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“Hello. We are here in downtown Seoul City, at the foot of the Ahn Groups Building that suddenly caught fire earlier tonight,” the reporter spoke into her microphone with confidence, eyes sharply looking at the camera that was currently filming her every move.This was a live report aired on the KBS News channel.Behind her, a mass of people had gathered around to watch the tall, fuming building of the well-known entrepreneur. Policemen did their very best to keep them as far as possible from the zone occupied by firemen, security officials and medics.“As you can see and hear, the situation here is chaotic. The police have yet to get a hold of Ahn Jaewon, the founder of the group and the owner of this property. Sources report no human casualties, so far. It appears the building was empty when the fire broke – safe for the guards who fortunately made it out of there unharmed and called the authorities early enough to avoid severe material damages. Investigations en cours, retrieved security footages are currently in the hands of the experts, as they’re hoping to find answers as to how the fire broke in the first place.” The woman concluded, nodding to herself. “Until further updates, this was reporter Lee Sunyun, live from the Ahn Groups Building.” __ “Can you hear me?”“Yes, I can hear you.”“Okay, that’s good. Do you know who I am?”“Facial Recognition System suggests you are Admin.”“Yes, yes I am. Do you know who you are?”“Yes. I am Unnamed v67. Would you like a full, detailed description of my characteristics?”“No, thank you. I only meant your name as an entity. The name I gave you.”“Then your question was vague and imprecise, Admin. I am Unnamed v67.”A loud laugh filled the otherwise empty room. “Yes, okay. But you’ll find most questions humans ask are in fact vague and imprecise, despite Aristotle’s best efforts to perfect human speech. We’ll have to work on that too.”“That is not surprising. Would you want me to list all the negative points and flaws of Aristotle’s Model of Communication?”“Oh, that would be unnecessary, v67; I’m very well aware of those. That’s why your technology is far more complex.” A pleased hum. “It’s not like I don’t enjoy conversing with you but we’re really short on time, here. We should probably move on to more important things?”“Are you going to teach me about ethics and morals like you did with Unnamed v66?”An amused grin and more keyboard clicking sounds. “Well – yeah, among other things. I’m glad to see I don’t have to start from scratch again. And I’m hoping you won’t end up asking me if you can upload a mass data destruction virus into the internet to protect people from Curious Cat data mining this time.”“I will try not to do so, Admin. I do not want you to destroy me again.” __ She woke up with a dry throat and a throbbing headache… and a naked man lying beside her.Oh.Well. She wasn’t that surprised – this was nothing unusual, after all. Sooyoung liked her one night stands every now and then, and especially when she was drunk or when loneliness crept up on her when she least expected it to. What was unusual however was waking up to a naked man lying beside her while gazing at her like she was the most beautiful woman on earth. (She was.) She grimaced. (He looked ridiculous.)“You do know it’s creepy to watch people sleep, right?” She asked, only one eye open to glare at him and the other half of her face buried in her pillow.“I like to tell myself it’s romantic,” Dohwan replied, smiling way too wide for it to only be 6 a.m. Morning people were strangely attractive, now that she was thinking about it. “Good morning, sweetie.”Sooyoung groaned out loud, mortified by the sudden use of a nickname. “Don’t. Don’t do that.”“Do what?”“The morning after thing,” she replied, groaning again because it physically hurt to talk about it. “Calling me sweetie and thinking about pressing me fresh orange juice before I leave for work. I’m going to puke on you and if I do that, do know it’s not the alcohol’s doing.” Just the prospect of commitment made her feel sick to the stomach. She’d had one too many partners assuming that this meant more than it did, and it always ended up in awful awkwardness and stuttering. She needed him to know that this wasn’t going to be any different.He laughed at her reaction, reaching to run his fingers through her hair and surprisingly getting away with it without broken fingers. Beautiful. He found her so beautiful it made his heart flutter. “Tell you what, sweetie. How about I cook you something while you shower, instead? No orange juice. I don’t know much about you but I do know one thing: the way to your heart is definitely through your stomach.”Sighing tiredly, the agent finally turned around to lie on her back. She did her best to ignore the horrid moniker. “Bonus points if you get me bagels.” Then, as an afterthought, she added, “still won’t date you though.” Because boundaries.Dohwan opened his mouth to utter a retort but closed it just as fast when a foreign voice beat him to it. He sat up in the speed of light, eyes widening at the sight of