A/N: Wow, it's been a while...Sorry for the centuries later updates but I seriously get stuck at some points of the chapter BUT all is well now cuz I worked up how to wrap this up nicely. All it takes now is just filling in a couple of blanks so...yeahh reviews are much loved as always and i hope you enjoy!

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Chapter Nine

“So what are these? Codes?” Cat asks as she turns the small notebook every which way, as if in hopes that those little numbers revealed their secrets if she did.

 

“Looks to be. Or they can be coordinates, passwords, etc.” I said. “You’re the hacker Cat, don’t you recognize them to be anything?”

 

“…Nope.”

 

Last night’s stake out ended with a slick getaway thanks to Cat and a smooth clean up thanks to Derek calling the cleaners. We’re back at our hotel now and I presented them the notebook I detained from Eric. When we flipped open the book, the first couple of pages were meaningless until we stumbled upon a series of codes with a small side note that says, ‘Main Keys to System’. In total, there were ten numbers: all having no relations to each other (or so it seems).

 

Cat turns more pages in the book before stopping something caught her attention.

 

“Hey, check this out.”

 

She flips the book around and shows us the scrawled writing. It’s a list of dates; at least five of them have already been crossed out.

 

“They correspond to King’s attacks.” Derek remarks. “This one’s hitting home.” He points to the sixth one.

 

“That’s like five days away!” Cat exclaims. “At this rate, we’re gonna have to storm SM for those files to stop King from attacking.”

 

“Problem is King’s dead.” I interject.

 

“What?!”

 

“That’s impossible.”

 

“The hit I nagged the notebook from says there someone else running this gig. Someone who goes by the name of Cheol Yong: Iron Dragon. This person overthrew Marcus King and assumed command, taking out anyone who shows any objections. Our hit just happened to be a small group of rogues.”

 

“...” Cat curses. “This is getting so messed up.”

 

“Either way, we have to get to the bottom of this before something big goes down.” Derek says. “Lee Kang-Dae is our top suspect. Since Zhen says that our hit last night confirmed to having agents working in big companies for funds, we need to find a way to get into his office computer. If anything, he’ll have something for sure.”

 

“So we break and enter?” Cat asks almost too excitedly.

 

“It would seem so.” Derek sighs. “But if we’re going about a break and enter, we need to be discreet and careful.”

 

“C’mon Derek, I’ve done plenty of break and enters before.” Cat boasts. “I’ve got a whole lot of experience under my belt.”

 

“We’ll see about that.” Derek mutters. I shake my head, smiling a bit but get down to serious business.

 

“His office is located on the top floor on the far west side of the building, right beside the big man’s. Security cameras on the upper floor but I don’t know how secure his office is; didn’t get a chance to see before the man himself walked out and caught me.”

 

“Plus, we don’t know the times Kang-Dae would be out of his office.” Derek adds in.

 

“I think it’s safe to say our best chances of getting into his office undetected is really late into the night or early morning. I’m pretty sure the man doesn’t live in his office.” Cat concludes.

 

“So I guess we’ll be heading out tonight?” I ask.

 

“We don’t have much time left. If we can get into his computer and he has what we need, we can end it all in this one move.” Derek states and we all nod in agreement.

 

-

 

“A day off?” I ask unsurely. ‘Day off’ shouldn’t even be a word idols like Taemin know about.

 

“Yeah! Isn’t that great? We can hang out now!” Taemin exclaims absolutely beaming so brightly he would’ve replaced the sun. After our little secret meeting about the stakeout later tonight, I head off to the company only to find that the boys were given a day off…well, Taemin and Jonghyun were for some odd reason.

 

“But what about me…? Don’t I have to follow Onew or someone?” I ask again as we make our way through the company building. Taemin pulls me into the elevator and hits the second floor button. We wait until the door dings open and then I realize we’re heading to the dance studio.

 

“Eun Jung decided to give you a break as well since you worked so hard last night. Besides, she says with some of us resting we’ll be less of a handful.” He replies with a smile.

