writer

you glance down at the corridor that seems to be void of any human except you. at the far end of the hall, you spot a singular door that’s slightly ajar and you make your way towards it. as you come closer, you try to make out what’s written on the metal plate that’s starting to wear out—X-Files—but it’s crossed out and under that there’s something scribbled with a sharpie: nobody here except the FBI’s most unwanted.

you stand at the door, hesitating, because this isn’t where you ever imagined yourself to be, at least not after graduating top of your class, spending months working on forensic reports, doing autopsies, doing casework, fieldwork and being recruited straight out of med school to work at the FBI. so you’d never thought you’d ever end up here—at the dingy basement of the FBI headquarters that seemed to be abandoned and looked sketchy.

and not to mention working in a department that seemed to almost be a joke, because seriously? what was the FBI doing having a department like this open? it made no sense. 

you should have taken that as your first sign to turn around and walk away, but you don’t because you can’t. you’d been reassigned here and orders were orders, even though you’d technically defied orders to be reassigned here in the first place, so you guess karma was real and it came back to bite you in the ass, hard.

you sigh as your hand rises up and you slowly push the door open, taking in the dimly lit room and the chaotic setup of the space as you step inside slowly. you take a peek inside the room to see if anyone was even there before stepping in more. there were stacks of old case files up against the wall on the shelves, newspaper clippings were pinned up on a board all connected in a mess of photo cutouts, red string and messy scribbled notes. there was another shelf on the other side of the wall, stacked with thick files, reference books and all kinds of manuals you could imagine. your eyes trace through the room and then you see him.

his back is turned to you and he’s so absorbed in reading the case file in front of him that he hasn’t noticed you yet. you clear your throat and he sits up, turning around in his chair. his eyes sharp and unreadable as they land on you. his hair is dark and it falls over his brows and forehead. a pair of thin wireframe glasses rest at the bridge of his nose and a pen is in his hand, most likely for taking notes. he’s wearing a white button down shirt and the sleeves are rolled up to his elbows. a dark brown tie hangs loosely around the collar of his shirt. you didn’t really need an introduction to the man because you already knew who he was—he had quite the reputation at the academy and bureau.

“agent jeon?”, you ask, stepping closer and reaching out to shake his hand. he only stares at you before speaking, extending his hand forward to shake your hand, his grip firm and touch warm. “you’ve found him”, he says, his voice low and you watch as he turns back to continue reading the case file in his hand, like it was more interesting than you.

“i’m agent L/N and i’ve been reassigned here, so i’m going to working with you from today”, you fill in. "i thought you came to shut down the place”, he says, his tone a little sarcastic, but still subtle. “nope, though i think they could shut down this place”, you say, which makes agent jeon turn around again. he looks at you, expressionless. “you’d be surprised at how many times they’ve almost succeeded”, he says. “so, who did you piss off to get stuck working here?”, he asks, putting the case file down and slowly standing up. god, he was tall.  

you sigh. “the assistant director”, you say and he clicks his tongue. “assistant director kang’s a sensitive man”, he says, giving you a look and you nod. “yeah”, you say, rolling your eyes. “so, what do you even really do around here?”, you ask, curious to know what his department was like and what he was like. sure, you’d heard plenty of rumours, stories and gossip in the air about him, but you had a thing for not believing things until you actually saw it or was proven by facts. “i investigate cases that don’t really fit into boxes or that aren’t ordinary or are just unexplainable. i investigate the cases that no one is willing to believe”, he says casually and it seemed like the rumours you’d heard about this man were true after all. you’d heard things like he was the kind of maniac who was obsessed with the paranormal world, believed in aliens and that type of stuff. he was always digging into cases that the bureau had labeledas x-files because they were unexplainable and tossed aside. agent jeon wasn’t really given explicit permission to dig into these cases, they were unassigned—but that never stopped him and weirdly the FBI stop him either. they kept it open and let him, but you on the other hand were the complete opposite. you only believed in logic, science and facts and you wouldn’t mind debunking some of his crazy theories.

“if you have any questions for me i’d be happy to answer them”, you say a few seconds later and he shakes his head, turning around, picking up the case file and walking towards the other end of the table where multiple photographs were scattered. “well if you have any doubts or questions about me or my qualifications—”, you start but he cuts you off.

“you did your undergraduate in physics, you’re a medical doctor and you also used to teach at the academy”, agent jeon says in one smooth line. “it’s just that in most of my work, the laws of physics and science rarely seem to apply", he lowly, his hands sorting through the photographs and picking up the ones he wanted, putting them into another pile by the side. so he’d read your file.

“do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?”, he asks, glancing over at you. you give him a look, like it was obvious. “logically, no, i don’t”, you say firmly, looking at him and he nods, like he knew that was going to be your answer. “given the capabilities that would be needed to cover that amount of space, distance and time—“, you start. “that’s all conventional wisdom”, he says, cutting you off mid answer. “if science and convention offer us no plausible solutions, don’t you think we should turn to other theories or unconventional methods?”, he questions, looking right at you. “i don’t believe that you can get answers beyond the realm of science”, you say confidently. “the answers are always there, you just need to know where to look”, you finish and he looks at you, an amused smile tugging at the corners of his lips, like he knew this was exactly what you were going to say, like he’d heard this same exact speech a thousand times before. 

“you know, i’ve never really worked with anyone before, at least not on any x-files”, he says. “in that case i’ll see you tomorrow agent Y/N”, he says and you nod your head, acknowledging him before you turn around. you walk out the door and let out a deep breath. somehow that whole interaction wasn’t too bad. you walk back towards the elevator and step inside, watching the door slowly close and it takes you back up to the ground floor—back to reality. 

what you didn’t tell agent jeon is that part of your reassignment was to keep an eye on him, to keep a tab on what he was up to and keep him in line. though most of the x–files were unassigned and the bureau let him investigate them anyway, they now started to feel like he was going over the top and digging around too much, poking his nose into matters that didn’t concern him. that’s where you came in the picture by getting reassigned here, to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t stir up trouble. in short, they wanted you to debunk his so-called theories with your experience in science and facts through your field reports. 

the next morning, you find yourself back at the dingy basement with two cups of coffee in your hands. you weren’t sure what to get agent jeon, so you got him an iced americano, hoping he’d like it. you walk into the medium sized office in the basement and find him already there, a case file in hand. “good morning”, you say, holding out the iced americano you’d got him. he glances up at you. “good morning agent L/N”, he says, taking the coffee from you and offering a small thanks. “so, what are we solving today?”, you ask, referring to the case file that he was holding. you stand there, unprepared because you really don’t know what to expect. he turns around the file, showing you the picture that’s attached to it and it’s a middle aged man in a military uniform. 

“that’s colonel nam. four months ago he went through a psychotic episode and he isolated himself in his own home. the military police got involved because nam wasn’t being cooperative, wasn’t responsive so he was taken away and hospitalised for treatment by the military police to monitor his condition. “and what exactly was his condition?”, you ask but agent jeon only shrugs lightly. “the military refuses to comment on his condition, the cause or even the status of his treatment. in fact, they refuse to comment on colonel nam at all”, he explains and you furrow your brows, confused.

“what do you mean they won’t comment on him at all?”, you ask and wonwoo only looks at you, like he wants to know too. “mrs. nam hasn’t seen him in the last four months and all her efforts to communicate with the military have gone unanswered. it’s like they don’t want anyone to know anything. so last month, she finally contacted the FBI and filed a case, reporting that her husband was kidnapped”, wonwoo finishes and you furrow your brows even more because nothing was making sense.

“but why would the military want to kidnap one of their own pilots? maybe he’s still recovering and they don’t know what to do”, you offer but wonwoo shakes his head lightly, like he knows that’s not the reason. “since 1988, there have been six pilots that have gone missing in action from the air base, the same air base that colonel nam flies aircrafts at”, agent jeon says. “right now the only thing the military are willing to say is that these pilots accepted all the risks that came with flying the aircrafts”, he adds. you nod because it made sense. the military wasn’t obliged to comment on anything or say anything because they had their own rules and regulations, well above the jurisdiction of the FBI. “this sounds like a military case and i don’t think we have any jurisdiction over this”, you say carefully, like you were weighing the odds, because you knew how military investigations worked and they hated people poking their nose into their business—everything was always so classified and top secret with them. 

“i’ve been tracking this case ever since it came through into the FBI office when ms. nam filed a case and last week for some reason it was de-prioritised and shelved without any proper or any investigation”, wonwoo says. “so?”, you start, looking at him, trying to understand what he was trying to imply. “so, you and i are going to go investigate a kidnapping”, he quips and you look at him, unsure. “i thought you only investigated cases related to the x-files? i don’t see how thiscase have something to do with that”, you tell a little confused, because this seemed like a completely ordinary case and something you should not be poking around in. but the look in agent jeon’s eyes tell you something different. 

“let’s just say that i can smell something odd about this case”, he says before putting the file back down on the table and taking a sip of the coffee you got him. you look at him again carefully before speaking. “agent jeon, are you sure about this case? what if it’s just a false lead?”, you ask, still skeptical. “it’s not, trust me”, he says. “and it’s wonwoo”, he says a beat later, he says and you nod. “pack your bags because we’ll probably be there all weekend”, he adds and you still for a second before nodding again. “i’ll meet you back outside the parking lot in an hour”, he instructs and you nod. god you really didn’t know what you’d just gotten yourself into.

an hour later your bags are packed and you and agent jeon get in the car. he drives you both out of the city to get to the location of mrs. nam’s house. it’s about an hour into the drive and the both of you haven’t really spoken much, the low hum of the radio filling in the silence instead. you’re just looking out the window and wondering what the hell you were doing here. wonwoo stops by at a rest stop halfway to get refreshed and stretch out a little while you go searching for a snack because you needed some fuel yourself. wonwoo’s walking around outside and he spots you by the cash counter inside. he’s just about to make his way towards you when his phone rings, an unknown number lighting up his screen. he hesitates for a moment before his finger slides over the answer button and he puts the phone to his ear.

“hello?”, he says into the line “i suggest that you leave this case alone, agent jeon. it’s not something you should be poking around at”, the voice says over the phone, adamant and firm, like it was someone older, someone speaking from experience. “what?”, wonwoo asks, alert and he stands up straighter, furrowing his brows. 

“the military will not tolerate an FBI investigation so leave this case alone. you are putting agent Y/N and yourself at unnecessary risk by poking into this case”, the man repeats.

“who are you? how did you find me?, wonwoo asks in a hushed by hurried tone. “ i suggest that you don’t concern yourself with that agent jeon. i only called you to give you some valuable advice. drop the case and leave right now”, the voice insists again before he line cuts. wonwoo looks around the area, trying to locate the person, to see if anyone was watching him but he doesn’t spot anything out of the ordinary. his jaw clenches slightly and he pockets his phone, finally making his way towards you.

“you okay?”, you ask, noticing that wonwoo is a little bit frazzled. “yeah”, he says lowly, taking one last sweep of the area before coming towards you fully. you both continue the drive and 45 minutes later you’ve reached the other city. wonwoo parks the car in front of mrs nam’s house and you both get out. the whiff of fresh air is refreshing as you close the car door shut, walking up towards the house. you ring the doorbell and wait, wonwoo beside you. just then the loud boom of a fighter jet echos from the sky, making you jump and your turn around as your eyes look up at the sky to find the source of the sound but you can’t make out the fighter jet in the sky. 

mrs. nam opens the door, looking at the both of you. “mrs. nam, we’re with the FBI, special agent jeon and special agent L/N”, wonwoo introduces and she nods. “ah yes, please come in”, she says, welcoming you both inside her house. you all sit on the couch and mrs. nam starts to explain her situation. “i started noticing things a few months ago. he’d changed and he started doing really odd things”, she starts, talking about colonel nam. “this one time at dinner, he got up and spread out fish food flakes all over his food and he said that he thought it was the salt”, she says, looking upset. “did you ever try to talk to him about this odd behaviour of his?”, you ask gently and mrs. nam shrugs lightly. “i tried too, but it was difficult because he would get so upset about it and start yelling”, mrs. nam says and you nod, understanding.

“did he ever talk about his work?”, wonwoo asks and she shakes her head. “no, what he did at work was never discussed. i mean i knew his work was top secret, but beyond that i never asked or wanted to know because i knew he’d get sensitive about it”, she answers. “i just want my husband back, that’s all i ask for”, she repeats. “we’ll try to find out what we can”, wonwoo says and you both take your leave, having gathered whatever information you could. 

“any ideas?”, wonwoo asks you as you both sit in the car. “it has to be something related to extreme stress”, you offer. “he’s a test pilot Y/N and they’re trained to deal with this type of extreme stress and beyond”, wonwoo counters, glancing at you. “have you heard of the aurora project?”, you ask and wonwoo nods. “it’s an unacknowledged project that was launched by the defence department. “they did later admit that they were testing a highly classified type of sub-orbital spy craft. maybe colonel nam was flying one of those planes and it must have taken a toll on him”, you offer, but by the look on wonwoo’s face he wasn’t entirely convinced about that part, or he wasn’t convinced at all.

later you try to call up and get in touch with the military air base where colonel nam worked at, but there’s no response, the line being on hold for almost an hour now and you were starting to lose hope. “any luck?” you ask wonwoo. “someone named colonel park will meet with us but only two weeks from now”, he says. “so, why don’t we go meet him first”, wonwoo says, plucking out his phone and somehow managing to find colonel park’s number and address. you reach colonel park’s house and you both step out of the car, walking ahead and knocking on the door. a man opens the door, looking between the both of you.

“colonel park?”, wonwoo asks. “yes?”, he responds. “special agent jeon, i’m with the FBI”, wonwoo introduces, but that one line is enough to make colonel park alert, his expression changing slightly. “i don’t have anything to say to you”, he says immediately, closing the door but wonwoo stops him. “we just want to ask you some questions about colonel nam”, wonwoo asks. “i have nothing to say, get the hell out of my property”, he says, slamming the door on wonwoo’s face and you look at him, defeated. an hour later, you and wonwoo find yourself sitting at a local dinner to catch a bite. another fighter jet flies past, the sound booming and echoing in the air, nearly shaking the cutlery that was on the shelves behind the counter. “who took those photographs?”, wonwoo asks to waitress as he points to the photographs behind the counter, all capturing some kind of unknown aircraft hovering in the air—something like an UFO. “various people, but i took that picture on the left”, the waitress says, a sort of proud look on her face.

“really? where?”, wonwoo asks as the waitress offers the photograph to wonwoo so he could take a closer look. “right outside at the parking lot at the back”, she says. “i went out to take the trash and there it was just hovering and it didn’t even make a sound”, she adds. you glance at wonwoo, giving him a really sort of look. he ignores you and continues the conversation like it was completely normal. 

“do you think i could see it?”, wonwoo asks and you look at him harder this time, like you couldn’t believe he just asked that. “maybe if you camp outside the air base you might be able to spot something”, the waitress says. “but you’ll need directions because it’s not on the map”, she adds, grabbing a tissue and quickly drawing out the location and handing it over to wonwoo. “appreciate it”, he says, getting up and you follow behind him. “seriously?”, you ask and wonwoo doesn’t answer you, unbothered.

wonwoo drives you both to the location, which you weren’t even supposed to be at in the first place since it was a restricted area and under military supervision. he parks the car and gets out, and you do too. “what are you honestly hoping to see?”, you ask wonwoo, giving him a look as he grabs something from the trunk of the car. “i don’t know, but no harm in checking right?”, he says, shutting the hatch of the car, walking ahead and climbing up the small hill and you sigh. “is that what you dragged me here for? to look for UFO’s?”, you ask, calling behind wonwoo, refusing to give into what he was doing right now. “this is going to look just great on my field report”, you mumble under your breath. and with nothing else to do, you turn around and go back to the car, waiting for wonwoo because there was no way in hell you were going to be waiting around to see something that didn’t even exist.

you don’t even know when you feel asleep because the next thing you know, you’re being awoken by wonwoo who’s tapping on the glass of the car window to wake you up. you startle awake and blink open your eyes. you sit up, opening the door slowly, your mind still laced with sleep as wonwoo speaks. “Y/N you need to come see this”, he says, holding the door open for you. you blink at him. “come on”, he urges again and you grumble something under your breath, half asleep and climb up to the top of the hill, following behind wonwoo. when you reach the top that’s where you see it—two objects flying in the air at speeds that seemed impossible for a normal aircraft to do. it’s like the sleep in your system vanishes in an instant and now you’re awake and alert and…fascinated.

“what is that?”, you ask and wonwoo shakes his head, equally fascinated. “i don’t know but keep watching, this is unbelievable, i’ve never seen anything like it”, he says, his eyes fixed on the two objects in the sky. “it’s been going on for half an hour”, wonwoo adds and you watch as the two objects move fair too quickly, far too swiftly and far too quietly to be anything you could recognise—for something that could be human-made.

“that can be an regular aircraft, they can’t manoeuver like that”, you say, glancing at wonwoo before looking back up at the sky. “then what else could it be?”, wonwoo asks. “lasers maybe? it could be reflecting off the ground into the clouds”, you offer but even that explanation doesn’t seem to convince you either. you watch as the two objects fly close together and then shoot up into the sky, leaving a loud booming echo in the air and you both turn to look at each other at the same time.

“oh my god”, you mumble because there’s no way it could be something like you’d seen in the photographs earlier at the diner—something like an UFO.  the sound of another aircraft hovering fills the air and you look up, spotting the helicopter easily. there’s light that’s shining on the ground, like it was searching for something and as the sound gets closer you realise what it is.  it’s looking for us”, wonwoo says quickly. a moment later, you see two teenagers running away and trying to escape from the gap in the wired fence. “hey”, wonwoo calls out, only to alarm the teenagers and he runs down the hills after then, you following behind him. 

“stop! FBI”, you say and they turn around, stopping in the tracks. “come on, this way”, wonwoo says, beckoning them to follow you both to take cover so the helicopter would go away. twenty minutes later, you and wonwoo find yourselves at the same diner with two teenagers with large appetites. “what were you guys doing there?”, wonwoo asks, looking between the two teenagers and they look between themselves as laugh. “we have a little spot up there and we like to go there, listen to some music and watch the air show”, one of them says. you give wonwoo a look but he doesn’t seem phased. “do you see it often?”, he asks and the teenager nods. “oh yeah and it’s so cool, i’ve never seen anything like that. it’s like they just fly and hover there, quiet as a owl, not making a single sound”, the other teenager adds, taking a big bite of the burger that wonwoo had bought him.

“did it look like this?”, wonwoo asks, taking out a copy of the photograph he’d taken earlier, showing it to the teenager. “yeah, it looked exactly like than man”, the teen says. afterwards in the car, you look over at wonwoo. “you really going to believe what those kids said?”, you ask. “why not”, wonwoo asks and you visibly roll your eyes. “did you see their eyes wonwoo, if i was that stoned i’d be spewing out nonsense too”, you say. “you could have shown that kid a picture of a hamburger in the sky and he’d have said it was the same thing”, you add, but wonwoo doesn’t seem to be paying attention, taking out the case file from the back seat and opening it, taking out a photo and handing it to you.

“this is a photo of an UFO that reportedly crashed in mexico in 1967 and the air base we were at right is the place where parts of the wreckage was shipped and transported to”, wonwoo says and you look at him, wondering where he was going with this. 

“okay and?’, you ask, hoping that whatever he was actually thinking of was some sort of joke. “take a wild guess”, he says, like he knew what was going through your mind too. “are you saying that the military is flying around UFO’s?”, you ask, raising a brow as you question him because saying it out loud sounded so ridiculous.

“not exactly, but they’re building and testing planes and aircrafts built using UFO technology”, wonwoo corrects and you only look at him dumbfounded before you turn your attention back to the photos in the case file and the one he just handed you. “wonwoo come on, all you’ve got to go on is two blurry photos that were taken almost 40 years apart”, you question, not believing the crap he was trying to pull on you.

“don’t you see the resemblance?”, he questions and you scoff softly. “how do you even know if these photographs are authentic?”, you counter, looking at him.“you saw what was in the sky earlier. you and i both saw the same thing, so what do you think they were? do you have an explanation for that?”, wonwoo asks, like he was challenging you. 

“they were probably military aircrafts that we don’t know about. you did say that colonel nam was a test pilot, so he was probably flying and testing what we saw”, you say, trying to offer wonwoo a logical explanation, because whatever theory he was spewing didn’t make sense and you didn’t like that. you pause and take a deep breath. “just because i can’t explain it doesn’t mean that i’m going to go on a whim and believe that they were UFOs”, you say.

“remind me what UFO stands for again agent L/N”, wonwoo inquires, his brow raised slightly. you let out a small scoff and give him a look. “unidentified flying object”, you say under your breath a beat later and he smirks. “and i think that fits the description of what we saw last night”, he finishes and you roll your eyes. “agent jeon, you’re crazy”, you say. “i know”, he says, his voice low before starting the car and driving back to the motel. you couldn’t believe you were stuck on this stupid case chasing so called UFO’s. 

the next day you get a call from mrs. nam saying her husband is back and you and wonwoo rush over there to see the miracle for yourself. you’d think that mrs. nam would be happy to have her husband back, but when you get there it’s quite the opposite. she looks upset more than anything.“mrs. nam? what happened? are you alright?”, you ask as you step inside the house and she shakes her head. “that’s not my husband”, she says, looking over to the room where mr. nam was, sitting by the table and doing something.

you look at colonel nam, confused because he looked like it was exactly him. you glance at wonwoo and then over at mrs. nam again who looked scared out of her wits, upset. “that’s not my husband”, mrs. nam repeats. “they’ve done something to him i know it, that’s not him”, mrs. nam insists. “honey who is it?”. colonel nam asks from where he was sitting and wonwoo looks over before moving closer. 

“i’m agent jeon and this is my partner”, wonwoo starts off, careful, like he didn’t want to scare colonel nam. “we’re with the FBI and we just want to ask you a few questions about your whereabouts for the last four months”, wonwoo continues, pulling out a chair and taking a seat opposite colonel nam. “can you tell us where you’ve been for the last four months?”, wonwoo asks. “i was at the hospital, recovering”, he says. “and what’s your date of birth?”, wonwoo asks next. “july 8th, 1985”, he says. “what’s the date of your wedding anniversary”, he asks again. “october 10th, 2002”, colonel nam says, looking visibly annoyed. “why do i have to answer these questions? are you’re treating me like some sort of criminal?”, he asks but wonwoo doesn’t look bothered. 

“colonel nam, you’re a pilot yes?”, wonwoo asks a moment later and the colonel nods. “i have this pilot friend who’s acts like a bit of a hotshot. he says he can do the immelmann at a sustained 8 Gs. is that actually possible?”, wonwoo asks, looking at colonel nam. the colonel thinks for a moment and then longer. silence fills the gap and confusion forms on colonel nam’s face. “i dont—i can’t seem to remember”, the colonel says and that’s everything wonwoo needs to know and mrs man looks horrified. “i told you, they did something to him”, she cries out as you try to comfort her, glancing over at wonwoo.

you and wonwoo leave and you’re both back in the car now. “would you please explain what the hell that was?”, you ask, confused. “that man was a pilot Y/N, he’s been a pilot for years, he’s trained and done it for nearly 12 years, but he couldn’t answer a simple question”, wonwoo says. “so?”, you question, not understanding where he was going with this. “i think they rewired his brain, like they selectively removed any memory that had to do with his time as a test pilot”, wonwoo finishes. you give him a look, blinking like he did not just say that. what the fuck.

“are you being serious right now? you ask, utterly baffled and confused because what the hell was he talking about? he was spewing literal nonsense and you weren’t paid enough to deal with this shit. “the brain doesn’t work like that wonwoo, you can’t just go poking in there and erase whatever you want, that’s physically impossible”, you counter. “then you explain it to me”, he says. “give me your medical opinion on what you just saw agent L/N”, wonwoo asks, looking at you. you stare at him for two seconds and take a breathe before answering him.

“it could be some type of amnesia or PTSD–”, you start but wonwoo cuts you off. “we both know that’s not the case”, he says. “you don’t know that agent jeon, you don’t know what colonel nam could have been through, but it’s highly possible. PTSD has been linked to selective memory loss”, you explain but wonwoo shakes his head, refusing whatever logic you’re trying to offer him. “no, there’s something else going on here”, wonwoo mutters under his breath. “no, there’s not. you’re just making up things that you want to believe”, you say and wonwoo looks at you, his gaze intense now.

“there’s something far more deliberate going on here to hide something”, wonwoo says firmly, his eyes never leaving yours. “the medical technology to do what you are suggesting doesn’t exist”, you say, shutting down his ridiculous claim again. “then why couldn’t he answer the question? he should have been able to, but he couldn’t”, wonwoo states. “like i said, it could be some sort of amnesia or PTSD, and even if what you are suggesting was possible, which let me tell you already that it’s highly impossible, why would they want to do something like that?”, you question. “to have control”, wonwoo says immediately. “to control information. colonel nam must have become a security risk after his psychotic episodes and the military decided they didn’t want him spilling the beans about whatever they were doing, so they erased his memory”, wonwoo says. you roll your eyes harder this time. “you have got to be fucking kidding me”, you mutter under your breath because talking to this man was like talking to a wall. “this is ridiculous, i think we’re just wasting our time here and i now understand why the FBI de-prioritised this case, because there is no case”, you say say, emphasising the last two words as you glance at wonwoo. he doesn’t say anything, only starting the car and driving in silence and you don’t say anything either.

on the way to the motel you notice two cars following you from behind through the rearview mirror. wonwoo seems to notice it too and he picks up the pace a little, his foot pressing onto the accelerator. then out of nowhere a car turns in the front, blocking your path and wonwoo hits the brakes to stop the car from crashing into it. the car stops to a sudden half and you jerk forward. “are you okay?”, he asks immediately and you nod, a little shaken. a bunch of men in suits step out and surround your car. “what the hell”, you grumble out. “please step out of the vehicle sir”, one of the man asks and wonwoo reluctantly gets out of the car and so do you. but as soon as wonwoo steps out, they push him up against the car, taking away his gun. “i’m FBI”, wonwoo says but that doesn’t do much because the men clearly don’t care. they don’t touch you, only surrounding you and keeping you in check. they start to search the car, taking whatever they find, opening the dashboard, the trunk and they find wonwoo’s camera, taking out the SD card and throwing the camera back in. 

“care to explain what this is about”, wonwoo asks, trying to fight off the guy holding him, upset. he tries to reach out for the SD card but the guy in the suit stops him. “national security”, one of the men says. “now here’s what you’re going to do. you both will get in your car and we’ll escort you back to your motel where you will pack and leave the town immediately or face the consequences of your actions”, the man says, letting you and wonwoo get back in the car and your car is sandwiched between them as they escort you back to the motel. back at the motel, you try to track the license plate number but there’s no avail because it was a fake. 

“who were those people?”, you ask, sitting down. “whoever they were, they knew where we were. they knew and they returned colonel nam as a distraction so we’d take the bait and go back home”, wonwoo says. “how do you know?”, you ask, because everything wonwoo had told you so far didn’t make any logical sense. 

“i didn’t tell you this before”, wonwoo starts, looking at you. “but at the rest stop i got a call from someone and he warned me to stay away from this case. he told me that i shouldn’t be poking around it and to drop this case”, wonwoo informs and you look at him. “what?”, you ask, it coming out a little louder than you expected. “there’s something bigger happening here Y/N, there is some sort of conspiracy going on and it’s gotta be related to whatever we saw flying that night”, wonwoo adds, standing up as he paces up and down the room and you give him a look again.

“not this UFO thing again. agent jeon, let me remind you that UFO’s do not exist”, you say. “then why are they going through all this trouble? if news like that got out imagine the chaos it would cause”, he says. “if it exists”, you correct, looking at him. “and if it were true, the government would know how to handle it”, you say.  no, if it was true, it would confirm the one and only truth—the existence of extraterrestrial life”, wonwoo says and you stand up, done with whatever bullshit that he was spewing. you pause and look at him again.

“did you ever stop to think that what we saw were simply experimental aircrafts that are possibly highly classified and that might be part of something like the aurora project”, you ask, looking right at him with your arms crossed over your chest, determined to debunk this stupid and ridiculous theory of his. “don’t you think the government has the right and responsibility to protect it’s own secrets so they don’t get in the wrong hands”, you question and wonwoo only looks down at you.

“oh yeah? is that what you think this is? is that what you want to believe?”, wonwoo asks, taking a step closer, his eyes locked onto yours as he looks at you. he stuffs his hands into the pockets of his trousers casually, looking completely unfazed at your attempts to override his theories with your so called logical explanations. “yes”, you say firmly, standing your ground. his eyes linger on you a moment longer before you speak again. “our kidnap victim is no longer missing so let’s pack up and go home alright”, you tell.

“aren’t you even curious? don’t you want to know the truth?”, he asks, looking over at you. “the truth agent jeon is that whatever we saw were just military aircrafts and we have no business poking around and digging into this anymore”, you state and there’s silence before wonwoo speaks. “fine, alright, we’ll go”, he says. “i’ll just take a quick shower, pack and then we’ll go back”, he adds. “alright”, you say, turning around and walking out, heading back to your own room and glad that he was back to his senses—somewhat. but what you don’t know is that while you were busy packing, wonwoo had taken the car and driven out, going back to the airbase to find some answers. it’s only when you knock on the door and find it open, hiding it empty that you realise what actually happened and your curse under your breath.

you try to call wonwoo, but all your calls go unanswered and go to voicemail instead. frustrated, you send him a voicemail hoping he’d hear it and get back to you, but you already had a feeling he wouldn’t. “agent jeon, where the hell are you? get back here right now or else you are going to lose your job”, you say over the phone. you sigh, throwing your phone on the bed and falling back against the pillows as you stare at the ceiling. it’s only been one day working in this department and you’re already so done. on top of that, you still had to write you field report and you had to somehow justify how you’d followed wonwoo to investigate a kidnapping, only to find that you were apparently chasing after UFOs because wouldn’t that just sound so grand on your report. you sigh again because you were sure that assistant director kang would have a grand laugh reading that. you contemplate if you should try calling agent jeon again, but you give up, because really what was the point?  

you spend the rest of the night working on your field report and hoping that agent jeon would return back by morning because god knows what you would do then. maybe you’d report him missing. meanwhile late into the night, agent jeon walks quietly in the forest, crouching down to cover under the foliage and not get caught. the entire area in the airbase is under high security and that only made him even curious. what would they want to hide so badly? 

wonwoo gets closer to the airbase buildings and as his vision adjusts to the darkness, he sees aircrafts parked and they’re none like he’s ever seen before. he fishes out his phone and quickly snaps a few photographs. wonwoo crouches down behind a truck and slowly walks into one of the closed areas that seemed to be off limits and with only restricted access. there’s commotion coming from the inside and he can hear people yelling and barking out orders, pilots walking around and engineers tweaking things or making notes. what wonwoo sees only confirms what he’s been thinking all along—that the military was indeed using UFO technology to build aircrafts. 

the aircrafts that wonwoo is looking at right now were built completely differently and nothing like what he’d ever seen before. these were like the ones he saw the other night, the one that were doing those impossible manoeuvres that no ordinary aircraft could do, flying at speeds that no ordinary aircraft was capable of. it was clear that they were testing these aircrafts and that colonel nam must have been flying one of these things before it took a toll on him. this sort of technology—UFO technology was lightyears ahead of what humans could ever be capable of and the fact that they’ve been working and developing this for almost 40 years, ever since the they got hold of the wreckage means that it’s taken them around that long to understand it in the first place. trying to implement it into something humans could even use and fly was a whole another ball game. the government and military were willing to take all the risks involved, even if it meant comprising on the lives of the pilots and losing them in the process, like colonel nam.

wonwoo takes a few more photographs and he almost slips away quietly, until a soldier from the back spots him among the bushes because he was tall and bulky and he the small bushes didn’t really help him camouflage behind them. there’s no time to think before wonwoo feels a sharp pain hit the back of his head and he’s knocked out. wonwoo is unconscious when he’s laid on a stretcher. he wills himself to wake up, but he keeps fading in and out of consciousness, trying to fight whatever was happening to him because he knows what they’re going to do, but he can’t really do anything, not with his mind slipping back and forth like that. 

when wonwoo wakes up, he shifts slightly. the room is dim and as his vision begins to clear up and he makes out that he’s actually in a holding cell. wonwoo adjusts the glasses on is face and the bed creaks as he slowly sits up and supporting himself up with his hands. his mind is still foggy and he shakes his head to clear it up, but it only seems to make him feel worse. he lets out a low groan as he tries to remember what happened. for a split second he can’t remember and he curses under his breath, thinking that they got to him. a minute later the hazy memories of what he just saw float back into his mind and he sighs, visibly relieved that his memory hadn’t been erased like the colonel’s. 

wonwoo moves again, sliding off the bed and makes a beeline to the door, trying to open it but the door doesn’t budge because he’s been locked from the outside. he curses under his breath and tries to knock on the door to possibly get someone’s attention from the outside, but there’s no response. wonwoo turns around and sits back down onto the hard mattress, running a hand through his hand, wondering what to do and still trying hard to remember fragments of what he saw, hoping it wouldn’t disappear from his memory. almost four hours later, the door to the room rattles and opens with a loud creak. light floods into the room from outside and wonwoo winces a little, adjusting his eyes to the sudden intrusion of light. he only makes out a silhouette before his eyes fully adjust to the sight of you.

