For Taeyeon, the last few days were particularly hectic- maybe it was because everyone kept sticking close to her whenever they had the chance. 

The fact that the battle challenge from Eunjung was definitely legit didn't help ease the section members' worries. Jonghyun and Nana joined her during training and was coaching her day by day, Bora was the one who kept her health in check and was watching over the girl's diet diligently. And even though Kris, Minho and the trainers were all busy arranging matters with the police, they drop in on her from time to time for a chat and give her encouraging words.

Even though Taeyeon was touched by the amount of care they show for her, she couldn't help feeling a bit disturbed by it since it seemed like they were making the best out of her existance when she still- well- existed.

So this is what dying feels like.

Taeyeon sent another flying kick at the cushioned dummy infront of her. To her surprise, the doors to the training room opened at that moment and Nana strolled in, holding a towel and a water bottle in each hand.

"I thought you'd be here." The girl stated as she plopped down on the floor next to the standing Taeyeon.

Taeyeon accepted the towel her friend offered and patted the dry cloth around her face and neck area. It helped lessen the strong coffee scent and she was grateful for that. It was getting quite uncomfortable. "I thought you'd come over in any second." Taeyeon smirked, "And I was right."

Nana only shook her head and patted the spot next to her, telling the girl to sit down. Taeyeon obliged and did so, crossing her tired legs into a loose knot.

She saw Nana hand her the bottle she was holding and took it before gulping it all down in minutes. The girl watched her drink silently and Taeyeon raised an eyebrow at her to ask if anything was wrong. "Oh-" Nana responded, "I just hope you'll stop straining yourself before... it."

When Taeyeon was reminded of the battle that was only 2 days later, dread washed over her. "I just feel like I lack a little skill. I mean- I will have to rely on them eventually, right?"

"Yeah," Nana shrugged, "But I already think that you're good enough. It's just that Ham Eunjung is unpredictable. She doesn't play by the rules when you apparently- do."

Taeyeon tried smiling, "Don't you worry, Im Jinah! I'll come back intact- with four working limbs and all."

"Ah! Don't joke about it like that. It's disturbing." The latter complained.

Taeyeon laughed and soon a quiet game of catch was played by the both of them, featuring the empty plastic water bottle.

"You know," Nana quipped as she caught the flying object thrown by Taeyeon, "it's okay to drop the act infront of me."

Receiving Nana's pass with her right hand, she asked, "What act?"

Rolling her eyes, the girl answered, "The obvious one."

Taeyeon hurled the plastic item at her once more, "I'm not acting."

Putting the bottle down on the floor, her friend said, "And you're not telling me anything either."

"Then what do you expect me to do?" She questioned, "Cry and freak out all over the place?"

"If that makes you feel better." Nana smiled, "But I'd prefer it if you'd stop looking so strong all the time. I know you're stressed out and it's not healthy to keep it all in."

Taeyeon pressed her lips in a thin line, "I.. guess I just don't want to be a burden to anyone. Have you seen how tired Minho was lately? If I told him how scared I actually am, he'd be more worn out than he already is. And he already looks like Myungsoo with those dark circles."

"But I'm not Minho." Nana commented, "I'm not busy with anything for the moment and fortunately have all the time to listen to whatever you want to say. I'm here if you need me."

"True that," Taeyeon noted, grinning at her, "I really didn't want Minho to resort to his awkward aegyo to try cheering me up anyway."

Nana beamed proudly, "Aegyo is my forte. I was born for it, if I should say so myself."

Taeyeon glanced doubtfully at her, "Uh- sure. Whatever you say."

"Taeng-ah, Fighting!" Nana shouted at a high pitch, "Aing!"

Mortified, the other girl blinked, "Okay. I'll keep in mind to never let you do aegyo ever again."

"Why?!" She protested, "It was fine!"

"Just- no."

"Fine."

Taeyeon got on her feet and grabbed her sling blag that was lying idly at the far end of the room just a few moments ago. She returned to her original spot on the ground and eyed Nana thoughtfully as she did, "Hey, can I ask you for a favor?"

"Not until you admit that I am indeed the goddess of aegyo."

She tsked, "Nana-"

"Kidding." her friend stuck out her tounge, "What is it, you grump?"

Right on cue, Taeyeon produced a bunch of papers from inside of her bag, holding it intently. "I need you to pass these out to people." The other girl frowned in confusion and questioned, "For what?"

"Just think of it as my will to all of you." She summed easily, patting it down on her friend's opened hands.

Nana looked at her in shock, "You're leaving us with money?!"

