out into a big smile to match theirs. That was nice.

Training went on as normal after she spoke with them. Drenched in sweat after two hours of practicing, she slumped on the floor against the wall. This was her happy place. The exercise was mindless, yet the art of fighting forced her to sharpen her mind. The combination was exhilarating.

As she stared blankly in the distance, the door to the room opened. In strolled Taehyung with an older female agent. Jisoo was certain her name was Irene. Jisoo had never seem Irene crack a smile before. Yet, here she was giggling at whatever Taehyung was telling her.

Jisoo rolled her eyes. The attraction was obvious from her end. Her blood boiled imagining Taehyung taking advantage of this poor woman’s vulnerability. Even if he found her hot too didn’t mean he could come off so strongly with his slimy flirting skills. The cockiness was just oozing all over. She reminded herself it was best not to get involved.

This was why she liked sweet guys like Jinyoung over pompous men like Taehyung. Wait, why was she even comparing them? Jisoo furiously shook her head, as if it would somehow dispel those thoughts from happening ever again.

Jisoo fiddled with apps on her phone and Irene eventually left the training room after a few minutes. She exhaled deeply, happy that she would have the room all to herself again. She stretched lazily when she stood up, ready to go for round two.

“Spar with me.” A deep voice command