PART 16

“Sorry about…that.” Jessica apologized with a guilty expression. Jin just nods his head as he continues to press the ice pack on his bruised cheek. He couldn’t blame the woman. She has been through a lot. Not only she was kidnapped and almost got kill, her dear lover is still missing! It was earlier that night when Jin finally exposed the truth about Kim Taeyeon, her father and his crimes to Jessica. But, that wasn’t the cause of the bruise staining his cheek.

“The problem is…I don’t know where Taeyeon is.” After having enough of bad news in just one day, Jessica’s ‘anger’ finally burst out from the deepest corners of her heart. She had no self-control over her emotions and she was desperate to release it. There was only person in the room at the time and it was Jin. He ended up becoming the victim of Jessica’s wrath.

“I…I’ve experienced worse.” Jin puts down the half-melted ice pack. Jessica smiles apologetically at his words.

“So, you don’t know where they took Taeyeon.” Yoona calmly spoke. The people around the table all turn their attention towards Jin. He sighs heavily and nods. Tiffany has her palms pressing her face in frustration. They knew that when a professional spy like Jin can’t even tracks Taeyeon’s whereabouts, there is a high possibility that she may completely disappear from the grid again.

“We’ve been investigating about Mr. Kim’s underground operations for years now. Our researches included knowing all of his hiding spots in South Korea. A notorious criminal like him would never do his ‘dirty deeds’ without extra cautiousness. He’s a smart- when it comes to slipping away from the government’s eyes and ears.”

Jin paused for a moment to take some confidential files. He did not hesitate to lay out printed papers and pictures containing information in front of them. If he ever wants to catch the man, he needed all the help he can get from these women.

“We’ve checked and confirmed these spots to be his and his men’s hideouts. When I and Yoona went to saved Jessica, I have my teams prepared to ambush these locations here.” Jin pointed at the circled areas around the map. “We assumed he must be holding Taeyeon hostage in one of these hideouts locations since the place where they took Jessica was one of it. Since Mr. Kim has zero suspicion on me, I thought I would take the advantage to gain information of Jessica’s whereabouts at the time.”

“Hence, the reason why you pretended to be the bad guy that offered to finish me off.” Jessica spoke and Jin agreed with statement by nodding.

“Mr. Kim gave me the exact hideout location where you were taken and I immediately contacted my teams to proceed with our next plan. While we were busy, my men have successfully ambushed at the pinned locations.” Jin once again sighs heavily. “We found Jessica. But, they didn’t found Taeyeon. All they found were stored smuggled goods, drugs and even armories. They arrested the gang members he paid to do his ‘businesses’, including those men who kidnapped Jessica.”

“We knew if Mr. Kim found out his pupils have been taken away by the authorities. He’ll definitely run off again and there’s no doubt Taeyeon would be dragged along with him. So, it’s the best to lay low so he isn’t aware his hideouts have completely been taken over. But, he still has his men lurking around; it won’t be long until he’ll eventually find out about his.”

“So, you’re saying we better act now and save Taeyeon before he attempts to escape again.” Yoona said which earned a nod from Jin.

“But, we don’t know where he is hiding. He managed to erase Taeyeon’s existence from society for years. I think he might do the same thing again.” Tiffany worriedly spoke. She is right. Jessica being kidnapped and Jin were given the orders to kill her; there’s no doubt he attempts to put Taeyeon out of the radar especially when her daughter has gain back her sanity.

What’s the reason? It’s simple. Far too many people have personally known Kim Taeyeon. Not only Jessica, Tiffany, Yoona and Hara, but also Yuri, Hyoyeon and Seohyun knew of Taeyeon’s identity. Though the three people has no clue of who she really was; where she came from and how she ended up being at the mental-health facility, it would still pose a threat to Mr. Kim’s position. If people found out that Taeyeon is his biological daughter, then it won’t be long until his illegal businesses are exposed too.

“This whole ty situation is making me piss off.” Jessica slammed her fists onto the table. It made those at the table to feel the same too.

She is frustrated on how incredibly incapable she is. She kept giving promises that she will always protect them; both to Taeyeon and Krystal. Yet, here she is, hopeless and clueless once again. The mere thought of Taeyeon being taken away from her aches her heart so much that she could feel the same guilt that has been hunting her since Krystal’s death coming back again. Is she going to lose Taeyeon just like how she loses her beloved sister? How weak can she be?

Jessica snaps out of her deep thoughts when Hara suddenly pats her shoulder. She slowly turns to look at her best-friend. “If you’re planning to blame yourself again, you better stop.” Hara said. “How desperate are you to save your girl, Sica?”

The question confuses Jessica. But, she answers it anyways. “I love her. I’ll do anything to take her back.” It confuses her even more when Hara suddenly smiles at her. As if she was saying, “That’s what I wanted to hear.”

“I’m nothing more than a retired officer.” Hara suddenly spoke. It instantly gains all the attention of the people in the room. “But, I’m still confident when it comes to being a private detective. I’ll be honest, Mr. Kim knows how cover up things well. He is a pro at this. Yet, he is still clumsy. He couldn’t get rid of everything. I know…because I managed to dig out information about Taeyeon for Jessica back then.”

Hara glances at the woman sitting next to her. Yoona sees the signal in her eyes. She sighs silently before nodding. Everyone was confused when Yoona suddenly took out a pen-drive from her pocket and setting it down on the table. Hara cleared . “You’re not the only one who was doing an investigation about Mr. Kim.” She said to Jin. The man was surprise at first but calms down fairly quickly. He knew about Hara and her expertise in being an ‘Intel.’ He, however, did not expect she too was on to Taeyeon’s biological father.

