(iv) (1/1)

Joohyun kept her eyes fixed on Jung Eunji. The name was familiar; she knew for sure that she heard it before but she wasn’t entirely sure where, or when exactly. Jung Eunji. The name was common, after all - but she had a bad hunch. Having heard of her a lot in the hallways of this facility, this name went way back to before her father’s death of that she was certain – perhaps when he was still one of the Chiefs in charge of the Korean Intelligence Agency.Because of that, the ever vigilant trained assassin in her couldn’t help but observe how the woman carried herself in her office. How she spoke, how she acted, and how she interacted with other people. From what she’d seen so far, Eunji had a very soft spot for Wendy. It was so blatantly obvious. She couldn’t quite figure out how close they were, though; but judging from the way the Operative couldn’t take her eyes off the woman, and the way she was ogling her, she guessed they were really close.That bit of information could be very useful in the future, she reckoned.“I guess I’ll have to start by introducing you to the covers system we have established for the agents,” Wendy began her monologue, crossing her legs as she leaned back in her seat. They were just about to start their final ‘meeting’ before setting Joohyun free to the outside world again. “It’s not that complicated. We have two kinds of agents: those who are considered still alive in the eye of the law, and those who – like you – are not. If you ask me, statuses like these don’t really matter, since every agent still has to own a cover. It’s a general probation for everyone working for us: you can’t give out your real name to anyone. Safety measures.”Joohyun nodded distractedly, feeling like she didn’t care about anything this woman was saying. She liked it when things were simple. Give me a mission and I’ll get it done perfectly, that’s how she operated and up till now that never failed her. Still, she pretended to care for the sake of not dragging this meeting longer than needed.“A new cover will be assigned to you whenever you blow your current one, and so on. However, it takes a lot of effort for the team to create fake identities so please be considerate of that before you do blow your covers,” Wendy continued, smiling softly like she always did. Reaching for the black file resting on the table in between them right in front of Eunji’s desk, she opened it and let herself scan its content. “For now, you’re Bae Irene, a 23 years old Korean-American lawyer; financially well-off and recently out of a two years relationship with one of your colleagues. You’re a foreigner who came back to South Korea after hearing of her father’s passing to take care of the heritage paperwork; since you’re his only daughter, it’s only natural. Personality traits are up to you, but please remain discreet and polite.” A pause. “You’ve been staying in a hotel room for the past two days, but the moment you step foot out of this facility you’re going to ‘finally have the courage to’ move into your father’s city apartment in downtown Hongdae.”Joohyun groaned loudly, rolling her eyes to make sure the two women knew just how bored she was with all of these Spy 101 lectures. “Can’t I just kick ass when you want me to and you forget I exist in between jobs?”“No.” Wendy beamed, unbothered. “Everything’s in the file.” she said, nodding to herself contentedly before dropping the black document on the table where she first found them. “You need to learn everything in there as if your life depends on it, Joohyun-unnie; from your insurance number to the name of your distant aunt.” Then, and as Eunji handed her a thick brown envelope, she added, “you’ll find more personal papers in this. You know: diplomas, birth certificates, etc.”The assassin wanted to argue this wasn’t her first job as an asset, and that she very much knew the drill when it came down to it. She had a few missions back in the days when she worked with Taesung that necessitated covers. But instead of giving out information about herself, she just kept mum. No matter how annoyed she was with everything. Joohyun knew they were digging up dirt on her, and she knew they found nothing relevant so far; she’ll make sure it stays that way.In this world, she became a ghost the moment her father died sixteen years ago.Her lips formed a thin line as she looked back at Eunji, stoic. “I’m not taking any missions until I take care of Ahn Jaewon.”