Chapter 27 – Third Task

 

 

“T-Taeyeon…?”

 

“Uh…do I know you?” Taeyeon’s almost certain she hasn’t met her before.

 

“Omo. It’s you…it’s really you. But…how? How is this possible? Is this even real? No. It can’t be. You—” The woman stared at her hard, trying to search for some sort of familiarity within her eyes that will clear her confusion.

 

Taeyeon just blinked and stared back with a puzzled look on her face.

 

The woman started shaking her head side to side. “No. No. No. No. You’re supposed to be…no…this is impossible. Completely impossible. You—you can’t be real…but…but you’re here, standing in front of me. H-how—why? Am I hallucinating? I probably am. I’m going crazy. I’m going nuts.”

 

She swiftly turned around and began beating both sides of her cheeks with her palms, trying to get some sense into herself.

 

As the stranger continued her ramblings and her assaults to her own self, Jessica and Taeyeon turned to each other and wondered who the peculiar woman was.

 

“Who’s she?” Jessica whispered.

 

Taeyeon shrugged. “No clue. I’ve never met her before, but she seems familiar. Do you know her?”

 

Jessica shook her head.

 

“Nope. Never seen her before.”

 

“Hmm…” Taeyeon thought for a moment. Something about the woman was familiar. She’s seen her before but from where? She can’t place her finger on it. Perhaps on passing? No. Where? Where has she seen her before? Hmm…

 

“AH! I remember you now!”

 

Jessica and the girl both turned to her.

 

A wide grin made its way to Taeyeon’s face. Now she remembers where she has seen the strange woman before! How can she forget?!

 

“You! You’re my third task! I knew I’ve seen you before!”

 

“Third…task? Huh?” The woman gave her a puzzled look.

 

“Oh. So she’s the last task.” Jessica nodded in understanding.

 

“Yup. No wonder she looked somewhat familiar! Sooyoung and Sunny have shown me a picture of her before, but I almost forgot about it!”

 

Taeyeon walked over to the girl and stretched her palm out for a handshake. “Hi! I’m Kim Taeyeon! Nice to meet you Yuri!”

 

The woman’s eyes widened in pure utter shock for a moment before it rolled back behind her head. Her body collapsed to the floor thereafter.

 

======

 

Yuri slowly stirred awake. She tiredly rubbed her eyes with her palms to rid of the sleepiness. Upon opening her eyes a white splashed ceiling welcomed her.

 

“Omo, you’re awake!” Says a familiar voice.

 

Yuri craned her head to the right and found the Taeyeon-look-alike she met at the cemetery sitting on a folding chair next to her bedside.

 

Taeyeon pulled on the chair and scooted closer to the bed.

 

“How are you feeling?” Taeyeon asked, concern laced in her voice.

 

“Uh…a little light headed, but other than that I feel fine.” Yuri replied weakly. All of a sudden, a throbbing pain pierced the back of her head. “Ow…” She placed a hand on the aching spot and felt something soft covering it. Gauze? What the—how? “Uh…w-what happened to me…?”

 

“You fainted. You had quite a nasty fall so your head started bleeding, hence the gauze. But don’t worry, it’s not that big of a cut. The doctor said it’ll heal in about a week or less.”

 

Yuri nodded along. She’s relieved there weren't any serious injuries. It’s not good for someone in her stature to be getting sick or injured.

 

Suddenly, a recollection of what the Taeyeon-look-alike said right before she fainted came rushing through her mind.

 

“Hi! I’m Kim Taeyeon!”

 

 

She’s not sure, but if she remembers correctly, the woman introduced herself as Kim Taeyeon? Could it be really her or was she just hearing things?

 

“Um…before I fainted, you told me your name? What did you say your name was again?”

 

Taeyeon’s face brightened and she sat straight up like a pole. “I’m Kim Taeyeon!” She introduced herself excitedly and stretched her palm towards Yuri. “Nice to meet you Yuri-sshi.”

 

“K-Kim Taeyeon?”

 

Taeyeon nodded.

