“Please be here..” Minju exhaustedly said after parking her car near the abandoned building. She took a peek at her phone seeing that it’s already 1 AM so she didn’t even waste time and tried calling Yujin again as soon as she got off of her car. “Babe please pick up the phone.” She whispered and looked up the floor where they usually hang out to check if Yujin’s there but all she can see is darkness.

Minju entered the building with her phone still on her ears, hearing only the dialling tone.. She started going up the stairs as worry is the only thing she can feel right now.

As soon as she reached the top, her eyes started getting teary when she saw the girl she’s been searching for. Yujin was sitting at the edge of the floor and by just looking at her back you can see that she’s fine and even humming a little song while looking up the sky.

Seeing this just made Minju feel a lot better that she can feel a heavy thing lifted up from her chest.

She ran up the stairs so fast that it made her out of breath so she weakly whispered. “Yah~ why aren’t you answering your phone?” Minju manages to say even though she’s feeling a lump forming in . This leads to her voice cracking.

Yujin turn around. She was wearing a smile after hearing Minju’s voice but soon fades when she saw the love of her life already in a verge of breaking down. Yujin pulled her legs up and frantically went to Minju’s aid.

“Why aren’t you answering your goddamn phone?! You’re making me insane thinking that something might have happened to you!” Minju exclaimed and her legs starting to feel weak and was about to fall onto her knees but Yujin was fast enough to catch her and embraced her.

“I-I’m sorry.. I left my phone at your place.” Yujin worriedly answered. She felt Minju’s weight so she slowly bends down so she can let her girlfriend sit and rest on the floor. “W-what’s wrong?” Yujin asked as she fixes Minju’s dishevelled hair. She notices some bruises from her cheeks, her lips are busted and there’s blood coming from the open wound in Minju’s forehead.

“What happened?!”

26 hours ago..

11:50 PM

“Tell me what you saw in there!” Chaewon frustratingly asked her friends, she’s been asking them this for the nth time already but the three keeps their mouth shut. “You went in there with the intention of killing her men but why.. Why did you came back defeated and..”

Chaewon sighed as she stared at the woman sitting next to Hyewon. “You came out with her..” She pointed at Kwon Eunbi who has her head looking down on her hands.

After the talk with Yujin in the car her friends came out the building but to her surprise she saw how they were running, more like escaping, and telling them to start the engine immediately. They all looked exhausted and in addition to that, Eunbi is suddenly with them.

Chaewon already has this feeling that somehow.. maybe there’s a little chance that Hitomi was with her but why.. Why did they come out with Eunbi only? The CEO started biting her nails as she felt her heart beating fast.

“Was she with you?” Chaewon asked Eunbi but didn’t bother looking at the said woman. “Is Hitomi with you inside that building?” She started pacing back and forth in front of her CEO chair and her eyes are glued on her phone, which she’s calling Hitomi at the moment. She’s been calling her nonstop since they came back but Hitomi isn’t answering at all.

“Sakura unnie?” She didn’t get any answer from Eunbi so she asked her friend instead but the latter was also out of her mind and is busy thinking about something else. “Minju?” She then turned to the girl who is currently shaking her right foot and is also out of it. She wanted to ask Hyewon but the girl is busy calming her lover who looks shocked too.

“Dmn it! Argh! Guys! Please! Is it that hard to answer me?!!” She shouted and this brought her friends back to reality. “Is Hitomi safe?! Please tell me she’s not with that psycho btch!” She added referring to Minju’s mom.

Her friends just looked at her with pity in their eyes. They don’t have words to say after what happened inside the building..

“No no no! Fck! Don’t give me those look. Please don’t.” She started crying and she even fell to the floor. Minju went next to her and helped the older girl stand up. “Minju, please tell me she’s okay.. Hitomi.. She’s okay right?” Chaewon asked while holding on tight to Minju’s arms.

Minju regretted looking back to Chaewon’s pleading eyes. She felt her heart ache as she remember how this is exactly the state that Chaewon was in when she thought Hitomi died before, the heartbreak and pain is visible on Chaewon’s face.

