writer

bonus:

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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you step out of the car and walk up to the house, ringing the doorbell. usually you’d ring the doorbell and walk right in, but considering she wasn’t there, you didn’t want to suddenly intrude, it felt odd. you wait a few moments and you can hear the shuffle of feet from the inside, along with a soft thud of something falling, probably a box. the door finally opens and you’re greeted by kwon soonyoung—jihyo’s younger brother.  

“hey, yn right?”, he says when he sees you. “jihyo told me you’re here to collect your mail and stuff”, he tells with a slightly frazzled face, like he was put to this task last at the minute and had no idea what to do, like a deer in headlights. you nod and he gestures for you to enter. you walk inside as he disappears back into the other room, probably to fetch your mail. you’d asked jihyo to drop by your place if she could to collect your mail since you’d been out of town for two weeks on a business trip and you didn’t want anyone stealing your packages or snooping around.

you’d known jihyo ever since you joined university. she was your roommate and now bestfriend. she was kind, sweet, funny and a little chaotic, but you loved everything about her. so naturally, you’d been to her house countless times, and met her brother too— soonyoung. he was two years younger than jihyo and you, and he was always so sweet. when you’d come over during the break or to hang out, you’d see soonyoung occasionally or bump into him when you were entering or leaving, as he’d always be doing his own thing. but now, you were probably seeing him for the first time since you graduated university and started a job, having moved a little further away into the city. so it’s been almost three years since you saw soonyoung again, because whenever you’d meet jihyo now, it was always in the city or somewhere out, not at her family home.

soonyoung had changed a lot. he’d grown tall and his hair that had been virgin black was now dyed a silver blonde. it had grown too, his hair falling over his forehead in a cute shaggy mess and growing a little long at the ends, almost at the beginning stages of a mullet and somehow, he pulled it off—t looked good on him. his face was framed by soft rounded features and he somehow raidated a youthful, approachable glow about him. his almond shaped eyes are soft, but also sharp, holding warmth in them, and lastly he had definitely been hitting the gym because he looked different—he looked good.

two minutes later, soonyoung walks into the room holding a big box with a smaller box stacked on top of it along with a few small parcels and envelopes. “this is all the stuff”, he announces, like he’d just accomplished a huge task by collecting all of this for you. 

“thanks!”, you say, taking a step forward to take the box but he speaks again. “let me load it up in your car, it’s a bit heavy”, he says as he looks at you, blinking. “okay, sure”, you say and you open the door, walking outside towards your car with soonyoung following beside you. you unlock the car and pop open the trunk and soonyoung sets down the pile of boxes with a soft thud before taking a step back. 

“thanks again soonyoung”, you say, looking up at him. now that he was right next to you, you realise how tall he’d actually grown. he gives you a polite smile as he runs a hand through his silver blonde hair, the strands of hair getting messed up, falling over his forehead in a cutely disheveled manner. “it’s no problem”, he says and with that you give him another small wave and head out, heading back home.

when you get home, you find your apartment spick and span—quite the contrast to which you had left it, considering you had left on the business trip in a rather short notice. but now as you walk inside, your shoes are all neatly lined up by the side, the bunch of laundry that had been rotting on your bed for two weeks was neatly folded and kept aside in your wardrobe. your mugs, which had piled up were all neatly rinsed and washed and your fridge was stocked with new food—no doubt all the doings of your mother. 

you immediately reach for your phone and dial your mother’s number and she picks up almost immediately, like she had been waiting for you to call. you drag your suitcase to your room and leave it there, taking off your coat and throwing it on your bed.

“mom, did you drop by?”, you ask, already knowing the answer, but you liked to tease her. you visibly hear her sigh and you hold back your laugh.

“no darling, a ghost dropped by your apartment”, she deadpans, making you let out the laugh that you were holding. “i don’t even think a ghost would want to live in your apartment in that state”, she adds. 

“i was busy and i had to leave on short notice”, you counter. “that’s what you always say”, she says and you scowl. “it was really short notice this time”, you say and she only hums in response.

“thank you mom, i love and appreciate you for that”, you say after a moment. “i made your favourite, it’s in the fridge”, she adds and you smile. your mom really knew the way to your heart. you walk towards the kitchen and fill the kettle with some water.

“so, did you meet any cute guys on your trip”, she asks and you let out a small groan at her question. of course that’s what she’d ask you first, not how the trip was or how work had been.

“no mom, it was a work trip”, you say, letting out a sigh. “still! you should keep an eye out”, she says. “after you broke up with that jaehyun, you’ve been sulking around. it’s time to find a guy and settle down”, she adds and just then the kettle lets out a whistle, signaling that the hot water is ready. you take a mug from the shelf and pour the boiling hot water into in, watching as the steam curls at the top before you drop in a tea bag, watching the tea leaves slowly seep into the water, turning it into green tea.

“for the millionth time, he broke up with me mom, and i just need some space right now, i’m not in the mood for a relationship, nor do i have the time”, you tell as you take the mug of tea and walk over to the couch, plopping down on it and putting the mug on the table beside you.

“nonsense, if you start dating again you’ll feel better. do you want me to find someone for you? i found this guy, i’ll send you his picture, i can set you up with him on a blind date and—”, you cut her off.

“mom, i’m serious about the no dating thing right now”, you say and she clicks her tongue in disapproval. “i’ll still send you his picture if you change your mind”, she says as you take a sip of the hot tea.

fast forward two weeks later, you’re at the bar of a restaurant, downing your fourth drink of the night. the music playing is loud and the lights are dim. you put the empty glass down on the marble counter with a soft clink and shake your head a little to get your mind straight. you can already feel the effects of the alcohol in your system, your head feeling light—you were definitely tipsy. you glance over your shoulder and see your coworkers all talking to each other, laughing about something, all nursing drinks of their own and you turn your head again, looking down at the empty glass in front of you before asking for another drink. this was a company treat for finishing a project with a high value client. that’s why you’d been out of town for those last two weeks, securing the deal and finishing the project. it had all been riding on you and you’d done it. though if you were being honest, you really didn’t want to be here right now. you’d rather have been at home, lying in your bed, under the blankets and watching some nonsense on television. but who were you to say no to free food and drinks since the company was paying for it—so here you were.

your phone pings with a message from your mom and you open it to see another picture of a guy she’d found you, saying he came from a good background and that you’d be a good match. she really was not taking no for an answer. you sigh and put your phone down with a light thud and groan, burying your hands in your face. 

“are you okay?”, you hear someone ask and you peek through your hands to see whoever it was, only to recognise the face—kwon soonyoung. you look at him and a hint of recognition seems to flit over his features as well as he looks at you.

“soonyoung? hey”, you say, sitting a little straighter. “yn hey”, he says, his tone casual.

somehow, hearing your name from soonyoung’s mouth feels oddly sweet. “are you okay? it looks like you were having a bit of an existential crisis”, he says, making you sigh even more. you look at him and his silver blonde hair seems to catch the light he’s sitting under and it highlighst his features. his jawline is sharp and his eyes are just as sharp. he’s wearing jeans, a shirt and a ring adorns his pinky finger. you notice the helix piercing in his ear, which you never noticed before and you glance away for a second before looking back at him.

“yeah, that’s exactly what is happening right now”, you say as soonyoung takes a seat beside you.

“what are you doing here by the way, is jihyo here too?”, you ask and he shakes his head. 

“nope, i’m here alone”, he informs and you nod. “you?”, he asks, curious in his tone.

“work dinner”, you say, gesturing to the table over to the side where all your colleagues sat, talking and drinking and his eyes follow your gaze before returning back to yours.

you glance over at soonyoung, realising you don’t actually know much about him. all you knew is that he graduated last year because jihyo told you about it, but besides that, nothing much.

“so, what have you been up to?”, you ask, curiosity getting the better of you and soonyoung seems to sit up straighter at your question.

“i’m actually working! i’m the manager and one of the instructors at a dance studio downtown”, he says and you widen your eyes in surprise. 

“wow, that’s very cool”, you say. you remember jihyo mentioning something about soonyoung liking dance, and having even majored in a dance related program in college. “i think it’s been almost three years since i saw you, so you’ve changed quite a lot, grown up i can say”, you tell and he gives you an almost shy smile.

“yeah, my mom always mentions you, asking jihyo to invite you over to dinner”, soonyoung fills in and you smile, remembering how warm and welcoming jihyo’s mom and entire family has always been with you. you really should drop by sometime.

“what have you been doing?”, he asks a moment later.

“nothing much, same old corporate job that i say i’ll quit everyday but don’t because i need the money”, you tell, feeling deadbeat. 

the drink you had ordered finally arrives and you take a big sip, emptying it almost immediately. soonyoung looks a little alarmed at that but he doesn’t say anything. you feel the rush and buzz in your head, feeling tipsy and slightly intoxicated before you decide to speak again, which was a bad decision because you were always a yapper when you got tipsy. so right now, soonyoung was going to face the wrath of whatever nonsense you were going to tell him, poor thing.

“this sounds really stupid, but my mom keeps trying to set me up on blind dates and i keep telling her i don’t want to date right now and she can’t seem to take no for an answer”, you tell in one breath.

“that’s exactly like my mom, she keeps trying to set me up too”, he says, a small lopsided pout forming on his face as he speaks.

“damn, i think all moms are just universally coded like that”, you joke and he lets out a small laugh.

there’s a moment of silence between you both after that and you gulp down the rest of whatever drink is remaining in your glass.

“the thing is, i’ve never dated before so she thinks something is wrong with me”, soonyoung fills in. 

“wait, what? really?”, you ask, a little surprised because looking at soonyoung now, he was pretty good looking and pretty handsome, so hearing him say he’s never dated before takes you by surprise. 

he nods. “yeah, i just…haven’t found the one you know”, he says, like it wasn’t a big deal.

“my mom thinks i’ve dated too much and something is wrong with me”, you tell, letting out a small laugh at your situation. “she wants me to settle down and stuff but i’m not ready for that, at least not now”, you add. “it’s kind of ironic considering i have four exes, so you’d think i’d have found the one by now, but nope”, you say defeated. 

“it’d be funny if we fake date just to get them off our backs”, you blurt out a second later without thinking, the words already out before you can take it back and you watch as soonyoung blinks at you, the words slowly sinking into him.

“that’s actually a genius idea”, he says, a hint of enthusiasm in his tone. “wait, really?”, you ask, not expecting that answer from him. “i could use a break from my mom trying to set me up on blind dates, i wouldn’t mind”, he says.

“okay, done deal”, you say almost immediately. why? because you were stupid and tipsy and not thinking straight. just then one of your coworkers comes over, saying you were wanted back at the table and she grabs your arm, taking you over there.

“i’ll text you”, you mouth to soonyoung who watches you leave. but who were you kidding, you weren’t going to text soonyoung because you didn’t have his number. 

a week later you seem to have completely forgotten about the deal you had made with soonyoung when your head was in the clouds. sure, you remember meeting him and talking to him, but the bit about fake dating seemed to have been erased from your memory. so when you go to see jihyo later that evening, you're surprised to see soonyoung there too. you all sit down at a cafe nearby, jihyo saying that soonyoung was in the area so she called him over too since he had the car.

the conversations are normal, nothing ordinary, just you filling in jihyo on your work drama and life while she does the same, while soonyoung leans back in his chair, listening intently. you didn’t think soonyoung had a thing for gossip, but the concentration on his face and the way his brows were furrowed said otherwise.

jihyo’s phone rings and she excuses herself, saying it was a work call and walks outside the cafe to speak, leaving you and soonyoung alone. soonyoung picks up his eyes and looks at you before speaking.

“are we still doing the fake dating thing?”, soonyoung asks softly and you almost choke on your tea upon hearing his words. he’s quick to hand you a tissue and lean forward and push the glass of water towards you.

“the what now?”, you ask and he gives you that lopsided pout again. why did that look so cute on him.

“fake dating? you know, the one we talked about last week at the bar?”, he fills in and you wrack your brain trying to think when you both even talked about this before the memory seems to slowly make its way back into your mind. 

“oh”, you say once you seem to recall everything and you glance outside, seeing jihyo still talking on the phone. 

“you were serious about it?”, you question, which only seems to make him more confused.

“were you not serious about it?”, he asks, blinking at you. you open your mouth to speak but close it, unsure what to say. 

“but won’t it be awkward since i’m jihyo’s friend?”, you ask and he only shrugs, like that didn’t seem to matter to him.

“nah, i’m sure she’d be chill with it, we could let her know too, it could just be a something between the three of us”, he explains and you nod because he did have a point. 

“i’ll think about it okay, give me a day?”, you ask and he nods. “sure, you can text me”, he adds and you internally wince. “i actually don’t have your number so”, you say softly, unlocking your phone and handing it over to him. he dials in his number and hands it back to you.

jihyo’s walks back in, taking a seat, looking between you and soonyoung, giving you both a look. “what happened here?”, she asks and you both seem to shake your heads at the same time.

“nothing, i was just asking soonyoung what he’s been up to”, you say instead and she seems to smile, sitting back down. “he’s been up to a lot, haven’t you soonie”, jihyo says, nudging him with her elbow and soonyoung gives her a look at the mention of his nickname.

you don’t text soonyoung after a day, nor the day after and it’s been a week now. you’ve sat and thought about it, overanalyzed it, overthought it and made up every possible worst case scenario that could happen if you fake date your best friend's brother and the light at the end of the tunnel does not seem bright with that idea. so, you decide to tell him no, that you don’t want to fake date, that it was a stupid idea and would never work in the first place. but when your mom calls you up again, trying to set you up on yet another blind date, you’ve hit your limit. you open your phone, click on soonyoung’s contact and text him.

you [7:37 PM]: hey, it’s yn! i’ve decided that yes, we can go ahead with the fake dating plan.

when soonyoung gets your text, he nearly drops his phone. after you failed to text him, twice, he was bummed, thinking that you didn’t want to talk with him, and that you just said that you’d text him just to be nice since you were jihyo’s friend. but now as he sees your text on the screen, he doesn’t know how to respond. 

“close your mouth man, a fly is going to go in there”, seungkwan says, snapping soonyoung back to reality.

soonyoung whips his head up and clears his throat, setting his phone down on the table. he glances at seungkwan, his roommate and friend, and that one look from soonyoung is all it takes for seungkwan to understand that soonyoung was up to no good.

seungkwan visibly sighs before he speaks. “what did you do now?”, he asks, massaging his temples.

“first of all, i didn’t even do anything”, soonyoung counters. “right, now spill”, seungkwan says and soonyoung takes a second before he speaks again.

“what do you know about fake dating?”, soonyoung asks, almost too innocently, making seungkwan’s eyes widen. “fake dating? what ghost has possessed you”, he asks, making soonyoung roll his eyes.

“just tell me if you know anything about it or not”, soonyoung says, crossing his arms over his chest in defense, frowning slightly. “i don’t know man, i guess it’s just like normal dating expect it's fake. you’re pretending and putting on an act and of course the most important thing is that you don’t catch feelings”, seungkwan says.

“is it hard?”, soonyoung asks, genuinely curious and seungkwan only blinks at his roommate. “i don’t know? i’ve never fake dated”, seungkwan says, exasperated all of a sudden. “why do you want to know all this anyway?”, he asks. soonyoung only blinks back at seungkwan and shrugs his shoulders. “just curious”, he says, trying to act casual but seungkwan can see right through it.

“did something happen at the dance studio? is this why you’re asking about this?”, seungkwan asks and soonyoung shakes his head.

“no! nothing like that, i was just asking jeez”, soonyoung says, pushing his chair back and getting up, grabbing his phone from the table as he trudges back into his room. seungkwan doesn’t ask anything more as he watches soonyoung go. soonyoung sighs softly, falling on his bed and staring up at the ceiling, thinking about how to respond to you. he feels like a fool now. he’s the one that brought it up, suggesting the fake dating plan when you’d clearly just been joking about it. but now that you said yes, he had no idea what to do. a moment later he reaches for his phone, opens your contact and texts you back.

soonyoung [7:55 PM]: hey! okay let’s do it.

you [7:56 PM]: sounds good! let’s meet up tomorrow afternoon? i’ll text you when i’m free and we can go from there!

you’re sitting in a cafe downtown, waiting for soonyoung. you were nervous for some reason and it makes you laugh, because you’d never get this nervous about meeting someone. you deal with clients on a daily basis and they never made you feel like this. you take a deep breath and that’s when soonyoung walks in. you see him enter the cafe, his eyes scanning the area before they land on you. you give him a small wave and he makes his way towards you, pulling out a chair and sitting down. 

“hey”, you say. “hi, sorry if i’m late, the class ran a bit late”, he informs but you didn't mind.

“no worries, can i get you anything?”, you ask, standing up to order. “oh, no it’s fine”, he says but you wave your hand. “it’s fine soonyoung, my treat, what will you have?”, you ask and he says he’ll just have an iced americano.

his coffee and your hot tea arrives and you set it down on the table, taking a seat. soonyoung’s hair is styled differently today, exposing his forehead, with just a few loose strands falling over his forehead and he’s wearing jeans and a loose button up shirt.

“so,” you began, clearing your throat a little too loudly. “um, how’s your… coffee?”, you ask, wincing internally, realizing how dumb you sounded. but soonyoung only seemed to smile softly and nod. “it’s good,” he says, his almond shaped eyes sparkling with warmth. ”how’s your tea?”, he asks.

“it’s good too,” you say, taking a sip, swallowing it down and there was another beat of silence.

“so”, you start again, looking at soonyoung. “about the fake dating thing…i guess we should set some ground rules right?”, you say and he nods, like he understood what you meant, but he didn’t. he takes a sip of his coffee, gulping down 1/4th of the drink in all the nervousness before he looks back at you.

“i don’t really know how fake dating works”, he finally says. “i mean i’ve never dated before, so i don’t know how this entire thing works really”, he admits, looking sheepish.

“that’s fine soonyoung, i’ll teach you. i have plenty of experience, so i can definitely show you the ropes and stuff about dating, it isn’t that big of a deal”, you add on and relief seems to wash over his features. “okay”, he says, “so what do we do?”.

“first the ground rules: make a convincing story, set some boundaries and an end date”, you say and he nods along, waiting for you to continue.

“so, for the story, if anyone asks how we met, we gotta have the same story so it’s convincing”, you explain. “so we could just say we met through jihyo, right?”, he suggests and you nod. “yeah, sure, that could work”, you say. “we’re going to tell jihyo about this right, otherwise it’s going to be really awkward”, you add and he nods again.

“okay then, now for the boundaries. we can decide what is okay and not, PDA wise and stuff”, you say and soonyoung only seems to blink at you, a little clueless.

“PDA?”, he asks. “public display of affection? you know, like holding hands and stuff”, you tell.

“right, yes”, he says. “so, are you okay with that? i mean holding hands and stuff if we need to? that’s all we’ll basically do, drawing the line there, no kissing or anything else, just holding hands”, you say.

“okay, only holding hands, that’s easy”, he says, like he’d done it a thousand times before. 

“and the end date, how long do you think we should do this for?”, you ask and he leans back in his chair, thinking, that small frown forming on his face again as he’s thinking.

“how long do people usually do this for?”, he asks, like you’re some sort of expert in fake dating. “uh— maybe three months to begin with? we can decide what to do after that”, you tell, unsure how long to set this for either. “so basically if we both need plus ones to an event, we can call each other or if your mom bothers you again, just say you’re dating me”, you tell.

another sense of relief seems to wash over soonyoung at your words and he lets out a  small goofy smile. “okay”.

“okay”, you say and silence seems to engulf you both again. “cool”, he repeats, getting nervous again. “cool”, you repeat again, an awkward tension now filling the air between the both of you. you take a sip of your tea, but the silence only seems to grow louder before you decide to speak again.

“i should head back to work, but just text me if you need anything”, you say, gathering your bag and standing up. soonyoung stands up too and says a small ‘see you’ before watching you walk out the cafe door. 

that night as you lay in bed, you just can’t bring yourself to call jihyo and tell her this rather ridiculous plan about fake dating her younger brother. you were somehow convinced that and sure that she’d disown you, block you and ask you what the hell was wrong with you. so after contemplating about it for nearly an hour, your finger that was hovering over her contact finally taps the call button and the phone rings. you throw your phone on the side, burying your face into the pillow, regretting every life decision you’ve ever made when she picks up, her voice filling the room since it was on speakerphone.

“yn hi babe”, she says, sounding upbeat. “hi babe”, you say and pause, trying to gather your thoughts and think of how to drop this bomb of information on her.

“i need to tell you something”, you start off. “but promise me that you won’t kill me”, you say and jihyo laughs. “what yn, you know i would never do that, what’s wrong?”, she asks but you hesitate. “you did say that the one time i texted my ex”, you say and she scoffs. “okay that was for a valid reason though, we don’t support texting exes over here”, she says and you roll your eyes.

“okay back to the topic”, you say as you gather the courage to spill the beans to her. “you know how my mom keeps trying to set me up on blind dates right?”, you ask.

“yeah, oh my god, is she still doing that?”, jihyo asks and you groan out a yes.

“so what about it?”, she asks, trying to get back to whatever you were trying to tell her. “i might have made a really stupid decision”, you say, biting your lip.

“what did you do?”, she asks. “i may have decided to fake date this guy to get her off my back”, you say and you hear jihyo exclaim on the other side. 

“OHMYGOD WHO”, she asks, almost yelling at you and you wince, clearing your throat before breaking the news to her.

“your brother, soonyoung”, you say softly, hoping she didn’t hear it but she does. 

“wait WHAT”, she asks and you can hear the confusion in her voice. “what do you mean you’re going to fake date soonyoung? my brother?”, she asks again, like she was trying to make sure she didn’t hear you wrong.

“yes, soonyoung, your younger brother”, you repeat and the line is silent for a few seconds.

“are you insane? what is wrong with you”, she says. “i’m not insane! it’s a perfectly good solution for two people to fake date to get their pestering mother’s off their backs!”, you tell, trying to sound convincing but it seems to lack conviction even to you.

“i met soonyoung at the bar two weeks ago and we talked a bit. he told me about how your mom kept trying to set him up on blind dates and stuff, so i jokingly suggested we fake date since my mom was doing the same thing, and well, here we are”, you explain.

“but soonyoung out of all people? he’s clueless yn, he’s a walking disaster when it comes to dating, no wonder he’s still single”, jihyo says and suddenly you feel bad for him.

“hey! don’t say that, i’m sure he’ll make a great boyfriend”, you say, recalling how cool he looked when you saw him earlier. he just needed a little push, somewhere to start. “he’s cute”, you say and jihyo scoffs softly. “well, don’t say i didn’t warn you about what you’re getting into”, she says. “yes ma’am”, you say and she laughs.

“also this is top secret, you can’t let anyone know we’re fake dating. i’m only telling you because you're my best friend and his sister, so i don’t want things getting awkward between us”, you say and jihyo hums at your words.

when soonyoung gets home that night there’s a shift in energy in him, he’s nervous, but also excited for some reason. seungkwan is quick to notice and soonyoung decides to be the first to break the news to him—that he has a girlfriend now, but he was going to leave the fake part out of it.

