M o r e   t h a n   M e e t s   t h e   E y e 

“He’s honestly not worth it, sir. Please sir, it’s been an entire week and we haven’t found anything about him.” He said with a firm tone, his fist clenching in anger after being assigned to the most pointless task.

“Lee. Sung. Yeol.” The man replied, gritting his teeth, “One more word from you and I will make sure you won’t be coming in at all tomorrow. So get your to your desk and start working. I want the most detailed report by next week.”

Sungyeol let out a frustrated exhale, clenching his jaw to refrain himself from arguing back. He might not have liked his current position in the workforce, but he loved his job, “Yes. Sir.” He replied back bitterly before bowing slightly and leaving.

“No luck?” A voice peered from behind as he reached his desk.

“It’s useless. He’s an .” Sungyeol mumbled in defeat, plonking himself onto his chair. He sighed and planted his head onto his hand lazily, before starting up his computer.

“So you’re just going to do as he asks?”

“I have no choice. The donkey threatened to fire me if I didn’t. Besides, it’s not a hard task. I just wanted something more challenging.”

“Of course, as expected from Lee Sungyeol who has no other life other than work.” The man teased before Sungyeol smack a magazine he had been holding onto his face.

“Shut up Woohyun before I tell his royal that you’ve been doing all this past week because of your stupid dates.”

Woohyun pouted and slumped, “So grumpy. Just because you haven’t been laid for like 30 years doesn’t mean you have to take it out on your best friend.”

“I’m warning you.” He said slowly, his eyes fixated on the computer screen as he furiously typed in the infinite amounts of codes.

“What did boss assign you anyways? Surely it wouldn’t be that bad considering the fact you’re one of our best players.”

Sungyeol sighed and paused, “Just to follow some guy. Apparently he has connections to Eye. But honestly, this should be work for the newbies.”

“Well I mean, there must be some reason why boss gave you this. Although it may seem easy, the guy might be a really dangerous person.”

“Maybe.” He said, focussing back on his screen. “Whatever it is, it should be an easy task.”

~

“It’s all ing cat videos!” Sungyeol yelled, slamming his book onto his desk loudly in frustration, earning himself several of unwanted attention from his workers.

“Yo, yo. What’s up?”

“This Kim Myungsoo kid. I swear, I don’t know why Boss assigned me to monitor his web history. All he does is watch cat videos. Literally nothing else. There was one where he searched the recipe to make meat loaf, but I swear that is all.”

Woohyun pursed his lips together to refrain himself from laughing out loud. “I mean,” He started, clearing his throat, “Maybe it’s an act? Like maybe he knows something is up?”

“No, I’ve checked every single thing he’s owned, I swear he has some mental issue. He watches like 4 different cat videos on four different devices at the same time.”

“Maybe check his messages? Check if he’s sent any messaged to Eye.”

“That’s the thing. I can’t find any. I can’t seem to find any relation between the two. It’s as though Eye was two steps ahead of us and set this up to trick… us.” He voice faltered slightly as he was hit with realisation, “Crap, Woohyun that’s exactly it. He knew we’d be tracking him so he set up traps along the way.”

“But why? We’d eventually get to him anyways.”

“But every time we get side tracked, he becomes three more steps ahead. I need to go see Boss now.”

“Can’t.” Woohyun replied, “He’s gone for the next few days.”

“What? Why?”

“Well if you were listening like ten minutes ago, there was urgent business in Shanghai.”

“.” Sungyeol cursed, “Let me call him.”

“He won’t pick up, Yeol. You know him.”

“So what am I supposed to do now? This was a red herring. I can’t sit and pretend I don’t know when our company is on the line.”

Woohyun sighed. “There must be some reason as to why he chose this specific guy though. He must know him, or at least have been located closed to him. Eye is smart, but he isn’t that smart.” Woohyun said, “He knows how to pull a hoax like that, and he knows the right people, but how does he know that person is perfect? He must have had something in common with him or at least met him several of times so it wasn’t too suspicious.”

“You’re right.” Sungyeol frowned, “But how do I find that out.”

“I think you’ll figure something out, you are Lee Sungyeol afterall.” Woohyun winked before standing up, “Well, I am off now. It’s 5pm, and unlike you, I hate being in this place. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said, waving at the man despite the latter completely ignoring him and once again focussed on his computer.

