Hello my readers, 

I finally have Internet again:D While I've been gone, it seems like I have missed out on a lot so I'll be catching up on reading updates of stories so there won't be updates for the next few days. I would like to say a huge thank you for your support for my stories even though I've been away for so long. I feel very grateful. 

I haven't written much about Yuri's thoughts and feelings so that will definitely be in the next chapter. But for now, I hope you enjoy this chapter♥

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Yuri pushed Sooyoung’s back against the alley wall. Sooyoung could feel the iciness of the stone biting into her skin.

“What did you promise me?” Yuri demanded, eyes flashing furiously.

Sooyoung gulped, “I um… promised that I would never be together with Jessica”

Yuri raised her voice, “And why is that?”

Sooyoung stammered, “Because, it will cause a huge scandal if the public um… discovers it…”

Yuri loosened her grip on Sooyoung’s shoulders, “Good, I hope that you will remember that in future. Right?”

Sooyoung nodded with fear.

Taeyeon sauntered over to the two, trying to act casual, “Hey Yuri, why did you suddenly drag Sooyoung out?”

Yuri advanced on Taeyeon, “How could you just stand there and do nothing? You’re the leader! You’re meant to be taking care of these things. Not me.”

Taeyeon furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, “What?”

Yuri took a few more menacing steps forward, “Don’t pretend that you don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?” asked a baffled Taeyeon.

“Her…” Yuri pointed viciously at Sooyoung, “and Jessica…”

Taeyeon nodded her head in understanding, “Oh, how those two almost kissed?”

“Yes…” Yuri hissed in annoyance.

Taeyeon didn’t know how to answer, “That was um… well… it was…”

“Unacceptable…” Yuri growled. “How could you let your members do that? What if other people at the restaurant see? What would happen to our reputation then? You’re the leader, Kim Taeyeon. It’s your responsibility to make sure such things don’t happen. If they do… there would be huge consequences. S.M. would be furious at us, we would lose fans, there would be so many controversies and our group will be tarnished. We’re the number one girl group in South Korea, even in the whole of Asia. People look up to us as role models. We’re proudly representing South Korea. We must be careful of our actions. Just one mistake like this could ruin everything. Our name would be in tatters, in ruins! What would become of us then? All those hard years of work, our fans’ trust, all thrown aside in a single kiss…”

Taeyeon listened to Yuri’s lecture with a calm expression but she was seething inside. Who cares if they kissed and other people saw. Love is love. You can’t separate two people who love each other just because of a petty thing like a scandal. We might lose some fans, but I’m sure most of them would be supportive. I must be more careful now.

“Kim Taeyeon, are you listening to me?” Yuri yelled.

Taeyeon nodded wearily.

Yuri glared at her, “You better have” before stalking off leaving Sooyoung and Taeyeon alone.

Taeyeon turned to Sooyoung, “You alright?”

Sooyoung nodded unconvincingly. She was shaken by Yuri’s anger.

Taeyeon tried to put her arm around Sooyoung’s shoulders but failed miserably. She ended up putting her arm around Sooyoung’s waist and patted her back gently.

“It’s ok, Sooyoung. Just ignore Yuri, ignore the promise. If you truly love Jessica, be with her. Don’t they say that love has no barrier?”

Sooyoung shook her head and gazed mournfully at Taeyeon, “It won’t work…”

Taeyeon jutted out her chin and looked at Sooyoung with defiance, “Who said so?”

Sooyoung sighed, “Yuri said…”

Taeyeon interrupted, “Yuri said… Don’t listen to her for just this one thing. Okay? You know that Jessica loves you too right?”

Sooyoung nodded.

Taeyeon smiled, “Exactly, and if you leave her, you’ll break her heart.”

Sooyoung sighed, “But she’ll move on. She’ll find a person who’ll be a better match for her. Maybe the best thing to do would be to separate…”

“Separate? Looks like Yuri has been brainwashing you” Taeyeon scoffed, “Do you seriously think that breaking apart is that easy, is that simple? You have to fight for your love Sooyoung. You love her, she loves you, what more do you need? Love will give you courage.”

Sooyoung was crying, “I can’t… it won’t work out… it just won’t… two girls from the nation’s top girl group in a relationship…”

Taeyeon chuckled a little, “Make that four girls… it will work Sooyoung. Trust me.”

Sooyoung wiped her eyes on her sleeve and sniffled, “Four?”

Taeyeon smiled, “Yes, Fany and I are in a relationship. But keep that a secret from Yuri ok?”

