, , …

Sehun reread over and over a text from Baekhyun the following morning. Baekhyun was asking where the photo of Byul’s dead body was as evidence of his work. Sehun was supposed to send it the day before. He paced back and forth in his living room, unsure of what to say or what to do. In reply, he texted back that they should meet to discuss some things first. Sehun hoped that was enough to buy him some time for a real plan. In a hurry, he sent Chanyeol a text as well.

To: Chanyeol

911 meet at my house

How was he going to explain that he let a girl get away from him? ...Or rather he didn’t actually try to kill her at all.

Baekhyun’s reply that came a minute later made him clench his teeth.

From: Byun B

Should I have to handle things myself?

Sehun wondered if Baekhyun sent people to check Byul’s apartment building to see if she was still alive. Clients sometimes did that just to make sure Sehun and Chanyeol actually got the job done. He found it to be a bit insulting. If he was given a job, he would always do it thoroughly and cleanly. Their brilliant reputation is evidence of that. Or at least until Seo Eunbyul was his target. The idea of Baekhyun’s men hovering around Byul made his stomach churn. Grabbing a jacket, he was headed out the door.

“Byul! Are you up?”

Cracking her eyes open to peek at time on her phone, it was barely eight in the morning. Why was Jangmi yelling at the top of her lungs so early in the day? Choosing to ignore her, Byul rolled to her other side and buried herself underneath the blanket.

Her bedroom door flew open in the next second. “Hey! Get up!”

“Why?” she groaned.

“There’s someone at the door.”

Byul sighed, clearly annoyed. “Ignore them. They’ll go away if it’s those people with the fliers.”

“But they’ve been knocking for a minute straight. It looks urgent. What should I do?”

“Fine, let me handle this.” Unwillingly, Byul dragged herself out of bed and into the living room because Jangmi was apparently incapable of ignoring random people at the door. Peeking into the little peephole, however, she stepped back with a gasp. “It’s him!”

Jangmi lingered a foot behind her. “Him who?”

“The guy I was with yesterday. What does he want?” There wasn’t a reason that she could think of as to why he could be knocking at her door at eight in the morning. Was he angry that she still had his handkerchief?

“I don’t know! Answer it.”

Holding her breath, Byul pulled her door open. “Hey, umm—”

“Are you okay?” he interrupted.

She paused, staring at him in bewilderment. “I am. Why?”

He was at once in a rush. Without waiting to be invited in, Sehun squeezed past her and went straight to the living room window to look outside. Byul briefly wondered how he knew which floor and room number she lived in just by dropping her off in front of the building the day before. She was unconsciously running a hand through her hair to keep it tidy. Beside her, Jangmi was only silent as she watched Sehun’s suspicious actions.

Sehun was looking through a little slit between the curtains. “Have you seen any strange lurking cars in your area?”

“No,” she replied, unsure about her own answer. It felt like she was missing something about the situation. As if she should be scared of something but instead she was clueless. “I’m sensing some kind of danger here…”

“If you—” Sehun turned and only then noticed Jangmi in the room. “Hi, nice to meet you. Can I talk to Byul in private?”

Jangmi left with a shrug to return to her own room. “Whatever. Just keep the volume down.”

“What is happening?” Byul demanded as soon as Jangmi shut the door behind her.

Instead of answering her, Sehun was creating more questions. “Are you sure you haven’t noticed anything suspicious around here? Like men walking around in suits or something?”

“No.” She crossed her arms. “I’d be less worried if you tell me what’s going on.”

“I can’t really explain.” He looked through the window one last time and again saw nothing out of place. Sehun knew better than to sit around and wait for something to happen. “We have to leave.”

“Wait, what?”

“Go change. It’s an emergency. Just hurry.”

Choosing not to fight against him, Byul went into her room to switch into jeans and a top. After pulling her hair up in a ponytail, she met Sehun in the living room. It didn’t look like he moved away from the window for even a second. Seeing that she was ready, he ushered her towards the doors.

“Let’s go. We have to move quickly.”

Byul struggled to keep up with his long-legged pace. He muttered something about the elevator being a bad idea before he dragged her towards the stairs. By the time they were in his car, she was out of breath from their jog. Before she could even buckle in her seat belt, Sehun was already speeding down the road. She kept quiet during the drive and sensed that it was a bad idea to speak.

After a few minutes, they pulled into a garage that was attached to a more than impressive house that made Byul wonder what he did for a living again. It was very modern, painted white and very boxy in shape. Glass made up some of the walls from the second floor. She climbed out of the car when he did and followed him through the stone pathway that led to the front of the house. Inside there was more white—white tables, white walls, white tiles. The sofas in the living room were black to reflect an elegant white and black theme.

Byul kicked off her shoes by the door beside his. “Are you going to explain to me now?”

“I don’t know where to begin. It’s compli—” Sehun cut himself off in the middle of his sentence to stare blankly at something. Following his gaze, Byul noticed another boy lounging on one of the barstools by a tall glass table.

The strangest part wasn’t finding some other nameless boy in the house with them. It was even stranger that he was pointing directly at Byul with a finger as if he was about to accuse her of something.

“S-She’s…” the boy stammered. “She’s supposed to be dea— hmmph!”

Sehun had walked over and covered his mouth with a hand. “Chanyeol, shut up for a second. That’s not why I called you here.”

“Can you please explain to me how she’s still alive?” he demanded in a hushed tone so that she wouldn’t hear.

“Hey.” Byul interrupted their conversation. “Can I go to the bathroom?”

“Sure. It’s down that hall to your right.” Sehun pointed.

As she left silently, Chanyeol returned to staring at his friend in complete disbelief. “Sehun, what did you do?”

Sehun awkwardly stuffed his hands in his pocket, unsure of how to answer Chanyeol’s question. He had been asking himself the same thing. He kept his eyes fixed on anywhere but Chanyeol to avoid his friend’s questioning hard stare. Sehun found that his eyes were on the hall that Byul had disappeared to. “I couldn’t do it. You’ve seen her. She’s barely