Chapter 2 

 

Yoona was going crazy. 

 

It had been a whole month since she had been caught after her escaped attempt and she hadn't been allowed out of her bedroom unless joining her dad for dinner in the evenings. 

 

Her dad had grounded her liked she was eight years old. She was forbidden to leave her room, her laptop and mp3 player had been taken away and she was forbidden to go on her run which was the worst punishment of all but Yoona wasn't complaining. In fact, she had expected to face much worse when her dad had finally caught up with her. She didn't know exactly what she had expected but being grounded hadn't even occurred to her. 

 

Well, no that wasn't correct. She had expected to be on locked down, she had even warned the FBI that she might not be let out again, for a while but she had also expected to have at least been slapped around a bit or something and that had been the best case scenario. 

 

What Yoona hadn't expected was her dad trying to bore her to death but other than being locked in her room and a few things being taken away, there had been no other punishment which really surprised Yoona. 

 

Why wasn't her punishment more severed? Her dad hadn't even been fuming when she had been dragged kicking and screaming, literally, back to the mansion. He had shaken his head and gave her what he had intended to be a fatherly disapproving looked and explained that she was confined to her room until further noticed but that had been all and best of all, on top of her mild punishment, her dad hadn't allowed her to attend the party she had been shopping for when she had escaped. 

 

Her meals hadn't even suffered. She still got delicious and nutritious meals that ranged from fresh tasting seafood and shellfish to the best cuts of beef and pork and lamb with fresh salads or perfectly cooked vegetables. For lunch, it was always something healthy but delicious and tasty. For breakfast, it was whatever she asked for from cereal to pancakes or waffles to bacon and eggs. 

 

Her dad had even provided her with a mini bar that was stocked almost daily with an assortment of drinks and snacks. 

 

She even still got dessert after her dinner and on top of the mini bar, her dad had also brought the treadmill and the exercise bike up from his personal gym so she could still run and exercise. 

 

Although it wasn't nearly the same, Yoona was still able to keep herself in top physical condition. 

 

After a full week, Yoona realized why her meals hadn't suffered as part of her punishment and she had actually smacked herself on the forehead for not realizing it sooner. It was the same reasoned why she hadn't been smacked around. 

 

Her dad needed her fit and healthy. 

 

Her dad had expected her to at least try to escape, he was even prepared for it which was why he hadn't been all that angry and why he had had everything all set for when she had. He had known exactly what punishment he was going to give her when he got her back. 

 

Now, the only thing on her mind was how long she was going to be locked up for before her dad would let her out again. She had a feeling that the shopping trips would stop for a while but how long before he let her run again? 

 

Yoona had completed stage one of her planned, now she was anxious to get started on stage two. 

 

Stage two. The trickiest stage of her three-stage planned and the riskiest. Not so much for herself but to whoever the FBI chose to plant in her dad's organization. 

 

They must have found someone by now, surely. Her requirements hadn't been that difficult, specific maybe but not beyond the realm of possibility. How hard could it be to find an agent who could go undercover who was near her age and was attractive and charming enough to fool her dad? 

 

Oh, and unattached. Yoona absolutely refused to go through stage two and stage three with an attached agent; she had stressed that to the FBI. 

 

Yoona knew it took time to established a cover identity and all that but they had to have him in place by now, right? He was most likely waiting for her to get off locked down so they could get on with stage two. 

 

Yoona sighed and stretched out, raising her hands above her head and working out the kinks from laying so still on her bed for so long, lost in her thoughts. 

 

Yoona had finished her breakfast and had handed the empty tray to one of the men outside her bedroom door. Once she was done with her breakfast, she would spend a while on the treadmill and then maybe she would try to talk her dad into letting her outside to uses the pool for a bit of vitamin D. 

 

Something that small shouldn't be too hard to get out of him as a small stepping stone back to being allowed outside her room again. 

 

After all, what harmed could she do with a matter of feet away from her patio door in the backyard by the pool? Yoona smiled to herself as she answered her own questioned. 

 

She could do a lot more damage than her dad could ever dream of but she wouldn't. After all, in order for the rest of her planned to work, she had to get back out into the city. She couldn't do anything from here. 

 

There was an unexpected knock on her door. 

 

Yoona sat up and frowned. It was a little earlier than usual that one of the maids came to clean her room, collect her dirty clothes and restocked her bathroom and mini bar. 

 

"Come in." 

 

The door opened and Yoona gasped in trepidation. It wasn't the maid who entered her room. In fact, it was the man she hated and distrusted the most and that included her dad. 

 

Kai. 

 

What was he doing here? He wasn't allowed in her room. Her dad had promised her that. Her bedroom was her space. 

 

Was this her real punishment? Surely, her dad's patience with her hadn't snapped yet. Yes, she had escaped but she hadn't made it out of the city, he couldn't know about the FBI and when they had recaptured her, she hadn't resisted that much as it had been obvious that she was well and truly caught. 

 

Yoona sprung off the bed and without taking her eyes off of him or turning her back to him, she quickly moved away from the bed, instead choosing to put the patio doors to her back. If he had indeed come on her dad's ordered then she had rather break her bones going over the railing, if she jumped out far enough she might even make the huge Olympic-size swimming pool. 

 

Yoona would take her chances. 

 

"What are you doing here?!" Yoona demanded indignantly, watching him as warily as a corner wounded gazel would a hungry lion while at the same time, trying to keep her feared concealed from him. Instead, she intentionally fuelled her own angered that he had dared to enter her room, "Get out!" 

 

Kai didn't move, instead, he just continued to stare at her in that way of his that made her blood turned to ice in her veins and she had to fight the urged to throw up. There was no mistaking the greedy malicious lusts in his eyes. He wanted her, not just her body she knew but everything that would come from her dad to the man she married. 

 

She was her dad's only heir and even though Yoona had never heard it from her dad's lips, she knew good and well what her dad had offered as a reward to the man who gave him what he so desperately wanted. That man would marry her, against her will or not and he would eventually inherit everything her dad had when he died. Oh, why did Sangho have to die? If her brother was alive, none of this would be happening. No one would have died just because of her a year ago and she would be free to live her life. She would be free. 

 

"Your dad sent me with a message," Kai told her, with easy-going kindness that Yoona knew he was faking it. Kai didn't possess a single iota of kindness or tenderness. 

 

Or mercy. 

 

Yoona only became more suspicious. Kai was too high up to be a messenger. He wasn't here in her room to delivered a message. Most likely, he had only used it as excuses to come into her room, the one placed her dad promised her that as long as she behaves and his patience held, she would be safe from the hands of men unless she invited them and their intentions. 

 

Yoona didn't know the real reasoned why her dad was being so patient with her and in getting what he wanted most from her but as long as his patience held then he wouldn't hurt her unnecessarily. Maybe her dad thought that if he traumatized her too much, her health would suffer and then he would never get what he wanted. Yoona tensed, ready to fight or flee. Most likely flee as she had never been able to fight Kai with any real chance of winning. Even though he was lean, Yoona knew he was stronger than he looked but he wasn't bulky, however, she was slightly smaller than the average woman, slimmer too. 

 

Against Kai, Yoona knew she wouldn't stand a chance. 

 

Kai tilted his head to the side as he studied her, as if trying to work something out but couldn't quite do so, "Your dad has lifted your punishment. You still can't go shopping but your dad said you may go for your usual run in the mornings, provided you behave and don't give escaping another try." His eyes narrowed maliciously with a warning but there was still that lusts and anticipation in his eyes that made Yoona nauseous and afraid, "But be warned. The next time you try something that stupid, your punishment will be much worse." He flashed a cruel sadistic grinned that twisted his somewhat handsome oval-shaped face until he didn't look human, "It might even be me who dishes out your punishment next time and I don't think I have to tell you that I won't be as lenient as your dad." 