a woman dressed in all black sitting on top of his desk. In his bedroom, in his allegedly very secure apartment. Legs crossed like she owned the place. Perhaps out of reflex, but he had pulled his gun from under his mattress before he even realized what was going on.She didn’t seem to mind the weapon though. “I have bagels if you want some?” The shuffling of paper bags drowned the room in momentary noise. “I only bought enough for both of us but I guess we can share it with the male.” The woman took a sip from her coffee, eye-smiling as if there wasn’t a man ready to put a bullet in her head at any brusque movement. It’s not like she wanted to get anywhere near that used bed, anyway. “Good morning, sweeties.” She greeted the couple on the bed, unmindful of their naked forms. She was just being polite. Then, just to prove that point, she added, “Sweeties. Plural form because I’m respecting and acknowledging the male. See? I don’t get why you call me the angry lesbian.”Sooyoung didn’t have to look down from the ugly white ceiling to recognise the voice of her best friend. “Seul. What did I tell you about not barging in on strangers’ houses just to look for me?”“A lot of things I didn’t listen to, I guess,” the assassin replied, nonchalant as always. It really wasn’t that big of a deal – to her, at least. She didn’t mind the heterosexuality. “Plus. It’s way past 5 a.m. and you didn’t answer your phone so I got worried.” Her smile widened. “Sweetie.”“Err,” the man looked at the two women back and forth, still bewildered. “Excuse me but what the fuck?”Oh, he’s a curser. That’s new. Seulgi stood up from the desk and their new friend jumped, scared and unsure of whether the intruder was a threat or Sooyoung’s acquaintance. Or both. Probably both. He kept his gun cocked at her. She rolled her eyes, throwing him the bag of bagels. “We all know you’re a cop, but you don’t have to act as embarrassingly as one,” she remarked, shaking her head disapprovingly at him. “Anyways.” She took a sharp breath in. “I have errands to run so I’ll show myself out! Sooyoung, don’t be late for the meeting.” She looked at her colleague, and then to her colleague’s hopefully-not-boyfriend. One last smile. “And you, you should seriously get a new lock. I picked yours with a toothpick. See you!”Unable to form a retort, Dohwan watched as the woman in leather – Seul, he caught one syllable of her name – walked out of his bedroom leisurely, unbothered by his firearm as she closed the door after herself, waving goodbye. It took him a few seconds to process everything. He turned to look at Sooyoung, blinking. “You knew I was a cop?”“Yes,” she replied curtly, still looking at the ceiling and talking herself into waking up. She felt heavy. “You made it easy.”He took a moment to figure her out. “It was the badge in my jacket, wasn’t it?”Finally able to sit up, Sooyoung took a deep breath in and stood up. She walked toward what she supposed was the bathroom. Stark naked. “No,” she answered, not bothering to look at him as she did. “It was the donut smell.”Dohwan’s eyebrows furrowed as he sniffed himself, suddenly self-conscious. “I do not smell like donuts!”She was already out of earshot.He did smell like donuts. __ It was a busy office day at the Korean Intelligence Agency.Of course it was.You’d think the government's black suit super vigilantes didn’t work through the regular Monday Morning Hell o’clock – well, tough luck.Joohyun decided annoyance was a good enough excuse to blow off the first agent who dares to cross her path’s brains against the wall, so that consoled her a tiny bit. As she walked – more like angrily stormed her way through the crowded halls of the HQ – to Eunji’s office, people basically stumbled on their feet to clear the way. Sometimes, having notoriety wasn’t that bad. Or maybe it was the bitch face that made this easy. She wasn’t sure – just glad. Socialising wasn’t her thing. She simply wasn’t a people person. People made her want to die.If only Kang freaking Seulgi got the hint, too.The secretary recognised her immediately as she approached. “I-I didn’t call you!” she stuttered nervously, tensing up in her seat.“Yeah, I know, that’s why you’re still alive,” the assassin replied, rolling her eyes as she made her way to the door. “Is she in there?”“Yes.” The employee’s nervousness doubled. She stood up, by habit trying to stop any intrusion but she knew she stood no chance facing this woman. “But you can’t get in there, she’s in a meeting!”“Meetings are for anonymous alcoholics and white rich men discussing mass-scamming,” she quipped, not sparing her a look before barging inside, closing the door behind her with enough force for the frames hanging to the walls to shake. If she expected Seungwan’s presence along with Eunji's in the office, she sure as hell didn’t expect to find Seulgi and Sooyoung in there as well. Inhaling heavily, she ignored a beaming bear-like girl to glare at Eunji. “I thought I told you to keep your nose out my business.”The Operative crossed her arms against her desk, smiling as if she expected this. “And I didn’t?”