“i—um— seem to have gotten myself a girlfriend”, soonyoung says once he’s closer and seungkwan spits out the water in his mouth, the water sputtering out and landing right on soonyoung shirt.

“seungkwan what the hell?”, soonyoung shouts looking down at his clothes, as seungkwan wipes his mouth with his hand.

“what? you got yourself a girlfriend? the mr. i won’t date till i find the right one has finally found himself a girlfriend?”, he asks, shocked.

“yeah, why is that so hard to believe?”, soonyoung asks with a frown and seungkwan nods. “yeah that’s really hard to believe, but who’s the girl?”, he asks and soonyoung shrugs lightly.

“just someone, you don’t know them”, soonyoung says, trying to avoid the topic but he melts under seungkwan’s gaze and gives in, “she’s my sister’s best friend”, soonyoung finally admits and seungkwan’s sharp inhale of air can he heard.

“i didn’t know you had a thing for your sister’s best friend dude, holy shit”, seungkwan says, but soonyoung only rubs the back of his neck, trying to ease his nerves and play it cool.

“yeah, haha, i mean my sister is cool with it so”, soonyoung says, hoping he sounded convincing enough.

“so you think she’s the one then?”, seungkwan asks. “you’re always telling me that you didn’t want to date just for the sake of dating, but wanted to only date when you found the right person”, he asks and soonyoung feels his ears turn red at seungkwan’s words. fuck, he was going to have to lie again to keep this up or else he was screwed. 

“yeah, she’s the one”, soonyoung says quickly before turning around and making a beeline to his room, nearly slamming the door shut. shit, this was going to be harder than he thought.

“what do people do on dates?”, soonyoung asks the next morning, the question sounding so innocent that seungkwan wants to strangle him. 

“people just do couple things, they talk about stuff, support each other, do things together, hold hands, kiss”, seungkwan says, listing out stuff.

“do i have to be like cool?”, he asks. “no man, you don’t have to be cool, just be you”, seungkwan replies. 

“do you know what she likes?”, seungkwan asks and soonyoung only blinks back at him. “then go ask her, find out what she likes, dislikes, get to know her. i thought you’d know all this by now”, seungkwan says in an almost scolding tone.

“of course i know what she likes!”, soonyoung replies before he says something about having two classes scheduled today so he’ll be home only in the evening and he walks out the door, thinking he’s such an idiot, that he was doomed—because he really didn’t know much about you. he had half a mind to call jihyo and ask, she’d know plenty of things about you. he was even sure jihyo would know your astrological chart by heart if he asked but he didn’t. 

work is busy today and you had two client meetings, plus you had to manage three projects simultaneously so you were running around pretty much the entire day today. you barely have the time to eat lunch or dinner, just nibbling on some snack bars through the afternoon and by the time you clock out, it’s late, later than usual. you walk to the bus stop, hoping you haven’t missed the last bus and sit down and wait, hoping it’ll still come otherwise you are going to have to take a cab.

on the other side of the road, soonyoung walks, evidently a little tired but still energised, a slight little bounce in his step. it isn’t until soonyoung turns around to cross the road that he spots you sitting at the bus stop across the road. it’s an odd thing really, how you’d always taken a bus at that bus stop, and how soonyoung always walked down that path everyday for the last two years, but today is the only time he sees you there, notices you.

he straightens up and blinks, looking at you to make sure it was indeed you and crosses the road when the light turns green. you haven’t seen him yet, busy typing away on your phone. he stuffs his hands in his jeans pockets and walks towards you, his shoes crunching on the leaves fallen on the roadside.

“yn hey”, he says and you snap your head up at the mention of your name, your gaze softening when it lands on soonyoung. 

“oh, hey”, you say, surprised to see him here. “heading home?”, he asks and you nod. “yeah, you too?”, you ask and he nods.

“do you always work this late?”, he asks, taking a seat next to you. “no, usually i leave earlier, but today was a busy day, i had things to take care off”, you say and he nods.

the bus finally comes and you get up. you turn around, giving soonyoung a small wave before you climb onto the bus and find a window seat. soonyoung watches as the bus leaves before he turns on his heel and continues walking in the other direction, kicking a stone as he takes a step, his hands still stuffed in his pockets. soonyoung reaches home and unlocks the door to the apartment, stepping inside and spots seungkwan on the couch.

“someone is late”, he says but soonyoung shrugs. 

“i was with my girlfriend, i saw her at the bus stop so i stopped to talk”, soonyoung tells proudly. “did you drop her home too?”, seungkwan asks and soonyoung furrows his brows in confusion.

“drop her home? was i supposed to?”, soonyoung asks and seungkwan runs a hand across his face, clearly done with his clueless friends behaviour.

“dude, it’s so late and you let her take the bus alone and didn’t even offer to drop her home? are you stupid? that’s the basic thing to do when you’re in a relationship”, seungkwan explains, shaking his head in disapproval. 

“i think instead of dance classes, you need to start taking some romance classes”, seungkwan adds. “wait, is that actually a thing? do you think i should sign up for that?”, soonyoung asks, oblivious, which only makes seungkwan groan even louder.

“oh my god, you, my friend, are hopeless, i can’t believe this”, seungkwan exclaims. 

if soonyoung was going to get this fake dating thing right, he had a lot to learn. 

“did you look at the picture i sent, he’s a decent guy yn, give him a chance”, your mom says as you wait for the leftover takeaway food to heat up in the microwave. you take a breath, because you had to break the news, and you weren’t sure how she was going to react to it.

“mom, i found a guy and we’re in a relationship”, you say and you mom goes silent for a moment before her voice crackles through the phone again. “who?”, she asks, her tone a little scary. well, here goes nothing.

“soonyoung”, you say. “who?” your mom asks again and the microwave beeps, your hand reaching out to open it.

“soonyoung, you know, jihyo’s younger brother”, you say, hoping she wasn’t going to freak out about this.

“how long has this been going for”, you mom asks, her tone taking a sort of serious edge. “last week”, you say, biting your lip as you take the plate and walk over to the small table. 

“why?”, she asks and you furrow your brows. “what do you mean why, mom, i like him”, you say, trying to sound convincing. 

“what does he do?”, she asks. “he works at a dance studio”, you say. “does jihyo’s mom know about this?”, she questions and your silence is all she needs to get an answer. 

“of course mom”, you say a beat too late, hoping you didn’t screw things up already, but soonyoung’s family were bound to find out about this some way or another. you just didn’t know how quick the news was going to spread like wildfire. your mom had immediately called up soonyoung’s mom, who then asked jihyo if this was true before calling up her son for more answers. 

when soonyoung’s phone rings, his mom’s caller ID on display, he smiles and picks up the phone, but he doesn’t expect his mom to ask him bluntly, “you’re dating your sister’s best friend?”. soonyoung nearly trips on the steps but catches his balance before it’s too late and stops in his tracks.

“what—how did you find out?”, he asks. “you think i’m not keeping tabs on you boy? i have eyes everywhere”, his mom tells and soonyoung scratches his head.

“how long has this been going on for?”, she asks and soonyoung stutters out an answer, wracking his brain on what to say. “last two weeks”, he says and his mom clicks her tongue.

“yn’s mom said it’s been going on since last week”, she questions him and soonyoung nearly breaks into a cold sweat with the way his mom was interrogating him. “um-yeah-no last week-it’s been official since last week”, soonyoung sputters out, hoping he didn’t already bust his cover. “i see”, is all his mom says after that, the line going silent for a few seconds before she speaks again.

“take good care of her”, is all his mom says finally, before saying she had to get back to making some kimchi and hangs up the phone.soonyoung stands there stunned and a little nervous about how he’s going to tell you about this. he decides to text you when he gets home.

soonyoung [6:33 PM]: hey! hope all is well.

you [6:35 PM]: yeah, what’s up?

soonyoung[ 6:37 PM]: so my mom found out we’re dating…

you [6:38 PM]: omfg i’m sorry this is my mom’s doing i told her and she must’ve immediately called your mom 😭

soonyoung [6:39 PM]: oh…so we’re cool right?

you [6:39 PM]: yeah, don’t worry, they were bound to find out anyway.

soonyoung [6:40 PM]: okay 👍🏽

you call jihyo when you reach home. “i told my mom and she immediately told your mom like we committed a crime or something”, you tell. “yeah, my mom sort of chewed my head about it too, i’m glad soonyoung isn’t here or he'd put me in hell right now”, jihyo laughs.”i wouldn’t be surprised if half the neighbourhood knows about this by tomorrow”, you add and jihyo laughs even more.

“are you enjoying my sorrow right now?”, you ask. “well, you’re the genius who wanted to fake date my brother out of all people, so this is on you, don’t say i didn’t warn you”, jihyo says and you scoff. 

“whatever”, you tell. “but your family is chill with this right?”, you ask, unsure.

“yes, what do you mean? my mom is literally in love with you, she’s doting over you all the time, so i know she’s secretly happy about this, even though it’s fake”, jihyo says and you let out a small breath of relief. “okay good, because i was starting to think i would never be welcome in your house again”, you joke. 

“you know, soonyoung works really close to your office, he moved into that part of town too for work and stuff”, jihyo says and your ears perk up at this piece of information.

“oh yeah, no wonder i bumped into him at the bus stop yesterday”, you say, the information clicking in your brain. “if you get the time, you should drop by the dance studio, it’s actually pretty cool and he’s actually really good at teaching and dancing”, jihyo praises. 

“how come he’s never dated before?”, you ask, curious to know the reason. you remember him telling you something about not finding the one, but you were sure jihyo had more inside information on why exactly. 

“i don’t know, he’s always been sweet, but when it came to dating, he wasn’t really interested. he said he didn’t like anyone, and wanted to devote his time to dancing rather than dating. he’d always say he’d date someone when the time was right, when he really liked someone”, jihyo explains and you hum in response. “yeah, he’s silly like that. good luck dealing with him”, she says, making you chuckle.

“come on, he’s not that bad, he’s sweet”, you say.

“did you break up with your girlfriend or something? i haven't seen you talk to her or go meet her once this entire week”, seungkwan asks as soonyoung is eating dinner, who nearly chokes on the spoonful of soup.

“she’s just busy!”, soonyoung counters and seungkwan only narrows his eyes at soonyoung, not taking his word for it. “she’s busy”, soonyoung mutters again, averting his gaze, looking at the meal in front of him, but he can still feel seungkwan’s piercing gaze on him.

“something isn’t adding up”, seungkwan declares, crossing his arms over his chest and soonyoung tries not to panic, he couldn't blow his cover. “is she not taking you seriously because you’re her best friend’s brother?”, he asks and soonyoung blinks in relief.

“no dude, she really likes me, she’s just really busy at her super important corporate job”, soonyoung says and seungkwan raises a brow. “corporate job? what does she do?”, he asks and soonyoung freezes, because fuck, he had no idea what you did.

“um, she’s like super duper important and has a really high position”, soonyoung says and seungkwan furrows his brows more. “but what exactly does she do?”, he asks and soonyoung lets out a fake cough, standing up to go grab some water and he turns around, only to see seungkwan still waiting for an answer. 

“she deals with people you know, she’s a people person”, soonyoung says, sounding like a fool. “right, and i’m supposed to understand what that means”, seungkwan tells and soonyoung lets out a nervous laugh.

“i mean, even if i told you, you wouldn’t understand, it’s complicated”, soonyoung says, trying to act cool and just then seungkwan’s phone rings, prompting him to get up to fetch it and soonyoung thanks the gods because he was this close to revealing the truth.

“my mom wants you to come over for dinner”. jihyo says over the phone.

“oh…oh… is this bad? oh my god”, you say, panicking a little. it was funny how you’d always loved her family, her mom loving and welcoming you, but now that you were dating, well fake dating her son, suddenly the thought of going over for dinner felt daunting.

“yn chill out, you’re acting like my mom is going to kidnap you and chop you up into pieces! she’s chill with you guys dating trust me”, jihyo says, trying to soothe you. “i don’t know why you’re freaking out so much when the whole arrangement is fake anyway”, she adds.

“i just don’t want your mom to think i broke her son’s heart when we end the thing”, you say and jihyo hums. “i’m sure she’ll understand”, she says, trying to soothe you. “so you’ll drop by this weekend for dinner then?”, jihyo asks again and you bite your lip, contemplating a response before you say yes, because if you were going to fake date, you had to do it right.

on the day of the dinner with jihyo’s family, you’re a mess. your entire wardrobe is dumped out on your bed and you’ve tried on at least eight articles of clothes, discarding them all because they didn’t look good. you finally settle for something simple, a pair of high waisted jeans paired with a flowy baby blue top that was tucked in, and ankle length boots. it was simple and comfortable. you decide to drive to her place instead of taking the bus. you usually only took the bus to the office and back since it was cheaper than driving there everyday.

when you pull up at jihyo’s place, you have to sit in the car for a minute and breathe. why were you so nervous? you knew her parents and they were so sweet to you, but tonight the thought of sitting and having dinner with them felt nerve wracking. you open the door and step out, making your way to the door and ringing the doorbell. soonyoung opens the door and he lets out a small smile when he sees you, beckoning you to come inside. just then his mother comes into sight. she lights up when she sees you and immediately pulls you in for a hug. jihyo’s dad waves at you from the back as jihyo tackles you in a hug too and you give him a small wave.

“yn! look at you, it’s been so long since i saw you, you’re all grown up now”, she says and you laugh softly and smile. she ushers you inside and asks soonyoung to fetch you something to drink. so far the conversation seems to be going well, but if you only knew how awkward it was going to get when you all sat down for dinner. 

soonyoung sits next to you. “so, how did you guys end up dating?”, soonyoung’s mom asks and you glance at soonyoung before you clear your throat and answer. “it just sort of ended up happening”, you say, giving his mom a small smile in an attempt to distract her from your half baked answers.

“how long have you liked each other then? has this been going on for long?”, soonyong’s mom asks, looking between you and soonyoung, who is close to breaking into a sweat because he had no idea what to say, so he just blabbers something at the same time you open your mouth to speak.

“one month”, he says in a rush. “two weeks”, you say and you both look at each other and you tilt your head to the side, giving him a look and soonyoung scrambles to save face.

“i mean to say that i liked yn for a while, so it was one sided until two weeks ago”, he says and jihyo lets out a small snort at his answer. soonyoung looks at you with that lopsided pout on his face and rubs the back of his neck, nervous, his eyes asking if he did okay. you only laugh softly and lightly nudge him with your elbow. “he’s funny, but yeah that’s the story”, you tell, playing along. “then what made you say yes to dating him?”, his mom asks and you panic again. “um—he was cute and eventually grew on me”, you say, sounding ridiculous and jihyo stifles a laugh and you give her a look. jihyo’s mom doesn’t say anything more, and the conversation diverts to what you have been doing and catching up and you couldn’t be more grateful. when dinner is done, you’re helping clear the table. that’s when soonyoung notices you and rushes over, saying he’s got it and takes the plates from you. 

jihyo whisks you away to her room and you crash on her bed, the various memories of when you’d come over and the countless sleepovers you’d had during your college days come flooding back. “this room hasn’t changed a bit”, you say, sitting up and looking around. you both probably end up talking for a good 30 minutes when a realisation hits—the realisation that you were here for soonyoung and you’d been completely ignoring him. jihyo gets called downstairs and she says she’ll be back, leaving you alone. you sit on the bed, contemplating if you should head out too and find soonyoung when you notice a head peeking into jihyo’s room—soonyoung. when he sees that you’ve caught him, he straightens up and runs a hand through his hair, coming into view.

“soonyoung hey”, you say, realising you’d barely greeted him or talked to him this entire evening. “hi”, he says looking at you before speaking. “my mom was asking if you wanted some ice cream?”, he asks. “sure”, you say and soonyoung leads you downstairs. jihyo’s arguing about something with her mom and when her mom sees you, she ignores jihyo and hands soonyoung a tray with two bowls of ice cream.

“here, eat it in your room with yn”, his mom says and soonyoung blinks, glancing at you.

“i’m coming too!”, jihyo yells but her mom stops her. “stop it, leave soonyoung and yn be”, her mom says, ushering you both back up the stairs. jihyo mouths an ‘all the best’ to you and you give her a look. you both walk up the stairs and you’re standing in front of soonyoung’s room when he looks at you. “just…give me a minute, it’s a bit of a mess”, he says, stepping into the room quickly and you hear the shuffle of feet as he tries his best to tidy up the room quickly while you’re standing outside. he dumps whatever clothes were on his bed into the wardrobe and shuts it, straightening his bedsheet and fluffing up the pillows as much as he could. his eyes scan the room once more and once he deems it tidy enough he opens the door rather hurriedly, like he was scared that he’d made you wait for too long.

“you can come in now”, he says and you step inside. soonyoung’s room is so much like his personality. there are a bunch of old textbooks stacked up in a corner of his table. there’s a bluetooth speaker by the side and bunch of charging cables strewn next to it. there's a photo frame that has a small collage of pictures—soonyoung, jihyo and their parents and you smile softly at the sight of soonyoung grinning wide in the picture. your eyes glance down and there is a whole corner on the floor that is stacked with shoe boxes all stacked on top of each other, holding his sneaker collection. on the wall on the other side, there are a bunch of medals and certificates decorating his wall. you walk forward to take a closer look at them—they were all medals and certificates he’d won through participating in various dance competitions or events. you turn around and soonyoung’s holding out the bowl of ice cream for you and you take it. the ice cream’s already half melted but you don’t mind and soonyoung gestures for you to sit down on his bed. you take a seat on the edge of the bed while soonyoung pulls out the chair from the study table, taking a seat there. you eat a spoonful of the already melted ice cream and there’s an awkward silence that engulfs the both of you. 

“that’s quite an impressive collection of medals and certificates”, you say finally, earning a look from soonyoung, who bursts into an almost shy smile. “thanks”, he says. “how’s it working at the studio?”, you ask and soonyoung’s face seems to light up at your question.

“it’s really good! it’s really fun to see people from all different walks of life come together because of their passion for dancing. we get so many different people, ones who just dance as a hobby, some who are passionate about it and do it on the side, some who join to rediscover their passion for dancing and other beginners who just want to take a dance class for the fun of it. i think dance is a wonderful thing and me being able to teach and do what i love for a living is so worth it to me”, he explains and you smile at the way he explains it with so much enthusiasm, with so much passion.

“that’s wonderful to hear”, you say and he smiles more. “you should drop by sometime”, he asks. “i’d love too”, you say.

“sorry my room’s kind of a mess”, he says, looking around and getting a little self conscious about it. “it’s fine, it’s not bad…it’s just you”, you say. “you think so?”, he asks and you nod again, earning another shy look from him.

and just then jihyo bursts into the room, opening the door and startling you both. “guys, stop making out, mom wants to know if you want more ice cream”, she says rather loudly and you get up, smacking her arm.

“shut up jihyo, oh my god”, you grumble out, getting embarrassed while she only laughs at your misery. “i hate you so much”, you repeat and you glance over at soonyoung who looks like he’s just seen a ghost, his face turing pale.

“jihyo why would you say that!”, soonyoung says standing up and crossing his arms across his chest in an attempt to look tough, but his sulking tone shines through. “you guys need to have a little fun, come on!”, jihyo says laughing.

“also babe, it’s getting late so i thought i’d come ask you if you wanted to stay back or head home”, she says, looking at you. you glance at the time on your watch, realising that it was indeed late and you should probably leave to reach home since you also had work tomorrow.

“i’ll leave, i have my car anyway so don’t worry”, you assure and you nod. you walk down with jihyo, soonyoung following behind you with the ice cream bowls in hand and he drops them off at the sink when you’re putting on your shoes by the door.

“aren’t you going to walk her out?”, soonyoung’s mom says from the kitchen and you hear her. you can see the mental picture of his mom shooing him towards the door to walk you to the car. soonyoung comes up into sight again and jihyo pushes him forward, telling him to drop you to the car. 

“you don’t have to walk me, i’m fine”, you say but jihyo isn’t taking no for an answer. “come on yn, just let him”, she insists and that’s how you find soonyoung walking you towards your car, which was parked a little down from jihyo’s house. you glance at soonyoung, who’s walking with his hands stuffed into his pockets. the night breeze blows and catches in his hair, tousling it but he doesn’t seem to mind. his blonde silver hair seems to catch the moonlight and streetlight around, and under it, you notice how handsome it makes him look.

“sorry if this whole thing was weird for you”, you say after a moment, realising it must've not been easy for him to pretend, let alone know what to do since you recall him telling you that he's never dated before. “it wasn’t all that bad”, he says, looking at you and you stop walking, having reached your car.

“well, if anything comes up, i’ll text you”, you say and he nods. you get in your car, bid soonyoung goodbye and start your car, driving back home.

after the family dinner with you, soonyoung is determined to up his game and be a better fake boyfriend for you. so his search history looks a little like this:

how to be a good boyfriend

what does a boyfriend do

what do people do on dates

top ten date ideas

how to impress your girlfriend

how to hold your fake girlfriend’s hand

top ten pick up lines 

soonyoung spends the entire night staying up and searching all of this, reading through various blogs, articles and people’s comments to determine which approach was the best and what really worked. he had no idea dating included so many things, let alone having it pretend on top of all of that. but he was going to tackle it, because he wanted to impress you and be a good fake boyfriend for you. it’s only two weeks later when soonyoung bumps into you again.

you’re at a cafe, your favorite one and since it's friday, you decide to drop by and grab a quick bite there, you had always loved the food here. soonyoung is walking down the road when he happens to look into the cafe and that’s when he spots you sitting inside. he stops in his tracks and looks at you, squinting his eyes and making sure that it was indeed really you before his legs seem to have a mind of their own and take him inside the cafe. he pushes the door open, stepping inside, and the aroma of coffee and baked goods welcome him. he looks at you from the corner, watching you type away something on your laptop that’s open on the table, a mug of hot green tea on the table. he hesitates for a moment, not sure if he should come and say hi or leave. but then you look up and your eyes land on him. he looks away immediately before looking back in your direction and makes his way towards you.

“hey”, he says once he’s close enough. “soonyoung hi”, you say, looking at him. just then the waiter comes by and drops off your sandwich and soonyoung stands awkwardly by the side. 

“i’ll head out”, he says softly, like he was unsure if he was welcome to stay but you look at him. “you’re leaving already?”, you ask, to which he only blinks at you. you gesture for him to sit down and he takes a seat opposite you. “do you want anything, i’ll get it for you”, you ask and he shakes his head in refusal.

“oh no, i’m good”, he says. “coffee? tea? anything at all? it’s really no big deal”, you say but he says he’s fine again. you offer him the other half of your sandwich too, but in the end he only ends up munching on a few of the chips that were on the side. 

“you’re cute when you’re shy”, you say after a moment and he lets out a shy smile.

