Quickly turning toward Tao Suho hurried to him.

“It’s ok, Tao,” Suho tried, “don’t let him get to you.”

A glare flared through Tao’s eyes when he looked at Suho, “What do you mean ‘don’t let him get to me’?! That bastard just name-called me!”

“Exactly,” Suho whispered so that Kris wouldn’t overhear, “if you’re showing him you’re angry, you’re losing your side of the argument. That’s going to make you look worse in his eyes, get it?”

Tao gritted his teeth sharpnening the look of his jawline before he plopped back down into his seat noisily. Suho let out a small sigh of relief before turning around to look at Kris and made a face that told him to quit it. Kris just turned away and Suho set down his cup of coffee so he could rub his forehead.

If Namjoo ever returned he’d leave her to deal with these two devils. After thinking about it he caught the sound of footsteps echoing throughout the hallway. A moment later both Chorong and Namjoo appeared at the doorway. Unable to help himself he let out a loud groan of relief.

“What’s with you?” Namjoo started.

“You’re back?” Tao cut in before Suho could answer.

Chorong silently cast a glance throughout the room before looking at Suho. “Donghae they’re not back yet?”

“He’s going to want to take his time there,” Suho answered, “knowing him.”

“Chorong, you want some coffee?” Namjoo asked. “I’ll go buy us some coffee. You want to come along Suho?”

“Huh? Oh…yea, sure,” Suho nodded and hurried out after her. “So what did you hear from the girls?”

And before Namjoo could speak there were footsteps chasing after them. Tao caught up within a short span of time.

“Me too,” Tao invited himself into their conversation, “I want to come along.”

Both Suho and Namjoo glanced up at him, but Suho utmost wanted to snort when he saw that Tao’s gaze only penetrated expectantly on Namjoo’s face. That brat only wanted to be with Namjoo.

“Then,” Namjoo paused and the two of them eventually took a step ahead before realizing it, “you two go. I’ll wait in case Donghae comes back. I’ll pay you back later, Suho.”

“W…wait,” Suho stammered, but Namjoo had already turned to walk away. He heaved a sigh then turned to glance up at Tao whose wavering eyes followed her till no end.

“Come on, Tao,” Suho nudged him.

“You…you go,” Tao suggested before taking a step to turn around, but Suho grabbed his arm and swiveled him around.

“You’re helping me bring the coffee back,” Suho urged as he dragged Tao toward the elevator.   

~_____~

Chorong watched Tao dash out after Suho and Namjoo before turning around to glance at Kris. There had been leftover tension swiftly swarming through the air when they’d arrived. Chorong wanted to let out a snort, but withheld it as she walked toward Kris and sat down by him.

“You guys look funny,” Chorong greeted.

“Not as funny as you,” Kris retaliated while glancing at her bruised up face.

“Oh shut up,” Chorong muttered. “What did you guys do while we were gone anyway?”

“Since the village near that side of Yeongwol has been abandoned for quite a while no one really goes there anymore; it’s practically a landfill,” Kris explained, “so even the cops don’t keep their eye on it.”

“So nothing?” Chorong questioned.

Kris nodded.

“That’s pretty much what you guys looked into then?” Chorong wondered. “We’re probably going to end up making a trip to Yeongwol.”

“Well it wasn’t like that delinquent was going to help us come up with anything helpful.” Kris plopped the side of his face into his hand.

“Delinquent?” Chorong repeated surprised. “Tao?”

“Who else would be the delinquent here?”

Chorong let out a small laugh, “Since when have you begun labeling a teammate?”

“He just got on my nerves,” Kris mumbled.

“So you guys fought?” Chorong went on guessing.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Glancing unbelievably at him she let out a snort. Kris had always been straight up prepared for anything on the front lines. Always conductive and professional was what he was. Chorong had never seen him put so much of his personal opinion into work as he did today. Kris wasn’t someone who disliked a person he worked with so judgementally. Just what had gotten into him?

Footsteps approached and they turned to see Namjoo appear by the doorway. A lightbulb seemed to come to life in the back of Chorong’s head and she turned to glance at Kris. She suddenly recalled suspecting that something had been going on between the two, but never got the chance to speculate further since everything became so hectic. Why not find out now, she thought.

“I’ll be back,” Chorong excused herself and walked out into the hallway only to pause midway. When she glanced back she spotted Namjoo walking into the room and quietly tiptoed back to lean against the sidewall to listen in on them. She was aware it was bad manners, but how else would she ever find out since Kris or Namjoo really never spoke of anything, but work?

~_____~

It was perhaps a bad idea to come back, but for some reason Namjoo had felt obliged to. Sitting on one of the chairs in the middle of the table facing the back wall she stared at the tabletop. Was it this kind of silence she’d been wanting? Or did she want to say something to Kris that had been bothering her since Daegu?

After another half minute he got up from where he was and took the seat on her left folding his hands on the table.

“Did you have a good night?” He started.

Namjoo blinked and nodded. From the corner of her eye she could tell that he was glancing at her with something of a smile on his face. Kris didn’t hesitate to talk to her before; he’d never hesitated doing anything with her. Yes, that was it. Ever since Daegu it was a little strange being with him.

“Is there something bothering you?” Namjoo turned to search his face.

“Why are you asking?” He looked a tad bit nervous.

Namjoo pursed her lips and glance down before looking at him again. “Just…you’ve been acting a little different.”