~

Sungyeol woke up, heart pounding and perspiring. He looked around quickly, feeling as though he hadn’t been the only one in the room. “Just a dream,” He whispered to himself, “Just a dream. Nobody is here.” He took a deep breath, draping the blanket over him as he tried to force himself back to sleep.

After several minutes of tossing and turning, he bolted up in annoyance and checked his watch. 3:56 AM. Shuffling across his room, he the light and reached for his laptop. “What am I doing?” He murmured to himself, turning on the device before scrolling through his unfinished report on the man.

Without second thought, he went back onto the software, once again following the man’s history. “He’s still awake.” He murmured quietly. “More cat videos.” He scoffed, before clicking onto the specific videos, “I mean. I gotta watch them, just in case there may be codes encrypted in them, right?” He asked, almost as though trying to convince himself more than anyone else.

Unbeknownst to him, a small smile began to creep onto his face as he watched his nth cat video of that night. As the dark night sky began to brighten, and the birds began to chirp in the sunrise, Sungyeol realised that it had been almost time for another day of work, and began to get ready.

“Somebody had a great morning.” Woohyun greeted when he entered the room.

Sungyeol looked around, “Who?”

“This guy, smiling to himself like an idiot.” He said, pointing to his friend.

“Shut up.” Sungyeol replied rolling his eyes, “I woke up at 4am and spent the entire morning following the Kim Myungsoo guy.”

“Looks like someone’s infatuated by this cat guy then.” He teased, earning a slap on the face with a book. “Ow! Okay, I’m sorry.” He whined, rubbing his cheek. “What else did you find about him though?”

Sungyeol grimaced, “Not much, just some of his personal details and his large obsession for cats.”

Woohyun scoffed, “How informative. So helpful.”

“Shut up.” He warned, before continuing, “I think.. I might go visit him.”

“What? You can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Sungyeol, don’t be an idiot. It’s forbidden to follow the suspect other than online. That’s stalkerish.”

“It’s not, I’m gaining more information. The quicker it is to finish this report, the quicker it is for me to get assigned for another job.”

“It doesn’t work like that.” Woohyun sighed, “You can’t just force any relationship there is between the suspect and Eye. Sometimes it’s a dead end. You already told me this yesterday that it was.”

“Yeah, and I need to prove to Boss that it is.”

“But you know how stubborn he is.”

Sungyeol sighed, “Just let me do things the way I want. Boss said to do whatever it took to get information, even if it meant breaking the rules. He seems very unsuspicious, but in our books, he’s still an enemy.”

~

“Order for Kim Yeon Woo!” A deep voice called from beside the counter.

“Hello, welcome to Soo’s café, what can I get you?” The deep voice huffed as he ran back to the counter. His smile still wide, as though running an entire shop by himself hadn’t been a huge burden for him.

Sungyeol looked up, his eyes bulging as he saw the shorter male before him. He was goddamn beautiful. “A medium Americano please.” He ordered monotonously, glad that he hadn’t stuttered from the unexpected distraction. After paying, he quietly walked the side, eyeing the man as he laboured to make his order. A human couldn’t be this stunning. He most definitely had to have had things done. The nose. The eyes. Definitely all done. Probably from the money he received from the assassinations.

Sungyeol mentally scoffed. That was ridiculous. He still hadn’t any prove so he couldn’t just jump to such an unrealistic conclusion.

“Order for Sungyeol?” The man snapped back to reality and quickly grabbed his order, muttering a small “Thanks.” Before sitting on a vacant table, continuing to stare at the man serving.

“Is there something wrong with the coffee?”

“Excuse me?” Sungyeol asked, looking up.

“You haven’t touched it, I was wondering maybe if it didn’t suit your taste. We can make another one if you’d like.”

“No, no. It’s good. I was just lost in thought.” He replied, “What’s the time, may I ask?”

“5pm. You’ve been here for 3 hours.”

“Huh.” Sungyeol muttered.

“I’m Myungsoo.” The man said.

I know. “Sungyeol.” He replied. Myungsoo smiled.

“I know.” Sungyeol looked up again, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. “you told me your name when you ordered.”

“Oh.” He muttered, “Okay.”