“what do you do?”, he asks after a moment, leaving you confused for a second before it clicks that he’s asking you what you do for a living. “oh, i’m currently working as a project manager for an advertising agency”, you say and he nods, like he’s impressed. “that must be really hard”, he asks. “yeah, it can get pretty hectic”, you say before silence settles between the both of you again and you take a bite of your sandwich. 

“so you teach everyday then? or does it work on shifts?”, you ask and again his eyes seem to light up at the mention of dance or you taking an interest in what he does. 

“yeah mostly it’s five days a week but the timings can vary. it mostly depends on the crowd, and what i’m going to be teaching, but sometimes i get days off in between since we have other dance teachers on rotation”, he explains. 

“that’s sounds really nice, god i wish i could get a day off in the middle of the week like that”, you say, already thinking of the workload that was waiting for you back home.

“you majored in dance right?”, you ask a second later and he nods. “yeah, a performance and choreography major”, he says and you nod your head, impressed. you finish eating the rest of your sandwich and you both walk out, hoshi offering to walk you to the bus stop. 

when the new week rolls in and it’s monday, soonyoung finds himself thinking about you. he finds himself waiting for you near the bus stop, hoping he’d spot you so he  walks by the cafe again. it’s silly really, how badly he wants to bump into you, to have an excuse to talk to you again. he could just text you, but it doesn’t feel the same. and on wednesday, he does manage to spot you, but this time he quite literally bumps into you. you both are turning around the corner and you’re in a rush when you bump right into him, your phone falling out of your hand and clattering to the floor.

“oh shit, i’m so sorry”, you say, a little frazzled, bending down to pick up your phone but he’s already got it. it’s only when he stands back up that you realise it’s soonyoung.

“soonyoung oh, hi”, you say and he seems to look relieved almost to see you, like he’d been waiting for this moment, his eyes lighting up when he realises it’s really you in front of him. “yn”, he says, saying your name so sweetly, like he’d been waiting for you for far too long as he blinks at you. he hands you your phone but not before glancing at it, making sure it wasn’t cracked or anything.

“sorry, i wasn’t looking where i was going”, you tell, apologizing. “heading somewhere?”, he asks, noticing how rushed you looked. “yeah, i have to meet a client so i’ll get going, see you around”, you say, giving him a tiny wave before walking ahead, leaving soonyoung behind. you hadn’t given him time to reply or say bye back to you and he just watches you walk away, whatever words he wanted to say dying on his lips. soonyoung stuffs his hands in his pockets and makes his way to the dance studio, a little bummed about not evening getting so say anything else to you besides the hi. he pushes the door open to the dance studio, waving at the receptionist and walking inside towards the staff rooms. he grabs his dance outfit from the locker and changes into it before walking into one of the dance practice rooms.

soonyoung turns on some music and does some light stretches, warming up his body for the dance session that was going to take place. soon, the room starts filling up with students and he greets them all one by one as they enter. soonyoung’s passion for dancing was immense, it was something like breathing to him, it came naturally. soonyoung was also great teacher, he was firm when needed but also patient and he was good at helping the students understand the movements easily, how to move their bodies and he always advocated about how taking care of yourself, a balanced diet and stretching was always required and a must. he’d often take a few extra minutes after class to help students who were particularly struggling or wanted extra help. the best part was the group dance showcases every week, showcasing everyone’s progress and dances, and he always found that exciting—to see his student’s progress and improvements always made him swell with pride. today’s dance session goes well and soonyoung is satisfied. it’s only when the class ends that three girls come up to soonyoung.

“do you have plans for dinner? you could join us”, one of the girls says. “yes! you always say no, you have to come tonight”, the other girl says, laughing softly, trying to convince him as they flirted with him.

“sorry, i have to get going”, he says, trying to sound nice as he smiles a little even though they try to convince him more and ask him out, but he declines and turns on his heel, making his way out the door, hoping he could catch you at the bus stop. but when he walks to the bus stop, soonyoung doesn’t spot you there, and he glances at the time, coming to the conclusion that he was a little late and had missed seeing you. 

soonyoung doesn’t bump into you again until friday. he’s walking by, minding his own business, making his way to the bakery downtown. this place was known for their freshly baked goods, the ovens churning out fresh bread and other delectable goods almost every four hours, so he knew he’d always get his hands on something freshly made. this place was particularly famous for their salt bread and doughnuts. seungkwan had asked soonyoung to get some salt bread on the way back home to stock up for the week so that’s where soonyoung was heading. soonyoung can smell the aroma of the freshly baked bread down the road. when soonyoung walks in, there’s a crowd no doubt. his eyes flicker around, looking at what was on display and that’s when he spots you. you’re standing in line, waiting to order and soonyoung slowly but carefully makes his way towards you. when’s he’s close enough, he ends up nudging you slightly because of the crowd and you turn around, ready to give a piece of your mind to whoever bumped into you, when your gaze softens at the sight of soonyoung. he gives you a small smile when he sees you, his eyes forming little crescent moons as the smile reaches his eyes.

“yn hi!”, he says, like he’s so happy to see you and you smile back.

“hey hi again”, you say, realising you’d started to bump into him quite often. 

“this place has the best salt bread, i’ve come to stock up on that”, he says and your face lights up. “they really do! and the doughnuts too, i need to indulge in some so i came to get some as an end of the week treat”, you explain.

it’s your turn to order and you go up to the counter, placing your order. “please give me two salted caramel doughnuts, two chocolate glazed ones and”, you stop, glancing at soonyoung.

“what are you getting?”, you ask. “oh, just some salt bread, two loaves”, he says.

“and two loaves of salt bread”, you say to the cashier who rings up your bill. you’re about to hand your card to the cashier when soonyoung stops you, saying he’ll pay, but you’re not having it. “soonyoung it’s really fine, consider it my treat”, you say, giving him an easy smile and handing over your card, but soonyoung thrusts his hand forward as well and the cashier stands blinking between the both of you.

“so who’s paying”, the guy asks, looking at the both of you. “mine, take mine joshua”, you say. having been a regular at the bakery, you’d gotten to know joshua who works there, so he listens and he takes your card. soonyoung stutters out a “no let me pay”, but it’s too late and joshua taps your card. you receive the goods from the counter two minutes later and soonyoung carries his bag with the two loaves of salt bread and the two chocolate doughnuts you bought for him and sneaked inside his bag. (he didn’t know).

“you really didn’t have to pay for my stuff yn”, he mutters out as you both walk to the side of the store. you’re about to respond to him when you hear someone call out your name

“yn! oh my god hi”, you hear someone call out and you turn around, watching your co-worker, mina, walk towards you. your eyes widen in surprise and you glance at soonyoung, who seems oblivious to the panic in your eyes.

“oh hi! didn’t think i’d run into you here”, you say, trying to sound calm. your co-worker, mina, seems to notice you glancing over at soonyoung and looks at you, waiting for an explanation. 

“this is my friend,”, you say in a rush, panicking when you say it. soonyoung’s smile falters for a second, his eyebrows raised slightly, a flash of surprise in his expression, having gotten caught off guard by the ‘just a friend’ part. but he’s quick to mask his expression with a easy grin, but the way his lips were turned down, forming a little pout told a different story

“yep, just a friend,” soonyoung repeats, his tone light but with a hint of forced cheerfulness. he politely says hi to your friend and stands there while the two of you make conversation.

“great, i’ll catch up with you later yn, see you later”, mina says to soonyoung too before she waves and leaves.

soonyoung glances over at you.”just a friend? i thought we’re supposed to be pretending to be a couple”, he says, looking at you with that lopsided pout on his lips. 

“i’m sorry, i panicked”, you tell, feeling a little bad but in hindsight, you really don’t know why you said that. soonyoung doesn’t say anything else as you both walk out of the store. “i’ll see you around then”, you say, when you both are outside.

“let me walk you to the bus stop”, he offers. “oh, it’s fine, it’s just a five minute walk”, you say. “but i want to”, he says lightly, so you let him.

“what else do you like from that bakery?”, soonyoung asks, glancing over at you, in a small attempt to get to know you better. “hm, i do love their red velvet cake and their dark chocolate chunk cookies”, you say and soonyoung makes a mental note to get those for you next time. after five minutes, you’ve reached the bus stop and he watches you get onto the bus and waves as it leaves.

it’s only when soonyoung gets home that he realises you’d sneaked in the chocolate doughnuts with the salt bread. “why did you get doughnuts? but i’m not complaining they’re always so good”, seungkwan says when he opens the bag that soonyoung had left on the counter.

“doughnuts? what do you mean? i didn’t buy doughnuts”, soonyoung says and seungkwan opens a box to reveal two chocolate glazed donuts inside them. “oh”, he says softly. soonyoung thinks it’s a mistake, that the cashier accidentally packed your doughnuts with his bread, so he snatches the box from seungkwan, telling him not to eat it and places it back in the bag before rushing to his room to grab his phone.

soonyoung [9:10 PM]: hey! 

you [9:12 PM]: hi, all okay?

soonyoung [9:13 PM]: you left your chocolate doughnuts with me, it was in my bag.

you [9:13 PM]: oh! no they’re for you, enjoy!

soonyoung [9:14 PM]: oh

you [9:14 PM]: yes :)

soonyoung stares at his screen, trying to formulate a response but doesn't know what to say. so he just settles for saying a thank you and shouts out to seungkwan that he can have the doughnuts. “are the doughnuts good?”, soonyoung asks, when he walks out to see seungkwan stuffing his face with it.

“oh my god, it’s so good, i can’t believe i’ve never tried this one before! i’m glad you got it”, seungkwan says and soonyoung only seems to sigh in defeat before walking over to the kitchen and pouring himself a glass of water.

“why are you sulking?”, seungkwan asks, being able to read soonyoung’s emotions. “i’m not sulking”, he says but who was he kidding, he was. “it’s stupid”, soonyoung says but seungkwan only looks at him, waiting for him to explain.

“it’s just that, when me and yn were at the bakery earlier, she introduced me as her friend”, soonyoung says softly and seungkwan sucks in a dramatic breath. “WHAT?”, he says, his voice muffled through the big bite of the doughnut he had taken.

“that’s foul”, seungkwan says after a moment, which only seems to make soonyoung pout more. “i’m sure she didn’t mean it in a bad way”, soonyoung says, which only seems to fuel seungkwan’s thoughts.

“are you crazy? she introduced you as her friend and not boyfriend? that's so foul, you know what, give me her number, let me talk to her”, seungkwan says, all riled up for no reason. “woah that’s not needed man”, soonyoung says, walking over and grabbing the other doughnut, taking a bite out of it. “hm these are actually really good”, soonyoung says as he walks back to his room, the doughnut in his hand.

it’s a week later and soonyoung has been busy with dance lessons at the studio, and you have new projects on hand at work. finally, he has a day off and decides that it’s the right time to buy you back some chocolate doughnuts. he walks to the bakery with a stride and on a mission. along with the two chocolate glazed doughnuts, he gets you four dark chocolate chunk cookies and a slice of red velvet cake, remembering you mentioning that you liked those too. he pays at the counter and walks out of the store, excited to give these to you, only to realise he doesn’t know where you work, or exactly where your office is located. 

he thinks that he should text you and ask, but then that’ll ruin the surprise. so he asks jihyo instead, who is a menace and it takes three pleases before jihyo laughs and says she’ll text him the location to your office. he nearly jumps when his phone pings with a text and he’s quick to put the location in maps. it shows that it’s a fifteen minute walk from the bakery, which wasn’t too bad, so he starts walking in the direction of your office, hoping you’d like the little surprise.

when soonyoung finally reaches your office, it’s a huge building and he looks up, counting eight floors, wondering which floor you work on. he walks inside before turning to the reception desk on the left side. 

“hi, i’m looking for yn, she works here”, he says and the receptionist looks at soonyoung. “and you are?”, the lady asks, looking soonyoung up and down.

“oh! i’m her…boyfriend”, he says with a small smile. “i just got her some stuff to eat”, he adds and the receptionist nods, scribbling down something in a book.

“it’s lunch break now so she’ll probably be at the cafeteria, 4th floor”, the lady says and soonyoung thanks the lady and walks towards the elevator. he hums to himself as he walks into the elevator and when it opens, he’s greeted by your co-worker whom he saw the other day—mina. soonyoung walks into the elevator and presses the button to the fourth floor.

“hi, you’re yn’s friend right?”, mina says after a moment, seeming to recognise soonyoung. “yeah, her boyfriend actually”, he corrects and your friend lets out a small gasp in surprise. and just then the elevator pings, signaling that it has reached the fourth floor and the door slides open. 

“i got her some things from the bakery”, he says, holding up the bag as he steps out of the elevator, mina following beside him. “that’s so sweet, oh my god”, she says.  "you're really spoiling her, huh?", she adds with a more teasing tone as you both step out. just then two more of yn’s colleagues appear around the corner, all of them stopping short when they notice soonyoung standing there, looking a little lost and a lot out of place.

"what’s going on here?" one of them asks, raising an eyebrow at the scene before them. the way soonyoung was standing, clearly unsure of where to go makes him even more endearing. soonyoung looks around at the people that seemed to have gathered around him. “yn’s boyfriend is here”, mina sings songs and the rest of the girls all exclaim. “no way”, one of them says and the whole group goes silent for a split second, before they erupt into small gasps. "oh my god really?!" one of them asks with a small grin. "yn has a boyfriend?"

soonyoung lets out a nervous laugh, his face turning a little pink at the sudden attention he was getting and he scratches the back of his neck and asks, “uh, do you know where i can find yn?”.

“she’s probably in the break room getting coffee, let me call her”, mina says and just then yn seems to step out and mina calls out her name. “yn! over here!”, mina calls out to you and you turn your head around when you hear your name, your eyes spotting your coworkers all gathered in the corner near the elevator, and that’s when your eyes land on soonyoung. your eyes widen in surprise and you make your way towards them. it’s only when you’re close enough does mina speak.

“yn you didn’t tell us you had a boyfriend?”, they all tease. “you’ve been hiding him? i thought you were just casually hanging out with him? you said he was just a friend when i bumped into you guys last week”, mina asks as she looks at you.

you panic and scramble for an answer. “oh, we just started dating three days ago”, you blurt out. “uh, we just, you know, kept it low, i didn’t want to make a big deal out of it”, you add, trying to salvage the situation.

"he’s literally perfect for you!", they chimed in, making your cheeks flush. you shoot a quick glance at soonyoung, who looks just a flustered, but seems to mask it better than you. “he’s so cute, much better than all your exes if you ask me”, one of them adds and you just give them a small laugh.

“oh my god, babe you have to bring him to my wedding as your plus one at the end of the month!”, mina says and all the other girls all chime in with a big yes and you know you really can’t pull yourself out of this situation now. “yeah, okay sure, i’ll get him along”, you say, giving mina a small smile. 

“we’ll give you two some alone time, there’s ten more minutes left for lunch break anyway”, mina says, giving you a mischievous look and you glare at her before all your co-workers walk to the break room and you grab soonyoung's arm, dragging him to the balcony on the other end of the room.

“soonyoung what are you doing here?”, you ask, confused, and a little frazzled at his sudden appearance at your workplace.

“i wanted to give you something back for paying for those breads last time, so i went to the bakery and got you all your favorite things from there”, he explains sweetly, holding out the bag. “i got you those dark chocolate chunk cookies, red velvet cake and those chocolate glazed doughnuts too”, he finishes, still waiting for you to take the bag from him. you reach your hand out and take the bag from him, opening it to take a peek inside, the smell of sugary goodness wafting in the air. “you didn’t have to”, you say, your tone softening at his gesture. 

“but i wanted to”, he tells and you smile at his warmth in his tone and the sweetness of his gesture. “that’s sweet of you”, you tell softly and he grins proudly. “no worries”, he says, looking at you, content. “i thought you’d enjoy it during a hectic work week”, he chimes in and you nod. “i definitely will, thank you”, you say and your eyes dart around, looking to see if anyone was around, which soonyoung picks up on.

“i’m sorry if i showed up unannounced, i didn’t think i’d bump into your co-workers”, he says, thinking he’d done something wrong. “no, you’re all fine soonyoung, it just took me by surprise”, you say. “cool, um, i guess i’ll see you around then?”, he says, sounding a little unsure as he says it. “yeah, see you around”, you say and he smiles. 

when soonyoung’s phone rings and he sees jihyo’s caller id, he has half a mind to ignore the call, but he doesn’t, knowing she’d just continue to call and pester him until he did pick up. 

“what?”, soonyoung asks, only to be met with a scolding. “that’s how you talk to your sister?”, jihyo asks and soonyoung sighs. “i’m busy”, he mumbles out in a whine.

“i have two tickets for this movie that was released last week, but i can’t go anymore, so i’m giving it to you”, jihyo says and for a second, soonyoung thinks that this is some kind of trap. “you’re joking”, he says. “i’m serious! take them, i really can’t go”, jihyo says.

“okay, but what will i do with the other one?”, he asks. “then take yn with you idiot, she’s been wanting to see that movie anyway”, jihyo says and soonyoung seems to stand up straighter at the mention of your name. 

“yn?”, he asks. “yes, yn, take her along”, jihyo says again like she’s already tired of talking to soonyoung. “i’ll send you the tickets, so go, i have to go now”, jihyo says and ends the call, hanging up before soonyoung can say anything more.

the thought of you seems to make soonyoung unintentionally smile and his phone pings with a text from jihyo with details about the movie and tickets. soonyoung opens the text and finds out that the movie was booked for saturday evening, which was in three days. soonyoung isn’t sure about it, isn’t sure if you would even want to watch the movie with him. so he sleeps on it, but the more he thinks about it, the more he realizes he actually does want to go watch that movie with you. but the question is how he was going to ask you.

it’s already friday and soonyoung is starting to get restless. he can barely focus on anything, his thoughts racing in endless circles about one thing—you. his mind won’t stop replaying the thought of you and if he should ask you out to go to that movie with him, and it’s driving him crazy. the nervous energy bubbles up inside him until he can’t take it anymore, so in a desperate attempt to clear his head and figure out what the heck he was doing, he decides to hit the gym.

he pushes through the door, ready to work off some of his restless anxiety, but as soon as he steps inside, his eyes landed on a familiar face—lee chan, who was his school friend. chan smiles and waves at him when he spots soonyoung, but soonyoung only gives him a half-hearted wave of the hand. 

confused, chan trudges forward to soonyoung. “everything okay?”, he asks and soonyoung sighs dramatically, his shoulder slumping. “i don’t think you’d be much of a help with this man”, he says, looking like a lost puppy. but chan’s face is full of determination as he steps closer, crossing his arms. “what’s going on?”, he asks.

soonyoung’s eyes dart around as he tries to get the words out without sounding like an idiot, but it’s no use. “how do you ask a girl out to the movies?” he blurts out, his voice full of uncertainty that it was almost painful.

chan blinks at him for a second, not expecting soonyoung to ask him something like that. chan scratches the back of his head, looking just as clueless as soonyoung. “um, i guess you just…ask her?”, he says, unsure.

soonyoung groans again, pulling a hand down his face. “ask her how?”

chan blinks again, looking around for some kind of answer. “I don’t know man, maybe text her? call her? i don’t know, just… ask?”

“it’s not that easy, chan,” soonyoung says, practically sinking into the bench that he had sat on. “why? does she not like watching movies or something?”, chan asks.

soonyoung buries his face in his hands, exasperated. “no! not like that—it’s just—ugh!” he lets out another sigh, quieter this time, and looks up at chan with eyes full of uncertainty. “i don’t know if she’d actually want to watch the movie with me”.

chan tilts his head, giving soonyoung a confused look. “you guys don’t do movie dates?”

soonyoung’s response is a helpless gesture of both his hands, as if he was trying to wrangle some logic from the air around him. “i… i don’t know! we haven’t really done anything like that before, and i—” he cuts himself off with a dramatic sigh. “this is so stupid, isn’t it?”

chan blinks at him, then his face softens with a quiet chuckle. “it’s not stupid man, you just gotta be honest with her and just ask her”, he encourages. chan gives him a small smile, patting him on the shoulder. “you’ll figure it out man, don’t stress, girls like that honesty thing trust me”, chan says.

chan then leaves since his workout is over and soonyoung is left alone with his thoughts. soonyoung contemplates how exactly he is going to ask you out to the movie without making a total fool of himself. he should just ask you right? it was such a simple thing really, but the thought of it felt too daunting for soonyoung. 

after the gym session, soonyoung heads back home. he takes a hot water shower but he still can’t stop thinking about the movie, about you. maybe he should ask seungkwan? when he comes out of the shower, he throws on sweatpants and a loose shirt, walking into the living room to see seungkwan sprawled on the couch. he walks up to seungkwan and takes a seat on the other end of the couch.

“what is it this time?”, seungkwan asks, without even looking at soonyoung, making him scoff. “why do you always assume i did something”, soonyoung complains. “because you have that look”, seungkwan tells and soonyoung mumbles something under his breath and finally seungkwan looks up at him,

and all of a sudden, soonyoung feels like an idiot all over again. “how do you…you know…like…how to ask a girl out…to the movies”, soonyoung asks slowly, the words coming out unsure. 

“man not this shit again”, seungkwan mutters, giving soonyoung a look “i’m starting to wonder how you even got a girlfriend at this point when you’re so clueless”, seungkwan says, bruising soonyoung’s ego.

“hey! i’m not that bad, this is just all…new”, he says, trying to salvage the situation but seungkwan was right, he was totally and utterly clueless.

“just tell me how to ask her to the movie”, soonyoung repeats, bringing the focus back on the situation. “and quick because the movie is tomorrow and i already have the tickets”, he adds. seungkwan gives him another serious look, asking soonyoung to come closer with a gesture of his hand.

“if you want to properly ask her out, you need to get a dove, write a message and send it to her house as a messenger”, seungkwan says, his tone dripping with sarcasm, but soonyoung doesn’t catch it. “but then wouldn’t that take too long?”, he asks.

“exactly you idiot, so you need to call or text her”, he nearly yells at soonyoung, exasperated. 

“but should i say?”, he asks, that lopsided frown forming on his face. “ssk her if she wants to watch a movie with you, what else are you going to say?”, seungkwan asks, scoffing with annoyance.

“okay man, calm down”, soonyoung says, unlocking his phone and opening your contact. his fingers hover over the keyboard as he wracks his brain on what to ask. he gives seungkwan a glace, who looks like he’s ready to snatch soonyoung’s phone and ask you instead.

soonyoung [10:35 PM]: hey! i know this is last minute but do you wanna go watch a movie with me tomorrow evening? i have an extra ticket.

soonyoung hits send and throws his phone on the couch with a yelp, covering a hand over his mouth. 

“i asked her," he says, his phone in the middle of the couch now. two minutes later his phone pings and soonyoung jumps. “is it her? what if she said no?”, soonyoung asks and seungkwan reaches for the phone to see who texted.

“it’s her”, seungkwan says. “really? what did she say?”, soonyoung asks, leaning closer.

“she said she doesn’t want to see the movie”, seungkwan lies and soonyoung looks like he’s about to burst into tears at any second. he snatches the phone from seungkwan and reads the reply you sent.

you [10:37 PM]: soonyoung hi! sure i don’t mind.

