When life takes a turn from bad to worse,

You’re always there, my lovable curse...

As you sauntered in and sat across the table from Baekhyun, his hand unconsciously balled into a fist and twisted against the leg of the wooden furniture in recollection of the agonizing memory by way of a simulation. The memory (that had now started to feel more like a bad dream) of sticking a knife into you with the constructive intent of killing.

You.

The high and mighty assassin who once worked for a shadowy yet the most dangerous organization in the world, ‘The Twelve’, that deployed assassins for their own means. Somewhere along the riveting chase, Baekhyun realized that he had long crossed the line of tenability and reason when it came to you. ‘The only thing that makes you interesting is me,’ he remembers you saying and the words had been playing like a broken record in his head ever since. Until one day, nearly a year ago, he had you exactly where he wanted - alone and unarmed, in the comfort of your own home. 

Baekhyun had felt his body take over all sense of rationale. As if his hand had a mind of its own, he had plunged a knife into your side. It had taken him a few minutes to realize the gravity of the situation as your white sheets soaked up a deep, bloody, garish red and you struggled like a fish out of water to get help. But Baekhyun had not helped you. In the moment, he thought that he wanted to and he just couldn’t. ‘I froze,’ he’d said to Minseok, unable to meet the man’s distrustful gaze. Looking back to the day, memory grossly muddled, he wouldn’t place a bet on his own intentions.

Hair slicked back into a neat high ponytail, the latest make-up trend gave your face higher cheekbones, sharper eyes, fuller lips - but it was all wasted on Baekhyun. Twirling the silken locks of your hair around your fingers, you gazed at him wistfully, hoping that he’d snap out of whatever futility had diverted his attention away from you. ‘What could be more important than this little reunion?’ you wondered.

“Ah!” Baekhyun exclaimed sharply and began on the side of his index finger. It took a pointed piece of chipped wood to jolt him out of his reverie.

You chortled, “Never thought the NIS would come begging for my help.”

If only you knew the effect you had on Baekhyun. 

How overwhelming it was for him to be in the presence of someone who derived pleasure from the ultimate ruin. His eyes closely followed your slender fingers wrap around the sweating glass of ice water and he felt his breath hitch in his throat. The way your husky voice sent tingles down his spine… he couldn’t tell if he wanted to pin you against the wall and tear your chic, well-tailored, salmon pink suit apart or snap your sweet little neck and revel in the joy of watching the light drain out of your boldly lined eyes.

‘Cockroaches will survive the nuclear apocalypse,’ Aeri’s sweet voice rang in Baekhyun’s ears and he felt his stomach knot in the pit. He cleared his throat and threw his shoulders back to regain composure.

Wearing a stoic...almost bored expression, he declared, “It is unfortunate.”

“Hey! I’m a big deal in this industry -” You retorted but he cut you off.

“You know I’ve never heard of an assassin that’s been fired? Retired, yes….dead, quite often...music to my ears, by the way..but fired? It’s definitely a first.”

Despite himself, his lips mirrored your childlike ‘guilty as charged’ smile. After a series of events involving you not following protocol, The Twelve had let you go. They would rather have had you killed but your handler Chen came to your rescue, or so you thought. As per the information with the NIS, Chen said to one of his bosses - she’s on the NIS’ target anyway. Her blood...their hands.

Without wasting any more time in irrelevant conversations, Baekhyun pulled out a file from his shabby laptop bag and slapped it on the table.

“Doh Kyungsoo,” started Baekhyun.

“Ooooh handsome,” you remarked while studying the photograph of a man in his early thirties - crew cut hair, prominent jaw and brows, Armani glasses, big eyes, plush lips.

Baekhyun’s face flared at a compliment that was not directed at him. “Focus,” he commanded through gritted teeth.

You rolled your eyes and sighed, “Fine! Go on.”

“CEO of Stratio, a tech company, which he inherited upon the sudden death of his father. From what we understand, Kyungsoo is now trying to secretly sell a part of the company. So we did a little digging and found that his father was actually murdered as were several of his employees by another assassin called Gwishin who made all the murders look like accidents. So my partner -”

Tilting your head to the side you interrupted him with an innocent, “Who?”

