Thirty-one

Background Music

“What are you doing?” Baekhyun frowned as he watched Hana toss gadgets into her black backpack that was only used for missions.

                 “I have to give some of our weapons to Master, but I’ll be back soon,” She replied breathlessly.

                 “Do you need me to help you?”

                 “No, I’ll be fine. But thanks,” Hana gave Baekhyun a small smile as she left the dormitory.

                 Although he tried his best to brush it off, he couldn’t help but feel suspicion rising up his neck. The girl had been going to Master’s office quite often lately, even after the whole punishment ordeal, and he wanted to know what was going on. What if he was hurting her? What if they had made dangerous agreements with each other? Baekhyun couldn’t let any harm come to his comrade. But in the end, he decided to trust what Hana was doing and plopped down on his bed to take a nap. The Olympics were quite tiring, and he couldn’t help but continuously tease Hana afterward about how the red team snatched their win over the black. She would push a finger to his head, and he would bonk his head against hers. Baekhyun rolled over on his stomach in frustration as he found his thoughts always lead to Hana, as if she was always waiting for him at the end of the road after a period of long, pensive thinking. He wondered if she still had lingering feelings for Luhan, the human-turned-robot. Even if she did still like him, Luhan wouldn’t be able to return the feelings because of his non-existent heart, right? These were immature, selfish thoughts; however Baekhyun couldn’t help but feel rivalry towards the latter. Luhan didn’t deserve Hana, and neither did he. Despite that conclusion, he still felt himself as the deserving one, as he was the one who was Hana’s comfort and safety—not Luhan.

♦♦♦♦♦♦

                 Hana hurried to the restrooms to change into her black clothing. She felt bad for lying to Baekhyun, but Luhan was something that she had to take care on her own. As much as she hoped it wouldn’t be truth, she had confirmed for herself that Luhan was a half- robot. And honestly, it hurt. A lot. To find out that someone whom you’ve loved for so long, now doesn’t even care about your existence, is quite painful. *Maybe it would’ve been better if I hadn’t met him in the first place, if he hadn’t moved to Korea*. Staring at her ghastly reflection in the mirror, she placed a black mask over . *I can’t believe everything has come to this.* Her life was regretful, yes, but there was no turning back, and parts of her were dying to look at Luhan’s files. With that, she pitifully tore her gaze away from herself, and ran out of the underground society.

                 S.L. Ryu’s building was miles away from where she was, so Hana couldn’t say it wasn’t tiring running around, hiding behind objects with a heavy backpack on for a few miles. When she finally arrived, the evening sky was gray, with the moon struggling to peek out from the clouds. She attached a gun to her leg, and put a few syringes of serum in her pockets just in case. She took out the map that Master had given her to guide herself, and the gadgets for the safe, as she ran behind the building. S.L. Ryu’s office was on the 3^rd floor, so she would have to climb 3 fleets of stairs in order to get there. Picking the lock to the back door, she entered the dangerously quiet building.

                 There was no one there, so it was quite silent, only with a murmuring buzz accompanying her. Hana felt around, and it seemed like she was in a machinery room, because the glint of metal parts encircled the room—reflecting the moonlight. She drew in a deep breath of disgust, as she observed the artificial arms and legs. Quietly leaving the room, Hana snuck towards the staircase and started to climb.

                 She only stopped for short breaks, her heart beating ten times faster as she arrived closer and closer. When she finally came to her destination, she was surprised. As Master’s brother, she thought that S.L. Ryu would have a lot more security than this, but it was deserted. She successful picked the lock to his office, gun in hand, and scurried over to his desk, where as Master correctly stated, a safe laid. Glancing around, to check for anyone, she bent down and took out her safe decoder and held it over the keypad—9978342. Hana quickly typed in the key, and erased her finger prints after it opened. Breathing in and out, she shakily searched for a file with “Luhan” on it. Much to her surprise, it wasn’t in there, but there was a file labeled “War Tactics” on there. Taking it, she closed the safe and put her gadgets away. Hana picked up the gun, and hurried out the door, when she heard the familiar, caressing voice.

                 “Do you need this?” It asked.

                 Slowly, Hana raised her gun, and turned around to face the voice. She tried to keep in her terror. Luhan. Why, of all people, did it have to be him? But then again, it did make sense, as Luhan was S.L. Ryu’s creation.

                 She needed that file.

                 With deep, steady breaths, Hana held her gun pointed at him as she came towards him. On the count of three she would snatch it away and run for her life. His gaze was unwavering, as always.

