“Can you hear me, ChaeYoung?” A deep voice asks.

“Yes,” I answer simply and look at my prey.

“Has the prey fallen into the trap?” I smile at the tall man who is openly looking at my .

“Yes, it has.” I bit on my bottom lip and start walking glamorously towards him.

“What about yours, MeiLing?” I look over the dance floor and smirk.

“She can’t talk right now, JunMyeon. She’s dancing.” I stop in front of my prey. I put a smirk on and he smiles.

“Would you mind dancing with me?” He looks over to his partner who smiles mischievously, probably thinking that I would be easy prey. 

“Of course.” He follows me to the dance floor and puts his big hands on my waist.

We start dancing and he pulls me closer, one of his hands going down to my . I smile and look quickly at WuFan who’s flirting with the bartender, probably trying to get some information.

“So what’s your name, beautiful?” He asks.

“SooYoung and yours?” I ask, naively. I simply love to pretend to be naive because I love to see the surprise in men’s faces when I reveal my real self.

“David. You have really interesting eyes.” He compliments my eyes which triggers something in me that I brush off.

“I know. That’s used to get the man I want.” I whisper next to his ear and bit playful his earlobe. He chuckles.

“Would you like to see something interesting?” I nod eagerly and he smirks. “You have to follow me then.” I nod, again.

He takes my hand and I follow him. I look at MeiLing and wink, signalling that the plan is working. She nods discreetly and whispers something in her prey’s ear. I couldn’t see what happens next because I’m dragged to one of the many rooms in that club. He closes the door and he changes his attitude immediately. He pushes me against the wall and grabs my neck.

“Have your parents never thought you not to trust strangers?” He has an evil smile on his smile, probably thinking how he’s going to me.

“I don’t have parents,” I say coldly and look him dead in the eyes.

“Did I hurt you with my words?” He asks, mockingly.

“Although I don’t have parents, at least someone taught me never to judge a book by its cover,” I smirk. He looks confused.

I grab his wrist and use my knee to hit his stomach. The grip around my neck becomes loose and I use that opportunity. I get free and turn his wrist, making him groan in pain. I let him go when I see his fist coming. I hear some shouting from outside, and knew that I have to be quick.

“You little . You’ll pay for this.” He growls, furiously. He pounces towards me, blinded by his anger. I move to the left and drive the base of my palm into the underside of his nose. I can hear his nose break and he falls to the ground, yelling in pain. His nose starts bleeding. In order to assure that he couldn’t get up again, I cup my hand slightly and strike both ears at the same time. He yells again because of the pain. I smile, satisfied with my job, and reach for the handcuffs which were hidden under my dress. I would like to ask him how he didn’t feel them, but I guess I can do it later.

“David Collins. You’re under arrest for money laundering, murder, attempt of , attempt of assault a federal agent and for being an idiot.” I handcuff him and force him to stand up. I walk out of the room with him and hand him to another agent, who has followed us to the room and was only waiting for my signal. Another agent passes by me as I walk back to the dancing floor. People were being cuffed, interrogated and led outside.

“Good job.” Wufan praises, as soon as stop next to him.

“Did you manage to get the information we needed?” I ask while putting my hair in a ponytail.

“Of course, my charms have never let us down.”

“What charm?” MeiLing asks and I laugh.

“Stop, girls. You’re hurting his feeling.” JunMyeon, who pops out of nowhere, says. “All of you did a great job.”

“What could you expect of the best team of CIA?” WuFan and I agreed with MeiLing.

“We need to go back and examines all the information you gathered today, best team,” JunMyeon says, jokingly.

We laugh and follow him to the van.

“Hey, Vince.” We said as we go in.

“Hey, guys. You did a good job out there.” He congratulates us.

“Of course we did,” I say. “MeiLing’s charms and mine did the whole job,” I say, knowing exactly that WuFan would whine.

“What about mine?” He asks.

“Don’t exist.” Everyone except WuFan laugh. We talk the whole trip and as soon as we enter the building, we go change into more comfortable clothes. Mei and I then go to the operation room and sit in our usual seats.

“First of all, all of you did a great job in the field. Collins is already being interrogated by Vince and home is being investigated. With MeiLing’s gathered information, we managed to locate the missing girls and a team is heading to the place.” MeiLing smiles, proudly. It’s always a good feeling to know that you have helped to save lives. “Well, I have also news for you, guys,” JunMyeon says and sits down.

“Is it a new mission, Boss?” MeiLing asks, already excited. JunMyeon looks quickly at me, strangely, before keep on talking.

“But we just finished one.” WuFan and I whine together, but we get ignored.

“Yes and a big one.” He types something on the computer and the picture of an Asian man. “This is Cha SeungWon, Ceo of Korean pharmaceutical company. According to the information WuFan managed to collect on the last mission, he has a connection with our beloved friend, Ian Glasnost. We need to gather more information about him. So we are going to Seoul on a mission.” I lose all colour in my face with his last words.

