“Uhhhhggg….” Grace sat there, still pondering how they could have such bad luck. As Tao paced back and forth in the room, Lu Han was in the bathroom, putting away his ‘necessities’. All you could think about was Kai, praying that he wouldn’t be mad about the sudden development of roommates.

Tao suddenly stopped pacing, and crouched in front of you so that your eyes were on the same level. He did this often, you noticed. Maybe because you were sitting down, and he wanted to look into your eyes? You laughed at the thought. How cute.

Tao began to ramble, obviously irritated with the problem you both now faced.

“Will Kai be mad? No, he’s not that kind of person. He will probably be mad at Lu Han though. More importantly, what is it that Lu Han did to Kai in the past? If it was something serious, and he is dangerous, I don’t want him anywhere near you.” Tao sputtered quietly, trying to keep his voice down so that Lu Han could not hear him. You smiled, knowing that he was worried about you.

“Aigoo.” You ruffled his soft hair, insisting that he should not worry.

“Tao, don’t worry. First of all, Mr. Kim is not an idiot. Would he let someone dangerous into black ops? And even if Lu Han is dangerous I highly doubt Mr. Kim would put him in our room, considering I am in a wheelchair.” Tao softened to your touch, and grabbed your hand that was still rested on his head.

“I always worry about you, Grace. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happened to you. After all, partners-“

“-Are supposed to be there for each other. I know! Don’t worry. If anything does ever happen to me, then you can start worrying. But for now, let’s just enjoy this time we have together.” When Tao didn’t seem to calm down, you perked up in your chair, waking him out of his daze.

“Would it make you feel better if I did some…aegyo?” This was really a last resort kind of thing, but if it brightened Tao’s mood, you were willing to do it.

“WHAT? YOU WOULD DO THAT FOR ME?” Tao squealed happily, turning back into his three-year-old self.

“Of course, if it makes you happy.” You stated, and Tao quickly ran over to his bag, pulling out his camera.

“NO VIDEO OR PICTURES!” You yelled, covering your face.

“Pleeasssee Grace! I want to keep it forever!” He complained, shaking his shoulders back and forth. Rolling your eyes, you set your hands down in surrender.

“Ugh. Fine. BUT NEVER SHOW THIS TO ANYONE.” He nodded, and began recording.

Taking a deep sigh, you puffed out your cheeks, pushing your lips into a kissy face. Then you put your two index fingers on either side of your cheeks and smiled, tilting your head.

Tao practically died, pushing one of his hands onto his rapidly beating heart.

“Omo~ Grace! That was so adorable!” He wailed, setting the camera aside and running to envelope you in a tight hug.

*Oomf*

“Yeah, it sure was.” You heard Lu Han say, and you froze immediately, shutting your eyes in embarrassment.

Aish, of COURSE he was watching. I should have been more careful. How embarrassing!

Tao slowly released you, tensing up as soon as he heard Lu Han’s voice.

Damn. He’s worried again. I basically did that for nothing.

Tao pushed any happiness he had on his face to the side, and replaced it with a stone-hard expression that even frightened you a little. He looked like he was ready to kill Lu Han.

“What did you do to Kai?” Tao asked threateningly, skipping the drama.

“If you are dangerous, I do NOT want you around Grace.”

Lu Han smirked, not surprised at Tao’s sudden angry words.

“That’s none of your damn business.” Lu Han replied coldly, showing his real colors. His entire figure changed, and you both realized that you had been interpreting Lu Han as a kind person. But you could tell that in face, he was not.

Now I get it. Lu Han put on a front when we first met him. He isn’t really kind. I should have seen this coming. You thought at Lu Han’s sudden un-expected behavior.

He approached Tao with a sense of stealth, but Tao didn’t even flinch. Murder was in his eyes. It seemed like Tao had hit a nerve with Lu Han.

“For whatever reason I am here, that’s none of your business.” Lu Han repeated.

“Well if you’re not willing to share, then you better leave this room now, before I make you leave.” Tao responded, closing the space between them. Their faces were only an inch apart, and just like a cold draft, you could feel the menacing aura of the atmosphere that had dropped upon the room.

“What, are you going to make me? Please, Tao. Don’t pretend like you could defeat me in any kind of way. I’ve been a detective longer than you. I’d like to see if you could even come close to beating me in a fight.” Lu Han threatened, sizing Tao up. Tao did have some height on Lu Han, but that didn’t change the fact that Lu Han had more experience that Tao.

