Two years later…

“You’re late.” 

Yoon Bomi took a sip of her coffee and carefully eyed the woman who had just walked out of the coffee shop. Bomi had hoped that she would startle the woman, but the woman merely lifted her brows and lowered her coffee from her lips. Curse their training. It had cost Bomi a potentially entertaining scene.

“Were you expecting me?” the woman simply asked.

“For the past few weeks, you’ve been waiting for me in this same coffee shop every day at precisely eight in the morning,” Bomi said. “Same corner, same order, same question. Forgive me for recognizing the pattern.”

“Good morning to you too, Bomi,” the woman chuckled. She pulled her scarf up higher on her neck, and Bomi found herself wishing that she had also worn a scarf. Wintertime always brought a stinging cold, and though Bomi normally loved the white wonderlands that the snow normally created, this winter was different. This winter, Bomi was too busy with other things to enjoy the season.

“Eunji,” Bomi nodded in acknowledgement. “I can’t say that it’s a pleasure.”

“Is that how you speak to your precious friend from your trainee days?” Jeong Eunji grinned, her eyes crinkling in her characteristic eye-smile that Bomi begrudgingly admitted to missing. For the most part, Eunji looked the same as when they graduated from their training academy: short but emanating strength, smooth skin, and a beautiful smile. Her hair was shorter now, a little past her shoulders, but it was the same dark brown as it always had been.

“My precious friend only recently started speaking with me again because the princess told her to.”

Real hurt flashed in Eunji’s eyes. “Bbom-ah, you know I’ve tried reaching out to you several times after your mission, but you cut everyone off after you went AWOL.”

Your mission. The mission that got her entire team killed. After Bomi had escaped with her life, she stopped taking orders from her superiors. She never officially quit her job as a secret agent for the royal family, but she may as well have. Ever since she got back from her failed mission, she had ignored every message that they sent her. They had sent people to try to get her back and had even tried threatening her with “consequences”, but what more did Bomi have left to lose that the Shadow Clan hadn’t already taken away from her? 

Just thinking about how the Clan had murdered four people that she loved dearly made anger boil low in her stomach. The Shadow Clan was a dangerous group of usurpers that had been trying to take the throne for nearly a decade. They had staged several assassination attempts targeted at the heir to the throne, Princess Naeun, and because of that, the princess was never allowed to go anywhere by herself. The Clan members never stayed in one place, and some even secretly lived among innocent citizens, so despite the royal family’s desperate attempts to destroy the Clan, they hadn’t had much success. Bomi’s failed mission was a testament to that.

“I know,” Bomi said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“What’s stopping you from coming back with me? Don’t we have the same goal?”

“I work alone now.”

“Bbom-ah, I’m not just here because the princess sent me on a mission to find you.”

“No? So she didn’t specifically choose you to come fetch me because she knew that you were the closest to me in our training academy?” Bomi frowned. “What’s that about, anyways? Why is Princess Naeun so adamant on personally choosing agents from the same academy? And why are you guys all women around the same age?”

“She feels safer. If she’s going to be constantly surrounded by strong, armed agents who know how to fight, she’s going to prefer them to be females. It’s a sad truth in this day and age,” replied Eunji. Bomi pursed her lips and accepted that explanation, no matter how sad it was. Eunji continued, “And yes, I will admit that the princess specifically chose me because I was the closest to you, but I only agreed to it because I’m worried about you.”

“You don’t have to worry about me.” Bomi didn’t want her to.

“Say that all you want, but the fact of the matter is that I still care about you and I always will. You and Yookyung-ah were―”

“Don’t,” Bomi cut in sharply. “Stop. Please.”

Eunji paused and stared at Bomi with worried eyes. She sighed, then leaned her back against the wall next to Bomi. “We keep getting reports about a certain somebody raiding Shadow Clan meetups. They wreak havoc everytime it happens. Blood spewed everywhere, bodies carelessly thrown aside, bullets lodged in throats…that kind of havoc.”

“Sounds like this person knows how to leave their mark.”

“Sounds like this person knows the fastest way to get killed.”

Bomi just shrugged nonchalantly. “She’s still alive.”

“For how much longer?” Eunji turned to Bomi. “We’re after the same thing, Bomi. My team and I have been hand-selected by the princess to take down the Shadow Clan. They’ve been after her and the throne for too long. We could really use your help.”

“We’re not after the same thing.”

“Then what are you after?”

Bomi raised her cup to her lips, allowing the warmth to drift up to her face. “I’m after a man with one eye.”

Eunji hesitated before saying, “If you join us, you have a better chance at finding the man you’re after. Please, just come back with me and give it a shot. Join my team.”

“I don’t do teams anymore.” Not after what happened. “I don’t need a team.”

“That’s a lie,” Eunji said. “You and I both know it.”

“And you’re so sure because why?”

“I know you. And I know that you’re scared to join another team because you don’t want to lose them too.”

Bomi’s hands went rigid around her coffee cup.

“I could always see right through you,” Eunji said softly.

“You always could,” Bomi murmured.

“Then by that reasoning, we should never make friends, fall in love, adopt pets, or grow any sort of attachment to anything, right? Because death is imminent and nothing lasts forever. Is that correct?” 

Bomi said nothing. She just clenched her jaw and looked down at her hands around her cup.

Eunji shook her head. “You have to live in the moment. Your fear of the future will only hold you back. The only thing you can do is move forward.”

Bomi tightened her hands around her cup. Suddenly it wasn’t hot enough to warm up her hands.

“Our job will be very dangerous, so I can’t promise you anything except one thing.” Eunji put her hand around Bomi’s, and Bomi locked eyes with Eunji. “We’ll always have your back.”

I’ve got your back. 

For a split second, Yookyung was in front of her, not Eunji. But when she blinked, the image disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Eunji began removing her scarf from around her neck. 

“What are you doing?” Bomi asked as Eunji threw her scarf around Bomi’s neck and started wrapping it around her.

“You’re cold,” answered Eunji. “Besides, it looks much better on you than it does on me.”

“You don’t have to―”

“Think about it. When you come to your answer―your true answer―, you’ll know where to find me.” 

Bomi stared at Eunji, unsure of what to say.

When Eunji finished adjusting the scarf around Bomi’s neck, she smiled and stepped back. “Return the scarf when you’re ready to give me your answer.” She patted Bomi’s cheek, then turned around and disappeared into the crowd of passersby on the sidewalk.