Chapter Thirty-Six

“What do you think you are doing?!”

Tiffany shouted at the blonde who was trying to pour a suspicious bottle of emerald-colored liquid onto Yoona. She rushed into the room hastily, charging at the blonde when the person who was supposed to be asleep on her bed, jumped up from her spot and slid in between them.

“Who allows you in my room?” That was the first sentence which slipped out of Yoona’s mouth as soon as she woke up.

For a moment, Tiffany had this unbelievable look on her face.

This certainly wasn’t what she expected to get from Yoona.

“She is trying to hurt you!”

“That’s what you think. She wasn’t doing anything to me.” Yoona turned around and took the bottle away from Jessica’s hand and held it up to Tiffany’s face. “I was awake all along. She is only trying to wake me up with the water.”

Tiffany was surprised at the sight of the transparent liquid. She swore she saw it colored when she entered the room just less than a minute ago.

The cold hunter shifted her gaze from Yoona to the clueless and timid-looking blonde hiding behind her.

She is suspicious, very.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Yuri and Sooyoung arrived just in time. They were actually taking their own sweet time, strolling behind Tiffany until they heard the commotion in the room.

Yuri walked to the trio hurriedly and observed the three of them. Except for Jessica who was looking at her with a frightened look on her face, Yoona was staring at Tiffany, whereas Tiffany had her gaze fixed on the poor blonde.

A fight again huh?

Yuri sighed heavily through her nose.

And Jessica was unfortunately dragged into it again.

Tiffany and Yoona hadn’t been on good terms ever since the day they went to the city. Yuri would be lying if she said she wasn’t curious as to what led to their fight. However, what really bothered her is what had Tiffany done to anger Yoona? And asides from that, Yuri could tell that Yoona was really concern about Tiffany even though she was angry with her.

It was that particular problem between them which stopped her from showing her care and concern to Tiffany.

“Tiffany, stop it.” Yuri pulled Tiffany by her arm and dragged her further away from the duo. No matter what the problem was, she had to get Jessica out of this situation first.

Tiffany withdrew her gaze from Jessica and glared at Yuri instead.

“You forgot what I told you.”

A simple sentence stiffened Yuri’s facial expression.

She knew what Tiffany meant. She was referring to the conversation they had on their dormitory’s rooftop couple of weeks ago. Tiffany warned her about getting too close to Jessica, but Yuri just couldn’t understand. Jessica was a victim of the mutants too. It was kind of ridiculous to suspect Jessica. Tiffany hadn’t been through what she had been through. If she knew how it looked like when the mutant pierced its claws through Jessica’s back, she wouldn’t have suspected her too.

Tiffany… is just too unfair to Jessica.

“Fany, please… stop it.” Yuri pleaded with the helpless soft tone of hers.

She doesn’t want to start an argument with her partner, nor does she want to follow her advice. Jessica is the victim here, what Tiffany is doing is too harsh to her.

Tiffany’s gaze softened a little.

As much as she wanted to remove any suspicious figures in their headquarters, she couldn’t apply the same thing to Jessica because she could tell Yuri treated her differently.

Yuri would definitely be angry or disappointed with her if she pushed it even further.

“I will let you off this time.” Tiffany stared straight into the blonde’s eyes who happened to be looking back at her, innocently and timidly.

I will uncover your true look one day, Jessica Jung.

Tiffany left the room hastily like a brisk of wind. The shikshin literally pasted her body flat onto the door when the cold hunter walked past her. Even with the cool air escaping from the air-conditioner in Yoona’s room, she couldn’t stop sweats trickling down her temples.

Gawd…! Just what happened again?!

She peeked into the room cautiously and saw the trio, each with a different expression plastered on their faces.

Yoona had a contradicting look, as if anger and guiltiness were fighting within her. Jessica was biting on her lower lip nervously, while staring at Yuri with worries. Whereas Yuri looked frustrated, but at the same time, she never failed to put on a reassuring smile to calm the pitiful blonde down.

Does that mean she chooses Jessica over Tiffany?

Sooyoung frowned at her latest discovery.

This is getting complicated––Hold on, food!

Jessica nudged Yoona who was back-facing her. “Yoona, I’m… I’m sorry about this.” She was only trying to wake Yoona up with that bottle of water. She didn’t know her mischievous action would cause disruption between these two.

Worst still, they were in the midst of argument. What she had done was unforgivable – at least that was how she felt about the current situation.

Yoona twisted her body around and smiled at the worried blonde. She patted on Jessica’s shoulder and replied, “Unnie, you don’t have to be sorry. I should be the one who is apologizing. I am awake even before you came in, but I ignored you.” Yoona looked away guiltily. She was immersed in her thoughts about Tiffany and their problem. She thought feigning sleep would make the blonde go away, but she was wrong obviously and successfully earned water splashing onto her face – though she could actually stop it if it wasn’t for Tiffany who suddenly barged in. “I’m sorry unnie, for what happened. But I believe in you, it is not your fault.” Yoona might be pretending to be asleep, but she was definitely not oblivious to her surroundings.

