First Contact
Operation Chromea/n: Cool, we now have a cute poster thanks to Tookcyoo.
Tiffany honestly would never have, in a million years, guessed that she would start her first day of work in such a dramatic way.
Ever the alert agent, she was just about to dash upstairs when Mr Kim stopped her.
"It's okay. Let me handle it."
"But--"
The man sighed, looking tired. "It isn't any danger. It's just...Taeyeon."
Right there and then, Tiffany had a thousand and one questions but she held them in. The tense atmosphere swirling around the hall was enough of a warning for her.
"Well, I guess it is better for you to know about it early. Follow me. But stay back and watch me handle it alright?"
She nodded and stepped back, following closely as he hurriedly made his way upstairs. Tiffany thought she heard someone throwing some sort of vase on her way up.
"She's at it again?"
The lady standing outside nodded. She looked kinda terrified. Tiffany recognised the lady to be the Kim's house keeper.
"Call the doctor."
The master of the house then paused in front of the door to compose himself for a bit before, gently knocking on the door. "Darling? Are you okay inside?"
"GO AWAY!"
"It's Appa. Can I come in?"
"NO!"
Another smash was heard from the inside. Is such outburst a normal occurrence in this household?
"Please darling? Let Appa come in?"
"LEAVE ME ALONE. LET ME DIE."
"Darling...Appa is going to open the door now alright?"
Tiffany watched as he decisively pushed down the door knob, pulling it open.
What Tiffany saw next will certainly stay in her mind for a long, long time.
The door swung open and she saw her client looking all disheveled, collapsed on the floor of her bedroom holding a shard of glass against her already bloody wrist. Tiffany's inner protective instincts was just about to kick in when she remembered Mr Kim's earlier warning to stay back and watch. She had to hold it in, resisting the urge to scoop the girl in her arms and start treating that bloody wrist.
"Get out get out GET OUT!" The girl screamed at her father who hardly flinched. Instead, he inched over.
"Darling, why don't you put down the glass first? Appa and everyone else will leave you alone."
"But they wouldn't leave me alone. They keep coming for me. Even when I am sleeping. EVEN WHEN I AM SLEEPING!" She repeated herself, this time louder, before running the shard of glass against her wrist, drawing even more blood.
"Please, darling, please. Please listen to Appa. Put everything down first. Appa will talk to them."
Tiffany just couldn't take it anymore. While her client is bleeding away, her father is trying to sweettalk her out of it? She shook her head. By the time he got through to her, she might have bled to death. She was dying to put a stop to it.
And so she did.
She dashed into the bedroom and deftly pulled the shard of glass out of her client's hand, throwing it to the other side of the room. Her quickness caught her client off guard.
"DON'T TOUCH ME." Her client screamed, but really, Tiffany was not in the mood for this. Hardwired to keep her clients safe, once Tiffany Hwang gets in the zone, nothing can stop her.
"We need to get your wounds cleaned up, Miss Kim." She replied simply as she scooped her client in her arms. She was light and Tiffany lifted her up effortlessly.
"Who are you? Appa get her to let me down!" Her client was struggling, trying to push her away with her arms.
"Agent Hwang what are you doing!"
Tiffany ignored him. She told the housekeeper to fetch her the first-aid box before bringing the girl to the bathroom.
Inside the bathroom, she ran the tap. She ignored her noisy client as she worked to rinse the blood off her wrist. She examined the wound. It was pretty deep, but at least her client did not cut the vital arteries. She could stop the bleeding herself.
She snatched the first aid box from the house keeper and began treating the wound, merticously swabbing it with alcohol swab.
Being the (obviously) stronger of the two, Tiffany was able to fend off her client's weak punches and struggling. The screaming were a bit jarring to her ears but it was nothing she cannot handle.
By the time she dressed the wound, it seemed like someone else had arrived at the scene.
Her client was still struggling to break free but before Tiffany could even try to calm her down, that someone pulled out a needle and jabbed it on her forearm.
It was not long before her client lost her consciousness and slumped against Tiffany's chest, returning the mansion to its earlier morning calm.
"What are you doing!" Tiffany questioned the unidentified person.
"He is Taeyeon's doctor." Mr Kim replied, visibly angry.
"I have given her a tranquillizer to calm her down. She will be better after a while." The doctor said and observed the dressing. "Nice and neat dressing. You're trained in first aid?"
She scoffed. Of course, and I am better than you will ever be.
After putting her unconscious client gently back down onto the bed (everything had since been nicely cleaned up, courtesy of the housekeeping team), her new boss motioned for her to follow him to the study room. Everyone else were shooting dirty looks at her.
She knew what it meant. She had defied orders and pissed her boss off. On her first day of work.
==
"Do you know what you have done? I thought I told you loud and clear to stay back and let me handle it." Her boss shouted at her but Tiffany stood her ground.
"With due respect, my priority is to ensure the safety of my client. It is my duty to protect her and keep her safe. Safe from outsiders and safe from herself. I cannot just stand and watch her bleed."
The man paused and considered his options.
"I like you, young lady. Not many have defied my orders like this before. You have the fire. I think I can entrust my daughter to you."
"You certainly can."
"And I would. As you have seen, my daughter can be volatile. Keep her safe and sound, that's all I am asking from you. I can certainly make you a rich woman."
Tiffany pressed on a smile. "It's not always about the money, Mr Kim."
"That's where you're wrong. Money can certainly make the world go round. Tell you what, I will pay you extra on top of your usual salary. Direct payment. Your agency doesn't need to know about it."
What is he doing? This is a trap?
She remained unmoved.
"Doesn't it sound like a good deal?'
"Mr Kim, like I have said, it's not about the money for me. I take every client seriously. You can check my track record."
"Of course I did. Otherwise how else would I get the almighty Agent Hwang to be a bodyguard for my daughter? You know what? I really like the way you work, young lady. If you ever change your mind, you can always come back to me. Having some extra cash is never a bad thing."
"Thanks for the compliment, Mr Kim. If you have nothing else for me, I will get back to work. I would like to look around the mansion if you don't mind."
"Most definitely. You can get Lee to bring you around. When Taeyeon is awake and feeling better, I will introduce you to her again."
"Sure."
==
And back to work she went.
This morning's event came as a shocker to her really. No one told her that she was dealing with an emotionally unstable client who also happened to be suicidal. Were they really waiting for something to happen before they tell me about it? Nothing in her file suggests that she has any mental issues!
Tiffany hated being unprepared. Ideally, she would want to have as much information as she can get from every client that she worked for. Whatever happened this morning certainly felt like someone dropped a bomb on her.
She made a mental note that she needs to be extra vigilant when it came to this particular client. She is going to have to stay alert and take extra care.
She walked around the mansion, surveying for potential blind spots or security loopholes in which people could enter. She had sent Yuri and Yoona to check on the central surveillance room while Sooyoung was doing setting up their office for operations. Her team will be working alongside the existing security team under the Kims.
The mansion itself seemed to be sufficiently secure. Tiffany was pleased with it for now.
"Black Pearl to Pink Pig, Black Pearl to Pink Pig. Boss, can you hear me? Over."
She smiled and pressed the earpiece closer to her ears.
"Yes I can hear you loud and clear, Black Pearl."
"Good. I have secured this channel specifically for our team. For communications with the Kim's security team, use channel two instead."
"Roger. Let's all have a quick meeting in ten minutes. There is something I need to talk to all of you about."
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