Weeks into their stay, they had become comfortable in their environment. It was a bit more cramped than it was at HQ but it was cozy. Thankfully there were air-conditioners installed around the house too. Some days it would get up to 35C and others it would drop back to 20C. They packed adequately and had clothing that fit the weather.
Chan was working outside on a warm day. The grass had become overgrown due to being neglected for a long time. He would've asked for help from the others but figured it could be a good workout for him. He was regretting it when he started sweating pools.
"He's kind of hot right?" Lex stared at him through the kitchen window, leaning against the counter. Chan pushed the lawnmower across the tall grass. He was wearing a tank top, so with each push, his muscles flexed. And damn, he was buff, all throughout his arms.
Jisung peered into the window beside her and nodded. He had been in the middle of cooking breakfast for Minho with Lex beside him, sipping on lemonade. The two had become closer too as she was Minho's best friend.
"Who, Chan? Absolutely." Jisung paused his stirring to stare at her. "Starting to think you were lying when you said you didn't have feelings for him."
"No, it wasn't a lie. You can think someone is attractive without liking them." Lex stated nonchalantly, sipping her lemonade. "Like how I think you and Minho are attractive."
Was she being truthful? No. But she didn't want to admit to something he wasn't completely certain of herself. It was complicated. Maybe she decided she should discuss it with Minho soon. She understood why he had kept his relationship secret at first, but now she needed advice.
"Aww, you mean that? Thanks." Jisung pat her back. "But I still don't think that applies to Chan."
"Why?"
"Well, I mean who's room have you been sneaking into on several different nights?"
Lex froze, slowly turning to him. "How would you know?"
"Okay we usually can't hear you, but on nights where you guys laugh really loud, we can hear it. Only if it's around midnight. It never wakes us up." Jisung wasn't complaining, he actually found it cute. But he felt smug as he seemed to have hit the nail on the head.
"I can explain."
"Go ahead."
"Be right back!." Lex suddenly turned away from the window. She poured a second glass and opened the back door with her elbow to offer it to Chan. Well, she couldn't explain, not even knowing how to.
Minho shuffled into the kitchen moments later with his matching bunny slippers, distracting Jisung from what just happened. He skipped over to Jisung when he saw him and hugged him from behind.
Jisung rubbed his boyfriend's arm. "How'd you sleep, Jagi?"
"Mmmm fine, but you left before I woke up." Minho pouted, resting his head on his shoulder. Ever since they got together, sleeping had become so restful. Sure they cuddled before, but now as a couple, it was the most comforting thing ever.
"Because I wanted to make you breakfast." Jisung spun around and presented a plate of
"Hannie, you're so cute, I love you." Minho pinched his cheeks and kissed his forehead. Jisung beamed at him and placed down the plate to tackle him in a hug.
Jisung buried his face into his neck. "I love you too, so much."
"Not even possible." Minho scoffed, rubbing his back slowly.
"Don't fight me on this, I made you breakfast."
"Okay, you love me more today but tomorrow it's my turn."
"Deal."
Instead of eating, they stood there in each other's arms, Minho rocking them gently. Each day, he was surprised at how lucky he was to wake up with his boyfriend. He could safely say he was enjoying life now more than ever, including the petty arguments they'd have.
"Is that Lex?" Minho asked as he glanced out the window over Jisung's shoulder.
The smaller man twisted around. "Oh yeah, I was talking to her before. You reckon there is something between them?"
"Probably. She'll tell me when she's ready."
"Mhmm." Jisung tilted his head up and pecked him on the lips. "Let's eat?"
"Let's eat."
~
Lex made herself lunch after having her turn mowing the lawn. She had offered to take over while Chan rested. He accepted it and sipped on the lemonade she gave him while she pushed the lawnmower around. Now she was hungry and hot. Thank god for air-conditioners.
"What are you making?" A voice questioned from behind her. She could identify it as Chan. Without her looking up, he sidled beside her, leaning on the counter with an arm. He was panting lightly and sweaty. He decided to be modest and put on a tank top. But at some point, he had taken off his shirt and Lex tried not to stare so obviously.
"Sandwich," Lex replied, gripping a knife in one hand, the other rifling through the bag for another slice of bread, "Salami, ham and cheese."
"Yeah, I can smell that." Chan scowled, twitching his nose.
"Too bad." Lex sneered, as she cut her sandwich into triangular halves. "Do you want one?"
"Sure." Chan shrugged and nodded. "I don't want salami though."
"You don't like it?"
"No, I just don't want it right now." Chan didn't want to admit he couldn't handle spicy food. It wasn't like she'd judge but it was information for another time. His big secret.
