“I don’t understand Max. Really..” Yunho murmured while pouring the scotch into his cold glass.

Max was resting his head on the couch, blankly staring at the ceiling, thinking about the meeting that didn’t go really well while trying to loosen up his tie. Furthermore, he’s still thinking about the information he accidentally leaked earlier, to that Wang Fei girl from Miss A.

Their hotel room was pretty much untouched, since the moment they got here until now. Most of the times were spent out of this hotel to meet their colleagues, leaving only their beds to have a tint of warmness. Max could really use some sleep now, but with everything’s going on, there will be no spare time for the bed.

“Hyeong, please.. I promise I will solve this..” he said, more like mumbling to himself.

Yunho took a shot down his throat and sighed. “They doubt us, Max.” he said, picked a glance on him, “Because you’re being too soft! You can’t do this job with your stupid, sensitive heart! Get your head in the game!!” he barked, the alcohol has taken over.

Max opened his mouth, but Yunho cut him, “Your plans failed. What have you done so far? Trying to kill her little friend to threaten her? Trying to bring her to Paris? Any results so far?”

Yunho took another shot and slammed the glass down, spilling more words to him. “The problem is not with Amber, Max. I’ve told you about this thousands of time, but have you ever listened?”

Max nodded, he knew Yunho was talking about Miss A. How those girls always managed to save the day, to torn their plans apart.

“My men attacked their mansion, and they didn’t find Amber there. Now their mansion is also empty, they all have moved! They’re keeping her somewhere else under their wings and you’re still thinking about holding back your move?! What are you waiting for??” Yunho was mad and tired at the same time.

Max silently reached down his pocket and felt the patch inside.

“A chance, hyeong. And now I have one. We are going to get Amber, I promise.” Max finally replied.

Yunho scoffed, “You better! Because they’re waiting for us! We can’t play like this forever.”

“Arasseo.”

***

They were all staring at Key, waiting for him to stop putting more clothes into his luggage, but he’s not stopping. Jonghyun tried to come closer but Key put his hand on his face, “Don’t even try, Jjong.”

“But where are you going?” Jonghyun stepped in anyway, ignoring his deathly glances.

Key threw in his favorite shampoo and zipped up his fat luggage. “Away.”

“Away? Really? That’s the answer you gave to assure us?”

“Who says anything about assuring you guys?” Key turned before getting out of the room, “Take care of the girls. I’m going because I won’t let them erase anything from your heads!”

The boys didn’t really know what he meant, but Minho immediately smelled something fishy. “Key, what’s going on? Since you came back from Dongdaemun you’ve been acting weird.”

Key gazed at Minho, Jonghyun, Onew, Taemin, and imagined on how miserable it would be if those people perform the same prochedure they did on Nicole. This is getting personal.

“Nicole’s dress is finished. Send it to her before she leave, okay? It’s her birthday gift after all...” his words hung in the air, just like the expressions of the boys right now. Taemin wanted to say something, but stopped himself when Key took his way out of the front door.

Jonghyun walked fast, managed to grab him before he slam the door, “Yah, seriously,” he whispered, but loud enough to be heard by all of them,“...where are you going? At least let us know!”

Key gritted his teeth, “Jjong, can you please just, stop asking? You don’t have to know more. You and the boys, and the girls, don’t have to know anything anymore, please.. I beg you.. Please?”

Though he looked like he was about to explode, Jonghyun somehow noticed how fragile Key is right now. Something’s itching him, but just like Key said, he’s not allowed to ask. Maybe only for now. He took a deep breath, patting Key toughly on the back, “Alright, as you wish. Take care dude.”

Jonghyun nodded to the rest of the boys, hinting to let him go. Onew waved at him, “You know we’re here if you need anything!”

Key just gave a quick nod before finally getting himself out of the house. He heard footsteps right away, and knew that he’s being watched. A figure got out from the shadows and stared at him.

“Hyeong..”

Amber stood there, with Jia by her side, both were looking straight at him. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to meet abeoji.” he said, with that same hurt look in his eyes from 2 hours ago. Amber could still feel the tenuous vibe around him, and she completely understood. Nicole is leaving for Japan in less than a week, answering her scholarship in Bussiness, and Key knows very well that this scholarship is arranged by JYP and his people.

And he knows it is what’s best for her.

“I told you I don’t need company.” said Key, wishing that he could just meet his father without any interferences.

Amber sighed and ran to catch up with him. He’s very unstable and she couldn’t just let him wander the street by himself. The last time he did it, some gangsters were bullying him and she broke some ribs to save him. She won’t let that happen again.

Jia was watching them from meters behind, giving them some privacy, while at the same time trying to convince Suzy through her communicator, “I have my eyes on them, don’t worry.”

