"Hello?" She called as she opened the door slowly, curious as to who was behind it.

A little girl of about 10 years was silently sitting on the hospital bed, a number of tubes attached to her body, sustaining the amount of life left in her. She almost seemed like a ghost with her blank expression. Since Taeyeon and Jonghyun had been running across the halls, they were perspiring and both of their auras filled the room; a bit of coffee mixed with mint.

The girl, Eunhee, turned over her head as fast as she could- wincing in the process. She had expected someone else with a similar scent to visit her. It's not like she had all the time in the world to wait, only a few more days.

"Ham Eunhee?" Taeyeon spoke up carefully. She saw the girl struggle a nod before heaving a sigh and leaning back in a sitting position. She looked so fragile; and Taeyeon felt disgusted of the world. They had been too focused on finding the cure for the auras- and that caused them to neglect the other sicknesses people suffer from. She knew that they stopped helping because now, it is a dog-eat-dog world. Nobody cares for humanity anymore.

By this time, a cure should've been discovered by all the advanced technologies but here Eunhee was, neglected and dying.

"Are you- connected to my sister?" the girl asked in a weak voice. Taeyeon felt suddenly uncomfortable, she didn't know this girl was Eunjung's sister. And the way Eunhee acted to calm and mature set her off. "Mine is also coffee." she replied, not wanting to say the fact directly.

Ham Eunhee smiled, a thin, shaky curve of her lips. "How is my sister doing? I already heard."

"She's going by alright," Taeyeon concluded, sparing her the details. The other girl heaved a relieved breath and a tear dropped down her cheek, "Thank God," she whispered to herself, "Thank God."

At the sight of her crying, Taeyeon felt herself shrinking up. If she just died, then Eunjung would be able to see her sister and spend the last moments of her life together. I am just another obstacle, she thought.

"What is your name?"

Eunhee's question surprised her, so she took a couple of moments to compose herself before answering. "Kim Taeyeon."

"That's a pretty name," she gave her a toothy grin, "Taeyeon eonni, could you do me a favor?"

"W-what? What favor?" she questioned back.

The sick girl mustered up all the strength in her arms and brought it up, beckoning Taeyeon to come closer. Immediately, she sprinted to the side of the bed. She couldn't bear to see Eunhee struggle with her actions. "Can you... Hug me?"

The words left her speechless. She expected the girl to hate her for being Eunjung's pair; why is she being so kind?

A pair of frail arms laced around her waist, breaking her away from her thoughts. Taeyeon looked down to find the child hugging her ever so gently. Without her realizing, she wrapped her own arms around the other and they stayed like that for some time before Eunhee pulled out, looking like her energy had been drained out. "Thank you," the girl muttered, "I've missed my sister's scent."

Taeyeon only nodded, biting her lower lips to suppress a sob. This little girl is slowly pulling her heartstrings, and she never felt so guilty in her life. "Eonni, I need another favor. Could you do it for me?"

"I... I'm not sur-" she stammered.

"Please- I'll be gone in a few weeks. I won't bother you for long, it's just a little request I am asking." Eunhee cut her off.

Fidgeting, she finally agreed, "Alright then. What is it?"

She waited for the words she expected for Eunhee to say. Don't kill my sister- Please die for my sister- Let Eunjung live- which one would it be?

"Take care of Eunjung after I am gone, please." she answered, her voice faltering slightly. "Make sure she doesn't tire herself too much, and to take regular meals. Also- tell her to stop frowning so much. When I die, there would be no one to tell her these things so please do it for me."

Taeyeon wasn't sure whether it was due to the little girl's verbal abuse of the word 'please', but she found herself nodding away to the request. "Sure thing."

"But- why me?" she couldn't stop herself from asking, "Eunjung has her own friends to do that for her."

"You are her pairing," Eunhee smiled, "There has to be a reason why pairings have the same aura- some sort of connection. And now I can see why."

Confused, Taeyeon's eyes flitted around the room. It was nerve-wrecking how this young girl could sound so wise, and it's unsettling how she could tell some things Taeyeon can't. "Why?"

"Why not?" Eunhee weakly replied, feeling sleepy all of the sudden. "Both of you act exactly like the other."

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As soon as Jonghyun came back to the infirmary with Taeyeon, he was welcomed with a punch in the face.

"What made you think it was a jolly good idea to take her to meet her crazy pairing? And right after a flippin death battle?!" Minho screamed, fuming. Taeyeon dashed in front of Jonghyun and spread out her arms to stop the brawl, "Don't blame him. I forced him into it."

"Then should I blame you?" he gritted his teeth, balling up his fists as his knuckles turned white. As stubborn as she was, he couldn't imagine her running away to greet her death with open arms. He'd been tired after waiting for the battle to end, and spent his time waiting by her side in the infirmary, thanking heavens that she was still alive. He was so terrified- and it was appalling how Taeyeon didn't understand that.

