Chapter Text
One thing Jake knows by heart is that any more of this beef jerky he’s pouring on his ceramic plate would activate his mental hysterics which would lead to his further deterioration.
Or…that’s the only thing he comforts himself with after confirming a yes from the phone call he just had a couple of minutes ago.
“Sunghoon Park refuses to do it alone. He came from the Chicago branch, guarding two elites from Denmark.”
“I don’t even know a Sunghoon Park to begin with. And where will this information benefit me exactly?”
“50 grand for security escorting, Jake Sim.”
“Expect me tomorrow.”
Jake chews the protein a little too well that the brittle texture paints his tongue dry even more. He replays his words, the single decision he’s let out without a second thought just because of his financial appetite.
His finger hovers over the call button. Mind and the more rational part of him, half decided it’s best to call back and refuse the offer.
Until the fluff of cream corder collie named Layla sniffs at his bare toes, eyes glinting at the little piece of beef his stomach still strongly yearns.
“Fuck it,” Jake sighs with a still grumbling stomach as he hands the protein to the wagging pup. “50 grand and a Sunghoon Park I don’t know about can’t be that bad.”
It definitely can’t be that bad when their escort car was a rented phantom coupe. Jake tries not to gawk at the Rolls Royce logo as he takes a smooth turn that had this Sunghoon Park blowing a neat whistle by the passenger seat.
“Agent 0915, you said you came from Australia?”
“Brisbane,”
“That’s Australia.” Sunghoon nods with a kept smile as Jake fairly waits for the valet to open the car for them.
Meeting Sunghoon Park so far was a lot better than he imagined and that was one thing that Jake feels uneasy about.
“I hate that we clicked so well right away.” He managed to exhale just before the young valet bows, chin meeting his chest at the projection of two rich bachelors leeching off an undercover mission.
“Sim, be thankful it was me. If I refused, Sunoo would of paired you with the J duo under the orders of the main agency. You wouldn’t want to know how just how well Jungwon and Jay’s working dynamic is.”
Jake frowns at the lack of formalities but decides not to comment on it while he gingerly pats around his suit to play the part of belonging to money. Sunoo Kim as diligent as the man is, made sure people understands his role of being their head appointer and that was something Jake took to heart since he got employed. It was never just Sunoo despite being the older one, so looking at Sunghoon’s reckless way of calling the man, he clenches his tongue to correct himself.
He resorts to only thinking of getting that 50 grand and making it back home to his dog.
Turns out, Sunghoon might’ve known him a little too well for the short amount of time. “Sunoo and I go way back. He’s the type of acquaintance who knows how I like my eggs in the morning.”
Jake coughs out his reddening cheeks and enters one of the luxurious clubs in Beijing where they would be escorting a certain Lin Han Zhou, one of their richest regulars.
Needless to say, the nature of Jake’s work was still very much skeptical to him as it is to other people. It wasn’t the most attractive asset that a resume can hold but his bank account is greedily perceptive of him working as an underground runner despite his engineering degree.
“7 o’clock,” Sunghoon whispers when he reached over to snatch a wine glass from a rounding server.
Jake expects to be met with Lin Han Zhou’s meaty frame as the narratives about the man forced him to visualize. He expected to settle a silent prayer inside upon taking in the sight of the large man that could potentially end his life if he so much wanted to.
Instead, Jake was met by the visual of slender fingers holding the stem of a wine glass identical to Sunghoon’s. So elegantly it physically pained him that he was not the glass himself. With the dissipating courage he had, he raises his sight to doe eyes crinkled at the sides owned by a small fair skinned face.
“I wouldn’t be looking at him if I were you.” Sunghoon murmured around a glass of liquor he can’t even pronounce.
Jake chuckles with half meant eyes as he looks away from the pretty man. He would never admit that, never acknowledge how he popped the buttons of his top when his eyes settled on the man’s cupid lips from across the room.
“Right,” he brings a hand to tilt Sunghoon’s drink so the other could gulp it in one go before discreetly palming his desert eagle sitting prettily inside the waistband of his slacks. “Let’s finish what we came here for then. I want my bed already.”
“Would you let me spit this bourbon on you if I told you the bed you’d be guarding would include that man.”
Jake stops, a single finger locked around his gun. “What do you even mean?”
“Lee Heeseung is who we came here for, Sim.”
There were two entry doors to the master suite. Both Jake and Sunghoon knew this even as they walked behind with the hotel’s given security escort. Sunghoon leads the two with bigger steps and Jake tries not to reason it with the other’s longer frame that he has to walk twice as fast to catch up.
Certainly not with the way this Lin Han Zhou was barricading a thick and inked arm around the pretty man’s waist while the latter keeps such a hushed but harmonious conversation with the head security as he swiftly keeps in a stash of cash between pretty fingers. The back of the man’s head gleamed, cleanly trimmed and shaved at the sides which only emphasized his slender neck that Jake was sure reeked of cosmos and Caron Poivre’s sandalwood.
And if Jake so much counted another reason to regret this decision, the internal groan at the sick thought of smelling the scent off the man’s neck was crippling him from within.
“Is this really him?” He whispers against Sunghoon’s shoulder when they stopped at two pristine double doors. The security entourage was displaced rather intimately as they crowd around the talking man.
“We would not appreciate midnight visitors.” Lin Han Zhou manages to gruff out but Jake settles on the pretty mqn beside him as he zeroes on his thin lips. He was itching to whisper against Sunghoon that this man in front of him did not resemble his name the slightest bit.
Lin Han Zhou sounded too central like he was untouchable of age. Jake knows it was a sin to openly judge but the way this man in front of him carried himself made him forget the nature of why he was there to begin with. He was grumpy despite the very right to be so with the readily stack of cash flowing freely out of his pockets. Despite the name having a certain ring to it, Jake expected more class and more professionalism on this man’s part. Similar to how the pretty man beside him was carrying himself. A very rich contrast from the way Lin Han Zhou was projecting his identity.
“And you are?” He was only brought back with a firm clasp around the back of his upper shoulder. With Sunghoon’s familiar scent enveloping one side of him, he was met with the same doe eyes up close.
“Sunghoon Park and Jake Sim from the agency.” He hears Sunghoon’s firm introduction until he was forced to tilt his head down.
Jake only hears a rich hum in return, far too gone to even notice his outstretched hand being taken by soft fingers for a brief shake.
“New faces under Kim’s appointment, I would be lying if I were to say I’m not intrigued.”
Sunghoon only bows in acknowledgement just as Jake feels the back of his knees sweating.
“Please escort us inside after everyone leaves.”
There were two things that came with Jake’s undercover runner stint: First, he had to be very careful of his identification cards because one slip would scrap the questionable amount of cash inflow in his bank account. However, the second one resembles human tendencies of Adam and Eve and is pretty much subjective if Jake lets it. He just needs to calculate where to place his eyes, bare his heart out and mix the two when presented pretty things.
And with the tall man in front of him and Sunghoon as they stand shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the master suite, Jake is not certain of how well he can see this mission through.
“He’s had a long night, I want to apologize for the lack of formal introductions.” Jake carries his eyes up, albeit being in the middle of trying to get Sunghoon to tell him the name of the man that Lin Han Zhou is with.
Jake says a prayer or two upon noticing that the unknown man changed from his customized tailored suit from earlier this night to a silky robe which fell by his pink knees.
He hears Sunghoon’s own deep in take of breath. “No offense taken of any sort. It’s an honor escorting the both of you for the following days, Mr. Lee.”
“Heeseung is enough.” A name to the pretty face and Jake inhales his own need for air when he feels the pair of doe eyes being directed at him.
“J-Jake Sim,” he starts with a soft cough in the end. “I’m not entirely new to the scene, just my first time working overseas.”
This Heeseung smiled at, after pronouncing a fond “ah, that explains it” until they were ushered to glasses of overpriced wines by the receiving area.
“He must be sleeping now so help yourselves. We’ve all had to deal with those capitalistic talks, trust me when I say I want nothing more than to bathe myself with liquor.” Lee Heeseung is a pretty pretty man that those kind of words slipping out of his mouth was hard not to visualize.
Jake subtly squeezes his knees together. “I would be honest now, we weren’t briefed about Mr. Lin Han Zhou’s plus one.”
There was a kept air that only the elites could inhale, surrounding the room. Jake knows this from the amount of times he’s been assigned to similar missions but not this way. Nothing like an amused looking Lee Heeseung who’s chest was slightly peeking through his silk robe as he bites an elegant laugh in.
“I’m not really a plus one, Sim.”
No one has ever called him by his last name but Jake figures it sounded right coming out of this pretty man’s mouth. Despite feeling Sunghoon’s emphasized brushing against his arm, he renders his curiosity to the max and until this man in front of him would allow.
Pouring a generous amount of Changyu in two glasses, Heeseung answers with a splendid smile of charm, sin and delicate danger. “I’m an accessory, a shiny toy he parades if he wishes. The only catch in return is that I can get him killed with a flick of my fingers but he doesn’t need to know that.”
