Sweat ran down your forehead and neck as you jumped from side to side, trying to avoid Sehun’s blows. You concentrated on his feet and tried to match your footwork with his in order to find a weak point where you could get in a punch. The other sounds from the training room were blocked out and you could only hear yours and Sehun’s harsh breathing accompanied by the screeching sound of shoes against the glossy wooden floor. Sunday mornings were always reserved for training whether it be with Sehun, Key, or by yourself.

                You flinched as Sehun managed to get in another hit to your side. That was six for Sehun and zero for you, which was unusual because usually you beat him at hand to hand combat.

                “Hey, are you okay?” He asked, looking at you worriedly.

                “Yeah, I’m just tired…let’s take a break”, you took off your gloves and walked over to the bench on the side to get a drink from your water bottle.

                “I can’t believe I am actually surpassing the great Kim Hanbyul at her specialty: hand-to-hand combat! You just watch, pretty soon I’ll be the best at everything” Sehun said this in a dramatically sarcastic way that made you roll your eyes and poke him in the shoulder playfully.

                “ha. ha. In your dreams. I can still beat you up any day Sehun, I just…didn’t sleep well last night”. This was true. You couldn’t stop thinking about the note. The one Kai had snuck into your pocket. Was it a trap? Was he going to lure you somewhere and kidnap you or take you to his boss and torture you for information? Possibly kill you? But you had a feeling that it was about something else; you had to decide quickly if you were going to meet him, it was already 12pm and you needed time to think of an excuse.

                “Sehun-ah!” shouted a high-pitched girly voice that you immediately recognized as Eunseo’s. You saw her jogging towards you guys wearing a rather revealing sports bra and short shorts that almost showed all of her . Although she was your ‘friend’, you sometimes did not understand her choice of clothing or why she had to be so ty about it. You grimaced as she approached you guys and smiled at Sehun.

                “Sehun-ah, I was just wondering if you wanted to join me and possibly a few other people for lunch at that new sushi place that just opened around the corner” She said this while leaning in and basically sticking her cleavage in Sehun’s face. Sehun looked uncomfortable and hesitated for a moment, looking at you. Eunseo saw this and glanced at you as if she just realized you were standing there.

                “Oh, and I would invite you too Hanbyul, but I know how you hate seafood” she said this innocently while looking at you but you could detect a hint of venom in her voice, as if she was trying to tell you to back off of Sehun. Wow, this girl was really getting on your nerves. Eunseo was holding onto Sehun’s arm now and he was kind of blushing. You took this as a sign that he wanted to go and you raised your eyebrows at him and mouthed ‘go with her’ (even though you weren’t sure if you wanted him to go yourself). He seemed to hesitate again after a few seconds but eventually gave in; you were unsure of how you felt as you watched them leave, Eunseo basically dragging Sehun by his arm. You smiled as Sehun turned around and waved at you.

                This is good Hanbyul because now you can think about your meeting with Kai and plan what you are going to do. Of course it wasn’t like you were never going to tell Sehun, but you were going to tell him a little later, after you were sure of what was going on. You didn’t want Sehun to worry about you too much. You ran up to the room you were currently occupying at the Institute. You shared it with another girl but she was hardly ever around. It was a plain room with two single beds, a closet, body length mirror and a bathroom.

You flopped on to the bed and stared at the plain, grey ceiling and before you knew it you fell asleep. You dreamed. You dreamt of Kai, your father, Sehun, Taesoo; You dreamt of the past, when life was so much easier. When you woke up it was already dark outside; your clock read 6:15 pm. You decided to go meet Kai. Despite the more frightening scenarios that you could think of, your curiosity won over. You took a quick shower and slipped on a pair of skinny jeans, a dark blue hoody and combat boots, in which you hid a pocket knife(just in case). You took some time to examine yourself in the mirror. You were rather slender, though underneath your skin was all lean muscle, and you were on the taller side with long legs which you secretly took pride in. Your naturally wavy black hair hung all the way to your waist but you usually kept it up. You had big eyes but other than that you thought your face was plain-looking; you never had the opportunity, like other girls your age, to be vain about your looks and put on makeup or dress all fancy.