“Oh…I have?” His eyes slightly became downcast and they became quiet.

Namjoo ransacked her mind about what to say next. She was aware it was the incident in Daegu he still held consciously within his head. Why was talking to him about it so difficult?

“Kris,” Namjoo began, “I’m ok, really, so you shouldn’t worry about how you’ve been to me…and the others. Lets forget what happened in Daegu, ok?”

He cast his eyes over her, but said nothing so she didn’t know if he’d agreed to or not. Did he not understand that something worse could have happened if he hadn’t helped her run away from the hotel earlier? Why wasn’t he getting that he’d done more than having to watch her get trampled on?  

“I wore the dress at home,” Namjoo forced herself to say in hopes of lifting his guilt away and saw him look at her with a sort of laugh and smile.

It relieved her to see it. However a knock against the door frame caused the two to turn and see Tao holding onto a cup carrier. He looked like he was panting from having run from the coffeeshop back to headquarters. His eyes sat on them like an eagle’s.

“I got your coffee,” he said walking over and pulled out the chair on her right. Sitting down he placed her coffee in front of her.

Namjoo felt her tense up uncomfortably between them. This was possibly the worst thing that could happen to her. Even without looking at them she could feel that the two men were shooting glances at the other. She sort of wish she could sink into the ground right about now. Where was Suho?

“Don’t tell me you left Suho behind,” Kris said. “Is that how a person should treat a person on his team?”

An exasperated smirk climbed onto Tao’s face. “I don’t think…”

Namjoo turned to look at him, “Tao, stop.”

Tao turned to look at her immediately giving up. “Drink your coffee before you fall asleep on the job.”

“Thanks.”

When Namjoo grabbed the coffee she felt Kris kick her chair and saw him turn away. Chorong and Suho would need to hurry back from wherever it was they were.

~_____~

Chorong turned to see Tao running down the hallway. He paused a little to shoot her a glance.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Nothing,” she replied and immediately walked off so as not to look suspicious if that was if she already didn’t.

Would Tao catch on that she’d been eavesdropping? But why had he come back so quickly without Suho? As Chorong’s questions ran on the elevator opened and Suho walked out.

“Oh? Where are you going?” Suho wondered. “Didn’t Tao already bring the coffee back?”

“He’s in the room.”

“Ah…that brat,” Suho muttered before turning his attention back to her. “It looks like it hurts.”

“What?”

Suho ran a hand up to his cheek before she realized he was talking about her bruise. Immediately shying Chorong only managed a small smile.

“I have some medicine you could use for that,” Suho offered, “but it’s in my car. Wait here.”

“I’ll go with you,” Chorong suggested.

“Ah…really? Ok.”

Chorong first enjoyed the sweet silence with him in the elevator. A brief second passed before she turned to look at the bruise and cut on his nose. Other than herself, Suho must have worked hard to avoid misfortune yesterday. The thought made her want to giggle.

“Does it hurt?” Chorong wondered nodding her chin toward his nose. “It doesn’t look as bad.”

“Ah…it stings a little,” Suho told, “but it looks better thanks to the magic of the medicine. Your face will get better if you use it too.” He pressed his lips together before apologizing, “Sorry for having put you in such a situation. I wouldn’t have done it if I knew what was going to happen.”

At this Chorong felt a pang of guilt toward Suho. She should have done her job better if she were to walk out without even the slightest cut. Why was Suho taking the blame for her injury? It wasn’t right. It made her feel low.

“It’s not your fault,” Chorong assured. “I said before, getting hurt makes me feel like I contributed, even if in the least. I wouldn’t have gotten out without getting injured, I don’t mind, really. We can think of my getting hurt as your ability to never get out without some kind of trouble.”

Suho let out a short laugh, which sounded somewhat relieved before the elevator opened. While waiting by Suho’s car for him to search for his medicine she couldn’t help, but twist back to look at headquarters. There was something about the way Kris and Namjoo interacted that wasn’t very normal in just terms of work.

She did catch on about why Kris was guilty about their envoy in Daegu, but why would Kris feel so guilty over it? That was something Chorong wasn’t able to understand. His relationship with Namjoo didn’t run so deep…did it? Then in what way did their relationship tend to be that he would feel so bad over what happened in Daegu?

“Do you mind if I ask something?” Chorong questioned picturing Kris moving from his seat to the one beside Namjoo.

“Huh?” Suho turned around to look at her from the backseat where he was now searching through the back pockets of the front seats. Resuming his search he said, “Sure.”

“Do you ever wonder what the relationship between Kris and Namjoo is?”

Suho seemed to pause before turning his head back to look at her.  Surprised Chorong took a step back and glanced around.

“I just mean…I think the way they treat each other is different,” Chorong excused. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing…”

“Namjoo too?” Suho widened his eyes and Chorong felt her stare on Suho become stronger.

Exactly what did he mean by that?

They ended up staring at each other whilst waiting for the other to say something. She was feeling perplexed and confused.

Suho immediately cleared his throat, “I mean…of course, they’re friends after all.”

He laughed somewhat nervously before climbing out of his car and handed her an ointment container.

“Lets go back in,” Suho said, “I forgot we left the three of them together.”

As Chorong turned to watch Suho hurry in she couldn’t help, but suspect that he knew something he wasn’t telling her. Was it something that had to do with Kris or Namjoo?

***Question now is: Is Chorong going to find out something? 

***Next up: Lay - Victoria - Donghae!