“Did you… want to go out with me?”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean,” His cheeks begun to redden, “I-It’s not anything, I just thought, you were cute and I thought maybe you were interested too because I saw you staring while I was working. I thought you were interested as well. You don’t have to.” Myungsoo rambled.

Sungyeol chuckled. The man seemed cute, but he knew that his answer was only so that he could get closer to the man and get to know him more. “Sure.” He replied.

~

Sungyeol awkwardly stared ahead, watching the man carefully through his peripherals. He seemed jittery and jumpy. Sungyeol had thought that it was cute.

“S-So, what you’re favourite colour?”

Sungyeol shrugged, “It varies from day to day. Today, it’s pink.” He grinned, turning to the man, “Yours?”

“Black. I love black.”

Sungyeol shifted his sight to the man’s attire, “I can tell.” He chuckled. His phone buzzed and turning slightly, he checked his messages.

I heard you earned a date with the enemy. Woohyun. Of course that guy seemed to always manage to find out everything without Sungyeol telling him anything. He cleared his throat, “So, um, where did you want to go?”

“Um, there’s a place like a few minutes from here. I kind of wanted to try it out.”

“Sure.”

“So, Myungsoo. What do you do?”

“Well, um I own that coffee shop. Full timer there.”

“Oh, really?”

He nodded, averting his gaze slightly to his napkin, “What about you? What do you do?”

“Nine to five business kinda office job.” Sungyeol responded, “Really boring compared to such a buzzing business like yours.” He chuckled.

“No, no! That’s cool. I spent 25 years of my life trying to get into some corporate business, but I realised I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it for the rest of my life, so I changed last minute. It was a huge risk.” He replied, “But it’s a risk that I never regretted.”

Sungyeol stared, feeling a smile approach. The man didn’t seem like a mastermind’s right hand man at all. He seemed innocent and a dreamer. Although he knew that he had to keep his guard up, and that the man’s happy, naïve demeanour could have been all an act, for some reason, his heart felt light and trustful towards the man. “So you are are twenty…?”

“Seven.” He replied, “Twenty-seven this year.” He smiled, “I know that look,” He laughed, looking at the strange expression Sungyeol had, “I know I’m getting old.”

“No, no. I never expected you to be 27. I’m 28…” He muttered in embarrassment, rubbing his nape.

“O-Oh… I didn’t meant that, I just-” He stuttered. Sungyeol simply smiled at the man’s antics.

The night was going well, better than he had actually expected, considering the fact that the main purpose had been for Sungyeol to find out more about the man. Unfortunately, as he got home and faced his old wooden front door, he realised he had just as much information about this mysterious man as he did going into the ‘date’.

He entered his lone, dim lit apartment, before throwing his belongings in front of him and checking for any bugs that the man may had stuck on him to spy on him in suspicion.

He found none.

He sighed, and yawned, frustrated that he’s research was leading him nowhere. He wanted to tell himself that it was all a trapped set up by Eye, but for some reason, he felt that the man was behind much more things than his little pink coffee shop. Maybe it had been late night thoughts, or the amount of wine he had drunk, but he felt extremely vulnerable and cautious.

Little had he known that today’s date was just going to be one of many.

~

“How did you know I worked here?” Sungyeol whispered harshly as he pulled the short male away from the reception.

“You gave me your card, remember?” Myungsoo replied in amusement. “There’s only one ‘Jung&Jung Solicitors’ firm in the country.”

Sungyeol’s heart dropped in speed as he realised that the other hadn’t realised anything. His level in the building had been closed off. Not even workers below them had known about this 18^th floor, all believing that it was simply just a rustic basement that was forbidden for enter. “Oh, right.” Sungyeol mumbled in relief, “What are you doing here?”

Myungsoo smiled and pulled out a single, pink rose from behind his back, one that Sungyeol had realised was so big that it was so hard to miss, yet he was distracted that somehow, he did. “What’s this?” He asked, trying to hide his smile.

“For you.” He beamed.

“It’s pink,” Sungyeol stated, “Did you remember my favourite colour?” He laughed.

Myungsoo grinned, “Yep! But it also had meaning behind this colour of rose.” He added, smiling in admiration.

“What is it?” Sungyeol asked gently, his eyes still fixated on the gift he had received.

“To believe.” Sungyeol looked up, his eyes caught in Myungsoo’s deep, brown orbs. “Believe that what I’m showing you is genuine.” He said.

