“It’s now 9 o’clock in the evening and things keep getting better than ever. Oh and guys I’m back, I apologize if I wasn’t able to MC during the second game. Some unpleasant happenings occurred in my tummy awhile ago that I don’t think is necessary to mention. But I’m ok now. So thanks to my commentator Idols, Hyori-ssi and Rain-ssi, for filling up for me.” said MC Chang Myung. Everyone was now wearing big jackets to cover themselves from the freezing negative temperature.

“I think it would be very ideal if you didn’t come back, since this episode is an Idols special.” Hyori said matter-of-factly. Anyway, can we proceed to the game, now? It’s freezing cold out here.” Hyori tried to act her cranky self like she was in Family Outing.

“Aigoo. Hyori-noona is going at it again, the lady in commando.” Daesung interjected and laughed.

“Well, anyway, she’s right; we will now proceed to the third and last game. According to PD-nim, this game will be the highlight of the night. The staff really did some hard work for this one. The real adventure is just beginning. BWAHAHAHA.” MC Chang Myung said as he faked an evil laugh.

“Wow. That laugh is just horrible oppa.” Hyori said honestly. Everyone laughed. The camera zoomed in to Yoona who was laughing with wide open.

MC Chang Myung stopped laughing and cleared his throat. “But before anything else, let’s run through the scores again. For the floating game, Pink Team was first place, all because of CL-ssi, so they have 200 points, followed by Green Team with 150 points, Red Team with 100 points, Yellow Team with 50 points and Blue Team with 25 points. All in all, Pink Team takes the lead with 240 points! Followed by Green Team with 160 points, and just a very small difference with the Red Team who has 150 points, Yellow Team with 80 points and Blue Team with 45 points. But don’t lose hope; there is still one last game that could change everything! For this last and final game, the points for the first place will receive 1000 points! But the most interesting part is that the rest will not get any points. Zero. So teams, especially Yellow and Blue Team, this is your chance. Do your best.”

Jessica raised her hand. “Oppa. Can I ask something?”  The MC nodded. “So what’s the prize if we’ll win the whole game?”

“Didn’t I tell you about the car?”

“No.” The Idols said while some shook their heads.

“So, you’re telling me that you’re all playing against each other all this time without even knowing what the prize is? Didn’t PD-nim tell you on my behalf?”

“No. That’s why we’re asking you now so we would know.” Taeyeon said pragmatically.

“Aish! I apologize for the inconvenience. Why do we have to make a lot of errors for this Idols special episode? Tiffany-ssi got injured, I got an upset stomach and now we, I mean, I forgot to inform them about what the prize is.” MC Chang Myung kept blabbering to himself.

“Just tell us what the prize is oppa. So we can go home. We’re all freezing cold.” Hyori said and hid her face with her thick scarf.

“Arraseo. The prize is, as I have said a while ago, a car. Specifically, a Mini Cooper.  The team that will win this whole competition will have their own Mini Cooper for each of the members. Aigoo! We’ve never given such kind of a prize before. That is why this is an Idol special; this kind of prize is only worth giving to Idols only. Yah.. I’m amazed with PD-nim; did you use our entire budget? Will this be our last episode?” MC Chang Myung joked around. “And now, shall we start?”

“Since you have picked ball number 1, Green Team will be the first to proceed to the game.” The MC said while the green team members nodded in agreement. “Now, choose your two representatives for this game.” The Green Team members looked to each other, not sure to whom was going to go.

Hyoyeon both tapped Kyuhyun and Minzy on their shoulders, and whispered something furtively. Kyuhyun snickered while Minzy looked a little bit astonished, but both agreed anyway.

“We choose Fany and TOP-hyung.” Kyuhyun said casually.

“Mo?” Fany said with wide eyes.  “Why me? Why us?” She lightly slapped Kyuhyun.

“Fany-ah. You’re ok now right?” Kyuhyun said , referring to Fany’s physical condition.

“Yah. Just do it Fany.” Hyoyeon said and pushed Fany forward.

“Yah. That’s the second time you pushed somebody forward. This kid.”

“OK! Pls. then, representatives of Green Team, proceed to the area.” MC Chang Myung said.

Top looked at Tiffany. “Shall we go?” He reached out his hand to her. Everybody had a knowing look on their faces. Tiffany noticed that everyone was waiting for her to hold his hand. She looked back at Top. She knew she had no choice but she didn’t want to completely give in to him. So she clung her arm on his instead on holding his hand. And then, they walked forward with Tiffany lightly pulling him along her. She wanted to get away from all those heavy stares.

