A rough shove at her side made the blindfolded girl to stumble and end up in a heap on something soft and smelled of…well, it smelled like the interior of a car. Oh wait, of course she was in a car. They were going off to God knows where, weren’t they? It was a relief that she wasn’t packed inside the back compartment like before. Hyomin did always have a slight case of claustrophobia sometimes. But that experience after she was knocked out by her accursed kidnapper brought out the undeveloped fear to new heights. Trying her best to get into a more comfortable position, Hyomin wiggled around in her constricted form and also in an attempt to loosen those tight wires with little success. Her eyesight was of no use in this situation, now heavily relying on her other four senses.

Her ears picked up the sound of a door opening and closing loudly in front of her, and a key being turned in the ignition, resulting in the low rumble of the vehicle’s engines starting up. A click of the seat buckle later, she felt the car moving. In which direction, she didn’t know. All she knew was that she was being taken somewhere else. What an abduction this turned out to be. Hyomin had absolutely no clue as to what this girl wanted with her. Her brain tried to rack up of some other motives that might be possible, but the rude awakening from her much-needed slumber hindered it from doing so. Hyomin yelped when a sudden bump almost made her land face down onto the bottom of the car, but she managed to steady herself even in her constricted predicament. She growled in annoyance under her breath when another sharp turn to the right smashed her face right into the seat she was lying on.

“YAH! Can’t you drive more properly!?” she yelled at the shorty behind the wheels even though she couldn’t see her. Another bump out of nowhere kicked the car up and the crown of Hyomin’s head made impact against the hard roof of the car, releasing a grunt of displeasure from .

The kidnapper took a quick glance at the rear-view mirror and a slight smirk tugged at the corner of her lips when she saw her victim lying in a rut. Sunny shifted gears and stepped further into the accelerator, before checking the GPS in her phone with her free hand. It would be another few hours journey before they reach the next safe-house.

Looks like she’ll have to be extra cautious during the ride.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The uneventful journey dragged on and on in the silent vehicle. The glint of the morning Sun breaking through the clouds in the horizon marked that only an hour had just past. Hyomin couldn’t tell though, not with the black cloth tied around her eyes which obstructed her vision.

‘So is this what being blind feels like? Well, except for these annoying wires around my hands.’

Helpless.

Weak.

And every other negative words associated to those plagued her mind as she sat motionlessly on her seat. A dull pain still radiated throughout her skull caused by the earlier bump at the beginning of the ride. There was also no exchange of words between the kidnapper and herself after that. What was the point of making conversation with the person who has turned her world upside-down in a matter of seconds? Hyomin slumped in her seat and opted to listen to the engine of the car. She tried to relax and clear her aching head, calm her wit’s end, but it was of no use. Once in a while, she would make an attempt to loosen the binds around her hands discreetly. No success, too. The shorty was being extra vigilant this time around.

Curse her luck. 

Where was she being taken to anyway? Her kidnapper seemed confident in taking her out in the open, tied up and with a blindfold on. Wherever they were going, the road which she was taking must be a secluded path or a road which nobody ever uses. That hypothesis scared her. It meant that she was no longer in the safe boundaries of the city. She was out in the countryside. Lack of people around meant less chances of getting help…and escaping from the clutches of this woman.

An unfathomable amount of time past by and Hyomin was starting to feel a bit fidgety. The driver still had not uttered a single word yet, intent on getting to their destination as early as possible. The silence in the small, cramped space was too much to bear. She needed to talk.

“Where…are we going?” her voice sounded hoarse as she said that. When was the last time she had a drink to get rid of her parched throat? Hyomin swallowed her saliva and waited nervously for the answer.

It took a moment until the shorty finally spoke.

“Someplace you wouldn’t know,” she replied in a monotone way. Not the kind of answer which Hyomin was hoping to get, but it was expected. It would be difficult to get any sort of useful information out from her. It was like talking to a rock.

Hyomin thought of other questions to pry something out of her, but decided to neglect the idea. The last thing she wanted to do was to break the shorty’s temper and fear having her do something even more threatening to Hyomin’s life. Hyomin’s number of chances had been used up more than once back in the cabin, and the odds of her being let off the hook again were slim.

