“Tae?”  Tiffany opened her eyes and found herself looking at a familiar face.

“You slept for 10 hours, sleepyhead.”  Taeyeon smiled at the sleepy girl in her arms.

“Where are we?”  Tiffany looked around in confusion.  “Are we in a hotel?”  She rubbed her eyes.

“We’ll be staying here for a while.  It’s not the nicest place… but it’s one of the few that aren’t falling apart yet.  Are you tired?”

“I guess I’m not physically tired but all of this chaos is just draining my energy.”  Tiffany sighed leaned her head on Taeyeon’s chest as she closed her eyes again.

“Then you can sleep a little more.  We should be safe when we get to an empty hotel room.”

“Guys, I have a hotel room key!”  Seohyun popped her head up behind the reception counter.  “Let’s go.”  She led Taeyeon into the elevator.

“I really hope this elevator still works.”  Taeyeon stated nervously.

After a long elevator ride to the 18^th floor, the trio arrived in their room.

“I couldn’t find the key for the penthouse suite so I guess we’ll have to take a smaller room.  There’s only one bed and a couch.”  Seohyun put her backpack on the table and sat down on the couch.

“Well, it’s certainly better than nothing.”  Taeyeon laid Tiffany down on the bed and tucked her in.  “Sleep well.”

“So, what’s the plan, Taeyeon?  What do we do next?”  Seohyun yawned.

“I’m going to shower first.”

“Hurry up.  I want to shower too.”  Seohyun smiled.

“Sure.  Oh, and when Tiffany wakes up, make sure she takes one of those cold pills.  She wasn’t feeling well yesterday morning.”  Taeyeon pointed to the bottle that she placed in the cabinet before closing the washroom door behind her.

Half an hour later, Taeyeon walked out of the bathroom and motioned that Seohyun could shower.  She fixed her damp hair in the mirror and proceeded to blow dry it.  When she finished, she combed her hair through once again and sighed.

I’m exhausted.

She sat down on the bed, next to Tiffany, and thought for a while.

What the heck am I going to do?

We’re in danger.

You’re in danger.

Taeyeon laid down and felt the relief flow through her spine and neck.  She went a full day without sleep and spent the entire day after, carrying Tiffany around.  Taeyeon was beyond tired and fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.

____

Taeyeon dreamt of being at home.  In her dream, she watched herself sleep.  In the dark, she could make out that her little sister walked in through the door and jumped up and down on her bed.  Taeyeon woke up when she felt the bed shift, only to find herself staring at a blank hotel room ceiling.  When she looked down, she saw Tiffany who was sleeping with her head on Taeyeon’s chest and her arms around Taeyeon’s waist.

“Sleep well?  Hahaha.”  Taeyeon chuckled and shifted slightly.  As she attempted to move, Tiffany tightened her grip.  “Are you awake?”

Taeyeon’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her stomach’s growl.

“…  I’m starving.”

The sound of Tiffany’s giggling almost startled Taeyeon.

“Go eat something, then.”  She loosened her arms and turned to face the other way, allowing room to move.

“Mmm…  Maybe later.”  Taeyeon turned to the right and pulled Tiffany into another hug.

A moment of comfortable silence passed as the two relaxed with their eyes closed.

“Fany?”

“Hmmm?”

“Your hair smells nice.”  A smile spread across Taeyeon’s face as she tightened the hug and inhaled deeply, causing Tiffany to laugh.

For a moment, it was almost like they were in their senior year of high school again.  Their group of friends decided to take a small trip near a lake for the weekend after graduation night.  Everyone enjoyed swimming, drinking, singing by the campfire and walking in the forest while Taeyeon and Tiffany spent most of their time under a tree or sleeping in, simply enjoying each other’s company.

“Wake up, lovebirds!”  Seohyun ripped the covers off of the bed and folded them neatly.

“Mhhnmmm Seo, we’re tired.”  Tiffany complained.

“No, she’s right.  We can’t be lazy.  C’mon, Fany.  We should explore the hotel, at least.”  Taeyeon sat up and rubbed her eyes.  “Fany, get up.”

“Ehh…  Later…”  Tiffany took her pillow and threw it at Taeyeon.

“Fine.  Have it your way.”  Taeyeon inched closer to Tiffany.

“Go away…”  Tiffany whined.

“Are you sure?”  She shifted over even closer.

“Yes.”

