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[CONTENTID2]Chapter 7[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

The door was thrown open. As soon as the man spotted Baekhyun injured on the ground, he aimed his gun at him to kill him, but Soojin didn’t let him. She left her hiding spot and kicked his knees from behind. He stumbled, swallowing a curse—he hadn’t realized she was in the room until now. Her excessive training allowed her to foresee his next actions, so she prevented them before they could happen. She slung her arm around his neck, roughly pushing his back against her chest. Now she had him in a chokehold, putting pressure on his neck to restrict his breathing and show him who was in charge.

It would be easy to snap his neck in this position, and while she wasn’t intending to kill, her opponent certainly didn’t know about her objectives. Soojin had never ended anyone’s life, but she was prepared to if no other option remained.

“ing… !” he growled and fumbled with his gun, panic taking over. She dragged him backward and forcefully turned him away from Baekhyun so that he couldn’t do anything stupid with his weapon.

“Drop your weapon,” she barked in his ear.

“Who the are you?”

“Drop your weapon, I won’t repeat myself another time.” Her tone was freezing and her hold unrelenting. Soojin’s bruised wrist ached from the strain, but it was manageable. There was no way she would give in to someone like him.

When he continued to push and pull at her arm, she raised her gun to his head, cold metal meeting skin. “Last warning,” she hissed in the man’s ear. Her muscular arm around his neck tightened like a constrictor that had caught its prey. Just because she was a woman didn’t mean she was weak, and this guy should have taken her seriously from the start.

A wave of satisfaction overcame her when he gave in and dropped the gun, Soojin kicking it out of reach. However, she didn’t trust the guy at all and opted to knock him out to be safe. She whipped her arm out and performed a knockout strike, targeting the pressure point on his neck. No matter how much bigger this guy was, he stood no chance against her attack and she let him fall to the ground.

“That was intense,” she muttered, looking down at him with mixed emotions. Their confrontation had not lasted longer than a minute. She had relied on training and experience—thankfully she could depend on both.

Soojin returned to Baekhyun and crouched next to him, taking in his pale complexion. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yes, what about you?”

“Same,” she replied and stayed close to him, in case another enemy came looking for them. Perhaps the noise of the fight had alerted someone else.

“You fight well,” he breathed, causing her to snap her head around to him. Had he just praised her again?

She never got a chance to answer him since she heard a noise from the hallway. Footsteps were approaching their hiding spot—and by the sound of them, it was a whole group of people. She became hopeful. This had to be local law enforcement; the backup Junmyeon had mentioned earlier.

Soojin wasn’t disappointed. Light fell into the room while a police officer investigated the blood splatters on the ground. He announced his presence according to protocol, and when Soojin answered, he and his colleagues entered the room. A bright flashlight was pointed their way, forcing them to shield their eyes.

“We found the agents on the ground floor. One target has been located as well, the remaining ones are nowhere to be seen. Check the other floors,” he muttered in his earpiece.

And with that, the agent’s job was done—the hostage was safe and the building surrounded. None of the abductors would get away, and Soojin felt pure relief now that the hard part was over. She trusted her colleagues from law enforcement to take care of the rest. What mattered now was providing Baekhyun with the medical care he required—she would stay with him until all matters were resolved.

During the following day, Soojin didn’t have to work and stayed in her apartment. Ever since she and Baekhyun had separated after his appointment with one of the Secret Service’s physicians, she had been wondering what he was doing and if he was alright, but she was hesitant to call him.

In the end, it was he who called her first. Soojin had been working on her latest crochet project—a cute little plushie—when she heard her phone ring late in the evening. She had left it on the kitchen counter and ran over to it, thinking it might be an emergency again. Checking the caller, she was surprised and anxious to see the name of her partner appear on the screen.

“Hello, Baekhyun,” she said and waited for him to answer, but there was silence at the other end of the line. She strained her ears to hear anything, worry growing within her. “Hello? Are you there?” she repeated and again she was met with silence. “I’m going to end the call if you don’t say anything.”

Her words prompted him to open his mouth, but she was flabbergasted when she listened to his voice. It sounded like he was drunk. “I just… wanted to hear your voice, Soojin. B’cause I missed you.”

“You idiot, you shouldn’t drink while you’re recovering!” she shouted into her phone and heard him groan at her loud voice.

“But Soo… I wasn’t feelin’ well,” he mumbled, and despite her anger at his irresponsibility, concern began to eat at her.

She couldn’t leave him alone while he was like this, what if he hurt himself by accident and worsened his injuries? Why did he neglect his own health and safety so often? Didn’t he value his life enough to take care of it? A worried frown settled on her features. Had he always been like this… or was this attitude new? The Baekhyun she had known three years ago hadn’t acted like this. He wouldn’t have put his well-being in danger without thinking. And he wouldn’t have chosen alcohol to drown his demons either.