“I see,” the Jung nodded. She folded her arms on her desk, lips curled up ever so slightly. “Any other demands?”The daughter of the ex-Chief mirrored her intense gaze, looking unapologetic about her evident hostility toward her. “If you tail me – If I find you placed bugs on me to follow me around – you’re going to regret it, Jung Eunji.”“But the house you’re going to live in has cameras, though. Security measures,” the older woman remarked, amused. “Same rules apply to all agents.”“I don’t care about those. You know what I mean,” Joohyun went with straightforwardness and aggressiveness. “I don’t want anyone to follow me when I’m out. Keep eyes on your own business, and I’ll do the same. If I find anyone tailing me, I won’t hesitate twice before ending them.”“I see,” she smiled, repeating herself. She leaned back in her seat just as Joohyun stood up. “Then you need to know about our demands too,” she voiced out, earning her new agent’s attention. “The contract you signed is clear and concise. You’ll work for us for the next two years. The countdown starts the moment you take on your first mission, and not before that. In exchange, we gave you the name of the murderer of your father.” A pause. Her smile dropped and she held a more serious demeanor. “If you even think of breaking the deal, I’ll make sure you’ll regret it.”“The difference between you and I is that I’m a woman of my words, Eunji.” The brunette smirked, holding onto the files given to her. “Am I free to leave this building immediately?”“Yes,” Wendy nodded, standing up with her. She offered the woman a handshake which she took, surprisingly. “Let’s do our job properly, unnie.”The newer agent nodded, and went straight for the door, never looking back.Once she was out of sight, Eunji sighed loudly, sinking in her seat “I don’t like her at all,” she revealed, hand ruffling her hair in frustration. “I don’t trust her.”“Seulgi trusts her. Sooyoung, too, I think,” Wendy revealed, walking around the desk to stand behind her girlfriend. “I do too.” She put two hands on her shoulders as she leaned down to give her a small kiss against her temple. “She needed that name, Eunji-unnie. She’ll come back. Besides, she’s not one to half-ass her tasks so I’m pretty optimistic. Seeing how things are going in the underworld, I can’t help but think we need all the good assets we can afford to fight off whatever’s coming our way.”“I know.” Eunji couldn’t help but nod, agreeing. “But we know nothing about her. We need more intel on her, Seungwan.”“Yes, I’m very aware of that and we're working on it,” the younger girl whispered against her neck as she hugged her tightly. “Stop worrying so much. I love you.”“I love you too.” __ “Unnie,” the shortest girl of the pair whispered, voice hushed since it was way past midnight.They were lying on the floor of their kitchen, huddled up in thin blankets in an attempt to seek comfort and warmth. The taller one smiled warmly even though her counterpart couldn’t really see it, “hm, Yerim-ah?”“Unnie. I like sleeping with unnie like this,” she shared, scooting even closer to bury her nose in her sister’s neck. “It’s better than being alone in my bed.”“Is that so? Then let’s sleep together like this from now on,” Joohyun decided. She hugged the girl tightly. “I love you, Yerim-ah.”“Me too!” was the muffled reply that came her way.She smiled. The silence that followed fooled her into thinking the girl actually did fall asleep. She didn’t.“Unnie?”“Hm?”“Why do you always sleep on the floor of the kitchen and not in your own room? Isn’t it comfier there?”Joohyun opened her eyes to look at the girl lying in her arms. They were sharing a very small blanket and only one pillow. “Didn’t you just say you like it, sleeping like this with me?” She shifted to bring Yerim against her chest. “I just... The rooms suffocate me,” she shared honestly. “And I like it better here. I can watch over you better from here, if there’s a thief.”“Aren’t there guards outside for that?”“Kim Yerim, stop being a smartass,” she joked.The younger girl actually laughed. “Sorry.”“I just feel more at ease sleeping in here,” Joohyun confessed tiredly.In a more serious tone, her sister asked in a quiet voice, “Is this because of the jobs Dad gives to you?”She stayed silent for a moment before nodding, “I guess.” She wouldn’t lie to her. She had no certain answer for that anyways. “Do you know what your father does, Yerim-ah?”