“First, I have to apologize to both of you.” Hara looked at Jessica and Tiffany. “I actually knew everything.” At that moment, she could see her best-friend feels somewhat betray when she said those words. But at the same time, she knows Jessica is aware of her reasons for keeping it a secret from them.

“I’ve always suspected there was something off when I went to look for Taeyeon’s information. I felt there was more than just ‘a hit and run’ accident to the story. I’ve decided to dig deeper and deeper. That’s when I founded out about her father’s identity and all of his illegal doings. I knew he was the one behind Lee Soonkyu’s death that night and he was the same man that had put Taeyeon in that facility.”

“I expected that once Jessica has involved herself in Taeyeon’s life, Mr. Kim would soon try to get rid of her. I don’t know when he’ll exactly plan to do it. But, I knew it would be during the most unexpected time.” Hara then looks over at Yoona. “I can’t do this on my own so…I had to seek for someone’s help. I’ve told Yoona everything and requested her to act accordingly if anything bad happens.”

“What do you mean? Yoona, you knew about this?” Tiffany sounded betrayed. Yoona would lie if she could. But, she can only respond with a nod. The red-haired woman stands up from her seat in disbelief. “I can’t believe this! You two knew all along that both Jessica and Taeyeon would be caught up in this messy situation yet you guys decided to keep it a secret from us?”

“Fany-ah, please calm down…” Yoona spoke softly and tries to reach out for the woman’s hand. Tiffany immediately steps back.

“Jessica got kidnapped and almost got kill. Taeyeon is nowhere to be found. If you just told us about this from the start, we could’ve avoided it! We could’ve done something!”

“It’s not that easy…”

“Then, did you decide it’d be better to do nothing to prevent it?” Tiffany scoffed in frustration. “At least we could’ve done something, Yoona!” She did not realize she was already raising her voice at this point.

Yoona clenches her teeth. She takes a sharp inhale. “We can’t even if we want to.” She still manages to talk calmly despite Tiffany’s outburst at her. “I’ve been around long enough in that kind of world to know how dangerous a man like Mr. Kim is. If we try to do anything without cautiousness, he won’t hesitate to kill us all.” She shut her eyes. “It’s my fault. I let this happen. I tried so hard to protect you that I risked Jessica’s life.” Tiffany looks at Yoona; her eyes is filled with guilt and remorse. Jessica wasn’t the only one who felt weak.

“Tiffany,” Hara called. “I was never that good at fighting. Jessica has always been the one saving my . Yet, I still dive into those stupid fist fights anyways. As long as I was on Jessica’s side, I didn’t care if I’ll die doing it. It sounds childish to suddenly bring up my past. But, I simply want prove on how much I care about my best friend. I’ll always fight for her no matter what.” The whole room becomes silent after the speech. Jessica let out a chuckle and pats Hara on the back. The two exchange smiles.

“I trust Jessica could protect herself long enough for me to come and get her. But, it’s a different case for you, you can’t fight and you don’t have the experiences. That’s why I’m trying to keep you safe. I…I won’t be able to forgive myself if anything bad ever happens to you. I can’t lose you.” Yoona genuinely confessed her feelings. Tiffany ends up calming down. Her anger turns into guilt. She feels stupid for throwing out her frustrations just like that to Yoona without considering how she felt.

“I’m glad that you care about me, Tiff. But, let’s listen to the rest of their explanation.” Jessica finally spoke. Tiffany sighs heavily and quietly goes back to her seat on the table. Jin clears his throat to ignore the tense atmosphere that happened just seconds ago.

“Now, things have cleared up. It’s time for me to say it. There’s another reason why I’ve asked Yoona to help me. After knowing the truth, I took my time to go look for more information.” Hara stood up to go to one of shelves in the room. Jin curiously raises his eyebrow when he sees the private detective were looking through his files. He didn’t say a word though. A few minutes later, she comes back to the table with a file in her hand. She opens up and pushes a copy of a cheque to the center of the table for everyone to see.

“A cheque from Mr. Kim to xx Hotel?” Jin felt confused, just like the rest of them. “I think he booked the whole hotel for some kind of an A-list party in Jeju.”

“You have expert Intels on your team. But, you’ve missed this one little detail there. It looks like nothing. Just a normal cheque, right?” Hara points out the name of the Hotel written on the cheque. “The owner of the hotel is Son Jisoo. He has a personal connection with Mr. Kim. Mr. Son used to work at a high-end hotel in the United States before he came back to Korea to managed his own in Jeju. For a man such as Mr. Kim, it’s normal for him to have connections with hotel owners like Mr. Son Jisoo. It doesn’t seemed odd at all. That’s why it’s the perfect façade.”

“Mr. Son worked at a hotel called xx hotel located in Los Angeles. The owner of the hotel is a Korean immigrant too. His name is Yang Dae-Hyun. He moved to California when he was a teen and settled down in L.A when he reached adulthood. He is also involved in the illegal business scene.” Hara crossed her arms. “Mr. Son was paid a hefty amount of money when he was working at the hotel. He managed the hotel and its employees. He was also doing side jobs for Mr. Yang. So, why would a man with a high-paying job suddenly moved back to South Korea to manage a hotel that couldn’t make as much money as his previous salaries?”

“Mr. Yang is the same as Mr. Kim. He run several legal businesses too. The hotel is one of it. But, what makes him different from Mr. Kim is that he manufactured drugs. He’s not the biggest name in the game but that’s what makes him the perfect supplier for Mr. Kim. He has a low profile so the chances for him to be arrested are low too. Mr. Kim can easily slip away with a person that’s off the grid as his supplier.”

