Lights flickered on, Taecyeon squinted his eyes once he regained conscious. His eyes speculated the room he was locked in.

“Sir he’s awake,” he heard one of the spies inform someone over a walkie-talkie.

Taecyeon remained still for when he was being taken to somewhere else. He couldn’t fight back in this state, he became vulnerable when he had his hands chained. With footsteps echoing along the hallway, they faced a room with double-doors. The spies who guarded Taecyeon forced him to enter without any hassle.

“Hello Taecyeon.”

Looking up, Taecyeon sighed when Minho was standing before him, a grin appearing on his face. Taecyeon no longer wanted to retort nor mess with Minho because he was totally done playing with his games. Only thing Taecyeon could do was wait for his next move that concerned Yoona and the headquarters. He knew they were the only reasons worth fighting for.

“What do you want?” Taecyeon said, he sounded tired. “Just get straight to the point, I don’t want any .”

Minho snickered, shaking his head. “Bring Yoona,” he ordered with the snap of his finger.

The walls on the opposite side of the vacant room rotated slowly, Taecyeon’s eyes widening at the sight of Yoona being tied up into a chair. Yoona caught Taecyeon’s gaze, becoming desperate all of a sudden. Taecyeon felt his heart ache for seeing Yoona try hard to break free from the chair.

“Neat huh? Well that’s technology nowadays,” Minho smiled as he walked over to Yoona’s side.

“What are you doing?” Taecyeon demanded, taking a step forward but the guards held him back.

Minho stood beside Yoona, glancing at her then turning to Taecyeon. “Tell you what, I’ll explain to you what’s going on right now if you shut up.”

With his mouth sealed quick, Taecyeon knew better than to be against Minho’s will. Minho nodded his head, proceeding onto what he had to say.

“The Espionage is under the control of us, the traitors. You have to know everyone’s at risk right now, including the chief, the agents your spy mates, and of course Yoona,” Minho provoked by grabbing Yoona’s chin with his hand. “Then you may wonder why you’re not at any risk at all Taecyeon. Why is that so? It’s my revenge as you can see, I want to know how much you’re willing to sacrifice yourself for your teammates and the headquarters.”

Taecyeon restrained himself from attacking, not wanting to displease Minho at the moment although he had his fists clenched tightly.

Minho stepped back from Yoona, walking closer to Taecyeon. “Go and figure out where the agents are before the timer ends,” he stated.

“What timer?”

A guard handed Minho something hidden under a cloak. Minho marched towards Yoona, bending down to place it beside her. Minho removed the piece of cloth, shocking both Taecyeon and Yoona.

“Surprise Taec,” Minho smirked, polishing the time bomb gently.

It drove Taecyeon insane, pushing away the guards who were holding him back, charging at Minho. Minho slapped Taecyeon’s cheek hard as it left a red mark on his face, shortly stumbling onto the ground. Minho rubbed the back of his hand, which was stinging from the contact. Taecyeon panted heavily, his eyes glistening under the light as a tear was urging to trickle down his cheeks. Yoona helplessly read his mind, him fighting for her and doing this alone was too much for her to take.

"God damn it let her go!" he yelled as his temper flared.

Snickering Minho took a step closer to Yoona. "Woah easy Taecyeon, you wouldn't want her to get hurt now do you?" Yoona winced, shifting her head to the side when the man caressed her cheek with his finger. Her breathing quickened. 

"Consider this as your congrats gift okay? For being such an outstanding spy in the time being. Now you choose, Yoona or the spies?" Minho broke out into a spiteful grin.

Taecyeon noticed Yoona shaking her head, motioning him to go for the spies instead. But that was too difficult for him when there's a bomb taped to Yoona's side. Realizing there was not much time on the clock, he decided to rescue the rest of the agent population first before he could go back to Yoona.

“I’ll be going now,” Taecyeon’s tone hardened as he made his way out of the room.

“Oh Taecyeon before you go, watch out at the end. Yoona will be waiting for you,” Minho waved, sending him off.

Exactly ninety minutes on the timer before it blows, Taecyeon rushed to find where the others were. He bursted through several doors but found no one. All of a sudden an arm went around his neck, pulling him to a dark corner. Taecyeon defended himself but the person was too strong. He turned around, facing someone dressed in the traitor’s uniform with a mask on. The person pulled the mask up, revealing herself.

“Song Jihyo-ssi?” Taecyeon stared in awe, not expecting his senior to find him. “What’s happening?”

Jihyo smiled, brushing strands of hair away from her face. “They were after me but I escaped. I beat up on of the guards and entered the headquarters. I was looking for Jaesuk, your chief but with the situation we’re in right now it’s hard for me to get through.”

“I’m in a crisis right now. I have to save the agents before a bomb blows up.”

“A bomb? Where?”

“It’s with Yoona, you know her right?”

“Yes I do, she’s Jaesuk’s favorite spy. But how? I know Choi Minsoo is behind this but who did you meet up with earlier?”

“Choi Minsoo? Who’s that?”

“He’s an ex-agent of the headquarters. Minsoo’s getting his revenge on us.”

“He must be Minho’s uncle…”

“I figured it out recently that Minsoo has a nephew. Only that, we didn’t expect his nephew to be working for us.”

“I think it was part of Choi Minsoo’s plan. Maybe he planned all of these from the very beginning.”

Jihyo nodded. “We better go Taecyeon, we’re running out of time.”

“But what should we do?”

“The kids are at the arena, they kept them in there. But first we have to rescue your teammates. We can’t be fighting the traitors alone.”

Taecyeon let out a sigh. “I don’t even have a weapon with me.”

“Don’t worry I have it prepared,” Jihyo handed him a loaded gun.

Taecyeon shoved it in his pocket. “What do we do after we find Chansung and Sooyoung?”