Morning before their first shift to escort one of the mainland’s mogul and his pretty company, their head appointer calls with a rushed set of reminders.
“You failed to mention a Lee Heeseung, hon.” Jake tries not to let the pet name get to him while his fingers trembled from doing his work tie. From the joint mirror, he can see Sunghoon chuckling at him with easy eyes.
“I was not meant to know everything from the get go. All I can secure is the one who needs our service and the one who will deliver us a thick paycheck. Everything else that comes as an addition is automatically dealt by those in the field.”
Jake sighs too loudly earning a muffled call out from Sunoo. “And Sim Jake I am monitoring you. That newbie from Japan was demanding more than what one dog needs.”
At the mention of his dog, Jake surprises Sunghoon by giddily reaching over the shaving man to get the work phone closer to him. “Layla? Was it Nishimura who dropped by?” He continues to ask about the new foreign recruit who developed a rare liking with him but Jake now realizes it was a blessing in disguise as the younger lad volunteered to watch over his pup.
“This is a work call.” Kim Sunoo dead pans.
“Mr. Kim pleas—“
“Babe, take pity on Sim. Not everyone sucks at parenting animals, so be perceptive of other’s success despite your personal failures.”
“Fuck you, Park.”
“When I return, I’m all yours. Just take mine and Sim’s name in your prayers for the mean time.”
Their morning call ended with a flushed Jake who tried his best to act casual with all the audio spills he’s heard and an amused Sunghoon who smooths his tie for him.
“Ready Sim?”
Jake answers with a huff, his pouty lips taken under pearly whites. God please, take Lee Heeseung away from my being.
“I’m broke. I need to be wether I like it or not, Park.”
Two breakfast trolleys of probably a hefty amount of room service was what greeted Jake upon entrance to the master suite’s floor. Originally, the two of them would personally meet Lin Han Zhou for breakfast to discuss some work etiquette for a business luncheon he’s set to attend later but plans change; and God must have disliked him a little too well lately that Sunghoon was personally requested to escort the big man from his morning schedule all the way to the luncheon.
Which only leaves Jake to escort another individual that was not in his job description.
“Come in,” a soft rasp murmurs behind the thick mahogany of the bathroom. Jake tries to meet eyes with one of the cleaning personnel exiting the kitchen but the bowed heads and solemn eyes told him they must have witnessed scenes that were also not in their job descriptions as hotel staffs.
He looses his tie and still knocks. “It’s Sim Jake from last night.”
“I know,” a slight laugh finished it at the end and Jake watches his hand slip from the metal knob. For the brief second of rationality, he reasons Layla’s needs before his until he finds himself twisting the heavy knob to take in the sight of a smoothly tanned back being soothed by lilac water and vanilla whiffs from the built in jacuzzi tub.
Jake feels his mouth drying, a collapse inside his chest as cold sweat breaks him from within.
“Hi,” Heeseung all but greets accompanied by sleepy eyes and a soft smile. “No Sunghoon?”
“Work,” Jake manages to rasp out as he clenches his fingers behind his back. “He’s with Mr. Lin—“
“The old fucker, I know.” Heeseung yet again smiles before extending his soaked feet to Jake’s bulging eyes. The water’s motion hugged the smooth expanse of skin and Jake compares his hunger to those of Victorian men seeing a woman’s ankle for the first time.
Quite literally, the expanse of skin leaves him heaving from within. “I’m escorting you for the day and until you wish to meet any personal agenda of your own.”
What answers Jake was a vision of sin that the sick part of him would gladly participate in if he were given another life where he’s a little more well off.
“That’s good.” With both his slender legs out the tub, Heeseung smiles at him again before tipping his chin to another door on their left. “You can wait for me there or continue standing where you’re at. I just need to wash off that man’s touch and I’m yours to take care of for the day, alright Sim?”
The road to go on about Lee Heeseung’s day was going rather smoothly which nags Jake that this could end with his name stamped on national television. To start, when he was told to wait in the room, he half expects for a neatly dressed Heeseung to follow him after some time only to turn around at the first creak of the door to tanned skin wrapped in the same silky robe as last night.
Jake remembers breathing his first air with searing eyes he pinned to the ground. It only falls on Heeseung’s ears as the other normally goes on about his day, like it was the norm for him to get dressed with a stranger inside.
“You wound me. Am I not pleasant to look at?” Heeseung’s gentle voice flowed past his tensed back as he squeezed his eyes shut.
Jake simply shakes his head and fight to mewl his groan out. “I can wait out.”
“Stay there, man to man I don’t see anything wrong with you being here.”
Man to man, Jake thinks with restrictive pants.
Jake chooses not to say anything and turns his back to do the talking. The action speaks for itself but it falls blind on Heeseung’s peripheral as he continues to button his clothes clumsily.
“I need to do a little shop run today. Sounds okay?” Heeseung tries the waters by walking casually around Jake’s space. “You drive good?”
“I stop at yellow lights.”
Jake hears a raspy laugh of sinful inhibition when the expanse of his neck hits up. He tries not to crane his neck at the touch of warmth before the puff of air slams him to turn around.
Heeseung faces him with a boyish grin, equally red cheeks and soft soft lips he’s never touched (probably would never acquire the status to do so).
“I like my boys risky.”
And Jake was still very much human.
“Turn left! That yellow Cadillac is hot on your tail.” Heeseung whips his head to monitor the side mirror as police sirens wailed behind them.
An hour ago, it wasn’t suppose to end this way.
An hour ago, he wasn’t at risk of being detained in a country where his dog was nowhere to be found. The thought of it wilts him a little more that the gas pedal feels like air beneath his trembling toes.
“There’s this sharp turn after which looks deadly to me so I would very much suggest turning there, love.”
Maybe it was the sweat stinging his eyes but Jake only comprehends death in this fiasco they’re currently in. He was sure, if he did not take the risk to cross that yellow light just because of a nagging need to prove a little misconduct to this man who thinks life is a replaceable little thing, the little pet name would tingle his bones.
But at the moment, the thought of getting arrested and not being able to see this mission through are enough to tickle every fiber of his being.
“Seatbelt,” Jake points out with a hard clench of his jaw. He sides a last look at the mirror to see it bare only for a second more until the roaring Cadillac they almost hit from that reckless yellow light stint covered the expanse of their car once again.
“I’d rather not. Let’s have our Bonnie and Clyde moment, I’m going to hell if you are.”
Lord, Jake thinks romance is fucked and even more so when that phrase made his chest ache in a way he didn’t want to understand. Heeseung was too calm and too damn pretty sitting behind him with utmost finesse as his world shakes. Sweat pricks his eyes the faster he steps on the gas and he did not need to look behind to calculate the Cadillac’s fury when it zooms equally fast behind them.
And Jake for the love of every shoe laces that Layla bites to her heart’s content, he absolutely hates how awfully beautiful Heeseung looks every time he risks a peek at the rearview mirror and catches the exciting smile on the man’s pretty mouth.
“The turn,” he hears it softly before he feels warm fingers settle on the side of his arm until it travels down to his driving wrist. “Trust me on this one, Sim.”
Jake knows he should probably say no and gently order Heeseung to move away and let him drive them to their death. But he wasn’t expecting for the soft fingers against his skin to firmly angle his hand, the one on the gear stick to maneuver their turn.
“Mr. Hee—“
“Shh,” Heeseung continues to bend his arm with a strong grasp. “Trust me just this minute. I don’t want us dying without speaking past formalities.”
When shaking limbs stepped out of the Phantom coupe, Jake wants to kiss the ground and prays a hundred litanies. He forgets time and where they were supposed to be as his sweating chest prevents him to mewl out a frantic sob at the fast and furious remake they just performed with one reserved life.
“That was fun,” came Heeseung’s delicate laugh as he rounds the corner. There was a light sheen of sweat on his forehead, his two buttons undone as he gracefully combs his pretty fingers through soft strands under the young morning.
You’re insane came Jake’s reply in his mind. “It was something.” He pants instead as he fists his hands tightly behind his back.
“Now that’s quite a lacking statement. The last time I felt that much adrenaline was when I got arrested in LA for a little DUI. Those house parties in Calabasas were something else, people were giving head for a couple grands.” The way Heeseung said it felt too customary to know. It felt like a daily occurrence to him, something that can happen in front of him now and he won’t be an eye for the entirety of it.
On top of that, Jake takes note of the small smile that Heeseung has as he tells him his sinful escapades. It was fond—longing and full like he’s waited a good amount of time to have someone he can tell it to; or maybe Jake was just royally fucked with all the carbon dioxide he inhaled after stepping out of the car. He likes to think it was the latter. It has to be the latter. It needs to be.
Not when Heeseung offers a gentle nod as he recalls his antics from that very day before he laughs to himself—boyish and young.
Jake feels his chest tightening, definitely not the good kind.
