Chapter Three

After knocking on the door for five times and received no replies, Tiffany lost her patience. She pushed open the door and entered her friend’s room without granted permission.

Sooyoung was sitting in the middle of the room, feeding on the cereals which Tiffany stuffed into her hands earlier on. Her gaze was glued to the wall. She refused to acknowledge her friend’s presence.

Tiffany sighed upon seeing this. Yuri was right. She was a little too harsh towards Sooyoung back in the kitchen.

“Sooyoung.” Tiffany walked towards Sooyoung and placed the tray next to her. “Put the cereals away. I’ve got you your breakfast.”

Sooyoung simply ignored her. She grabbed even more cereals from the box and stuffed them into .

“Sooyoung-ah, you’re not going to be angry with us for pulling pranks on you, are you?”

Finally, a reaction. Sooyoung snorted and answered grumpily, “I am this petty if you haven’t realized.” Cereals… Cereals… Ah, damn it, the smell of the omelettes and toasts… gosh, they smell so delicious!

“Okay… But now that I’ve made you breakfast, would you like to take it as my apology and accept it?” Tiffany pushed the tray closer to Sooyoung, ensuring the tall hunter was able to smell and SEE the delicious breakfast before her. “I’ve added extra toasts for you, the girls didn’t get them.”

“Hmm…” Sooyoung peeked at the tray that was placed next to her legs. “So you’re saying this is specially made for me?” Though her tone sounded indifferent, she was actually controlling herself not to go crazy for it.

Ugh, the smell is so seducing!

“Yeah, I made it especially for you.” Tiffany chuckled to herself. She knew Sooyoung wanted to put these omelettes and toasts into desperately, yet she was forcing herself to act as if she had no interest in it. “Will you accept this as my apology?”

“Hmm…” Sooyoung pretended to ponder.

Tiffany looked at her with a crafty smile on her face, “If you don’t want then… I will just take this away and stop bothering you.” She reached for the tray purposely, and as expected, Sooyoung intercepted and pushed it away before she was able to get in touch with it.

“Alright, I shall forgive you this time.” She pushed the tray to her side, ensuring the distance between it and Tiffany was far enough. “But be reminded that I’m not that easy to deal with, so don’t pull pranks on me anymore.”

“Yeah, of course.” As long as there are foods, nothing is impossible. “We won’t do it again.” An angelic gentle smile was revealed on Tiffany’s face. However, whatever that processed through her mind was nothing near that. “I’m going to leave now, hope you enjoy your breakfast!”

“I will.” Sooyoung replied calmly. She watched Tiffany left her room and closed the door behind her. She waited for a few more seconds, making sure that Tiffany had gone far already, only then she picked up the utensils and dug in the foods.

“By the way, Sooyoung-ah…” The door swung open suddenly and Tiffany, who should have left, appeared behind it. “Oh! I’m sorry to disturb you. But I want to go shopping later, you wanna come along?” Tiffany might be apologizing, but the grin on her face showed otherwise.

Ugh! Sooyoung groaned to herself. I shouldn’t have forgotten that she’s an angelic devil! A Devil with the face of an Angel! 

*

“Yuri, I’m starving, let’s grab some snacks first.” Sooyoung whined while clutching her hands tightly against her stomach.

Yuri shot her an unbelievable look. “I thought you ate before we came out?” She remembered Tiffany even prepared toasts for Sooyoung several times before she finally made herself breakfast.

“Yeah, but all these walking are draining my energy away. I need food to refill them.”

Yuri rolled her eyes at Sooyoung. Seriously, she wondered how her body system worked! Same goes to Yoona! She turned to Yoona, who was sharing a similar look as Sooyoung. “Yoona, don’t tell me you…”

Yoona nodded with an embarrass smile on her face, she was just as hungry as Sooyoung.

“Ugh!” Yuri let out a groan, how on earth did she get stuck with the shikshin duo? “Alright, we shall grab some snacks first before we look for Tiffany.” Tiffany Hwang, gosh… where did that girl went to? She knew she was fast when she engaged in a battle, but she didn’t know she was even faster when it comes to shopping!

*

Tiffany entered one of the two storey cottages and was welcomed by a wide variety of clothes. A wide smile spread across her face upon seeing those beautiful dresses. Mutants had been appearing so often that she didn’t even have the time to sleep, so shopping was definitely out of the topic as she preferred to rest over entertainment.

As Tiffany moved around the store, she noticed most of the clothes were new arrivals which she had never seen before.

