Secrets Untold: BTOB Minhyuk x CLC Elkie

Chapter 4 | The Partners In Crime

"HEOL... YOU REALLY ARE A STALKER."

Those were Minhyuk's words as Elkie stopped in front of his apartment building. "I am a secret agent."

"A double agent." he corrected while getting inside the car.

"Jeez. Stop stating the obvious."

"It is not obvious, obviouslyㅡand I can't believe you really know where I live."

Elkie smirked. "That's my weapon, Minhyuk. Learning secrets and whereabouts."

"A.K.Aㅡstalking."

She just shook her head.

"How did you know about, um, my..."

"Your secret?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah."

"I dig dirt and use it as a potential weapon. It's always better to know potential enemies or allies, their weakness and strength."

"SM could learn a thing or two from you. They should be careful about hiring. Who even takes care of human resources in the company?"

Elkie shot him a side glance. "If they were careful about it, both of us wouldn't be here now."

#

The meeting room was filled, not only of Minhyuk and Elkie's co-workers, but also balloons, food and drinksㅡand a cake. Minhyuk stared at the cake where someone wrote Thank You in a very neat handwriting.

"What's this?" Elkie asked. She really looked just as surprised as he was.

Changsub, one of the agents in the room, smiled warmly. "Just our way of thanking you. It's not everyday we get balloons in the meeting room."

The chairman cleared his throat. He was holding a glass of champagne. Minhyuk couldn't believe that the call had been to celebrate a false success.

"Without the both of you, we would have been invaded by YM. And for that, we are grateful." he said.

And then Sungjae put glasses of champagne in Minhyuk and Elkie's hands to make a toast. He clenched his free hand and while everybody else was celebrating with a smile, he shot a glare towards Elkie who completely ignored the invisible dagger and kept smiling fakely to everyone else.

"There's no need to throw a party for usㅡreally." she told everyone.

"Yeah, not needed." he agreed, forcing a smile.

The chairman placed his glass of champagne on the table and motioned his hands to the two of them. "I insisted," he said. "It's the least I can do for your hard work."

A series of agreement came from other agents. Minhyuk felt sick. This is all so wrong.

"And I might as well announce," the chairman said, making everyone pay attention to him again. "Since Minhyuk and Elkie worked so well together, I've decided to pair you up for another project."

"WHAT!" Minhyuk and Elkie exclaimed at the same time.

He cleared his throat and tried to keep a smile on his lips but it was too hard. "You guys don't have to do that."

Sohee, one of the agents, smirked. "Come on, just accept the adventure."

"Think of it as a gift to the both of you." Sorn said.

But how could getting stuck with a double agent a gift? How could going into a deadly mission be a gift?

After everything has calmed down, Minhyuk quietly headed to the rooftop to get some air. He definitely needs to breathe in a wider space.

#

Elkie followed Minhyuk to the rooftop quickly, "Minhyukㅡ"

"Why do I have to be in the middle of this?" he asked immediately, impatience in his voice.

She swallowed. "I'm sorry."

He snorted and turned away.

Elkie tried again. "Hey, there's a brighter side on this. We'll be partners in crime. Our secret stays between us."

He didn't say anything. Elkie went to stand beside him near the edge of the railings. The whole city was dull during the day.

"We aren't that different, you know." she told him, still looking beneath them. What if Minhyuk pushes her to fall? Then everything will be over and she'll be gone. She almost shivered by the thought that it's completely fine with her. "We both made huge mistakes in our livesㅡone that we know we'll regret in the end."

She noticed Minhyuk finally looked at her from the side of her eye. "You regret becoming a double agent?"

Elkie took a deep breath. "Everything." she said, "The amount of work I get. All the things I have to hide from everyone. All the lying. It's like once I've started doing all of these, I could never stop."

"There's no turning back." he said, and for the first time, Elkie felt understood even though she knows that Lee Minhyuk probably hates her. "Because you've come so far. No matter what you do now, something will go wrong."

She smiled bitterly, her blonde hair blown wildly by the wind. "Isn't that what our job is about? You know there's always something bound to go wrong. All you have to do is find your way around."

Elkie let out a sigh. "Life is a huge challenge, isn't it? We just need to learn to accept it and make things better. We actually don't have much choice on it, but this is the path we've been taking and like what you said, we've come too far to go back."

"How do you make things better when you're a double agent?" Minhyuk emphasized.

She rolled her eyes and turned to face him. His eyes were challenging her for an answer. "I know being a double agent means I'm not worthy of being trustedㅡbut I'm trying to set my priorities straight. It will take time, or that time might never comeㅡbut if we're working together, I hope you learn to trust me."

He just stared at her for a long while. Elkie shifted uncomfortably. She had always been a confident person, but maybe something about Minhyuk intimidates her because he knows her secret. It's not fair. He should feel intimidated by her, too.

"Wow," he said later. "You actually sounded nice for once."

Elkie grinned. "Oh, shut up."

They both chuckled and she felt lighter insideㅡbut then her phone rang to ruin the moment.

YM Chairman

She read and Minhyuk's eyebrow raised by reading that on her phone's screen. Elkie turned away and picked up the call.

#

Minhyuk stood meters away from Elkie but he could still hear what she was saying.

"Hello? Yes... Does it have to be right now?... I understand... I'll be on my way then..."

He slid his hands into his jean pockets. "I'm guessing you gotta go?"

Elkie sighed, "Yeah, getting a new assignment." she said and walked towards the door but before she closed it, Minhyuk called her name.

"Elkie,"

"Yes?"

"Well... good luck."

She gave him a closed mouth smile. "Thanks."

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