Tiffany removed her arm from his once they were out of earshot. “What are you doing?”

“What? I didn’t do anything.” Top looked away acting innocently. He pretended to fix the collar of his jacket.

“Are you ready?” A staff asked them. “Follow me.” The staff started walking ahead of them.

Tiffany wanted to talk to Top a little bit longer but she dismissed the thought instead. “Whatever. Let’s just finish this.” And walked following the staff without waiting for Top.

They were led outside the stadium. They actually had to ride a car for a couple of minutes to get to their destination. After that, they followed the staffs along a dark and small unpaved road. Tiffany was thankful that the staffs and crew brought with them big lighting stands and flashlights because the whole place was so dark and cold that it gave a creepy atmosphere. She almost slung her arm with Top’s but stopped it at the last ditch.

After a few minutes, they finally arrived at an old abandoned building. The crews and staffs started to unload and set up their equipment. A female staff approached them to brief and attach mikes on their shirts.

“I knew something like this is gonna happen.” Top said more to himself. “I had a strong feeling they’d prepare something scary for us tonight.” He saw Tiffany’s mike was not pinned securely so he fixed it.

“I hate creepy stuff. Hyoyeon, that kid! She’s so gonna pay for this.” said Tiffany as she let Top fix her mike.

Top looked around quickly to see if anyone was near them before stepping closer to her. He held her by the shoulders and looked at her straight in the eyes. “Babe, stop grumbling for once. You’ve been in a sour mood all day long.” He said in his deep soothing voice. “I really miss you eyesmiles.”

Tiffany scoffed. “Gosh. And who do you think has caused all this?” said she and removed his hold from her.

Top sighed. Here we go again. “I’m sorry, ok? Look, here’s the thing, just tell me anything you want me to do, and I’ll do it. Ok? I’ll do it for you. I can’t think of any other way to make this all better. I just really miss you.” He gently slid his hands on her waist.

“TOP-ssi, Tiffany-ssi, please proceed to the entrance of the building. We’ll start the game there.” Said the PD-nim. “Are your cameras securely attached?” PD-nim looked at their cameras that were attached on their helmets. The couple nodded. Tiffany took one step away from him.

Back in the stadium, the rest of the Idols sat on the stools provided for them in front. Their smiles appeared once they heard Tiffany and TOP’s voice from the speaker. They heard the couple checking if their mikes were on, “Mike test, 1, 2,3. Mike Test 1,2,3.”

“Hyung’s voice sounds so deep.” Daesung said.

“Are you ready?” Top asked Tiffany. They were now standing in front of the entrance door of the abandoned building alone.

“Yeah. Come on.” Tiffany said as she pulled the door open with all the confidence she could muster.

The entrance immediately led to a long and dark hallway. The door behind them closed with a BANG!

“Oh my God!” Tiffany yelled. She quickly grabbed Top closer to her. Everything was pure pitch-black and very quiet. All they could here was the clear sound of droplets echoing throughout the hallway. She could not even see Top. Top his helmet light. A red light came out.

“Really? How can we see with this thing? It’s still too dark.” Top said. His deep voice echoed all over. Seeing that Tiffany couldn’t find the button for her light, Top switched her light on for her instead. Her light was a dim shade of red as well. He squinted from the light that was like a laser beam when it passed his eyes. This is gonna be a very long night. He sighed. Nevertheless, they started to walk ahead, hand in hand.

“You scared?” Top asked when he felt her slightly tug his jacket.

“Yeah.” Tiffany whispered. “I hate it when something pops out out of nowhere.”

“Then hide behind me. I’ll walk in front.” Top said trying to comfort his beloved.

Tiffany, without a doubt, immediately hid behind him. Top held her hands that were wrapped around him very tightly. He was, in certainty, celebrating deep inside. But he kept it to himself and simply flashed it with a smile.

“Tabi. Do you see any clues?” Tiffany said nervously while still hugging Top from behind. She admits she missed his smell. She surreptitiously sniffed more. “They didn’t give or say anything to us. They must have forgotten. Should we go back? I think we passed over some clues along the way.” She was glad that this gave her an excuse to get physically close to him.