“SEUNGKWAN”, he yells, getting up in a huff and hurling one of the pillows at him. “i’m never asking you for help again”, soonyoung mutters out, walking back to his room. he closes the door and crashes onto his bed before he reads your text again, a small smile creeping up on his face.

so you did want to go to the movie with him. 

he turns over and buries his face into the pillow and smiles wider before gathering his thoughts, typing out a quick response.

soonyoung [10:38PM]: okay! the movie is at 8pm so i’ll pick you by 7:15

you [10:38 PM]: cool okay!

when saturday evening rolls around, soonyoung is freaking out. it’s like a tornado hit his room with the way all the clothes are splayed out on his bed and floor. he barges into seungkwan’s room for the fourth time, asking him if his outfit was okay.

“is this okay?”, soonyoung asks, adjusting his top. “yeah it’s fine”, seungkwan says, not bothering to look, which only makes soonyoung groan out in annoyance. “chill out man, it’s just a movie, you look fine”, he says, finally looking at soonyoung. “okay okay”, soonyoung says, glancing at the time on his watch and realizing he had to leave now if he wanted to reach your place on time.

you on the other hand are a mess too and you're starting to wonder why you agreed to this, except you had a good reason why—you wanted to test soonyoung’s and your chemistry. if he was going to come to the wedding with you, it needed to look like you were both really dating, and not pretending. plus this seemed like a good opportunity to teach a few things to him about being a boyfriend since he didn’t have any prior experience. 

you glance at the mirror, smoothing out the cream colored sweater that was tucked into the waistband of your high waisted jeans. it’s cozy and warm, perfect for the evening ahead. the look is casual yet sweet, just the right balance for a movie date. you slide on a pear of black ankle boot and you grab a small shoulder bag and sling it over your arm. you brush a hand through your hair, leaving your hair loose and letting it fall and frame your face naturally. 

just then you hear the honk of a car outside–it must be soonyoung. in a rush grab your lip tint, stuffing it in your bag and walking out. you open the door just as soonyoung is about to knock on the door and he’s a little surprised with the way you open the door so quickly, nearly bumping into him.

“soonyoung, hi!”, you say in a rush of nerves for some reason. soonyoung’s wearing a loose, dark brown jacket over a simple black tee and jeans. his ash blonde silver hair is slightly tousled as it falls over his forehead, just enough to make it look like he’s run his hands through it a few times, giving him a messy, carefree look—it’s cute. his hair catches the light under your front door, softening his sharp features, but still making him look striking in a way. 

soonyoung almost forgets to respond to you, distracted by how pretty you look. his eyes roam over you, lingering on you, taking in the way your hair falls loosely and frames your face just right, or the way you’d put on some makeup, something different than your usual office makeup, something bolder, but still pretty. his eyes flicker back up to yours, a hint of surprise in them, before he finally gives you a soft, almost distracted smile.

“h-hi”, he stutters out, clearing his throat, hoping he didn’t sound like a fool and wasn’t caught staring at you in awe. “are you ready?”, he asks after a second, and you nod. “yup, i’ll just grab the keys and lock up”, you say and walk back inside, grabbing the keys from the bowl and walking back out. you lock the door behind you and drop the keys in your bag. 

soonyoung runs over to the car and you’re confused for a moment before you realise he’s opening the door for you. you give him a small smile and say a small thank you before you sit inside, and he closes the door.  but how did soonyoung know all this? he had stayed up the entire night, googling silly things. every search felt like another step into the unknown. “what to do on a movie date,” he typed in, squinting as the search results loaded. his fingers hovered over the screen, unsure if it was a good idea to click on it before and if he overthinking this entire thing. in a panic, he clicks on the —“10 things you should NEVER do on a first date” article.

the more he googled, the more overwhelmed he became. “date ideas for people who have no idea what they’re doing,” he types instead, praying for something that might make him seem like less of a disaster. he didn’t want to screw this entire thing up. he had even watched a youtube tutorial titled “how to not be awkward on dates (for dummies), and read through countless articles like “how to be a good boyfriend,”. “how to impress your girlfriend”, “how to hold hands”. he was trying his best, but this was all just new, uncharted territory for him.

the drive to the theater is quiet and when he pulls up at a red light signal, soonyoung turns around to glance at you. you dig into your bag for the lip tint you had thrown in there and open it, hoping it still had some product left in it because it was on the verge of getting over. you open the cap and try to scrape out whatever product you could get on the wand and apply it on your lips, dabbing it with your finger to spread it out evenly. you hadn’t bought a new one because this one was out of stock and you hadn’t had the time to go to a store and look for similar shades. soonyoung watches you, wondering why you hadn’t just bought a new one. it’s only when the cars honk from behind that he snaps out of his daze from staring at you and drives ahead. once you reach the theater, you get out and you both walk inside. you stop just short of the entrance, prompting soonyoung to stop and turn around, looking at you a little confused.

"hey, soonyoung?," you say, your voice soft but purposeful. he walks over to you immediately, eyes wide with anticipation, clearly ready for whatever you’re about to say. “yeah?”, he asks.

you hesitate for a moment, then take a deep breath. “do you maybe want to try... holding hands?", you ask softly.

for a split second, soonyoung’s face freezes when he hears your words and his brows furrow slightly, like he didn’t quite catch what you said. he repeats it, a little too quickly, as though he’s making sure he heard you right. “hold hands?”

you smile, trying to ease the awkwardness. "yeah, like... we could practice doing some stuff today, you know? since you're coming with me to that wedding and all."

soonyoung blinks a couple times, still processing your words and his gaze flicks down to the ground, then back up at you, like he's trying to figure out if you're joking. "wait, you really meant it? you're really taking me to the wedding?"

you can’t help but laugh a little, amused by how surprised he sounds. "of course, i wouldn't leave you behind. plus, if i showed up without you, my friends would probably kill me”, you explain.

soonyoung relaxes a little, but there's still this wide-eyed, nervous energy around him. he clears his throat, trying to act cool, but it’s clear he’s a bit flustered. “i—uh—okay, so hold hands?”, he prompts again and you nod. “yeah, just for a bit, we can practice, it’s not a big deal”, you say, trying to sound reassuring.

soonyoung scratches the back of his neck nervously. "okay... we can try, i mean, we’re just practicing, right?", he asks as he looks at you, his eyes filled with a mixture of excitement and hesitation. you extend your hand slowly, watching as soonyoung does the same. his fingers tremble just a little, and he hesitates for a fraction of a second before his hand brushes against yours. he pulls his hand back almost immediately, like he was suddenly unsure. he looks at you again and you give him a small encouraging smile.

this time, when you offer your hand again, soonyoung hesitates just a little, his fingers hovering over yours as if he’s psyching himself up to reach out and take your hand. when he finally takes your hand, it’s tentative—like he's afraid he might break something. but then, after a deep breath, he laces his fingers with yours, and his hand feels warm, a little sweaty, but he’s holding your hand now.

you feel a soft chuckle bubble up from soonyoung. "whoa, this is actually kind of nice," he admits, his voice a little higher pitched than usual, a clear sign that he’s nervous but trying to hide it. you smile, "i think it’s nice too”, you say, smiling up at him.

for a moment, neither of you speaks, just standing there with your hands clasped together and soonyoung fidgets slightly, glancing down at your joined hands as if he was checking that it's real, and then back up at you. his face is flushed, a mix of shyness and excitement and something a little more earnest in his expression. he notices how small your hand looks in his, how his hand practically could engulf yours entirely, and he thinks that’s cute.

"so," he starts again, his voice soft, but holding a tone of determination. "we’re really doing this, huh? holding hands like a couple?", he asks as he looks at you. 

you chuckle, the tension easing as he gets more comfortable. "yep, just a little practice before the wedding”, you confirm. 

after that first tentative moment of holding hands, the two of you make your way into the theater and soonyoung seems to have shaken off his initial nerves. but every now and then his fingers give yours an almost unnoticeable squeeze, as if he’s checking to make sure it’s still real, that he is in fact holding your hand. you buy a bucket of popcorn and you both head inside the theater, finding your seats. soonyoung is nervous as he sits down and he wipes his slightly sweaty palms on the side of his jeans, before glancing over at you. 

the smell of buttery popcorn fills the air as you reach into the bucket, grabbing a handful before turning your attention back to the screen. you glance at soonyoung, who is sitting beside you, his hand hovering hesitantly over the popcorn. he had barely eaten any since the movie started, and you could tell he was holding back.

"i'm not going to eat this entire bucket myself soonyoung," you say softly, nudging the popcorn towards him with a smile. "you can have some more”, you say and he nods, mumbling a quiet, "yeah, sure," before finally taking some more.

the movie starts, the screen illuminating both of your faces in the dim theater. at first, soonyoung is focused on the movie ahead, his gaze locked onto the action unfolding before him. but at some point, his attention wavers, and instead of the film, he finds himself watching you—the way your eyes light up whenever something funny happens, the way your brows furrowed in concentration during an intense scene. the soft glow of the screen made your features even more captivating, and he couldn't help but admire the way you reacted so naturally to every moment.

his fingers absentmindedly reach for more of the popcorn, just at the same time yours does, and the brief touch of your fingers against his sends a jolt of electricity through him, and he immediately retracts his hand, swallowing nervously. you turn your head slightly, glancing at him with a knowing smile, before pushing the bucket a little closer to him in silent reassurance.

when the movie is over and the credits roll out, you stretch lightly in your seat before looking over at him. "that was good," you say with a satisfied smile and soonyoung nods, though he had hardly paid attention to the second half of the film. you both step out into the cool night air. your stomach grumbles quietly because the popcorn you had eaten had been more of a snack than a meal, and now the real hunger was creeping in. you glance over at soonyoung. "i'm still kind of hungry, do you want to grab something to eat?", you ask.

"yeah, sure," he replies, perking up slightly. "there's this really good burger place not too far from here, i can drive us there”, he says.

when you arrive at the burger place, the scent of grilled patties and crispy fries fill the air as you both step inside. the restaurant has a casual, welcoming atmosphere, and you quickly place your orders before finding a booth to sit in. soonyoung sits across from you, his fingers fiddling with the napkins on the table, carefully arranging and then rearranging them as if it was the most important task in the world. there was a nervous energy about him, and you watched him for a moment before leaning forward slightly.

"you okay?" you ask, tilting your head lightly and his hands still for a second before he lets out a small chuckle, shaking his head. “yeah, just, uh…" he hesitates before looking up to meet your gaze, and then glancing away again. you smile softly, resting your chin on your hand. "you sure?”, you ask again and he finally lets go of the tissue in his hand. “i guess i'm just kind of nervous”, he admits.

"nervous?" you repeat, eyebrows raising slightly. "why?"

soonyoung hesitates, then meets your eyes again, this time holding your gaze a little longer. "i just don't want to mess this up”, he admits softly.

your heart does a small, unexpected flip at his words and a warmth spreads through you as you smile at him, a little softer this time. "soonyoung," you say, your voice gentle, "you don’t have to be nervous, you’re doing great!”, you assure and his lips part slightly in surprise before he breaks into a small grin, a mix of relief and happiness flashing across his face. and just like that, the nervous energy between you both shifts into something lighter—something warm.

the food arrives and the scent of freshly grilled burgers and crispy fries and buttery toasted buns fill the air as you and soonyoung sit across from each other in the booth. you are hungry, so without hesitation you pick up your burger and take a big bite. the flavors hit instantly and you let out a small hum of satisfaction.

soonyoung laughs softly at your reaction, taking a bite of his own burger. "good, right?" he asks, his words slightly muffled as he chews and you nod.

"amazing," you reply after swallowing, already reaching for a fry. "you were right, this place is really good”.

the two of you eat comfortably, occasionally exchanging small talk. the late night atmosphere in the diner feels warm, with the soft hum of conversation from other customers and the occasional clang of plates from the kitchen, the smell of fries and salt lingering in the air.

at one point, soonyoung glances up and notices something—just the tiniest smudge of sauce at the corner of your mouth. his lips part slightly, his fingers tightening around his burger as he thinks and hesitates, wondering what to do. he was hoping you’d notice it and take action yourself, but you were too busy licking salt off your fingers from the fries, completely unaware of it.

soonyoung could’ve told you, he could’ve pointed it out and let you wipe it away yourself because that would’ve been the normal thing to do. but instead, before he can stop himself, he is already moving and he reaches across the table, lifting his hand. his thumb grazes over the corner of your lips in the most soft motion. his touch is warm, almost featherlight and it catches you completely off guard. your breath hitches and your eyes flicker up to meet his, widening slightly, 

soonyoung freezes midway, his brain catching up on what he had just done. his thumb still lingers on your skin, before he pulls his hand back quickly, looking down before he looks back up at you.

"uh—" he starts, clearing his throat, his ears burning red. "you, uh... had some sauce right there." he says as he points awkwardly to the same spot on his own mouth.

you blink quietly, still processing what he had done, the warmth of his touch lingering even after he had pulled away.  "oh, thanks," you murmur and soonyoung lets out a nervous chuckle, looking down at his own food like it had suddenly become the most interesting thing right now. “yeah, uh, no problem”, he says, taking a fry and shoving it in his mouth in an attempt to recover from what he had just done.

you don’t say anything more, but it was like there was a shift in the air between the both of you—a quiet sort of electricity buzzing beneath the surface. soonyoung finally looks up, stealing another glance at you before he picks up his drink and chugs it down, hoping it’d ease his racing heart. 

when soonyoung goes home, he looks defeated. he sighs as he plops down onto the couch and keeps recalling the moment where he wiped the sauce off your lips, feeling like such an idiot. he hadn’t screwed up things between you both, right?

you decide to meet soonyoung once more next week for a little more practice, and today’s meeting point was by the lake near the park. the reason you loved going there was to feed the ducks. you had made it a habit to go there at least once a week or twice a month if you were too busy, and today seemed like a good excuse to go there—with soonyoung too.

you decide to walk there from your place, since it was relatively close and decide to meet soonyoung at the park itself, texting him the location. you wear something simple, some blue jeans, a white crop top, a baby blue cardigan and a pair of sneakers—it was simple, yet comfortable. the sunlight filters through the trees, casting soft patterns of light and shadows onto the wooden walkway to the lake, the air smells faintly of greenery and a quiet breeze rustles the leaves of the trees.

soonyoung stands there, casually leaning against the black railing, waiting for you. his blonde hair gleams under the sunlight, slightly ruffled by the wind, falling over his forehead and eyes. he’s wearing a light gray denim jacket that’s oversized over a simple crisp and clean white t-shirt that peeks out. he’s also wearing grey denim shorts to match and it hangs jus right, stopping just below his knees. his look is complete with a pair of cream colored slip on shoes. he shifts slightly, one hand resting against the railing, the other hand loosely hanging by his side. his gaze is steady and soft, yet thoughtful, as though he’s lost in the moment. he can hear the rustle of the leaves, feel the warmth of the sun and the quiet hum of the world around him. it’s only when he glances to his left that he finally sees you and his eyes light up. he gives you a wave as you walk up to him and you give him a small smile. 

“hey, you made it”, you say, the paper bag you bought along with some bread rustling in your hand. soonyoung’s looks curiously at the bag in your hand then looks at you. 

“do you want to hold hands again? you know, for practice”, you ask, and soonyoung nods, before squeaking out a small yes. you hold your hand out and this time he takes it without much hesitation, intertwining his fingers in yours and he gives you a small grin.

“come on, they’re waiting, let’s go”, you say, not giving him much information and you start walking, leading soonyoung, who’s following beside you as you both walk together hand in hand.

“who’s waiting?”, he asks. “the ducks!”, you reply and he glances at you. “ducks?”, he repeats. “have you never fed the ducks here?”, you ask and he shakes his head, “i didn’t know you could feed them”, he says. “well, i’ll introduce you to them”, you say turning the corner and the lake is visible now, the ducks too.

you smile softly when you near the ducks, letting go of soonyoung’s hand as you crouch down near the lake shore. the ducks seem to recognize you immediately, their quacks echoing across the water as they paddle toward you, their little feet slap against the wet grass as they waddle up to the edge, and your smile widens at the sight.

“well, someone’s popular,” soonyoung teases, crouching down beside you as you pull out some bread crumbs from the paper bag you had brought along.

“hi, guys,” you say softly, tossing a piece of bread toward the closest duck. the rest of the flock scrambles forward, quacking in protest, and you can’t help but laugh. you hand soonyoung a handful of crumbs. “here, you can help me feed them”, you say. soonyoung he throws a piece of bread to a particularly round duck and you point at it. “that’s sprinkles,” you say, grinning.

soonyoung freezes mid toss and turns to you with a raised eyebrow. “wait, you’ve named them?”

“of course,” you reply, as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world. you gesture to another duck, slightly smaller but just as eager. “that’s biscuit”, you say and then you then point to three more ducks that have joined the crowd. “and over there are noodle, muffin, and bubbles”.

he stares at you, visibly baffled. “you’ve named all of them?”

“well, not all of them,” you admit with a shrug. “just the regulars”, you say.

soonyoung narrows his eyes, looking between the ducks. “how can you even tell them apart? they all look the same to me”, he says and you gasp softly in mock offense. “excuse me? they each have their own unique personalities!”, you say and he snorts, clearly unconvinced, but he plays along, tossing a crumb toward the closest duck. “okay, that’s… biscuit, right?”, he asks and you shake your head. “no, that’s sprinkles”, you correct.

“right, sprinkles,” he says, nodding like he’s taking this very seriously. he tosses another crumb, pointing to a different duck. “and that one is muffin?”.

“nope, that’s bubbles,” you say, giggling now. he lets out a dramatic sigh, throwing another small piece of bread. “this is impossible! they’re all the same color”, he says, looking defeated.

“you just need to pay attention,” you say. “like noodle—he’s the one with the slightly crooked feather on his tail, and muffin is always the one at the back, kind of shy”, you explain. soonyoung squints at the flock, clearly trying to identify the subtle differences you’ve pointed out. “okay, but how am i supposed to tell biscuit from sprinkles?”, he asks.

“well, sprinkles has more attitude,” you say with a grin, gesturing to the duck in question, who is currently quacking loudly and shoving the others out of the way to get to the crumbs. soonyoung laughs, tossing another piece of bread to it. “oh yeah, i see it now”, he says.

soonyoung tosses a crumb directly in front of sprinkles and the duck snatches it up with a quick peck and waddles closer. "hey, sprinkles has really got an appetite," soonyoung remarks, tossing another crumb and the duck waddles even closer. then, for reasons only soonyoung would understand, he suddenly cups his hands around his mouth and lets out a loud, dramatic "QUACK!".

you freeze, turning to him as you try not to laugh. you’re about to open your mouth but then all the ducks on the pond swivel their heads in unison, their beady eyes locking onto soonyoung like he just declared a fight on the ducks.

"uh-oh," he says, standing up slowly.

"soonyoung, what did you do?" you whisper, trying not to laugh as sprinkles seems to waddle closer to him.

"i was trying to communicate!" he hisses back, taking a step backward as more ducks emerge from the water, their webbed feet slapping on the grass.

"well, they’re communicating now" you say, barely holding back laughter.

one duck quacks loudly, as if rallying the troops, and suddenly the entire flock is waddling toward soonyoung, their little heads bobbing with determination as they flock towards soonyoung.

"oh no," he stammers, backing away faster and all you can do is double over with laughter as the ducks seem to crowd around soonyoung. you stand up and try to shoo away the ducks, trying to distract them with breadcrumbs, but they aren’t deterred. so soonyoung does the only thing he can think off—he grabs your hand and runs. 

“soonyoung!”, you yelp out as he takes off, pulling you along with him and you run behind him, his hand interlocked with yours. you’re running, dodging stones and twigs, but then your leg gets caught on a stone and you lose your footing, and before you can process what’s happening, your balance topples and you’re falling.

“soonyoung!” you cry out, as you fall forward.

he reacts in an instant when he hears your voice and he whips around just in time to see you stumbling forward. without a second thought, he lunges toward you, arms outstretched, holding onto you and instead of hitting the ground, you land on him, the momentum knocking the both of you over. the world spins for a second, and when it steadies, you realize you’re sprawled on top of soonyoung, your hands pressed against his chest. his arms are wrapped around you, one hand cradling the back of your head to shield you and his face is so close to yours that you can feel the warmth of his breath as he speaks.

“are you okay?” he asks softly, his voice full of concern. his wide, worried eyes searching yours, making your heart stutter.

you nod, suddenly hyper aware of how close you are. “yeah, i’m fine,” you mumble out, quickly pushing yourself up and sitting back. but the moment you put weight on your foot, a sharp pain shoots up your ankle and you let out a small gasp.

“what’s wrong?” soonyoung asks as he gets up immediately. “i think i sprained my ankle”, you say softly and his eyes dart to your ankle and back to your face, guilt etched into his expression. “i’m so sorry,” he says, his voice filled with regret. “this is my fault. i should’ve been more careful. i shouldn’t have—”

“soonyoung,” you interrupt, your voice soft despite the light pain. “it’s okay. it’s not your fault.”

“but it is,” he insists, shaking his head. “i shouldn’t have dragged you into this mess. i didn’t think—” “hey,” you say, placing your hand lightly on his arm. “it’s just a sprain. i’ll be fine”, you assure, but the lopsided pout on his face remains and he doesn’t look convinced. instead, he shifts closer, his voice barely above a whisper. “you could’ve really gotten hurt, shit, i don’t know what i’d do if something worse happened”, he says, but you give him another reassuring smile. “i’ll be fine, really”, you say. soonyoung helps you get up and guides you to a nearby bench, his arms steady around you as he holds you, but the guilt never leaves his face. he sets you down on the bench and looks at you like you’re made of glass, like if he just blinks, you might shatter.

“you can’t go home like this”, he says with a frown. “i’ll carry you home”, he declares after a moment and you blink at him. “wait what?”, you say but he’s already crouching down in front of you, patting his back.

“get on”, he says and you stare at him because he couldn't really be serious about this.

“soonyoung, no, that’s ridiculous,” you protest. “you can’t possibly carry me all the way home”, you say looking at him.

he turns his head to give you a look over his shoulder. “you’re not walking on that ankle, not even for a second”, he declares.

“but—” “no buts, now come on. you’re not going home like this and i refuse to let you limp the whole way”, he says with a pout. you sigh, knowing there’s no winning against him when he’s this determined. “fine, but don’t you dare drop me”, you finally say, giving in.

“pfft. please”, he scoffs. “i’ve been training for this moment my whole life”, he says and you roll your eyes because that was such a jihyo thing to say. they really were a pair of siblings. you carefully move forward, draping your arms over his shoulders and the second you do, he reaches back, hooking his arms under your legs and lifting you up effortlessly.

“whoa—okay,” you gasp as he stands up straight, securing his grip, adjusting his hold slightly so you’re comfortable. “okay now hold on tight”, he says and you do, wrapping your arms a little tighter around his shoulders as he starts walking. despite everything—the pain, the ridiculousness of the situation—you can’t help but smile lightly.

