"WE CAN'T JUST STEAL A CAR , YOOA."

Mimi was running alongside YooA in the parking lot, trying to escape the black suited hooligans who they had barely fought off.

"Oh, so I suppose you didn't steal that car you used to find Arin," YooA said sarcastically rolling her eyes.

"WHEN DID YOU LEARN TO BE SARCASTIC?" Mimi shouted, her voice cracking.

"I think I learned how to do it ever since I felt the slight urge to not die," YooA smiled, sweat dripping down her forehead.

"STOP BEING SARCASTIC," Mimi said exasperated.

The two looked behind them and saw that the men were catching up to them.

"I REALLY DON'T WANT TO DIE, MIMI," YooA said, her eyes widening and staring intensely at Mimi.

With a loud groan, Mimi took YooA's hand and dragged her behind a white van with a sliding door. Mimi madea  quick assessment of the vehicle with a swift up and down movement of her eyes.

"Looks like we found our lucky winner," she grumbled.

A few short magical moments later, they were speeding out of the parking lot in the majestic white van, still being chased after by the black suited men.

"How do we find the others?" YooA asked worriedly.

"You think, I drive," Mimi said, sweat dripping down her forehead as she skidded recklessly on the road.

YooA's eyes widened as she spotted something. She pounced into the back seats and slid open the door violently.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Mimi called out, desperately manuevering the vehicle.

"Get in!" she called out.

She was calling out to the two figures who were running outside the mall. Arin spotted YooA and waved. Seunghee, seeing the escape van, grabbed Arin by the collar and swung her towards YooA and the two tumbled back into the car. 

"Are you two alright?" Mimi asked frantically.

YooA gave a slight groan as Arin scrambled unsteadily to her feet and towards the door.

"Seunghee, get in here!" she cried out worriedly.

Seunghee looked up and saw Arin reaching her hand out. Her face was as white as a sheet and her lips were trembling slightly.

"Seunghee unnie!"

Seunghee shook her head back to the present and stared on at Arin's outstretched hand. Giving one final kick to one of their pursuers, she began dashing towards the van. 

"Mimi, you're going too fast! Slow down!" Arin pleaded.

Mimi checked the sideview mirror and saw the oncoming pursuers.

"I'll only slow down by 5% for 5 seconds so you better get her in by then!" Mimi said through gritted teeth.

She lessened the pressure on the gas pedal by just a little bit and that was all they needed. Arin and Seunghee's fingertips touched and soon their hands clasped each other tightly. With one strong pull, Arin had Seunghee safely in her arms.

"Are you guys, okay???" Mimi asked, eyes firmly glued to the road ahead.

"Let's get cozy and do some catch up later," Seunghee said shortly. "Where are the others?"

She and Arin were still holding onto each other tightly. Their eyes met and Seunghee have her a half smile. She then gave her a quicksqueeze before letting her go.

"Where are the others?" Seunghee asked, looking out the open door.

"Uhm... Did Binnie ever say she liked ice cream?" Arin asked.

"Wait, what?"

The four girls looked up ahead to see a colorful sight. A few blocks away, Binnie was clearly seen hurling scoops of ice cream at the same type of black suited guys that had pursued them. She looked like the world's greatest pitcher with the way she was throwing those ice cream scoops. As they drew closer, Jiho came into view as well. She was violently swinging around ice cream cones and stabbing people left and right. It was like a scene from a hardcore action movie with really weird censors.

"Save your ice cream party for next time, girls. JUST GET IN THE VAN," Seunghee yelled.

The two, after hearing Seunghee's already familiar booming voice, changed tactics and decided to just jump over the enemies and head over to the van. Thanks to her impeccable running skills, Binnie got to the side of the van first and hopped in only to be greeted by the sound of a party popper exploding in her ear.

"Ow! What the-!"

"Sorry, Binnie," YooA smiled. "There was just a guy behind you, he seemed like we was looking for some fun so I hope I gave him a good blast!"

Binnie looked behind her to see a guy fall on the ground, face mask covered in colorful confetti.

"I think we just ruined someone's birthday party," Arin frowned, staring at all the birthday supplies they had with them in the back of the van.

"WELL, MAY THAT PERSON HAVE MANY BIRTHDAYS TO COME," Seunghee yelled, waving her arms around ridiculously. "AND MANY THANKS TO WHOEVER THAT MAY BE, FOR GIVING US A FIGHTING CHANCE TO MAYBE CELEBRATE OUR NEXT ONES."

"Mimi, can't you slow down? Jiho might not catch up," Binnie said worriedly.

"I can't do that!" Mimi groaned. "We're still being chased too!"

Despite saying that, Mimi decided to do a whole 360 degree spin, almost throwing out all the other passengers. That was all the time Jiho needed to jump in.

"Only you would be reckless and confident enough to pull a stunt like that with a vehicle like this," Jiho said, unfazed by everything.

"Good to see you're okay," Mimi said, cracking a grin.

Seunghee approached them and surveyed them carefully.

"What is it?" Binnie asked.

Seunghee didn't answer as she picked off a sugar cone piece from Jiho and used it to scoop up some ice cream from Binnie.