You could tell that Lu Han’s words had been a slight blow to Tao’s ego, but right now, that didn’t matter. Tao scoffed, leaning against the bunk bed.

“Is that so? We’ll see. Unfortunately, we can’t fight right now, because that would simply do nothing for either of us. All we would get out of it would be a demerit from Mr. Kim, and a possible demotion. Instead, let’s have a round tomorrow morning in the gym. Let’s see if you can back up your ‘experience as a detective’ and beat me, one of the most skilled martial-artists in black-ops.” He smirked cockily, sending a shiver down your spine.

Holy crap, Tao is freaking hot.

You shook your head, pushing the thought aside. Not that it matters right now.

Lu Han was about to reply with a snarky remark, when suddenly there was a soft knock on your door.

You quickly spun your chair around, wanting to open the door, hopefully setting free this horrendous aura. But before you could reach the door, it opened on its own, and Mi Do and Kai stood before you.

“Grace! We came over to play cards with you and-“ Mi Do stopped suddenly, her face dropping into a low frown. Kai stood beside her, his face twitching in agitation as soon as his eyes laid on Lu Han. He didn’t bother to leave, because he knew that he had to face Lu Han sooner or later. He couldn’t run away for the rest of his life.

“What is he doing here?” Kai mumbled crossly, moving his gaze from Lu Han to you.

“About that…. We actually just found out that Lu Han is rooming… with us.” You squeaked out hesitantly, waiting for Kai’s reaction.

“Rooming with you?” Kai echoed the words, unable to believe them.

Mi Do could sense the sudden anger in Kai’s voice, and she grabbed onto his wrist cautiously.

“Kai, why don’t we leave and come back later?” Mi Do asked, but Kai gently twisted his wrist from her grasp.

“No. It doesn’t matter when we come back. He will always be here.” It was almost like Kai could not bring himself to say Lu Han’s name, like it held a sour taste in his mouth.

My God. How could anyone hate someone that much? I’m dying to know what happened now.

Out of the corner of your eye, you watched Lu Han for any kind of reaction. He stood there, emotionless, as Kai’s harsh words left his mouth.

You could see guilt written all over his face, and part of you felt sorry for him. The other half of you thought he deserved whatever treatment he was receiving from Kai because of what he had done in the past, whatever that was. Wanting to break the awkward silence, you suddenly spoke up.

“Kai, Mi Do, Tao, why don’t we go outside for a moment and discuss some things?” You suggested, pushing past Mi Do and Kai who were still standing in the door way. They all followed, sulking behind you.

As Tao left the room he closed the door, slamming it a bit too hard. You flinched, and looked up at all of your friends.

Tao held an angry expression, obviously still pissed about Lu Han challenging him. Mi Do kept casting glances to Kai, making sure that he was ok. And Kai, Kai seemed to have the weight of the world upon his shoulders. His facial expression said it all. “I cannot believe this is happening again.”

“Kai, you were right. Lu Han changed his attitude in a matter of seconds before you guys came. At first he seemed really kind, but suddenly, when Tao asked why he was here, he changed into this cold guy with an attitude. He seemed really sensitive on the subject.” You said quietly, not wanting Lu Han to hear. For all you knew, he could be listening right now. It wouldn’t surprise you.

“That’s how Lu Han is. He has always been somewhat bipolar.” Kai explained, finally being able to bring himself to say Lu Han’s name.

“Why are you so worked up, Tao?” Mi Do asked, switching topics.

Tao quickly explained what had happened earlier. Kai nodded the entire time, not looking surprised at all.

“So are you really going to fight him?” Mi Do inquired.

Tao looked somewhat distraught, but not worried. You knew that if they did fight, Tao had a very good chance of winning. But you had never seen Lu Han fight before. For all you knew, he could be 100 times better than Tao was at combat.

“I don’t know. Now that I think about it, it would not be a very good idea. If Lu Han can live up to what he claims to be, a really good fighter, and he beats me, that would leave me unable to…” Protect Grace. He thought, leaving his sentence hang in the air.

“I agree. It would be a very bad idea. But not for the reasons you think. Honestly, Tao is just as good a fighter as Lu Han, if not better. But the real issue here is- what would fighting even do? It wouldn’t get us anywhere. We need to really think about how we approach this situation. Firstly, I am not mad that you guys are rooming with Lu Han. In fact, I’m pretty happy about it.” Kai said, crossing his arms.

