Surprise fluxed through the other’s expressions. Their eyes widened and they only stared at her, but Donghae, on the other hand, was a different case.

He grabbed her by the shoulder to make her face him, “Then where is he?”

“Do you think I would have come out if he was with me?” Victoria questioned.

“Then what happened?” Donghae slightly raised his voice.

“He obviously left in the middle of the night.” Victoria hardened her eyes on him as if he were the only one she was talking to.

Donghae let out a baffled sigh. “And this is the best you can do?”

“Don’t go judging me when you don’t know anything,” Victoria shot back. “What could I do when I was drugged to sleep!?” She slightly pushed him. “This is not my fault. Now, I’m wondering if you two are at some kind of secret war.”

“What?” he seemed stunned.

“Yes, you heard me,” Victoria nodded her head, “he probably knows we’re after him. That’s why he was so careful with his words yesterday. Tell me, Donghae, why exactly would Hyukjae want you to lay off this case so bad? Is this some kind of continuous cycle? Something he does over and over again? Are you sure you really know everything about your friend?”

Donghae looked away lost in his confused thoughts before abruptly turning to look at her, “You should have found out more then! How would I know!? Don’t you think I’m nearly as confused as you!?”

Victoria let out a snort, “Not when you’re acting up like this. There’s a possibility you know more than you’re saying. No one comes to your eye, not even your two favorite assistants. Look at them, what are you when you don’t even take their words into consideration?”

“Where’s Hyukjae?” Donghae blatantly ignored her. “We’re going back to Yeongwol.”

Victoria’s lips fell apart in complete shock at the sudden order. “No, we’re not.”

“If I say we are, we are.”

They stared at each other for a long time heated up in their own fury.

“Don’t we still have to wait for news from the detention center?” Lay asked. “Why don’t…we split up?”

“No,” Donghae refuted. “You all stay here. Suho and Namjoo will run business here. Victoria and I will head back to Yeongwol. Now.”

Victoria snorted and stared after him as he walked out of the doors. She was completely stunned stupid with Donghae. He was always changing from one person to another. How would she ever be able to handle him?

“It’s fine,” Suho assured, “let Donghae cool down, go and come back. There won’t be a lot to do here anyway.”

Victoria glanced at them with a nod before she turned to walk out. This was going to be another seemingly long day. Her days there at headquarters were getting longer and longer. 24 hours seemed almost like 36 hours.

~_____~

“Suho,” Namjoo grabbed his arm when he began to turn around and head back upstairs. He turned around to see Namjoo reaching into her pocket then handed him a wrinkled up piece of paper that seemed to have been torn off the corner of a page of a book. “I found this yesterday.”

Taking the piece of paper from her he saw the words “Help us” inscribed on it. It was definitely the handwriting of someone very young.

“I saw the initials H.D.B. on the wall,” Namjoo explained, “can you run it through to see who it might belong to? I’ll bring you a list of names in a bit. We can call up families and compare handwritings maybe by tomorrow.”

“Of course,” he smiled then softened his gaze, “you’re ok though, right?”

“Of course, why?”

“It’s just…you look a little tired,” Suho patted her shoulder, “rest up.”

Namjoo smiled at him and watched him go before turning to Lay. “You mind if I ask you for a favor?”

“Shoot it,” he smiled.

She caught sight of his dimple and smiled back, “Can you check up with the police if anyone’s filed any missing reports, specifically on any girls under the age of 16.”

“I can do that,” Lay assured then said, “don’t take it too hard.”

She found herself obediently nodding before he walked off and turned to look at Chorong. Deep within her mind she could still hear Chorong furiously screaming at the man who had attacked her. Namjoo had for sure detected some kind of malice in her threats when Chorong started screaming. If it hadn’t been for her Namjoo knew she would have been done for.

Chorong started up the stairs after Suho and Namjoo quickly followed. Hesitantly grabbing her arm Namjoo stopped her.

“About yesterday,” Namjoo began somewhat shyly that she was finally approaching Chorong after such an incident, “thank you, really. Thanks a lot.”

This really soft, pretty smile climbed onto Chorong’s lips. It was a really sincere smile, the kind of smile Namjoo knew she would never be able to possess.

“You would’ve done the same for me,” Chorong said, “you don’t have to thank me.”

A small smile crept onto her lips and she hurried up to follow them.

~_____~

Tao felt a little foolish for having expected something from Namjoo. Just because he had accompanied her last night and they had a little something that morning didn’t mean Namjoo was going to start paying him particular attention. So why was he expecting something from her?