“Mr. Son was capable enough to managed the distribution of those manufactured drugs to Mr. Yang’s regular clients in South Korea including Mr. Kim. They would meet each other at least a few times a year to renew their deals. But, Mr. Kim isn’t that stupid to meet with Mr. Yang here. That’s why around 15 years ago, he bought a private property in L.A. He built a family vacation house there. But, the house is merely used as a cover up.” Hara looked at Jin. “Your team only searched for potential hideouts. Any locations you’d suspected to be unknown to the government. The vacation house didn’t fit with what you guys have targeted. That’s why he managed to tricked you.”

“If Mr. Kim is hiding his daughter somewhere, then the answer of her current whereabouts is already in front of us. We’re going to L.A.”

***

Taeyeon continuously struggles to break free. Her hands are starting to bruised after trying to release herself from the iron chains. She has no clue how many hours have passed. But, she has no time to think and rest. She needed to escape. But, her efforts seemed to be futile. There were absolutely no chances she can get herself off from those thick, heavy chains. Yet, she refuses to give up; especially knowing that Jessica is potentially in danger somewhere. She have to go to the authorities as soon as possible.

“Just…stop it already.” The young man in the room spoke. “You’ll hurt yourself.” He is taken aback when Taeyeon shot a cold glare at him.

“I can’t believe you’re involved in this.” She angrily spoke. He could only sigh heavily. Mr. Lee or Lee Junho has been the one responsible in keeping Taeyeon locked in the facility. When he assigned Jessica to be Taeyeon’s therapist, he did not expect she would succeed. Many doctors have been assigned to take Taeyeon under their care for the past three years. But, none have managed to done it including his own cousin; Kwon Yuri.

When he started seeing more and more progress, he knew he was in deep trouble. He was ordered to keep Taeyeon there at all cost. But, he can’t expose his true intentions. That was when he decided to cut down the days, he wanted to push Jessica to the edge. He thought by putting so much pressure at the newly appointed therapist, she might just give up entirely.

When Jessica had requested to have Taeyeon to be under her care at home, he thought he could make the situation to his advantage. He was confident that Jessica would definitely ‘crack’ under the insane pressure. He was right. Jessica did go through a mental breakdown. Although, he was wrong for looking down at her capabilities. She didn’t give up at all.

When Taeyeon had successfully overcome her traumas, he had no choice but to contact Mr. Kim. He had failed to fulfill the man’s orders. That alone caused Mr. Kim and his own father to look down on him even more now. It frustrated him down to his core.

“Can you stay put? You’re making things worse.” Junho stood up from the sofa and approaches Taeyeon.

“Stay away from me.” Taeyeon looked at him with such fiery eyes.

“You’ve been with that therapist of yours for too long that you picked up her habit.” He calmly said. He steps forward and pull the chains from Taeyeon’s hands easily. He remains silent as he reaches out to take her hands.

“L-let go of me!” Taeyeon tried to pull herself away but Junho was far too strong for her.

“Shut up.” Junho looked down at her bruised hands. He exhales silently at the sight of those bruises and takes out a handkerchief from his pocket. Without uttering a single word, he gently ties the piece of cloth on her left hand. The action made Taeyeon to stop struggling. She stands still as the man finishes up covering the bruise. “At least, your left hand won’t bleed.” He went back to his seat.

Wait, isn’t he supposed to be the bad guy too? Why is he suddenly being nice? “I don’t need your pity.” Taeyeon said. He simply responded with a nod. His silence somewhat made Taeyeon more frustrated. “I don’t understand how you’re willing to follow my dad. He planned to murder me and ended up killing Soonkyu.” She bits her lower lip to hold back the tears in her eyes. “How cruel can you all be?”

“Did you think I wanted this? News flash, I don’t.” Junho’s sudden honesty surprised Taeyeon.

“What…do you mean?”

Junho stares at her. He was far too stressed the words just slipped out of him. He leans back on the sofa. “I was adopted. My so-called father doesn’t have any biological children. He had problems so he couldn’t get my adoptive mother pregnant. But, that old man had too much ego that he didn’t want to admit it. He blamed his wife instead for not being able to conceive. Such a ing coward.”

Taeyeon starts to calm down. It seems she is not the only one with father issues. She stands there quietly; her eyes staring at him. He wasn’t supposed to say anything. He shouldn’t exposed himself like that so easily. But seeing how both of them have somewhat reached an understanding, he did not hesitate to say the truth about everything.

“I may be his son but we were never blood-related. He only took me in to show off that he was capable of raising a successor. How ironic it was. He never planned to give away his fortunes to anyone; not his wife and certainly not me. If he could, he would ask to be buried with all of his riches. That’s how selfish he is.”

“The only reason I stayed in that damn family was because of his wife. She was a kind and loving mother. But, even she could not stand his pride and ego. She ran away. I don’t even know if she is still alive. I haven’t heard from her for years.” Junho paused for a short moment. He seemed to be holding back his own tears of frustrations and anger. He would never let himself cry in front of Taeyeon.

“Your father and my father are like peas in a pod. Both of them are so obsessed on trying to be at the top. That night, it was supposed to be me. I was the one who my father had given the order to kill you. But, I…couldn’t do it. I was too weak to take away someone’s life. My father wanted to disowned me.” He chuckled bitterly. “Yet, I was too scared. I was too much of a coward to leave this life that I’m familiar with. I begged for a chance. That’s how I ended up meeting you.” Junho smiled at her. “How did you do it? How can you overcome such a ‘nightmare?’”