 

“I know it may seem weird for me to know who you are but—”

 

“No, no, no, no, no!” Yuri held her head as it shook from side to side vehemently. “Impossible! Are you trying to play a trick on me? You’re not Kim Taeyeon!”

 

“Eh? But I am?”

 

“No you’re not! I know Kim Taeyeon and you’re definitely not her!” Yuri asserted.

 

“But I really am her—”

 

“Shut up! Shut up! Stop playing dumb! I know who you are…more like what you are.” She said with revulsion. “You’re one of those conmen aren’t you?” Taeyeon gave her a quizzical look, which only ignited Yuri’s fury. She shook her head with disgust. “Seriously, you people need to stop trying to fool me! You won’t get anything from me, not even a cent! So just leave me alone!”

Yuri plucked all the needles and tubes on both sides of her arms and hopped off the bed. She searched around for her clothing and found them on top of a folding chair by the wall. She quickly went to grab it and headed straight towards the bathroom.

Seeing where Yuri was headed, Taeyeon quickly scrambled to her feet and chased after the fleeing girl in the hospital gown. Before she could enter the bathroom with Yuri, Yuri shut the door right in front of her face hitting her nose on the surface of the door in the process.

 

“Ouch!” She cupped her nose with both palms as she stumbled backwards. A searing pain coursed throughout her nose and center of her face. It hurt so much that she started tearing up. “Oww…”

 

Carefully, she massaged the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, hopin it’ll ease the pain. After she had subdued the pain, with a nasally voice, she spoke through the door.

 

“Yuri-sshi, I am not a conman. I swear I really am not. I am not trying to trick you or deceive you either, I just want to help you, is all. That is my honest and true intention. And when I said that I was Kim Taeyeon, I really meant it. I don’t know why you refuse to believe me but…ah! Did you perhaps know me? I mean, did you know Kim Taeyeon in the past? Is that why you were hesitant to believe me? Is that it?” The shuffling inside the room ceased and silence took over. Curious, Taeyeon leaned forward and pressed her ear on the door’s surface. “Yuri-sshi?”

 

All of a sudden, the door was pulled open startling Taeyeon and almost causing her to stumble forward. Yuri stepped out from the bathroom and glared at her threateningly.

 

“You!” She jabbed a finger at Taeyeon’s chest.

 

Taeyeon winced in response.

 

“I don’t know what your deal is or if you’re just playing dumb or you just really don’t know her, but let me make something clear. Taeyeon is someone very important to me. Her name isn’t something you can just toss around so freely like that. So don’t you ever. Ever. Try to use Taeyeon’s name to deceive me ever again! If I hear you use her name carelessly like that again, you’ll find your life in grave danger. I’m a very powerful person and I can make you and everyone you know disappear from the face of the Earth with a snap of a finger. So if you don’t want any of that, you’d be smart and stay away from me. Understand?”

 

Taeyeon gulped. “Y-yes.”

 

Flashing her one last deathly glare, Yuri shoved her out of the way and stomped out of the room.

 

======

 

The next day…

 

“Wow, this wrap is really good Taeyeon. Are you sure you weren’t a chef in the past life?”Jessica joked.

 

“Har har. I highly doubt it.”

 

“You never know.” Jessica shrugged.

 

The room became quiet as the couple ate their lunch in silence.

 

Taeyeon was primarily thinking, contemplating about the incident that had occur in the hospital not too long ago. The way Yuri reacted to her assertions was very peculiar and eerily suspicious, especially when she mentioned Taeyeon’s name. Could there be something there? Is there a possibility that she knew her?

 

“I think she knew Kim Taeyeon.” Taeyeon blurted out of nowhere.

 

“What?”

 

“Yuri. I think she knew Kim Taeyeon.”

 

“What makes you say that?” Jessica asked as she took a sip of her iced tea.

 

“The way she reacted whenever I mentioned the name Kim Taeyeon suggests so. She got so defensive and hostile towards me when I mentioned it, even went as far as threatening to kill me if I ever try to deceive her again. And she said it too, ‘Taeyeon is someone very important to me.’ There’s no mistake. She knew Kim Taeyeon. She knew me.”

