She had been driving for hours now, stopping only to refuel, to get to Seoul as fast as she could. She knew Yeonjung did not like to wait and, frankly, angering that woman was not on her to-do list. The sun was rising ever so slowly, bathing Heehyun in its light, who was next to a sleeping Doyeon.

Heehyun looked at her jeep’s electronic panel, 5:48 a.m., just a few more hours for them to reach Seoul, the road was almost empty but that wasn’t a surprise given the time. But that was not what concerned Heehyun right now.

Her chest felt constricted, like it was being squeezed to the point of physical pain. She tried to ignore it to the best of her abilities but for the past hour it had only gotten worse. She tried to divert the attention to something else, hoping that the pain would go away eventually, so she started thinking, reminiscing, about the times before she was plunged knee deep in the middle of this mess.

She remembers how her life used to be easier, when all she had to think about was training to get into that damned bodyguard training program just so she could be at Chaeyeon’s level. Reaching that position came along with many awards, honors and medals, but Heehyun did not care for those trivial things. She just wanted to share her moments with Chaeyeon.

It wasn’t easy, that was for sure, she had to train ever since she was a kid to be able to just DREAM of being selected. The bodyguard training program only allowed a select few to partake in it, the best of the best, since their job demanded absolute dedication to the protection of the government branches executive directors.

Or at least that is what it was before JYP came around and instituted the assassin association, effectively ending the bodyguard training program.

Heehyun was only 5 when she was taken from the streets, or so what was she was told since she doesn’t even remember her family. It was difficult at first, adapting to a new lifestyle, but as the years went by she grew up into a determined woman.

She met Chaeyeon when she was 13 and she instantly knew she had the biggest crush on her, and she totally could not blame herself for it, who wouldn’t fall for that shy smile? Heehyun was always bad at making friends, either she seemed too unapproachable or they moved away fearing her short temper.

But Chaeyeon was a whole other thing, the girl was the first one to approach her willingly and Heehyun was thankful for that, it made her days in there less miserable, it gave her other things to do rather than just lock herself in the gym until her knuckles turned red.

She even introduced her to her friends, Eunjin, Yebin and… Eunice.

“Ugh…”- a sharp pain erupted from the center of her chest, pulling Heehyun back from her mind and into real life.

She chose to ignore the pain again, forcing herself to breath in and out a couple of times before setting her eyes on the road ahead of her. The silence was becoming unbearable so she decided to turn on the radio, wishing that some music would distract her.

She stretched her finger to turn on the radio while she kept her right hand on the wheel, there was a buzz and the device .

“The sky should be clear for the rest of the week, with a few intermittent rains starting this Saturday”- The broadcaster sounded too bubbly for Heehyun’s liking, so she hoped he would shut up quickly.-“Let us enjoy some music now, we’ll be back with more local news in a few minutes”

Heehyun sighed, waiting for the song to start, she instantly regretted it.

A familiar tune, one that drove her crazy, started playing.

“Nal neomu neomu neomu!”

“ing hell!”- She clenched her hand tightly as her whole arm started to tremble and her muscles tensed, a couple of seconds later she opened her hand and violently smashed it against the panel, praying that one of her fingers would manage to touch the “off” button.

The music died down as soon as it started and Heehyun sighed for the nth time since the day started.

“Couldn’t have chosen a worse song to play at this god damned hour, could you?”- She was now talking to the radio, or to herself to be more concise, trying to get rid of the accumulated stress before she lost control and damaged her precious jeep. Something she would definitely regret doing.

A movement caught her attention in the middle of her rant, Doyeon was shifting in place, standing upright as she rubbed her eyes to fight off drowsiness.

“Good morning”-she decided to greet the tired looking girl -“How are you feeling?”

“Like , but thanks for asking”- Doyeon blinked a few times, successfully getting rid of her somnolence

“That was one hell of a drug, wasn’t it?”- Heehyun eyed Doyeon carefully, the girl seemed to still be affected by the same muscular fatigue she showed yesterday, although on a much lower level since she could at least form coherent sentences this time.