“agent jeon”, you state, your voice firm and laced with someone else, like disbelief. “seriously? you fucking lie and then i don’t know…you run away alone to infiltrate or should i say trespass on a military base? do you know how this sounds?”, you say upset, unable to control your tone and the curses that come along. the sound of your voice fills your room and wonwoo seems to let out a small sigh of relief because it was you. you close the door behind you and it’s dim again, but he doesn’t mind it now since it’s you. his eyes have adjusted to the dim room now and he can see you now, making out the scowl on your face and the way your standing with your arms crossed against your chest, clearly upset. 

“how’d you find me?”, wonwoo asks and he can practically feel the burn of your gaze on him right now. “i can’t believe they sent me here to bail your dumbass out and take you back. maybe you should spend some more time here and then you’ll come back to your senses”, you complain. “dumbass?”, he repeats, a little amused. not even three days with working with him and you’re already calling him names—bold. you sigh loudly. “sorry, i mean agent”, you correct, the scowl still visible on your face.

“atleast they didn’t erase my memory”, wonwoo says, looking at you, his voice low. “very funny”, you say, taking a few steps closer. “i know what i saw Y/N and i know exactly what they are doing”, wonwoo repeats but of course, you don’t believe him. “give me a break agent jeon, you need to get a grip onto things, get a grip on yourself and get back to reality”, you say, frustrated.

“the director is very upset about this whole thing and he’s even talking about suspending you and closing the x-files department—permanently this time. is that really what you want? they’ve scheduled a meeting about this tomorrow so you need to come back with me right now and stop this nonsense because this isn’t our case anymore”, you tell firmly, hoping to knock some sense into his head, but then he never really believed in things that made sense did he?

“i think i have the right to know the truth, don't i? we all have the right to know what the government is actually doing and what the truth is”, wonwoo asks. “no you don’t, not after the shit you just pulled. the director here is extremely upset about this whole thing”, you tell. 

“yeah right”, wonwoo scoffs. “he’s just trying to cover his ass and cover the tracks of whatever i managed to see and figure out”, wonwoo says and you sigh, getting more annoyed. this job was really testing your patience. “agent jeon, you have got to stop this madness”  you say. “i heard you were the best analyst in the violent crimes unit and you threw it all away for this? chasing things that don’t even exist?”, you question harshly, looking at wonwoo. you can make out his face now, and his expression too, your eyes having adjusted in the dim light well enough now.

you see the subtle way his jaw flexes at your question. “i get that you might not believe agent L/N, but don’t disrespect the work i do”, he says, his tone firm. you roll your eyes and turn around, pacing the room. “this is ridiculous,” you repeat, because you couldn’t believe he was still spewing all this nonsense while he was locked up and could potentially be fired. 

“let’s just go, okay, agent jeon? they’re waiting for you back at the headquarters to be questioned and if we don’t make it by then, i guess you can say goodbye to the x-files forever”, you say and wonwoo slowly stands up. “grab your things”, you say, opening the door and gesturing for wonwoo to walk out first. you follow behind wonwoo where he collects his belongings and you both are escorted out of the military holding to the exit where you’re again told to leave and not interfere with military duties. 

the car ride is silent as you drive the car to the airport. wonwoo looks tired and it’s clear that he’s upset over what happened, but you are too. you’re too tired to start another conversation with him so you sit in silence and drive, only wanting to reach home in peace. because you didn’t have the bandwidth for another argument right now. the next morning, both you and agent jeon are summoned by the FBI at headquarters for questioning by the internal review board. you answer all the questions that they ask you truthfully and you hope that somehow they pardon agent jeon because at the end of the day, he was still good at what he did. maybe they’d reassign him and maybe they’d reassign you too and this nightmare would be over soon. when wonwoo gets home, he checks his phone and like he’d predicted, the photos he’d take earlier has all been deleted. he’d been so close.

inside the room, the tension hangs in the air as wonwoo sits and waits for his verdict. he doesn’t exactly seem too bothered, but he looks like he’s not going to take any bullshit either. “agent jeon, you’re here because you trespassed on a military investigation and risked exposing the government. you are also facing charges of insubordination and misconduct. how do you want to respond to these allegations agent jeon?”, one of the members of the jury board asks.

“you and i both know exactly what was going on over there”, wonwoo starts off. “you failed to get the proper authorisation, there was a lack of professionalism and judgment on your part and you violated codes of conduct”, the jury member counters. “i knew i’d never get the authorisation anyway and there was a cover up in play”, agent jeon says. “what cover up?”, the jury member asks. “i also have further evidence, or at least i did, but i know what is going on”, he says. “that is irrelevant agent jeon and there is no evidence to prove those claims”, assistant director kang cuts in, dismissing whatever wonwoo says.

“well, now colonel nam is home now and happy”, the jury member says and wonwoo sighs, resigned as he leans back in his chair. “well, then what can i say?”, he says, getting up because there was no point in arguing about it here. “you will be dismissed and reassigned. that will be all agent jeon”, the jury member says, like he’s pleased that he gets to dismiss agent jeon and close that godforsaken x-files department.

“you can deny all the things i have seen and all the things i have discovered but not for much longer. the people have the right to know what is going on and no one, not even the government has the right or jurisdiction to hide the truth.”, he says before walking out of the room. an hour later, same the jury member walks into his office in a huff and digs out his phone from his pocket, dialling a number. “why did you overturn my decision?”, he asks as soon as the line is answered—the mystery man. 

“agent jeon’s conduct was a clear violation of the federal law and bureau protocols. our case was airtight and we finally had a excuse to kick him out and close the x-files. i don’t understand what you’ve done and you ruined the last best chance we had to get rid of him for good”, the jury member yells over the phone, clearly upset. the line is silent for moment before a voice crackles and speaks. “i can understand how you feel, but you and i both know that agent jeon’s behaviour poses a dilemma. his occasional insubordination and acting on impulse are at the end of the day far less dangerous”, the mystery man says. 

“less dangerous than what sir?”, the jury member asks, rubbing a hand to his forehead as he tries to understand the higher up’s decision—mystery man’s decision. “it’s less dangerous than having him expose what he finds to the wrong people, what he knows, or what he thinks he knows”, the mystery man says. “always keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer”, the mystery man says before ending the call. 

two weeks later, everything is quiet and there seems to be some sense of normalcy. you really don’t understand how wonwoo didn’t get fired but you’re also glad in some way. you’re glad that wonwoo must have gotten some sense knocked into him finally. the following week you’re at home, sitting at the table and having dinner with your parents. “the dinner was amazing darling”, you mother says and you smile, getting up to gather the empty plates. “i’m glad you enjoyed it”, you say with a small smile. she steps in to help you and after dinner, you all are gathered at the living room, sipping on some tea. 

“so, how’s work going?”, you father asks, looking at you. “it’s going good”, you say and your father only nods, giving you a small smile. “how’s your new partner? is he nice?”, you mom asks. “yeah, he’s not too bad”, you say, but your mom’s clearly not satisfied with that answer. “is he cute”, she asks, nudging you lightly and you give her a look. “mom!”, you say and she chuckles. “what? you need to get a life Y/N and it helps if you can find a man. i’m just trying to keep your options open”, your mom says and your dad doesn’t say anything. “he’s just…obsessed with his work and not my type”, you grumble out to your mom who finally takes the hint and doesn’t press you for more details. 

after fifteen minutes, the empty tea glasses clutter the table and your father looks at you mother and then to you. “let’s head back, we gotta beat the traffic too”, your father says. “alright”, your mom says, turning towards to engulf you in a warm hug as your father stands up. “thanks for having us Y/N”, your mother says. “of course”, you say as she pulls away. you stand up and look at your father. “good night dad”, you say and he gives you another nod before he pulls you in for a hug.” good night captain”, you say and he smiles lightly.

that night, you wake up in the middle of the night because you hear something outside, startling you awake. you sigh softly, alert and looking around. you don’t spot anything out of the ordinary so you lie back down. you’re about to go back to sleep when your phone rings—your mother. you slide to answer the call, putting the phone to your ear. “hello? mom?”, you say but you’re only met with silence. “mom?”, you repeat again and the sound of your mother’s voice floats in—broken and shaky.

“Y/N”, your mother says softly, her tone catching you off guard and you’re immediately worried. “mom ,what’s wrong?”, you ask again, sitting up straighter. there’s another pause before she speaks. “we um—we lost your father”, she says and you furrow your brows, confused, because you’d just seen your father earlier tonight. “he suffered a massive coronary heart attack an hour ago and he’s…gone”, you mother says. you’re shocked, trying to take in what your mother just told you, still in denial but as the words slowly start to sink into you, your eyes get teary and your heart sinks a little more. 

the next morning you don’t go to work in the morning but you take a half day off. the funeral is only held with close family and friends, a quiet but tight knit group of family members that your father knew and was close to. the day is quiet too, the sun shining but few puffs of clouds spotting the blue sky. you and everyone else are standing by the shore on the bridge as you watch the man on the boat spreads your fathers ashes into the water. but as you watch, you can’t help but feel a twinge of guilt creeping up at you. 

“he was entitled to a full ceremony as a captain”, you say to your mom beside you, who’s wiping her tears and looking ahead. “this is exactly the way he would have wanted it, with just the family and his favourite song playing in the background”, you mother says, glancing at you. you’re gaze is focused ahead and you feel yourself getting emotional again. “i know that you and father were disappointed that i chose to join the FBI instead of continuing with medicine”, you start, looking at your mom. “but was he at all ever…proud of me?”, you ask, blinking back the tears that threatened to spill out. your mom only looks at you. “he was your father”, is all your mom says like that was supposed to be the answer to your question, like that was supposed to bring you some sort of comfort. you glance away, looking down before looking back up into the sea, trying to let your mom’s words comfort you, because that was all you had left now.

after the funeral, you’re too tired and in no mood to eat, so you head straight to the bureau. you could have taken a day off but you didn’t want to. you wanted to work—you needed a distraction. you walk into the bureau, a few people giving you sympathetic smiles since they must have heard the news about your father. you walk right into the elevator, pressing the button for the basement, taking a long breath. you close your eyes for a few seconds before the elevator door slides open and the silence of the basement welcomes you. you walk ahead push the door open and walk in, spotting wonwoo inside. he turns around when he hears the door open, spotting you walking in.

“you’re late”, wonwoo says matter of factly. you hadn’t told him yet and he probably didn’t hear the news either. wonwoo turns his attention back onto the photographs attached to the file that he’s holding, probably something he wanted to show you.

“yeah, i’m sorry about that”, you pause, gathering your words. “my father–um–passed away last night and it was sudden. i just came from the funeral earlier today”, you manage to say and wonwoo picks up his head immediately at your words, his eyes finding yours. he looks at you, his gaze softening for a moment as he looks at you. “i’m sorry for your loss”, he says, noticing the way you hid the exhaustion on your face, your eyes a little swollen from crying and he notices the tiredness in your posture as his eyes linger on you.

you nod, offering him a small smile at his words. “you can take the day off, i’ll handle this case”, he says but you shake your head in protest. “no, i’m fine, i’d like to work”, you say, walking ahead and putting your bag down. you didn't know how to face yourself if you were alone now. you hadn’t given yourself time to grieve over it yet, but you couldn’t face it, not right now. it was still sinking in. “what do we have today?”, you ask, turning around, trying to sound cheery, trying to sound okay, but it falls flat instead and you hope that wonwoo doesn’t notice it—but he does. he looks at you carefully before speaking. 

“we got a case for a bank robbery. the FBI got a call earlier tipping us off, saying that they’d be hitting the town bank today. we’ve been told to go in undercover and bust the operation, they could use some more manpower”, wonwoo explains, extending the file towards you so you could get a closer look at the picture of the suspects. 

“cool”, you say, as your eyes scan over the brief summary of the case and look at the photographs attached. the suspects were a couple who had been hitting banks downtown and robbing them. the FBI had been tracking them for over a 6 months and getting close. after someone called in with a tip earlier today saying they would be hitting another bank, the team decided to do a stakeout, go undercover and catch them in the act. the agent in charge of this case was agent jaehyun, a name you were familiar with. you’d trained with him at the bureau. agent jaeyhun had been tracking this case for a while and right now he was so close to catching them. you get teamed up with jaehyun to stakeout inside the bank while wonwoo would patrol outside with the other agents, though he secretly disliked the idea very much. he wanted to be inside, perhaps with you and he was a little concerned about your mental state since your father has just passed away, not less than 24 hours ago and here you were being active on the field.

it’s late now and you’re inside the bank with agent jaehyun undercover posing as customers as well as a few other FBI police officers. you notice that agent jaehyun’s been jittery all evening, pacing around, glancing at the door, thinking every other person walking into the bank is his guy. “relax, they’ll be here soon enough”, you say, glancing at jaehyun, but there’s still an uneasy look on his face. “the bank is going to close in ten minutes”, jaehyun says, his voice clipped. “well are you sure that it wasn’t a false tip?”, you question. “i’ve been on this case long enough to tell the difference. i know it’s them, i can feel it”, jaehyun says. 

two minutes later is when chaos ensues. a masked robber enters the bank with a gun, yelling and shouting. “EVERYBODY GET DOWN, GET DOWN RIGHT NOW”, the masked robber yells as he storms inside, waving his gun around, scaring the people around him. you glance at agent jaehyun, giving him a look and quietly asking what to do next. people start panicking and screaming, crouching down on the floor in fear as the robber continues to yell and wave his gun in the air. the masked robber reaches you, pointing his gun straight at you as he yells. “get down on the floor or you’re dead”, he says and you comply and slowly start to crouch down, waiting for the signal before you could ambush him. “get down on the floor or else i’ll shoot”, he repeats as he moves forward towards the cash counter and throws a bag towards the cashier behind the counter. “put the money in the bag now, do it quick”, he yells again, pointing the gun towards the cashier and she grabs the bag in a panic and quickly starts to fill the bag as the masked robber continues to yell and shout, creating panic and confusion, making sure he was in control of the situation.

agent jaehyun slowly gets up from the side and raises his gun at the masked robber. “drop the gun, FBI, drop the gun now”, agent jaehyun says firmly as he moves two steps forward, his gun pointed at the masked robber and you take it as your sign and you get up slowly, pulling out your gun and cornering the masked robber. the masked robber watches as you walk ahead, your gun pointed towards him. the masked robber looks at jaehyun and then you. realising he’s cornered, the masked robber slowly starts to lower his gun. but in that split second, something changes and he raises the gun too quickly in panic and fires a shot at agent jaehyun. the echo of gunfire fills the air loudly and agent jaehyun collapses onto the ground in an instant.

the masked robber turns towards you, but you beat him to it and fire two shots from your gun at the masked robber, your face tight and expressionless you watch him fall to the ground. a few other agents and police rush inside at the sound of the gunfire and you run towards jaehyun, signalling for the ambulance. at the hospital, it’s even more chaos. a team of doctors try to stabilise agent jaehyun, but the masked robber is pronounced dead on the scene. before you even have the time to check on agent jaehyun’s status further, you notice a bunch of men in crisp black suits hovering near agent jaehyun’s stroller. you watch as the start to take him away, guiding him elsewhere and you furrow your brows and walk ahead, your feet moving quick as you try to catch up to them.

“hey!”, you call out, walking towards agent jaehyun in a hurry, but you get stopped by one of the men who gives you a stern look. “we’re with the national intelligence and we’ve gotten orders to take agent jaehyun in”, the man says and you’re confused because why would the national intelligence want to get involved in this? “this is an FBI investigation, you don’t have any jurisdiction here”, you say, trying to move forward, but he doesn’t let you. “if you have a problem speak to your director”, the man says and you take a step back, watching as jaehyun is taken away and you can’t seem to do anything about it. you mumble something about talking to the director and turn around to go find wonwoo. maybe they had a reason to take him. an hour later, you manage to find wonwoo. you couldn’t reach him earlier because of the chaos everywhere. “agent jeon!”, you say once you spot him in the hallways of the hospital. he turns around at the call of him name and his eyes find yours. relief floods through him and he makes his way to you. 

“are you okay?”, is the first thing he asks and you nod. “i’m fine”, you say. “how’s agent jaehyun? is he stable?”, wonwoo asks and you look at him. “i-i don’t know. there were a bunch of men in suits and they took him somewhere, i don’t know where. they said that they were with national intelligence”, you explain. “what do you mean?”, he asks. “i don’t know, i told them that they had no jurisdiction here, that this was an FBI case but they didn’t listen”, you add. wonwoo simply nods and then turns around to one of the nurses by the reception on the floor. “is there any man here who came with a gunshot injury in the past two hours? jaehyun was the name”, wonwoo asks and the nurse looks at the computer for a moment and nods. “yes, he’s here and he’s in room 201. as of now his condition is stable and you can visit him if you like”, the nurse offers. what the hell.

you glance at wonwoo, confusion flickering over your face. “i swear i saw a bunch of men take him away”, you mumble out, feeling stupid now. there’s no way you’d been seeing things had you? wonwoo doesn’t say anything else. “don’t worry about it”, is all he says. “you should get some rest, it’s been a long day”, he adds, looking at you longer this time. “yeah…okay”, you say softly. “i’ll drop you home”, he says and you nod. 

the next morning you rush back to the hospital and find agent jeon already there with another agent—agent lee. you glance over at agent jayhyun’s bed but it’s empty. “what happened?”, you ask, looking at the empty bed and room. “agent jaehyun’s gone, the nurse came in to check up on him early in the morning but she only found an empty bed”, wonwoo fills in. “there was also a mutilation—two of the masked robbers fingers were cut off with surgical shears”, wonwoo adds. why would he do that?

“was there any sign of agent jaehyun that was picked up from the CCTV cameras?”, you ask and agent lee shakes his head. “the cameras caught him leaving, but he hasn’t been home or to the bureau either, so there’s no sign of him as of now”, agent lee fills in. “you said he was chasing this guy for well over six months right?”, wonwoo asks a moment later and agent lee nods. “yeah, he practically lived the case and it was all he ever thought about”, agent lee says and wonwoo looks at you. “what do you think?”, wonwoo asks, looking at you, waiting to hear your opinion on this entire situation. “i think that this might be some sort of post trauma psychosis”, you say.

back at the FBI building, wonwoo shows you the fingerprint that he pulled from the knife earlier. “it’s his left thumb print”, wonwoo says. “whoever was holding the knife, it was done with the left hand”, wonwoo adds and you raise a brow. “whoever? you mean agent jaehyun”, you correct. “jaehyun was right handed, i checked and all the CCTV footages show that the masked robber was left handed”, wonwoo continues and you can already feel that he’s about to throw an nonsense theory at you. 

“and what you’re saying is?”, you ask, not sure where he was leading you on with this. “how long was jaehyun flatlined before they revived him?”, he asks. “14 minutes, before those men took him”, you answer, saying the last part softly because you still didn’t know if that was real or if you were making things up. wonwoo doesn’t seem phased by it and he pulls out a piece of paper from the file on the table. “this is the ECG strip of jaehyun’s cardiac activity at the time”, he says, handing it to you to look at. “how’d you get this?”, you ask. “i had to ask the nurse, nicely”, he tells flatly and can’t help but give him a look.

“now, what does that look like? give me your medical opinion on it agent L/N”, wonwoo asks looking at you. your eyes fall down to the ECG strip and your eyes scan over it, taking a few seconds to understand it before speaking. the activity was…unusual. 

“it could be anything honestly, an instrument malfunction or even possibly an electrical overload to the heart”, you start because you don’t know how to say it without it sounding stupid or quite impossible. “but what does it look like”, wonwoo asks again, like he’s so sure that he’s right, a sense of quiet confidence in his tone, and he needs to hear it from you. you sigh softly, looking at the ECG strip again before picking your head back up to look at wonwoo. “it looks like two heartbeats”, you finally say, even though you don’t want to believe it or give wonwoo the satisfaction of being right. 

“exactly”, wonwoo says. “you mentioned that jaehyun and the robber went into cardiac arrest at the same time right?”, wonwoo asks and you nod. “yes, from whatever i observed during those first twenty minutes”, you tell. “so that means for a few minutes both the men were technically dead”, wonwoo states. “yes, technically, but agent jaehyun was somehow miraculously resuscitated”, you correct. “they managed to resuscitate his body”, wonwoo counters and now you’re confused as to where the hell he was even going with this conversation. “what are you trying to say agent jeon?”, you ask, giving him a knowing look. 

“two men died in that room, but one came back, so the question is which one”, wonwoo concludes. “don’t be ridiculous”, you tell, shutting whatever he was trying to say down. “well you’re the one who told me right now that this ECG strip has two heart beats recorded on it”, wonwoo says, like he’s challenging your own opinion. “that’s—it could be an instrument malfunction or an error due to the electrical overload from the defibrillator”, you counter. you’re just about to open your mouth to say something else when wonwoo beats you to it.

“do you believe in the afterlife Y/N? or can you tell me about what you know about near-death experiences?”, wonwoo asks. you look at him like you couldn’t believe he’d just asked you that. wonwoo only gives you an encouraging look to answer the question and you glare at him a moment longer before you answer. “well you know, there's the usual stuff like tunnels or light or people rising up and being able to see their own bodies”, you say. “and as a doctor yourself, how you justify this type of experience?”, he questions further. “i would say it is some sort of dissociative hallucinatory activity", you answer.

“people are also prone to exhibit different behaviour and shifts in their personality, they might get perceived psychic abilities or have a sudden enthusiasm about life. sometimes during the process of dying when the body is vulnerable, unexplainable things can happen”, wonwoo adds onto your point. “come on wonwoo, you really want me to believe that?”, you question. “okay agreed, i’m not going to discount near death experiences, but it can still be explained with science and facts. i believe agent jaehyun’s disappearance can still be explained by psychological terms”, you add confidently.

“oh yeah? how so?”, wonwoo asks in that smug tone again that seems to tick you off in a way. you cross your arms across your chest, like you’re trying to prove a point. “the stress of this entire case, the trauma to his body after being shot”, you say. “he was always so stressed, always on the edge, it was like it was impossible for him to relax”, you say, looking at wonwoo. so his personality might have played a part too”, you finish. “so what you’re saying is that agent jayhyun was predisposed to this sort of psychotic episode?”, wonwoo asks.

“well i sure as hell don’t believe that the soul of the masked robber has inhabited agent jaehyun’s body”, you say, because that was a wild statement and obviously impossible. you couldn’t take that seriously. wonwoo only nods. “we’ll see about that”, he tells, saying something about some going through the evidence again and he disappears upstairs. 

it’s late now at the bureau and past your working hours, but you’re sitting in the basement as you try to figure out where agent jaehyun could have gone. what if he died somewhere all alone? you shake the thought out of your head and continue to read whatever notes he had made on the bank robber’s case file for the past six months, trying to connect this with anything that might have to do with his disappearance. somewhere along the lines you forget what you’re reading and the thought of your father enters your mind. a twinge of guilt pinches at your heart and you don’t even realise that a few tears have rolled down your cheeks. 

wonwoo steps into the room again and he notices you instantly. tonight you look tired. your movements are slow and careful, like you’re holding yourself together even though you need rest. the event’s of what happened to agent jaehyun and you still processing your father passing away must be exhausting for you to process wonwoo thinks. you didn’t even take a break and you came straight to work, like you didn’t give yourself the permission to grieve your father’s passing properly. your jacket hangs open and your hair is loosely pulled back, a few loose strands of your hair falling out and framing your face. wonwoo’s gaze on you lingers from the door and you haven’t noticed him yet. wonwoo watches the way you sit quietly and sees the way you lift your hands up to wipe away the tears that roll down your cheeks quietly, like you didn’t want anyone to see you like this and that does something to wonwoo. he straightens and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, walking in slowly, pretending like he didn’t see you cry. you notice him when you sense movement in your peripheral vision and you look up. 

“you can call it a day, i’m sure we’ll find jaehyun soon”, wonwoo’s voice cuts through the air. it’s not harsh, but soft. he walks towards you and you snap out of your thoughts, wiping away your tears quickly, hoping he wouldn’t notice—but of course he does. 

he walks forward slowly and you look up at him, your eyes still a little wet. “are you okay?”, he asks and you nod. wonwoo takes a seat at the opposite end of the cluttered table. “yeah, sorry, i didn’t even realise”, you say quickly as you try to play it off and you’re quiet for a moment before speaking again. “i was just thinking of my father”, you say softly. “i mean he wasn’t really supportive of me joining the FBI. he wanted me to continue my path in medicine and become a doctor”, you tell softly as you dwell on the feeling. “i just guess i’ll never know if he was ever really proud of me”, you add quietly as wonwoo listens to you. he’s quiet for a moment before speaking. “i’m sure he would have been very proud”, wonwoo answers gently and you only manage to give him a small smile. “yeah, i guess”.

“anyway, i guess i’ll call it a night”, you say, getting up and gathering your things and wonwoo stands up too. “i’ll drop you home, it’s late”, he offers. “oh, no it’s fine, i can take a cab or walk”, you say. “i’ll drop you, it’s on the way anyway”, he repeats and with that, you really have no room to argue with him anymore. “okay”. you’re sitting in wonwoo’s car and he’s driving, the car is quiet. wonwoo reaches out to turn on the radio and the tune of an all too familiar song fills the car, making your let out a small defeated sigh. wonwoo glances over to see if you’re okay. “this was my dad’s favourite song”, you say softly. “maybe it’s a sign, he’s telling you that he’s proud of you”, wonwoo says. 

“who knows”, you say, defeated, looking out the window. 

the next day you get called in to investigate a lead at a small abandoned warehouse. it had been a hideout for the masked robber and maybe it would help you find some clues to the robber’s partner’s whereabouts. the warehouse is small and dark, like there’s been no electricity inside here for a while and the lightbulbs are all either fused or not working. you can tell that someone hadn’t been here in over a week, but there were sure signs of life—like coffee stains on the table, piles of mugs by the sink and a small bed that hadn’t been made yet. you squint your eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room, relying on whatever natural light was entering to be able to make out your surroundings. you pluck your phone out of your pocket and turn on the flashlight so you’d get a better look at things. as you look around more and you spot a door on the right side of the room that looks like it leads somewhere else. curiosity gets the better of you as you slowly reach out your hand to turn the handle and open the door. 

the room seems tiny and unused, expect for a few bags that are in the corner, like sacks filled with something. curious, you walk inside, but you don’t realise how small the space is until you actually walk in because it’s tiny, the darkness only giving the illusion that it was bigger than it seemed. you’re about to turn around when wonwoo walks in and somehow his big broad frame takes up all the space in the room and there’s a sudden gush of wind from the window outside and it slams the door shut, trapping you both in the tiny space in the dark. 

“what the hell”, you curse out, trying to move but you can’t—because wonwoo’s hogging all the space. your finger presses a button on your phone and your flashlight turns off, leaving you both in the dark now. “dammit wonwoo why did you come in here, two people can barely fit in here”, you complain. wonwoo tries to move, but he almost ends up elbowing your face in the process. “ouch, you’re gonna elbow me”, you say, trying to push wonwoo back, but there wasn’t space to go anywhere. you hear the clack of something falling to the ground and you take a step, immediately hearing something crunch loudly under your feet.  “what was that?”, you ask, confused.

“that was the sound of my glasses being crushed”, wonwoo says, his voice low and right by your ear. “oh shit”, you mutter, also caught off guard by how close he was. you can feel the warmth radiating off of him. “can you move!”, you whisper yell and wonwoo lets out a low grunt. “i didn’t realise this was going to be so small”, he defends. “why did you have to be so tall, you’re taking all the space”, you complain again putting your hands on his arms and trying to push him to the side, which manages to work a little. you nearly trip from the lack of space but wonwoo’s hand steadies you. “careful”, he says again, his voice still beside your ear and you swear it sends a jolt of something through you. you try to kick the door open but it doesn’t budge and you try again, almost losing your balance and falling on wonwo again, who catches you, his hand comes up to your waist this time, his grip from but gentle, holding you in place. your eyes have adjusted to the dark a little and you can make out his silhouette in the dark. “be careful”, he mutters again, his voice seeming to echo and bounce off the walls of the small space. 

“this would have been easier if you didn’t get us locked in here”, you tell, pushing him to the side again and he lets out a low grunt at your attempt to shove him to the side. you try to kick the door open again and on the fourth kick, the door finally goes flying open and you stumble out along with it due to the force, but you’re grateful to be out. you sigh and take a few deep breaths to get some air back into your lungs and wonwoo emerges from the room a few seconds after you. he then turns back around to pick up his glasses, the ones that you stepped on.

“i’m really sorry about that, i’ll buy you new ones i promise”, you say. “or i’ll pay you back, how much were those?”, you add, feeling bad. “$4000”, wonwoo says without missing a beat and your eyes widen when you hear the price. “what? $4000 for one pair of glasses?”, you ask, shell shocked. “they were limited edition one”, he says and you shake your head. “you’re crazy”, you mutter, walking out with wonwoo behind you. you both roam the building more, but don’t find any good leads so you decide to head back to the bureau. 

you walk over to the car, heading towards the drivers seat and wonwoo does too, both of you reaching for the door handle at the same time. “what are you doing?”, wonwoo asks, looking at you. “what are you doing??”, you ask him, looking at him. “there’s no way i’m going to let you drive us back when you can’t see shit”, you say and wonwoo looks at you for a moment. he attempts to put the broken glasses back on him, the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, barely hanging on and crooked and you have to stifle the laughter the threatens to leave your mouth, smiling at the sight before you compose yourself. 

“no, nope, that’s not happening agent, you can be the passenger princess today, i’ll drive”, you add as you shoo wonwoo to the other side. he reluctantly walks towards the passenger side and sits down, you taking the driver’s seat. you take a moment, adjusting the car seat and the mirrors before you slide on your seatbelt, telling wonwoo to put his on too. you start the car and reverse back out, driving ahead.

the next day you and agent jeon get called in because there’s been a murder. the person you both were looking for, the robber’s partner had been killed. “was the television turned on when he was killed?”, wonwoo asks, referring to the position of the victim, who had most probably been watching TV. “no, it wasn’t”, agent lee says. “well, judging from the position of the body, the victim could have most probably been watching the television. we should check for prints”, wonwoo says. “there’s a print kit here, so feel free to look around”, agent lee fills in. just then, there seems to be some sort of commotion by the entrance and you turn around to see what was going on—only to be greeted by the face of agent jaehyun, arguing with the police officer on standby at the crime scene. 

your eyes widen immediately and you walk towards agent jaehyun in a rush. “this is a crime scene sir, you need to show me some valid ID to enter”, the police officer at the front says. “jaehyun”, you say, looking at him, like you couldn’t believe that he was in front of you right now. “what seems to be the problem here?”, you ask, looking between agent jaehyun and the police officer. “i just don’t have any ID on me, would you please tell him who i am”, agent jaehyun says, looking at you. 

“officer, this is agent kim jaehyun, he’s with the violent crimes section at the bureau”, you say and the officer finally seems to let him through, but you pull him to the side. “what’s going on? where were you? the bureau’s got half of their agents looking for you”, you say in a rush, looking at jaehyun. “i–i don’t know. i just wasn’t feeling like myself when i woke up at the hospital and then the next thing i know i woke up on the street”, jaehyun says, half truth, half lie. “I’m taking you back to the hospital”, you say and jaehyun immediately protests.” no, i’m staying right here, i’m fine”, he insists, but you don’t buy it. “you’re not ready to be here”, you say and he scoffs lightly. “you’re recovering from a major trauma and it’s a miracle that you’re even able to walk and stand up right now”, you say. “i recommend that you undergo a full physical and physiological medical evaluation”, you say a moment later, looking at him. “alright, fair enough”, he says, before he turns around and walks further into the crime scene.

agent jaehyun walks up beside agent wonwoo, who greets him with a handshake. “jaehyun, it’s good to see you back amongst the living”, wonwoo says and jaehyun nods, acknowledging him. “it’s good to be back”, jaehyun says before greeting agent lee. “so, what have we got so far?”, agent jaehyun asks. “agent wonwoo here found some fingerprints on the TV and it’s not the victims, so maybe it could be whoever shot his partner”, agent lee fills in and agent jaehyun looks a little distressed at that, but maintains a calm expression, nodding at the information. “good work agent jeon”, jaehyun says but the look wonwoo gives him, like he’s trying to take a deeper look into him, like he was still skeptical about agent jaehyun.

back at the bureau, agent jeon finds agent jaehyun down at the firing range at the bureau academy. the loud echo of the gunshot echo’s in the air and the smell of gunpowder lingers as agent jaehyun finishes firing his shots, taking off his headphones and turning around to see agent jeon, offering him a friendly smile. 