Yoona had been watching Jessica since she made her first step into her room. Being a hunter herself, it was natural for her to suspect anyone who was behaving in a weird manner. Therefore, even after her nose captured the aroma of the fried rice in Jessica’s hand, she did not put her guards down immediately.

She saw how excited and envious Jessica was when the girl was amazed by the decoration in her own room. She also saw how Jessica tried to reach for one of her frog plush toys, if not for the plate that was hindering her.

Yoona actually almost laughed out loud when she saw Jessica talking to herself and not to forget how nervous she was when she thought about Yuri being mad at her.

“But Tiffany…”

“Nah, it’s not your fault. It’s between the both of us.” Yoona patted on Jessica’s shoulder once more. She jumped off the bed, pulling Jessica with her and stopped in front of Yuri, “Unnie, I guess I shall pass Jessica unnie back to you?” Yoona grinned and pushed Jessica to Yuri.

Jessica blushed upon hearing Yoona’s words. She made it sound so wrong!

Yuri was in the midst of her thoughts. She snapped back into reality when she heard Yoona’s words and felt Jessica’s body pressing against her. A tinge of warmness was creeping onto her cheeks. Yuri subconsciously swallowed the lump in as she tried to ignore the awkwardness between the both of them.

Nevertheless, she still flashed a bright smile at her dong-saeng, “Thanks for looking after her,” Yuri took a quick glance at the fried rice lying on the side, “And remember to have your food. You hadn’t eaten anything since morning.”

“I will unnie. But I will only eat it after you guys leave……” Yoona eyed that particular hunter who was eyeing at her fried rice by the door.

Sooyoung would definitely ask for a mouth if she ate her food now.

“I get what you mean.” Yuri chuckled. “We shall take our leave now. Enjoy your meal.” Yuri took hold of Jessica’s hand and gently pulled her to the door. Upon reaching the door, Yuri slammed her palm above Sooyoung’s eyes and pushed her out of the room. “Yah! Stop peeking at Yoona’s food! I made you thrice her size before, so don’t even think about it!”

“Yah! I’m just looking! Don’t accuse me!”

“I know what you’re thinking, so don’t deny it!”

…

…

Their argument gradually faded out as Yoona closed her door. She spun around and headed for her couch. Before sitting down, she grabbed the frog plush toy, which caught Jessica’s attention earlier on, and hugged it against her chest.

It seemed so wrong.

Yoona was merely trying to liven up the mood by doing a random tease. But Yuri and Jessica’s reaction caught her by surprise.

Yuri might hide it well, but Yoona didn’t miss that little swallowing gesture of hers. And Jessica, she was too obvious with her flushing cheeks. How could one easily got embarrassed because of a minor teasing?

The only reason Yoona could think of is because they were guilty conscious.

Now, it really made Yoona confused. She remembered Tiffany saying she and Yuri were nothing more than partners when she confronted her. Yoona did not believe her words of course, well, anyone wouldn’t believe it if they caught them kissing and doing those bedroom activities together.

Yoona was in great dilemma now.

If whatever Tiffany told her was the truth, does that mean she had wronged Tiffany all these time?

Yoona shut her eyes in frustration and buried her face into the frog plush toy in her arms.

“Great. Yoona, this is just too great.”

*

With her hand still holding onto Jessica’s one, Yuri stopped Sooyoung before their arguments on foods reached the next level. She looked around her, searching for a specific figure who was nowhere to be seen.

She turned to Sooyoung and asked, “Where’s Tiffany?” Sooyoung was standing by the door throughout the incident, she should know the answer.

“She went into her room.” Sooyoung pointed at the last room with its door closed. “You wanna talk to her now?” Recalling what happened in Yoona’s room earlier on, Sooyoung wondered if it was really alright for Yuri to do so now.

Yuri shook her head, “Nah. I just want to make sure she is in the house.” She certainly didn’t wish to see Tiffany going missing again. “I’m going back to my room too,” She paused, noticing her partner had the intention to follow her. “Yah! Why are you following me? Go do what you want, don’t bother us.” With that, she pulled the silent blonde with her and dashed into her room.

Bong!

And the door closed before Sooyoung was able to react.

Sooyoung stared at the closed door suspiciously.

Yuri and Jessica… it didn’t make sense at all if they fell in love after knowing each other for merely a month. But after seeing how Yuri panicked for Jessica and how protective she was towards her, it seemed that her theory was wrong.

But… if that’s the case, what about Tiffany then?

Sooyoung turned to the other closed door located at the far end of the corridor and frowned.

She didn’t even bother check on Tiffany now.