“No, but sometimes he asks me to do computer stuff for him,” she shared, sitting up to look down at her unnie. “Nothing too fancy. Cracking stuff like encrypted files. Sometimes he needs me to do a little bit of programming for him; sometimes he brings me chips and asks me to figure out what they are for.”She was glad her younger sister didn’t get her hands dirty like she did. She wasn’t trained for it, and she wasn’t ready to discover that side of the world yet. Yerim was only seventeen; she had a bright future ahead of her. Joohyun on the other hand was twenty years old, and she’d been working with Taesung for the past fifteen months. She was in far too deep, now. “Yerim-ah. If he – if Dad asks you to work with him… with other things that aren’t computer stuff related… risky things. Do you promise me you will decline his offer?”At that, the girl frowned with worry coiling with the deep brown of her eyes. It shone brightly under the moonlight. “Yes. But then, does that mean you are doing risky things for him? I always knew he had a weird job, but I never really asked before… Unnie. Is Dad doing bad stuff?”“I’m still unsure, for now,” Joohyun replied truthfully. Although she worked for him – although she killed for him, she had no definite answer to the question. “I’m not sure what we’re doing; he never shares details with me. He asks me to take care of things, so I do. It’s just that… his business goes deeper than that, I’m sure. I never questioned him before, because I trust him with my life. Now… I just wonder why we do what we do. And he doesn’t really give me any insight on his agenda. I just have a bad gut feeling about everything.”Yerim nodded carefully. “Okay, but if you want to stop – if you ever want to stop helping him just tell me. Yeah? Dad wouldn’t force you. He loves you like I love you. I promise.”“I know.” She shared absently, bringing her sister to lie down with her again. “Hm. Maybe I’ll have to teach you how to fight soon? That could only benefit you.”She’d barely laid her head down, but Yerim shot up again, excited. “Yes!”Joohyun laughed at her, shaking her head. “Ah, what am I getting myself into?”Unbothered, the girl pumped her fist in the air animatedly. “Yes!”She was the only person capable of chasing Joohyun’s demons far enough for her to smile and convince herself she was worth something. __ The opening music of his animated series drowned his apartment in melodious noise. He settled in the middle of his sofa, munching on a bag of chips with a big smile plastered on his face as his eyes moved along with the Japanese characters on the screen.As always, the place was dark and empty. He liked it better that way, since he was way too sensitive to light and people. Seulgi liked to tease him for it, but Heechul didn’t really care; Seulgi teased him for everything and anything, really. She was only there for fun. But even if he despised humanity, he still liked the woman quite a lot. She proved herself to be loyal and deserving of his trust countless times already. He owned her his life, and his mother’s.As he cracked open his can of beer, he leaned back in his seat and sighed comfortably. He threw his feet on the small table in front of him, ready to settle there for the next few hours. It was a little well over ten in the morning and he had just pulled an all-nighter doing his usual shady jobs in the dark web for just-as-shady people. That paid his rent and his mother’s hospital bills (although no one had to know about it) so he wasn’t one to complain. He’d turned off his computers, and he was ready to catch up on his favorite animes before heading to sleep until his little favorite dense and tiny psychopath came to look for her USB disk. The said object was hidden in his pocket.(Heechul could still remember that one time Russian mobs broke into his old studio looking for a chip Seulgi wanted him to look into. Since then, he knew better than to be careless with her things. And he knew better than to question the nature of her job.)He sighed and gulped down another mouthful of alcohol, satisfied with himself.However, and as he lost himself in the colorful plot of his series, he didn’t notice how one of his computers’ screen lit up abruptly. He was blissfully unaware as the cursor moved on itself and black tabs opened and closed. A small box sprang to life in the middle of the screen, describing the progress of a loading process. Files were being deleted.Deleting S_KYR_Backup.rar. Currently 20% complete. Do not shut down the system.He was being hacked, and those were the very same files Seulgi asked him to keep in safety.When the computer finished its tasks, the screen went black again. As if nothing happened.Heechul was halfway through his anime, laughing heartily at some comedy gig. __ Sooyoung pouted her lips and whined, exaggeration lacing her every movement. “But I was just starting to get used to you, unnie.”