“Are you here to take the cookies that you ordered, Yoona?” a pleasant young woman with a nice smile asks her cheerfully as soon as Yoona enters the small café that is located at Hongdae.

Yoona returns her smile with her own smile and nods. “Yes, Yuri, I’m here for that,” she responds. She approaches the counter as Yuri takes out a box from underneath the counter. The employee of the café places the box inside a plastic bag before handing it to Yoona. Yoona takes it and gives the employee the exact amount that she needs to pay. “Thanks, Yuri,” she says before leaving the café with the plastic bag in her hand.

She walks towards her car and unlocks the door before entering it. She places the plastic bag carefully on the passenger seat before shutting and locking the door. She puts her key in the ignition and just when the engine rumbles indicating that it is on, she notices that there is a black car that is parked behind her from the mirror.

The driver is wearing a cap and a pair of sunglasses, making it almost impossible for her to identify who the driver is. From his body shape, Yoona knows that the driver is a guy, though. She studies the driver carefully from the mirror and notices that he has blonde hair.

Even though there are thousands of guys who have blonde hair, Yoona’s intuition tells her that this guy is someone that she definitely knows. She shakes her head and lets him be. A smile makes its way to her lips as she suddenly has an idea on where she should go next.

Maybe it is time to pay her leader a visit.

It has been a week since she joined the gang and it is safe to say that Taeyeon, Luhan and Jinri are the only ones who have accepted her. The rest, though, she is not sure. Yixing barely talks to her, Jongdae glances at her with wary occasionally and Sehun downright stares at her like she is a criminal while Jongin and Soojung are more vocal about their protest of her joining.

Throughout the week, she has texted Luhan sometimes and the guy told her where he lives just in case she needs a place to stay, as stated by him. She thinks that he meant to say just in case she changed her mind about not wanting to have with him, though.

Yoona begins driving towards where Luhan says he is living at and she distinctly notices that the black car is following her. She snorts and continues to drive, acting like she has not realised that the black car is tailing her. After awhile, she reaches the building where her leader lives in and she parks her car while the black car follows suit. She waits for the black car to be parked comfortably.

As soon as she sees that the black car is already parked, Yoona takes the plastic bag that contains the box of cookies before leaving her car, not forgetting to lock the door shut. She goes up straight to the black car and knocks on the driver’s window. If the driver is surprised to see her, he does not show it. Instead, he lowers the window that blocks her voice from being heard.

Yoona smiles at him with exaggerated sweetness and the guy just eyes her questioningly. “Since you’re already busted, let’s go upstairs and meet Luhan together,” she chirps in her most cheerful tone that she is able to muster.

The blonde guy just looks at her for a moment before getting out of his car. He slams the door shut, not bothering to lock it, and turns to her. “What are you waiting for?” he asks in an almost rude tone before he walks past her towards the building.

Yoona chuckles quietly in amusement before following his footsteps. They get into the elevator together and wait as the elevator brings them to the twentieth floor. The young woman looks at the guy for a moment before opening to say something but snaps it shut once again. She hesitates for a moment. “Why are you following me, Sehun?” she inquires in a tone that means business after a moment of hesitation. It is better to be direct, anyway.

Sehun just shrugs nonchalantly, refusing to answer her question. The spy shakes her head at his stubbornness and decides not to press him further about it. They reach the twentieth floor and the two of them immediately head towards Luhan’s apartment. Yoona rings the doorbell and about a few seconds later, the door swings open and Luhan’s surprised face greets them.

“Well, this is unexpected,” their leader remarks but he lets them in, anyway.

The two of them enter and the sight of the other group members fooling around greets them. Jongdae, Jongin and Jinri are playing a game which looks a lot like Spin The Bottle while Taeyeon and Yixing are having a conversation with each other. Soojung is sitting at a corner, too engrossed in her phone and Yoona notes from the mess in the kitchen that Luhan is preparing a meal for them.

Yoona sits down on the couch while Sehun places himself next to Soojung. She observes all of them and a small smile reaches her lips. If she does not know better, she would have thought that they are just a bunch of harmless friends hanging out together instead of members in a gang.

Luhan heads back to the kitchen to finish preparing the meal and soon, the other members notice her arrival. They stop doing what they have been doing and all eyes are on her. Yoona places the plastic bag that she is carrying on the table and leans back against the couch.

“What are you doing here?” Jongin asks with an edge to his voice.

“You’re not welcomed here,” Soojung adds in a y tone.

Yoona rolls her eyes in irritation, having enough of the that they have been throwing in her way. “I don’t think it matters why I’m here,” she responds curtly. She lets her eyes travel to each and every one of the members for a moment before stopping when her eyes meet with Sehun’s. “The question is, why the hell is Sehun following me?” she asks with her jaw clenched.

