“Tell me what the bloody hell is going on.” Haneul hissed, but no one replied back. She hissed inwardly as she prepared to make her way out of the dance floor. The music was in full blast, the liquor ran heavily and the night goers danced unaware of what was going to happen.

This little mission of hers which consisted of busting two Underground gangs was all too easy. You see, the meeting spot was the back room of a shaggy night club.

Once Haneul found out where they were meeting she counted her lucky stars because this just made her job all too easy.

She was just going to make an anonymous call to the local police and let them handle the job. Honestly this job was too easy, not that she was being cocky, and she just thought it was odd that of all the jobs her husband had given her this one.

It was unlike him. However she didn’t put much thought into it as she swayed around the dancing crowds, her eyes set on the dark corner of the club which lead to the back door. Dressed in a pair of tight leather pants and leather boots paired with a white crop top, she fitted right in.

She was wondering why Jiwoo wasn’t answering back and this fact began to bug her as fear quickly ate her up. What was going on?

Haneul brushed past a couple wired up together they barely noticed anyone or anything around them, she passed a group of dancing college girls out for a girls night and she even flicked off a guy who tried grabbing her .

She just needed to make sure Jiwoo was okay and then make the call to the bloody police so she could get out of here.

She stumbled when an arm reached out to grab her. Groaning she pushed the arm off of her as she continued to sway through the crowds.

She only made it a few steps when she felt a shiver spread through her body. She froze in her spot, her eyes widened before understanding what was really going on.

She narrowed her eyes and cursed in several languages. The booming music sounded out her cuss words. She had to bite down her tongue to stand her ground.

Haneul had grown a certain sixth sense over the years. Her sixth sense was screaming at her to run out of here because there was someone in this cramped room and it would be wise to avoid him. Her sixth sense told her that staying brought no good, her sixth sense told her to do what she did two years ago.

But sadly her sixth sense wasn’t able to overpower her desire to see him and speak with him, whether it was to punch him straight in the face, curse him senseless or throw her arms around him, she didn’t know. But was she going to run back to like just like this?

“ no. I’m not doing this.” She whispered after realizing she had no reason to stand here and wait for him to come to her. It didn’t work that way, but anymore.

She quickly regains her composure and tried sidestepping as many people as fast as possible so she could get out and disappear. She thought she lost him amongst the dancers. She made her way towards the back hallway which led to the back door.

She was stunned when she was whisked around and pressed against the body of a familiar old flame. A gasp escaped as he pulled her close, engulfing her in the familiarity she had long forgotten.

“I missed you.”

His warm breath made her insides tingle and explode, his skin sent electricity through her body and his presence made her knees go weak.

No. No. No. She couldn’t do this. Haneul couldn’t deal with this man again. She couldn’t deal with being near him and hearing his soft voice. She couldn’t be reminded of how he made her insides swim with butterflies. She couldn’t meet his intense gaze. She couldn’t be around him. She couldn’t do this again.

But why the hell did she miss hearing his voice so much. Why the hell did those three words make her feel like she had just found her home after running for so long?

One of his hands slipped down to the curve of her lower back as the other held her shoulder firmly yet gently. Haneul forced herself to look up to the man who she knew all so well.

She wished she didn’t because he was still Luhan, the same Luhan she met all those years ago. There were the same doe-like chocolate eyes that were wise beyond the years of their owner, the same tired frown on his face as he tried focusing on all the good in the world. He was as handsome as ever, and in her eyes Luhan would always be the one person who could take her breath away with just a glance.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t come knocking at my doorstep.” She said. After two years she never expected those to be the first words she would say but they were. She saw his eyes flicker but she couldn’t figure out the emotions behind his eyes.

He just continued to stare down at her with those intense brown eyes. Her heart hammered harder than she could imagine as she stared back at him. The hard drumming of her heart made her feel out of her comfort zone, because only Luhan could make her lose control.

Luhan reached up and ran his hand up her face, from her chin to her cheek to her hair before picking up a strand of her dark hair and pushing it away from her face. Her mind was screaming at her body to walk away and get away from this man.

A small knowing smile appeared on his face and she continued to stare at him with a daze look glued to her face. She hated that smile.

“I found you.” He said softly and for some reason she could hear how sincere he was.

“You weren’t supposed to be looking. You said you wouldn’t come looking.” She retorted, still in his hold.

“Guess I’m a liar.”

“You don’t lie.” She commented.

He laughed like what she just said was the funniest thing he heard.

“Sure I do.” He repeated but she stubbornly shook her head like a eleven year old refusing to back down.

“Not to me.” She stated firmly.

It was only now that she decided to break contract with this man. She pushed him away and stepped back, trying to create room between their two bodies.

“How did you find me? I have work to do.” She stated dryly when she remembered that she had a job to do.

“I asked for help from a mutual friend of ours. Your little adventures have caught my attention you know, I had to find you.”

“Why the hell are you here?” She hissed angrily.

He gulped and she saw his eyes light up before he replied, “I’m here to save you.”

Haneul stumbled back. She was speechless and taken a back. Of all the things he could say she never expected him to say this. “I don’t need saving, and I don’t need you to save me…not anymore.”

“You always say that.” He replied softly, stepping towards her as she stepped back.

“I don’t want you here; I don’t need you, so go back to China. Go back to EXOM.”