 

'I will die first', was on the tip of her tongue but Yoona managed to catch herself at the last moment. She had finally gotten what she needed, her dad had lifted her locked-down and she was free to go on her run. She would be half an hour later than usual, half an hour later than the time frame she had given the FBI but she could always hope that whoever they assigned stayed later and if not, there was tomorrow. At least she would get out and stretched her legs, get some fresh air and prepared herself for tomorrow. 

 

Yoona hadn't realized how much she had missed her morning runs. Before now, they had been a necessity, a must, to get her in shape to run fast and far enough to put the first stage of her planned into action but now, Yoona was finding herself running solely because she wanted too, for the joy of it, never mind that it was actually part of the ployed for stage two. 

 

Yoona loved the feeling of freedom and the carefreeness of it; for those brief moments, Yoona could almost believe that there was nothing wrong in the world. There was no planned, no dad, no gilded cage, nothing. 

 

She felt free and on top of all that, now that stage one had been completed, Yoona no longer had to push herself if she didn't want to. 

 

Somehow, running now felt that much more liked freedom than it had before. 

 

Or maybe Yoona was just feeling that way because she had been locked up for so long and she wasn't just meaning the last month. 

 

It had only taken Yoona five minutes to get dressed for her run after Kai had left her room and another five to get her bodyguards to pull the SUV around. 

 

Less than fifty minutes after Kai had left her room, Yoona was on the running path in the park. 

 

Yoona had decided to do the shortest of her usual routes as she had been running so much less then last month due to her confinement and she was both impatient and anxious to see if the FBI agent was in placed yet so Yoona reached the coffee shop only forty minutes later than she usually did as opposed to the full hour she had thought it would take her. 

 

Very aware that her bodyguard's eyes were firmly glued to her through the window, Yoona scanned the coffee shops patrons as discretely as she could and saw no one out of place; she must have missed the agent. 

 

With a disappointed shake of her head, Yoona turned her attention to the menu. 

 

Today, Yoona decided on a caffè mocha with bittersweet mocha sauce and steamed milk then top it off with sweetened whipped cream along with a chocolate hazelnut croissant, it had been a tossup between the chocolate hazelnut croissant and the almond croissant and with the ordered in her hand, Yoona turned to leave when she saw it. She hadn't even been looking for it as she had thought that she had missed him for today but there it was. It was unmistakable and so subtle that she had almost missed it. 

 

How clever this agent was in identifying himself to her. Yoona found herself impressed at the ingenious touched. Her instruction on how the agent would identify himself had been very specific and oh boy, had the FBI taken her at her word but in such a subtle way that no one would have ever guessed that it was an object with the purpose of covertly identifying one person to another. 

 

Yoona looked up at his oval-shaped face and time seemed to slam to a halt. 

 

Liked someone had just zapped her with a spell, Yoona stood frozen in place, staring at him with disbelieving eyes. 

 

Sweet Jesus. Yoona couldn't believe it. The FBI had outdone themselves ten times over. They couldn't have done any better if they had had him handmade just for her. The FBI hadn't just met her requirements; they had blown them completely out of the water. 

 

He was good-looking and then some. 

 

Sitting at the end table by the window and looking more at home in the feminine coffee shop than any woman in the placed, sat a man who literally stole her breath away. With short brownish black hair that was just long enough to move when he did and bangs that brushed his eyelashes, she couldn't see the color of his eyes because he was looking downward at the table. He had a face that the gods themselves couldn't have sculpted better with a mouth that promised carnal things and forbidden pleasures that she hadn't yet dared to even dream. He was tall, too. As he was sitting down, it was hard for her to guessed his height but standing, Yoona knew that she would be lucky to reach his chin. His shoulders were broad and beneath his Levi's long sleeve denim jacket, that did nothing to subtract from his gorgeousness, Yoona could see firm muscle that told her that he was strong without being weightlifter strong and his legs were long, runners legs. This man was lean, built to run. No doubt about it, this man was a girl's wet dream and every woman's fantasy come to life. 

 

He hadn't noticed her. He was reading a book that was opened on the table in front of him as he sips his coffee from an actual mug, not a paper take away cup liked most people used and the startling bearing he carried around him, that even from where she stood across the room, Yoona was very aware of. The man oozed confidence and appeal in spades so much so that Yoona was stunned that every woman in the coffee shop wasn't drooling at his feet and he had that air about him that loudly proclaimed that he was so much more than what he seemed. 

 

Yoona's entire body was tingling with awareness in response to him. She felt too hot liked she had just run triple the distance than she actually had at top speed. In the middle of a brutal heatwave, Yoona felt more than that; in fact, she was feeling too much. She felt tingly and achy and entirely too female. It was liked everything female in her was instinctively reacting to him as a male. It was an effort just to remembered to breathe. 

 

Surely, it was just wishful thinking, despite the identifier that he displayed in plain view. This was an FBI agent? He should have been locked up somewhere deep underground for the sake of the female population. He was dangerous, he was appeal on legs, if the city's female population learned about him then so many would get hurt as they will all trample over each other to get to him but Yoona couldn't have been mistaken. The evidence was right there in front of her, pinned to the front of his jacket. 

 

Yoona could remember her exact words to the FBI because she had rehearsed them over and over before her meeting with them. 

 

'I will know your agent by the white and red roses he has with him. I will leave the exact details to you but at least one white and one red rose. To avoid bad luck, as he will know me, I will know him by the first thing he says to me that will contain the words red and white.' 

 

A part of Yoona didn't want to approach him, didn't want to get closer to the man who was making her feel more like a woman than she had ever been in her entire life. 

 

Feel liked a woman? Who was she kidding? She felt liked she was an animal in heat. What she wanted to do with, to, him had nothing to do with her planned and everything to do with being a woman but she had to. Yoona had to know. 

 

Blinking as she came back to her senses, realizing that she had been standing there in the middle of the shop, staring dumbly at him for who knew how long, Yoona drew in a deep breath and walked calmly over to him or as calmly as she could when her legs felt so weak. 

 

Yoona had never gone weak in the knee over a guy before. She had always thought that going weak in the knee had been an expression or something liked that. She had never known that it actually happened for real. 

 

Changwook was relieved when she finally walked into the coffee shop that he had been visiting every morning for three weeks waiting for her. He had been warned that it might take a while for the daughter to be let out again, after her little stunt and her secret visit to the FBI but Changwook had honestly thought that a while had meant a week or two, not a month but finally, Changwook had caught sight of her walking into the feminine coffee shop where women had been approaching him almost constantly. 

 

Normally, his appeal to women was more of a useful tool in his profession than it was a pain in the but not this time. In the past, if he had wanted to be left alone, Changwook had worn a fake wedding band just to keep the number of women throwing themselves at him at a minimum, unfortunately, he couldn't do that this time because being unattached was a crucial part of his cover. 

 

Changwook was good at his job and good at pretending to do something while really doing something else. For instance, the book that lay open in front of him. He had stared down at each page for an almost equal period of time but he hadn't read one word. Instead, he had been using it as a cover to inconspicuously keep track of what was happening around him, inside and outside the coffee shop and who came and went, who the regulars were and who only dropped by once or twice and a month of doing this, Changwook knew a fair amount about not only about the store's staff and regular customers but also those who frequented the gym next door, the dry cleaner across the street and the residents who lived in the street, mostly in apartments above the businesses and except for the four arm men vigilantly watching his target, there was nothing too far out of the ordinary going on. Although at some point, Changwook would have to report the drug dealer who lived above the dry cleaner to the local uniforms. There were way too many people, the wrong sort, coming and going to let it slide. 

 

The dry cleaner might even be a front for something. You never really knew until you investigated. Changwook had long ago learned that the most innocent looking people and establishments can quite often turn into fronts for various illegal activities and then, after almost an exact month, she had finally walked in while her four-man arm goon squad waited outside. They were probably liked most other men who got neared this placed; they felt on the verge of being emasculated in the overly feminine atmosphere. 

