"Unnie, did something happen?" asked Eun byul.

Arya smiled at her while cleaning up the counter.
Eun byul had already cleaned the vacant tables and Han jun was starting to arrange the counter.

She sped up the work a little. The coffee was brewing. Han jun needed to start working on his Espresso and Mocca ASAP.
He is quite a good barista.

"Back to earth, unnie," Eun byul nudged her a little, "you seem distracted."

"Am I?" Arya smiled off the remark and concentrated on the piece of wipe in her hand. The counter was already shining.

"She is right." Han jun shrugged,
"Something is off."

"You two. Back to work." Arya scolded them a little, "just because the rush hour has ended doesn't mean we will have fewer customers now."

"We are not done, remember." Eun byul scrunched her nose and went back to her works.

Arya sighed a little.
Ever since her fight with Jin that day, she was not feeling the best if she is honest with herself.
It wasn't even a fight, to begin with. She was the one who got mad. And Jin? Well, he was just...Jin.

She managed to find a motel to stay put in for a few days before she could find a place to stay.
She was almost penniless. But thanks to Jin again, she had some money left with her though she returned the card. She was solely depending on those.

"I have to return the money," She thought and instantly started to feel irritated. Why the hell she had to borrow from him? Returning the money means she has to see him again. And that's the last thing she wants right now.
"Damn, girl! Can you be any dumber?"

Her hands involuntarily hit the counter making Han jun almost jump with surprise, "Noona! You scared me!"

"Oh, sorry." Arya instantly apologized and looked at Eun byul, "can you cover for me for a few minutes?"

"No problem." Eun byul was a little confused.
Arya was down the whole time. Not just today, it has been up for a few days already. What happened to the energy-boosting girl with the brightest smile and mischievous acts?

Throwing the wipe into the trash can, Arya loosened the apron and went into the staff room, and sat down.

Why she had to be this mad? Well, why was Jin silent in the first place? What angered her most was getting up today and almost regretting her decision to leave. Why the hell she would regret it?

It was an empty prison anyway. Too clean house, too stern rules. No speaking during dining, no loud noise, no cursing, sitting properly, no smoldering, no scoffing, no this, no that- horrible.

Why would every time she went out, she had to come back to a clean room without a speck of dust or no messy clothing on the floor?

Oh, the rules were even stricter for the owner himself- Arya rolled her eyes in disgust,
No softness, No talk, No smile- yes no smile!
Who the hell is he who doesn't smile? Not once?

She tried hard to remember if she saw him smiling even for once in her life. And that's a clear, big No.

She mentally cursed herself when she realized all this time she was thinking about that selfish jerk.
Life was going to be turning hard for her she feels, but leaving that day was even harder. Counting Jin was the only one she knew in her lifetime. And Hoseok? Well, she found out he went abroad a few days before. Bummer, right?

"Unnie?" Eun byul peeked into the staff room.

"Yeah?"

"Someone is here to see you."

"Me?" Arya was a bit surprised. Nobody knew she was working here. Not Jin, not anyone. Well, she left before letting anyone know.

Arya got up from the bench and came out tying up her apron.

The cafe was still a little empty, the rush hour just finished a while ago giving the employees a little time to take a breather.
Eun byul directed her towards a corner where a man was sitting facing her back.

She could guess who that was though she met him just twice.
Arya went towards the man,
"Namjoon?"

"Sunbae." Namjoon got up and bowed curtly.

"What are you doing here?" Arya sat in front of him.
Eun byul placed an iced americano in front of him and he thanked the young girl with a smile.

The stars in her eyes shouted her shyness and excitement.

After she left, Arya chuckled, "You just clouded someone's mind right now."

"That's my specialty." Namjoon sipped his coffee and smiled.

"Cocky, huh?" Arya laughed, "I like it."

"My pleasure."

"How did you find me?" Arya went into business.

Namjoon just shrugged without words.

Arya sighed in irritation. It's NIS. Of course, he has his way.

"What do you want, Namjoon?"

"Some formalities." Namjoon smiled and reached for a box beside his feet and placed it in front of Arya, "These are yours."

"Mine?" Arya frowned, "You mean mine, Mine?"

"Yes." Namjoon leaned back on his chair.

Arya opened the box.

There was random stuff in there. Very much random. Arya started to empty the box.

"These things..." Arya's voice quieted down a bit, "These feels personal."

"Of course, these are yours." Namjoon's voice was soft.

Arya scoured through some stuff, a small diary, a few passports with different identification in them, some pictures.
Arya picked one picture in her hand, there were four people, she didn't know everyone except herself and Hoseok.
They were shoulder in the shoulder in olive jumpsuits. Smiling brightly.

She seemed happy, genuinely happy.

Another picture- almost all of the photos were in groups. It was evident that she didn't have a short of friends on her list.
The last picture made her stop for a while.
It was Her and Jin. No, that man wasn't smiling here either. There she was, standing on her toe to place her elbow on his shoulder, smiling widely.

He wasn't irritated. That's a fact.

Namjoon cleared his voice a little but Arya didn't look at him, "Why you have my things, Namjoon?"

"When you erased your identity from here, you kept those safeguarded. As an Insurance that if you ever come back, you can regain your name as a citizen here.

"Everything is here?" She rummaged through the contents and fished out an ID card.

Her eyes widened in anticipation as she rummaged through the things swifter.
She involuntarily cheered and jumped around a little with the leather holder in her hands.