He was somewhat annoyed all because he couldn’t explain what these feelings were. On the other hand he was curious if there was something going on between Namjoo and Kris. There couldn’t be, right?

After the other four had walked off Tao glanced over at Kris wondering why he was still there.

“I heard you left with Namjoo last night,” Kris started.

“Yea, so?”

“Where did you go?”

Was Kris prying for information about Namjoo or was he just plain curious? Tao observed Kris for a long minute and couldn’t decide.

Tao shrugged, “Ate, went to her place. Why?”

Kris’ brows slightly furrowed. He seemed almost desolated and uncomfortable with what Tao had just said.

He couldn’t help but snort, “Should I have left her alone? You think after a attempt she’d want to be by herself?”

“Yah,” Kris deepened his tone as if in warning.

Tao frowned at his strange behavior and said before turning to walk away, “What’s wrong with you?”

Instead of going up the stairs Tao lazily walked over to the elevator. When the elevator doors closed Tao relaxed the dark frown on his face. The corner of his lips drew up in what might look like an upset curve of the lips. Who was Kris bluffing? It was written all over his face that he wanted Namjoo to himself.

“As if,” Tao muttered to himself.

Namjoo wasn’t on Kris’ team, but his. Tao still felt obligated to finding out what it was he was expecting from her.

~_____~

Things were looking like they were finally turning up. Chorong supposed it was about time they finally start being nice to each other. Perhaps some kind of incident was needed to provoke the warm atmosphere they needed at work. At least most of them were getting on better terms; the bigger worry though was Donghae and Victoria. They were always clashing. On the other hand, it gave Chorong even bigger hopes of getting closer to Suho.

She found him heading down one of the thinner hallways with a few random circular tables decked out besides the wide framed windows alongside the hall. It looked kind of romantic and Chorong could envision herself having a lunch meal there with Suho during break while they just chatted about this or that. But those kinds of days seemed so far off…

Suho seemed sidetracked. He didn’t hear her coming after him at all even with her footsteps behind him. Chorong wondered if Suho was always dazed or if he was always thinking about something else. Then she thought about the possibility of him reminiscing about his friend from 6 years ago. They must have been close after all if he hurt so much that intense therapy was needed, but Suho didn’t look like he hesitated to make new friends. Or was it that he hesitated about getting closer to new people?  

Chorong guessed that in that sense it made her somewhat a stranger to him. Even if they’d done only a mission together once, it didn’t mean they would get close right away. It didn’t mean they were friends automatically. But if Suho declared Namjoo a close friend that could only mean she also had the same chance of getting close to him.

He turned and opened a shiny wooden door. Before it would close on her she quickly jumped a few steps forward to grab the door handle and stepped in. Suho turned surprised.

“Oh, I didn’t see you,” he remarked, “sorry.”

Chorong smiled a little awkwardly, “Oh no, it’s fine.” Then she glanced around the clean red carpeted room with a few comfort chairs and a lot of storage cabinets.

“We use this room to store evidence,” Suho explained as if reading her curious mind.

She watched him pull out a plastic bag from a shelf above his head and slid the piece of paper inside. He seemed so focused on such a small matter. The ways his eyes gleamed when he worked made Chorong more attracted to him. Suho was really genuine about his work.

“I hope they find that little girl,” Suho said with a soft gaze on the words that read Please help us. “She could possibly be the key to helping us find the others.”

Suho turned to look at her before the soft gaze disappeared from his face. “What?”

Chorong quickly turned away realizing that she had been staring. “You seem so caught up in your work.”

“Oh…really?” Suho laughed and scratched his head.

Drawing up her courage she turned to look at him, “Suho, do you like working here with the military intelligence unit than with the military operations?”

“Mmm…lets see,” Suho tilted his head up to think, “they’re about the same. When I could handle guns, the military operations was a place for me to put my abilities to work. I can also do the same here minus the weapons part.”

“That accident must have hurt a lot,” Chorong sympathized.

Suho only pulled up his lips to form a smile.

“I’m sorry,” Chorong immediately apologized realizing he must not want to talk about it.

He shrugged easily and shook his head before leaning against the counter, “I talked a lot about it at the therapy sessions provided to me. You must be curious about it, right?” Suho turned to take a glance at her before turning away. “I was a wreck, always one. I was very depressed for a long time and had a lot of sleepless nights. I wasn’t used to working under Donghae, but he was patient with me, teaching me step by step. You must have heard that I attract trouble, right?”