Once more, Soojin wondered what had occurred in the period they had been separated. Something bad must have happened to him, changed his mindset and perhaps even parts of his personality, but what could it be? Was it connected to a past mission or perhaps the death of his former partner? Soojin gritted her teeth, cursing Baekhyun’s secrecy. She didn’t have time to dwell on these questions since there were more important matters to attend to.

“Byun, listen to me! Tell me your address.”

“You want to visit me?” She heard some rustling and clanging in the background, making her wonder what the hell he was doing right now.

“Yes, I want to visit, but you need to tell me your address first!”

The mumbling she received in return didn’t make any sense, and that was when she lost her patience. “That’s it, I’m calling Chanyeol. Stay where you are, Byun!” she ordered and called Chanyeol instead.

Her colleague luckily picked up soon and she explained the situation to him. He groaned, embarrassed on behalf of his friend. “Look, Soojin, I would love to help you out, but I’m busy right now. Could you go check on him? I’ll tell you his address and the code for his apartment door.”

She wrote the address and the code down. “Okay, I’ll go. But I’m expecting the idiot to pay me back for this,” she grumbled.

“You’re amazing, thanks Soojin! He’ll be thrilled to see you,” he answered (and didn’t sound sarcastic at all.)

“Uh… okay… if you say so. See you, Chanyeol.”

She ended the call and got ready to leave at record speed, hurrying into the night. She brought some painkillers in case Baekhyun needed them and stopped by a supermarket to buy groceries since she was planning to surprise him with dinner. She hadn’t been aware of it before, but Baekhyun lived very close to her, only two streets away. Soojin assumed the Secret Service had purposefully given them apartments that weren’t far apart.

It wasn’t hard to find his home with the description that Chanyeol had given her. Just like hers, it was located on one of the highest floors, forcing her to take the lift instead of the stairs. She walked over a long hallway and stopped at his door, punching in the code.

“Byun, I’m here!” she called as she entered but didn’t receive an answer. She smelled the alcohol as soon as she was inside the apartment, closing the door behind her. Cautiously glancing around, she followed the hallway leading to the living room and the light to reveal a chaotic mess. This could have been a cozy home if the small coffee table in front of his sofa hadn’t been covered in empty soju bottles.  She was shocked. Her prideful and seemingly well-organized partner wasn’t in control of his life at all. Why in the world would he drink so much alcohol when he was injured? She decided to talk some sense into the stubborn goat.

“Byun Baekhyun!” she called again and walked over to the kitchen, but it was empty. Next, she checked the bedroom and found him sitting on the ground with a blank stare and an open soju bottle in his hand. “Hey, didn’t you hear me?” she asked when he didn’t react to her presence. She kneeled and touched his chin, turning his head so that he would look at her. His eyes were hazy, but they recognized her in an instant, widening a fraction.

“Soo?” he grimaced, touching his head. “, it hurts.”

She sighed, torn between feeling bad and being upset at him for neglecting his health. In the end, her concern won the battle. She took the soju from his hand and put it on the desk behind her, ignoring his complaints.

“You idiot, what am I going to do with you?” She sighed to herself, walking to his bathroom to fetch a wet towel and stopping by the kitchen to fill a glass with water. Carrying both to his bedroom, she placed the items on the nightstand and returned to her stubborn partner.

“Come on, you have to rest and sleep for a while. Otherwise, the headache won’t go away and neither will your wound,” she said strictly. He didn’t listen to her, sulking on the floor—when he was drunk, he usually reverted to a child. It would have been amusing, had the situation not been as serious. Soojin didn’t want him to reopen his injury.

“I don’t want to rest,” he mumbled, but she wouldn’t have it.

“Okay you big baby, then we’re doing it my way.” She put her arms around his torso and clumsily pulled him up into a standing position while steadying his swaying form. He struggled at first, but then changed his mind and relaxed in her embrace, leaning against her.

“I missed you, sweetheart,” he sighed in her ear. Hearing her old nickname from his lips startled her.

“You were the one who left me, remember?” she uttered and guided him to the bed, making sure he sat on the mattress before she let go of him. He clung to her, holding on to her shirt as he whined about not wanting to let her go. This was ridiculous. When he was sober, he never said such things.

“Stop it,” she sighed and removed his hands from her shirt, ignoring his pout. His eyes were suspiciously glossy all of a sudden and she prayed he wouldn’t start crying now. That would ruin her day. Not that it wasn’t ruined al