For Your Protection- Sookai

The Reunion

Hyuka rushed home. There was so much on his mind and he was dying to not think about it. A beer and a cold shower sounded good. Perhaps a workout or two before that. What he found waiting for him was even better. "Oh my god! What are you doing here?!"

Taehyun hugged his best friend as tightly as he could. "I landed an hour ago!"

Hyuka pulled away and still couldn't believe his eyes. "And you didn't tell me?!"

"I thought this would be more fun. I was right!"

"Seriously! What are you doing here?!"

"Word travels fast. The NYPD contacted our department and figured you could use some help. Unlike you though, I'm not here undercover."

"The NYPD knows I'm undercover?"

"Only the top brass. No one that you talked to today." Taehyun unzipped his suitcase and pulled out a picture frame. Two little footprints were in the center of the canvas with "Eli" sloppily written in the corner. "Here you go."

Hyuka hung it up next to the one with the baby's handprints. It was hard to believe humans were that small once. "How's Lia doing?"

"She's fine. She's more worried about you actually. You're the one undercover."

"Did she hear about the recent attempt?"

"No but it's only a matter of time. The Chief is expected to address the media soon."

Hyuka sat down after grabbing a can of iced tea from his fridge. Taehyun sat down next to him with an open laptop pulled from his bag. "What do the police have? Still nothing?"

"Nothing. The poisons aren't even the same between each attempt. What has Soobin told you?"

"Nothing either. He said he expects his parents to force him into hiding since they fired his bodyguards. That reminds me! Can you pull up who they were? I swear I've seen one of them before and the guy knew I was a cop."

Taehyun began furiously typing away. "And how's the internship been? Hell?"

"I uh... I already got the job."

Taehyun stopped typing to see if the taller was serious. "How exactly?"

Hyuka finished off his can then tossed it into the recycling bin. "I don't know. It's probably because I saved his life. I could smell the cyanide."

"Yeah probably." Taehyun shrugged then began to type some more. "So you work for Soobin then. Who do you think will be Beomgyu's intern?"

"I don't know. It's hard to tell."

"Oh. Before I forget, do you want to see a picture of the guy Lia is setting you up with? She's really excited about it."

"Sure?"

Taehyun pulled up the profile then slid his phone over. "He's really funny. I met him a while back. His name is Yeonjun Choi."

Hyuka's guts tightened when he heard "Choi". His face remained blank while scrolling through Yeonjun's Instagram. Though the other Choi was very attractive, he wasn't Soobin. The more photos he saw, the more he questioned why a person with supermodel looks was single. "What's wrong with him?"

Taehyun grinned. "There's nothing wrong with him."

"There's gotta be something wrong with him."

"Hyuka, I'm telling you. He's fine. He knows what you do for a living too and he's okay with the distance issue."

"You guys told him about me?"

"Not intentionally. He's actually the one who wanted the date. Lia met him at work. He's a doctor so he doesn't exactly have a lot of free time either."

Hyuka sat there confused. A single hot doctor didn't sound right to him. He was still convinced there was something wrong with this guy. "And how was I brought up?"

"She invited him over and he saw all the pictures of you? I don't know. Like I said, I only met him once but he was very very interested in meeting you."

"Well I'm going to be here for a while so he shouldn't hold his breath."

"What's wrong? Do you not like him?"

"He's fine."

"Hyuka. Come on. What's bothering you?"

Hyuka slid the phone back. His arms crossed over his chest while he contemplated on telling Taehyun everything. After a long minute of silence, his body relaxed. This was going to be embarrassing to say but if anyone could help him through it, it was his best friend. "Soobin tried to kiss me. Twice."

Taehyun slammed his laptop cover down then grabbed his gun. "Wait here! I'm going to kick his ass!"

"No! It wasn't like that!"

"Oh... OH!"

"Yeah..."

"What do you mean tried? Why'd you turn him down?"

"Because he likes Kai. He doesn't like me. He's going to be pissed when he finds out I've been lying to him."

"How much did you lie about?"

Hyuka thought back to everything he said in his short time in New York. "Not much? Just where I was from and my resumé."

"That doesn't sound so bad. Normally I'd say go for it but I wouldn't. Not because of the whole identity thing but because he's your boss. If it ends badly and you lose this job, we're screwed."

"That's what I was thinking."

Taehyun flipped his laptop around so they could both see the screen. "Which one concerned you?"

Hyuka pointed to the shorter one with a slim face. The last name read "Lee". The first name didn't give any further clues as to why he swore he knew him. "Can you have the department send me a short file on him? I want relatives and to see if any of them have records."

"Will do."

"Where are you staying?"

"One of the sergeants offered to take me in. The space is nice and all but he has four kids. It gets loud over there so if you don't mind, I'm probably going to hang around here for a while."

"Sure. It'll be just like the good old days."

"Yeah. Just like the good old days." Hyuka got up and grabbed his keys. "Want a pizza or something?"

"Sure. Grab a bottle of sprite will you?"

"The darkest bottle of coke I can find then. Got it."

"Fuck off."

Hyuka walked out in a great mood. The little pizza place two blocks down was the best he's ever tasted. A little expensive but worth every penny. After placing his order, he sat on a metal chair to wait. The pizza was out in no time. He happily took it then left back towards his place.

Taehyun was emailed the list of names that Hyuka requested from their department. The "Lee" family was filled with criminals. Most were minor like petty thefts and drug use. Those were eliminated from the suspect list. Only five remained. One of which was the bodyguard's estranged son. He knew he had seen him before too. It wasn't much to go off of but "Heeseung Lee" became suspect number one.