                 One.

                 She took a step towards him.

                 Two.

                 Another step.

                 Three.

                 Hana lunged forward, and took the file, starting to run. But she was no match for the robot Luhan, who was carefully crafted to exceed any person’s physical capabilities. He firmly grabbed her wrist. And spun her around.

                 She proceeded to throw a punch towards his right side, the nonmetal part. It only made him flinch a little, but he still held his rigid grip. Luhan pushed her towards the nearby wall, in which he latched his left arm on . He let go of his right hand, allowing Hana to tug on his hand that was on , slowly squeezing the air out of her. His lips were shut in a thin line, like he could kill her off easily. Hana gasped desperately for breath, as her grip on the two files tightened.

                 “Oh Sojin,” Luhan whispered.

                 “I...don’t…know…who…you’re…taking…about…” She gasped as she used the rest of her strength to kick his right leg, enough to make him stagger back.

                 Breaking out into the fastest run that she had ever run in her entire life, Hana dashed down each flight of stairs, and burst out the building. She grabbed her backpack and kept on running, not even sure which way she was headed.

♦♦♦♦♦♦

                 Baekhyun was becoming extremely anxious once again because Hana hadn’t returned yet. It was almost midnight, and there was no trace of her.

                 When she finally got rid of the terror that was chasing her, Hana stopped to catch her breath and slow her heavily pounding heart. Although she was used to the darkness from the OSS society, now she was in open air, and there were only a few street lamps . The air was cold, and Hana really didn’t know where she had ended up because she was too focused on running away from Luhan. She couldn’t find any street signs, nor could she find any stores with their lights . The neighborhood was completely dead. She could hear her quick breaths, exhausted and weary from everything. 

                 “Found you,”

                 Hana suppressed a gasp and scream, as she refused to turn around. How could Luhan find her so quickly?

                 She was about to break out into another run.

                 “Don’t even try, I can find you as fast as lightning,” He scoffed, “You can hand over those files, or be held captive and die in my hands. Your choice. I’m fine with either, although I believe that you’d prefer the first, as I can be pretty brutal,”

                 “You asked me to take it earlier,” Hana murmured, trying to keep her voice hidden. 

♦♦♦♦♦♦

                 Voice Recognized. Profile—Oh Sojin. Luhan couldn’t understand how this voice could possibly belong to his body guard. His left brain kept replaying this over and over as he stared at the lady’s backside, her fists clenched on the files.

                 If it was her, why did she need the files? He couldn’t decipher her motives. But why did she want to become his bodyguard in the first place? He was not the CEO at the time. However after they joined his team, the CEO of the company got assassinated. Would that mean that they were aiming for him? Luhan pondered about this, as she started to walk off again, taking his silence as weakness.

                 “Stop right there,”

                 The lady sighed and turned around, clearly irritated, “Well, there’s no way I’m giving you those files, so deal with it and leave,”

                 He was quick on his feet to snatch her arms and twist them around her back again, forcing her dark eyes to look at his face, “Give me the files,”

                 With one hand still held tight onto her wrists, he used his other to reach for her mask. Her eyes widened and she strained to turn away, but his hand was able to grab a hold of the black material, slowly dragging in down, “Oh Sojin, if it’s really you, I don’t know what to say,”

♦♦♦♦♦♦

                 Hana shut her eyes as she knew she was helpless at this point. Luhan pulled down the mask, revealing her slightly purple lips, a red nose, and rosy cheeks. She slowly opened her eyes to see his expression of awe and anger. Surprisingly, he released her hands.

                 She let out a shaky breath, returning his expression of desolation.

                 “Sorry to disappoint you,” Hana whispered as she sprinted away from the tall figure once again.

Author's Note:Yes! I'm happy I was able to update this week; I've been working on this chapter throughout the week, so I'm glad to get it all posted and formatted today. I've been so busy doing community service these days, volunteering at medical clinics, etc...but it's really fun and makes you feel warm! Plus I've been trying to get a lot of reading [novels not fanfics xD] in, because I love reading! Just finished The Fault in our Stars...which is a really good book, but a bit on the realistic side so I reccomend it to anyone who enjoys a broken romance (like me)!. Ok so now I'm blabbering again...I hope you wonderful readers have a fantastic weekend! I love you all so, very much, so don't hesitate to talk to me, I don't bite! Talk to you soon (I hope)!

-Min

P.S. Gah this song! <3