He shook his head, that smile on his face never wavered, “I can’t do that.”

“And why the hell not.”

He took two steps forward and once again she was in his arms, he lowered his mouth to her ear before he whispered, “Because I’m going to help you, I’m going to protect you, and I’m going to save you, even if it from yourself. I’m not letting you go.”

She felt the entire world spin around; throwing everything she had built in the last two years tumble and crash. She looked up to him; it didn’t take words to know that he meant every word of what he said.

“I’ll see you around.” He said, and just like that he was gone again.

-----

“What happened?”

Haneul wasn’t even sure why she was asking a question she already knew the answer to. Maybe she was hoping for a different answer than the one she knew. Maybe she wasn’t ready to face reality. These two years on the run as the Queen of Hearts had been like a dream she was going to be forced to wake up from.

She didn’t want to wake up…did she?

“I don’t know, someone hacked into my computer and it took ages to figure out where the hacker was and – ”

“Save it, I know who it was.” Haneul commented. “There are only two people I know who would want to hack into our system….Zhang Yixing and Park Sooyoung.”

“Yeah I figured.” Jiwoo said softly looking away from her. “International hackers, better known as Lay and Lizzy”

Haneul stepped closer to her husband; her steps were slow and quiet. “Hey.” She mumbled softly. They were standing in a small hotel room they had rented during their stay in New York.

“He came back to you didn’t he. That’s what happened tonight wasn’t it, he found you.” Jiwoo stated finally looking at her. He looked so crushed, like a lost puppy that had been abandoned. Then again, he was abandoned wasn’t he…just like she was.

“I don’t want to lie to you.” She said softly stepping towards him so she was within his hold.

“Do you still love him?” He asked. Haneul linked her arms around his neck. She was sure of one thing and that was that Jiwoo wasn’t Luhan. A week ago she would had been happy knowing this, but now she was unsure of how she felt.

“He’s a killer…a liar…a coward…and he broke my heart.”

“I know.” Jiwoo said softly as he leaned down to kissed his wife. The kiss was gentle like always but it said it all. Don’t leave me. I love you.

And Haneul returned the kiss realizing that she never answered Jiwoo’s question.

But did it matter, she asked herself. Luhan broke her, he sent her away and she’ll be damn if she walks straight back to him.

Never in a million years, she told herself. So what if she loves him? Love has nothing to do with this. If her love wasn’t enough for him the first time it wasn’t enough now.

Haneul wasn’t weak, she wasn’t naïve, she wasn’t fragile. She wasn’t going back to him. To hell with him. To hell with love, it only kills you.

-----

“She’s what?”

“She’s married.”

“Shut up Lizzy, she’s not.”

“Well according to the state of Illinois she is. She got married a year ago in Chicago to Lee Jiwoo. He’s a hacker, and a good one, it took Lay and I a while to hack into his system. She registered under an allias name but I was able to connect the dots back to her.”

Lizzy didn’t expect Luhan to answer back, so it was no surprised when he turned around and stormed out of the room.

“You could have done it gently.” Lay commented from his computer. He didn’t look up to her but he knew she was looking at him with that sadistic smirk.

“I like seeing him squirm; it reminds me that even killers like us are still human.”

“Of course he is, it’s Luhan. He cares, he cares too much, and he loves, even if loving kills him.”

Kris wasn’t expecting much when he was forced to talk to his friend by his persistent fiancée. So it shocked him when he saw how put together Luhan remained.

“Sarang forced you to talk to me didn’t she?” Luhan commented not bothering to look at his leader. His eyes were focused on the beautiful sight that was the New York skyline at dawn.

“You’re doing better than I expected.” Kris commented bluntly.

“Not all of us are moody, indecisive es.” Luhan countered. Kris couldn’t help but laugh at his friend’s comment.

"She's married."

"So what? I told her to find someone who could love her, she did as told. Nothing wrong with that." Luhan stated, but Kris could still hear the bitterness in Luhan's tone like he had been smack in the face.

“So what are you going to do next?” Kris asked because he knew Haneul being married wasn't part of the plan.

Luhan finally turned to look at Kris, “Same thing, I’m going to help her.” He answered like it was the easiest question ever asked.

“She doesn’t want your help Luhan.”

“But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t need it. There’s a difference between wanting something and needing something. Sometimes there are just grey lines in between that we have to figure out.” Luhan responded. He sounded so calm, too calm like he had expected everything to happen the way they did.

Kris hated that about Luhan. Luhan had a way of knowing how things were going to unfold, he knew how people were going to react and he knew how to react back.

“So I’m taking it we’re going to be in New York for a while.” Kris suggested but Luhan only shook his head.

“No, we should start packing. Hope none of you got comfortable because Haneul’s probably half way to another continent by now.” Luhan replied. “She’s going to try and run.”

“And you’re the idiot who’s going to chase after her. How romantic.”

“Romance has nothing to do with it.”   

Kris raised a brow, “Then what’s all this about?”

“What do you think?”

Kris rolled his eyes, “How would I know? Why do you think I’m asking in the first place you idiot?”

“Like I said, what do you think it’s about?”

Kris didn’t answer. He concluded that it was better that way. Luhan loved ing with his mind and it was easier not knowing sometimes. Either way, Luhan was going to protect Haneul, whether she wanted him to or not. Haneul was stubborn, but if Luhan was anything, he was persistent.

----