“Alright, we better run it up to get a lot done before I go back to that old fucker’s lair. What do you think of a little trim?” It was probably a question of thought. Not the kind he needed to answer because for one, Jake was just the assigned runner that’s somehow turning into a personal bodyguard job, and two, anymore of a little trim would mean more skin on the man’s neck.
“We should go,” Jake tries to murmur to an amused Heeseung who seems to be walking towards him with planned fingers going straight to his suit. His first instinct was to move away and catch the man’s hands before it touches him. But he’s human. A subtle touch won’t be something he would be gunned for. Not when Heeseung, for the short amount of time he’s able to know the person, actually looked genuinely happy as he tends to Jake’s crumpled button down and tie.
“Let’s fix this first.” Murmured gently as long fingers threaded against his chest, Heeseung up close was a sin itself.
Jake blinks his gratitude as he swallows a life he was able to secure when Heeseung finally steps away after a good minute. He can still feel his fingers but Jake forces his legs to walk after the pretty man who only offered an indifferent wink, far too oblivious of the beautiful misery he’s causing someone.
It was not a familiar scene nor was it something he was seeing often. Then yet again, the type of tax bracket he’s come from gave him enough privilege to have options.
“You’re late.”
Lin Han Zhou is a big man. For Heeseung, this was both metaphorical and financially relevant. Heeseung knows the protruding veins of the older man didn’t simply come from his weekly gym sessions. Rather, it has some dirt to it, a little palette of dried blood residing under the man’s fingernails was a guess he would win in a heartbeat.
“I’m here now, aren’t I?” Heeseung fights a quirk of his mouth or the hardening of his eyes at the sight of the older man’s hands coming up to tug his waist closer.
A gruff only answered him until the thick mass of Lin Han Zhou’s meaty body covered his slender one. The man smelled of Dominican cigar that Heeseung grew up smelling around the men he was forced to form intimate alliances with.
“That guy, good? I’ve worked with Park’s agency before, I’m quite a regular and they’re good.”
Heeseung knows it meant more than that. It was a translation to the truth that his world knows pretty well. I fucked one of their handlers and they gave me the best runners to hire.
“You payed a lot so of course he’s good.”
Heeseung settles at that as he keeps to himself how the adrenaline of their earlier car rendezvous has left him breathless in a way he wanted to remember for the rest of his days.
Their routine was pretty simple. This month, it was Lin Han Zhou he was supposed to leach off for an exclusive insider that his father’s law firm could really use. As a layer to it, and as genetically blessed as he is, Heeseung makes a pretty good accessory around a billionaire’s arm to show off to his equally sick friends in his own capitalistic circle.
He just hopes he wouldn’t blow it.
On typical evenings, a lot of their time would revolve around grand parties with the biggest business moguls who looked pretty ancient to exchange pleasantries with. Heeseung knows this scene from excellent movies ending in either justice being served after a decade or one of the main characters dying with their pearls.
The latter part was somehow getting to him.
Wrapping one arm around the man’s neck, Heeseung stomachs a rising bile before he delivers a mouthful of kisses that the entirety of mankind would find repulsive.
Torrid and rough, he feels a calloused hand wrapping itself around his slim neck in return.
“You look extra pretty today. You look like you’re planning on taking a pick in my circle tonight. Someone younger but definitely cheaper than I will ever be.”
Heeseung kisses him more to dust the heavy truth of the man’s words. But then again, when he’s reminded of why he was out there to begin with, the lying part just comes second to breathing.
“I would forever grieve that you always think about that kind of betrayal with someone like me.” Hooking a finger under the man’s chin, Heeseung savors the briefest moment of such human emotion when he sees how a certain warmness breezed over the older man’s eyes.
“How can I not? You’re too pretty for mankind.”
Heeseung somehow aches at this, the much too human part of him crumbled the slightest.
“Yeah?” He managed to croak out. He was tempted to back down, to feel the burn behind his eyes when he ends up realizing how this man was probably soft as the water once before he became who he is now.
He guesses, even the baddest person was once the kindest child. Heeseung very much knows, having been one to grow in such a patriarchal household just to keep his family name.
But a squeeze around his throat clogged him back to reality. “But I’m just a man myself. Sharing is not innate, it’s a learned weakness. You wouldn’t dare to prey on other men when you have the biggest catch would you?”
Heeseung bites the inside of his mouth. It was like his life was meant to run in circles around this type of days and nights where it ends with his skin marked by different hands.
So he plays the part. Parting his mouth and welcoming the salty and thick digits of the man in front of him, he inhales his pride in. Suctioning his mouth in a way that tightens the man’s pants, he only pulls the finger out of his mouth to whisper, “And I warm your bed every night so what makes you think I would even dare to think of such a thing?”
The sound of the door slightly opening breaks the suffocation he was in. Lin Han Zhou’s hand pried itself off his throat when the old fucker growled a string of curses due to the absence of a knock.
In the course of his existence, messiah moments where the saving happens from other people was an occurrence that Heeseung never really had. It was always him for his own. Perhaps he was damn certain his socialite friends would never risk even a quick 911 call if his life was on the line.
But today, he understands how one feels.
“The protocol team is already in the control room, sir. It’d be recommended to meet them before you get called for the briefing of the event proper. Just so you could sneak in some exclusive instructions.”
There behind him, he spots Sim Jake’s frame albeit smaller, filling the spaces of the heavy door with a hardened look aimed straight at the old man who was playing with his veins like a piece of string just moments prior.
And on Jake’s side by the door came Sunghoon’s more playful stance too but with equally hard eyes.
He meets Sunghoon’s eyes first to which Heeseung ended up sending a subtle nod to. When the old man dissipated his rage somewhere else to go to the control room and he was discarded like he weighted nothing on the silk sofa set, only then he allows his gaze to meet Jake’s.
Jake stays rooted by the door. One hand holding it open and the other one cupping a hand to understand whatever it is that Sunghoon is briskly whispering to him. When the two boys part, their eyes met from the distance.
No one talked but the way Jake continued to stand there by the door with a hand around the gun silencer like he was ready to fire away if someone so much intruded with him sitting so powerless inside, it was more than enough for Heeseung to feel the warmness of humanity for the first time that night.
“Breakfast is at 11 am for them?” Jake questions when Sunghoon ended up thrusting the breakfast cart to him in a certain speed that was quite off putting. “And why was I dismissed last night when I was ordered to guard the suite he was in all night?”
“And did he stay there all night?” Sunghoon questions easily, clearing Jake in one go. “Because the way you accepted the order felt like you wanted to tear the whole building down just to find him.”
Jake keeps his mouth closed which effectively entertained Sunghoon while the breakfast cart continued to move towards his direction.
“As a good acquaintance, I’m giving you the chance to seek him out for yourself. Mr. Lee left the party around the early hours of the morning so it’s expected that he’s probably smoked. He could barely walk straight last night.”
At this, Jake finds his stomach dropping even more. The idea lingers in his head. Just how it was very much possible and with the way the situatuion was narrated, it seems like a lot more probably happened when he was not around.
“Now stop hesitating and grab this morning to quench your longing.” Jake figured if he and Sunghoon would be set as permanent partners after this one, he would be sure to throw in a little smack the next time he decides to tease.
Keeping his demeanor intact, Jake nonchalantly shrugged his body forward to grab the breakfast cart like it was the damn job he was supposed to do. Not letting anyone’s eyes catch the speed of his walk or how his arm might have pushed it to a certain speed just to reach the grand hotel suite at a faster second was something he would take to his grave.
Because the moment he knocked, he suddenly wished he didn’t exert such effort to reach the room in record time.
“Can I come in…?” Jake finds himself asking the two different guards by the door. One was looking at him with hard eyes while the much older one regarded him in an amusing anticipation.
“Go on, they’re expecting the breakfast.” The older man gruff out but Jake was too sharp not to miss the subtle smirk he was offering.
What the fuck was it for? He understands it the moment he fully steps inside and the first wave of groans hit him.
“H-Hold on…I’m—I’m…” Perhaps close to a whimper and not but was still edging a tone of plea and a cry, Jake shivers at the familiar voice that enveloped the corners of the spacious room.
The breakfast cart rattled in his hold but his knees blended with the mix as he threaded the room further only to hear another pain of groan and grunts that was more sickening to bear.
“Face me,” the voice ordered. “And don’t you dare look away.”
Jake was not stupid or dense even in the matters he did not frequent. But why was he denying it so hard? Why did the mere thought of that actually happening (when it was literally right in front of his eyes) was so repulsing to accept that every fibre of his being shakes and heaves a sob like it’s been cut open so brutally?
He finally gets all the confirmation he needs when he rounds the corner and welcomes the sight of meaty hands and the softest skin being marred by the dirtiest hold of mankind.
Heeseung Lee in all his glory was stark naked right in the leaving room while he was agonizingly being bred open by the nastiest man Jake knows at that moment.