Your eyes flew open in surprise, and you looked at Tao to see that his expression mirrored your own.

“And why is that?” You asked quizzically.

Kai leaned in, and whispered in a hushed tone. “Because I believe that Lu Han might be here to do more that help us on the serial killer case.”

“Wait a second; do you have reason to believe that he is spying on us?” You choked out, looking to Kai for affirmation.

He nodded solemnly, backing out of the small circle that you had all created.

Mi Do gasped. “Wow. I definitely didn’t see that coming. But it does seem logical. I mean, what other reason does he have to be here? He claimed that he wanted to ‘fix the friendship’ between Kai and himself, but that friendship is obviously long gone. All he has done so far with Kai is create discomfort. I think it makes sense. I bet that he is spying on us.” Mi Do concluded, nodding in confirmation.

“Yeah, maybe he is. But why?”

“Maybe he was sent from another agency to come and see what information we had on the serial murder case. Maybe that’s also why he just ‘happened’ to be rooming with the two lead detectives on the case.” Tao said.

You all nodded, everything becoming clear. Kai spoke up first.

“But let me just tell you all something important. Lu Han is very dangerous. In my past experiences of working with him I have learned this the hard way…But that doesn’t matter now. Just know that he cannot be trusted. He may seem immature and un-skilled as a detective, but this is a front he has always put up during any mission of espionage. And unfortunately, that mission is currently about us being investigated by who knows who.”

He turned to you and Mi Do, directing to conversation at you both. “You will both eventually learn this after taking your criminal justice classes, but when a detective goes undercover for a long period of time, he/she must make up and adopt a completely different personality and identity. This helps ensure that we will not be traced back to our agencies or families. Lu Han is very skilled at this, and this is most likely what he is doing now.

As his ex-partner, I have analyzed him and his techniques. He will make it look like he doesn’t know what he’s doing, but behind the scenes he is a very skilled spy/detective, and he will stop at nothing to get what he has come for. As of now, just pretend like you don’t know anything. Although, I do believe we should inform Mr. Kim about this. He will want to know. He can also tell us what to do from here.” Kai said, rubbing his temple. He looked really stressed out.

You all nodded, and agreed that tomorrow morning you would inform Mr. Kim about Lu Han.

After saying goodbye, Mi Do and Kai walked back to their room, which was only a few doors down from yours.

-----

“So, what did you guys talk about?” Lu Han asked slowly, lifting his eyebrows in suspicion. While you had all been in the hallway, Lu Han had made a bed on the floor by the window, and was currently sitting on it.

“Just stuff about the serial killer case.” Tao said nonchalantly, looking for any kind of reaction from Lu Han. He pursed his lips and nodded, his eyes searching the ground.

“You should have included me. I’m still not up-to-date with the details of the case.”

Tao was still edgy about the argument they had had earlier, and was about to make a snide comment, but you interrupted him.

“You should probably wait until Mr. Kim briefs you tomorrow on the case. He knows more about the case than we do.” You lied, looking anywhere else but at Lu Han.

You felt that he would be able to know if you were telling the truth or not. Your thoughts immediately swarmed to the manila folder on the serial case that was in your drawer. You made a metal note to hide it in a more complicated place, considering it held all of your current advancements on the case.

Yeah right. I’m no fool.

Lu Han thought, already calling your bluff.

Instead of prying any further, he changed the subject.

“So, now that we’re rooming together, why don’t we all get to know each other a little better?” Lu Han suggested, motioning for the two of you to take a seat at the table next to him. You hesitantly glanced at Tao, and you both shared the same thoughts.

He wants to know more about us to report to his agency.

You even thought that he might be profiling you both.

(A:N/ Profiling – The act or process of learning information about someone based on what is already known to determine more about that person. EX: If someone has a wedding ring on, you can determine that they must be married.)

You slowly pushed your wheelchair up to the table, as Tao sat down next to you.

I’ll finally get to find out why she’s in a wheelchair.

“Why don’t you start? Tell us why you transferred here.” You sternly asked, wanting a real answer.

You knew that he would never confess to being a spy, but you still wanted to see what his answer would be.