“You’re annoying; did I ever tell you that before?” Joohyun kept walking, doing her best not to stop and humor the younger girl with an actual reaction – although she kind of just did. Most of the time, she liked to pretend Sooyoung didn’t actually exist. On her other side, Seungwan trailed soundlessly, smiling as she followed them.“A couple of times, actually,” the girl replied, scrunching her nose shyly. She grinned. “You say that but I know you like me. You don’t have to tell me for me to know your feelings, unnie. It’s okay. I get you.”The older woman looked at her, unimpressed. “I would have liked you more if we were five galaxies apart,” she spat, looking back at the elevator’s door as she halted to a stop in front of it. She waited for the lift to arrive at their level; it was on floor -2.A weird thing about the headquarters of the Korean Intelligence Agency was that it was built under the ground. Joohyun knew that because a) the elevators always displayed floors like ‘minus something’ which described how many levels under the ground they were, b) she kind of stole the blueprints of this place when she was bored the other day. Still, she found the built of this facility quite interesting and brilliant. It ensured the anonymity their kind of businesses needed and had countless, hidden exits. It was well set up, she had to give them that.The doors slid open, and the three women slipped in the empty elevator.Oh. Three. Sooyoung looked at her two friends as she pressed the button for the ground floor (also known as the infamous ground 0). “By the way, where’s kinky, small and flirty?” She asked, leaning back against the wall. “That kid gonna miss Joohyun-unnie’s departure? How come?”Wendy laughed at the nickname. “Seulgi said she had something to take care of with Eunji. Something about a new cover. I think she blew hers,” the girl nodded to herself. “Progress. Her cover lasted two weeks this time.”Sooyoung snickered. “Remember that one time she crammed her cover because she blew that warehouse up using coffee powder and weird white substances with too-long names just because the target tried to touch your boobs?”The Canadian shivered at the memory. “Sometimes I forget how scary she is when handling explosives.”Joohyun listened distractedly to the girls, her stomach twisting with a feeling she couldn’t really name. Seulgi was the cause of all the feelings she’d been encountering lately, it annoyed her greatly. She couldn’t really deny that hearing about Seulgi in action was kinda sorta hot.They arrived on the ground floor a few moments later, and the doors slid open to reveal the sight of large crowds roaming around.It took the assassin off-guard to see so many civilians gathered in one place. As they walked further in, she noticed the large variety of stores around them and realized this was a mall. She frowned, looking at Wendy as she led them out of the place. “You built the KIA’s headquarters under a fucking mall?”“I call it hiding in plain sight,” Sooyoung quipped beside her. A boy was walking in the opposite direction of the women, laughing with his friends. Their eyes met, she winked at him playfully as she passed him and he stumbled. She laughed. “Men are so stupid I swear.”Rolling her eyes tiredly at Sooyoung’s antics, Wendy answered, “it’s your father’s idea, actually. It’s ingenious, and this HQ has lasted us twenty years so far, from what I’ve heard. The last HQ we had before this one only lasted one year before it was discovered by international spies.”At that, the youngest of the trio gaped at Joohyun. “Your father is Bae Haneul?”Joohyun didn’t reply.