 

It was a good thing that Changwook was very confident in his uality and had his mission to keep his coming back to the same chair every morning or else, he would never have been able to stand it. 

 

While the target didn't notice him at first, Changwook had known her from the moment he had laid eyes on her. Of course, he had watched all the tapes of her two hours in the interrogation room at the FBI headquarters and had memorized the photo from her captured stills from the tapes for her file but none of it had done her justice at all. Changwook had been prepared for her on paper but in real life, there was nothing that could have prepared him for her in the flesh and very fine flesh it was, too. Pretending to be her smitten boyfriend wasn't going to be a problem at all. 

 

In a well-fitting dazzling pink tank top and rose wine stripe active knit track pants, Changwook could really appreciate the sight of her. She was tiny compared to most of the women in the coffee shop, with a tiny waist and wide hips despite her pettiness and when she had turned around to placed her ordered, she revealed a shapely backside that almost got him drooling and her legs, oh good lord, her legs. She had legs that seemed to go on forever. The kind of legs that had him fantasizing already, wanting to feel them wrapped tightly around his waist as he made hungry and passionate loved to her and her hair was long; it was pulled back in a plait at the base of her neck. 

 

Her skinned, even though it was flushed from the exertion of her run, was as mildly pale white and as flawless as fresh milk but what really caught his attention and his interests was . Her thin lips were pink which Changwook had highly doubted it was anything but her natural coloring, that was so inviting that Changwook actually had to tighten his hold on the edge of the table to keep him from getting up and covering with his own. He wanted to kiss her, to taste her, to find out if she tasted half as sweet and forbidden as she looked and that was when she saw him. When she saw the pinned he wore clearly displayed on his jacket. A red and white rose, their deep green stems intertwined almost liked barbed wire. 

 

When Changwook had heard about her identifier, he had immediately dismissed using living flowers. One day would be doable, inconspicuous but every day until she was let out? It would have definitely drawn too much-unwanted attention to him. 

 

It hadn't taken him long to decide on a pinned; it was subtle enough that he could wear it every day while at the same time, clearly displaying it. So, the FBI had found him exactly what he had needed. A pinned the right coloring and designed big enough to be seen from a short distance away but small enough that it wasn't too obvious. 

 

Changwook still had his head bowed over his book, pretending to read so she didn't realize that he was already very aware of her as she stood frozen on the spot, staring at him with the most bedazzled expression on her face and strangely, Changwook had the impression that she had momentarily stopped breathing. 

 

Wow. This woman was a brilliant actress. If she was going for that completely be-spelled at first sight approached then she had hit it dead on the head. As the seconds past, Changwook had to admire her more and more. This was an award-winning performance. 

 

While she continued to stare transfixed at him, Changwook took the opportunity to study her eyes and oh man, did this girl have those damsel eyes that cried out to a man to protect and possess her or what? And it wasn't just that they were the most startling shade of dark brown that Changwook had ever seen, the kind that gave the illusion that she could look straight through everyone she meets to see them for what they really were. There was something in her eyes that called out to him, an innocence, a purity, that even though he didn't know her and this was just part of the job, made him want to protect her from everything bad in the world. To make things right and take her far away so that her dad and the bad men in his employ couldn't hurt or threatened her ever again. 

 

Which was ridiculous. What had gotten into him? Changwook gave himself a mental shake. He had to get his head on straight or he was going to blow this undercover operation before they even got started. 

 

Besides, regardless of everything she had said and done to get the FBI's attention, this woman could just as easily be setting him up for something. She was the daughter of his worst enemy and he couldn't afford to ever forget that, no matter how sweetly innocent and bewitching her eyes appeared to be and then, the beauty visibly shook herself out of her stupor and made her way over to him; the only thing that betrayed her aforementioned shaken state was her noticeable unsteady stride. 

 

Maybe from her run? 

 

When she came to a halt beside him, Changwook couldn't fail to realize that she was barely over a foot taller than he was sitting. 

 

"I don't think I have ever seen a man in here reading a novel before," Yoona stated, for some reasoned, not feeling shy at all which was strange for her. 

 

Yoona had never been one of those women with the kind of confidence with men that she could just walk up to a total stranger and engaged in a conversation with him before. She didn't lack confidence normally but when it came to men who looked like this, Yoona found herself reverting back to the awkward girl she had been in her early teenage years. 

 

Perhaps knowing that this reincarnation of a Greek god was the FBI agent she was going to get into her dad's organization and therefore, wouldn't turn her down, made it easier for her this one time. 

 

The thought seemed to settled her nerves and with more confidence than Yoona had ever possessed in her life, she went on without even knowing what she was going to say, "What could be so fascinating about that novel that is making you completely oblivious to the fact that every woman in here is staring at you?" 

 

He smiled with genuine amusement up at her and it was all Yoona could do to remain on her feet. This man oozed appeal but he had a smiled that could melt rock. He held up the book he was reading so she could see the cover that had no pictures or anything decorative on it. Only the title and author written in the small golden font on the cover. 

 

"Tales of the red, white and blue by Charles Glass." He answered, even though she could clearly see the information for herself, all the while he maintained eye contact with her, communicating his vital message without words. 

 

Yoona had been expecting the words but it was a struggle not to visibly react to them as she was well aware of her four bodyguards watching them through the window. If they noticed anything off about her behavior then she very well risked botching her planned before it even really began. 

 

Yoona smiled down at him, nodded her head once indicating at the book and replied kittenishly, "Sounds fascinating. I can see why you haven't noticed all the women in here drooling over you." And with that, Yoona turned and walked straight out of the coffee shop. She walked straight to the waiting black SUV barely noticing that she was being flanked as usual by two of her bodyguards. 

 

Thank heavens Yoona had planned even this part through beforehand or else she might have really screwed up the first meeting. 

 

So, that was her FBI agent. Wow. He wasn't what she had been expecting at all but at least if she had to shack up with an undercover agent it wasn't going be any sort of hardship. 

 

So, stage two had officially begun and Yoona wasn't unprepared for it. She had spent a great deal of time planning each stage. Stage one had been all about getting to the FBI and setting up the undercover operation which had mainly required her to be cunning and fast. Now, stage two was all about setting up a fake romance that would lead to a fake relationship which would test her acting ability and every manipulative skilled she possessed. 

 

At least, from now on, Yoona wouldn't be in this alone. He might be an FBI agent who was only using her to take down her dad and the family but they shared that one goal and that would be enough. 

 

Hopefully. 

 

Every morning, for the next week, the FBI agent was there, waiting for her, sitting at the same table but they shared nothing but brief glances and coy smiles. Which of course was all part of the planned as Yoona had warned the FBI that they were all going to have to be patient because it was going to take time. 

 

Her dad would never buy their relationship if it happened too fast; it had to appear to be a strong natural attraction to each other was making it impossible for either of them to ignore each other. 

 

Yoona had been smart about this stage. She had planned it as realistically as possible. Her own dad who was a very dangerous man was holding her prisoner and Yoona did consider herself a caring and considerate person who under normal circumstances would never have endangered anyone by getting involved with them. As a result, their relationship had to grow gradually over a period of time, all the while, Yoona had to appear as if she were trying to fight it, to keep her distance from him but was failing. 

 

Which wasn't too hard. Yoona was definitely attracted to him. She was only nineteen but she knew what she was feeling, although it was so much more intense than she had expected which was why she was constantly reminding herself that this was just business but after reminding herself of that, a sneaky little thought always seemed to follow. 

 

It may be businesses but that doesn't mean she couldn't enjoy herself, right? 

 

Yoona was starting to realize that she wasn't as professionally minded in all of this as she wanted to be. As she should be. 