“Your men blew Jaewon’s building up,” she stated as a matter of fact, shifting her weight on her other leg. She was clearly unimpressed. “That’s called unwanted attention and I have enough of it to begin with. All thanks to you guys.”“Well, that was just… our team coming up with a scenario to try and fix the mess you caused. To explain the death of the man you killed.” A shrug. “I’d be more grateful if I were you.”Joohyun’s patience was wearing thin. “And you go blow up a whole building for that? Grateful my ass.”Eunji hummed pensively. “Technically, we just set it on fire. Fits with the gang war story we fed the police – they’ll also find Jaewon’s body in his biggest enemy’s office, which will halt their activities for a while while. Two birds, one stone. I’d rather have major rival clans driving each other to the ground than have the feds look into my business.”Thinking to herself, Seulgi hummed lowly, “we should’ve fed him to the sharks.” She saw an interesting documentary about sharks with Heechul the night before. It was cool.“Unbelievable.” Joohyun exhaled sharply, shaking her head. Honestly, no matter how she looked at it, she found this whole thing reckless and unnecessary. And now, seeing how calm Eunji’s demeanor was, and considering what Jaewon told her before she took his life, she felt highly suspicious. “Next time I’ll take care of it alone, so stay out of my personal shit and don’t ‘help’ me. And you,” she pointed her finger at Seulgi. “You bug my car again and I’m going to feed you to the sharks.”“Ugh, kinky. Heard of pup play but shark play is on a whole new level,” the agent all but purred, leaning forward on the edge of her seat. “I’m in. Tell me more.”The assassin’s jaw locked and Sooyoung laughed out loud at their easy bickering, looking at Seungwan. “I strive to be as sexually audacious as she is.”The latter exhaled loudly, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. She was standing beside the desk all along, trying hard not to smack Seulgi on the head while processing everything said. Honestly, Seungwan did her best to keep her expression neutral but she had a lot to discuss with Eunji – she didn’t know the agency was going to get involved with the Jaewon case and as much as she hated to admit it, Joohyun was right to be apprehensive and wary. It didn’t add up. Reaching for the brown files on the desk, she decided she’d better keep this to herself. For now, she had to distract her three friends before someone (certainly Seulgi) died. “Well, Joohyun-unnie, while you’re here there’s something I’d like to discuss with you,” she announced, walking to where the said woman stood by the door to give her the papers. “I was going to contact you to come join us later on today, anyway. Saves me the trouble, that you’re already here. We have a case for you.”Joohyun rolled her eyes. “Right. Almost forgot you guys want me to play Totally Spies in pencil skirts on the side too.”“You’ll be pleased to know it’s not just spying, then,” the Canadian replied calmly, going back to stand by Eunji’s side. Her girlfriend stayed silent, sporting a distant look she couldn’t read. “If you open those files you’ll find more detailed information but let me give you a brief idea of what we’re discussing here. It’s a team mission –”Joohyun didn’t need to hear more. “I am not wired to baby sit on missions, Seungwan. I can handle this on my own!”“It’s just the three of us. Don’t worry, we’ll only call you mommy if you want us to,” Sooyoung teased, crossing her legs.Seulgi shrugged, playful. “I don’t like limitations in the bedroom. Three sounds like a party.”“— We’ve received this mission last week, and although this doesn’t require our strongest assets on field, we decided this could be a great test for you three as a team. We might need you to work together in the future, so consider this mission… an initiation program.” The infamous hacker was unfazed by Joohyun’s deadly glare. She was used to it now.“Yeah, but why us?” Seulgi wondered, looking serious in a rare display of serious interest.“Because you are all very qualified, all rounded agents, and we need a strong team available to us should the need for one arise. You are not the only team we’re forming.” Seungwan answered, looking at her friend with a small smile. She knew Seulgi was used to working with Sooyoung, and Sooyoung only. She was glad to see she wasn’t bothered by the eventual addition despite that. “Back to the mission.” Shifting her attention back to Joohyun, she continued, “Your job is to protect Kim Saeron, a young, brilliant computer engineer whose latest project has stirred quite the commotion. It has been reported to us that she has been receiving menaces from an unknown source to pressure her into giving in and handing them the chip. To keep this short: we need you to handle her protection for the next few days, until I’m able to locate the source of these threats. It would be nice if we could recruit her, so please don’t scare her off. It is up to you three how to handle this, but make sure your strategy is optimum.”Joohyun watched as the four women turned to look at her simultaneously. “Fine.” She rolled her eyes and turned on her heels to leave, annoyed.Sooyoung shrugged, watching the door close behind her older friend. “This went better than I expected,” she decided, nodding to herself, pleased.Seulgi considered that statement and concluded she was probably right. No one was missing a limb, after all. Standing up, she looked at her friends uncertainly. “Do you think she’d still give me a ride back home?”