“i have to get re-certified before they give me my gun back”, agent jaehyun fills in. “by the looks of it, i wouldn’t worry too much about that re-certification”, wonwoo says, since jayhyun had well passed the shooting test, hitting the shots bullseyes at the target, not missing the body cutout that was outlined on the cardboard sheet. “did you want anything?”, agent jaehyun asks, looking at wonwoo. “oh yeah, it’s Y/N’s birthday, so i was just wondering if you’d sign this card for me”, wonwoo asks, pulling out a birthday card from his blazer pocket and handing it to jaehyun. “sure”, jaehyun says as he then takes the pen wonwoo holds out and signs the card. “there you go”, jaehyun says after he finished signing the card and wonwoo gives him an appreciative nod and takes the card, before dismissing himself.

back at the department in the basement, wonwoo walks in, but you don’t pay much attention, busy reading up on something when he places the card in front of you. “happy birthday Y/N”, he says and you snap your head up, looking at him, confused. “my birthday isn’t till april”, you say, looking back down at the card and then at wonwoo.“well that seems like news to jaehyun. i asked him to sign the card and he did it without even questioning it”, wonwoo adds. “and the best part? he signed it with his left hand”, wonwoo finishes, as he walks back to his desk and you put the card down, giving him a look.

“you tested him”, you say, your tone carrying that hint of upset with his unorthodox methods. “yes, i tested him. do want to know why?”, wonwoo asks and you nod, waiting. “i found out that the evidence i found at the crime scene, the fingerprint that i lifted off from the television is missing”, wonwoo informs. “someone stole it before the lab had a chance to look at it”. “and you think jaehyun is somehow responsible?”, you ask, standing up. “he was carrying the evidence box back”, wonwoo says. “and i don’t think that jaehyun is actually jaehyun”, wonwoo adds and you give him a don’t be ridiculous look. “can you maybe accept the possibility that during jaeyhyun’s near death experience, some sort of psychic transfer occurred”, wonwoo states. “i swear to god”, you start, frustrated. “why can’t you accept the possibility that this isn’t an x-file and that this is just about a man who is still recovering from the trauma of a gunshot wound? agent jaehyun already passed both the physical and psychological medical tests”, you tell wonwoo. “and anyway, just because someone forgets a birthday doesn't automatically mean they’ve become possessed or anything. when i was studying for my medical boards i forgot about my birthday too”, you add.

“well, did you forget how to sign your name?”, wonwoo questions as he opens a file and passes it over to you to look at. “this receipt was signed the day before he was shot”, wonwoo adds then you look over to the one that jaehyun signed earlier today—both completely different. you sigh again because he really wasn’t backing down from this ‘possession’ theory was he. “it’s stress wonwoo, it can significantly affect someone’s cursive standard, so this really doesn’t prove anything”, you say, walking back over to your desk and sitting back down. “can stress make someone left handed overnight?”, he questions and you roll your eyes. 

“you said the national intelligence interfered right? they took jaehyun’s unconscious body and then he was miraculously was brought to life and revived?’, wonwoo questions and you nod. “yeah, i don’t know how they did it, it’s a miracle really, considering jaehyun had flatlined for almost 14 minutes”, you say. “so what if they did something to him?”, wonwoo asks, leaning forward in his seat. “what if they somehow got the robber’s consciousness into agent jaehyun’s body”, wonwoo suggests. “not this ridiculous theory again wonwoo”, you say. “but that would explain why he’s acting so weirdly and the fact that he forgot your birthday or even the fact that he signed the card with his left hand—the masked robber was left handed, jaehyun was right handed”, wonwoo explains.

“then what are you suggesting? that the national intelligence someone swapped their souls or something?”, you ask and words sound ridiculous as they come out of your mouth. “maybe”, wonwoo says and you scoff lightly. “that’s the most absurd thing i’ve ever heard, that’s physically or even scientifically impossible”, you say, shooting the idea down. “you saw what they did to colonel park”, wonwoo mentions and you click your tongue, getting a little annoyed. “wonwoo seriously, we’ve been over that case already and the conclusion was the extreme stress that colonel park went through, end of the story”, you say, but obviously wonwoo still isn’t convinced—not after what he saw, which he still hadn’t told you yet. until he figured everything out, he’d keep it to himself and tell you once the time came.

when you walk into the x-files department later that evening with two cups of coffee in your hands, you stop right in your tracks at the sight of wonwoo. he’s standing near the table, his body turned slightly, engrossed in some report in front of him. his jacket is draped over a chair and his tie is missing, buried in his jacket pocket that he removed earlier. the dark button up shirt he’s wearing has two of the top buttons undone and the sleeves are rolled to his elbows, exposing his forearms like he’s letting himself breathe. the fabric is firm against his shoulders and flexes with his weight when he shifts. god, he has really broad shoulders you think. wonwoo’s leaning over the desk now, his glasses sitting low on his nose as he leans over, flipping through a file and his other hand braced against the edge of the table. his watch catches the overhead light when he moves and it glints for a second. you pause at the doorway longer than you mean too before you snap out of your thoughts and walk inside. “long day huh”, you say and wonwoo glances up, startled for a split second then his posture relaxes when he realises it’s you. you place the cup of coffee down next to him. 

“i was just going through agent jaehyun’s files on the suspect he was chasing”, wonwoo informs. you nod, but your gaze drifts to his forearms and you see the way it flexes when he flips the pages of the file, reading something and your heart does something stupid. wonwoo clears his throat, but he doesn’t glance at you. “you’re staring”, he says lightly, pushing his glasses back up. heat rushes to your face and you blink, looking away. “i’m not! i was just reading the file”, you say too quickly. the corner of wonwoo’s mouth lifts slightly and you take a sip of your coffee, your heart beating faster than it should. 

the next day, you get tipped off about where the robber’s third crime partner might be hiding and you go in with agent jaehyun to investigate it. as you’re in the car with agent jaehyun, you can’t help but recall what wonwoo had told you yesterday—that the fingerprints that he’d lifted off were missing—and the person carrying the evidence box back was agent jaehyun. you’re not sure if you should bring it up, but it bothers you for some reason, so you decide to ask him. “the fingerprint that agent jeon lifted from the crime scene yesterday is missing”, you start, trying to tread carefully as you glance at jaehyun who’s driving. “and you were the one carrying the evidence box back”, you add and jaehyun glances at you, his grip on the steering wheel tightening as he looks away, avoiding your gaze. “what are you implying agent?”, he asks and you catch the hint of upset in his voice. “nothing, i was just asking”, you say, brushing it off because it seemed weird to ask, accusing jaehyun of doing something you didn’t even have any proof for. 

“we’ve reached”, agent jaehyun says ten minutes and he gets out of the car too quickly. “where’s the backup? you called them right?”, you ask as you step out of the car, looking at jaehyun. “i called them, i’m sure they’ll be here”, jaehyun says, walking ahead. you follow behind him as you both walk towards the apartment building. 

you walk inside slowly, clutching your gun in your hand as you look around, your eyes scanning your surroundings and you find door that leads to the basement. “i’ll check down here”, you say, walking down the creaky stairs, clutching your gun tightly. the basement floor is littered with broken pieces of wood, old cement bags and other debris that was probably left over from the construction. as you walk ahead there are machines set up and pipelines all over the wall and room, for the laundry and water supply of the building. you stealthy walk ahead a little more and jaehyun follows behind you. “agent L/N”, he calls out from behind you and you turn around, the grip on your gun relaxing and in the next second the gun is knocked out of your hands by a piece of broken wood that jaehyun aims and swats at you. you stumble backwards and try to look for your gun, but it’s slid a long way.

“what the hell?”, you question, moving to retrieve your gun but stop when you see jaehyun raise his gun at you and you freeze immediately. with his free hand, he pulls out his handcuffs and tosses them towards you. you look at him, confused. “they’re for you, put them on”, he says. “what are you talking about”, you start but jaehyun cuts you off harshly. “i said put them on, or else i’ll blow your head off”, jaehyun says, raising his gun more and pointing it at you. you let out a shaky breath as you slowly reach out for the handcuffs and put them on, trying to stay calm but inside you were scared. what the heck was happening?

the next thing you know is that he’s pushing you towards the pipes and takes the other cuff and hooks it onto the steel pipe so that you can’t escape. “jaehyun what are you doing?”, you ask and he gives you a creepy look. “you really don’t remember?”, he asks, almost snapping at you. “you shot me twice and you’re asking me?”, he says though gritted teeth. “i’m going to get my revenge, i’m going to get back at you for that”, jaehyun says. “shoot you? when did i ever shoot you jaehyun?”, you ask confused. 

meanwhile at the bureau wonwoo tries to call you for the fifth time, only for him to reach your voicemail again. it had been 12 hours without any word from you, or agent jaehyun and he was starting to sense that something was very wrong. the next moment, wonwoo’s phone rings—an unknown number and he picks it up. “guess who”, the voice on the other ends says and he recognises it immediately. “jaehyun?”, wonwoo asks. “that depends on who you’re asking isn’t it”, jaehyun says, his tone amused and wonwoo becomes alert. “where’s Y/N?”, wonwoo asks. “hm i’m not sure”, jaehyun says, trying to have some fun with wonwoo because right now it wasn’t agent jaehyun talking it him—it was the robber. 

“let me talk to Y/N”, wonwoo repeats as calmly as he could. jaehyun—no the masked robber navigates the phone, putting it against your ear so you could speak to wonwoo. “Y/N are you okay?”, you hear wonwoo ask but before you can respond, he pulls the phone away, leaving you hanging. “that’s all you’re going to get”, jaehyun—the robber says and cuts the call. 

“whatever this is, it’s not going to work jaehyun”, you say. “shut up you stupid bitch and stop calling me that, my name’s kim not jaehyun”, he snaps. “and don’t think i’ve forgotten what you did, leaving me to die while you tried to save your friend”, jaehyun says, visibly upset. “no jaehyun, we brought you back”, you say, trying to stay calm, but that only seems to trigger him more. “NO! you shot me and then left me to die”, he yells, digging his gun into your cheek and you close your eyes, gulping in fear before you force yourself to open your eyes and look at him again. “you won’t kill me jaehyun”, you say and he digs the gun deeper into the hollow of your cheek. “you call me that one more time, i’ll show you what i can really do”, jaehyun—the masked robber says, before he stands up and walks to the other side of the room. 

“what do you want?”, you ask a moment later, not willing to give into the situation so easily and whatever jaehyun was trying to pull on you right now. you couldn’t understand what was happening and why he was acting this way. “i want my justice”, jaehyun—the masked robber says through gritted teeth.  “do you really think they’re going to negotiate with you?”, you ask, because even with everything you’ve seen so far, with all the evidence pointing to something else—you wanted to believe that this was just agent jaehyun acting delusional. 

“jaehyun please, let me go, we can talk it out, just tell me what’s wrong”, you try to ask again, trying to coax him into letting you free but he doesn’t listen. “i said shut the hell up and stop calling me that”, jaehyun—the masked robber says. you swallow whatever you were going to say and stay quiet. jaehyun disappears upstairs and you’re left alone in the basement now. you recall what he said earlier—you shot me twice and left me to die. you never shot jaehyun, you’d shot the masked robber twice. and then it hits you. “no way”, you mumble. there’s no way that the consciousness of the masked robber was actually in agent jaehyun…right? you shake that thought out of your head and tell yourself that it’s the psychological stress and trauma that jaehyun’s been through that’s got him acting like this—not like himself. that made more sense and that was a more plausible reason. it was easier to believe. 

meanwhile wonwoo’s already working to get you out safely. the thought that something might happen to you tugs at his heart and you linger in his mind. the only problem was he didn’t know where you were—but he was going to find you, no matter what. an hour later the bureau has put together a team to solve the situation. another hour later, wonwoo gets a phone call from jaehyun—the masked robber again and he signals to the team to start tracing the call before he picks it up a second later. 

“agent jeon speaking”, he says. “you listen carefully agent”, jaehyun—the masked robber starts but wonwoo is impatient and cuts him off. “let me talk to Y/N”, wonwoo asks again before starting any sort of negotiation. “not this time agent”, jaehyun—the masked robber says. “we’re not going to make any sort of deals with you unless we know Y/N is alive”, wonwoo says. “oh don’t worry, she’s alive”, jaeyhyun—the masked robber repeats. “you listen to me very carefully, you touch or even lay one finger on Y/N and you’ll be very sorry”. wonwoo says, threatening him but jaehyun—the masked robber isn’t phased at all. “if i were you i’d stop talking and start figuring out ways to collect a large sum of money”, jaehyun—the masked robber starts.

“in exchange for agent Y/N, i want a million won and a safe passage out of here, no catches or else your lovergirl here here will be stone cold”, jaehyun—the masked robber demands and wonwoo clenches his jaw at the last line. “get it ready by tomorrow and i’ll tell you when and where”, jaeyhyun—the masked robber says before cutting the call, but it’s enough to trace and extract the location. 

“we’ve got it”, someone from the team yells out. “the address is coming through”, someone else adds, waiting for the address to show up on the screen. wonwoo comes up to look at the screen, hopeful as he watches the address show up on the screen. “get a backup team ready and the money”, wonwoo says. “but agent, getting that amount of money is nearly impossible right now”, another agent says, only to be met with a cold look by wonwoo. “do it, i don’t care how, just get it ready”, wonwoo demands.

that evening wonwoo paces across the room, waiting for the phone call from jaehyun—the masked robber. he’s starting to get impatient but his main concern was you. if you were safe and okay and most importantly unharmed. when the phone rings again, he picks it up immediately. “let me talk to Y/N”, he says. “easy there agent, quite in a rush are we?”, jaehyun—the rmasked robber taunts. “we don’t deal until i talk to her”, wonwoo adds and jaehyun—the masked robber sighs. the sound of static and shuffling feet fills wonwoo’s ear as he waits and listens. “wonwoo don’t—“, you start but jaehyun—the masked robber snatches away the phone before you can finish. “that’s it, she’s alive. now about the money, meet me at the warehouse by the lake pier”, jaehyun—the robber instructs. “the abandoned warehouse?”, wonwoo asks just to confirm. “meet me at 7pm come alone and don’t be late, i hate waiting”, jaehyun—the masked robber says before cutting the call.

jaehyun—the masked robber comes back to the basement a few hours later and the sound of his feet echo against the floor and air. it’s cold in the basement. you look up and he’s there, standing over you with a sly smile on his face. “jaehyun please, stop this. i can get you help—“, you start but he shouts back at you. “i told you to stop calling me that, my name’s kim”, he says. you flinch a little but stay calm and watch as he reaches down and uncuffs the cuff that was on the pipe and snaps it back onto your hands. “come on, i have a little surprise for you”, jaehyun—the masked robber says. he tugs you up and you stare at him. you walk forward a few steps and then you pull your hands away from him and run in the opposite direction. “stupid bitch”, he yells, chasing after you. you try to hurry up and climb up one flight of stairs, but your coat gets stuck in the loose nail and holds you back.

you grunt in pain as the nail scratches through the fabric of your coat and cuts you and digs into your skin just below the rib. jaehyun—the masked robber catches up and his arm grabs your arm harshly, his grip tightening, his nails digging into your arm as you try to squirm free. “let me go”, you say, your eyes wide and blown out—scared. you push him and you feet slips. you take jaehyun down with you as you roll down the flight of stairs and you wince as you land down on the floor with a thud, dizzy and disoriented. jaehyun lets out a string of curses and yanks your arm so you’re sitting up. he raises his hand and smacks your cheek, his ring leaving a cut across your cheek and a gasp as the sting. 

“behave or else i’ll put a bullet through your head right now”, jaehyun—the masked robber threatens. you gulp, swallowing back your tears and still. “come on”, he says, tugging you upstairs harshly. 

the night is cold, a little chilly, but that doesn’t bother wonwoo at all. he carefully walks towards the abandoned warehouse like instructed, holding the bag of money, alone, his gun carefully tucked in his holster. the mud and small stones crunch under his boots and he walks towards the dark entrance. backup was close by and wonwoo was connected to the team through an earpiece in case things took a wild turn. wonwoo steps inside the warehouse and looks around. there’s a singular dim light bulb that illuminates the entire warehouse and it’s wet and cold inside. he stalks forward carefully, the sound of his boots crunching on the ground echoing in the air. 

“kim”, wonwoo calls out, the masked robber’s name as he walks further inside spotting some light leaking through a small door by the corner. it looked like a tiny room and wonwoo makes his way over there. “drop the bag and walk away”, jaehyun—the masked robber’s voice fills the air and wonwoo stops in his tracks. he looks around, but he can’t make out where jaehyun—the masked robber is. “release Y/N”, wonwoo demands. “i will once i get the money and get out of here”, jaehyun—the masked robber says, his voice echoing through the dark and empty warehouse, carrying over. wonwoo tries to look around but he can’t make out where jaehyun—the masked robber is standing. he takes a careful step forward, and the another. “i said drop the bag or else your girl is going to get hurt. she’s feisty little bitch, i had to knock some sense into her”, jaehyun—the masked robber says with a sly grin and wonwoo’s jaw clenches. this time wonwoo can make out where the voice is coming from, turning in that direction. wonwoo needed to buy some time so he’d be able to stall this entire thing until the backup crew arrived—and their ETA was a minute away. “hold on for another minute agent wonwoo our men are walking in”, wonwoo’s comms hums in his ear. 

“where’s Y/N dammit”, wonwoo asks again. “let me see her and i’ll give you the bag”, wonwoo says. a moment later jaehyun—the masked robber comes in and grabs you by the arm harshly, pulling you up and yanking you along with him. you can feel the tip of his gun poking into your back to remind you not to try anything funny. he pushes you forward and you nearly stumble and fall, but manage to catch your balance, letting out a soft groan at the effort. “she’s here loverboy, now give me the bag, now”, jaehyun—the masked robber demands. 

wonwoo looks at you, his eyes immediately softening at the sight of you and his sharp eyes immediately catch the handcuffs, the way your lips is slightly busted, the way your fingers are trembling lightly and the gun that jaehyun—the masked robber has pressed up against your back. he clenches his jaw tighter at the sight. “let her go and the money’s all yours, alright?”, wonwoo says. “you don’t want to do this agent jaehyun, you’re confused and you don’t know what you’re doing”, wonwoo adds, trying to deescalate the situation as jaehyun presses the gun harder into your back, the cold metal digging into your back deeper.

“she shot me twice and killed me”, jaehyun—the masked robber yells but then he grimaces, like he’s fighting the other consciousness—jaeyhun’s consciousness against the masked robber’s consciousness, like it was finally awakening.  “what am i doing?”, jaehyun speaks a moment later—the real jaehyun. “agent, put the gun down okay, let Y/N go and we’ll speak”, wonwoo coaxes. agent jaehyun slowly starts to put the gun down, his consciousness at the front now and he looks confused, disoriented. the gun is almost down and he lets go of you and you stumble forward. backup comes bursting in and waste no time as they corner agent jaehyun, grabbing him and putting him in cuffs. jaeeyun’s still confused but he complies, unsure what’s going on and too disoriented to try and fight back at the moment.

wonwoo comes towards you immediately, his eyes searching yours and your body to see if you’re okay. “are you okay?”, he asks as he nears you and you nod. “just get this off me”, you say quickly, your voice nearly betraying you as you hold your hands out and wonwoo’s hand immediately works to unlock the cuffs on your wrists. his fingers brush against your hands and his eyes lock in on the way your fingers tremble. he unlocks the cuffs and discards them on the floor.

he looks back up pat you. “Y/N, do you want to sit down and get someone to take a look at you?”, wonwoo asks, his voice gentle and grounding as he bends down little to look at you. his hands are still around your wrists and he can feel the way they shake in his hold. you shake your head. “i’m fine wonwoo”, you say through a shaky breathe but wonwoo isn’t convinced. his gaze is sharp and observant as his eyes flicker over the bruise on your temple and cheekbone from falling down the steps, the cut on your cheek and the scrape on your chin. he sees the way your lip trembles and the way you don’t meet his eyes. you don’t look at him because if you do, you know you’re going to cry and you don’t want to cry, not in front of him. you had to stay strong. his hand slowly comes up and he gently tilts your chin up to get a closer look on the wound on your cheek and your meet his eyes once. 

wonwoo slowly, carefully reaches for the cut on your cheek, his thumb hovering over it. you go still. “you’re bleeding,” he says, his touch gentle. his thumb brushes against your skin below the cut and it’s barely there but you can feel the warmth of it, even if it’s just for a second. wonwoo’s gaze drops to your chin and then back up to your eyes. the look in his eyes—like you were the only thing that mattered to him right now shattered something in you. you look away but it’s too late because hot tears already fill your eyes and your face crumples. you lean forward, leaning your head in his chest and you let out a small sob. wonwoo stands there frozen for moment. his hand immediately comes up a second later to to hold you, lightly resting on your back. you let out another soft sob, crying, because you were scared, so scared. your arms wrap around him and you cry into his chest, shaking. wonwoo pulls you into him tighter. “it’s alright, you’re safe now. i got you”, he says lowly, running a hand up and down your back in an attempt to soothe you as you cry in his arms. your fingers grip onto his blazer and curl around the fabric, like you didn’t want to let go. 

in the next moment, things happen too fast and you don’t even know what’s happened until it’s too late. a flashlight beam shines inside the room, deliberate and careless, shining it right into the jaehyun’s eyes and the two officer’s next to him, blinding them both. agent jaehyun gets free and the robber’s consciousness takes over in a panic. “i told you to come alone, you’re going to kill me again”, jaehyun—the masked robber shouts, grabbing the gun from the officer next to him and shoving him to the side, hard. jaehyun—the robber is pointing his gun at you, angry. wonwoo’s eyes widen and lock onto the movement since your back is turned to everything that was unfolding right now. before he can even think any more, jaeeyun’s moving forward, the gun pointed in the air while everyone around is shouting out orders and commands. wonwoo grabs you, pulling you sideways in an attempt to shield you and the echo of the loud bang echo’s in the air, loud. you startle and still, shaken at the sudden movement and sound and your heart drops.

“wonwoo!”, you shout, looking up at him and he looks down, blood soaking his shirt in seconds. a moment later, the door gets crushed down and an entire team of agents rush in, not FBI but the national intelligence and the military. they come rushing inside with guns in their hands, rushing in to take down agent jaehyun. it’s commotion and chaos but you’re only focus is on wonwoo right now.

wonwoo kneels to the ground bleeding and you sink to your knees along with him. you try your best to put some pressure on the wound. “oh god”, you say as you call out for medical help. a moment later, a stretcher is brought and wonwoo is lifted and taken into the ambulance. the trip to the hospital is a blur because you don’t get to ride with wonwoo, they don’t let you. you’re waiting outside the ER now and your hands are free, but you can still feel the weight of the handcuffs around them and your hands are still stained with blood—wonwoo’s blood. god, you hope he was okay. you hope he was alive.

the doctor finally emerges from the trauma surgery room, walking up to you and you get up instantly. “is he okay?”, you ask, barely able to hold it together. “he’s stable”, the doctor informs and your knees almost give out from relief. “the bullet missed his lung by just an inch. if he hadn’t turned the way he had, it would have been fatal”, the doctor adds and you let out a shaky breath at his information. he almost died. he could have died. 

the distinct smell of the hospital antiseptic, stale air and the just the smell of medicine that hangs in the air is suffocating. it’s ironic since you were sure you’d have gotten used to it by now after spending nearly five years in med school. half an hour later you’re allowed to visit wonwoo in his room where he was recovering. he’s lying down, half sitting up with his eyes closed and there’s an IV drip hanging by the side connected to his arm and a bunch of monitors beeping behind him. you can make out the thick bandage that’s wrapped around his abdomen and peeking out from his hospital gown that was unbuttoned slightly. you slowly walk forward and sit on the chair beside his bed, a frown already forming on your face as you look at wonwoo’s state, because it happened because of you.

“wonwoo?”, you call out too softly, unsure if he was asleep or whether you should disturb him. your eyes are puffy and red from crying outside in the waiting room earlier and before this incident and you’re still sniffling. wonwoo groans lowly as he shifts a little, blinking his eyes open, turning his head to look at you. “you’re alive, thank god”, you say, letting out a shaky exhale. “i’m alive,”, wonwoo says, like getting shot wasn’t such a big deal, like he didn’t almost just die. 

“you’re an absolute idiot you know that. why would you do that, why would you come in between like that? why would you step right into the line of fire and take a bullet”, you ask,  scolding him almost, feeling guilty. you watch as wonwoo tries to sit up a little more, grimacing a little before he answers your question. wonwoo blinks at you, like the answer was so obvious—because of you. instead he shrugs lightly. “well what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, wonwoo says instead, half joking but it hits a chord in your chest. maybe it was the stress of the case, or the fact that you had a gun pressed up against your back and you thought that you were going to die, or even the lingering emotions and the loss of your father a week back that had you vulnerable, or the fact that it was wonwoo who got shot—maybe it was everything all at once—emotions running high and the fact that you couldn’t bear to deal with losing someone who you knew again. 

“stop that, don’t joke about it”, you say, your voice shaking and before you know it, your eyes are filling with tears. wonwoo notices and panics. “whoa, hey, hey—don’t cry, shit don’t cry”, he says, trying to console you, but it’s no use because you let out a another soft sob and tears run down your cheek. “you almost died, the doctor said you’re lucky to be alive and that if the bullet was even an inch to the left, it would have pierced your lung”, you tell through sobs and sniffles. 

“i’m sorry, i didn’t mean to scare you like that”, wonwoo says, his voice low, his expression shifting into something softer, gentler as he looks at you. “don’t you dare do that ever again”, you say, wiping away your tears. “roger that agent”, wonwoo says, trying to lighten the mood but it only earns a glare from your end. you wipe your tears and sniffle even more. wonwoo gazes softens more, if that was even possible as he looks at you. “are you okay?”, he asks again and you nod. but if you were being honest, you weren’t really sure. “i was scared”, you admit softly. sure, you’d seen plenty of dead bodies before. you’ve stood in labs under florescent lights as you performed countless autopsy’s. you’ve seen death and you’ve seen worse. you’ve seen inhumane crimes been committed and seen the way some bodies come in nearly unidentifiable with the amount of damage done. you’ve learned to detach and just observe and analyse. you’ve been trained in combat to stay calm and never lean into fear at the bureau. but none of that really prepares you for a gun. not when it’s against you. not when the barrel of the cold metal digs into your skin and you’re thinking about whether you should comply, escape or just accept your fate. you shiver at the thought and tear up again, looking down as you blink the tears back. blinking them back. “i’ll always find you”, wonwoo says and you pick up your eyes, looking at him, another tear rolling down your cheek before you wipe it away. 

“what happened to jaehyun, did they catch him?”, wonwoo asks a moment later and you look at him, quiet because you’re not quite sure how he’d take the news. “agent jaehyun didn’t make it, he died”, you say, breaking the news to wonwoo and he furrows his brows. “what? what happened?”, he asks. “after you got shot, the medical team took you and then for some weird reason, the national intelligence and military was present again, and they took jaehyun away without a word, not letting me see him. when i questioned them later and asked to meet jaehyun, they told me he suffered from an cardiac arrest and didn’t make it”, you explain. 

“why would the national intelligence and military be present or even be remotely interested in this”, wonwoo questions and you shrug lightly. but wonwoo maybe had an inkling as to why. “maybe they didn’t want news of one of their own agents going rouge to be spreading around”, you say. “what about the body? do you think we can do a post-mortem examination to determine what really happened?”, wonwoo asks and you shake your head. “they won’t let me see the body, saying it’s government property and that the case is closed now”, you inform.

“what if we break in and examine the body?”, wonwoo suggests and you blink at him, like you couldn’t really believe he just said that, in a hospital of all places. “are you out of your mind wonwoo? you’re delusional and high on pain killers right now, so i’m going to pretend that i didn’t hear that”, you say. “i’m being serious”, he says. “come on”, he adds, like he’s trying to convince you to commit the most illegal crime right now. “yeah, i bet it’ll be fun when we’re sitting in a cold jail cell”, you say deadpan. “i already got you out once, i’m not going to bail you out again”, you tell. “i took a bullet for you and you won’t even bail me out?”, he asks, sarcasm dripping from his tone and you roll your eyes. dumbass, you mumble under your breath.

that night you can’t help but think about what happened and how agent jaehyun behaved. that was so unlike him. the fact that he kept saying you’re the one who shot him, talking like he knew the masked robber’s memories, like he was the masked robber—that unsettled something in you. there’s no way right?

over the next week, wonwoo is resting and recovering in the hospital—or he should be. when you walk into the basement on a wednesday morning, wonwoo is already there. he turns around when he hears you enter.  you stop in your tracks at the sight of him, putting your hands on your hip. “agent jeon, what are you doing here?”, you ask, looking at him. “you know me, i can’t still still”, he says like it was not a big deal. you narrow your eyes at him and walk forward. “did the doctor clear you fit to be back on the field again?”, you ask, raising an eyebrow at him, because you already knew the answer. “mostly”, wonwoo says. “that means no”, you conclude, giving him a look. “it means mostly”, he repeats and you sigh because you don’t know even know why you’re bothering about arguing with him over this. “i swear to god if you collapse all of a sudden, i’m not going to drag you to the hospital”, you say. “you know, you really shouldn’t swear at god so much, he might end up having a grudge on you”, wonwoo says and you roll your eyes. “very funny”, you say, unimpressed.

“you need to rest wonwoo. go home and i’ll do whatever you want me to do”, you tell and wonwoo picks up his eyes to look at you. “you’d break in a military facility for me then?”, wonwoo asks. “don’t even think about doing anything remotely close to that”, you warn. “so are you going to come with me or not?”, wonwoo asks instead, ignoring your warning. god, he really did a good job at getting on your nerves.

“i was able to find out where they’re keeping his body, it’d be great if you could take a look”, wonwoo adds, like breaking into facilities was something he did everyday. “are you joking”, you ask. “no”, he says, his expression serious. “there’s something going on here, Y/N. something bigger and deeper that they don’t want us to know about”, wonwoo tells. “now are you going to come along or stay back and cover for me?”, wonwoo asks you again. every single cell in your brain and body is telling you to say no and stay back, but the other part of your brain couldn’t let him go wherever he was planning to with a fresh bullet wound that still hadn’t fully healed yet. “fine, i’ll come”, you finally say though tight lips. “i better get a promotion after this”, you mutter under your breath. 

“how did you even find this place?”, you ask wonwoo in the car as you drive, because you refused to let him drive. “i have my sources”, wonwoo simply says, which doesn’t really answer your question. the source that wonwoo was talking about is the mystery man. someone who’s been following him and keeping up with his work and what he does. last night, there was an envelope that was addressed to wonwoo. it was slid under his door and it had a single address printed out on it with a small message and a picture of agent jaehyun’s body. ‘you know what you’re looking for’ it said and wonwoo knew exactly what it meant. wonwoo didn’t know how or why, but the mystery man was helping him. he was the person who first called wonwoo during colonel nam’s case, warning wonwoo to back off for some reason, but he was also on wonwoo’s side.

“that’s really encouraging”, you tell, your tone dripping with sarcasm and you have half a mind to just turn around and drive back, but you don’t, because for some silly, weird, unexplainable reason you believe wonwoo—even if he’s a little crazy and delusional. when you reach the location, it’s in the middle of a forest almost, a secluded place, like it had been placed here so no one would find it. it’s super tight and high in security and you don’t even know how you’re going to pass through all of this without a doubt of suspicion. “just follow my lead”, wonwoo says quietly as you you drive up to the gate of the facility. “we’re federal agents”, wonwoo says as he digs something out from his pocket and produces two guest passes. the security guard looks at wonwoo, down at the passes and back up at wonwoo.

“alright sir, you can enter, but keep the passes on at all times”, the security instructs. you let out a shallow breath at not getting caught and continue to drive ahead. you park the car and the other of you walk in. you’re tense as you clip and adjust the pass to your blazer jacket. “relax”, wonwoo says, glancing over at you. “i am relaxed”, you say, but you were anything but relaxed. you enter the building and there’s a few guards standing by the hallway, keeping guard, looking out. wonwoo walks ahead calmly and you follow behind him. wonwoo walks up to the elevator and you both get in. he presses the button to the B3 basement and you both go down. the elevator dings open and you follow wonwoo to a door, which required a pass to enter. wonwoo slides his access pass in the door and for a moment you’re convinced it’ll decline and you both will get caught but thankfully it doesn’t. it beeps with a green light, unlocking and letting you both inside.

you step inside and the room is cold, quiet and almost eerie. a shiver runs down your spine as you look at the row of steel cabinets that line the room, mostly likely holding dead bodies. wonwoo walks up to the cabinets, reading the names until he finds jaehyun’s name and pulls it open without hesitation. you look at him as the body of agent jaehyun stares back at you, still preserved and neatly kept for some reason. “what are we looking for? they already said he died from a cardiac arrest”, you say as wonwoo opens and rummages through some drawers behind him to see if he can find anything else. he hands you a pair of gloves, looking at you because you were the doctor here. “come on”, he says and you hesitate for a moment before you give in and take the gloves from his hands. you put on the latex gloves with a practiced ease and start to examine his chest area. “are you able to confirm the cause of death and if it really was a cardiac arrest?”, wonwoo asks.