 

At least one thing was going right as she had assumed it would. Her bodyguards hadn't failed to notice the way she had started to dress with just a little bit more care to her appearance or her glances at him or the shy smiles she threw his way every time their eyes meet. As a result, they watched her more carefully when she was in the coffee shop than they had before, although it hadn't escalated to them actually following her inside just yet, Yoona suspected that it wouldn't be long. 

 

It was the eighth morning that the agent took matters into his own hands. Apparently, he had decided that they had played this part of the con long enough. 

 

Yoona was still trying to get her panting breathing back to normal when she reached the store in front of Victoria's coffee shop. She had pushed herself hard today in an almost desperate attempt to rid the FBI agent from her thoughts, even if only for the half an hour or so while she ran but nothing seemed to work. No matter what, no matter how hard Yoona tried, she couldn't keep her thoughts from wandering back to him. 

 

Yoona had no idea why or if she did, she was very good at keeping it from herself. 

 

Yes, Yoona had expected to think about whatever agent the FBI assigned, a little but she had in no way anticipated that she had thought of him in a context other than the planned. She should be thinking about getting him into her dad's seedy world, not what his thin lips would feel and taste liked when he kissed her and how his strong hands with long fingers would feel liked as they caressed her bare flesh. 

 

Which led to the real reasoned why she had pushed herself so hard today? Yoona was almost desperate to find some relief for this frustration. 

 

This that was starting to make her fantasized. 

 

Oh, sweet heaven. Yoona inwardly groaned. Evidentially, she hadn't run far enough or pushed herself fast enough. 

 

Yoona, distracted by her mind's frustrating refusal to stopped thinking about him, didn't realized that someone was exiting the coffee shop at the same time that she stepped inside until she walked straight into someone tall who's chest was so firm that she most likely would have done less damage to herself had she walked into a brick wall. 

 

Yoona was aware of two things at once. The first was that she had rebounded off of someone who was solid enough that they had barely been jolted by the impact and second was that, whoever he was, he had been holding a cup of something with ice in it. 

 

Yoona knew this because the iced cold liquid had spilled down her front with a startling effect as it made contact with her heated and flushed skinned. 

 

With a startled squeal as she fell backward, all Yoona could do was throw out her arms behind her and brace for her hard and no doubt painful impact with the tiled floor. 

 

That never came. 

 

Instead, so fast that Yoona didn't even see it happened, a long arm shot out and wrapped itself around her midsection, catching her entire weight in mid-air, seemingly without any difficulty whatsoever. 

 

Automatically, Yoona reached out and grasped hold of fabric in front of her to further steady herself. 

 

Yoona sighed half-heartedly, reluctant to look up into the face of her rescuer who held her, fearing that she had died from embarrassment if she did. Honestly, Yoona had thought that she had grown out of the klutziness she had been plagued with for most of her life but apparently, that wasn't the cases. 

 

"Are you alright?" 

 

Yoona gasped, the familiar voice making her snapped her gazed upward to the face of her rescuer and her eyes grew wide as she realized just who it was that had his arm wrapped around her, holding her securely against his hard firm body from to kneecap. 

 

An arm that was made up of steely muscle beneath smooth milky white flesh that held her so securely that she could have stayed exactly where she was forever. 

 

His eyes. Oh god, his eyes. 

 

The brown eyes of her FBI agent. 

 

Hang on. When had he become her FBI agent? 

 

'Who cares.' Whispered a purring voice, inside her head that was very please to be pressed so intimately against the body that she had had so much difficulty trying not to think about for the last week. 

 

Yoona opened to answered him but to her mortification, nothing came out. She was speechless. More than that, she was so enraptured by the feel of him against her that she was beyond rational thought, let alone the ability to ordered her limbs into motion. 

 

Suddenly, despite the ice drink that soaked the front of her grey heather power button knot tank top, Yoona felt very hot. Hotter than she could ever remember being in her whole entire life. Hot enough that she could have spontaneously combusted, not that she would have cared even if she did, not as long as he continued to hold her liked he was as he stared down into her eyes with his captivating eyes. 

 

Unfortunately, though, he seemed to have no mental impairments and with a surprising gentleness, he stepped back and set her on her feet while keeping her in the circle of his arms without touching her, obviously checking to see if she was steady enough on her feet that there was no risked of her falling over. 

 

Feeling the solid floor beneath her feet was enough to bring her out of it enough that Yoona was able to force her mind to start functioning once again. This wasn't spring break in which she was free to let her libido have its way; it was a serious situation in which both of their lives were at risk. 

 

Yoona really had to pull herself together. It didn't matter that he was the perfect specimen of manliness that Yoona had ever laid eyes upon or that he had eyes like a chocolate bar on a meltdown or a voice that was sweeter than honey. 

 

All this was for one single purpose and one only, to bring down some very bad men. 

 

Yoona had to get her head in the game. Everything depended on her performance here and now, if she messed it up then there would never be a second chance and she would lose everything. 

 

Not that she had that much more left to loses but still. 

 

"Are you alright?" He repeated, looking and sounding concerned now. 

 

Yoona drew in a deep breath and focused on getting back on track; she had a part to played, that was all this was. An act that was a means to an end, either her dad or her own. 

 

"I'm fine." Oh good god, she sounded so breathless and daze that her shaky voice completely contradicted her words. 

 

'Get a gripped, Yoona!' Yoona silently scolded herself, 'The last thing you need is him thinking you are mentally incompetent and calling the whole operation off!' 

 

"I'm fine," Yoona repeated more steadily, and she took a small stepped back from him, out of the circle of his arms, hoping that distance from him would help her collect herself. 

 

Still visibly concerned and now doubtful, he still kept his arms extended on either side of her, still ready to catch her if she fell. 

 

"I just knocked the wind out of myself." Yoona lied, as she straightened her top which promptly reminded her that it was still wet. 

 

Yoona looked down at her top, at the wet fabric that was sticking uncomfortably to her skinned. Yoona had been spared any further embarrassment thanks to her grey top that even when wet wasn't see through. 

 

The scent of coffee filled her nose, enabling Yoona to identify the drink she was now wearing, "It looks liked I owe you an iced coffee." Raising her gazed, Yoona indicated at him with a brief laughed, "At least I spared you from the worst of it." 

 

He looked down at the damp patched on his white t-shirt beneath his black Arizona long sleeve hoodie as if he were only just now realizing that she wasn't the only one who had gotten hit by the spilled drink. 

 

He then looked up at her, his amusement making his eyes twinkle, "I think this is the first time I have ever dumped my drink on a woman and had her owe me a drink." He indicated at her top, "I think the top I owe you is more necessary than my drink." 

 

"It's only milk and coffee. It will come right out." Yoona waved her hand dismissively, finally realizing the situation for what it was: an opportunity to finally take things between them to the next level. 

 

"Are you sure?" His tone made it seemed as if he were actually surprised that she wasn't stressing about the staining to her clothes. 

 

Yoona smiled, reassuring him, "I'm sure. You had been surprised what washing it will do to bring the coffee out and even if it is horribly stained for life, I have plenty more shirts just liked this one." Her tone was playful, bantering "I think I can survive the loss of one." 

 

He smiled broadly at her, visibly amused by her playful candor, "At least let me buy you your brunch." He indicated at the countered with his hand, "What would you liked?" 

 

"Oh, you don't have, too," Yoona told him, in that way that people did when they meant and expected the exact opposite of what they are saying. Finally, she was able to get herself back on script. 

 

He held up his hand in a halting motion, "I insist. What will it be? Anything you want, anything at all. Ordered one of everything if you want to." 

 

Yoona smiled as she felt heat flood her cheeks and neck and she quickly ducked her head so he wouldn't see. There was no way she was going to be able to eat anything in his company but food would be the perfect excuses to prolonged her time with him, "Um, a slice of chocolate marble loaf cake and a glass of milk please?" 