She got a smack in her back of her head, "How can you only think about money?!"

"How can you not?" Nana sneered. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7... Seven letters. Wow, you really wrote this much for each one of us?" she gaped at the white unwrinkled envelopes with names written in handwriting etched at the top corner of each.

Taeyeon shrugged, "I didn't realize I wrote a lot, but I suppose I couldn't leave you guys with only a few sentences, huh?"

"You're not leaving." Nana pointed out, sounding stubborn. Taeyeon let a small smile show as she looked at her good old friend.

Please let it be true.

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"So we have to delay the plan to next week instead?" Kris asked the boy next to him.

Minho nodded, looking sure about his decision, "We need Taeyeon, right? You said so yourself. And since her battle is this Saturday, we should just delay the schedule 'till next week."

Kris studied his face for a few seconds before nodding, "Alright. It's not problem with me, but are you sure she'll be able to participate in the plan by then?" he paused, "How can you be so sure she wouldn't- uh- lose?"

"Call it faith, I don't really care," his eyes flamed with annoyance, "I believe in what she can do."

The chinese boy shrugged and muttered something along the lines of: 'I sure hope so' but made it unaudible enough for the other to listen. "Come to think of it-" he added, "This would mean she'd be the first to battle out of our section, right?"

"Yeah." he replied. "She must be nervous."

Kris scoffed, "Nervous? Dude- don't tell this to anyone but if it was me, I'd be terrified."

Minho glanced at him, a grin widening from his lips, "I never knew you were such a wimp, Kris." When the latter shot him a look, he continued, "To be honest, I don't know what to do, man. I know she's capable of handling this situation- but I can't help feeling anxious for her too. I haven't been sleeping much these days and I don't think I ever could if something- bad.. happens to her."

"I get what you mean," Kris responded, "Everyone's feeling it too. With the other two- Victoria and Taemin- it came quickly. Like a sudden nuclear attack or something. But Taeyeon's different; it's as if we're just waiting for it to hap-"

"Stop." Minho snapped. He couldn't bear the thoughts and wouldn't risk jinxing them in the tiniest bit. Taking a deep breath, he turned around to go back to his dorm, "See you tomorrow, Kris."

When he stepped foot into his room, he saw Taeyeon sitting still on the edge of her bed as she stared out the window. Minho walked closer but stopped when he saw the slightly lost expression that she displayed. "Yeon." he beckoned.

"Oh!" she jolted mid-daze, "You're back. Thank God."

Getting up, she gathered the bundle of changing clothes she had placed earlier on the desk. "Wait for me?" she asked hopefully, expecting the usual answer. Minho nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. The girl smiled back and seemed more relaxed as she approached the bathroom.

It wasn't a wonder that Taeyeon was a bit traumatized by the bathroom ever since Victoria's death. She was killed there. She would be so scared sometimes and would rather not take a shower instead. But ever since Minho arrived in her room, it gradually turned better. Just acknowledging his presence outside of the bathroom helped calm her jumpy nerves.

Soon enough, this turned into a habit and Taeyeon would always wait for Minho to be in the room before she goes in for a rinse. He didn't mind, and would waste the quiet time by reading a book or do pointless little things around the place until Taeyeon was back out.

This time, she finished earlier than usual and almost shocked Minho to death. He was near to falling asleep when he heard the toilet door being cracked open. "That was fast."

Taeyeon shrugged, drying her damp hair with a towel, "It still disturbs me sometimes."

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"No."

"Feelin' drowsy?"

"Yeah- a bit." she admitted.

He opened a part of his blanket for her, "Sleep here- next to me."

She squinted her eyes, "Why?"

"Cause I'm warm." he concluded, "And I like cuddling."

After setting her wet towel back in the hanging rack of the bath room, she went up to the bed and crawled into the duvet. Minho placed and arm around her shoulders, resting his chin on her head. She snuggled closer onto his shoulder and half-closed her eyes. "You smell like a bakery." he muttered dreamily. Taeyeon chuckled for a bit. It must have been the vanilla soap she used; mixed with her coffee scent, it's no surprise that Minho thought of it like that.

"It's the soap." she replied.

"Lucky. I never get to smell so good; It's always either boring tropic fruits or whatnot." he opened his eyes, slightly frowning, "Heck- my aura is grapefruits and I've never actually eaten one before."

She yawned an answer, "Really? Even I have."

Minho's expression grew disturbed, "You've basically eaten me before."

"Ew, Minho- that sounds so wrong in so many ways," Taeyeon commented, "Congrats- you've just made an innuendo."

