~_____~

“Have you eaten?” Kris broke the silence halfway through the ride.

“We ate before returning,” Namjoo quietly replied, her eyes frozen on the street lights simultaneously covering them in glows and shadows.

He wanted to know if she’d seen his missed call and if she’d felt anything when she’d seen it. Since it looked like she was preoccupied with a lot of thoughts he hesitated about intitiating any further conversation. At last he decided not to say anything.

“Thanks,” Namjoo unbuckled her seatbelt when he pulled up to her apartment building.

Hesitating again, he wondered if he should walk her in, but Namjoo was already reaching for the door handle.

“Good night, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Namjoo bid her farewell as she stepped out.

“Oh…good night,” was all he managed before the door closed and Namjoo walked away without turning back once. And Kris worried if they were drifting further apart now.

~_____~

Chorong’s face hurt. A small movment of her lips would bring shattering pain up and down the bruise now dominating the side of her face. She scorned at herself when she glanced into the mirror and felt an ounce of sympathy for herself. She’d never been so injured before and in the silence of her apartment wondered how long it would take to go away.

So muich action had taken place in Yeongwol, Chorong thought life as Suho was quite tiring. Actually, life in this team was quite tiring. Where did Donghae and his team find the energy to keep going about? How much vacation time did they have in between jobs?

Her feet were like heavy blocks as she trailed into her kitchen to pull her fridge open. She’d been so busy lately that she’d been unable to restock her fridge, but the short break given to her had given her the opportunity to do so; only she had gobbled that food up because there was nothing to do during break. Now there was nothing left in her fridge except for some iced coffee, kimchi gone bad, and a cold bowl of rice which she didn’t remember putting there.

Her mom’s house maid would have come to fill up her fridge, but she only did that on Fridays and it was already way past that time. Chorong would have no choice, but to starve tonight.

Ten minutes later as she lay in bed she pondered over what the aim of this job was coming to. Donghae had motives, she was certain of that, but she wasn’t clear on it now. Did he just want to find Eunhyuk or did he want to save those girls too?

She recalled that instead of trying to find Han Dan Bi, he’d chosen to split them up before meeting back in Daegu which literally came about to nothing. In the end, Dan Bi was dead and they found Park Eun Bin, but even Donghae didn’t seem very happy about that. So what was he after? Was there something in the picture she wasn’t grasping?

As her thoughts ran on she fell asleep without realizing it.

~_____~

The sun was already up by 4 a.m. and Suho was at headquarters by 6 a.m. Right upon arriving back at his comfortable apartment he’d immediately gone to sleep. A shower and a cup of thick coffee had him awake, but he was confident he’d at least have three more throughout the day. In any case, he bought two more on his way to headquarters.

As he sat in the lounge waiting for Donghae to arrive he calmly stared out the window feeling like a young chap living the good life. Honestly, he’d been pretty good with his studies. If it weren’t for work in this field, he would have probably become a professor or something of that sort. The thought left him to sicker at himself. He would have had a good life indeed.

Footsteps made him turn to see Namjoo heading his way.

“Only you’re here?” She first asked before sitting down at the circular table.

“Were you expecting to run into Donghae?”

“Not really,” she replied, “I wasn’t really expecting him to be here first.”

“Same,” Suho agreed and watched her invite herself to the other coffee on the table. “So you came early so we can talk ahead of time?”

Namjoo just shrugged, “The others are going to come bustling in in an hour anway.”

“Then gives us at least 10 minutes,” Suho estimated.

Namjoo stared at the tabletop before her eyes moved up to him. A smirk traveled across his lips having expected it.

“So I was thinking,” Namjoo started, “we should go to Wonju.”

“Reason?”

“I mean, they said before that Wonju’s their home base,” Namjoo reminded, “but we only set it aside because we didn’t find anything helpful there. Remember that place where you and Donghae found us? There could be something there we missed.”

“You think there’s something there?”

“Worth a try.”

The warmth of the coffee flowed into his palm as he grasped his hand around it. They would have to dove-tail everything.

“When should we go?”

“It is better if we do it without the others knowing,” Namjoo pointed out.

“Agree. After we finished everything that’s assigned to us today, should we go check it out? Or do you think we’d be moving too fast?”

“We have to move fast in the first place anyway.”

“Right,” Suho nodded. “Then after everything’s completed today, we should go.”

“We could be in different teams today,” Namjoo told after a moment of silence.

There were many different possible groupings since there were 8 of them. Suho couldn’t forget that.