Amber thoughtlessly placed one foot after another, trying to keep up with his pace. The wheels of his luggage made a rough screechy sounds on the quiet street, making it even odd for both of them to stay in silence. Key is probably still thinking about Nicole now, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

“Key hyeong..” she said. Key turned to her in reflect, but quickly looked away, trying to keep his best possible stern face.

Getting a response, she continued, “I think you should calm yourself first.. ”

Key dragged his luggage faster. “I don’t want conversation Amber.”

Amber easily caught up with him, “Hyeong, listen.You don’t know what you’re doing right now!”

He tightened up his scarf and looked up to her, “I know what I’m doing. I have thought about everything, and I KNOW I must do something.”

“But what’s exactly are you going to do? Your abeoji, I mean, Detective Kim, can’t be much of a help either... This is JYP’s range of bussiness.” Amber tried to explain.

Key closed his eyes, tired of being questioned. He sighed, “Yah...” he stopped when their eyes met, “Haven’t you heard..?”

Puzzled, she asked, “What?”

“That agent told me, “ he said, holding on to his luggage holder, “...that our memories of you will be erased.”

Amber felt a chill going up her spine, “Mwo..?”

Key nodded a few times, underlining his statement. Amber was at loss of words. She didn’t know anything about this. She instinctively turned to look for Jia behind them, who’s waving at them casually.

“They haven’t told me anything...” Amber said, feeling fooled.

Key scoffed, “Of course. Of course they don’t wanna let you know.” He put a grip on her shoulder trying to send a little strength, “That’s why, I won’t let that happen. We don’t wanna lose you, ever.”

Amber didn’t even know what to think right now. She thought erasing Nicole’s memory was scary already. But erasing their memories of her... she had never been brave enough to think about it, though the thoughts flashes sometimes. She knows the prochedure is meant for the safety of the patients, and at the same time to keep the organization remain a secret. But after seeing Key and Nicole earlier today, Amber was more than assured that she won’t lose anyone, with such a cruel way.

He took back his luggage and continued his steps, but Amber stopped him, “Hyeong, I know you mean well, but if you really want the culprits to be found, you have to let JYP and his people do their job, okay? The police, and even your dad, can’t really do much for now.”

Key stared back at her. He hated being in this position again. In a position where he just have to sit like a lady, waiting for news to come. It’s going to drive him insane and he’s not going to be that way anymore. “No. I won’t just sit and wait for them to erase my memories, then throw me away to somewhere far from here. Not a chance!”

“Then, what’s on your mind?” Amber asked.

That’s right, Key thought. He never really thought of any plan, on how to deal things like this. But he knows he wanted to talk to his father. Because something between his father and his obedience toward JYP has been pissing him off. “Well, I have a plan. I guess.” he said, still acting tough, which made Amber sniffed a little.

After a few blocks, Key noticed Amber was still following him, and so was Jia, far behind them. “Aren't you suppose to go back to your safehouse or something?”

“It’s okay, Jia’s with me. Hyeong, it might shock you, but actually, there’re about seven men secretly following us for a while now..” Amber said, as she glanced over her surroundings. She wasn’t sure when this kind of bodyguard-protocol began, but somehow she doesn’t seem to hate the idea that much either.

“Is that one of them?” Key pointed to a guy standing behind the electric pole.

“Yeah. Don’t worry.” Amber kept walking, letting her bodyguard shadowing them. She checked the rooftops, where the other guards are and noticed one of them sending her a vivid hand signal. She turned around, and suddenly Jia already stood right behind her back. The feeling changed in the air, and slowly Amber came to realize that the man behind the electric pole was not one of her bodyguards.

“We have a situation here..” Jia said, while also giving codes to the rest of the bodyguards.

“Oh, I notice..” Amber made herself closer to Key, taking no risk.

Footsteps got more intense, and a glance of panic was seen on Key’s face as he quickly looked around. A loud punch was heard somewhere in the shadows, and Amber knew they’re officially under attack now. Key turned to her, “Amber.. What’s happening?”

Amber spotted a shadow beneath her, she looked up, and a man was jumping on her. She could hear Key gasped, and along with Jia’s yell the guy was kicked off by one of her bodyguard before he managed to attack Amber. More footsteps came closer and all Amber could see were pairs of shoes now that she’s lying on the ground. She wasn’t even sure how in the first place she got there.

Amber heard the assaulters calling out for Raven, so she got up and planned on greeting them. But before she could even do anything, a round of bodyguards were circling her already. Suddenly her view changed into a barrier of men, with their backs facing her from every directions.

“Key!” being trapped between her bodyguards didn’t stop her to look out for him. But the thing was, whenever she moved, the circle moved with her, just like her satellites. She then had to push them into random direction until she finally saw her sunbae, standing back to back with Jia. “Hyeong!!”