“I didn’t even know what it was, for real, they just told me to use it only if it was absolutely necessary”- Doyeon yawned before she lifted her feet to let them rest on top the glove compartment, earning a glare from Heehyun that immediately caused her to revert to her original position, before she cleared -“Thanks for saving me by the way, I don’t think I know you…”

“I’m Ki Heehyun, call me Cathy if you want, and I should be the one thanking you…”- Another sharp pain came from her chest -“I was from the previous north branch”

“The one that dissolved?”- Doyeon looked at her with her eyes full of curiosity and her lips halfway parted

“Dissolved? So that is what they told the others…”- Heehyun couldn’t help but to roll her eyes at the irony.

“Huh?”-Doyeon brought her face closer as if demanding an answer from Heehyun -“What do you mean?”

“Nothing at all…”- Heehyun decided to stop the conversation there, she was sure Yeonjung did not want anyone else learning about the north branch incident.

“Whatever”- Doyeon interest with Heehyun’s story vanished almost as fast as it had appeared -“Where are we going exactly?”

“I’m taking you back to Yeonjung.”- Heehyun noticed the way Doyeon eyes enlarged at the mention of Yeonjung’s name.

“Wait, what? I’m not going back with her, no way.”-Doyeon spoke fast, with a hint of fear in her trembling voice, as she shook her head frantically -“I’m thankful but if you saved me to bring me back then I’d rather go back to the dirty mansion”

“You don’t have the luxury of choosing”- Heehyun deadpanned. - “She gave me concrete instructions… if anything went wrong with your raid to the mansion I was charged with keeping you alive and bring you back to her… thankfully Chaeyeon did not go overboard and only wounded you”

She remembers the moment before Eunice and a wounded Jenny crossed the door. Mere minutes before Yeonjung had contacted her, telling her that a group of seven were on their way to the mansion. She didn’t tell her why or when but she made sure Heehyun understood that Doyeon had to come out of the fray unharmed

“Luxury my , I’m not going back and that’s final, stop the car now!”- Doyeon wasn’t listening and started to rise her voice. Heehyun was already struggling to keep her cool.

“Listen, if I don’t take you back, then everything I did was for naught”-Doyeon calmed down a little, probably to hear Heehyun-“Not letting that happen, sorry.”

“You can’t take me back there, please, I beg you, don’t take me back to her”-All her anger turned into fear.

“I’m really sorry, but I have to…”- Her decision was final.

It seemed that Doyeon had calmed down, that she accepted Heehyun’s decision, perhaps the rest of the trip would remain uneventful, at least that is what Heehyun would like. She breathes with relief.

But the world doesn’t usually agree with Heehyun, and this time is no different.

Doyeon starts trashing all of a sudden making Heehyun panic, the girl starts kicking and flailing her arms, Heehyun’s gaze switches wildly between the road and her companion as she tries to calm the furious girl down to no effect. Doyeon was out of control, screaming at the top of her lungs and Heehyun’s was already at her limit.

“For sake! Stop ing moving!”-She used both her hands to keep Doyeon in place, who, by now, had stopped screaming. That’s when Heehyun realized her mistake.

She looked back to the road just in time to see the car swerving to its left and about to crash into a big tree. Her hands automatically returned to the wheel as she stepped on the brake as hard as she could. The sudden stop caused her head to launch forward, slamming her forehead against the wheel.

Pain, anger, uncontrollable fury. Everything assaulted her at once, the crippling pain on her head preventing her from opening her eyes. After what seemed like an eternity the pain started to subside and Heehyun was able to finally take a breather. She opened her eyes and scanned her surroundings, she managed to stop the jeep in time before it hit the tree.

And now, after the pain was gone, only anger remained.

“This is what ing happens when you ing can’t stay still…”- She turned her head around violently, which caused another wave of pain to hit her, to talk to a girl that was no longer there.-“Where…?”

She looked around and there she was, Doyeon, trying to get away in the distance.

Heehyun got out of her jeep, ready to pursue. She started jogging a little to see if anything hurt, only when she confirmed being in top shape was when she broke into a sprint. Catching up to Doyeon wasn’t hard at all and Heehyun was already getting closer and closer to the runaway.

