Kris walked by quickly. He had been ignoring her successfully for the past two days and he only had five more to go he counted with relief. Time was passing with no regard to her wishes and he was thankful for that he decided as he made his way down to the basement. The wooden stairs creaked noisily under his weight and he adjusted the old metal rail on the side as he went lower. As he stepped off the last step, he glanced at the bars they had newly installed on the small window from the last time it had been broken into. They still hadn’t figured out who it was, but he had a guess it was one of those idiot from those small groups that wanted to play in the big leagues. Regardless, being cautious never hurt anyone they had decided as they installed new glass and bars in front of it.

There were four large silver cases. They were all open on the large table off to the side just like he had ordered. Kris looked over the metallic weapons inside. He lifted a few of them, making sure they felt right, that their weight was accurate, and that everything was in order before he closed each and every one of them. He locked the cases with the same four letter code he had memorized a few days before and waited for Lay, Xiumin, Chanyeol, and Suho to come down. It was only a few more minutes before he heard loud footsteps coming down.

“Each of you take a case. Who has the phone to text the codes after the exchange has been made?” Kris asked as he handed off the last case.

“I do” Suho said seriously as he tightened his grip on the case.

“All of you have taken care of your own parts?” Kris asked, double checking even though he knew they did.

They all nodded and just like that it was time to go. As they walked out to the cars, Kris caught sight of Min Ah besides Jong In a few feet away. She looked worried as she eyed the cases in their hands. She whispered something to Jong In, who simply placed a firm hand on her arm to keep her in place and shook his head. He pushed her from his mind and focused on the job. This was one of those times where getting distracted could get someone killed.

“Are you sure they’re going to be alright?” Min Ah asked once again as she followed Jong In upstairs, a change of clothes in her arms.

“They always are, there's no reason why this should be any different. Unless those other men are stupid, but even then. We always come out fine” He said with a grin on his face.

“You’re too comfortable with this sort of stuff” She said with a  roll of her eyes as he pushed open the bathroom door for her.

“What can I say? You get used to it. Just take a shower and stop worrying”

She sighed, knowing her concerns would get nowhere and simply agreed as she stepped in and locked the door behind her. She stripped her clothes off and  paused before stepping into the warm water. She bit her lip as she peeled back the bandage of her thigh. The cut from the glass a few days ago was bright red and as she tenderly pressed around it, a dull pain echoed out. She winced and pressed the bandage back on before taking a quick shower. The cool drops of water did little to clear her head. There was something slightly suffocating about this situation. Like she wanted to say so many things, but couldn't find the opportunity and she was running out of time.

She shivered as she got dressed and stepped out into the hallway, the cold air was a huge difference to the warmth from the shower steam. She looked around, hoping to run into Tao or Jong In. She cautiously took the opportunity to look around as she wondered where Wu Fan’s room was and what it was like. She had a feeling it would be empty besides from the bare necessities, but she could be wrong. With that thought in mind she quietly wandered over to the left and glanced curiously, trying to find an open door that she could just sort of peek into without actually having to open anything. It made it all a little more ok in her mind.

The hallway was long as she curiously looked at the closed doors she was passing, her mind trying to fathom what laid behind each and every door.

“Looking for something?” A voice asked from behind her.

Min Ah turned around quickly and let out an embarrassed laugh.

“… Do you guys happen to have any bandages or antibiotics? I had a cut from a few days ago and I was trying to find something like that…” She said awkwardly.

“It’s all down in the kitchen, I’ll show you” He said helpfully as he smiled and headed the opposite way, expecting her to follow him. She put her exploring plans on hold as she quickly followed after him, trying to catch up to his quick steps.

“You’re Luhan right?” She said remembering him when Jong In had pointed him out to her.

“Is it hard remembering everyone’s name?”

“A little, everyone is always in and out so you’re actually the only one I’ve gotten right so far” She joked.

He laughed and she raised an eyebrow suddenly noticing that this was one of the few times she had heard anyone laugh in general.

“Is it always so… quiet and serious here?” She asked.

“Not really. We’re usually loud, but there’s lots of important stuff happening lately so we’re keeping ourselves in check for now. Would you like to know what’s happening?” Luhan asked and she caught the undertone of suspicion in his voice.

Did everyone in this house have some sort of hidden agenda behind everything they said?

“Not really. I’m not sure how much you know, but I’m not here for that” Min Ah answered easily as he motioned her to sit on a chair.

“Well, you’re perceptive. I guess it comes with being a cop huh” He said calmly. He pulled open a cabinet and reached for a clear plastic which he pulled out and placed on the floor by her feet, “We’ve been warned to watch what we say around you” He said quickly, answering the surprised look on her face.

“Ah… well… I guess that’s good”

“So where’s the cut” He asked as he stood in front of her, his arms crossed around his chest, sure that he had caught her in lie.

“I can take care of it myself”

“I usually do the bandaging stuff. It’s no big deal”

Min Ah smirked as she stared at him straight on. He really did think he had caught her in a lie didn’t he? She shrugged as she rolled the pant leg all the way up and wished she could have photographed the look on his face when he spotted the actual injury on her leg. He looked back at her and smiled sheepishly.

