It’s absurd, Tao decided as he intently observed the somewhat, dare he say it, romantic situation that was somehow evolving around his brother and his fellow trainee. Granted, Baekhyun wasn’t wearing any coms, and to activate the emergency transmitter in his molars to reach him is unnecessary, but Tao could make out some of the words Chanyeol said. He wasn’t sure about his deduction of the sentence however he was sure it had to do with Baekhyun going with Chanyeol somewhere other than the here and now.

In the background, his sister was softly chuckling, he was sure. “So, by your expression I’m guessing Chanyeol finally did it.”

Tao raises an eyebrow at the beautiful lady he was to regard as his ‘date’ for the mission, “I’m not even sure what Chanyeol did, but I think he just asked Baek Hyung out.” And judging by the way his brother was wearing a soft smile on his face, he accepted.

Sooyoung made to turn around in her seat to face the two men in the corner of the restaurant getting lost in their own world, “Well, at least he looks happy,” She turned to face her baby brother this time, sporting a thoughtful expression on his face, and willed a soft smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “We don’t get that much in our lives.”

~~~

Excusing himself from Chanyeol, Baekhyun was back at the pantry, getting his bearings together before heading out again. He was just in time to see his target finishing his wine in one last sip. He smiled and set off to collect the glass.

“Anything else I could get you, sir?” He politely asked with a sufficient amount of charm for his woman companion to flash a flirty smirk by his direction. The target did not ask for anything else other than the bill, and Baekhyun swiftly complied, sweeping the empty glass wine by the stem and bowed before heading back.

Passing by another waiter, he quickly told him to get the check for the man in table 17. Once he saw the waiter leaving for the concierge, Baekhyun headed back to the pantry, placed the tray and the white signature cloth over at one of the tables, taking the glass with him and rushed off to the bathroom.

Quickly sending a text explaining the situation over to his little brother, he went into the last stall and locked the door shut. He closed the lid on the toilet and stood on top of it, balancing the glass in one hand by the stem, and pushed one of the ceiling tiles before pulling out a duffel bag he had stuffed in there moments ago. He changed out of his attire and slipped out in a casual white V-neck and black scarf in comfortable black washed jeans, stuffed his outfit back in the bag. He grabbed the glass and peeled off the micro-plastic then placed it gently in a container in the bag. Baekhyun shattered the glass against the toilet and flushed the shards down the drain, complete destruction of evidence. He then proceeded to go out through the backdoor, slipping amongst the waiters in the same monochrome wear, discarded the duffel bag with his waiter outfit along with the rest of the equipment for this mission, then walked into the busy main road with pedestrians and businessmen walking with their heads bent down focused on their phones.

“Baekhyun!” He heard his name in the middle of the noise and was faced with the dopey eared man towering over him.

“I didn’t ask this earlier,” Baekhyun started, watching Chanyeol take out his phone to search for directions probably, “But are you sure you could leave your companion back there?”

Chanyeol was still dressed in his previous outfit, beige cashmere on white button down on soft brown khakis, although now the cashmere cardigan was wrapped around his hips and his button down sleeves rolled up to his elbows. “Oh, no worries, those were my aunt and her daughter. They’re here for the moment being and leaving again in a couple of days,” He ruffled his hair before stuffing his phone in his back pocket, “They’re traveling together before my cousin goes to university all the way in Los Angeles.”

Baekhyun nodded his head softly, a feeling of – something he couldn’t really place a finger on –  growing softly, buzzing softly. It’s always been there, he noticed, since he first went into SM entertainment, in the background like white noise. He didn’t know what it was, and he did not felt the need to. Little did he know, however, that that feeling was the one that would change his entire word.

~~~

Tao trusts his brother implicitly and explicitly, and while yes, he worries about him as he was supposed to as a bigger brother, it’s a mutual feeling. So, he stopped thinking about the message his brother sent him too much, and redirected his focus to the operation.

His elder sister placed a soft touch on the sleeves of his suit outstretched on the table, softly smiling and tilting her head discreetly over at their target’s table, standing to leave for the bill after she did so. He saw Hyung Jung Joo slowly getting drowsy, his head tipped to the side a bit too much and his eyelids were heavy. Just as his sister came back after paying the bill, Jung Joo was also heading out. He escorted his sister out of the restaurant, placing a soft sweet kiss on her cheeks before running off to the back alleyway.

This was his first co-op with his sister ever since joining SM entertainment, and he loved being with her. She kept him safe, in a way that Baekhyun never could. Baekhyun was a permanent comfort, but his worries were also his own. They shared the burden together and the danger even more so. They shared comfort yes, but they suffered the same thing so that comfort was not reassuring enough. With Sooyoung, she had a same life, but different in all the same way, and that was, regrettably, nice. As in the same meaning, they were all suffering one and the same fate.