At some point, he lets the breakfast cart go until it rolls off against the opposite wall before the open kitchen, causing quite a commotion that was enough to make Heeseung’s teary and lidded eyes snap open.
And straight to his own.
Jake does not hear anything else. He does not hear anymore groans or the grunts that was burning his stomach raw. He lets his eyes pause at the other man’s as it breaks into a pretty stream of tears and sickening pleasure.
Heeseung moans and the pretty mouth shakes as it lets out a sound between a pleasured cry and a plea.
Only when his ear piece made a static and Sunghoon’s voice merely chuckled did he remember that he was still a mortal gracing the Earth’s surface. “Hoped you enjoyed the show.”
And sue him for being excruciatingly hard.
Their night protocol was pretty simple and straightforward. They were not really tasked to be hired bodyguards but more of an underground watcher while double timing as casual runner boys of the clients they are assigned to.
But really, with Sunoo Kim as their direct appointer, he knew the younger man practiced the work of ethics and excellency in utter grace so of course people like Lin Han Zhou are treated with a grand of bias—the part where the law somehow supervises.
“Those are kids.” Jake straight out mumbled as his rejection stung above anything else that Sunghoon just instructed him to do. “I’m not letting those men lay a finger on them. What if they were our own?”
“Sim, it’s work…as much as we want to—“
“What if you had a sibling there too? Don’t let me grunt a name out of the little girl you had in your dog tag.”
This shuts Sunghoon up as the other faced him with a more grim expression. “The furthest we can do is supervise and report from a far. But we can’t directly interfere, you know this.”
There was nothing else he could argue with that. Jake knew what Sunghoon meant. Even if he was not living the underground life with practiced expertise but the junctions of the double life they now have made sense every time he closes his eyes and remnants of how greedy humans can be keeps him up but at least he gets to eat thrice a day.
Troubled and Layla deprived, Jake excused himself to cool off. His day was certainly not the best. Especially having to start it at that.
If nightmares were harsh, realities were awfully terrifying.
“You knew that was going to happen and you sent me there?” He couldn’t help the slight annoyance and rage from seeping out when he went back to his room where an amused looking Sunghoon greeted him.
“Well I thought you wanted to see Mr. Lee and—“
“The fuck I do but not that way.” And it was out before Jake could even get a hold of his words. He was sure his cheeks were red, all the blood rushing downwards and up and just everywhere.
“That’s a dangerous path down, Sim.”
Jake shivered at the memory and the way Sunghoon’s last words penetrated him open. It was like a hanging knife threatening to sink into his skin anytime if he so much makes the wrong move even once.
Their protocol nights, if they were not asked and ordered by their clients can be spent freely. They just needed to be on stand-by hence his buzzing ear piece and beeper that he sorrowfully hope would remain mute for the rest of his night.
But of course the heavens do not spare a sinning man free.
His ear piece and beeper remained mute but his surroundings didn’t.
“I didn’t see you around today.”
Jake turns like his neck was on fire and he instantly regrets the pace when warm and overly familiar eyes dug straight to his.
Liar
“We saw each other this morning.” His tongue stung after but nothing else felt right to say other than that.
It was the truth wasn’t it? But Jake felt like it was ruining him to an extent that was troublesome. What’s worse was the fact the other remained completely silent and just there.
He turned around to face away and actually regrets that he was not a smoker. A little puffy huffy of a lil chimney sesh might actually do him good right now.
“I was around…” He finally crumbled just to fill in the heavy silence.
“I know,” Heeseung’s voice smoothly replied however tranquil and poised. “And I hated that you were there.”
Jake finds his neck twisted for the second time that night that the turn was alarming. His muscle burned and even more so when he locked eyes with Heeseung to find the other solemnly wrapping an arm around himself from the night air.
“I didn’t know—“
“I know,” Heeseung cuts him off again.
Silence fell over them like a steam of a volcano’s halo that breathing was actually hard.
The other is confusedly torn about what he saw and how he’s feeling about it while the other grieves to be seen in that way for the first time in his life.
“Why didn’t you look away?” It was asked so casually but gentle, almost like a secret being whispered and a bullet would pierce them if it got out.
“Because it was you.” Jake breathes out, his chest aching in a way that he was sure Sunghoon would reprimand him about.
“That was not me.” Turning to his side, Heeseung brings his arms around his body despite being longer and wider, he felt a lot smaller than anyone else that moment. “That was a boy wanting to please a lot of people just so he could continue living the life he was born to. That was not me.”
“Mr. Lee—“
“Just Heeseung, please call me Heeseung.” It was a plea. The kind that didn’t ask for any seconds. “I feel the most human at that.”
“Heeseung,” Jake tests the name out like the prayers he was taught back in middle school.
“You call tell Sunghoon to call me that as well. It was probably his idea to send you there in the first place. I might have to do a number on him after I’m done with Lin Han Zhou.”
The first laugh for that day bridges out of Jake’s chest and across the pretty man whose pearly whites glowed under the gloomy night. Sinning was even heavier tonight for the silk robe he wore just flawlessly complimented his tan.
Jake tears his eyes and coughs the tightness of his chest away. “This is why up to this day, I ask myself why I even chose this life for myself. I’m sure there other jobs I could risk my life for.”
Heeseung answered him with a laugh of his own. The deep and smooth sound reverberating across like warm honey and Jake somehow prays it never ends. “Yeah but you wouldn’t meet me there.”
Jake fists the both of his hands behind his back.
“Sunghoon’s been to a lot of services where I’m their client’s plus one. We’re basically indirect regulars of each other so those morning visits are brutally briefed to him now. You’re just a lucky one who was given an exclusive front row show.”
“I want a refund then. I think my appetite will have a leap year.”
There are sounds of laughter that Jake finds amusing and addictive. Hell, even Layla’s gleeful barks were his favorite thing at some point and even Sunoo’s high pitched bursts of laughter on rare occasions he hears it.
Even Sunghoon’s monotone laugh gets his mouth to twitch.
But at the moment where he’s insanely tired and the night air was freezing his fingertips raw, the sound of Heeseung’s laughter kept him in tact.
Kept him safe, normal and living.
“Was I not pretty to look at?” The man was still chuckling, the sound dragging to a little tease now that the atmosphere was a lot lighter. “I get a lot of compliments for the sounds I make, just to state a good record you know.”
“That’s a dangerous path down, Sim.” Jake hears Sunghoon’s voice again.
But he was miles away from home. His dog probably forgot about him. His family and relatives probably scratched his name out of the will for failing to find a job aligned with his college degree.
So really, what was there left to lose and worry for him back home?
“You were.” Jake plants his feet wide and the steadiest he could before continuing what his mouth and heart was burning to let out. “The problem lies with the person making you do it. It shouldn’t have been that man.”
“It’s been decided. The changes were made just last night and they’re cutting the two of you off either way so the access can’t be done externally because I don’t have spare units to send there.” One thing about Sunoo Kim, leniency was an extension of his very name. Come favors of time and mentions os even mere seconds, he does and aligns with it right on dot that being punctual becomes a living characteristic he embodies.
“But the contract said to see it through with the agency’s intent. Are we not supposed to see the mission through even if the client revises their services and cuts us earlier than the intended timeframe?” Jake finds himself getting worked up over this. He was not one to be so vocal about mistreatments and complains but this certain mission, especially with the way things are going with Heeseung, he couldn’t help but step a foot down.
To the point that Sunghoon had to drag the open laptop away from him. “Sim, I briefed you about the agency’s boundaries over this. Our interventions are limited because we can’t openly work with the authorities.”
“But that man is sick in the head. How can we just sit back and let him transact people off?” Sunghoon’s eyes flied to the veins in his neck, the rage in his eyes and how his fists were hidden under the hoodie he was pulling around himself.
They hear Sunoo murmuring technical instructions along with bursts of professional advice to lay low until he figures out just how they can construct an intevention that would still have the both of them breathing and Lin Han Zhou’s dirty business out in the open in the neatest cut.
But Jake remains conflicted that Sunghoon had to shut the call off before he levels the other with a firm nudge.
“You’re having a conflict of interest and I’m afraid it’s fueling your courage to do so much than what we were tasked to.”
“I’m simply being human, Sunghoon.”
“That explains it too. You just don’t feel warmness with anyone in this life of work. While anyone can empathize and see justice through with the illegal work these people we’re dealing with are doing, not anyone can bravely request an extension of service for a client just because. I thought you missed your dog?”
“I do,” Jake answered in a heartbeat. “I do miss my bed or the rental scare I feel at the thought that I may not have enough to pay the next one. I miss waking up to dog fur and take out boxes. But life happens and it lets you meet people that makes you wish to have a longer one.”
Sunghoon does not answer. He only stared at Jake for a few more seconds.
“I hope you know how destructive the path you’re threading is, Sim. But maybe I get it, between the two of us, you actually have a shot to make it out alive if you bag the closest asset we potentially have if we want to make this work.”
Looking up from the closed laptop, Jake pauses to process Sunghoon’s words. “What do you mean?”