Just when she was about to grab her, Doyeon turned around and launched a surprise crescent kick aimed at Heehyun’s face. The kick was considerably slow so the redhead had enough time to raise her right arm to protect herself. Just like she expected, the kick was weak given Doyeon condition so it didn’t manage to overpower her defense.

Heehyun took her opportunity as soon as the kick collided with her arm, grabbing it before Doyeon could retract her leg, and aiming her free hand towards Doyeon’s neck at an impressive speed. Once she made sure that Doyeon couldn’t escape, Heehyun let go of her leg as she took her other hand to the girl’s collar and forced Doyeon against a tree, making her hit her head against it as a grunt escaped her lips.

“Listen here you little ”- Heehyun violently shook Doyeon again, making her hit the tree behind her one more time- “I did not ing kill one of my friends to get you out of there just so you can escape again… you are coming with me whether you like it or not”

Doyeon did not answer, opting to look down at her feet instead.

“Now follow me to the jeep, and don’t try anything else”- Doyeon only answered with a “hum”, with her head still hung low.

They walked in complete silence, stopping only when Doyeon had to catch up. Heehyun’s eyes never left the girl, fearful that she may try to escape again if she did. It didn’t take long, even with Doyeon’s turtle speed, to reach the jeep since they hadn’t run that much after all.

Heehyun had already seen her vehicle when she took notice of something… or rather, someone, a short haired girl with a dirty blonde was behind her jeep, inspecting it probably. She raised her hand in the form of a fist, gesturing for Doyeon to stop moving.

“There is someone there, get down”- She motioned with , exaggerating her lip movement so that Doyeon could understand. - “Stay here”

She started moving really slowly, moving from tree to tree when the person inspecting her jeep was not looking. Before she knew it, she was positioned right behind her. She looked back at Doyeon and saw that the girl decided to stay put. One less thing to worry about.

She took a step, then another one, the girl didn’t seem to notice her approaching. A few steps later she was directly behind the girl, at around an arm’s length. She whistled softly.

“Hwee” “Hwoo”

The girl started turning back, apparently concerned with the sound but without suspecting anything. Once her eyes met Heehyun’s everything changed. The girl’s right hand went to the side of her stomach, preparing a punch, while she lifted the left in an attempt to protect herself from Heehyun.

But the redhead had already planned that.

The girl launched a straight punch but Heehyun dodged it in a similar fashion to that of a boxer, tilting her head to the opposite side of the punch, in this case the left side, and then tracing a downward arc as she launched her own hook from her hip, brutally burying her hand in the stranger’s kidney.

The girl coughed and almost lost balance, supporting herself against the jeep. Heehyun saw this as another opportunity to attack, and maybe knock the girl out.

She threw a straight punch with her right, aiming at the face, but the wheezing girl dodged in thanks to a sudden surge of adrenaline. Rolling out of the way as Heehyun fist hit the cold metal of her own vehicle

“You ! My car!”- Was all Heehyun could manage to yell before she charged again.

She dashed with both feet and her guard up, using both hands to protect her head in case of an incoming kick. Her enemy, who was trying to regain composure, managed to react in time again, spinning in place to hook kick Heehyun on the face. Heehyun saw the girl starting the spin and brought her hand down, intending to dodge the kick instead of defend against it.

Her plan worked, the girl’s kick kept going as Heehyun dodged again in the same way she did before, but now, with her right hand, she aimed an uppercut that ended up connecting without resistance from the girl, since she was staggering and trying to recover her lost footing.

The impact sent the stranger flying backwards, landing in the asphalt road quite painfully. The girl grumbled, trying to get up again but failing. So she just laid there, breathing heavily as Heehyun started to approach.

“Who are you and why were you next to my jeep?”- She made sure the girl could hear her, but still maintained a considerable distance.

The girl didn’t answer and instead whistled, just like Heehyun had done to try to catch her attention, but this was different.

“Hwis”- it was short and sharp, like a blade cutting through the wind.

A few seconds later she could heard the sound of leaves crunching and shaking, three people came out of behind the trees, one porting an assault rifle and the other one with a common pistol, only that it was right next to Doyeon’s temple.

Heehyun’s hands went to her belt unconsciously, looking for either h