“We don’t know.” Sakura was the one who had the courage to answer and Chaewon immediately turned to her direction. “Hitomi is indeed there..”

Chaewon went near Sakura, she was in haste that she even crawled to get near the girl, she then held on to Sakura’s legs. She’s still kneeling on the floor. “Tell me she’s fine.. Huh? Unnie.. Tell me she’s okay.” Chaewon said and looking at the older girl with hope in her eyes. She’s expectantly waiting for Sakura’s answer.

“She’s badly hurt Chaewon-ah. When we got there.. we didn’t know that they’ve got Eunbi and Hitomi as their hostages. We were outnumbered too, we were wrong to assume that she has a small group.” Sakura said.

“O-okay.. S-so.. We overestimated our enemy.. Alright.. Making you have no choice but to retreat.. I understand that part.” Chaewon’s hand was back to , biting her nails as she’s thinking about what Sakura said. “I get it.. Yes.. You need to escape.. But what I don’t understand is why is Hitomi not with you?” Chaewon asked and looked straight to Sakura.

“You all managed to escape! Eunbi manages to escape too! But why! Why is Hii-chan not with you?!”

“Listen..” Sakura tried to calm Chaewon down.

“Unnie! How can you abandon Hii-chan there?! Why! Why is Eunbi here instead of Hitomi?!”

“Chaewon listen first!” The Japanese girl raises her voice at the same tone as how Chaewon is shouting right now, It’s the only way to make the CEO stop from venting her anger. She forcefully made Chaewon to look at her by grabbing her by her shoulders. “They started attacking us..” Sakura whispered as she lost her strength from thinking about what happened to them earlier.

“I thought a day will never come where I can easily admit defeat.. But Chaewon-ah, it was hard.” Sakura’s voice cracks as she said her last sentence. “How can I protect others when I can’t even stand to fight for myself? Even Chaeyeon got badly hurt and I can’t do anything.” She started crying as she think of her blondie badly hurt and is in the hospital right now with Yujin.

“As for Hitomi.. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry..” She said as she bows her head. Chaewon then looked at Hyewon who also did the same, even Minju can’t look straight at Chaewon’s eyes as she was occupied dealing with her mom during that time. “She was badly hurt Chaewon-ah. She doesn’t have the strength to even escape.. To the point that she already given up and told us to leave her.”

Chaewon felt her world crumble by what she just heard. She’s angry at how Hitomi gave her life up just like that and she even felt betrayed by how her lover thought of leaving her all alone again..

She doesn’t even want to think of how Hitomi struggle in there where she doesn’t have anyone to depend on. She doesn’t have a Sakura who protects her blondie, or a Hyewon who does everything for her Eunbi and a Minju who makes Yujin feel safe whatever happens. She feels devastated at how useless she is.. She can’t imagine how Hitomi must be feeling so scared and alone there.

She just barely recovered from her misery but now it’s here again..

The sound of Chaewon’s crying was the only thing that can be heard in the whole room. The rest were extremely feeling guilty as they watch their friend mourn for Hitomi once again..

It took Chaewon an hour to calm herself down. She’s still on the floor sitting and her mind went completely blank. The atmosphere has become really heavy at what happened.

*Riiiiinggg*

The sudden sound breaks the silence and made everyone search for it. It was Minju’s phone and an unknown number is calling her, she gulped as she has a hint of who might it be. She glanced at Sakura and Hyewon asking them what to do, they only gave her a nod so she answered it and turning on the loudspeaker.

“Ttal~” A familiar voice spoke as soon as the call was answered and then laughed after saying that. “Why did you run? You even left something~” The woman added.

**Ttal means Daughter**

Everyone looked at Chaewon whose back is facing them. Even though they can’t see her face they can notice how this made the CEO upset, she lowered her head and clenched her fists.

“You should come and dispose it Minju-ya~ You see, I’m not that kind of mother who cleans up after her daughters’ mess. You should come and clean it yourself.” Her mother said. What she said already makes everyone angry because of how she addressed Hitomi that way.

“You shouldn’t play dirty like that.” Minju said to her mom. Referring to how she used Eunbi and Hitomi as hostages.

