14 days before the job

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I am woken from my peaceful slumber by a hand furiously hitting my left boob.

I sit up straight in the car headed to the airport and catch Yuri's hand before she makes my chest permanently flat.

"What the fuck is your problem?" I ask, surprised at how deep my voice sounds when I'm sleepy.

"B-Blaise is s-smiling!" I hear Yuri stutter for the first time in my existence.

I shoot up and sit straight then see a slight smile on my hacker's face as she looks forward, with Jian in the driver's seat.

"Oh my God she actually does have a crush on the twin what the fuck," I whisper excitedly. We're going to pick up Yuxian after all.

"I never imagined Blaise wearing white, but as of now I can imagine her popping babies out!" Yuri matches my excitement.

"You both are very creepy," Ariadne comments on my right.

"Should not have had so much coffee," Yuri mutters while bouncing around in her seat.

"You should not share a coffee pot with Rey. A single cup of coffee made by her is equivalent to four cups of normal coffee," Ariadne hits Yuri's forehead with her pencil.

"True," Blaise agrees from the front, while playing flappy bird.

"What is your current score, partner?" Jian asks, his eyes not leaving the road.

Blaise looks excited, "I'm almost about to cross one thousand! Why are you asking-"

And... We hit a speed breaker, making our car jump a little.

And... Blaise loses the game.

Oh my Blaise has the you're-dead-to-me look on her face.

"Oh you motherfucker," Blaise says with a steely voice.

"Oh my I'm such a clumsy driver, pardon me," Jian has the audacity to yawn in Blaise's face.

I lean towards Ariadne, "Take his measurements, I think we may have to stitch a body bag for him soon."

Ariadne pulls her measuring tape out, "I did that yesterday when he pissed Pandora off."

****

So I'm on the welcoming party as Yuri, Jian and I are standing at the gates of the airport waiting for our second twin.

"Oh my God does he look exactly like you?" Yuri pesters on.

Yuxian had met the others while we were doing a job in Vienna. Yuri and I had to run an errand for a gang to return their favor, so we were not able to meet him.

"No, we're fraternal twins."

"Oh! Is he taller than you?"

"No, he's a few inches shorter. In more than one aspect-"

"Dude! We're at an airport, shut up," I warn him.

"Is he hotter than you?" Yuri continues to ask.

Jian has a smile on his face as he nods forward, "Judge for yourself."

I look forward and my eyes immediately rest on a tall figure walking coolly among the tourists. Jian's info was accurate. He's most definitely six feet with a leaner frame and a more circular face with eyes and hair similar to Jian.

"Oh he's definitely hotter," Yuri mutters excitedly.

"Excuse me?" Jian asks, faking an expression of hurt.

I don't know... Jian does seem to have a better physique.

Stop the hormones Alicia.

Zhong Yuxian immediately hugs his brother, "It's been so long!" He says in a silky voice. Jian's is a lot raspier.

We walk away from the crowds and Yuxian turns towards me, "You must be the famous Alicia Ryder."

I take the hand he has held out, "I didn't know I had fans."

He is smiling at me coyly, "Oh yes I'm a fan. Your jobs are very clean."

I smile back, "That's my team doing the job. I'm just the party planner."

He bows slightly, "Well I'm happy to be invited to this party."

Oh my, the charm is real. Why didn't both twins turn out like this?

We reach the car and immediately Ariadne hops out, "Oh look the second infernal twin," She says with a bored expression.

Yuxian smiles widely, "Oh look it's the evil fairy godmother."

Ariadne has a small smile on her face now as she walks forward and gives Yuxian a side hug, "It's been a while."

"It sure has. I can't wait to meet my buddy Rey."

How can someone get along with both Ariadne and Rey. What witchcraft is this?

"I'm just excited to work with our partner," Jian says with his arrogant smile.

Blaise steps out and flips him off before turning to Yuxian, "Hey."

He smiles wider, tries to hug Blaise, doesn't work because she is a non-hugger, so he shakes her hand instead, "It's been so long Blaise! Cause any more trouble in the stock market as of late?"

She doesn't smile back but her lips do twitch a little, "It's not as much fun without you."

"Can we keep the flirting private?" Jian hops in between. Blaise frowns at him deeply, while he throws the car keys to Yuri.

"Come on brother, we hackers have a lot to catch up on," Yuxian comments smiling at both Blaise and Jian before hopping into the passenger's seat.

My phone buzzes and I open it to check another email from William.

It's a picture, of a glass of scotch.