All of them go rigid and uncomfortable glances are exchanged. Luhan returns with a big bowl of instant noodles. He places the bowl on the table and sits on the floor next to Jongin. He looks around and raises his eyebrow at the tense atmosphere.

“Isn’t anybody going to answer my question?” the spy asks rhetorically as her eyes harden. “Why is Sehun following me?”

“I told him to,” Luhan replies as soon as he grasps what is happening.

Yoona immediately glares at Luhan when he said that. She purses her lips into a straight line. The two of them are having a staring contest as silence begins to envelop them. The young woman is the first to blink and look away. “Why?” she questions quietly.

“We did a background check on you and-” Taeyeon starts to say but she is interrupted.

“Did you, really? Well, I wonder what you’ve found out, then,” Yoona cuts her off with heavy sarcasm laced in her voice.

“That’s the thing, Yoona,” Jongdae pipes up. “We’ve found nothing about you during the past three years. There are no medical records, no credit card records, no nothing. That’s why Luhan sent Sehun to follow you to find out more about you.”

A bitter laugh escapes Yoona’s lips. She lets a malicious smile touch her lips. “I see,” she spits out flatly. “None of you trusts me.”

“What do you expect? Of course, we don’t. You suddenly came to us out of nowhere, wanting to join our gang,” Soojung lashes out venomously. She stands up from her seat and paces back and forth. “We know absolutely nothing about you. What if you’re a spy? What if you just want to destroy us? We can’t let that happen, you know? I will not let that happen – ever.”

“And I thought you hate everyone,” Yoona mutters under her breath. She can hear her own heart pound so loudly that she could have sworn that the whole world is able to hear it. So they are suspicious of her but that is common when a new member joins. She just has to convince them that she is not a spy even though she actually is.

“Luhan knows me, though,” she says calmly and the rest of them look at Luhan almost accusingly. The leader shakes his head in denial and Yoona chuckles quietly. “I mean, he has heard of me,” she corrects herself.

“Well, yes, I’ve heard of you,” Luhan affirms.

The young woman lets out a small sigh and closes her eyes briefly before opening them again. “Okay, fine,” she says at last. “Each of you is allowed to ask me a question and I will answer all of them. That way, you will at least know something about me.”

“Will you answer us truthfully?” Yixing asks doubtfully.

Yoona stares at him for awhile before looking away. “Of course I will,” she deadpans. “What’s the purpose of this if I won’t answer you truthfully? And by the way, you just asked a question so you can’t ask again.”

“Promise you’ll answer truthfully?” Jongdae asks as he looks at her with child-like eyes that make her want to coo at him.

“I promise,” she forces herself to utter the words even though she knows that there is a chance she has to lie to protect her identity. “That’s a question too, by the way. Next person please.”

“Why are there no records of you during the past three years?” Luhan asks the important question, unlike the other two members in his group.

Yoona’s shoulders droop as soon as she realises that she must lie. She takes in a deep breath to calm down so that her voice will not be shaky when she lies. She has to make them believe and trust her. “I left the country. I went to China to escape from getting caught and I stayed there for three years. I just got back here three weeks ago,” she answers.

“If you’ve just gotten here three weeks ago, why did the employee at the café just now know your name?” Sehun inquires sharply.

“Well, she and I used to attend school together and I happened to meet her at the café two weeks ago and we decided to catch up with each other so we planned to have dinner that night,” she replies, giving him a half-truth answer instead of the total lie she has given Luhan earlier.

The others nod at her response and silence envelops them for awhile before Jinri breaks it. “Can I ask you a question next time instead of now? I don’t have anything to ask at the moment.”

Yoona glances at her and an amused smile touches her lips. “No, you can’t, Jinri,” she replies and the younger woman’s face fall, causing Yoona to let out mirthful laughter. “You can’t because you just asked me a question but for Taeyeon, Jongin and Soojung, they can ask me the question next time.”

Jinri face-palms herself and Yoona just smiles at her in amusement. Well, it seems like they are off her back for awhile, at least.

For now, it seems like Jongdae and Yixing have accepted her too, other than Luhan, Taeyeon and Jinri. She just has to make the other three believe her and then find the other spy inside the group so that they can work together.

It is as simple as that. Or so she thinks.

Author's Note: I apologise for the late update. I've been so busy lately and haven't had any mood to write anything. I hope you enjoyed reading this chaapter. This chapter basically tells you about the distrust that Bloody Phoenix have on Yoona and how she tries hard to make sure that her identity is safe. Of course, there are some people who still don't believe her.

Thank you for reading, subscribing, commenting and upvoting! Enjoy reading the next chapter! :)