Confused, Key looked around until he spotted Amber inside the men-circle. “Amber!!”

When she found an opening, Amber immediately slipped herself out of her guards and ran toward Key. There were already about ten or more people coming and jumping onto the bodyguards. Everything was blurred into one chaotic war, and all she could focus on was how to get Key out of this mess.

A guy with a bleeding nose came swinging his arms like a loose gorilla toward Key and Jia. One of her bodyguards held her arm tightly, so Amber desperately tackled Key’s luggage and slid it toward the monster. He moaned and fell with his head first, successfully knocked down. Another one just like him came with a baseball bat and swung it toward her confidently.

“Too slow!” Amber yelled as she punched him hard on the gut with her free arm, which immediately sent her an electrifying sensation on the fist. The gorilla wasn’t bothered by a little fist like hers, as he regained his balance and charged forward. Before Amber could even prepare herself, three of her bodyguards stood in front of her as her human shield. The scenes after that were pretty much around kicking and punching, only this time without including her own fists and kicks. While letting her bodyguards do their job, she crawled fast to where Jia was and found her fighting some more gorrilas. She did a spinned kick to the nearest guy, and managed to knock him out to the ground. “One down!” Amber yelled. Jia grinned in excitement, “You should’ve come earlier!”

Key basically was just trying to slap anyone around with his luggage, and so far, the luggage hadn’t let him down. Amber quickly got his back when another henchman charged toward him. She smiled bitterly and greeted the assaulter, “Yo, Raven is here.”

The henchman didn’t stop his pace while yelling,“HI RAVEN!” crearly trying to notice his fellow henchmen to look into their direction now. A herd of henchmen turned right away and paced toward her, and Amber knew this  could get ugly. She grabbed Key’s hand  and whispered fast, “Follow me!”

“Huh..?” Key felt his hand inside Amber’s and was pulled toward a bunch of assaulters. He saw Amber kicked one guy next to her, but another henchmen quickly filled in, so Key lifted his luggage and banged it on the head, knocking that scumbag to the ground. Amber strengthened the grip on their hand, clearly stating that they have to stick together. Key grinned, feeling cool all over, “Alright!”

As their hands knotted together, they standing back to back, and though it looked ridiculous, Amber couldn’t think of any other idea to keep him any safer than this. A henchmen not taller than her came from her left, reaching for her hand, but she quickly jumped to the right avoiding him, spinning Key around to let him swing his luggage right on the face of that gorilla. “Wah! Did you see that?? I slapped another one!” Key exclaimed happily behind her, and she could only yell back at him, “Awesome, hyeong!” while landing a kick to another one coming her way. It was almost like these guys have the ability to multiply or something, because she started to lose track of their numbers now.

Almost half of them had scattered on the ground now, but Amber knew they could come back up like a group of zombies anytime. That’s when out of no where, a black van sliced through the crowd, opening its door for them to crawl in. Amber was holding herself from going in, but then she saw Suzy inside.

“Hyeong, get in!” she pushed Key into the van, while trying to get off of a henchmen who’s dangling on her feet. “Hurry!” she yelled again.

“What- -“ Key was still drown in his luggage-action-scene when he was pushed into a van, his face almost kissed the rubber carpet but he managed to grab on one of the seat before it crushed his lips. Amber jumped in right after and shut the door behind them.                                                                                                                                          

Suzy shouted to the driver, “Move move move!!”

The van drifted away before they even had the time to click any seatbelts. Amber sat next to Suzy, while Key’s struggling to keep his balance in the back seat. From the darkened window, Amber saw Jia and her men still fighting those assaulters. “Aren’t there any back ups for them?”

Suzy nodded, “Another back up is on their way. Our first priority is getting you back into the facility safely.”

Key popped from the back seat and jumped in, “What was that all about?!”

The miss A girl replied, “That was one of the reasons why Amber needs full protection.”  

Amber, still controlling her breath, asked anyway, “I don’t think someone who’s merely in need of my service would go that far only to find me. Who are they?”

“Yep, you’re right. They’re not one of your clients. We suspect those guys are the minions of one of your hunters.” Suzy glanced at her, “They know about your dad’s Profiler.”

Informations popped in her head, trying to create a room for clarity. Since the time JYP told her about her father’s invention, she’s been searching for people who might be going after Profiler 2.1. She got a long list of anonymous and a bunch of suspicious parties who have been trying to hack into her system, or have been digging the remaining datas about the profiler, but to be ambushed like this, was quite a surprise to her. Well, at least now she understand the reason they’re being over-protective toward her.

“Can we locate the brain?” asked Amber finally, trying to come up with a solution.

“The team back in HQ is working on it as we’re speaking.” Suzy smiled. “Oh, and there’s something I need to talk about.”