 

“She could’ve just told me herself…” I mutter and I find my feet following in step with the tall brunette and into the studio.

 

“Well she tried, but she says she couldn’t reach you for some reason. And I told her I would tell you since I was pretty sure you’d be at the company.” Taemin goes off to the side, throwing his stuff down on a nearby bench before stretching his arms over his head. I’m still awkwardly standing in the middle of the room subtle interrogating him. I thought about what he said and finally remember back to the first cellphone I tossed into the trash. Right…

 

Then my eyebrows furrow. “And…why am I here with you now?”

 

He turns to me with a pout from the stereo system. “Why? You don’t want to hang out with me?”

 

I immediately put up my hands in defense. “No no, that’s not what I meant, I-“

 

“Then do you have somewhere you need to be?” He peers at me with large brown eyes: innocent to the un-train eyes but certainly if you look close enough, a slight hint of mischievousness and a bit of manipulation at work. I swallow; come to think of it, I really don’t have anything to do…Cat and Derek said they got it cover because they know I have another ‘job’ to do. Technically I am free now that ‘work’ is cancelled.

 

“No…” I say carefully and slowly. The corner of his mouth twitches.

 

“Then…” He says, equally slowly as I had and he begins to stalk towards me. I start to back away on instinct.

 

“Then…” I repeat uneasily. Just what is this boy up to? My back hits the wall and my eyes widen. Never, in all my years of working with the agency have I been so helplessly backed into a corner like this. But then again, I could snap his neck given the right moment however, this situation highly un-calls for such drastic actions. He stands before me and traps me with his arms, hands pressed on either side of my head. I can practically feel the heat radiating from his body though he’s clad in skinny black pants, and his favourite blue button up shirt.

 

I shift my eyes, meeting his through my lashes and I almost couldn’t hold his gaze. Did SHINee’s supposedly ‘cute’, ‘adorable’ and ‘innocent’ maknae always have this aura of iness even off stage?! I swear I never knew he’d be this forward with a girl.

 

“Don’t you want to stay with me?” He murmurs, his voice low and soft.

 

God! Hard to believe that all it takes for me to be reminded that I’m just a teen despite my job is by coming face to face with an attractive male. I can take on guys twice my size armed with a machine gun better than I can deal with what’s happening now! Okay, okay, calm down…breathe Michelle. I took a breath and answer back, my voice low as well.

 

“I don’t see why not…” I figure… It can’t hurt to be a ‘normal’ teen girl for once.

 

His face suddenly breaks out into a grin, and his eyes twinkle in delight, losing some of its previous smolder.

 

“Good!” He chirps before stepping away and heading back to the centre of the dance room. I let out a breath that I hadn’t noticed I was holding and blink incredulously at him. Now I’m starting to believe he’s bi-polar. “Besides,” His voice rings out again. “You said you would make up for not coming to that after party.”

 

“Holding that against me I see…” I breathe out a chuckle. Was that his motive the entire time? This kid…

 

Taemin turns to me with a cheeky grin, cheeks turning a tinge pink (probably from grinning so much). “You said so yourself.”

 

“I don’t remember saying that…”

 

“You said that if things were different you would’ve came with me. Now, since things are different and you and I are here with nothing else to do, I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to redeem yourself.” He answers almost smugly.

 

I roll my eyes but let the small smirk make its way to my lips. “Okay then smartass, why the dance studio then?”

 

“No one can disturb us in here. Unless you want to be followed by a group of fangirls and possibly get involved in a scandal.”

 

He does have a point…

 

“Do you dance?”

 

I’m startled by the bluntness of his question. He must’ve noticed because he adds in, “I realize I don’t know a lot about you, so I have to start somewhere. Like you said, we should be friends.” He’s using a lot of my words against me today…

 

“…I used to.” I admit slowly.

 

Taemin looks shocked at me and then of course asks disappointedly, “Why’d you stop?”

 

“…Other things came up in my life.” I answer back placidly, taking a seat on the floor. He walks up to me and joins me.