 

He had already turned away from her to placed their ordered when a silent mortified gasped escaped her pink lips. Had she really just asked for a glass of milk? What was she? Four years old? She had asked for it without thinking as it was what her mom had provided whenever Yoona had been upset and was in need of comfort or when her mom had wanted to have a nice long talked with her. It had been their thing, from the earliest, Yoona could remember to her mom's dying day. 

 

A glass of milk, especially with something sweet and chocolatey, meant more to Yoona then just a snack or an indulgence of her sweet tooth. It was her go-to comfort food. 

 

That was probably it. Her brain was still suffering the effects of her closed encountered with her FBI agent and had gone with the first thing that had come to mind. 

 

Shaking her head, Yoona turned and took a seat at his table, sitting on the opposite of his usual spot. 

 

For once, Yoona gave no thought to anybody who might be watching her or her plan, instead, she used the brief amount of time alone to pull herself together and remind herself what was really happening here. If her head wasn't firmly in the game than she was a risked to everything, to all her plans. She had to remember what was at stake and keep herself from letting what had just happen happened again. 

 

She couldn't lose her focused again, not even for a moment. She was going to have to be vigilant and watched her stepped and mouth. 

 

A tall full glass of white creamy milk and a plate with a slice of chocolate marble loaf cake and half a dozen chewy chocolate cookie appeared on the table in front of her with a friendly, "Here you go." 

 

Yoona looked up at the FBI agent as he slid smoothly into his seat across the small table from her, placing a large mug that was wider than it was high on the table in front of him. 

 

He grinned at her, a teasing playful twinkle in his perfect eyes. He pointed down at his own drink on the table in front of him, "Now, this one is hot so if you are going to spill anything, I had to go with your milk." 

 

Yoona couldn't help but laughed. A real laughed that she didn't have to fake. 

 

Why was it so easy to be with this stranger who's only interested in her was professional? And now that she had had a chance to think, Yoona had to wonder whether or not this whole incident had been an accident that they were both taking advantage of or had he orchestrated it to moved things along? She wanted to ask him but knew better than to risked it as she could never know just who was listening. 

 

Looking for something to say, anything, Yoona looked down and really noticed her plate before she looked back up at him, "Just who is all this for? If I eat all this, it will take me a week to come down off the sugar high." 

 

He chuckled softly, "Some of it is for me." 

 

"Really?" Yoona raised an enquiring straight eyebrow, "You think I'm going to share my cake with you?" 

 

His grin was downright charmingly flirtatious, "Only because I'm going to share my cookies with you." 

 

"Wow, just liked kindergarten," Yoona replied, with just the tiniest hint of sarcasm. She pushed the plate into the middle of the table between the two of them and using her fingers, pinched the moist chocolate marble loaf cake in half. 

 

Of course, her fingers came away, covered in smeared chocolate and cake crumbs but instead of reaching for the napkin, Yoona stuck her fingers into one at a time to and her fingers cleaned. She had never been one to waste any chocolate and in a way, the sweetness of the chocolate and the saltiness of her skinned was really tantalizing. 

 

Yoona pulled the last of her fingers from and looked up to see the agent's eyes fixed on with an odd startled and captivated looked on his handsome face. 

 

"What?" Yoona asked, utterly confounded at his bug-eyed expression. 

 

He swallowed. Once. Twice. Then he looked up into her eyes, his expression frozen in place. He looked startled and hungry all at the same time. 

 

Yoona watched him for a long moment, baffled at his reaction. What had she done that had him so flabbergasted? If Yoona hadn't known better, she would have sworn that he was in pain but then, in the blink of an eye, his baffling expression was gone and he shifted in his seat before he lowered his gaze from her and cleared his throat. 

 

"So," He said, as he cleared his throat for a second time liked someone who had just had a coughing fit, "Are we going to dig in or what?" 

 

Changwook quickly reached for a cookie and bit into it just for something to do, something to take his mind away from the image of the beauty on the other side of the table, chocolate off her fingers with all the vigorous delight of a kitten lapping up its first saucer of cream. 

 

He had been unable to do anything other than stare at her as she had on each of her chocolate-smeared fingers, in turn, even running her tongue back and forth, he could tell by the movement of her cheeks, determined to get it all. 

 

Changwook was known for his self-controlled, it was another thing about him that made him so very good at his job but he was still human, damn it. He was still a man and nothing had been able to stop the image of Yoona on him that enthusiastically from entering his mind and in response to the image, his body had responded. 

 

Painfully. 

 

He had grabbed the cookie liked it was a lifeline and now, as he chewed, it might as well have been made of sawdust because that was all that he could taste of it. 

 

Had she done that on purpose or was she that innocent that she hadn't known what watching her had done to him? And if she had done that on purpose, had she only done it for the purposed of their sham relationship? Or had she done it on purpose to lured him in because she was playing him? 

 

Who was this woman? And was her manner all an act for the assignment or was she really the sheltered and inexperienced young woman in serious trouble that she seemed to be? 

 

Yoona knew he would be there even though they hadn't actually made any plans but still, all morning, she had had this feeling of excited anticipation churning her stomach as if she had eaten a dozen ice butterflies for breakfast. Time felt as if it was moving in slow motion just to torment her. 

 

Yoona had had this dreadful doubt ever since she had left the coffee shop the morning before. Doubt that had plagued her all night and kept her from sleeping until the wee hours of the morning, the same questions rolling around her mind, tormenting her over and over again. 

 

What if he wasn't there? What if, after their conversation, if you could call it that, he had come to the conclusion that she wasn't worth the bother? What if her dad had warned him away already? Or done worse? But he had been there. A wave of relief had swept through her when she had finally stepped into the coffee shop after only an eighteen-minute run, solely for appearances, her eyes instantly drawn to one table to see him sitting there, waiting for her. 

 

In that moment, Yoona had felt like an idiot for pointlessly worrying all night long. 

 

On the table sat two of the store's coffee mugs and a single plate that held two double chocolate brownie and four chocolate chip cookies. 

 

Yoona beamed at him as she took her seat across from him, the smell of hot chocolate filling her nose from the mug on her side of the table. 

 

Yoona made a mental note to at some point later in the day take some time to really exercise, especially if they were going to eat like this every day. 

 

It was almost strange. He seemed to know her preferences although she hadn't mentioned any of them other than her requests the day before. 

 

"You are earlier than usual," Changwook observed. 

 

Yoona smiled shyly at him, "And yet, you still had my order ready for me. What would you have done if I had been late? Would you have ordered me another drink or left it for me to drink cold?" 

 

Changwook smiled back, enjoying their playful banter, "I have been ordering you a fresh one every thirteen minutes for the last five quarters of an hour." 

 

Yoona's mouth dropped opened, "You have not." 

 

Changwook chuckled, "No, I didn't." He indicated his head towards the park across the street that surrounded two sides of the dry cleaner, "I saw you finished up and ordered. With how early you are, you must have either start earlier or you didn't put much into it today." 

 

Yoona lifted her drink to her light red lips and carefully sip. She almost purred as the sweet creamy hot chocolate that was just the right flavored filled her taste buds. Her drink was the perfect temperature, not too hot and not too cold; he must have ordered it just before she had finished her run, exactly when he said he had, "Were you watching me?" Yoona asked, with no accusation in her voice. 

 

Changwook shook his head, "More liked I was out watching for you." 

 

Yoona accepted that. In fact, she was impressed with his answer. If he had been watching her, he would have appeared overeager, not to mention, a little bit creepy as watching her would have fallen on the stalker side of the line while he had been keen enough to keep an eye out for her. 

 

What was Changwook in real life that made him such a dating expert? Yoona felt liked she was being wooed expertly by a master while not feeling defensive at all. 

 

Deciding to change the subject because she didn't want her thoughts running any further down that path, Yoona looked over her drink at him and asked with feminine coyness, "So, what do you do before coming here? You know my thing; I run at the park across the street. What brings you here because I know it's not the atmosphere?" 