It only took you 7 minutes to walk to 22^nd street; there were quite a lot of people, couples mostly, walking on the streets and enjoying the night. You spotted Kai immediately, standing and reading a poster that was stuck onto the front window of a small shop. He was dressed in a grey sweater and black jeans, his dark hair slightly ruffled by the cool wind, and he was holding a white plastic bag. He turned around when he saw your reflection in the shop window.

                “So you came” He said this with a happy, relieved tone, like he was nervous or scared that you wouldn’t have come.

                “Yup, I came, but I’m not completely stupid and naïve so if you have some sneaky plan up your sleeves you can drop it right now because I have back up” you bluffed. But Kai just looked at you for a moment and then burst out laughing.

                “I see you haven’t changed a bit, It’s okay you can chill out, I just wanted to talk to you and catch up…I mean, we haven’t seen each other in like 6 years”

                “And who’s fault is that?” you said this accusingly but Kai ignored it. The only reason you were so pissed off at him was because you felt betrayed, like he had abandoned you. Even though you did not know the whole story you were always filled with an irrational stubborness to be mad at Kai.

                “Have you had dinner yet? Because there’s this really great ramen shop a few blocks away”Kai suggests, You shake your head and the two of you start walking. The atmosphere was rather awkward but you had millions of questions running through your head that you were just dying to ask him; you were just not sure where to start.

                The Ramen shop was very cozy and there were only 2 people inside; it was the perfect place to talk. You didn’t realize how hungry you were until you smelled the heavenly smell of cooked ramen and your stomach grumbled in response. Kai laughed and you blushed looking down at your feet. You guys took a seat near the back corner in a little booth. When the waitress came to take your guy’s order you could totally notice her flirting with Kai, and he was flirting back…wow, he has changed. When she left you couldn’t take it anymore, you just had to ask.

                “What happened to you? Why did you leave? Where did you go? Why haven’t you tried to contact me…?”

Kai looked surprised by your sudden outburst “whoa calm down, one question at a time, sheesh lady”

                You took a deep breath and looked at him expectantly.

“Okay first of all you have to know that…my father is the head of the Pu reun jinju underground institute” When you heard this you almost choked on your own spit.

“Seriously? The Blue pearl? Your dad is the HEAD? You said this rather loudly and Kai leaned over the table quickly to cover your mouth.

                “Don’t say that so loudly here”

                “Sorry, haha, that was stupid of me” You were just so shocked. The Blue pearl was another large underground organization like the Black pearl(the one you are a part of). The Blue pearl was basically your rival. Competition was persistent between the two; It was always about who got more clients, who got more money, who could complete the most dangerous jobs without getting caught. If Kai was part of the rival institute than you shouldn’t even be here with him right now, let alone talking to him and possibly giving away important information.

                “But….how? Why didn’t you tell me before?” you looked at him with wide eyes.

                “I didn’t know either until after we left to the countryside. My dad had screwed up big time. He had an extremely rich and powerful client who had requested for them. But basically my dad and a few other members failed the job, and an agent died.  He had to use almost all the money from the organization to pay back the client or else he was going to hand them over to the police. My dad was not very popular with the other members after that and he was threatened several times, so he had to flee, and he took us with him” Kai said this while looking at you straight in the eyes. You shivered but the moment was interrupted when the waitress arrived with your noodles. She gave Kai another flirty look before she left and you rolled your eyes.

You tried to process what he just told you and a billion questions were running through your head. You remember never seeing Kai’s dad whenever you went to hang out at Kai’s house when you were little. Kai had told you he was a businessman and had to travel around a lot; However, both you and Kai seemed to have been fooled, young and naïve as you were.

                “So what happened after that?”

                “What happened?...well after revealing all that to me he forced me to train, and I did. He planned to come back and take over the institute again, but he was getting old so he needed me to get stronger as he got weaker. I despised him for a while, I hated him for lying to me and my mother and getting involved in something that could’ve killed us all. But as I worked harder and matured I realized he did it for us, he did it so we could have food, a house, clothes, education for me; He was brave enough to take a risk for the better. I realized I owed it to him, because he’s my dad” Kai was looking down at his hands but he sounded determined.

