[Side story—Troubles in L.A]

Five years ago when Kai arrived in the completely foreign and westernized city, he had thought of the city as a generally nice place to live in. Despite the hot summers he'd to endure through, he found the city's pace of life suitable enough and by the end of one year in Los Angeles, he has adapted so well that he seemed just like any other Los Angeles citizen. Yet, what he didn't expect besides the daily killings was that L.A. was a much scarier place than he thought. The S.M. Agency's hit men often had killing jobs related to high status businessmen and local gangs, and Kai was more often than not given the most painfully difficult jobs.

He had to kill off mostly government officials and internationally known businessmen. For what reason, he had no clue. But what he did know was that these people he had to kill had more than just a dozen of bodyguards and spies around, wherever they went. This made Kai's job extremely dangerous and he needed extra help from S.M. The agency sent down an agent from the Qingdao Headquarters, saying that this man was the best hit man back in China. 

When the both of them met, Kai thought that the other looked like a cutely oversized panda, mostly due to the heavy eye bags and shy smile that he offered Kai. However, one should never be fooled by his innocent appearance. Tao was dangerous. Almost perfect aims and perfect fighting skills. He preferred to use his fighting skills, though.

“I just don’t like using weapons to kill off someone. It’s weird to think how someone can just die from a small bullet.” He had told Kai that when asked about his habit of not using his gun.

Even though Tao was sent down to help Kai with the missions, they never worked the way Kai was supposed to work with B. Kai and B were supposed to be a team working together, whereas Kai and Tao mostly worked on their own. They had little communication and did everything based on their instincts, which sometimes led to small conflicts. They weren’t a team, but rather mere acquaintances working under the same agency. Something else happened in the February of 2012, other than B’s mission that went wrong.

Tao had turned his back against the agency and joined a rival agency. Rumors had it said that Tao took a trip to Seoul and never returned to L.A. after sending a simple text message that said “I’m with the A.Y. Agency now, don’t bother looking me up.” It happened two days before B’s mission, but news travelled too slowly, and the next moment, everyone was talking about B’s mission, not Tao’s betrayal.

No one knew of Tao’s connections in South Korea, and no one knew that the A.Y. Agency had been the main reason for B’s failure.

And, no one knew that Tao and Sehun had been childhood friends.

[Back to main story]

“Luhan,” B sighs as he locks the door of the rooftop, “Are you okay?”

The other man simply slumped down to the ground and let out a broken sob. “Baekhyun, why? Why are we still insisting on the fact that Sehun had died? He didn’t die! You told me—”

“Luhan,” B interrupts him, “Please do not speak of this matter again. If the company knows of this, you will know how hard it will be for everyone to accept the fact that we have betrayers amongst ourselves. And, please do not call me by my real name. I trusted you, which is why I told you my birth name. However, do not forget that we are still in the agency building. There might be other spies lying around.”

“B, how long more are we going to do this for? A day, a week, a month, a year, or forever? I’m honestly very tired and I don’t want to live like this anymore.”

Baekhyun says nothing as he walks over, kneels down beside the other and hugs him tightly. After a moment of silence, Baekhyun speaks up softly, “Lu, I promise you that it will be over soon. We have Kai back in Seoul. We can do this. Just promise me to never speak of this again in the agency building. Let’s talk again at another place, alright?”

Luhan nods into Baekhyun’s arms.”B…You know that it wasn’t your fault, right?”

“I don’t know, Luhan. Sehun had been under my training for three whole years, and honestly, if only I had been more careful, it wouldn’t have ended up like that.”

“But Sehun…He’s too good an actor. You and I, we both never expected this.”

“Lu, let’s not talk about this anymore. Jongdae’s probably worried right now. Go have a nice little talk with him, and I’ll go and find Kai. I will settle this as fast as possible, so don’t worry.”

The rest of the day passes by in a blur, and Baekhyun’s honestly very tired. He’s been up the night before, coming up with plans, and thinking of how he’s going to break the news to Kai. He haven’t been able to find Kai in the agency building after his talk with Luhan, and to be honest, he doesn’t care anymore. He needs sleep, and then he’ll come up with better plans and talk to Kai. And so, he returns to his personal office that he had rented, and settles down comfortably on the bed. The bed has always been there, for Baekhyun knew that he will need it in situations like this. He falls into a deep slumber, unaware of the shadow outside his office.

It’s around 1:23AM that Baekhyun wakes up, startled by the sound coming from the doors of his office. He lifts up his handgun and creeps over carefully, before peeking from behind the wall. To his surprise, he actually sees Kai entering his office.

“What are you doing here.” Baekhyun’s tone is cold as he slips out from his hiding place, eyes trained on the figure right in front of him.

“I figured that you needed to explain certain things to me, so I thought paying you a visit here will be nice.” Kai’s eyes are fixed on Baekhyun, but Baekhyun remains composed.

“Oh, well, what things?”

“For example, you can explain to me about your failed mission and how Sehun and Krystal ended up dead.”

Baekhyun laughs airily. “So, you came here for an explanation about the mission? Great, because I was just wondering how I should break the news to you. But before I do so, please prepare yourself mentally. I don’t need any more trouble brewing when my hands are as full as it is.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Just sit your down on the couch over there, and I will be explaining the entire thing to you. I need to get some stuff to show you.” Baekhyun points towards the leather couch before locking up the office doors once more (since they were unlocked by Kai). He heads over to his work table, pulls out a drawer and rummages through several files before pulling out a dark, brown file. It is labeled ‘Mission No.456, Agent B’.

He settles down on the couch opposite the one Kai’s occupying. Kai watches him expectantly and Baekhyun can feel the guilt washing over him, for Kai will definitely not be expecting the words coming out of his mouth later.

“Take a look at this file and tell me what you think.” He hands Kai the file and leans back into the couch, brows furrowed. Kai flips through the file and scans through the contents. Squinting his eyes at Baekhyun, he asks mockingly, “So, you’re telling me you were taken out of shooting missions due to such a simple failure? Are you taking me as a fool?”

“You haven’t even gotten to the most exciting part of the story, so please keep your comments to yourself.”

“So then, what is the most exciting part of the story?”

“Hmm, is it the part whereby Sehun didn’t die? Yes, I think it’s that part. Absolutely exciting, let me tell you.” Baekhyun sounds way too hurt but he doesn’t care, because Kai will still know in the end.

“W—What do you mean?” By this time, Kai’s voice is trembling slightly as he stares wide-eyed at the male in front of him.

“What do I mean, huh?” Baekhyun leans forward and stares straight into Kai’s eyes, “I mean that Sehun betrayed us and left. He didn’t die.”

A/N: Hello guys I finally updated...Pheww it's been a tiring week for us all. And I'm really sorry it's a short update (bc i had to translate a lot of chinese stuff to english on tumblr due to this contract termination thing)...I'll try to update soon. No promises.

Comments and subscribers are welcomed!