Chorong nodded with a small laugh when he turned to look at her again. When he looked away she allowed her eyes to roam over him. Even his posture made him charming.

“When on field work, it was just my luck that troublemakers would run into me. During those times, it was Namjoo who was sent in to deal with them for me. And when I couldn’t do my job properly, she did it in place for me. It’s not just work, but the relationship in the sense of a friend and a co-worker Namjoo has done plenty for me. When I was transferred to this division, I lost my friends. So when it wasn’t Donghae, it was Namjoo I cried to. And I owe them a lot, so I’m trying to work hard to pay it off.” He turned to her once more. “In a sense, I am still getting over that incident. The pain lessens by the day, but I am getting better.”

Just the thought of how much Suho had to go through made Chorong feel even smaller in front of him. Suho was so strong. Meanwhile she, who had come from a proper family, ran away from all the duties her family trusted her with. While Suho stood strong in the front of the wind asking for help when he needed it, she just ran away alone and became something smaller than she should have been. Instead of a Sheriff or department executive, she’d become an assistant inspector.

Chorong had long bothered about why the Chief in General had nominated her for this case. In actuality, Kris, alone, would have done fine. He had a lot of field experience being the detective he is. She was only beginning to understand a little more now, about why the Chief in General wanted her there. Perhaps he wanted her to confront all that she had run from with courage instead of a mere weak soul.

In this sense, Chorong was a lot smaller than she thought she was. She barely knew how to do anything compared to the rest of her teammates. Namjoo wasn’t the one she was supposed to resent even if Namjoo looked down on them. She had reason, Suho had reason, and Donghae had reasons. But Chorong didn’t have any good reason to run from being what she was supposed to be. She only wanted to rebel her own way, but in the end she really did succumb to what everyone wanted of her. Instead of a high position, she’d reached the ground first.

Donghae’s team was the people she was supposed to look up to. They were brave and even reckless in the face of trouble. The fact almost shoved Chorong off her feet mentally. Why did it feel like she was becoming an actual adult so late into her life?

All Chorong did next was smile, “I’m glad I met you here.”

~_____~

It wasn’t right to wonder, but Kris was wondering anyway. How many of those out of the people Namjoo had ever let into her apartment were men?

“Ate, went to her place. Why?”

Recalling Tao’s words made him despicably jealous. And yet he even wondered if they were close at all. Since Donghae had made Namjoo buy clothes for Tao, that only meant Namjoo knew what shirt size and pants he wore. On the other hand, had she even taken into thought the shirt she still owed him?

Kris decided he would find her and have it over with, but as soon as he climbed the stairs he found Lay at the top. He was just putting his phone down from his ear when Kris neared.

They glanced at each other for a bit before Lay asked, “Your hand better?”

Kris lifted his hand up to peer at the slash on it, “Was told it should be.”

After quite a second Lay seemed to step aside to make way for him, “Namjoo should be in one of the labs. I saw her go in earlier.”

Kris stared at Lay confused for a second wondering how he knew he was looking for her in the first place.

As if reading his mind Lay explained, “Um…I mean I saw you two come down together this morning. Just figured…anyway, you two seem close.”

“Oh…thanks,” he muttered before starting for the door but stopped at Lay’s voice again.

“Can I ask something?” Lay questioned. Kris turned, “How do you do it?”

He blinked his eyes utterly lost, “What?”

Lay shifted back as if nervous of his towering figure then pressed his lips together, “I mean, how did you become friends so fast? I mean…you two are together often…”

Kris stared at his dumbfounded group mate and wondered what he meant exactly before he suddenly comprehended the fact that maybe Lay was trying to get close to someone, but didn’t know how. A laugh almost pulled out of him, but since it would be mean he held it back.

After shrugging he said, “We just tend to talk a lot. It will go naturally from there.”

Kris glanced into Lay’s confused face before he turned to open the door.

Close? Good friends? Those were two things he hadn’t thought about for him and Namjoo, but he assumed it was getting interesting after all. 

***SuRong finally had a decent chat for once! ^^ And now you learned a little bit more about each character!

***Heh~ Lay asking Kris for advice xDDD 

***More trouble for HaeToria next chapter! And maybe the others will follow!

***My update for the week! I'm alreayd getting busy with the semester ~___~ And by far I like this cover the most. Might just use it for now.