oo1: By Chance

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The man has been following her for the past five minutes, and it’s diverting Hei’s attention from the person she’s supposed to be following.

She’s caught glimpses of him in her peripheral. His hair is styled in the latest fashion, his clothing is surprisingly colorful, and she has to admit that he’s very handsome. But all of that doesn’t matter because he’s distracting her from her mission.

 

Hei veers down a smaller street, her eyes trained on the young boy weaving through the crowd. Sources have pointed to him being connected to the thief, and it was the best lead she’d gotten in days, one she definitely wasn’t about to let go.

 

Amidst the crowd, Hei sees the door of a building open. A small shape slips inside.

 

There.

 

Another look behind her, and the man is gone. Hei knows not to try her luck and hope that he’s truly lost her, so for extra measure, she casts out a brief time-stop—enough for her to duck through the door, then inside. Her powers shutters out the moment she makes it inside the dim building, and she scans for signs of the boy.

 

It’s empty at first glance; Hei grips the handles of her blade as she scans the room, eyes struggling to adjust to the dark.

 

“He’s not here, you know,” someone says. “And even if he were, he’s not the person you’re looking for.”

 

Hei whirls around, drawing her blade and bracing it in front of herself. A sharp, certain footstep cuts through the silent, and a man steps out of the shadows.

 

She recognizes him immediately. “You,” Hei snaps. “What the hell do you want?”

 

The only source of light comes from a broken board in the wall. A narrow sliver of sunlight beams into the room, barely enough to illuminate her surroundings. It does, however, catch the faint grin hanging on his lips. “I want the same thing as you,” he drawls. “I thought I’d give you pointers because you were doing it all wrong. Newbie mistake, though. I understand.”

 

His hands are tucked in his pockets and his walk is lazy—deliberately so. She tenses. “Stay where you are.”

 

“Or what?”

 

His arms shift. Then, blindingly fast, he flicks his wrist towards her.

 

All her training sharpens into the one moment. Hei manages to throw one of the blades tucked underneath her wrist towards him, but it misses him and instead cuts through his sleeve, bare centimeters away. Something hard and cold slams into her wrist with enough strength that it forces her into the wall, and then her other wrist is trapped by the same, cold substance. Hei looks up to see ice hardening around her wrist to her hands, effectively cutting her off from any summoning. Her sword is knocked right out of her grasp.

 

The man takes a couple of steps closer. Hei gives her hand a tug, but the ice restrains them surprisingly well.

 

“What do you want?” she manages through gritted teeth.

 

He folds his arms. “Just to talk,” he replies.

 

“You don’t talk like this!”

 

“Calm down. You threw a knife at me.” He produces said knife with two fingers, spinning it idly. “I just did all of that for self defence.”

 

Hei gives one of her arms another tug, but it’s fruitless. “Which family are you from?”

 

“Not the Song family, that’s for sure.” He tilts his head at her, leaning in. “Which you’re from, right? The last girl I met from the Song family definitely wasn’t as pretty as you are.”

 

Hei contemplates kicking him, but decides against it. She’s not sure her legs would reach where he’s standing. “What. Family.”

 

His smirk only widens. “Guess, sweetheart.”

 

“You’re interfering with a mission,” she snaps. “So it doesn’t matter which family you’re from, because if I report this to superiors, you’ll—”

 

“Get in trouble? Sorry to burst your bubble, but that boy was a wrong lead. Did you check your sources properly? Did you follow up that man you interrogated to make sure he wasn’t providing you false information? That child’s just a common thief who’s working for a gang he barely knows about. He won’t help you.”

 

The ice remains firm around her hands, and Hei takes a deep breath to calm herself. “Let’s say you’re right,” she replies slowly, schooling all of her self-control into her voice. “What does that have to do with you?”

