#005: "you"

she out for the second time that morning.

*trigger warning - violence*

Sejeong saw that she was not able to focus much on what Daniel was saying, even though it was extremely crucial for her to know each and every weapon and device that was used in the mission.

“So this is the Bee,” Daniel hardly noticed the dazed expression on Sejeong’s face as he carefully lifted up the device uncannily shaped to look like a bumblebee. It’s silver and black exterior definitely added more to its conspicuousness, but it was tiny and barely made a sound when in flight, something Daniel was extremely proud of. “The Bee is a tracking device; it will follow you everywhere you go, and most importantly, allow us to know where you are. It’s also fitted with a camera, so we’ll also be able to monitor your surroundings, and the people who are going to…” Daniel cleared his throat and glanced towards the girl, finally noticing her mild discomfort, as she fiddled around with her fingers and bit the inside of her cheeks. He furrowed his eyebrows and placed the Bee back onto the workspace in front of him, before reaching out and clasping one of Sejeong’s hands. This had effectively snapped her out of the mindless daze that she was in, as she whipped her head down towards their linked hands.

“I know you must be worried less right now,” Daniel’s grip tightened around her fingers, “But you know that all of us will be behind you, and taking care of you, right?” He gave a small, warm smile as Sejeong’s worried gaze swivelled to meet his. Sejeong was always unfamiliar with the concept of a team, or working with other people, yet Daniel’s words had sparked a warmth in her heart as she returned a small, genuine grin to his wide, gummy smile.

Daniel’s fingers lingered around Sejeong’s as his cheeks reddened slightly, and he relished in the unfamiliar warmth that this girl was giving him. Daniel had really felt like he could stay like this all day, until the elevator doors had slid open and Sehun came strolling in, lips pulled into a thin line as he cleared his throat. Daniel hastily dropped Sejeong’s hand and snapped it towards his side before whipping around and giving Sehun a rather forced grin, one that was intensified by extreme embarrassment. Sejeong, still in her fear-fuelled daze, simply turned around slowly and gave Sehun a questioning gaze as she pursed her lips.

Sehun, under the scrutiny of the two, pulled at his collar uncomfortably as he muttered. “Lisa wants to see both of us. She said she has finally completed her part of the mission and wants us to check it out.”

Sejeong merely nodded and pushed off from the side of the table, turning quickly as she skipped down the illuminated acrylic stairs, her ponytail swinging side to side with each each step, until she reached Sehun’s side before both of them headed towards the elevators together. Sejeong had lifted her hand to give Daniel a small wave as the elevator doors shut, and the boy quickly reached over for the water bottle beside him, taking huge gulps in a bid to cool his heated cheeks, after he had given her a casual wave of his own.

Sehun stared at the girl beside him with narrowed eyes and a titled head, as both stood quietly, heading down to Lisa’s He wasn’t familiar at all with this subdued and unusually silent side of Sejeong, but didn’t want to ask her anything, and so had resorted to burning a hole right through the side of her head with his heated gaze.

Sejeong was too worried to notice anything around her, let alone the fact that she was acting out of character. To her, she wanted to be as professional and composed about this entire mission, but with so much on the line, she felt that she was doing rather well actually, in keeping her cool despite wanting to burst into tears every time she thought of the mission, which was effectively, every ten minutes.

Stepping out of the elevator and into the extremely cold room- Lisa kept it at a constant 18 degrees celcius in order to protect her room full of electronics, they found the said girl beckoning both of them towards the makeshift lounge of mismatched beanbags and throw blankets, her iPhone being waved excitedly in the air at the same time. The two barely sat themselves down and pulled some blankets over them when Lisa went on an enthusiastic ramble on how perfect their fake, little relationship was to the public.

“Ta-da! Doesn’t this look amazing?” Lisa scrolled rapidly down what was supposed to be Sehun’s fake Instagram page, with the shots that they had taken two days ago, as well as some selfies that Lisa had forced him to take. Tapping quickly on one of the pictures of the both of them, Lisa continued. “I even made a profile for Sejeong, so it’ll obviously be more convincing that way.” Lisa had similarly scrolled quickly down her profile, filled with similar pictures, her selfies, and even some solo images of Sehun.

“Look! I even managed to set ghost followers, and ghost accounts ya’ll are following,” Lisa pointed to the top of the screen. “Aren’t I just simply amazing?” Sejeong gave the girl a broad grin and thumbs up, whilst Sehun merely nodded his head and gave a look of casual acknowledgment.

“Let me see that.” The male leaned forward as he pulled the phone from Lisa’s grasp. He was obviously trying to hide how impressed he was, and through this account, he was genuinely curious as to how a civil and even friendly life with Sejeong was going to be like, even though this entire thing was as fake as it could get.