It brought a smile to Sooyoung’s face, “I promise. But…”

Taeyeon put her finger over Sooyoung’s lips, “But what?” No more buts Sooyoung. We’ll go through this together. Now let’s get back. We shouldn’t keep our girlfriends waiting.”

She tipped a wink to Sooyoung who seemed to have recovered to her usual, cheerful self.

The two of them walked hand in hand, out of the alley and back to the restaurant.

Behind them, a pair of eyes followed their every move.

*

Back at the restaurant, three of the girls were kept very busy by an extremely distraught girl.

“She ruined it!” shouted Jessica, “How could she? And she took my Youngie, my jagiya away…”

She broke into loud sobs. She did not even bother to hide the fact that she loved Sooyoung.

Tiffany was gently rubbing her back while saying a small prayer. Seohyun was on hand with tissues and water and observed the older girl with a concerned expression. Hyoyeon was murmuring soothing words and trying to stop Jessica from crying to little avail.

Suddenly the door opened.

All four girls looked towards it, hope shining in their eyes but instead of the person they were expecting, there were three people clad in black with balaclavas pulled over their heads.

They acted swiftly, two of them grabbing Jessica and Tiffany, tying their mouths with rags to muffle their screams.

The bowl of water Seohyun was holding was lying broken on the floor and Seohyun herself was motionless with shock.

Seeing that the situation was complete chaos, Hyoyeon tried to sneak to the door and call for help but one of three people pushed her to the floor.

“Don’t even think about it” hissed a female voice.

Hyoyeon blinked rapidly as her head spun and frowned, “Her voice sounds so familiar, I just can’t remember…”

Thwack!

The person hit Hyoyeon on the head with a wooden club, immediately knocking her unconscious. That was all it took for Seohyun’s mind to unfreeze. She quickly ran up to the stranger and began throwing punches at her, salty tears running down her face.

“Why did you do that? You’re hurting all of them. How could you!” she sobbed, deeply hurt by the fact that her unnies were being treated this way.

The stranger easily overpowered her and pinned a struggling Seohyun to the wall.

“You better stop doing that unless you want to be hurt next.” Her nails dug painfully into Seohyun’s shoulders. “And… you better not say a word about this or else…”

She took out a sharp blade, its edge glinting evilly under the lights.

“It would be such a shame to ruin that beautiful, porcelain white skin of yours…” She ran the blade Seohyun’s arm, drawing out a thin trickle of blood and a whimper of fright from the girl.

“If you say anything, there wouldn’t be enough of you left to…” She laughed maliciously, “I’ll let you think about that.”

With those words said, she slid the knife into her belt and gestured to the other two who were holding the two motionless girls whose fearful eyes were clouded with tears. The three of them walked out of the room.

Seohyun could not stop shaking as she walked across the room to Hyoyeon and moved her to a chair, bathing her head with cold water. She could see a purplish-green bruise on the side of her head. Wiping away a tear, she sat down on a chair and took a gulp of wine to calm her nerves.

She thought despairingly over the chain of events, regretting the fact that she had just stood there and done nothing. She was so deep in thought that she managed to finish half the bottle of wine without realising it. Soon her lids felt heavy and Seohyun succumbed to sleep, dropping the wine glass in the process.

*

Taeyeon jumped at the sound of glass shattering.

Sooyoung smiled at her reassuringly, “The waiter probably dropped a glass or something like that.”

Taeyeon nodded but the statement failed to bring any comfort to her. Something does not feel right. Why is the restaurant deserted when it was packed just 15 minutes ago? She felt a prickling sensation up her spine as they neared the reserved dining rooms.

They reached the door and Sooyoung nudged her. Taking a deep breath, Taeyeon opened the door with clammy hands. Her face turned ashen white.

Sooyoung peered into the room and she would have fallen on the ground if Taeyeon had not caught her.

Both their eyes were fixed to the scene in front of them. The room was a complete mess, the paintings on the wall were lopsided, there was shattered glass on the floor, the table had been turned over and food and drinks had spilled onto the ground.

Sooyoung and Taeyeon made their way to the chairs Hyoyeon and Seohyun were sitting on. Sooyoung noted the broken wine glass next to Seohyun and the still bleeding cut on her arm. She rushed out to get a first aid kit and gently bandaged her hand. Taeyeon looked at Hyoyeon but couldn’t see anything apart from some grazes and cuts. She looked closer and gasped upon seeing the livid bruise partially covered by her air. She immediately rang the ambulance and the two of them waited for it to arrive impatiently.

They accompanied the two unconscious girls to the hospital and once they were certain they were in a good condition and in safe hands they returned to the dorm.

“What do you think happened?” asked Sooyoung.

Taeyeon sighed, “I’m not too sure. It looks like they were attacked but who would do that?”

