Author's POV

"Finally.. YOU.. I'll deal with you later." Said the frustrated leader.

Sungmin sighed as Heechul glared at him in annoyance. Eunhyuk patted Sungmin's shoulder and comforted his friend.

"Don't worry bro.. I'm sure he'll forget about it once the girls arrive."

Their conversation was cut short when they saw the limousine approaching the mansion.

"They're here!" Yesung exclaimed in excitement. For a split second, his childish self took over in excitement to see his sister and friends.

"*cough*cough* Yesung, you're forgetting that everyone's here. Don't forget your bearing!" Ryeowook whispered to his cousin.

Just as the limousine neared the front of the mansion's entrance, Donghae arrived with a dishelved look. He quickly fixed himself as Heechul gave him a questioning look.

"Sorry.. got caught up in something. I know..I'll pay for it later." He said to their leader who only sighed in response. 

All the Hae Dal Chi boys were lined up in front of the mansion to welcome the girls. The limousine finally stopped in front of them and the girls alighted the car one by one. As usual, Soojin was the last to get off from the car.

"Welcome back Lady Soojin." Said Heechul as they formally bowed to her.

"Girls, good job on bringing Lady Soojin safely back home." He added as he nodded towards the girls.

The girls and boys exchanged nods with stoic looks on their faces, though deep inside, they were shouting in joy and struggling to restrain themselves from hugging their friends and siblings at the moment. Soojin looked at them with raised brows and smirked.

"Oh come on oppas, it's just us here. Those guards can't hear us at all. Oh by the way, I missed you guys too. Well, I'll go ahead now. I have to get ready for tonight's dinner party. I'll be in my room if you need me. Unnies, you can spend the rest of the afternoon with the oppas. I know you've missed each other a lot. Go have your meeting and whatever at your HQ. You can't squeal and hug each other out here you know. The others might think the Hae Dal Chi have gone nuts." The boys shook their heads in amusement as Soojin walked past them and entered the mansion.

The reunited Hae Dal Chi members approached each other. "I'm really glad to have all of you back here. Let's continue this at our HQ. We have to update you of what's been going on and discuss some pressing matters." Heechul said to the girls.

"Oh how I missed your strictness dear brother." Taeyeon sarcastically said as she walked towards the Hae Dal Chi HQ.

The members laughed at their leader's annoyed look and followed Taeyeon. Heechul remained in his position, staring at his sister in annoyance.

"Aish! Still a brat...after all these years."

Donghae gently pushed him forward. "Well, you can't do anything about it. Taeyeon will always be Taeyeon. Come on.."

Heechul shrugged and they followed the group.

 Soojin's POV

As I entered the mansion, all the guards and staff I've come acrossed with bowed and greeted me formally as the Fire Clan leader. They're all older than me and they act as if I'm older than them by decades. Even though I've told them not to be too formal to me, they still act the same. For years, ever since that night, I've been telling those around me not to be too formal. I wanted to somehow feel normal. Them being all to formal and ceremonial reminds me that I am our clan's leader despite me being so young then.. because... my parents and my siblings.. they're all gone.

Uncle Youngmin brought me to the mansion after that night saying that it was no longer safe for me to stay at my own house. Uncle renovated and fortified the mansion. In the world of elementals, the High Council leader's house is the HQ or in human terms, the White House. Now that Uncle Youngmin is the leader, the Kim Estate is the new HQ of elementals. For decades until that terrible night, my former home was the White House. I guess elementals trusted our family given that we've led our kind for a long time. This makes it even harder for me to understand why and who caused the death of my family. What is even more vexing is that my mother's family seemed to have disappeard into nowhere. Some speculated it was them who killed my family while others believed that they were also killed by the unknown assassins. I really don't know what to believe. However, now that I'm back and I know better, I will find out what really happened and make sure that whoever is responsible will pay gravely.

No One's POV

"Whoa!! You've got new toys?! Why didn't you tell us oppa?! You should've sent some to us too!" Hyoyeon said as she marveled at the new weapons and gadgets in their HQ.