Scrolling through the account slowly and rather fondly, Sehun had almost missed RM’s announcement that chimed through the level. Lisa pat Sejeong comfortingly on her back as she yanked the phone out of Sehun’s hands, much to the male’s silent protest, and the three slowly made their way up towards the 87th floor. It was now that Sejeong was really going low-key bat crazy, as she held her stomach uncomfortably, the knots in her gut threatening to make her puke. Sehun could only watch the girl grow paler and paler, and found that he could not really shift his gaze away from her face, even after the agents had all gathered and seated themselves around the familiar wooden table.

“T-9 hours to Operation Heist; I hope everyone is prepared and ready.” RM said expectantly. Everyone nodded their heads confidently, even Sejeong, although she was twisting her fingers to the point of snapping each and everyone of them. Sehun fought the urge to reach beside him and take her hands, instead choosing to cross his arms over his chest and turn his head to focus on RM instead.

“It’s our very first mission and we’ve all worked very hard, so I’m sure we can do well.” RM pumped a fist, hoping to boost everyone’s morale, especially when things were still so uncertain. Tapping at the monitor, RM flashed the rundown and possibilities of the entire mission. “So at 0600 hours, Sejeong will be dropped off several blocks down the road for a morning jog. It is during the window of 0600 and 0700 hours that the kidnapping would happen.” RM pointed towards the hologram, depicting the scenario that is supposed to play out.

“From there, the Bee will start tracking your every movement, especially where they will take you. Assuming, and it is highly likely, they will take you to the same place where the boy is kept hidden till now. Once the location is confirmed, Jaehyun, you’ll situate yourself at a suitable location as backup for Sejeong.” The hologram flashed an empty room with a mini animated Sejeong being bound and gagged. She couldn’t help but grip her thighs under the table till her knuckles turned deathly white, and was about to lunge across the table and bash RM’s face for making the hologram way more realistic than necessary.

“Now at 0900 hours, Sehun will enter the bank and begin the first shift. It will be during this period of 0900 hours and 1400 hours where the heist would take place. I have arranged with the bank to minimise personnel, as well as shorten the operating hours in order to prevent any unnecessary harm to anyone and ourselves. It is during this time where it is most critical, and Wonwoo, Daniel and Shownu will also be on standby the entire time. Lisa, Momo, and I will stay at HQ to monitor everything, especially the Bee, and Momo will be the final backup in case anything major crops up.” RM finished uncertainly before adding, “which certainly won’t happen. Alright, briefing is over guys, let’s go get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day for all of us.”

𝛃

Sejeong stood forlornly in front of the kitchen counter, stirring her iced tea absentmindedly. She was dressed and all set for bed, but knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep so easily, and so had decided to make herself a nice drink before attempting to go to sleep. Clouded in her daze, she didn’t even notice Sehun pad into the kitchen himself, grabbing a glass from the cupboard and proceeding to wave a hand in front of the girl’s face. The girl stopped stirring her drink and whipped her head up to meet the male, before she realised it was rather hard to keep eye contact when she noticed Sehun only had on a pair of pyjama pants.

She whipped her eyes back down towards her iced tea and stared far too intently as Sehun could only glance at the flustered girl with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. He knew he had a great body, and from the few seconds that Sejeong had kept her head up, she had come to the same conclusion too.

“You’ve been out of it the entire day, are you that worried?” Sehun gazed curiously at the girl as he took a sip of iced water. Sejeong still didn’t look up from her reflection in the iced tea as she mumbled an unconfident “yeah”, her fingers beginning to knot in her palm.

Sehun finished his water in one big gulp as he leaned on his elbows against the counter, his gaze burning deeper into the girl’s face, making it impossible for her not to look up and give him a sceptical gaze of her own. She didn’t lean back or anything, but her hands were fisted into a huge ball as she played with them, all the while keeping steady eye contact with Sehun and careful not to look anywhere below his handsome face. She almost slapped herself for thinking that.

Sehun let out a breathy chuckle as he boldly reached forward and pried her hands apart, before gently taking her left one in his. “I don’t know why you’re worried, you know.” Sehun mumbled thoughtfully as he gazed at her small hand, gently rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. “You’re pretty amazing to me.”

Sejeong’s breath was stuck in , but rather than tense up like a statue under his touch, she found herself relaxing, something she hardly could do throughout the entirety of the day. She still did go through a minor whiplash over his duality, but definitely wouldn’t push away the temporary comfort that he was giving her, albeit being uncharacteristically caring.

Sejeong tightened her grip on Sehun’s, giving him a small, appreciative smile. “I think you are kind off amazing too.”

𝛃

Perhaps it was the culmination of nerves and excitement, or the moment that she had shared with Sehun, or even the sugar rush she had from gulping down the iced tea before bed, but Sejeong had found herself only clocking a pathetic four hours of sleep, before Momo had the lights and shook her shoulder rather forcefully. Perhaps it was the adrenaline that was beginning to flow throw her veins, as Sejeong threw her duvet aside and kicked her feet off the