She stood on the other side of the glass doors to their department. Everything was shrouded in dead silence, there was no one inside and no one had come in yet. After all, who would be crazy enough to come in at 6 in the morning, a full two hours before their actual start time? Even the guards downstairs were taken aback at her sudden reappearance and after many explanations and even rechecking that her ID was still valid, they finally let her upstairs. She didn't take the elevator. Instead she climbed up the long staircases to the 6th floor. Every step she took bounced off the walls around her and echoed back as a accusation of guilt. How could you? Your team trusted you. All for a man like that... you're pathetic.

Craning her neck, she squinted to see through the darkness. Finally she switched the coffee cup she held in her right hand to her left and took her ID card. It slid through the card reader easily as the light turned neon green with a beep and a click told her the doors were unlocked. She pushed one door open as she slid inside and because she had spent nights here working she didn't fumble even in the darkness for the light switch. Lights flickered on, illuminating the large room with desks and straight ahead, his office loomed over her with his presence even though he wasn't in the room.

She felt strange walking to her desk as she glanced at their desks on the way. She felt like a virus invading a human body. Unwanted and dangerous, she felt like a traitor. Were you alone as you grew up? Did you have no friends? His words suddenly ran through her mind and she froze. She shook her head and went to her desk. She quietly set her bag next to her chair and placed the coffee on her desk. Warm rays of orange and red we just starting to filter in through the windows and she went over to Woohyun's desk. In the top drawer was the key to the conference room. It had tall and looming windows of glass and she wanted to see the sunrise and think.

Myungsoo stopped in his tracks as he stepped off the elevator and saw that the glass doors he usually got up early to unlock were open. He frowned, natural suspicion easing its way into his mind as he cautiously walked in. Nothing was moved or seemed off at first glance. He quietly went over the room with his eyes and stopped when his eyes got to her desk. He took a few more steps forward, a familiar blue backpack, the one with the small tear on the side, rested against her chair and a coffee cup sat on her desk.

He straightened out, excited and anxious as he looked around him. When he saw the doors to the conference room slightly open he smiled despite himself. Quietly, he walked over and pushed the door open. The first thing that caught his eye was the beauty of the sunrise and he thought he knew why she had come in here, but she had her back turned to the windows and the sun. Instead she stood staring at the wall full of photographs, maps, and articles. Everything that they had been able to gather on EXO and that guy since she had left.

"Are you that surprised we could get things done without you?" He asked her and raised as eyebrow as she gasped and turned to him.

Min Ah stared at him in surprise. It was still so early, she wasn't ready. She opened to say something, but her mind went blank. All she had was what she felt, things she couldn't quite put into words. A mixture of guilt, pain, and relief at being back fought for control and she blinked trying to sort out the thoughts in her head. All the while, trying to push the apprehension she felt at the large collection of photographs and patterns on the wall besides. They weren't her problem anymore she reminded herself.

Myungsoo walked over to her, keeping the same smile on his face until he got close enough to actually see her. What the shadows had hid, were revealed as he saw her at a different angle. Her face... her lips were busted from blunt force , they were slightly swollen and there was a fading bruise on her lower cheek. He froze, mostly because if he moved or said anything he was afraid he might explode from anger. He reached out for her, but remembering their last conversation before she had left, he stopped himself. He studied her carefully, taking the time to gain a little control over his outrage, and wondered if she was hurt anywhere else.

"Who did that to you?" He asked, his eyes darkened with rage and his voice lowered.

His words took her aback as she suddenly remembered the face she had seen in the mirror this morning. The indignation that was plain in his voice and body was both comforting and worrying at the same time, because Kim Myungsoo could always tell when something was off. At least when it came to her.

"Relax, I fell the day before I came back. I must've been too excited to see you idiots" She joked, finally gaining her voice back.

"You fell?" Myungsoo asked in disbelief, "What, did you fall face first into your own fist?"

"I fell onto the bedside table when I was leaving my hotel" She explained plainly, smiling calmly even though she could feel her own body tensing up.