“Why us?” MeiLing asks.

“Why do you think an all Asian team was formed in first place?” He asks, sarcastically. I stand up abruptly and avoid their eyes.

“When are we going?”

“Today at night. I already have the flight tickets. We need to be at the airport at 7 P.M.”

“See tonight then.” I simply leave them. If it was in any other situation, they would have stopped, but they know the reason for my reaction. Fortunately, the lift is empty when I go in. I press the bottom and wait for the doors to close. I lean my head on the wall. I start feeling nauseous and because of it a memory pops in my mind.

“Are you sure you have eaten at night? You seem quite weak.” JongIn asked, worried. I smiled, feeling weak, and nodded.

“I’m just tired. I stayed awake until late at night, studying.” I lied again. JongIn nodded. We passed the school gate and I opened my eyes wide when I saw KyungSoo with ChanYeol and JongDae.

“Good morning.” JongIn and I said, simultaneously.

“Good morning. How are you?”

“We are fine,” JongIn answered for us. “I got to go, noona.” I nodded and he hugged me before going away.

“Are you alright? You seem sick.” KyungSoo asked, also worried.

“I’m fine. I’m just tired.” I whispered, tired.

“Let’s go to the classroom then. You can rest a bit before the teacher come.” ChanYeol suggested. We started walking. I looked back and ChanYeol smiled at me.

“Why are you behind us?” I asked confused. He usually was next to JongDae.

“So that something similar to yesterday doesn’t happen again.” He explained while smiling. I looked at the others who were also smiling, agreeing with ChanYeol. I simply accepted their kind action. I couldn’t help but smile slightly because they were thinking about my well being, something that just a few people had done for me.

“Thank you,” I whispered, truthfully happy for having them as my friends.

We arrived in our classroom. ChanYeol and JongDae left their things in their desks before joining KyungSoo and me in the front.

“So, do you have plans for the weekend?” JongDae asked us. I shook my head.

“Me neither, hyung.”

“Cool. Do you want to go to the cinema with Yeol and me?” JongDae asked, looking at us with what I assumed was hope.

“Who is Yeol, oppa?” I asked innocently.

“Awww, you’re so cute.” KyungSoo pinched my cheek slightly. “Yeol is a nickname Hyung gave to ChanYeol hyung,” KyungSoo explained, but he only confused me more.

“What’s a nickname?”

“A nickname is another name you give to a person you feel affection for. JongDae calls me Yeol and I call him Chen some times. A nickname can be completely different from a person’s true name.” ChanYeol explained, probably foreseeing my question about JongDae’s nickname.

“I understand. But I don’t know what is the cinema.”

“Do you remember what is a movie?” I shook my head and they looked at each other.

“You know what is a story, right?” JongDae asked and I nodded. “A movie is like a story, but with images and has people talking.” I could see that he was trying his best, but I still didn’t understand.

ChanYeol and JongDae went back to their seats when the teacher came in. We greeted him as we always do and he started talking about some war. I couldn’t pay attention because my head was hurting and I was feeling weaker every hour. When it was time for lunch, I couldn’t even lift my head either because it was too heavy or I was too weak to lift it.

“It’s time for lunch, noona,” KyungSoo said. I knew that, but I couldn’t even eat anything. I forced my body to stand up, but my legs were too weak to be able to support my weight. I ended up, collapsing and I hit my head on the chair.

“HyeJin noona, are you okay?” KyungSoo kneeled down. I simply blinked.

“ChanYeol, quick. Take her in your arms and let’s go to the nursery.” I heard JongDae order. I felt my body being lifted and I leaned my head on ChanYeol’s chest, out of energy. He was probably taking me to the nursery, whatever that was, followed by JongDae and KyungSoo. A door was opened and ChanYeol put me on a bed.

“What’s wrong with her?” A female voice asked, calmly.

“She collapsed in the classroom,” KyungSoo answered.

“All right. I need you to go out for a moment. I’ll check her out.” The boys didn’t answer but still got out, leaving me alone with the stranger. She started talking to me while doing things to my body. I didn’t answer her questions and she didn’t seem to care. She didn’t hide her concern and called someone. When she was done, she called the boys in. I was surprised when I saw JongIn coming in too. He approached me and grabbed my hand.

“Are you feeling better now, noona?” I nodded to make them feel better even though I was getting worse.

“Are you his brother?” The woman in white clothes asked.

“Yes.”

“Do you know if she had been eating enough? She collapsed because she hasn’t been eating. She’s low on sugar.” She answered and JongIn looked at me with an emotion I couldn’t define.

“You told me you were eating. You know you can’t skip a meal. Why would you do that?” He was talking as if he was the oldest of both.

“Why can’t she skip meals, JongIn?” JongDae dared to ask.

“She’s underweighted, malnourished and anaemic. The nutritionist told her that she can’t skip any meal. Do you not want to get healthy?” I looked down, feeling my eyes getting teary. “Noona, look at me.” I looked up and he smiled, sadly at me. “You were doing so well. What went wrong?” He seemed really worried about me. I looked at others who had the same look like him and felt a tear fall down.