Taeyeon didn’t answer it first. She stay there; looking at the man sitting not far away from her. Earlier today, her father suddenly appeared again after so many years. He changed. He wasn’t the same father that Taeyeon grew up with. He became an empty shell. “That Sunny of yours ruined the plan.” It broke her into a million of pieces when she founded out the man whom raised her with love and affection all these years was willing to kill her for his fortunes. Sunny ended up being the one to pay the price.

How ed up can this world be?

She hated Junho. Not only he was the one that forcefully separated her from Jessica, he had the audacity to marry her. Yes, Taeyeon is set off to marry with him by tomorrow. It was a deal her father have made with Mr. Lee. With the marriage between her and Junho, the two families would be merged as one. Having those two to have a ‘family’ connection will open opportunities to more business deals. They will expand their power in that way.

Taeyeon isn’t the only one that didn’t agree to this preposterous wedding. She and Junho are both being thrown into this hot water by their own fathers.

“I was a coward too. I couldn’t accept the fact that Soonkyu died because of me. I knew how much I love her. There’s no way I was the reason she was gone. That was my thought. I was desperately running away from myself and my past for years that I became insane. Everything just fell apart.” Taeyeon turns around to look at the night sky outside. The moon is shining so brightly. “Jessica risked everything to save me. She was willing to throw herself into my ed up life. I wondered how she can be so courageous?”

She then turned back to look at Junho. “Jessica was scared. She, too, lose someone she love and cherish. We are no different from each other. Yet, she is still there, picking up the broken pieces of me despite being broken herself. Although my father had planned it, it’s still my fault that Soonkyu died that night. I overcame my trauma by accepting my mistakes and giving myself a chance again to move on with someone new by my side. I faced my greatest fears for Jessica’s sake.”

Junho lowers his head. He is a man yet he is a much more of a coward than Taeyeon. He was miserable yet he chose to not move on to start anew. He forced himself to stay in a life he didn’t want anymore. “Jessica is safe somewhere. I don’t know why but I just have this feeling that she might still be out there; looking for you. If it’s true, I hope she’ll come barging in here and take you away for good.”

It sounded ridiculous to him. But, he was hoping what he said was true. Jessica miraculously comes to save Taeyeon again. If that ever happens, then he will take that as a sign to start anew.

***

It is late at night. The four women have arrived safely in L.A a while ago. As soon as Hara exposed the location where Taeyeon is possibly taken to, they wasted no time to get themselves on a plane and fly out of the country. Of course, Jin handle the flight for them. He contacted the headquarters to get themselves two private planes; one for the four of them and the other one for Jin along with his men. He thought it’d be better to travel separately to avoid suspicions.

“It would be nice to have my own private plane.” Hara said. Jessica couldn’t really laugh at Hara’s randomness as usual. Her mind is too busy thinking about her lover.

Before they leave to the airport, Yoona told them that she would handle the rest of it when they arrived. Jin should focus on preparing his team for the last ‘act.’ He would be the one that catches Mr. Kim before he manages to escape. They are currently waiting outside of the international airport. It seemed Yoona is eyeing for someone within the crowd there. The rest of them just wait patiently.

“Come on.” Yoona suddenly spoke. She walks first and they just follow her from behind. As they continue on to walk, Yoona sees the person she had been looking for and the two of them pass by each other. She secretly opens her palm so the unknown woman can easily give her the keys without being notice. Yoona then approaches a vehicle parked nearby.

“Holy .” Tiffany was too shock at the sight of a black sports car.

“Get in.” Yoona coolly said. Before anyone could question her, she unlocks the vehicle and gets in.

“Your girlfriend is cool.” Jessica praised as her legs excitedly move to the back seat. Hara agreed with a nod and gets in as well. Tiffany is just taken aback when they mentioned Yoona being her girlfriend. “Ugh, whatever.” She is the last one to get inside the car before they speed away on the road.

“Here, open it.” Yoona handed a green, duffle bag. Tiffany pulls the zipper to open a bag filled with loaded guns. She gasps loudly that the two people sitting at the back lean forward. They, too, are shock by the sight of weapons stuffed inside the bag.

“Uh, are all of these necessary?” Jessica blinked in disbelieve.

“Like I said, we can’t hold back.” Yoona said as she continued to drive. “I couldn’t get rid of my weapons. I’m still known in the streets. I may get attack by some gang members eventually so I stashed those under the flooring in my room.”

“You what?” Tiffany’s jaw drop. All these times she went to visit the flower shop, there were dangerous weapons hidden at the back; under the floor.

“I want each and every one of you to take a gun. Just in case something bad happens, you may need it.”

“W-wait, hold on!” Tiffany couldn’t think straight. She opens to speak up about the weapons to Yoona but it was quickly shut off when Hara notices an odd car has been following from behind them.

“I think we’re being followed.”

“W-what…what do you mean?” Tiffany blinks so fast that she might hurt herself. Well, she can’t really process the whole situation. It’s all so sudden; from the sports car to the weapons in the bag. Just how far did Yoona went for this mission? It wasn’t long until a speeding motorcycle rides next to them. Tiffany yelps to see the rider is just a few inches away from the window.

“Y-Yoona!” Tiffany felt terrified. Her heart is pounding fast and her body trembles in pure panic. Yoona did not say a word. She steps on the accelerator to speed ahead; leaving the rider and the car behind them. She easily passes by the cars on the road. The engine gets louder and louder each second passes by. Tiffany has her eyes shut tight; her hands covering her ears. Jessica and Hara are struggling to stay seated at the back.