"Where were you? What hotel did you stay at?" He asked briskly and she stared a second too long before deciding on changing the subject.

"Oh that reminds me, I got you coffee" She said, trying to change the subject with a smile as she tried to walk past him.

His hand shot out fast as lightning as he grabbed her wrist firmly and pulled her back in front of him. She frowned as she glared at her shoes and refused to look up. Myungsoo sighed in annoyance as he lamented the loss of his goal of staying laid back about her 'vacation'. He might've been able to do it too, had she not come back bruised up! And she honestly thought he would settle for such a fake answer?!

"Hey!" She yelled as she felt the sharp stab of pain when he flicked her on the forehead and instantly looked up angrily.

When she met his eyes she hastily tried to lower her chin once again, but Myungsoo placed a firm index finger of her forehead so that she couldn't lower her face no matter how hard she tried.

"Who did that to you?" He asked once again, his voice serious.

"I really did fall" She answered once again and he groaned.

"Stop lying to me" He insisted and she glared at him.

"I'm not lying!" She fought back, finally realizing her right hand was free and slapping his finger away from her forehead, "You're going to leave a red mark" She murmured.

"Your bruises will make it less noticeable" He shot back sarcastically.

"Do you really want to do this today? Can I just ask for you to let this go? Please? I'm finally back from my vacation" She said, her voice uncertain as she wondered what his response would be, "And I don't want to fight with you Myungsoo. That's the  absolute last thing I want to do. Please"

He kept his mouth shut as he loosened his grip on her and looked away. She didn't understand. No one had a right to lay a finger on a woman, especially not her of all people. But the obvious relief on her face when he backed off made him confident in his choice. For now, just until she's back to normal, he would back off.  He took note of the exact place of her bruise and memorized it in his mind. He would return that bruise and more to whoever had done that.

"Your coffee's probably cold now" She said, this time successfully changing the topic as she led him back out to her desk.

He watched her as she handed it to him and for a brief second everything was back to normal. But the second passed and with it the feelings of the past. The coffee was still warm as he took a sip of it and smiled at the fact that it tasted the exact way he liked it.

"Min Ah! You're back!" Woohyun yelled as he walked inside, instantly spotting her.

Hoya trailed behind him with a grin on his face. She turned happily, more excited than she expected at the sight of the two. As soon as she turned though, their steps faltered.

"Who the hell did that?!" Hoya cut in and Min Ah groaned.

"She tripped over herself and landed face first into the bedside table" Myungsoo cut in swiftly, "Don't bug her too much about it. Yes, it was stupid and yeah she's clumsy, but you know at least she didn't accidentally shoot someone" He ended with a smirk and shrugged as she shot him a glare and the other two laughed. She wanted to make it convincing right?

"So where did you go on a vacation that you couldn't even contact us?" Hoya asked as they rolled their chairs to her desk and stared curiously.

"We've got a meeting in 30 so keep the reunion short when the others get here" Myungsoo reminded them, liking the sense of normality that had set in.

He took another drink of his coffee and turned around to head to his office. He didn't need to hear whatever lie she would tell them. As he shut the door behind him he heard her laugh at something one of them had said. He sat at his desk and watched her through the blinds on the glass separating his office from the rest of them. As the last of them walked in, each of them with their own unique reactions to her return, he wondered how everything could be so different yet similar at the same time. Because while her acting may be flawless, there was something off about her laughter and smiles. It wasn't anything obvious. Actually, it was so faint that at first he thought he had imagined it.

It was there though, he was sure of it now. There was an undercurrent of... something he couldn't figure out, to her every action. He pretended to work as he kept glancing over at her.  The time passed by quickly as he watched them all slowly disappear into the conference room until only Woohyun and Min Ah were left. He couldn't help the frown as Woohyun said something to Min Ah and she stared at him in shock.

"Not coming to the meeting?" He interrupted them as he stepped out of his office trying to seem natural after rushing to grab the papers and come out.

