Taeyeon's POV

The sun shined in my face way too bright. I squinted my eyes and looked out the window.

“Ughhhhhhhh.” I groaned and pulled the covers over my head. After about ten minutes in that position, I decided to get up. Swinging my legs off the bed, I picked my upper body up into a sitting position and rubbed my face.

Was yesterday just a dream? A nightmare?

I looked up at my bedside table and something catches my attention. I grabbed it to take a better look at it.

Earpiece.. Dammit, it was real.

I put the earpiece in and turned it on. “Hello?” My voice cracked from sleep.

“Good morningggggg!” Hyoyeon sang.

“Ugh.. It’s too early for this…”

“Nonsense! It’s never too early to hear your best friends' voices.” Sooyoung said happily.

“Yeah. You’re the lucky one. I’ve had to hear this one babbling for an hour already.” Hyoyeon said.

“Ugh… what time is it?”

“It’s 7AM.”

“Really? I only had five hours of sleep??”

“Yep. I watched you reading their files for a good thirty minutes last night until I got bored.” Hyoyeon said. “I felt like I was back in high school watching you study for exams.”

“That’s all you did for the exams, Hyo. That’s why you almost failed them all.”

“Hey, at least I passed!”

“What are you guys doing now?”

“I’m driving” Sooyoung said.

“I’m about to enter the department now to stare at you some more, I guess.”

“Don’t you have anything better to do?”

“Eh.. Not right now. Later today, I’m going to the studio.”

By studio she means dance studio. Hyoyeon likes to go to the studio at least every other day to dance. She says it’s how she stays so happy most of the time.

I cleaned myself up a bit in the bathroom before going downstairs. Krystal was sitting in the living room by herself. She was just sitting there on her phone; the TV wasn’t on, she wasn’t reading a book, nothing.

I stared at the back of her head for a while longer until someone in my head spoke up.

“Say good morning, pabo! You look like a creeper.” Hyoyeon yelled.

Immediately after that, I spoke. “Good morning.” My voice cracked.

Wow, that sounded stupid.

“Wow, that sounded stupid.” Sooyoung said, as though she pulled it right out of my head.

Krystal jumped from the couch and gave me a bow. “Good morning Officer-nim.”

“Just call me Taeyeon, Krystal. No need to bow at me, either.” I gave her an awkward yet assuring smile.

“Okay, Taeyeon-shi.” She said, unconsciously bowing again.

I chuckled a little at the action.

She’s kind of adorable.

“You’re awake pretty early.”

“I have school today, Taeyeon-shi.”

At that moment I noticed she was wearing her school uniform.

“Oh..” I said, nervously scratching the back of my neck. “I forgot it was Monday..”

We stared at each other for a few more moments. I could literally hear the two girls in my ear face-palming themselves from the awkward atmosphere.

“Sooyoung-shi is coming to take me to school.” She broke the silence.

“Oh, that’s good..” I said. “I’m glad she was awake early enough.”

“Yeah. She called me and told me she would come get me. Hyoyeon told her you had gone to sleep late and wouldn’t be awake in time.”

“She was right. I didn’t get much sleep last night. But I woke up early for some reason.”

We stood there again, looking at each other quietly.

This time, I broke the silence. “Did you have anything to eat?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t want to take anything without your permission.”

“Oh, it’s okay to make yourself something whenever you’re hungry. It’s your home as well for the time being—“

“God, this is so awkward to watch—“

“And listen too—“

“Let me make something for you before Sooyoung gets here.” I interrupted them.

“Uh.. sure..” Krystal nodded. I could tell she was uncomfortable around me and surprised by my nice demeanor after last night’s complete opposite.

“You can turn the TV on too if you want. You don’t have to just sit there quietly.” I smiled at her warmly.

“See? What’s so hard about being nice like that, Tae?” Sooyoung said.

I ignored her and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Krystal followed and sat on the bar stool behind the kitchen counter island, watching me as I threw down whatever I had for breakfast.

I could feel her eyes on me so I spoke again. “So.. is your sister still asleep?”

“Oh, yes. She sleeps until late usually. She likes to sleep and it’s really difficult to wake her up. If you didn’t know, you would think she was dead or something. You might not see her until the PM.”

“I wish I could have slept until the PM today..” I mumbled to myself.

I finished the breakfast and handed her a plate. We ate at the dining table in silence for most of the duration.

“So listen…” I finally said. I had been trying to work up to this since I saw her this morning. Too late to back down now. “About yesterday..”

She stopped eating and looked up from her plate, her attention fully on me.

“I’m sorry.” I blurted out. “For my rude manner. I don’t know what came over me. I guess I was just overwhelmed and stressed out..”

She looked at me for a little bit before speaking. “Oh, no, it’s fine… I understand. Just yesterday you were living alone and all of a sudden you have to house two strangers. It must be hard for you—“

“It’s gotta be hard on you too. Your lives are being threatened and you were forced to move into a stranger’s home, expected to trust them with your life and that person’s first words to you weren’t kind. So I’m sorry for that and I hope we can start over.” I told her. She nodded.

