“You don’t have to worry about me,” Taeyeon whispered to Tiffany. They are in Yoona’s pantry, alone. Tiffany is helping her with her armour and she could feel the latter trembling on her every touch. Tiffany breathed out, not looking at Taeyeon and still focusing on tying the armour on Taeyeon’s hands. Taeyeon put a hand on Tiffany’s chin, making her look up. She is met with Tiffany’s tearful eyes and quivering lips.

Tiffany bit her lower lip then whispered, “Just promise you’ll come back to me”

“I promise” Taeyeon can’t help but feel guilty, because she is the reason why this woman is feeling this sadness, this pain. But she has to do this, for all of them and especially for her. Taeyeon caressed Tiffany’s cheeks, both moving closer as Tiffany closed her eyes. Taeyeon’s gaze shifts from Tiffany’s eye-smile down to her cute nose and plump, luscious lips.

“Taeng” Both immediately jumped apart, eyes wide as they looked at Sunny by the door, curiously looking at them. Sunny narrowed her eyes, frowning. “Both Sooyoung and Yuri are done dressing up, and waiting for you”

“Y-yes” Taeyeon stuttered out. Because how can she not. Out of all of them, Sunny is the most intuitive and she never stops until she confirms her suspicions. What’s worse is how she gets the truth out, something that makes Taeyeon think that if her friend does the interrogation on captives, their jobs would have been easier. “I’ll be right there”

Taeyeon did the finishing touches on her armour and is walking past Sunny when she heard the latter whisper, “We’ll talk later”

Taeyeon can’t help but sighed, nodding her head. She doesn’t really have a choice since she needs to go back and once she does, she has nowhere to run to. Unless of course she gets lucky and gets eaten by a zombie. But then, she’ll be breaking her promise to her. And she’d rather face Sunny’s interrogation than do that.

“Taeyeon” Sooyoung called out, “You ready?”

Taeyeon nods, “Ready as I’ll ever be. Are the secondary weapons ready?”

“Yep” Yuri answered, raising her stationary knife cutter. She, Taeyeon and Hyoyeon would be the ones using it while Sooyoung will use the pistol since it’s her expertise, meanwhile Taeyeon’s expertise is hand to hand combat.

Sooyoung turned to Yuri, “Now, Yul, stay quiet in that vent and don’t attract too much attention. Hyoyeon is on standby, just call for her”

“I got it!” Yuri answered, “Bring you guys out, wait in the vent, quietly and stealthily, call for backup if needed, help carry the supplies and lead the way back here”

“Good” Sooyoung replied, taking Yuri by her shoulders, making them face each other, “Just so you know, I am so proud of you”

“You should be!” Yuri said with a smile. Then she turned to the vent by the ceiling, “Here’s our entrance”

“I should go first, then Taeyeon then you, Yuri since I have the gun and Yuri won’t get out of the vents” Sooyuong instructed, helping Yuri take out the vent cover.

“Let’s get going then” Taeyeon said, looking back at her friends. Their eyes met for a second, she offered a smile before they broke eye contact and she entered the vent. 

They have been crawling inside the vent for some minute now. And just as planned, Sooyoung is in the lead, followed by Taeyeon and Yuri. 

“Sooyoung, make sure not to fall on the wrong vent, okay? Those would lead us to other parts of the cafe” Yuri warned as soon as they started crawling. 

Taeyeon saw Sooyoung nod, followed by a quiet, “Noted”

“When will Sooyoung stop?” Taeyeon asked.

“Just straight ahead. On the last down vent, that’s when you’ll need to go down, but be extra careful because the vent is sloped down, you’ll slide” Yuri informed them.

“So, we’ll have to go down one by one?” Sooyoung asked.

Taeyeon nodded, “Yes. And I think it’s better if Yuri stays up here, because we might have a problem climbing back up”

“You’ll have a problem climbing back up,” Sooyoung said, teasing Taeyeon. Even Yuri stifled a laugh, making it come out as a snort.

Taeyeon looked forward and slapped Sooyoung’s while wiggling her own on Yuri’s face “Yah! I’m not that short!”

“Hehe, just kidding!” Sooyoung snickered, making Taeyeon sigh.

“Let’s just get this over with,”

===T=H=E===L=A=S=T===S=T=A=N=D===

When Taeyeon, Yuri and Sooyoung left, everyone went back to their earlier activities which involved either sitting down, lying down or even leaning against the wall. They have to wait for the trio, and hope that they succeed in their mission without getting hurt in any way.

Seohyun looked around the room, looking for her girlfriend but she couldn't find her. She’s worried for her girlfriend, because ever since they started planning this mission, she would often catch Yoona staring blankly into space. She knows her girlfriend is very nervous about this mission, especially since it involves her two best friends, but she wishes that Yoona would talk to her about it. It doesn’t even have to be her, just anyone really, as long as it means she could vent out her feelings and thoughts.

There is only one place she knows her girlfriend would be. So with a sigh, Seohyun walked inside the pantry, and just as she expected, Yoona was standing by the kitchen counter, staring blankly at the coffee maker. Seohyun quietly made her way to Yoona, wrapping her arms around the latter’s waist, giving her a back hug.

Seohyun felt Yoona flinched at their contact, but quickly relaxed and leaned back to Seohyun, even resting her own hands on top of the former. Seohyun rests her chin at Yoona’s shoulder, tightening her hold at the latter. 

Seohyun smiled as she noticed Yoona closing her eyes with a smile on her face, a clear sign that the latter is enjoying and relaxing at the moment. Seohyun can’t help but hum a tune of one