~_____~

“You left this in the car?” Suho asked pulling out the box of pocky sticks from behind him. “No wonder I was uncomfortable.” Then he handed them to Namjoo, “Here.”

“You can have them.” Namjoo didn’t even bother to turn to look at him.

Suho slightly narrowed his eyes and set them in the cup holder, “Remember to take them later. Kris got them for you, right?”

“I guess.” She replied insincerely.

“He’s going to be upset if you don’t take them.”

“What’s with you?” Namjoo turned to him with a frown when she lightly braked at a red light.

“Well…I’m just saying. He was pushing them to you earlier; he just wants you to have them.”

“Ok! I’ll eat it! Good enough?” she half raised her voice.

Suho pressed his lips together and turned to stare out the window. “You could try to be nicer to them. Chorong and Kris don’t seem like bad people.”

“It’s obvious they’re not evil, if that’s what you’re saying.”

“No, that’s not what I was saying,” Suho pointed out, “don’t judge them so much. I think you’d work well in a team with them if you weren’t so uptight. Let loose a little, Namjoo.”

Namjoo didn’t reply as she started the car again.

“Namjoo.” he urged.

“Fine. Whatever. I’ll eat the damn pocky sticks and I’ll be nicer. Good?”

The corner of his lips curved up satisfied and he leaned back into his seat.

~_____~

“The three of us?” Chorong repeated pointing to herself.

She wasn’t sure if Victoria was serious. For a second, Chorong couldn’t believe this.

Victoria nodded, “When I get better details of what goes on during the night area down there, and when I make sure we’ve nailed the right place, I’ll devise a more detailed plan. For now, I want you, Namjoo, and me to be in the team sneaking in.”

Chorong was unsure. This plan made her feel queasy.

“We’re the only females here. It would only make sense if the three of us get in there,” Victoria explained, “don’t worry, nothing’s going to happen. We’re not staying there longer than a night.”

Chorong felt her eyebrows slide together. “A night…do you think that’s enough?”

“We’ll have to make sure it’s enough,” Victoria pressed, “I’ll look for Hyukjae while you and Namjoo look around. There’s bound to be some hidden activity there. We have to find those children and those missing women.”

The first two missions had indeed been dangerous, but this one sounded even worse. Sneaking into a brothel…a brothel where men and women did their dirty work. What if something were to happen? Chorong drew a hand up to the collar of her shirt unconsciously and clutched it.

~_____~

Donghae paused in the hallway when he spotted Tao laying down on the couch in the lounge, his head against the arm rest, his eyes closed. He searched around for Suho and Namjoo, but didn’t spot them. Walking over to Tao he glanced down at him. For a long time he didn’t budge. Donghae had a feeling that he wasn’t asleep and concluded that Tao was a very good actor.

“Where’s Suho and Namjoo?”

No reply.

Kicking the cushion of the couch he repeated, “Where’s Suho and Namjoo?”

“I don’t know. They went to the hospital or something,” Tao muttered pulling an arm over his eyes.

“Then what are you doing here? Everyone else is up and about.”

“I’m tired.”

“Don’t use that as an excuse on me.”

Tao opened his eyes with a glare.

“It doesn’t look like you did much on Wonju. Get up.”

Tao opened his mouth in disbelief. “You weren’t even there!”

Donghae clamped his mouth shut wondering if what he’d said was too much. Perhaps it was the heat from the argument with Victoria that was biting at him.

“Sorry,” Donghae quickly apologized.

Tao groaned and sat up, “Whatever.”

Donghae watched him walk away and wondered if he might harm all three of his assistants.

~_____~

Tao was irritated. They were all shoving him off so easily. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to it though. All his life he’d been shoved around. He wasn’t going to let it bother him. Who were they anyway? Their existence didn’t matter to him.

Then he suddenly thought of the way Namjoo had asked him, “You Ok?” She had sounded worried and maybe she had been worried. It didn’t seem like she had anyone since Donghae had mentioned that she’d drifted from her family. But she still had Suho and that still made her better off than him.

Suddenly thinking about it made him feel strangely frustrated.

~_____~

When Kris returned to headquarters late in the evening he spotted Namjoo’s car sitting in the parking lot.

“What are you still doing here?” Kris asked when he opened the door to the meeting room.

Namjoo seemed too concentrated with whatever she had on her laptop that she only took the time to look at him for a split second before turning away. “Work.”

“Work? What else do you have to do?” he stepped in.

“What’s that?” Namjoo asked when she heard the noise the bag he was carrying made.

“Why? You curious?” he hoped she was.

Namjoo slid something out from the behind her laptop and he saw the empty box of pocky sticks. “Ate it. You should be overjoyed.”

Kris tossed his head aside to snort before setting down the bag of food he’d brought with him and took the seat next to her. “Did you eat?”

