Passion and Power

Chapter 72

The trip home from the island was a long one. Starting out, Hanni was still buzzing from the pleasures of being on the island and all the time she had alone with Minji. But the further they got from the island, the more she could feel Minji's tension rising. She became steadily laser-focused on the task of bringing down Taehyung. She watched her poring through files on her computer, typing away rapidly and hardly sleeping. Hanni wanted to still Minji's hands and tell her it would all be OK. But she knew from the look in Minji's eyes that it was pointless. And the sooner they could be home and Minji could focus on her mission, the sooner she could put it all behind her and hopefully find peace.

When Kai picked them up at the Seoul airport, they were nearly dead on their feet due to the marathon series of flights and layovers as they crossed oceans and countries. Still, Hanni couldn't help but notice that Kai was fighting back a smile as the two women more or less collapsed into the back seat of the car.

"Kai, what's with the face?" Hanni teased. "Have you been talking to a certain friend of mine - or are you just happy to see us?"

"Both." Kai blurted, allowing the suppressed grin to spread, yet quickly attempted a change of subject. "Oh, and I hear congratulations are in order, ma'ams."

"Thank you, Kai." Minji said, allowing a small smile to creep across her face. She reached for Hanni's hand and gave it a squeeze, but then quickly reached into her carry-on and pulled out her laptop. Within moments she was typing away.

"And how about you? Any news you'd like to share? Particularly related to my bestie?" Hanni hadn't had time to quiz Yunjin about Kai since she'd been out of cell service for more than a week. At the first opportunity she had with reasonable cell service and the correct time zone, Hanni had barely a chance to tell Yunjin the story of her engagement before she'd lost service again. But she had her fingers crossed that they would see each other soon now that she was back and the celebrating and media circus of the World Cup win was dying down.

"Um, you'll have to speak with Yunjin for more details." Kai said, working hard again to suppress a smile.

"Very discreet, as always." Hanni gave Kai a wink in the rear view mirror. "But you can't hide the sparkle in your eyes!"

"No comment." Kai mumbled and kept eyes focused on the road.

Hanni smiled over at Minji to share a laugh with her about their mutual friends' developing relationship, but then immediately saw that Minji was already so absorbed in her work that she hadn't even noticed their exchange. Hanni resisted calling Yunjin as they drove, not wanting to make Kai uncomfortable. Well, more than they already were. She sighed and let her head rest on Minji's shoulder, closing her eyes against exhaustion. Minji paused to kiss the top of her head and then quickly went back to work.

***

When they got to Minji's place, Hanni convinced her to stop work for the night. They fell together into bed, completely exhausted from the journey. Hanni wrapped her body around Minji's to reassure her, but could feel her unease.

"Hey." Hanni kissed the back of her neck. "You OK?"

"I was able to get a meeting with Director Choi from the National Intelligence Service. I worked with him on...your kidnapping rescue."

"Oh...wow." Hanni gulped, her mind suddenly flashing to being trapped 4 stories underground, with increasing threats from Minji's brother.

"I'm sorry, Hanni..."

"Don't." She whispered, giving Minji a light kiss on the back of her neck. Neither woman wanted to go further down that path at the moment. They had enough on their plates.