I lifted my hand to her. “Hello, I’m Taeyeon. It’s nice to meet you. This is what Americans do when they greet, right? No bowing?” I asked.

She giggled and took my hand to shake it. “Yes, it is. I’m Krystal, please take good care of me.”

“Oh my goodness, I think I’m gonna cry. This is so sweet!” Hyoyeon squealed in my ear.

“Ohmygod no, what am I missing!? I can’t see it, only hear!” Sooyoung said.

I laughed a little as Hyo explained it to Soo, and Krystal looked at me, confused. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no. Nothing’s wrong. I just have two idiots in my head twenty-four seven.”

“Hey! Rude!”

After a few minutes of conversation with the younger Jung sister, Sooyoung’s voice came through the earpiece.

“I’m here, .”

“Okay, she’s here.” I told Krystal, leading her to the door. I walked her to Sooyoung’s 2014 Lexus RX.

“Make sure she’s in your sight at all times, Soo.” I told her.

She waved me off. “Yeah yeah. Look! We look like a divorced couple passing our child off to each other!”

“Pado.” I gave her a playfully dirty look as Krystal got in the car.

“Okay, hun. I’ll be here when school ends to drop her back off! Say bye to Eomma, Krys!” she said.

“Bye Eomma!” Krystal playfully waved goodbye to me like a little kid and they drove off with all four of us (Hyoyeon included) laughing.

Jessica's POV

I woke up naturally, like usual. I stretched out on the bed and lay there for a couple of seconds before getting up and washing up.

I’m starving…

I looked at my phone’s clock. 12:23PM.

After showering I went downstairs, readying myself to raid the fridge of the homeowner. I made it down the stairs before stopping in my tracks.

Taeyeon was sitting with her back towards me on the loveseat, seeming really busy on her laptop with papers scattered on the coffee table in front of her.

Maybe I can just sneak over to the fridge and grab something. She doesn’t seem like she’ll notice..

Standing there for at least half a minute, I decided against it and cleared my throat loudly. She turned her head to me before looking back at her computer.

Rude.

“Good morning.” She said without looking back again.

“Do you mind if I raid your fridge?” I asked with attitude. I didn’t like the way she still had that moody tone.

“Yeah, sure. Raid whenever you feel. But I made breakfast for your sister before she left for school. There’s more of that in the microwave for you.”

I was shocked at what she said. She made breakfast for my sister?

I got the food from the microwave without a word and ate at the table, studying the girl on the loveseat. She hadn’t looked my way since she said good morning. She was concentrating really hard on whatever she was doing on her computer. It must be something for work.

After I finished eating, I washed my dish, sat on the couch and pulled my phone out, pretending she wasn’t there. About ten minutes later I could feel her eyes on me. I kept myself from looking up.

“The remote is on the coffee table if you want to watch TV. Don’t mind me.” She said finally.

Is this her way of an apology or something? Offering me food and TV access?

I ignored her offer, still on my phone.

Another thirty minutes of silence and, “February twenty-third, two thousand and four,” she said. I finally looked up at her to see her staring at her computer again. What is she talking about? “Around 11:45, after a 2NE1 concert at the Jamsil Olympic Stadium, there was a slight disturbance that not only frightened residents from blocks away, but also endangered over hundreds of people leaving to their cars after the concert.

“An explosion was heard over a vast area as a car in the parking lot of the stadium exploded. Why did this car blow up? A few witnesses to the terrifying scene told the reporter that the car that was bombed was owned by Jessica Jung, the first daughter and second oldest child of Jung SooMon who, as you know, is the chairman of Jung Incorporated. It has been said that Jessica Jung had gone to watch 2NE1’s concert with her younger sister, Krystal Jung. We believe the car was meant to explode when the two were in the car, but the bomber had timed it wrong.”

I stared wide eyed at her as she read.

“Oh, check it out, I’m mentioned in here.” She said. “After the explosion, the Jung sisters, along with a large crowd of people, were standing in front of the aftermath when a gunman on the rooftop of an apartment building across the street shot at the Jung sisters. Luckily, she was pushed out of the way by, what witnesses said to be a police officer, who then fired her gun toward the gunman. The gunman fled the rooftop before anyone could get a look at him and the Jung sisters left in the car of the officer and her partner. We are to believe that the person who set the bomb on the car and the gunman on the rooftop are the same person.

“But that is not all. Around the same time, the Chairman himself was shot after leaving the Jung Inc. building. He was immediately sent to the emergency room and has been treated. He is still in the hospital recovering. What we don’t know is: where are Jessica and Krystal Jung? Who was the shooter and why did he do it? Will they try again knowing they did not succeed in their goal of killing the Jung sisters and Chairman? We will update when we have more information.”

She looked at me for a second and turned back to the computer screen.