"Mhm," Lex hummed as she opened the cabinet to grab another plate. She quickly made another sandwich, avoiding the salami. Chan watched her make his sandwich. He was most definitely noticing her arms more after she had shown him. Especially while she was mowing the lawn. He also noticed her pretending like she wasn't staring at him.
"Here, made with love," Lex said sarcastically as she passed the plate to him.
"Aww, that's sweet, Alexis." Chan cooed playfully. Lex snapped her head to him, a sweet smile spreading onto her lips. Without looking, she jammed the knife into the chopping board, an inch away from where his hand was resting. He flinched but didn't move his hand away, not wanting to give her the upper hand. But that didn't stop the cold chill that shot down his spine.
Lex picked up her plate and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Don't fuck with me, Chris."
She left the room, leaving him staring at the knife impaled in the board, his heart racing. He tugged the knife out of the chopping board then stared in the direction she left in. Now he knew to definitely not call her by her full first name. But he liked the way Chris sounded from her mouth. Slowly, a smirk made its way onto his face. Well, he shouldn't have found that as hot as he did.
~
"We're getting there by a private jet?" Lex was baffled. She knew they were loaded, but just how much money did they have? After dinner, Chan called everyone down into the basement to start planning their big mission.
Lex found out there was a basement where they set up meetings and stored files and documents. She, along with the others were informed about their mission in Japan so they could start planning. It wasn't happening for months but they wanted to plan it earlier to stay consistent with their other missions.
"Yep. There'll be someone there to help us land."
"Why and how?"
"Well to answer your first question, a government plane requires a passport, something we don't want to flash around. Secondly, we have money." Changbin explained, leaning over the table.
"Where are we getting a plane from?" That would work in Lex's favour since she didn't even have a passport. She didn't even have a license. Well, a real one.
"I have my ways," Chan quoted with a grin.
Lex rolled her eyes. They said the same thing about the caravan. She knew he was going to tell her anyway. They had become even closer during their stay. It became common for them to talk late at night, even if it was from their phones. Many times Chan would seek her out and message her when he couldn't sleep. It made her smile that he was coming to her first at some point. She had worried she was coming on to him too strong.
Chan assigned them to stations to work. Her task required her to work with Hyunjin and Jeongin. They subtly messed around as they did, keeping it down so Chan wouldn't tell them off for being distracted. Lex noticed the way Jeongin spoke to her differently now. While he was still happy to talk to her, it seemed like he had matured somehow. It wasn't a shift that bothered her so she didn't bring it up, but she noticed it.
At some point, Lex was rifling through one of the filing cabinets for a stapler they were was in there. At the bottom of one drawer was a pile of printed photos. With a small smile, she was momentarily distracted as she flipped through them. A much younger Minho and Jisung were playing video games on a couch in one of them, closer to how he looked when she last saw him at the orphanage.
There was one in particular caught her eye midway through the pile. There was a man she didn't recognise, but he seemed as happy as Chan and Felix in the photo. It must've been taken in this same house years before. She stood there, thinking about who it might be before it clicked.
"What is taking you so long?" Hyunjin came over to her, standing sassily with a hand on his hip. When he spotted what she was holding, he abruptly snatched the photo out of her hand and ripped it into shreds. Everyone turned to him as the pieces fell from his hands and onto the ground. He seemed ashamed of what he had just done in his moment of anger.
Lex didn't know how to approach it from there. She wasn't scared or offended but felt sorry for him. Hyunjin started to feel embarrassed and fled back up the stairs. Chan followed after him without hesitation, his instinct kicking in. Their gazes turned to her.
"What just happened?" Minho left his station and went over to her.
Lex shrugged defensively and shoved the photos into his hand. "I don't know... I think the photo was of erm- someone you probably don't want to remember."
Minho frowned slightly and shuffled through the photos quickly. Lex hadn't finished going through the photos so she wasn't sure how many more had the same man. At first, he had crossed some photos that made him smile as he reminisced on those days. He then reached a photo that made his face drop and his eyes began to water slightly.
"Minho?" Lex said carefully. "You okay?"
Minho nodded and took in a deep breath, scrunching the photo in his hand. "Yeah... I think it just shocked Hyunjin."
There was no further discussion on it but it was clear there was tension in the air. Not because of her but because of the reminder of who used to be with them at this house. The environment had shifted and it seemed like it would stay that way all night. She wasn't sure if they knew she knew about him. Chan was the one that told her on a sleepless night. Lex returned to her station with Jeongin who was the least aware of the situation.
"What was in the photo?" Jeongin whispered to her, eyes wide with curiosity.
Lex cringed, not wanting to be the one that told him as she wasn't sure she was supposed to know about their past. But Chan had been the one to tell her, she felt like that held more weight somehow.