“Babe, no, we have not passed any clues yet. I’m sure of it. Let’s just walk ahead. We’ll just enter the first room we’ll see.” He kissed her hand to calm her down. “Just calm down. I’m here.” He wanted to kiss each and every one of the staffs of the show for giving him this kind of opprtunity.

“Yah! Tabi-ah, don’t do that. Don’t forget, we’re filming right now.” She said in gritted teeth and placed her hand back on his stomach. Top merely chuckled. He was getting what he wanted one step at a time.

“Oh, I see a door. The first room at last.” Top said and quickly walked towards the door on their right.

Top turned the knob. He decided to take a quick peek into the room, and then got out as quick as he peeked. “Whoa.” He felt his heart beat faster. He was sure he felt himself break out in a cold sweat. He quickly wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

“What? What was it?” Tiffany asked whose face was still hidden behind his back.

“Just the devil.” He said in a whimper. He didn’t want to sound like he was scared. What with all the masculine voice and tall figure he possesses. He better bring it into good use. So he cleared his throat and said, “I mean nothing to be scare about. Let’s just get in.” He took a deep breath as if he was gonna go underwater for a very long time and slowly opened the door and walked in with Tiffany still hiding at his back.

The room was large enough to hold a class of 20 students. But instead of student desk chairs, Top saw a big table placed at the center of the room. And on it was one big bowl that was full of strawberries. The room was illuminated with a dim orange light that was coming from the small window placed at the top of the wall across them. For Top, the room wasn’t that scary but only eerie with all bundles of leaves hanging on the walls of the room. What made him catch his breath, in a very unpleasant way, was due to the inhabitants of the place.

They seemed to look like they were delivered fresh and still scorching from hell, especially, the fat guy who was sitting across the table opposite them. He was wearing a long orange bejeweled robe with curly patterns on it. His eyes were all white with no pupils in it, yet Top was sure he had his deep gaze stuck on them. To top it all, the fat guy was smirking at them as if they were the meal to be served. All the while, he was holding a glass full of some indistinguishable red juice. Along with the fat guy were two big muscular men standing on either side of him. They were almost except for the made-up rag clothes that covered their manhood while their skins were painted with green. Their gazes were on them too. Only not in the ‘desirable’ way their master was looking at them, they were as if thirsty for murder. Top took another deep breath. “Excuse me. Are we going to get our clues from you guys?” He asked very timidly.

Tiffany who was hiding the whole time behind him finally decided to take a look. “Oh God!” She cried and immediately went back to hiding. “Let’s get out of here.”

“No. Just let me do this ok. And anyway, this is just a game babe. It’s not real. Relax.” Said Top more to himself to get a hold of him. He looked back at the fat guy. “PD-nim didn’t give anything to us; you must have some clues with you.” He said, now in a louder voice, nevertheless he looked down immediately. He didn’t want to look at the fat guy straight in the eyes for long. Those blind eyes were just too creepy. His gaze landed on the fruits that were laid on the table. A piece of paper was stuck in between the strawberries. Top hesitantly picked it. He prayed that the two ‘guardians’ of the fat devil would just disappear. In turn, the guardians kept their heavy stares as if they would knock him dead any second now. He just wanted to get out. He tried to read the writings on the paper with nothing but his dim red light.

“The chief is hungry. But be noted, that this malevolent lord is only fed with digits. Feed him by correctly answering the total amount of strawberries you see in front of you. Only three trials are accepted, if you exceed, then the guardians will know what to do with you.” Top read aloud. “Excuse me, are there no time limits?” The three guys just stared back at him. “Ok. Thanks.” He said with a bow. He turned to Tiffany whose eyes were still tightly shut. “Fany. It looks like we have to count all the strawberries in the bowl. And give them the total amount.”

The fat guy waved his hand at Tiffany. “They’re not gonna do anything to us, are they?” She asked in a whisper.

“No, unless we give them the wrong answer. Come on babe.” Top said and walked on the right side of the table and started counting.

Tiffany looked at Top for a long time. She wanted to give him a telepathic message that he has to stop calling him ‘babe’ when there are cameras around. She took one glance at the cameras situated at the 4 top corners of the room. But she decided to let it go and focus on the task at hand. So she proceeded to the left side of the table. She looked up to the guardian just a meter away from her. “Let’s do this quickly Tabi.” And started to count the strawberries by putting them one by one on one side.

“Your majesty.” Tiffany hit Top’s side lightly. They were standing in front of the three creepy people across the table. “I mean, your magnificent chief?” Top said in a skeptical manner. “The total number of strawberries is four hundred and fifty seven.”