“Oh that? Eyy~ C’mon isn’t it a normal thing already? Abducting? Hostages? I’m just trying to cope up with the trends.” The woman casually said. “Plus! I didn’t even sweat bringing them here since they came willingly.” Minju’s mom added. Her tone is very cheerful that Minju wishes to break for her not to be able to speak again.

“Willingly?” Hyewon asked Eunbi beside her but the girl just lowered her head even more.

“Anyway, mommy’s waiting for you~ Come visit me anytime okay? You should avenge your friend too, am I right?” The woman said on the other line. Minju closes her eyes shut as she hates how her mom has control over the situation. The call ended and the silence came creeping in again.

“You guys owe it to Hii-chan.” Chaewon whispered. “You owe it to me..”

Sakura, Hyewon and Minju looked at each other. This is the first time that they felt scared when it comes to fighting. They thought they can conquer everything by just their own strength but just like what Minju’s mom keeps repeating earlier in their fight.. They are just ‘kids’.

“Please.” Chaewon begged. “Avenge her.”

4:00 AM

“I told you I am fine..” Chaeyeon told Sakura who is currently busy attending the other girl’s needs. She’s peeling an apple to feed her blondie. “This is just a scratch.” Chaeyeon added while slightly tapping her wounds under her right eye.

Sakura puts down the knife even though she’s not done with it. She looks sharply at Chaeyeon and the younger girl just gulped.. She’s aware that she used the phrase ‘I’m fine..’ many times now and she knew Sakura had enough of it.

“How is this fine?!” Sakura nagged as she points at Chaeyeon’s state. She broke her ribs, injured her left hand and a bullet even scratched her leg. “Chaeyeon!” Sakura called for her name when the girl tried to cover her injuries with her blanket, wanting to escape from Sakura’s nagging.

“I already told you I’m fin--”

Sakura pulled down the blanket when Chaeyeon was attempting to cover her face too. “Do you know how much it breaks my heart when I saw you lying on the floor and being beaten by those thugs?! Do you even know the frustration I felt when I can’t even get near you and save you during that time?!” Sakura looked at the other side trying to brush off the tears that wants to escape.

“Yah. Why are you getting angry at me?” Chaeyeon asked as she reaches for Sakura’s arm and pulled her to look back at her.

“It’s because you didn’t listen! You should’ve listened to me when I said to stay in the car. Hell I even told you to stop coming after the funeral ends but you stayed because of Yujin!” Sakura said.

Chaeyeon keeps quiet.

Sakura did try to push her away after the funeral because she doesn’t want to involve her in this mess. But Chaeyeon insisted on coming to every meeting they had.

“I told you Yujin will be fine even without you looking out for her. You’re so stubborn! Why did you even followed when we went to that building when Yujin, who you were protecting is staying in the car. You don’t listen that’s why this happened!” Sakura ended her nagging with that and she remained glaring at the girl who’s sitting at the hospital bed.

She only heard Chaeyeon sighed after all the things she said.

“You’re so dense Miyawaki Sakura.” Chaeyeon disappointedly said, she took the knife and continued peeling the apple. “Of course I know Yujin will be fine because she have Minju.” She finished peeling and now she cuts it. “But who do you have? None.. I keep following you because you’re reckless and you don’t know your limitations, and I am there as your reminder..”

“What do you mean? You just got in the way..” Sakura said. “You even got hurt.”

“I know.. Sometimes you need to know that there are fights you can’t win. I was there to show you that.” Chaeyeon said still cutting the apples.

“You showed that by letting yourself got hurt? Are you crazy?! You could’ve just told me by words! Look at you no--”

Chaeyeon shoved the apple that she cut into Sakura’s mouth making her stopped from what she’s saying.

“Aish! Just eat and stop nagging!” Chaeyeon said. “And as for people like you.. You have to watch the people you care to get hurt first before you realize you’re losing the fight.. Though it was a risk since I don’t actually know if I’m that important to you.”

Now it was Sakura’s time to smile. She chews her fruit as she’s looking at Chaeyeon who is not giving her