This time, Jeong-hyeok had everything lined up. This time, they were relying on themselves, not on the whimsies of fate.
He had her hotel address – one they had agreed on ahead of time in Zurich.
He had her room number, and she knew the date and time of his arrival – information that was passed through a private detective arranged through one of Seri's trusted contacts in Shanghai.
He even had flowers – a bunch of pretty pink carnations he was holding behind his back now as he stood in her hallway.
So... why wasn't it going the way he had imagined?
A big part of it was that another man was currently knocking on Seri's door. And Seri herself, as she opened the door, seemed to be expecting the man.
Jeong-hyeok lingered at the corner so he'd have time to observe, though it meant he couldn't quite hear what they were talking about.
She kept the man at the door instead of inviting him in. That was a good sign. Her smile – her sweet, radiant smile – was on display. Could be a bad sign. Her eyes weren't trained on him. Good sign. They strayed up to the ceiling as she thought, then wandered sideways, towards Jeong-hyeok... "Oh?" she had caught sight of him standing at the corner and was waving excitedly now. Good sign.
Jeong-hyeok approached slowly, not at all abashed that he had been caught watching.
"Would you mind if we met up later in the day to discuss this? Maybe in about an hour?" Seri was telling the man. Jeong-hyeok, too, looked at the man as if he was waiting for a reply.
"Of course," the man was saying. He looked vaguely familiar, though Jeong-hyeok had trouble placing him. The man turned and gave Jeong-hyeok a look which also revealed a flash of recognition. "I'll come to your room again in an hour, Yoon Seri ssi."
"Thank you, Agent Ko," Seri said. Agent Ko... one of the NIS agents? What was he doing here? Agent Ko shot him a carefully neutral glance as he walked away. Jeong-hyeok shot him an equally neutral glance back.
"I'll fill you in later," Seri whispered as she wrapped her arm around Jeong-hyeok's and led him into the room with her sun-bright smile.
"You don't have to," Jeong-hyeok said, features still schooled into a carefully blank expression. At least, he was 90% sure they were carefully blank. "...but just let me know if there's another man behind me in the queue." Aish. He couldn't resist adding the dig.
Seri only smiled sweetly up at him, the way a mother would smile at a child throwing a tantrum cutely. She also happened to catch sight of the flowers behind his back and reached for them herself. "Oh! Are those for me? Thank you, Ri Jeong-hyeok ssi! I wonder if I could fit in a cup..." she started bustling around, taking a cup out of the cutlery drawer, and heading into the bathroom. He heard running water, her saying something under her breath to herself.
No, this wasn't how he had imagined their reunion at all.
It wasn't that he was jealous, per se. His faith in Seri was deep and unshakeable. It was just his preference to be the only man in her vicinity. He had seen how easily she could make men light up, just by being herself – she had turned his Company Five troop from disciplined soldiers into a bunch of loyal puppies with simple jokes and food offerings. Just as an example.
Jeong-hyeok sat at the end of the bed with a sigh. He looked around the room. It was nicer than his (they were staying in different hotels this time), as expected of Yoon Seri's taste. Muted lights hidden under the headboard, nice painting on the wall, plush carpet. He brushed his hand on the bed. Silky bedsheets...
Seri came out of the bathroom, setting the makeshift cup-vase with the flowers on the table. Jeong-hyeok watched her as she turned around and walked to him. Her hair was gathered in a bun at the top of her head, and she had barely any makeup on. It was his favourite version of her.
"Thank you," she said softly, enveloping his head in a hug as she stood before him. "I missed you, Ri Jeong-hyeok ssi."
Here it was. Jeong-hyeok closed his eyes to savour it. This warmth. This feeling.
It felt... Jeong-hyeok had never been able to find the word for how it felt. It tugged at his heartstrings, the way that a beautifully played note of a brilliantly composed song did. It was comforting, like sitting outside on a sunny day, with the hushed rustle of tree leaves and the lazy drift of clouds above. It was the thrill of a perfectly executed fight move. It had helped pull him out of the fog of numbness that had shrouded him since his brother's death. It was uniquely Yoon Seri's.
He wrapped his arms around her slender waist and sighed deeply. "I missed you too," he said, then sat back and pulled her gently so that she kneeled into his lap. The bed sank slightly from her added weight. "You can fill me in now."
"Is that so? I thought I didn't have to," she teased, brushing her fingers along his hairline, down along his cheekbone, his chin, as if she were memorising his features by touch. "It's nothing crazy anyway. I've been keeping in contact with the NIS for the last few years. Our charity has been an organizer in several cross-border exchanges in the last year or two. Mentorship programs for young musicians, exchange programs between different orchestras, annual recitals, and so on. So, there have been opportunities to... interact with certain people who might be useful to the NIS. Agent Ko is heading an operation here under Chief Kim." She paused, probably unsure as to how much she could officially share with him. Probably a lot less than she already had.
Hackles raised, Jeong-hyeok leaned back properly now to scan her face. He didn't know what for. A sign that this was some elaborate joke on her part, maybe. Jeong-hyeok was torn between changing the topic for both their sakes and giving in to the warning sirens going off in his head. This scheme didn't sound like 'nothing crazy'. It sounded entirely crazy and totally unnecessary.