“Eh, I was thinking about it. That reference you did with my younger sister fucked me up the most so I can’t let this one slip.”
Jake continued to look at him, eyes wide and not while his frown ran deeper than the sins of the people around them.
“This is the part where I say fuck it and let’s be modern day superheroes but to make that happen, we need all the help we can get and I mean the closest asset and insider.”
When Jake remains stagnant and overwhelmed, Sunghoon takes the time to annihilate the other’s processing time by smacking him behind his head.
“Man, I was dying to do that at times and I’m sure you were dying to smack me too the morning I sent you there. So a rough translation: we need Heeseung for this to work. You think you can handle that pretty boy one more time?”
Living as a runner in their line of work was pretty interesting and simple if one wants an overview of it. Your client contacts you to do the dirty work and you accomplish it under a strict time and anonymity then voila, a grand something deposited in your bank account at the expense of a little shorter life span.
Really, too thrilling and on point for a side hustle that Jake was starting to really really understand at the moment.
“You never worked with Park before haven’t you?” Lin Han Zhou’s bulky frame barely grasped around the tuxedo he was wearing that the man looked life he would be popping the material any second now.
“This is my first time, sir. But I’ve been a direct appointee under Mr. Kim so the work gets around too.”
“I figured that out neatly but I’m pretty sure you never been assigned to international scenes. I would smell your expertise if you’ve been by the way you handled the morning blessing.”
Jake feels the most gut wrenching bile rising from the pits of his stomach. The thick smoke didn’t help and with the way Lin Han Zhou was hitting the rolled blunt, he was not stopping anytime soon.
“But you drive clean. Heeseung might have slipped some charismatic comments here and there. I just hope you’re smart enough not to mess around with my toys, Iittle boy.”
Oh
There was a sharp turn by the end of the street on the way to the local hardware store that Lin Han Zhou wanted to check out for the ‘supplies’ he would be using for the Youth program he was funding where the beneficiaries are children of expats and immigrants.
The implications of such good deed coming willingly out of a billionaire’s hands who can’t say a proper gratitude to the bell man was questionable from the get go.
So Jake makes sure to reign his blows the only way he can. “I’m not stupid to play with fire, sir. Your little toys are actual humans, are they not?”
He was only answered by a grunt when he made sure to spice the sharp turn and linger his breaks by tapping minimally so the friction barely aids the car. The slide of the old fucker at the back was felt by the whole vehicle by the way it leaned on the side he slid off to, effectively tilting the car in an angle that was critically mind blowing.
“Fuck, I thought you were a good one!” The man barked after grunting out a few more curses as he tried to recover his spot but because of his beer belly, it hinders him from scooting smoothly hence the obvious pant.
“It was a sharp turn, sir.”
“This is why I don’t trust anyone. Not even that Lee. Bold of you to talk about humans when he’s a direct heir of a devil incarnate.”
Jake felt his jaw thickening so he zooms a little more to brace the man forward making his body slump back at the plushed seats.
“Sim!”
After icing a swollen cheek and wiping his face clean of the old fucker’s spit, Jake makes it back to the hotel. The sting was worth the moment he got out to usher the man off the vehicle only to have his cheek backslapped along with being called the most skin crawling names in front of the bulldozing men of the dainty little hardware.
Jake was sure the fuckers were stoners and the mild limping Lin Han Zhou did for the fantastic car ride was enough serotonin for him to move past the teeny bit degradation before he was smoking the road to start his A game with the final touches of this mission.
And the most important (and prettiest) final touch was in the very form of the current sleeping figure.
“Mr. Lee?” Jake tests out, his voice echoing around the peaceful and clean room now that no other man lingered around.
Flashes of meaty hands and porcelain skin being migled into one along with the noises that day has given quite crippled him upon entrance. Jake had to stop by the receiving area for a few seconds just to condition himself.
Back in Brisbane, he remembered going on family trips to the nature side because his father and older brother liked fishing. His life was pretty simple and just averagely local that pretty and shiny things felt like the absolute luxury to him.
Walking a few more steps inside the room and just stopping a few inches in front of the King sized bed, the satin robe was a sin of its own. The duvet covers were thickly flattering, losing its purpose as it was probably pushed away in the middle of the night despite the cold temperature inside the grande suite.
Jake was not big on literatures and he was not old enough to live the Victorian days but this might have been the biggest sin of men before. He understands Adam.
Similar to a woman’s ankle, Jake feels everything and nothing at the same time when he allowed himself to look at Heeseung and the patches of skin that the man’s beauty unconsciously served.
His signature satin robe was pulled down from his collar bones, prettily hugging his shoulders as it dipped on one side where his left shoulder was left bare. Jake prays not to see the traces of skin, of sinful hands and fingertips. The smoothness and softness (he was certain) was clogging something inside of him that watching how the other man’s chest rise and fall was remarkably monumental to the point that he attempts to take a photograph where no one else could taint it.
He only stops when he gets his phone out, thumb hovering over the capture button.
“Just make sure the flash isn’t turned on, Sim.”
Cold fingertips and his device falling straight to the carpeted floor, Jake feels his heart jump along with his blood pressure.
“Fucking adorable,” Jake somehow hears but his blood rushing everywhere was just too warm that he can only spin back to avert his whole attention away from the pretty man. “I see you’re finally putting your skills to practice. At this point, I’m quite familiar with your services and how excellent Kim is with his people. You’re acing this runner job aren’t you, darling?”
“It’s money.”
“That but come on, you’re the biggest liar if you tell me this kind of life isn’t a bit fun.” Heeseung’s voice in the morning was smoother and gentler than his normal tone when the sun is pretty high up. The little yawning and shuffling calms the both of them unconsciously.
At some point, Heeseung stops fiddling around to fix his robe to stare at Jake’s tensed back. He chuckles fondly at the younger’s finger. The noticeable quiver of his knees and hands were pretty evident and Heeseung had to actually bite the insides of his mouth when he slips a look at the tip of the other’s ears.
“Good morning,” Heeseung greets Jake so easily. The normalcy of it leaving him quite breathless and sentimental as he watched Jake reflexively perk up, the side of his face turning towards him until their eyes met.
“Morning,” Jake mumbled quietly while his eyes stirred down and cheeks the most red. “I-I need to tell you something. I didn’t just barge in just because.”
“Go on.” Heeseung smiles again even when something in him stirs delicately at the soft morning he was able to experience for the first time.
No rough hands handling him. No fingers pulsing against his skin. Just gentle sheets, morning breeze, soft eyes and cupid lips.
He’s not one to wish and make prayers but for the shortest moment, he does ask to have more mornings like this.
“How was your sleep?” Jake asked with even redder ears, voice recovering and a lot more formal.
But maybe only with him.
“Bad and good. It happens when you sleep with people you don’t really know.” Deciding to make the atmosphere more playful, he shifts around to removes his legs from the velvet cover until the length of skin parades openly between the two of them
He watches Jake’s eyes shake but it stays locked on his. “And yours?”
“Just bad because Sunghoon snores and I miss my dog.”
“You slept beside each other?”
“No,” the response on Jake’s part was immediate and the frown deep. Somehow, this makes Heeseung fondly sated and entertained as he nods to himself. “It’s not like that between us.”
“Good, that’s good.” It surprises the both of them but Heeseung was too occupied to even filter it. “Now tell me why you’re almost panting in front of me at 8 in the morning? Some birdy told me you dropped that old beast to his morning agenda so I’m assuming you came straight to me after?”
Jake only nods because his chest was starting to tighten at the next words he was practicing to say.
Heeseung in return understands the scene and lets the other gather his own wits and sanity.
“We need your help.” Jake says it in a way that hurts. In a way that was too human and pure. In a way a child would mourn for his parents to buy him something his little heart desired. “I need it.”
“I can’t let those children be transacted off like defective factory run offs. I know he’s sponsoring a youth program where they house and provide temporary shelter and education for children who are immigrants, left at the borders and some expats scholars but—“
“I know.” Heeseung cuts him off swiftly, his tone now hard and firm.
“You know?” Jake repeats but his eyes were harder now that acknowledgement on Heeseung’s side was present. “And you’re letting it happen?”
Heeseung remains silent, unmoving. But their eyes continued to communicate.
“It’s not that easy.”
“It’s not that hard to show humanity either.”
“You don’t understand—“
“But I do.” Jake cuts him off as he took a couple of steps back, eyes hardening from each step away.
Heeseung feels his fingers clenching under the covers. The sight making his chest throb and his eyes waver at the other’s sudden distance.
“I wanted to be wrong but I guess people your kind are just the same one way or another.” Jake paused but he never stopped walking backwards until his back met the little hallway leading to the double doors.
“It’s our last call for the mission tonight. I know the transaction would be happening by then. While you sit there looking pretty and untouchable, Sunghoon and I would give it our all behind the curtains. I don’t ask for miracles but today I do and I hope that it touches your heart tonight.”
