[CONTENTID1]re:sentment[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Chapter 2[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

The day Soojin’s life would change forever started like any other. She had planned a date with her fiancé in the evening and was in a great mood, looking forward to seeing him. When she heard the chime of the doorbell, a wide smile bloomed on her lips. She walked to the front door and opened it. Soojin was greeted by Baekhyun’s emotionless face which clashed with her cheerful smile. When she hugged him as usual, he barely touched her, his hands hovering over her back. His body was stiff. He entered her flat without speaking a word, and she knew something was wrong.

He didn’t glance at her when he stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned his body toward her. Her fiancé seemed tired, his eyes were dull and lacking their usual shine. He had something on his mind, and it couldn’t be good. Soojin’s happiness and anticipation evaporated like steam and were replaced by an ominous sense of foreboding. She nervously bit her lip, her hands clutching her purse.

“Baekhyun?” she asked when he stayed quiet. She reached out to him, frowning worriedly, but he took one step back, keeping his distance.

“I need to tell you something, Soojin.”

She froze when she heard him call her by her name since he never did this. He either called her Soo or sweetheart, never Soojin. The teasing spark in his eyes with which he normally gazed at her was gone. His brown eyes left no room for emotions. Her stomach churned uncomfortably.

“What is it?” she asked, her eyes growing wide and fearful. This couldn’t lead to anything good.

“I want to break up with you. I want to end our engagement.”

He said these fateful words in a nonchalant way. The lack of feeling in his eyes proved he didn’t care that he had just shattered her entire world with two simple sentences. Her knees felt weak. She stumbled back and held on to the wall for support. Her lips parted, but she was unable to form words, shock overwhelming her.

He couldn’t be serious… this had to be one of his silly jokes… right? Tears pricked at her eyes as she scanned his face for any kind of indication that he was just messing with her, that he would laugh and make fun of her for being fooled, but nothing of the sort happened. His expression remained blank, void of any emotion. This hollow stare was eerie, something she had never seen on him.

“B-But why? What happened?” she finally managed to say, her voice sounding muffled since she was pressing her hand on to hold in her sobs.

He sighed and crossed his arms, staring at her like she was a nuisance. “I fell in love with someone else and I want to be with her instead, so I’m ending this relationship.”

His words drove the knife deeper into her heart, cutting it to pieces. She wasn’t good enough for him. That was what he was saying. Her purse fell from her hand and landed on the floor. The tears in her eyes spilled over and ran down her cheeks.

“W-Why so suddenly? You never said anything a-and I thought you were happy with me,” she cried. He made no indications to comfort her and kept his distance. “We already planned the wedding!”

“I canceled our plans. There won’t be a wedding. I lost interest in you, it’s that simple,” he said in brutal honesty. “Accept it and move on, Soojin. We won’t see each other again.”

He removed his engagement ring and put it on the shelf next to him. Then he left, closing the door behind him as he walked out of her life. She crumbled to the ground mere seconds after, crying pitifully.

This was how the love of her life discarded her. He had been her light, filling her days with warmth and secureness, and the moment he left, he took all these things with him.

The second day in her new unit was torture for Soojin. First thing in the morning, she received a call from an unknown number and it turned out to be Baekhyun’s. He told her to meet him in EXO’s gym, reminding her to hurry up before he abruptly ended the call. She had been fuming ever since, saving his number under the flattering name “”. Before she headed to her workplace, Soojin changed into comfortable sports clothing that allowed quick movements, consisting of black shorts and a tank top that showed off her toned arms. Jeno often dragged her along when he went weightlifting and her hard work had paid off after a while. She could pack a punch.

When she entered the gym, Baekhyun was waiting for her, impatiently glancing at his black wristwatch. His brown eyes scrutinized her, making her uncomfortable. He wore sports clothing as well; black sweatpants and a tight-fitting gray shirt. She hated to admit that he looked attractive in this outfit—her heart jumped and squeezed painfully. Maybe working with him would be harder than she had thought...

“Finally! I thought you got lost on the way here, Lee,” he taunted.

“Jerk,” she growled under her breath.

“I want to see how good you are at defending yourself. It’ll be important for future missions,” he said, the condescending smirk on his lips riling her up. Resentment clouded her mind. She couldn’t believe he had the nerve to treat her so degradingly—he still owed her an apology for what he had done, but it was clear that the arrogant didn’t even know what an apology was.

“Let’s make one thing clear. I don’t expect much of a rookie,” he added fuel to the fire of her anger.

