14 Preparation

***

[Agent Selene POV]

Tan-tan-tan-nan-nan-tan…

A sweet melody from that of a music box woke me up. Followed by Fae's usual robotic accent—my brooch that had been vibrating on my bedside table while playing my alarm sound.

"Good morning, Agent Selene. It's time to wake up."

I opened my eyes a bit and groaned from the morning's light.

"Urgh… I think I'm going to rest today, Fae. I'm beat. I want to hibernate the whole day. It's still Thursday, right? Tomorrow is our meeting with Chief Zeus, so I still have time to rest."

"The meeting with Chief Zeus is tomorrow, that is correct. But you have scheduled a daily routine of exercise, training, and—"

"Yes, I know. Cancel everything today."

"Canceling all schedules today… Schedules canceled. Your calendar is now free."

"Great, thanks. Now let me sleep some more."

…

…

…

Ring. Ring. Ring.

"Call incoming."

"Oh, come on!" I blurted out and jumped from my bed. "I'm just trying to get some sleep. How hard is that?"

"Should I decline the call?"

"Who is it?" I asked, pissed.

"Agent Helios is calling."

"What the—Is he so adamant about pissing me off even in the morning? What does he want?"

"That is outside of my abilities. It would be best to answer the call."

Sighing and rolling my eyes, I conceded, "Fine, put him through."

"Connecting call."

"Why does it take too long for you to pick up?" was the first thing he said. His voice sounded as unfriendly as ever.

"Because it's morning, and I'm probably still sleeping, right?" I replied in my most sarcastic tone.

"It's eight in the morning, and you're still sleeping?"

"I got tired yesterday, so of course I—"

"Ah, I see," he rudely interrupted me. "It seems I should apologize for tiring you last night."

"Huh?"

Wait. That sounded kind of…

"Oops. I mean, yesterday afternoon. I should have been a little gentle. I exhausted you too much."

This guy… he deliberately said it that way, obviously wanting to annoy me. And it's working. My blood was already boiling so early in the morning.

'Relax, Kim Ye-Ji. Don't let him ruin your morning.'

"Oh, whatever. Why did you call?" I asked.

"You reviewed the plan, right? Why do you still have no idea?"

"What? Of course, I reviewed it. Just spill it."

"Our marriage is next month, so we best prepare. Do you really think weddings happen in a snap of a finger?"

"Huh? I thought they hired people to arrange that?"

"Yes, but we still need to take care of things we're supposed to be taking care of. First and foremost, our families. We need to tell them about the wedding."

Oh, shoot! I almost forgot that part. My mom would definitely be shocked about this—and bombard me with lots of questions!

"Ughhhh…" I groaned and touched my temples. "Right… that part."

"How careless of you to forget," he scoffed. "Well, if you're not ready with your family yet, we can meet my dad first. He's available today, so get ready and let's meet on the ground floor in thirty minutes."

"Wait! Give me an hour at least. I need to prepare mentally and emotionally, and—what will I even wear? I don't have any idea how this goes."

"I figured that much," he sighed. "I already prepared everything, so just come down, and I'll give you a brief about it."

Wow. He already prepared? When did he get the time to do that? Oh well, at least that takes a whole load off my shoulders. What an excellent partner. He's very thorough when it comes to missions, huh?

"Alright. I'll meet you in half an hour."

I quickly got up from bed and dashed towards the bathroom. Once done bathing and trying to make myself look more presentable, I stood in front of my dresser, agonizing over what to wear. My wardrobe was filled with comfortable clothing for training, missions, and our uniform. The only casual attire I had were pants and shirts that I wear whenever I come home during weekends. I couldn't possibly wear those while meeting my soon-to-be-husband's father, right?

'Ugh… Just the word "husband" is already making me puke. We're really doing this marriage facade, huh?'

Brushing things off my mind, I grabbed my casual clothes and decided on them. If he complains about it, we could simply pass by the mall and buy something else.

Soon enough, I was downstairs, where he waited for me by the lobby, leaning on the wall. He was talking with someone on the phone.

"Good. We're arriving in a few, so get everything ready."

That was the only part I caught on to. He said goodbye after that. I wonder what it's about.

As soon as he noticed me, he smiled like the sweet, perfect boyfriend act he was pulling. I smiled back at him as sweetly as I could. After all, there were many people in the lobby at this time of the day, going in and out of their quarters to do their errands.

"We're using my car today," he said in a whisper. "I'll drive while I brief you on everything, so make sure to listen carefully. I don't like repeating myself."

"Yes, babe."

"Good."

After that, we went straight to the parking lot and his car, which turned out to be—oh my goodness!

"Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut!" I blurted out in my surprise.

My jaw dropped the moment I saw it. I'm a fan of fast cars, and I love Ferrari with all my heart but this car… it's the fastest model in the whole world that could run 330+ mph!

"How did you get one of these? There are only a few that was released in the whole world and what's more, the price—it's very expensive! Are you a chaebol (rich business family) or something?"

While I looked too astonished to see the fastest car in front of me, Agent Helios simply shrugged as if it was the most normal thing in the world for him. Was his family actually super-rich? Why did he decide to be an agent then? He may as well be some wealthy CEO somewhere instead of an agent.

My heart thumped loud in excitement after seeing the car. Aaahh… I want to drive it so bad. Unconsciously, I looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Can I please drive?"

But he raised his eyebrows and strictly said, "No."

WAAAA… Darn it!

"You need to focus on what I'll share with you, and you can't do that while driving."

"I can! I promise, I really can! Pleeeease."

I might have said that too loud since some of the agents nearby in the parking lot turned to us.

Seeing everyone's prying eyes, Agent Helios sighed deeply and sneakily rolled his eyes—but I noticed it, of course, since I'm not even a meter away from him.

"Ugh, why can't you just do what I say?" he murmured disapprovingly.

Then, lifting his face up and smiling—what a fast recovery from his real self—he replied to me.

"What can I do when my babe begs so cutely?"

Yuck. Look at that fake smile. It's making me cringe. I tried to smile back and continued bugging him. He couldn't say no to me now that everyone was looking.

"Fine. I'll let you drive on one condition," he continued.

"Yes! Anything."

Alas, his evil smirk.

"Kiss me."