Sungyeol’s heart swooped and exploded.

~

“Medium Americano for the one and only!” Myungsoo shouted, making Sungyeol laugh. It had been months since their first ‘date’, and although Sungyeol had kept telling himself that what he was doing was all for work. All to catch the suspect working for Eye, deep down, he knew that it was much more than that. He knew that it was against the rules. He had nightmares and sleepless nights thinking about getting caught and fired, or worse, realising that the man he had fallen for actually was using him and working for Eye.

He never wanted to think of that possibility, but he knew it was still a possibility. He was still sane enough to keep most of his guards up, only letting the other know of his general life, and nothing deeper. He hadn’t even told the man where he had lived, and it was the only promise he had made to himself to keep until the man was proven innocent.

“When are you ever going to try all my other coffees.” Myungsoo pouted.

Sungyeol laughed, “I like this one though.” He replied, taking another sip.

“But my other coffees are really good too, let me make you a latte, or a cappuccino, or anything!”

He grinned, “Hey, the time I order a latte will be the time I fall out of love with you.” He teased, “I hate that stuff.”

“So you’re saying you’re in love with me now?” Myungsoo asked, his eyes bursting in glee.

“No. I’m not.” He replied with a cheeky grin. Sungyeol couldn’t help his heart pounding rapidly in his chest, as he stared at the other’s dimply smile. The way his nose crinkled slightly as he let out that melodious laugh. He wanted time to stop to admire his smile, his eyes, his hair, everything. But in the harsh reality that he lived, they were never meant to be together.

~

“What if we broke up?” Sungyeol asked in a small voice. His eyes staring at the clouds as the couple laid beside each other, hand in hand.

“Well, we were never officially together.” Myungsoo replied in slight grimace.

“Myungsoo…”

“I know, you’re not ready. Don’t worry, I understand.”

He was ready though. He was more than ready. But he couldn’t. He still had the rest of his life that was concealed from the other. “I just-”

“If we broke up,” Myungsoo interrupted, “I would follow you until you’d agree to come back.” He grinned, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

Sungyeol chuckled, “It’ll take more than that, sweetie.” He teased.

There was a long pause. Sungyeol turned his head to stare at the other, whose gaze was fixated on the sky. His smile was faltering as though he had suddenly gone into a deep thought. “What are you thinking?” Sungyeol whispered.

“I hope nothing can keep us apart.”

Sungyeol stared for a little while longer before turning back to the sky.

Me too.

~

 “Yeol?” A man called out in the midst of a yawn.

“Woohyun, did you come here last night?”

“No?”

“.” He hissed staring at his desk.

“What’s wrong?”

“My stuff. Someone’s touched my stuff.”

“How do you know?”

“My laptop was here, but it was moved to here.” Sungyeol said pointing to his device.

Woohyun blinked, “You probably moved it without knowing.” He said, “Like it could have been a mistake made by you, it literally moved less than an inch from where you said it was.”

“No, it couldn’t have been a mistake. I remembered it like this. Are you telling me that my memory is failing?”

Woohyun rolled his eyes, “No, you drama queen, I’m saying that anyone could mistake their belongings to be an inch or two away from where they left it. You have good memory but it’s not photographic and flawless, Sungyeol.”

“I just know someone was here. Maybe it was one of the Eye’s people. They must’ve found something.”

Woohyun sighed, “Give me a couple of minutes, I’ll see if I can find any fingerprints.” He said, putting on his rubber gloves.

“Thanks, Woohyun. I’ll buy you coffee after this.”

“At Myungsoo’s café?” He asked cheekily.

“Haha, you’re funny.” He replied, tone dripping with sarcasm, before sulkily walking to his kitchen.

“And this is why you stick to the rules.” Woohyun said, throwing his gloves in the bin. Sungyeol stood up with his glass full of water, giving him a questioning look. His eyes looked dead and revengeful. “Why do you look like you’re about to murder someone.”

“Who was it?” Sungyeol asked quietly.

