~_____~

Namjoo would be up in less than four hours, but even as she lay in bed she couldn’t find sleep. A bright hue was floating in from the moon’s shine, but as her left cheek hit the cold pillow she saw an image of Kris sleeping on the empty space to her left. It had disturbed her for a week when the thought entered her mind, but she felt like it was nothing new now.

Her mind remained blank with data, but heavy with weight. Namjoo sighed at the thought of the jobs assigned to her on the team and from Donghae and her secrets with Suho. The urgent promise to find Hyukjae before Donghae could locate him remained at first priority in her mind. Then along with it, worries about Tao and his overwhelming emotions for her stabbed its way into her head.

Tao liked her, she knew that. He’d said it again to her, but she didn’t know how to reply to him. Deep within she knew he was a good person, but she didn’t know what else. Donghae wanted her to take care of Tao because he believed she had to ability to. Namjoo didn’t know where this belief stemmed from nor could she defy Donghae. He’d taken care of her ever since she started working under him and Namjoo owed him for that too. Then Kris was the other bigger problem.

Namjoo was a bit worried. Her period hadn’t come at all. Maybe she should have regarded it as an alarm, but she thought stress could also make a woman’s period come late…but it had been 5 days now.

Biting her tongue she dug her head back into her pillow. She did feel good now that Kris didn’t seem as held back and wary with caution around her. The incident in Daegu had been weighing down his mind. The thought of a relieved Kris relieved her mind as well and maybe it was because she’d missed his gestures toward her. Truthfully, she didn’t know how to communicate with him without a small argument.  

Shifting onto her side she curled up and closed her eyes for a bit. The need to clear her mind in order to fully relax stole her over. A moment later her eyes opened and she finally got up. Switching the light on she found the bag with Kris’ shirt sitting beside her desk. Namjoo reached in and pulled the shirt out, rubbing her thumb over the fabric. The scent of the newly sewn shirt drifted up into her nose as she looked it over.  

Would Kris like it? What was his favorite color? She then thought she should have bought a shirt of his favorite color instead of randomly choosing something she liked. It worried her to think of his reaction once he received it. Thinking about it made her quite nervous.

Folding it and placing it back into the bag she walked out of her room to grab a cup of water. For half a week now she hadn’t been able to sleep comfortably and she didn’t know the reason why. It was irritating because work was heavy and required a lot of moving around. It took a lot of energy out of her and one time she had thought it was hard running back and forth from city to city so often. Though it had been something she’d always done with Donghae and Suho she’d never felt as tired as she did now.

Setting a glass of water in front of her she plopped down onto one of the chairs by the kitchen table. Instead of drinking out of it she just leaned against the table and stared at the fridge. All her worries rushing in and out of her head at once.

~_____~

Instead of heading back home at once Kris had the cab drop him off in front of Namjoo’s apartment building. The urge to go in was so strong it was hard to fight it. Since it was late, instead of heading in he tried to depict which window belonged to her apartment and spent a few minutes walking around strangely. When he thought he came upon the right one he stared up at the lights that were still on.

Did it mean Namjoo was still up? Or did she leave the lights on at night anyway? Was Namjoo a person scared of the dark? He couldn’t recall.

Deciding that this was all he could do for tonight he settled for watching her apartment for a long time.

~_____~

By the time the clock struck 2 a.m., Suho was up and out of bed. Staying on schedule had always been important just like Cinderella who needed to leave the ball at midnight and no later. A few seconds later Suho was in the warmth of his car and even took five minutes to buy some coffee before heading for Namjoo’s.

After a quick call made to her she was out of the building a second later.

“Coffee?” Suho offered upon her entrance.

Namjoo gladly took it from him after putting on her seatbelt. Suho took the chance to glance at her before starting the car again.

“You didn’t sleep?”

“Yea.”

“Why? Something bothering you?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“If you’re tired you can take a nap,” Suho suggested. “I’ll make sure to drive carefully.”

Namjoo snorted at his offer.

“So,” Suho began, “just out of curiosity, how are you and Kris getting along?”

A loud choking sound splattered out of Namjoo’s lips and she ended up pounding a fist against her chest.

“What’s with the question?”

His eyes sat on her surprised by her reaction, “Are you ok? That wasn’t a question meant to shock you.”

She shot him a frown before leaning back into her seat, “I’m fine and we’re still the same. Why? Is there something you’re expecting to hear?”

He had to take a second to think about it. Maybe he was expecting to hear something, but he wasn’t sure what. He was in no jurisidiction to tell her about the things Kris had told him.

“You know when Donghae came to see me, he talked about you and Tao,” Suho told. “I think he likes the idea of you two together.”

There was no reaction from Namjoo nor did she say anything, but peered out of the side window into the darkness of the highway as it approached.