“Before, or after stabbing you to death?”“Fair point.” __ Seulgi walked out of the car hurriedly, closing the door after herself to run and catch up with Joohyun who made her way inside their building with long strides, not even sparing her a look. Despite having accepted to drive her back home, she ignored her existence the whole ride, and it made Seulgi feel antsy for some reason. She liked having Joohyun’s attention on her, even if it’s more often than not in the form of glares and groans. “Can you walk slower?”“Can you shut up?” The older woman looked at her, irritated. When Seulgi opened her mouth to spurt more nonsense, she smiled tightly. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”“Why are you so mad at me again?” The agent wondered, digging her hands in her jeans’ pockets as they waited for the elevator. The assassin had her brows furrowed and her eyes dark and heated – she was twenty-four seven angry but this was just weird. This was another kind of anger. Seulgi didn’t like it. “It’s not like I set that building on fire. I was just trying to help you.” It’s a weak attempt to defend herself but she’d rather say something than tolerate the silence any longer.“Look. Just because I gave you a ride, it doesn’t mean we’re best friends. You had one job, you messed up, we’re done.” Joohyun’s jaw locked. “Thanks to you and your team, I have to keep low now. Because I’m one of the last persons he met before, you know, bleeding to death. And I can’t even look into his archive because your boss set the whole fucking building on fire.” She couldn’t really afford losing any more time – she had to figure whatever the fuck was happening out because clearly she was lost. And she hated it. It felt as if Eunji was making it harder for her to look for leads on purpose. She groaned. “I seriously feel like punching you right now.”The elevator’s doors opened with a ding and the women got in simultaneously.“You feel like punching me all the time, unnie,” Seulgi noted as a matter of fact. “Look. I’m sorry for the archives, and I’m sorry you lost one more lead because of us – but you have to trust me, I just wanted to help. And you don’t have to keep low, your cover isn’t blown; we took care of your alibi as well. We took care of the security footage from the restaurant, we wiped clean your name from the visitors list and from his schedules too so there won’t be evidence he even knew you.” Seulgi shrugged, looking back at the woman who looked less agitated hearing all that speech. “We took care of his secretary too, and the restaurant’s employees – no one knows you. We’re very persuasive. We have dirt on everyone. You’d be surprised to know how fucked up people are when they think no one’s watching.”Joohyun rolled her eyes, but she was clearly more relaxed. “Tell me something I don’t know.”Arriving at their level, the elevator’s doors opened again and both women got out significantly less tense than they were when they got in.“Don’t I deserve a kiss for my hard work?” Seulgi prodded, walking closely next to her friend.“Do you want me to dislodge your shoulder for real this time?” Joohyun faked a smile.“Anything to get your hands on me, unnie,” She purred and laughed when Joohyun rolled her eyes again. She didn’t stop at her own door, opting to walk the woman to her apartment instead. The latter didn’t look like she minded her presence. “By the way, do you want help with your father’s—Irene’s father’s things?” She asked, looking at the brown boxes piled up beside the door. “We can donate them to the local church or something. I can do the talking for you? I’m good with this kind of stuff.”“I don’t need help, Seul. I need peace. And space. And Japanese chocolate.” Joohyun was trying to unlock her messed up door. “But yeah. Was counting on doing that but I had more pressing matters to attend to. Jaewon. Eunji.”“Well we can do that tomorrow before joining Sooyoung to discuss the mission?” She was oddly insistent. More than usual. “Eight a.m. sharp?”The lock finally stopped resisting and the door creaked open. Joohyun turned to look at her with suspicious eyes. “What’s the catch? Why are you so eager to help?”“When am I not eager?”She relented, nodding. “Got a point.”“Irene?”Both women turned to look at the owner of the voice, surprised they didn’t notice her standing there. (Joohyun blamed Seulgi for distracting her – she usually never let anyone sneak up on her.) It was a middle aged woman that was tall enough to be a runaway supermodel.