One car becomes three, now more cars are chasing them from behind. Yoona has her grips tighten on the steering as she drives faster. Her eyes focusing on the road ahead. Did Mr. Kim perhaps knew they were here so he sent his men to hunt them down?

The tires screech on the road when Yoona suddenly makes a J-turn on the wheel before hitting the brakes. They almost got thrown to the front when the car stops. They seemed to be in a secluded path. Yoona grabs one of the loaded guns from the bag. She turns to Tiffany. “Stay here and don’t go out, got it?” She sternly said before getting out of the vehicle. The red-haired woman couldn’t even say a word at all.

It didn’t take long before the three cars from earlier reach to them. They stop not far from where Yoona is standing and several people with black attires exit the vehicles. They wear masks and seemed to carry weapons of their own. Yoona fearlessly points her gun at the group. The strangers also have their guns out and pointed straight at Yoona. They stand still; none of them move or pull the triggers yet.

Suddenly, a person steps out from the group. Yoona immediately points her gun at the stranger. Her sharp eyes stare at the person like a hawk. Instead of having the gun in her hand pointed at Yoona, the stranger raises her hand and begins to do a few signals. Yoona reads the coded message through the hand signals. The stranger then pulls down the mask that covers her face to expose herself. Yoona sighs in relief and puts the gun down. The group also did the same.

“It’s been a while.” Yoona said with a gentle smile.

“It’s nice seeing you again, unnie.” The person earlier spoke. She was about to approach Yoona when they heard a loud ‘yah’ from behind. Yoona turns around to see Tiffany walking out of the car while carrying a gun. “T-Tiffany!” The American ignored her name being called. She points the gun at the group. Her hands is trembling and her breathing is shaky. All she feels is absolute fear inside. But despite all of that, she keeps a compose expression.

“Woo there, missy.” The stranger talked in English fluently. “Put the gun down.” She raised her hands to show she is not a threat. But, Tiffany’s head is swirling in so much fear and panic that she couldn’t do what she was told.

“You all better back off before I shoot you!” She shouted with a shaky tone.

“Tiffany-.” Yoona could not finished her sentence when Tiffany shot a bullet on the ground. The whole group almost took their guns out but quickly hold back when the person in front told them not to.

“I mean it, you ing es better back off now or else I’ll shoot again!” Tiffany continued to yell. Yoona quickly takes away the gun on Tiffany’s hands before swiftly pulling her into an embrace. “Calm down, they are allies.” Once she heard those words, Tiffany pushes Yoona away in disbelief. The taller woman sighs and puts the gun away. “They’re my friends.” Tiffany could only mouthed a ‘what’ before looking at the person standing there with an awkward smile.

***

“My name is Son Seungwan. But, you guys can call me Wendy. I’m an old friend of Yoona’s. We used to work together back in Korea.” Wendy introduced herself. After their ‘face off’ earlier on the road, they all went back to what seemed to be the group’s headquarters.

“I am so, so sorry for shooting at you.” Tiffany apologized.

Wendy simply chuckles and replies. “It’s okay, I’m used to having bullets stuck inside my body.”

“Seriously, you guys could’ve just wait for us in the promised location. Why the heck did you suddenly chased us? You scared them.” Yoona complained.

“Boss’s orders. She wanted to test you out.” Wendy answered. Of course, that crazy boss of them always do extravagant stunts like this. Sometimes, they feel like their boss secretly wanted to murder them. “By the way, you’re…um, Tiffany, right?” Wendy asked after a minute of silence. Tiffany only nods her head as a ‘yes.’ “Ah, no wonder you almost tried to shoot me. I mean, your girlfriend was in trouble.” Again, the word ‘girlfriend’ is mentioned.

“I-I, no, Yoona’s not my girlfriend.” Tiffany quickly denied. Well, the younger girl didn’t feel offended at all. She knows that the status between them are still friends.

“Ah, really? Well, I don’t think anyone would pull that off for someone. That’s a shame then.” Wendy said. Her words made Tiffany to immediately question the decision she have made earlier. She never got into a fist fight, let alone using a gun. But, when she saw Yoona getting out there without hesitation, she felt her heart couldn’t just let her go. She was terrified, of course. But, she was much more afraid at the thought of losing Yoona.

“Anyways,” Yoona cleared to shoved aside the sudden awkwardness. “I’m glad it’s not his men that chased us.”

“Wendy-ssi?” Jessica called out softly. “Is Taeyeon really here? In L.A?” She asked with hopeful eyes. Despite everything that she had experienced that day, her mind is constantly occupied with Taeyeon. She can’t help but to stop worrying about the safety of her girlfriend. If it wasn’t for cautiousness, Jessica would simply run off to save Taeyeon. But, she knows it would jeopardize everyone’s safety.

Wendy sits down on the table with them. She straighten her back and let out a long exhale. “It took us a while to actually confirm it. But, my friend, Seulgi managed to sneaked inside. She had enough time to observed everything. Yes, she has confirmed that Kim Taeyeon is indeed there. She is locked inside a bedroom on the third floor, left wing of the house.”

Jessica could feel a great sense of relief that she can finally breathe. She leans onto the table with her head low. She has received so many bad news and to finally hear a good one made her tear up. “Thank you, Wendy.” She spoke in a raspy voice. Wendy simply smiles and nods. It must have been tough for Jessica to handle everything that has been happening lately. Just knowing where Taeyeon is, she feels she can finally let the tight strings in her heart to loosen up. She isn’t the only one. Tiffany immediately cries upon hearing the good news. She won’t be losing her best-friend again. Both Yoona and Hara go to comfort them.