“you’re really that worried about me, huh?” you ask softly, resting your chin against his shoulder. soonyoung doesn’t answer right away, but when he does his voice is quieter than before. “of course i am. it’s you”, he says and your heart stumbles a little at his words.

“i just hate that you got hurt because of me” he continues. “if i had been paying more attention, then maybe i could’ve—”

“stop that,” you interrupt. “this isn’t your fault, soonyoung. you already did more than enough to make sure i didn’t hit the ground face first”, you say and he exhales slowly, his grip on your legs tightening just a bit. “still. i’d rather be the one getting hurt than you”.

the two of you continue down the sidewalk and his steps are careful and steady. despite your protests earlier, you find that being carried by soonyoung like this is… nice. it doesn’t feel weird or odd, but it feels right for some reason, like it’s the most natural thing in the world. soonyoung's grip on your legs is secure and his warmth seeps through his shirt into you. every so often you can feel the slight shift of his muscles as he adjusts his hold, making sure you’re comfortable. the steady rhythm of his breathing mixes with the distant hum of the evening air, and for a moment, it’s easy to forget about the dull throbbing in your ankle. you glance up and realize your house is just a few minutes away and guilt creeps in at the thought of him carrying you all this way. “are you sure you don’t need a break?” you ask hesitantly. “i think i can walk from here”, you add.

he doesn’t even slow down as he replies. “i’m good,” he says, as if carrying you for the past several blocks was nothing. but you don’t miss the way his shoulders subtly flex or  the way he exhales just a little harder than before. you frown, guilt pressing harder against your chest.

“soonyoung,” you say softly. “i’ll just walk. it’s really fine. i don’t want to burden you”.

he scoffs, adjusting his grip on your legs as if to prove his point. “burden? are you serious?” he asks, glancing back at you with a look. “well yeah, aren’t you tired?”, you ask and he stops walking. then,with zero warning, he spins you around on his back, making you yelp and you tighten your hold around his shoulders, your legs wrapping around his sides out of instinct, your arms tightening around his neck.

“soonyoung!” you screech, your voice caught between shock and laughter. his grip is secure despite the sudden movement. “if i was tired, do you think i could i do that?” he challenges playfully and you huff, smacking his shoulder as he starts to walk again.

“what the hell? i’m telling jihyo about this”, you say and soonyoung freezes mid step. 

“wait, what?”, he asks, his tone faltering and your smirk widens. got him. “oh, you heard me”, you say as he slowly starts walking again, but there’s a slight panic in his voice now. “you wouldn’t”, he tells.

“oh, you know,” you say innocently, tilting your head. “how would she feel knowing her little brother just threw me around like a sack of rice? or what would she say about how you almost dropped me in the middle of the street?”, you tell with a dramatic sigh.

“i did not throw you!” he exclaims, voice high-pitched. “and i definitely didn’t drop you!”, he defends as he starts walking again faster this time like he was on a mission to prove something. “you wouldn’t”, he says and you smirk, having fun teasing him.

“oh, i definitely would”, you say. “yn, you can’t be serious”, he asks.

“i am dead serious”, you say and he groans like his soul is physically leaving his body. “do you want me to die? because that’s what’s gonna happen if she finds out”, he says with a small whine. you can’t take it anymore and you burst out laughing, shaking slightly as you cling onto him. “oh my god, you’re so dramatic”, you say as you giggle and you lift your hand to ruffle his hair, your fingers slipping easily through the soft strands. “you’re such an idiot,” you say, your voice fond despite your words. he stiffens for half a second—so brief you almost don’t catch it—before he exhales sharply. he mumbles something, ducking his head slightly, but making no move to stop you.

“I’m just pulling your leg,” you say finally, your voice light and teasing. you’re still smiling as you drop your hand back to your side, and he hums in response, low and soft. he doesn’t say anything else, but the faint smile on his face remains. your house finally comes into view, and you’re suddenly hit with the realization that in just a few minutes, he’ll set you down and this whole thing—this stupid, sweet, ridiculous moment will just be a memory—and somehow you almost don’t want it to end.

soonyoung carries you up to the front steps, pausing in front of the building. “home sweet home,” he says and you blink, snapping back to reality. soonyoung carefully kneels so you can slide off his back, his hands lingering on your arm to make sure you’re steady. but the moment your foot touches the ground, a sharp sting shoots up your leg, and you wince.

soonyoung’s hand tightens on your arm as he turns around. “don’t put weight on it yet,” he says, his brows knitting together in concern. “are you okay?” , he asks and you sigh, shifting your weight to your other leg. “yeah, i guess it’s just sore”, you say and his frown deepens. “make sure to put some ice on it”, he says and you nod.

“i’ll be fine after some rest”, you say and soonyoung still looks worried. he sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “again i’m so sorry”, he says.

“i swear if you apologize one more time, i’m really going to tell jihyo”, you threaten and he gives you a look. “okay okay”, he grumbles, looking at you before he takes a step back. “just remember to ice it”, he says again as he walks backwards and you nod, waving at him before you unlock your door and hobble inside. soonyoung texts you later that evening. 

soonyoung [9:37 PM]: did you ice your leg???

you  [9:38 PM]: oops, i will do that now.

soonyoung [9:40 PM]: yn 🤨 please ice it and rest your leg! (p.s please don’t tell jihyo)

the office is abuzz with talk and energy, since it was your co-worker’s wedding this weekend. “yn you’re bringing your boyfriend to the wedding right”, mina asks, nudging you lightly and you give her a knowing look.

“yes yes, i will”, you say and they all seem to cheer. “he’s so cute, what does he do by the way?”, one of them asks, and all of them seem to turn their attention to you, interested in your boyfriend, well fake boyfriend. 

“he’s a dancer”, you say and they all gasp collectively, not expecting that answer. “that’s so cool!”, one of them says. “he works at a dance studio downtown”, you add, feeling a little proud. 

“he’s so much better than jaehyun”, mina says and at the mention of jaehyun, the atmosphere shifts. it’s subtle—just a slight pause in conversation, a flicker of exchanged glances—but you can feel it. mina presses her lips together, like she’s debating whether to say more, before finally sighing.

“speaking of jaehyun…my fiancé invited him,” she says carefully. “apparently, they’re close business friends so…” mina trails off, watching you closely for your reaction. the thought of seeing jaehyun again makes your stomach flip and you gulp. 

“it’s fine, i’m over him anyway”, you say, shrugging, trying to act like this piece of information didn’t really bother you. mina doesn’t look convinced, but she doesn’t push it and one of the girls quickly changes the subject, plucking the invitation from mina’s hand.

“okay, but can we talk about the most important part of the wedding?” she asks dramatically and mina’s eyes light up. “the slow dance?”, she asks and the group bursts into exciting chatter and mina nods with a smile on her face. “it’s going to be a huge part of the reception! after the first dance, everyone joins in, so no one is getting out of it,” she says.

“that sounds so romantic,” one of the girls says, sighing dreamily. “it is,” mina agrees. “but you know what i’m most excited for?” she turns to you with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “seeing yn’s boyfriend on the dance floor”, mina says and you look at her, eyes widening.

“oh my god yes, he’s literally a dancer so he’s gonna make everyone else look so amateur”, one of them says, and they all laugh. “wait, wait,” another friend chimes in, grinning at you. “you’re gonna slow dance with him, right?”

you open your mouth, ready to argue, but the group seems to gasp at the same time. “oh my god,” mina gasps. “what if he dips you? or does one of those fancy spins? yn you guys have to dance together, you have no choice”, mina declares and you internally groan, covering you face in embarrassment. “yes you guys have to dance!”, the others echo in and you can only hide your face even more. you had zero dancing skills so you were very likely to make an embarrassment out of yourself on the dance floor, and knowing mina, she was going to make you dance no matter what. 

on your way home, you decide to take a detour and drop by the dance studio soonyoung works at. you were hoping he’d be there because you weren’t sure if he was working today or not. you manage to find it pretty easily and walk inside. you look around like you’re lost and you glance around at the place. 

“can i help you?”, someone asks, walking towards you. “oh, i’m looking for soonyoung”, you say. “oh, did you have a class scheduled with him? i think he’s done for today”, they say, but you shake your head.

“oh no, i’m just here to see him, i’m his girlfriend”, you say, the words coming out naturally before you can catch yourself and they nod, telling you to follow them. you nod in thanks, your heart suddenly hammering in your chest as you walk down the quiet corridor. your footsteps echo slightly against the polished floor, and with each step, a new thought rushes through your mind. should i have said that? does it even matter? why am i nervous?

when you finally reach the last door, they let you know that he’s inside and you could go in before they turn around and walk back to the front. you hesitate as you stand in front of the door, your fingers hovering over the handle. but then you notice that it’s slightly ajar, and without thinking, you push it open just a fraction more. your eyes immediately land on soonyoung. he’s in the center of the room, his reflection mirrored back at you from all angles. he’s practicing something intricate, his footwork light and sharp and you pause, watching him for a moment. he’s completely focused and you take a slow, deep breath, steadying yourself before gently knocking on the door. the sound breaks through the room and soonyoung hears it immediately, his movements slowing but never fully stopping. "come in," he says, but he doesn’t glance up yet.

you step forward cautiously and close the door behind you. when soonyoung finally looks up, his eyes widen slightly in surprise as he looks at you from the reflection in the mirror. “yn?”, he says, his voice carrying a note of surprise as he turns to get a better look at you as you walk closer to him.

you shift awkwardly under his gaze, suddenly hyper aware of everything in the room. you clear your throat, tucking a stray strand of hair behind your ear. "uh, hey," you say, voice coming out a little breathy. “what are you doing here?”, he asks, a little confused but happy to see you. “i mean not that you can’t come here, i just didn’t expect to see you here”, he says, his fingers starting to fidget with the hem of his shirt nervously before he crosses his arms across his chest.

“i just i’d drop by, you’re always asking me to come visit”, you say softly, looking around the huge room, taking in the mirrored walls, the polished wooden floor, and the faint hum of music still lingering in the air. soonyoung stands near the wall, his posture relaxed yet impossibly striking. he’s wearing a white sleeveless tank top, the fabric clinging just enough to highlight his toned shoulders and chest. and with the way his arms are crossed against his chest, it only seems to highlight and show off the defined curve of his biceps and toned arms, which are on full display. a simple silver chain rests against his collarbone, catching the light and you gulp before you tear your gaze away.

“i wasn’t sure if you’d actually be here,” you add after a moment, trying to sound cool. “well, here i am”, soonyoung says, his voice smooth and teasing. when you glance back at him, he’s watching you with a raised brow, “ i didn’t expect you to catch me mid practice though”, he continues, pushing off the wall and taking a few slow steps toward you. “but i’m glad you came”, he says, his tone sweet.

his words are light, but there’s something in the way he looks at you—soft, warm, almost appreciative, that makes your stomach flutter. you clear your throat, willing yourself to focus on literally anything else, but your eyes betray you again, trailing down to his arms and the way his shoulders shift as he moves closer. the tank top he’s wearing does absolutely nothing to help your situation, and you silently curse him for looking this good.

“i guess i thought i’d surprise you,” you manage to say, your voice quieter now. “plus the wedding is this weekend, so i thought i’d just drop by”, you say as you fish into your bag for the invitation, handing it to soonyoung. 

“can i ask you something?”, you ask after you give him a moment to go over the invitation and he looks up at you. “sure”, he says but you hesitate, the words dying on your tongue. “never mind, it’s stupid”, you say, brushing it off, but soonyoung doesn’t let you brush it off.

“what is it?”, he asks again and you stare at him for a second, your eyes darting to the side of the room before you speak.

"um...do you know…how to slow dance?", you ask softly and soonyoung tilts his head slightly before he nods. "yeah i do, why?" he asks curiously.

you cross your arm over your chest. "you know mina’s wedding? the one we’re going to, apparently slow dancing is part of it, and since we’re fake dating, people are gonna expect us to dance together. i just don’t wanna make a fool of myself if we actually end up dancing”, you try to explain and you watch as soonyoung puts down the invitation on the floor near his bottle before he stands back up. 

“so you want me to teach you?", he asks and you nod shyly as heat rises to your cheeks. "only if you actually know how," you shoot back, looking at him. soonyoung lets out a mock offended gasp, pressing a hand to his chest. "excuse me? i’m a dancer, so of course i know how to slow dance”, he says and his eyes hold a little amusement in them as he takes a small step closer.

“i can teach you”, he offers and you feel so shy all of a sudden. you shrug, “if you’re willing to then i guess fine”, you say and he laughs softly, his voice dipping lower as he extends a hand toward you. he pauses just a fraction of a second before speaking again. “can i?”, he asks, holding his hand out, as if giving you space to make a decision. this was the same boy who was nervous about holding your hand for the first time and now he is asking you if he could hold yours.

“i promise i won’t step on your toes”, he says, to lighten the mood, but there’s something almost vulnerable about the question, the way he’s careful, like he’s waiting for your permission to do more than just teach you how to move. you shrug your bag off your shoulder and put it to the side. then you reach out for soonyoung’s hand, your fingers curling around his fingers. the air around you feels charged with something subtle and his smile deepens slightly. there’s a glint of reassurance in his eyes, in the look he gives you that makes your heart stir. 

your breath stutters as soonyoung pulls you in, his fingers warm and steady around yours. he doesn’t hesitate, like this is the most natural thing in the world. "okay," he murmurs, his voice softer now, melting into something calmer, something almost intimate. "let’s start with the basics”, soonyoung says again, his voice turning quieter. he gently tugs you forward, positioning your feet. “for a basic slow dance, you want to keep close, but not too close, because you don’t want to crowd your partner’s space,” he explains. 

you swallow, suddenly hyper aware of everything—his hand in yours, the slight distance between your bodies, the way his gaze flickers down to meet yours. and suddenly you’re not sure if you’re more nervous about the dance, or the fact that soonyoung is so close to you. you try to take a small step back, in an attempt to create some distance between you both but he gently tugs you back in. “i’m not going to bite”, he jokes, looking at you, probably sensing your nervous energy and you let out a small nervous laugh. “okay okay”, you say and watch as soonyoung shifts his other hand, reaching out but stopping mid air. 

“can i?”, he asks again and you nod before soonyoung shifts his hold, guiding your hand up to rest lightly on his shoulder while his other hand settles just above your waist. “first we’ll start with the basic steps”, he says, his voice quiet but firm. “left foot forward, like this”, he says and demonstrates, stepping forward with his left foot. you mimic the motion, lifting your left foot and bringing it forward just as he did and soonyoung watches you intently, his brow furrowed slightly in concentration, but there’s no judgment, only quiet encouragement. he takes a small step backward, gently pulling you along with him. 

“perfect,” he says, his voice smooth and soft, a proud smile curling on his lips. “now, bring your right foot to meet it, just like that and step together. but take it nice and easy, there’s no rush”, he guides. his touch is light, hovering near your waist to ensure you’re in position. “feel the weight shift between your feet as you move” he continues, his voice gentle. “it’s about connecting with the rhythm, letting your body move as one”, he instructs. 

you try to focus on matching his steps, but your mind is a little too occupied with the fact that his hand is resting on your waist and you can feel the warmth of his hand seeping through the fabric of your blouse. you fumble on the next step, accidentally stepping on his toes. "shit i’m sorry”, you say, glancing up at him but he doesn't seem to mind. "relax," he says, giving you a small smile, like he expected this.

"you’re thinking too much”, he adds and you scowl at him. “easy for you to say since you’re the expert here”, you counter and his smile only seems to deepen at your words.

you restart the movements and you step out with your right foot this time. soonyoung mirrors you, guiding you slowly through the motion. his hand rests lightly against your lower back, adjusting your posture, his touch both firm and reassuring. “good, now we’ll step back. first left foot and then the right foot to meet it”, he says and soonyoung’s hand never leaves your back, always guiding you with gentle pressure as you step and move together.  

“you want to move your body with your feet, don’t just focus on your feet—your body needs to follow too. it’s about fluidity, like we’re moving together as one”, he says, instructing you throughout. you think it’s kind of hot how much knowledge he has about this, especially with the way he was teaching you. you move through the sequence again, a little more fluid this time, the steps coming more naturally. soonyong notices the shift, his eyes lighting up. “there you go, you’re getting it”, he says with a smile.

for the next few minutes, you both move in sync, each step a little smoother, a little more confident. soonyoung’s hands are always gentle on your body, but they’re never hesitant as he guides you through each movement with a patience that makes you feel like nothing else matters in this moment. as you both continue to move, the music in the background fades into a soft hum, and the only sound is the rhythm of your movements, the gentle pull of his hands, and the careful way in which he holds you.

"okay, now just follow my lead, do you trust me?”, he asks, breaking the silence and you hesitate for half a second before you nod, not sure what he meant. 

"good," he says, and then without warning, he starts moving again, this time but slightly faster. you gasp, nearly tripping over your own feet, but his hold tightens just enough to steady you.

"soonyoung!”, you say and he laughs. "you said you trusted me," he says, his tone way too smug. "well i take it back," you grumble out, but you follow his steps anyway, trying your best to match his pace. and to your surprise, after a few beats, it actually starts to feel easier, almost natural. the push and pull of movement, the way his steps guide yours without hesitation. he’s a natural at this and eventually your body starts to just follow.

soonyoung’s smile widens as he pulls you in a little closer, his fingers gently curling around yours, guiding you into another step. the moment is easy, light, almost playful, but there’s still that underlying warmth between you both. “see?” he murmurs again, his voice lower now, closer to your ear. “you’re doing fine. i knew you had it in you”, he says, his hand lightly resting on your waist as his thumb traces small circles on your back and you can’t help but feel a small shiver run through your spine at the action. his gaze is so soft, so assured as you glance up at him and he tilts his head, his eyes sparkling mischievously. 

“do you want me to dip you?”, he asks and your eyes widen in horror. “no, thank you”, you say quickly, giving him a look and he feigns mock offense. he raises an eyebrow, clearly amused by your reaction. “what? you don’t trust me?” he asks, his voice teasing and you shoot him a look. “i don’t want you to drop me”, you say and he chuckles, his hand still firm on your waist, but the sound of his laughter is deep and warm. 

“you really don’t have faith in me huh?”, he asks, his eyes twinkling with mischief, but there’s a softness in them too. “yup, zero faith in you, considering you almost dropped me on the road when you carried me on your back that day”, you tease and he rolls his eyes. “i mean, i’m not exactly the most graceful person”, you add after a moment and he hums in response. he doesn’t push you or he doesn’t try to convince you, but his gaze holds a quiet promise.

“but i’ve got you, alright?”, he says after a moment. “i promise that if i dip you, i won’t drop you, so you’re in safe hands”, he says with an encouraging smile and you can’t help but feel a flutter in your chest at his words, the way he says it with such confidence, with such certainty.

“i appreciate the offer, but i think i’ll stick to just the basics for now”, you say and he nods. “alright, alright, we’ll stick to the basics,” he says, still grinning, but there’s a softness to his smile now. “but just so you know, i could dip you and make it look effortless”, he adds and you roll your eyes at his cockiness. there’s an undeniable warmth that spreads through you at the thought of him being so sure of himself, of you. 

you shrug, pretending to be unimpressed, but the flush creeping up your neck betrays you. “i’m sure you could,” you say, still a little unsure, but more than willing to believe in him now. “maybe one day”, you say and soonyoung’s smile softens at your words. he nods with a kind of understanding that makes you feel like he’s not just teaching you to dance, but he’s teaching you how to trust him. “whenever you’re ready,” he says quietly, his voice sincere. “there’s no rush, we’ll get there when we get there”, he says quietly. 

you don’t even realize how close the two of you have gotten. his hand is still warm against your waist, his fingers lightly pressing against your lower back, like he’s making sure you don’t pull away too soon. his breath fans against your cheek, and when you glance up, he’s already looking at you. your heart starts to race, but it’s not from nerves anymore —it's from something else entirely, something unfamiliar and new. your breath hitches in your throat. the intensity in his eyes makes your stomach flip. his gaze is soft, but there’s also something deeper in his look, like he’s seeing you in a way he hasn’t seen you before and your eyes glance down at his lips for a split second before you look away.

and then the moment comes crashing down on you all at once—he warmth of his hand, the pressure of his hold on your waist, the slow rise and fall of his breath against your cheek, the way his fingers press into your lower back, grounding you, holding you there close, too close, it’s suddenly all too much. your heart is racing and you suddenly feel hyper aware of every single point of contact between you both, of the way his grip is steady, sure, like he doesn’t want to let go just yet. you stop moving and soonyoung does too, his body stilling the moment he feels you freeze. his grip on you lingers for a second, his fingers squeezing softly against your waist like he’s waiting for you to say something.

“i should go,” you blurt out, the words tumbling from your lips faster than you can process them. your voice is quieter than you mean for it to be, unsteady in a way that makes your own chest tighten. “it’s…it’s late”, you say. soonyoung doesn’t respond right away and his grip on you doesn’t tighten, but it doesn’t loosen either, he just holds you there for a beat longer, like he’s hesitating, like he’s not quite ready to break the moment. his fingers flex slightly, almost like he’s trying to memorize the feeling before he has to let it go. then, slowly—finally—his hands slip away, falling to his sides.