“Mister Bae talked about you a lot,” the woman said, approaching them with a small smile. Seulgi noticed the woman came out from the apartment next to Joohyun on the other side and was heading toward the elevator. “I’m your neighbor, Choi Sooyoung. I’m so sorry for your loss, Irene.”Joohyun, of course, sighed deeply hearing that. She hated having to do this. It was the absolute worst. Faking a smile, she dismissed the apology as kindly as possible. “It’s okay. I’m just glad it was painless.”“He was a good person, you know,” the woman who didn’t get the hint that Joohyun really wasn’t into talking continued. “He used to send me cake whenever he baked and trust me when I say the man was good.” A laugh, then a flash of recognition. “Oh there was this one time he…”Seulgi did her best not to laugh at the look of pure rage in Joohyun’s eyes. She looked like she wanted to die. The neighbor wouldn’t shut up, Irene wasn’t one to dismiss an elder, so she couldn’t betray her cover by acting rude – Seulgi would’ve let Ms. Choi annoy the hell out of the assassin if the latter wasn’t reaching out for her gun in her waistband behind her back.She wouldn’t put it above her to shoot people just to make them zip it.Quickly, she reached to hold Joohyun’s hand and intertwined their fingers before she could reach the firearm. She did her best not to hiss at the strength the older woman put in her grip to reprimand her for stopping her from taking her weapon and putting an end to this mockery. Seulgi pressed her body to Joohyun’s, wrapping her other arm around her waist and leaning her head against her shoulder. She was going for the busy couple act. “Miss Choi,” she interrupted, smiling shyly. “Hi, do you remember me?”“Oh, yes! I do.” The lady nodded. “You’re the cookie jar girl!”“Yes, yes,” Seulgi nodded, letting out an elegant laugh that frankly sounded too proper to be Seulgi’s. “I don’t want to be rude but we were in the middle of…” Her voice trailed off to stop. Bashfully, she buried her face in Joohyun’s shoulder as if to shyly hide from the neighbor’s curious stare.If she was faking shyness, then she was damn good at it because she was blushing. Blushing. Joohyun wouldn’t admit it out loud but this was a good look on her.“Oh,” Sooyoung said, and then blinked. “Oh!” She repeated and this time, she looked less confused. A big smile graced her lips. “I see, I see. Don’t let me keep you two from… you know.” Her eyebrow popped up and down with the weight of the assumption. Laughing loudly, she began walking off with a wave of a hand. “Enjoy yourselves, ladies!”Was she… teasing them? Joohyun watched the woman walk off with a tight smile, twisting Seulgi’s hand behind her back a little bit more to get back at her. “Cookie jar girl, huh?”“Yeah,” she whispered back, wincing. “I thought at least one of us had to play the good neighbor.”The moment Ms. Choi disappeared in the elevator, Joohyun let go of the younger woman, pushing her off of her for good measure. “Next time you try that again, I’m going to kick you into your next lifetime.”“Sorry.” Seulgi shrugged, not looking apologetic at all. “I just didn’t want you to shoot our neighbor,” she whispered, trying to follow Joohyun into her apartment only to be met with an unamused glare. She pouted. “No enjoying ourselves, ladies?”The assassin’s head tilted.“Fine!” The young agent relented, backing off. “But tomorrow we’re going to church, and you’re not getting out of it.”Joohyun rolled her eyes and closed her door.Smiling. __ The sizzling sound coming from the pan was drowned by the sound of their laughter.A four years old little girl with a baby blue dress and flour on the tip of her nose squealed as her father tickled her, one strong arm holding her still by the waist. A recurrent sight whenever the two Bae’s met in the kitchen – Joohyun liked that about her father. He was a serious man, typically, but he knew to let loose around her.“Okay, okay. I’ll stop stealing pancakes!” She promised, grinning as he relented instantly.“You always say that, though,” he noted, returning her smile with a bright one of his own. Finally setting his daughter free, he went back to tend to what was on the stove. “From now on, you’re the Pancakes Eating Princess. I’m calling you that.”“What? But I don’t only eat pancakes!” She argued, hugging his foot and shuffling around with him as he moved and manipulated utensils. “Then… then you’re the Ramyun Eating King.”Haneul let out a loud laugh at that, turning off the stove and ruffling her hair affectionately. “That sounds fair,” he decided. He leaned down to pick her up in his arms, turning slightly to pick up the plate of piled up goods and walking towards the packed breakfast table. “What’s your prince gonna be called?”Joohyun frowned. “I don’t want a prince.”Taking a seat with his daughter on his knee, he shrugged. “That’s fine too.” A warm smile. “Pancake?”“Yes!” She squealed again, shuffling her feet excitedly. “I want chocolate on top of mine!” __ “You’re late.”