"Wow, it still tastes good. Well, if you don't mind the taste of enemies lingering on it," Seunghee chuckled. "Want some Arin?"

Arin laughed despite the circumstances.

"Be serious, you two," Jiho said.

"We just need to find JinE and Hyoju-" Binnie started but she was interrupted when soemthing hit the roof of the car.

THUD.

Mimi swerved as the sound of something hitting their roof boomed inside the vehicle. There was a very obvious dent in the roof and some suspicious sounds could be heard above.

"May the birthday gods be with us," Seunghee said seriously, equipping herself with birthday goods.

The others followed quietly in her lead. Mimi hit the gas harder, their speed going dangerously faster and faster. Jiho bravely announced that she would go up and check on it herself.

"You have to be careful!" Binnie reminded her, clutching nervoulsy onto Jiho's clothes.

Jiho paused for a split second before giving a short nod. She then swiftly swung onto the roof. It was quiet.

"Heyya, Jiho!" they heard a familiar voice say.

"Is that JinE!?" Binnie cried out, taking a peek.

JinE saw Binnie's head peeking at them and waved. In her arms, she was holding a slightly unconscious Hyojung who seemed to have been crying.

"Help me get her down, will you?" JinE smiled, handing over Hyojung's lower body.

Jiho helped support Hyojung's mid section as they carefully got her inside the van. The rest of them inside lay her on one of the back seats.

"What happened to her?" Jiho asked sternly.

"I think she's just shocked," JinE said shrugging.

"You didn't do anything?" Jiho asked skeptically, crossing her arms.

"I didn't," JinE said, looking a bit annoyed.

She went over to where Hyojung was laying and brushed the hair out of her face. She gently ran her fingers over Hyojung's shiny tears.

"Not a single scratch," JinE said under her breath.

She smiled looking relieved. Binnie could tell JinE wasn't talking to them but she acknowledged what she said with a brief: "Yeah." Arin closed the door and all of them collapsed onto the seats and even the floor. 

"How did you dent the roof?" Jiho asked.

"Oh, we kinda jumped from a window," JinE said nonchalantly.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Mimi yelled, swerving slightly.

"I saw you guys from a distance being all reckless so I decided to do the same. Don't worry about Hyojung. I had her safely in my arms," JinE said stretching.

A few moments of silence passed inside the van.

"Do you think the boss will be upset?" Arin asked.

"We'll never know what she's thinking," Seunghee breathed out, leaning her head back.

"We'll just have to wait and see," YooA said.

"I'm glad to see that you're all back safe and sound," the boss smiled warmly.

Archer frowned and assessed the eight girls in front of them. They were all panting hard and they had several scratches here and there.

"What's wrong with Hyojung's face?" Archer asked, concern threatening to creep into his voice.

Hyojung lifted her face which showed her red and puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks. JinE patted her back and smiled apologetically.

"Ah, it's nothing, it's nothing," JinE smirked.

Archer gave her a skeptic stare and JinE sighed.

"I think I scared her a bit..." JinE admitted with a weak half smirk.

"Seems like it's story time then," the boss said, propping her arms on the table. "Everybody take a seat and tell me what happened."

They gratefully dragged out the seats and plopped down in them heavily.

"What parts do we talk about? The good parts or the bad?" Seunghee grumbled, rubbing the back of her head.

"Did you have a really good time, Seunghee?" the boss smirked, raising her eyebrows.

Seunghee straightened up and wiped her nose to distract herself from her reddening cheeks. She glanced to the side and saw Arin watching her with soft eyes. Seunghee looked down for a few seconds before facing the boss again.

"Yeah, I did. It would've been a really great day if it weren't for those black suited hooligans," Seunghee said, spitting out the last part, visibly ruffled.

"So, you got into trouble without going on a mission? They don't call you the troublemaker for no reason, I suppose," laughed the boss.

"It wasn't just them," Jiho cut in curtly. "It was all of us."

"How can you be sure they were all the same?" the boss asked, still smiling.

"They were wearing the same things," Mimi answered.

"That's all the proof you have?" the boss inquired quietly, narrowing her eyes yet still keeping her smile delicately in place.

"They all did the same thing too," Binnie said.

"They tried to attack us but in the end, they just took our photo and ran," JinE finished.

The boss finally dropped her smile and stayed quiet for some time. The girls couldn't understand what had changed her mood so fast.

"We handled the attack well enough, you don't have to worry about that," Jiho said firmly.

"That's not what I was worrying about," the boss sighed tiredly. "If they really took your photo, then you should have broken their camera and then gouged their eyes out. After that, just kill them however you would like."

The girls were taken aback by the violence in the boss' words. Binnie screwed her eyes shut as if she were in physical pain and JinE just sighed.

"Well, no matter," the boss shrugged. "I'll fix it," the boss said getting up.

She pulled out black gloves from her left pant pocket and began to walk away. Archer his heel to follow her but she held her hand up  and he stopped.

"I'm just going to have a meeting with an acquaintance. It's a one-on-one thing."