“So how long have you know Kris?” She asked making sure to remember to refer to him as Kris.

“I think you’ve forgotten we’re not really supposed to talk to you” He joked.

“Well, that bo— OW” She hissed as the antibiotic hit her skin and burned its way inside.

He shook his head as he held her leg in place.

“You’re supposed to be brave enough to be a cop? And catch us on top of that?” He mocked with a smirk on her face and she rolled her eyes.

“I’m definitely brave enough ok? It’s not my fault that hurts. How about I pour that on your next wound and we see your reaction” She snapped back.

His shoulders shook with laughter and she tensed up when he poured a little more and carefully cleaned the wound. She was definitely an interesting girl he decided, another round of laughter sneaking up on him.

“What? What’s so funny now?” She asked, her temper rising as Luhan sat back and let himself freely laugh.

“Nothing I mean I just don’t get what we’re all being so cautious about!” Luhan exclaimed.

She huffed and glared at him until his laughter faded away and he took out a large bandaid and carefully covered the long cut with it. He smiled at his own work and looked up to catch her glare, his smile turning into a smirk, which seemed to be a required skill if you were a man and living in this house.

“Don’t get offended, I didn't mean it alright?” He hesitated before going on, but figured he might as well get some use out of having a girl around, “I broke up with my girlfriend a while ago”

“Why?” She asked curiously.

“I’m not sure I can keep her out of trouble for as long as she stays with me” He confessed, “Since you’re a girl, do you have any… advice I guess?” He said with a shrug.

“You know, just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I’ll have an answer”

The smiles and laughter quickly faded from his face as he aimlessly kicked the clear box and stared at the ground. Min Ah made a face and awkwardly placed what she hoped would be a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“You really should talk to her. I mean, it’s obvious you care about her. I can’t tell you nothing will happen, but she should have a say in this too” Min Ah replied thoughtfully.

“Am I interrupting anything?” Kris said, anger barely contained as he came upon those two speaking in quiet tones, with her hand on him.

They both looked up in surprise.

“You were back fast” Luhan replied pushing the chair back and standing up.

“They were surprisingly eager to do the exchange quickly” Kris said carefully as he watched Min Ah take a very obvious step away from Luhan. Had he not made it clear that no one was to interact with her while she was here?

His eyes trailed down to the raised pant leg and he fought to keep his face straight as he registered the bandaid on her thigh.

"Sit" He ordered and she hesitated a second before sitting down.

Luhan stepped aside as Kris came over and pushed her hand away as she tried to pull her pant leg back down. He carefully bent down and lifted the bandage to see the long cut. The corner of his mouth twitched as he carefully pressed the bandage back down and looked at her. Min Ah stared down at her knees looking at anything to avoid his gaze.

"You were the one who broke into the basement" He stated, no question about it in his mind, "There was blood on the glass we found" He added in case she wanted to deny it.

"I wasn't" Min Ah shot back too quickly, knowing she had been caught. That was the last thing on her mind though. Instead what ran through her minds were a variety of thoughts related to Kris' hand that had remained on her leg. Resting naturally as if it was second nature.

Heat rushed to her face and she happily noted to herself that this was real. It wasn't aimless lust, it ran deeper and it was delicate in its own special way. She searched for something to say, anything to keep him around a little longer. Her hands inexplicably itched to touch him. To lace themselves in his hair...

A loud crash echoed a few rooms away and someone swore loudly. Kris ignored it as he opened his mouth to tell Luhan to leave when he heard frantic footsteps head to kitchen where they were. Suho burst in, his chest rising to heavy and panicked breaths as he steadied himself on the doorway. They stared at him curiously and Kris noticed wearily the way his hand trembled as he reached out and handed the disposable phone they had just bought today to text those codes to their client. Even before looking at the phone he knew it had to be bad to make Suho behave like this. He stood up and moved away from her.

He snatched the phone from his hand and took a look. He frowned, his mind unable to make out the image on the screen. It had been sent from a blocked number and when his eyes finally pieced together what his mind had refused to recognize he felt his blood run cold. Kris recognized the lifeless body in the photograph and knew it hadn't been long, since he had only seen her a few hours ago anyways. He glanced at Suho and back at the photograph. Who on earth had gotten this number in the span of not even 24 hours?

His fingers tightened on the phone as it suddenly rang, cutting through the tension that had developed in the room. Kris hesitated as he read that it was a blocked number, but he was never one to back down anyways so without any more hesitation he accepted the call and brought the phone to his ear.

"I hope you were still able to recognize your little friend" A stern voice said from the other side, a tint of amusement and glee in his tone.

"Who are you?" Kris asked, keeping his tone calm turning his body away from the three in the room and facing the kitchen wall.

"My son did that. He needed a little help finding her, but I think he did a great job. Even with a broken finger right?" The man said, his voice bitter at the last part.

