The Running Game

Chapter 4

Summer 2009

The sound of the school bell echoed all over the building. The sound that indicates that the class is over. She gathered her stuff quickly then put it in her bag.

Usually, she goes home with the company of her friends. Sometimes, they stop at the cafe or the mall to hangout more after school. After that, she always spends her afternoon helping her grandma at her rice cake shop until the shop is closed. But today, none of her friends are available to walk home with her.

Jeong Min is busy preparing the newest article for the journalistic club.

Byeong Tae already had a plan with his soccer mates.

Hye Ryeong and Seol Hui are going on a blind date with boys from a different school.

Gwang Tae... Well, he's busy with basketball practice.

So that left her alone. She just walked past the outdoor basketball court and immediately saw her friend Gwang Tae passing the ball back and forth with his partner, too busy to notice her presence. But what caught her attention was the sight of the school's basketball captain who was doing a layup, gloriously throwing the ball up to the ring. The smile that captured her heart when he finally made a goal to the ring.

The carefree look on his face with sweat dripped from his hair, she could stare at him forever. The sight she'll never get bored of. She immediately went back to earth after she felt something grazing down her feet. A ball. She put the ball up and held it against her chest.

"Excuse me, do you mind passing that to me?" Said the man. It startled her that it was the captain who talked to her.

She nodded and smiled at him then threw the ball at him with a head pass. And the ball landed perfectly on his hand. "Thank you!" He said, smiling so sweetly at her. She could remember her heart going off beat for milliseconds. Is it the way he smiles? Or the way he talks politely at her?

She was bewitched by the dazzling and charming Lim Soo Ho. The pride of the school basketball club.

The thief who stole her heart.

***

Present day

She couldn't believe her eyes. She wanted to pinch herself to wake up from her dream. Seeing him again after being separated for decades, the sight of Lim Soo Ho turns out still makes her heart flutter, like it was the first time she saw him back in high school.

What is he doing here?

With a holster banded around his waist, supporting the gun rakishly, his eyes as sharp as a tiger, and his lips tightly shut, he looks dashing yet dangerous at the same time. If his expression has a name, she would call it the don't-fuck-with-me face.

Then his eyes finally landed on her. The unreadable expressions with the intense gaze were thrown at her, it made her want to squirm on her seat. Then he approached her with another ANSP officer on his side. And her heart was racing when he got closer to her. Then proceed himself to sit across the table from her

"Eun Young Ro-ssi?" asked the other officer.

"Yes." She said, nervously.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Special Agent Lee Gang Mu and this is my partner Special Agent Lim Soo Ho." Then he continued. "We are from the Agency for National Security Planning as we got an order from your father to handle your case." Then, they show their badges at her. One name and one photo caught her attention instantly.