Out of nowhere, Hyomin’s stomach decided to let out a very audible grumbling. She felt utterly dismayed by her frequent hunger pangs just at a time like this. She wanted to block the embarrassing sounds by moving her hands on to her abdomen, but remembered about the wires restraining them. She wondered if the woman heard it. Either the midget really didn’t hear, or she completely ignored her pleas for food. Most definitely it was the second option. The blindfolded captive had no choice but to sit there for an unknown amount of time, and pray that her stomach would be able to handle being without food for quite a while. Hyomin leaned her head against the window, giving in to her exhaustion once more.

There was no escape.

Not in here, at least.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

It was the same thing over and over again: barren countryside with a few cottages, and some farmers ploughing their crops diligently at the crack of dawn. Trees and more trees. The road was practically empty, with the occasional vehicle driving by in the opposite direction. Since the car Sunny was driving had black-tinted windows, anyone passing by would not be able to see and be alarmed at a blindfolded girl in the passenger seat behind.

The ride was fairly quiet and Sunny began to enjoy that until the captive opened . She heaved an aggravated sigh with the questions aimed at her. And then, her captive’s stomach decided to complain again. Man, this girl sure has a fast metabolism. Sunny contemplated on giving her those energy bars she salvaged in the cabin. From the rear-view mirror, she saw the fatigued state the brunette was in. A drop of pity sank into the pits of the agent’s heart.

Her eyes went back to the road, scanning out for any signs of the next safe house but with no luck. A quick glance at the gas meter shows that a quarter of the car’s tank had been used up. The agent checked her GPS again to see if she took a wrong turn, but she didn’t.

It was a straight-on road from here on out.

Sunny rubbed her aching forehead with the back of her hand. She kept blinking her eyes in order to get rid of the waves of sleepiness weighing down on her as minutes passed by. The few hours of sleep she had weren’t enough to hold her up for the rest of the open road, but she kept persevering for the sake of the mission’s completion. It would be an ultimate mistake if she decided to stop and give in to her tiredness right then and there. The woman sitting behind her was the biggest source of that doubt.

The dull ride throughout the dawn took an eventful turn when the brunette woke up from her uncomfortable nap and started fidgeting again. Sunny’s brows rose slightly as she peeked from the corner of her vision.

‘What’s wrong with her now?’

A low groan of distress exited from her captive’s lips, sparking a warning signal in the agent’s mind. Sunyoung bent over and leaned her head on the back of the driver’s seat, the sounds of her heavy breathing reaching Sunny’s sensitive ears.

“You okay back there?” the shorty inquired, showing a hint of concern for the other woman’s wellbeing. She released the accelerator slightly to slow the vehicle down as she tried to make out the hushed mutterings coming from the victim.

“Carsick...“ Sunyoung paused before continuing again. “It only happens when…I’m in a car for too long without anything to eat.”

A big dilemma tossed and turned in the shorty’s mind. This could be just another ploy to catch her off guard and an attempt to get away from here, if she were to release her captive from her constraint. Sunny cursed silently. Taking a risk to avoid cleaning up any mess that could show up anytime soon, Sunny opened the satchel on the seat next to her with the tips of her free fingers and felt blindly around for the energy bars she brought along. When she found one, she instantly grabbed it and tossed it over to the back on the brunette’s lap.

“Eat this,” Sunny called out to Sunyoung while keeping an eye on the road. “Don’t worry. It’s safe to eat.”

“Um…”

“What?”

“My hands?”  Sunyoung sheepishly muttered out.

The agent knew she was going to say that. Sunny reluctantly stopped the car momentarily, much to the other woman’s relief. Turning around, Sunny thought carefully about the situation as she stared at the brunette who was having a nauseous spell. Untying her hands was completely out of the option. No way in hell was she going to do that, not when her captive can pack a pretty good wallop on her poor nose. The pain returned when she kept thinking about it. Best not to do that…

She could try feeding the energy bar to her, though. But that meant more time being spent out in the open rather than being in the confined security of the safe house and away from the public’s eye.

“What is this anyway?”

Oh right, she was blindfolded.

“Energy bar.”

“I can’t eat it like this…”

No choice. She had to go along with the second option. After turning the ignition off and checking around the area for any unwanted company, Sunny climbed over to the backseat of the car to sit next to her captive.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Hyomin had no idea what to expect when it came to this shorty. She felt the woman shifting over from the driver’s seat and plumping down next to her. The wrinkling sounds of the energy bar’s wrapper were heard.

From physical violence, to taking care of her, then threatened with a freaking gun in between her eyes, and now this.

Something hard and which smelled like dried fruit and grains poked her on the tips of her lips.

“Open up,” she heard her say.