 

“But how do you know she’s talking about you? For all we know she could be talking about another Taeyeon.”

 

“Well, you saw how shocked she was when she first saw me at the cemetery. She even called me Taeyeon!”

 

“Hm, I guess you’ve got a point. So what do you want to do? I’m sure you’d want to talk to her right?”

 

“Of course. But before I can do that, first we need to figure out how we’re going to find her. We don’t know anything about her except her name.”    

 

“Hmm…” Jessica thought for a moment. “Ah! Didn’t you say that she’s supposedly a powerful individual? If what she claims is true, then we should be able to google her easily. Then we’ll be able to find everything we need to know about her.”

 

“Jessica, you’re a genius!” Taeyeon proudly exclaimed as she planted a kiss on Jessica’s cheek.

 

“I know.” Jessica said smugly. “Come, let’s go get my laptop and look her up.”

 

The two sat side by side on the couch; Jessica doing her thing on the laptop while Taeyeon surfed the channels of the television. After Jessica entered Yuri’s name, a list came up. She clicked on the first link she saw and skimmed through the introduction. Her eyes bulged out at the information she read.

 

“Woah! Daebak!”

 

“What? What?” Taeyeon tore her eyes away from the television and shoved her face in front of the laptop’s screen. She read the information aloud. “Kwon Yuri: CEO of the Sowon Hotel…Sowon Hotel? Eh? What’s that?”

 

“You’re kidding me right?”

 

Taeyeon stared at her blankly.

 

“The Sowon Hotel is one of the top leading hotels in South Korea. Only the richest of the rich can afford to stay there. I’ve never been to one in my life—not that I can’t afford to, I just never thought of staying at any of their hotels. In my opinion, it’s not very practical to waste that much money just to stay at a hotel. But still, I can’t believe she’s the CEO. Wow, she wasn’t kidding when she said she’s a very powerful person.”

 

Taeyeon reclined back on her seat and heaved a deep sigh.

 

Jessica turned to her and noticed the concerned look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Well, doesn’t this make everything that much more complicated? I mean, how in the world are we going to be able to speak to her? She was so suspicious of me and my identity in the hospital, though I don’t blame her because if I were in her position, I would be suspicious of everyone around me as well. Which means she probably won’t grant us an audience. And what’s worse is that she has now harbored an intense dislike for me because she thinks I’m a conman. There’s no way she’ll give us a chance. Aish. This is hopeless.”

 

Taeyeon placed her arms on top of her knees, buried her face in them, and moped. Jessica stared at her and her back sympathetically.

 

“It’s not completely hopeless. We could still try to approach her and who knows, maybe she’ll actually give us a chance. I’m sure she will. She doesn’t seem like the type of person who’ll disregard those who are being truly honest.”

 

“Yeah, right.” Taeyeon mumbled.

 

“Taengoo…”

 

She ignored Jessica’s cooing and continued sulking.

 

“Jagiya, stop moping.”

 

It came out soft but Taeyeon heard it. Her head suddenly shot up startling Jessica. Taeyeon stared at her with wide eyes. Jessica just stared at her with a raised brow, confused at her sudden reaction.

 

“What did you just call me?”

 

“Uh, I called you…” Jessica paused and thought about what she just said to her. Her face showed a moment of shock when she realized what she just called her but Taeyeon didn’t seem to have caught it so she quickly put on a blank face. “Taeyeon.” She lied. “I called you Taeyeon.”

 

“Eh? No you didn’t!”

 

“Yes I did.” Jessica insisted.

 

“No! I’m certain you called me something else. Something…more…intimate.” Taeyeon blushed when she recalled it again.

 

Jessica couldn’t help but guffaw. She rarely sees Taeyeon blush or do aegyo so when a chance does come her way, she makes sure she takes advantage of it wholly.

 

“Nope. I don’t know what you’re talking about. You were probably just hearing things.” Jessica rose from her seat and placed the laptop on top of the coffee table. Grabbing her purse from the counter, she slipped it on over her shoulder and strolled towards the front door.