“We’ll form an alliance against the spies who are guarding the rookies. Get the kids out of here and then we’ll head to Yoona before facing against Choi Minsoo on the top floor.”

Jihyo and Taecyeon raided each room in various floors, successing to find Sooyoung tied up in a chair with taped. Sooyoung mumbled incoherent words desperately by the sight of her senior Jihyo and teammate Taecyeon to the rescue. Taecyeon shot at the guards who were looking after her but failed when the guards weren’t affected.

“They have bulletproof vests on. Take care of Sooyoung, I’ll deal with these two,” Jihyo instructed as Taecyeon skipped towards Sooyoung. His fingers trembled when there was a bomb taped to the chair.

“There’s a bomb!” he exclaimed. Jihyo threw in several punches before she knocked both guards on the ground. Jihyo crouched next to Taecyeon, sorting out the bomb.

“Good thing I carried a dagger with me,” Jihyo said, holding onto a wire and cutting it. Taecyeon fascinated over how Jihyo had experiences over diffusing a bomb. “There! All done.”

Jihyo backed away, smiling at the dead timer. Taecyeon peeled the tape off of gently, tossing it carelessly to a corner. Jihyo untied Sooyoung’s hands and with that being done, Sooyoung jumped into Taecyeon’s arms hugging him tightly.

“Thank you Taecyeon,” she whispered, releasing him shortly to hug Jihyo as well. “Thank you so much Jihyo-ssi.”

“No problem Sooyoung,” Jihyo her back. “Come on let’s find Chansung.”

“Why are you doing this?” Yoona couldn’t keep still, she demanded to know what Minho’s problem was. She knew she did nothing wrong to him, and she even managed to help him throughout his career in the Espionage. But what was his reason for revenge?

Minho sighed, facing the glass windows as he focused on the scenery. “For the headquarters to fall.”

“Why?” she repeated.

“Yoo Jaesuk has to pay for what he had done to my uncle.”

“Your uncle?”

“I’m Choi Minsoo’s nephew, Choi Minho,” Minho stated, turning around to look at Yoona. “My uncle is the one the running spies despised back in the early days. Uncle only wanted to be part of them, but the chief and the spies treated him as a weakling, an unworthy agent. The moment he was forced out of the headquarters, my uncle and I suffered most of the time because he lost his job. We weren’t able to make a living and I was furious at all of the running spies especially Yoo Jaesuk. The chief always chose Jaesuk over my uncle so I decided to take revenge for him by employing as an agent in the Espionage. I planned this from the very beginning and here we are, taking over in accomplishment.”

“So you mean the times I’ve taught you were just part of your act? You didn’t take our friendship by heart?” Yoona’s voice shook, unable to believe she was deceited.

“Yes,” Minho replied. “When you approached me I treated it as pity. But later I found out that I actually had feelings for you, because I did like you Yoona.”

“I can’t believe this,” Yoona shook her head, laughing slightly in amusement.

Minho held Yoona’s face gently, looking directly in her eyes. Yoona held her breath, flinching under his gaze. “Yoona I’ll let you go. You won’t be in danger at all if you come to me. Please Yoona, choose me over Taecyeon. I’ll give this up and I promise you’ll be safe if you pick me instead of him,” he begged in mercy, his fingers her cheeks.

“Let go Minho, let go! I will never choose you over Taecyeon,” Yoona said with determination in her voice, making it clear for Minho that she does not want him. “It’s not the same between us anymore.”

Minho exhaled, letting go of her face as he scratched his eyebrow. “So be it. I shall reveal my secret then,” he rolled up his sleeve, showing a tattoo on his arm.

Yoona’s heart stopped when her eyes fell upon the tattoo, she couldn’t hear anything but the sound of her heartbeat. She knew that tattoo too well. It haunted her for years that she couldn’t believe she was seeing it right before her eyes this time. It was the tattoo that she had been looking for. She had been on the run for it, capturing suspects because of it. It was the tattoo that reminded her of the murderer who killed her mother.

“That tattoo…” her voice cracked, a lump formed in . “It was you?” she questioned as her eyes were b with tears.

“I wasn’t the one guilty. My uncle killed your mother Yoona,” Minho smirked, rolling his sleeve back down.

“How could he do this…how could he!?!” Yoona shrieked, tears streaming down her face. “Why did your uncle kill my mom? Why in the world must he do that?” she snapped.

“Your mother was involved in an affair Yoona.”

“What?” she said, not understanding the situation.

“Your mother had been seeing my uncle for a few years. They were happy but your mother couldn’t leave your father because of you. My uncle forced her to marry him but she was against it and that’s why he killed her.”

“But my mom was always at our house,” Yoona mumbled under her breath.

Minho cut her sentence off. “The times when she was working, was actually the times she was with my uncle. The money she had been receiving came from my uncle. They’ve kept it hidden all too well,  that your father had no clue about it.”

“How did you know this?”

“I knew it because my uncle brought a woman back at our place for several nights. I figured out her identity, and she was indeed your mother.”

There were too many things running in Yoona’s head that it made her dizzy. She didn’t understand why her mother did something reckless like that, and she felt cheated because she thought her mother was faithful to her father and what’s worse was her efforts led to nothing at all. She gripped her fists, sobbing helplessly.

“Don’t get too emotional yet Yoona, you never know whom you are going to lose next,” Minho scoffed.

Yoona gritted her teeth, looking up at Minho. “Get out,” her voice firm and cold. “I swear I’ll kill all of you who are involved in this.”

“Fine let’s see first, if Taecyeon can save you before the timer sets off. Good luck.”

Minho broke out into a sly grin, waving at Yoona before he left her alone in the room.

secrets...tsk tsk! 

thanks for reading guys! :)