It must have been quite some times since she last visited this place.

One of the assistants spotted Tiffany and approached her, “Hi Ms. Hwang, it has been a while. How’s everything?”

“Everything is fine.” Tiffany replied, and smiled gently at the assistant, causing her to blush unknowingly. Most of the residents knew they were from the Aurales, it would be better if she hadn’t told them the truth about the sudden increase of the mutants in the neighboring towns. “How’s business?” She asked casually while looking at the clothes.

“There are lots of travelers in town nowadays, so business is actually very good.”

“Travelers?”

“Yup! Travelers from faraway towns, villages and even cities. Apparently most of them are afraid of the mutants, so they move into towns and villages nearby. Yorea is the most popular one since Aurales’ headquarters is located just half an hour away from here.”

Tiffany couldn’t help but sneered at that conclusion. Hadn’t those people ever heard of the safest place being the most dangerous place, whereas the most dangerous place might be the safest? Aurales was (supposing) their main target, who knew if Satron might just set off the mutants here?

“I will be fine on my own, you can attend to the other customers first.” Tiffany said politely as she pointed out to the few customers who had just entered the store.

“Okay, but do call me if you need help.”

“Absolutely.”

*

Yuri stopped abruptly in front of an alley while the shikshin duo proceeded further without noticing their friend’s abnormal reaction.

The air… Yuri frowned and took in a deep breath to verify her doubts. The smell might not be strong, but something was definitely inside.

Something… which should not have appeared in this city.

“Yuri! What’s wrong?” Sooyoung finally noticed their missing friend. She stopped walking and looked at her friend from a distance.

Yoona had stopped as well. Noticing the seriousness and frown on Yuri’s face, she dragged Sooyoung along with her and walked back to Yuri.

“Unnie, are you alright?”

Yuri glanced at the both of them, “Take in a deep breath and tell me if you smell anything.”

Though the duo didn’t quite understand why Yuri said that, they did as what she said anyway and almost immediately, they reacted in the same way as how Yuri reacted a few minutes ago.

Sooyoung furrowed her eyebrows as she stared deeply into the dark alley besides them, “It is in there.”

Yuri nodded in agreement. Her gaze was locked on the dark alley too. “Let’s go and take a look.”

*

Tiffany wandered into the second floor of the store, unlike the first floor where the clothes were in fanciful colors, the clothes on the second floor only comprised of black and white. Tiffany approached the white’s section and stopped in front of the dresses.

White was a color which could not be found in her wardrobe as it only contained black outfits. Tiffany did not really fancy black personally, but wearing white on a mission was something no one would do. No one would want to return to the headquarters with obvious dark crimson spattered all over their clothes.

“All these dresses are new arrivals.” Startled by the voice, Tiffany jumped up a little from her position. She spun around and saw a girl standing behind her.

The girl was slightly shorter than her and she had short hair which somewhat resembled mushroom? Tiffany thought to herself playfully while observing the girl.

She looked young too. Her features suggested to Tiffany that she might still be schooling. However, judging from the way she dressed, a fitting white shirt with sleeves folded up till her elbows and a pair of neat white long pants on the bottom, she seemed like a working adult instead. Her outfit made her looked mature, and at the same time, charming too.

Maybe kids like to dress themselves older nowadays, Tiffany thought to herself.

The girl picked a dress from the rack and held it up to Tiffany. An innocent smile hung on her face as she continued to speak, “I think this will look great on you! Why don’t you give a try?”

Tiffany stared at her with a slight frown on the face. She already told the other assistant she would be fine on her own, but why is this kid bothering her––Wait a minute, is she even one of the store’s assistant?

Cautious was quickly written all over Tiffany’s face. She stared at the suspicious girl with an intensive gaze.

The girl understood her expression and quickly explained, “I’m only trying to introduce you some of the new clothes, I… I’m not going to hurt you.” She said in an almost whisper tone.

Tiffany looked at the nervous girl, maybe she was really too sensitive and over-reacting… She recalled the conversation with Yoona this morning. Sigh, hadn’t she told herself to control her temper and be nice and friendly to people? This was the perfect time to put changes into it.

“Okay,” Tiffany softened her stiff look and took the dress away from the girl, “I will try it out.” She smiled, eyes curved into the shape of crescents that almost took the girl’s breath away.

Before Tiffany closed the door of the changing room, she heard the girl again. “You look really pretty when you smile and I like it a lot.” A smile was formed on Tiffany’s face unknowingly as she finally closed and locked the door behind her.