He reached the back alley of the restaurant and stopped his train of thoughts. He saw his black sleek motorbike parked right by the wall, obscured by the boxes and a black tarp. He pulled the objects out of the way, stripped out of his suit jacket and rolled his sleeves of his button down, turning back to the amount of discarded things against the brick wall. Now, where the hell did Baekhyun hide it?

~~~

Sooyoung clutched her scarf around her toned arms, fighting off the cool breeze in the wind. She tucked a stray hair that had fallen out of her updo, and huffed out a sigh, what was taking that man so long?

As if the world was answering her, Hyung Jung Joo walked out of the revolving doors, without the woman he had in her arms before - probably just for hire as she suspected - and stood a few feet away from her. She noticed him looking at her, and crossed her arms turning back at him, “You look rather flushed for a cold night.” 

The man snapped out of his trance at the eloquent grace and beauty the woman in front of him held, smirking he walked closer to her, “You’re wearing quite little for a comment like that.” He eyed at her hi-low hem body-hugging black dress.

Sooyoung simply chuckled, amused at how easy this man was, and fiddled with black sequin-shaped transmitter attached to her dress at the side seams, “Well, what would you suggest I do?” She plucked it off her dress succesfully and kept it hidden in her hands in the crook of her elbows, arms crossed.

He enjoyed the playfulness this beauty had, and thanked his lucky stars that such a gem was interested in him. He was glad he ditched the other girl, this one right here is incomparable to her, such a combination of gorgeous, grace and play, “I could keep you warm.”

Reaching forward with the palm that had the sequin transmitter, she trailed down his arm from his elbow to the sleeves, “I could use the body heat,” Sooyoung kept the man’s eyes on her, holding his wavering gaze with her steady ones, and slipped the transmitter in the folds of his sleeves, “However, I think I’m hitting the clock tonight.” She flashed him one final flirty smile, simultaneously halling a cab, before opening the door with a wink and smooth wave of her fingers, she left off into the night.

~~~

After kicking rummaging through the copious amount of boxes and black trash bags, he found the duffel bag Baekhyun had hid. Dusting it off, Tao set it down on top of his bike, opening it and stuffing his jacket suit in. He pulled out the bullet-proof compact leather jacket and shrugged it on. Whilst checking that everything was in the bag, his phone notified him with the confirmation from his sister. As expected from his sister, perfectly done. With a smirk on his face, he reached into his bag and pulled out his tracking tablet. As soon as he turned it on, he entered the code for the transmitter, and a green blinking dot appeared on the map, moving. Tao synced his bluetooth comms to the tablet and switched the tablet on direct voice mode then attached it to his ear.

He zipped everything up in his duffel bag, slinging it over his shoulder before he got on his motorcycle. An electronic voice kept directing him in his ear about the tracker’s whereabouts. He started his motorcycle, testing the brakes. Tao disengaged the clutch, revved up the engine and took a deep breath before a smile broke out on his face. He didn’t need a helmet, he never needed to. And with that, he changed the gears and drove off.

~~~

"This is,” Baekhyun mumbled out from his full mouth, “Amazing.” He chewed on continuously on his rice cake. They were in one of the vendors testing an oil tteokbokki. Chanyeol simply smiled at him, big and dopey.

“I used to come here all the time,” Chanyeol admitted, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Me and a few of the other trainees would go behind our company's back and had a little something even though we’re supposed to be dieting.”

Truth be spoken, it was Baekhyun’s first time in a night market. Well, unless all those times he ran through random markets chasing after targets time after time counts. He did feel bad for leaving Tao and Sooyoung alone like that, but he didn’t have anything to do after that. His work was done. At least, that’s what he keeps saying to himself.

They walked through the market, buying snacks for the members in their dorm, laughing and cracking jokes at whatever they could. Chanyeol stopped to get fried assorted korean pancakes, stealing some for himself but immediately choking it out once the hot food makes contact with his tongue. “OH MY GOD.” Chanyeol huffed out in pain, his tongue sticking out to catch the cold air.

Baekhyun burst out in laughter, loud and robust. Chanyeol stared in him in shock, before a smile bloomed in his face. He faked a look of pain in his face and accused Baekhyun, “Ya! I’m in pain and you laugh at me?” Baekhyun reduced into a fit of bubbling laughter then gave him water. “Sorry,” He wiped his tears from his  eyes, “It was too hilarious.” It was out of his personality to laugh suddenly like that, but strangely, it feels … good.

The taller smiled at him brightly, finally stopped with his joking. “I’m just kidding~” he confessed, to which he got an angry pout at, which gives the reverse effect and made Chanyeol smile even wider. Baekhyun just sighed at him, acknowledging defeat and they both decided to finally return to the dorm.

On the walk home, the feeling that has been growing in his chest, that warmth tingling feeling, was still there. They both sported a small smile all the way back to the dorm, chatting casually and chuckling at nothing. When baekhyun looked at his phone, he realized he received an update from his older sister that Tao has left to finish the mission. A rush of guilt flew over him, as he did feel bad. But, he himself was shocked that he’d agreed to leave the premises of the restaurant in order to hangout with a friend. That was what Chanyeol was right? His friend. He’s never had one outside of his family thus he thought this feeling must be the feeling of having a friend.

For once, in his entire life, Baekhyun allowed himself to be a little selfish, for his friend. 

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE, fastest update i had since a while. I'm going to try to work on this as much as possible, so you guys can expect a lot more chapters in the coming~ OH! and please comment on what you think about long chapters? Because i have a feeling that this story is going to be a long one. Do you guys prefer detailed action missions like these? Or less detailed action and shorter chapters? Cause if I continue it this way, this fanfic is going to reach it's 40th chapter or more, there's 14 chapters so far and this is just in the span of 2 months in story timeline. The plot hasn't even developed far, and I haven't introduced the missions to the main plot so... I'm lost. 

Other than that, i hope you guys like this chapter~ please comment and subscribe to the story~ looking at your comments is reallyyy helping me through this fanfic bc i wanna please you guys as much as possible. And i have decided to focus more on Taoris for this fic, but Baekyeol will be there too~ And more action based, than romance but that romance will play integral parts in the story so yes, there will be lots of that.