“Got a clean fingerprint. Right on you laptop. It’s him, Sungyeol.” A loud crash could be heard through the empty apartment, as Sungyeol smashed his glass onto the bench table. His breathing became heavier and his eyes saw red. “, way to be dramatic. That’s the 12^th glass you’ve broken this month. Maybe if you were a better detective you wouldn’t have opened so many loopholes.” Woohyun snickered, shaking his head as he whipped out his broom and began sweeping. “Come work at my agency, Woohyun.” He mimicked in complaint, “It’ll be fun, Woohyun. Just like old times, Woohyun.” He scoffed, “Old times my , I’ve literally spent these 5 years cleaning your .”

“It couldn’t be.” Sungyeol whispered.

“Are you telling me that I’m not doing my job correctly?”

“Are you sure it was him?”

“It was literally one of the cleanest fingerprint I got.”

“But I never told him anything.”

“Who knows how Eye’s men works. They’re probably ten times more of a better hacker than you are.”

“I’m so ing stupid.” He hissed, “I’m gonna kill him.”

“Not with that hand, you’re not.” He replied, cocking his brows as he stared at the man’s left hand dripping with blood, “So goddamn dramatic. This isn’t some kind of soap opera.” He muttered, dropping his broom and pulling out his first aid kit from his bag. “Sit your down.” He sighed.

~

“Welcome to Soo’s ca- Oh! Sungyeol!” Myungsoo beamed, waving his hand rapidly, in excitement.

“Medium latte.” He responded.

“A-Are you okay, Sungyeol?” He asked his eyes showing fear and concern. He grinned, “Hey, the time I order a latte will be the time I fall out of love with you.” He teased, “I hate that stuff.” Sungyeol snorted as he remembered their conversation. No wonder the man had looked so scared. He was so ing good at keeping up an innocent image.

“Fine. Make it quick.”

“O-Oh, Okay.” He said hurrying off to make the order.

Sungyeol sighed and walked to the nearest table, his friend tagging behind him. “That’s the Myungsoo guy?”

“Hm.” He replied, confirming his friend’s statement. Woohyun sat down, “Aren’t you being a little too harsh on him?” He asked.

“Why shouldn’t I be harsh? He tricked me.”

“But you’re tricking him too.”

“Woohyun, this isn’t some stupid rom com where we’re acting interested in each other for some bet okay. He’s the Eye’s right hand man, and he knows about us and they’re probably planning their next move as we’re here waiting for some stupid latte to be made.”

“Woah woah, wait. Interested? You guys were interested in each other? Wait, was he the one you said you were going on a date with?”

“It was all for work.” Sungyeol replied stoically.

“Order for Sungyeol!” Myungsoo called up giving the man a warm smile. The latter snatched the cup, not even glancing at the other and walked back. “Here’s your stupid treat.” Sungyeol said, sliding the cup to the man across from him. Woohyun gleefully accepted the cup, and took a sip, his eyes accidentally meeting the barista’s who seemed sad and confused.

“He doesn’t seem like the guy we’re looking for.”

“Don’t let him trick you with his innocence. He’s gonna raid your apartment too when you’re asleep. , I’m so stupid.” He growled, standing up abruptly.

“S-Sungyeol.” A small voice called from behind. The man turned and was face with Myungsoo’s confused face. He looked almost… scared.

“What.”

“U-Um. I was just… I was… uh…”

“I have work, Myungsoo, bye.” He replied before pulling his coat off the back of his chair and leaving.

“The guy’s a bit tense from this morning.” Woohyun said, with a small wink, before following his friend, leaving the confused barista alone in his café.

~

“Did you see his ing act?” Sungyeol yelled, waving his hands in the air in frustration, “You’d think he’d stop with all this ‘oh I’m so innocent and naïve’ bull after I clearly ignored him.”

“I mean, maybe he didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know? His fingerprint was clearly on my laptop for God’s sake.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Woohyun frowned. “Well, I have to go to work now!” He replied, quickly taking off before his friend could rant any further.

Sungyeol scoffed, “I’m going to kill that guy.” He said, glaring at the back of his friend, becoming smaller as he ran into the distance, “But not before I kill that other guy who humiliated me.” He muttered, staring back at the café, watching the man walking out alone with a large bag of garbage. He lifted his hand to his waist, feeling the gun hid under his sweater, making his final decision.

He lifted up his weapon, cocking it, as he pointed to his target’s head. The man turned, his innocent, once confused eyes darkening, because he came to realisation who the owner was. “Sungyeol?” the man said.

