Connected

Asset Acquired

I was a ball of nervous energy the rest of the day, and barely slept that night. The next morning I was doing everything in my power to keep my mind occupied. That meant that my apartment ended up cleaned, top to bottom.

A half an hour before the meeting time, I locked up my apartment and headed out. The cafe was only a ten minute walk, but I wanted to get there early.

When I walked up, Lee Know was already at a table out front. I sat down across from him and he slid a tea cup my way.

"Chamomile and mint." He put his own cup down. "For the nerves." An eyebrow rose slightly.

"Thank you." I took a sip. The mint immediately hit my nose and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"You have it then?" I placed the cup back on the saucer and leaned back in the chair.

He nodded, "Of course." He reached down to his side and pulled out a small bag. He placed it on the table and slid it to me.

It was a small blue gift bag with tissue paper sticking out. He smiled and tilted his head slightly, waiting for me to open it up.

Inside the tissue was a small hair clip. My brows pulled together as I lifted it out of the paper. My eyes went to Lee Know's, "A hair clip?"

He nodded, "Puppy and Fox said you look best when your hair is up."

"Oh," I said in surprise. "Our mother used to say that all of the time."

Lee Know leaned forward and held his hand out. "May I?"

"Oh, umm, yeah, sure." I held the clip back out to him and he took it, getting up.

He came to stand next to me and bent slightly. His fingers found several strands of stray hair and pulled them back securing them with the clip.

He leaned even closer and I shivered when his breath hit my ear. "A shame you will end up breaking it."

My eyes widened and I turned to watch him go back to his seat. "Puppy and Fox were right. You do look best when your hair is pulled back."

I felt a slight heat rise to my cheeks at the flattery and looked down into my teacup. "Thank you."

"Keep it safe until then. Then you have about 5 minutes to upload and then about 15 minutes before they show up."

I nodded, making a mental note to make sure that Felix and Hyunjin were preoccupied by the time the upload finished.

I tapped the side of the teacup. "And you're sure you want everything to happen just like this?"

He nodded and took another sip from his cup. "It's time for us to start making some bigger moves. If we don't, people just keep living without even the knowledge that they have a choice. It's time to shake things up again."

He put the cup down and put a few bills on the table. "You will do wonderfully. Keep to the plan and lead them right to me."

He stood up, "Oh, and Y/N?"

"Hmm?" I met his eyes trying not to shake from nerves. "Ensure that your friends are not involved in any way."

I nodded in understanding and looked away, not wanting to watch him leave.

I sat for a while by myself finishing off the tea that Lee Know had paid for and took several deep breaths.

I jumped when my phone buzzed on the table and I picked it up and unlocked the phone. I opened the messages app and clicked on the sunshine emoji. 'We still have brownies left if you want to come back over.'

I smiled and hit the phone button. He answered before the first ring even finished. "The promise of brownies too much for you?"

I scoffed, "Your recipe? Always."

He giggled, "So, are you coming over then?"

My eyes fell on the empty chair across from me, "Sorry Lixie, I can't make it tonight. I have a paper coming up and need to be up for my time in the morning."

"Awww."

From further away I could hear Hyunjin ask, "What did she say?"

I imagined Felix turning around as his voice got quieter, "She said no."

"Lame," Hyunjin yelled.

"I'm sorry. Blame school. Besides, I was just there yesterday."

The phone got silent for a second, "Umm you still there Felix?"

"Yes, sorry. I know you were. But, that's when everything happened and you left so quickly."

"Speaking of which, how is that going?"

"Good!" Hyunjin yelled again.

I giggled, "Speaker phone?"

"Yeah, hang on." I heard Hyunjin protest slightly then fabric over the mic before Felix finally said, "Ok, so..."

After I had left they had talked about how they both had feelings for each other. Felix being the cinnamon roll that he is told Hyunjin that he didn't want to move too fast. Hyunjin being the gentleman that he is, agreed. They had spent the rest of the day cuddling and holding hands. They had kissed a couple times again, but without the immense surprise element.

"Felix, that's great. I'm so happy for you guys." I traced the pattern in the teacup saucer with my finger. "See, even more reason for me to not come over."

He groaned, "Hyunjin was right- lame."

"Look, I will be over Thursday. We can eat the brownies for dinner before Hyunjin's approved time."

"That's two whole days away."

"I know, but it's the best I can do Lixie."

"Fine, but if they all get eaten before you get over here, it's not my fault."

"Fair enough. Lixie, I gotta run."

"Fine, but come over earlier on Thursday."

I stood up from the table, "I'll see what I can do."

He hung up the phone and I stared at the little sun emoji. Then I unassigned the picture, leaving a blank circle with a Green letter F in it.

I walked away from the restaurant and scrolled through until I found Hyunjin's number. I clicked on his picture and deleted the weasel gif I had saved as his icon. Once finished I locked my phone back up and slid it into my back pocket.