Who I've Been Searching For | Sungjoy

Chapter 4: Hello Again

Joy threw the dossier onto her bed the moment she got back to her apartment. She had been so spaced out ever since she saw Sungjae's picture in the package.

She collapsed to the ground beside her bed, her hands covering her eyes as she bawled her eyes out. She had spent the last two years carefully burying her emotions and today, they all came back.

She would've liked to have said that she had gotten over him, but Sungjae had been such a big part of her life while she was a part of the special forces, she would have been lying.

Not that anyone ever asked about what she did before she joined the Close Protection trade. Like most of the other instructors, they had been transferred to the academy from other combat trades: infantry, armoured, artillery. No one had bothered to ask where the Ice Queen had come from.

But on the rare occasion that Joy missed Sungjae openly, she would scour the internet for any news about research and development for the military. She had hoped that his name or picture would come up.

But nothing came. No word. No secret letters or messages. Nothing for the past two years. Joy had been forced to accept that the military had done their best to completely separated them.

Which is why when she saw the dossier today, she had nearly lost her cool in front of Irene. Who was it that had requested her to protect Sungjae?

Why did he need protection? When did he join CUBE Division?

She had so many questions that needed to be answered.

But for now, she just needed to cry.

--

"Oppa, are you still here?"

Sungjae looked up but couldn't see anyone around him. He was in an unfamiliar laboratory, surrounded by weapons and other assorted equipment.

"Oppa?"

Sungjae turned around to face a woman with short hair, dressed in military fatigues.

"Just a minute," he heard himself say as he started typing on his computer. "I'm almost done with this."

The woman plopped herself down and looked at her watch. "Oppa," she started. "It's 2 in the morning. You need to rest."

"I'm almost there," he said.

"Oppa," she reached out and held his face with both of her hands. "Is this about The Breakthough?"

"Ah!"

Sungjae woke up with a start, sweat pouring down his face. He reached out into the darkness and switched on his bedside lamp. A warm orange glow filled the room as Sungjae wiped the sweat off his face with his hand.

It was that dream again. He's pretty sure that it's an old memory from before the accident.

He's been having that dream since he saw that woman on the television. The ambassador's aide? Assistant?

They're always in the same place too. That laboratory that seems so unfamiliar, yet he feels that he's been there before.

And there's the woman. She looks just like the aide, except she has shorter hair.

And she calls him 'oppa.'

Sungjae shook his head. He's pretty sure he didn't have a girlfriend. He had asked his sister about it when he woke up after the accident and she had laughed at him.

His mind is probably just using her face because he can't remember who was actually looks like.

He looked over at the clock beside him and realized that it was 3 in the morning. He had an important meeting with Dong Wook and Changsub tomorrow morning and he wanted to be well rested for it.