The Undercover Couple

Chapter 2

"Thanks," he muttered, pushing the ice pack onto his rib. He hissed in relief at the cold.

"No worries," Mingyu said quietly. "Got a whole load of them, so just shout if you need more."

A thick silence settled over the two of them as Wonwoo shifted a little in his seat, the tinges of awkwardness growing, with just a generic pop beat punctuating the air.

"Does it hurt?" Mingyu asked, so quietly Wonwoo thought he misheard him. He stared at Mingyu for a moment, trying to process what the other man said.

"Oh, uh," he moved slightly, wincing again. "It's not great," he admitted.

"I'm sorry if you feel I forced you into this."

Wonwoo didn't reply for a moment, studying him carefully. Mingyu appeared to be calm at first glance, his eyes occasionally flicking between the road and the rearview mirror, but on further inspection, Wonwoo could see his jaw was set, his teeth clenched, and his hands wrapped around the steering wheel were going white from the force he was gripping it with.

Wonwoo swallowed, thinking of something to say. "It's fine," he shook his head. "This is bed rest anyway, and it beats sitting in the office and doing a shit ton of paperwork." He let out a humorless laugh he hoped would break the awkwardness, but if anything it seemed to make it worse. Mingyu frowned as he indicated to change lanes. Wonwoo stared out at the motorway for a moment, waiting for Mingyu to say something.

"I broke my leg on my first operation," Mingyu said, eventually. His voice was even and professional, lacking any emotion. Wonwoo turned again to look at him again, but Mingyu kept his eyes firmly on the road. "It was my fault. I was stupid and arrogant."

Not much has changed, Wonwoo thought but resisted saying it. He was quite proud of his maturity. "I didn't know," he said instead.

"It was before I was in Counterterrorism. I started in Cybersecurity after Basic."

"Oh," was all Wonwoo could say. He had gone straight into Counterterrorism, and, while he had managed to avoid Mingyu pretty well since Basic Training, he hadn't realized Mingyu had spent any time anywhere other than Counterterrorism.

"The operation was difficult. We were undercover for months, just chipping away at the network. It took forever for us to gain the trust of the target. He had all sorts of dark web shit going on in his company. Anyway, I broke into his server room after we uncovered some information about a possible trafficking situation. At the time it made perfect sense to me to do it. After all, I was the better spy between myself and my partner. At least that's what I naively thought." His voice had turned bitter. Wonwoo fiddled with his fingers, waiting for Mingyu to continue. "I got too cocky in the server room and I only checked for obvious traps. I didn't realize I'd triggered a silent alarm, and suddenly there were six guns pointed at me."

"Jesus," Wonwoo muttered.

"I jumped out the window, and, by some miracle, only broke my leg. My partner saved my ass and dragged me back to the safe house. I'd have probably died if it wasn't for him. It was a nasty break too, in four different places. I needed three different operations to get it fixed, and for a while, they thought I wouldn't be able to walk on it again. I was on desk duty for six months. My Operation Lead tried to get me fired for my arrogance, even though my partner claimed he'd gone into the server room with me. He also got kicked off the case. That's when I transferred to Counterterrorism."

"Sounds painful," Wonwoo said. He wasn't sure what else to say, or why Mingyu was telling him any of this.

"I know what it's like to take a calculated risk and have it not pay off," he shrugged. "So if you need ice or painkillers, or just to have ten minutes uninterrupted on the sofa, let me know."