“He was the one who picked Seulgi unnie and me to join the agency!” She revealed, smiling happily. Just then, she remembered his tragic passing and her lips fell just as quickly. “I’m sorry for what happened to him.”As they stepped outside the mall – finally – Joohyun shrugged. “It’s fine. It’s been years.” Feeling the sunlight on her skin after spending weeks in the facility, buried under the ground, made her feel weird. In a bad way. She scowled. Now she had to deal with humanity again and she couldn’t promise anyone she wasn’t going to stab the first person who’d dare annoy her.Sensing the displeasure, Wendy smiled. “Your car is parked right there. The keys were in the brown envelope.” She nodded at the gray sports car parked a little bit farther down the wide street. She took a leather wallet out of the pocket of her blaze and handed it to Joohyun. “This has your IDs, your credit card, and your business card. Cash too.” Another smile. “Good luck out there, Joohyun-unnie. We’ll contact you soon.”Less mindful than Wendy of the comfort of the assassin, Sooyoung engulfed the groaning woman in a tight hug, ignoring her very loud protests that earned the passer-bys’ vague stares. “Ah unnie. I’ll miss you so much,” she cried out dramatically, ignoring the flailing hands of said unnie. “I’ll visit you soon so we can go drink together sometime soon.”“Please don’t,” squabbled the older agent, grimacing as she finally managed to pry the girl away from her. She straightened her clothes and looked at them briefly. “I’ll get going,” she announced curtly and walked off, rolling her eyes at Sooyoung who was busy pretending to wipe an invisible tear.“They grow up so fast,” she heard her say.She groaned.(Wendy couldn’t help but notice how Joohyun could’ve kicked Sooyoung the moment she tried to hug her.She didn’t. That had to mean something.) __ “Joohyun? Joohyun! I’m so sorry – we couldn’t do anything,” Yesung cried the moment Joohyun stepped inside the safehouse, closing the door with the lock behind her. It was the house Taesung prepared for emergencies like these. It had a full arsenal, computers, and food stocked.Joohyun had received a text an hour earlier. It contained the address of this house, and a brief order for her to get there fast. She had just finished with her last mission and was on her way back to the mansion.“What’s wrong?” She asked, frowning. This never happened before. “What are you talking about, oppa? What’s going on?”His eyes were red. Yesung blinked his tears away and sniffed, “they attacked your house. Jang Haeun’s kid and his men. They were caught on tape—it’s blurry but—”“What?” Her eyes widened, a shiver going down her spin.Yerim.He led her to the table of the living room where a laptop was discarded. He made her take a seat; Joohyun was still looking at him with confused eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said, hitting the play button for her to watch rather than hear it from him.Her eyes focused on the screen, unsure of what else to do. It showed four vans parked in the entryway of their mansion. Hordes of men stepped out of the vehicles, heavily armed. Only one of them stood weapon-less, fixing his suit arrogantly as he did. The quality of the video was indeed poor: it was grainy and blurry; she didn’t expect much more from an old security camera’s footage. She recognised the face of the man instantly – Jang Hakyun. He was the son of the man she killed six years ago, her first target ever: Jang Haeun.He ordered his men to start the assault with the swipe of a hand, walking behind them with lazy steps as they ran towards the house. They eliminated all the assigned guards Taesung put around the mansion, Joohyun realized. In record time, too; he came prepared.The video shifted abruptly to another scene. It was taken from the security camera in their living room, she guessed. It showed a few men standing behind two kneeling figures. Taesung and Yerim. They had their hands behind their heads, looking at the standing Hakyun as he aimed his handgun at them.The lack of audio meant Joohyun had no idea what they were talking about.Then, suddenly, Hakyun fired his gun and the bullet went straight for Taesung’s shoulder. He fell to the floor, twitching. Beside him, Yerim stumbled to the ground shakily, certainly shocked. “NO!” Joohyun growled as she watched the heir of the Jang’s aim his weapon at her dear sister next. Yerim must’ve said something to upset him, always the brave one. The assassin noticed that she was nodding in the direction of the camera from which this video came, probably threatening him. That made the smirk on his face drop. Angrily, he turned and shot the cameraThe screen went black. The calm that suddenly fell on the safehouse was deafening.Joohyun let out a strangled breath she didn’t know she was holding. Looking up at Yesung, she found him crying, eyes downcast as if he blamed himself for this. She frowned. In a bout of anger, she stood up with force, successfully flipping her chair behind her and onto the ground. Yesung flinched visibly.