And that was exactly what she did.

Hyomin let her tongue grazed the surface of the rectangular food when it was inserted in , and took a bite of it without a second thought. She chewed slowly, examining the taste. She ate other better energy bars before but this would have to do for now. It calmed her motion sickness somewhat. After swallowing it, she felt the bar come up to again. Her kidnapper was feeding her.

‘Why are you like this?’Hyomin pondered.

“You don’t want it anymore?” she heard the shorty’s voice asking beside her.

Hyomin snapped out from her wandering thoughts and resumed finishing off the snack.

“Feeling better now?” the other woman said while crumpling the silver wrapper and stashing it in the car’s compartment.

“A little…” Hyomin weakly muttered out. She still felt like she was going to vomit, though.

A hand placed itself on her back, and started rubbing up and down the curve of her spine. The gesture was out of the blue, but much appreciated nonetheless.

“When will we reach there?”

“Soon.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Sunny heaved a sigh of relief when she was nearing the safe haven, but then frowned when she saw what it was in clear view. The gigantic sign of the motel stood erected by the side of the road, overlooking the wide open countryside. The low, rectangular-shaped building was styled like American motels which are widely seen in road trip movies. Not particularly Korean at all, making it stood out like a sore thumb out here. It was already a little after eight in the morning by the time she parked the car near the entrance. Reversing the vehicle and facing it outwards in case they needed to make a quick getaway if things did not go exactly as planned. There were a few cars in the outdoor parking lot. That meant that there were guests resting in for the day.

‘, if anyone sees me with her like that, then I’m screwed.’

Sunyoung was doing okay for a while now after her little snack, but still looked dead-beat when Sunny glanced back at her. Checking that the coast was definitely clear, Sunny exited the car slowly and scanning in every directions, alert as ever.

“Are we here alrea-“

The agent didn’t give another moment of her time to let Sunyoung finish her question after she closed the door of the driver’s seat. Sunny walked hurriedly to the lobby but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the person behind the reception counter. The said person looked up from the book he was reading and gave a polite smile at the startled agent.

“Ah Sunny, I’ve been expecting you,” the towering and handsome young man stood up from his seat while greeting her.

Sunny broke away from her ‘deer in headlights’ moment and continued entering deeper into the lobby as if nothing happened.

“Siwon…You’re on duty now?” Sunny inquired as she went up to the counter.

“You could say that. I was wondering when you will finally show up. Thought you were dead or something.”

“Tch, was that your attempt at cracking a joke? Not a really good one in my opinion.”

“Just trying to lighten up the mood here,” the man named Siwon said to her. “Still so uptight, I see. I worry for your happiness sometimes.”

“There’s no such thing as happiness when it comes to being stuck in a rut like this,” Sunny’s face darkened. “We’re in the same situation right now. Why you’re still smiling and being so laid-back about it is beyond me. I fear for your sanity sometimes.”

“Maybe I don’t think about it as much as you do. Or maybe I really am insane.”

A twitch of a forlorn smile came up onto her lips when she heard that. “You poor, crazy fool you. Just give me the keys right now.”

Siwon obliged to her demand and turned around to where there was a brown board with a number of keys hooked on it.

“How’s the mission going along? Is the victim too much of a handle?

“Got a bashed-up nose, but other than that it’s going along fine.”

“I can see that,” he let out a slight chuckle as he poked on his own nose. “First time I’ve seen you with any kind of injuries since the training. Finally met your match? Who is this girl anyway? Heard that we’re getting big bucks off of her if it’s a success.”

“Some huge businessman’s daughter. She can really pack one hell of a head- though…”

“Ouch… It’s a miracle your nose is still attached to your face.”

‘Good one.”

“Thanks. Here’s your key. Don’t worry; I got you a room which is further away from the other guests staying here.”

“Tell me again why one of the safe-houses is a motel?”

“Well, you know our boss. He loves money. Why not kill two birds with one stone?”

“He already killed a hundred birds with one freakin’ boulder.”

And with that said, Sunny exited the lobby with the keys in hand, leaving Siwon with a melancholic aura around him.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Been busy with school so that was the reason why this took so long. I didn't think there would be so many people reading this. I was stunned when the views reached 1000+ 0_0  Thank you all very much for reading and commenting! I'll try to update more often since my holidays are coming soon. Oh, and this is not the only SunByung story I wrote. I've posted a couple of SunByung oneshots here so feel free to read it if you like. Here's the link.