“oh.” his voice comes out, softer now, quieter than before and you nod too quickly, taking a step back, then another. “thanks for, um, for teaching me”, you say, swallowing hard, your throat suddenly dry.

soonyoung watches you, his eyes unreadable for a moment. there’s something in his expression—something hesitant, like he wants to say something else, do something, but instead, he just offers you a small, lopsided smile, one that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“anytime,” he murmurs out, but there’s something else under his tone, something you can’t quite name. “i can drop you home”, he offers but you shake your head. “it’s fine, i got my car today”, you say and you give him one last wave before you turn around and walk out the door. you don’t turn around.

when soonyoung get’s home, it’s late and the apartment is quiet. he tosses his keys onto the counter, shrugs off his jacket, and kicks off his shoes and he walks into his room. he has a quick shower and crashes into bed. normally, this is the part of the night where he falls asleep, exhausted from the day, but tonight sleep feels impossible, because all he can think about is you.

soonyoung runs a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply as he lays on bed. his body is heavy with exhaustion, but his mind refuses to slow down. his fingers still remember the warmth of your waist, the way you fit so perfectly against him, and how natural it felt to hold you close. he groans, dragging a hand down his face. 

this isn’t normal, he’s not normal right now. every time he closes his eyes, he sees you—sees the way your brows furrowed when you were concentrating on getting the steps right, or the way you bit your lip when you got nervous, or the way you fit so perfectly against him like you were meant to be there.

soonyoung turns onto his back, staring at the ceiling, frustration bubbling up in his chest. he’s never been good at reading between the lines, but this felt like something. he tries to close his eyes, willing himself to sleep before groaning into the air. it’s ridiculous really, how much this is getting to him. he’s never had trouble sleeping before. and maybe, just maybe, he’s overthinking it. maybe you really did just want to go home because it was late and maybe he’s reading too much into the way your eyes flickered to his lips for that split second before you looked away. but the ache in his chest tells him otherwise.

soonyoung sighs again, flipping onto his stomach and burying his face into the pillow. this is so stupid. soonyoung doesn’t do this. he doesn’t lie awake at night thinking about slow dances and fleeting touches and what if’s, and yet, here he is. soonyoung’s chest feels tight, but not in a way that hurts. it’s just a feeling that’s… there. a strange, persistent weight that he can’t seem to shake off no matter how many times he tries to convince himself that he’s overthinking it. he’s never felt this way before, never been this restless, this frustrated over something so simple. 

but soonyoung does know this— the moment he held you in his arms, something shifted. he doesn’t know what and he doesn’t even know how to describe it, but he felt it. something about you makes everything feel different and it makes his heart race for no reason, makes his stomach twist with something unfamiliar.

sleep doesn’t come easy for soonyoung that night because every time he closes his eyes, all he can see is you.

that entire week is like a blur to you. you don’t contact soonyoung again, trying to occupy yourself in your work so that you don’t have to think about him. but you do, and  everytime you think about him you think about the way his hand felt against you, the warmth in his touch and gaze and your heart does a little flip and you’re convinced that something is wrong with you. it’s saturday evening now and the wedding is tomorrow evening, so you couldn't really avoid soonyoung any longer. you decide to text him, just to remind him that the wedding is happening tomorrow in case he had forgotten.

you [8:37 PM]: hey! just reminding you that the wedding is tomorrow evening.

soonyoung nearly jumps from his seat when he sees your notification, before he regains his composure and clears his throat. he’s quick to type out a response. 

soonyoung [8:40 PM]: yup 🫡

you [8:42 PM]: we’ll take my car so come to my place.

soonyoung [8:42 PM]: okay!

the next evening, your room is a mess, again. you finally decide on an outfit for the evening—a satin floor length dress in a soft, baby blue color. the dress is strapless, with a perfectly fitted bodice that cinches at the waist, hugging you perfectly in all the right places. the top of the dress has a subtle sweetheart neckline, offering a soft, feminine touch while maintaining an air of refinement, making it a perfect dress to wear to a wedding. there’s a small slit that runs along the side of the dress and it stops just above your knee. the hem of the dress trails just slightly on the floor. you turned toward the mirror, studying your reflection once more, running a hand through your hair. the soft waves cascade down your back and your fingers gently comb through it, giving them a little more volume and a little more definition. that’s when your doorbell rings. you freeze for a moment, a flutter of excitement rising in your chest. he’s here—soonyoung’s here.

you step toward the door, your heels clicking lightly against the floor with each step and you pause just before the door, taking another breath to steady yourself. you open it and soonyong stands in front of you, looking like he just stepped out of a dream himself. but you don’t give him time to talk, ushering him inside, saying you were almost ready and you walk back inside. he follows you and closes the door behind him before he calls out for you.

you turn around and look at him and he looks nervous for some reason. he digs into his jacket pocket and removes something—a brand new bottle of lip tint and another bottle of liquid lipstick. “i remembered how yours was over so i thought these might suit you”, he says shyly as he hands it to you. you smile at his gesture and take them both. the shades he had picked were really gorgeous and you immediately open the lipstick. soonyoung is quick to open his phone and turn on the front camera, letting you use it as a mirror, and you give him a small grateful smile as you apply the lipstick. you open the tube and apply the lipstick, using his phone a a mirror. soonyoung’s gaze lingers on your, and on your lips as he watches you apply the lipstick and his breath catches for a moment as his eyes wander over your body, taking in the sight of you, the way your lips pucker ever so lightly as you apply the lipstick and he bites his lip softly. he shakes away any irrational thoughts and clears his throat. 

“what do you think?”, you ask and he nods, like he’s happy with how it looks on you. “it looks great, it suits you really well”, he says, proud of his shade picking skills and you nod. “you’re right, i really love this shade”, you say and then you say something about getting your phone from the other room and go fetch it. it’s only when you step out of the room and glance at soonyoung that you take him in fully.

he is standing by your photo frames that are on the wall, looking at them with an inquisitive expression. he is wearing a sleek black suit that fits him perfectly. it clings perfectly to his frame and you can tell it’s been tailored with precision as it highlights the broad line of his shoulders and tapers down in clean, crisp angles. his black shirt is sleek and is a perfect match for the suit, its matte fabric contrasting the rich, glossy finish of his jacket. the silver chain he always wears is draped around his neck. his blonde hair, which is a striking shade of silver, falls in soft, tousled layers over his forehead and eyes, framing his face with a touch of wildness that contrasts his otherwise immaculate appearance. the longer strands at the back brush the collar of his jacket and his hair seems to be like a halo against the blackness of his attire.

you realise you’ve been staring too long and you shake your head, walking ahead, your heels clacking against the floor as you make your way towards soonyoung. and it’s only when you’re close by that you see the subtle makeup he’s done too. his eyes are lined softly and the faint smudge of kohl only adds to the depth to his gaze, making his already piercing stare seem impossibly intense. there’s a soft dusting of highlighter kissing the high points of his face—his cheekbones, the bridge of his nose, giving his skin an ethereal glow. his lips are faintly tinted, carrying a natural flush that softens the sharpness of his features. you find yourself again lost in him until he clears his throat, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“um, we should leave right”, you say, grabbing your handbag and stuffing your phone inside. you grab the car keys from the bowl and walk towards the door, signalling for soonyoung to head out so you could lock up. you lock the door and you both walk down towards your car when soonyoung walks over to the driver’s side. “let me drive tonight”, he says, holding out his hand for the keys.

“it’s okay, i can drive”, you say but he insists. “please, i want to, i don’t want your feet to hurt by driving in heels”, he says and you look down at your feet before glancing back up because he did have a point. 

“okay then”, you say, handing him the keys, your fingers lightly brushing against his as you drop the keys in his hand. you walk over to the passenger side, opening it and sitting down. soonyoung gets into the driver's side and he glances over at you, waiting for a moment as he looks at you, but you’re too busy digging for something in your bag to realise. so soonyong takes action and he leans forward, leaning towards you. you turn your head, confused, before you see his hand reaching out for the seatbelt and for a moment everything seems to slow down.before you can react, he's slowly pulling it across you, his arm brushing against your side as he secures the strap. the sudden closeness is unexpected, and your breath catches in your throat. he’s close and his eyes flicker up to yours as he buckles the seatbelt, his lips curving into a small, reassuring smile. "gotta be safe," he says, his voice warm but light, as if the moment was as ordinary as any other.

you blink, the sudden closeness making your cheeks flush. "right," you mutter out and the air between you both seems to crackle with something unspoken, something that wasn’t there before. soonyoung leans back into the seat, his eyes briefly meeting yours again before he turns the key in the ignition. the soft hum of the car engine fills the silence. the car pulls out of the driveway and soonyoung drives smoothly. there’s a subtle tension in the air between you both, but neither of you address it. soonyoung’s hands are steady on the wheel, his posture casual, but every so often, you catch him glancing at you, as if he’s trying to gauge your reaction, trying to decipher what you might be thinking.

as the car rolls up to the wedding venue, you’re pulled away from your thoughts by the sight of the grand building in front of you. the lights are bright, illuminating the entrance where guests are already gathering. soonyoung parks the car with a smooth turn, his hands steady on the wheel and you both glance at each other at the same time. 

“so...” soonyoung begins, glancing over at you, but his words trail off as he looks back at the venue. his hands stay on the wheel and he shifts in his seat. the reality of the night is here. you’re about to pretend to be a couple in front of all these people. a feeling of unease stirs in your stomach, but before you can overthink it, soonyoung speaks.

“ready?” he asks, his voice light. you nod, though there’s a small flutter of nerves that you can’t seem to quite shake off. “let’s do this”, you say and you both step out of the car, the cool night air brushing against your skin as you approach the entrance. he glances over at you again and for a moment and there’s a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. you both walk toward the entrance, but soonyoung’s not sure what to do. his movements are slow, and he glances at you, his eyes searching for a sign—some kind of cue. should he offer his arm? should you take the lead? he almost seems out of place and you can’t help but smile at how genuine his confusion is. you both stop a few steps from the entrance, and he looks at you again, his hands shifting nervously at his sides.

“you know we’re supposed to look like a couple, right?”, you say, giving him a light teasing look. soonyoung blinks at you. “right, of course,” he says, but his voice still carries that light tone of uncertainty and suddenly, he’s nervous. there’s a moment of silence before you take a small step closer to him. you look at his hand and then back up at him. “maybe we could link arms?”, you ask and soonyoung pauses for just a moment, the question lingering in the air. his eyes flicker toward your hand, and without thinking, he offers it to you, his palm open and waiting.

there’s something so endearing about how awkward he seems, how genuinely unsure he is, despite being so confident in other areas. with a reassuring smile, you reach out and take his hand, your fingers brushing over his in a soft touch before you link your arm with his. “perfect,” you say. “now let’s go in”.

as you and soonyoung step into the venue, the soft murmur of voices fills the air, the clinking of glasses and gentle laughter of people bouncing off the walls. you walk side by side with soonyoung and the natural warmth of his hand in yours is comforting in a way. the two of you navigate through the crowd, occasionally stopping to exchange pleasantries with acquaintances you knew while soonyoung stands beside you, offering them friendly smiles. after a while the whole charade is a little more seamless now, the act of being a couple not feeling so foreign anymore. as you reach the main area where the newlyweds are standing, a few of your friends spot you from across the room.

“yn! over here”, one of them calls out and mina spots you too, smiling when she sees you. you walk towards them with a smile and you let go of soonyoung’s hand as you envelope mina in a hug, congratulating her. all your friends seem to coo over soonyoung, who offers them friendly smiles, and he congratulates mina and the groom too. 

you decide to go grab a drink and ask soonyoung if he wants one too, but he declines. you walk over to the bar counter and reach out for a glass of champagne when you hear someone call out your name. you turn around and your stomach drops at the sight of jaehyun—your ex.

“yn, hey”, he says, walking up to you and all you want to do is run away, but you don’t. “jaehyun, hi”, you say with a neutral tone. “it’s nice to see you”, he says after a moment and you only nod, because you clearly don’t reciprocate the same feeling. 

“are you here alone?”, jaehyun asks. “no, i’m here with my boyfriend”, you say as you glance over at soonyoung, who’s watching the both of you intently. you give him a small wave and soonyoung makes his way towards you. your hand instinctively wraps around his, and jaehyun glances down at where your hand is linked around soonyoung’s before he looks back up at you.

“this is my boyfriend, soonyoung”, you say. “this is jaehyun…a friend”, you say, leaving out the ex part because soonyoung didn’t need to know that right now.

you head back to the hall and the first dance commences between the bride and groom. you sit and watch with the others. mina and her husband take the center stage and dance and it’s so sweet. you smile as you look at mina and take a picture of them too, one for the books. then it ends and you can see mina calling everyone else to join. the soft melody of a love song drifts through the reception hall, wrapping around the slow moving couples already on the dance floor. you’re sitting at the edge of your seat, your fingers toying with the stem of your champagne glass, unsure if you wanted to join. your mind is busy thinking about jaehyun, and somehow, the sight of him seems to irritate you more than you thought. just at that moment, soonyoung’s shadow falls over you. “dance with me?”, he asks and you look up to see him standing in front of you. his one hand is outstretched, the other tucked casually in his pocket. his expression is easy and there’s a certain warmth in his eyes with the way he looks at you. 

“i’m not sure”, you say, trailing off, but then you glance up and see mina calling you over with a hopeful expression. she mouths a ‘please’ and you can’t seem to say no to that. “okay fine, just five minutes though”, you say standing up, puting down the glass of champagne and taking soonyoung’s hand. he holds your hand, his fingers curling around yours—warm, steady and reassuring. he gently leads you onto the dance floor and then his other hand comes up to rest on your waist, while the other holds your hand in his. you move your hands to rest on his shoulders as soonyoung slowly moves. but then you spot jaehyun at the side, looking at you and there’s something in the way he looks at you that sends your stomach twisting. you glance away, stiffening and you don’t even realise that you’ve stopped moving.

your muscles tense, and suddenly, you’re not really dancing anymore. and then you’re moving, but too fast, too rigid, completely out of rhythm with soonyoung. you step out with the wrong foot when you’re supposed to sway, rush when you’re supposed to follow and all your movements are erratic and clumsy, a stark contrast to the easy flow of the song.

soonyoung notices this instantly and his hold on your waist tightens a bit, just enough to anchor you back to him. his head tilts to the side slightly, concern flickering across his face as he watches you, his fingers brushing against your skin in a silent attempt to steady you. “hey,” he murmurs, his voice low. “what’s wrong?”, he asks and you blink up at him. you shake your head quickly. “nothing, i just—”, you trail off, the words falling flat.

soonyoung doesn’t say anything, but instead he shifts slightly, adjusting his movements as he gently guides you along with him this time. “be in the moment, breathe, listen to the music”, he says and you nod, but your body is still rigid, and soonyoung can feel it. you don’t want to admit that your mind is elsewhere, that your thoughts are tangled up in things you wish you could ignore. he can tell you’re distracted, that there’s something on your mind. but soonyoung is patient and he doesn’t press or doesn’t demand an explanation. he just watches you silently, his eyes searching yours before he speaks again.

“i’m going to dip you if you keep doing that”, he says and that makes you snap your head up to look at him. you narrow your eyes at him as you speak. “don’t you dare dip me kwon soonyoung”, you say and he chuckles at the mention of his full name.

“still don’t trust me huh”, he asks. “no”, you deadpan and he smiles softly. 

then leans in slightly, lowering his voice as he speaks. “well that’s too bad because if you keep dancing like a robot, i’m going to have to dip you, that’s the rules”, he says, making you furrow your brows.

“what rules? that’s not a thing”, you counter. “oh it is actually”, he says. “i wrote it myself and rule number one is if your dance partner is too stiff, you must dip them”, he tells proudly and you scoff. but then you notice the mischief in his eyes and the alarms start ringing in your head. “soonyoung, no, do not dip me”, you say.

“why not?”, he asks. “because!”, you lower your voice, glancing around. “we will become the center of attention at a wedding that is not ours”, you say and soonyoung blinks, and then slowly, that mischievous grin spreads across his face.

“oh, you’re right,” he repeats. “that would be so dramatic”, he says, holding your gaze as you glare at him. “exactly so no dipping”, you repeat.

“but then it would be really iconic you know”, he says, like he’s trying to convince you. “no”, you say, but a soft laugh escapes you at his antics. soonyoung smiles because that’s exactly what he wanted. his smile lingers as he watches you and he notices the way the tension in your shoulders slowly eases, the way your body starts to relax under his hold. he wanted you to relax and let go and now you’re moving much better now, there’s no rush anymore. soonyoung watches you carefully, taking in the way your breath evens out, the way your fingers rest more comfortably against his shoulders. he doesn’t say anything for a moment, just lets the dance continue, letting you find your own pace. 

“we still could, though”, he says and you blink up at him. “could what?”, you ask. “steal the show”, he says, his lips twitching into a small smirk. “one big dramatic dip and the crowd would lose their minds”, he says and you groan softly, rolling your eyes at him, and then you laugh again when you picture it in your head and that’s enough for soonyoung. he grins. mission accomplished.

“no soonyoung, we are not going to steal the show, it’s not even our wedding”, you say, the words slipping out of your mouth casually, but soonyoung’s ears perk up for some reason. 

“so…you’re saying if this was our wedding you’d let me dip you?”, he asks, looking at you intently. his tone is playful but there's an underlying hint of curiosity in it. you shrug lightly. “i mean, hypothetically, if it was our wedding, then maybe”, you say and his heart seems to almost skip a beat at your words. his usual easy grin falters for just a heartbeat, just enough for you to notice the way his breath hitches and the way his eyes flicker with something unreadable. you hold soonyoung’s gaze as they draw you in. you could kiss him you think and you gulp at the thought. 

the realization comes crashing down on you all over again, the weight of the moment making everything seem too much, too fast. you clear your throat, taking a step back, pulling yourself away from him and the intensity of his gaze. “i-i need to use the restroom,” you say quickly, suddenly needing to escape the unexpected tension. “okay,” he says softly, his hands dropping from your sides, but you can still feel the warmth of his touch. “i’ll be here when you get back”, he says and you nod before you step away from him and turn around, walking to the washroom, your heart still racing.

you stand in front of the washroom mirror and look at yourself. what was wrong with you? you could not be going around, thinking these kinds of thoughts about soonyoung. you shake your head, getting your thoughts back together before you exit the washroom. you are about to take a turn to head back to the dance floor where soonyoung is, when jaehyun comes walking through the corridor. you freeze for a second when you see him, but then continue walking, deciding to ignore him, but he stops you.

“yn”, he says and you hate it, hate the way he says your name, but you still turn around. he looks at you for a second before he speaks. “you look good tonight”, he says and you want to scoff, you want to roll your eyes but you don’t, keeping your face neutral. “thanks”, you mumble out.

“i’ve been thinking about you recently, so i’m sort of glad we bumped into each other here”, he says and you clench your jaw. you did not need to be hearing this right now. you don’t know what’s worse—the fact that he’s talking to you like nothing happened between you both, or the fact that he’s so damn casual about it, and his words feel like a punch to the gut.

“listen jaehyun, i’m not—”, you start but he cuts you off. “can we talk perhaps? would you be willing to give me another chance, i just miss you so bad”, he says and you scoff at the audacity he had to be saying that.

“you miss me?”, you repeat, and you can’t hide the disbelief in your tone. “after everything you did you think you can just waltz back into my life, tell me that you miss me, and i’ll forget all the shit you put me through?”, you ask, trying not to get upset.

outside, soonyoung waits for you like a puppy in the wedding hall, sitting on the chair looking around, hoping to see you soon. but it’s been fifteen minutes now, almost twenty and you haven’t come back yet, and he’s starting to get worried. so he gets up and makes his way to the building on the other side, hoping to find you. 

jaehyun’s expression falters for a second, but he tries to close the distance between you, stepping forward. “yn please just—”, he starts off, but before he can reach you, you take a sharp step back.

“no, i’m not doing this,” you say firmly. you turn to walk away, your body tense, but jaehyun grabs your wrist, stopping you. his grip is firm, and for a second, you freeze, caught off guard.

“yn please,” he says again, almost pleading. “jaehyun let me go”, you say, but he doesn’t. “let go”, you repeat, trying to pull your hand away. “let’s just talk yn”, he says but you don’t want anything to do with him anymore. 

“she said to let her go”, you hear a third voice— soonyoung’s as he stalks forward, grabbing jaehyun’s hand and yanking his hand off you. he looks directly at jaehyun, his gaze steady and unwavering. jaehyun huffs and walks away, leaving you and soonyoung alone in the corridor.

soonyoung’s eyes flicker briefly to you, his eyes softening with concern and he immediately notices the way your hands are trembling, how your breathing is shallow. you look up at him, and that’s when you realize your eyes are wet with tears you're trying to hold back. soonyoung’s brows furrow in worry. “hey, are you okay?” he asks, his voice gentle but firm. you blink rapidly, trying to clear your head, trying to blink back the tears.

“i'm—i'm fine,” you whisper, though the words aren’t true and soonyoung knows it, but he doesn’t press you for details. soonyoung doesn't know what comes over him, but he reaches out for your hand, intertwining his fingers in yours and giving your hand a gentle squeeze, as if he was trying to ground you back to reality. his touch is warm and you don’t want to let go.

“come on,” he says gently. “let’s go outside for a bit and get some fresh air yeah?”, he asks. you hesitate for a moment and you look at him, only to see nothing but quiet understanding in his gaze. there’s no judgment, it’s just him, waiting patiently, holding space for you. you nod slowly and soonyoung slowly leads you outside. his thumb moves in slow circles against your hand, in an unconscious attempt to soothe you as he walks with you outside to the quiet garden area behind the venue. you let go of soonyoung’s hand as you cross your arms over your chest and watch from a distance—watching everyone dancing, having fun, drinking and talking. you can hear the faint echo of the music and the faint chatter of people and the cool night air wraps around you as the sound of laughter and music fade into the background. a shiver runs through you and you rub your arms for warmth, though it does little to nothing against the cold night air. a moment later you feel something warm and soft being draped over your shoulders.

you glance down in surprise, fingers brushing over the fabric—soonyoung’s jacket. it’s oversized on you, the sleeves falling past your hands, but there’s the lingering warmth of his body heat still clinging to it. you blink up at him, and he shrugs, a small, lopsided smile playing at his lips. “this will keep you warm”, he says and you mumble out a small thanks before you look back ahead.

soonyoung doesn’t say anything right away and instead he watches you for a moment, taking in the way your shoulders are still tense, the way your jaw clenches ever so slightly, the way your breathes are just a little too controlled—like you’re trying to hold something in. soonyoung can tell that whatever happened back there was something more and you clearly didn’t want to talk about it. 

instead, he steps beside you, shoving his hands into his pockets as he tilts his head up, looking at the sky. the stars are scattered across the dark sky, shimmering faintly. “you know,” he murmurs after a moment, “this is kinda nice”, he says. you blink, glancing at him. “what is?”, you ask and he nods towards the sky. “the stars, the quiet, just being here with you”.

something about the way he says it makes your chest tighten. just being here with you. for some reason that makes your throat feel tight and you swallow, turning your gaze back to the stars. “yeah,” you murmur. “it is kinda nice”, you say before you feel the weight settle on your shoulders again. your fingers clutch onto his jacket as if you’re trying to ground yourself, but it’s not working and soonyoung notices it instantly. 

you take a step forward, not really thinking—just needing to move, but the soft grass catches onto your heel, tilting you off balance. you barely get a gasp out before you trip. but before you can even register what’s happening, a pair of strong hands grab your waist and soonyoung catches you, pulling you up against him with ease. your hands clutch onto his arms instinctively, “whoa—”, he huffs out. his voice is low, close to your ear. his grip on you doesn’t loosen, his hands staying on your waist, hot and unmoving, holding you close—closer than before—closer than you should be and your breath stutters. you’re pressed up against him, chest to chest, your noses barely a breath apart. it’s like he doesn’t even realize how close he’s holding you, how there’s barely any space left between the both of you. you can feel the heat of his skin through his shirt and the faint scent of his cologne lingers in the air between you.

your gaze flickers up to meet his and the world seems to slow down at that moment, and neither of you move. soonyoung watches you carefully, his lips parting like he wants to say something, but the words never come. his gaze drops, just for a second to your lips and your heart skips a beat. soonyoung’s eye’s flicker back up and he holds your gaze, his fingers instinctively pressing into your sides before he finally loosens his grip, but he doesn’t let go completely. he stills holds onto you, staying right where he is, holding you close. and then he speaks, his voice soft, careful, gentle. 

“do you wanna go home?”, he asks lowly and his breath is soft against your skin as he speaks. his nose brushes against yours ever so slightly as he speaks, just the faintest touch, but it’s enough to send sparks flying. you blink, surprised, because you weren’t expecting him to ask that. whatever you were expecting, it wasn’t this. he’s so so close and you gulp. you can barely form any words with how close he is, with the way he’s looking at you, with the way he’s holding you. you open your mouth to speak, but soonyoung beats you to it.