 

“That’s unfortunate…” He says. “I can never imagine giving up dancing…”

 

I laugh because it’s so like him to say something like that: dancing is like breathing for him. “Well, you’re more fortunate to be in a situation where it requires you to dance every day.” I remark, trying to dispel the awkwardness that was settling. He nods but looks a little thoughtful. Then, after a while of getting lost in his thoughts, he turns to me.

 

“Can you show me?”

 

“What?” I ask taken aback.

 

“I wanna see you dance!” He says with childish excitement. “Honestly you seem a bit up-tight to be a dancer…”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask accusingly. His face flushes and he puts up his hands.

 

“Like you don’t seem to be the kind of person that would be into dancing. That’s all!”

 

I huff and stood up. Taemin watches me curiously and I stalk over to the stereo system. I see an ipod dock connected and an ipod stuck into it. I guess its Taemin’s. I scroll through his playlist and try to find a recognizable ballad.

 

The song ‘Someone Like You’ by Adele came up and I shrug to myself; good enough. I put the song on play, but skip over to a certain part in the chorus to dance to. I pause it and move to the centre of the dance studio and remove my ballet flats so that I’m barefooted. I see in the mirror’s reflection Taemin’s still watching me in wonderment.

 

“You’re dancing barefooted?” He asks a little incredulously.

 

I do a couple of leg stretches and turn to him. “Yeah, it’s the style in dance.”

 

He nods, mouth open in an ‘o’. A few more stretches before I upright myself.

 

“Can you push play?” I ask. Taemin nods and gets up, dusting his pants before heading over to the ipod dock. He hits play and the song cuts in to near the end of the last verse and at the beginning of the last chorus verse. I ready myself, letting the lyrics sink into me. I remember doing this routine a long time ago, but the feeling is still there. The heartbreak, the sadness, regret, longing…

 

Adele’s voice starts to repeat the chorus and my body starts to move along with it. I sweep my arms and arch my body, do a spin, keeping my toes pointed. I let the flow of the music, the feel of the moment dictate my moves. On the last note, I do a half spin, sliding to the floor as if I could no longer bear the weight of this heartbreak. Caught in the moment, I toss my head back, clutching a hand to my chest and as the music fades, I curl myself to the side. Silence washes over the dance studio and I take the time to steady my breathing before sitting up. I run a hand through my loose hair, bringing it out of my face as I turn to face where I assume Taemin would be.

 

I find him standing near the stereo like he hadn’t moved ever since I asked him to push play. His expression, for the most part, is blank but in his eyes, there’s turmoil of emotions in them. I couldn’t help but smile. That seems to have broken the trance over him.

 

“Wow…” He breathed.

 

I let out a breathy laugh, standing up and heading towards where I left my flats. I put them on before straightening my black leggings and loose graphic tee.

 

“Have you gone through a heartbreak before?” Taemin’s voice asks. I turn to him, a bit puzzled as to where this question came from.

 

“No I haven’t.” I reply back because really, I haven’t.

 

He blinks his deep brown eyes in awe and confusion. “…That was really convincing…”

 

“…Ah!” I realize and I had to hit myself mentally for figuring this out late. “Well, that’s contemporary dancing…Technique is only half the routine, the rest is emotions. My teacher used to always say that getting the moves down pat won’t matter if you don’t show the emotion of the piece. Every move you make, show that happiness, that sadness, that anger. Only then would the piece be able to take someone’s breath away, leave an impression, or move them to tears.”

 

It’s funny how he seems more mesmerized by my words than the next person, but then again, his life revolves around dancing. Dancing to him, in any kind of form or style, intrigues him and leaves deep impressions on him. So it’s no wonder I find it funny when I find the expression of a child who’s learned about dinosaurs for the first time plastered onto his handsome face when I get a clear look at him. To think that just a few minutes ago, I was convinced first hand that this kid had what it takes to be walking .

 

He snaps out of his daze, blinking large eyes at me before beaming brightly, “Maybe someday you can teach me how to dance like that.”

 

I let out a breathy laugh, almost sounding in disbelief. Me? Teach Taemin contemporary, let alone teach? Uh, no.