With text underneath saying,

Good to know that this glass of scotch is worth more than what you would pay for a statue of me
- L

I can't help but smile

You need it for the sixth sense
-A

I reply.

My phone buzzes again but it's a text from Elara.

E : Omg are the twins fighting for Blaise. GIVE ME THE FUCKING TEA SIS

What, why would Jian fight for her? : A

E : Oh ho ho I have a lot of stories to tell you.

How much could Yuri and I possibly miss  in three days? : A

E : An entire fucking soap opera

E : Come fast.

This day just keeps getting better.

****

As soon as we reach, Rey rushes out and wraps Yuxian in one of her bone crushing hugs that my ribs still need to get used to.

He winces a little as well, assuring me that my ribcage functions just fine and is not overly weak.

"Rey!" He says excitedly, scanning her face, "This is the first time I'm seeing your face without bruises. When did you have your last street fight?"

"Three years ago!" Rey says proudly.

So apparently Rey and Yuxian used to be in the same gang before Rey left them and switched over to me.

"... Pandora," Yuxian then looks over Rey's shoulder at our talented makeup artist who is wearing her signature I'm-superior-to-all look.

"Twin number two. The one who actually cares for his skin," She moves closer and he stiffens visibly, and gets more and more uncomfortable as she leans in closer. All of us are silent as we watch their ordeal, none of us having the courage to say anything.

She is face to face with him when she takes a tiny sniff, then steps back with a satisfied smirk, "You steal from banks and corporations every day and still use a two dollar hand cream on your face?"

He smirks back, "At least I don't use the three in one shampoo, body wash and conditioner, like my brother."

"Hey!" Jian complains.

Pandora lets out a breath, almost a... laugh, "I forgot I liked you."

OH MY GOD HE GETS ALONG WITH PANDORA HE IS A WITCH.

"Eeeee my favourite twin!" Elara bursts out of her room and greets Yuxian with a hug.

"Elara! I got new painting ideas for you. Why not paint one of those Royal Family style painting but have Sirenhead posing instead of a human?"

Elara's eyes widen, "Genius!"

He then turns to me, "Where are the rest?"

I take a moment to collect my thoughts, "Minji, Alby and Cassandra have gone to scout the hotel, Monique has gone to get some machine parts with Dharuna."

He bites his lip, "And Kai?"

I wave my hand dismissively, "Sleeping, most probably."

Yuxian looks at the rooms, "Oh."

I gesture him towards the master bedroom towards the far right where Jian has already put his stuff, "That is your room for the week, don't get too comfortable, I need you on your toes at all times."

He gives me a salute, "Yes Ma'am."

****

I yawn a little as I walk through the front door with the box full of two lattes and two Americanos and one Turkish coffee and set it in front of my hackers who are typing away at the keyboard.

None of them even blink their eyes or move slightly to acknowledge my presence as I watch their eyes glide across the five monitors set up on the coffee tables we piled together in the corner of the living room.

Yuxian is sitting on one of the tables, wearing his headphones while carefully listening to the audio recordings from our planted microphone.

Blaise and Jian are seated on another table with three monitors before them, typing the code that will make the security system less troublesome.

Their hands work in harmony as they move over the keyboard continuously, fluidly. Just like the way Kai walks.

Speak of the devil... Kai walks up behind me and snatches the vanilla latte off the cardboard box.

"Decaf?" She asks.

"With an extra shot of vanilla," I reply with a smile.

Yuxian suddenly looks up at the two of us, and then his eyes move to the latte that Kai is holding.

"I asked for the Vanilla Latte," He whispers.

I grab the second latte and hand it over, "Don't you worry, I got you a double shot of espresso."

He looks back at Kai and keeps his voice low again, "You aren't planning on staying up?"

Kai shrugs, wiping her little coffee mustache, "No. I have a proper sleep schedule now. I'll let you nerds get on with it."

"Hey now! I'm not a-" Jian gets slapped on the head by Blaise before he could finish his sentence.

"Focus!" She hisses.

"Partner, don't you think the mental abuse is enough, now that you're switching up to physical violence?" Jian rubs his head.

"Oh I'll show you physical viole-"

"BREAK IT UP!" I tell them loudly.

Kai snickers a little but then turns around, brushing her hair away from her face while rubbing her tired eyes.

"Goodnight Kai!" Yuxian calls out.

She just raises her hand upward without turning back, a signal that she heard him.

He frowns and sits back down.

Oh well he should have known by now that she is like that. At least she acknowledged his presence.

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At this point I'm just jobless so I keep writing. Hope you enjoyed