“Then again,” Suho said, “after Yeongwol, I doubt Donghae or Victoria would assign us to two-day missions right now.”

Namjoo quietly nodded.

“We should meet up at night by latest,” Suho suggested. “I’ll call you by evening.”

The ‘ding’ of the elevator could be heard from down the hallway and the two were ready to glance down the hall to see Donghae. He first paused upon seeing them before turning toward them.

“You two are early,” Donghae commented.

“Aren’t we always?” Suho asked chirpily.

“No,” Donghae blatantly shot him off, “you’re always 15 minutes late and Namjoo takes her time getting here.”

He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the side to better eye them. “You two came early to talk about something?”  

A shiver of nervousness ran up and down Suho’s spine.

Donghae laughed, “You two angry about yesterday? I was only lecturing you two for your own good. Don’t do it again.”

“Oh…” Suho managed in the end.

“Of course we won’t,” Namjoo said somewhat enthusiastically and somewhat monotonously.

“Where’s Tao?” Suho glanced around behind Donghae. “You came alone?”

“I let the kid sleep in,” Donghae answered. “I want us three to have a talk. Lets head to my office.”

And in the square of Donghae’s office he sat uncomfortably in Donghae’s guest chair.

“Did Namjoo update you yet?” Donghae questioned.

Suho nodded, “Yes.”

Entwining his fingers together he placed his hands on the desk and leaned back into his comfy computer chair. It made a kind of squeaky noise as he did so.

“We need to find Eunhyuk and his brother,” Donghae began. “Either one of them will be fine too. I just need to get one of them to answer my questions.”

“How are we going to do that?” Namjoo asked.

“I’m going to set you two on a different job in the midst of everyone’s,” Donghae instructed, “you two will go to work while everyone else is searching for the gangs.”

“But how can you be so sure?” Suho wondered. “What if the gang men say otherwise?”

“They can’t,” Donghae immediately chopped him off. “They won’t. The way I believe it, is that they have their mouths tightly shut by whoever the big boss is. During this time, you two work behind the scenes.”

Suho noticed Namjoo grabbing the arm chair with her fingers.

“It won’t work that way, Donghae,” Namjoo interrupted. “Victoria’s going to get onto us. She’s going to find you suspicious…”

“That’s why,” Donghae cut her off midsentence, “you two work quietly, without being obvious. I know you two, and you two can work on tiptoes. It’s not a lot to ask, lets do this together, ok?”

Suho ran his eyes over Donghae’s determined expression. All he saw glued into Donghae’s eyes and the way he held himself was exuberant confidence. He was too sure about everything and that scared Suho a little. It was almost as if Donghae had already seen the future and he was going to give up everything along the way for it.     

“If we’re doing this together,” Suho said, “then you’re not getting Eunhyuk or his brother alone. Namjoo and I,” he glanced at Namjoo before returning to Donghae, “when we find him, we’ll tell you, but you can’t pull any move without informing us. If you can’t promise that, we won’t gurantee you anything.”

Donghae snorted quite playfully, “What do you think I am? We’ve been working as a team for a long time now and you’re saying you’re doubting me at this point?”

“Just give me your word,” Suho insisted.

Donghae heaved a sigh as if he were a child being told to give up his favorite game for the sake of homework. “Fine, you win.”

When they finally left Donghae’s office Namjoo grabbed him in the hallway pulling him aside.

“What did you mean by that?” Namjoo hissed. “Did you not get what I said earlier…”

“Of course,” Suho interrupted, “we won’t tell him when we find Eunhyuk or his brother. I just wanted to sound convincing in front of Donghae so he won’t suspect us. Anyway, our real focus here is to get to Eunhyuk before anyone else, isn’t it?”

Namjoo glanced up at him with surprise in his well formulated strategy.

Suho smiled, “Donghae’s already given us a boost to get ahead.”

“Suho! Namjoo!” Victoria called from down the hallway. “You two are already here?”

Turning toward her Suho nodded in greeting.

Victoria jutted her finger down the hall toward the meeting rooms, “Lets have a quick conference this morning. I saw Donghae’s car when I came in. If he’s here, why don’t you get him too?”

“Ok!” Suho replied and turned back to Namjoo. “I guess we split up here. I’ll go get Donghae, you go ahead.”

~_____~

Donghae didn’t try to look very cheery with her nor did he give her any sort of greeting when he walked into the room. Victoria was quite fine with that. It didn’t really matter to her now anyway. It had become the norm for him to present himself in that kind of light. Back in Daegu she felt they were getting along fine until he woudln’t speak to her about anything that happened to him there.