“What- -“ Amber was cut.

“Ehmm. Excusez moi.” Key said, feeling a little neglected with all the high-talking along with the oh-so-intense aura. “Mind to share it with me?”

Suzy stopped and stared at him for a few seconds, before completing Amber’s sentence, “You were given a false information, Amber. The letter Max gave you, the one from- -“ now Suzy was cut.

“YAH. I’m talking to you guys!” Key glared.

With a deadly stare, Suzy put her finger on top of his lips and hissed, “Kim Kibum-ssi.”

Amber patted his shoulder, “Let her finish hyeong, it’s important.. to me.” she said, trying to make him understand.

Key slapped Suzy’s hands off of his face and scoffed. He pushed himself to the back of his seat, watching the two started to talk again. He let out a loud groan only to be ignored this time.

“Max gave you a fake letter from your father, that he wrote himself. We’re running on the real letter for evidence, though it’s possibly been eliminated. Min and Fei are still trying to dig it out of him.” Suzy finally finished her brief explanation this time.

“Fake letter..?” Amber absorbed all the words, but still was left in her own confusion. The day Max  took her to his hiding place, he showed her a letter from her father, which was also the first time she was introduced to that code. “So, the code, everything, they don’t even exist..? Is that what you’re trying to say?” she asked, hoping to see a change in Suzy’s face to give her a hint. But this girl remained cool and shook her head, “No. The code means something. We’ll show it to you once we’re arrived.”

Amber didn’t ask anymore questions, she believed there must be a whole bunch of explanations behind it; or maybe she was just not ready for any explanation at all right now. Why would Max lie to her, why would he go that far and wrote his own version of the letter? I need answers, Shin.

***

“Amber eonnie, come with me. Key-hyeong, stay here. I’ll send someone to show you your room.”  Suzy said, as she skipped to the meeting room once they entered the main facility building.

Key was still so amused by everything he’s been seeing in the facility, and just nodded ignorantly when Suzy told him to stay.

Amber followed her fast, “Yah, is he going to stay here??”

Suzy just kept on walking, as a smile grew on her face. “Yeah, shouldn’t you be happy about it?” she asked back, opening the door of the room, revealing that there would be only 2 of them in this so-called ‘meeting’. There was a piece of nicely-sealed document that she’s been holding for a while now, and before Amber could ask about it, Suzy already handed her the document.

“This is some of the missing pages from his journal that we found in his office.” she added when Amber started to read through the pages. The papers had turned yellow, and some of his handwritings weren’t very visible anymore, eaten by the time.

Amber picked one that looked like a letter, and caught the last three sentences at the bottom of the letter.

...

When everything fails, I believe that my lifetime work is not going to be in vain. I trust no one, but you, my friend. Eyes will be watching, people will be greedy, but you know you can survive.

L.M.H

...

“Dr. Noh..?” she asked, refering to this 'friend' mentioned, once she’s done with the letter. Amber flipped the envelope and found the initial ‘N’ on the corner.

Suzy nodded, “This is just one of the evidence that Prof. Lee Mun Hee never trust Shin Changmin from the beginning,” she threw Amber a concerned look, “So that’s why from now on, we need you to fully cooperate with us professionally. Let us do our job, you can’t protect Max anymore. Arasseo?”

Amber put the letter back into the envelope, handing it back to her, “Alright, alright.” she didn’t want to argue about it for now. For now, she needed to make sure that Key wasn’t going to.. Amber snapped, “Oh hey! Is Key really going to stay HERE?”

The girl took the document as she walked to reach the door knob. She sighed, smiling at her, “Enjoy your moment while you can.”

Following her out of the meeting room, Amber was caught up by her words. “What is that supposed to mean?” she asked, but then the conversation she had earlier with Key crept up to her mind. Something about the memory-erasing prochedure. She grabbed Suzy’s shoulder, “Are you guys going to do it to him as well? Erasing his memory?”

Suzy lightly slapped her hand off her shoulder as she threw her a puzzled look, “Yah..what are you talking about-”

“AMBER!”

IU popped out of no where, shoving a laptop to Amber. Her laptop. She looked up to the panicked girl and about to ask why, when IU yelled, “You’ve been hacked!” she took back the laptop impatiently and put it down the floor, opening it wide for Amber and Suzy to see. It was all black, with nothing but that thing in the center of the blinking screen.

A yellow dragon.

***

to be continued...

I finally updated! Whoa with everything going on AFF, it was quite scary T^T

How are you guys doing? Everything fine with your blogs and stories?

Next week I'll start a new semester :3

Hope it's going to be even more exciting than before, though the assignments will be crazier XD

Hope you enjoyed this chapter^^

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Comments will be much appreciated, coz it'll let me know that someone's read it~^^

Good day!