“You know him don’t you? You work for him.”

“What? Sungyeol…” His eyes widened, “No… they were right about you.” Myungsoo whispered.

“Tell me where he is and I’ll only leave you unconscious.” Sungyeol threatened.

“Over my ing body.” Myungsoo spat out, before quickly moving his head to dodge the bullet the other had shot. With his head low, and back arched forward, he quickly elbowed the other’s torso, making him stagger slightly in shock. Sungyeol quickly repositioned and aimed at him once again, trying to shoot, but before he could, Myungsoo had stepped in front of him and kicked the gun away, making it fly directly into the bin.

Sungyeol growled and charged at Myungsoo, punching him across the face, and repeatedly doing so once he was on top of the smaller male. Once regaining his focus, Myungsoo used leg to kick him off him, giving him the upper hand in the fight, as he threw his fist harshly across Sungyeol’s face, he quickly got up and ran to the café’s back door. Sungyeol managed to get up seconds after, and chased after him, halting quickly with his hands raised up, as Myungsoo pointed his gun at him. “Don’t ing move!” He yelled, spitting blood on the ground. “Or else I’ll shoot.”

Sungyeol smirked, “ing do it then. ing shoot me!” He yelled. Myungsoo glared at him, his hands shaking slightly as he cocked the handle. “D-Don’t come any closer!” He shouted, cursing inwardly as his voice waivered.

“You’re a coward.” Sungyeol spat back, “You could have had so much going for you, but instead you chose to throw it all away for him.”

“Don’t you say another word.” Myungsoo said threateningly.

“Shoot me.”

Myungsoo didn’t respond, his weapon still pointing at him.

“Go and shoot. You win Myungsoo.” Sungyeol knew that he hadn’t won. None of them would have won. Sungyeol would have died, Woohyun would have pieced the clues together and Myungsoo would have been hunted down and killed by his best friend. And two soldiers would have fallen. But that was the happiest ending he could think of.

“.” Myungsoo snarled, throwing the gun onto the floor, “I can’t do it. You were right. I’m a coward. A stupid coward.” He muttered, he kicked the gun, making it slide closer to Sungyeol, who instinctively bent and reached for it to point at the defeated man. “Make it quick.”

“Why?” Sungyeol huffed, still very cautious. What trick was that man pulling.

“I got too ahead of myself. It’s my punishment. I should have been more cautious, I should have known you were his right-hand man.”

“Wait what?”

“I just figured that maybe they were wrong, because you never seemed like one of Eye’s men.” He snickered, “, I’m an idiot.”

Sungyeol lowered his weapon slightly, “Eye?”

“Huh?” Myungsoo looked up.

“Eye’s men? Me?”

“Yes?”

“No, you’re one of Eye’s men.”

“What? No I’m not.”

“You are. That’s why you came into my house.”

“What? I didn’t go into your house.”

“We have your fingerprints on my belongings, Myungsoo.”

“But I never went to your house. I don’t even know where you live.”

“But… how?”

“I…” Myungsoo began, “I was assigned to track you as a suspect of Eye’s men.”

“No, that’s a lie, because my task was to track you.” Sungyeol furrowed his brows in confusion, “Wait, you’re ing with me. You are his right-hand man.” He said, raising his gun again.

“I’m not!”

“You are!”

“I’m not!”

“You are!”

“Oh my God, Sungyeol I’m not.” Myungsoo yelled.

“Then how do you know about Eye? It’s confidential. Only our company knows about it.”

“What company do you work at?”

“Like hell I’ll tell you.” Sungyeol scoffed.

Myungsoo rolled his eyes. “Are you from the West?”

The other looked up, “How’d you kno- I mean n-no, I’m not.”

He stared, “You’re not serious are you? .” Myungsoo whispered, running his fingers through his hair in frustration, “We’ve just been chasing our tails.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m from the East. Eye probably had traps set up to frame the both of us to make it seem like we worked for him.”

“So that means-”

“We’ve literally gone nowhere. For all we know he could have already left the country.” Myungsoo interrupted exasperatedly.

“Wait but, why are you revealing yourself to me. For all you know, I could be a double agent.”

