“Actually I…”

Unable to contain the anxiety growing through him like gas flooding a room, Suho smiled and laughed somewhat deeply.

“It’s getting hot in here, don’t you think?” He asked and got up. “I should open one of those windows.”

Walking toward the window he paused ever so slightly and tilted his head over his shoulder to look back. He was sorry for interrupting her, but he couldn’t stand sitting there like that. Suho knew he should have waited for her to finish, but he didn’t feel that it was something that was on his mind at the moment. He just wanted to go out and do his job.

This kind of talk with wasn’t his thing.

Lifting the curtain aside he felt the rays hit his face at once and flinched back when it hit his eyes. Squinted his eyes he unlocked the window and pulled it up slightly to allow some fresh wind in.

Good, he thought, now he just had to wait for Namjoo.

What was taking her so long?

~_____~

Understanding the dangers to come Namjoo rummaged through her drawers for any bulletproof vests she had left. There had been a time when Donghae allowed her to take some with her because she’d entered the field on behalf of Suho. During those times her apartment had been ransacked once, but never again.

The vests weren’t the bests of things for any one person to use, especially her, but that was all she could count on if she didn’t want to die out there. When bullets rammed into her vests she was often left with red bruises, some of them failed to disappear over time.

After putting on another layer of short sleeves she figured she’d grab a glock from headquarters before setting out with Suho. Tucking the phone into her back pocket she walked out of her room toward the kitchen and grabbed her dish to place into the sink.

“What are you doing?” Kris asked loudly.

“As you can see, cleaning up.”

“Why? Where are you going? Didn’t you get Donghae’s message that we’re on vacation today?”

“That doesn’t mean you’re spending your time here,” Namjoo pointed out. “Hurrry up and leave. Nice time is over.”

He snorted baffled, “Nice time?”

“Yes.” She began to walk toward the sink, but he grabbed her wrist.

“You have to at least finish your plate,” he tried. “How much have you been eating lately?”

Dragging her wrist out she thickened her voice, “Look here, my daily schedule has nothing to do with you. Now can you please leave?”

He eyed her once before leaning back into his seat with crossed arms. He looked dignified almost. Kris knitted his brows together in victory. He knew he’d annoyed her and he knew she knew he wouldn’t leave just yet.

“I want coffee.” He demanded.

Namjoo shot her head to the side with a loud snort in disbelief with how childish he was being.

“Are you going to get up?” Namjoo asked, a threatening tone to her voice.

He turned away from her ignorantly.

“I’m giving you three seconds,” Namjoo warned.

“One.”

“Two.”

She paused for another half second longer and clamped her eyes shut impatient.

“Three.” Shooting her arms out she grabbed his shirt lugging him to his feet.

“Eh…” he teased, “if you ruin this shirt, you owe me another one.”

A half-frown crossed her face before she let go and he smiled victoriously.

“Fine,” he said, “I’ll leave, but if I call you, you have to answer.”

Namjoo rolled her eyes.

“I mean it.” He stated seriously.

“Just go.”

She felt him place his hand atop her head as he walked pass and slightly turned to see him go before averting her eyes to his almost finished plate.

~_____~

When Suho walked away to open the window Chorong pulled herself up wondering what had overcome her. She should be embarrassed, she thought. Then on the other hand, she was feeling a bit chilly as Suho had said earlier.

Walking around the dim room she walked over to a little side door and pulled it open. Inside she spotted a first aid kid, some alcohol rinse, other miscellaneous bandaids, and pillows and blankets. Pulling out a blanket she closed the door and returned to sit on the couch wrapping the blanket around her.

She’d had nightmares of some man drawing the breath out of her by pressing a pillow down onto her face. In that dream she could neither move nor scream for help and it had happened three or four times when she tried sleeping again.

The only safe place she could think of where she could be protected was the government hall. No one knew this place. It was large too, so if anyone came after her at all she could hide for a long time and not be found.

She’d least expected to run into Suho, but he was here. Part of her hoped it wasn’t just simple coincidence, but the play of fate. As foolish as it was, he made her…feel good.

Suho didn’t quite return to the chair he had been sitting at and she wondered if she’d driven him off with her foolishness. She almost said something impulsive. Should she feel sorry?

The door opened and she heard, “Suho.”

Suho’s footsteps hurried through the aisles between the shelves as she saw Namjoo walk into the room. Chorong thought she should have known the two of them were going to do something together.

When Namjoo turned to look at her surprised Chorong managed a weak smile in return.

“Ah…you were here too?” Namjoo asked.

“Took you long enough,” Suho complained.

Namjoo turned from Suho back to Chorong running her eyes over her. Chorong awkwardly looked back before tightening the blanket around her.

“You two can leave. I was just going to nap a bit.” Chorong told quietly, but something about the way Namjoo looked at her spoke otherwise, as if she knew something.

“You sure?” Namjoo asked. “Only Tao says it’s comfortable here.”

Chorong’s lips split into a wider smile and she nodded. She watched Namjoo reach into her pocket before pulling out a key.

“Here,” Namjoo handed it to her, “you can sleep at my place till I get back. It’s better there than here. This place is haunted, so it might not be good for you to stay alone. Right Suho?”

“Why are you bringing that up?” Suho hissed.

“We’re meeting up over the weekend anyway,” Namjoo reminded, “so it’s fine with me.”

She settled the key into her hand and turned to walk out the door.

Suho took a step to follow, but paused and turned to look at her quietly. It seemed as if he hesitated to talk to her. Chorong hoped he would say at least something to her before he went.

