6 days before the job

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I plan to sneak Jian in after Blaise went to bed because he is a bigger scaredy cat than I thought.

But yeah all of us are a little terrifed of Blaise on the inside so who am I to judge?

We get off the elevator and I give two quiet knocks on the door. Yuri opens it up and Yuxian is sitting on the kitchen counter, staring at us while eating an apple.

He somehow looks really good while doing so. Are the hormones acting up again?

"You're finally here," Minnie scoffs at us, "You have wasted some precious time, you know?"

"Let it go babe, he looks troubled," Ariadne surveys Jian up and down with her piercing hazel eyes.

When did she become so caring?

WHY THE HELL DOES SHE SHOW CONCERN ONLY FOR HIM?

Ariadne doesn't love me either.

I think I already knew that, but it hurts just the same.

"You good, bro?" Yuxian tosses an apple at Jian, which hits the guy right on the forehead and then falls right in front of me.

I bend down and pick it up, wipe it with my sleeve and take a huge bite. I hold back a moan at the sweetness of it and chew silently as I watch everyone staring intently at Jian, waiting for the poor bastard to speak.

"Yes, I'm great! Let's get on with the work," Is all he says as he slips out of his coat and puts on some hotel slides.

"Would you like me to bring you some food, sir?" Fahad asks from the kitchen where he is standing with Elara. She has some nerve, calling on him to help her cut up fruits.

I hold up our plastic bag of falafel, "We're good, Fahad. Take a rest, get yourself some food."

"Yes Alfred! And give me some fast food recommendations before you leave!" Rey follows him out.

Jian cracks his knuckles, stretches his neck, then sits in front of the monitor, "Did you recognise the security system?"

Yuxian sits down next to his brother and points to different texts on the screen that makes no sense to my simple mind.

"It's a custom design again, but it is very similar to the Heron system," Yuxian says in a soft voice, and I know he can sense that Jian was still in a confused mindset, "Blaine wanted to try the boa code, but she was a little afraid it would set off the alarms."

Jian sighs and his eyes begin to move over the blue screen in front of him and I can't help but sit down to watch the man so invested in the work, "It's definitely similar to the Heron system, and the Boa code will not work here because the usee interface is similar to that of the Arachnid system. Boa code becomes very traceable, over here."

"That's true," Comes a voice from behind us, making the three of us jump collectively. Because there is Blaise. In her PJs. Looking tired. And staring daggers at Jian.

Before she can say anything I scamper over to her, "Babe, can your personal matter wait, just a little? Please? We don't have much time and I am freaking out."

I can see Blaise visibly grit her teeth, but she gives me a quick nod.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. My chest relaxes and a small sigh escapes my lips. So does one from Yuxian.

"What code do you think we should use?" Blaise asks Jian, with such an icy tone that I shiver a little.

Jian's tiny pupils widen and he gulps a little, "Let's try a more subtle one, like the Cobra code."

"The Cobra code? That will take forever," Blaise knits her eyebrows.

"And the Boa is the biggest risk, something that might just sabotage our location and data as well," Jian argues.

They both look at me and I shrug, "How long will the Boa code take, to crack this system?"

"If we work efficiently, I would say about six to seven hours," Yuxian looks up at the ceiling as he speaks, his Adam's apple bobbing with the movement.

"And the Cobra?"

"Double the time," Jian sighs.

I sigh and look at the clock on the wall, displaying a beautiful eleven-eleven, or twenty three-twenty three, if we follow army time.

Twelve hours, and more.

I run my forehead, "There is a luncheon tomorrow, at the hotel, of all the ahem, elite members, and we suspect that most of our key-holders are going to be there, and we need our target."

"Then we need to use Boa," Blaise urges with a determined look.

"Blaise, no. We're using Cobra," Yuxian places a hand on her shoulder, which to my surprise, she shrugs off and turns towards Jian with a pleading look.

Jian looks at her, matching her confidence, "Blaise, I believe you can use Boa well, but Yuxian and I both think Cobra is the better alternative."