“i honestly can’t say wonwoo, not without doing a proper autopsy”, you tell.  wonwoo turns around and shuffles through the drawers again before his eyes land on a file with jaehyun’s name on it. you on the other hand are still busy examining the body and you find a cut under his left ear, indicating something must have been underneath, but you don’t know what. wonwoo stalks forward and his eyes flick to a name he recognises—the robber’s name and he pulls the cabinet open. “what the hell”, you say when you look down at the robber’s body, because for being more than two weeks since he had died, the body was too well preserved and kept, like it hadn’t started to decompose yet. you walk over and look behind the robber’s left ear immediately, finding the same incision mark below his ear that you found under jaehyun’s ear. “both bodies have this weird incision under the left ear”, you state, looking at wonwoo. he quickly grabs his phone and snaps a picture of the incisions on both the bodies and pockets his phone before he moves to the other side. 

he rummages through the drawers again and his eyes land on a file with jaehyun’s name on it. he grabs it and flips it open, finding more EKG strips, x-rays and a fully detailed report about jaehyun. there’s an x-ray of jaehyun’s face and right below the left ear, where the incision was, there’s an object that shows up on the x-ray. “what’s that?”, you ask as you take a closer look. “it looks like some kind of foreign object”, you add a moment later. wonwoo continues to look into the file and comes across a document titled the lazarus project. the only problem? more than half of it was redacted. wonwoo only manages to skim through the first two pages before the sound of sirens started ringing through the air.  you look at wonwoo hoping he’d know what to do. he quickly takes a video of the entire file to look back onto later and you push back the bodies in the cabinets as quietly and quickly as possible. you discard the gloves and hide it inside a old trash bag so no one would suspect anything, thinking it’s an old trash bag that’s been lying there for days. wonwoo dumps the file back into the cabinets and shuts them close. he rushes to open the door, signalling for you to step out and he follows behind you. you both walk back to the elevator, pressing the button and you’re starting to panic because it’s like time slowed down and it’s taking forever for the elevator to come back down. just then the door from the other end of the hallways opens and four armed guards storm inside, spotting you both at the end of the hall. “hold it!”, one of them calls and you freeze, terrified that this was the moment that you were going to be suspended, lose your license and go to jail. you look at wonwoo, hoping, praying that he’d know what to do.

wonwoo’s jaw is tight and and you feel the blood drain from your face. wonwoo’s hand slowly brushes against your wrist, his fingers slowly wrapping around your wrist, tight and determined. “run”, he whispers and your feet move before you have time to think. you both run, wonwoo ahead, you behind him, trying to keep pace with him and his hand never leaves your, holding onto yours. you both bolt past the elevator and turn down the corridor to the right and run right into the emergency staircase. the echo of your footsteps is all what you hear as you both sprint down the cement steps. you nearly trip and fall, but wonwoo’s hand steadies you in time. wonwoo throws open the door at the end of the staircase and it leads you to the ground floor hallway. you don’t stop running and dart behind a a few supply cards, crouching down, your breathing comes out heavy and your chest heaves from the effort of running. two of the guards run right past you while the other two seemed to have split up to look for you. 

wonwoo quietly signals to the maintenance door that’s behind hidden by an rusty old vending machine. you both crawl forward towards the door and wonwoo manages to turn the doorknob open and you both stumble inside, wonwoo shutting the door with a quiet click. none of you both speak as the two of you squeeze into the tiny, dusty space that smells like a mix of stale air and old paint. after nearly ten minutes of hiding, you hear the voices outside start to fade and wonwoo slowly cracks open the door to check if the coast is clear. you both slip outside quietly and head out through the back corridor meant for housekeeping, staff and maintenance until you find the door that leads you both to the underground parking lot. you slowly walk, crouching and hiding behind cars as you slowly creep closer to wonwoo’s car. you don’t know how wonwoo ended up in the driver’s seat this time, but you don’t have time to complain. you get in the car and shut the door. 

wonwoo quickly starts the car and he navigates the car to the backside exit, which thankfully wasn’t being monitored like the front gate. you let out a sigh of relief once you manage to escape without getting caught and you turn over to look at wonwoo, curses already ready to spill past your lips but you pause when you catch the small grimace on his face. you think that he’s just tired from the effort of running and you quickly glance at the rearview mirror to make sure your car wasn’t being followed. you watch as the view of the facility shrinks as you drive ahead, the coast clear. wonwoo finally takes a turn and the car navigates itself back onto the main road. he drives, his grip on the steering wheel tight.  wonwoo slows down a bit and you glance at him again, catching him wincing again like he’s in pain, and then you remember. “wonwoo are you okay?” you ask, looking at him before your eyes drop to his side and your heart sinks. 

“wonwoo, you’re bleeding”, you say and wonwoo glances down, like he just notices it when you told him. “oh my god”, you repeat. “i’m fine Y/N”, he says, trying to brush it off, which only seems to piss you off even more. “no, you’re not fine wonwoo, you’re bleeding for godsake”, you repeat. “stop the car”, you add a second later but wonwoo hesitates, not listening to you, before wincing in pain again. “agent jeon, i said pull over”, you repeat and he finally manoeuvres the car to the side of the road carefully. he lets out a sigh and leans back in the seat, taking a sharp inhale.

thankfully there’s a small convenience store right ahead and you snap your seatbelt off without a second thought, getting out of the car and telling wonwoo to wait here and that’d you be back. he tries to call out for you but you ignore him, walking ahead with a stride. you don’t waste any time and quickly grab whatever medical supplies you can find—gauze, antiseptic, bandages, wipes, medical tape, cotton, a cheap pair of craft scissors and a water bottle. you rush back to the car, the paper bag rustling in your hands as you walk. you take a seat, shifting forward so you’re closer to wonwoo and can reach over to the driver’s side more easily. 

“undo your shirt”, you say as wonwoo looks at you. “wonwoo, come on, unless bleeding to death was part of your stupid plan”, you snap lightly because now was not the time ask questions or get shy. wonwoo slowly moves his hands, lifting them up as his fingers slowly try slip the buttons of his shirt off. you catch him wincing and groaning in pain from the effort, his face slightly pale and beads of sweat at his forehead. your hands move before you know it, hovering near his chest. “here, let me help”, you ask, hesitating for a second, looking at him and asking permission with your eyes. he nods lightly and your hands reach out and start to undo the rest of the buttons, pushing the fabric aside as the shirt parts. 

your eyes flick over him before you can stop yourself and your eyes gaze over his broad shoulders, muscular chest and the way his skin pulled tight with tension. his chest rises and falls carefully, like he’s controlling his breath. your eyes then hover to the wound—it’s red and bleeding, the stitches torn off because they didn’t have enough time to heal and got ripped from the effort of running. you suck in a breath at the sight before you dump the contents of the paper bag onto your lap, you grab the cotton and antiseptic first, soaking the balls of cotton in the antiseptic to clean the wound first. 

you dab the cotton soaked antiseptic to the wound and wonwoo winces from the burn. “you’re such an idiot”, you say, upset. “i told you that you needed to be on bed rest”, you snap lightly as wonwoo looks at you, like he was trying to silently apologise to you with his eyes. “i didn’t really have a choice, it was either do or die today”, wonwoo says and you wipe around the wound a little harder than intended and he sucks in a sharp breathe. you glare at him. “i think we should get you checked out at a hospital”, you say and wonwoo immediately is against the idea. “no, not today, not after what we just did”, he tells. even after all this he was still going to be stubborn and call the shots. you decide not to say anything more and focus on cleaning the wound. you finally manage to wipe all the blood and stop the bleeding, the heap of cotton balls beside you all red and soaked from you wiping all the blood down and cleaning the area. you grab the bandages and medical gauze, carefully dressing his wound and securing it neatly. 

“you don’t have to worry about me so much”, he murmurs lowly, his gaze fixed on you. “yeah i do, you’re my partner”, you say without looking at him and something unreadable flickers across his gaze as he watches you. you finish wrapping the bandage around him and secure it with a small knot. your fingers linger there once you finish before you pull your hands away. you wipe your hands clean with the remaining cotton and antiseptic. “i’ll drive”, you say, getting out of the passenger’s side and walking over to the driver’s side to help wonwoo. he steps out, gripping the car door as he walks. you grab onto his arm without thinking and help him walk to the other side. once he’s sat, you walk back over the to drivers side and take a seat. you turn around and reach for your handbag from the backseat. you dig into your bag and fish out a small bottle of orange juice and a protein bar, handing it to wonwoo. “here, eat something, it’ll help with your blood sugar in case you start feeling dizzy”, you say, since he had lost some blood and was in pain. “i’m fine Y/N but—“, you don’t let him finish, giving him a stern look and he takes the bottle of juice and protein bar.

you drive back to the city, but you’re still worried about wonwoo, occasionally glancing at him. “are you okay? you sure you don’t need to get checked out at the hospital?”, you ask again and he shakes his head. “i’ll be fine”, he says and you really don’t understand why he’s so stubborn. “well, it if doesn’t heal properly or gets infected, it’s better to get it checked out, alright”, you add, because you seemed to care about him for reasons unknown, even though you’d known the guy for barely two weeks. “yes doctor”, wonwoo tells, looking at you. “i’m being serious agent jeon, a gunshot wound isn’t a joke”, you say, as you take a turn on the road and stop at the red light. “i’ll make sure to take care of it and i appreciate the concern, i’ll be careful”, he says, looking at you, his eyes maybe a little apologetic and his tone more sincere. “good”, you tell, glancing away and driving ahead at the green light. 

you don’t drive at to the bureau, but instead you drive to wonwoo’s apartment. when you make the familiar turn into wonwoo’s neighbourhood you can tell he recognises the area from the way he sits up and he looks at you. “agent jeon, i’m putting you on bedrest right of this moment, doctors orders”, you say as you drive a little ahead and park the car in front of his building. “i’m really—“, he stops mid sentence with the glare you give him. “alright”, he says in defeat, putting his hands up in surrender. “yeah that’s what i thought”, you mumble as you undo the seatbelt and get out of the car. 

you help wonwoo get out and he is a little more stable this time around and can walk on his own without limping or wincing too much because the patching up you’d done helped. you follow wonwoo as he walks up the stairs to the first floor. he fishes out his keys from his pockets and it unlocks with a click. he steps inside and you hover around the door, watching him, suddenly unsure if you were welcome inside—because you didn’t want to intrude. what if he wanted to be alone?

wonwoo turns around, watching you stand awkwardly by the door, unsure. you’re about to turn around and walk away when the sound of his voice stops you. “you can come in you know”, he says. you hesitate for a second longer before you step inside and close the door behind you. you slip out of your shoes and into the extra pair of house slippers by the side. you’re still unsure as you walk inside to the living room. the space is neat, organised and well lit and you notice the pile of files on the coffee table, clippings of newspapers scattered by the side and a stack of old newspapers on the floor. there’s a small notebook by the side that’s open and you recognise wonwoo’s handwriting inside it. you turn around, only to realise you’re alone and wonwoo isn’t to be seen. you quietly settle on the couch and wait for wonwoo, who probably went to change out of his bloody shirt. 

when wonwoo comes back, he’s wearing a new loose, oversized t-shirt so his wound can breathe. he adjusts the glasses on his face as looks at you and then at the mess on the coffee table. wonwoo swiftly bends down to clear up the pieces of scattered paper before the sharp pain shoots up his abdomen and he grimaces. “forget it, just rest, don’t exert yourself”, you say as you stand up to help him. “seriously, don’t do any strenuous activity, otherwise i’ll be checking you into the hospital myself”, you threaten lightly as you make him sit down.

“so, from whatever you saw today, was it even useful?”, you ask a moment later as you take a seat next to him on the couch. “plenty useful”, wonwoo say as he get’s out his phone to refer to the video he took earlier of the files. he reaches out slowly this time and grabs the notebook that lays open. “don’t you think it’s weird that the military is holding jaehyun’s body? he was a mere FBI agent”, wonwoo says. it is weird you think. 

“don’t you what to know what they’re hiding?”, he asks, looking at you. “from these case files, i captured whatever i could, but most parts of these reports are redacted, which makes you wonder what they’re trying to hide, because why would they try to hide information if this wasn’t part of something bigger or sinister”, wonwoo explains. you look at him, quiet as you take the information he’s just offered you. whatever he just said did make sense because it was odd, weird and unusual—unsettling almost. why would they do that? you really didn’t want to believe it but part of you did find it weird that the government and military got involved and took away jaehyun’s body, without ever releasing the proper cause of death. why were they interested in this case?

that night, you go home and write your final field report on the case and turn it in, officially closing the case.

another week passes by and wonwoo’s healed better now. he sits on his couch, going over his notes for the nth time. he’s spent the past week scribbling down notes from the video of the files he took and tried his best to read between the lines and join the dots wherever he could. he’s scribbled down all the notes, information and possible scenarios or outcomes, but he’s still not satisfied because he’s not gotten the bigger picture just yet. there’s something right there, staring right back at him, but he’s just not making the connection yet. wonwoo hasn’t told you that he’s still digging into this case even though you told him you’d submitted the field reports and closed the case. there was still something bothering him about it—something peculiar about this case that he couldn’t quite put his finger on yet and he didn’t want to let it go just yet. 

wonwoo’s phone rings and it’s an unknown number, one he recognises instantly—the mystery man. wonwoo slides to answer the call and puts the phone to his ear. “turn on the news, channel 13”, the voice says and cuts the line, leaving wonwoo confused for a moment. nonetheless, the grabs the television remote that’s beside on on the couch and turns on the tv to channel 13. 

at the port today there was a high speed car chase that ended in disaster today. the suspect who was on the run for a parking evasion eluded capture from police officers by jumping into the port harbour and has not been located since. it has been reported that the suspect severely injured several police officers during the chase and before he jumped. into the water. we have the captain of the police form standing by right now. “captain, how was the man able to escape and how serious are the injuries of the officers?”, the report asks. “those details are still unclear and we’re working to figure out what exactly went down–“, the captain starts before getting cut off. “we need you captain”, someone says, interrupting them and the captain excuses himself and moves away to the side in a hurry.

wonwoo rewinds the footage and looks at it again, his eyes scanning the scene and trying to figure out what was going on. why had the mystery man tipped him about his? what was this about? to wonwoo, this seemed like an ordinary case. 

meanwhile, you’re getting ready to head to the bureau because you had a meeting scheduled with assistant director kang. as of today, it’s been three months since you’d been reassigned to work with agent jeon at the x-files department and you can only imagine that this meeting had something to do with that. you step inside the bureau and greet a few people as you make your way to the fourth floor, where assistant director kang’s office is. your heels click against the tiled floor as you walk, echoing in the quiet hallway and suddenly you’re too aware of your own heartbeat and you can feel it beating in your chest. you take a deep breath, swallowing down the nerves and tell yourself that everything was going to be okay. you knock twice before you enter, greeted by assistant director kang, who’s been waiting for you. he indicates for you to take a seat and you do, looking at him and waiting for him to speak. “thank you for coming in today agent Y/N”, kang starts. 

“we’ve reviewed your field reports so far and frankly i’m quite disappointed. this isn’t what i expected from you”, kang says, his voice clipped. you furrow your brows lightly. “what do you mean?”, you ask as kang looks down at the file that was in front of him.  “irregular procedures of investigation, untenable evidence, anonymous witnesses, inconclusive findings and vague opinions. do you care to explain all this agent L/N?”, kang questions, looking at you.

you look at assistant director kang, trying to get the right words to explain yourself. “with all due respect sir, i’ve tried my best to stay unbiased and report my findings to the best possible standards. the cases that i’ve dealt with so far have been vague and unusual at best. while i agree that agent jeon does have unorthodox methods of investigation, there’s nothing i can to do stop him”, you start, pausing before you try to explain yourself. “but i’ve noticed that maybe sometimes these cases do need a different approach because of their unusual nature”, you finish, hoping kang could understand where you’re coming from.

“what are you suggesting Y/N? that the bureau adopt special standards for you and agent jeon when investigating cases? there are standard procedures and methods here at the bureau that need to be followed by everyone, including you and agent jeon”, kang explains. 

“that’s not what i’m suggesting sir”, you counter. “then why is the happening? is agent jeon stopping you from following the proper procedure and protocol when investigating these cases?”, kang asks, closing the file and resting his hands on top of it as he waits for you to answer him. “no”, you repeat. “if anything, all i’d like to suggest is that these cases be reviewed with an open mind. these are peculiar and odd cases to begin with and these methods may be the only ones to solve these cases”, you say, recalling what you’d witnessed on both the cases so far, especially about agent jaehyun—you just couldn’t explain it and you didn’t want to believe wonwoo’s theory, but still the question lingered in your mind—what if? what if agent jeon was actually right?

kang sighs, clearly unhappy with your answer. “maybe your mind has become too open”, he remarks. “on the cases that we have investigated so far, we have had a conviction and case solution of 75%, which is well above the bureau’s standards”, you inform. “and that is your only saving grace agent”, kang tells. “what i want you to do going forward is an increased frequency of field reports, which you will report to me thrice a week. you and agent jeon will follow the bureau standards and protocols for investigation and it is your responsibly to oversee that these cases are investigated by the book agent L/N. if agent jeon stops you or hinders the investigation in any form that makes it go out of protocol, you will inform me immediately”, kang informs. you purse your lips together and agree, because you were in no position to argue or go against what the assistant director was saying. you getting reinstated to your previous department and field of work depended on this.

“i trust that you’ll listen to me and keep agent jeon in your reins”, kang says, looking at you with a raised eyebrow, like what he was saying wasn’t a request, it was an order. you nod. “yes sir”, you say. “good, you can carry on now”, kang says lastly, dismissing you and you get up and walk out of his office, letting out a bigger sigh. 

jeon wonwoo. you repeat the name in your head and sigh. over the last three months that you’d spent with him, you got thrown into unexpected situations, almost-well actually committed a crime, broke protocol and chased after aliens—or so called aliens, got held hostage and witnessed things you couldn’t quite explain or rationalise yourself. but through all this you learned one thing—that agent jeon wonwoo was passionate. he was so passionate about his beliefs and his work and you admired that. in the academy you were taught to write field reports, to follow protocol, to find justifiable evidence and verifiable facts, but over the last three months it's like everything you've learned had suddenly been rendered useless, testing your discipline and testing what you believe.

you've watched him stand at the crime scene and notice patterns when there should be none. you've watched him argue with your plausible and scientific explanations because they don't account for the almost unexplainable or impossible details. you’ve watched him pull out old x-files cases that he’s collected with similar cases or evidence like it’s completely normal and you’ve seen him constantly argue with you and your theories grounded in science and facts. in the process, you’ve slowly started to learn not to dismiss his questions as ridiculous or impossible and found yourself sitting with them overnight, thinking. you still don't believe in the things he does and he’s sort of grown on your now. and to now be told to reel him in and keep him from straying, from digging to deep, from breaking protocol, you don’t know how you were going to do that. this is jeon wonwoo and he’s never followed protocol when it came to this.

you walk down back to the basement to the x-files department and find wonwoo there, bent over at the desk, a laptop open in front of him. “good morning”, you say as you walk inside, making your way towards him. “take a look at this”, wonwoo says, without offering you any context, but at this point you’ve started getting used to it, especially with all the out of pocket things he does and says. you walk over to the desk and stand as he plays the video for you. it’s about a hit and run chase that took place yesterday evening. you watch the video, unsure why wonwoo was showing it to you because it seemed like an completely ordinary interview. 

the video finishes and you look at wonwoo confused. “you’re showing me this because?”, you ask. “he told me to turn on this news and this is what was playing”, wonwoo adds, again not offering you any sort of context again, making you even more confused. “the mystery man, my informant”, wonwoo adds, finally giving you something. “he told you to watch this?”, you ask and wonwoo answers you with a low hum. “and? did you find out anything?”, you ask. “not yet”, he says and you sigh. 

“there’s gotta be something here that i’m not seeing”, wonwoo mumbles to himself. “do you really trust this mystery man character? what if he’s just pulling your leg? throwing you a bone to lead you somewhere else?”, you question. wonwoo turns in his chair around to look at you. “why would he do that? he’s helped me before”, he says. “i don’t think he’d call me unless there was something here that he wanted me to see”, wonwoo adds a moment later. “and you’re just going to blindly trust this guy?”, you ask. wonwoo only shrugs lightly. “whatever information he’s given me before has been valid”, wonwoo says. “come one, lets go do some digging”, wonwoo says, getting up from his chair and gathering his blazer. you hesitate and sigh softly. “dig around what wonwoo? you have nothing to do on, this is a goose chase. this isn’t even a proper case”, you say. 

the conversation you just had with assistant director kang rings in your head. reel him in. keep him in your reins. those words echo in your ears and you stand there. you swallow your thoughts and go with wonwoo. when you reach the site, it’s chaos. there’s men diving in the water to look for the man who jumped and there are cars scattered all around, police in uniform guarding the crime scene like this was something more than just an ordinary hit and run case. wonwoo walks up to an officer in uniform, the local police, fishing out his ID from his pocket. 

“we’re with the FBI, special agent jeon, his is special agent L/N.  we’d like to ask you some questions about this incident”, wonwoo says. he puts away his ID once the man’s eyes skim over it. “i’ve already answered questions, there were three different law enforcement agencies here last night”, the man says, clearly not interested in wanting to stand and answer agent jean’s questions. “so much attention for someone who was running for a parking violation?”, wonwoo asks and the officer just shrugs, like it’s no big deal to him and he couldn’t care less. “we’ll it’s what we do”, he simply states.

“i heard the suspect was shot. has the body been recovered yet?”, wonwoo questions. “i don’t know agent, we’re trying out best here. the search is still ongoing so hopefully we find the suspect’s body soon”, the officer says. “it’s been over 18 hours officer? if’d you’d have found the body by now, you would have”, wonwoo says, like a fact. “like i said, we’re quite certain it’ll be found”, the officer states again, not liking wonwoo’s tone. “why would the FBI be so interested in this case be?”, the officer adds, looking wonwoo up and down. wonwoo is quiet for a moment. “just checking”, wonwoo states lowly. “i’d like to take a look at the car if possible please”, wonwoo adds. the officer sighs, looking at him. “the car’s been seized, you can find it at the impound”.

at the impound, wonwoo inspects the car with careful attention, his eyes sharp, focused and attentive, like he’s trying to find something that might be amiss. he looks at the photograph of the car that was captured on the file again and signs as he walks forward to the front of the car. “i can’t make out the license plate number in this photograph”, he says, like he’d hit another brick wall in his investigation. his eyes linger on the photograph for a second longer and his eyes sharpen on instinct, his eyes flicking towards the photograph and the car in front of him. “this isn’t the same car”, he mutters to himself. you turn around and look around him. “what?”, you ask, your feet moving as you walk towards him. “look at the car in the photo and this car”, wonwoo says, turning the photograph towards you. you look at the photograph hard, your eyes flicking over every inch of the car and then you see it. “it’s not the same car”, you repeat. you look at wonwoo and then at the photograph. 

“they switched cars on us”, wonwoo says. “who’s they?”, you question because you had no idea where wonwoo was going with this. “whoever wanted to hide something”, he tells. you look at the sticker that’s stuck on the windshield on the car in the photograph, but not on the one in front of you. “that sticker”, you say, looking at wonwoo. “it’s a symbol used in the medical profession. “so the car most likely belongs to a doctor”, wonwoo finishes. he calls someone, asking them to run a a partial plate for them and see if they’re able to get a match after trying to enhance the image of the car.

later in the day, wonwoo gets a call that the car’s been traced and it belongs to dr.shin. you and wonwoo make your way to meet him and you both walk into dr.shin’s lab. the lab is well lit. there’s cages lined up by one by one at end of the room, most likely for animals and on the table in the middle there’s countless beakers and test-tubes, like he was running multiple experiments at once. the air is stale almost. it smells faintly of something you can’t seem to out your finger on, but it’s eerie in a way. 

 “dr.shin?”, wonwoo calls out and he turns around. “we’re with the FBI and we’d like to ask you a few questions if you could give us a minute of your time”, wonwoo says. dr.shin look at wonwoo, then looks back at the beaker in his hand, putting it down carefully. “i’m sorry but i’m in the middle of something important right now”, dr.shin says. wonwoo continues with his questions anyway. 

“are you aware that a car registered to your name was involved in a high speed chase last night?”, wonwoo asks. dr. shin looks clueless. “what? no i had no idea? did something happen?”, dr, shin asks. “do you own a silver honda?”, wonwoo asks and he nods. “yes, what is this about?”, dr.shin asks again, still busy, his tone a little irritated now and he moves to the other side of the table, like he wasn’t able to keep still. “are you aware that is was missing?”, wonwoo asks and he shakes his head again. “no. did something happen to it?”, dr.shin questions, turning around to look at wonwoo. “it was used in a crime”, wonwoo says. “what?”, dr.shin exclaims, surprised. 

while wonwoo questions dr.shin more now that he seems to have his full attention, you wander around the room, slowly walking towards the cages by the side of the room. you take a look closer and spot animals inside—mostly monkeys. you step forward to take a closer look, but your presence seems to agitate them and they start making noises, screeching almost and trying to attack the cage. you step back immediately and turn over to see dr.shin rushing over to them. “what did you do?”, he asks and you shake you head. “i didn’t do anything, i was just looking at them, i thought they were friendly”, you say as you take another step back.

“they should not be excited, they’re part of an experiment”, dr.shin says looking at you. “sorry”, you say softly. “what sort of experiment?”, wonwoo asks, his interest piqued. “am i under any kind of suspicion?”, dr.shin asks, turning to face wonwoo. “no”, he answers, quick and short. “then i think i’ve answered all your questions”, dr.shin says, like he was basically kicking you both out of his lab. “thank you for you time”, wonwoo says a second later and he moves towards the door, walking out and you follow beside him.

“you okay?”, he asks and you nod. “yeah”, you say. “so what do you think?”, wonwoo asks as you both walk down the corridor of the building. ‘i don’t see anything odd about his behaviour”, you say as you both turn the corner. “maybe we should ask the housekeeping if they know anything about dr.shin”, wonwoo suggests and you stop in your tracks.

“no”, you say, crossing your arms over your chest as you look up at wonwoo. “no? what do you mean no”, he asks, confused. “this has reached the point of absurdity wonwoo. we’re out here, chasing god knows. we’re wasting our time on something that isn’t even our case. all you’ve gotten is a stupid hunch an a cryptic phone call, chasing down a clue that’s based purely on speculation. we don’t even know what we’re looking for here and this is just ridiculous and a complete waste of time”, you say. 

“that’s all we’ve got to work with ,that’s all he’s given us”, wonwoo says. “this mystery man, who even is he? we don’t know anything about him, if he’s even legit and—”, you start but wonwoo cuts you off. “he’s in a delicate position but he has access to information that is highly valuable and any sort of indiscretion could expose or put him in danger”, wonwoo explains. “but you don’t know that, what if he’s just toying with you, playing with you”, you question and wonwoo looks a little offended. “you think he’s just leaving me false bait”, wonwoo questions, a brow raised at you. “how do you he isn’t?”, you question back and walk ahead. “i’m going back to the bureau”, you call out. wonwoo lets out a resigned sigh and follows behind you. 

back at the bureau, wonwoo is searching through a file because he swears he’s seen a similar x-file before. “i think we should be check the impound again”, wonwoo asks. you look glance at the time on your watch—5:00pm.  “i have to be back by 6:30 pm”, you say as you watch wonwoo skim through the pages of the file in his hand, trying to find exactly what he wanted. “another party to go to?”, he asks causally, not looking at you. you pause before answering. “nope, i have a date”, you say and wonwoo’s hands falter for a moment and he snaps his head up. he looks at you, like he’s trying to figure out if you really meant that. “can you cancel?”, he asks and you consider it, almost, but you don’t. “unlike you agent jeon, i would like to have a life”, you say and wonwoo only looks at you. “i do have a life”, he says and you nod. “yeah right”, you mumble under your breathe and he catches his, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

when wonwoo get’s home that night, he get’s another phone call from the same unknown number—the mystery man. “i’m disappointed in you agent jeon”, the voice says immediately. “disappointed?”, wonwoo repeats, unsure where he was going with this. “i expected you to stay up all night trying to put all the pieces together, i expected better from you”, the mystery man says. “maybe if you’d given me more to work with, it would be easier”, wonwoo says, his voice low. “i’ve given you all i can agent jeon”, the mystery man says and wonwoo almost laughs. “a news report is all you’ve given me”, wonwoo counters. “and that’s exactly where everything lies”, the mystery man repeats. 

“how about you save me the trouble and just tell me what i’m supposed to be looking for”, wonwoo asks, a little impatience carrying over through his tone now. the mystery man clicks his tongue. “you’re becoming too dependant on me agent jeon”, he taunts lightly and wonwoo clenches his jaw. “you know, from day one everything has always been on your terms. you’ve offered me vague clues, left me crumbs to find and stitch together. i’ve only gone along with it because i wanted to. i have plenty of my own things to do without having to chase down your vague leads that you’re giving me”, wonwoo says. the mystery man sighs in the background on the other side of the line. “agent jeon, take my advice and don’t give up on this one”, the mystery man says. “or what?”, wonwoo snaps. “you’ve never been closer to the truth”, the mystery man says before he the line cuts. wonwoo lets out sigh and runs a hand over his face, throwing his phone on the couch beside him. 

that night, wonwoo goes over the clip again, trying to put together what he saw, trying to figure out if the doctor was a threat or not, the words of the mystery man replaying in his mind over and over again. you’ve never been closer to the truth.

wonwoo picks up his notebook from the table, flipping it open to the notes he’s scribbled. he opens his phone and looks at the brief video he took of agent jaehyun’s file. he stares at it again, like it’s some cryptic message—because it almost was since more than half the information was redacted. wonwoo’s eyes linger on the file name again—project lazarus. and right under that is a block of text that only confirms whatever he’s been thinking—aviation/defence research. under that is the incident file number, but it’s different, it doesn’t match the one the FBI filed, so this file technically should’t exist. wonwoo stares at the screenshots he’s taken of each page which says otherwise. he notices the binding on the file, it’s different. he zooms in more into the image and it’s stamped differently too—not the way FBI documents are stamped. he flips through the screenshots he’s taken and printed out of each page, but he can’t make sense of it because they’re all medical documents—ECG strips, neurological mapping, blood test reports, x-rays and more. the hospital logo is present on each page, but it’s overridden by another stamp—the military stamp. technically wonwoo should’t even be seeing this, but here he is because he’s stubborn as hell. wonwoo continues to read between whatever’s written and hasn’t been redacted. 

subject exhibits non-native speech pattern. behavior not consistent with baseline.

wonwoo swallows. what was that supposed to mean? wonwoo shifts to another screenshot and this time there’s timestamps. one particular timestamp catches his eye—23:41. that’s when jaehyun disappeared. so the missing hours weren’t random. they took him. they did something to him. he puts the papers down on the table and buries his head in his palms, letting out a shaky breath. wonwoo contemplates calling you, because he’s read though the file and gathered whatever he could understand, but there’s things that don’t seem to add up, medical reports and documents he doesn’t fully understand and he needs you to help him. so he picks up his phone and calls you, hoping you’d be done with your date by now.

it’s a little late now and you’re just heading home when your phone rings. you fish it out of your bag and your stare at the name—agent jeon. now what did he want. you hope he wasn’t calling you to go investigate whatever stupid vague lead he had. you stare at your phone, take a deep breath and answer the phone.

“hello?”, you speak. “agent L/N”, wonwoo says, his voice filling your ear. “yes agent jeon? to what do i owe this pleasure”, you say sarcastically. the line is silent for a second before he speaks. “are you still on your date? i wanted you to come have a look at something”, he says carefully, like he’s already convinced that you’d say no. “is this about the vague lead that your so called source gave you?”, you ask as you walk slowly down the road to your apartment building. “no”, he says, his voice low. “okay then what is it about?”, you ask. “it’s better if i tell you in person”, wonwoo says. he wasn’t sure if his or your phone was being tapped or they were keeping tabs on him and he didn’t want to take any risks. 

“alright”, you say and there’s a pause on the other end of the line and it’s like you can almost hear him thinking. “what about your date?”, he asks and you shift your weight from one foot to another, standing outside the restaurant. “it’s over, i was just heading home”, you say and there’s another pause before he speaks. “he didn’t offer to drop you home?”, wonwoo asks, like that was a non-negotiable, like it was something obvious. “it’s fine”, you say, waving him off and saying you’d reach his place soon, cutting the call. you take a cab and 20 minutes later you’re standing in front of his building. you climb up to his floor and ring the doorbell. you hear the shuffle of feet from inside. the lock clicks open and he pulls the door open slightly, like he was making sure it was you before he opens it fully. “you came”, he says. “of course i came, you asked me to”, you say, but wonwoo barely listening to you as he takes you in fully now, his eyes moving over you unintentionally, like he can’t quite stop himself.  

you’re wearing simple dress and your hair is loose now, falling over your shoulders instead of being tied back like it usually was when you’re working and arguing with him about theories and cases. wonwoo notices the makeup too. it’s subtle but it’s enough that wonwoo catches the difference. you look like someone who had somewhere else to be tonight and someone who dressed up for someone else and that thought sits somewhere unpleasant in his chest. he didn’t like that very much.

you tilt your head to the side slightly, looking at him. “are you going to invite me in or not?”, you ask, giving him a look and he nods. “yeah, come in”, he says, moving aside, his mind still held distracted with the way you looked. you walk inside and he gestures towards the couch. “coffee? tea? anything i can get you?”, he asks immediately. “maybe some tea”, you say as you take a seat and he hums in response, moving to the kitchen to prepare it for you. wonwoo stands by the kettle, waiting for the water to boil. you look pretty he thinks, too pretty, and the thought annoys him more than it should. five minutes later wonwoo returns with two cups of hot tea. he’s about to set them down when he notice the mess on the coffee table—papers scattered all over, books stacked haphazardly and pens lying around. he carefully places the cups on the edge of the table and his hands move to clean it up. 