 

Taeyeon quickly followed.

 

“Sica-ah~”

 

Jessica ignored her.

 

“Sica~” Taeyeon tugged on to her arm like a little girl and continued her aegyo hoping Jessica would buckle and tell her the truth, though she already knew what Jessica called her, she just wants to hear it again. It sounded…nice.

 

While Taeyeon pouted, Jessica silently smiled to herself. She’s not going to lie, she’s enjoying every minute of Taeyeon’s cute moping. Oh how she loves teasing her.

 

“Sica~”

 

“Wae?”

 

“Just tell me what you said. Please.”

 

Jessica stopped and turned to Taeyeon. “Taengoo, you already know what you heard, so why are you still asking me?”

 

“Well, I…” Taeyeon scratched the back of her head. “I just want to hear it again…because…it sounded nice to hear. And I just…aish. Forget it.” She let go of Jessica’s arm and walked out of the apartment towards the elevator with her shoulders slumped and feet dragging lazily on the ground.

 

Jessica couldn’t help but smile at the adorable sight. Alright, she’s had her fill. She ran up to Taeyeon and slipped her hand in hers.

 

“Jagiya~ stop sulking.”

 

Taeyeon halted and turned her head towards Jessica who had a shy smile on her face. Taeyeon stared at her wide eyed.

 

“Wae~ why are you looking at me like that…jagiya.” The corner of Jessica’s lips twitched upwards as those words rolled off her tongue effortlessly.

 

The shock look on Taeyeon’s face gradually disappeared and was replaced with a playful grin. “Say it again.”

 

Jessica rolled her eyes but relented anyway. “Jagiya~”

 

“Again!”

 

“I’m getting the feeling that you’re just toying with me.” Jessica grumbled.

 

“No! Of course not! Please! Come on! One more time!”

 

Jessica let out a fake sigh and said it again. “Jagiya.”

 

The grin on Taeyeon’s face grew tenfold into a full blown smile.

 

“I love you…jagiya.” Taeyeon said bashfully. Her face turned completely red after she said it.

 

Hearing those sweet words come from Taeyeon made Jessica’s heart melt into a pile of mush. She couldn’t help but lean in and pull Taeyeon into a passionate kiss. Taeyeon was quick to respond to Jessica’s advances and placed a hand behind Jessica’s back, meshing their bodies closer together. Jessica then s her arms around Taeyeon’s neck and kissed her deeper.

 

The two lingered in the middle of the hallway like that a bit longer.

 

======

 

“Why are we here?” Yoona asked the two women dubiously as she scanned the luxurious building from top to bottom. Not too long ago, Seohyun and her were hanging out at her house when she suddenly received a text message from her Jessica unnie asking if they’d like to hang out with them. They never said anything about what they planned though that’s why she’s curious as to what they were doing in front of the Sowon Hotel. For some reason she feels like there's more to their meeting than they're letting on. Yoona narrowed her eyes at her unnies. "So...what do you two want from us?"

 

“Um, your unnies actually has a favor to ask the two of you. And because we know how much you love your unnies, you’d help us right? Because we’re friends. And you love us. And were tight like that. Right?” Taeyeon smiled sweetly at the two girls.

 

Yoona stared at her blankly while Seohyun just pouted. She knew it. They’re being used.

 

“Please.” Taeyeon pleaded again.

 

“Aish, fine.” Yoona acquiesced. “But only because you helped me before. After this we’re even.”

 

“Of course! Thank you so much!”

 

“I still can’t believe you two fooled us. So the only reason you enrolled in our school was to help Yoona? But why?” Seohyun was curious.

 

“Uh…I’m not allowed to disclose the reason behind it. It’s confidential.” Taeyeon explained.

 

“Oh ok. But no matter the reason, I’m just glad Yoona’s back to her old annoying self.”

 

“Yah, you thought I was annoying?” Yoona asked incredulously, but Seohyun just gave her an innocent look. “Ugh, whatever Seroro. Anyway, I knew waybefore that you two weren't really students. It was obvious. I mean, your wrinkles gave you away—ow!”

