Waterfalls || Yeonbin

chapter 42: complete

Continuing on February 1, 1941

We spent all night and into the morning deciphering the messages from the previous day. Yeonjun brought a map from his office to pin where all of their ships were, knowing that the newfound information is really important. We're completely exhausted, but we weren't about to slow down. We needed to decipher hundreds of messages from the day before, and only having one Enigma machine doesn't make the process faster.

When we finally finished, everyone took a few seconds to breathe as the adrenaline of the night faded away. The sun was just rising over the horizon when I looked out the window. Yeonjun looked at me, seeing the bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, but he still smiled fondly. He looked at me like he was proud; like he was relieved; like he was so in love. I smiled back at him with the same thoughts in my head.

"There are only six people in the world that know the locations of every ship in the Atlantic..." John started, making Yeonjun and I come out of our little trance. He smiled as he continued, "And they're all in this room."

Everyone lightly chuckled, "I need to make some telephone calls. Everyone is going to be thrilled to hear about this." Yeonjun said, walking over to grab his coat from the coat rack.

I widened my eyes, hurrying over to Yeonjun so I could stop him. I grabbed his arm, noticing the confused expression on his face as I said, "You can't tell anyone."

He raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me? I understand we are all sleep deprived—"

"What's going to happen when we suddenly know the secret location to all of the German's ships? What will they think when we're surprisingly prepared, even though we shouldn't be?"

Yeonjun stilled for a moment, still seeming confused. Jisung spoke before Yeonjun could, "They'll know we broke the unbreakable."

Hugh sighed, rubbing his eyes as he added, "They will be able to change the design of the machine in less than a day and we'll be back to square one by midnight... Over a year of work will be worth nothing."

Everyone was silent, trying to absorb the reality, "This must be kept a secret. Even from our own soldiers." I said, breaking the quietness in the room.

"We cannot let people die..." Joan spoke up, all of us turning to her, "Are we supposed to just sit on all this information while more and more soldiers are dying?"

"We have to be strategic about this..." Jisung replied, "With important information comes the highest responsibility."

"Would statistics work?..." Hugh asked, "We sit down and do the maths. Information can only be sent out that will maximize our success in the war but won't set off Hitler."

I pondered for a moment, "That could work..." I started, locking eyes with Hugh, "With every secret attack the Germans are planning, we need to have a different fake source of getting that information. That way Hitler will think that we're getting it from a leak in his system."

John spoke up, "We need to have certain variables that contribute to the success or the battle on our side."

Joan added, "I remember a formula I learned—"

"Everyone stop!..." Yeonjun raised his voice from behind me, making all of us turn to him. He pointed to himself, "I am still in charge here..." He started, looking at each of us, "I know we haven't slept in twenty-four hours, and that's unacceptable. I need all of you to be in your best mental state when you're doing a job like this. You cannot possibly make formulas and decisions in this state..." He said, making my eyes soften. I honestly thought he was going to be mad at us from the way he originally stopped us, "When Commander Denniston comes, we have to tell him or else he'll shut this unit down. Agreed?"

We all nodded, letting Yeonjun continue, "We'll explain to him how only the highest officials must know about this, and then everyone will go home and get some sleep. We can reconvene at lunch break to decide the best plan of action and to start deciphering messages coming in today. Good?"

All of us nodded again, watching Yeonjun take a little sigh of relief.

. . . . . . . . . .

As soon as we got back to my house, we spread ourselves on the mattress from pure exhaustion. We didn't even take our clothes off, wanting to get some sleep before we must go back to work later. We have off until around one o'clock since we didn't get any sleep last night, and Yeonjun knew everyone needed some precious sleep.

The weight shifted on the bed, feeling Yeonjun snake his arms around my waist from behind as he remarked, "I set the alarm to make sure we wake up eventually."

I hummed in response, too sleepy to comprehend much at this point. The lack of sleep is really getting to me, my eyes have been heavy for the last few hours. It felt so nice to finally shut my eyes, "Darling, I'm so proud of you." Yeonjun suddenly said, not knowing how much time had gone by in the silence.

I softly smiled, moving my hand from the sheets to Yeonjun's which was resting on my stomach. I interlaced our fingers, quietly replying, "I'm proud of you too."

I felt Yeonjun kiss my nape, "Sleep well."

I softly smiled, rolling over to face Yeonjun. I could barely open my eyes since they were so heavy, but I could see exactly where I could bury my face into Yeonjun's chest, and that's exactly what I did. Yeonjun's grip tightened around me, "You're alright..." He kissed my cheek, "I've got you."

I felt Yeonjun pull one of his hands away to bring the blankets higher over us to keep warm. I nuzzled my head closer, getting more and more comfortable by the second. God, Yeonjun is just so perfect.