“sorry, i was working”, he says as you watch him stack the papers neatly and pile them on top of the books carefully. you hum softly in response, not really minding it. “you always say that”, you say a beat later and wonwoo looks up. “what?”, he asks as he moves the cups towards the centre of the table now, pushing your cup closer to you. “that you’re working”, you say. he only shrugs lightly. “i usually am”, he says and finally takes a seat next to you. he’s close enough that your shoulders almost touch, but neither of you move. you slowly pick up the cup of tea and blow over it, taking a careful sip. wonwoo watches you, even though he tries not to. 

“how was the date?”, he asks and your eyes flicker to his as you take a slow sip of the tea. “it was fine”, you say and he nods, though he doesn’t really look convinced. “you called me here to interrogate me about my date?”, you ask and he looks away for a moment before looking back up at you. “no, i wanted you to take a look at something”, he says. “so, what did you want me to take a look at?”, you ask.

“don’t get mad”, wonwoo says first and you give him a look. “what is it?”, you ask and he reaches to to the notebook and hands you the notes of whatever he’s scribbled down and print outs of screenshots of the video—different stills of pages, medical reports, x-rays, more medical reports, incident reports and more. “i want you to take a look at these and tell me what it means”, wonwoo asks. you reach out and take the notebook and bunch of papers from his hand. “what’s this?”, you ask. “that’s what i’m trying to figure out”, he says, leaning back into the couch. you recognise the screenshots from jaehyun’s file from the place you broke into. you look at wonwoo. 

“wonwoo, we closed this case”, you say looking at him. “i know, but there’s something that’s been bothering me about this. just, please, take a look at it”, wonwoo pleads. you don’t have the energy to argue back so you look down and take a look at what he’s handed you. your eyes skim over the printouts, scanning the numbers, the timestamps and the reports. your fingers trace the lines of the ECG and your finger stops. wonwoo notices immediately. “what?”, he asks, sitting up. you blink and trace the ECG line again, sure that there must be some kind of mistake. “this isn’t right, this shouldn’t be right”, you say. wonwoo leans forward to get a closer look at what you were seeing. “what do you mean it isn’t right?”, he asks again. you turn to another page and there’s another chart and another strip followed by more redacted text. you swallow. “they don’t match the vitals, it’s inconsistent”, you say. 

you flip to the next sheet, the page rustling in your hands and you continue to read. “it says he was left handed…he wasn’t”, you say. “i know”, wonwoo says. your gaze sharpens and you see the timestamp, noticing the gap. “wonwoo”, you say. “the missing hours, it’s here—23:41. that’s when he went missing and the hospital has no records of it”, you tell, looking at him. you suddenly felt sick. what the fuck was happening. you continue to flip through whatever wonwoo’s printed out and collected and terms like identity refusal, neural compatibility, post-mortem cognition stand out. the sentence of ‘transfer event was observed’ sends goosebumps all over your skin. what the hell was that supposed to mean?

you put the the bunch of papers on the table and turn to face wonwoo. “what the hell is this?”, you ask. “it’s the truth”, wonwoo says, perfectly still. “why are you still digging into this, the case is closed”, you repeat, because you couldn’t understand what compelled him so much. why couldn’t he just leave this alone and move on. “i think there’s a connection here. all these cases—colonel nam’s, agent jaehyun’s and this lead i’m after now”, wonwoo explains. “what? the cryptic lead that your source gave you on a stupid phone call?, you question, letting out a frustrated sign. “seriously why are you so determined to believe everything. why can’t you just let it be”, you insist. “why don’t you just admit it yn, you’re determined not to believe that he’s trying other help us and that you’re not willing to believe the truth even when the hard evidence is right in front of us”, wonwoo says, raising his voice a bit.

“what evidence?”, you retort sharply. “maybe you’re too determined to believe him and believe all this crap”, you counter. “i am determined to follow a lead that may result in proving what the government is hiding for all these years, the proof of extraterrestrial beings and proof that’s something more sinister happening behind the scenes”, wonwoo defends. you let out a big sigh. “you really need to stop with this”, you say gesturing to the table that was overflowing with the notes, papers and countless other things related to the case. "you need to stop with these unorthodox investigation methods and chasing leads that don’t exist. you’re wasting your time wonwoo”, you say and he’s quiet for a moment before he speaks.

“if you're resistant because you don’t believe, i’ll respect that. but if you’re resistant because of bureaucratic pressure then that means they’ve gotten to you too.”, wonwoo says. you roll your eyes, tired of his bullshit.

“wonwoo will you just listen to me, please”, you ask, looking at him. he meets your gaze. “i have never met anyone as passionate and dedicated to a belief as you are and sometimes it’s so…overwhelming. it’s so intense that it can be blinding. you need to remember that there are others who are watching you, that they know things about you and are willing to use that against you. whereas i can respect and admire you passion, there are others who try to use it against you. the truth is out there wonwoo, but so are lies”, you say looking at him, because you need him to understand this. god knows what was actually out there and he was caught right in the middle of it all—it was cruel.

“and all this”, you say, referring to the mess on his coffee table again. “this is–this is insane”, you say. wonwoo doesn’t move. “it’s all written there”, wonwoo offers. you scoff lightly. “no. no it’s not. more than half of these pages has the information is redacted. you can’t just read between the lines and make up whatever truth you want wonwoo”, you say. “you read the files Y/N, you read what they did”, wonwoo says, his gaze not wavering from you. “i read whatever was available, you still don’t know what’s actually in the file or what actually happened”, you counter. “and it could mean anything, there are perfectly sane explanations for whatever’s in that file”, you add, standing up hurriedly, like you wanted nothing to do with this anymore. 

wonwoo purses his lips together. “like what? acute stress? PTSD? hypoxia?”, wonwoo asks and you nod. “yes, exactly”, you say. “i’m not question your passion agent jeon, i’m only questioning your methods and if you’re digging into is really worth it”, you say, glancing at him.

wonwoo stands up slowly, deliberately, like he doesn’t want to spook you anymore than you already are. “agent jaehyun went missing from the hospital Y/N and he came back left handed overnight. how do you explain that?”, wonwoo questions. you open your mouth to answer but close it because there’s nothing for you to explain—you don’t know.

“stop it”, you say sharply. “stop turning this into something it’s not. you’re just trying to find reasons to link this to whatever you have in your mind, twisting the truth”, you say, the words landing harshly on wonwoo. you watch the way his jaw clenches slightly, like he’s frustrated but doesn’t want to show it, not on you. “i’m not twisting the truth Y/N, i’m uncovering it”, he says as calmly as possible, his voice dangerously low. “why can’t you see it? why can’t you just accept the truth and accept the fact that—“, he says, raising his voice but you cut him off. “enough”, you yell over him. “i’m going, i can’t do this right now”, you say, picking up your coat that you’d draped on the side of the couch and your bag, walking out of wonwoo’s apartment. you don’t look back. 

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“all right, class, that’s it for today. please come collect your mock test papers as you exit”, the professor announces and everyone starts talking, the room echoing with voices and movement as people get up, their feet shuffling as they stand in line to collect their papers from the front.

you come up in front and your professor gives you a smile as he hands yours back to you. “good job yn, near perfect score”, he says and you smile back. “thanks prof”, you tell, beaming as you take your paper and move. but you don’t miss the snide remark told by someone behind you and the few laughs that occur. but you ignore the comment and walk away.

you were used to people telling you that, people envying you and not in a nice way. you’d heard all kinds of things all your life. “bet they only got in because of her connections” or “they’re only top of the class because of they’re father’s influence” but all of those were very untrue. you were truly passionate about what you were studying and doing, but the people didn’t seem to think so. 

yes, you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, coming from a prestigious family with a lot of influence - your dad being a huge business tycoon, which made your family really rich and influential. but growing up, you wanted nothing more than to be not associated with him. your name was always tied with his - and you hated that. it never gave you the chance to be your own person, to have your own identity, which you craved for.

growing up only became harder when your mother passed away when you were still young. she was ill and there was nothing that could be done to save her, it had been too late. your moments and memories with her were limited considering you were only ten when she passed away, but still, everything you remembered about her you cherished, and you aimed to make her proud one day, proud of the person you’ve become. as a token from your mother, you had kept her ring and no, not her wedding ring, but another ring she wore. it was a dainty ring with a pretty pattern and you had always loved that ring as a child. so now you wore it, to remember her, to keep some part of her with you.

and of course, with growing up, the biggest struggle of all for you was making friends. when you were younger, you were actually good at making friends, you had plenty in fact. but as you grew up, you learned to see who was just befriending you for ulterior motives and whatnot, and you soon became good at filtering who you really became friends - close friends with. but in all those years, you only made two friends like that. they were the purest and sweetest souls ever - rania and skye. they were your best friends. they were your childhood friends and the only ones you opened up to and grew close to. while you still had a group of friends you interacted with on an everyday and casual basis, there wasn’t anyone you were close with besides them. there was also your current boyfriend - jaehyun. it was silly really, you had a crush on him for a while and soon the news spread from god knows where and one day he asked you out. you were so head over heels that you said yes of course, because which fool would turn down their crush? 

you're sitting across the table from your father, who’s busy talking to someone on the phone. it was a weekly thing that you had to have dinner at your father’s house.

"yes i want to see a sample of the product before we send it into manufacturing”, your father speaks to the person on the other line.

you stare down at your plate, moving your fork around as you listen to him speak. you and your father didn’t have the best relationship, it was rocky and messy, to say the least. ever since your mother passed away, you both drifted apart, your father focusing on the business and you just trying to get through the days as you tried to cope with the sudden loss. and you both somehow stayed like that, drifted apart. but that didn’t mean he was a bad guy. he still did nice things for you and you both had your moments, but it was strained. let's just say he wasn't the best father figure growing up.

you were used to having filler conversations about your life with your father like this. all he does is nod before he goes back to scrolling on his phone. half the time during your childhood and even now, you barely saw your father. he was always busy with work or attending meetings about god knows what. so that meant you were all alone in the big house which got lonely. that’s when you decided to move into a different house, have your own space and make it cosy too. at first, your father wasn’t too keen on the idea, but you were old enough now, in college too, so he agreed. so now you live alone in a house comfortable enough to make into your own little safe haven.

you unlock your front door, sliding into your house slippers as you trudge inside, discarding your bag on the couch as you open the fridge to grab a bottle of cold water to refresh yourself. today had been a long day. apart from studies, you also volunteered at a local cat shelter for rescues and the local public library. you enjoyed doing both things so you were more than happy to volunteer. they both had their perks 1) free cuddles and serotonin from all the kittens and cats 2) you could borrow as many books as you wanted so it was a win-win.

you were used to your father being on the news, he was a businessman after all, an influential man, someone important. but with all that came all the trolls, the hate and people who were obviously jealous and disliked him for no reason at all. all this in turn was also directed towards you. you were often called the silver spoon kid, nepo baby, or someone who’s life was handed to you on a silver platter. for the most of the time, you tried to ignore them, but of course as any normal human, it affected you. you hated it at times infact. you hated how people could concoct a ridiculous assumption about you based on nothing and it infuriated you. but you’d learn to grow up with it, grow up being watched, hounded at, judged at and trolled at. that was what you get for simply existing and being born in a wealthy family. and somewhere along the way you developed an anxiety about this and it made you scared to get close and open up to people. 

when you first joined college, it was hell. people took pictures without your consent all the time and they still did at times, but you’ve given up at trying to stop it. you were used to people's cameras at you, fingers at you, talking about you and also using you. everyone wanted to be your friend and butter you up to you, but when you started putting boundaries, they were quick to call you names. you were surrounded by paparazzi going to you during the first week and even now on the occasional basis, someone was always following you and snapping pictures of you. even if you told yourself it was okay, it was not and deep down you hated it. but what could you do? 

your father, well he didn’t seem to mind all the comments being told about him, as long as his business went well at the end of the day. but if you were going to be honest, your father was pretty smart and he had a knack for what he was doing, that’s what made him so successful. but that didn’t mean he didn’t hit bumps along the way, oh he did. you still remember the headline your father made when he invested money into a broken startup. but now he was making millions as the company took off. 

today morning was a good day. the sun was shining bright and the clouds were white against the blue sky. it wasn’t too hot, a comfortable temperature - it was the ideal day and you were more than happy about this weather. you get ready for college, it was your last semester before you graduated. you grab your phone from the desk table only to realise it was dead and you plug it in as you head to the bathroom to get ready. you quickly put on an outfit, grab your books, bag, and your phone on the way out. you lock your door and raise your hand to unlock your car, opening the door and sitting inside. you drive to college, putting on some music, in a good mood today as you softly sing along to the song that was playing on the radio.

you park your car in the parking lot, which was already crowded and you mentally cursed at the way people parked sometimes. you exit the car and walk towards campus, trying to unlock your phone but it doesn't open. that’s when you realise it was still dead - silly you had forgot to turn on the switch when you plugged your phone in. you mentally curse as you walk towards class, hoping someone had a spare phone charger for you to use. but that’s when you get a feeling - a feeling that you were being watched. and when you glance up, you can see people looking at you, whispering things in hushed voices between themselves. you brushed it off as nothing and continued walking.

a couple of people pass by you, looking right at you as they pass a comment. “see i knew your father was a crooked man”, he tells and the others laugh as they walk away. what? you were completely confused and the fact that almost everyone was looking at you as you kept walking made you nervous all of a sudden. this wasn’t good. you spot your professor and he comes walking towards you, in big strides, like he is in a hurry. “hello yn”, he says, faking a smile. “hello professor”, you reply. “i would like to have a word with you, please follow me”. he says and you can still feel everyone’s eyes on you as you walk behind your professor.

he closes the door behind him and urges you to sit down as he takes a seat in front of you.

“i’m sorry to hear about your father yn”, he starts and you furrow your brows, utterly confused. “i would like for you to meet with the principal so we can hopefully come to an understanding about how you will be completing your semester over here”, he continues and you’re lost.

“i’m sorry but i don’t quite follow”, you say, and he just blinks back at you. 

“do you not know? have you not seen the news?”, he asks, surprised. 

“what news?”, you ask again and watch as he fetches out his phone, handing it to you. and there it was, the headline that made your jaw drop.

“mr. __ a certified criminal, took bribes and laundered money”. 

what the fuck? your eyes quickly scan the article, reading the things your father was being accused of. there was no way he would do that, he wouldn't you thought. you look back up at your professor and hand the phone back to him, at a complete loss for words.

“i really had no idea about this”, you tell. “i think it would be better for you to go home today and then we can have a talk about this later this week along with the principal okay”, he says and you’re dismissed. you take a deep breath as you open the door and walk out, and hallway is quick to quiet down and you can feel the eyes of everyone on you. 

“hope your father rots in jail”, you hear a guy say and the others laugh. you hear a few more snide remarks as you walk out back to your car and you take a deep breath again. what the fuck was happening right now. you start the car and drive to your father’s house because you need answers.

you storm into the house, and your father is already sitting down at the table with his lawyer. “can someone please explain what is going on”, you yell as soon as you see your father. 

“yn” , your father says, upon seeing you. 

“you took bribes??”, you ask and you can see the small flash of hurt on his face before he composes himself as he answers you. “no yn, this is simply not true. i am being falsely accused”, he says calmly.

“so what’s going to happen now?”, you ask.

“this is defamation, there is absolutely no evidence to these claims”, your father fills in.

a week passes by and you somehow manage to make it to class, but obviously, everyone is still talking about you. rumors are goingand around like wildfire and people keep telling you nasty things, leaving you mean comments on your social media. even the paparazzi around you are following you everywhere suddenly and you hate this. your whole world was turning upside down and you find yourself driving to your father’s house that evening again, only to see people crowded around the house. puzzled, you get out of your car and you're immediately surrounded by the paparazzi and a hound of people as they recognise you. you see your father in the crowd and that’s when you notice the police officers and then the handcuff on your father’s hands.

“father!”, you yell out and he looks at you. you try to move forward, make your way towards him but someone pushes you down before someone else grabs your hand. “you little thief, no wonder you’re so rich”, he mutters out and you try to pry his hand off you but he doesn’t let go. “yn!” you hear your father yell and soon the police pry the man off you. you watch as your father is escorted into the police vehicle he’s driven off. 

the camera flashes continue and people keep yelling nasty things and you run towards your car, getting in and following the police car. at the police station, you get a chance to talk to your father with his lawyer present. 

“what is happening?”, you ask. “i thought you said this was a false accusation, why are you being arrested?”, you ask, looking between your father and his lawyer, jeonghan who was a competent man in his line of business.

“it seems there has been some evidence found", your father says, in a rather relaxed manner. 

“so what’s going to happen now?”, you ask, worried.

“i will have to stand trial and prove my innocence”, he adds. you see as he glances down at your wrist which you’re massaging gently. 

“are you okay, i saw what happened back there’, he adds. 

“y-yeah im okay”, you tell quickly. 

“no, this is not okay. you’re going to be affected by all the things happening now and things are getting dangerous and out of hand”, he tells. 

“i can manage”, you say.

“no, you cannot, things will only get worse from here, especially when the trial starts and they are all going to be taking their anger out on you. i cannot risk anything happening to you. so it’s decided”, your father says.

“what’s decided?”, you ask.

“you’ll be having a bodyguard with you 24/7 from now onwards”, your father adds.

“what? father there is no need-", you start before you're interrupted.

“yn listen to your father, he is right” jeonghan interjects and you sigh. there was no point arguing over here. in hindsight, things were bound to get out of control and having a bodyguard around did seem wise. the thought that something worse could happen to you makes you shiver.

“hire only the best”, my father tells and jeonghan nods. “i know just the person” he tells, assuring my father. 

you didn’t step out of your house the next day. paparazzi surrounded your home and you were in no ability to go out without being followed. the pictures of your father’s arrest and your face were plastered all over the internet and new articles, with all sorts of headlines. by 12pm everyone seemed to have gotten tired of waiting (thank god) and your driveway was finally clear. you’re in jeans and a top, rummaging through your pantry when you hear your doorbell ring. you immediately stand straight. who could this be?

you walk towards your door and peek through the peephole but you can only see the body of someone and you hear a voice you recognise. your father’s lawyer - jeonghan, so you open the door. 

“i didn’t know you were coming”, you tell and smile. “i texted you”, he adds. “must've missed it”, you add before glancing at the other man standing next to him, who you noticed was quite tall.

“please come in “, you add only for jeonghan to refuse. “no no, i must get going to prepare for your father’s case. i just came to introduce you to your bodyguard”, he explains. 

“oh, i see”, you tell softly. 

“he’ll be with you wherever you’re going. escort and protect you wherever you’re going. i’ve already briefed him and given him a copy of your schedules, but if you’re going anywhere, he is to accompany you”, he tells you, making sure you knew, like he knew you would try to sneak off. 

“yes yes alright”, you tell, crossing your arms over your chest. 

“well, get introduced then, i have to get going”, he tells, as his phone rings and he walks off, leaving you standing in front of the door with this mysterious man.

as you look at him, you realise how tall he was because wow, he was really tall, and really handsome. he towered over you easily as you looked up at him. he’s wearing a clean, crisp black suit, which has been tailored to his body, making the fit perfect, showing off his build and his hair was styled to expose his forehead. his foxy-like eyes hold a mysterious but focused gaze. damn, he was hot. your eyes sweep over his body one more time before he’s clearing his throat and you're shaken away from your thoughts.

“hello, im jeon wonwoo and i'll be your bodyguard from today”, he tells, his voice deep as he looks at you, his alluring gaze catching your attention.

“hi! i’m yn! nice to meet you”, you say a little too enthusiastically as you hold out your hand for a handshake. you’re already cringing at your actions but wonwoo reaches out and shakes your hand nonetheless and gives you a small nod. 

after that there is a moment of awkward silence before you speak again. “um i don’t think i’ll be going anywhere today so you can start tomorrow”, you tell. you didn’t want him to be waiting around unnecessarily. he just looks down at you.

“i have been assigned to stay by your side at all times”, he tells. “but i’m just going to be home”, you tell. “it’s fine uh - i can call you wonwoo right?”, you ask and he gives you a curt yes.

“right wonwoo, it’s all right, just clock off work, it’s fine for today”, you tell and he looks like he’s thinking before he speaks again. 

“if you insist”, is all he says before he gives you a small nod of acknowledgement, telling you he’ll be here tomorrow before he’s turning around and walking off. 

the next morning, you’re sleeping peacefully when you hear your doorbell ring. who was at your doorstep so early? you must be hearing things you think. after a few moments you hear your doorbell ring again and you groan as you let out a yawn, unwillingly getting out of bed as you drag your feet to the door, your eyes barely open, still laced with sleep. you open the door to see a tall figure in front of you, your eyes still unfocused and you're confused before you hear the voice.

“good morning”, he tells and you blink your eyes a couple of times before you realise who it was. 

“oh wonwoo hi”, you tell, trying to process this information. “it’s only uh-”  “7am”, he fills in.

“right, 7am”, you tell, yawning again. “why are you here so early?”, you ask and your eyes a bit more awake now to take in the sight in front of you. wonwoo was adorned in another crisp suit, his hair perfectly styled and you could smell the waft of his cologne as you stood.

“my working hours start from 7am”, he tells matter of factly. “right, uh okay just come in”, you tell, moving inside, not bothering to see if he was following you. you go back to your room to fetch your phone, seeing an email from your professor. they wanted to have a meeting with the principal - well this couldn’t be good. 

the entire time you’re getting ready, wonwoo is just standing in one corner of your hall. you told him he could sit but he insisted on standing so you just shrug your shoulders and let it go. you don’t have the time to eat breakfast and you lock your house door, about to get in the car when wonwoo speaks again. 

“i’ll drive”, he tells, holding his hand out for the key. 

“oh no, it’s fine i can manage”, you tell.

“i’ve been told to drive you wherever you need”, he adds, looking at you and he had the look of someone you did not want to interfere in his work with.

there was no point arguing with this man was there? you sigh, handing him the key and sitting in the front seat next to him because sitting in the complete back would  make you feel weird. wonwoo somehow knew the route to your college and he parks the car effortlessly in the parking lot, which is honestly impressive. (or you just had bad parking skills shh)

you see the crowd as you step out, and through all the people and you can even spot a few paparazzi if you looked carefully. you glance back at wonwoo and then the campus entrance. if you went with wonwoo, you were definitely going to get attention - unwanted attention that is. he was obviously going to stand out in that outfit of his. 

“just stay here, i’ll be back, it’ll be quick”, you say.

“i'm afraid i can’t do that, i’m assingned to accompany you wherever you go as your bodyguard”, he says, looking at you.

“i know, but i’ll be quick, nothing will happen”, you add as you unbuckle your seatbelt.

“i will be accompanying you”, he responds. even with all those looks he was really dense huh, it was like talking to a wall.

“fine god just come”, you finally tell, slightly annoyed. jeonghan really got you a tough bodyguard didn't he.

as soon as you step foot on campus, everyone’s head turns towards you and obviously everyone is whispering something about the man following behind you - wonwoo. you mentally curse as the crowd around you becomes larger as you walk, everyone stopping to see what was going on. wonwoo is quick to maintain an arm’s distance outside as he walks beside you and making sure people don't surround you. you try to look down as you just walk ahead, straight into the principal's office. wonwoo stands outside. 

“yn glad you could make it”, your professor says, as the principal sits beside, just giving you a small nod. 

“what did we need to talk about”, you ask, looking between your principal and professor.

you watch as your principal sits up straighter, interlocking his palms on the table before they speak. 

“i know you just have a semester left before you graduate”, he starts off. “but given the current situation, it would be hard for us to continue classes with you being present”, he adds.

“i could do online classes”, you suggest but you principle just shakes his head.

“yn, we acknowledge the effort and dedication you have demonstrated throughout your academic journey at our institution. your accomplishments have been commendable, and we recognize the hard work you have put into your studies”, he starts. “we really do yn”, your professor adds.

“but we have to bring attention to a significant concern that has risen due to recent incidents involving you and a related controversy”, your principal continues.

oh god, where was this conversation going. you’re about to open your mouth to speak when your principle starts talking again. 

“the college has carefully assessed the situation and after thorough consideration, it has been determined that unfortunately, you will be unable to graduate at this time. this decision is a result of the impact of the controversy on the overall reputation and values of the institution”, he finishes and it takes you two seconds to fully understand the situation and what was exactly going on right now.

“what?”, you let out, shocked. “we know this might be sudden but we are-”, 

“no no, this is not fair, you can’t do this”, you interject. 

“it is fair, considering the reputation of our institution is on the line”, he adds. 

“excuse me?”, you scoff. “i'm in no way related to what is going on right now”, you add.

“it is involving your father”, he says. “exactly, my father, not me. so i do not see why you would have to go to this extreme”, you tell, not letting this go lightly.

“yn”, your professor says in a warning tone.

“four years. four years of my life i’ve spent studying and working hard and you’re just gonna throw that all away and not let me graduate over a controversy? over something that is not true let me tell you that”, you tell, upset. “that’s not right and not fair”, you add. “letting me graduate is the least you can do, it’s only a semester come on”, you plead. 

“the decision is final”, your principal tells. 

“what no, you can let me take the semester later, i can still graduate then”, you suggest, trying to be hopeful but the air in the room was tense.

“yn thank you for your time and we wish you all the luck in your future”, you principal tells, completely dismissing you. 

“you can’t do this, you’ll be hearing from me remember that”, you tell, standing up and pulling the door open, walking out. the hallways are thankfully relatively empty because it’s class hours and everyone was in the lecture halls or study rooms. but as you turn you bump into jaehyun. 

“jaehyun hi!”, you tell as you approach him. “i'm so sorry i haven’t been able to text you, i’ve been so occupied”, you tell as jaehyun barely looks at you as you speak, checking his phone, texting someone else. 

“i’m free this week though so i thought we could go out to dinner or something”, you suggest, hoping that maybe a date would help you get your mind off things.

“yeah i’m not sure about that”, he tells. “oh are you busy? we can-”

“listen yn, considering everything going on right now, i wouldn’t want to be seen with you”, he tells and you’re hurt by his words. 

“but i don’t see how that matters if you like me”, you tell, trying to hold it together. 

jaehyun only lets out a small laugh. “like you? i only dated you because you were rich, was a nice thing to boast about until your dad had to be revealed as a thief”, he tells, mocking you and his words sting.

“that’s not true”, you tell. “i hope he rots in jail”, he adds, before leaving, having completely trampled over your heart and feelings. 

you’ve completely forgotten about wonwoo and it’s only when you turn around that you see him, a few paces behind you and no doubt he heard everything, just great. you bite the inside of your cheek as you look down, walking ahead and walking straight to the car, embarrassed but also upset. you get in the car, not bothering for wonwoo to open the door for you and sit inside, tears welling in your eyes. wonwoo stands outside like he’s unsure, giving you a moment of privacy before you’re rolling down the window and telling him to drive you home.

the car ride is quiet and you’re just looking out the window the entire time, trying not to cry. it wasn't fair. any of this wasn’t fair. you just wanted to curl up and hide right now. you can feel your stomach rumbling, protesting for not being given breakfast and you sigh, putting a hand on your stomach. now that you were aware, you were actually really hungry. you had half the mind to stop somewhere and buy something but you didn’t want to deal with people right now. 

“did you eat breakfast?”, you ask wonwoo, feeling suffocated with the silence in the car. 

“not exactly, but i did eat something”, he informs. you nod your head, thinking of what else to ask him.

“so how come you chose this bodyguard business”, you ask, glancing over at wonwoo.

“it suits me, i’m good at it”, he replies, giving you a short answer. 

“right, i see”. 

a few more seconds of silence follows before wonwoo speaks. “are you okay?”, he asks, his eyes still trained on the road ahead of him. his question takes you aback. it had been ages since someone asked you that. are you okay? those three words that had the capability of making you rethink your life and look into yourself. were you okay? no, not really. life sucked right now and you wanted nothing more than to just curl up in bed and cry. 

“i-i don’t know”, you answer, letting out a sigh as your fingers play with your mother's ring on your hand, something you did when you were anxious or lost in thought. 

“i’m used to it, it’s fine”, you add quickly.

after a few more minutes, wonwoo is pulling up into your driveway and he parks the car, getting out. you don’t know how this man managed to walk so fast because just as you’re about to turn your body to open the door, wonwoo is already there, holding the car door open for you. 

“oh um thank you”, you tell softly as you get out. 

you realized it was going to take you a while to break into wonwoo’s wall and befriend him. it looked like he was going to be with you for a while, until the trial was over atleast so might as well become friends. he did prove to be a hell though, it was like talking to a robot, but who said you weren’t up for the challenge?

it’s a new week and wonwoo is driving you to the cat shelter since it’s your day to volunteer today. atleast during all these sudden changes in your life, this was a constant. it felt comforting in a way. the animal shelter was run by a sweet lady who also adored you. coming here always made you feel better, no matter how shitty your day had been. 

you enter the shelter and immediately all the cats recognise your scent and meow, as if they were welcoming you. the owner comes out to see what the commotion was about and smiles upon seeing you.

“yn! it’s so nice to see you”, she greets, pulling you in for a hug. 

“it’s good to be back”, you tell. 

“who’s this mystery man”, she asks, referring to wonwoo.

“my bodyguard. with everything happening and the trial and all, things are getting out of hand ”, you explain and she nods. “quite the catch isn’t he”, she says, teasing you and you chuckle.

“i'm so sorry to hear about all this though, just know i’m here for you”, she tells. 

“thank you”, you tell, grateful.

“well you carry on, i just need to finish writing these invoices and i’ll join you”, she adds, walking back to the office room and you’re left alone with all the cats.

“hello fluffy”, you tell, looking down to the cat who’s brushing against your legs, 

wonwoo stands at the side of the room like he’s been punished even though you again insist that he can sit down but he insists on standing. you sigh, whatever suited him. you turn your attention back to the cats surrounding you and start your duties. 

you had to clean their litter, feed them and make sure the ones who were on medication were given the medicine. after you’re done cleaning the litter, you realise you need to open a new bag of litter, the only problem? it was 15kgs heavy and in no way were you capable of lifting that huge bag to the litterbox area. you go back to the front and wonwoo is still standing, his hands neatly folded in front of him as he just stares at the wall. he really needs to relax you thought. you walk up to him, hands on your hip.

“i need your help, come here”, you ask and you hear the shuffle of wonwoo’s feet behind you as you walk. 

“can you help me lift this?”, you ask, holding one end of the bag. wonwoo doesn’t say a word as he holds the bag and lifts it himself effortlessly and carries it to where you want it. damn, he was strong. 

you fill up the box with new litter, washing your hands and come back to the front. 

“i have a surprise for you”, you hear the owner say and she walks towards one of the boxes covered by a cloth. she uncovers it and a second later you hear a high pitched meow, followed by another and another. 

“oh my god”, you squeal. “poe littered! i completely forgot she was due”, you tell, looking as she brings the box down and the kittens overflow out of the box in a frenzy, climbing out of the box and making their way towards you with their wobbly but determined feet. you bend down to see them and they’re adorable. you watch as the battalion of kittens make their way to wonwoo, climbing on his shoes and meowing up at him, ambushing him practically.

you giggle as one cheeky kitten even climbs up wonwoo’s suit and all the way to his shoulder, sitting there perched while wonwoo just stands there, completely ignoring the fact that he was being attacked by vicious kittens right now. 

“you should adopt that one, it likes you”, you tell as you hold a kitten in your hands, referring to the one sitting perched on his shoulder. 

“i already have a cat at home”, he tells and this piece of information makes you raise your brows in surprise.

“really? you have a cat”, you ask in surprise. “i do”, he answers quietly.

“oh my god, show me a picture”, you ask.

wonwoo only blinks at you. “i refrain from using my phone during work hours”, he tells smoothly and you roll your eyes. 

“come on wonwoo, don’t be like that. it’s fine, just show me”, you ask again. “please?”, you add and wonwoo looks at you for a few more seconds before he’s moving his hand to remove his phone from his jacket pocket. the kitten on his shoulder makes a move, almost about to fall but wonwoo is quick to catch it and it’s now sitting in the palm of his hand, as he operates his phone with the other hand. he turns his phone towards you, revealing the picture of his cat. 

“her name is oreo”, he tells.

“aww she’s so pretty and so cute!!”, you exclaim. wonwoo’s cat was gorgeous actually. she was a black cat with white paws, white whiskers and a patch of white on her neck and chest. 

“she’s a rescue too”, he adds, and that little piece of information lifts your heart. 