 

“That’s what you get for insinuating we were old.” Jessica retorted.

 

“Sica! We want them to help us not scare them away!” Taeyeon reprimanded. She quickly tended to the forming bump on Yoona’s head as she apologized simultaneously to appease the hurt teenager. “Sorry about her. She’s just a little cranky today because she didn’t get enough sleep last night. She was too tired from our late night activities so it’s not her fault.”

 

A horrid look quickly made it to Yoona’s face when she realized the connotation of Taeyeon’s last statement. “TMI! TMI!” Yoona freaked out.

 

“What—why are you yelling—ow!” Taeyeon rubbed the spot on her arm where Jessica had just hit her. “Why’d you hit me?!”

 

“Because you were being creepy!”

 

“What did I do?!”

 

Jessica face-palmed herself. “Seriously Taeyeon, you have to be a little more careful with your words. These little kids here are too gullible and they have dirty minds.”

 

“I do not!” Yoona quickly protested.

 

“What are you talking—ah!” Taeyeon finally realized what Jessica was trying to imply. “You mean they thought you and I were…? No, no, no, no! What I meant was that we were busy playing Sodoku on the laptop last night and we ended up staying up all night just playing! That’s the late night activity I was talking about! I didn’t mean it in any other way—especially not in a ual connotation whatsoever—no, not at all I swear!”

 

Seeing Taeyeon’s frantic expression, Jessica and Yoona both broke out into a fit of laughter while poor Seohyun was left mortified at the side as it finally dawned to her what her Taeyeon unnie was trying to explain.

 

======

 

“Ms. Kwon?”

 

“What is it Suzy?” Yuri asked without tearing her eyes away from her laptop screen.

 

“There are two high school girls downstairs requesting to see you. They said they have something very urgent they need to speak to you about.”

 

“I’m not acquainted with any high school students. Send them away.”

 

“Oh, but they said—”

 

Eyes slowly rise from the laptop screen. “Suzy,” She said in a low voice that she always used to intimidate her employees whenever they're doing something wrong.

 

Suzy noticed. Before she knew it, she found herself being stared down by two fiery eyes. “Y-Yes ma’am?”

 

“Send. Them. Away. Now.”

 

“Oh. R-right away ma’am.”

 

With a final bow, Suzy shut the door gently behind her and phoned the reception desk down at the lobby.

 

As soon as her secretary left, Yuri went back to typing.

 

Her fingers stopped typing almost immediately when she recalled what happened back in the hospital the day before.

 

Ever since yesterday's incident, she has found herself thinking about that impostor that claimed she was Kim Taeyeon. Though she's certain it's not really her, she still can't help but be amaze by the amazing resemblance that girl held with her own Taeyeon. Their face were practically identical and so was their voices! Creepy, but amazing. How the girl attempted to do that was beyond her.

 

"Gosh, some people are just too desperate. Even going as far as impersonating someone else. Tsk. They have no shame."

 

She looked back down on her laptop screen and resumed her typing. 

 

As she continued typing, the woman's face flashed in her mind again.

 

Her fingers halted.

 

Taeng...

 

She shook her head to rid her mind of those imposing thoughts.

 

"No. It's not her. That woman is not Taeyeon. I just visited her this morning. It's definitely not her."

 

Shaking her head one last time, she went back to her typing.

 

======

 

“I’m sorry young ladies, but like I said before Ms. Kwon doesn’t see anyone without prior appointment. If you’d like you can make an appointment with her secretary.”

 

“If we do make an appointment, would we be able to get an appointment today or any time this week?”

 

“I highly doubt it. The earliest appointment you can get would probably be next month. If you guys are up to that I could talk to her secretary for you.”

 

“Oh, um, that’s okay. Thank you.”

 

“What are we going to tell Taeyeon unnie? I’m sure she won’t be happy to hear about this.” Seohyun pointed out.

 

Yoona could only shrug.

 

The two walked back to where Taeyeon and Jessica sat waiting for them to come back.