Despite his silence, Seri read the worry on his face and ran her fingers over his forehead and between his eyebrows, as if she could smooth the furrows away by force. "Don't worry so much. I'm not totally helpless, you know, especially in my own territory." She placed her lips gently on his. As if he could be so easily distracted.
He pulled back. "It's nothing to do with how helpless you are. The situation itself is just dangerous."
"I'm sure we can argue about this later," Seri said, kissing him again. Outwardly, Jeong-hyeok was stoic, immobile. Inwardly, he was cursing the NIS, Agent Kim and Agent Ko for ruining his enjoyment of this moment. He placed his hands on her upper arms, intending to push her away to continue the conversation. But somehow, she was moving her mouth against him just so, giving that little hum of satisfaction under her breath that pulled at a string in his stomach.
Then, somehow, they were kissing. Kissing properly now – learning the contours of each other's mouths again, the rhythm of lips on lips, the angles of their heads that would work. Her hands were everywhere, but so were his – circling against her lower back, sweeping down to cup her butt, sweeping back up to grip her shoulders.
It wasn't that Jeong-hyeok had forgotten his anger. It was more like his anger was being funneled into the heat of the moment. It was in the way that he swung her around to lie on the bed, the way that his kisses grew ferocious, the way that he cradled her head. He took care not to be rough, but he was sure that Seri felt how the anger was bleeding into the passion.
Knocking. Knocks on the door. Someone calling her name. They broke apart, breathless. It seemed like someone had been calling Seri's name outside the door for a while now. Had it been an hour, already?
Jeong-hyeok observed her face tentatively as she fixed her clothes, sorry that his self-control had had a momentary slip. But she seemed... she was heavy-lidded, flushed, pressing her lips together to suppress a smile. She seemed... to like it.
"Do you want to be here while we talk? It shouldn't take long either way," she was saying as she brushed his hair back and fixed the collar of his shirt.
He only answered her with a glower.
"Right," Seri said. "Of course you're staying." She bustled to the door to let Agent Ko in.
The man walked in slowly, eyes sweeping the room to take in the situation. Jeong-hyeok saw him take in the bed and the rumpled dents on the sheets, and Jeong-hyeok himself sitting at the end of the bed. The agent gave him a small, impassive bow of greeting.
"Please sit," Seri said, offering him the desk chair as she took a seat besides Jeong-hyeok.
"It might be a better idea for you not to be here," Agent Ko said, eyes trained on Jeong-hyeok.
Jeong-hyeok only stared silently back.
Seri placed her hand on his, reassuringly. "I don't even know all the specific details anyway, I think we can discuss this in a way where no state secrets are revealed, right? We're just discussing procedure."
"I'm no longer part of the military," Jeong-hyeok said.
"You're still part of North Korea," Agent Ko countered.
Jeong-hyeok could only grind his jaw at that immutable truth.
He knew what he should say now to soothe the tension from Seri's shoulders, to soften the judgment in Agent Ko's eyes. I would betray my country for Yoon Seri. But he couldn't say so in any conscionable way. Out loud or even in his head. His love and loyalty for Seri didn't overlap his love and loyalty for his country; they simply existed in different spheres.
He stood heavily, giving Seri's hand a squeeze before letting go. "I'll wait outside."
In contrast to the last hour, the minutes he spent standing outside ticked by ever so slowly.
He wondered why he always ended up waiting in a corridor when it came to matters concerning Yoon Seri. He hoped she wasn't doing this for him. His mind whirred through the possible scenarios.
He hadn't been part of the intel section of the military, but he knew enough about it. They wouldn't be handling a defector on foreign soil, nor would they need Seri as a cover. The likeliest possibility would be recruiting an informant from one of the youths participating in this week's mentorship program. Part of his mind began to file through the young musicians that he knew had accompanied the State Symphony Orchestra of DPRK on this trip, while the other part of his mind struggled to silence the old habit.
Finally, the door handle turned, and Agent Ko stepped out, closing the door behind him. Jeong-hyeok stepped out from his place by the wall. "Is her safety a worthy trade for whatever your target is?"
The agent regarded him, cool as a cucumber. In spite of himself, Jeong-hyeok could admire the integrity and discipline the NIS had instilled in its agents.
"I personally carried her on my back when she fainted at our headquarters," Agent Ko started. Whether it had been meant to spite Jeong-hyeok or not, the pointed reminder had him clenching his fists tight to stop himself from doing anything foolhardy. "We oversaw your safe return to your homeland. All these years our department has kept a watchful eye out for Yoon Seri ssi, protecting her like one of our own, even. Just because our interests align with hers, doesn't mean we're compromising her safety for our gain."
Jeong-hyeok winced. That was... a fair rebuttal. In a way, he had been criticizing the agent's professionalism based on his own personal feelings. He was the unfair one. All Jeong-hyeok could do was give the other man a respectful nod before turning back to the room.
Seri was standing right by the other side of the door. A perfect position to stand if someone was intent on eavesdropping. Jeong-hyeok raised his eyebrows and tipped his head in askance. She opened her mouth to speak, but before any words could come out Jeong-hyeok leaned down quickly to capture her lips. "Don't worry, I really don't want to know," he said softly as he drew back, truly meaning it. He had to learn to leave Captain Ri behind, and just be Ri Jeong-hyeok, the pianist, now. "Let's just enjoy our first night together. Dinner?"