“that’s nice. her little white paws are adorable oh my gosh”, you tell as you smile up at wonwoo. “they’re like little socks”, you say, chuckling at yourself as you hand his phone back to him. you notice how the kitten in his hand was busy chewing the end of his tie. if you looked carefully, you could see the faintest hint of a smile on his lips right now as he watched the kitten playing in his hands. how cute.

wonwoo drives you back home after you finish all your duties at the shelter and you get a text from jeonghan about your father’s trial. the first trial was set for next week. 

you're just at home and you’re certainly not used to the intrusion to your sleep at 7am every day now when wonwoo comes to work to start his duties. you told him to stay at home and you’d call him if you needed him but no, he didn’t listen. so here he was at 7am on the dot everyday at your doorstep. you yawn as you open the door, mumbling something to wonwoo about changing his work timings to 9am instead. 

you’re brushing your teeth, walking around the room and you can see wonwoo standing as usual. you wash your face and head towards the kitchen. you needed coffee now. you glance towards wonwoo occasionally because honestly, even if he was just standing there, he looked so….effortlessly handsome. oh my god. you should not be having these thoughts right now. it was too early for this. you really needed some coffee to get your head straight.

“do you want some coffee?”, you ask wonwoo as you look at him.

“i’m good, thank you”, he says. of course he was going to say that.

“how do you like your coffee?”, you prod him again. 

“black”, he says.

and of course he likes his coffee black. 

“well, i like a latte, ice or hot depending on my mood, sometimes with caramel sauce if i’m feeling fancy but otherwise mostly plain”, you tell, dumping this piece of information onto wonwoo as you struggle to open your coffee powder jar. you try again but it wasn’t budging. you try again this time, trying to concentrate all your strength onto your hand, but it didn’t work and it wasn’t opening. without a word, wonwoo comes forward and offers to open it. he takes the jar from your hands and opens it effortlessly in one shot, probably because of his super strength. you mumble out a thank you and instead of letting him go back to that sad corner beside the wall, you ask him to take a seat in front.

“wonwoo, you should know that you standing there at the side of the room like you’ve been punished is just extremely weird. please sit, i’m not gonna kill you, seriously, i’m a nice person”, you explain, your hand pointing to the stool that was on the left of him. “i would prefer-”, he starts. “no, i would prefer if you just sat please. you’re supposed to listen to whatever i say right”, you tell, looking at him with your hands crossed over your chest.

he doesn’t say anything but finally takes a seat and you do a little celebration inside your head. “see! that’s so much better”, you tell, already feeling at ease. 

you continue making your coffee and you’re halfway through making your coffee when you hear your doorbell ring. you glance at wonwoo before putting your mug down. but wonwoo gets up, telling you he’ll check who it was. 

“who are you?”, you hear wonwoo ask as he opens the door and you walk up to the door, curious. “who is it?”, you ask and when the person comes into view, you let out an excited squeal.

“RANIAA”, you exclaim, accidentally pushing wonwoo to the side as you pull rania inside, only to see skye behind them. “OH MY GOD”, you exclaim again, pulling rania into a hug and then skye. meanwhile wonwoo just stands in the corner of the cramped doorstep, regaining his balance from your not so subtle shove.

“what are you guys doing here”, you ask, once all the excitement has toned down and both rania and skye are seated on the couch. 

“we’ve been seeing the news and everything that’s been happening”, skye says.

“so we came to support you, it must be so hard right now”, rania adds. 

“aw you guys are really the best”, you tell. it had been years since you last saw them, both of them having moved to different countries. though you guys were separated by distance, you were still connected by your unhinged and chaotic group chat.

“by the way, who’s the handsome hunk over there”, rania asks, not so subtly. 

“rania jeez, he’s my bodyguard calm down”, you tell but you don’t miss the glint in their eyes. 

“is he single”, rania asks and you glare at them.

“stop it”, you tell and skye chuckles beside you.

“wait, weren’t you dating jaehyun?”, skye adds and your face falls. “yeah about that, he uh dumped me”, you tell and skye is quick to pull you in a reassuring embrace. 

“this is your sign to date that guy, shoot your shot before it’s too late bestie”, rania encourages, making you laugh. 

“enough about me, how are you guys? how’s seungkwan and soonyoung”, you ask, eager to know more about them. you watch as rania and skye exchange a glance between themselves before looking at you.

“they’re coming here tomorrow”, they tell in unison and you almost yell. “really?”, you ask, shocked but also excited. 

“they wanted to see you too so we dragged them along with us, but there was a goof up with the plane tickets and they had to rebook on a different flight”, skye explains. 

“it’s okay, we can all go out together tomorrow”, you tell and they smile. 

rania and skye end up going back at the end of the day and poor wonwoo had to witness you three maybe talk a little too much. you were sure he was glad when he clocked off work, beyond relieved he didn’t have to hear you all chatter anymore. even though you told him he could leave early, that you were going to just be home, he again didn't listen to you, saying that he would stay, saying something about upholding his duty. rania bombarded him with too many questions and you were sure he was going to get more from seungkwan and soonyoung tomorrow, poor guy. 

the next day you’re excited to see your besties again and wonwoo is yet again standing near the wall like he’s a statue. you’ve given up at this point really. before they arrived, you briefed wonwoo on being nice to them, especially to seungkwan and soonyoung, who were probably going to hound him with questions again today. “don’t be mean to them if they ask you questions”, you tell, pointing a finger at wonwoo. “be nice to them okay?”, you tell, adding a little glare to make sure your point went across. 

you wear a simple yet cute outfit and before you know it, your house is filled with laughter and smiles as soonyoung and seungkwan greet you. 

“oh my god, it’s so nice to see you guys!”, you tell, excited as soonyoung and seungkwan smile back at you. “same here yn”, they tell. 

“we planned a little double date”, skye tells. “make it a triple date, you can ask wonwoo to join”, rania adds, winking at you and you roll your eyes at her.

“who is what”, seungkwan asks, finally noticing the other presence in the room.

“my bodyguard. given the current situation my father thought it would be best”, you explain. 

“woah he looks strong”, soonyoung adds and before you know it, both the boys make their way to wonwoo while you girls decide on where to go for your little double or well triple date.

“hello”, soonyoung says to wonwoo. wonwoo only responds with a small nod of his head, standing still. 

“how long have you been a bodyguard for?”, seungkwan asks.

wonwoo glances at seungkwan, looks him up and down before answering. “four years”, wonwoo tells. 

“woah! so how’d you become one? is there like a special training school for this?”, soonyoung asks, completely serious and utterly curious. 

“it’s a sub branch in the security industry”, is all wonwoo answers with. 

“can i ask you a question”, seungkwan asks, bringing his hand around wonwoo’s shoulder which wonwoo shrugs off in a second. 

“what do you think of yn?”, seungkwan adds, acting like he wasn’t just shrugged off by wonwoo.

“yn is my client”, wonwoo says, like he’s stating a fact.

“i know she’s your client dude but what do you think of her, you know?”, seungkwan adds, trying to knock some sense into wonwoo, who clearly didn’t have any romantic braincell.

“you should take her out on a date, cheer her up. i'm sure she feels bad about everything happening with her father and all”, seungkwan explains nicely.

“yeah!”, soonyoung adds. we’re going on a double date anyway, you can join us and it’ll become a triple date”, soonyoung adds with enthusiasm. 

wonwoo just stares at these two boys like they’re idiots before answering. “that’s not in my job description”, he tells.

seungkwan visibly gets annoyed. “man, you’re really dense you know”, he adds. “it’s gonna hurt your romantic life in the long run buddy”, seungkwan adds with a look. 

wonwoo doesn’t say anything and that was the last straw for seungkwan and he grabs soonyoung’s arm, both of them making their way to the couch where you were busy chatting.

“okay, so we’re getting sushi”, rania announces and everyone cheers. you guys headed to the sushi place, wonwoo, you, rania and skye in one car and seungkwan and soonyoung following behind in the car they rented. you reach the sushi place and you guys sit inside. it seemed like today was your lucky day because you didn’t see any paps around or didn’t anyone seem to recognise you. you all took a seat while wonwoo told you that he’d wait by the car. you asked him (while rania almost yelled at him to join us) but he was stern about staying by the car. you let him be because you didn’t want to inconvenience him at the end of the day. you weren’t going to cross his boundaries if he didn’t want to. you finish your sushi date and come home happy and satisfied.

later that week, you get to meet with jeonghan, your father’s lawyer, to see how things are going regarding your father’s trial. 

“so mr. jeon has been telling me you haven’t been going to college? i know things have been bad but missing classes in your last semester is not the thing to be doing”, jeonghan tells.

“he’s reporting to you now is he?”, you ask, your brow raised. “well i did hire him”, he adds.

“i’m not missing classes on purpose…it’s just that”, you start sighing. “they told me i can’t graduate because of everything happening and father’s controversy. something about damaging the institution’s reputation”, you tell and jeonghan sits up straighter.

“why didn’t you tell me anything before?”, jeonghan asks. 

“i was going to! but then it just slipped my mind, and i know you’ve been busy too”, you add, hoping to redeem yourself.

jeonghan gives you a knowing look. “yn this is no small matter, i will look into this and make sure you can graduate. this is a ridiculous thing to do”, he tells and you nod in approval. “thanks” , you tell and he nods.

“how are you finding your bodyguard?”, jeonghan asks and you already sigh.

“he’s so…i don’t know, he’s so good at what he does but also kinda intimidating. he barely speaks it feels like i’m talking to a wall half the time”, you tell, chuckling. “but he’s cute”, you add, that tiny detail making jeonghan laugh.

“i think it’ll take some time to befriend him but i’m on it”, you add and jeonghan gives you a look. “just don’t get too close”, he adds with a warning. 

you were at the library today, you needed an escape and books seemed like the perfect solace right now. you’re wearing a simple outfit, black jeans with a purple top and a jacket on top because somehow even though the sun was up, the air was chilly and windy. you’re busy arranging the books that have been borrowed back in their rightful places, already knowing which book and genre goes where. wonwoo follows you around silently while you’re aimlessly talking to him about each book you pick up and put back on the shelf, offering him information about it - if you had read it, if it was on your TBR, if it was good, bad or worth a read. wonwoo seemed to be listening to you keenly. you grab the next book, and start telling wonwoo about it.

“i read this book years ago and i still love it to this date, the characters were so funny. but if i’m being honest the guy in this book was kinda an ass”, you add, as you locate the book’s spot on the shelf that was all the way at the top. you went on your tiptoes to reach it, trying to place it but missed. “and now that i’m older, the girl in the book was also a bit stupid you know, like-” you continue, but you feel wonwoo come up behind you and see his hand reach out, taking the book from your outstretched arm and placing in on the shelf with ease. you turn around, looking up at wonwoo, who is now so close to you. 

“why do you think the character was stupid?”, he asks, looking at you curiously. you blink up at him before answering, your mind suddenly distracted as you try to form a coherent sentence. “you know like-it was young love and-uh and they did-some stupid things-that um-i only realised when i got older-”, you stutter out, a flustered mess as you continue to look up at wonwoo. he looked so pretty up close and you could smell his cologne, which only made you want to lean into his presence. you feel your cheeks heat up as you look at him, starting to get lost in his eyes, his gaze. the way he looked at you like nothing else mattered to him apart from you made your heart race. you could feel your heart thumping loudly against your chest as you opened your mouth to speak again but closed it as no words came out. you step to the side, trying to create some distance between wonwoo, but you end up tripping on the stool that was placed there, almost falling, but wonwoo is quick to catch you, his arms catching your waist as he pulls your body against his.

“watch where you step”, wonwoo says as he holds you, and you’re acutely aware of how his hands feel on your body, the way he holds you, strong but gentle. and the way he’s looking at you makes your mind seem to go blank and the faint feeling of butterflies erupts in your stomach. “t-thanks”, you quickly say before you straighten out and stand on your own. you quickly grab a book from the cart and turn around, trying to calm your over-excited heart as you pretend to walk ahead before wonwoo calls out for you. 

“isn’t the historical section that way?”, he asks and you look at the book in your hand. it was a historical book indeed. you huff out a breath and turn around, speed walking past wonwoo as you find the shelf and put the book back in place as you mutter to yourself about why wonwoo had to be so attentive, observant and stupidly attractive.

today is your father’s first trial and you were nervous,. even though jeonghan told you that you didn’t have to come, you wanted to. you knew your father needed your support right now, regardless of how rocky your relationship has been with him. so here you were in the car, nervous, while wonwoo was well, calm. but it was nice, having a calm energy near you, it sort of grounded you. 

you turn the corner to the court and god, it was crowded. people had surrounded the road and courthouse, media and paparazzi waiting to snap photos and cover the event. you realised how serious this was and what it would mean if your father was found guilty, shit.

you observed the crowd, ducking down in your seat a little, already feeling overwhelmed. you hated crowds, especially crowds like this. you knew it wasn’t the good type of crowd and the sense of dread was already pooling in your stomach. maybe you should just turn the car around and go home. your hand is anxiously playing with the ring on your finger and as the car pulls up to the entrance to the courthouse, you can hear the screams and yells of people and see the flashes of light go off as the media take photos. 

you gulp, anxious and the car comes to a halt. wonwoo swiftly gets down and he is quick to open your side of the car. it takes you a second to get out and the minute you get out, people surround you even more. If it wasn’t for the police barricade and wonwoo beside you, you were sure you’d have been trampled.

wonwoo is swift as he guides you inside, making sure no one touches you. he envelopes his other hand around your shoulder, but doesn’t touch you, having a gentleman’s hand while he guides you and you’re relieved once you step inside the building and the yells of people die down. you enter the trial room and take a seat. you spot your father and jeonghan and give them a small smile. your father - well he looked tired. you were just hoping jeonghan could get him through this because you don’t know what you were going to do otherwise.

the prosecution was really piling up all sorts of accusations against your father, but jeonghan was well prepared and defended whatever was coming up. firstly, according to what jeonghan had mentioned, there was no evidence or even if there was it could have been tampered with. the anonymous said person who was said to have tipped off the police with the evidence could not be trusted. jeonghan insisted that this person testify in court and that this anonymous person should be brought in for questioning. 

by the time the first trial is done, it’s already been four hours. the next trial would be held in a few days where witnesses will be brought forward to testify. but from the hush talks in the room after the court was adjourned, you could tell no one was really on your father's side. your father’s company stocks had dropped, brand deals were pulling out and things were obviously not in your father’s favour at all. you were going to try everything in your power to bring your father’s company back up again and prove to everyone that he was indeed innocent. because there’s no way he would have done those things, right?

as you manage to locate jeonghan, who sits down with you for a bit, he tells you about a message from your father. 

“you know the annual business charity club ball that your father attends every year right”, jeonghan says. “yeah”, you tell.

“well, obviously since you father cannot go this year, he’s asked you to go in his place”, jeonghan finishes and you give him a look.

“me? you know i hate that event”, you tell.

“but it’s been planned and it cannot be cancelled, not even in this situation. so, you’re going and it’s final. i will text you the location and date later. but please go, atleast for your father’s sake. he’s losing a lot of people right now so if you could try to restore people’s faith and trust in you and your father, it would be helpful”, jeonghan tells. 

“fine, i guess that’s the least i can do”, you tell as you look at jeonghan. “is he okay? he’ll be okay right?”, you ask and jeonghan nods. “he should be, i’m doing everything in my power to defend him”, jeonghan answers. 

you exit the meeting room with jeonghan and he takes off, saying he has to arrange some documents for the next trial. you weren’t able to meet your father because they didn’t allow you to right now which was a stupid rule. you walk out and you’re looking around for wonwoo but don't see him. and in your search for him, you make the mistake of walking towards the entrance, where the media people were. they spot you and in a second you’re surrounded, with people shoving cameras and mics in your face, bombarding you with questions, all talking over each other as you panic. you try to move but they follow you and soon, you’re being pushed outside and the people outside start yelling when they see you. someone shoves you and you lose your balance, almost falling as someone else grabs your left hand. you yelp out in pain as they yank your hand and just then you feel a figure come up behind you - wonwoo. his hand embraces your shoulder this time, as he holds out another hand to block people. you can feel the hand holding yours let go as wonwoo pries it off you and he pushes people back and people actually do move back because wonwoo meant business. he guides you to the car and you sit, finally away from the crowd. it’s only when you see wonwoo up front at the drivers seat that you realise you were sitting in the passenger seat behind. you didn’t mind though. wonwoo is swift to take a seat and you can feel him look at you through the rearview mirror. he doesn’t say anything, but starts the car and drives. 

by the time you get back home, it’s late, already hitting 10:30pm. it’s only when you are inside does wonwoo finally speak.

“it’s dangerous for you to go out alone”, he says, standing in front of you as you put you bag onto the countertop.

“i was looking for you but i couldn’t find you, i didn’t mean to wander off alone like that”, you try to explain. “it was all too sudden, i really didn’t know what to do”, you add. 

“just wait for me next time”, he asks,

“but where were you?”, you counter.

“i was at the east wing door, waiting for you to finish talking but when i looked inside, you weren’t there.

“oh, i think i exited from the door on the other side, that’s why”, you tell.

"if you don’t see me, call me next time, please”, he says and you nod in understanding. 

wonwoo’s eyes glance down to your hand, the slightest marks of a bruise visible. “is your hand okay?”, he asks, taking a step forward to examine it further. “yeah, it’s fine, it’s-”, you stop as you look at your hand, only to see it bare. your ring, it wasn’t there. you look down on the floor, thinking it must've fallen there but it’s not. your other hand caresses your empty hand where the ring used to be, hoping that it wasn’t really missing but you don’t feel it. you don’t feel the ring. you feel the panic start to set in as you realise what’s just happened. fuck. then it hits you, the courtroom. it must've been pulled off when your hand was grabbed. you had to go back there, you had to look for it.

“we have to go back”, you tell wonwoo, as you step forward, but wonwoo is quick to stop you. 

“yn, it’s late”, he tells sternly.

“no you don’t understand, i lost my ring, it must’ve fallen there, i need to find it”, you tell frantically and wonwoo doesn’t understand why you’ve become so worked up over a ring.

“it’s just a ring yn, you can get another one”, he tells and you snap your head up at him, visibly upset. just a ring? 

“it’s not just a ring wonwoo”, you tell, tears prickling in your eyes. “you wouldn’t understand, fuck, i have to-i have to find it”, you tell again but wonwoo’s hand is firm as he holds you back again. 

“yn”, he says. “no we need to go now”, you yell, pulling your arm loose from his grip “i’ll go myself”, you counter, trying to reach for the car keys on the counter but wonwoo pulls your hand away.

“yn we’ll go later alright”, he tells. “no no no we need to go now”, you yell again, a tear escaping your eyes, rolling down your cheeks slowly. your vision gets blurry and you move back, panic setting in. fuck how could you lose your mothers precious ring. 

“no no no, this can’t be happening”, you mumble. you try to feel for your ring again, hoping that it was all just a misunderstanding, but your finger was empty. you don’t hear wonwoo calling out to you as you ears start ringing and your eyes fill with tears again. “i’m such an idiot how could i lose it”, you tell yourself, beating yourself up over the incident.

wonwoo realised you were having a panic attack, and he also realised that what he said could have been triggering. “yn”, says, coming towards you and you feel the weight of his hands on your shoulders as he looks down at you and you look up at him, a few more tears rolling down your cheeks. “we’ll find your ring okay”, he says, his voice somehow grounding you back to reality. “i promise we’ll go back to find it, but not right now.”, he adds. another tear rolls down your cheek as you sniffle, looking up at wonwoo, feeling helpless. “we’ll find it right”, you ask, your voice barely a whisper. “we will”, he assures. 

wonwoo guides you to the couch and is quick to fetch you a glass of water. surprisingly, he takes a seat next to you, pushing the glass of water to you. you see him reach for something in his jacket pocket and then he reaches his hand out, offering it to you, his handkerchief. you gladly take the handkerchief and dab your cheeks dry, wiping your tears and sniffling as you try to calm down. wonwoo watches as you raise the glass to your lips and take a sip of water. there is silence between you both, unsure of what to say. you close your eyes for a few seconds, trying to gather yourself and your thoughts. 

“i’m sorry”, you mumble out, feeling bad at lashing out at wonwoo and maybe a little embarrassed about crying in front of him. you hated people seeing you cry.

“i should be sorry, it was insensitive of me to say that”, he says, as he watches you take another sip of water. you put the glass down, looking at your finger where your ring adorned it. 

“it was my mother’s ring”, you tell quietly after a few moments of silence. “after she passed away, it was the only token i had to remember her by”, you tell softly, lifting you head up to see wonwoo’s gaze soften as he looks at you. “it’s the only thing i have left of her”, you say, feeling yourself tear up again as you shift your gaze back down to your lap. you look back up at wonwoo and there’s something different about him, a softness in his gaze, his expression and language. “i’m sorry to hear about your mother”, he tells. you offer him a small smile. “it’s okay, i’ve come to terms with it, besides i was really young when it happened”, you add.

you glance at the clock on the wall, seeing the time and releasing that it was late, that it was past wonwoo’s working hours. “oh”, you say softly as your eyes glance at wonwoo and back to the clock. “i’m sorry if i held you back”, you say, referring to the time. wonwoo quickly checks the time on the wristwatch adorning his hand before he looks back up at you.

“i can stay, if you want me to”, he adds. “are you sure?”, you ask, unsure. he nods. “just another hour then”, you ask and he gives you a yes. deep down you were glad he was staying back. you didn’t think you could handle being alone right now, especially after what happened. 

there are a few more seconds of silence before wonwoo speaks, suggesting that you should eat dinner perhaps, considering you hadn’t really had a proper lunch either, being too anxious about your father’s trial. 

“i need a burger”, you tell after a few minutes of silence. “do you want me to place a delivery order for you?”, wonwoo asks. you shake your head. “no they don’t deliver, we’ll have to go there”, you tell and wonwoo looks unsure for a second. “it’s closeby, i’ll show you the way”, you tell, already standing up. 

you both get in the car and you show wonwoo the directions as he drives. you come by the place and park and you’re about to get out when wonwoo stops you. 

“wait, let me surf the area, see if anyone is there”, wonwoo tells, opening his door and stepping out. by anyone he meant the paparazzi of course. he walks ahead a bit, his eyes searching the area for anyone suspicious and that’s when you spot a girl sitting by the bench on the side looking at wonwoo. you knew what that look meant. wonwoo comes up by your window and you lower the glass, peeking out. you glance at the girl and then wonwoo, a laugh escaping your lips at your thoughts.

“what’s wrong?”, wonwoo asks, alert.

“that girl over there is totally checking you out”, you tell and wonwoo seems unfazed by this piece of information.

“i see three paparazzi, seems like they followed us. i suggest that you stay in the car and let me get you a takeaway”, wonwoo tells. 

“that girl is totally going to ask for your number”, you add and wonwoo blinks at you.

“she won’t”, he tells, dismissing your claims. 

“she totally will”, you counter and he raises a brow at you. 

“wanna make a bet”, you ask. “if you lose you have to buy me ice cream”, you tell. 

“what do you want me to get for you”, wonwoo asks, resting his hand on the car window. 

“get me the grilled burger with fries and extra sauce”, you tell, handing wonwoo your card. wonwoo takes it as you tell him not to forget the extra sauce, adding that he should get something for himself too.

after about ten minutes, wonwoo comes into sight and just as you predicted, the girl sitting on the bench stands up and engages in a conversation with wonwoo. however, it’s short lived and wonwoo is making his way towards your car and the dejected look on the girl’s face tells you everything you need to know. wonwoo gets in the driver’s seat with the bag of food, which smelled divine, tingling your senses already.

“she asked for you number didn’t she”, you tell, teasing him a little.

“she did not”, wonwoo tells and you fake gasp.

“she totally did, i read her lips”, you state and wonwoo shakes his head and gives in, amused.

“you owe me ice cream”, you state proudly, grinning at wonwoo.

“on what occasion?”, he asks.

“because you lost the bet”, you state.

“i remember making no such deal”, he tells, like he’s teasing you, as he hands you back your card.

“whatever, just know i’ll extort this ice cream out of you one day”, you tell as you reach for the bag food.

you eat your burger in joy, proud that wonwoo in fact did not forget the extra sauce. 

“did you not get anything?”, you ask, as you chew, looking at wonwoo.

“i will eat something at home, thank you for the concern”, he says. “don’t be like that!”, you tell, offering him a fry but he politely declines that too.

after you’ve devoured your burger and fries, you sigh content. “that was a good meal”, you tell, satisfied. “if only i could get a desert now”, you tell, implying to wonwoo.

“but i guess we should go, an hour is going to be up”, you tell. wonwoo steps out of the car and you’re about to ask him what he’s doing when he walks over to your side and opens the door for you.

“did you not want your ice cream?”, he asks and you look around before wonwoo tells you that the paps left. you smile and step out, happily walking up to the ice cream parlour that was right next to the burger joint. another hidden gem that served the best ice cream and sundaes.

you walk inside and sit in the corner booth all the way at the end. it gave you some privacy and was cozy. you don’t even glance at the menu before you’re telling wonwoo what you want. “a chocolate brownie fudge delight please”, you tell, grinning up at wonwoo who’s looking at you confused as he glances at the menu on the table, his eyes searching for the item you’ve just named.

“but that has two scoops of vanilla and two scoops of chocolate ice cream”, he tells. you only look at him, confused. “and a whole brownie with chocolate sauce and nuts”, he adds, like he’s questioning you.

“so?”, you ask.

“are you going to eat the whole thing?”, he asks and you scoff. 

“do not underestimate my ice cream eating abilities wonwoo”, you tell offended and just then the waitress comes, taking your order.

your sundae comes and you’re already smiling but when you take that first bite, it’s heaven and you sigh again, content with life right now. wonwoo looks at you like he’s still unsure that you can finish it. 

“do you want a bite? it’s really good”, you ask, pushing the bowl towards him. he politely declines again and you give him a look. 

“you know, you should live life more, because you only live once”, you tell, as you put another spoonful of ice cream in your mouth. “i mean of course if you’re allergic to nuts or lactose intolerant then that’s a totally different story, but otherwise if someone tells me that they don’t eat or don’t like ice cream, i wouldn’t trust them you know. because how can you not like ice cream? it’s like one of the best things to have been created. if you don’t like ice cream then there’s a serious problem”, you ramble on to wonwoo, who’s sitting opposite you, listening to you keenly.

“also you should really talk more, i feel like i’m talking to myself half the time because you never say anything or you're always finishing your sentences in two or five words”, you tell, oblivious to the fact there was chocolate sauce on the side of your lip. “we need to come to some sort of understanding because-”, you stop mid sentence as wonwoo’s hand reaches out to wipe the corner of your mouth gently. you stare at him for a couple of seconds before the weight of his actions hits you and you start coughing, flustered. wonwoo is quick to pour you a glass of water and offer it to you.

“are you okay?, he asks, looking worried and you nod. “y-yeah”, you respond, suddenly feeling shy. you eat another spoonful of the ice cream, looking down at the bowl as you chew, feeling your cheeks heat up and you glance back up at wonwoo, whose eyes are still trained on you, and he’s looking at you deeply like he’s trying to decipher what’s going on in your mind. the way he looked at you, god, it made you feel things.

“we’ll find my ring right”, you ask again as you take the last bite of your sundae. 

“i assure you that i will try my best to find it”, he replies. silence engulfs you both again.

“thank you for today”, you tell. “it was a nice distraction or change from the situation”, you tell, feeling grateful. you check the time on your phone and let out a small gasp at the time.

“oops, i guess i kept you for two hours instead of one”, you tell. “that’s not an issue”, he says. “if you ever need me, i’m always here”, he adds and somehow the way he says it feels soft, like this was his way of initiating friendship, telling you that he was indeed human and there was a sincerity in the way he said it. 

“thank you”, you say, giving him a genuine smile. wonwoo drops you off at home and then leaves, bidding you goodnight. you lay in bed, replaying the events of today in your head, thinking about wonwoo. even if he perhaps looked a bit cold and indifferent, he was actually really sweet, quiet, soft and gentle. you feel a blush creep up your cheeks as you think about what he did earlier and you turn over, burying your face into the pillow, letting out an annoyed groan as you kick your feet in the air.

you don’t sleep well that night, your mind wandering to your mother’s ring and all your thoughts filled with finding it. you would find it right? you wake up at an ungodly hour and still restless before falling asleep in the early hours of the morning. when you wake up, you sleepily walk out and see a cup of takeaway coffee from your favourite cafe waiting for you. you glance at wonwoo and then at the cup of coffee.

“i thought you might want some coffee”, he fills in. “oh god i did need some coffee, thank you wonwoo”, you tell, taking a sip, grateful for his sweet gesture. 

“when can we go find my ring? i really have to find it, i’ll never forgive myself otherwise”, you say, putting the coffee back on the counter as you go on a sleepy rant when wonwoo steps forward and holds out his hand. he opens it and lo and behold, your ring is there. your jaw drops and you look up at wonwoo. 

“no way. you found it, you really found it”, you tell as you take the ring, examining it like you were making sure it was really yours before slipping it back on your finger. 

you’re so happy and you jump at wonwoo, hugging him, “thank you thank you thank you”, you chant, feeling so relieved right now, like a weight had been lifted off your shoulders. that’s when you realise what you were doing, making you step back abruptly, clearing your throat. “i mean, thank you”, you tell again, as you compose yourself. he gives you an appreciative nod and a small smile and you feel your stomach do a little somersault.

a week later the next trial is being held. you didn’t go for this one, but you got updates from jeonghan and of course the news. the headlines about your father were also ridiculous, but you were used to it at this point really. it’s like the whole world was against your father right now, everyone hated him and you of course. people were angry and demanding justice and jail time, saying he stole taxpayers' money and that he owned the people back, that he should rot in jail for the rest of his life. you shake your head and open your front door to go water your garden when you see another small box on your doorstep. you had been getting these all week. they were threats and normally you should have been scared. but you thought it was a harmless joke. you’d gotten countless threats on the internet so you just assumed it was someone having some fun. shrugging it off, you decided to not tell wonwoo about this. 

the weird boxes continue to come, but you realise that they got progressively worse each time, the last two even had death threats, and threats about breaking into your house, but yet again, you didn’t take it seriously. you woke up later today, having trusted wonwoo with your house code so he could enter and start his duty and not have to wake you up at 7am every day. 

when you walk to the living area, wonwoo is there. “good morning”, he greets and you yawn, waving at him. “you got a parcel”, he tells and you look at the counter, recognising the box. “shit not another one”, you mumble but wonwoo is sharp to hear it.

you open it, and this time it’s a bunch of your photos, cut up weirdly. but the worst part, your heads were cut off in all of them and there was a cryptic message too. wonwoo comes forward, sees the letter and is quick to look at you. he reaches out for the letter, taking it from your hand before you can hide it and his eyes scan over the contents of the letter, his jaw clenched.

“this isn't okay”, he says. “it probably isn’t a big deal wonwoo, i’ve been getting them all week”, you blurt out, before realising it and you can feel wonwoo’s gaze get more intense.

“what? and you didn’t think to tell me?”, he asks firmly. “i didn’t want to make big deal out it, it’s probably harmless, i get stuff like this all the time online”, you tell.

“but this isn’t online”, he says, emphasizing his words.”and it's always not a big deal until something actually happens yn, this is dangerous”, he tells, clearly upset about this, raising his voice slightly.

he makes you show him all the mail and he looks stressed to say the least. “yn you should have told me about this”, he says, stressed. “how am i supposed to protect you if i don’t know about things like this”, he adds and you can feel his eyes drill into you. 

“i’m sorry wonwoo”, you say, feeling bad.

“well, it is a big deal and action will be taken”, he says.  “they know your address yn, do a lot of people know your address, where you live?”, he asks, making you think and that’s when you realise. “oh”, you say. “i mean paps are around my house all the time”, you tell.

“but this isn’t a pap”, he tells. “it means this person has been following you around”, he says. “you mean like stalking?”, you ask. “yes exactly”, he tells. you gulp, suddenly realising the weight of the situation.

wonwoo looked stressed the entire day even though you told him not to worry and that you’d karate chop anyone who came near you. he didn’t laugh at your joke, obviously, just keeping a straight face. that night, wonwoo seems apprehensive to leave, worried about the threats you were getting, but you assured him that you were going to be okay, that you were going to lock all your doors and windows and sleep. 

the letters and threats keep coming, each getting more violent and wonwoo doesn’t like it one bit. “we need to put some cctvs around your house”, he tells you. you argue that you don’t really need it, but he insists, and to be honest, in the long run, it could be useful so you cave in and he informs you that he’ll make the arrangements.

that night, you’re lying in bed, busy watching a show on your laptop. it was late, but you couldn’t sleep so here you were, catching up on a tv show. but that’s when you hear a noise from outside. you shrug it off and continue watching when your phone pings.

i can see you

what the fuck. you get up and try to look out the window, not seeing anything, but that’s when you hear a noise and you see the shadow of someone on the wall. it moves swiftly and you take a step back, scared. your phone pings again.

looking for me?

you swear you feel a shiver run down your spine. you hear a rattle on your window outside and you gasp, anxious as you tiptoe your way there and you swear you hear a laugh, making you jump.

did i scare you?

another text reads and you gulp, backing up. fuck. 

you scramble to unlock your phone and you dial wonwoo, not knowing who else to call. he doesn’t pick up on the first go and you hear the heavy boots of someone outside before you hear your glass window break, a stone getting thrown inside. you dial wonwoo again and he picks up.