Suho cleared his throat and went on, “But you know, Donghae is Donghae. Even if he says anything to you, I don’t think you’d listen.”

An awkward laugh left him when he suddenly became unsure of that. The importance of Donghae to the both of them was something Suho understood well. They cared a lot about him; he wasn’t just their boss, but a friend and part of their family at work. Who was he kidding? Donghae’s influence over them was as close to a parent’s opinion.

“Anyway, I don’t think Tao’s such a bad guy. He’s a brat, but you can see how much effort he’s putting into everything nowadays. I think that’s pretty impressive for a brat like him,” Suho opinionated. “I mean, you should just listen to yourself and do what you want.” He awkwardly laughed again, “Sorry, Namjoo. I’m not good at talking. I just meant you shouldn’t worry about them…”

When he turned to look at her he found that she’d fallen asleep with her head dangling off her shoulder and hands around the cup of coffee. Taking the cup from her so that it wouldn’t spill he set it into the cup holder before turning to the road.

It was going to be a long night, he thought, but it was peaceful as is.

As his eyes ventured off into the darkness of the road he couldn’t help, but think of the days when he used to sit outside and star gaze alone. The time when he used to be at peace with himself seemed so far away suddenly. None of it meant that he was unhappy with himself at the present moment. Suho was very glad with what he had at the present and he made sure not to take any of it for granted.

Before becoming more passive in nature, Suho had been fearless, conscious, and in complete control of himself. He used to be a stronger person externally and mentally. Suho had been wild when in pursuit of a target, always filled with courage and lacking the will to give up at dead ends. That was why the Military Operations had been perfect for him.

Back then, Suho felt a wild peace in the stars. A star’s life was short. They shone for a bit and then perished. Suho thought they were pretty little things to be looked at, but to him now they were things taken for granted. Before being transferred to the Intelligence Unit, everything in his world had been in logical order, each with its own meaning and purpose.

When he’d raised that gun, logic lost its meaning. Suho couldn’t concentrate nor be in complete control of himself. Having become afraid in situations, he always opted for what came first into his head. That in turn always ended with him doing the crazy.

A tiny part of him was still afraid of what he was capable of doing; killing. Though he’d only recently been able to will himself to hold a gun in the defense of his greatest partners, he wasn’t able to shoot anyone to death. Suho didn’t strongly believe in himself and as much as he wanted to participate in the dangerous missions to take the worries from Namjoo and Donghae, he still couldn’t.

One day though, he knew he’d definitely be able to do it. Suho wanted to stay with the Intellingence Unit. He wanted to work with Donghae and Namjoo. His greatest bonds belonged with them, but the recent trials they’d been going through made him fear his job a little.

It had never happened before, this change on the team or the stress factors coming in from every side. Maybe it really was due to Victoria’s team, but Suho didn’t dislike any of them. He understood what it was Donghae wanted, but Victoria didn’t understand it so well. Probably Namjoo would have less to worry over if Kris hadn’t appeared.

Suho wasn’t pointing fingers. He didn’t want to purposely do it. The welfare of the people he was closest to mattered to him. He didn’t like the strain he saw his friends experiencing. Namjoo had been placed in much dangerous situations and if he couldn’t pitch in a hand to prevent anything from happening to Donghae, he’d feel like a useless jerk.

Namjoo finally woke up a couple of hours later mumbling, “Where are we?”

“Finally awake?” Suho greeted. “We just reached Wonju.”

It was still dark out, but the moon was starting to lose its strong shine in the sky. The coffee had gone cold in its cup, but neither of them bothered about it.

“You bring anything with you?” Namjoo questioned.

“I have a handgun in the compartment,” Suho replied.

“You always leave it there, don’t you?”

Suho smiled obviously. “Do you need it?”

“I have mine.”

As they passed the sign marking the city’s territory Suho glanced around at the empty streets and dark homes of silent sleep.  

“Where do you think we should go?” Suho wondered slowing down.

“The forest.”

“Forest?”

“Where we last were in Wonju.”

The woodland immediately appeared in Suho’s head and he immediately recalled running through the woods with that rifle in hand.

“Was that where you were kidnapped?”

“Yes,” Namjoo answered. “There was a bigger shed there, but I never got the chance to see what was inside.”

“You don’t expect their home base to be there, do you?”

“Not in such a simple place, no,” Namjoo told. “It’s probably where they meet up in order to find out their next move. And maybe…Hyukjae meets with them there.”

Suho turned to look at Namjoo. The main problem of this whole mission was that there were too many possibilities and they didn’t know where to narrow them down. Nothing had been simple thus far.