“A few hours ago.”

Kris turned to look at her computer screen and saw that she had pulled up another map. “What are you looking at?”

“Yeongwol.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Why? Are we going there next?”

“Not you.” Then Namjoo turned to him. “What are you doing here? As far as I know, everyone’s left already.”

“As far as I know, this is also my workplace now. You can’t kick me out.” Then he reached for her laptop and pulled it over. “What are you trying to find? I’ll help you.”

“Look here,” she grabbed the laptop and tried to shove it back her way, “leave, I want to do this alone.”

“Is it because you’re used to working alone? We’re supposed to be a team, aren’t we?” he pried her hands off the laptop and placed the food in front of her. “Here, you eat.”

Namjoo stared at him with a contorted frown unsure if she should be annoyed or throw a tantrum. He shot a smile at her and turned to zoom into the map. Through the corner of his eye he watched her remain still in her seat before heaving a sigh and digging the food out of the bag.

“It’s my sister-in-law’s best curry,” Kris told. “I’m going to be an uncle soon.”

“Are you?” she asked then said almost monotonously, “Congratulations.”

He intentionally turned to catch her reaction, but she was only looking at him with a straight face before turning away. Her inability to display emotions interested him and he supposed that was what kept his attention on her. Once he turned to look back at the computer screen he saw a lane of night clubs idling down the street. Questions perked his mind about why Namjoo would be looking them up.

“You planning to go clubbing or something?”

“Not your business.” Was her reply while digging into the food.

Kris had to think twice before he got the answer. Of course, she was too busy to go out. On the other hand, she was always with Donghae and Suho. What better places to look than the dirty parts of Korea for the missing children, but it seemed too obvious a search. Would the human trafficking gang really bother to hide their victims there?

“Don’t you think this search is too obvious?”

“If you only came here to ask questions, it’d be better if you leave. I like working in silence.” Namjoo shot him a glance.

“I’m not bothering you on purpose,” Kris stated. “I would think it’s the other way around.”

She frowned at him somewhat before turning away.

“It wouldn’t hurt if we try to get along.”

“You’re the second to have repeated that to me today.” Then she turned, “Suho said the exact same thing.”

“Are you two close?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I’m curious.”

Namjoo looked away, “He’s a good friend.” Then she asked, “Can you stop talking to me now?”

And for the first time, Namjoo quieted for a long time.

~_____~

The first thing that popped into Victoria’s mind the next morning was to stop by the detention hall before all else. She hoped those gunmen had already opened up their mouths. Victoria was impatient for her next move and she wanted to be the one to lead in this next mission. Donghae was being too uptight about everything and she didn’t like it. He didn’t seem to be appreciating the effort she was putting forth into finding Eunhyuk.

She still felt angry when she thought about how he just walked away from her yesterday. The anger hadn’t yet subsided and she would keep reminding herself of it in order to strengthen her ambitions. Donghae wasn’t going to look down on her and she wouldn’t let him doubt her skills.

When Victoria reached the second floor she stopped in her steps when she saw Donghae walking down the hallway toward her. He also stopped in his steps to stare at her for a complete five seconds before continuing.

“What are you doing here?” he asked as if it was his territory she had stepped into.

“What else would I be here for if I didn’t want to know about those gunmen?”

“Go back,” Donghae directed.

Victoria took a step forward and gritted her teeth together. How dare he treat her like that?

She began to open but Donghae walked passed her and said, “They’re tight-lipped. Officer Choi is giving them time to think it over.”

Victoria let his words slide through her ears before turning to follow him down. “Since when did you get here?”

“Before you, obviously.”

“Lee Donghae!” she shouted when she reached the bottom of the stairs and before he could walk out the doors. “Are you really going to do this job without me?”

“What makes you say that?” Donghae slightly turned his head around.

“The way you’re acting says it! I came here to do a job and you’re not letting me do it. You at least owe it to me to allow me and my team to put in our effort.”

“Haven’t you done enough in Wonju?”

“But you interrupted!”

“Are you going to fight with me about who takes what and who leads what?” Donghae questioned. “Is that how a person from the SWAT team acts? Then I’d rather not cooperate at all.”

Victoria opened to retaliate, but Donghae had already walked out leaving her to clamp shut in hysteric anger. Why was he being this way toward her? She didn’t understand. Now it only felt like Donghae was being more and more selfish. She felt like all he wanted to do now was look for Eunhyuk and disregard everything else. No, she wouldn’t let it be like that. She would rescue those girls that had their lives taken from them and she would also find Eunhyuk in the process.

~_____~

When Chorong walked in through the door she spotted Kris and Namjoo sleeping with their heads lying against their own arm, backs against each other. A sleeping laptop sat in-between them and a set of messy handwriting on some white sheets were scattered throughout the table. The sight left Chorong barely speechless before she knocked a hand against the door to wake them up.