“Last call.”  Taeyeon positioned her face above Tiffany’s.

“Shoo.”

“Alrighty then.”  Taeyeon inhaled and blew into Tiffany’s ear.

“WAHH!”  Tiffany screamed and covered her ears.  “Okay, okay!  I’ll get up!  Sheesh.”  With a grumpy expression, she sat up and shoved Taeyeon, who toppled over and laughed.

“Okay, I’ll give you two a while to wake up.  I’m going to search the room across the hall for anything we can use.”  Seohyun left and closed the door behind her.

Taeyeon turned and faced the ceiling as Tiffany stretched her stiff body.

“I miss doing this.”  Taeyeon spread out her arms and relaxed on the bed.

“Doing what?”

“Just being us and having fun.  Ever since university started, we’ve had less time to just enjoy life.”

“I know.”

“I really miss you, you know that?”  Taeyeon turned her head to look at Tiffany, who started to tear up a little.

“You are…”  She paused.  “Mushy.”  Tiffany laughed and ruffled Taeyeon’s hair as she got up.  She walked over to the cabinet and grabbed the medicine bottle before pouring a glass of water.  “How about…  When this is all over, let’s just spend a whole week doing nothing.  The world will probably need time to pull itself together.  Let’s spend that time with each other.”  She smiled and slid the cold pill onto her tongue.

Tiffany took a sip of water as Taeyeon rolled off the bed and wrapped her arms around Tiffany’s waist.  “Promise?”

“I promise.”  Tiffany smiled and placed her hands on top of Taeyeon’s.

Another moment of pure bliss passed slowly as they embraced in silence.

“Well, until then…  Let’s fight through this together.”  Taeyeon smiled and looked up into Tiffany’s eyes as she turned the hug into a light squeeze.

“Let’s go.”  Tiffany grabbed Taeyeon by the wrist and led her to the door.  Suddenly a scream erupted from outside of the room.

“What the…”  Tiffany locked eyes with Taeyeon, sharing a shocked expression, before swinging the door open and looking both ways.

“I don’t see anything.”  Taeyeon stepped outside, into the hallway.

“It sounded like it came from the left side.  Maybe Seohyun ran into some trouble at the elevator.”

“Seohyun, are you alright?”  Taeyeon called and walked down the hallway with Tiffany following closely behind.

“Seo!  Are you- AHH!”  Tiffany jumped forward and dodged a door which suddenly opened.

As the pair stared, two girls tumbled out of the room, screaming and punching each other.

“Get off!”  The unfamiliar girl screamed and kicked.

“No way!”  Seohyun continued to punch and pound her fists onto the girl under her before reaching into her pocket for the gun.

“Seo, stop!”  Tiffany grabbed the gun out of her hands and pushed Seohyun off of the girl.

“Tiffany, what are you doing?!”  Seohyun toppled over.

“What if she’s one of us?”

The girl struggled and pushed herself away from the trio.

“A-are you okay?”  Tiffany turned to the girl and extended her hand.

“You’re not going to kill me, are you?”

“If you don’t try to kill us, then no.”  Tiffany laughed and pulled her up.

“What’s your name?”  Taeyeon helped Seohyun stand up and looked at the new girl.

“I’m Sooyoung.  I think I heard that you’re Seohyun and you’re Tiffany.”  Sooyoung pointed to the pair respectively, and then turned to Taeyeon.  “And you’re…”

“Taeyeon.”

“Tae, I’m going to help Seohyun patch up.  We’ll be at the hotel room if you need us.”  Tiffany and Seohyun returned to the bedroom.

“So, I’m gonna guess that you three are here because you’re looking for Ralph?”  Sooyoung caressed the spot on her shoulder, which was starting to bruise.

“How do you know about Ralph?”

“Seohyun looks a lot like her dad and I watched Ralph get arrested.  He’s my ex…”

“Whoa…”  Taeyeon backed up.

“Relax.  That’s why he’s my EX-boyfriend.  He kept his whole gang story away from me until the day he was thrown in jail.  I still can’t believe he would hide that from me.  I noticed that he always did have an abundance of street knowledge.  So maybe you want to learn something.”

“Precisely.”

“What are you looking for?”

“Any information we can get on the gang that’s been going around and destroying everything.”

“Ralph’s gang…”

“He’s not a part of it anymore, right?”

“Not anymore…  Why?”

“That gang is after me and Tiffany.”

“What?!”