“I’ll make sure to save you, Tae. Just wait for me.”

***

“Usually, I would wait for Yoona to set out the plans. But, Seulgi told me that Mr. Kim planned to marry off Taeyeon with Lee Junho by tomorrow afternoon. It seemed that he wanted to merged with the Lee family through the marriage. If we want to save Taeyeon, it’s better to do it before the wedding. So, Irene has formed a plan. We’ll move by sunrise.”

Those were Wendy’s words. It’s almost sunrise, the group are preparing themselves. Jessica, Hara and Yoona are getting ready with their bulletproof vests. Tiffany crosses her arms as she sits in the corner with a sulky expression. Despite her eagerness to join in the fight to save her best-friend, Yoona wouldn’t let her. Her reason is the same; she has no experience in joining this type of thing. Wendy notices it and quietly approaches Yoona who is busy loading her gun.

“Are you sure you want to leave her?” She asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? I don’t want to put her in danger.” Yoona replied without glancing at her fellow ally.

“She looks pretty piss off. Unnie, if you guys really get together someday, she would in danger anyways.”

“Yes, but we aren’t together. So, I’m not bringing her along.”

“She needs to learn how to take care of herself eventually.” Jessica suddenly spoke up after a long silence. “Might as well learn it now.” Wendy nodded; agreeing with her words. Yoona looks at the two women in disbelief. She glances at Hara who seemed to have the same thought as them. She mouthed a ‘seriously’ before turning around to look at Tiffany. The American immediately avoids her eyes.

“They say the most magical moments happen during desperate situations.” Wendy gives a pat on Yoona’s back before leaving. The two friends tilt their heads; signaling her to talk to the sulky woman. Yoona sighs. “Fine.” She takes a bulletproof vest along with her and approaches Tiffany who still refuses to look at her. “Fany-ah, are you mad at me?” She gently asked.

“Tch, no. Of course, not.” Tiffany sarcastically spoke in English.

“Look, I-this whole thing is dangerous. I can’t guarantee I can protect you if I bring you along.” Yoona tried to talk it out but clearly her long-time crush has no interest of her kind intention.

“Yah, I’m done being the one that always get protected. I feel useless! I can’t even go save my best-friend.” Tiffany huffed in frustration. Yoona lowers her head in defeat. During her days of fighting with gang members, she never worries about protecting others. She knows how capable her pupil were. They can be shot with a bullet and still be alive the next day.

But Tiffany is a different case. She loves her that she won’t let even a single strain of her hair get touch by those dirty bastards. Yet, she understands how stressed Tiffany is. Taeyeon was suddenly taken away again. She must have been scared to know she might lose her again and she couldn’t do anything about it. Yoona pulls Tiffany to stand up without uttering a word.

“Yah! What are-uff!” Tiffany was about to get angry but couldn’t when Yoona suddenly puts on the vest on her.

She takes the loaded gun from earlier to give it to Tiffany. “This is a semi-automatic pistol. See this? This is a slide stop. You need to point down your gun before sliding it to the back. Before firing a shot, you need to aim well or else you might shoot at Wendy again.” Yoona explained before handing the gun to Tiffany. Then, she takes out a hunter’s knife. “When your rounds are out, use this. Don’t stab them at critical points. Just stab them on the leg so you can escape easily.” She finished her explanation and put the knife on the custom vest.

Tiffany is confuse at her. Then, her eyes lighten up. “This means I’m coming with you guys?”

“Yes, you are. But make sure you will always stay behind me, alright?” Yoona said. She grunts when Tiffany suddenly jumps to hug her tightly. She happily smiles while nodding. Who is even excited to join a gang fight these days?

“Alright, let’s go through our plans again.” Wendy announced. Everyone in the room paid attention to her.

“First phase of our plan, our newest recruit, Yeri will pretend to be replacement for Mary Smith as the wedding planner for the occasion.”

A car arrives at the front gate of the Kim’s vacation house. One of the guards approaches the vehicle; his hand is holding the gun hiding in his back pocket. The window opens; revealing a petite woman wearing her sunglasses. She smiles sweetly at the man. “I’m Kim Yerim. I’m the wedding planner. Mary Smith, the original planner, she couldn’t make it. She said it was an emergency.” She fluently spoke in English.

The man’s eyes roam around the inside of the car. There’s nothing suspicious. He nods his head before telling another guard to open up the gates. “Thank you.” She closed her window and enters the house’s ground safely.

“Which brings us to the second phase of our plan. Joy will be the florist for the wedding. Yeri hires her and had ordered a truck-worthy of flowers for the occasion. This is how we will enter the place. We’ll be put at the back of the truck while Joy drives it.”

“Park Soo-Young? You’re not an American.” The guard suspiciously eyeing the driver.

“Ah, Mr. Kim prefers the Koreans to handle the wedding. This is a Korean wedding.” Joy said. The man, despite not feeling good inside, decided to open the gate anyways. Joy simply nods as a ‘thanks’ and was about to drive ahead but stops by the guard once more.

“Before you go, let us check the back of your truck.” He said.

“Of course, there’s no way they would let us in that easily. They’ll have their suspicions. They would definitely check the loads in the truck. But don’t worry, we have that cover.”

Joy opens the back of the truck. The guard checks the insides, no matter where he is looking, the whole back is only filled with flowers. He exhales and hops out of the truck. Tiffany almost yelps when the vehicle shakes. Underneath the fake flowers, there is a customized space to fit about twelve people inside. They are all in a laying down position; squeezed together tightly. Their weapons, of course, are stored under the front seat where Joy is.