 

“I wish I could, but it’s been so long. I’ve forgotten almost everything.” I say apologetically.

 

“Then maybe you should come by the dance studio more often. I’d…like to see you dance…more. You’re really good at it!” He stumbles over his words cutely, as if he had a hard time trying not to seem earnest and playing it cool but he just couldn’t help himself. The fringes of his brunette hair cover the rising blush on his cheeks as he bends his head a bit in embarrassment.

 

I smile a bit. “A personal invite from SHINee’s dancing machine, Lee Taemin to come to the dance studio more often? Tsk, I feel rather honored.” I tease.

 

Taemin glances up, eyes sparkling and smile dazzling. “Good ‘cuz I don’t give it out so easily.”

 

Something in my chest clenches, and I realize it’s my heart. It leaves me a little unnerved because the only other time this has ever happened was when I had my first kill on the field. Nevertheless, it isn’t a good feeling and I feel my smile falter. I take a deep breath in to make it go away and Taemin notices. His eyes lose a bit of its mirth and are beginning to take on a darker shade of worry.

 

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

 

I collect myself, and flash a smile in hopes of reassuring him. “Nothing…I guess I should’ve warmed up better before breaking out into that intense routine huh?”

 

He chuckles a bit, but I can tell he’s still worried and unconvinced. “Unfit are we?”

 

I gasp and punch him playfully on the arm. Must’ve hit too hard because he recoils with a genuinely shocked expression. “Ow! You seriously punch hard for a girl!”

 

I scoff, “I’ll take that as a compliment instead of a ist comment.” He holds up his hand in surrender, but then goes back to rubbing the spot where I hit him then ‘threateningly’ says that if it bruises he’ll seriously make me pay. I took him up on that challenge.

 

I feel the air around us has been lifted of its previous tension and I’m glad. Glancing at the clock on the wall, I see it read six-thirty in the afternoon.

 

“Guess you should head back to the dorm now.” I remark.

 

“….Why?” is his reply and I stare at him quizzically.

 

“I don’t know…thought maybe Jonghyun expects you for dinner or something.”

 

He pouts but nods in agreement. “I guess…” He mutters offhandedly. His long fingers run through his hair, messing it up a bit before he combs it back into place again. He opens his mouth to say something, but suddenly decides not to. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

 

The way he said that, it sounds as if it’s a movie that has been poorly edited; like there’s obviously an important line missing beforehand but since the movie was too long, it’s been cut down to that.

 

I nod and force out a ‘yeah’ just to not make it seem so awkward for him.

 

“You doing anything now?” He asks.

 

“Yeah…I got something to do…later.” I kick myself mentally for sounding like such an idiot. He nods and bids farewell before slipping out of the studio, leaving me to my own devices. I let out a huff of breath, as if a load is taken off my chest but it isn’t. That feeling from before is still there, only now a dull ache. I frown, and when my eyes come into focus again, something small and white catches my attention. In the mirror’s reflection, I see the white ipod innocently sitting in its place in the dock. My mind immediately recognizes it belonging to Taemin. I turn around to face it and smile, shaking my head a bit. Figures, he’s one to forget things.

 

As I walk forward and reach for it, the feeling comes back again and this time, my brain identifies it. My smile changes to a bitter one; the irony of it all I thought. I should’ve recognized it sooner but maybe I was growing soft…or maybe I didn’t want to admit it: admit that I was in too deep now and there’s possibly no way out.

 

-

 

“C’mon Cobra, I’m bored out here…”

 

“Chill out Mongoose, do you know how difficult it is to hot wire this man’s computer? We got some quality anti-hacking protection at work here AND some serious case of tactical safety precautions. But hey, at least we know for sure this guy’s hiding something.”

 

I heave a huge sigh and slump back against the seat in the back of Cat’s rented van, officially dubbed ‘the hacking tank’ with all the latest gears and tech-y stuff wired up. I’m currently stationed across the street from the company, keeping a look out in case anyone unwanted shows up in the middle of our job.

