Chapter 19

Seohyun’s POV

I’m currently sitting at Taeyeon unnie’s bedside in the infirmary. I understand why YoonA acted the way she did. Even though she shouted at me, I can understand her pain. She lost her sister who got captured by saving her and now her parents got kidnapped. I think it is better to give her time to cool off and figure out what to do next. I looked at Taeyeon unnie who was still unconscious, she was obviously in pain. From what I had observe, her most severe injuries were not caused by YoonA. Someone had done something to her. By the way she acted, I think it had something to do with Tiffany. Break up can be extremely hurtful, I should know because right now I’m not even sure where my relationship with YoonA is heading.

“ Hmm Tiffany… ” I turned to Taeyeon unnie as she was stirring from her sleep

“ Unnie ” I said as I held her left hand

“ Tiffany don’t leave me, I’m sorry. Please forgive me. ” I felt her grip on my hand

“ Unnie wake up, it’s me Seohyun. ”

“ Seo… what? ” she said as she finally figured that I wasn’t the one she thought I was

“ Unnie are you okay? ”

“ I’m fine ” she tried to stand up but fail back down

“ Unnie your head got hurt badly, you shouldn’t move too soon. ”

“ I need to go, there are a lot of things that I have to do. ”

“ Stop, you won’t be able to get anything done with this much pain. ”

“ The ruler and his wife, my dad … I … I just really need to go. ”

“ Your dad? What happened to the general? ”

“ He… he was injured. ”

“ What? Did the people who kidnapped the ruler hurt him? ”

“ No he was… Seohyun where did the kidnapping happen? ”

“ The ruler and his wife were on their way to the sand nation but they never returned. ”

“ Yonghwa ” my eyes widen as soon as I heard that name

Jessica’s POV

Right now me and Tiffany are in the car, we want to reach the Sand Nation by midnight. We will start our mission as soon as the sun rise. I hope there won’t be any problem coming our way, but right now I’m troubled by Tiffany who is unusually very quiet.

“ Tiff is there anything wrong? You seem quiet. ” I looked at her. She insisted to drive the car saying that I wouldn’t be in my right mind to drive. But she seems to be the one who is losing it right now.

“ There is nothing. ” she smiled at me before turning back to the road.

“ Did you fight with Taeyeon? I have never seen you look so … stiff. ” I said trying to find the right word. This Tiffany is scaring me. The once bubbly girl turned into a boring quiet girl. This is really weird.

“ Jess can we have a nice peaceful car ride? I don’t want to talk about anything complicated. ” I looked at her. They must have fought. I really should talk with Taeyeon when I go back. Tiffany doesn’t deserve to be hurt. She is the most precious person to me.

“ Okay, I understand. ”

“ Tiff whatever happened, just know that I love you. ” I said as I patted her shoulder.

“ Love you too, Jess. ” I smiled as I heard her reply. Whatever happened Tiff, I will stay by your side. You are more than my bestfriend, you are my sister.

Author’s POV

Back at the hideout

" Unnie what are you going to do with the crystal when we have it? ” Amber asked Hyoyeon who was texting Jessica the direction and the person who can lead them to the crystal.

“ The crystal is strong enough to save Yuri from whatever my father in law and Yonghwa had done to her. We can use it to calm Yuri down. We can’t let her become their weapon. ”

“ Can’t I just do it? I’ve done it before. ” Amber asked curiously, she did save Yuri before.

“ No, you can’t !!! ” Sunny’s outburst surprise everyone

“ What do you mean I can’t? ”

“ Sunny is right, it is too dangerous for you. Yonghwa wanted to catch you before remember? ” Sooyoung said which earned a smile from Sunny. Sooyoung glared at her with an I still hate you face.

“ Yes beside you won’t be much help anyway, because Yuri’s full power had already unleashed. ” Hyoyeon said

Bang, the sound of a car door closing.

“ Unnie you drove the car like a mad woman. Why did you have to drive so fast? ” Everyone turned their attention to the commotion outside.

“ What’s going on? That sounds like Krystal’s voice. ” Hyoyeon said as all of them rushed outside

“ What … ” Hyoyeon was cut off by Nicole who rushed to hug her.

“ What’s wrong baby? You miss me already? ” she asked jokingly

“ Hyo I have something to show you. ” upon seeing Nicole’s serious face, Hyoyeon knew that something was wrong.

“ Alright, let’s go. Guys I have to go for a while. Sunny please take good care of them. ” Krystal looked at Amber and smiled before got in the car following her unnies.

The Fire Palace

“ What??? Tiffany, Sunny and Amber are sisters? ” Seohyun screamed in shock at Taeyeon’s revelation.