Soojin decided that he had mocked her for long enough—she would show him what she was capable of. Letting her gym bag fall to the ground, she ran at him, curling her hands into fists. She noticed how the look in his eyes changed, how they froze over as he reacted, evading her first punch. She hit air, but it didn’t deter her. Her rage was her new strength.

The icy look on his sharp features proved that she didn’t mean a thing to him anymore. And maybe he had never cared about her in the first place, only toying with her until he had found someone better. The thought hurt. It sent a bullet straight through her chest. A part of her traitorous heart still clung to the beautiful memories from three years ago, even if they brought nothing but misery whenever she remembered them. She drew in a breath and met his condescending gaze, swallowing hard. Blinking away the tears, she reminded herself to stay strong. She hadn’t become an agent because she was a weak coward who would cry at the sight of her ex.

“Come on, don’t hold back!” he taunted and threw a punch at her collarbones. She caught his fist and held it with both hands. He pushed against her hold, intending to force her to move back, but he underestimated her brute strength. Her arms shook in exertion, but she didn’t budge, not a single centimeter. She was as solid as a rock and did not relent. Not to him. Never again.

“Do you really think I would hold back when I get the chance to kick your ?” she shouted, pushing his fist away and letting go of it when he stumbled slightly.

“You can try all you want, you’ll never best me. Unless I allow it, of course.”

“We’ll see about that, Byun,” she grinned, taking the challenge.  

She threw fast and consecutive punches at him, concentrating hard on catching him off guard, but he was more experienced than her and easily saw through her plan. While she was focused on striking his upper body, she neglected her defense and he used this to his advantage. Baekhyun angled his body and raised his leg to kick her. Soojin’s eyes widened when she noticed the unexpected movement from the corner of her eye and relied on her instincts. She used her arm to dodge his kick, but the impact struck her hard and broke her balance. As pain bloomed on her side, she let out a curse and fell. Knowing that she couldn’t stay on the ground, she pushed herself up quickly despite the pain, following each one of his movements with her eyes.

She gritted her teeth and hid the fact that she was in pain, but he knew her too well and saw right through her. “Want to take a break?” he asked, his expression not giving away what he thought. The blank stare annoyed her.

“No, I’m not done with you yet.”

“You’ll never beat me, face it.” There it was again, that smirk—it would have been attractive, had it not been so damn arrogant.

Soojin needed to prove him wrong—he had humiliated her too often. She needed to win this for the sake of her dignity, so she disregarded the pain in her body. The young agent was in front of him in a flash and elbowed him in the stomach with all the force she could muster. Seeing him stumble with a pained grunt gave her a sense of accomplishment. He shouldn’t have underestimated her. She followed up with a judo throw and succeeded in making him fall. However, he gracefully caught himself, coming to stand on his feet. All this hadn’t taken longer than two seconds. The effortlessness with which he executed his movements was impressive. Baekhyun might be a ty person, but he was a skilled fighter. She couldn’t deny this.

She was breathing heavily at this point and wiped the sweat off her brow, all the while glowering at her ex-fiancé. Baekhyun watched her with piercing eyes, radiating the cold ruthlessness she would expect of a special agent during a fight. He looked intimidating, so much so that she hardly recognized him anymore. What had happened to the cheerful smile he used to show her years ago? Where was the charming glimmer in his eyes, the alluring voice whispering flirty words? This Baekhyun was a stranger through and through. She didn’t know him at all.

Soojin attacked once more, hitting, kicking, doing all she could to win against him, but he was elusive like air; she could never quite get a hold of him and whenever she thought she had cornered him, he pulled another trick from his sleeve, overpowering her.

After a solid forty-five minutes of constant back and forth between them, Soojin was tired but she was stubborn and didn’t think of surrendering. In the meantime, two EXO agents had entered the gym and watched them fight from the sidelines. Their low conversation reached her ears, but she couldn’t afford to get distracted by them.

“Are you giving up now?” Baekhyun asked annoyedly, beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he caught her fist. “This takes way too long.”

“Then why don’t you end it? Are you too weak to stop me?” she challenged, ramming her knee against his thigh. He hissed but retaliated immediately.

“Hey, don’t you think it’s enough?” one of the other agents called out to them, breaking Soojin’s concentration. She made a crucial mistake when she looked over at him, missing the fist that was flying at her stomach. It struck her out of nowhere, and she gagged. The agony hit her like a truck and her knees gave in. Her body collapsed.

“,” Baekhyun uttered, wrapping an arm around her waist to slow her fall and let her down carefully. She landed on her knees and took deep breaths, clutching her stomach with tears burning in her eyes. “Why did you distract her, Chanyeol?”

“Sorry, man! Wasn’t my intention,” his friend answered and jogged over to them, kneelin