 

Changwook plastered a mocking affronted expression on his handsome face, "And how do you know I don't enjoy this atmosphere? For all you know, I cross half the city just to enjoy this atmosphere." 

 

Yoona snorted skeptically, "Really? Did you come halfway across the city for a small coffee shop that offers half of the normal menu than most and plays only chick music from the last three decades? Or is it the fancy deep pink décor that you enjoyed so much?" She indicated her head at the next table which did indeed have pink leather seat cushions on the chairs and pink sugar holders sitting atop pink plastic table clothes on the table, "There is only two kind of guys I have ever seen in here, except for the first timers, of course." Yoona went on, her tone provocative, "And they are either with their steady girlfriend or wife or they are with their significant other." Changwook, with narrowed eyes, thought about that one for a long moment, trying to decipher the true meaning to her words, "Are you asking me if I'm gay?" 

 

Yoona shrugged, enjoying the playful teasing conversation, "Hey, all I'm doing is adding up the evidence, you know two plus two equals four." 

 

"What evidence?" 

 

Yoona nearly lost it at the looked on his face. He looked so baffled. He was so adorable. It was hilarious. 

 

"Well, apart from your coffee shop choice, there are certain elements of your behavior that I have observed." Yoona took another sip of her drink, taking her time about it just to torment him by drawing her reply out, "And?" He persisted impatiently. 

 

Yoona bit down on the inside of her bottom lips as she fought harder to keep her laughter from slipping out. 

 

It took her a minute. 

 

"And for one example, there was that book you were reading that first day I met you." 

 

"The red, white and blue? Just what is it about reading war stories that make me appeared gay?" Changwook enquired, honestly lost on that one. 

 

"Oh, please!" Yoona exclaimed skeptically, "It wasn't the book! How many men do you know would come into a place filled with women to read and not pay attention to a single one of them because the book was that good?!" "It was a great read!" Changwook defended, raising his voice just enough to draw the attention of the immediate surrounding tables, "Now, if it had been a book about interior designed by one of the cast from 'Queer eye for the straight guy' then maybe you would have something but war stories from America's history? Really?" 

 

"You could have been reading a Marvel comic and I had still been making this point." Yoona argued, "It was how you were reading that I'm referring, too. I mean, what straight single man would be more interested in a book about war stories than all the available women in the room giving you the eye?" 

 

"I noticed you." 

 

"Uh-huh." Yoona didn't believe him, FBI agent or not. 

 

"You need to learn that appearances can be deceiving." Changwook folded his arms on the table in front of him and leaned forward. He lowered his voice so only she could hear him, "I might have had my head down but I noticed you the moment you walked through the door." 

 

"Sure, you did," Yoona said skeptically. 

 

"You brought a caffè mocha with a chocolate hazelnut croissant but you were considering the almond croissant before you decided on the chocolate croissant." One corner of his mouth quirked up into a half-smile, "I guessed with you, chocolate will always win in the end, huh?" 

 

This time, Yoona's jaw dropped because of her genuine astonishment. She had been considering the almond croissant before she had decided on the chocolate croissant. Just how closely had he been watching her while fooling everyone in the coffee shop into believing that he had been deeply engrossed in his book? 

 

Could all FBI agents do that or was it just Changwook that could deceive so easily? 

 

Changwook smirked smugly, "Liked I said, Yoona. Appearances can be very deceiving." 

 

Yoona couldn't help but wondered just how deceived she had already been by him. He was an FBI agent on an undercover mission; was anything about him real? 

 

"Except with you." He said softly. 

 

Yoona blinked, completely lost. What did he mean? 

 

"I find it hard to believe that you are anything than what you appeared to be." 

 

Yoona shifted uncomfortably under Changwook's intense gazed. He was staring at her liked he was trying to figure something out, only he didn't know exactly what it was that he was trying to figure out but before Yoona could reply to his cryptic comment, his expression shifted back to one of amusement and he lowered his gaze from her eyes to the table. He picked up his mug and carefully took a sip before returning the mug to the table in front of him. 

 

Yoona noticed that he didn't swallow right away; he seemed to be savoring the taste for a moment first. 

 

"I already know about that little habit of yours." Changwook nodded his head, indicating at her hair, "When you are thinking about something that makes you sad, you pulled your hair over your shoulder and run your hands down it, it liked one would a cat." 

 

Yoona blinked as she self-consciously touched her hair but intentionally didn't pulled it over her shoulder. She did that? 

 

Did she? 

 

Yoona thought back to the last time she could remember that she had done that and realized that she had been sad at the time. It had been only a few days ago and she had been thinking about her mom and how much she missed her. 

 

When had she done that here though? Yoona couldn't recall ever doing so but that didn't mean that she hadn't. 

 

"It was the very first time I laid eyes on you." Changwook told her, his tone gentle and his eyes soft, "Before you comment on my gay book." He nodded his head to the side, out the window, "You were across the street, you had just finished running and were drinking from that ridiculous canteen of yours. You had just put it back on your belt when something in the park caught your attention. Even from here, I could see the sadness on your face and that was when you pulled your plait over your shoulder and ran your hands down it as if you were soothing a small child." He looked deeper into her eyes, hiding nothing of his compassion and understanding in his own, "But you were soothing yourself, weren't you?" 

 

Changwook cleared his throat and looked down at the plate between them. He picked up a cookie and without looking up at her, he broke it in half as if he had just realized that he had revealed too much and was trying to downplay it. 

 

"And I couldn't help but wondered what had made you so sad." Changwook went on, "It wasn't until later that day, after you had asked about my book, that I realized what it was." 

 

Changwook finally looked back up into her eyes and Yoona silently gasped at the ness there, the raw emotion that wrapped itself around her heart in such a way that it somehow bound them. 

 

"Loss." Changwook stated, with all certainty, "I lost my parents when I was eight years old. I can barely remember them but I know what the pain leaves behind the empty void. I spent years seeing it in the mirror." Yoona realized that her eyes were filling with tears and she blinked, trying to make them go away before she began crying in the middle of a public placed with her bodyguards watching. The last thing either of them needed was the four goons thinking that they needed to intercede because Changwook was doing something she didn't like but the tears wouldn't go away and neither would the agony that had risen in her chest. It was always there, just as Changwook had said, the loss of those she had loved and lost in the past two years, her mom and her friends. Most days now, Yoona could remember them without crying but this was different. 

 

Changwook understood. Yoona could see the same pain in his eyes and she knew that he was sharing something true about himself. 

 

Unaware of what she was doing, Yoona reached over her shoulder and pulled her hair over her shoulder. It wasn't in a plait today, plaiting it would have taken too long and she had been too impatient to get to the coffee shop, instead it was in a high ponytail. 

 

At seeing what she was doing and what it meant, Changwook reached out and closed his hand over hers, "I'm sorry." He whispered emotionally, honestly "I didn't mean to make that radiant smiled of yours disappeared." Yoona swallowed and gave him a shaky smiled, "It's ok." She laid her other hand over his so that his big strong warm hand was nestled between both of hers on her shoulder where her hair now lay, "It's nice to have someone in my life that understands. I haven't had that in a long time." 

 

Changwook flexed his fingers just enough to gently squeezed her hand, "Well, you do now." 

 

In the face of such empathy in his eyes, Yoona could do nothing but bow her head and closed her eyes. How easily she had forgotten that this man was a stranger to her, this was their second sham date after all and to top it off, he was an FBI agent who was only using her to bring down her dad in returned from her freedom from the prison her life had become. 

 

That was the deal. Yoona had given the FBI a chance to take down her dad and in return, they would send her far away from her dad in the witnessed protection program. 

 

One way or another, after all this was over, Yoona would never see Changwook again. 

 

Changwook was an FBI agent who was only doing his job. He wasn't here to be her friend or anything else along those lines. 

 

Yoona had to stop forgetting that none of this was real. His only interests in her were professional. He didn't care about her; he couldn't let himself even if he wanted, too. 