Namjoon smiled seeing her excitement. The customers inside the cafe were eyeing her including her two younger colleagues from the counter.

"You are a lifesaver, Namjoon." Arya sat down and giggled.

Her leather holder held a few credit cards, transport cards, and everything a person needed to survive in this country.

"Let me assume, all these cards from different shadow accounts in different names?" Arya was still excited.

"You know how these things work." Namjoon brought out a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to her,
"All details about your bank accounts including your passwords. You can withdraw money anytime now."

Arya thumped down her head on the table and grunted, "why am I so dumb? This should be the first thing I should have thought. I definitely would save something for survival before I went undercover. Why didn't I think of that?"

Namjoon just smiled without words.

Arya again scoured through the things inside. Two pens, a lighter, pictures, passports, notebook, an old worn out and old fashioned watch, two cinema tickets- Arya was a little confused. The tickets were unused. Of course, she couldn't go to the cinema. But who is the second person supposed to be? Not Jin that's for sure. Hobi? Probably.

ID card, credit cards, some cash- she mentally started to make list, and then her hand touched something cold and familiar. Silently she looked inside the box and she covered the thing with other things in a blink.

"Namjoon," Arya called him, "there is a gun in there."

"And enough bullets." Namjoon seemed unbothered.

"But carrying a weapon is illegal in Korea. Shouldn't I submit it to the police station?"

"You want to?" Namjoon looked at her.

Sensing his sarcasm Arya laughed,
"Not a bit."

"Keep it, sunbae." Namjoon smiled,
"You are here doesn't mean you are hundred percent safe. At least keep something at your reach to protect yourself in time. You know, eyes everywhere and everyone wants revenge no matter where you be. "

Arya scoffed, "I know. I irritated North Korea, MOSSAD, probably the CIA too."

"True," Namjoon shrugged.

"This one..." Arya Took another card in her hand, "Well, this is fancy!"

"I know." Namjoon smiled.

"Do I still have the membership?" Arya smiled, "It's almost nine years old."
In her hand, there was a membership card of the famous aviation club.

"Sadly, no." Namjoon shook his head,
"It was invalid the moment you resigned from the air force."

"Speaking of that," Arya caught on the sentence, "Why would I resign from the force? It makes no sense. For joining NIS like Jin? But flying was my passion!"

"Seokjin hyung didn't resign to join NIS!" Namjoon disagreed, "he joined NIS almost a year later."

"Really?" Arya frowned, "why would he resign then?"

"A second ago, you were asking about yourself." Namjoon reminded her.

"You are avoiding the question."

"I can answer the one with you, but I can't disclose other's secret, you know what I mean?"

"Whatever." Arya sighed, "Tell me my cause."

Though her mind was entangled with Jin. Why would he resign? He was the brightest gem in the force, the exemplary role model for every cadet, perfect in everything. He got everything one cadet can get. But still why?

"You did some shits," Namjoon smiled sympathetically, "sorry for the harsh wordings. But you got yourself into some situations and ultimately decided to leave for good. It took you three years to return after finishing your study and joining NIS."

"What situation?"

"Bad. Better you don't know."

Arya would have snapped already in any different time, getting rejected every time she wanted to know something about her, everyone just shut the hell up as if their life depended on these secrets.

But this time she kept quiet. Something in her said she doesn't want to know. If namjoon says it was something bad, her instinct says it's worse. And she knows nothing could make her quit her dream except something really big. And she is afraid to face that.

"Just one question, Namjoon," Arya questioned carefully, "did I quit because others put me in that situation? Or was it me?"

"Umm..." Namjoon hesitated a little and then decided to answer her, "Nobody sabotaged you, sunbae. It was your doing and quitting was your way of repenting."

"Shit." Arya gritted her teeth. She is more scared now to face it.

"It's time for me to get going." Namjoon took a glance at his wrist and got up.

"Wait, Namjoon," Arya stopped him,
"I have one more question."

Namjoon again sat down and looked at her.

"How do you know so much about me? I mean, we were colleagues I know. But you shouldn't know everything as we never worked in a team right?"

"Yeah, sunbae. Not everyone knows everything about you except who should know. But you are forgetting one thing," Namjoon smiled, "I am the head of operations of NIS. It's my job to know."

"Yeah." Arya sighed tiredly, "Only I don't know shit."

"But one thing sunbae." Namjoon was a bit serious this time, "a lot of things happened after you disappeared, and I wasn't the head that time. The people were responsible that time is no longer around. If I was there, maybe I could have stopped many things to happen and things wouldn't have to turn out like this."

"Now you are confusing me." Arya narrowed her eyes.

"You will know." Namjoon shrugged,
"eventually."

"Namjoon." Her voice turned stern,
"Answer me this time, How did Hobi or Jin know I was dead? If I was undercover, they wouldn't have known about my death at all at that plane crash. What are you people hiding from me?"

"Sunbae..."

"Don't even think about hiding something. I have left Jin just because he was too adamant to say it. Tell me or do you want me to find it by myself? You know I have ways."

Namjoon knew what Arya was referring to. She built the whole security system for the NIS database, it was child's play for her to break into the server and gather information.

"Are you blackmailing us, Sunbaenim?" Namjoon scoffed,
"Smooth."

"Think whatever you want. I want answers. Why would Jin remain silent whenever I asked him?"

"Let me ask you sunbae," Namjoon frowned, "How would you feel to answer something like that when you saw your partner die in front of your own eyes?"