“wonwoo, fuck, there’s someone here, i think they’re trying to break in”, you tell in a panic and the phone gets disconnected as you yelp in pain as a small stone from outside that hits your hand, breaking the window furthur as glass shatters everywhere. you hand stings and you clutch your hand as you try to ground yourself. you start panicking, and getting anxious, tears brimming in your eyes. your phone slips from your hand, landing with a thud on the ground. you try to reach out for it but end up getting cut from the glass you couldn’t see in the dark. you suck in a breath as you feel the sharp cut burn and you move back as you sink to the floor, hugging your knees to your chest, hiding under the dining table. what if wonwoo didn’t come you thought as a tear escaped you. you had to get yourself together. but then another stone gets thrown shattering your already broken window. shit, what if someone came in right now. this wasn’t good. your thoughts only add fuel to your panic and you just try to huddle under the table, your hands shaking.

you don’t know how much time passed and you don’t even hear your front door open as wonwoo runs in. “yn?”, he calls out. your house was still dark and you can hear the crunch of glass as he steps on it with his boots, cursing under his breath.

he calls your phone which had fallen down, as it lights up and rings. “yn?”, he calls out again, an edge to his voice, seeing your phone that was discarded on the floor.  you raise your head, accidentally hitting it on the top and you wince. you hear wonwoo’s feet shuffle around and he bends down, finally locating you. he offers you his hand and helps you up, which you gladly take. he’s quick to assess your state, guiding you to your bedroom because of all the glass that’s scattered on the floor. he locates the switch and turns on the light and you wince a bit from the sudden intrusion of light. you sit down and wonwoo sits beside you. “are you okay? are you hurt?”, he asks, looking at you carefully before he spots the cut on your hand, bleeding badly. you don’t know how he found your first aid kid, probably his super senses. wonwoo’s sitting next to you as he aids to your cut. he gently holds your hand. “it’s going to burn a bit okay”, he says before he dabs the cut and you wince when the disinfectant comes in contact with your cut, the sting burning and you close your eyes. he wipes it a few more times before letting it dry a bit and covering it with a bandaid. he can tell you’re still pretty shaken up, in a state of shock because of how quiet you are and the way your eyes are still glossed over and teary.

“it’s okay, we caught the person”, he says, trying to help you ease up. “he was running away just as i came and i caught him. he’s with the police right now, but you’ll have to go to the station to answer some questions tomorrow”, he explains. 

“he’s gone?”, you ask and he nods and you feel yourself relax a little. you were okay. it was going to be okay.

“i thought you weren’t going to come”, you mumble out. “i would come running for you”, he says, making you look at him. his gaze is soft as he looks at you. “really?”, you ask, softly as you start to get lost in his gaze. “yes”, he says as he holds your gaze.

once everything is settled, he stands in front of you. it was 1am now. “i’ll see you tomorrow then”, he said and he turned around to leave when you grab the end of his shirt sleeve. he turns around, looking down to his hand that you held onto his sleeve before he looks up at you. “can you stay?”, you ask softly, peering up at him. “i’m a little scared”, you add softly, your hand still tugging on the end of his sleeve. “but if you have to go, i understand,” you tell, reluctantly letting go of his sleeve. “i’ll see you tomorrow anyway”, you tell, feeling like you don’t want to burden wonwoo anymore.

“it’s okay, i can stay”, he says. 

you tell wonwoo to sleep in the guest bedroom, practically dragging him there because he said he’d sleep on the couch. there was no way he was going to sleep on the couch, especially after the windows got broken there. wonwoo was a bit stubborn, but he finally gives in after you threaten to lock him in if he doesn’t listen to you.

you say a small goodnight before you retreat back into your own room. you fall asleep, only to be awoken as you suddenly feel hot. your head is heavy and you don’t feel good. you needed water. you stand up, feeling a little dizzy before you steady yourself and open your door, heading to the kitchen. you turn on the light and reach out to fetch glass from the counter but your grip falters and it falls to the ground, shattering. you curse under your breath. you’re about to bend down to clean it up but you hear wonwoo call out for you.

“yn?”, he asks as he steps into view, taking in the sight of you and the broken glass. he’s prompt to walk closer. “are you okay?”, he asks. “yeah, it just slipped”, you tell softly. his gaze on your lingers before he’s swift to pick you up and place you on the counter and you don’t even have the chance to protest about it. “let me clean this up okay”, he tells and is quick to remove all the glass and neatly sweep the area. your head is throbbing and you don’t feel too good, your head feeling heavy. 

“are you okay?”, wonwoo asks again, observing you keenly and he can tell that something is off about you, that you don’t look okay. “y-yeah”, you say softly, answering him. “you can tell me if something is bothering you yn, i’m here for you”, he adds, his eyes still trained on you and you feel utterly exposed when he looks at you like that, like he can tell exactly what you were thinking and feeling. you gulp.

“i-i don’t feel too good”, you finally admit.

he raises his hand to gently press the back of his hand to your forehead and you watch how his eyebrows furrow.

"yn you’re burning up”, wonwoo says, checking your temperature again. you hop down from the counter, not listening to wonwoo as his arm comes up to wrap around your waist to steady you as you stumble slightly.

“yn, you need to get back to bed”, he instructs, a worried edge to his voice. before you know it, he’s scooping you up in his arms and carrying you bridal style back to the bedroom and you don’t have it in your to say anything as he gently lays you down, adjusting your pillow for you. he’s quick to fetch you a glass of water. he asks you if you have any fever or headache medication and you shake your head lightly indicating that you didn’t have any. he tells you he’ll be back, that he’s just going to the pharmacy around the corner and you lay in bed, under the covers. the throbbing in your head only gets worse and you start to tear up. you fall asleep for a few minutes but awaken when you hear wonwoo’s softly call out to you. you turn around, sniffling and wonwoo can tell you were crying, his expression softening as he sits down next to you. 

he helps you take the medication for your fever, telling you that it is going to be okay, that he was right here. your hand brushes against his as you lay as you slowly fall asleep. you feel when his hand move and you reach out, grabbing onto his fingers. “stay, please”, you mumble, half asleep, holding onto his hand as you finally fall asleep. 

you wake up in the morning and feel a bit better, sitting up. you’re about to get up when wonwoo enters, spotting you awake. “how are you feeling?”, he asks. “a bit better”, you tell, still feeling a little tired.

“i’m sorry for keeping you up”, you add softly, looking at him. “you can take the day off today, i’m just gonna be at home”, you add. 

“it’s not an issue”, he fills in. “i got you some rice porridge, you should eat some and take the medication again”, wonwoo informs. he offers to bring it to you but you decline, saying you wanted to get out of bed anyway. he’s a little hesitant but walks with you to the dining table where he brings the bowl of porridge to you.

you nibble on a few bites of the food, wonwoo keenly watching you and you feel like you’re being stripped bare again by the way he looks at you. “sorry if i kept you awake”, you tell, feeling a little bad. 

“don’t apologise yn, i’m more than happy to be around and help”, he says.

after you eat a bit and take your medication, you sleep for a bit more, while wonwoo arranges for your windows to get fixed. you wake up after a few hours and you walk out. wonwoo is there, talking to one of the workers before he spots you in the corner of his eye. he’s dressed in rather casual clothes compared to his daily suits. today was just trousers with a shirt and blazer jacket. he still managed to look good. you were sure he would look good in everything. but the one thing you noticed was his hair, it was down, his bangs falling over his head. and somehow it softened his look, he looked so pretty. wonwoo makes his way towards you, greeting you. 

“sorry if all the noise woke you up”, he says as he takes in your appearance.

“it’s okay, i was up anyway", you say.

“they’re almost done”, he adds and you retreat back to your room, crashing in bed as you cuddle your pillow and you’re falling asleep again.

later that week, wonwoo was extra tight on security, he installed cctv cameras outside and the guy who was stalking you was put on a restraining order and fined. jeonghan had also messaged you about all the details about the charity business ball you had to attend in your fathers place. he said going to the ball would sort of put in a good word about your father while jeonghan was working on the trials, even though everything still looked uncertain as ever and the hate for your father just got worse.

the only thing you hated more than parties were parties that were held in the middle of nowhere. your dad always hosted this party at this venue in the middle of nowhere really, far from the city, saying the change of scenery added to the value and taste of the ball. you’d never gone to this charity business ball he’d hosted even though he’d invite you. you hated parties and all the people that came with it. it was tiresome and you’d much rather be at the comfort of your own home.

the charity ball was the news of the week, everyone was covering this and you’d bet some media people were going to be there being their nosy selves as usual. you end up meeting with your usual stylist - hwasa and she’s more than happy to curate a bunch of outfits for you to try on and see which one works for the event. wonwoo accompanies you, standing in the corner of the room while you try on the twelfth dress, already exhausted by the whole process.

but out of all the dresses you tried, you’d liked this one the best. it was a white satin dress with full sleeves and you loved it.  it fits you the best too. you step out, looking for hwasa but she’s not there, probably gone to get a few more dresses. you see wonwoo, his eyes catching yours and you see the way they change, widening a little before going back to his stoic expression. 

“how do i look?”, you ask wonwoo, looking at him expectantly. he clears his throat before speaking. “you look pretty”, he says and you give him a look. “just pretty? you have to give me more wonwoo. how do we like it from the other dresses?”, you ask, prodding him.

“it’s the best fit compared to the others and compliments you well”, he adds. “right! i thought so too!”, you tell, smiling. just then hwasa appears, smiling as she sees you. “this is the one”, she says as she looks at you and you do a little twirl for her. “yup, let's go with this one”, you tell.

you decide to get an outfit for wonwoo too, you wanted him to look good so you send him with hwasa to get him an outfit, even though he said that he was alright, you insisted.

after the day is over, you head home, tired. the charity ball was on the weekend and it was already wednesday. you were not looking forward to this at all but you were only doing it for your father’s sake. and after all, the company was going to come into your hands later so you might as well show them who you are and what you were capable of, right?

you were supposed to ideally leave on friday night to the venue and stay at a hotel nearby, but you were nervous and somehow at last minute, the hotel you booked cancelled on you, so you just decided to go on the same evening, except it would be a three hour drive. you’re a frantic mess that morning. from going to hwasa’s studio to get your makeup and hair done, and you go back home, leaving from there after changing. the only hitch was they didn’t have the shoes you chose in your size even though it was ordered but it didn’t come on time, so now you were stuck with shoes that were a tad bit tight, but you had to put up with it in the name of fashion. 

you’re all ready and you hear a knock on your door. “the car is ready, i’ll be waiting outside”, you hear wonwoo tell.

"i'll be there in a minute", you yell out as you quickly check your appearance in the mirror before you head out. it was going to be okay hopefully, but you couldn’t help the feeling of dread already pooling in your stomach. you give yourself a smile in the mirror before walking out, your shoes already starting to feel uncomfortable. you have your small handbag with your stuff and grab your house key, locking up before turning around and your jaw almost drops on the floor because holy shit.

wonwoo. he looked gorgeous. he was wearing a black turtleneck paired with a black blazer. his hair was styled but over his forehead and he was wearing glasses. god. you stand there for a whole 30 seconds just staring at wonwoo because wow, he looks so hot right now. you’re not even looking when you take the next step, completely misplacing where you put your foot, tripping down the step but you feel a pair of hands grab your waist, steadying you as wonwoo is quick to catch you. your hands are draped on wonwoo as you look up at him and suddenly he’s so close and he smells so good. you can smell his cologne and it just draws you in more. you’re staring at wonwoo, surprised and your eyes flicker down to his lips for a split second before glancing back up. 

“woah are you okay”, he asks, worried as he helps you get back on your feet, his hands still lingering around your waist. 

“y-yeah”, you mumble out, clearing your throat, and you’re acutely aware of his hands on your body again, making your cheeks heat up. your hand is still clutching wonwoo’s hand before you pull your hand away, gulping as you look down.

you sit behind because your dress needs space so it won’t crease and you glance at wonwoo occasionally as he drives, his side profile is so pretty. he looked pretty hot with glasses and you were suddenly wondering why he didn’t wear them more often. you shift your legs and feel a dull pinch in your feet as you look at your heels. you’d have ideally removed them in the car but it had the most confusing way to tie them up and they’d been tied nicely already. you didn’t want to ruin that so you let it be, sighing. but little did you know that wonwoo would also occasionally look back at you through the rearview mirror. he thought you looked gorgeous tonight.

the car ride is silent except for some soft music playing and your mind starts wandering to the event, trying to prepare yourself for what was to come.

you can tell you’re close when you see all the lights and the venue up front along with the bunch of cars. you take a deep breath, trying to ease your nervousness. your nerves start to hit you more as the car stands in line to walk to the red carpet. you can hear the people, the fans and see the countless media and news reporters who’ve come to cover the event. 

soon it’s your turn to walk the red carpet and get to the ball. you’re so nervous that your hands are almost shaking and you hate it. you hate the flashes and the crowd already. the car comes to a halt and wonwoo gets down, rushing to your side and opening the door for you. now that the door was open, all the noise was amplified. you take a breath before you see wonwoo offer his hand to you and you look up at him, the look of panic evident on your face as you get up, and wonwoo can feel the way your hand shakes in his, giving you a small but somewhat comforting squeeze as you put on a fake smile as you step out. you walk ahead, posing for a few pictures before you walk ahead, wonwoo walking behind you. 

you get in and you’re greeted by a bunch of people, some you know, some you don’t. most of them were your father’s business partners, people he worked with or were friends and relatives. the rest were just invited for courtesy. 

you’re offered a glass of champagne as you enter and you take it, and walk ahead. but as you walk you can feel everyone’s eyes on you, you can feel the weight of their gazes and they all talk in hushed voices as you walk past. you see your father’s friends and go up to them, greeting him.

“hello”, you say nicely and they greet you but are rather hostile. they make small remarks about your father and his situation, joking about not wanting to be seen with you as to protect their reputation. they’re laughing as you’re just standing there, trying not to lose it as you excuse yourself and walk away. your father really had shitty friends, you had to say that. you turn around and spot wonwoo to the side of the room at the back, along with all the other bodyguards as his eyes find yours. you give him a small smile and he nods, smiling ever so softly.

you walk around and talk around to a few people, some feigning sympathy and pity for your dad while others downright insult him. you countered these claims to every person, saying he didn’t do it but they all just laughed or shook their heads. finally, it was time for the ball and event to begin and you took a seat. as you were the host have to technically open the thing so here you were, walking up to the stage, your feet killing you already and your nerves ready to snap at any second. as you take the stage and see the sea of people in front of you, you feel the anxiety pool in your stomach and you gulp. you can feel everyone’s eyes on you, boring into you and suddenly you feel like you’d committed a thousand crimes and everyone was judging you.

“good evening ladies and gentlemen”, you say, giving the audience a small smile. 

“i am here tonight on behalf of my father, but i welcome you all and would like to thank you all for coming. the proceeds raised at this ball will be going to children and people in need. thank you for coming once again and have a great night”, you tell, people clapping and you walk off.

another host takes over from here and you walk down the stage, holding your dress up as you look down and see someone you really did not want to be seeing right now - your dad’s business partner's son, who was a #1 asshole.

he’d always been a snob and you almost roll your eyes at the sight of him. you see people writing cheques and putting them in the donation box and in the other room people were dancing to the live band who were playing music.

“hello yn, long time no see”, he says, flashing you his smile, which you didn’t reciprocate. “hi”, you say.

“nice party”, he adds. “thanks”, you say.

“i would like to offer you the first dance”, he asks, giving you a mischievous smile. “oh no that’s alright”, you say but he doesn’t listen.

“come on, don’t be a spoilsport”, he says, taking your hand and taking you along with him to the other side of the room. and soon, his hand is on your waist and he’s smirking at you as you both slowly move. you can see people looking at you but you try to ignore it.

“how’s your dad? i bet things are hard right now”, he says.

“yeah, but i’m sure the truth will be revealed at the end”, you say.

he laughs, making a few snide remarks about your father, which you try to ignore. but suddenly you feel the thread you’re trying to hold onto snap and suddenly the music is too loud, you don’t like the way he’s holding your hand too tight or the way his hand on your waist is going lower and you try to pull away but he doesn’t let you. 

“oh i’m sure the truth will be revealed soon”, he says and he leans in, whispering in your ear. “that your father is a crook”, he tells, smirking and he looks at you and you pull your hand away. you walk away, watching as people’s gaze turn towards you but you ignore it, the tears pooling in your eyes as you make your way to the restroom. you enter and lock yourself in one of the stalls, letting a few tears roll down. you hear the door open and a few girls.

“did you see her?”, one of them says.

“i can’t believe she had the audacity to come really”, another girl says.

“she’s so shameless. if my father was jailed i would like never to show my face to anyone.”, a girl adds and the others laugh.

“probably got spoiled from her father’s rotten money”, another girl tells, and they all snicker as they leave.

hearing this only makes you more upset and more tears well in your eyes as you cry silently. you didn’t want to be here anymore, you wanted to be alone, you wanted to leave. you wanted to leave now. panic rises in your chest again along with anger. your eyes well with tears as you walk down the basement where the cars were parked. thank god you had your spare car key with you and you locate your car, getting in and driving off. you grip the steering wheel hard, making your knuckles turn white as you drive. you don’t even know here you’re going, you just know you had to get out of here. you don’t know how long you’ve been driving for, when you realise you don’t even know where you are. you had gotten a couple of texts from wonwoo but you ignore it and soon wonwoo was calling you but you ignored it too. you didn’t have the energy to deal with him right now. you wanted to be alone. 

your car suddenly sputters and breaks down in the middle of the road in almost the middle of nowhere. the road was empty and you couldn’t see anyone or any other cars, people or buildings, fuck. you bury your head in your hands, crying out in frustration as you think about what to do. well you guess now was a good time to call wonwoo. 

wonwoo picks up your phone almost immediately. he’d seen you dancing but after that, during the entire party he didn’t see you. now that it was almost over and he still couldn’t locate you, he was obviously worried. he’d texted you and called you countless times but you weren’t responding, leading him to think something might have happened. he’s a frantic mess as he desperately tries to look for you, calling you, but you don’t respond. 

“yn? yn are you okay”, wonwoo’s voice is urgent on the other line of the phone.

“wonwoo”, you tell softly, nearly on the verge of tears again. 

“where are you? are you okay?”, he asks and that’s all it takes for you to burst into tears again, feeling like the whole weight of the world was on your shoulders.

“yn, please tell me where you are”, he pleads, concern laced in his voice.

“i don’t know”, you tell, your voice cracking, more tears rolling down your already tear stained cheek. 

“i got overwhelmed and i left, i took the car and i drove and i-i don’t know where i am”, you tell through broken sobs. “and now the car broke down, god knows where”, you add, sniffling. 

“send me your live location, i’ll track you”, he says. “stay in the car and lock the doors, i’m coming”, he assures. “can you stay on the line with me”, you ask. “of course”, he fills in.

wonwoo discovers you’ve driven a whole 45 minutes away and he assures you that he’s coming. but only ten minutes in your phone dies. “fucking phone”, you mumble as you look at the dark road. ten minutes pass and now you start getting scared. wonwoo was going to come right? blame your stupid anxiety but you thought of the worst scenarios that could happen, only psyching yourself more. the car feels more suffocating by the minute and your shoes feel like they're getting tighter. panic sets in stronger and you can’t take it anymore, can’t take the tightness in your shoes and you hastily undo the laces and pull off your shoes, wincing slightly when you feel it scrape against the back of your ankle. you close your eyes and try to take a few deep breaths.

after what feels like an eternity, you see a car pull up near you. you can’t make out anyone, the light almost blinding, but you see someone step out, making their way to your car. you open the door and step out, hearing the voice calling your name - wonwoo. relief immediately floods through your body as you run towards him, crashing into his arms as you start sobbing in his chest, your arms wrapped tightly around his body. he’s a little taken aback but his hands engulf you, pulling you in for a warm embrace.

“i thought you weren’t going to make it”, you mumble out, your arms wrapped around wonwoo as you start to cry. “of course i’d come yn, i gave you my word”, he says, his hand coming up to cradle your head.

“my phone died and i-i didn’t know what i was going to do”, you mumble out, looking up at wonwoo. he studies your face, his gaze softening as he takes in your state and your tear-stained cheeks. you’ve cried a lot today. you finally drop your hands from around wonwoo, letting him go. wonwoo looks down and sees you’re barefoot. “where are your shoes?”, he asks. “they’re in the car, it was getting uncomfortable”, you say. wonwoo is quick to grab your phone, keys and bag from your car and to your surprise, there’s a pair of sneakers. he puts them in front of you, bending down to help you put them on. “where did you get those?”, you ask, surprised. “i like to be prepared”, he informs, helping you wear the shoes before standing back up and your hand automatically grab his hand, intertwining your fingers in his, hoping to find some grounding through his touch.

wonwoo asks the cab to take you both to the nearest hotel, which was roughly ten minutes away from where you were according to the cab driver. you’re still holding wonwoo’s hand and he lets you as you try to calm down. you see a building up ahead and the cab driver tells you that this is the location. you both enter, walking up to the reception and the lady there looks up as you both up.

“we’d like two rooms please”, wonwoo asks. 

“unfortunately we only have one room left”, the lady says.

“we’ll take it”, you chirp in and wonwoo looks at you. 

“it’s a couple suite so i can only book couples in it”, she says, chewing on gum, looking bored to even be there. “are you a couple or”, she asks.

“no” “yes”, you say and you both look at each other.

“we are, ignore him, he’s a little shy”, you tell and she just looks between you both again. 

“alright, how would you like to pay, cash or card?” the lady asks. you dig through your purse and find your card, handing it over and you have your room key. wonwoo notices the way you’re walking slowly this time, watching your face contour in the slightest of winces with each step. “are you hurt?”, he asks, walking forward as he puts his hands on your shoulder, his eyes raking your body for any sign of discomfort or hurt. “no-my shoes-ouch-were the wrong fit”, you fill in. “i think i got a shoebite from them”, you say as you look up the flight of stairs you’d have to climb mentally bracing yourself when you feel wonwoo’s hands wrap around you and lifting you up bridal style. you let out a small surprised yelp, your arms wrapping around wonwoo’s neck for support. 

“woah w-what are you doing?”, you stutter out, looking at wonwoo, whose face is barely inches from yours. “your feet are already hurt, i don’t want you climbing up the stairs in that state”, he announces, carrying you as he walks up the stairs. you feel that familiar heat creep up your cheeks and that tiny feeling of butterflies as you look at wonwoo. he looked really pretty up close, his hair falling over his forehead as his glasses sat perfectly on the bridge of his nose. you reach your room and unlock the door, wonwoo still carrying you and he sets you down. you tell him a quiet thank you as your hands are quick to slide off the sneakers, feeling instant relief. but just has you had predicted, you got shoebites. both the sides of your pinky toes and heels were bruised and raw.

wonwoo fetches something from his wallet - bandaids. you’re surprised. “so you just carry around bandaids in your wallet??”, you ask, amused. “like i said, i have to be prepared”, he says. you try to take the bandaid from his hand, telling him that you’d put it on but he doesn’t let you as he bends down on one knee so now he’s matching your height. he gently places your foot on his knee has he puts the bandaid your heel. he repeats the same for your other heel before you put your leg down and wonwoo looks at you.

“i’m sorry”, you tell softly, gazing into his alluring eyes. “are you mad at me? it’s valid if you’re mad at me because i just ran off and completely ignored your calls and-”. you stop when you feel his hand gently squeeze yours, a small act of assurance. “you’re safe now and that’s all that matters”, he says, his voice deeply soothing. you smile, leaning in to peck his cheek. “thank you wonwoo”, you tell and he gives you a soft smile as he gets up. little did you know that wonwoo’s heart was racing from your little action as he tried to maintain his composure.

wonwoo wanders off to another room but comes back outside. “there’s only one bed”, he says, like it’s a fact. “so?”, you ask, getting up.

“i guess i’ll sleep on the couch over there”, he says, pointing towards the couch that looked like anyone would wake up with back pain if they slept on it. 

“wonwoo it’s fine, we’re just gonna sleep”, you tell. “you’re acting like sleeping in the same bed is a crime”, you say. “i would prefer not to interfere-” “sleep on the bed or i’ll take the couch”, you threaten.

but now there was a bigger problem than the bed, you didn’t have any change of clothes. thankfully the hotel sold some stuff as merchandise and t-shirts and pants were in the collection too. 

you go to the bathroom and change, finally stripping out of your dress and you hang it up to air, changing into the clothes you got.  your feet still hurt a bit when you walked because they’d been cramped up in those tiny shoes for too long. you walk out, your eyes widening as you catch wonwoo changing his shirt and you immediately turn around, your cheeks flushing. “sorry”, you mumble before turning around after a few seconds. but you did not miss the peek you got at his abs, oh my gosh. 

you mentally slap yourself and sit on the corner of the bed, a yawn taking over you as you glance at the time - 2am. you were tired, it had been a long and exhausting day. you settle in bed, wonwoo sitting on the single couch opposite you, his hair slightly ruffled now from him running his hands through it, and yet it somehow still looked fluffy. wonwoo told you he’d sleep in a bit and you close your eyes, dozing off immediately, sleep overtaking your tired body. but you wake up an hour later because of a loud crack and boom and the heavy downpour of rain. you stir awake and another lighting strikes, flashing into the room before a low rumble follows. you open your eyes and see wonwoo, who’s busy reading a book under the dim lights. you sit up slightly, another loud thunder hitting making you jump as you hit your head on the headboard, startling wonwoo as well. 

“yn? are you okay?”, he asks, putting the book down and coming up to you. another loud thunder rumbles, shaking the ground and you cover your eyes, closing your eyes. you hated thunderstorms. “what’s wrong?”, wonwoo asks, sitting down beside you on the other side of the bed. “n-nothing i just don’t like loud noises and thunder”, you meekly say, still sleepy from the sudden intrusion. “it’s dumb i-”, you stop when another earth rumbling thunder hits, making you jump again. “can i hold your hand? it helps me calm down”, you ask softly, a little embarrassed, but wonwoo offers you his hand. it feels warm, soft and safe as you hold it and wonwoo makes himself a bit more comfortable as he sits next to you. 

“what were you reading? '', you ask, letting wonwoo’s hand go after two minutes and now that you are a bit more awake, you take in wonwoo’s look. even in the dark, you could make out his hair was now messily dishevelled which only added to the charm and the glasses god, he looked so hot. you weren’t even listening to what he was saying as your hand fiddles with your ring on your finger. wonwoo looks at you and tilts his head to the side ever so slightly.  

“what are you thinking about?”, he asks, his voice deep.

“n-nothing”, you fill in, feeling embarrassed about your thoughts. “how do you know i’m thinking about something”, you ask, trying to get the upper hand on wonwoo, only for it to backfire on you.

“you’re fiddling with your ring, and you only do that when you’re thinking about something or something is bothering you”, he says. well damn, he was a keen observer. 

“oh”, is all you say as you look at your ring, biting your lip before you look back up at him.

“nothing, it’s really stupid”, you tell but wonwoo looks like he wasn’t going to budge until you gave him an answer.

“i’m sure it’s not stupid”, he adds, trying to reassure you, waiting expectantly. fuck it you think.

“i was just thinking about um”, you start getting nervous, your cheeks heating up and you avoid his gaze, stuttering out the next words. “i was thinking about how-um-how good you look with glasses. it really brings out your features you know and it makes you look really hot. you should wear them more often”, you confess, whispering the last bit, the familiar heat creeping up your cheeks. he doesn’t say anything, but you swear you can see the faint smirk as his lips curve up. you look away, his gaze on you suddenly too intense for you to bear. 

“okay your turn, what are you thinking about”, you ask in a hurry, hoping it would turn the attention away from you.

“do you really want to know?”, he asks slowly and you nod your head, looking at him. “you don’t talk much do you, so i’m guessing there must be a lot on your mind”, you prompt. he’s silent for a few seconds before he speaks.

“i’m thinking about what a wonderful person you are”, he says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “i’m thinking about how you are only so caring and attentive towards others but yourself. i’m thinking about how the whole world seems to have a wrong impression of you, and that you don’t deserve any of the shitty things happening to you right now. i’m thinking about when it will all end and when you’ll be able to be happy”, he says, his words completely catching you off guard. each of his thoughts strike a chord in you and you almost tear up. out of everyone, it seemed like only wonwoo was on your side. 

“wonwoo”, you say softly, at a loss for words. you don’t even know when you leaned towards wonwoo but your eyes flicker down to his lips for a split second before you look back up. “i’m thinking about how gorgeous you looked tonight and that if i had the chance i would have asked you for a dance earlier tonight if not given the current circumstances”, he adds, his gaze never leaving yours as he stares into you deeply, fondly as he opens up to you.

“and as of this moment, i’m thinking about how it would be to kiss you”, he fills in and you blink up at him, getting nervous at his confession. you answer him by leaning in and softly pecking his lips, lingering for a few seconds before you pull away but still close enough that has your heart beating rapidly. 

wonwoo leans in, kissing you, properly this time. his hand gently cups your cheek as he moves his lips against yours and you swear you feel butterflies erupt in your stomach at that moment. you kiss him back and you move your head, accidentally knocking his glasses, making you both pull away. “oops sorry”, you say, a little breathless as your hands reach out to take off his glasses and he is quick to put them on the side table before turning his attention back to you. you look up at him. “what are you thinking about now?”, you ask, your lips centimetres away from his, and you can feel your heart racing again, the echoes of the beats loud in your chest.

“i’m thinking about how i want to kiss you again”, he says, closing the gap between you both as he captures your lips in his this time you sigh into the kiss as wonwoo cups your cheek, deepening the kiss as his arm encircles your waist, pulling you closer to him. wonwoo quite literally knocks the breath out of you as he pulls away slowly, watching your chest rise and fall. you kiss him again, getting giddy at the feeling of his lips on yours as he kisses you breathlessly again, softly pushing you down on the bed as your head rests on the pillow, wonwoo’s body hovers over yours, careful not to put his weight on you as he kisses you sweetly, the drumming of the rain outside as your soundtrack.

you wake up, wonwoo’s arms around your waist as you blink your eyes open. the sun was filtering through the white curtains, rays of sunshine adorning the floor and wall. wonwoo is still fast asleep beside you and you take this chance to look at him, really look at him. his hair is messy but cutely dishevelled, his eyes closed as soft breaths leave him as he sleeps, peaceful. he’s so pretty you think to yourself as you smile softly to yourself. you remember the events of last night, the kiss, and suddenly feel yourself getting very very shy as you bite your lips to contain the silly smile that aims to erupt across your face. you continue to admire wonwoo, his big warm hands still engulfing you as you shift slightly to check the time. when you turn back, wonwoo softly stirs awake, his pretty eyes fluttering open as he awakens. 

“hi”, you say softly.

“hi”, he says, his morning voice deeply attractive.

you both look at each other, not saying anything but just taking in each other’s presence. “did you sleep okay?”, he asks, searching your face and you shake your head, mumbling something about how you’re still tired.

his hand comes up to hold yours as he gently lifts it to his lips, giving it a soft kiss, his eyes never leaving yours, making you laugh softly. god, he was so dreamy. 

“what do you want to do today?”, he asks.

“sleep, i just wanna sleep”, you groan, burying your face into the pillow. wonwoo’s hand wraps around your waist as he pulls you closer towards him. “then sleep”, he says, placing a soft kiss to your cheek, making you smile. you close your eyes and soon drift off to sleep, wonwoo’s embrace making you feel safe and comfortable. and soon, wonwoo was also sleeping with you, both of you sleeping soundly in each other’s embrace.

it’s only around lunchtime that you both stir awake again and mostly because someone was knocking on your door, leading you to both wake up to the sudden noise. 

“we have to checkout by 5pm or pay to stay another night”, he tells you. “we should leave, but the car!”, you tell, sitting up in bed.

“i’ll get it fixed, i’ve arranged for it, " he says. “i’ll go get our clothes from the hotel’s drycleaning," he says. you’d have to wear the same dress again but you didn’t mind. 

wonwoo is quick to have a shower and he's changed into his suit from yesterday, that’s all clean and freshly pressed for the day minus the blazer as he tells you he’ll bring the car. you ask him if you can come along but he says it’s best to stay back. you feel a bit bummed about it but stay back nonetheless. all your luggage was in the car, in a rush you and wonwoo had forgotten it, but could change when he was back. wonwoo is finally back and you manage to get your luggage, and you change into something comfortable, ready to leave for home.

you check out and head towards the car as wonwoo loads in your luggage before spotting you, opening the car door for you. you sit upfront this time and the journey home begins. you end up talking a bit but get hungry since you really haven’t eaten anything yet. wonwoo is quick to stop by a nearby restaurant once you guys enter the city and you gladly inhale some food.

it’s been two weeks since you and wonwoo kissed and every time you thought about it, it made you all shy. wonwoo was his usual self, back in business mode but his touches now lingered and he’d talk to you sweetly, opening up to you more, and maybe somehow a little more protective of you.

you were now in jeonghan’s office, upset and mostly scared of the way your father’s trial was going. it seemed like things were going in favour of the prosecution and not your father.