“I already told you both that. I’m here to make amends with Kai, and because Mr. Kim asked me to replace Grace on the serial killer case until she can walk again.” Lu Han stated matter-of-factly.

Is that so? Then why haven’t you even spoken with Kai? You scoffed internally, rolling your eyes.

Before either you or Tao could say anything, he asked a question of his own.

“Speaking about that, why is it that you cannot walk, Grace?” He asked casually, widening his eyes innocently. You made a face, not wanting to answer.

“I was in an accident recently.” You said, not wanting to give away too many details.

Two can play at that game, Grace.

“What kind of accident?” He pushed, wanting a real answer.

“A car accident.” You smiled sarcastically. Tao held back a chuckle.

That’s my Grace.

You could see that Lu Han was beginning to get pissed, and a frown appeared on his face.

Since she won’t tell me, I’ll just have to find out from the base. I’m sure my director will be able to find out what happened to her.

Before Lu Han could ask anything else, Tao cut the small talk short.

“Well that was great, but Grace needs to get some rest. Come on Grace.” Tao stood up, and was about to roll your chair away when suddenly you halted him, holding up a hand.

“TAO.” You said seriously, your eyes widening to giant circles.

“What? Are you OK?”

“I JUST FELT SOMETHING! MY TOE! I CAN FEEL MY LEGS!” You squealed happily, throwing your hands in the air.

“WHAT? I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!” Tao responded, throwing his arms around you and encircling you into a tight hug.

Lu Han seemed happy for you, but he didn’t show any emotion and sat there quietly. Now that you had regained feeling in your legs, it was more likely that Lu Han would be sent back to his agency since Mr. Kim wouldn’t need him anymore.

 “Do you want to try and stand?” Tao asked, not wanting to push you too hard.

“HECK YEAH!”

----

Finally, you didn’t need that awful wheelchair anymore. After a little bit of practice the night before with Tao, you had finally conquered walking once again. You started off the day well, and after you broke the good news to Kai and Mi Do, you all decided to visit Mr. Kim and tell him about Lu Han.

He seemed a bit surprised at your theory.

“I don’t know guys. I did a very thorough background check on Lu Han. His past was clean. What makes you so sure that he is here as a spy? He wasn’t even the one who initiated to come here. I asked him too.” Mr. Kim said.

You all looked at each other skeptically.

“We aren’t really sure, but it is a theory. Until we get some hard evidence, can you just keep it in mind?” Kai suggested.

“Well, after you have all told me something this important, I don’t think that I won’t keep it in mind. But yes, I do believe you should investigate further before making any accusations.” He concluded, and turned to you.

“By the way, congratulations on being able to walk again, Grace. That happened sooner that I thought it would.”

You nodded your thanks.

“But first, before you go back into training, I want you to run rounds for a while on the streets. There may be a pre-existing form of post dramatic stress because of your accident. I don’t think it was severe enough to make you go and see a psychologist, but just to be safe, make sure that when you’re driving, you won’t have any crazy flash-backs of your accident.” He said, walking over to a rack of keys that were dangling from a shelf.

“Here are the keys to Tao’s undercover car. It’s expensive, so try not to scratch the paint.” He said seriously. You were about to hand them to Tao, considering the fact that he was usually the one that drove when you both went on rounds, but Mr. Kim stopped you.

“No. Grace will be going alone.” He stated, and suddenly Tao didn’t look too happy.

“And before you complain about it, Tao, just don’t. She will be fine. We fixed the car so that it has all the new gadgets, and if she is in trouble, all she has to do is radio call it in, and the nearest station will send a cop to her aid. She needs to do this on her own.” He said, trying to persuade Tao.

After a few seconds, he nodded, agreeing.

“All right. Then why don’t you and Lu Han go back to your room and get to know each other until Grace get’s back. I don’t have any current assignments for you.” Mr. Kim stated, and walked away without saying another word.

----

After giving Tao a goodbye kiss and receiving a harsh look from Lu Han, you had silently made your way to the black –ops underground garage in search for the undercover car you would be using.

After searching for almost ten minutes and being unsuccessful, you resorted to walking around and beeping the car horn button on the keys. Finally, you came across a beautiful black camero with white race stripes.

How is this an undercover car? It’s not subtle at all!

If anything, you knew that on the streets of Seoul this snazzy car would call everyone’s attention. It definitely wasn’t a good car to use if you wanted to keep a low profile.