“it’s okay if you do,” he adds. “we don’t have to stay if you’re not comfortable”, he whispers and you swallow hard. “maybe going home would be good”, you manage to muster out softly, feeling like you were melting under his gaze with the intensity that he was looking at you with.

he slowly loosens his grip on your waist and eases his hands, his touch lingering just for a second longer before finally pulling back completely. you exhale, stepping back slightly, your fingers brushing against his for a fleeting moment before they fall down by your sides. the cool night air rushes between you both and you look away. you don’t know why, but maybe it’s because this all feels too much—too raw, too intimate and too real. you try to distract yourself, so you smooth your hands over your dress, clearing your throat. soonyoung watches you carefully. “come on,” he finally says, his voice softer than before. “let’s get you home”.

when you reach home, you bid soonyoung goodbye, and you offer to drive him home, but he declines, saying he’d take a cab. you’re quick to peel off your heels when you enter and sigh in relief as you walk barefoot to your room. you toss your small hand bag on the bed and plop down, letting out another heavy sigh. you fall back down on the bed and you stare up at the ceiling, thinking about soonyoung. 

you can feel your heart pick up its pace at the thought of him and you groan. you think about how close he was, how his nose brushed against yours ever so slightly, and how if you had just leaned in slightly, you could have kissed him. you shake your head at the thought again and you seriously think there’s something terribly wrong with you. you could not be thinking about kissing your best friend's younger brother because that was just wrong. there’s no way you could be falling in love with soonyoung, right? somewhere along the line, you had started seeing him as a man, not just as your best friend's younger brother and the realization hits you hard, making you curse under your breath. this was just supposed to be casual, not real.

when soonyoung goes home later that night, he’s confused. he finds himself laying wide awake in bed again. his heart is racing, still, hours later, and he has no idea why. there’s a strange unfamiliar tug at his heart at the thought of you. he presses his palm flat against his chest, like that would help steady his beating heart, help him stop whatever this feeling was, but it doesn’t work. soonyoung frowns at the ceiling instead, frustrated. what the hell is wrong with him?

soonyoung doesn’t understand what’s happening to him. he doesn’t understand what he’s feeling and it’s driving him crazy. he stirs and grabs his phone, opening the browser, his fingers hovering over the keyboard for a second before he types the first thing that comes to mind.

“how do you know if you’re falling in love?”

the search results load instantly and soonyoung squints at the screen as he scrolls though them. his heart thuds uncomfortably as he skims through the first few answers in the article clicked on.

you think about them all the time.

you want to be around them constantly.

your heart races when you see them.

you feel nervous and excited around them at the same time.

you find yourself drawn to small details about them 

you miss them when they’re not around.

soonyoung’s stomach flips as he reads and he swallows hard. he scrolls faster, clicking on another link, his fingers trembling slightly as he types in a new searches, hoping to find some more answers within them.

what does love feel like?

why does my chest feel weird when i think about someone?

can you fall in love by accident?

what to do when you fall for your fake date?

he exhales sharply as he reads the through the articles and all the answers and he drops his phone onto his chest, rubbing a hand over his face. soonyoung’s heart is racing and his head is spinning. his emotions are tangled into a mess he can’t begin to unravel and he’s now he’s even more confused.

and the worst part is he knows, he now knows what this is, what this feeling is. soonyoung is falling for you, hard, and that was never part of the plan.

it’s been a week since the wedding, since soonyoung held you so close, since you felt your heart race in a way you hadn’t felt in a while. you think you’re going crazy, that there’s some sort of bug that’s bitten you that’s making you think all these stupid thoughts. in all this, the one person who seems to be on your mind is jaehyun. fuck, ever since you saw him, the past, all the memories, the way he left you feeling all comes flooding back and you hate it. since it’s friday, the weekend, you decide to indulge yourself and decide to drown your sorrows down with alcohol. maybe if you drink enough, the ache in your chest will dull and all the thoughts will quiet down and you can forget—at least for a little while.

which is how you find yourself slumped at the bar, staring at the rim of your third bottle of soju. your fingers trace circles against the cool glass as you sit. the bar is dimly lit, the low hum of chatter and clinking glasses buzzing around you, but you barely register any of it. the warmth of the alcohol spreads through your veins, making everything feel just a little slower, just a little heavier. your vision blurs slightly as you fumble for your phone, unlocking it with shaky fingers and you squint at the screen, scrolling through your contacts.

you were meaning to call jihyo, you swear you were. but in your tipsy state, your finger presses on the contact just below hers instead—soonyoung's.

soonyoung is no doubt surprised when you call him, but he picks up nonetheless. “hello?”, he says, his voice filling you ear and you don’t even register that it’s not jihyo’s voice. you sit up, blinking lazily. “hi babe”, you say and there’s a beat of silence as soonyoung furrows his brows, wondering if he had actually heard you right. did you just call him babe?

“i’m at the bar we usually go to downtown,” you continue, your words slurred but carrying a familiar warmth, as if this were any normal conversation with jihyo. “and i’m so wasted right now, but i can’t stop thinking about stupid jaehyun”, you say and soonyoung sits up straighter, his fingers tightening around his phone. but you don’t even give him a chance to interrupt as you go on, the words tumbling out of you in your tipsy state.

“jihyo, wait…did i tell you what happened at the wedding?”, you ask and that’s when it clicks for him. you had meant to call jihyo, but you had called him instead. he thinks that he should probably interrupt and tell you that it’s not jihyo that you called, but he doesn’t, something stops him. maybe it’s the slight wobble in your voice, or the way you sounded so tired, but he keeps the phone to his ear, listening to you.

“it’s so stupid really, i don’t know why i’m–i’m wasting my time over him”, you slur out, the words coming out in a rush, softer, more vulnerable, and that’s when soonyoung realizes how drunk you actually are and his heart tugs with worry.

soonyoung knew which bar you were talking about because he’s gone there with jihyo and his friends before. he’s already getting up without hesitation, worried and you continue to speak. “he came up to me and—”, your voice cuts off, the call hanging up and soonyoung is confused. he pulls his phone down from his ear and calls you again, but you don’t pick up and it goes straight to voicemail. he calls again but the same thing happens and he realises your phone must have died.

“shit,” he mutters under his breath and now soonyoung is really worried. he doesn’t waste another second as he opens the door to his room, throwing on his jacket as he practically runs out the door, ignoring seungkwan yelling at him as to where he was running off to so late. his mind is racing, heart hammering in his chest as he speed runs toward the bar you mentioned. he just runs, trying to make his way to you as fast as possible. thankfully the bar was closeby, and if he ran, he could reach you in ten minutes. by the time he pulls up to the bar, his hands are trembling and his breathing is heavy from all the running. his chest is rising and falling as he tries to catch his breath. the neon sign of the bar flickers above the entrance, casting a dull glow around him and his legs move on their own as he pushes the door open and steps inside. 

his eyes scan the dimly lit room, and the dull music that plays in the background fills his ears. he moves past tables and clusters of people, his heart pounding as his eyes try to find you—and then there you are. you’re sitting at the corner by the window, slumped forward, resting your chin on your hand, your elbow resting on the table as you stare into space. your fingers lazily trace circles on the table and three empty bottles of soju sit in front of you.

soonyoung lets out a quiet sigh of relief when he sees you and his legs automatically move on their own, making his way towards you. “yn” he says, his voice urgent and worried. “are you okay?”, he asks, looking at you. you blink slowly, lifting your head to look at him, your eyes hazy and unfocused, and for a second you just stare, like your brain is trying to process the fact that he’s here—that he’s in front of you.

“soonyoung?” you murmur, blinking again. your lips curve into a lazy, tipsy smile. “oh, hey! did jihyo send you?”, you ask and he only blinks at you. he sighs again. “you’re okay,” he breathes, more to himself than anything.

his eyes sweep over you and take in the way you’re swaying slightly in your seat, the way your fingers fumble clumsily with your empty glass, the way your shoulders slump like the weight of the world is pressing down on them.

“what happened?” he asks, his voice softer now. “why didn’t you charge your phone? you scared the shit out of me”, he says and you pout slightly, looking at him, confused. “my phone died?”, you ask and soonyoung runs a hand through his hair, sighing again. “yeah, it did”, he answers.

you giggle lightly—like it’s funny—but soonyoung doesn’t laugh, because underneath the drunken haze, there’s something off about you. you’re not just tipsy, you’re sad.

soonyoung takes a seat beside you, because you were sitting at a table with two seats beside each other. he’s close but not too close, his shoulder just barely brushing against yours and he’s quiet, watching you carefully. and before you can stop yourself, the words start tumbling out. 

“it’s so stupid soonyoung”, you say, frowning.“i saw jaehyun at the wedding and it was like everything came rushing back to me, you know?”, you say, your tone carrying a hint of sadness in it. “i thought i was over him, i should be over him, but seeing him again, hearing him say he misses me like it meant something—”, your voice cracks and you let out a sharp humorless laugh. “like he didn’t leave me when i needed him the most”, you finish and exhale shakily, dropping your gaze. soonyoung doesn’t interrupt, he just listens to you.

“we dated for four years, and he just broke it off like it was nothing”, you say drily. “he broke up with me, dumped me actually, because he said i was boring, that i was no longer the same person he had fallen in love with. and it hurt, it hurt so bad. i spent so long thinking something was wrong with me, that i wasn’t enough for him. that maybe if i was more fun, if i could just change something about me, then maybe he would have still loved me, that he would have stayed”, you say, your voice shaking as you speak. 

the words hang in the air, heavy and soonyoung shifts beside you, his fingers twitching like he wants to reach for yours but isn’t sure if he should. “i just—i don’t know why i let it get to me,” you mumble, your voice quieter now. “it’s pathetic.”

“soonyoung,” you whisper his name after a moment, your voice small as you look at him, your eyes wet. “do you think i’m boring?”, you ask and his eyes widen slightly at your question, caught off guard. “what?”, he asks.

you swallow the lump in your throat, blinking rapidly, but it’s useless—the tears are already welling up and a shaky laugh escapes you. “maybe he was right, maybe i am boring”, you say and you sniff, willing yourself not to cry but it doesn’t work. your vision blurs and your shoulder shakes as a quiet sob slips out.

soonyoung’s chest tightens at the sight of you breaking down. “hey, no—” he says softly, shifting closer, his hand hesitating before he reaches for your face. he cups your cheek gently, his thumb brushing away a tear, but another one follows immediately after and his heart clenches.

“you’re not boring,” he says, his voice firm but still gentle. “not even close”.

his hand lingers on your cheek, warm and grounding, and when you finally look at him again, his gaze is so soft, it makes your breath catch because it’s so achingly tender. soonyoung watches as more tears slip down your cheeks and he wipes them away with his thumb. “don’t cry over him, he’s not worth it”, he murmurs, his voice low.

you sniffle, swallowing down another sob and his hand tilts your face up just a little more, his thumb tracing along the curve of your cheekbone. “you are enough, more than enough,” he says, like he needs you to believe them. “and if he couldn’t see that, then that’s his problem”, he finishes. you let out a shaky breath at his words, your lip trembling as another tear slips down and soonyoung catches it before it can fall too far, this thumb caressing your cheek gently. 

you take another shaky breath as you look at soonyoung, your voice barely a whisper as you speak. "i—i think i want to go home", you say and his face softens and without another word he nods in understanding “alright,” he says gently. “let’s get you home”. 

soonyoung helps you gather your belongings and holds onto your handbag before he stands up. he offers you his hand. you take and rise to your feet, your legs are still a little shaky. soonyoung notices this and immediately moves to support you. you don’t know what it is, but being close to him feels like the most natural thing in the world right now. he leads you out, supporting you as you walk. his hand on your lower back, his steps matching yours, making sure you’re steady as you reach the bus stop.

he bus ride is quiet, the hum of the engine and the soft flicker of streetlights outside the windows the only sounds. you sit beside him, a comfortable silence stretching between you. without thinking, you shift closer to him, your body seeking the warmth and comfort he offers. his arm instinctively wraps around your shoulders as you lean into him, his presence grounding you like nothing else. the slight bump of the bus makes you instinctively grip his shirt, your fingers curling onto the fabric as if it’s the only thing holding you together. soonyoung’s body stiffens at first, but then he relaxes, his hand gently resting on your shoulder as he holds you. he doesn’t say anything—he doesn’t need to. 

you’ve fallen asleep and soonyoung gently wakes you up when your stop is near. you stir awake and blink in confusion before you realise where you are. the bus slows to a stop, and as the doors open, soonyoung's hand instinctively intertwines into yours, guiding you off the bus. you feel a little unsteady, and the alcohol making your legs feel like jelly, still tipsy, and soonyoung immediately notices, his arm going around your waist to steady you.

“i’ve got you”, he murmurs, his voice soft as he helps you step down onto the sidewalk. he’s watching you closely, his gaze gentle but full of concern. “you okay?” he asks and you nod, though you’re still a little out of it. slowly, you take a step forward, and soonyoung stays right there, just close enough that you can lean onto him if you need to. you try to keep your balance, but with each step, you feel the world spinning just a little bit more, the alcohol still clouding your senses. soonyoung is quick to catch onto this and immediately shifts, now holding onto your waist with more purpose, his grip tightening just enough to make sure you don’t lose your footing. “it’s okay, i’m right here” he says softly again, his voice close to your ear. without realizing it, you find yourself leaning into him, your body instinctively trusting the comfort he provides. soonyoung walks beside you in quiet understanding as he leads you to your house, his steady pace matching yours and you can feel him subtly adjusting his steps to ensure you’re not struggling, walking with you slowly.

as you reach the door of your building, soonyoung helps you up the stairs, his hand never leaving your side. he’s so in tune with you, watching you closely for any sign that you might stumble. with each step, he remains right there, supporting you, not letting go. when you finally reach your door, soonyoung gives you a soft smile, one that’s full of care and warmth. "you’re home," he says quietly, still holding onto you.

“thank you soonyoung”, you say, giving him a small smile and he smiles back. “call me if you need anything,” he says softly, his tone filled with unspoken understanding and you can tell that he genuinely cares. you nod again and he watches as you unlock the door and walk inside, making sure you get in safe before he leaves.

when soonyoung wakes up the next morning, he’s a mess and perhaps a little lovesick.  he can’t stop thinking about you, can’t stop thinking about the way you clung onto him, the way you seemed to so naturally fit in his life. he gulps as he sits on the edge of his bed, running a hand through his hair and thinking about how fucked he is. he was never supposed to fall for you, he was never supposed to catch feelings. he didn’t even know how it happened. this was all new to him and he was falling in love for the first time—with you.

he heads out of the room and walks to the kitchen, his footsteps heavy. he grabs a bowl and pours in some cereal and milk before he pulls out a chair and takes a seat at the dining table. soonyoung shovels the cereal in his mouth like a robot, his mind wandering, his thoughts a mess, his feelings in chaos. “did you break up or something, you look like you’re about to cry”, seungkwan cuts in, looking at the soonyoung who looked like there was a grey cloud looming over his head.

soonyoung only sighs as he shovels another spoonful of the already soggy cereal in his mouth, chewing and swallowing before he speaks. “i screwed things up”, soonyoung says. In defeat. “did you guys fight or something? you know flowers are always the answer, rose specifically”, seungkwan adds.

“no we didn’t fight….i just…fuck….this whole thing is so confusing”, soonyoung says, leaning back in his chair and running a hand through his hair. “i think i’m in love”, soonyoung finally says and seungkwan looks at him like there’s something wrong with him. “you’re making a fuss because you think you’re in love with your girlfriend? are you drunk?”, he asks, giving soonyoung a look.

“but that wasn’t part of the plan!”, soonyoung almost yells, frustrated at seungkwan, and frustrated at himself mostly. he never in his wildest dreams thought that he would find himself in this situation, and yet here he is.

“what do you mean that was never part of the plan? were you guys not exclusive or something? was this a situationship kind of thing?”, seungkwan asks, confused, having no idea that soonyoung was only fake dating.

“ugh it’s complicated man”, soonyoung says before muttering something about how he needed to get ready for work and gets up, leaving the table, leaving seungkwan even more confused. soonyoung doesn’t know what to feel, doesn’t know what to think. so he does what he thinks is the easiest thing to do—he avoids you.

you wake up that morning and last night’s events come crashing down on you. you curse under your breath but your heart also flutters at the thought of soonyoung. you shake your head, hoping to get your thoughts back in order. no, you can’t be falling for soonyoung, you just can’t. so you decide to avoid him. the week goes by fairly easily, with you managing to not bump into him anywhere thankfully. but every once in a while, you find yourself thinking about him, thinking about the warmth of his touch, the softness in his gaze, the way his eyes would turn into little crescent moons when he laughed or smiled and your heart aches—because you miss him. 

when jihyo calls you to meet up with her at a cafe to catch up, you jump at the opportunity. you push the door open to the cafe, the scent of coffee and buttery pastries welcoming you. your eyes scan the room and you spot jihyo. you walk a few more steps inside, making your way to the table and that’s when you spot soonyoung there too, and you freeze. what the fuck. why was soonyoung here too? jihyo spots you and waves over to you and you break your trance and walk ahead. soonyoung seems to finally notice you too and his eyes widen in surprise before he looks away in a hurry.

“there’s my baby girl”, jihyo says as he pulls you into a hug and you smile, hugging her back. you pull away and glance at soonyoung, giving him a small wave to acknowledge his presence and he gives you a small “hi” before looking down at his hands in his lap. you sit down opposite them. “i brought soonie along since he said he was in the area, so i invited him too, i hope you don’t mind”, jihyo asks. “it’s fine”, you say, giving her a small smile, but you were dying on the inside. 

you glance at soonyoung and you catch him already staring at you and the both of you look away at the same time. soonyoung seems too busy arranging the tissues on the table. then jihyo tells soonyoung to go fetch the order and he glady gets up. he comes back a moment later with a tray of drinks— a iced latte for jihyo, an americano for himself and a hot green tea for you. you had also ordered two pastries, a strawberry cream cake and an almond croissant for soonyoung. 

“how was the wedding by the way?” jihyo asks casually, taking a sip of her iced latte and soonyoung nearly chokes on his drink. you freeze mid bite, your grip on the spoon faltering for a second and across the table jihyo raises an eyebrow at the both of you. soonyoung desperately coughs into his sleeve, trying to regain his composure.

jihyo frowns and reaches out, thumping soonyoung firmly on the back. “jeez, slow down man, the coffee isn’t going anywhere”,  jihyo says when he stops coughing and he clears his throat. 

you quickly look down, pretending to focus on your cake, your heart hammering in your chest. you and soonyoung haven’t really talked since the wedding, or since he dropped your drunk self home—not about that moment, not about how close you were, not about the feelings that were bubbling up and slowly simmering inside. instead, you both did what mature adults do—you both ignored it, completely.

“it was fine,” you say too quickly, shoving a piece of the cake in your mouth so you don’t have to talk anymore.

“yeah, it was totally fine, just normal wedding things”, soonyoung says and you glance at him, noticing how he looks equally uncomfortable and frazzled. jihyo’s eyes the both of you suspiciously. “just fine?”, she asks as she turns to soonyoung, nudging him. “you always go on about the food at weddings, and you didn’t dance? that’s like your entire personality, you live for wedding dance floors”, jihyo says to him. soonyoung, who had just reached for his fork, panics at the question and moves too fast, knocking the fork right off the table with a loud clang. 

soonyoung looks like his entire life is flashing before his eyes and he scrambles to pick up the fork. “nothing! that was nothing! i’m just clumsy”, he says and jihyo gives him a look, as she narrows her eyes at him. “uh-huh”, she says and then she turns to you. “you’re being suspiciously quiet”, she says as she looks at you and you try to stay calm.

“i’m just eating my cake,” you say, voice a little too high pitched. “nothing weird about eating cake”, you say, shoving another spoonful of the cake in your mouth. jihyo looks between the both of you, the gears turning in her brain. “you guys are being weird”, she declares. “we’re not being weird”, you say, taking a big sip of your tea. jihyo looks at you both again before she suddenly gasps, smacking the table so hard that soonyoung flinches. 

“oh my god”, she says. “you guys hooked up at the wedding, didn’t you?”, she completes and you mid sip, nearly spit out and choke on the hot tea and soonyoung makes an unintelligible sound of horror. “WHAT?!” you yelp at the same time soonyoung practically shouts, “NO”. 

“what the fuck jihyo, we did NOT hook up oh my god”, you groan out, covering you face in embarrassment. soonyoung just looks baffled, at a loss for words. “we didn’t do anything, stop being gross”, soonyoung whines, nudging jihyo, who looks between the both of you, clearly enjoying this.

“right”, she says and decides to leave it. she’d grill out about this later. you gulp down your tea and soonyoung chugs down his americano while jihyo sits back and watches this unfold, eyeing you both, while you try to act normal. 

later that week, soonyoung is a mess—a pathetic, sulking mess. he drags his feet wherever he goes, sighing dramatically at least twenty times a day. all his friends and colleagues at the dance studio notice this of course, because how could they not? he barely reacts to any teasing and barely fights back when seungkwan steals his food, so it’s bad. in an attempt to not feel like a heartbroken puppy, soonyoung does the only thing he knows how to do—he dances. he spends more time at the dance studio, dancing it out, trying to get his mind off things, his mind off you. but he can’t because you seem to have taken over his mind and heart. he groans and collapses onto the floor, breathing hard as he tries to catch his breath from exerting himself a little too much. no matter what he does, he just can’t get you off his mind.

after that week, you end up ghosting jihyo too, only because you didn’t know how to face her. how could you admit that you were falling for her younger brother? that would just be crazy and you’d sound insane, you couldn't do that. so, like a completely mature adult, you ghost her for almost two weeks before she puts two and two together and decides to turn up at your apartment. you don’t expect to see her, so when you open the door to her, your eyes widen in surprise. 

“jihyo, hey, what are you doing here?”, you ask, stepping aside and she gives you a knowing look. “do i need a reason to see my best friend?”, she says, stepping inside and you let her, because it’s not like you can shove her out. you turn around and walk inside, asking if she wants anything to drink or eat, but she just raids your fridge and pantry like she always did, and finds a pack of chips, opening it. you pray to the gods that she doesn’t bring up soonyoung, or the fact that you’ve been ignoring her, but you know she will— because she’s jihyo.

“so, care to tell me why you’ve been avoiding me?”, she asks finally and you take a big gulp of water instead, hoping to buy some time while she bores her eyes into you. you let out a nervous laugh. “what do you mean? i’m not avoiding you”, you say and she raises an eyebrow at you.

“right, so you haven’t been ignoring my calls or leaving all my texts on read on purpose?”, she asks and you nod. “i’ve just been really really really busy, work picked up, we got new clients and it’s just been really hectic”, you say. but you knew jihyo and you knew that she wasn’t buying this bullshit excuse you were giving her. 

