Changmin kept a close watch on her the next day, discreet enough that she'd have missed the supervision had it not been the feeling of having been watched constantly. Sooyoung hasn't slept a wink that night, demons resurfacing from the past she'd suppressed and locked deep within the forbidden recess of her mind, and her mood wasn't up to her usual cheer as she served charred toast and scrambled eggs to Changmin. The bacon was slightly undercooked and the potatoes too dry but Changmin cleared his plate like any other day. It was his surprised choke that caught her attention as he plopped the coffee mug on the table, rushing almost comically to the fridge where he drank orange juice straight from the pitcher.

Sooyoung shook the guilt aside, rushing to where he stood taking another huge gulp and waited while he found his voice again.

"Coffee... too bitter." Sooyoung cocked her head in confusion, taking a sip from his mug and fought for the pitcher in his hand, downing the rest of its sweet content to the relief of her clogged throat.

"I might be an assassin, but you could kill me with that." Changmin's attempt to lighten the mood backfired when Sooyoung nearly dropped the glassware in her hand. She backed away from him in measured stride, eyes trained on him like a cornered wild cat would. Before he could take another step closer, she was darting out of the house. Changmin considered giving chase before the empty bottles stacked by the door caught his attention. He'd memorized her schedule enough to know that she'd have to make her second batch of delivery today. Seeing how he'd scared her off, he doubt she'd remember till late.

Changmin rarely appear in the main part of town, choosing to spend his past months roaming the deserted beaches and forest. The last time he'd ventured to town, he'd been swamped by the natives at every corner that he was convinced Sooyoung was his best choice as meal provider and the occasional errand  helper. Considering all she'd done for him, Changmin thought it's only natural to repay her kindness, and for scaring her off with talks of death, by bringing the supplies down to town(even if it means getting men-squashed along the way).

Changmin took the stairs two at a time up to the attic, rattling the door a little before it gave way where bottles of preserved jams and fruits sat, neatly labeled and categorized to date of harvest. He wasn't surprise by the order in the attic seeing how Sooyoung kept the cottage painfully neat in certain aspect. It was easy figuring what has to be delivered with the order sheet taped neatly by the corner and as he carefully slot the bottles into the cart, a dull blue caught his eyes at the far corner of the shelf. It was a feeling that pulled him to the surprisingly neglected corner and hands that moved on its own to pull out a painfully memorable cookie jar that once held the best snack Changmin would die for to taste it once again.

Icy dread settled in the pit of his gut even when he argued that this was a mass produced cookie jar and it wasn't the one his house used to have, the jar that has been missing in the mass annihilation of his family... except, when he flipped it upside down, there was a distinct chicken scrawl on the bottom of the jar in black marker.

Heaven.

Changmin was ten when he'd chosen the jar to store the cookies his mama loves to make. Every bite was a delight for his needy taste buds. To commemorate his new favorite object in the kitchen, he'd grabbed the marker on the counter and scrawled at the bottom what the jar meant to him.

Delivery forgotten, the slow burn of rage and confusion pushed him into motion as he tucked his gun alongside the knife at his back, jar clutched tight in his arm, taking off for the main town in search for the girl who held answers he need. A girl he'd come to like but wasn't who she presented herself to be. Muscles burned at the pace he'd set, running past faces he couldn't be bothered with and even after he'd combed the whole premise of town, Changmin has yet to catch the one person he was looking for.

"Indeed, you're here. What's with the cookie jar though?" A cynical voice he hasn't hear for ages  whispered. Kyuhyun hasn't change much from when they last saw each other, the only prominent difference was the strain lines bracketing his eyes and mouth. Too much frowning, he'd guess.

"I'd love to catch up and all but I don't have time for this." Changmin nearly brushed him off before he paused, "Have you seen Sooyoung by any chance?"

Brows raised at his question and worry settled in on Kyuhyun's face. Changmin needn't ask twice to know Sooyoung hasn't seek him out either and took off again, not surprised when he heard a second footstep close on his heels. Changmin heard a faint tinkle of bells and a hoarse voice called out. He didn't have time to entertain anyone, not even the elder male who'd pointed him to Sooyoung's cottage but Kyuhyun's grasp on his arm pulled him to a stop.

