Chapter Seven

Yuri went to the I.T. Department early in the morning, hoping that everyone was still asleep on their beds. But unfortunately, it appeared that the staffs preferred work over sleep, almost all of them were present in the office.

Pulling her coat closer together, Yuri made her way through the office as fast as she could while ignoring those violating stares until she reached the office with a plate carving ‘Cho Kyu-Hyun’ on it.

“Come in.” A voice rang from behind the door after Yuri knocked on the door twice.

She pushed the door open immediately and rushed inside.

This is why she really hates to come to the I.T. department’s office. Those people out there just do not understand the meaning of privacy and respecting!

“Woah! Are you okay?” Kyuhyun looked up from his computer, “Why so tensed up?”

Yuri walked to his table and took a seat across him. “I know you knew the reason why! So don’t ask me those senseless questions and get to business.”

“Okay… So, what’s up?”

Yuri took out Tiffany’s communication device from her pocket and set it on the table. “It’s not working.”

Kyuhyun took the device and gave it a short inspection, “It looks fine to me.”

“I want a detailed check-up.” Yuri demanded.

“Okay, chill, I will do it.” People had been telling him how scary Tiffany was and all sorts of stuffs, but Kyuhyun personally thought that Yuri was much scarier than Tiffany. Tiffany got this aura around her which already warned everyone not to provoke her unnecessary, in other words, it was easy for them to avoid an angry Tiffany, unless they wanted to do something stupid. But for Yuri, she was always nice and friendly to everyone. Who would have thought the friendly hunter could be provoke as well?

Kyuhyun had no idea what exactly took Yuri into frustration. But in normal circumstances, he presumed anything that concerned her brother… and or Tiffany, could easily caused her to lose her temper.

“You may want to explain the problem with this device while I do the scanning.” Kyuhyun placed the device in a special machine that was specially created for these communication devices.

“We were only one street away from one another yesterday, but I couldn’t detect the signal to her device.”

Something struck Kyuhyun’s mind, “Is this Tiffany’s device, or yours?”

“Tiffany’s.”

Oh… so that explained her demanding.

Kyuhyun cleared his throat and scratched his head. “Where’s your device? I shall do scanning for the both of them, in case yours is the one which is faulty.”

They waited for about an hour before both devices finished with the scanning. Kyuhyun passed the devices back to Yuri before retrieving the reports from his printer. He put on his glasses and browsed through reports, searching for any possible faults. But to his surprise, everything was working perfectly fine.

“Nothing is wrong with the devices.” He put down the reports and removed his glasses. “Are you sure you couldn’t detect her signal or did you forgot to press the button?”

“Mr. Cho, do I look like I will forget this kind of thing?” Yuri rolled her eyes and questioned with a sarcastic tone.

Kyuhyun cleared his throat again, this time with a rather embarrassed expression on his face. He should have asked a more intelligent question.

He faked a smile, “I was kidding. Of course you won’t.”

Yuri threw a nasty glare at him, “Mr. Cho, you’re the only person whom I regard as normal from the I.T. department. Please don’t make me change my mind.”

Gulp! This is the scariest part of Yuri. She doesn’t torture people physically like how Tiffany does, she will just torture them mentally and let them suffer a temporarily nervous breakdown.

Kyuhyun wondered how many people had actually become Yuri’s victims. He himself had actually gone through this situation for quite a number of times, most of which was due to Tiffany’s ual harassments’ encounters in the I.T. department.

“Anyway,” Kyuhyun tried to divert Yuri’s attention back to the devices. “The signals, everything, they are perfectly alright. What you mentioned earlier on shouldn’t have happened, unless…”

“Unless?” She raised one of her eyebrows.

“Unless someone tampered with the radio waves or blocked it off.”

“How is that possible?”

Kyuhyun shrugged, “These are just some possibilities I can think of. I have no idea what is the reason you and Tiffany couldn’t get hold of each other yesterday.”

“So is there any ways for me to prevent it from happening again?”

“Yes,” Kyuhyun paused for a second. “But only if we found the problem that is causing it.”

*

Tiffany was back in the city again. It was unusual for her to visit this place two days consistently because her missions always worn her out. And as much as she loved to shop, she would rather spend her free time sleeping on her comfy bed than to waste her energy walking around the city.

However, things were different today. Tiffany hummed a random tune to herself softly. She strolled along the pavement of a quieter district in the city. She always liked quiet places, preferably the nature where she was surrounded by only trees, animals, fresh air and nothing else.

She doesn’t hate crowds, but she dislikes interaction with people who she is unfamiliar with, especially those who only talk to her because of her appearance.

Before Tiffany even realized where she was heading to, she was standing in front of the store she came yesterday. She lifted up her head and looked at the windows on the second floor.

That mysterious girl… Tiffany snorted. She shouldn’t be thinking about her, but she couldn’t help it when her mind was preoccupied by that kiddy girl.

“Hey!”

Tiffany felt a tap on her shoulder. The corners of curved upwards when she saw the girl in her mind, standing right behind her.

“How are you?” Taeyeon wore the same old innocent smile on her face. It was the smile which made Tiffany unusually relaxed.

“Hey…” Tiffany replied softly as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “We meet again.”

“Yeah, we meet again.” Taeyeon winked at her, “Fate let us meet again.”

Tiffany scoffed, unsure how should she reply to this kiddy girl and her mushy line.