“so you hooked up with soonyoung then”, she says and your eyes widen in horror again. “JIHYO NO, oh my god”, you groan. “why do you keep thinking that”, you ask, looking at her. “because if you don’t start spilling the beans and tell me what’s going on, i’m just going to believe that you and soonyoung hooked up”, she says as she chomps down on a chip. you scoff at her and clear your throat, trying to gather your thoughts. one thing about jihyo was that she didn’t take bullshit from anyone—not even you. so you knew you had to come clean, otherwise she would quite literally haunt you about this.

“fuck”, you say under your breath looking down at the floor before you look back up. how were you even going to say this? 

“just don’t kill me”, you start off as jihyo looks at you, chomping down on another chip, waiting for you to continue. “i—i think i’m falling for soonyoung”, you finally say, the words finally out, hanging in the air between you both. you expect jihyo to gasp, to throw the bag of chips at you, to say that she wasn’t going to be your friend anymore, but she doesn’t. she only shrugs and nods. “yeah, that makes sense”, she says.

you blink at her, confused. “that’s it? that’s all you have to say about what i just confessed”, you ask and she shrugs her shoulders again.

“if you want my permission, then i approve, you guys are cute together anyway”, she says and you give her another confused look. you stare at her, utterly bewildered. “i—what—excuse me?””, you stutter out because whatever reaction you were hoping for, this wasn’t it at all.

“honestly, i already knew something was up between you guys.  the way soonyoung looks at you? the way you look at him when you think no one’s watching? soonyoung’s been acting so different lately, so anyone who knows him could tell. sso babe, this has been so obvious for weeks”, jihyo says and you jaw drops.

“and then you guys were acting so weird after i asked about the wedding”. “we were not,” you argue, but the heat creeping up your neck says otherwise and jihyo gives you another flat look. “you both nearly choked to death when i brought it up that day”, she says and you scowl. “that doesn’t mean anything”, you say and she scoffs. “oh please, anyone could tell that there’s something going on between you both”, she says and you feel heat creep up your cheeks at her words. there’s no way you both had been that obvious. 

“sooo… are you gonna do something about it?”, she asks a beat later and you look at her. “so you’d be okay if i date your brother?”, you ask and she nods. “yeah, like i said you guys are hella cute together, and soonie is like head over heels in love with you”, she casually says and your blush more. “stop it, he’s not head over heels in love with me, i don’t even know if he likes me back”, you counter but she just gives you a look.

“girl, trust me, that boy is in love”, she says, popping another chip in her mouth. “so i think you should tell him how you feel, because he’s been moping around like an idiot”, she adds and you perk up at the mention of that.

“what do you mean?”, you ask. “that stupid idiot is walking around sulking all day, acting heartbroken and it’s pissing me off. but it’s also his first time falling in love so i’m cutting him some slack, otherwise i would have knocked some sense into him long back”, she tells.

jihyo glances at the clock on the wall. “okay, i’ll take this as my cue to leave, i have to get to a meeting, but please go tell that boy how you feel before he evaporates off the face of the earth with the way he’s sulking”, she instructs, popping one last chip in her mouth and dusting her hands. she walks towards the door, slipping on her shoes. “and if you guys do hook up, please use protection”, she says and you gasp in horror, your soul nearly leaving your body.

“JIHYO!” you screech and she just cackles. “get out, get out”, you say, playfully shoving her out and she laughs. “what? i’m being serious, i’m not ready to be an aunt yet”, she adds, her eyes twinkling with mischief. 

“oh my god, shut the fuck up”, you say exasperated, but your face is burning and she laughs as she waves at you. “mhm, sure, sure, i’ll call you later”, she says before turning around and giving you a serious look. “just don’t break each other's hearts”, she says, giving you one last look before heading off.

hours later, you lay in bed thinking about what jihyo said and thinking about soonyoung. was he really moping around? there’s no way he actually liked you back that much…right? so you get up, throw on a jacket, grab your phone from the nightstand and make your way to him. the receptionist doesn’t even blink when you walk right in, seeming to recognise you and she only yells out which room number soonyoung is at. you stride forward like you’re on a mission, but as soon as you reach the door, you freeze for a moment. 

you reach for the door handle, just at the same time soonyoung pulls open the door from inside and it takes you by surprise. before you even have the time to react, a startled gasp leaves your lips and you find yourself stumbling forward—right into a solid, warm chest—right into soonyoung. you crash into him, your hands instinctively gripping his arms as you try to steady yourself, but the force of your fall sends him stumbling back a step. his hands fly to your waist, catching you before you can completely lose your balance, fingers pressing against your sides in a firm yet gentle grip.

“whoa—what the—”, soonyoung breathes out, his voice a little strained as his back hits the edge of the doorframe, but his arms stay wrapped around you, keeping you from toppling over entirely. you blink up at him and your face is just inches from his, close enough to see the way his lips part in surprise, close enough to feel the warmth of his breath against your skin as his hands still hold onto you. “s-soonyoung,” you stammer out, trying to pull back, but his grip lingers for just a moment longer, as if his body reacts before his mind does. then, as if snapping out of a daze, he lets go quickly, clearing his throat. you take a step back, creating some distance between you both and your gaze flickers to the sides of the room before landing back on him, nervous.

“what are you doing here?”, he asks, thinking something might have happened with the way you practically fell on him moments ago. you blink up at him. “i—uh—came to talk to you”, you say and soonyoung blinks back at you. “you did?”, he asks, his voice soft, almost uncertain and you nod.

you take a step inside the room and soonyoung closes the door behind you. “yeah”, you say. the dance practice is room lit, the glow from the overhead lights brightening the room and polished wooden floors and mirrors. there are no chairs, just a wide open space.

“uh—sorry, there aren’t any chairs,” he says, scratching the back of his neck. “but the floor’s not too bad, i sit here all the time”, he says and you can’t help but smile a little at that. “yeah, i figured”, you say. soonyoung smiles nervously and then gestures toward the corner of the room where his bag and water bottle are. “let’s sit?”, he asks and you follow him to the corner of the room. you both sit down and he sits beside you—not too close, but not too far either. the silence between you both stretches, thick with unsaid things. soonyoung fidgets with his fingers, tapping it restlessly against his knee. 

“hi”, he finally says softly, breaking the silence and looking at you, his eyes holding a tender gaze. you smile lighty. “hi”, you say, looking at him. “what did you want to talk about?”, he asks slowly after a moment, although he thinks he knows why you came. soonyoung is looking at you—uncertain, nervous, but hopeful. you hesitate, suddenly aware of how fast your heart is beating. you take a deep breath. “i…”,you start but pause and swallow, before speaking again.”i’ve been thinking about you…a lot”, you say and soonyoung stills. his fingers stop their nervous tapping on his knee and his posture straightens.

“me too”, he admits after a moment. “i… i don’t really know how to say this,” he says, letting out a small, breathy laugh. “i mean—i do know. i’ve been thinking about it for weeks, but now that you’re here, i just—i’m sorry if i messed things up between us and ruined the whole fake dating plan”, he says in a rush as he exhales sharply, shaking his head. his fingers fidget in his lap again, his knee bouncing slightly with the nervous energy around him. you open your mouth to say something but he speaks up again.

“but i think—”, he says, inhaling sharply. “i think i’m falling in love with you”, he confesses softly, the words coming out of his chest and now hanging delicately in the air between you both. he looks nervous and his eyes are filled with vulnerability and hope. the moment the words are out, he immediately looks away, his eyes flitting across the room like he’s searching for some sort of escape, his fingers tightening in his lap. he waits for you to say something, anything.

you swallow hard, feeling your heart hammering against your chest at his confession, the one he beat you to. “soonyoung” you whisper and his jaw clenches slightly with tension. “i know this probably isn’t what you expected and i understand if you don’t feel the same way. i just—” he lets out a breath, clenching his palms into fists on his lap. “i just couldn’t keep pretending, couldn't keep it in anymore”, he says and his voice is so genuine that it tugs at your heartstrings. 

“you didn’t mess anything up”, you say, and he furrows his brows slightly, like he’s not sure, like he’s not convinced. “i didn’t?”, he asks and you shake your head. 

“because i think i’m falling in love with you too”, you finally confess and his eyes widen in surprise as silence engulfs the both of you. soonyoung stares at you, blinking like he’s not sure he heard you right. “wait,” he breathes out. “you— you do?”, he asks and a small, shy laugh escapes you as you nod. “yeah, i do”, you confirm and he blinks at you again. you can see the way a slow smile starts to spread across his face before he clears his throat, trying to play it cool. he turns his head away for a second, blushing fiercely, trying to collect himself. 

“i thought i was going crazy when i thinking about you all the time, wondering if you maybe felt the same way”, he says. you smile, a hint of warmth blooming in your chest. “you weren’t going crazy”, you assure and he shakes his head. “i mean, i actually was  kind of going crazy”, he admits with a small laugh and you laugh too.

the walk home feels surreal almost, as if neither of you can quite believe what just happened. the cool night air brushes against your skin and there’s a comfortable silence in the air, peaceful almost. you both can’t seem to stop smiling—especially soonyoung. he walks beside you with hands stuffed into his pockets at first, but every few moments, he glances over at you, his face flushing whenever your eyes meet. you can’t help but notice how much more nervous he seems now that things are real. it’s sweet and endearing, and it makes your heart flutter in a way you didn’t expect.

his plucks his hands out of his pockets and they brush against yours as you walk together. you glance at him and he’s trying to keep his composure, his fingers brushing against yours again. so when you reach out and gently close your fingers around his, soonyoung’s eyes widen. he stops walking for a beat, like he’s processing the softness of your touch, the warmth of your hand in his. he looks over at you and gives you a shy smile. it feels so natural, holding his hand, and there’s something about they way they fit together so perfectly that makes your heart swell. you give him a small smile and he gives your hand a gentle squeeze, like he’s trying to make sure this is actually real.

when you reach your building, neither of you immediately lets go. you stand there for a moment, the quiet hanging between you both as you just enjoying the warmth of each other’s touch, of each other’s presence. you look up at him. “thanks for walking me home,” you say softly. soonyoung’s smile is sweet. “anytime,” he says, his voice just a little hushed, like he’s holding onto this moment just as tightly as you are.

you finally pull your hand away from his and look down at the ground before you look back up at him. “i guess i’ll see you later then”, you say and he nods. “yeah, okay”, he says, stuffing his hands back in his pockets. you take a few steps backwards and lift up your hand to give him a wave. “bye”, you say and he gives you a small wave too. you walk inside your building but after a few steps you halt. you think for a moment before you turn around and jog back outside and see soonyoung walking away, his back turned to you. 

“soonyoung wait!”, you call out and he turns around immediately, confused for a second as you run up to him. you stand in front of him, and with a sudden rush of courage you lean in, going on your tip-toes and you press a soft lingering kiss to his cheek. soonyoung freezes, his eyes widening in surprise. you pull back and glance at him. “goodnight”, you whisper and take a step back, seeing the tips of his ears turning red, caught completely off guard by your action and it’s like the world seems to pause.

after what feels like an eternity, he swallows and he stammers out a response. “g-goodnight”, he says, his voice softer than usual, tinged with surprise. you give him one last shy smile before you turn, walking back to your building and before you step inside, you glance back at him one last time to find soonyong still standing there, dazed, watching you and he rubs the back of his neck nervously, like he was trying to ground himself, make sure what happened was real and you smile at how cute he is before finally slipping inside.

1 month later

the room is dimly lit, the soft glow of the lamp casting a warm, golden hue over everything in your apartment. you sit on the couch and notice soonyoung and how nervous he seemed to have suddenly gotten. he was restless for some reason and you were quick to notice it.

“you okay?”, you ask, your voice soft as you look at him. “yeah, just nervous i guess”, he says, his voice small. 

“nervous? why?”, you ask as you lean in closer to him, putting down the lego blocks with the half built flower on the table. soonyoung had gotten you one of those lego flowers to build, so you called him over to do it together. but soonyoung only shrugs at you, tearing his gaze away from you. you tilt your head, nudging him playfully with your elbow. “come on, what’s up?”, you ask as you look at him. this time, he doesn’t answer right away. his lips part as if he wants to say something, but he hesitates, his throat bobbing with an anxious swallow. when he finally looks at you, there’s something unspoken in his gaze.

“it’s stupid”, he says as you look at him, “i’m sure it’s not”, you assure.

“i…i really want to…”, he trails off, feeling the tips of his ears heat up and he looks away. “soonyoung”, you say, laughing softly at the way he was acting. 

“i just really want to kiss you but i don’t know how”, he says, almost too quickly that if you weren’t listening you wouldn't have caught it, but you hear every syllable.

for a moment, there’s silence between you both and the world narrows down to just you and him. you can see his nervous energy with the way his hands curl into his lap, like he doesn’t know what to do with them. you watch as his gaze flickers down to your lips before quickly darting away. a small smile tugs at your lips. “soonyoung,” you say softly, amused but undeniably endeared by him. you reach for his hand, threading your fingers through his. “then how about i teach you?”, you say and he blinks at you.

you slide closer to him and your legs brush against his. you slowly shift so you’re straddling him, knees on either side of his waist as you settle on his lap. he freezes, caught off guard by the closeness. you place your hands on his shoulders, your touch light and delicate. "is this okay?" you ask, softly. he swallows, his throat tight and heart racing as he nods slowly, though his voice barely comes out. "yeah, it’s okay”.

you had dated before, so you knew what this moment was supposed to feel like—gentle, unhurried. but for him, this was all new. it was his first kiss, his first real kiss, with you.

you move your hands to cup his cheek, your thumb gently brushing along his jawline, tender and light. you don’t rush, you take your time. you lean in slowly, teasingly almost, your face just inches away from his and he waits patiently. you lean in more and his eyes flutter close, waiting in anticipation. your lips brush against and his breath catches.

you press your lips to his gently, as if you were testing the waters. his body goes still, the touch of your lips so soft and warm, but different. it was new, so new. there was so much happening in his chest, an overwhelming mix of excitement and nerves and something tender. you pull away slightly, just to make sure he was okay and his eyes flutter open. “relax baby”, you mutter softly, looking at him and he nods ever so slightly.

you lean in and kiss him again, pressing your lips to his, cupping his cheeks and you can feel him relax into you a bit this time. when he doesn’t pull away, you whisper against his lips, “now part your lips just a little”, and he does, his breath shaky as he follows your instructions. you tilt your head a little, deepening the kiss ever so slightly and his hand moves instinctively to your waist, pulling you in a little closer and you can feel the warmth of his body against yours. your lips move slowly against his, but just as gentle. all that mattered in this moment was him and his first kiss with you. he kisses you back and you go slow, giving him time to adjust, letting him slowly take the lead as you let him find his own rhythm, letting him figure out what feels right. his hands rest on your waist, holding onto you and your hands move to rest on his shoulders. 

he kisses you back, clumsily at first like he was unsure, but slowly as if he was learning the movements of a dance, he becomes a little more confident. his lips follow yours and his one hand comes up to cup your cheek, pulling you into the kiss even more. your hands slide up into his hair, your fingers threading through the soft strands of his blonde hair, pulling him closer as you deepen the kiss even more. the kiss grows more intense, slower now, as if neither of you wants to pull away, and his lips move with more of a certainty now, matching the rhythm of yours.

you pull back just enough to breathe, your forehead resting against his, both of your breaths coming out in soft, uneven gasps and you watch the way his chest rises and falls as he catches his breath. his lips are plump and pink and slightly swollen from the kiss, his cheeks flushed, and there’s an unmistakable glow in his eyes.

“you’re a quick learner,” you say, your voice breathless from the intensity of the kiss and he gives you a shy, almost bashful smile, biting his lip as he looks at you. 

“i didn’t expect it to be like that” he trails off, his voice a little low and rough from the kiss, but there’s an undeniable softness in the way he says it.

“you mean good?” you tease, tilting your head slightly, a playful grin forming on your lips as you look at him, your arms resting on his shoulders, your fingers playing with the ends of his hair.

“i think i want to learn more,” he murmurs and you blink at him, the words sinking in, and once they do, you can’t help but laugh softly. soonyoung’s smile grows, his eyes twinkling with both a hint of mischief and something much deeper—something warm. he leans in, kissing you again but you giggle into the kiss and he can’t help but smile against your lips, the warmth of the moment sending a flutter through you.

“kwon soonyoung”, you say his name, your lips brushing against his and he hums in response, capturing your lips in another kiss before you pull away again. you look at him, your fingertips trailing up to his jaw, your thumb lightly brushing over his cheek. he watches you with that soft, adoring gaze, but there’s something playful lurking just beneath it. you catch it and you’re about to say something, but before you can get any words out, he moves.

with a quick, almost effortless motion, he flips you over on the couch. a surprised squeal escapes you, which is quickly replaced by laughter as you land on your back with a soft bounce against the couch. soonyoung grins down at you, his hands on either side of you, his body hovering just above yours. you huff, but the warmth in your chest betrays you. “soons”, you start, looking up at him.

“yes?”, he says, his voice is teasing, his nose brushing against yours, his grin widening when you roll your eyes. his smile is so full of sunshine, of laughter, so infectious and so sincere, so full of everything bright and dizzying.

you sigh dramatically, letting your fingers trail up the back of his neck. “you have a lot learn”, you murmur and he hums, pressing another kiss to your jaw. “then teach me”, he whispers. you wrap your arms around his shoulders, pulling him close and he lets out a quiet laugh, burying his face in the crook of your neck. the two of you stay like that, tangled together, his body pressed against yours. his fingers absentmindedly trace little circles on your waist as he holds you. when he lifts his head and looks at you again, there’s something softer in his gaze, something deeper.

“what?” you ask, your voice barely above a whisper and a smile blooms on his face. “just thinking”, he says. 

“about what?”, you ask and his grin widens. “that i really really like you”, he says, and warmth blooms in your chest at his words. your smile softens. “good,” you whisper out. “because i really really like you too”.

and as he holds you there, you realize that there’s nowhere else you’d rather be—wrapped up in his warmth, his laugher. you think that maybe this, right here, is exactly where you’re meant to be.

END

EXTRA SCENE because i went a little insane over him

soonyoung is practically vibrating in his seat as he waits in the arrivals area to pick you up from the airport. his leg is bouncing with restless energy. three weeks. almost three whole weeks since he had last held you, kissed you and seen you. it was only supposed to be a one week trip. and that one week he would have survived. but there were delays and complications in the project you said—and one week turned into three.

he spots you walking out of the terminal, dragging your suitcase behind you, exhaustion evident in the way your shoulders are slumped, your eyes tired. he’s on his feet in an instant and he comes up to you. you don’t even get a chance to get a word out before his arms are wrapping around you, pulling you into a bone crushing hug. "you’re finally back," he murmurs into your neck. you let out a soft laugh against his shoulder. "i’m back”, you say as you hug him back.

soonyoung pulls back just enough to cup your face, eyes scanning every inch of you as if making sure you were real. "three weeks baby, you almost killed me”, he says dramatically.

"sorry," you tease, smiling softly as your fingers brushed through his hair. "i barely survived without you," he mutters before grabbing your suitcase with one hand and lacing his fingers through yours with the other, pulling you toward the exit. the ride home is filled with him sneaking glances at you every five seconds, his hand still intertwined in yours, a soft grin playing on his lips whenever he catches you watching him back.

when he finally pulls into the driveway, he barely lets you step inside before his hands are on you again, like he couldn't bear to stay apart from you any longer. you enter your apartment and soonyoung trails behind you as he carries you suitcase, placing it to the side and you walk to the kitchen to get a glass of water, incredibly thirsty from the flight. 

“god, it’s good to be back”, you say as you chug down a glass of water and put it down on the counter. soonyoung stalks forward, his gaze sharp. “i got you something by the way, it’s in the suitcase and—”, you’re cut off by the way soonyoung walks forward, cupping your cheeks before his lips are on yours. your back hits the wall as he walks you backwards and pins you there, kissing you urgently, hungrily. his hands grip your waist, pressing you into the wall as if he is trying to make up for every second you’d been apart. you gasp softly into his mouth, fingers tangling in his hair as you pull him closer and his lips move against yours with desperation.

"soonyoung—" you try to speak between kisses, but he only hums in response, lips trailing down your jaw to the curve of your neck.

"missed you so fucking much," he whispers against your skin, his voice low with need. "i’m never letting you leave for that long again," he murmurs against your lips. his hands tighten around your waist and your bag slips from your shoulder, forgotten on the floor as he captures your lips in another dizzying kiss. his hands slide under your shirt, his fingers splaying across your bare skin, warm and possessive. he grabs your waist, lifting you up effortlessly as your legs wrap around his torso. his lips move down to your jaw, finding that sensitive spot beneath your ear and you let out a soft gasp.

“fuck”, you whimper out softly as he moves, his grip firm as he walks the two of you toward the couch. the world tilts slightly as he sits down, settling you onto his lap, your legs straddling him now, your knees resting on the soft cushion. his hands find your waist again, his thumbs tracing slow, lazy circles against your skin, and when he looks at you, his gaze is dark. 

you smirk, tilting your head as your fingers comb through his hair. "what happened to the boy who was absolutely clueless about dating?", you tease, letting your hands slip under his hoodie. your fingers skim over his abs and torso, slow and deliberate, feeling the way his breath stutters at the contact. soonyoung groans softly, his grip on your waist tightening as his body melts into your touch, his head tilting back slightly as he recovers from the sensation. 

“i’m a quick learner”, he says after a moment, a small smirk playing on his lips and you chuckle before you lean in. “oh? is that so?" you murmur, your lips brushing against his but not kissing him yet. his lips chase yours, closing the distance as he kisses you again, slower this time—deeper. the way he kisses you is intoxicating—slow but full of purpose, like he’s savoring every second. your fingers tangle in his hair and his hands roam over your body, sliding up your back, down to your hips, squeezing your waist as he pulls you closer until there isn’t any space between the both of you and the warmth of his body seeps into you. 

he pulls away, his breath heavy as his chest rises and falls, his gaze locked onto you as he tilts his head back on the couch. soonyoung looks absolutely wrecked. his lips are pink, swollen, kiss bruised and slightly parted as he catches his breath. his usually sharp features are slightly softened by the dazed expression he wears, his pupils blown wide, his hair messy from where your fingers had tugged at it. his gaze flickers down to your lips, then back up to your eyes, as if he’s debating if he can survive another kiss or if it might just be the end of him. 

then a slowly, a lazy, lopsided grin tugs at his lips—the kind of smirk that’s cocky, but still soft. "besides”, he says, voice low, "you’re the one who taught me everything”.

you chuckle at his words and your fingers ghost over his jaw before you brush your thumb over his bottom lip. “i guess i’m a pretty good teacher then”, you say softly, tilting your head as you watch him and soonyoung huffs out a soft laugh, but his eyes never leave yours.

his hands tightens around your waist, like he’s deciding something, and he leans in again slowly, his lips ghosting over yours as he speaks. “the best”, he whispers against your lips, before kissing you breathless again.

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