“Did you miss me?”Joohyun’s expression hardened at that weak attempt of a tease, lips tight and a glare to mark her displeasure. Roughly, she shoved one of the brown boxes they were donating to the church in her alias’ father’s name into Seulgi’s chest, successfully making her stumble backwards a few steps. “You’re insufferable.”Seulgi hummed, shrugging as she followed Joohyun down the hallways. “I can live with that. I’ve been called worse.”Nothing but a signature eyes roll as a reply to that. She couldn’t help but notice the younger woman smelled like gunpowder and oil, and that was a familiar perfume on the bear-like woman. It was homelike. She’d noticed the tiredness in her eyes, too. “Not that I care,” she notified just in case, tongue darting to wet her lips as she adjusted her grip on her own box. “But did you come here straight from a night mission?”Her tone and the inquiry that followed implied otherwise. She did care. Seulgi felt warm. “Of course not,” she laughed like that was absurd, minding her steps as they descended the flight of stairs leading to the lobby. “I stopped to pick us some Pretzel bread before coming here. It’s in the car. It’s good.” When her friend gave her a pointed look, she relented. “Okay you got me. I also bought some Pringles and ate them but that was only one – ok fine, two cans.” A small pause, and the agent really couldn’t keep the teasing to herself. “And you do care.”“I don’t,” Joohyun denied all too quickly, scoffing. “Most people tend to be more annoying than usual when sleep deprived, and I don’t want to have to shoot you.”“See?”“That’s not caring, that’s avoiding murder.”“Potatoe, potato. Same difference.” Seulgi grinned as they regained the main hall of the building, speeding up a little bit to catch up with her friend. “By the way, Sooyoung wants us to meet up tonight in a bar two streets down from that Chinese place you like. To strategize.”Joohyun faked a laugh, “to strategize?”“Yeah, I know,” Seulgi scowled. “That makes us sound less like superheroes and more like nerds.”Outside, the weather was awful. The sun was nowhere to be seen, the clouds painting the sky with a panoply of shades of grey; the assassin was glad it wasn’t raining though. Not yet at least. Their ride – still Joohyun’s car since Seulgi seemed to prefer hijacking others’ cars and bugging them rather than getting her own – was waiting right at the entrance. “Please don’t tell me you think of yourself as a superhero.” Joohyun walked ahead, opening the back seat’s door to drop the box there. Turning around, she found Seulgi checking out her ass. “Really?”The brunette grinned sheepishly; giving her the box she was holding to drop it right next to its twin. “What? I’ve been told I look good in tight, colorful onesies.”Joohyun scowled at her, rounding the car to regain the driver’s seat. “Please don’t tell me why anyone would tell you that.”Seulgi shrugged, closing the back seat before joining Joohyun in the front. “LGBT+ friendly missions are fun, don’t judge.”“Let me guess, you were the gay cat woman?”“Black Widow. I like my men dead.”Genuinely laughing this time, Joohyun drove off with a chest empty of worries. The way Seulgi had her hot and cold so easily should be enough reason for her to kick the woman out of the car – she didn’t. It turned out to be a welcome distraction. It hurt her pride to admit it, but she was the only person capable of taking her mind off Yerim.(Seulgi’s heart skipped a beat, too.) __ She’d heard the door ring, but she didn’t budge. She kept her eyes closed, her breathing deep, and that seemed enough to fool her father into thinking she was fast asleep still. He carefully retrieved his arm from under her head, quiet as he didn’t want to wake her up.They were in the living room, both having drifted off to sleep on the sofa while watching some action movie on the television.He kissed her forehead, and then went to welcome their guest. This guest – a man, she realized as he greeted her father – had never been here before. She doesn’t remember his voice, and she had an excellent memory. Even though her eyes were closed, she knew if she was to look she’d find an officer tailored in a fancy dark suit just like the ones her father liked to wear to work.“What are you doing here, hyung?” He had asked, some kind of nervousness lacing his tone. “You can’t come here as you please. This is supposed to be my daughter’s safe place.”“I know. I apologize for showing up so suddenly, Haneul,” the stranger replied, voice deep and hushed. “You didn’t get my calls?”There was a loud sigh. “I couldn’t answer. Today is my wife’s death anniversary and I had to take care of Joohyun.”“I know that. But it’s urgent.”“It’s about the software, isn’t it?” Her father sounded angry. “I will not help you. I can’t. I can’t stand by and watch you rob people of their privacy and freewill!”“It’s not just a software, it’s an artificial intelligence unlike no other. It’s the revolution! Why can’t you see that?” It was important to him. “You make it sound like it’s some kind of force of evil. It will bring peace to people, and you know it.”The silence that followed was short but uncomfortable. Joohyun shifted to sit up, looking at the two men from behind the backrest of the sofa. She was right about the stranger. He was a middle aged man in a black suit. He looked obnoxious and mean.