Blaise brushes her dark hair away from her face, her eerie blue eyes have a resigned look in them, "Okay, let's get started immediately."

Can you believe that this was the most civil way in which they made a decision? Maybe there's hope after all.

I clear my throat and shout, "REY GET YOUR ASS HERE WE NEED YOUR COFFEE!"

****

It's the middle of the night and I'm woken up by the creaking of the door hinge.

I open my eyes slightly to see Jian's back as he leaving the room, carrying something with him.

Do they need anything? What time is it?

I carefully get up from my bed, trying not to disturb Minnie, who is peacefully snoring beside me, as I put on a soft jacket and follow him outside.

"Jian?" I call out, as I make my way towards where the PCs are set up. The clock reads a wonderful time, precisely 3:57 am.

He glares at me and puts a finger in front of his lips as I behold a sleeping Blaise on the floor beside the coffee table. Yuxian is sitting next to where her head is, typing away at the screen in front of him.

Jian carefully slips the pillow under her head, and puts a blanket on top of her little body before sitting back down.

"Can you... Make another pot of coffee for us?" Yuxian whispers up to me, and I wrap the jacket tighter around me as I nod slowly.

I make my way to the tiny kitchen area of the suite, with the microwave, the fridge, and the coffee maker, with an empty pot sitting next to it.

"Should I... wake her up?" I ask the twins.

Yuxian looks uncertain but Jian shakes his head, "She needs her rest. We'll wake her up in a few," He whispers to me.

"Brother, we need her-" Yuxian tries to tell him.

"Yuxian she's been working all day, we can do this," Jian tells him with finality in his tone.

Jian sets himself down next to Yuxian, and rubs his very red eyes before he starts to type again.

Blaise shifts a little, and turns in her blanket, such that her hand ends up landing on Jian's thigh.

He jumps and the table rattles a little as he bumps into it, with his eyes wide, staring at the slender, bony hand like it was a grenade.

I giggle to myself. He's so whipped, why didn't I see it before?

Yuxian has a small smile on his own face as he pats his brother's back, before returning to his work.

Jian clears his throat and continues to work, and I smile a little to see the hand still resting on the thigh, now with Jian's scarf covering it, to keep it warm.

****
I stretch a little as I walk into the living room, or the main room of the suite, in the morning, just to discover Yuxian sitting in the laptops, his posture tired, his eyes red as a tomato, yawning loudly as he continues to type.

"Where's Jian?" I ask as I check the time. Nine o'clock, blessed time of the morning.

"Shh," Yuxian tells me angrily, then points to the floor beside him.

I walk forward, and find, hidden behind the coffee table, Jian and Blaise both sleeping on the same pillow, their backs touching. Jian is trying to share the blanket but his long legs are sticking out of it, and Blaise has the most peaceful look on her face as she breathes loudly.

Jian himself looks so at peace, his angular face is outlined by the subtle rays of the morning sunlight floating in through the balcony curtains.

This is so cute, I wanna cry.

"Did you know... About Jian and the whole... Bank thing?"

"I tried to convince him to tell Blaise the truth so many times, I have no idea why he didn't," Yuxian replies without looking up from his monitor.

"He didn't want to know the outcome," comes Rey's voice from the kitchen, "He wouldn't be able to bear the negative outcome, so he didn't try at all. Until now of course."

When did this idiot become a psycho-analyst?

"Blaise can be very temperamental," Dharuna agrees, while walking in from the balcony.

I rub my forehead, "You know too, now?"

"Rey tells me everything," Dharuna smiles at me, while her hands working in tying her frizzy hair into a graceful braid. The morning sunlight is doing wonders to her coffee skin, making her look serene. Like one of the Hindu goddesses she told me about.

Rey shoots finger guns at her. One of her disgusting purple contacts is stuck to her finger tips as she had been putting it on.

Dharuna suddenly turns back towards the balcony, "Yuri! I told you to do the roundhouse kick, not the spin kick!"