From the bed, Heeseung blinks away the burn in his eyes. Because for the first time in his life, he was facing something he wanted to fight for and wanted to keep for himself.
At the moment, Jake looks at him like all the people who only knows him from other mouths.
“My life is not easy as you think, Sim. Even if I have the means, I can’t just play with all the risks and wear my cape in this type of world I live in.”
Maybe it was more of a defense to his name but Heeseung wanted to reign that one out. Especially with the way Jake was looking at him. So unlike how their morning started as the other completely regarded him with hostility and distant respect.
And maybe Heeseung can still understand heartbreaks even if he was the actor of it for most of his life.
“It was pleasant working for you Mr. Lee but I sincerely do hope we never cross paths again.”
When the door closed something in him did too.
The party was lively, loud and compassionately endearing.
Smiles of children barricaded the walls along with diverse cultural ammo of open testaments and fact boards; alongside accomplished programs as they became moving shadows of the room.
It was such an excellent facade for a building that currently houses a number of the most wanted drug syndicates, underground blackmarket dealers and billionaire stoners.
Heeseung smiles prettily around an expensive rim of wine glass while a thick arm wounded his hips close to the biggest sinner of the night.
“Aren’t you the Lee’s youngest?”
Lin Han Zhou never really lets him speak so the man gruffs a prideful reply. “The one and only.”
“You’ve grown. The last time I saw your father he told me his youngest was brewing a degree in one of the Ivy League belts, yes?”
Heeseung only hums and nods his head prettily. Eyes dancing around irises of malicious eyeing before it drops to his pretty fingers.
“I graduated and earned it. I just go around these days.” Then he sips and lures the old couple away when his hand traveled in front of Lin Han Zhou’s chest.
“I can see that.” The old woman let out while a look of distaste she tried not to hide was enough to make Heeseung’s mouth itch.
After the compulsory rotations of small talks, dealing bookings disguised under cheek kisses and firm handshakes, Heeseung was able to finally sit two tables down from the group of young teenagers who were invited to share their inspiring stories to give face to the program’s goals and initiatives.
He watches their hands shaking flat on the table as they tried to discreetly memorize the given scripts.
He looks away to the control booth only to see Jake and Sunghoon standing guard near the small stage.
His stomach churns, fist closing on top of his thighs.
“7 o’clock, Sim.” Sunghoon murmured while the first round of applause was delivered from the programmed crowd. “They’re starting to clock in the private bodyguards.”
“Fuck,” Jake finds himself cursing when he noticed the pattern of armed men now swarming the place near the exits and entrances.
Their plan was pretty simple and fucked. The latter part achieving more attention now that they’re both realizing what they’re up against and even a call from Sunoo now won’t guarantee a ticket back home.
“How many exits did you manage to seal?”
“Only three from the basement parking. But the security management of the hotel definitely have backups for that.”
Jake nods his head as he tried to wreck his mind for any other activities that could buy them time to somehow miraculously usher the children away and until they could get ahold of them and carefully exit the premises without ticking the potential predators off.
They had to give it to Lin Han Zhou for fronting such act that even representatives of humanitarian organization were front lining the mini program. The children though, dressed in simple casual fits with neat clips were awfully quiet and tense as they gathered around one table where three big men casually round the vicinity.
Jake gulped along with Sunghoon’s quiet hiss. “Just in case, do you have Sunoo’s number on speed dial?”
It shouldn’t really be funny with how strained Jake’s voice sounded but it still made Sunghoon laugh. “You know this is the part where I tell you how it’s really bad to mix business with pleasure. Because right now, there isn’t an inch within me that wants Sunoo to know I’m actually about to shit my pants over the fact that I may not physically see him if we fuck things more than they already are.”
A block of laughter escaped Jake too but the pressure died down when he was able to spot the table where Heeseung should be sitting only to find it empty.
I don’t ask for miracles but today I do and I hope that it touches your heart tonight
Jake shakes his head. Shaking it until he physically feels nauseous and hopes it’s enough to drive the man’s entirety out of his system.
He’s just like everyone else after all
Much to his favor, the mic erupts the softly lit event room until the host gathers everyone’s attention in a snap. The quiet chaos stops and only ensues when they took notice of the children lining up at one side as the host continued to brief the crowd as the children would begin sharing their personal narratives of how the program helped them.
It was heartwarming to a degree not unless you witness it from the other side of the stage where the children stood with wobbling knees and chattering lips as they read off a script.
“The man with the red handkerchief is going to make an offer. He’s going to lay out a scholarship grant somewhere in Europe, wrapping it with a special offer to legally be reunited with their families after two years of servicing his company in whatever shit he tries to cover up.”
“The ugly catch?” Jake murmured while he never took his eyes off the man who was currently eyeing a child that looked hispanic along the ages of 13 to 14.
Bile rises up to their throats when the man ushered a big man over who was probably his bodyguard.
“He owns a chain of strip clubs around downtown Las Vegas and just the outskirts of Bronx in New York. He’s on the record for bagging the youngest group for his services.”
When the child he was eyeing finishes her speech and the man’s hand goes up, Jake fights everything in him not to snatch his gun silencer and spare the man a few shots down his ankle.
True to Sunghoon’s words, the man delivers his offer while the girl listens with hopeful eyes—genuine and incredibly lost.
How the man says it with a smile on his face, hands clasped around his heart as he spilled his sincere interest to help the child brought both Jake and Sunghoon’s toes to curl inside their stingy loafers.
And when it ends and the man snugs a smile of triumph while he tried to usher the child to him so they can officially close the offer, the lights suddenly dimmed only leaving the projector on.
“Is this you? Is this part of our plan?” Jake hastily turned to Sunghoon in the middle of the darkness. When Sunghoon shakes his head and taps his shoulder to confirm his answer but Jake gets it when he faced the stage again.
The man never got to the kid as they were ushered back by a woman from one of the humanitarian organizations.
In front, the true show begins when the projector hymns a tune and a video recording starts to play, zeroing on Lin Han Zhou sitting on a poker table as he sniffed rolls of meth in multiple straight lines.
“So how am I going to get the kids?” It was the same man who Sunghoon narrated to Jake who asked from the other side of the poker table.
“I told you, I’m auctioning them off during the youth program I disguised so if you want to bag those fresh creams then I suggest you come up with the neatest scholarship offer that would hail you closer to the heavens.” Lin Han Zhou answered after dusting his upper lip clean.
Collective gasps and alarmed voices pooled around the room but the video continued to play. The next clip was another hidden recording, taken from an angle that looked like it was clipped on a piece of clothing.
“If you so much try to pull me down, you’re not leaving this room with a pulse. I don’t care if you’re Lee’s youngest heir, I paid to have you now and you’re something I own during the duration that you’re with me.” No questions were needed to be asked in order to know that it was Heeseung he was speaking with.
The video continued to go on like it was subtly covering the whole room just to display how fucked Lin Han Zhou’s personal den was. It looked like one of the control rooms of the hotel that was telling of how grand the access must be for outsiders who could buy other people’s honor and honesty.
“Not everyone in this building is pretty fond of you. So just a friendly reminder to look around and practice genuine kindness when you bump to people who can smell the traces of your sins.” Heeseung’s voice was smooth, gentle but not kind.
The sound of a slap stings the recording. The force was evident with the way the camera shook and the motion of the body carrying it leaned on one side.
Jake closes his fists through it.
“If I have to bomb this place so I can getaway with everything then I fucking would. For someone who’s a double degree holder, you’re too slow to assess the lengths I would go for just to survive and keep my legacy going even at the expanse of ending a whole bloodline and I might as well start with yours if you decide to lift a finger against me.”
The video brutally ends with a gunshot aimed straight to the projector.
Similar to a whirlpool, chaos ensues in a whiplash as consecutive gunshot fires dented the walls and synced with the shrieks of people and the kids.
It was Sunghoon who pushed Jake aside when a stray shot was aimed to the podium they were at, baring his side to the carpeted floor where he heard the young screams of the children that nudged him back to his current reality.
“Get up! I’ll cover the exits, they’re picking the children already!” Dragging his body across the carpeted floor amidst the blackout, Jake followed Sunghoon’s voice as he toyed with his gun’s silencer.
He looked around to feel where the voices of the kids came from as he angled his body there. In the most peculiar entertaining second, he was grateful for Sunghoon’s fair complexion for being a little light so he could somehow make out where his only ally stood if push comes to shove.
“No! Let me go!” A far cry sounded somewhere in his right just when Jake managed to get back to his toes, gun already in position just in line his eye sight.
The chaos continued along with the other civilians who were clueless of Lin Han Zhou’s front of an event. Gathering somewhere in the middle where the gunshots seemed to concentrate, he threaded his way to the cries of the child despite the sharp stray shots smoking the top of his head.
“Let me go please please! I just want to go home!”