“I’ll leave you alone. I called your mother and she’s coming to pick HyeJin up.” The woman warned me and left. My cry got harder because I would receive another punishment from her. JongIn got on the small bed and hugged me tightly.

“I’m sorry, JongIn. The directress didn’t tell me about her health issue. If I knew, I would let her skip her meals at lunch.” KyungSoo apologised, sounding guilty.

“There’s no way you could know that because my parents didn’t tell the school. I was given the task to assure she would eat. It was my fault. She seemed to get better and wasn’t opposing to eat like at the beginning. I thought that I could leave her with her friends alone, but I guess she wasn’t ready. I just want to know why.” I could feel his eyes on me.

“Some people said I didn’t deserve lunch,” I whispered, very tired. It was the exact same words as the evil men would always tell us. It just contributes to me to accept my punishment.

“Why would they say that?” JongDae asked, confused.

“They said I’m fat and didn’t deserve to eat.”

“Oh no, it’s that why you have been skipping meals?” KyungSoo asked, seeming shocked.

“You can’t listen to them, HyeJin,” JongDae said, angry for some reason.

“Is there another reason why you haven’t been eating? You know you can tell me everything. I won’t judge you.” JongIn encouraged to tell him the truth. I shook my head. “I know you’re lying, but I won’t pressure you to tell me. Just know that you’ll have to eat.” I shook my head repeatedly and started crying harder.

“Why, HyeJin? Why don’t you want to eat?” ChanYeol asked, worried and confused.

I really wanted to answer, but I couldn’t. DoYeon would probably force me to eat. I would go against his orders and received a worse punishment. I only started crying harder.

“You need to tell us what’s wrong so that we can help you,” JongIn said, softly.

“I think we shouldn’t pressure her. She had been through a lot. There are so many things that she’s being introduced to. Maybe she’s overwhelmed and doesn’t know how to deal with everything. I heard that people stop eating when they are through stressful or traumatic moments.” KyungSoo said to the others.

“You’re right, hyung.” JongIn agreed, still rubbing my back.

“Boys.” The woman called them. “Your classes will start soon. I need you to go.” The four of them started protesting, wanting to stay. “I can’t have all of you stay. I can only do an exception for JongIn who is her brother.”

“You should go. You can give me your phone numbers and I’ll text you about her situation.” They seem to agree and gave it to JongIn. They bid their goodbye and went to class. “You have made good friends, Jin.” He commented but got no reply. He kept on rubbing my back until I started crying and I stopped feeling it when I fell asleep.

“I wish you would rub my back to console me now, JongIn.” I grab my phone and look to the screen photo. I had been so happy that day.

“So now that you have eaten and feel better, I have something for you.” I looked curious at JongIn who was smiling openly. He gave me a phone.

“Why do you have another phone? Did the other break?” I asked, confused.

“No, silly. This one is for you so that you can call me or our parents if you need us. You can also put your friends’ number.” JongIn explained it to me.

“It is mine?” I asked, completely surprised. He nodded. I jumped on him, excited. Thank you very much.” I hugged him tightly.

“You’re welcome.” He chuckled, also happy. “Do you want to try and call somebody?” I nodded. “Who?”

“You.” He chuckled again.

“You don’t need to call me, Jin. I’m right next to you. What about KyungSoo hyung? I haven’t told him yet how you are.” I accepted his idea gladly.

JongIn showed and explained to me how to dial a number. I dialled KyungSoo’s number and put the phone next to my ear, waiting for him to answer.

“Hello. Who is it?” I smiled automatically.

“Hey, Soo. It’s Hyejin.” I said, excited.

“Noona. Hey. You seem better.”

“I have already eaten, thus I feel better now,” I explained.

“It’s good to know. Don’t scare me like that again.” He said seriously, but I understood that he was joking.

“I won’t. This is the number of my new phone.” I explained happily and I heard him chuckle.

“I’ll save your number in my phone.”

“Okay. Bye Soo.” He said goodbye and hung up.

“Can I call JongDae oppa and ChanYeol oppa, too?” I asked, knowing that they had given JongIn their numbers too.

“Yes, but first let’s take a picture to remember this moment.” I nodded. He showed where I had to go to get to the camera. JongIn did something weird with his hand and told me to do the same. When he put his hand next to mine, our hands made the form of a heart. I smiled excited about it and he took a picture at that moment.

“You’re very pretty when you smile, Jin.” I blushed and looked away.

“Can we call JongDae oppa now?” I asked, embarrassing.

“You’re so cute.” JongIn pinched my cheeks but gave me his number nevertheless.

I come back to reality when the doors open. I get out quickly and walk towards my car. I get in and sigh deeply.

“I guess this moment would happen at any moment. It’s time to go back home.” I talk to myself, not feeling ready for that.