Around one and a half year ago

"I have to go," Seonghwa gestures towards his wife. "They need extra bodyguards at the client's house today because he requested for more. Not sure why, but I probably won't get to come back home for the next few days."

"Really?" she signs back, before her face morphs into a worried expression. "Which client is it?"

Seonghwa's shoulders sag before one side of his lips shoot up and he places down his sling bag on the floor. He moves over to her and hugs her tight, with them swaying from side to side as he hasn't let go of her.

"It states in the contract that we can't reveal who's our client today, so I can't tell you." Then he pulls back, patting down her hair. "Make sure you take care of yourself, remember to eat and smile." He pulls the corner of her lips upwards. "Don't worry too much about me, I'll come back before you even know it, and we'll have a romantic candlelight dinner when I do." After that he winks, which makes her put on a genuine smile.

She taps three times on his shoulder, which is their agreed sign to say 'I love you' without being obvious.

He taps three times on her butt and she slaps his hand away, while both of them laugh before he hugs her again. He peppers kisses all over her face and hands before waving goodbye. As he disappears at the corner, he can't catch how Akira is fidgeting at the front door of their apartment, wringing her hands as her expression changes to that of guilt.

As she moves back into the house, she immediately takes the flip phone she hid underneath the spare pillows they have in the cupboard, and flips it open. Her eyes dart to read the message she received just yesterday, saying that she'd need to be on field for today; a first for her. She worries about it; she's never done any jobs besides being behind the computer screen, but for this one she'll have to be there physically.

Ever since they got married she has always wanted to tell him how she's involved with the Reflectors for quite a while now. It started even before they met, and she knows she's only being selfish as she keeps on getting involved; but it's a matter of exacting revenge. Revenge towards the rich. She hates the rich with every inch of her being, believing that they're the reason she lost her parents in a car accident.

She remembers the day vividly; it's just a matter of status and whether you have the influence. They were involved in a car accident yet due to shortage of surgeons at that moment, the only available surgeon decided to prioritize saving the life of the more influential person; the daughter of an investor at the hospital, even though they had arrived earlier. Her parents had died from extreme bleeding while she was holding on to a small sliver of life.

She had survived, while her parents did not. From then on, she knew that the rich would get their way while average citizens like her would have to fend for themselves. No one could change her mind.

She looks around the bedroom, the one that she has shared with her husband ever since they got married. They're both young and stupidly in love. With her being a member of the Reflectors, she's scared that the day that Seonghwa will find out that she's a part of them is when he's on duty somewhere; a battle between conscience and raw feelings.

What she can only hope is that there won't be a day where they will be forced to accept the fact that both of them are on opposing sides, only realizing when their weapons are pointed at each other.

---

Around one and a half year ago

Seonghwa bows to Madam Seo as he arrives at the house where he'll be positioned to guard, and the woman nods, ushering him inside. The usual procedure is done, with them being briefed on what is expected of them. Apparently their client is hosting a party tonight, therefore he needs extra security than what they already have. It's a large scale party where the most important people will be attending, and they need to ensure that nothing will go astray to make sure of a smooth event.

He is stationed at the back where if he were to round the corner there would be a swimming pool, where the party would probably spill to. It takes him all his will to not even yawn or display how bored he is to the rest when the party hasn't even started yet, and he can't stop thinking about his wife back home; she must be pretty lonely. He sighs; it's not like he can do anything else besides standing there on guard, watching nothing in particular unless they're instructed to move.

He can't be checking his phone; it's against the protocol and he risks getting fired, not something viable when that's the only job he has experience in. He doesn't even have a degree if he needs to find another job which requires a particular set of qualification; he has set himself to be involved with the security scene ever since he graduated from high school.

But he does get slightly discouraged; he knows that Akira is always subtly pleading for him to find another job. His current job is sometimes unstable, it's dangerous and he's not home sometimes. She's only been giving hints to him, telling him that his job is worrying her, and that he should find another job while he's still young. Their fights aren't bad; it's just them signing to each other rather aggressively, while Akira has this pained look on her face, before they come to an agreement: if she gets pregnant and they're expecting a child, Seonghwa would quit and find another job to sustain the family.

Akira still works at the bakery that they first met, and both of their incomes are at least enough to have them living quite comfortably. So far, their marriage consists of the two of them only, but they're happy with how they are now, despite her silently pleading for him to quit his job.

He shakes his head; as long as they're still a couple with no children, he'll keep this job. He feels like it's the only thing he's good at.

Through the earpiece he's wearing, the signal that the first guests have arrived tells him that he should be getting ready. He fixes his stance and expression, knowing that the part he's guarding won't be visited frequently unless some of them are drunk and stumble unintentionally to that part of the house.