Behind him, Jake could feel Sunghoon’s presence from the sound of the distressed mumbles from the foreign men who are probably the guards of Lin Han Zhou’s nasty investors and business partners from Hades’ lair. In front of him, he tried to make out the two bulky bodies of men who tried to separate two girls who looked like they were hugging each other as they kneeled on the floor.
When another shot was fired near Jake’s feet, a live wire was caught by the second that managed to light a small fire.
When Jake looked back again, he realized the other girl was the one that was first sold off as the child tried to shelter what looked like a little girl who can not be a day older than six.
Jake’s heart drops and he stopped thinking as he only let his fingers do the talking.
“Fucking let them go.” A shot by their feet and one in between, Jake fires away until the two men were forced apart.
Once separated, Jake was quick to step in front of the two girls who stayed kneeling. Their heaving bodies continued to shake as the fire continued to grow and without thinking for even a second, Jake used himself as a barricade to the growing fire surrounding the girls as the two men were recovering.
“Can you girls get up? Can you hear me?” He slowly bends down to the best of his ability despite the growing heat around them. “Hey, it’s alright I’m not with them. Here, you can pull away for a bit.”
It was the older of the two who risked a look at him, eyes wet and cheeks red from too much crying. The young girl hiccuped as she pulls the younger child closer before answering Jake. “T-They tried to take my sister…we just want to go home…please.”
Jake feels his eyes sweating along with his whole being. Without taking his eyes off the young girls, he quickly removed his jacket to cover them as he ushered them up by carrying the little one in one arm while he instructed the other girl to watch the two men who were currently tending to their bleeding extremities in front of them.
“Hold on to me, okay? I’ll try to walk the both of you out of here but I can only accompany you to the nearest exit that no one else knows.” Jake continued to instruct gently as he firmly ushered the two children. “So you need to tell me if they’re able to get up and attempt to shoot at us so I can fire back.”
The older girl sharply nods as she tried to keep up with Jake who firmly held her hand despite his burning calves. He was sure he was suffereing some type of a second degree burn but it was still incomparable to the little hands he was holding.
Flashes of tormented nights, old men and young eyes losing their warmth suffocated him which only fueled his walk to the exit that Sunghoon told him.
But upon his turn, Jake realizes how life seemed to always knock him off his feet.
And quite literally.
“You’re not going anywhere.” Lin Han Zhou swiftly greets him, one meaty hand in his pockets as the other twirled a gold plated revolver.
Jake feels a handful of air being knocked out of him as he skidded to a full stop. The young girl in his arms whimpered, probably reading the lines of where they stood now. In return the older girl tightened her hold around his fingers as he visibly trembled in his spot.
But he can lie. “I’m not but these girls will.”
And prays he can fake courage.
Pulling the older girl behind him and hoisting the little girl in his arms in one arm, he takes his gun out and risks a neat shot straight at Lin Han Zhou’s left knee where the old man was physically weak at.
“Run!” Jake quickly ushers the girls away once the old man fell to his side, effectively making way for the door to open which was also the only other exit that Sunghoon was telling him about.
Jake only prayed the heavens favored them tonight and no other awaiting men would corner the kids down the basement parking where Sunghoon should be waiting as their plan crafted.
But in front of him, his liabilities could be enumerated starting from the biggest villain of his current life.
He was too preoccupied with tracking the kids by sight that he failed to notice the revolver still being in Lin Han Zhou’s hold who sneakily fired back at him in one clean slide.
Knee for knee, he mirrors the old man’s frame as he grunts out the deepest breath and sinks to the floor.
“Fuck you,” Jake wheezes out as he momentarily sees black from the pain of his skin being pierced. The shot was not directly at his knee unlike the old man but it was a sharp hit on the side of his calves. “You’re going straight to hell I hope you know that.”
“We all are.” Lin Han Zhou laughs at him, spiteful and teasing. “You think my little doll would be a darling and change for you overnight? You may have his eyes but never his damn heart. That little fucker is much more sinister than I’ll ever be.”
Jake shuts his mouth through it. Both in physical pain and a ridiculous twinge of disappointing realization.
He doesn’t answer, just adds pressure to his pulsating flesh that was starting to go numb with the amount of pain. His state of absence gave Lin Han Zhou the opening to recover his gun and pulse it right at the younger.
“I give credit when it’s due and while we didn’t meet on the same side of the law, you would’ve made a good private personnel to have around. It’s a waste you chose to have a halo and mess around with big boy toys.”
Jake did not entirely hear it nor tried to understand the depth of his words. He just feels it piercing his chest because it was the truth that would be his ticket to his deathbed.
With no other words to fight back or bullets to spare, he surrenders his line of sight to the painful trajectory of Lin Han Zhou aiming his revolver straight at him.
Then he fires and Jake hears.
But he never feels it.
“And darling, I want you to know how honored I am to be on top of your sinister list so might as well live up to it.”
Jake’s heart drops at the familiar voice.
Again, someone fires and Jake hears.
But he was not the one who feels it.
Hauling him by the arm in one go, Jake feels his body being pulled up and his left arm being wrapped around someone’s neck who was obviously taller than him.
“I really hate the fact that you like thrilling shit.” Jake managed to wheeze out when he was able to stand on his good feet. “This isn’t the James Bond movie I wanted to star in.”
“Well, hello to you too.” Hauling him closer to his side, Heeseung chuckles against him as they started to walk as fast as they could towards the exit that Sunghoon planned. “And don’t I get a thank you? I never did that shit back there for anyone, Sim.”
Jake has half a mind to supply a sharp comeback if it weren’t for his bleeding leg. Then again, whatever disappointment and doubts he had with Heeseung was actually dissipating now that his eyes physically witnessed how the other did not hesitate to shoot Lin Han Zhou and at the very spot that he was also shot at.
“You know for someone who was wishing for a miracle that somehow came true, you’re quite dry about it.”
“Shut up,” Jake finds himself snapping but the tone and timing was quite silly so Heeseung finds it amusing.
When they found the stairs going to the exit that Sunghoon planned, the wince on Jake’s face was pretty evident that he forced an arm to slow them down.
“Leave me here and get down. Sunghoon should be waiting there with the kids. I’m going to hold whoever gets here off until you can leave.”
Jake was too occupied conditioning his breathing as his flesh pulsated and he had to firmly grasp the wall he was leaning on.
But a hand on his cheek brought him to a moment of weakness. Just what he needed in the middle of a life and death situation in another country, miles away from his dog.
Closing his eyes when the hand moved his face to the front, Jake was already seeing Heeseung’s face up close despite his resistance. The thumb on his cheek made sure he knew he was there.
That he’s there with him.
“I’m here, Sim.”
He keeps his eyes closed and it’s hot and painful and he can feel his clothes sticking to his skin both in blood and sweat.
And then he feels something soft and warm lingering on his cheek, forehead and his closed eyes.
“I don’t like promising shit and I never had to given the life I was born in but here I am. I’m here right now with you.”
“Mr. Lee—“
“Heeseung.” Only this time, the correction was murmured against his mouth. All warm, firm but gentle and wet and Jake feels his chest aching along with the very lenght of his leg. “It’s Heeseung to you. I’m only him when it’s you so don’t ever doubt me right now. Not when I’m holding a gun and I’m covered in your blood and my chest hurts for reasons I don’t want to understand now but I’m glad I’m with you right now.”
It’s probably the worst timing for a kiss but their lips meet between pained groans.
Heeseung’s hold was gentle but tight. His fingers under Jake’s jaw solidified his presence, the kind that was meaning to tell that he’s there and he’s not going to run away to his pretty little life, leaving them to crash and burn. He prods his mouth open and takes every exhale Jake has to offer, clashes their teeth and sings into his mouth.
In return, Jake holds him like he’s a passing stream of water. Hands mapping Heeseung but it’s never enough. He grasps him dearly but at the same time, his fingers ache like a realization that they can’t keep him close burns them away. So he only surrenders and closes his eyes, seals his mouth with the other.
They pull away when something beeps and Heeseung needed to wipes Jake’s lips with his fingers before going back to peck it multiple times despite the beeping sound. When they finally pull away and Jake was able to breathe and make sense of the beeping, he realizes that it was the signal Sunghoon taught him.
But Heeseung beats him to it, hand cupped around his left ear as their eyes met.
“Yeah, I’m with him now. We’re in front of the staircase leading to the basement but I’m certain they’ve already blocked the exit down because I shot Lin Han Zhou clean with both legs. He must’ve requested for every emergency exits to be sealed since he saw us going this way.”
Jake could only pant in front of him. Fingers numb to even raise a muscle and try to interfere with the call.
“Are the kids with you?”
When their eyes met again, Heeseung stares at him like time was all they had. He stares at him like he was anchored on an ocean’s end and meeting him would require another century so a compatible dimension could house their reunion.
Jake was the first to look away because a part of him ached just as Heeseung ended the call through the ear piece.
“We can’t take the stairs. They have it blocked by now so we need to take the emergency lift which would bring us to the control room, the one in the basement.” Heeseung was already hauling him over to the said life as he declared the improvised plan.