Something was troubling him, she was well aware. And when Dan Bi was found dead, Donghae just started putting up fights with her again. Whatever he wanted, whatever he sought she’d find out sooner or later along the way. In the moment, she wasn’t too worried about anything.

“I’ve checked the hospital this morning,” Victoria replied, “the girls that arrived there yesterday have stayed the night for more checkups.” She turned to glance at Chorong and Namjoo, “Why don’t you two go talk to them? I feel they’d be more comfortable with females at this point, and since you two saved them, go talk to them about anything they might remember hearing or learning while in camp.”

The two nodded.

“About the gang at the detentioin center,” Donghae spoke up, “I’ll go see them.”

“I expected that,” Victoria said. “Lay and I are coming too.”

“Then…what about me, Tao, and Kris?” Suho wondered.

“I want one of you to call the police department in Yeongwol that deals with the surrounding area where you found the girls,” Victoria directed. “We should go back there and pick up any evidence as well, but that can wait till later in the day. Any questions?”

A moment of silence passed.

“Alright, clear then,” Victoria stated.

Everyone filed out of the room and while starting down the hallway she made sure to catch Lay before heading down.

“Let me have a word with you,” Victoria began.

“Sure.”

“Whatever goes on at the Detention Center,” Victoria started, “I’m afraid Donghae will keep it from us if I don’t tag along. I want you to remember everything you hear and say and if Donghae tries to exclude us, follow him at all costs. As for right now, I have a hunch that Donghae is keep from us a lot more than we think. You get me?”

Lay nodded. “Will do.”

“One more thing,” Victoria said, “do you know any D.A.’s I can contact? I have important documents I need unlocked.”

“Won’t Chorong have better links?” Lay wondered. “She’s from a family that’s been in the force for ages. I’m confident she’ll know of someone who can help you.”

“Chorong?” Victoria repeated somewhat surprised by this fact. “Where is she?”

“I think she left,” Lay said. “I saw her walking out with Namjoo.”

When they reached the parking lot Donghae was already out by his car, leaning against it fashionably. Perhaps he even looked like he was ready for some sort of photoshoot. Well, Victoria guessed, Donghae had nice looks after all. However the thought, she held no expression on her face. She wasn’t there to please him and she was confident he wasn’t there to please her either.

For some reason, it felt like something had gone down between them. It was nothing, but cold air and secret plays behind the other’s back. If Donghae wasn’t such a sore person in the first place, everything would definitely be easier. Victoria wouldn’t have to hold back anything from him and she wouldn’t have to resort to such backhanded tactics just to find out what he was doing. Everything he did made everything they did so much more frustrating.

She really wanted to know how Donghae would feel if he were in her shoes. Victoria wanted to show him how much of a crappy partner he was being.

Noticing them he stepped away from his car and unlocked it, “Lets carpool there.”

“I really didn’t think we’d be going separately anyway,” Victoria commented grabbing the door handle.

Donghae gave her a glance before entering the driver’s seat.

“You comfortable back there, Lay?” Donghae questioned.

“I’m fine,” Lay replied setting aside some crumpled newspapers.

“Sorry about that,” Donghae apologized, “I haven’t been able to get to cleaning my car.”

Victoria pulled her seatbelt forward to lock it in only to have her hand run across the cup holder. Something sticky and slimy clung onto her hand. Victoria twisted her hand over in disgust only to see Donghae staring at her out of the corner of her eye with a smug smirk on his face. Upon turning to eye him he turned away and started to back out of the lot.

“That must’ve been from some drink I’ve had a few days ago,” Donghae explained without once looking at her or trying to empathize with her. “I don’t have any towels in this car, so you’re going to have to wait till we get to the Detention Center.”

Victoria fought from chewing her lower lip as it might make her look defeated. Donghae’s antics were unforgettable. For some reason she was quite certain he had napkins or towels somewhere in the car, it was just he didn’t want to share them with her.

During the long ride to the Detention Hall she felt herself fuming. It was no doubt that they were returning to the earlier stage of their relationship where she had to fight for an equal standing. This time around, there were no longer sorry feelings for him.  

***Back to step 1 for HaeToria

***Namjoo + Chorong finally get to do something together; they're finally not going to be on bad terms anymore woohoo~~

***Huhu!! Overwhelming tension for Suho next chapter; he's the only one who knows Kris' feelings and he's also aware of Tao's feelings xDD And he's stuck with them while everyone's out. Who does he ship? TaoJoo or KrisJoo? xD