“ Yes both I and Tiffany just found out too. ”

“ And Yonghwa told you that? ”

“Yeah he made such a master plan. He set us up. He destroyed my relationship with Tiffany, hurt my father and kidnapped the ruler and his wife at the same time. ”

“ So your father killed their parents? ”

“ It appeared so. ”

“ I’m sorry Taeyeon unnie, this must be so painful for you. ”

“ It must be more painful for Tiffany. I just hope that Tiffany believe my father when he said that the ICE is the one who created the plot to destroy her family. ”
“ How did you know that? ”

“ My father told us. He is not a liar, so I believe every words he said. ”

“ What if Tiffany believe him too? ” Seohyun said as looked at the text that was sent to her by Sooyoung. She and Sooyoung had been updating each other about their conditions and their plans.

“ What do you mean? ” Taeyeon asked

“ Sooyoung just texted me that Tiffany and Jessica are on their ways to retrieve the crystal of colors from the Sand Nation. ”

“ No way, Tiffany would never hurt Jessica. They have the strongest bone as best friend. They are more like sisters. ” Taeyeon said in daze

“ Can we trust any bone now? Look at Jessica and her brother, Yuri and YoonA, you and your father. Unnie you guys are blood related for crying out loud. ” Seohyun said trying to get some sense into Taeyeon. Right now is not the time to trust anyone, especially someone who had gone through an emotional rollercoaster like Tiffany. If anything happened to Jessica or worse if the crystal fell into the wrong hand, it will be the end of Yuri. Seohyun got up and tried to leave when Taeyeon grabbed her hand.

“ Where are you going? ”

“ I have to go. If anything happened, I will be able to save Jessica. ”

“ I will go too. ”

“ No, you stay here and help YoonA. ”

“ But Tiffany …”

“ Listen unnie, I will save Jessica and I promise I won’t let anything happen to Tiffany. You have to promise me that nothing will happen to YoonA. Both of them are very emotional at the moment, they probably end up doing thing that they will regret. ”

“ I promise, I will look out for her. ”

“ Me too ” Seohyun smiled before she left

The ICE’s prison

Hyoyeon’s POV

We have arrived at the prison as Nicole instruct me to take us here. I have no idea why we are here. Is there anything happened to Yuri? But Seolhyun would have called me if there is. I looked at her. She just gestured me to be quiet and followed her. We had left Krystal to wait in the car. We walked from door to door. We passed one cell after another reaching deep into the prison. It had been long enough, I have to ask.

“ Baby where are you going? ” I asked, she suddenly pinned me to the wall and told me to be quiet. There were footsteps walking pass us, but Nicole shield us from their eyes. Oh did I forget to mention that she has the ability to create an invisible shield? As soon as the guards had gone, she passed me into one of the cell.

“ What is going on …” I lost my voice as I stared in terror at the lifeless body hanging on the chain in front of my eyes.

“ Seulgi ! Seulgi ! What… how …. What happened to her? ” I rushed to her and hugged her lifeless body.

“ Seulgi … Seulgi please talk to me Seulgi ” I kept shaking her lifeless form … no no you can’t be gone … Kang Seulgi, my bestfriend, my first love, my everything …

Flashback

My 18 years old me and 16 years old Seulgi.

“ Your highness, what are you doing? You can’t be here. ” Seulgi said as she pushed out of the gate of the barrack.

“ Why can’t I? ” I whined as I’ve been rejected from entering this place by her for so many times.

“ I’ve told you before. You’re a princess, you don’t deserve to be in a dirty sweaty place like this. ”

“ Neither do you. ” This is not the first time I’ve said this.

“ I’ve deserved everything that comes my way. ” This is not the first time she’s said that either.

“ Why? Because I am a princess and you’re not, that’s why we can’t be in a relationship? ”

“ Your highness, we’ve been over this. We are not on the same level. ”

“ Just because of that, we have to be apart. ”

“ Princess this is for your own good. Soon you will marry Ms. Nicole and I will leave this place. ”

“ I don’t love her. You can’t just leave me like that. ” She smiled and looked at the other three figures guarding the barrack’s gate.

“ I can’t just live them alone. ” I followed her eyes and that when I finally figured out. Seulgi didn’t reject me because of my father or because of I was a princess but because that girl who was staring back at her with the same loving eyes. Bae Joohyun.

“ I hate you ” I said as I ran away crying my eyes out.

Flashback end

“ Your highness? Is… is that really you? ” a weak voice responded to me

“ Seulgi what happened to you? All these years I thought you were living happily with the love of your life while forgetting about me. Why are you here? Who did this to you? ” I asked as tears keep streaming down my face. I cried harder as her head dropped on my shoulder lifelessly.

“ Seulgi ” what happened? I kept asking as I looked at my beautiful bestfriend whose body was covering in blood. Her face looked so pale that it looks like she had been in here for a long time.

“ Who did this? ” I gritted my teeth as I turned to look at my wife who was staring at me in concern.

“ My father ”

“ Hyoyeon wait ” I dashed out of the door. They went overboard. How could they do something like this to Seulgi? All of the people, why does it have to be her?