In an instant, the lights flickered wildly a couple of times. The guardians stepped closer and closer instantaneously with the flickering lights until they were at least two steps away from them.

“Oh my Gawd.” Tiffany uttered in her perfect American accent as she quickly back-hugged Top. Meanwhile, Top step backed a little because he, too, got startled from the guardians. “The answer was wrong, Tabi.”

“But we checked it more than two times. I’m pretty sure it was four hundred and fifty seven.” Top whispered back.

“Apparently, it isn’t.” Tiffany looked over his shoulders and saw the paper with the instructions placed on the table. She nudged Top forward. “Oppa, get that piece of paper. We must’ve missed some clues.”

Top slowly stepped forward and back again when he got the paper.  They read the instructions again. Top couldn’t make out anything more from it. The instruction was pretty simple. It said to just give the correct total number of strawberries in front of them. The correct total number of strawberries in front of us... in front of us.. But only the bowl of strawberries are in front of us.. He looked at the fat guy staring back at them with his evil smile, which started to annoy him a bit, and then drank his weird red juice. Or could it be..

“Oppa, look at his drink. Maybe that’s strawberry. I think it’s strawberry.” Tiffany said who was still hiding behind him.

“I think so too, babe.” Top squinted his eyes to see clearly. He cleared his throat again and, “We’ve included counting this time your juice, so there are four hundred and fifty eight strawberries all in all.”

The guardians simultaneously stepped closer to them until both of them were squeezed between the two guardians. To make sure that they would not get out, they barricaded the two between them using their arms.

“Oh My Gawd!” Tiffany yelled. Top grabbed her from behind him and embraced her tightly. He knew that this was just a game, but he can’t help but feel like they were really in a different dimension.

“Okay, don’t hurt us! We still have one last chance!” Top shouted out of panic. His eyes searched everywhere in the room that might look like strawberries. Stupid strawberries, stupid game. But hey, at least, I get to hug Fany. This made him calm and get back to his senses. His eyes ended up on the right hand of the chief. A tiny thing attached on his finger sparkled when the light hit it. He looked at it closely, it was a ring. A ring that was shaped like a strawberry. That’s one we missed. Let’s see if there are other strawberries on him. He looked at his robe clothing, the patterns on it if they were shaped like the fruit too, but none. His gaze turned back to the fat guy’s face. He looked at his earrings and nose ring. They were all plain round rings. Top cleared his throat. “I think this is final. There are four hundred and fifty nine strawberries in this room.” He waited for the guardians to lift them up or squeeze them to death or something. But one, two, three seconds passed and everything seemed to be stagnant.

The guardians slowly put down their arms and stepped back one step at a time. The chief handed out something in his hand. A key. Tiffany took the key in one swift grasp, grabbed Top’s hand and dragged him towards the door.

“Oh my God. That was scary.” Tiffany said as she leaned back on the wall. They were both heavily breathing. “And we’re back to this creepy hallway. But you were amazing back there.”

“Seriously, I think we must’ve looked stupid in the camera.” He chuckled nervously. “Come on, time for the next challenge.”

“Wait, oppa. Do you hear something?” Tiffany strained her ears towards the direction where they passed earlier. Faint sounds of footsteps echoed throughout the hallway. “Damn it, why is it so dark in here?” Faint grumbles erupted not far from them. She tapped her head lights a few times as if it will ever be brighter.

Top decided to check what it was so he walked closer to the sound. Everything was dark. He could not see anything from the red light from his helmet. Then slowly, one guy with a face that was somewhat deformed and had a lot of scratches walked limply towards them. Behind him were two other people that walked just like him with their hands reaching out towards them. Their faces were also indistinguishable. The guy in front moaned. “What the?” They were about a foot away from Top when he realized what they were. He turned around, held Tiffany’s hand and ran.

“Were they zombies?” Tiffany yelled as they ran. They were running completely in the dark. “Oh my Gawd! Tabi-ah!” Out of nowhere, zombies appeared in front of them. They collided with them. The zombies automatically reached out for them and some already got a hold of them. Top instinctively pushed them away.

“Yah! Get away from us. I know you’re all just pretending to be zombies, but this is really freaking me out.” Top exclaimed, though he was so close to punching them. Finally, they got away from the zombies and ran faster than ever until he bumped into a wall. “Ow!”