“See you later,” Suho quickly bid farewell before following Namjoo down the hall.

~_____~

Setting the wooden spoon down onto the counter Donghae heaved a loud sigh. He was slightly annoyed with himself. Why in the world was he bothering to do a good deed for Victoria? The one person in the world; Victoria?!

Puffing air up through his hair he flinched back with a shout when one of the bubbles from the boiling porridge splattered against his face. Again, he groaned wondering why he was up to doing this. While Tao was still asleep why had he gotten up so early?

Rubbing his forehead didn’t quite help soothe his heart.

After the porridge finished cooking he made sure to leave some for Tao and packed the rest up before he was on the road. Victoria better appreciate his small gestures, he thought, or else.

His luck hit when he found out Victoria’s secretary wasn’t there with her that morning. No one came to the door and he didn’t think Victoria would be able to get up on her own. Rubbing his hands together he slid the cover to the lock up before staring at the dial pad underneath. At once a headache along with impatience swam through his head.

How was he supposed to guess this!?

“Calm down, Donghae,” he talked to himself before taking a deep breath and punched in a random four digit number before realizing he probably needed to dial more numbers. He randomly punched two more numbers before it beeped, signaling that the password was incorrect.

Throwing his head back he let out a shout of immediate frustration. Half of him pondered over why he even put effort into this. Then he remembered, it was to prevent her from figuring out more of the puzzle he’d hidden from her.

his lips after a pause he nodded upon realizing it was a six digit code he needed to break.

His finger hovered over the dial plad for a few long seconds before he wished he’d brought Suho with him. Smart guy Suho might be able to crack the code.

Donghae tried two more times only to be met with the beeping of the lock and groaned. He gently pounded his head against the door before it opened and Victoria stared back at him. A frown crossed her face as she looked him over.

“What the heck are you doing?” She questioned rudely.

Donghae was about to retort back, but gave up on it. He saw that her face had some color flushed back into it, which meant good news. Instead of speaking he held up the bag of porridge he’d packed for her.

“Are you serious.” She said objectively.

“I did it out of good will,” Donghae raised his voice now in her kitchen searching for a bowl. “Appreciate it.”

Untying the bag Victoria stared at the boxed porridge and poked her hand against the carton.

“Is it edible?”

“Don’t insult me,” Donghae retaliated. “I have a chef’s license.”

Victoria snorted and looked up at him.

“You’re lying.”

“Am not! I’ll show it to you some time and when you see you’re going to apologize.”

“Whatever.”

As Victoria shifted her eyes around the room Donghae went from cupboard to cupboard before almost shouting out in frustration about how he couldn’t find any bowls. Finally grabbing one he set it onto the table and heaved a long, loud sigh.

“You know what?” Donghae questioned. “Do you have some coffee? I woke up too early, I’m getting angry.”

Victoria turned to stare at him questionably, “And coffee’s going to help?”

“Yes.” He stated as matter of fact.

Throwing her arm out she pointed to a drawer by the sink, “I have some instant coffee in there somewhere. Just dig around.”

“Where?” Donghae randomly pulled a drawer out before discovering knives, closed it, and opened the following one.

This one was full of miscellaneous items; gloves, matches, skews, forks, and spoons. He rummaged around before he discovered some packets and pulled them out.

Instant coffee.

He was saved!

Victoria stared at him with somewhat narrowed eyes, “You came over to freelance?”

Turning to her he said, “That’s not the point here.”

Setting the packet aside he grabbed the carton of porridge and poured it out into bowl before placing it in front of her.

“I’ll have you know that you won’t find this taste anywhere else,” he boasted.

Victoria rolled her eyes halfway before grabbing the spoon to try it. Donghae waited patiently for the reaction she did not give him.

With a slight shrug she said, “Not bad.”

Donghae let out a huff before turning away to boil some water.

“What have the others been doing?” Victoria asked.

“They caught a trafficking gang yesterday,” Donghae replied ripping the packet and poured the dry powder into a mug. “Turns out they’re just a normal trafficking gang who abuses their children.”

“What about the gang from a while back?”

“Officer Choi hasn’t called yet, so I don’t know.”

“You haven’t gone there to find out?”

Donghae didn’t reply, but thought back to how he’d been told off by Officer Choi a while back.

“No.”

Victoria seemed to understand the tone of his voice and switched the topic back.

“Then what are they doing today?”

“I gave them vacation,” Donghae told.

Victoia turned to look at him silently.

“I’m going to let them follow their intuitions,” Donghae finished. “I’m doing the same. So I’m here to watch you.”     

~_____~

Chorong plunged the key into the door, twisted it, and pushed the door open. Her eyes ran around the corners of Namjoo’s apartment as she walked in.

It was empty and barren. It didn’t resemble a home, but a suite that was used once and left to wait for its next visitors. The stench of food came from the kitchen and Chorong walked in to see that the dishes had been done in a hurry. The smell came strongest from the microwave.

Turning away from it Chorong caught sight of the blanket draped messily over the couch and wondered if Namjoo had slept there last night. Suddenly feeling tired Chorong walked toward it. Lifting the blanket up she sat down first before lying down.

The walls closed in ever so slightly along with the morning rays shooting in from the window at her feet. Chorong just about drifted off and readjusted herself before she felt something hard underneath her. Discomforted and pained by it she reached a hand underneath her to pull out a phone.

Frowning she turned the phone around and sat up before turning it on to see that it was locked. After a moment she sat up when she realized who the owner of the phone was.

Confused, she looked around. What was Kris’ phone doing at Namjoo’s place?