He hears the pounding music, the clinking glasses and the loud chatters, but all he's thinking is whether his wife is eating and sleeping well. It's funny, he thinks, how these people live carefree, with no worries in the world as to them, money is always the solution. Break some rule, and eyes are closed when people sniff money. Do something wrong, and people will forget because money buys everything.

At least in their world.

He doesn't know how long the party lasts, but his body is feeling sore from standing too long, his mind starting to get unfocused. He can't wait for the party to be over so he can rest before probably having to guard the house again tomorrow, until their client tells them to stop and go home.

Then the chaos ensues.

It starts from the inside of the house; apparently there are some unwanted guests and they are wreaking havoc because they were found out by one of the maids. He gets on high alert but those who are stationed outside are told to stay put as they try to subdue the intruders inside. Only when they say that they have managed to slip through and are making their way outside, they are mobilized and Seonghwa is one of them.

"They're all using different routes to escape, but Park Seonghwa!" one of his teammates barks, "there's a person using the back route heading towards the direction of the swimming pool."

"Got it."

"And our client has given the pass to use our guns," there's a tense silence but static, "Because they believe these are the Reflectors. If we catch them, we might even be swimming in a larger gold mine."

Somehow it takes him longer to reply the second instruction. "Got... it. Permission to use our weapons."

Then he hears it; the hurried steps of the possible intruder. He peeks his head from the corner and sees that the intruder; almost the whole face covered leaving the eyes only to be seen, is indeed running towards the direction of the pool. He aims, but in the flash second he falters.

Why does the person look so familiar?

He gets ripped away from his own thoughts when someone in his earpiece, one that he cannot even recall who, shouts at him, asking him to fire his weapon.

"But-" he starts to protest.

"No buts! Just shoot and be done with it, this is a threat," the other person screams.

Torn between not wanting to use his gun for the first time and not letting go of the intruder, he squeezes his eyes for a fraction of a second before immediately opening them. He unlocks the safety on the gun and he fires.

The two bullets that he immediately regrets.

The time feels slowed down; only the two of them in each other's space as the intruder gets hit in the chest, and the force causing their body to violently jerk like it was being twisted before they fall into the pool. It's at that moment when he realizes that he had made a mistake; the moment when their eyes meet before she falls backwards into the pool with a splash, her hands flailing out with nothing to grab to.

"A...ki...ra..." Seonghwa exclaims before dropping his gun to the floor, dashing to the pool before jumping in, grappling to get a hold of her body. He pushes her upwards, heaving her body out of the water and to the side of the pool. He heaves himself up next, taking off his wet suit jacket. "No, no, no." His mind is a mess that he can't even use sign language to communicate with her; her eyes are half closed that she probably can't see what he's trying to tell anyway.

He cradles her before ripping off the mask that covers her face, and sure enough her mouth is gaping, desperately to take in air. He says her name, but she can't hear. His hands are too busy covering up the wounds that she had acquired, inflicted by her own husband.

"Stay with me, stay with me. Akira, I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he's only speaking out loud, momentarily forgetting the fact that his wife won't be able to hear him.

He can't sign to her because his hands are occupied in trying to stop the flow of blood coming out, that even as he looks around to find anyone in the vicinity for help, only a croak comes out of his mouth as if he has lost the ability to speak. He cries and he cries, the apologies coming out in a string from his mouth, the apologies from realizing too late. He finally finds his voice back as he shouts in desperation, but he realizes how she'll probably never get her proper ending.

I did it, I shot her.

He hates how he can feel her heartbeat getting slower, her body slowly losing its ability to move, just a few seconds away from everything becoming still. In his arms, his wife doesn't move, her lips locked as her eyelids start to lower down bit by bit. Even as he calls out her name, everyone but her can hear. He hugs her as his lips brush against her cheek, pleading her to stay alive. His white undershirt is now soaked with water and blood, a mixture of the cruel destiny they were forced to face.

I don't believe in destinies. Never. Because destiny was the reason we met at first. And destiny was also the reason we met for the last time.

His hands are shaking as he strokes her face, one that looks so pale as blood drains out of her. As he feels her heartbeat slowing down he screams and he screams, but it is as if the world has decided to ignore the tragedy that befell them. He shouts out her name one last time before her heartbeat stops completely, with her falling back limply in his hold as her eyelids descend for the last time. His body goes weak as he holds her hands, but she's not responding anymore.

He feels it.

The three taps on his thigh as she finally lets her soul to be taken away.

---

"There, my whole story," Seonghwa utters, taking a seat right across Madam Seo and beside Danbi even without being asked to. The others, save for Madam Seo, are still in shock by the new information. "I shot my own wife without even knowing that she was a member of the Reflectors."

"And you're blaming me," Madam Seo says slowly.