Myungsoo smiled for the first time since their encounter, “Like I said, I was assigned to look at you. As good as a hacker you think you are, I’m better.” Sungyeol glared, raising his gun higher, making the shorter male chuckle slightly, “Use your brain not your emotions. Number 1 rule of being a hacker is to make sure you don’t get hacked yourself.” He said, making Sungyeol’s eyes widen in realisation.

“You made a default to make sure whenever I tried to enter your devices all I would see are cat videos, no matter what you were actually doing.”

“Well, I mean, no. I actually did watch those but when I was doing business, I used a burner phone during that time, so you couldn’t track it. But yes, I wa-”

“Wait you watched cat videos at like 3am?”

“Wait why were you hacking me at 3am? And why does that matter? I like cats okay.”

“But like don’t you need sleep?”

“You know what Sungyeol? You’re missing the point here. What I’m trying to say is that the Eye played us both and we need to go track him down.”

“Yeah well I can’t track down a drug lord with some guy who watched cat videos at 3am.” He muttered.

“Oh my God, at least I wasn’t the one who posted a picture of themselves squatting over a toilet.” He retorted in petty.

Sungyeol’s eyes widened and his cheeks flushed a bright red, “That was a dare! I swear, I was drunk!”

“Sure.” He replied, pursing his lips, before bursting into peals of laughter. Sungyeol stared in embarrassment until before he knew it he too was on the floor laughing.

“I hate you.” He murmured tiredly. His face swollen from the hits he had received as he laid on the concrete floor in the alleyway.”

“I don’t.” The other replied, tiredly beside him. “You know why I didn’t shoot you?”

Sungyeol shifted his head so he could see the other. “Hm?”

“It’s kind of embarrassing but I was watching for months. Maybe almost a year. I was watching what you did, your likes and dislikes. And somewhere along the way, I started falling in love with you without actually meeting you or talking to you. I don’t know how it happened, but God works in weird and unexpected ways. I only asked you out when you walked in that day, because I liked you, although I told myself that it was just for the assignment.” He rambled, a habit that he seemed to have when nervous, “And then before I knew it, we started going on other dates and I just fell for you even more. I knew that I was in for heartbreak because everyone had their money on you as one of the Eye’s men, but for some reason, no matter how much I told myself that you were him, I just couldn’t believe it.”

“So you’d let me kill you just because of some crush?”

He chuckled, “Crush or not, I’ve never killed a guy, it was better if I had just died without any blood on my hands and have my team search and take you down. I was all wired anyways. It probably sounds cowardly and selfish, but it wasn’t like I wanted to do this in the first place.”

“What?”

“I wasn’t lying when I said that I took the risk and opened this business. I was only assigned for this one project because they needed a hacker and I was only one they could trust.”

“You’re such a stalker I can’t believe you found out everything about me and all I found out was that you have an unhealthy obsession with cats.” Sungyeol whined.

“Well I learned something new about you.” Myungsoo replied, his eyes closing tiredly.

“What’s that?”

“That you have a habit of missing the point. I told you I loved you and you’re talking about how I am better at my job.”

“Shut up. I hate you.”

“Don’t worry. I hate you too.”

“But you said you loved me.”

“Not anymore.” Myungsoo replied, sitting up as he poked him tongue at the other, “I have hate you now. Bye Sungyeol.” He said, trying to hide his sadness in his smile. It was over now. He got up and brushed the dirt off himself before heading back into the café.

“Myungsoo wait!” Sungyeol shouted, getting up quickly, “Myungsoo!” He yelled again, trying to gain the other’s attention, he reached out and grabbed his hand, spinning him around slightly. “I’m not much of a romantic, but I don’t think people usually confess to each other after a gunfight, and… maybe you won’t feel the same after we make it official. So maybe we can actually go out and get to know everything about each other. That’s if you’re not mad that I ruined your face and tried to shoot you… twice.” He said, chewing his lower lip in nervousness.

Myungsoo smiled widely, “I’m still a little upset that over that, but maybe you can make it up to me over dinner tomorrow, 6pm? Your shout?”

Sungyeol grinned, before grimacing at the pain, “Sure!” He said, leaning over to give the other a small peck, making Myungsoo immediately blush and freeze. “In the meantime, I hope I can work with you and track down this motherer. Bye!” He said, quickly sprinting off. His head turning back at the still frozen Myungsoo.

“And don’t ing hack me anymore!”