Namjoo’s head shot up immediately and she first glanced at her watch before shooting up from her seat. Chorong skimmed her disoriented hair and swerved her eyes over to Kris who was sitting up with a yawn.

“,” she heard Namjoo swear underneath her breath. “I’m going to head to the detention center. You guys stay here.”

Namjoo grabbed her laptop and stumbled over the legs of Kris’ chair before walking pass Chorong only to trip against Lay. When Chorong spun around she spotted Suho heading toward them and felt tighten up.

“S…sorry,” Namjoo stuttered before rushing down the hallway.

“Where are you going?” Suho stopped Namjoo in the middle of the hallway.

“I’m going to checkup on the interrogation progress at the detention center. I don’t want Donghae to be getting any information without us. You stay here.”

Chorong turned when Kris walked by, “I’ll be back.”

She opened to talk, but Kris was already dashing down the hallway and when she looked up she spotted Suho’s dashing smile as he walked toward them.

“Morning!” he cheerily greeted.

Lay smiled at him from beside Chorong, “Morning.” Then he turned to Chorong, “Looks like we came early for nothing.”

~_____~

Namjoo was literally shoved around when Kris grabbed her arm to stop her.

“Aish…what!” she shouted flinging her arm away and started down the pavement.

“Where are you going? You barely slept last night!”

“And again, what business is it of yours? Can you leave me alone?”

He quickly followed her. “I’ll drive you there.”

“I don’t need you to.”

“Hey,” he called out, “it’d be nice if you just take the offer and not put up a fight all the time. It doesn’t hurt to rely on someone else.” Then he walked over to his car and opened the door, “Get in.”

~_____~

“I was wondering where you were,” Suho opened the door to the library to discover Tao lying down on the couch with a book over his face. “Sleeping again?”

“Can’t any of you leave me alone?” Tao questioned without opening his eyes. “You’re all so annoying.” 

Suho reached for the book and lifted it off his face, “Oh come on, I’m sure you don’t mean that.”

He snorted, “You wouldn’t even know.”

“Oh come on, Tao. Just because you have to work a little doesn’t make this place worse than the prison you came from,” Suho told, “Hell might as well be the new life Donghae is letting you have a chance at. Put forth some effort. If you could look around a little more and realize the good in it, there will be positive outcomes. We wouldn’t be so hard on you if you could see that.”

~_____~ 

“Here,” Chorong turned when Lay handed her a cup of coffee before looking around, “where’s Suho?”

“He said he was going to look for Tao.” Chorong replied then smiled. “Thanks.”

The coffee warmed up her hands. At the back of her head she wondered if Suho might bother to befriend her the same way he had befriended Namjoo. If they could be that close…

The door swung open interrupting her thoughts and she watched Suho and Tao walk in. Her eyes met with Suho’s for a split second before she quickly looked away embarrassed. Chorong suddenly worried if she was making herself too obvious.

“I…I’ll be back.”

~_____~

When Kris glanced over at Namjoo he saw that she had already fallen asleep. Merging his car a lane over he pulled over to the curb. Unbuckling his seatbelt he leaned over to release hers. Leaning forward even more he reached for the lever of her seat so that he could put her seat back and make it more comfortable for her to sleep. Kris only turned when he felt her face brush against his hair. His eyes first met with her chin before he glanced up at her to discover that she was now awake. They stared at each other for five long seconds with his breath catching itself in his throat. His body grew stern and he almost started sweating through the silence before Namjoo turned away, her face brushing through his hair again. After she seemed to shrink back in her seat he finally moved back into his chair.

Namjoo cleared loudly in her seat and readjusted it before pulling the seatbelt back over her. The two sat in silence for about two minutes and during those two minutes all Kris knew was the heavy pounding of his heart. Finally getting a hold of himself he started the car again and drove off.

~_____~

Chorong ran a hand over her face to make sure she wasn’t heating up from any kind of embarrassment before she walked out of the bathroom. She paused when she entered the hallway and spotted a woman walking through the hall. She wasn’t too tall, but she had really thick black hair and Chorong could tell that she was nearing old age. This woman seemed to look around a little lost before Chorong decided to approach her.

“Excuse me, do you need help?” Chorong questioned.

“Ah…yes. Is Namjoo here? I’m her mother, I came to see her.”

Chorong’s eyes slightly widened. Right after directing her into the lounge Chorong hurried back to find Suho. From what Donghae had said, Namjoo didn’t have a good relationship with her mother. Was this a good or bad thing that her mother came to find her? 

***I wasn't going to update cause I'm being lazy, but here we go! 

***Some SuTao and some HaeToria moments coming up before a big incident will happen xDD