“They’re all ready but Sunghoon already ran out of bullets. If they get caught, he doesn’t have any ammo left so we need to get to them now.”
Jake nods and maybe groans as he tried to keep his weight to himself when he noticed how red Heeseung’s entire face was because he was supporting him while navigating the hidden hallways of the building leading to the emergency lift inside one of the admin rooms. When they found it, Heeseung wasted no time in activating it open and Jake didn’t have it in him to really protest when he was gently pushed inside.
“Is Sunghoon alright? Are the kids complete?” Jake prompted when another tingling pain pierced his leg.
“They are. They’re safe for now but we have to get to them.” Heeseung nods at him, surprising him in a second when the older drops to his knees and secures a cloth around his bleeding knee.
Heeseung stayed there for a while even when he was done tying it. Jake keeps quiet even if the clock ticking was making him restless.
“Heeseung we need to go—“
Heeseung shuts him up with another abrupt kiss from where he was kneeled. His hands colder but touch a lot distant.
Jake feels his stomach churning when they pull away and Heeseung’s own eyes were moist. “Find me after this night. I don’t care how long or what kind of mission you need to take with Sunghoon but you need to find me again. Even if it’s halfway across the world and I’ll do the same, Sim.”
He didn’t have the luxury of time to mourn the other’s words or take it by heart when another bruising kiss was given to his mouth along with a crippling murmur that left him internally paralyzed.
“I’m sorry.”
It was kissed to his mouth before he was pushed inside the emergency lift alone.
White tiled walls and linen spray were two distinct materials that could best describe Sunoo Kim’s office in their agency’s headquarters back in Seoul.
On on end of the man’s desk, Sunghoon and Jake’s records were laid out while the other end housed a picture of a white French Poodle named Gaeul that someone was holding.
“The both of you were given almost a month for a leave. Why are you occupying my office right now?”
Sunghoon comes forwards, his cheeky fangs on sight. “I mean of course we need to sustain ourselves and our finances and—“
“It’s a paid leave, Park.” Sunoo deadpans while he clicked away on his computer.
On their side, Sunghoon and Jake could see the reflection of his screen through his glasses and they don’t miss the number of unread emails displayed on the screen.
Jake internally winces while Sunghoon let out a low whistle.
It’s been a month since their last mission. Since Sunghoon had to drive them out of in hysterics as he drove with one hand while the other fires away at a convoyed truck full of Lin Han Zhou’s men.
It’s been a month since he pierced his knee and he had to limp out for his life while he carried two kids. Since he was kissed stupid against a wall while his leg bled. Since he was pushed inside an emergency lift alone despite an implied agreement they’d make it out of there together.
It’s been a month since he last heard of Heeseung Lee. Day by day he fears it’s just a fragment of his memory after waking up to two sirens of a foreign ambulance and wailing sounds of police units a month ago while his chest heaved their deepest breaths as he lost consciousness after successfully reaching the next town with Sunghoon’s epic escapade and the kids.
“Stay with me, Sim. Don’t fucking close your eyes when it’s our first mission together you’re going to break my clean streak.”
“Asshole,” He finds the strength to murmur through pained chuckles even when he was seeing black spots already from the amount of blood he was losing.
There was a thick smoke enveloping the car’s frame, murmurs of children stutters that momentarily calmed him knowing they were all safe and with them. It’s just that Sunghoon running his fingers through his hair every minute to wake him up was winding him up but he had a knack that he shouldn’t close his eyes no matter the pain his pierced leg was giving him.
“Just hold on the paramedics are on their way. I just got off call with some of the other agents in the legal counsel and they just informed me of the legal raid of the authorities. Lin Han Zhou’s already been arrested along with his pack.”
He nods through it and completely sags out of relief and happiness. He didn’t have time to process the small hands patting his cheeks open or the slim limbs wrapping themselves around his neck from the side as murmurs of gratitude was blessed on his skin.
Everything was too loud that at some point he wasn’t certain if it was his reality or the realities he was only dreaming of. But at one point, there was another car being parked hazardly next to theirs. The engine abruptly being shut, hurried footsteps along with a frantic calling.
“Where is he?”
“Is everyone here?”
“Where’s Sim? I need to see him.”
Then he only remembers the sound of sirens closing in.
Him being pulled out and Sunghoon’s frame guiding his upper body while someone with trembling hands guided his head from behind. Flashes of police cars, people in white and cars passing became a whirlpool of sound and visuals to him.
The last thing Jake remembered was Sunghoon’s distressed face as he recited something to one of the attending medics as he was pushed inside an ambulance that was certain, while a pair of soft hands gathered his face to lean on the proper side before something warm was felt on his forehead.
“Jake is still limping up to this day and my hand can’t even push the clutch fully so we kinda need to get back to work or else we would deplete the potential of our bodies.” Sunghoon announces, bringing him back to their current disposition.
Jake keeps his mouth shut through Sunghoon’s silly antics despite meaning well for the both of them. This hardly convinced Sunoo too, in fact it further cemented just why the man in charge should not give them a new mission at the moment.
“You dug our own grave.” Instead, Jake murmured it behind Sunghoon who was too occupied trying to catch Sunoo’s eyes who only spared them a brief glare.
“For someone who’s always given a five star rating, your internal logistics might not be up too par after all.”
Jake gave it his all to keep in his laughter but of course it’s Sunoo Kim so he gets heard for the first time that day.
And just like that, business commenced.
“Sim, we need to talk. I don’t think what you did last month was something to be giddy about, yes?”
Sunghoon was quick to leave the room at this. His backfire coming through in a nanosecond as he spared Jake a teasing smile when he was about to close the door. Once alone with their head appointer, Jake remembers his first day as he sweats through it the moment Sunoo removed his glasses to give him a once over.
“You’ve been personally appointed to a mission in Europe.”
The frown was immediate along with the coldness of his insides. “Appointed?”
“Personally requested along with Sunghoon.”
At this, Jake’s frown went deeper since he was clearly understanding this as invitation that should also invite Sunghoon so why was he the only one being told exclusively?
“When do they expect us to report then?”
From his seat, Sunoo took his time to read whatever it was that was sent to him prior to this private talk. He reads it again and again that Jake had to physically pull at the collar of his dress shirt.
“He wants the both of you flying out first thing in the morning tomorrow. All expenses paid, the agency has no part in it since you’ll be flying privately.”
Jake had to bite the insides of his cheek to prevent his mouth from hanging open.
“And after landing, he requested for Sunghoon to drive separately and only you would share his car. The same arrangement goes with the accommodation so I highly suggest to pack your bags well. Use roller lints on all of your clothes. Throw in your best boxer briefs and dose yourself with your finest after shave cream.”
But one little detail gathered his attention. One that was entirely too telling and explosive on his end now that his life was never the same after all that.
“He?” Jake repeated, eyes searching and hands weary.
“Yes, a he.” Sunoo finally tore his eyes off the email he was reading before he looked back at Jake. “After all Heeseung Lee isn’t just a name anyone could just forget.”
But Jake was rendered speechless until a video call dilutes his ability to move when Sunoo answered it on the second ring, the call immediately being transferred to the connecting television.
For the first time again after nearly not making it back home to his dog, Jake welcomes the sight of Heeseung—all pretty, strong and eyes playful.
Jake could come up with a lot of adjectives synonymous to pretty as he nearly liquified the man on the other side of the screen. Unlike his sweat stained polo shirt at that time, Heeseung always dressed casually and clean. The man was probably at an overpriced golf club as he dressed identically but the distinctive life he has was telling of the setting he was in.
Even then, Jake for the first time disregards the difference they share and instead, leaps to the warmness he was feeling and focuses his eyes back on Heeseung’s playful smile on the screen. “Good to see you standing, Sim. The last time I did, I was about to fucking hop on that ambulance myself cause you were closing your eyes every two seconds.”
Then he remembered the other figure assisting Sunghoon that night when the paramedics arrived. The other figure who grabbed his head, who rushed inside the ambulance and the warmness he felt on his forehead.
Jake feels his face heating up but Heeseung was enjoying it so much he had to continue and lay out why he called in the first place. Similar to the older, Sunoo was behaving the same way with how the man subtly covered his mouth to hide his amused smile.
“I’m hiring you to be a runner under my services and all you need to do is to stay by my side, tolerate me, hold my hand or shit then we get to kiss and go on dates. Those type of runner errands, think you can handle that?” Heeseung asked but his tone was never meaning to take no as an answer. It was sure, structured and gentle at the end when he regards him with a longing look that Jake feels all the way to his toes.
With a deep breath, Jake finally shoots his own ammo. “I charge double if you don’t give me goodnight kisses.”
Heeseung throws his head back and laughs, eyes soft and glistening as he shuffled closer to the screen.
“If I have to work under Kim’s agency to afford you, I fucking would so pack your bags and hop on that flight first thing in the morning so I can kiss you already, Sim.”