Zhan was sitting to Yibo's left on the sofa and to Yibo's right was Seungyoun, who came over with his boyfriend Wooseok the evening after Zhan had given his okay to invite Youn to his apartment. Wooseok had made himself comfortable in the armchair and set about decrypting the USB stick. He had even brought his own laptop, on which all the decryption software was stored, to hopefully speed up the decryption process. However, he was distracted by his work on the laptop and so Zhan sat next to the two best friends, who were talking animatedly about past missions, while Yibo held Zhan's hand so tightly that it almost hurt.

As soon as they arrived, Yibo had taken Zhan's hand and told them, "Zhan and I are a couple now." That was the end of the topic, no questions or anything else on the subject, and they were able to move on to the snacks that Zhan had prepared after he and Yibo had gone shopping. Zhan served a few cocktails, wine and beer with the snacks. Almost everything was available, depending on taste. Zhan himself avoided alcohol and mixed himself a non-alcoholic cocktail. He wanted to get through the evening with a clear mind. Somehow he thought it was better. Because he was still all too aware of how jealous he had been of Seungyoun and feared that this jealousy could come through again if he wasn't careful, despite his knowledge that Youn was in a relationship with Wooseok.

The jealousy did not return that evening. But a good dose of envy did. Envy that Yibo and Seungyoun had known each other since they were young and had many stories to share. Zhan, on the other hand, had not even known Yibo for a month. At least not the real Yibo. And Seungyoun knew the stories that he and Yibo had experienced just as well as if he had been there. Of course, he is also an agent at the same agency as Yibo. So of course he knows exactly what happened with Zhan and Yibo.

So Zhan just sat next to the two of them and listened with envy to their shared stories about their youthful sins, their training, their first missions and so on. A few times, while listening to them, Zhan thought that the two sounded like two old war veterans as they recounted their missions. But these stories clearly demonstrated something to Zhan. They were not as experienced as Zhan had initially assumed.

Yes, the two best friends have had a few successful missions. But none of their missions could even begin to compare to the mission now. This was not just a different house number, as they say, but a whole skyscraper, as Zhan thought. This mission has taken on a dimension where the experience of the two of them is far from being enough. Nevertheless, Zhan is sure that at least Yibo will manage to make the mission a success. As for Youn, he couldn't say much. He hardly knew him. He knew the idol Kim Seungyoun better than the agent Kim Seungyoun. Or rather, the real Youn. So he couldn't allow himself to judge.

When Yibo and Youn started talking about another of their stories, Zhan cursed inwardly. He was annoyed that he hadn't invited any of his closest friends. If he had, he could have put on exactly the same show as these two. He could have brought out old stories, talked about them at great length and simply carried on talking without any care for the listeners in the room, without explaining anything to the others. But of course he couldn't invite any of his close friends. After all, they weren't supposed to know who the idols were, what they actually did for a living and why all three of them - Wooseok is also a K-pop idol - were interested in Zhan. And Zhan would have had no idea how to explain it to MuMu, for example.

At some point, an hour and a half to two hours must have passed, Wooseok looked up from his laptop and asked, "Why are you guys talking about your old stories all the time? Don't you realize that Zhan is bored? Besides, the way you tell your stories, nobody understands what you're talking about. Except you yourselves, of course. Which gives me and I'm sure also Zhan the impression that you're excluding us. So what's the point?"

Zhan swallowed hard as Yibo looked at him with wide eyes and asked, "Am I really boring you? Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's not like that. You go on talking." Zhan replied hastily. At the same time, he wished that Yibo wouldn't get lost in a conversation with Youn again and that the two of them would keep talking about their old stories. Because yes, Wooseok was right. It was BORING! So boring that Zhan found himself counting the seconds until Yibo and Youn took a breath between their stories so as not to choke while talking. Sure, the body does that automatically. But Zhan imagined it wouldn't be like that. They would talk and talk until they were blue in the face and then gasp greedily for air. This idea amused Zhan as the two of them were talking about some mission that had something to do with a microphone. Zhan wasn't listening.

Seungyoun looked at Wooseok and asked him in turn, "Why are you even getting upset? You're sitting there with your laptop and you haven't made a sound the whole time. Apart from the typing on your keyboard."

"You asked me to take my laptop and try to decrypt the USB stick. Which I think is idiotic. Just ask Agent Nax. She encrypted the data on the USB stick. So she must be able to unlock it." Wooseok replied and stared at the monitor again. Zhan and Yibo stared at each other and guessed what the other was thinking. Why didn't they actually come up with this idea? On the other hand, and they both thought this almost immediately, Agent Nax had not told them that she could or would decrypt the data and files. On the contrary! She was glad that they had the USB stick and left everything else to them.

"I'm afraid she won't help us." Yibo finally replied. Without explaining anything. Because he couldn't explain. After all, neither he nor Zhan had asked Agent Nax why she wasn't doing the decryption herself. And Wooseok didn't ask why either, but just looked up briefly, nodded and looked at his monitor again while his hands flew over the keyboard.