Baekhyun clenched his fist so tight that his knuckles paled. His former partner Park Chanyeol had been murdered by the very same woman who sat in front of him nonchalantly asking the name of his new one.

“Oh Sehun.” Baekhyun replied almost defiantly.

“New guy?”

Baekhyun knew that you were taunting him and he chose against indulging you.

“My partner Oh Sehun and I met with Doh Kyungsoo in his office, inquiring after the segments of the business that are up for sale but instead of answering our questions, he berated us for failing to find out who the killer of his father is.”

“It’s obviously him. Doh Kyungsoo hired Gwishin to do his bidding,” you stated casually, sipping on water.

“We can’t be sure of that yet. Anyway that’s not what we’re interested in.”

Baekhyun’s by-the-book methods exasperated you endlessly, they single-handedly dragged down your energy levels making you feel like some boring corporate slave instead of the sophisticated story-teller that you were.

Throwing your hands up, you exclaimed, “Oh, come on! Doh Kyungsoo is the only one who benefits from the death of his father. The domino effect - I mean...the other colleagues must have been loyal to the old man?”

Baekhyun nodded, “The body of a journalist investigating Stratio and all these sudden deaths was found in a sewer underneath Gyeongju. The official story was ‘Urban explorer overreached himself’. Another important victim is senior Doh’s private secretary. Her death was listed as a heart attack.”

You jutted out your lower lip in mock sorrow and sang, “Aww.. poor thing. So what do you want from me? Kill Gwishin? Kill Doh Kyungsoo?”

“You don’t -,” Baekhyun let out an exasperated sigh, “- we don’t need you to kill anybody.”

An expression of genuine disappointment coloured your face this time. Putting the file back into his bag, Baekhyun continued, “We need you to find out what Doh Kyungsoo’s selling...and who’s buying it.”

“Anything for you, darling,” you teasingly patted the back of Baekhyun’s hand causing him to immediately withdraw it from the table. He knew it was not going to be this easy. You were nothing if not uncooperative. But he’d come well prepared.

You hardly cared for monetary benefits the way you thrived on thrills from a mission. You were the kind to get high on adventure, buzzed and blitzed when you’re a second away from death because nobody better than you maneuvered their way back to living and you loved to make a big show of it. Every single time.

Everybody has a weakness that could be their potential downfall and Baekhyun was determined to find yours.

“Chen is on board so unless you want to go back to being a boring contract killer, you’re welcome to go undercover for the NIS.”

“Wait - did you say Chen is on board? That bastard -”

“I’ll see you in the office at nine.”

Casually chucking some bills on the table, Baekhyun stood up to leave but you immediately grabbed his wrist and held him to the spot. Taking his hand in both of yours, you asked tenderly, “Didn’t she leave you? Why do you still have this dull ring on?”

Baekhyun glared at you in response but utterly unfettered, you continued, “She’s too nice and normal for you -”

He yanked his hand out of your grasp and stormed out of the cafe.

.

.

.

Doh Kyungsoo was mean, snobby, a control-freak, and a bully.

Baekhyun honestly couldn’t think of a situation more volatile than putting a psychopath and a megalomaniac together in one room. Therefore, every step of the operation was deliberated upon in great detail by the NIS. The only thing expected out of you was to stick to the plan, exactly, efficiently, cut-and-dried - no diversions.

The plan was foolproof by virtue of its simplicity.

Oh Sehun had conjured up a seemingly watertight online persona for you by the name Shaye with as many philosophy degrees as she had DUIs. You were to coincidentally cross paths with the only person Doh Kyungsoo cared about - his younger sister Miso - in an AA meeting. You were not permitted to “freestyle” with your AA story of relapse either.

“No bullting,” said Baekhyun solemnly, “stick to the script. I don’t want you caught in a lie.”

“But Shaye is a lie!”