She could sense him blushing next to her and smiled to herself. They didn't bother to talk after that- just silently playing with eachother's fingers or dozing off to a nap several moments later before waking up for no reason. Maybe none of them had said anything about it- but both were literally making the most out of their short-lived moments.

"You're either magical- or an aenesthetic-" Minho started, "Cause I've been having trouble sleeping lately, and here I am- nodding off to sleep every 5 or so minutes each darn time."

She smiled and poked his cheek, "I could say the same for you."

"You also haven't been resting well?" he asked, concern lacing his words. She nodded against his chest and mumbled incoherrent words- which he seemed to understand for some reason. She was telling him about how the thoughts of Eunjung had kept her awake.

"Don't worry about it- you'll do just fine." he told her.

Her eyes met his, "Then why are you worried?"

He pulled her back into the hug and her hair lazily, letting a few strands fall between his fingers. "That's 'cause you mean a lot of things to me."

"What things?"

"Too much for me to list, though." He grinned. "But it could be summed up, I guess."

"As?"

"As my purpose." he answered, still playing with her hair, "I had actually lost hope in living before. It was you that saved me- My mentality, atleast."

The girl spun around from his hold to get a clear look at him. He was smiling calmly, despite her confusion. "What did I do?" she curiously asked. Minho flicked her forehead and said, "Easy there," making her irritated.

"Remember that photo you saw? The one with you reading and stuff?"

She nodded, recognizing the memory of their first day in the dorm when she helped his sort out his stuff. She had found a single photo he had taken of a girl reading seriously in the middle of the park during spring. And then Taeyeon later realized that it was her. Minho never explained anything about that picture and she hadn't bothered to bring it up either.

"I forgot why but at the time- I was under severe depression. One of my bestfriends had died a few mothes before and I couldn't get over it- it was the first time I've been personally affected by death. My mother suggested hobbies for me to try out and rather than the much fussier ones- I chose photography instead. Skipping some details- I saw you in the park. At first, I just thought that the setting was perfect and that it'll make a good shot but then-" he paused to glance at her from the corner of his eyes.

"I saw how you were lost in your own world and I think I got jealous. I'd love to forget reality as easy as that. So I approached you- but you might not remember this- and talked to you for a bit. Then you asked me if something was bothering me and I said that I was hurting- actually my heart was. I was expecting you to throw out sympathetic words and a couple of 'sorries' but you never did. Oddly enough- you handed me a-"

"Band-aid instead." Taeyeon finished. She had recalled her small meeting with him quite a long time ago and was amazed that it turned out to be him all this time. Minho nodded as he smiled, "Yeah. You told me not to worry- and that it'll heal eventually. You said that the band-aid will most definitely heal the scar and that it'd help me."

"Did it?" she questioned.

He laughed softly and kissed her temple, "Not as much as you did."

"Thankyou," he said again, "I love you."

She sunk into his arms and felt sleep pulling her eyelids into a close, "I- yeah- love- too." she mumbled tiredly before completely blacking out, sleeping soundly for the first time in weeks.

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"Are you ready?" A tall lady with coal-black eyes inspected.

Unsure, she looked around to see her friends behind her in a semi-circle. They all sent her encouraging smiles and her two trainers showed her thumbs up. Taeyeon's eyes met each of their eyes briefly.

"Just come back safely Yeon-ah." Jonghyun said, "Don't make me wait for too long."

Nana winked, "Go in there and show em who's boss." and then, Bora decided to join her friend, "We'll be here, and we won't leave until you come back. Got it? I- I love you."

Touched, she smiled brightly and moved her gaze towards Kris and Myungsoo, who were both now tounge tied- the two were never the best talkers. "You've been training a lot. So you'll make it, Kim Taeyeon. Good luck." Myungsoo finally said. He then nudged Kris stiffly with his elbow and the boy almost yelped, "Yah!- Oh, about that... I'm sure you'd do just awesome. Be strong- and- ugh I at speaking." he grumbled, making her laugh.

The last one to say anything was Minho, and he gave her a firm nod before smiling, "You won't leave me, Yeon. I'm sure."

The lady from earlier glared disapprovingly at her and led her away from the group before any of her trainers had the chance to say their piece. The next thing Taeyeon knew, she was inside a dark wide space in which she noticed- was almost empty. She touched the knife at the back of her belt and heaved a sigh of relief once she confirmed it was there.

A sudden loud mechanical voice rang throughout the room, shocking her senses.

"Korea's Assasination Training Board Section 8A- Member code 06A- Name: Kim Tae Yeon- is ready for Battle Royale Initiation."

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