 

Derek’s outside patrolling too, but he’s acting as a civilian on the phone (really, talking to us) whereas I’m the unseen eye, watching the security cameras inside and out of the company via Cat’s laptop. We showed up around 1:30am to get set up. The plan was to hack into the security cameras’ footage, record a clip for each one to show that all was well to be replayed on a loop as we get the actual live feed, and once that was up and running, Cat sneaks in from the roof access/ventilation system; she always had a knack for scaling walls.

 

Usually, I’d like to be the one going in too, but neither Derek nor I were as tech savvy as Cat so the whole operation was in her hands basically. We just needed to make sure everything ran smoothly. It’s been five minutes since Cat announced she had successfully breached into Kang Dae’s office, now it’s almost 2am and she’s still going at it with his computer.

 

I tap at the enter button to switch from camera to camera, nothing out of the ordinary so far.

 

“Aha!” I hear Cat cry triumphantly over my headset and I nearly breathe out ‘finally.’ “Finally got you, sneaky bastard.”

 

“You figured out who’s behind this?” I ask anxiously.

 

“Uh…no not exactly. See, it was easy enough to bypass this guy’s computer access security system. You know, the standard password code. And then I had to search his recent logs but then here comes the funny part.”

 

“And what’s that?” I hear Derek ask.

 

“Everything was too ordinary…Like emails, account managing, taxes, etc. All normal with no trace of ‘I’m secretly billing millions of dollars to fund an illegal organization.’ However, on further speculation and delving, I discover past entry logs that have been cleared from the history, the bastard trying to cover his tracks.”

 

“So let me guess, you being the miracle worker you trace it all back to a specific file location that just so happens to be what we need.”

 

“Bingo.”

 

“So that’s what took you.” Derek chuckles.

 

“Yeah. I managed to trace a file access he continuously made, hidden amongst all these other bull files as cover up. It was hard, but I did it…Problem is this ‘confidential’ file is packed with security locks. 12 digit pass code…an ID scan via webcam?! Even has one of those secret question-secret answer stuff.”

 

I almost groan.

 

“Have you managed to miraculously override all of those?” Derek asks and I can tell he’s anxious too.

 

“I’m a miracle worker, not a magician. I can only think of one way to bypass all of the security stuff on this file, but it’s gonna take a while. I can plant an inconspicuous device or a ‘bug’ into his computer’s hard drive, set the designated file code to slowly hack into, and then as soon as the bug gets in, it’ll copy the files into its built in memory and it’s ours for the taking.”

 

“How long is this gonna take?”

 

“…about a day…And we gotta go pick it up ourselves…” I nearly smash my head against the small desk in front of me.

 

“…and this is the best option we got?” Derek voices, seeing as how I’m about to blow my top. I inhale and exhale deeply.

 

“…Where is the Korean branch in all of this?” I mutter almost bitterly.

 

“They’re a small branch, agent. They clean up our mess, cover us for things like legal documents, traffic our list of significant individuals here, and only have a man-power team consisting at least I heard, of five agents ready on stand-by for back-up and medic. Korea’s a relatively quiet country when it comes to stuff like these…” Derek answers.

 

I blow my bangs out of my face and cross arms, slumping in my seat a bit.

 

“Okay, bug’s in place. I’m coming out now…”

 

“It’s clear on my end…” I say, checking the security cameras one more time.

 

“Same here.” Derek adds. I sigh, and remove my headset, tossing it onto the small desk.

 

A few minutes later, Cat shows up at the back door of the van while I hear the door opening at the front. I let Cat in and she goes to work to disconnect from the security cameras and set things back normally. Once she’s done, Derek begins to drive us back to our hotel.

 

We make it back and it’s 2:45am.

 

“Man I am hungry…” Cat says, straining as she stretches her arms over her head. She pulls off her sleek black gloves and stuffs them into the pocket of her luggage bag. I flop onto my bed, my hair splaying around me.

 

“Come with me to get something!” Cat whines and she pokes my side. I squirm away, sitting up before glaring at her.

 

“How do you still have so much energy? And you know, it’s bad to eat this late hour…”

 

“Well it’s even worse if you’re sleeping on an entirely empty stomach. C’mon, just a quick snack!”