“Are you ok?” She reached out to him with one hand. He was crouching on the floor out of pain. While her other hand kept feeling the wall, she felt something metal protruding on it. It was a knob. “Oppa, it’s a door. Tabi-ah! The keys!”

Footsteps of limping zombies erupted very close to them.

“Tabi! The keys! Where are the keys!?” Tiffany yelled out of panic and kept slapping Top on the back.

“It’s in yours! You took it remember!” Top yelled back.

“Oh, right.” Tiffany rummaged her pockets. She hastily put in the key to the lock but dropped it. “!” She searched the floor wildly. Grumbles of zombies sounded very very near as if they were just a couple of steps from them. She was ridiculously panicking at that moment. Where’s that damn key!? Then she found it. She wildly tried to unlock the door.

“Tiffany, hurry up! I can see them already.” Top said as he positioned himself behind Tiffany as if to protect her in case they get to them.

“There, I got it!” Tiffany squeaked with delight opened the door instantly and light blinded their eyes.

“Finally, Pink Team wins the 3^rd game. They now have 1240 points! Congratulations. As our prize for you guys, each of the members of the team will get their own Mini Cooper. Aigoo!” All of the Idols clapped their hands. “ Congratulations to all of you really. You were all so active during the whole day.” MC Chang Myung thanked the commentator Idols as well. “Since it’s already 3 am now, I will not hold all of you any longer. So thank you again and rest well Idols. For the viewers, thanks for sticking with us the whole time and we’ll see you again. Bye!”

Everyone said brief goodbyes to each other. You can tell that everyone was tired and very sleepy, except for the members of Pink Team which were GD, Sooyoung, CL and Seohyun. They checked their new cars while the rest went back to their cars. Top saw Tiffany going to the bathroom.

Tiffany wiped her hand with a towel as she got out of the bathroom. She tightened her jacket around her. She was going to turn to a corner to get back onto the set, when, “BOO!!” A large man grabbed her and pushed her back to the corner and pinned her on the wall.

“Tabi-ah! What are you doing? You immature kid!” Tiffany rubbed the back of her head that hit the brick wall badly. She slapped him three times. But he kept on laughing.

“I’m sorry babe!” His laugh was slowly dwindling away. “It’s just that what we did was so amazing. When I pushed all those zombies away, aigoo.. it’s just awesome.” He closed the gap between them. “We make a great team. You and I.” and reached for a kiss. Instead he got a slap. “Ow!  I thought we’re ok.”

“Ok? When did I ever say we’re ok?”

“When you we’re clinging unto me when we were in that horror house.”

“I was clinging unto you because we were in a horror house. That does not mean that I’ve forgiven you pabo!” Tiffany slapped his chest one last time. “And will you please step back. I can’t breathe.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Yes, no.”

“And why not?” She looked up to him straight in the eyes. His features really are breath taking even if they were in the dark.

“Because I miss you and I wanna make up with you. Fany-ah..” Top moved closer. Their faces were literally an inch away from each other.

Tiffany looked up to him for a moment. She caressed his cheek. She sighed. There is no way I can ever stay mad at this good-looking man. “Babe, I miss you too.”

Top closed their distance and kissed her. He kissed her so deeply that Tiffany could not do anything but kiss back. She couldn’t avoid him. She missed this definitely. She couldn’t help but moan and then gasped for air. She let him taste the insides of . She felt his hand groping her . But she didn’t care. She really really missed him. Top pulled away and nibbled on her neck. “Tabi..” She whimpered. She pushed him gently away to stop him.

Tiffany could see mist forming as he breathed. He caressed Tiffany’s cheek. “God, you’re so beautiful. I’m so glad we’re ok now.” He reached out for a second kiss but lo and behold, as consequence to this, his face was shoved away for the second time around.

“You’re still not forgiven.” She pushed him away and walked out with a playful smirk.

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a/n: gosh! it has been over a month, i think, since i updated this story.. and i apologize for that. the thing is, writing a story is a tough thing to do.. i got lazy, i had no inspiration.. there are Big bang and SNSD to inspire me.. but the eagerness to write= down in the dumps during those weeks ive not updated. but now im trying to get back again.. 

anyway, the next chapter.. ive already finished but i am still currently translating it to english since it is still in filipino. around 2 more chapters i guess, and the story will end. but it will have a happy end, that i can be sure of. hehe

note! main image sourced from My Mind Mine retrieved from http://sasa3848.tumblr.com/