“We don’t know why.  We just know that they’re after us two.”

“Why are you looking for him, then?  That could just cause you more trouble.”

“I want to find out why they want to kill us.  Maybe then, we can figure out how to fight back or make a deal with that group.”

“Are you sure?”

“…  Why not?”

“You’re basically looking for the den of these monsters that are out to get you.  Is that really such a great idea?”

“It’s either this, or we just keep running away.  Eventually our luck is going to run out.  Maybe we can turn the tables before that happens.”

“Well, if you know what you’re getting yourself into…  Just be careful.  Ralph’s crew isn’t exactly the type to give up easily.”

“Thanks for the tip.”  Taeyeon and Sooyoung returned to the room.

As soon as the pair entered the hotel room, they found Seohyun and Tiffany on the couch, with their feet on the coffee table.

“You guys are so lazy.”  Taeyeon teased.

“Tae, can we please just take the day off?  We both feel so sore.”

“From what?  It’s not like you did anything…”

“…  Fine.”  Tiffany pouted and turned her back to Taeyeon.

“Hmm.  I understand.”  Taeyeon sat down next to Tiffany and patted her on the back.

“Sooyoung and I could go look for supplies while you two could stay here.  We’re only going to be searching around the hotel anyways.”  Seohyun suggested as she put on her backpack.

“Are you sure?”  Taeyeon grabbed her own backpack and handed it to Seohyun.

“We’ll be safe.  I just need your backpack to carry some extra stuff in.”  Seohyun held Taeyeon’s backpack in her right hand as she left the room with Sooyoung.

Soon, the room was empty again, with the exception of two tired girls.

“What do we do?”  Tiffany broke the silence and turned to Taeyeon.

“You asked to rest… so I guess we’ll rest.”  Taeyeon crossed her arms and tipped her head back in preparation to nap.

“Tae…”

“…”  Taeyeon didn’t move.

“Taeeeeee…”  Tiffany scooted closer.

No response.

“TaeTae…”  Tiffany poked Taeyeon’s cheeks over and over again.

No response.

“Tae!”  Tiffany poked Taeyeon in the rib, causing her entire body to violently twitch.

“Agh!  What?!”  Taeyeon rubbed her side made an angry puppy face at Tiffany.

“What’s going to happen to us?”  Tiffany asked in a worried voice.

“What do you mean?”

“So, we’ll find Ralph.  We’ll figure out why the gang is after us and who’s in it.  What do we do then?  Making a deal doesn’t sound that pleasant considering the offers they might make.  It’s not like we can fight them.”

“Well, if we have to fight them, then we have to fight them.  The only other options are giving up and running away.”

“Why don’t we run?”

“We can only go so far.  They’d find us eventually.”

“It’s not like they’re going to be in every building that we hide in.”

“Have you seen the damage they’ve done?  They’re armed and they outnumber us by a lot.  We can’t hide forever.”

“I know…”  Tiffany sighed.  “I guess I was just hoping that you’d have a solid plan.  You know, one that wouldn’t be so dangerous.”

“We don’t have much of a choice.  No matter where we go, we aren’t safe anymore.”

“I’m scared, Tae.  I don’t want to die.”  Tiffany’s voice trembled.

“You won’t.”

“How do you know that?”

“I won’t let it happen.”  Taeyeon pulled Tiffany close and gave her a tight squeeze.

“You don’t seem scared at all.”  Tiffany chuckled.

“I’m terrified.  I just have a special someone to help me through it.”  Taeyeon looked at Tiffany and gave her one of her favourite dimpled smiles.

“You are so cheesy.  Hahah, Cheesy Taengoo.”

“I thought you liked my cheesy words.  I guess I’ll stop.”  Taeyeon pouted.

“No, no!  I love your cheesiness.  It makes me happy.”  Tiffany smiled and allowed a brief silence to pass.  “Hm, it really helps, you know?  No matter how scared I am, you always have my back.”  She looked into Taeyeon’s eyes.  “Maybe I don’t say it as much as I should.  Thank you.”

“Anything to make my little angel happy.”  Taeyeon smiled back.

“Shush, I am no angel.”  Tiffany grinned.

“Says who?”

“Says me.”

“I guess that makes sense.  I mean… unless you have a mirror, you can never see what an angelic smile looks like.”  Taeyeon looked at the floor, shyly.  “But I can.”

“Awww…  Stop it, you…”  Tiffany blushed and smiled at the ground.