“You can go in now.” He walked away. Joy shut the doors before she drives through the main entrance.

“Phase three, Yeri will ask Joy to park the truck at the back of the house.” Wendy is about to continue her explanation but Tiffany raises her hand. “Yes?”

“Won’t they feel suspicious again?” She asked.

“No, they won’t. We are facing against gang members here. They don’t do weddings. The only thing they know is to guard the four main people in the house; Mr. Kim, Mr. Lee, his son and Kim Taeyeon. Yeri is the wedding planner so she’ll handle everything.”

“You can park the truck at the back. There will some men there to help you unload the flowers.” Yeri said. She said ‘some’ to avoid suspicion from the men watching her. But, her fingers secretly shows Joy exactly how many people are there.

“Yes, I’d appreciate it. Thank you, Ms. Yeri.” Joy then goes back to the front seat. She drives to the spot that Yeri had mentioned earlier and as she informed, there are five men there. They seemed to not carry any weapons other than the knives attached to their belts. “Do not show your guns to florist! You’ll freak her out.” Yeri said to those men. Hence, they left out their weapons.

Joy parks safely before she pulls the ‘secret’ lock on the flooring of the front seat. She peeks through the side-mirror and sees the men approaching the doors. She knocks on the wall separating the front and the back. She did five times; meaning there are five men outside for them to handle. They all receive the signal. While Joy was reversing the truck to the parking spot earlier, they take the chance to go out of their hiding spot and prepare themselves.

“Phase four of the plan is the most important one so listen carefully. Once those men open the truck’s doors, I and Yoona will go ahead to take them down. The rest will take our weapons from the front seat. There is at least around thirty men. There is another ten to twelve men that will help out Yeri. Joy will go ahead to put on a siren to confuse them. Yeri will proceed to drop the smoke bombs hidden inside her dress. Once that happens, we will go ahead and launch an ambush.”

Wendy takes out a bag. “Now, those men would certainly go to the main wedding spot where our attack is launch. But, they wouldn’t leave those four main people exposed to danger just like that. There would be likely a few of them that stays. So, this is where you come in.” She gives the bag to Jessica.

“What’s this?” Jessica felt confused.

“The things you need to save your princess.”

The men open the truck’s doors and got shock to see a group of armed women inside. They couldn’t react in time. Yoona and Wendy jump out of the truck; striking them down instantly with baseball bats. The rest of the group goes to take their weapons from under the front seat. Once Joy sees a signal from Wendy, she nods and puts the siren on. The sound blares loudly through the speakers and echoes throughout the whole place. It immediately caught the men’s attentions. It is Yeri’s turn. She rips off the bottom part of her yellow dress and throw the smoke bombs on the ground.

“What the !?” The men took out their guns. Their sight are block by the smoke. They are completely unaware of the people surrounding them. Yoona fires the first shot and takes down a nearby man. Soon, the whole place is filled with gunshot sounds and men screaming in pain.

“What’s going on outside?” Mr. Kim stood up from his seat. His cane supporting his limping leg.

“We’re under attack, boss.” One of his bodyguards informed.

The old man’s face immediately turns red in anger. “You ing es better ing kill every last one of them!” He furiously shouted at his men. They quickly bow to him like cowards.

“You two, stay here!” The head of the gang ordered to the two men. “The rest of you, follow me!” They run out of the room with their weapons ready. They pass by Junho who is going upstairs. He is confused when he heard the sirens and went up to look for his father.

“What happened?” He asked the men passing by him.

“Mr. Lee, go to your room, right now! We’re under attack!” One of them shouted before heading down to the first floor. When he heard the news, he quickly goes to one of huge windows and look outside where the wedding is going to be held. He sees a familiar face there. “Im Yoona.” He chuckled. “I’m guessing she’s here too.”

Meanwhile, the smokes finally disappears. They managed to take down all the men on the spot. But, they didn’t have enough time to stand around and rest. Soon, more come out from the building. Bullets started getting fired at their direction and one of it hits a member named Yerin on the leg. She instantly fell on the ground. “!” Joy goes ahead to drag her friend to a safe spot while Hayoung covers them.

“Well now, doesn’t this bring back memories!” Yoona took a deep breath and continues to fire at those men. As the shooting goes on, a few of their members got shot down. Despite wearing bulletproof vests, their legs and arms are still exposed. Once the bullets penetrate any of those body parts, they won’t be able to fight back properly.

“! I may have underestimate them!” Wendy shouted (in English) at Yoona while reloading.

“I don’t understand a word you said but I agree!” Yoona finally decided it’s time to use the big guns. She takes an AK-47 strapped on her back and begins firing at them. The men were unprepared. The front immediately got taken down while the others take covers at safe spots. Yoona runs to the front and turns a table to the side.

She is about to reload when she realizes that she accidentally drop her bullets while running. “, great. Just great!” She has another 20-rounds worth of shots. She grits her teeth. There is no other way, she needed to make use of it. The men fires at Yoona. She leans her back on the table; avoiding the bullets penetrating through. She waits for the right timing to fire back.

The shooting stops momentarily when those men reloaded their weapons. She uses the chance to shoot a few of them. They are down on the ground almost immediately. The gang’s leader goes out to shot directly at Yoona. It was unexpected. Yoona didn’t have time to process and used the last remaining rounds to take him out. A man behind him pointed his gun at her. Yoona couldn’t run away in time. Bullets are fired rapidly at her on the chest. Although she wears a bulletproof vest, it still made her knock back onto the ground.

“Unnie!” Wendy shouted in panic and tries to go out but got shot on the arm. She, too, falls down. Irene immediately goes to help her out. A man charges at Yoona with a blade called ‘katana.’