 

So, why had he looked at her with such caring in his eyes? Was he that good at his job? Was he that great of an undercover agent that he had become the world's best actor? 

 

Yoona leaned back in her chair, out of Changwook's reached and reached for her drink. They had to get this show back on script. Her bodyguards needed to believe that she was smitten with this man and getting all sad and weepy was counteractive to that goal. 

 

Forcing a small smiled onto her lips that Yoona knew looked more than a little forced, she lifted her chin and asked the first inconsequential questioned that came to mind. 

 

"So Changwook Oppa, where did you go to school?" 

 

As the weeks passed, they grew closer and closer even though all they had was their daily morning interludes at the coffee shop. 

 

Yoona found herself looking forward to their morning meetings more than she ever had her runs. In fact, from that first brunch, Yoona had been running less and less so she could spend more and more time with Changwook but no matter how many more minutes Yoona managed to find for their morning interludes, their time together always ended far too soon for her liking. 

 

They talked and laughed and flirted over their drinks and with each interlude, Yoona had to fake her complete absorption by him less and less until the whole thing had come to feel real, too real, until it had become almost impossible to remembered that none of it was real. Although they never got out of character, Yoona knew without being told that most of the stories he told her weren't true, even though once in a while, Yoona would get the feeling what the boyhood adventure he was describing did have some element of truth to it. 

 

By the end of the third week, neither of them could sit for very long without touching each other. They held hands, caressed each other's face or arm or shoulder at any and every opportunity. 

 

Yoona couldn't help herself and if Changwook felt even half of what she felt then Yoona couldn't blame Changwook for being unable to keep himself from touching her either. Whenever Changwook touched her, he always left a glorious tingling in his wake that seemed to shoot right down into her lowered belly and when Changwook touched her, no matter how casual the contact is, Yoona felt a bolt of pleasurable excitement zing through her entire body and it filled her stomach with butterflies until it was all she could do just to take an occasional sip of her drink. 

 

With each touched, Yoona only wanted more. 

 

Everything else between them may have been a lie but not the that sparkled and sizzled between them. Yoona knew Changwook felt it, just maybe as strong as she did and she didn't know how much longer she could keep it contained no matter how many flimsy excuses she struggled to come up with. 

 

Changwook filled her dreams with what she couldn't, wouldn't, let happened in the real world; she couldn't risk it, not in her current situation. 

 

Yoona would die before she gave her dad what he so obsessively wanted but at the same time, Yoona didn't know how much longer she could stand it. Her dreams were more than dreams, they were on the verge of wild ual fantasies. Her dreams made her burned with desire until it became so intense, so overwhelming and hot and overcoming that it would wake her. She would wake covered in sweat, panting heavily, her body straining for that last bit of pleasure that would push her over the edge but when Yoona did wake, it was too an empty bed and she was left feeling ually frustrated to the point of madness and unfulfilled. 

 

Worse than that, when Yoona woke after feeling such a strong burning connection with him, Yoona felt more alone than she had ever felt but it wasn't just when she was sleeping that Changwook plagued her mind. When Yoona was awake, he consumed her thoughts until she was with him again, and then she was completely focused on him. 

 

When it came time for her to leave and Yoona knew she had to leave or she would be late and that was one red flag her dad would definitely notice, it felt liked she was leaving a part of herself behind with him and it was becoming increasingly difficult and strangely painful but what was also increasing was her feared, her conflicting feared. Yoona feared that if she continued to become so wrapped up in Changwook and the way he made her feel, she would get sloppy and slipped up which brought her to her deepest feared that she would get Changwook hurt or worse, killed. 

 

What hadn't occurred to her until Yoona had realized was that, she was coming to care for Changwook, something she hadn't seen coming at all, was that her dad might use him in another way to get what he wanted from her; instead of bringing Changwook into the fold as was her planned, her dad could threaten him unless she gave in. 

 

What then? Could she really risk Changwook's life like that? She absolutely refused to give her dad what he wanted; she couldn't but at the same time, she couldn't let something happened to Changwook either. 

 

What was she going to do? Was it too late to call this off? If she did then she would be trapped by her dad and she had most likely never see Changwook again, but wasn't that a better trade-off than never seeing him again, because he had been killed? 

 

Yoona couldn't believe she had been such a fool. How could she have failed to consider this possibility that she might just fall for the FBI agent? Maybe if she had, she could have steeled herself against it and prevented it from happening in the first place but she hadn't so what was she going to do? And on top of all that, why hadn't something changed or someone intervened by now? Her bodyguards must have reported this to her dad by now as they had observed her every interaction with Changwook through the window each morning. 

 

So, why hadn't her dad reacted or intervened? 

 

Yoona had not answered. All she did know was that she couldn't stop seeing Changwook. Her entire existence had become all about her daily all-too-brief time with Changwook and even though Yoona knew that almost everything she knew about Changwook was part of his cover story, meaning false, there were things about him that Yoona knew were real, things that weren't part of his cover story. 

 

Changwook had this gentle kindness that ran bone deep, the kind that made him protective of every innocent, of everyone who was weaker than he was. That was what he was, a protector. To Changwook, his job was more to him than bringing criminals to justice just because someone had to do it; it was about bringing criminals to justice because of the damage and hurt they had caused others and despite their sham relationship and the cover story they had to maintain, Changwook was honest. He didn't even sugar-coat the little things but he was never mean or rude or did anything to hurt her feelings. He gave his honest opinions about things with sincerity rather than uses what most people considered polite little white lies. 

 

When Yoona asked him what he thought about something, even something about herself or her appearance, Changwook always answered honestly and never with one word answered either. 

 

Somehow, they had ended up talking about her hair again, and why she kept it so long because she liked it long and her mom had loved it long but a moment of self-consciousness made her add something about how it limited what she could do with her hair and how plain she must look only ever wearing it in one of four styles, a plait, a ponytail, half up and of course, down. 

 

Instead of simply stating that she looked nice no matter how her hair was, Changwook had looked straight into her eyes and said with complete honesty that he loved her hair because it was unique liked her. He loved that when she had it plaited, she looked regal while in a ponytail, he loved the way her hair flowed down her back liked a ray of pure sunlight and he liked it down best of all because it was liked a waterfall of liquid gold. 

 

By the end of that compliment, Yoona had been reduced to a pile of warm mushy affectionate goo as she had been completely and utterly floored by how shamelessly he had flattered her while meaning every word of it. 

 

In fact, Yoona was afraid that she had fallen a little more in love with him in that moment. 

 

The proof of that, more than anything else, lay in the changes in her thoughts; she had even started considering calling her planned off. Not because she was having second thoughts about its likelihood of success but because the thought of something happening to Changwook made her so nauseous that it is all she can do to keep any food in her stomach. 

 

"Yoona?" 

 

A soft voice pierced her thoughts and Yoona looked up from her drink on the table in front of her to see a concerned expression on Changwook's face. 

 

"Is everything alright?" He asked, nodding his head at her shoulder. 

 

Yoona looked down and realized what he was looking at. She was running her hands along her plaited hair like she was petting a sleeping puppy. 

 

Yoona had no memory of pulling her hair over her shoulder. 

 

It was scary how attentive this man was; he already knew her so well after so brief a time together. 

 

Yoona still her hands, flicked her hair over her shoulder and pushed her troubled thoughts away. She had obviously been out of it for a while and now, she needed to get her head back on track. She had the rest of the day and all night to worry about these things. 

 

Yoona didn't want to waste a moment more of her time with Changwook, lost in her conflicting thoughts; their daily hour together seemed to get shorter and shorter each time they met even though, in reality, it was gradually becoming just that little bit longer. 

 

Changwook reached out and caught hold of her hand in his, bringing their joined hands to the middle of the table between them. 

 

"Are you alright?" Changwook asked her in a hushed but caring tone that spoke volumes. 