He tirelessly reminded you to ‘be professional and say the right things’ to gain the trust and friendship of a wide-eyed and slightly frivolous Miso. It took the girl less than a week to invite you to dinner at their family home in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu.

.

.

.

The four men - Baekhyun, Minseok, Chen, and Sehun - looked at you as if they’d discovered a new species of a talking, colourful bird but you could hardly blame them. Dressed in hippie clothing and beaded accessories, your hair was dyed in all conceivable colours, and you spoke with a gyopo twang. Baekhyun winced at the way you stretched out certain syllables and pronounced the others a little too sharply and you enjoyed pushing his buttons in all the ways that you could.

Turning to you, Baekhyun’s boss, NIS operative Kim  Minseok started, “The plan is fairly simple, you’ll be wired and the transmitter will permit Baekhyun and Chen to hear everything you say...down to a whisper. Whatever you do, do not cut contact with them. Find out what parts of the company are up for sale but don’t get caught snooping, ease into the conversation only if Doh Kyungsoo is willing. The key is to get you close to him and the only way you can do that is by first and foremost getting him to trust you. If things go south, the safeword is ‘gentleman’. We’ll dispatch a unit to get you out of there which means - ”

“This would’ve all been for nothing,” you completed Minseok’s sentence.

“Exactly,” continued Baekhyun. He threw a file on the table with a deliberate aggression and explained, “Winning Kyungsoo’s trust is about as easy as getting the North and South to reunite. He’s had no lovers, no friends. The man is sceptical, distrustful...even paranoid when it comes to being exposed to strangers so he’s going to do everything in his power to provoke you...test you...to get on your nerves. So keep your cool,” he pointed to the file before crossing his arms over his chest, “and read up a little on philosophy.”

You rolled your eyes and shoved the file into your hot pink Chanel handbag before turning on your heel to exit the dimly lit and dreary “meeting room” of the NIS with an intended swing in your hips.

“And leave Shaye at the door next time!” Baekhyun begrudgingly called after you.

You gave him a casual two-finger salute in response before slamming the door shut behind you.

.

.

.

Being in a stuffy, white minivan with Baekhyun and Chen, just two miles away from Kyungsoo’s house, made you wonder who the actual delinquents were. Baekhyun, dressed in all black baggy sweats, fussed over a fairly standard headphone that was plugged into the socket of a gramophone sized black box and Chen’s shifty eyes made him look like a criminal overlord no matter what the situation.

“Alright, I’m off. Any advice?” You ridiculed the two men with a damsel-in-distress sigh, patting your ironed hair over your ears to conceal the tiny earpiece and smoothing out the creases in your linen jacket to hide the imperceptible mic fused into the pocket of your ripped jeans.

“Don’t die,” Chen grunted. Eyes shut, he leaned comfortably into the tattered leather seat, preparing himself for an undeserved nap.

The wild pounding of his heart and the incessant buzzing of his mind, got the better of Baekhyun again. He hated himself...loathed himself for giving a hoot about whether or not you survive this dinner. He didn’t care half as much for the operation itself. He wanted you to survive.

You.

The cruel assassin because of whom his wife left him, he lost his partner and best friend, and nearly his job in the process. The violent assassin who causes him to jolt awake at the most unthreatening of sounds in the middle of the night and sleep with a pistol underneath his pillow (if he slept at all).

You deserved worse than a dog’s death. Yet, in the face of danger, he felt it in his bones that he’d do anything, absolutely anything to protect you.

Baekhyun swiftly followed you out of the minivan, grabbed your arm and pinned you against the vehicle as his warm breath fanned your cheek. An inexplicable feeling of ecstasy rippled and fluttered through your bloodstream at this sudden proximity with the man. The strong scent of his cologne aded your senses and you instinctively ran a finger along his smooth jaw only for him to rudely slap your hand away.

“Phone,” he commanded, extending his hand to you. Your fists clenched in a blinding fury but you didn’t allow that emotion to colour your facial expression. Smiling sweetly, you handed him your phone and dramatically curtsi