"Who do you think I can blame?" he snaps back. "My wife? Should I get angry at her because she was a part of the Reflectors? Madam Seo," he says painfully, "we met that day. I bowed to you, taking on that job that I thought was going to be like any other. But you're also a part of the Reflectors; why did you direct her team to that house that day? Some kind of sick joke? You knew that I was her husband?"

When Madam Seo doesn't answer, Seonghwa crosses his arms before scoffing.

"So you knew, didn't you? You knew that I was her husband, yet you still allowed that particular team of Reflectors to aim for that house. My wife wasn't supposed to be there," he says through gritted teeth, "she was only supposed to be behind a screen, doing a job behind the scenes. So tell me, why?!" His eyes bulge, "Tell me why that the day my wife had to go on the field was the day that I was working with a gun? You knew both sides yet you let it be."

"It was a risk that I had to take."

He laughs maniacally. "A risk? Of what?"

"Not all of the boys under me are a part of the Reflectors."

"And so, your point? I'm not a part of them too."

"My point was if the Reflectors were to only aim the houses that were not guarded by the guards I have under me, people will be curious. Then people will start connecting the dots, realizing why everything is directed at anywhere besides the houses guarded by my staff. So once in a while, I do let the Reflectors break into the houses to mess up people's perception."

"But you did it during a party; where there were a lot of people."

"Exactly, because that was supposed to be the trick. The team was supposed to blend in the crowd, but one of them slipped up, endangering the lives of others."

"You made me kill my wife; you put us on opposing sides even though you knew. You put me in a position that caused me to become a murderer."

"That was because there were no cases like that before!" Madam Seo exclaims. "No lives were lost or hurt when the Reflectors did their job. It was a first."

"Haaa..." he sounds defeated. "So what, my wife deserved a special trophy because she was the first person to get killed in a robbery gone wrong? And what, I deserve a trophy because I was the first person to shoot a member of the Reflectors and it happened to be my wife? Save that crap for someone else."

"I-"

"You know how her funeral went?" he shoots back without waiting for an answer. "Her death was to be kept under wraps, no one should know how and why she died. Everything that happened in that stupid filthy rich neighbourhood should not escape past the gates. My wife," he presses on, "died in vain. It was only me watching as her body got cremated. I climbed up a hill and spread her ashes there. Even then I felt shitty, I felt like a failure, a hypocrite, a murderer. I spread the ashes of my own wife, that I murdered. I couldn't even communicate with her during her last breaths because my stupid hands were too busy trying to cover up the wounds that I made. Do you know that, Madam Seo? Did you know? Do you keep track of all the members of the Reflectors? Then you should know that she was deaf."

Danbi and the rest of her bodyguards have tears in their eyes as they hear the oldest's story.

"Can you imagine how she felt at that time? Imagine that you can't hear anything, and you're running, scared for dear life. Your teammates have abandoned you, and you're on your own. You didn't know where to go so you run outside, maybe you could outrun the guards. Your back was towards the person, you can't hear anything but the next thing you know is that two bullets have pierced your body; fatal shots. But you still can't hear anything. You fell backwards into the pool, and your eyes met the shooter's. It's your husband. The amount of betrayal you sense at that point must be skyrocketing, but you can't do anything because you were fucking shot."

Madam Seo sighs, knowing that it's her fault for being too confident that there wouldn't be any fatalities. But she lost a member of the Reflectors, and Seonghwa lost his wife.

"After that, it was as if she didn't exist," he says slowly, his voice already sounding like he's giving up on life. "Everything in her phone was wiped out remotely, everything; her electronic records. Gone, just like that. The pictures I had with her in her phone, gone. Before I knew it, it was as if she was only a figment of my imagination. I had to remind myself everyday that she was real; that I was married to her, that I was the one who," he chokes on his tears, "killed her. Held her during her last breath. I couldn't even say I love her when she did to me the last time, because my hands were too busy closing up the wounds. The wounds that I made."

"You have a grudge towards us, the Reflectors?"

He lowers down his eyes before shaking his head. "No. My wife was a part of your group, and I don't want to dishonour her by hating all of you. It's not like I'll get her back if I were to say I hate you with all my life. It was all in the past, and it's done." He shrugs, "She's gone... and those who are left needed to go on." But he wrings his hands as he looks at them before slowly uttering, "But if it's possible..." He looks up. "I want to know who her teammates were at that time."

"So you can exact revenge?"

"No. I just want to ask them why. Why was she left alone to die while they got to escape?"

She takes a deep breath, her expression looking as if she has been expecting the question all along. "There were four in the team, one your late wife. Two of them are not a part of the Reflectors anymore, so we don't keep track of them. The only member who's left..."

She takes a look at Danbi.

"Danbi?" Seonghwa asks.

"No; her twin. Bae Soyeon was a part of the team."