“what’s going wrong”, you ask jeonghan, who only sighs at your question. “i’m really trying my best here yn”, jeonghan says, looking at you. “i really don’t know where the prosecution is getting all this new evidence from”, he says. “i’m doing my best yn but at this rate maybe it’s better for your father to serve the jail time”, he says, making you immediately protest at the thought. 

“what? why should he go to jail for something he didn’t even do?”, you almost yell out.

“given the circumstances, serving ten years looks the best for him. i can even try to reduce it to seven along with community service and probation”, he adds and you click your tongue, upset at the whole idea and proposition. 

he takes a few moments to think before speaking to you again. "his company has come to a standstill, someone needs to step up in the meantime and run things around there”, he starts off, being careful with his words.

“but you know what would help? if i was maybe given the power of attorney. it would help big time in trying to smooth over the company and business until things with your father are settled”, he says, giving you an assuring smile. 

“you should ask my father about that”, you say. “oh i know but maybe you could also ask him, it would be helpful”, he asks.

“i’ll see”, you say. “just make sure my father gets out of this soon”, you ask jeonghan. he gives you a smile, which for some reason runs a shiver down your spine but you shake it off, getting up. 

wonwoo drops you home that night after your meeting with jeonghan and walks you back inside. he can tell you’re stressed and anxious about your father’s situation as both of you linger at the doorstep. he reaches out for your hand, as he looks at you, his thumb caressing your hand in an attempt to comfort and soothe you. after a few seconds he takes a few steps forward, bringing his arms around you as he engulfs you in a much needed hug. you sigh in his arms as you close your eyes, letting yourself sink his hold.

“i’m going to be here with you every step of the way”, he reassures. 

“thank you wonwoo”, you respond as you pull away and look at him.

“it’s going to be okay”, he says as he looks at you. 

“i hope so”, you say, almost defeated after what jeonghan told you about earlier. 

he looks at you with the most loving eyes before he leans in and kisses you, his hand coming up to cup your cheek as he softly moves his lips against yours as he kisses you sweetly.

“goodnight”, he says softly, sweetly. “goodnight”, you whisper back, stealing another kiss from wonwoo before you retreat back inside.

the next week when wonwoo comes to your house in the morning there’s something different about him, in his demeanour and the way he acts. he strictly keeps to himself, not indulging in small talk with you at all, and brushing your hand off when you try to hold his hand. you felt hurt but decided to brush it off. maybe he had a reason for it, but the thought that he’d be so blunt about it hurt. you wanted to ask him but you didn’t. you decide to go see your father today at the detention centre he was being kept at. you had gotten used to wonwoo’s silence but today it felt odd, suffocating almost, but you don’t say anything, suddenly feeling like a burden to wonwoo. 

you’re waiting for your father as you sit on the other end of the room, a plastic divider dividing you and him. you stand up as soon as he walks in and he gives you a small smile. he looks tired. 

“are you okay?”, you ask, sitting down. “i can manage," he says. 

“so things aren’t going in your favour”, you say, looking at your father. “i am aware”, he says.

“what about the company? and your business? what’s going to happen to that?”, you ask.

“yn, you know i always intended for you to take over the company at some point”, he says. “but maybe you’ll have to take over earlier than i thought”, he says. 

“what do you mean?”, you prompt.

“i mean that you will have to take over”, he says. “it is going to be hard, there are going to be obstacles and people are going to try and bring you down but i have faith and trust in you”, he says. 

“what if i’m not ready”, you say.

“i’ll always be here and you know what they say, fake it till you make it”, your father tells, making you chuckle as you hold back your tears.

“jeonghan was asking about you giving him the power of attorney”, you say as you see your father's gaze change. 

“no, if i were to give anyone the power of attorney right now, it should be you”, he says.

“but don’t you trust jeonghan? i’m sure he’ll be able to help run things until i’m ready to take over”, you say.

“i wouldn’t trust anyone right now”, your father says. “i would rather have my own child act on my behalf than jeonghan”, he says. “a power of attorney is a powerful thing and i would trust you with it more than jeonghan”, he says and you nod as you take in his words.

that evening wonwoo leaves again, and he was still cold towards you. you decided to bring it up to him tomorrow because it was starting to make you feel weird, uneasy and bad. the next day, your doorbell rings a few times. you wonder why wonwoo hasn’t bothered just entering your house like he always has. was this a new thing now? you really had to talk this out with him. 

“wonwoo what are-”, you start but stop because the person in front of you wasn’t wonwoo. “who are you?”, you ask. “i’m your new bodyguard from today”, he says. you look him up and down because he didn’t look very bodyguard material. 

“what happened to wonwoo?”, you ask, taken aback by this. he just shrugs. “i don't know, jeonghan sent me so you should talk to him”, he says before stepping in, uninvited if you had to say. 

you go to your room to fetch your phone and come back to see the guy just sitting on your couch, scrolling through his phone, wow. talk about being professional. 

you glare at him as you dial jeonghan. he picks up after a few rings. 

“what happened to wonwoo?”, you ask, not wasting a second.

“no hi?”, he says, sensing the urgency in your voice.

“where’s wonwoo”, you ask again.

“wonwoo quit”, jeonghan says like it was no big deal.

“what do you mean he quit?”, you ask in shock. “he quit yn, he told me a few days back. he said he didn’t want to work for you anymore”, he adds, making your heart drop.

“but why, there must have been a reason right?”, you ask jeonghan.

“i think it’s for the best yn, and besides, i told you not to get too close to him”, jeonghan says and you didn’t like the tone of his voice.

after that you call wonwoo but he doesn’t pick up but you keep calling. he couldn’t just quit on you like that. there must have been a reason. and you think back to yesterday and how he was acting so cold towards you for the last few days. you tear up at the thought. why? why would he do that? did he really just use you?

you watch as your new bodyguard sits on your couch lazily, not even bothered about trying to do his job right. you were pretty sure that if you went out the door right now, this guy wouldn’t even notice. you roll your eyes at the thought and sigh.

“i’m going to see jeonghan”, you tell. “sure, i guess i should drive you right, just let me finish this level, i’ve almost cracked it”, he says. he was not being serious right now.

after five minutes you get his attention. “excuse me?? can we go or shall i go myself?”, you ask. “i’m coming jeez, you’re so stuck up”, he says. 

as soon as you burst into jeonghan’s office, he looks at you with a glint in his eyes. 

“what do i owe this pleasure to”, he says.

“you could have at least hired a competent replacement, this new guy sucks actually, he doesn’t even have basic manners”, you tell jeonghan. 

“he was the best replacement i could find”, jeonghan tells nonchalantly and you scoff.

“best replacement? you’ve got to be kidding me right now. wonwoo was the best and he was actually qualified. this guy looks like someone you just picked off the street”, you argue.

jeonghan doesn’t say anything as he filters through the stack of papers on his desk, finding what he was looking for before he looks back up at you. “did you ask your father about the power of attorney thing?”, he asks, changing the topic.

“i did and he wasn’t too keen on it. he said he’d rather give me the power of attorney power than you”, you say but jeonghan doesn’t seem fazed at all. 

“i expected that, so why don’t we start processing the papers to give you power of attorney. and then you can transfer it to me right? i can hold fort until you’re ready”, he says, more like he’d had it all planned out rather than asking you.

“i’ll process the papers to make you power of attorney for now”, he says. “okay”, you say. “now if you’ll excuse me, i have a lot of work of work to do”, he tells. 

“what did wonwoo tell you when he quit”, you quickly ask. 

“yn we are not going there”

“just tell me, please”

“he said he didn’t want to work for you anymore”, jeonghan says.

“that’s all he said?”, you ask.

“yes”, and suddenly all your hopes sink.

you get back home and in the following days you just stay at home. you were somehow on the news these days, and for the dumbest reason really, it was like people were trying to nitpick you apart and post things about you. you called wonwoo again and texted him a bunch of times but there was not one single response. you couldn’t believe that wonwoo would do something like that, after all you guys shared. it broke your heart really.

and to say your new bodyguard was incompetent was an understatement. the other day he couldn’t even protect you from being mobbed or spot the paparazzi that you caught in a blink of an eye. you wanted wonwoo, you missed him.

you go to jeonghan’s office and go to the detention centre again to get the power of attorney transferred to you because your dad also had to be present. 

your dad carefully reads the document, making sure everything was right, even the fine print that people tend to ignore before deeming it legal and everything was good. he signs it and puts his stamp on it and so do you.

“use this power wisely yn, i’m trusting you”, he says and you nod.

when you reach home, you’re just waiting for the new guy to go. 

“give me your phone”, the new guy says, coming up to you and he doesn’t even wait for you to answer before he’s plucking your phone out of your hand. 

“what the hell?”, you ask, trying to take your phone back but he doesn’t let you.

“no more phone for you for the time being, jeonghan’s orders, with all these headlines about you going around he says it’s for the best”, he says.

“no give me my phone back”, you demand but he grabs your hand, pushing you towards your room, slamming the door shut and you hear the lock engage. you try to open the door but it doesn’t.

“hey open this door right now”, you tell, beating your hand on the door. “that’s not going to change anything”, he says, chucking as you hear his footsteps around the hallway.

“she’s locked up”, he says, talking to someone on the phone.

“let me out”, you yell again, banging your fist on the door again. 

“shut it”, he says, kicking the door, only prompting you to bang your fist on the door harder. 

but after no avail you stop, sinking to the ground, tears already welling in your eyes. your life just really kept getting shitty and shittier didn’t it. 

you open your eyes as you hear the key rattle on the other side, the doorknob rattling and the door opening. you’re quick to stand up.

“what the fuck is wrong with you”, you yell but the new guy doesn’t seem fazed at all. “he wants to see you”, he tells, grabbing your hand but you pull it out of his grip. “move”, he demands and you reluctantly move towards the hall and your eyes go wide at who you see - jeonghan. 

“did you do this?”, you ask, in shock.

“i have to get things done don’t i yn”, he says, giving you that creepy smile again. “and now you’re going to be a good girl and sign these papers”. he says, holding out in front of you.

“what is that”, you ask. “the transfer of power of attorney from you to me”, he says. 

“there’s no way in hell i’m doing that after what you just fucking did”, you spit out, getting upset.

“getting feisty now are we? let’s not forget that your father’s fate lies in my hands and if you do not sign this paper right now, i will send your father to rot in jail for the rest of his life”, he says, threatening you. 

“what-you can’t-you wouldn’t”, you say.

“oh believe me yn, i would. so choose. your father goes to jail or you sign these papers and save his life”, he demands. 

“why are you doing this”, you ask bitterly.

“because your father is an idiot and this is the one time i’ve outsmarted him”, jeonghan tells, smug. 

“what are you talking about? if you want money give me a number, i’ll give it to you, just stop all this”, you plead.

“oh i’ll get my money yn, but i need to see your father crumble down, that’s what he deserves”, jeonghan says.

 he thrusts the papers towards your face. “sign it”, he demands. 

“over your dead body, i’m not signing shit jeonghan”, you spit back. 

“i don’t think right now is the time to be rebellious yn”, he says, pursing his lips in a thin line.

“oh i’ve always been rebellious jeonghan and i’m not going to let you get away with this”, you tell. 

“i doubt that”, he tells, signalling for the bodyguard as he grabs your arm and drags you to your room, pushing you inside and locking the door again. 

“think again yn, you’re only getting out of here when these documents are signed and by then it’ll be too late to do anything”, jeonghan says from the other side of the door.

“fuck you jeonghan, you just wait, i’m gonna get you”, you spit out.

you hear him say something only catching the last words being ‘don’t let her out’ .

what the fuck was happening to your life. fuck. you bang your fist on the door, letting out your frustration, sinking to your knees as you try to hold it in, keep it together but you can't. you bang the door a couple more times as tears roll down your cheeks. and yet, the only person you could think of in this situation was wonwoo. only he could help you now, he would know what to do. but you had no means to contact him after your phone was taken away and you were now locked in the room.

you bury your head in your knees, trying to breathe and think. think yn and that’s when you get an idea - your laptop. it was synced to your phone contacts. you get up, rushing to grab your laptop, frantically opening it and you open the messages app and find wonwoo. all your previous texts to him are still unread. no you needed to find him, texting him wasn’t going to work right now. but the question was how? and that’s when you remember the thing jeonghan had sent you before , wonwoo’s resume, which had his address, bingo. 

you open your chat logs with jeonghan, scrolling up till the part when jeonghan had sent you wonwoo’s resume and just as you guessed, his address was on it. you grab a pen and jot down the address on a scrap piece of paper. but how were you going to get there? you looked up and at the window behind your desk. you get up, pushing your table to the side slowly trying not to make any loud noises, huffing and puffing. 

after you manage to push the table aside enough, you slide the window open and poke your head out, looking at the distance but the jump wasn’t too bad. you slowly swing your legs over, taking a breath before reaching down with your feet and them jumping. the only protection you had against the bare ground was your socks right now. you close the window behind you and look left and right. you slowly and quietly walk towards the back gate and open it slowly, making a quick escape and you jog down the road. you look at the address that’s now crumpled in your hand and it wasn’t too far. you didn’t have cash or anything on your to take the bus so walking you were.

fifteen minutes in and you're getting tired and you put on the hood of your hoodie, hoping no one would recognise you but continue speed walking to the address in your hand. wonwoo would know what to do. wonwoo could help you. wonwoo. you start picking up your speed as you walk without even realising and soon you're running, your legs are working on their own, desperate for an escape and to find wonwoo. after sprinting and jogging for a bit you finally come up to the address, his apartment and you bend down, resting your hands on your knees as you try to catch your breath.

you’re about to walk in when security stops you. “i’m here to see wonwoo, he lives here right”, you ask between breaths. 

“mr. jeon? are you his guest?”, the security asks.

“yes, yes, please which building does he live in”, you ask, pulling your hood down in an aim to not let the man recognise you.

“wouldn’t you know that if you know him?”

“please, it’s urgent”, you ask. “he knows me i swear”, you tell. “it's an emergency just, please tell me”, you plead.

the man finally tells you the information and you sprint to the building and run up the stairs, not bothering to wait for the elevator to come. you open the staircase door, entering the main floor, your chest heaving from the effort of running up the stairs. you were lucky you didn’t fall on your face at the pace you were going at. you locate his door number and you stand in front of it and suddenly you’re scared. what if he didn’t open the door? what if he wasn’t here? you can hear your heart pounding in your chest as you raise your hand to ring his doorbell. a few moments pass and nothing and you ring it again and again. shit was he not home?

you take a step back, your head down, suddenly feeling defeated when you hear the doorknob rattle and the door opens. you look up and wonwoo is in front of you. he was really here. you found him.

“yn?”, he asks, as he adjusts the glasses on his face as if he couldn't believe it was you at his doorstep. you get hit with a wave of emotions at that minute and wonwoo is asking you something but you’re not listening as your vision gets blurry and all you can do in that moment in crash into wonwoo’s arms as you start to sob in his chest, the impact making wonwoo stumble before he held onto you. you weren’t crying because you were upset, you were crying because you felt relief - relief that you finally found wonwoo.

you pull away from him and look up and he finally sees the state you’re in, bare feet and he’s quick to spot the bruises on your knuckles and hands from banging on the door as you wipe your tears. wonwoo looks you up and down as he takes both your hands in, his expression suddenly dark as he looks at you. 

“who did this to you”, he asks sternly as another tear escapes you.

“j-jeonghan”, you stutter out through a sob. “they’re working together and t-they locked me in the room”, you tell and you can see the rage burning behind wonwoo’s eyes.

“jeonghan did this?”, he asks, anger seething in his eyes and you nod.

“he’s-he’s been behind all this the whole time, the whole reason my father is in jail a-and he was threatening me”, you tell in a rush, not making a coherent sentence.

wonwoo pulls you in a hug, holding you tight. “where were you, why did you leave?”, you demand through a broken sob as the door behind you closes. “i missed you”, you tell softly, your voice cracking as a few more sobs escape you.

“fuck, i missed you too”, he says as he hugs you tighter. you feel something soft rub around your legs and look down, seeing wonwoo’s cat near your feet. “your cat”, you say as you sniffle.

you’re on the couch now, wonwoo giving you new socks and slippers to wear as freshen up, washing your face and feet. wonwoo’s cat is inquisitive of you, sitting on the floor in front of you as she looks at you. “hi oreo”, you say and she meows, making you smile. 

wonwoo busies himself in the kitchen as he makes you some chamomile tea to help you calm down and sets the steaming mug in front of you. wonwoo also sets down an envelope next to the mug, signalling for you to open it. you look at him before your hand reaches out for the envelope and you open it, the contents inside making you gasp.

“what’s this?”, you ask, as you sift through the pile of photos, each one making you upset and even more confused. they were pictures of you and wonwoo at the hotel that night after the event, but the person who took them captured you wonwoo sharing a kiss and you sleeping in his wonwoo’s arms. you feel a surge of rage in your body as you look at this.

“this is what jeonghan gave me and he tried to blackmail me with this”, wonwoo says, breaking the silence. “he threatened me with these, saying if i didn’t quit that he would give these photos to the press. i don’t know what he was planning but i did what he said because i didn’t want you getting hurt”, he says. “the bastard probably had someone tail us and take this”, he adds.

“i know it was sudden but there was nothing i could do, he was strict on not making any sort of contact with you afterwards. he said he was watching me and that otherwise these pictures would get leaked in a second if i contacted you and i didn’t want that. i don’t know what sort of twisted sick game he’s playing but i didn’t want you waking up one day and seeing these pictures in the headlines. you’re already going through hell right now and this was the least i could do to protect your reputation, to protect you”, he says, his hand finding yours as he gives it a small squeeze.

‘i’m going to kill jeonghan i swear to god”, you mutter under your breath. 

“we have to help my father, we have to do something, you’ll help me right?”, you ask, pleading almost.

“of course yn. i was dying everyday i couldn't see you or tell you what really happened, i was just praying you wouldn’t hate me for it”, he tells.

after things between you both get cleared up, you promptly end up falling asleep, curled up in his arms on the couch. when you were with wonwoo you felt safe, secure, like the world was going to be okay, that you were going to be okay. wonwoo gently carries you to his bed, tucking you in as he slips inside the sheets beside you, watching you sleep and he vowed to himself - that no matter what, he was going to protect you.

you stir awake in the morning in wonwoo’s soft sheets, turning around and seeing the other side of the bed empty. you walk outside, seeing wonwoo busy in the kitchen as he sets a pot on the table. he spots you.

“good morning”, he says and you give him a small smile. “morning”, you tell as you move closer to wonwoo, seeing the small breakfast spread laid out on the table. you hear a meow, followed by another and another. 

“someone is hungry”, you joke as you look at oreo waiting for wonwoo to give her food. 

“she’s usually patient, aren’t you oreo”, wonwoo says and oreo meows in agreement and protest. you chuckle, this side of wonwoo was adorable.

you both sit down to eat and you’re grateful for the meal, later insisting that you help wonwoo clean up and wash the dishes, even though he insists you don’t need to but your stubbornness wins and he leans on the side of the counter as he watches you wash the dishes, looking defeated.

just then there’s a knock on the door. wonwoo stands alert and checks who it is. 

“it’s jeonghan” wonwoo says softly.

“shit, what do we do?”

“go to my room, close the door and stay there till i tell you to come out”, wonwoo instructs and you’re quick to go to his room, closing the door.

wonwoo opens his front door and jeonghan stands there looking irritated.

“what is it?”, wonwoo asks, giving jeonghan a cold stare.

“where’s yn?”, he asks, running a hand through his hair, frustrated.

“how should i know”, wonwoo says.

“listen wonwoo, lying right now is not going to help”

“i don’t know where yn is”, wonwoo repeated.

“if she contacts you, you tell me right away, got it”, jeonghan says as he points a finger at wonwoo.

“did something happen?”, wonwoo asks, trying to assess the situation.

“oh nothing, yn just seems to have gone off without informing anyone, i was just worried”, he tells, giving wonwoo a fake smile before leaving.

you hear the door close, wonwoo telling you that jeonghan was gone. 

“he’s looking for you alright. i think it’s better you don’t go out for the time being. you can stay with me till then and we can come up with a plan together okay”, he says, one hand caressing your cheek. you nod. 

later that day, wonwoo says he’ll hire a new lawyer for your father and appeal to the court and also indict jeonghan. but the only problem was that how were you going to prove everything that jeonghan was doing? if you only had that evidence it would also help in proving your father innocent. 

“i could hire someone to raid his house maybe”, wonwoo says.

“what, you can do that?”you asked him, shocked but liking the idea.

“i mean he’s not playing fair either is he? let’s mess with him a little”, wonwoo says.

“but how will you find someone to do that?”, you ask curiously.

“i have connections sweetheart”, he tells. “i’m an impressive man you know”, he adds and you smile. “i'm sure you are”.

over the next few days, things move quickly. wonwoo makes the required arrangements and the meeting with the new lawyer is online because jeonghan likely putting someone to stakeout and watch wonwoo’s place in case you showed up. wonwoo is smart to keep the curtains drawn at all times so no one could peek inside either. the first priority was indicting jeonghan which would make him suspend him from working, and your father’s case would have more time and more time right now was good. 

the next week jeonghan is indicted, and a legal notice is sent to his office courtesy of the impressive new lawyer that wonwoo hired. with the indictment jeonghan could not go anywhere, he couldn’t flee or travel and he’d be called for a formal court hearing on wednesday. as you got ready on wednesday morning to go to the court hearing because you were the one indicting jeonghan so you had to be there. you were nervous, standing in front of the mirror in wonwoo’s room. wonwoo was accompanying you too of course, he wasn’t going to let you go out there alone when you were going to go fight. you were going to show the world who you really were.

you reach the courthouse where the hearing will take place and it seems like everything is already on the news, the hoard of journalists and news reporters already crowding the place. you walk inside with wonwoo and head to the courtroom. as soon as you enter you see jeonghan, who clenches his jaw as he makes his way towards you, clearly upset and shocked.

“yn what the hell is all this”, jeonghan nearly shouts, his hand reaching out to grab yours but wonwoo grabs his hand instead, stopping him. 

“watch it jeonghan”, wonwoo warns as jeonghan pulls his arm out from wonwoo’s grip.

“you’re not going to get away with all this”, you tell.

the hearing starts and you’re sitting with wonwoo’s lawyer and beside you on the other side is jeonghan and his lawyer.

“miss yn has made an indictment to mr. yoon over criminal activity and fraud”, the judge says, looking at you.

“yes your honour”, your lawyer fills in.

“what is the accused stand on this matter?”, the judge asks.

“my client mr.yoon is not guilty your honour”, jeonghan’s lawyer says and you scoff, glaring at him.

“does the plaintiff have evidence to support these claims?”, the judge asks.

“not yet but we are working on it”, your lawyer explains.

“i request the charges against my client to be dropped because they are completely baseless and defamatory”, jeonghan’s lawyer demands.

“given the nature of the accusations and that mr.yoon is also a well known person in his respective industry, i will give the plaintiff one week to gather sufficient evidence otherwise the charges and case will be dropped due to lack of evidence”, the judge grants before dismissing the court.

you’re laying wonwoo’s bed lost in thought. now the only problem was trying to find evidence. sure, you could still testify but without any evidence, your claims would be useless. there had to be a way and you were sure you were missing a vital piece of information. if only there had been cameras you think and it hits you. you get up in a gasp. that was it, the cctv cameras at your home. you get up, rushing to find wonwoo, who’s in the other room doing something on his computer. 

“i figured it out wonwoo”, you tell and he looks up at you. “the cctv cameras you installed at my home, they would have captured jeonghan on it and what he did”, you say and you watch wonwoo’s eyes light up as he follows what you’re saying. 

“he was at your house that night?”, he asks.

“yes! and the cameras would have picked it up”, you say.

“and it must have picked up on the audio too”, he states.

"audio?", you ask.

"yes, i installed one's that recorded audio too", he fills in. “yn this is amazing”, he adds “and the best part, i have access to the cctv cameras”, wonwoo adds.

“i just hope jeonghan didn’t get to them”, you tell, worried.

“no, he doesn’t know about them, i didn’t tell him”, wonwoo says.

“you are a genius”, you tell, leaning down to pepper his cheek with a kiss.

“i could say the same thing about you”, he tells, his hands finding your waist. 

you smile, looking down at him, frowning when you notice the fingerprints on his glasses. your hands move up, carefully sliding them off as you clean them with the corner of your shirt, asking how he could even see as you gently put the glasses back on his face. 

“we might have found some information from jeonghan’s computer and files”, wonwoo adds. “i’ll pass it on to my lawyer, he’ll handle it”. 

“do you think we can pull this off?”, you ask wonwoo, your hands resting on his shoulders as you look down at him, wonwoo still seated on his chair.

“i think we can”, he tells, assuring you.

that night, wonwoo filters through the cctv footage to that night and just like you’d predicted, the whole incident where he came to your home and basically confessed what he was doing was recorded, the audio was impeccable too. jeonghan could kiss his life goodbye now. wonwoo hands off this evidence to his lawyer and now you can just wait.

it’s finally the day. you were ready but also nervous and anxious. a thousand what if’s went through your mind as you got ready that morning. you had been informed that your father would also be present at the court hearing since the case indirectly involved him. wonwoo drops you off at the court that morning.

“where are you going?”, you ask, grabbing onto his hand.

“the lawyer just called me, i need to quickly pick up something for him, but i’ll be back okay”, he assures. you nod and wait outside. there was still time for the hearing to take place in 30 minutes approximately. 

wonwoo isn’t back even after your lawyer arrives. you’re constantly checking your watch and seeing the time, looking out to see if you can spot wonwoo but you can’t see him. 

“i can’t see wonwoo? didn’t he come with you?”, the lawyer asks and you furrow your brows in confusion.

“what do you mean? he told me you called him asking him to get something”, you tell and he looks back at you equally confused. “i did no such thing”, he says. 

you fish out your phone and try to call him but it goes unanswered. you try again but no answer. 

“yn it’s time, let’s go”, your lawyer says and you put your phone back inside, hoping wonwoo was okay.

-at court-

“your honour, if you look here, you will see the cctv footage of mr.yoon and his men who were at my client's house on the night of the 8th. you can see the person, who was supposed to be yn’s bodyguard, lock up my client in the room and call mr.yoon, who arrives shortly. you can see clearly how mr.yoon threatened my clinet yn and even confessed to what he’s been doing, saying that he intentionally manipulated and betrayed yn’s father and set him up because he has an ulterior motive”, your lawyer states. 

the video of that night plays and there’s no way that anyone would not believe you anymore. it was clear as crystal what jeonghan was up to now and his true motives were revealed.

“does the defendant have anything to say?” the judge asks. 

“yes, i’d like to cross examine the client”, jeonghan lawyer says, stepping up and coming up to the witness stand where you were sitting. after your cross examination is done the judge announces that the final verdict will be delivered next week, on friday. given the high profile individuals that were involved in the case, a prompt but careful decision would be made. friday is a week away from now. the court is adjourned and you get up and leave, jeonghan purposely bumping into you as you go out, giving you a smirk.

you pick up your phone and call wonwoo again and the call is finally answered. “wonwoo where are you?”, you ask.

“hello is this someone that mr.jeon is acquainted with?”, the other person on the line asks, a female.

“yes, can i know who this is?”

“i’m calling from goodwill hospital, mr. jeon has been in an accident”, she says and your heart drops.

your feet start moving on their own as you run outside, pushing through the crowd of reporters and almost tripping as you try to hail a taxi, on your way to the hospital. you rush into the hospital asking for wonwoo at the front desk. you’re guided to his room, where the doctor explains that he was extremely lucky and only suffered from minor injuries. he would need a few days of rest and he could then be discharged. you’re instantly relieved to hear that but you’re still anxious. 

you peek into his room, slowly sliding the door open as you walk in, taking in his state and you instantly teared up. you sit beside him, reaching out to hold his hand as you keep your head down, looking at your hand on top of his. a couple of minutes pass by and you feel a soft squeeze of your hand and you look up seeing wonwoo awake.

“wonwoo”, you are relieved he was awake. “are you okay-shit no that’s a stupid question, you’re obviously not okay”, you tell in a rush.

he sits up slowly, wincing in pain but otherwise keeping a straight face.

“what happened?”, you ask softly. 

“i got jumped by jeonghan’s men. i only figured when i was already back at the apartment that the call was indeed not the lawyer”, wonwoo explains.

“shit”, you say.

“i shouldn’t have let you go, i should have insisted you stay”, you tell, feeling like this was all your fault now. 

“hey, hey look at me”, wonwoo says. 

“i just don’t want you to end up getting hurt because of me”, you tell. 

“i’m okay yn, i’m a tough guy you know”, he says, trying to lighten the mood.

after he’s rested enough and the doctors deem him okay, he’s discharged and you take him home. you tell wonwoo all about the court hearing today and now the only thing you could do was wait.

-final hearing-

the media has been on fire the last few days, jeonghan’s case gaining the entire country's attention. but even then, people were 50/50 about the chances of who would win even though the evidence was pretty clear. but you could never tell, the law wasn’t always fair sometimes and you just prayed that it would be fair to you. wonwoo was much better now and was healing well and he insisted on accompanying you, even though you told him he should stay at home and rest. 

you’re sitting in front, jeonghan on the opposite side and the court house was crowded, the media causing an uproar outside, eager to report every single second and eager to find out the final verdict of the case. the judge looks at you, and then at jeonghan before they announce the verdict.

“given the high profile of the case and the evidence submitted from both ends, we have carefully reviewed the evidence and points of this case. it has come to a unanimous decision that the defendant, mr. yoon jeonghan is found guilty and will serve ten years in jail and have to pay a fine as well for the damages done and emotional distress caused to the plaintiff. 

you cover your mouth in shock. you did it. you won! you couldn’t believe it as you cover your mouth in shock, tears filling your eyes. your father looks at you and the look he gave you was nothing short of proud. you won, your father was going to be free and jeonghan was going to go to jail, he was going to get punished and things were going to be okay now.

as people start filtering out, you’re looking for wonwoo, whom you can’t seem to spot anywhere. you had to tell him. through the crowd, you manage to head out of the courtroom where people start congratulating you and your father. but you were only focused on finding wonwoo.

you run out, only to end up getting ambushed by all the news reporters and journalists, all of them eager to know your thoughts as they bombard you with questions.

“how do you feel yn?”

“how does it feel to know your father is free”

“please share a few words”

you were being bombarded with questions that were going straight through your head and that’s when you heard someone call out your name - wonwoo. you turn around, spotting him on the other side, a few feet away from you. you smile and run towards him, running into his arms as he picks you up and spins you around.

“we did it”, you whisper, your face inches away from his. “we did it”, he repeats, giving you a proud smile. you lean in, kissing him, not caring about what people were going to think anymore. wonwoo kisses you back with the same fierceness, like he was telling you that he was going to stand by you, so that you could conquer the world with him.

-epilogue-

after your father was dropped from all the accusations and was free, his company was slowly starting to gain traction again. the people were now in support of him, now more than ever and people wanted to know his story. but he always said one thing - that he wouldn't have been able to do it without you by his side. you ended up finally graduating college after your father approached them and they did give you extra credits for the trouble they caused you. you’d gotten your own office space in your dad’s building to work from and you were on your way to build your own company that stood for what it believed it.

you’re standing in front of wonwoo in your office with your arms crossed over your chest as you stare him down. he only stands, blinking down at you.

“what is it love?”, he asks.

“we can’t do this anymore wonwoo”, you tell and a wave of emotion seems to go through wonwoo’s face.

“do what?”, he asks calmly.

“this!”, you say, gesturing your hands between him and you.

“i don’t want you to be my bodyguard anymore”, you state and he furrows his brows, confused. 

“what do you mean?”, he asks. “did i do something wrong?”, he asks, taking a small step towards you.

“i don’t need a bodyguard anymore”, you tell sternly.

“i beg to differ”, he says calmly.

“i want you to be my boyfriend”, you say and he raises a brow at this proposition.

“i thought i already was”, he mumbles as he bashfully pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“no more of this bodyguard business, you can be my full-time boyfriend now”, you tell and you can see the small smile playing on wonwoo’s lips.

“but isn’t a bodyguard and boyfriend in one an advantage?”, he asks.

“but i just want you to be my boyfriend instead”, you say, pouting.

“but the perks of having a bodyguard and a boyfriend is truly one of a kind”, he says, stepping closer as hands wrap around your waist, pulling you closer to him.

“oh really?”, you ask, tilting you heard to the side.

“and what might that be?”, you ask, settling your hands on wonwoo’s shoulders.

“you know, i can protect you, plus you get to see my handsome face 24/7”, he says and you snort. 

“what i know you love it. if i had a dollar everytime i caught you staring at me-”, 

“shut up”, you tell, giggling.

“and the most important perk of all, free kisses”, he tells and you chuckle even more. “what? you’re always stealing kisses from me and-”, you cut him off by kissing him, which only seems to prove the point he was making.

“see, you can’t do that”, he tells, leaning in.

“why not”, you ask, playing along.

“because you’re distracting me from my work”, he says, leaning in and kissing you again.

“that’s why you need to stop this bodyguard stuff and just be my boyfriend instead”, you whisper against his lips. 

“but then you won’t see me 24/7”, he tells.

“but then i can distract you”, you fill in.

“hm we’ll see about that love”, he says, before he captures your lips and kisses you breathlessly.

the end

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