 

He lets out a slight laugh. “Your family’s resources sure are limited, Song Hei,” he says. “Before I left, my

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Bbhfever #1
Chapter 5: Popped up to reread cause I forgot what happened, and I already knew but I was not disappointed! Love how you kept them bantering as always even with their new relationship.
luv_kero
2415 streak #2
Chapter 5: how has it been almost 2 yrs since i last commented on this BRUH
how did i miss last yr's update BRUUUUHH
im the worst OTL
BUT WE BACK AND TIME TO CATCH UP ON LIFE NOW THAT I'M (sorta) DONE WITH CLASSES AGAIN YAHOOOO

But oh, how I have missed Breadboy and our lovely miss Hei and their antics and their banter and just everything about them, hehe. :') We should just set a legion of old ladies upon Breadboy whenever he needs his ego to get knocked down a couple of pegs, HAHA. And YAAASSS, again, I love how strong and sassy Hei is from the get-go here, and how she holds her own against Breadboy, refusing to give him an inch since she knows he'll take a mile if he can. :P

And oof, I know what Hei feels going into stuff blind. OTL Sometimes, you just end up learning things on the job and saying YES, even though you have no idea what you've just gotten yourself into. ^^; Gotta fake it 'til you make it, LOOOOOL. :') BUT I KNOW HEI WON'T FAIL. SHE IS CAPABLE AND STRONG, and if my lost self can manage to wallow my way through life, then Hei can do ANYTHING she comes across and sets her mind to, hehe. x]

also a nap sounds great LOOOOOL (even tho i did take a nap earlier today LMAO :') can never have enough naps HAHAHAHA)
also im DED at hei's internal freak-out over trying to decide if meeting in her room or breadboy's room is better. or worse, as she so aptly puts it HAHAHAHHA XD

But ooooh, the main plot is slowly coming back to me and I am LOVING all of this world-building, and I am SO intrigued by who the thief could be, and what their power and end goal are!! And it makes me wonder if Breadboy and Hei will eventually defect from their families later on, since this thief probably has strong reasons for leaving as well. :O In Cutlass, the families were the BIG BAD. But here, they're seemingly on the "good" side, so it'll be interesting to see if that changes and how it does!! And poor Hei is definitely feeling blindsided. OTL And when you're the "prodigy" of the family, it probably doesn't feel good at all to not be trusted with such valuable information. >___<

AND POP OFF, QUEEN~ Even though we're all Breadboy simps here, he really shouldn't be trusted so easily, LOOOOL. :') Still too many unanswered questions and unaccounted variables surroundings him, and it's definitely much smarter of Hei to somewhat keep her distance until something happens that solidifies a bond of trust between them. :')
lisbeth110499
#3
Update soon please
Sehixneeo
#4
Chapter 5: Ok so after two years or so of rereading Cutlass and XMTS over and over again, i finally decided to hop in on this alternate universe and so far am not disappointed. Seeing how equally mischievous Baekhyun is and how Hei is that strong independent woman we wanted her to be, my imagination is going bonkers with how the story is gonna go. You can say I’m extremely excited to read this until it’s done, then reread Cutlass and XMTS, and reread this again. I guess you can also tell that there’s not much stories lately that gives me the same amount of satisfaction as yours does 😩💗

thank you for updating even though I’m late haha
Bbhfever #5
Chapter 5: Well seems like I’m caught up ;-;
And is that a jq I smell 👀
Bbhfever #6
Chapter 4: Aw her dress is completely different from the one in cutlass! Also old lady Han is precious
Bbhfever #7
Chapter 1: I wanted to wait until this was finished but !! A girl couldn’t wait anymore. Loving this new dynamic
eggsbeans
#8
Chapter 5: omg I’m already obsessed with this and cant wait to read more! I already have a pretty strong idea who the thief is (hi jinqiong) and it seems hei has already run into her unknowingly! so so excited for this and it feels so new and refreshing to read these same characters but with different lives and personalities and goals!! love it
anitaklr24
#9
Chapter 5: I missed this story.
It is interesting that the thief is someone from a family.
I wonder why did they send Hei without much information?

I am looking forward to the next chapter!
Take care!
Hugs ^^,
baekkingdom
#10
Chapter 5: Welcome back! I have missed this unusual yet sort of familiar BaekHei. I really love their changed dynamics (I keep comparing this BaekHei with Cutlass BaekHei, idk if it's normal, but I'm doing it anyway and I am enjoying doing it ngl).

As for this chapter, it was both in a way lighthearted and intense. Intense as in, it felt like theories are bubbling up like boiling water. And soon we'll see something intense here! I in guessing theories, so I'd ratger shut myself now x'D
Can't wait for their further adventures together. But I'll be waiting patiently :D

Thank you for taking out time and updating this story. Really needed some BaekHei moments in my life rn! <3