PRESENT TIME, UNKNOWN LOCATION

“No.”

“But– ”

“I said, no.”

“But Angry Eyebrows–”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Angry–”

“It’s Yi Fan.”

“–Eyebrows.” Yi Fan let out a frustrated sigh.

“I’m not saying I love you.”

“Oh, come on–”

“Not until you tell me why the hell we are tied up in a warehouse of the Chinese mafia – according to you – on God knows where!” Yi Fan nearly shouted.

“Shush! Do you want them to hear us? They can’t know we are awake!” Yi Xing hissed in a hushed tone. The taller male heaved yet another sigh for what seemed the millionth time that night. Or is it day time already?

They had been there for what seemed like hours on a filthy looking warehouse which appeared to be abandoned by the amount of spider webs and dust lying around.

“I’ll explain later, alright? First we need to get out of here.” Yi Xing tried to get rid of the ropes holding their wrists and ankles together, only to wince as a new burn mark was made on his skin.

“Oh really? And here I was thinking of staying here forever.” Yi Fan retorted, voice dripping with sarcasm. The shorter male narrowed his eyes.

“Now is neither the time nor place for your snarky comments, Yi Fan.”

“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do? Hit me? Oh wait, you can’t.” The blonde scoffed, earning him a particularly harsh head bump from the other.

“Ow! What was that for?!” Yi Fan boomed, making the brunette flinch.

“Keep it down, will ya? And respect your elders.”

“Please. I’ve only discovered you’re older three days ago.”

“You didn’t discover anything. I told you.”

“Whatever. It still doesn’t count.”

“Oh yes, it does.”

“Not.”

“Does.”

“Not!

“Do–”

Before any of them could continue bickering, they were knocked out by a strong whack on the head.

ø   

ONE YEAR EARLIER, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

“Rise and shine!” An overly chirpy Jong Dae pulled the covers off of a now irritated and half-asleep Yi Xing. The Chinese male grumbled loudly.

“Just five more minutes.” He trailed off groggily before turning around and curling into a small ball. Jong Dae rolled his eyes.

“We have to go to school!”

“I already graduated.”

“For our job, you idiot.” Yi Xing whined and opened his eyes reluctantly.

“Why are we doing this again?”

  “Because this one is important since Su Ho asked for our help. Besides, Min Seok says we have to ‘blend in’.” They both huffed. Min Seok and his obsession with disguises.

“But stalking is so much fun. More James Bond-ish.”

“Oh my God, Yi Xing, you and that James Bond thing. That’s just an excuse for your creepy self.” Jong Dae snorted and ducked in time to avoid the pillow that was thrown by a Yi Xing that was currently busy shooting daggers in his direction before leaving the room they shared to eat breakfast . The sleepy male got up slowly and stretched his muscles before performing his morning routine. He started brushing his teeth, looking at himself through the mirror. What have we gotten ourselves into this time?

  They had only accepted the job since Joon Myun – aka. Su Ho – was an old friend. Two months ago, while the group – consisting of Yi Xing, Jong Dae, Min Seok and Zi Tao – was relaxing at the usual place, a nice, cosy café on the outskirts of Beijing, after a quite difficult gig, Joon Myun asked for their help.

  He said someone had stolen a precious (and expensive) family jewel from him. Normally, they wouldn’t accept a job without a solid target but since he was a friend, they couldn’t bring themselves to refuse.

  And so, here they were, in Seoul, after finding out who the culprit of the robbery was. A big company’s CEO whose family had been after the jewel for decades.

  They had decided to get closer to the target by befriending his son. And for that, they had to enlist on a prestige school for future entrepreneurs and CEOs, since his son was still in his senior year of high school.

  With the job in mind, Yi Xing rinsed his mouth and spit into the sink before finishing his routine and skipping off to the kitchen where everyone was already dressed in the school’s uniform and eating.

  “So, what’s the plan for today?” Yi Xing sat between Min Seok and Zi Tao and grabbed his chopsticks.

  “Today we’ll just pretend to be teenagers.” Min Seok said as he gulfed down his fried rice. Zi Tao grumbled.

  “No kicking ?” He pouted, poking his food with the chopsticks.

  “I read on the brochure that the school has a wushu club.” Jong Dae mused quietly as he was already half way with his fried rice. Zi Tao perked up immediately and finished his food quickly.

  After a couple of minutes, everyone was ready to go. They left their rented apartment (which was a very big and expensive one), backpacks on their shoulders and walked to their motorbikes – yes, you heard me. Motorbikes. Because motorbikes are the coolest thing ever. Or so Yi Xing thought when half a year ago he practically begged to buy them – before they drove off to the school.

 Once they arrived (finding a completely deserted front patio), they couldn’t help but to let their mouths gape at the ridiculously huge and luxurious looking ‘school’.

 “Damn… I wish our school had been like this.” Jong Dae mumbled and Yi Xing nodded in agreement. They had all gone to high school together. Their building was nothing like this – with its deteriorating walls, smelly bathrooms and filthy canteen. By now, they were already used to leaving in extremely good conditions, since they made a lot of money with their… ‘profession’.

  To the police, they were con-artists. They considered themselves just artists. They simply retrieved what others stole. Like Robin Hood. But a lot more modern and sophisticated, of course. And that’s good, right? Right.

  They walked inside the enormous building and as they reached the main hall, the group was welcomed with by loud girly screams and squeals.

   A sea of girls – Ok, maybe not a sea, but they were still a huge number – filled the hall, leaving a path in the middle as a group of rather handsome boys passed through. Leading them was an intimidating, tall blonde. Even from afar, Yi Xing could tell how truly attractive he was – thanks to his sharp eyes –, from his slightly tousled, dirty blonde hair, to his thick eyebrows, straight nose, full, small lips and defined jaw. Yi Xing shook his head as if to dissipate his train of thoughts.

   At the moment, the brunette and the rest of the boys were also standing in the middle of the ‘path’, completely dumbfounded by the ridiculous scene (well, ridiculous to them).

  “That’s him.” Min Seok mumbled loud enough for them to hear.

  “I think this won’t be so bad, after all.” Zi Tao grinned widely, just as the tall male locked his eyes with Yi Xing as they approached them.

  The brunette’s breath got stuck on his throat at the intense gaze and he stuttered. “ A-Are you sure?” Yi Xing gulped silently.

  “Yup,–” As Min Seok finished assuring the younger male, said blonde winked at Yi Xing, a smirk plastered on his face.

   “­–Wu Yi Fan.”