The eve of silence welcomed them as the tires of Suho’s car creaked against the dirt path of the steep hill. Branches twisted and shattered underneath the weight of the car and the dirt stole into the space in the tires. Creaking and cracking noises continuously showered music into their ears. The uneven road caused the car to rock unsteadily before Suho finally stopped the car by the tiny shed where Namjoo had been taken to.

Turning the engine off Suho peered around into the dark. He’d forgotten what was most important; a flashlight.

An eerie darkness fogged around them in pitch black. In this kind of setting, he thought, was where people would get killed or attacked; perhaps, by wild beats or even humans. In this case, probably by the gangmen.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s here,” Suho spoke in a hushed voice a minute later when no one came out of the shed.

Not even the woods moved, that was if there was any wind at all. Namjoo peered out the window to check their surroundings, but Suho wasn’t sure how she was able to see through the darkness.  

“I don’t see anyone either,” Namjoo agreed.

Usually someone would have appeared with a flashlight at the noise of the car by now, but there was nothing. Was this something to be regarded as suspicious or not? What if they were waiting to attack them by surprise?

The sound of Namjoo opening his compartment surprised him that he actually jumped in his seat.

“Keep the gun on you in case,” Namjoo cautioned.

Suho took it from her and affirmed his grip around it. Namjoo opened the door to step out and Suho was quick to follow. A distant echo of an owl hunting at night tremored throughout the forest making him tilt his head up to look around.

“Where are we going?” Suho questioned when Namjoo started trekking down her right.

They first stepped into an open area before a light beamed from Namjoo’s cellphone giving light to the open area they were in. It was then when Suho realized they were on an area of cleared grass, a gate of trees and tall weed waiting for them up ahead. The leaves bristled against Suho’s arms as they walked through it and looking around Suho recognized the area to his right. A thick nest of trees stood beside each other with shrubs growing on the low ground. It was nothing, but an area of greenery.

That was where he’d stopped after shooting the last man who’d been going after Namjoo and Tao down. When he turned around Namjoo was already far ahead. Hurrying to catch up to her brought them to a short open area. Just about 10 feet ahead stood a larger shed, probably a small warehouse or storage place.

Suho abruptly turned when he thought he heard noise coming from his right, but searching amont the trees only brought emptiness. There was no such movement that suggested there was human presence among the two of them. He was being paranoid, he assumed.

Namjoo bravely stepped ahead and found the door greased with spider webs where the graveyard of a dozen flies laid. Clearing them away with her arm and quickly wiping her elbow clean she tried for the doorknob. Suho almost made noise for her to be careful, but the door opened without even a creak.

The heap of light from Namjoo’s phone shone into the storage place. Sitting inside was nothing, but an empty desk and a few metal chairs scattered around. There were at most three boxes stacked atop each other at the back of the room, but Suho didn’t see anything else that seemed relevant or important.

Suho walked in after her quietly and made sure to the close the door after him. Finally turning off the flashlight from her phone locked them into a dark silence with the only light emanating from the low moon.

“What are you looking for?” Suho made sure to speak in a quiet tone.

“I don’t know either,” Namjoo replied. “They might have left some kind of record behind.”

Walking over to the boxes Suho searched for any signs of spiders or any other types of bugs. It didn’t take him long to realize that the boxes were completely new and free of dust.

“They don’t look like they’ve been here long,” Suho announced.

Namjoo moved over to step beside him watching as he lifted the lid of the top one open. They were storage boxes, just the perfect size for storing office equipment such as binders or folders. What they were doing there would have to be found out.

Both their eyes glued upon news articles pertaining missing children and women. Most of the articles were some the two of them had seen on the database at work. Suho dug underneath and stopped when he recognized articles related to investigations the government was conducting and others about human trafficking. Some of the articles were online journals about the Intelligence Unit.    

“What the hell…” Suho muttered. “They’ve been keeping a tab on each of the girls they’ve taken.”

“They’re keeping a watch on everything,” Namjoo added.

Suho quickened the speed of his hands as he dug further intio the box and stopped when he caught a profile of Donghae. His eyes froze and widened.

“Namjoo, look.” He handed the piece of paper to her and watched a stricken surprise crawl onto her face.

Suho turned back to the box before grabbing a random pile of papers out. His eyes skimmed over each next sheet, flipping from paper to paper. Each time each new sheet appeared before his eyes his heart rammed against his chest again and again. Out of the shock the other stack of articles in his hand dropped to the floor. Namjoo’s attention swerved from Donghae’s profile to the mess he’d made.

“What are you…” Namjoo began, but quieted when she turned to see the profiles of their other teammates in Suho’s hands.

The dark silence inside the storage shed enveloped its arms around them before the door suddenly opened behind them and a gas lantern lit up the whole room. The two of them turned around too late only to have their faces caught by the men that had appeared. 

***Uh-oh, a lot of uh-oh's coming from every side.