 

I heave myself up while groaning out an agreement. Cat smiles, changes out of her all black ‘spy gear’ outfit and puts on some street clothes (off the shoulder tee, jean shorts and her tennis shoes) and grabs her strawberry blonde wig. I opt to change into black skinny jeans and white v-neck t-shirt, black Keds and a beanie beret. As she straightens out her bangs and ties it into a loose ponytail hanging over one shoulder, I brush out an auburn wig and carefully place it over my head. I fix the loose curls and front bangs before turning to Cat.

 

“Ready?”

 

She puts on a pair of Ray Ban glasses and salutes. We head over to the door, but Cat stops me short from reaching the knob.

 

“What?” I ask.

 

“We don’t want Derek to go all ‘dad mode’ on us.” She says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world while having an ear pressed against the door. I gave her an incredulous look; surely Derek can’t seriously freak out on us for a quick snack trip. Oh well, I shrug to myself, it’s best to just go along with Cat if she so insists on approaching this situation as ‘sneaking’ out. After she decided the coast was clear, we slip through our door and with quick, quiet strides, we make it out of the hotel.

 

The Seoul night air is just the right temperature: not too hot, but not too chilly or breezy. It’s a nice welcoming change compared to the smoldering heat earlier in the day.

 

“So where to?” I ask.

 

Cat pauses in our leisurely walk to think. She glances around and her eyes land on a food stand just down the street.

 

“There. Korean street food is, I heard, the bomb.” She grins, already thinking about probably devouring the entire menu. I shake my head good-naturedly, following after my partner towards the food vendor. When we reach there, the smell of food overwhelmed me and suddenly those spicy rice cakes look absolutely mouth watering. Cat thought the same, because she wastes no time handing the vendor a good amount of money for a meal for two (and possibly more) and starts digging in.

 

“Mmm, so good!” She exclaims after a bite. I nod silently as I fill my share. “So how’s the ‘man business’ going on?”

 

I choke on a pepper flake that went down the wrong tube. Covering my mouth so that I don’t accidentally cough up my food, I reach for my cup of cool tea and take a large gulp out of it. Clearing my throat, I whip my head to Cat and through watery eyes, I see she’s been watching me nearly choke to death the entire time with a smile on her face, casually chewing on her food.

 

“I don’t recall,” I cough and clear my throat again, “any kind of ‘man business’ going on in my life.”

 

Cat scoffs, rolling her doe like eyes my way before saying, “You know what I’m talking about and you can’t deny it.”

 

I breathe sharply through my nose. I glance at Cat again and she’s giving me that look of an expected answer.

 

“Listen Cat, you know this is technically against the rules…” I see her open in protest but I cut her off, “No Cat, this is getting way too complicated and more involved than it should be. It’s bad enough he thinks I’m a friend.”

 

“Aren’t you?”

 

I stop to think about her challenging question. I thought I had the answer, but I find that it suddenly died on my throat before I could say it and my brain starts to sputter. A part of me wants to say yes: that I’ve grown to like the brunette dancer as a friend and maybe hope for something more to come out of it because he’s been nothing but sweet (though also mischievous and questionably bi-polar and, I dare say, manipulative). Then the other half of me (probably the logical, ‘brain’ part) is saying that no, I’m merely a coordinator assistant and he’s just getting wrong ideas and assumptions. But I can’t bring myself to blame it on him entirely, because I know it’s not true (and because it’s Taemin; the boy can get away with murder if he wanted to. Must be some sort of super power…).

 

I turn to Cat and throw her a glare. “See? Complicated.” I stuff a rice cake in my mouth, ending the discussion. I had a serious case of ‘heart not coming into agreement with brain’, and I hate myself for it because it seems so cliché. So I attempt to be in denial and told myself that anything involving Lee Taemin from now on will be strictly a ‘co-worker’ relationship; nothing more.

 

We finish up on our meal and bid the vendor goodbye (a nice little old lady). As I pull back the little overhanging flap, I bump into someone coming in.