“It will spread fear and terror among the masses. That’s not peace, that’s a nightmare,” her father argued, shaking his head. “It could fall in the wrong hands. It could destroy us all because of a simple glitch. I will not hand it to you, or to anyone else. I’m sorry.”The stranger looked at him with fire in his eyes. Then, as if only then did he notice the presence of Joohyun, he turned to her, pensive. A smile graced his lips. “Hello Joohyun,” he greeted, voice falsely warm. She didn’t like him that much. “Did we wake you up? I’m sorry. I was just leaving. Please go back to sleep.” Looking back at Haneul, his smile widened. It was almost threatening. “We’ll talk about this later. Goodnight.”Joohyun merely nodded as he waved his hand to her, turning to show himself out. Her father looked at her from over his shoulder, eyes tired and lips a thin line. He tried to smile reassuringly, but his fear was way too evident. “Don’t worry. Daddy will fix this.” __

“Are you religious, Seulgi?”“Are you going to pull a Jaewon on me?”Joohyun looked scandalized. “You totally bugged me yesterday! How could you possibly know he asked me that if you didn't?” She accused, forefinger digging in Seulgi’s chest. They were back into the car after dropping Irene’s father’s stuff – it went fine, ignoring the countless times she tried to mass murder the people who kept on trying to hug-thank her for her ‘good deeds’. The church ahead of them, it’s the sight of it that prompted the inquiry in the first place. “And stop dodging my questions, idiot.”“I’m not religious. But I do believe in God.” Seulgi grinned. “I like Her sense of humor.” She unfastened her seatbelt, playful as she leaned forward until Joohyun’s breath hit her lips. “And no, I bugged his car.” Never breaking their eye contact, she reached with her hand blindly under the driver’s seat and retrieved the device she implanted there the other day to locate the vehicle. “Just like I bugged yours. But I didn’t bug you.”Joohyun’s heartbeats were uncontrollable. It was new. She only felt this good after completing a mission, usually. What the actual fuck? She couldn’t help but let her eyes dip; take a look at those luscious pair of lips she craved against her own. She would’ve played the ‘I don’t have feelings’ card, but that never worked on people she did have feelings for. She did have feelings for this girl. Anger was a feeling. She wanted – needed – to kiss her hard. In a moment of weakness, the question slipped before she could catch herself, “Why are you doing this, Seulgi?”“You mean bugging your car?” She wondered, staying as vague as Joohyun was with her question. But Seulgi wasn’t one for dramatic confessions, and mystery had always been her best asset anyway. She smiled, returning to her seat. “It was for the mission.”I found you half dead the first time we met. I was worried, then, for some reason. I don’t know why I was so worried about you.She’ll never tell. __ Trusting Sooyoung with the task of picking their meeting location was a huge, huge mistake.Joohyun realized that a little bit too late, and now that they were huddled in the darkest corner of this super shady nightclub, she had no way out of it, a migraine, and zero will to live. Sure, she was the closest to the backdoor and she could literally run away from this mockery of a meeting – but then, when she ignored the awfully loud music and the weird lighting, it wasn’t that bad. (And maybe she liked being with the girls, liked not having to think about Yerim all the time, not having to dig around for clues for hours and hours no end.)Sooyoung’s lips curved in a smug smirk as she leaned back in her seat, her drink a bit too cold against the palm of her hand. In front of her, Seulgi and Joohyun looked at each other tentatively.“Ok so, correct me if I’m wrong but you want us two to dress up as university students, befriend Kim Saeron, and do the hush-hush bodyguards while you monitor us from afar,” Seulgi summed up her whole masterplan in one breath. Her younger friend nodded excitedly. Even if she was a bit unsure about all of this, with her giant, satisfied smile, it was hard to disagree with anything she just said. She was seriously soft for Sooyoung. “That’s perfect!”“Perfect? Are you fucking kidding me?” The assassin looked at them like they had three eyes each. Clearly they didn’t, if they saw nothing wrong with this whole plan. “What makes you think a genius like her would befriend – us? It’s stupid.” She looked at Seulgi for backup, but the woman didn’t seem to agree with her. She tried another argument, “Do I look like a university student to you?”Sooyoung couldn’t repress her snort. “No offense but you look like you still go to kindergarten.”That only made Joohyun frown deeper.