 

Changwook wasn't asking her if she was alright because he was playing a part, the FBI agent was asking if she was still ok in her planned. 

 

The man was downright spooky in the way he seemed to always know what she was thinking. 

 

Yoona turned her hand so that she was holding his hand the same way he was holding her and she gave him a soft smiled that was more than a little regretful. 

 

"Sometimes the most likely outcomes of what we planned don't become apparent until it's too late." Yoona muttered, under her breath so he could only just hear her, "Liked the consequences for the other player in the game." 

 

"You mean your dad?" Changwook asked, just as quietly. 

 

"No." Yoona tightened her hold on his hand ever-so-slightly, wordlessly communicating her concerned for him, "I mean you." 

 

Changwook leaned forward until only a few inches separated them. 

 

Oh, god. Was he going to kiss her? Was she going to finally learn his taste? She knew his touched which replayed in her dreams at night, in ways that were in no way suitable for public places but her ignorance of his taste tormented her relentlessly as her imagination struggled to fill the gap in her knowledge but he came no further, instead Changwook stared long and hard into her eyes, searching for what Yoona had no idea. 

 

Maybe he was searching for signs of doubt that could cause her to back out on her deal with the FBI. 

 

"You don't need to worry about me." He whispered so softly, that his words were scarcely more than a breath, "I'm not blind here and besides, this was my choice." 

 

Changwook raised his free hand to her face and with the gentlest of touches, he caressed the side of her face with his fingertips, from her forehead down to her chin, "Besides, I wouldn't pull out now even if ordered, too. I couldn't leave you in this alone. Day after day, you come here and I see how much you suffered, how much you continued to endure and knowing what will eventually happen to you, what kind of man would I be if I didn't help you in every way I could?" 

 

Yoona gave him a rueful smiled. She wanted to look away from his captivating and penetrating eyes but she couldn't, not while he held a resolute promise within them that he would never leave her. 

 

"A smart one." She whispered. 

 

Changwook chuckled softly in that charming way of his, "But not a good one. I would rather be a good man than a smart one." 

 

"What is this?" Yoona asked him suddenly, in all seriousness after a moment, searching his eyes as he continued to searched hers. She couldn't stand leaving her most stressful questioned unspoken for a moment longer, "What is happening here? It doesn't make senses. We haven't known each other that long. Is it all circumstance or is there something else here? Something real?" 

 

Changwook leaned closer until he was all but out of his chair. He brought his lips to her ear and whispered, "We will find out after this is all over." And then, Changwook sat back down on his seat and leaned back, pulling away from her. All except for his hand that didn't release its hold on hers. 

 

Yoona looked down where her hand remained cradled in his, her eyes focused in on his thumb that was gently the back of her hand, back and forth. 

 

Offering comfort and reassurance. 

 

Yoona looked up into his eyes and saw a sparkled there that she hadn't noticed before. A sparkled that hinted at things Yoona couldn't yet name. 

 

How was this possible? How had things changed between them so much after knowing each other such a short time under such impossible circumstances? When had things changed between them, becoming something more, something stronger and more binding? 

 

Yoona didn't understand what she was feeling. She felt so much feared and angered and pain and loss but at the same time, she felt something for him, something that felt so...so permanent. Something that was permanently binding them. They had a connection, something that pulled them together liked gravity or the sun's orbital pulled. It was strong and undeniable. That was one good thing about Yoona's situation; she wasn't going to waste time denying what she felt even if she could never act on it. 

 

Yoona wasn't going to uses the L word, not yet, not until her planned had reached its end, one way or another, but sometime in the past few weeks, somehow Changwook had become the center of her life. She lived her life for this one hour of her day and Yoona didn't know how much longer she could stand having just one hour a day with him when forever felt liked it wouldn't be enough. 

 

Changwook watched once again, with a heavy heart as Yoona walked away from him, out of the coffee shop and with one quick glance back at him over her shoulder as she always did, she slid into the back of that damn black SUV with tinted windows and drove back to the mansion that was her polished prison. 

 

Weeks ago, Changwook had noticed their one hour together a day was just liked the one hour of yard time prisoner on death row had every day but unlike those convicts, Yoona had never done anything wrong to anyone; she was undeserving of her confinement. The only crime Yoona had committed it seemed was being born her dad's daughter. 

 

How could a man as evil and as cruel as Im Sejoon, the man who had been one of the three men who had murdered his parents, possibly have anything genetically in common with a woman as pure and compassionate as Yoona? 

 

At first, before meeting her, Changwook had been sickened at the very thought of being near the daughter of the man he hated most in the world, regardless of how pretty he had found her photo but at the time, he had been willing to do whatever it took to take down the until-now untouchable Im Sejoon but then, something unexpected had happened. Changwook had begun to fall for her, so much so that he couldn't deny it. 

 

Oh, he could to his superiors, lied that was, but not too himself. 

 

There was something about her that he couldn't resist. Hell, it was everything about her. She was so much more than he could have ever prepared himself for. She was funny, kind, compassionate, selfless, brave, strong and on top of all that, the between them was so strong that it practically crackled and sparked almost visibly in the air between them. When Yoona touched or flicked her hair, he couldn't stop himself imagining it spread across his pillow liked liquid gold. When she had the foam from her drink from her lips, Changwook had to clamp down on the impulsed to kissed her with all the will he possessed and when Yoona got that sad long-suffering looked in her eyes when her thoughts took her away from him, it was all he could do not to snatched her up, take out her four bodyguards with his concealed weapon that he always had strapped to his ankle and take her far away from her dad's evil imprisoning hand. 

 

Yoona was someone who needed to be free. No, she needed more than that. Yoona, even though she was one of the strongest, inner strength since she was a very petite young woman, women he had ever met, needed to be surrounded by people who loved her in a placed of safety and security and Changwook wanted more than anything to give her just that. 

 

It was nearing four weeks since their first encountered and things between them had become deeper and more intense than they should have but there was no going back now. No pulling away or leaving her. He just couldn't do it; the very thought of leaving her was enough to sicken him to his very core. 

 

Changwook was in this now, until the end but no matter how this played out, he would keep Yoona safe and make sure that she was free of her dad once and for all. No matter what he had to do, no matter whom he had to kill. No matter what it costs him, Yoona would be free of her dad. 

 

The only thing that Changwook wasn't sure he could give up, even for Yoona, for anyone, was his chance at revenge, to avenge his parents and maybe finally find some peace himself. 

 

That was what kept him on track. He wasn't going to let anything, not even his own emotions, get in his way of taking Im Sejoon down, once and for all. He had spent all of his adult life on this one course and he had sacrificed too much to give it all up now that he finally had his chance. 

 

If the choice came between taking Im Sejoon down and Yoona, Changwook honestly didn't know which he had chooses or what he would do. He would just have to face that when and if it happened. 

 

Yoona was Sejoon's daughter; whatever else the monster did to her, Changwook was relatively sure that he wouldn't kill her and Changwook might never get another chance liked this again. 

 

Changwook couldn't let himself get distracted by a woman who, despite everything, was still a stranger to him. 

 

For all he knew, Yoona was the world's best actress and was faking the whole thing. This whole planned of hers could just be a trapped, for what he had no idea, but he couldn't let himself trusts Yoona completely. 

 

She was the daughter of the enemy. His enemy. 

 

Besides, regardless of how much Yoona claimed she hated her dad, how was she going to feel about him if he had to take Im Sejoon out? Killed him even? Was that something Yoona could get past, even if she really did have genuine feelings for him? 

 

Changwook knew that even though Yoona had created this planned, she wasn't prepared for every outcome. Had she even considered that when it came time to arrest her dad that he might not go quietly? It wasn't uncommon for people on both sides to loses their lives in operations like this. 

 

Yoona was so innocent, so naive in so many things that Changwook had to wondered just what kind of life she had lived before her dad had abducted her and what kind of life she would be able to live after.