 

“Oh sorry!” I gasp. I catch my balance and the person shuffles a bit to do the same.

 

“No, I’m sorry! Are you okay?”

 

I freeze at the voice because you really can’t mistake it for anybody else’s…especially after spending majority of your time with them for almost three weeks straight. I duck my head a bit more in hopes my hair would shield my face.

 

“I’m fine, sorry.” I mutter and before I could slip away, his hand snatches my wrist.

 

“…Do I know you?”

 

“No.” I said a little too quickly.

 

“Hey!” And here comes Cat to the rescue. I see her jog up to where we were out of my peripheral, intent on karate chopping his wrist off of me (or something like that). I curse under my breath because this is escalating too quickly into a scene. So before that happened, I shove him and myself so that we’re concealed by the overhanging of the food stand. I finally decide to glance up at him, decked out in a grey hoodie (which doesn’t make sense because it’s not that cold out), the usual skinny jeans and a surgeon like mask to cover his identity. His eyes visibly widen at the sight of me.

 

Before he had another chance to say something, Cat comes flying in and pins his wrist behind his back and almost shoves him into the food stand.

 

“Ca- I mean, Hyorin! Stop!” I manage to get out in panicky Korean, all the while trying to pry her off and keep Taemin and her from totally demolishing everything in the area (with Tae’s face). Amidst the confusion, there’s another group of hands (specifically three pairs) trying to get in on the struggle that I hadn’t noticed before.

 

“Yah! Yah!”

 

Eventually, I manage to get Cat off of Taemin, getting a grip of her arm from trying anything and Taemin is pulled behind to the safety of- oh…figures. No doubt it’s Minho’s tall build that acts as the perfect shield and the shorter though very muscular form of Jonghyun flanks his left side. Even behind variations of ‘disguises’, the boys look furiously protective.

 

“Hana-ssi?”

 

Count on Onew to dispel the tension. My gaze whips to him and he’s standing next to Jonghyun peering at me, but more so towards the space between me and Cat and his group mates (almost as if to keep Jonghyun in check).

 

Taemin’s head pokes out from over Minho’s shoulder before he shoves his way through.

 

“Thought I recognized you.” He smiles at me, despite nearly having his arm broken by an 18-year-old girl who is also a head shorter than he is. I smile back nervously and Minho and Jonghyun visibly relax.

 

“Yah! You nearly had us calling the police on you!” Jonghyun exclaims heatedly, turning to Cat and me who by now realizes who these people are.

 

“I’m so sorry! I thought he was going to kidnap her or something!” Cat says, bowing apologetically. Onew laughs, eyes smiling.

 

“That gave me a shock; what you did back there.”

 

Cat visibly reddens and she nervously laughs. “I studied tae kwon do…for a long time.” The oldest of the group gawks, impressed.

 

“Yeah…you had a good grip.” Taemin joins in, rolling the shoulder of the arm that was held hostage. “Friend of Hana no doubt?”

 

“Ah actually I’m her cousin Hyorin…I just came in…today...” Smooth Cat, smooth…

 

I nod in agreement and decide to further fabricate the story. “Yes, Hyorin…These are my…” I search for the right word. “Colleagues.” I force out. The boys introduce themselves (quietly) and Cat smiles pleasantly at each of them (eyes lingering a little longer on Taemin, longer than I would’ve liked I have to admit).

 

“Nice colleagues you have.” She says, giving me a smirk with a hidden meaning. I stiffly smile back at her and clear my throat.

 

“So…what are you guys doing out so late…in public…?” I ask.

 

“Dinner.” Jonghyun replies simply before turning around to grab a plate of spicy rice cakes.

 

“Well, this is a little risky for dinner.” I remark, watching as they began to dig in.

 

“Well when you gotta eat, you gotta eat.” Onew counters. “And none of us feels like instant noodle today.” He makes a gesture for us to join them but Cat and I decline, saying we already ate.

 

“What about Key?” I ask.