"I don't know... Someone who used to be in the gang?" Lex cringed harder at her of words but what else could she say? It was your ex member who betrayed you and would do it again?
Even Jeongin frowned. "Oh."
It was rare to see him this upset, at least to her. No one was happy with it. And now she really understood why her presence was unwelcomed by some. While she did sympathise with them, it still wasn't entirely her fault. She wasn't Woojin, hopefully, they got that.
While Chan was gone, they continued to work in mostly silence. There was casual conversation made here and there but everyone mainly was quiet. Lex didn't feel what they did but knew they were reliving the times with their ex member in their heads.
~
Half of them had turned in later in the night. It was Lex, Minho, Felix and Chan. The leader had returned an hour after leaving. They had asked how Hyunjin was feeling and he had responded that he was fine.
"Are you sure we're welcome there?" Changbin asked, turning to Chan. He was sceptical, what would happen if they were territorial. The last thing he wanted was to be targeted in another country.
"I'm quite sure. It seems legitimate and so far I haven't made outrageous demands or done anything to piss them off." Chan explained. Even he had doubts at the back of his mind, but it wasn't his job to voice them. He had to be confident if he wanted his members to feel the same, at least that's what he thought.
"I feel like we're going to be wiped off the face of Earth and no one would know we ever existed," Felix admitted with a surprisingly frantic look. He was feeling sceptical about the whole thing, entering different territory as a gang. He felt like they were lower on the pyramid of crime.
Minho raised an eyebrow. "I think you watch too many crime documentaries."
"No, but he's sort of right," Lex countered, pointing at Felix. She understood where he was coming from.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing and I did a few background checks. I can assure you I'm not blindly leading us into danger."
"Whatever, I trust you," Felix yawned, "I'm heading out."
"Yeah, me too." Minho stretched then followed him up the stairs. Jisung had left hours ago but Minho insisted on staying behind.
That left Lex and Chan alone in the basement. They were close enough now that it wasn't awkward when it was just them two anymore. She went over to where he was.
"How is he feeling? Hyunjin, I mean." Lex hopped onto the table beside where he was working.
Chan sighed. "He's not feeling too good. He was affected the most by it actually. Wanna guess who his roommate used to be?"
Lex's mouth fell open slightly before she snapped it shut and grimaced. "That's... really sad."
It didn't cross her mind as to why he had all that extra space in his room. She assumed they didn't have enough members as anyone else would. Now it made more sense as to why Hyunjin was so reactive to her.
Chan's lip tightened into a thin line. "Yeah, but he'll be alright. It wasn't your fault though at all."
"But it wasn't Hyunjin's either." She knew him snatching the photo wasn't personal to her. It seemed like he was embarrassed before he ran off too.
"I know. If you want, you can tell him that."
"Maybe tomorrow or something. He has Seungmin and Jeongin too right?"
He nodded. "I think he'll be okay with them."
They stayed worked on it for another 20 minutes. It was boring and more difficult than the others like a solo project. Chan was used to it, Lex usually planned her past missions on her own but this wasn't anything like she would do. Half of her missions were on the fly.
Chan groaned and stretched his back. He had been slouching and now his back was paying for it.
"You alright?"
"Nah, my back is killing me."
Lex grabbed his shoulders and started massaging them. Chan sighed and leaned back. There wasn't any tension between them for this, just comfortable silence. Despite their little flirts, they could hold deep conversations on their own. Chan let his softer side show and Lex dropped her ego around him. He finally felt like he didn't have to keep up a strong front around her, she was his equal. That wasn't to discount his relationship with his other members.
Lex saw through his leadership face and sought him out even when he was angry. The others left him alone when he was, thinking he wanted to cool off on his own and for a long time he thought he did too. Until Lex was brave enough to find him while he was still angry, never being intimidated by it. He appreciated her.
"Thanks a lot." Chan rolled his neck then his shoulders once she let go. Her hands drove tingles down his spine but he focused on how tight his muscles felt and eventually relaxed.
"Does this mean you forgive me for trying to stab your hand this afternoon?" Lex went to retrieve the papers she and Jeongin had worked on and dropped them off beside the other organised stacks.
Chan scoffed. "If you wanted to, you would have."
Lex grinned cheekily. "That's true. But then I wouldn't get to see what your hands can do."
"Try me."
"All talk, no bite." She slapped his back then turned around. "Goodnight, Chris."
"Yeah, goodnight." Chan watched her walk away as he had many times, tempted to stop her. He wanted to address it, what had been going on between them. But if he was wrong, he risked making it awkward. And again, she called him Chris. He liked that.
Chan sighed again and rubbed the back of his neck, her touch still lingering on his skin.
~
Published: 7th November 2021
Here's a concept, Jung HoYeon (Sae-Byeok from Squid Game) as Lex.