"Don't tell me he ran to daddy after all?" Kris replied mockingly, despite the warning bells going in his mind. This was something else, something he needed to be careful with, but this was his nature. He became reckless when he got nervous. It had gotten him into trouble, but more times than not it had saved his life.

"I've done my homework on you. I know you think you're some big shot, but I'm just giving you a small taste of what's coming for you boy. I wasn't gonna come after  you just yet, but you just got yourself to the top. You have some very important clients that I want so I'm really killing two birds with one stone" He said.

"You own those men that bought from us today don't you?" Kris asked putting together what had happened.

"Good job! Now to be fair, I'll give you a chance to show up here on your own, hand over your clients and slip back to whatever sewer you snuck out of"

"Don't hold your breath"

"I get the impression my son left, you see he's still young and a bit stupid, but you'd be a damn fool to mistake me for him. I'll cut you open in a heartbeat boy. Don't over estimate your abilities and just come here and after a quick lesson I might let you crawl away"

" off" He hissed as he hung up the phone and let his arm fall to his side.

No one said a word as the phone rang once again and Kris instantly sent it voicemail. He turned the black phone over in his hand and popped the case off as he pulled out the cheap battery. He faced them one more time, no one had said a word. Suho had sunk to the ground and he was still pale as he stared silently at the ground. Luhan stood besides Min Ah. There was a worried look on both of their faces and she looked like she was going to say something when there was a loud banging on the door. Kris moved like lightning as he took three quick strides and was suddenly in front of Min Ah. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her behind him as his pulse quickened.

He expertly pulled a gun out and flicked the safety off. They listened intently as someone opened the front door, but instead of the deep male voice Kris expected to hear, there was the soft voice of a woman.

"It's for me" Luhan said stepping forward, recognizing her voice immediately, "I'll go handle it" He said nervously as he glanced at the gun in Kris' hand and turned to get her. Things had obviously went wrong somewhere and Luhan was at least relieved that he was making the right choice for her. He would explain it to her and she would understand. He hoped anyways.

"Get Kai and Tao, tell them to meet me upstairs and go take a break" Kris said as he watched Suho push himself up and nod with hollow eyes.

"What's happening? What was on the phone?" A surprisingly calm voice asked behind him.

"You need to go home. Your time is over. Get the hell out of here" Kris said quickly thinking of the girl in photograph... all because she had simply been with him these past two weeks.

"W-what? No, it's not and I can help you. Why does everyone keep forgetting I'm a freaking cop? I work to catch dangerous criminals. I'm not helpless and something is obviously wrong" Min Ah said stepping away to avoid his outstretched hand as he reached for her arm. "You don't get to simply pull me around. Talk to me!"

He wanted to explain things to her, but he couldn't get the damn image from the phone out of his head. It clouded his judgment and put him on edge. Nerves coursed like fire through his veins as he tried to calm himself down and think straight once again. He had done some questionable things and plain out illegal things, but this was the first time he'd had someone so clearly bloodthirsty after him with a target on his chest and with her around everything was off because if she ended up like that girl...

Min Ah's worry heightened as she watched Kris carefully. He stood still as he thought about whatever was going on, but there was something about him that worried her. She couldn't even place her finger on it, but it was like when they were young and she had been the only person to be able to tell when Kris was scared or nervous. He hid it so well from everyone, but she always could tell. So she didn't ignore what her instincts told her and  that was that whoever had called on that phone was dangerous.

"I don't owe you anything. Not this week, not a glance nor any explanations. You're becoming a burden now so do me favor and leave" He warned, his eyes flashing with impatience.

"They're waiting for you" Suho cut in as he walked back into the kitchen.

Kris nodded and looked back at Min Ah, he looked like he had something else to say, but decided against it as he left her behind.

He stepped into the large room and locked the door behind him and Kai raised a brow, wondering what was going on and Tao curiously shifted in his seat. He walked over and took a seat behind the large desk. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and closed them for a second. His long fingers tapped impatiently on the glass desk cluttered with papers and pens. The image of the girl popped up. Her neck was twisted at an impossible angle and she lay in a pool of blood. Her short gray dress had exactly three red stains on it. There were scratches on her arms as the red blood from her body contrasted brightly with the dirty ally where she laid discarded. All color had been drained from her soft skin and it was hard to believe that the body in the picture had been alive only a few hours ago. Kris was startled as his eyes shot open when he suddenly noticed the face on the girl had changed.

It was Min Ah's face on the lifeless body and Kris was sure this was his mind warning him what would happen if she was allowed to stay.

"We have a problem" He said gravely, unconsciously turning the ring on his right hand nervously.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I intentionally skipped last week sorry! It was mother's day here so I was really busy planning stuff with family over the weekend! IN OTHER NEWS EXO IS FINALLY COMING BACKKKKK!!! :DDDDD I seriously had to triple check before I lost it and went in full fangirl mode! I've been like this since the first photo teaser and now I'm just rewatching their old teasers and MAMA perfs and omgggg guys they're coming baccckkkk

*cue tears of joy*