Seungyoun said nothing more to Wooseok. Zhan assumed that it probably wouldn't make sense either. What was he supposed to say? So Youn turned back to Yibo and asked him about some experience from their youth, as Yibo remembered it. And Zhan started counting the seconds between their breaths again. At least until Zhan didn't feel like it anymore.

Zhan struggled his hand free from Yibo's grasp, jumped up and announced, "I'm going to the bathroom now. And when I get back, I hope you've thought of a topic that we can all talk about and not just you. Because honestly. You're a boring bunch who do nothing but talk about the past." Yibo looked at Zhan, first confused and then guilty, and nodded. Seungyoun said nothing, but stared at Wooseok, who looked up at Zhan and grinned.

When Zhan came back from the toilet, he found only Wooseok in the living room. He looked at Zhan and said, "Don't worry. The two of them are only on the balcony for a moment. They want to talk about something that's not meant for our ears."

"That's a bit cheeky!" Zhan scolded and plopped down on the sofa.

"Don't be angry. They're just like that. They're really best friends who like to immerse themselves in their conversations and quickly forget everything around them. I had to get used to it myself. But trust me, it gets better. And it's not always like today. That's simply because they haven't been able to see and talk to each other for a few months. And they only talk about their past together to show you how they became best friends and what they experienced together. It's their way of giving you a chance to get to know them." Wooseok explained.

"But you're not like that. And I'm sure you have some stories you could tell."

"Sure I have them. But I'll save them for next time. Trust me, just let them talk for a while and then they'll automatically turn to you."

"Well, you know, they've been talking to each other for two hours and we're just sitting by."

"I know. And I realize it's stupid. But that's how they are. You're older than us and more experienced. But I bet if your best friend was here, you wouldn't be any different."

Zhan nodded slightly. That was exactly what he had thought earlier when he thought about MuMu and Chuyue. He would have done the same as Yibo and Youn. But he said aloud, "Well, I hope it doesn't stay that way tonight."

Wooseok was about to say something back, his mouth already open, when Yibo and Youn came rushing into the living room. Yibo pounced on Zhan and lay on top of him like a human shield, while Youn ran past them, shutting Wooseok's laptop as he ran past and then jumping to the light switch and turning off the living room light. Zhan tried to push Yibo off him, but didn't have enough strength. "Don't worry. Nothing will happen to you." Yibo whispered and looked towards the balcony door.

"Please what?" Zhan asked, confused.

"There's a drone out there watching us!" Whispered Seungyoun.

Zhan finally managed to push Yibo away from him. Yibo rolled off Zhan and landed on the floor with a crash. "And you think it's a good idea to go crazy and turn off all the lights?" Zhan wanted to know and stretched.

"Yes. We'll wait a few minutes. Then you go pack some things and then we'll take you to a safe place." Explained Yibo, who was still lying on the ground and sounded like he was counting his bones.

Zhan stepped after Yibo, only slightly of course, and asked, "I think you're agents? Do agents act this stupid?"

"What?" Yibo, Youn and Seok asked at the same time.

"Suppose the person controlling the drone is really watching us. Are you going to let the person know that we know? What do you think will happen if you turn off all the lights and then try to take me away from here? Just switching off the lights will alert the person. And who knows if it's just one person? Besides, there is only one entrance and exit. So how were you going to get me out of here unseen? We'll turn the lights back on now and then one of you call the agency to have them send someone to check out the person controlling this drone." Zhan said.

The three of them looked at him speechlessly for a moment. After two or three seconds, Yibo nodded, got up from the floor and went to turn the lights back on. Wooseok called the agency and Seungyoun stood in the shadows by the balcony door and looked outside. And then Yibo took Zhan's hand, stroked it gently and looked at him with what Zhan could only interpret as an amorous look. "You're great. Thanks for being so smart." Yibo said and kissed Zhan on the cheek.

"Woohoo. Keep it up. We want to see a real kiss!" Cheered Seungyoun.

Wooseok got up from the armchair, went to Seungyoun, gave him a headbutt and said, "Shut up!" Then he casually walked back to the armchair, sat down again, flipped open his laptop and suddenly started laughing. It was an infectious laugh that Yibo, Zhan and Youn joined in with. It relaxed the situation and they were able to distract themselves from the possible threat.

Half an hour later, the reassuring phone call came. The guy controlling the drone had wanted to use it to spy on his girlfriend, who lived two floors above Zhan. Apparently, she had kept telling him that she had to work late, but was probably actually in her apartment with other guys during this time. And the guy wanted to use the drone to investigate his suspicion that she was cheating on him with other men. The two agents who had been sent to clarify the situation did another round of the neighborhood and then called Wooseok, who then told the others what the two agents had found out. Namely, that everything was fine and they had nothing to worry about.

At least it gave them a topic they could all talk about. Just like Zhan had demanded of Yibo and Youn. Even Seok joined in and made a comment now and then. It was a relaxed evening that they all enjoyed. In the end, Youn and Seok even spent the night in the guest room because they were both too tired and too drunk to drive home.

Yibo, who was therefore not able to sleep in the guest room, was allowed to take the free space in the bed next to Zhan. As soon as he was in bed and Zhan had also got into bed, he pulled Zhan to himself, wrapped his arms around him and they kissed each other lovingly until they fell asleep.