Never Judge

"Did you get the information?" Al asked as he walked back to the residence with Angelo. 

For some reason, Angelo was acting out of character after returning with Yu Zimo and the child in Yu Zimo's arms.

Al didn't want to pry, but the child seemed relatively valuable. 

Zimo didn't even allow anyone to see the boy's face, nor did he let the child walk as he carried him to his house. 

"That was the information." Angelo sighed. 

"That's Ilya's child?!" Al asked, shocked that they had taken an innocent child. "We don't touch children, Angelo!" 

"No, don't misunderstand." Angelo said as he vigorously shook his head.

Angelo paced across the room as Al watched him and waited for his explanation. 

"I can't wait forever." Al hissed as he sat down on the couch, crossed his arms, and glared at his friend. 

"Okay, okay." Angelo said as he stopped pacing and sat on a chair opposite Al. "Yu Zimo is connected to that child and Ilya."

"Nikolai, that child's mother was my best friend and the woman I loved." Yu Zimo said as he suddenly appeared in the house.

He walked over to a hidden cabinet and took out a bottle of whisky and a glass for each of them. 

"Wait, earlier you told me that she was your best friend, now she's the woman you loved?" Angelo asked as he looked at Yu Zimo in shock.

Al on the other hand was the most confused person in the room. 

He massaged his temples as he could feel a headache building.

"Can you please tell me what's going on?" Al asked as he slammed his hand on the table. "I understand that we are here under your uncle's good graces, but we won't achieve anything if we keep secrets from one another."

Yu Zimo sighed and nodded. Agreeing with Al as he poured each of them a drink.

"This isn't laced, is it?" Angelo asked as he gave a suspicious look towards Yu Zimo making Al wonder what had transpired between the pair.

"I'd never." Yu Zimo said as he gave Al a glass as well.

"You just put a kid, whom you claim to love like your own, to sleep with drugs. I don't trust you with drinks." Angelo grumbled.

"It was necessary." Yu Zimo said in a sad tone. It was clear to Al that whatever Yu Zimo did to the child he did so unwillingly.

Al sighed, but took the glass and drank. It seemed like it was going to be a long night as he watch Yu Zimo's pained expression. 

"Her name was Ren, we were childhood friends and she was part of the underworld just like me." Yu Zimo sighed as he looked at his drink and took a big gulp.

Everyone was silent as they waited for him to say more. 

"She was part of my uncle's organization just as her parents were, and her grandparents before them, and so many generations before our time. Just like me, she grew up with violence and turbulence being a normal part of life." Yu Zimo explained. 

"Did your uncle know about her?" Al asked as he recalled how his father insisted that Cara be kept safe when he found out Al cared about her.

"He did, of course he did." Yu Zimo chuckled. "He loved Ren, she was his best agent from a young age, and together we were possibly the most powerful couple in my uncle's organization."

"So you were together?" Angelo asked, shocked by the sudden turn of events.

"We dated and we were arranged to marry." Yu Zimo said with a nod. "We weren't against the arrangement since we loved each other and we already planned on spending the rest of our lives together."

"What happened?" Al asked. "And how does Ilya come into the picture?"

"Growing up we were taught that no mission is routine, that circumstances could change at any moment and that we should be prepared for it." Yu Zimo sighed. "We were young, cocky, we had never failed a mission."

Yu Zimo looked down and closed his eyes. 

It was silent again as the man gathered his thoughts before emptying his glass and filling it up again. 

"We thought it would be a routine mission. We'd get the information and get out, just like we always did." Yu Zimo explained. "It was all going well until it wasn't."

Al frowned at Yu Zimo's words. 

He knew a lot of people who failed their missions due to overconfidence, it was a mistake he consciously made an effort not to make.

"She was supposed to simply listen in on a conversation, but she was made." Yu Zimo told them. "Her drink was drugged and I lost contact with her. She only surfaced the next day in the bed of the target."

"Ilya." Al hissed as it all made sense. 

Yu Zimo nodded and drank again. Al and Angelo gave each other a worried look, it would be bad if Yu Zimo got drunk tonight. They had a difficult and important meeting the next day and this man couldn't be compromised. 

"No woman in her right mind would reject Ilya Pavlov, back then he was handsome, rich, and popular." Yu Zimo explained to them. "He asked Ren to marry him and if she rejected her cover would have been blown."

"So she married him for the sake of the mission?" Angelo asked.

"She did, a few weeks later she discovered that she was pregnant, she introduced me as her gay best friend to Ilya so we could still be around each other." Yu Zimo told the two men.

"What happened to her? Did she–" Al asked before he was cut midsentence by Yu Zimo.

"Die?" Yu ZImo asked as he laughed hysterically. "On paper, yes, Ren Pavlov is dead, but in reality my uncle sent her far away, to a place she can't distract me."

"Where?" Al asked.

"Capital city." Yu Zimo said with a grin, catching Al off guard.