"It's what you're after but it won't be what you get," Archer warned, narrowing his eyes.

"Let the girls rest. I think they've learned their lesson," the boss said, waving her hand. "You can sleep well tonight."

The girls didn't see it but only Archer caught the boss quietly move her lips, mouthing the mantra she always said before she left to do something dangerous. Archer sighed inwardly and worried quietly. The grumbling of stomachs aroused his attention back to the room where there were still things to take care of.

"Would you like to have dinner with me?" Archer asked.

He said it with awkward pauses because he wasn't sure if he should be saying it. It didn't sound very friendly, he realized. But he rarely sounded different when it came to speaking. The eight girls looked at each other confused. It was out of character for Archer to show kindness or something. He lived  mostly like the boss' shadow so they would not know how he acted without her. Except for Hyojung.

"We'd love to eat with you!" she said eagerly, jumping up from her seat.

The rest still continued to cast suspicious glances at each other but nevertheless followed the two out the room. They were all hungry after all and they were at least a little curious about Archer himself. He led them to a room they had never been in before. It looked like the inside of an apartment. There was a mini kitchen area, a living room area and an inner room which was probably a bedroom.

"This place is great!" Mimi said, amazed, spinning around to get a glimpse of everything.

"I BET YOU HAVE YOUR OWN BATHROOM TOO!" Seunghee yelled in excitement before dashing off to find it.

Archer could do nothing but grow weak as the girls roamed about his space excitedly except for Hyojung who stood by his side. Rubbing his temples, he tried to calm his mind.

"Do you want to help me cook, Hyojung?" Archer asked, turning to her.

Hyojung smiled happily and nodded. The two of them began to work together in the kitchen.They navigated around each other smoothly and barely spoke but were still in perfect sync. The others had slowly calmed down and watched them work on dinner. 

"Could someone set the table, please?" Archer asked, not turning around.

Seunghee got up and Archer pointed to the top right cabinet to where the plates and cutlery were placed. Arin got up and began helping Seunghee set the table.

"You keep those there too?" Hyojung asked, looking at him. "So did I, back in my house."

Archer didn't answer and continued focusing on his work. Behind them, JinE watched, her brain silently beginning to stir around thoughts. Binnie slid next to her and observed her closely.

"I can never tell what you're thinking of," Binnie frowned.

"That's a lie," JinE laughed softly. "I'm sure you've got some ideas."

Binnie looked at JinE and then back at Archer and Hyojung.

"I could be wrong," Binnie finally said. 

"With all those ideas in your head, some are bound to be wrong," JinE smirked.

The two refocused on the pair in front of them working smoothly together. Finally, dinner was made and the nine of them sat down together to eat. Halfway through the meal Seunghee finally spoke up, still filled with food.

"How come the boss got so worked up over a few stolen shots?"

Archer wiped his mouth with a napkin and seemed to think. He knew the answer. He was just wondering if he should say it.

"Don't become a person of interest. It's dangerous," he said simply. "Seeing girls like you, you're already interesting. Being interesting isn't bad, but imagine the sort of trouble it could get you into by being pursued by someone who has taken a great interest in you."

He said all of this slowly and clearly, enunciating the important words carefully.

"So, you're saying we should lay low," Mimi muttered.

"Well, I guess I can understand that," Seunghee said, scratching her ear. "She talked so violently though," Seunghee chuckled. "So she talks big when she gets upset, huh?"

Archer just gave a half-smirk and resumed eating. If only she were just all talk, he thought to himself. Soon, the conversation was swallowed up by a lighter conversation and some more delicious food.

"Is Archer your person of interest?" Binnie asked JinE sternly.

JinE laughed in a low voice and shook her head.

"What makes you think I have a person of interest? What's so interesting about people?" JinE smirked.

"Honestly," Jiho butted in, "These late night conversations just have to stop. I want to sleep without having to hear whispers and low voices as if the demons and ghosts were having a nice chat on the phone."

"Remind me to get you earplugs," JinE grimaced. "Not all of us can sleep so well at night."

Jiho sighed and rolled to turn away from JinE. She remained as stoic as usual but the more she listened in on these conversations, the more her heart became uneasy. Jiho simply cut away these feelings by just trying to sleep.

"I don't understand why you're here," Binnie pushed on.

"I'm here for the same reason as everybody else. I've got a debt. I'm being forced to pay. Nothing hard to understand about that," JinE smiled.

Binnie bit her tongue to hold back more questions.

"Well?" JinE asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm tired. Good night... JinE."

With that, Binnie rolled away and closed her eyes. She didn't want to mistrust JinE but she didn't exactly want to trust her so easily either. Binnie's head would not stop whirring with ideas. The dots were connecting themselves but she just couldn't seem to draw the bigger picture.

JinE's gaze was focused on Binnie's back, staring at someplace farther than she could actually see. Eyes still glazed over, she laughed quietly. Where was the place she wanted to go and who was she interested in? JinE could see the answers she wanted and she finally closed her eyes, already setting her mind up for what she would do next.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Welp, this update took three months.

ANYWAYS, HERE YOU GO.

Author, out ;)