“Damn it!” By the time she is on her feet, the man is already in front of her. He swings his ‘katana’ up in the air and is about to slash her gut open when a bullet suddenly struck him on his arm. He drops his weapon and got shot in the left leg too. He immediately drops on the ground in pain. Yoona confusingly looks at him and turns around to see Tiffany holding a gun in her hands.

“F-Fany!” She is too shocked to see Tiffany had bravely fired a few rounds. But, what shock her even more is when she suddenly feel a pair of lips kissing her passionately.

“Just don’t tell my family I shot a man.” She cheekily smiled. Yoona blink confusingly at first before a goofy grin etches on her lips. The two women hold hands before running away together to a safe spot.

During the commotion on the other side, Jessica along with Hara went to the left-wing of the building. It took them a while to spot the right room where Taeyeon is currently locked in. Once they arrived, Jessica opens the bag to take out the equipments from her bag.

“For the last phase of our plan, we will distract the men to come at us. You and Hara will then be the ones to go save Taeyeon. There will likely be guards guarding the front door of the room. Lucky for us, none is inside the room with Taeyeon. So, you’ll use these to climb up the building. We also included a cutter for those iron chains.” Wendy held Jessica’s shoulder. “Once you get Taeyeon safely with you, you two will drive away first. You’ll be using Yeri’s car. Don’t worry, she equipped it with a voice-recognition GPS so you can just say ‘headquarters.’”

“W-wait, hold on. What about you guys?” Jessica looked at the rest of them worriedly.

“Hey, we got a plan for that too. So, whatever happens, don’t ever look back and just bring Taeyeon to safety.”

Those were Wendy’s last words. Of course, Jessica is concerned about their safety. She has no clue on how they’ll escape. But, she has no time to think long about it. She needed to be quick or else it’ll make things much worse. Hara is on guard while Jessica gets to it. Using the climbing equipments she received, she starts going up the wall. She has her struggles but it didn’t stop her from climbing up fast.

***

Taeyeon could hear the commotion going on outside. There’s gunshots and screaming coming from the other side of the building. Unfortunately, she couldn’t look at the window; not with both of her ankles are being chained to the heavy bed. She has been trying to escape since last night but fail to do so. Even her hands have bruised badly from pulling those iron chains for hours.

When she heard what seemed to be a gun being fired, the only thought she has is that Jessica is here to save her. It seemed ridiculous. No one knew about the vacation house they owned here. Her father always kept it a secret; warning her that she shall tell no one, not even her friends at school back then. She didn’t questioned him though. It was reasonable enough for her believed since they came from a well-off background. Some people may try to take advantage of her and the family if she ever reveals it.

However, Taeyeon needs all the hope she can get. After what Junho had said to her, she realizes how Jessica had came to save her when she almost got by a cell-guard. Instead of thinking that she is completely hopeless, Taeyeon prays that a sudden miracle dawns at her at that moment. Jessica will come and take her away from this hellish prison.

“Please…” She begged.

CRASH!!

Taeyeon stumbles back in shock when the glass window shatters. She looks up to see a hand with brass knuckle holding onto the window pane. She heard a familiar grunt. Her eyes immediately tears up upon seeing the person she has been longing for. Jessica jumps down on the floor and approaches Taeyeon. “Sorry I’m late, Taengoo.” She greeted. Taeyeon wasted no time and embraces her lover tightly.

“Y-you’re safe, y-y-you’re alive.” She cried in her arms. Jessica pushes Taeyeon gently to give her a kiss on the lips. She smiles sweetly at her. “I’m here to save my damsel in distress.” She chuckled. “Now, let’s get you out of here.” Jessica pulls the cutter out of the bag to cut the thick, iron chains.

The guards are un-aware that Jessica had broke into the room. They are too busy eyeing for any suspicious figure that may possibly lurk around the place. So, they need to be highly alert on their surroundings. The men immediately pointed their guns when their own ally appears unexpectedly. He was one of those men who got struck by Yoona earlier. His head is bleeding badly but he manages to go upstairs to warn them.

“You better look if Ms. Kim is still in t-there!” He said. The men instantly put down their guns and unlock the door. The moment they open it, Taeyeon is already freed from the chains and they were about to climb up the window.

“STOP!” One of them shouted and was about to fire a bullet. But, he stops when he realizes Taeyeon is too close to Jessica. If he shoots, he will hit her for sure. He can’t risk it; not when Mr. Kim hasn’t given any permission for him to do that. Jessica quickly pulls Taeyeon in her arms. She looks down below and gulps anxiously. She looks at her girlfriend. “Do you trust me?”

Taeyeon is clueless at first before her eyes widen when she understands what she meant. Suddenly, more footsteps are coming closer towards the room. It must be the backup that was sent up there. She turns to Jessica; her hand tightly gripping on her arm. “I trust you.” Jessica looks at the men standing at the front door before showing them a middle finger. “ y’all.”

With that, she tightly hugs Taeyeon and the two of them jump out of the window.

To be continued.

Hey guys, it's Reowesome. This has been the fastest update I ever done so far for this story, lmao. I'm currently on a break from work due to my health problems so I have a lot of time to write. Anyways, the timeline can be confusing. So, it's up to y'all to imagine on how things go. Anyways, I'd like to thank the loyal readers and supporters of the story since 2016 until now. I also wanted to thank the new subs and upvotes. We've reached over a 100 votes! I wish one day, this story will be featured. I hope y'all enjoy the latest chapter. Feel free to check out my other TaengSic ff; Save Your Tears <3