Chapter Six

Hyuk-Jun locked the door as soon as Tiffany exited the room.

Yuri looked at him with a frown on her face. “Oppa, what are you––” Before Yuri was able to finish her sentence, Hyuk-Jun attacked her with a headlock suddenly and pressed her down on the table. “Kwon Hyuk-Jun, what the heck are you doing! Let go of me NOW!” Yuri struggled, her hands waved vigorously in the air as she tried to push her brother away without injuring him.

Hyuk-Jun bent down, closing the gaps between them. “Kwon Yuri, admit yourself NOW!” He imitated Yuri’s voice. “You told me you have nothing for Tiffany last night, but what were you doing during the meeting? You don’t think your brother is blind, do you?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t understand!” Yuri continued to struggle. “Oppa, you’re hurting me! Let me go now!” She pleaded with a pitiful voice.

That certainly softened Hyuk-Jun’s determination in interrogating Yuri. Hyuk-Jun shook his head in despair and released his sister.

“Yuri, you are disappointing me.”

“WHAT?” Yuri yelled, her pitch was so high that Hyuk-Jun had to cover his ears. She glared at Hyuk-Jun with a pair of fiery eyes. “Oppa, you’re the one who is disappointing me! I can’t believe you will do this to me.” Her vision never left Hyuk-Jun while she massaged her strained neck.

“I’m only trying to question you.”

“Question me? With this kind of method?”

Hyuk-Jun ignored Yuri’s question. He pulled out a chair and sat on it. “Yuri, nothing is going to work out if you don’t express yourself. Be brave and confess to Tiffany!”

Not this again!

Yuri groaned. If Hyuk-Jun isn’t her brother, she would seriously whack him up and stuff socks into his mouth! “Oppa, how did we even end up in this topic AGAIN?”

“I’ve been talking about this from the beginning. Yuri, stop hiding yourself. Just look at yourself, look at what you did during the meeting. Why were you full of tension when I questioned Tiffany? Do you even realize your expression look like you’re protecting your girlfriend from those evil in-laws?”

“It’s friend, not girlfriend.” Yuri corrected him. “And you’re not her in-law!”

“Uh huh, I need an explanation Yuri.”

“An explanation of what?”

“Explain to me why you answered questions for her!”

“That’s because you look like you are going to devour her!”

“And why would I do that!” Hyuk-Jun exclaimed in confusion.

“I don’t know but YOUR expression looks like those evil in-laws who are questioning their newlywed daughter-in-law!”

Hyuk-Jun clasped his hand together, “So you finally admit she is my sister-in-law.”

“No!” Yuri rolled her eyes at him. “That is a description!”

“Alright, whatever.” He would not believe Yuri and her excuses anymore. “Now, back to serious business. I need you to keep an eye on Tiffany.”

“Say what?” The argument ended too fast, Yuri hadn’t even caught her breath yet, Hyuk-Jun was already throwing something else at her. “You’re suspecting her?” Yuri scowled and slammed her palms on the table. She observed Hyuk-Jun’s stern face.

He really meant business this time.

“Not her,” He furrowed his eyebrows as he stared directly into Yuri’s eyes. “I suspect someone has their eyes on her.” He stood up and walked to the window, watching the sun set at the far end of the sky. “Tiffany is one of our best hunters around, there is no way she will miss the mutant’s existence unless someone is deliberately stopping her.” He turned around, diverting his gaze to Yuri again. “I need you to keep a lookout for her and protect her.”

“That is needless to say. I will do that even if you don’t tell me to.”

Someone is targeting Tiffany, which means… Tiffany may be in danger anytime now.

“That’s why I’ve been saying, something is going on between you and Tif––”

“Mr. Kwon!” Yuri interrupted Hyuk-Jun before things got carried away. “Serious business!” She emphasized on that two words. How she wished Hyuk-Jun could end this discussion quickly, and let her off. She had to stay with Tiffany in case dangers found her.

Hyuk-Jun shrugged boringly. Yuri should really learn how to relax and stopped getting so tensed up every now and then. He returned to his seat and continued from where he stopped. “Besides Tiffany, you got to watch out for yourself too. I suspect the enemy’s plan is to remove our pillars before launching attacks on the weaker hunters and our non-hunter colleagues.”

Yuri nodded in acknowledgement. As long they removed the capable hunters in Aurales, Aurales would be easily defeated by a couple of mutants.