You shrugged, and decided that you would simply have to follow Mr. Kim’s orders. You just hoped that you wouldn’t scratch the paint.

Hesitantly, you unlocked the doors and ducked into the driver’s seat. It was an odd feeling to be seated so low. Sticking the key into the engine, you revved the accelerator.

Wow, this is sweet. I love Tao’s car.  

Setting the gear into reverse, you carefully pulled out of the underground parking garage and took a left, following the route that Tao had informed you to take. Whenever there wasn’t much activity in black-ops, the detectives would help out the police with rounds of the neighborhood to make sure nothing seemed out of place.

You followed his instructions carefully, and made sure to keep an eye out for any sort of weird behavior. As you pulled into a major intersection, the light suddenly turned red and you halted to a stop. You decided that this would be a great time to look around.

Everything seemed to be normal. The pedestrians weren’t jay-walking, and all of the drivers were keeping to their own lanes. But out of the corner of your eye you saw something strange. There was a large truck that was a rusty green color, parked to the side of the road in front of a park. You were almost positive that it was the car that had hit you and Tao that night.

When the light turned green, you carefully pulled over to the opposite side of the road and parked the camero. Grabbing the radio, you held down the receiver button.

“Division 1, this is Grace calling in. I see a suspicions car parked on 12^th street in front of a park.”

You waited for a response, and suddenly the radio’s speaker burst to life.

“Yes, Grace. This is Division 1. What does this car look like?”

“It is a pick-up truck, a rusty-green color. It is similar to the car that hit my partner and me a few months ago. A suspect to a serial murder case was driving it. Permission for the license plate number?”

“Permission granted. Let me get that for you. Ok. I have it. The car that hit you that night held the license plate number of R415Y. Is it a positive match?” The person on the other end asked, waiting for your reply.

You faltered. “Y-yes. It is. Please put Mr. Kim on the radio now.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I can.”

“JUST DO IT!” You screamed, eyes glued onto the car. You tried with all your might to see who was sitting in the driver’s seat, but with the way you were positioned, the sun was shining right into your eyes.  

Less than a minute later, Mr. Kim’s worried voice came from the radio.

“Grace. I’m aware of your situation. Do you think that you can approach the car? Or do you want back up?” He asked simply, not sure if you would be able to approach the car or not.

“Yes, send backup, but I’m going to approach the car now. He might get away.” You replied frantically.

“What do I do?”

“Take your badge with you. Approach the car and ask for their insurance and registration.” Mr. Kim said matter-of-factly.

Suddenly, something jumped from the back of the car. Two birds. What were birds doing in the back of the car? Oh no…

“MR. KIM!” You screamed into the radio.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“There are BIRDS in the back of the truck!” You looked into the sky, and birds were circling the car as well.

“AND in the sky! You know what that means. Rotting flesh! There must be a body in that truck bed!” You said frantically, not knowing what to do. Your mind buzzed at thoughts of the killer killing once again.

“Then hurry! Approach the car with caution!” He sent back, despair present in his voice.

“Ok. Here goes nothing.” You slowly got out of the car, fumbling with your badge that you had just pried out of your pocket. To conceal your identity, or at least attempt to, you grabbed some shades from the cup holder that you assumed were Tao’s.

They were labeled, Gucci on the sides.

What kind of time does he have on his hands to be buying from stores like Gucci?

Despite the situation you were in currently, you rolled your eyes.

Pushing the thought aside, you approached the driver’s side of the car hesitantly, and knocked on the window. Before you could even ask for anything, the car’s engine sprang to life, and the car sped away, almost running over your feet in the process.

Flinging yourself away from the car, you landed in the grass, watching as it sped away.

“OH NO YOU DON’T! COME BACK HERE!” You yelled angrily, running as quickly as you could back to the camero. Thank God this was a sports car. You would be able to catch up quickly.

You brought the engine to life and reached for the emergency light that would alert other drivers that you were police. You hastily stuck it to the roof and began to pursue the truck.

“MR. KIM! WHAT DO I DO? HE’S GETTING AWAY!” You squealed into the radio, trying to drive with one hand on the steering wheel and with the radio in the other. 

(A:N/ oops! I just realized that I put that Tao gif in the wrong place guys! Sorry! The gif of him glaring is supposed to be after Lu Han sees graces aegyo.)