 

“At the dorm, said he wasn’t feeling well.” Minho says around a mouthful of fried shrimp. I frown, that doesn’t sound like him. I turn to Cat since she knows how Key was onto me, but she shrugs. With nothing more to say, I figure it’s time to wrap things up here.

 

“Well…enjoy dinner guys…I’ll see yo-“

 

“Aww c’mon Hana. You said you’d show me around!” Cat butts in. I feel my eye twitch: the nerve of her.

 

“I did…but when the rest of the world wakes up.”

 

“But I’m not tired.”

 

My eyes narrow, sending her a silent warning but she just juts out her bottom lip in a pout. I open my mouth to verbalize my warning but surprisingly, Jonghyun cuts me off.

 

“We can show her around for a bit.” It was so out of nowhere, I’m left speechless and gaping. Cat takes advantage of that however, and beams a wide smile at him.

 

“Will you?” She asks excitedly. Too excitedly I might say. Jonghyun just chuckles and nods; the rest of the boys don’t seem to mind it either. My mind starts to frantically work up excuses to dissuade them.

 

“Oh no, it’s okay. I mean; you guys must be tired and-…”

 

“No, it’s fine. We’re used to staying up late hours anyways. Besides, I think it’s been a while since we’ve just really hung out.” Taemin interjects and before I send a glare his way, he smiles at me. Super powers I’m telling you…

 

“It’ll only be for a while…” Onew adds, as if trying to reassure me. “Don’t worry.”

 

“I approve of your colleagues, Hana.” Cat beams, acting like a typical schoolgirl: where’d she find the gulls to do so I have no idea. “Not only handsome from what I can tell, but also so humble and generous.” Okay, now that was pushing it. She can fool them into thinking she’s a typical girly girl, but the real Cat by no means overly sugar coat her words unless she’s up to no good.

 

“If you guys are sure…” I say but they nod confidently. I force a smile on my face. “Thanks...Why don’t you finish your dinner while we go wait out here…” I almost hurriedly pull Cat out to the open streets and mostly out of earshot from the boys. Luckily the streets were almost empty in early hours.

 

“What the hell are you doing?” I hiss at Cat. She responds by giving me this half glare, a pout and a look that says it should be obvious when it really isn’t.

 

“Can’t you just live for once?”

 

I nearly let out a growl, wanting to run my hand through my hair in frustration but stop short when I realize that would mess up my wig. “This is not a vacation we’re on. We’re here on business and there’s no fooling around when we’re on the job.” I reprimand.

 

“Okay, business is business, but you seriously need to get that stick out of your and stop being so uptight. Everything is smooth sailing here: nothing to worry about. We got what we want and in less than 24 hours, we’ll get the money in the bag and it’s all good and dandy. You get your man and maybe I get myself a date too-”

 

“This isn’t some sort of James Bond movie! This is a real life covert operation that has lives at stake here and I’m not-“ I stop myself because I feel my voice rising to unnecessary levels. I breathe in deeply to calm my temper and let it all out. “Look,” I begin in a controlled voice, Cat just stares at me almost indifferently, arms crossed and leaning her weight on one leg. “I know you mean well Cat, but it’ll never work.”

 

“How do you know?”

 

“You very well know why.” I bite out. Cat’s shoulders slump a bit like my reason isn’t good enough (which probably to her isn’t) and she lets out a huff. I expected her to rebut my point, but she seems to think to herself. She gives me a long look before seemingly agreeing something in her mind.

 

“Fine…” She sighs, as if tired of me. “I won’t bother you about this anymore, but as for now, can we at least enjoy ourselves if just for a bit with them? I mean, it’s not every day we get a group of attractive men showing us around the city with good intentions.”

 

The comment made me a smile a bit, because it’s true. I almost didn’t believe Cat when she silently admitted defeat though. All my years of knowing her, I know she’s not one to give up. I push the thought aside though; this is probably as close as me and Cat is going to come to an agreement.

 

“Okay.” I say.

 

She seems satisfied and grins at me. As she passes by to head back to where the food stand is, she stops beside me.

 

“You know, the whole time he wouldn’t stop staring at you.”