But then again, “Why didn’t you tell Tiffany before she went off?” Instead of warning her, shouldn’t Hyuk-Jun remind Tiffany instead?

A faint smile appeared on Hyuk-Jun’s face, “Tiffany is good enough to be wary for herself, and of course, her surroundings.” Hyuk-Jun isn’t a headmaster for nothing. He noticed Tiffany the moment she hesitated. However, he chose not to expose Tiffany because he trusted her and understood she must have her reason for hiding the truth.

He trusted Tiffany to handle the problems by herself. But still, considering Tiffany as his sister-in-law, Hyuk-Jun felt much relieved after instructing Yuri to keep a look out for her.

*

The sun had already set and the moon was hanging high up above the sky when Tiffany finally returned to the headquarters. She thought the dress would still be around since she assumed no one would enter that dark alley. But she was wrong apparently. Someone went in there and took her dress away, though god knows who actually went in there.

Tiffany walked across the foyer, heading towards the stairs absentmindedly. She was completely unaware of that anxious person who had been waiting for her return ever since she realized she went missing after the meeting with Hyuk-Jun.

“Fany!” Yuri grabbed Tiffany by her arm.

Tiffany was startled by her action and almost retaliated had she not seen Yuri’s face. “Oh, it’s you.” She let out a sigh of relief. “I almost thought why there is an assassin in our dorm.” She joked, oblivious to how worried Yuri was.

Yuri ignored her joke obviously. “Fany, where have you been?” She had asked Yoona and Sooyoung, but both of them said they did not see Tiffany returned to the dormitory after the meeting, so she went around the headquarters to search for her, but the answers were pretty much the same as her roommates’ replies.

Tiffany finally noticed the anxiety within Yuri. “I left something in the city, so I went back to look for it.” She pulled Yuri over and touched her face with the back of her hand. “Are you okay, Yuri? You seem distracted way back during the meeting.” She recalled how Yuri grabbed her hand and stopped her from answering Hyuk-Jun’s question.

Uh… that’s true, but they are two different issues though. She stopped Tiffany during the meeting because of the conversation she had with Hyuk-Jun the night before. She thought Hyuk-Jun wanted to do something to her, so she answered the question for her instead.

As for now, darn, it is because of Hyuk-Jun too! If her brother hadn’t said those things to her, and if Tiffany hadn’t gone missing, she wouldn’t have been so worried for her.

Yuri took Tiffany’s hand and pulled it down, holding it close to her chest. “Nah, I’m fine. I’m just worried for you since I couldn’t find you in the headquarters. I thought something bad happened to you.”

“Something bad? Like what?” Tiffany scoffed, “Yuri, I think you should be worried for yourself before worrying for me.”

Yuri scrunched her nose and pouted at her partner. “Why are you and Hyuk-Jun oppa telling me the same thing?” Hyuk-Jun told her a similar reply as Tiffany when she asked him to rest early.

“Well,” She lifted up her shoulders and looked at Yuri with her infamous eye smile, “I wonder why too.”

Yuri was mesmerized by the scene in front of her. Everything seemed to slow down, how Tiffany lifted her shoulders and how her beautiful eyes shaped into crescents when she flashed a smile at her––

I promise I won’t fall in love with you.

The mesmerizing scene shattered when that familiar voice rang in her head. Yuri regained her composure only to find Tiffany standing at the bottom of the stairs. Yoona had come out from nowhere and was hugging her so tightly that she thought it would suffocate Tiffany.

“Unnie! Where have you been? I am so worried for you!”

Sooyoung was standing somewhere behind the both of them. was munching on food like the usual days.

“Aww… My poor Yoona, I was in the city. Did someone tell tales and scare you?” Tiffany eyed Yuri specifically.

Yuri retorted, “Yah, I’m only worrying for you!”

It was only then Yuri remembered her position.

She is nothing more than a partner.

Tiffany felt helpless at Yuri’s words. She sighed, “Yuri, your worries are unnecessary.”

Sooyoung nodded in agreement, “See? I’ve told the both of you she would be alright, but you guys just refused to believe me.” She shoved the cereals into as soon as she finished her sentence.

Tiffany stared at her unbelievably, “Sooyoung, when will I ever see you without food for at least an hour?”

“Hmm…” Sooyoung pondered her questions seriously. “When I’m sleeping? Or maybe bathing.”

“… Ignore my question, thanks.”