 

“How did it go?” Taeyeon asked immediately as soon as she spotted them walking towards their direction. She looked at them eagerly, her eyes full of hope.

 

Yoona dreaded crushing that hope.

 

“Um, not so good unnie. We can’t see her unless we have an appointment. Unfortunately, the next available slot is next month.”

 

Hearing the bad news, the excited expression on Taeyeon’s face quickly fell. “I knew it.” She slumped back down on the leather seat and sulked. She knew there was no way they could meet her. Though she knew it was a slim chance it was still better than nothing. At least they tried. But still, she can’t help but feel…ugh.

 

“Jagiya.” Jessica cooed. She rubbed Taeyeon’s arm affectionately and tried to soothe the sulking girl. But Taeyeon didn’t budge. Jessica leaned forward and wrapped an arm around Taeyeon’s back and pulled Taeyeon’s body close to her body. Taeyeon didn’t resist and rested her head on Jessica’s shoulder for comfort. “You’ll get to meet her okay? Don’t lose hope.”

 

“Yeah, Jessica unnie is right. Don’t feel down. You’ll get a chance to talk to her soon unnie.” Seohyun gently patted her head.

 

Taeyeon exhaled loudly.

 

While Jessica and Seohyun continued to console Taeyeon, Yoona stood off at the side thinking of a way to get in contact with Yuri.

 

There’s no way they could get close to the girl here in the hotel without getting escorted or shoved out or possibly arrested by the security guards. The only way they can get a chance to speak to her is if they make an appointment with her but that’ll take weeks! According to her Taeyeon unnie, they don’t have that much time to spare, though she’s not really sure why they’re in such a hurry. She thought it was better not to ask. So how else can they get close to her? She’s certain there are other ways, but  she's having trouble of coming up with an idea. Hm...how?

 

“Aha! I’ve got an idea!”

 

All eyes shifted to Yoona.

 

“What? What’s your idea?” Seohyun asked.

 

A sly smile made its way to Yoona’s face.

 

======

 

“Yes Jiyong, I’m on my way home. Can you reheat the leftovers in the microwave? No, it’s fine. Don’t wake them up. I’ll just have the leftovers. Yes, really. Alright. See you soon. Bye.”

 

Yuri turned the corner. She drove a bit further until she hit a big white gate at the end of the block. After entering the pass code, the gate opened and Yuri drove in.

 

She parked her car in the garage and got out. As she was walking towards the front door something caught her eyes. She stopped. From her hindsight, she saw a figure, wait, no two. Three?

 

She gulped.

 

Burglars?

 

Rapists?

 

Well whoever they are, she’s pretty sure they’re someone she doesn’t know and someone who didn’t belong in her home.

 

Calm down Yuri. Take a deep breath. Don’t freak out. Just…just ignore them and quickly get inside the house.That’s it. Go, Yuri, go!

 

Taking her advice, she took a deep breath and resumed walking towards the door.

 

As she did so, the figures began moving as well following her.

 

Her heartbeat began beating faster.

 

She sped up her pace.

 

The figures sped up as well.

 

Yuri was about to reach for the door knob when something—more like someone—grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back.

 

Two arms wrapped around her, locking her in their embrace. Two different arms grabbed her leg, pulling her up from the ground.

 

Before she could scream for help, a handkerchief went over , muffling her cries for help.

 

She kicked and scratched, hoping it’ll do some damage to those trying to kidnap her, but to no avail. They were a lot stronger than her. Though her efforts were futile she continued fighting. However, she noticed something odd. She was gradually losing her strength.

 

D*mn, they drugged the cloth!

 

Her punches, her kicks, her tantrums, all them along with her fighting spirits became weaker as the seconds ticked by. Soon, her eyelids began drooping down over her eyes. Before she knew it, she was knocked out cold.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Omg! I finally had the time to write! Ugh! >.< Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the update. Tell me what you think! And welcome new readers! If you have questions, ask away! I'll try my best to answer them! Until then! 

 

Comments are very much appreciated! Thank you for the continued support! You guys are awesome!