“And there are pictures of us.” She moved to the couch to sit beside me with the laptop in her hand to show me the pictures.

There were a few pictures after the explosion. One was a picture of me and Krystal staring at the burning leftovers of my car. In the picture I noticed Taeyeon is looking at my shirt. I looked at myself again and noticed a red dot on my chest.

“Oh my God…” I whispered.

The second picture was a little blurry but after looking at it a little bit, I realized what was going on. Taeyeon had flung herself towards me to push me to the ground. I could see Taeyeon’s arm on my back and her other arm stretched towards Krystal.

In the third picture we were all on the ground. I’m shielding Krystal with my body and Taeyeon is on her back with her gun pointed towards what would be the buildings if they were in the camera shot.

“Damn.. I look hot..” Taeyeon murmured.

I ignored her and continued to stare at the pictures. Well.. She isn’t lying.. She does look pretty hot with that gun in her hand. Wait, what are you saying? Shut up, Jessica.

“What?? I’m just saying. In horrible circumstances like this you have to think of the positive things to keep from thinking of the bad. And I’m positive that I look banging in this picture.”

I looked at her with an eyebrow raised. She was looking at the screen still. Is she talking to me..?

“All I’m saying is that I look hot, Hyo,” Well that answers my question. “Look at me. I look like a badass on the ground like that. That’s some real Hollywood .” A pause. “You’re just mad because you look like the ugly duckling in them.”

She looked at me and moved back to the loveseat, leaving the laptop with me.

“Also,” she said looking at me. Guess she’s talking to me this time. “I was just talking to my Chief of Department about what happened and we believe it has to be more than one guy. The time of your shooting and when your father was shot was a five minute difference. So it’s not possible that the guy that shot at you could have climbed down the emergency escape of the building and driven to the Jung Inc. building, climbed up another building ladder to be in position to shoot him. It could even be more than just two people. The person who put the bomb on your car could be a different person from either of the shooters and there could even be drivers who have a part in it.”

“But.. why would they do it..?”

Taeyeon shrugged. “It could have been something your father said that they didn’t agree with. It could be from the stock market results. Or it could be something entirely different.. Who knows.”

After that, we sat in silence again. Another 30 minutes later, Taeyeon spoke up again.

“Shut up.” She said.

I looked at her, shocked. Did she just tell me to shut up? Really? I wasn’t even talking.

Out of nowhere she faced one of the cameras and stuck her middle finger up at it.

Oh.. She’s talking to one of the other two again. I guess I have to get used to this.

“Oh, you are? How do you think I feel??”

I wonder what they’re talking about.

“You’re making me look like a crazy person talking to myself.”

That’s not a lie.

“Okay. What is it?”

A pause.

“Yeah, I’ll do it. Just tell me.” ….. “Okay, not that, idiot.”

A longer pause.

She laughed loudly after a moment. “Can I go somewhere for this?”

She covered her face in embarrassment. I raised an eyebrow at her. When she uncovered her face, it was as red as a tomato.

“Okay, okay…” she said as she got up from the loveseat. She walked over to the camera above the fireplace and stared at it. “I hate you.” she said to it. Next thing I knew, the short girl was dancing. No music, no nothing . She was just dancing. Obviously whoever was talking to her told her to do this. She was doing weird things like the running man and swinging her arms and head around. I was so confused, yet so entertained.

This was a different side of her that I hadn’t seen. I had seen the quiet side of her and the side that made me want to punch her in the face. This version of her made me look at her differently. I took a good look at her now. She has little to no makeup on, but is extremely pretty. She looks really young, too. I wonder how old she really is.

“YAH!” she cried out. She bent over, laughing really hard. She’s adorable like this. So much better than last night. “I’m not doing this anymore! How embarrassing!” she stood upright again, flipped her hair out of her face and looked at me, her face redder than before. “I’m sorry about that.. I was dared to do it..”

She walked to the stairs. “I hate you right now. That is not what a protective service officer should do in front of the person they have to protect.” She whispered. “Now I’m tired and I haven’t even worked out.”

That was interesting..

My phone beeped.

From Hyoyeon:

Hope u enjoyed that! That was my attempt at breaking the ice! It looked 2 cold n there. ;)

I chuckled at the text and gave the camera a thumbs up.

My apologies if this chapter is kind of boring. A lot of talking involved in it. On the bright side, Taeyeon apologized to Krystal! That's good!

And I'm sorry this chapter is up late as well. I was at work all day, so sorry about that.

"It just doesn't seem right, was it really your time? Are we dreaming? We'll never let go of you. Wish you were here but it's becoming clear that Earth's just not the place for an angel like you... And now we must let you move forward. Our love lies with you. Our souls fly with you." 3 Rest In Peace to Ladies Code's RiSe, who passed away today... Her chance of living was extremely low, but I had hope... Keep your fellow member EunB company in heaven and watch over your other sisters...  They are going through a lot now... You two will both be missed..