“We moved back a few years later, when I was 15. My dad easily took back his place as head because the Blue pearl was doing pretty poorly and the people forgave him. I was so happy to be back, and I was so excited to be able to see you again Hanbyul. But my dad told me what had happened to you, how your dad had left and how you joined the Black pearl institute, and he basically forbade me from trying to contact you, because, you know, we’re supposed to be enemies.” He said this with a sad smile and you wanted to so badly to reach over and give him a hug.

                “Do they know you’re here right now?” you ask.

                “No, I snuck out. They probably think I’m out somewhere getting drunk” he said this with a mischievous grin.

                “Why? do you do that a lot or something?”

                “Maybe”

                You shook your head with disapproval while patting your stomach; you were so full from the ramen.

"It must've been fate our something, us running into each other during that job. Or else I would have expected to never see you again." Kai continued. Yes it must've been fate that both you and Kai were assigned to the same job.

                “Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I brought this for you!” Kai said, while giving you the plastic bag he was carrying earlier. You take out a tub of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, the kind from your favorite brand, and you smile as a rush of nostalgia washes over you.

                “I was going to get us ice cream cones from the street vendor in the park that we used to go to but they closed down sadly” Kai looked at you expectantly, waiting for your reaction. And you couldn’t help but start crying.

                “I’ve missed you…so much” You said this with your lip quivering and tears running down your face. “Oh my god, I hate you, I thought you were dead! You could’ve at least secretly contacted me or left some sort of sign…this is so embarrassing, this is all your fault…I wouldn’t be crying right now if it wasn’t for you…and I already decided that I hated you for leaving but now you have to come waltzing back with this crazy story and buying me ice cream…what do you want me to do Kai?”. By now you were slightly hysterical and a few of the workers and customers were looking over at you guys. If you hadn’t been crying you would have laughed at the number of dirty looks Kai received.

You rarely cried, and when you did it was never EVER in public. Your chest already ached from all the mixed emotions evoked from seeing Kai and hearing his story, but him bringing you your favorite flavored ice cream from your childhood just made you break. You remember the first time you met Kai and how you two became friends. You were only five, and even at that age you were a stubborn, headstrong tom boy who always had the urge to defend those that were weaker. So naturally, that day, when you saw a boy being bullied in the park, you just had to go and help him. You were swinging on the swings, happily your ice cream cone when you spotted a group of boys in the middle of the play yard. The curious kid that you were, you hesitantly approached the group and you realized that they were crowded around another little boy, Kai. But of course you didn’t know who he was, let alone his name, you just remember that he had been really small and skinny with a mop of black hair and abnormally large eyes that were, at the moment, filled with fear. You remember watching an older kid step forward and push the little boy in the middle to the ground; the other boys began to laugh and several were kicking him. You couldn’t take it anymore so you ran over and pushed into the crowd of boys, trying to shield Kai’s body with yours. You remember them laughing and jeering at you, pulling at your pigtails. But before they could do anything more you took your ice cream cone and shoved it into the older boys face while kicking him in the balls. You and Kai were friends ever since. Now looking at Kai, so handsome and strong, so popular with the girls, you couldn’t imagine him as the little boy he was before; he’s definitely changed.

                Kai offered you a tissue and you noisily blow your nose, slightly embarrassed by your outburst.

                “I’m sorry” you say.

                “No I’m sorry…” Kai had conflicted emotions on his face for a moment, like he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure if he should. “It’s just, okay I know this is kind of sudden, but you can…come back with me you know.”

                You look up confused,"back with you...?" You repeat what he said slowly like you were testing how to say something in a foreign language. what does he mean?

                “Well, the thing is, I talked to my father and I convinced him that you would be a great asset to the Blue pearl, I mean you’re probably one of the best agents of our age, excluding me of course. And he would welcome you if you decided to leave the Black Pearl and join us.”

                “Kai, I don’t think that’s a good idea, the Head would probably kill me for even suggesting that, are you crazy?” You couldn’t believe he was actually offering this to you. The immediate response that came to mind was, of course, no; Why would you leave Sehun and Key? In a weird, really messed up way, the institute had become your home and family. The thought leaving it and venturing into rival territory was rather strange and terrifying; It was like what happened 6 years ago all over again.

                You opened your mouth to reject his offer but he cut you off, seeming to have already anticipated your answer “There’s one more thing, If you join us, we’ll give back the files.” Damn. This sorta changed things.