Ryeowook laughed at his sister whose eyes were sparkling ever-so-brightly at the sight before her.

"We just acquired them recently. We thought you'd like it better if you get to choose what you want." He beamed at his sister.

While the siblings were checking their toys, Sungmin approached Sunny and handed her a small box.

"My sunshine, I missed you so much!" He told her as he enveloped her in a hug which Sunny happily returned.

Seohyun and Yoona giggled at the couple's cheesiness. Sunny opened the box and saw the necklace with a sun pendant. Sungmin grinned from ear to ear and told Sunny to check the back of the pendant. When she did, she saw that their names were engraved on it.

"Oppa..." Sunny became teary-eyed as she was touched by his gift.

Heechul and Donghae have just entered the room when Sungmin started singing You Are My Sunshine which made the girls laugh in amusement while the boys cringed in disgust.

"Sungmin! That's strike two! One more and I'll make sure you get that one week of council guard duty you've always hated." Heechul said to Sungmin which earned him a pout from the couple.

"Okay, gather up everyone. Let's start this  meeting." Donghae said.

Everyone gathered at the round table as Heechul went up front and began with their meeting.

"Putting aside the annoying things.." Heechul said as he glanced at Sungmin and Sunny which made everyone chuckle.

"I would like to welcome you girls back.." He continued but was interrupted by Taeyeon.

"Why so formal Oppa? Hahahaha.." The leader looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Anyway, as I was saying, welcome back. You've done a great job at keeping Soojin safe. The High Council, especially Council Kim, send their gratefulness. After tonight's dinner party, Council Kim wants to meet all of us regarding Soojin before we go to Club Red for the afterparty. As you all know, we have been able to neutralize our enemies for the past years. Unfortunately, there was a recent incident which we believe might affect Soojin. Read the files I've given to you. If you have any questions, you can just ask us. My point is that we have an unidentified Class A hwajae on the loose. We all know that only the Jungs have reached this level..and well... we only have Soojin now. I believe you've been keeping a close eye on her and I don't think she would turn against us." The leader said.

The girls were shocked with the news. "Another Class A hwajae?  How is that possible? And of course Soojin would not do anything like that!" Tiffany exclaimed.

While the boys discussed their gathered information to the girls, Taeyeon was silent and absorbed in her thoughts.

"Could it be..Donghae-oppa.. what else did you find out?" She asked Donghae whose mind seemed somewhere else also.

"Oppa..." she repeated. Yesung nudged Donghae which brought him back to reality. 

"Huh?? Mian.. what were you asking again?" Taeyeon repeated her question with a sigh.

"It was all that we got. We're digging into what we can. Ryeowook and his team are working on it." His mind floated off somewhere again as he stared into space with his hands on his chin.

Some members remained in their seats discussing the incident while the others went with Ryeowook to the lab.

"Let's meet up by 1700H. Girls, after your done with things, be sure to check up on Soojin. The dinner party will start at 1930H." Heechul reminded them.

When Ryeowook, Hyoyeon, Seohyun, and Yoona left the room, Donghae suddenly stood up and headed out.

"I'll go check on Soojin." The others looked at him with worry.

Before he left the room, Heechul reminded him "Hae, remember, Soojin has been through so much already and she has a lot on her shoulders right now. We have to protect her. Let's not burden her with uncertain things for now."

Donghae shot him an uncertain look and left without a word. Heechul massaged his temples in worry.

"Don't worry oppa. I'm sure Hae-oppa won't tell Jin-ah." Tiffany said with a reassuring smile.

"I hope you're right Fany-ah.." Heechul uttered with a shrug.

"Oppa, we've pretty much established that it was not Soojin. If so... who... could it be.. ani.. it cannot be..but..is it even possible?? If it is even possible... why? Why would they do such a thing?" Taeyeon, who was standing by the window, said as she turned her gaze towards her brother.