Although Changmin top Kyuhyun by a few more inches, the latter could still overpower him if he wanted to as he dragged the unwilling male to where the book keeper waited patiently. Changmin hated to admit it but he'd missed Kyuhyun's sense of rationality while he had none.

"Try higher places. One that overlook the sea." He coughed once and disappeared back into the store.

Places ran through his mind, and it seemed Kyuhyun knows his way well enough that without speaking, they were headed in the same direction. Just like old time; as though they shared the same mind. Changmin would wonder later how the store keeper knew who he was looking for and where, but as the slim figure he'd come to associate for the time on this island looms ahead, with the darkening grey sky from the season hovering as a ominous backdrop, Changmin wonders why his main concern was the fear for Sooyoung's safety as she stood precariously near the edge of the cliff.

Kyuhyun's voice had her flinching, slim body nearly swaying with the wind off the edge had Kyuhyun not pulled her to him. Sooyoung's gaze travelled from the concerned face of Kyuhyun to the troubled one Changmin was wearing and he saw worked before it snapped shut abruptly, eyes glued on the cookie jar he held. If possible, her face paled further, hands latching to the base of and it was Kyuhyun's arm around her waist that was keeping her weight up.

"Explain it to me. Why is this... no, my cookie jar doing in your attic?" His voice was dangerously low, her reaction enough to confirm his suspicions. His free hand instinctively curled along the body of his gun while he waited, eyes trained on her unusually large ones.

"I... I didn't know till I finished the job. I grew up in a family who worked for the darker side of the government. My parents knew what they were in for, but they neglected to tell their only daughter that the company they worked for is corrupted. I thought I was doing something good, anonymously riding the world of evil until I started receiving letters from the grandmother my Dad never talked about. She aroused my suspicion towards the company and the day I..." Sooyoung's voice cracked before she continued, "killed your family, it's the last job I promised them. My resources gave result on the same day and it exploited the dirty deeds the company had. I was ashamed and disappeared from their radar under a new name and identity. I only got to know where my grandmother lived a year later to discover she'd passed and left the cottage to me. That jar... I kept it because it reminded me of what I never had. A proper family." Tears streamed in continuous flow when she broke away from Kyuhyun's hold, walking on unsteady gait to the frozen male whose pallor has gone as pale as hers.

Sooyoung knew that one day she'd have to pay the sins she'd, albeit unwittingly, commit. She'd even told herself she was prepared for this but faced with death, a person would still hold a fear that doused you with ice and waver even the most steadfast resolution. She's outlived this fate long enough, she knew.

With trembling cold fingers, Sooyoung pulled the hand gripped tight around the gun out and led a dazed Changmin with her to the edge of the cliff. Sooyoung knew the revelation had paralyzed both male and slowed their reflex. She knew their mind were muddled whereas in that short span of seconds, Sooyoung's mind cleared with her resolved.  

She looked at the male a short distance away from them and smiled, mouthing a thank you to the detective that showed her not all authorities are corrupted. Kyuhyun doesn't react, as though his soul was withdrawn, leaving him bodily there. Sooyoung supposed Changmin was in the same state, maybe worse.

Her chance was limited and she acted fast, leaning close to the male whose life she'd destroyed in a matter of minutes. "I'm really sorry, Changmin. I hope this would appease you." The brush of her lips against his unmoving ones was feathery light and it was the sharp crack(and the force ramming Changmin's arm back) that snapped them both into action.

Kyuhyun willed his feet to take him where Sooyoung was but no matter the speed he'd force upon unresponsive legs, he knew it was too late. Changmin watched the peaceful smile grace her face as she flings herself over the edge, pushing him back away from her as she fell. His cry was guttural as he scrambled on hands and legs to the edge, Kyuhyun alongside him. The tide was high, the wave lapping hungrily against the roughen sediments of the cliff side yet there was no body, but the faint trace of red told them enough.

Each moved almost in reflect, body leaning heavily over the edge before a surprisingly strong grip held them back, throwing them gracelessly away from danger. Like lost boys, they looked up to see the book keeper panting lightly from the exertion but his focus wasn't on them. The age old face  that often held an almost cruel smile was impassive when he stared out at the fiery ocean, his eyes glazed with unshed tears.

"She's gone." The voice that spoke jolted their memory of a contact with an untraceable number, the one who'd coaxed them one way or another onto this island.

And as if the heaven was mourning for the lost, it promptly opened up and doused the island with a torrent of rain.