“I’m going to find that son of a bitch, and I’m going to fucking hurt him,” she announced, walking towards the arsenal room with long, assertive strides. She cursed – while she wasn’t feeling anything particularly distinct like sadness or loss or grief, she was certainly feeling angry. Really angry. She hated when people messed with her and thought they could get away with it.Yesung stumbled behind her, gauging her reaction with fear. “You can’t! Our engineers still can’t trace him, and he’s dangerous. You can’t go there on your own.”She threw one of the sturdy black bags available in the room on the table before she proceeded into hurling her favorite weapons inside it. She wasn’t listening to him.“You’ll get yourself killed, Joohyun!”But that made her stop in her tracks. She turned slowly and walked toward the man with a frightening gleam in her eyes. “Do I look like I care, oppa?” She asked rhetorically. She clenched her teeth. “Y’all should learn how to act rather than think when it comes to a man down in the field; we have two men down and someone has to stop that asshole. If you want to hide and wait, be my guest. Just don’t get in the way.”“I can’t let you do th—”He didn’t get to finish his sentence before she knocked him out with one powerful jab. She knew he fainted from the shock, she didn’t dislodge his jaw. Turning back around, she closed the zipper of the bag and draped it over her shoulder. One last look at her old martial arts instructor, and she left the safehouse. __ In the middle of the mess that was the living room stood one particularly frustrated Joohyun, hands on her hips as she looked around her. Unfortunately, having a cover meant acting like the cover would. And that meant actually having to pack her ‘deceased father’s’ clothes for donation and talking to neighbors as they wished her their sincere apologies... and too many other annoying tasks she’d rather not do.She just wasn’t wired for this. She almost hit the last woman who hugged her and patted her head like she was some kind of… weak emotional being.Joohyun’d been at it since lunchtime, and that was six freaking long hours ago. She was done with all the packing, and she’d listened to everyone as they mourned her father’s great person with a grimace on her face. She wasn’t especially thrilled to realize she still had to take these boxes to the church down the street.Somebody just kill her now. Please.Her stomach rumbled loudly as she slumped on the couch. She’ll do that church-giving thing in the morning, for now she needed food. A lot of food. She’d ordered tteokbokki* and ramyun half an hour ago; the delivery boy was taking the time of his life however and Joohyun briefly considered the option of shooting him once he finally arrived.Just then, the doorbell rang.“Speaking of the devil...” She muttered to herself, quietly scowling as she slipped a few bills from her pocket and walked to open the door. She could already smell the food. And that actually made her forget about her perfect plan of really shooting him.Except, it wasn’t a him.When she opened the door, it wasn’t a delivery boy that greeted her. It was no other than Kang Seulgi, standing there with that stupidly wide grin of hers, in that stupidly hot leather jacket, looking so stupidly attractive. Joohyun groaned loudly. “Seulgi, what the fuck are you doing here?” She exclaimed, the question holding an undertone of ‘I don’t really care what your reply’s gonna be just go away what the hell.’Seulgi grinned widely. “Oh, I’m sorry, I think you mistook me for someone else,” she said, handing the agitated woman her bags – which she took from the delivery boy after she intercepted him before he knocked on the door of his customer. If possible, her grin widened. “I’m Bae Yeseul. I’m your new neighbor from next door, I just moved in today,” the girl pointed in the direction of the door of the apartment adjacent to hers but Joohyun didn’t nudge to take a look, still glaring at her. “It’s very nice to meet you, Miss Bae. I’ve heard you lost your father recently? I’m so sorry for your loss.”Joohyun looked at her silently for one long moment, perplexed by how this woman could annoy her to this extent without even trying. Irritated, she grabbed her food, shoved Seulgi backwards and knocked the door close right in her face. Hard. Once inside her apartment and out of sight, she heaved a long sigh.Still, something warm spread in her chest and she didn’t really know what it was. It just made her angrier and angrier.