Taeyeon tilted her head, “Care for a lunch?”

Tiffany folded her arms together, “I don’t even know your name.”

“Kim Taeyeon.” Taeyeon answered immediately. She held out her hand, “What’s yours?”

“Tiffany,” Tiffany smirked and shook Taeyeon’s hand. “Nice to meet you Taeyeon.”

Taeyeon brought Tiffany to the restaurant nearby. She requested for window seats and the waiter led them to the small corner at the back, where the windows faced the fountain outside.

Pulling out the chair for Tiffany, Taeyeon gestured the hunter to sit on it instead the one she intended to sit across her.

“Thanks.” She said and settled herself on the chair. Taeyeon was giving a little push from the back to ensure she could sit comfortably.

Taeyeon then took the seat across her and handed the menu to her.

Tiffany took the menu from her and smiled, “You’re such a gentleman.”

“Do you like it?” Taeyeon winked at her again.

Tiffany couldn’t contain herself and giggled softly.

This girl is really interesting.

“It’s perfect.” She complimented, sending a wink back to Taeyeon as returned gift.

Taeyeon tried to hide her excitement. She acted as though she didn’t care and replied calmly, “That’s… a deadly wink.” It contained high voltages that could easily electrify her.

Tiffany saw through her act right away. She grinned, and revealed the pair of attractive crescent-shaped eyes that Taeyeon had been longing for, “Do you like it then?”

Taeyeon couldn’t hide herself anymore. She grinned at Tiffany, and her own lips in a seductive manner playing as she fixed her gaze on Tiffany’s eyes.

“It is more than perfect.”

*

The lunch did not last long as those two only had dessert for lunch. After paying for the bills, Taeyeon took Tiffany by her hand and stopped in front of the fountain which was outside the restaurant.

“This is pretty.” Taeyeon placed her other hand against her forehead and lifted up her head. Her hand was shielding her from the sunlight from shining into her eyes. “But I wonder if the water is clean?”

“Why? You want to drink it?”

“Of course not,” Taeyeon turned to Tiffany. “I’m just curious.”

Tiffany laughed happily and teased the shorter girl, “Okay… kids around your age do get curious easily.”

“How old do you think I am?” Taeyeon asked curiously.

“Hmm… seventeen?” Taeyeon shook her head. Tiffany guessed again, “Eighteen?” Taeyeon shook her head again. “Don’t tell me you are… sixteen?” But that is way too young!

Taeyeon chortled to herself. “I wished I was, but I’m twenty-four.”

“Twenty-four?” Now, that really surprised Tiffany. She took a step back and observed Taeyeon from head to toes. Even twenty sounded too old for her, but twenty-four?! That means Taeyeon is older than her!

Taeyeon chuckled again, “I really am twenty-four. I know my face and size don’t prove my age.”

“So how do you feel about it?”

“What can I feel about it?” Taeyeon shrugged, an unconcerned smile was reflected on her face. It wasn’t like she had the ability to change her look and size anyway. “So, do you feel better now? After knowing you’re actually having a date with an adult rather than a kid.”

“Ha!” Tiffany let out an embarrass laugh. “Did you install a camera in my head?” True, she did feel awkward when she thought she was having a date with a teenager, but she was more than relieved now, after knowing Taeyeon is actually older than her.

“Uh uh.” Taeyeon pulled Tiffany closer to her, lowering the latter’s chin with the tip of her index finger. “I didn’t read your mind, it is your eyes who told me everything.” Her finger moved upwards, slowly and steadily, tracing the outline of her jaw before coming to a stop at the corner of her eyes. Her hand cupped Tiffany’s face almost naturally, her thumb rubbing across Tiffany’s cheek gently as she continued with her words. “Remember what I told you yesterday? Your eyes, they sparkle like stars. Every time they flicker, they look as though they are talking to me.”

“I didn’t know my eyes are so talkative.” Tiffany held onto Taeyeon’s hand, pressing it further down onto her cheeks. Taeyeon’s hand is smooth, soft and warm. It was nice to have her caressing her face.

“They aren’t, but they love talking to me I guess.”

Tiffany laughed again. This girl sure knew how to make her laughed like no one else did. She seldom smiled, let alone laughing. She would say Taeyeon was really very successful.

“You’re pretty confident huh?” Tiffany asked. She finally let go of Taeyeon’s hand and moved a step backwards.

“I’m only confident because it is you.”

Tiffany turned her back towards Taeyeon. She had been out for the whole morning, it was almost time for her to return before Yuri and the others became worried again.

“Taeyeon, I had to leave already. But before I go, there is something I wanted to tell you.” The dress… her present for her, she lost it almost immediately after she received it.

“What is it?”

“The dress… the one you gave me yesterday,” Tiffany spun around and looked at Taeyeon apologetically. “I lost it, sorry.”

The smile from Taeyeon’s face was gone instantly. She tried to force out a smile, but it was too obvious.

“I’m sorry Taeyeon,” Tiffany apologized again. “I’m willing to do anything as long as you forgive me.”

“Anything?” Her eyes glowed. The depressing look on her face was gone almost in a flash as soon as it appeared.

Tiffany swallowed hard. She had no idea why she got a very bad feeling about this. But there was no way she would retrieve her words.

She replied, “Yeah, anything.”

Taeyeon flashed a wide grin at Tiffany and revealed her request, “Close your eyes then.”