⭐ Chapter Five ⭐

Heechul sat with his elbows leaning against the crystal surface of the long table, his hands wrapped around each other while supporting his chin. There was a distant look in the black haired agent’s eyes; he kept staring in the space with unblinking eyes.

“I don’t understand,” Finally Heechul forced his lips to part and state his raw emotions. Raising his head and fixing Leeteuk with a scowl, the agent went on. “You don’t want me to go to the port? You want me to stick to the wild goose chase? But why?”

Leeteuk exhaled a long breath, like he had seen this coming; like he was waiting for the moment Heechul would start acting up, being the difficult person that he is. The slightly elder agent slowly covered the couple of meters distance between them, prudently plopping down beside Heechul.

“I already told you,” Leeteuk started, voice somber and laced with patience. “The Vortex Mafia is aware about your involvement with the case, they have eyes on you. If you change the course of your investigation they would realize they have been found out, making it difficult for us to tackle the case further.”

“But this is my case,” Heechul retorted, stressing upon ‘my’ in clear frustration. “I was allotted this case six damn months ago. But now you expect me to hand over all the glory to you? Giving Chief and Director legit reason to rub it on my face, saying how they were right to assume I was useless?”

“Heechul nobody thinks you are useless,” Leeteuk reached out a hand to squeeze his partner’s shoulder but thought better of it knowing how the black haired agent would react. “Why are you having such negative thoughts? Just think rationally, what would happen when Vortex Mafia realizes that you didn’t follow them to river Wel, like you have been for last six months? They are hyper aware of your presence, the only reason why they went to such a length to create a web to reel you in.”

“We can’t be sure of that,” Heechul tried protesting, flaring his arms around. “This all is your supposition… maybe there is something going on with that deal meeting after every fortnight. Maybe they all are connected?”

“You are right, it could be my supposition,” Leeteuk alleged sotto voce. “All the more reasons to keep a watch over that gathering while me and Kyuhyun set out toward W.E.L port. However, I won’t pretend that I have much faith in those so-called deals going down at River Wel. Think like that Heechul, if they truly were up to something, I am hundred percent sure you would have gathered something on them… I know your cunning mind more than anyone else. To me it seems, they are only there as a distraction for you… they are keeping you on the edge, while the real smuggle goes around somewhere else.”

Heechul kept hold of his tongue while thoughts over thoughts crashed against his tired brain. The agent was ashamed to admit but Leeteuk putting all the pieces of puzzle together left him feeling bitter… he was jealous. It was no surprise that Leeteuk was a well refined agent of the agency, always held in higher light than others, yet the fact that Heechul was lagging behind in just this one case, made him feel embarrasts.

“I won’t say anything to the Chief or Director,” Leeteuk’s soft voice broke through the trance Heechul had fallen in, making the latter to snapped his face toward the elder agent, confusion sitting on his brows. “The Chief and Director need not know about our arrangement… you will head toward the River Wel while I toward W.E.L port… we would exchange our intelligences with each other before reporting to the Chief.”

“Why?” Heechul inquired, eyes searching for a motive behind Leeteuk’s out of blue offer.

“I don’t want you to feel like I am trying to hog your glory,” Leeteuk explained, eyes looking anywhere but at his partner. “I just want to help you, Heechul. I only want to have your back.”

Heechul wanted to trust the elder man, wanted nothing more than to happily follow Leeteuk’s lead… but something held him back. The growing bud of doubt was creating its root in the pit of his stomach, and Heechul couldn’t help but resent his own partner. It didn’t help that the awkwardness between them had started to grow ever since the small dispute between them back in Chief’s room. They were originally always avoiding each other’s paths, but now, the buzz of stuffing air between them held a tint of something new, a rather foreign feeling.

“Okay,” Heechul said in a strong voice, setting his resolve as he stared at a point above Leeteuk’s face. They were avoiding each other’s gaze, Heechul knew that… and seemed like so did Leeteuk. “We shall do as you say.”

“Great,” A bright dimple touched smile bloomed over Leeteuk’s face, making him look ten years younger than his original age. “Now all left is for us to discover what exactly is being smuggled, once that is out of our way, we should raid during one of their smuggles.”

“Yeah, the faster the better,” Heechul muttered but his mind was on anything but the conversation flowing between them.

“And Heechul, it’s my honest opinion,” Leeteuk started a little hesitantly, waiting for Heechul to look toward him before he said, with sincerity lacing his words. “This mission in not a one man mission… heck, I doubt we two can pull this off on our own either. I have already requested Chief to clean off group Super Junior’s solo missions, keeping the whole group on standby because we might need all men force we can get. So, don’t beat yourself around over a trifling setback in your solo mission… none of it was your fault.”

Heechul felt his throat choking with emotions, he had never anticipated Leeteuk to dart words of encouragement toward him. It was surprising but the black haired agent pulled himself together before whispering a soft, “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” Leeteuk assured warmly before springing back on his feet and gathering a few of his files off the table. “What are partners for,