(On the other side of the door, Seulgi laughed loudly. She shoved her hands in her jeans’ pockets before shrugging. “Well that went better than expected,” she reasoned to herself, glad Joohyun didn’t throw her over the railings of the open hallways. Smiling, she whistled as she made her way downstairs, ready to go check on Heechul before Wendy contacted her for a mission or something. It was getting dark already.She was glad she asked Eunji for this one particular favor. Best fake identity ever, she decided. Being Joohyun’s neighbor was a promise of a lot of fun.Hands around her throat kind of fun, both figuratively and literally.) __ The blonde’s jaw tensed. She held her phone tighter against her ear as her eyes trailed on the skyscrapers her window displayed beautifully. It was the middle of the night, and Seoul shone brightly with nightlife. “I did, Chief Jung. I sent you the files of Bae Joohyun’s new ID.”She heard rustling over the line. “Good, good. Did you give her the name of the man I gave you?”“Yes,” she replied curtly. Closing her eyes, she continued, “We informed her who her father’s murderer is, exactly like you asked. We gave her the files about Ahn Jaewon your assistant sent to my division.”“Great!” He exclaimed, laughing. She could imagine a wide leer on his face, satisfied. “After she’s done taking care of her family issues, Bae Joohyun will be a great asset to us.”Eunji snapped her eyes open, bringing a hand to undo the top boutons of her blouse. “But we don’t know if Kim Yerim is dead for sure, and we’re making her think otherwise. Although evidence shows Jang Hakyun killed Taesung, we found another lead that suggests he didn’t kill Yerim.”The man breathed out noisily. “Operative Jung, what did I say about questioning your superiors’ orders? Just give her his name. I’ll take care of the rest when it’s due time. For now, just make sure she does what she’s told.” When she didn’t reply, the man continued. “I’ll contact you soon.”Loud beeping sounds followed.She tossed her phone on her desk before bringing the glass of liquor she poured herself prior to her father’s call to her lips. Her stomach was knotted with worry, and she recognised guilt as it started gnawing at her bones. Nonetheless, she was a professional. A highly skilled operative with numerous medals and merits. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, drowning a long swing of scotch.Just then, someone knocked on her door. She ordered them to come in, looking behind her curiously.Seungwan.“Hi, it’s me.” The Canadian smiled shyly as she closed the door behind her. She walked towards her lover with large steps despite her evident nervousness – Eunji found that cute about her. Seungwan rounded the desk and finally stood beside her girlfriend, who was still nursing her glass as she gazed down the large window occasionally. This was Eunji’s second office - this one was for official meetings and the KIA HQ one was strictly for internal business. Eunji looked tense. “Were you on the phone? Your secretary said you were on the phone.”“Yes, I was talking with Chief Jung,” the older woman replied, lips curling up as her hand found Wendy’s. She leaned down to peck her lips, feeling like it’d been too long since she saw her girlfriend.Wendy brought her hands to cup her lover’s face. “Your father? Did he need anything?” She wondered, always curious about Chief Jung’s relationship with his daughter. Frowning with worry, she bit her lip, “you look tired and you’re drinking. Are you okay?”“Yes,” Eunji smiled wider now. She was feeling like crying but she deemed that unfit for a woman of her grade. “Just a briefing on Joohyun and the division. The usual drill,” she said, a little bit relieved that it wasn't completely a lie. “I’m okay, but it was a long day.” She brought one of Wendy’s hands on her cheeks to kiss her palm lovingly. Against her skin, she mumbled, “what do you say we go for dinner tonight? Just the two of us.”The younger girl kept her suspicions for herself. She tried to conceal her worry with a small smile of her own, never one to upset Eunji with unwanted inquiries. “Sure. I’ve been craving some Italian food lately…”The Operative let out an airy laugh. “Anything for you.”And anything for you, father, she thought to herself. It made her stomach clench with dread. Perhaps, Wendy’s presence was all she had left to find comfort in. As she kissed her lips tenderly, she decided it was her only medicine.