The girl stood firmly and looked at him with a challenging gaze, "Yes. It's my fault after all."

"It's not worth it." Minho scoffed. "You'd never listen to me."

As he walked away, she felt the pit of her stomach churning, and felt the raging urge to spit out something back. "Why should you be angry at what I do? It's my life, and I choose my own decisions."

"You don't own me Choi Minho."

The boy stopped in his tracks, Taeyeon saw his nails digging in the skin of his palms as they shook. A sudden feeling of panic swelled within her. She should not have said that. But as much as she wanted to take it all back, she couldn't find the words coming out of her lips. Once again, she was speechless.

Minho rotated his head to glance at her. From the corners of his eyes, he saw her standing still, looking dazed. A feeling of pain shot through his chest and his gaze turned deadly cold. Now that she said it, it was true, he did not own her. Minho didn't feel any emotions as he said his next words.

"Not anymore, at least."

And his back faced her completely as he walked out of the infirmary, not looking back.

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“Everybody’s present?” Kris questions the small crowd in front of him. They were at Incheon Airport, leaving for China along with some agents from the police.

They looked around and their heads eventually bobbed up and down affirmatively. Not the entire section was involved since Kris said it would be more noticeable if they traveled in large groups. The police were already an addition to that.

Since the KATB had taken their hands off Section 8A, they were free to do whatever they want. But of course, with some certain conditions. One of them was that the KATB would not be held responsible for any type of damage or consequences. The members didn't argue- it only made everything easier.

Nana glanced around as she held onto Myungsoo’s arm, feeling nervous. The girl had never went out of the country before. Come to think of it, none of them had, with the exception of Kris. Taeyeon was oddly silent as she fiddled with her new passport while Minho engaged himself in a monotonic conversation with one of the agents. Kris was on a phone call, speaking Mandarin to whoever was on the other line.

She took a lucky guess that it was the Lay guy he told them on a couple of occasions. Kris said that he was a good friend that helped them arrange the things back in China. She was purely curious as to who this Lay was.

It was rare of Kris to put so much trust into people.

Nana turned around and smiled at the sight of Trainer Lee and Ok bickering about the amount of luggage she was bringing. Once again, it seemed like the almighty Lee Hyori won the argument.

Myungsoo shrugged his arm out of her hold to take his phone out. He received a text. After a while, he turned to face the girl next to him.

“Bora wished us a safe flight.” He told her, shoving the phone back inside the pockets of his jeans. “That was it?” she inquired.

He smirked, “Of course not. She also said Jonghyun was annoying her to bits.”

“Right.” Nana smiled, amused. “He must be bored.”

Myungsoo’s lips quirked up and he looked away to scan the crowd in the airport. There were mostly business people and wealthy looking ones for some reason.

“Nervous?” she asked him, clinging her hands around his arms once more. “A little,” he admitted.

Just then, their flight was announced to be boarding and Kris quickly assembled them for a quick headcount. “Alright, let’s go.” He said, walking in the front to lead the group along with the two trainers.

The flight was approximately 2 hours, and Nana spent most of it sleeping on Myungsoo’s shoulders. It resulted with him having sore muscles but he insisted that it was fine.

As they got to the arrivals of Beijing Capital International Airport, Kris motioned them to spread out so they won't be noticed. Heck, even their flight seats were separated. Nana marveled at how well-prepared Kris was.

It was decided that Kris and Minho would go with some of the detectives, the two trainers would be paired off, and Taeyeon is to leave with the rest of the agents. Nana was left with Myungsoo.

They would all meet up at the same hotel where they would meet Lay. But before leaving, Nana gave Taeyeon a little squeeze on the shoulders. The girl headed off first with the company of two female agents. She vaguely remembered their names to be Yuri and Amber.

“You want to take the cab or bus?” Myungsoo suddenly asked. Nana never liked public transportations, so the bus was out of question. “Why did you even ask?” she teased.

“Oh, right.” He remembered, scratching the back of his neck. “Taxi it is then.”

She raised her brows, sensing something was up. “Myung-ah. Are you okay?”

He looked around anxiously before flashing her a half-smile. “I just don’t have a very good feeling about all of this. Don’t worry it’s probably nothing.”

“Hmm, I don’t know… Remember the last time you said it was nothing?” she reminded him. Of course he remembered. The first one was when they discovered Victoria’s murder, then it was Kris’ issue. He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out what this one was.

“Let’s hope I’m mistaken this time.”

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Author's note: To be honest I feel bad for updating this fic while neglecting my other one. But I can't deny the fact that I'm losing grip of that story though. //sigh//

Anyways... China chapters! Yay! I've been wanting to write this for the longest time.