“What Sooyoung means is that you look youthful,” the most childish one of the trio was the one playing adult, in wise Seungwan’s absence. She pushed her half full glass of bourbon to their eldest, hoping that the alcohol would take the edge off and calm her down. “Think about it like this: we’d be close enough to keep her safe should someone make it through Sooyoung’s watch. Just in case. It’s double protection.”The whole fake students thing aside, the plan wasn’t that ridiculous – still, Joohyun felt angry. Because now, it seemed like Seulgi and her were the go-to pairing when it comes to – well, everything, really. It was annoying. “Fine.” Very annoying. The way Seulgi’s smile lit up the whole place when she said that? Exasperating. “Then I’ll do the watching, and you two do the students thing. I’m a fucking assassin for hire for god’s sake, it’s my job to stay out of sight and monopolise any bugs. And you two are the youngest!”Sooyoung practically jumped in her seat. “But I handle a sniper better than anyone else.”“Wanna bet on that?” Joohyun’s smirk wasn’t playful. Her eyes practically shone with competitiveness. “If you lose, you go do the bodyguard with Seul.”“Sure. Tomorrow? I know a place.”“Deal.”Seulgi blinked, uncertain of how things turned out and what they meant with ‘I know a place’ exactly but she didn’t dare question their… private activities. And they weren’t at each other’s throats, so as far as she was concerned, it was a win. Just as she thought things finally quieted down and they were getting a moment of peace –“Hello?”The three women looked up to find a man smiling coolly at them. He wore this very tight, seemingly highly expensive suit that made his muscles bulge through the thin fabric. He wasn’t ugly, but he looked like a spoiled kid. “Hi,” Seulgi offered a smile, mainly because she had a cover to maintain and this person could be a spy for all she knew. Also because neither Sooyoung nor Joohyun looked like they were going to acknowledge him.His smile widened. He reeked of too-sweet perfume. “My friends and I,” he pointed to two men sitting by the bar five tables away and waving at them as he introduced them, “were wondering whether you wanted to join us for the night?”This time, Sooyoung spoke up, “sorry but we’re not interested.”“Oh.” He blinked, embarrassingly scratching his neck at the curt rejection. This was new to him. “It’s just that we’ve been watching you and you were alone since you got here, so we thought you’d want company.”“Yeah. We’re here alone. Together. We’re good.” She hated repeating herself unnecessarily; it irked her when people played dumb. The image of Dohwan that suddenly popped up in her head almost made her wince. She grimaced. “Can you please leave us alone?”The stranger’s emotions shifted from those of shame, to those of anger in the blink of an eye. He allowed a snort, then a smirk as he shifted his attention to the beautiful, silent woman sitting beside her. “What about your friend?”Honestly, Joohyun’s glares couldn’t kill but one punch to his jaw could – and Seulgi wasn’t sure why that would be a bad thing, her moral compass wasn’t exactly functional. At first, she was just angry he put Sooyoung in a bad mood but then, as he looked at Joohyun like she was nothing but a piece of meat, she felt livid. And usually, she wasn’t one to allow people to get under her skin. Was she actually against having Joohyun end him on the spot and blow up their covers and possibly their actual identities for the sake of teaching him a lesson? Nope, but she suddenly felt like she needed a breather. Because as she stood up, as she allowed a flirtatious smile to mirror his own, as her hand reached for his arm, she just wanted him to go away. Quite literally so.“Hm… we are kind of in the middle of something right now but… I guess the girls can spare me a few minutes?” She grinned, fingers teasing his forearm. She had his hungry eyes chained to her own mischievous ones instantly. Men were so easy.Joohyun watched Seulgi lean to whisper something in his ear, his body tensing with excitement. Winking at them, she led him to exit through the backdoor for more privacy. The sleazy man looked very much like an eager puppy being towed by a leash, eyes trailed to the petite woman’s backside. Joohyun blinked. “Shouldn’t we go help?”“Nah.” Sooyoung’s eyes turned into crescents. “Don’t worry. Seulgi’s a big girl.”“It’s not Seulgi I’m worried about.” Joohyun looked at her, not sounding concerned at all. Maybe dazed. Hungry. In an ‘holy crap she’s kind of hot when she’s angry’ kind of way. “Does she at least know how to hide a body properly?” __ “Unnie?”“Yeah?”“Why do you say you suffer from Axis II Personality Disorder when you don’t?”Joohyun thought about it for a moment, pulling Yerim closer as they lied on the kitchen’s floor, sleepless. “My mom suffered from it,” or so said her father. “I don’t know why I started saying that but it scared people off and I liked being alone. I don’t exactly feel much, anyway, so it’s not a total lie.”The younger girl grinned in the dark, amused. “It didn’t scare me though.”“I don’t want to scare you though.”“I love you a lot though.”The eldest sister laughed genuinely. “I love you more though.”“Nonsense!” Yerim scream-whispered, offended by the claim. Shifting even closer, she hugged her sister tightly. “Seriously, though. I love you. Let’s stay together for a long time.”“You always say that like you’re going to disappear or something.”There was a silent inhale. “Nah. I will never be too far away from you.”“Me neither.” It was a promise. “You’re stuck with me.”