"Of course we are boss!" Woohyun said with a grin as he went ahead and walked in leaving her standing behind.

"Did you not hear me?" Myungsoo said as he walked past her as if he hadn't just been  watching for the past half hour. What had Woohyun said to her?

Min Ah didn't say a word and nodded as she followed him in, trying to hide the tremble in her hands. While Myungsoo went on about something she glanced nervously as Woohyun who refused to meet her eyes. She looked back at Myungsoo and her gaze moved to the photograph right next to his head. It was a screen cap of a security camera. Jong In was running out, his hair was messy and he looked sick, but that wasn't the only thing that caught her attention. In the very back of the photograph, in the middle of a crowd, was  Wu Fan. His hair was longer, messier, and darker, but he blended into the crowd around him. Glancing at the rest of her team she wondered if they had any inkling that they had caught EXO's leader in a photograph.

"Also we need to talk about that hack to our databases last week"' Myungsoo and Min Ah felt her heart momentarily stop, "Woohyun do we know anything new about that? You're in charge of that right?"

"Yeah I haven't gotten anything new, but I expect to have this all figured within the new few days" He said confidently and when she finally got the courage to look over to him, her uneasiness only heightened as he gave her a knowing look, "I actually thought it'd be nice to get Min Ah's input on this since she's helped me on cases like this before and I can catch her up on all the stuff that's been happening" He added.

Myungsoo nodded, missing the look of alarm that crossed past her face.

"Alright well aside from that we're bumping up the EXO case to our highest priority. We were contacted by the Chinese police, they received an anonymous call that they were behind a shootout in some run down building. We've got little to go on, but I think it's safe to assume this was probably a turf war" Myungsoo said.

"So they're what? Sending a message?" Sunggyu guessed.

"Isn't it more like their killing off competition?" Hoya corrected.

"Either way, whenever you're not working on active cases, this is what you should focus on. I'm not enjoying the fact that we're still completely in the dark about these guys" Myungsoo cut in, "Now get back to work. We've got a new case coming in soon so we'll get together again this afternoon"

Min ah smiled as an unknown grumble silently escaped one of them as they all stood up.

"Min Ah, let's go to the IT office. It's probably better if I explain things to you there" Woohyun said easily, as if nothing was wrong, with that smile of his.

"A-alright" She answered, tripping over her own words as she stole one last look at Myungsoo, who turned to stare at the wall behind him, eyes fierce in concentration as he tried to catch something that they had missed. The thought that she could solve all this for him nagged at her as she followed Woohyun.

They walked in complete silence as he led her the opposite way of the IT room and instead led her to the very staircases she had taken to get here in the morning. He even hummed a little tune as he pushed the door open for her and walked in after her. The door swung shut with a creak and a thud and they were all alone.

"This is the only place with limited camera view. I mean, anyone managing to sneak in is impossible enough, so instead of installing five cameras in the stairwell they've only got 3 and the one for this part cuts off two steps below us" He explained proudly.

She stared at her friend in silence. Apprehension washed over her as she kept shut. His smile slowly wore off as he stared back. After a full minute of silence and realizing she wasn't going to speak, he went first.

"Want to tell me what you were doing all the way in China? Or to be more precise, why you were hacking into our databases from there?" He asked seriously.

"I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about" She said firmly, her mind going every single key she had hit that day. There was no way, absolutely no way for him to know any of this.

"You're my friend so I wanted to come to you first once I saw you were back. So please, let me be a friend and tell me what the hell is going on because I don't know what to think" He said stepping in front of the door and crossing his arms over his chest.

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I'm losing track on how often I'm updating, but I'm pretty sure this is the second time this week right? I was gonna put this up later this week, but eh it's already thursday and if I kept putting it off I probably wouldn't have updated again later lol So I'll update again sometime this weekend most likely around Sunday :) Oh! and I made a new banner for my fic though it's not as nice as I wanted it to be.... this one I made myself because I'm trying to get better at photoshop so I'll probably practice on banners for my own fics xD

Thanks for reading! ^___^