Sooyoung nodded in agreement, “Our bodyguards were standing outside the dining room when we went in. They should have stayed there and stopped anyone apart from members of SNSD from going into the room.”

Taeyeon frowned, “That’s right, who could have possibly gone in?”

*

Sunny anxiously peered out the window for what seemed like the thousandth time. Why is Yuri not here?

Yoona had been muttering deliriously for the past several hours and the doctors said that her fever had gone up. They were puzzled by the worsening of her condition but had prescribed some more medication and extended her time in hospital. Only Sunny knew why Yoona was getting sicker. It was from one girl. One girl who had not visited the whole day even though she had promised she would.

Suddenly her phone rang.

“Hello?” she said.

“Sunny, I need you to call Yuri right now. And tell her to come to the dorm immediately. It’s urgent.” ordered Taeyeon.

“Ok, I’ll try calling her.” Sunny replied.

She was startled at the very serious and anxious tone of Taeyeon. She knew that something had gone wrong.

Sunny dialled Yuri’s number, expecting her not to pick up as she had done for the whole day. To her great surprise, a voice answered after the first ring.

“Hello? Sunny?” Yuri asked.

“Yuri,” Sunny said with relief, “Taeyeon told you to come to the dorm immediately. She said it was something urgent.”

“Ok, tell her I’ll be there in around 15 minutes” answered Yuri.

“I will.” Sunny smiled faintly, “And Yuri…”

“Yes?” questioned Yuri.

“Could you come and visit Yoona tonight? Her fever has increased.” Sunny said.

The line went quiet.

“Hello? Are you still there Yuri?” asked Sunny.

“Huh? Oh yes, I can’t go tonight because I’m filming a CF. I’ll try and make it tomorrow morning.” Yuri replied.

“Really? That would be great.” grinned Sunny with happiness although she was not sure if Yuri would actually come to visit Yoona.

“Yes, I’ll be there tomorrow. I’ll be hanging up now.” Yuri said.

Sunny twirled around in the hospital room, smiling at the sleeping Yoona. I’m sure she’ll be feeling better after seeing her visitor tomorrow.

*

Taeyeon was nervously drumming her fingers on the table while Sooyoung was munching on a cookie, deep in thought.

The doorbell rang.

Both girls almost tripped over each other in their rush to open the door.

“Hello Yuri” they chorused, giving a grim smile to the worried girl standing in front of the door.

“Hello guys, what’s wrong?” Yuri asked.

Taeyeon gestured to the bedroom, “We’ll sit down and talk about it.”

The three of them sat down on the bed, Taeyeon cleared and throat and began to talk, “After Sooyoung and I went back to the restaurant, the room was a mess, Hyoyeon and Seohyun were badly injured and Tiffany and Jessica were missing. We’re not too sure as to exactly what happened and how this could have happened since we had bodyguards in front of the doors. We had the police do some investigations but so far they haven’t found any evidence to track down the attackers. We were wondering if you saw anyone suspicious around the restaurant or know anyone who could have done this.”

The room was silent except for the sounds of Sooyoung’s chewing. Taeyeon turned back and glared at her and Sooyoung immediately closed the lid on the cookie container with a guilty look.

Yuri let out a sigh with a sad look on her face, “I don’t know anyone who could have done this to our members. Have the police left the restaurant?”

Taeyeon nodded her head.

Yuri thought for a moment, “Maybe you can go back to the room and look at it again. You might find some evidence or clues looking at it for the second time. I would come with you but I have to go and film a CF right now.”

She stood up, brushing invisible specks of dirt from her skirt.

“I wish you two luck!” she called as she walked out the dorm.

Taeyeon turned to Sooyoung, “Maybe we should go back and have a second look.”

Sooyoung took out another cookie and bit it, “Let’s go and do that quickly, it’s going to be dark soon and I have a feeling that it won’t be safe in that place at night.”

Taeyeon laughed, “Come on, nothing will happen to us. Stop worrying so much Sooyoung. Let’s go. We must find my Fany and Jessica.”

Sooyoung reluctantly followed Taeyeon as she jogged outside.

They reached the restaurant and went into the reserved dining room, switching on the lights.

The two of them scoured the room, trying to not disturb anything.

Then, Taeyeon saw a piece of paper underneath a shard of glass. Just as she reached for it, the lights went off. She heard the clicks of the light switch.

“Taeyeon, are you alright?” asked Sooyoung.

“Yes, I’m fine. How about you?” Taeyeon asked back.

“I’m good. But somehow the power got cut. Let’s get out of here.” Sooyoung answered.

“Not so fast…”