"But the spinny one is so much cooler!" Yuri's voice floats in from the balcony.

I walk towards the big balcony to see one of the plastic dummies Dharuna carries around. And Yuri is clutching her foot while standing in front of one of them.

"You use the front surface of your foot Yuri! Not your toe!" Dhara sighs frustrated.

Kai spins while switching her pivotal leg from right to left, then lifts herself in the air, then swings her right leg towards the dummy, and with a loud thud, the dummy falls to the ground, and it's plastic head pops off and rolls to right in front of Yuri's injured toe.

Dhara's mouth is open.

Kai brushes her hair off her face, "Did I do it right?"

"Hey! Why was I not taught the flying part?" Yuri complains.

Kai smirks, and God she looks hot right now, I'm not crushing on her I swear, "It's just a little touch that I added."

I just walk back inside because Kai is being such a showoff, just to see Blaise getting up from the floor, scratching her head.

"What's all the racket?" She asks in a drowsy voice but sucks in her breath as she beholds Jian's sleeping face next to where she's sitting.

She is redder than Yuxian's eyes as she realised she slept right next to Jian for quite some time.

I call dibs on Maid Of Honor.

Wait that needs effort. I'll leave it to Minnie.

I'll settle for  slutty bridesmaid instead. It's fun.

But with the rate at which they're going, I will have grandchildren by then. And cougar bridesmaid doesn't have the best ring to it.

"Good you're up!" Yuxian gives her a side hug, which she doesn't reject because she wants to give me a constant reminder that she doesn't love me.

"You're on," Yuxian says then sleep right next to Jian and spoons his brother from behind. It would have been cute if they were twenty years younger. But now it's just disturbing. And the fact that six foot three Jian is the little spoon makes it all the more weird.

"Aw they look so cute!" Alby makes an entrance with a Redbull in her hand. It takes me a while to realise that she's talking about Jian and Yuxian instead of Jian and Blaise.

"Is your vision impaired?" Pandora scoffs, while fixing her perfectly fitted, very glamourous PJ shorts.

****

I tap my foot urgently as I gaze at the clock. 1 pm. The party starts in ten fucking minutes. Cassie looks a little worried as well, as Pandora is applying makeup on her.

"When will they be done?" Alby asks and I turn an impatient eye towards where Jian and Blaise are sitting, with Yuxian passed out next to them, still.

"Don't disturb them, they might sacrifice you to the dark web," Minnie warns, and I find myself actually imagining that scenario.

"Totally want my organs being sold to Bigfoot over there," Rey mutters, while chewing on a piece of falafel.

After a few minutes of anticipation, and us very creepily watching the duo from the living room area, Blaise exhales loudly and leans her head on Jian's left shoulder.

My eyes switch to his face, the lines have hardened and he has the clueless look again, he never had any idea what to do.

Everyone is closely watching Blaise, but I see his hand slowly snake itself around her waist to stabilise her. He has a tiny smile on his face as well as he watches her closely, but he hides it quickly when his eyes meet mine.

"We did it, finally," Blaise has one of those rare smiles on her face. And even though her entire demeanor looks like it has been through war, her smile seems to light up the entire room.

I feel hope for the mission again.

"Find out who owns Room X45," I instruct them, and Jian nods, while using his right hand, the left hand still around Blaise's resting head.

"Found him," Jian beckons me over. I rush over and look at the name and profile of our target.

Chief Financial Officer, Muhammad Al-Farouq. He will be at the luncheon. This is perfect.

I try to contain my excitement, "Great work you two. Get some well deserved sleep. Jian," I face him, "You can leave any time you want to."

Blaise removes her head from Jian's shoulder and looks at him with a calculative look.

Jian ponders for a while, "Well there's just five days left, I kinda want to see how this pans out."

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ALICIA I DON'T CARE IF YOU LIKE YUXIAN I'M GOING WITH THIS STORYLINE I'M SORRY.