~~~~~~

"What does that mean for us then?" She asked quietly, biting her lip to keep from saying too much.

"It means nothing. It means that we're coworkers and nothing more" He answered coldly, a small part of him regretting the way things had to be.

"So... that just now... was nothing?" She asked, looking into his merciless eyes as she tried to stifle all feelings of regret away.

"Exactly" He said firmly.

It wasn't that he wouldn't have minded if it could be more, but he had a successful future ahead of him  at the academy and Min Ah in particular had a million and two reasons why she wasn't fit to be someone serious in his life. Besides he had long come to term with the decision to not fall in love and marry for power. It was his destiny. He had already gone out of his way to help her get on her feet and even gotten her into the academy. That should be enough for her.

Still, the way her eyes seemed to brim with disappointed and broken delusions of the beauty of love... it made him almost regret all his self imposed rules for his future.

"That's ok. I agree that it's better this way" She said with a nod, reminding herself that this was a fleeting thing.

Kim Myungsoo was someone who helped her, but he wasn't the one.

~~~~~~

They sat outside on his balcony on the highest floor of the building. The sky was now dark and the stars struggled to make themselves seen against the bright background of the city lights. Min Ah looked up and  Myungsoo reached out for her. He pulled her onto the seat with him so that her head rested comfortably on his chest. He glanced down at her and the way her eyes stared in wonder at the sky made his chest feel strange again. She had that effect on him. He absentmindedly her hair gently and he remembered what he had meant to tell her before he let himself lose control.

“I have a matchmaker date on Saturday” He confessed suddenly and she tensed for a moment, “I’m going to it. I have to anyways, I can’t stay single forever”

“I suppose she would probably be good, since she’s not a coworker” Min Ah joked as she felt the temporary spell around them crack and slowly disappear .

“Shouldn’t you be angry? I lied to you. I was basically a hypocrite” He said in confusion.

“I knew about your date. Woohyun told me all about it a week ago. And why should I be mad? We’re just having fun remember?” She said peacefully. She wouldn't admit it had bothered her at first.

 “You’re a strange girl” He said.

"Why? Did you want me to freak out?" Min Ah said curiously.

"Not really. You'd get too annoying so I guess it's better this way" He said carelessly, refusing to admit how much it bothered him that even now he still couldn't get a meaningful response from her.

With that almost romantic feeling gone she stretched out and pushed herself into a standing position. She looked down at the long oversized shirt of Myungsoo that she wore and decided it was time to go.

"I'm going to take a shower" She announced as she went to grab her clothes scattered on the ground and went for the shower.

Myungsoo waited until he heard the bathroom door click shut before he got up and walked back inside. He felt oddly agitated and...angry. He went for a cold glass of water, hoping it was just a random mood, but it didn't help. He had just spent a great few hours and he thought it would be enough, but instead things were getting worse. Her indifference to him despite everything bothered him to a degree he just couldn't explain. It's not like she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He was sure he had seen better, it was just that lately those women didn't really seem to exist.

Maybe it was because it wasn't like she didn't like him. It was that she liked someone else more. Even worse, it was someone that barely existed in a sense. Someone who in a way was almost fictional to her. Yet she still idolized this unknown person and for that reason only Myungsoo immediately hated him. Even if he didn't want her forever, because he just wasn't the type of fool to fall in love, the thought that she loved someone grew to bother him to the point where some nights he would just stay up wondering why.

With that thought in mind he casually went over to her bag and grabbed her wallet. He opened it and pulled out the photograph carefully folded into the very last pocket. He made a face as he remembered her explanation that she simply wanted to keep it with her.

"What are you doing?" She asked as he was about to unfold it and take a look.

He turned to face an annoyed Min Ah as she walked up to him and snatched the wallet and photograph from his hands, immediately bringing them to her as if they were the single most precious thing she had.

Myungsoo wanted to rip the photograph to shreds. Along with her memories of that person.

"I just wanted to face my invisible competition" He said instead opting to sound aloof.

Min Ah frowned and looked down at the photograph. It was old, it's color was fading more and more every time she looked at it. It was yellowing and had hard creases splitting it down the middle. She didn't even have to open the photograph to picture the image of a much younger her, brightly smiling along her three best friends. Her eyes, just like usual would be drawn to Wu Fan and she automatically wondered how he was doing.

"You get like that every time you look at that picture and still you've never let me look at it" Myungsoo said as he took note of the way her usually tense and alert body softened and her head bowed slightly.

"I should go" She said quietly as she opened her wallet and buried the photograph in the depths of her wallet. She walked around him as she grabbed her bag and coat.

"Back then, another reason you didn't want a relationship was because of that photograph too right?" He asked uselessly, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah it was and it still" She answered as if it was matter of fact.

"You know, they probably don't remember you. Who knows? Whoever he is, he might even be happily married, aren't you being too naive?" Myunsoo shot back quickly, wanting to find the words to make her be realistic and forget.

"I remember them. That's enough. What does it even matter to you?" She said with a exasperated sigh.

"Just wondering the reason you turned me down all those years ago"

"We turned each other down" Min Ah said with a smirk as she faced him straight on, a small droplet of water fell from the end of her hair and ran down her arm, "Remember Mr. I-Don't-Date-Coworkers? You're too troublesome anyways. We'd probably end up killing each other if we tried to seriously date" She said with a laugh, steering the conversation away from anything serious.

"Haha, alright well are you taking a cab back to the station?" He asked with a smile that hid his true emotions.

"Yup! See you tomorrow" She said with a sudden grin as she turned and walked out of his place.

~~~~~~

“Woohyun I said I was sorry!” Min Ah called as she followed him up the stairs and into their work room.

“I went to a lot of trouble to get you that date only to find out you stood him up?” He asked angrily as we walked in.

“I wanted to go! Something important came up suddenly” She said a bit quieter, aware of the eyes that had landed on her the moment she had walked in.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” He asked suddenly, putting his bag down and turning to face her.

“God no! I swear I don’t!” She said quickly.

“Then I can reschedule the date? He said he wouldn’t mind” Woohyun said.

“Uh…” Min Ah stalled, trying to think of something to say.

“Everyone into the conference room!” Myungsoo called suddenly, interrupting them.

She relaxed and Woohyun shot her a look that let her know that this conversation wasn’t over. She glanced over at Myungsoo who waited by the conference room doors a stoic look on his face. She smiled to herself as she grabbed a notebook and pen and walked in. She was the last one in and she kept her face calm as his hand grazed her as she walked past him, sending a small shock of electricity along her body.

“Alright listen up! Tonight, we're going to capture an EXO member" He called out as he brought up a few slides and they all settled in, excited about their new mission, "We’ve got a date, time and location now. We’re staking out the location tonight and waiting for the pass off at 11pm! We grab whoever we can. Remember, we’re here for information so we do not kill any of them got it?”

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Seriously, I've been waiting to use that for so long you guys can't even imagine lol Anyways, a more general happy holidays to everyone~ I hope all of you guys are having a fun time! It's too cold to go out lately so me indoors with hot cocoa is probably gonna be the highlight of my winter break XD I did make a snowman though ._.

Thanks for reading and commenting! :)