All heads turned towards Heechul now, waiting for his answer. "We've been thinking of the same thing. It doesn't make sense if you think of the why.. but if you include the how.. it could be. Anyway, we do not have any solid proof right now..let us not get ahead of ourselves. Let's find out more about this before making our next move. You know how uncle has forbidden the discussion of that night. I have this weird feeling that there might be some things which have been kept from us. We might have to bend some rules this time and work covertly." He said in reply.

They all nodded in agreement.

No One's POV

Ryeowook and the girls arrived at the underground laboratory beneath the mansion grounds. This was were the elementals do their top secret research and technology development. Though elementals work at the Red Moon Technology, they limit their elemental-related projects there in case the humans might become curious and find out about those which does not concern them. They do most of the work at the mansion's laboratory.

Ryeowook is one of the head researchers/scientists of the elementals. Aside from being a member of the elite Hae Dal Chi, the man was a genius in the lab. His prioriy however is being a Hae Dal Chi. Thus, he has his loyal team who does the work for him whenever he's out in the field. 

"Whoa! The lab looks very different from last time. So many new equipments..and.. OH MY GOSH! Are.. are those..are those who I think they are?!" Hyoyeon exclaimed as she approached the glass window revealing Ryeowook's team working on their computers.

Ryeowook stood next to his sister and smiled. "Yep, those kids sure do know what they're doing. They were actually the ones who made the toys you've seen in our HQ."

Yoona and Seohyun joined them. "Hul! Those pabos made it? Amazing.. hahahahaha." Yoona said with folded arms.

Seohyun looked at Yoona and said "They are really smart unnie. Though they kept fooling around then, they really wanted to join the research team and worked hard during their training." Yoona just looked at Seohyun with a funny look.

Ryeowook chuckled at he entered the passcode to enter the room. 

"So, any updates on the lab results??" Ryeowook asked his team.

"Hyung, we almost missed it, but, we were able to find a bioprint on one of the victims. We're still running scans to identify the culprit." Seungri answered as he was busily checking on the complex scanning technology.

"That's good. Anyway, mind pausing what you guys are doing? Some people are here to say hello."

They were all too immersed in what they were doing that the did not notice the three girls who entered the room with their leader. As they turned to face their leader, they were greeted by the three smiling girls.

"Annyeonghaseyo! How's it going?" Yoona said enthusiastically.

"Hyo? Yoong? Seo? Whoa! Welcome back girls!" Seungri said as he stood up from his chair and gave the girls a welcoming hug which the rest of the team followed. He looked at them from head to toe with raised eyebrows and his hand on his chin.

"My oh my.. you girls have grown. You're all looking so hot!" He exclaimed which garnered him a smack on the forehead from Ryeowook.

"Yah! Don't you dare Lee Seungri!" The girls giggled at the panda-looking man who was mummbling in pain from being hit on his forehead.

"You're still the same Seungri-oppa. Hahahaha. You never learn." Hyoyeon said in amusement. Seungri wiggled his eyebrows as he replied.

"Well, the girls out there love me for who I am.. I'm sure you do too." Ryeowook shook his head in annoyance.

"Onew, how long 'til we get a match?" Ryeowook asked.

"We will get a match within ten hour hyung. We tried to make it shorter but the bioprint was faint and almost impossible to extract..so yeah.. ten hours." Ryeowook nodded.

"Okay, update me right away. Anyway, don't forget the "things" for tonight arraso?" He reminded his team.

They all nodded with a knowing look.

"What things?" Hyoyeon asked curiously.

"Oh just stuff for the party. You'll see it later. Anyway, don't you girls have to prepare for tonight? You also have to check on Soojin." Ryeowook said to the girls.

"Oh yeah.. look at the time. We have to go now. We'll see you guys later!" The three left the room leaving Ryeowook and the boys.

"Well, be sure to have the "things" ready befoe the start of the party so we'll be able to give it to them afterwards. New equipments are coming in tomorrow. We have to start working on our next project tomorrow. Wrap things up and prepare for the party. I'll see you boys later." The boys nodded as their leader left the room.