“Even when times are tough, remember to keep smiling.”

“Why?  I thought that it’s not good to hide problems.”

“Your smiles give me energy to solve those problems.”

“You are oddly fluffy, today.”  Tiffany continued blushing and giggling.

“I’m just trying to cheer you up.  Is it working?”

“Definitely.”  Tiffany smiled and leaned her head on Taeyeon’s shoulder.

The pair relaxed on the couch together for a short while before being interrupted as Seohyun kicked the door open.

“Get ready.  They’re coming.”  Seohyun tossed Taeyeon’s backpack on the table and pressed her back against the wall next to the door.

Quickly, without hesitation, Tiffany ducked behind the bed and pulled her backpack from underneath while Taeyeon grabbed her backpack and stood right in front of the door, two metres away.  Tiffany pulled the Ak47 from underneath the bed and tossed it to Taeyeon, while strapping on her M4.  Aiming in the doorway, Taeyeon planted her feet on the ground.  The trio listened as footsteps grew louder and louder.

“Now!”  Suddenly Sooyoung ran in the door and positioned herself on the ground, crawling away from Taeyeon’s fire range.

As soon as Sooyoung ducked, Taeyeon held the trigger down, unleashing a full clip of ammo on five unsuspecting men, who collapsed on the ground on top of each other.

“…  Is that it?”  Taeyeon lowered her gun.

“I only saw five chasing us.  We should be-” Before Sooyoung could finish, the window behind the four of them shattered.

“Ah!!!  Tae, help!”  Tiffany struggled as another man jumped in through the window and wrapped his left arm around her neck.

Quickly, Taeyeon dropped her gun and reached out for the bed cover.  With a quick motion, she lunged towards the intruder.  In reaction, he shoved Tiffany in front as a shield.   Taeyeon dodged Tiffany’s body as she wrapped the bed cover around the man’s face and repeatedly punched him in the stomach.  With seconds to spare before the man stood up, Taeyeon held Tiffany by the waist and pushed her aside on the bed.  With Tiffany at a safe distance, Taeyeon punched the man in the jaw and pushed him with all of her strength.  Within a matter of seconds, the man was plummeting to his death after shattering the other window with his head.

The remaining four girls stayed still for a minute as they caught their breaths.

“Is everyone alright?”  Taeyeon turned from the window and faced Sooyoung.

“We’re fine.”  Sooyoung showed thumbs up for herself and Seohyun.

“Tiffany?”  Taeyeon turned to her shaken friend.

“I…  I-I’m fine.”

“Let’s get moving.  They know we’re here.”  Seohyun waved and gestured for the door.

“Give us a second.”  Taeyeon signaled at Tiffany with her eyes for Seohyun to understand.

“We’ll make sure the coast is clear.”  Seohyun nodded as she left the room with Sooyoung following behind.

“Fany, are you alright?”

“I’m f-fine.”

“No, you’re not.”  Taeyeon sat down on the bed, next to Tiffany.  “Tell me what’s bothering you.  The average person wouldn’t take so much time to recover from this shock.”  Taeyeon took Tiffany’s hand in her own.  “Tiff?”

“I’m scared, okay?  Whenever I let myself think, I just find myself remembering that body back at the gas station.  I think…  That could be me; that I’m next.  And if we’re not careful…”  Tiffany threw her arms around Taeyeon’s neck as she cried.  “If we’re not careful, it could be you too!”

Forgive meeeee.

I took really long to update this one.  I've just been feeilng a little down lately, plus I've had a pretty bad case of writer's block.  Regardless, I hope you enjoy this chapter.  Someone requested that my new fanfic has to have a lot of fluff in it.  Your wish will be granted ;)

If you have any requests for what you might want to see in future chapters, I will consider.  (Ex:  More fluff, a little angst, awesome action scenes, etc.)

As of now, I promise fluffy chapters, action filled chapters, sad chapters to come and another character will be introduced in chapter 4!

WHO COULD IT BEEEEE... HMM????

XD

Thank you for taking the time to read my work.  It really means a lot!

Don't forget to comment!  They are my favourite part of writing and posting on AFF.

Lastly, I'd like to say...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIFFANYYYY!!!! :DDDD

Thank you for getting me addicted to Girls' Generation and Kpop in general.  I owe it all to you.

Enjoy the rest of your day!!!  ♥

- UnknownSONE