Before you continue, there's a bonus chapter before this, so do remember to check it out! c:

Mina slowly blinks the drowsiness away while wincing at the sudden pain at the back of her head. Taking a look around the surroundings, Mina realised that she woke up in an abandoned warehouse, stretching out her limbs only to discover that she is being bounded onto a chair. She struggled with the ropes around her wrist, twisting and tugging at them to no avail. The warehouse is dimly-lit, with stacks of wooden crates littered around. The air was stale and there is no sign of anyone around as Mina tries to call out to someone; anyone really.

What the heck… Mina thought to herself, attempting to recall how she managed to end up in such situation.

Mina went back to her ward after visiting Tzuyu, quickly changing back into her clothes; the familiar scent of hers, and headed off to the carpark.

“Mina, where are you going?” Sana asked while typing away in her laptop. “You should rest more.”

“Somewhere, I will be back real quick.” Mina replied, “Hopefully.” Mumbling the last word to herself.

As she approached her beloved Audi, someone tried to assault her from behind, holding her in a head lock. Mina immediately tried to pry her attacker’s arms away and stepped hard onto her attacker’s feet, earning a groan from the latter. She knows the scent coming from the attacker. Despite the split second of hesitation, Mina made use of the chance to turn around and give the person a punch square in the face; little did she expect to take another at the back of her head with a steel pipe. The impact caused Mina to loss conscious as she falls to the ground; bleeding from the back of her head, and her sight blurring out before falling into total darkness…

Mina hissed to herself in pain. At that moment, approaching footsteps could be heard, getting louder and louder each second. She looked up to the kidnapper. She was… someone familiar, someone who was unexpected.

“Jihyo…? Why did you do this?” Mina questioned with a quizzical look, confused as to why her mentor, her unnie, tried to assault her and tied her up in a warehouse, the warehouse.

“So you figured it was me?” Jihyo questioned stated indifferently, “Guess I brought you up pretty well,” she continued as she strolled behind Mina, “but not well enough!” Jihyo emphasised the last word and slammed both her hands onto Mina’s shoulders, squeezing them hard, pushing into the spot where Mina took a hit, earning herself a muffled growl from the younger.

“Haizz… What a disappointment. I thought you would do better than this.”

Mina squeezed her eyes shut at the sudden impact, clenching her jaw, hoping to keep the tears from escaping.

“Whatever happened to not falling for your target, one of my best assassins?” Jihyo questioned cynically, walking in front of Mina, grabbing another chair to sit in front of her beloved agent. She casually took out a handkerchief to wipe of the blood stains on her fingers, then proceeded to eye on Mina, her cold eyes boring into Mina’s skull.

Mina has never seen Jihyo looked at her the way she is doing now, she felt distant; she felt interrogated.  It was as if she had completely changed as a person…

“How long more do you need to finish up your mission?”

“Give me one more month.” Mina stated, suppressing her voice from trembling.

“Huh. My A-list assassin needs one whole month just to assassinate someone.”

Slap.

“Say that again?” Jihyo demanded as she slapped Mina across the face, causing the latter’s lips to burst. Blood can be seen trickling down her lips.

 “One month.” Mina said, ever-so-determined, shooting her head back, looking straight into Jihyo’s eyes.

Jihyo raised her hand to land another slap across Mina’s face. Mina squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the impact. However, she felt nothing. She opened her eyes, and saw Taecyeon stopping Jihyo’s hand from the back.

“Jihyo, that’s enough, I’m sure father wouldn’t want to see you like that. Especially not to your favourite kid.” Taecyeon said, eyeing Mina with pity in his eyes, before turning to look at Jihyo. “We need to talk.” And Taecyeon proceeded to pull Jihyo away with him, and signalled his guys to release Mina.

“One more month. I hope you and your team wouldn’t disappoint.” Taecyeon said with his back facing Mina as he holds onto Jihyo’s shoulder, escorting her out of the warehouse.

As soon as Mina was released, she wiped off the blood from her lips and walked back into her car, which one of Taecyeon’s guys led her to. Mina entered her car and took out some gauze from a compartment in the passenger’s seat, while she reached for the back of her head. She felt a cut and proceeded to apply pressure using the gauze before patching herself up. Then, Mina drove back to the Trinity’s apartment at such high speeds; the speed cameras wouldn’t be able to capture her car plate number. (way to go Mina, no fine for you)

When Mina opened the door to the apartment, she saw Momo and Sana sitting on the sofa, their faces filled with worry. When they saw Mina and her bruised lip, they went forward and helped her to the nearest chair.

“Oh my gosh, where were you? We were very worried about your disappearance!” Sana helped her onto a chair before getting a glass of water.

“…Nothing, just met some thugs when I went out for a drive.” Mina tried to cover up the incident. “Anyways, we have only one more month to finish the mission. We have to complete it as soon as possible.”

“Holy peaches, what happened to the back of your head?” Momo exclaimed, as she saw the patch on Mina’s head. “Look at you, you are in no condition to worry about the mission. Just recover here, me and Sana will take care of the mission for today.”

Mina wanted to argue, but the injury on her head suddenly throbbed, causing her to let out a small whimper. Looks like she would have to stay in her dorm for today…

However, no matter how hard she tried to stop herself, she could not stop worrying over Tzuyu’s condition. She really wanted to know whether she is recovering, and that she felt guilty for not being able to take care of her.

“I really hope she is okay…” Mina thought to herself.

Meanwhile…

Tzuyu suddenly woke up. She sat up, looked around and saw nothing but blue walls. Without a familiar person around her, she felt worried.

“…Where am I?” She wondered, as she felt her pockets for her phone.

She couldn’t find anything.

Tzuyu then turned to the bedside, and found her phone. She tried to reach for her phone, but winced due to a sharp pain from her ribs.

“Ouch!” She hissed, clutching her chest. She broke in cold sweat due to the pain.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Knock Knock

“Who is that?” She asked apprehensively.

The unknown person opened the door handle and walked in. It was Chou Yi. He has a plaster on his chin and a bruise on his forehead. He went forward to seat beside his daughter, where he then poured a glass of water from a jug at the tableside and passed it to her.

“Oh my, how did you get injured so badly? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine… I hope you are recovering quickly.” Chou Yi replied, traces of guilt detectable in his voice. “I’m… sorry. I hope you can forgive me. I was worried…”

“Yeah, about that…” Tzuyu interrupted. “I will find some way for you to repay me. As for what is going on, don’t you think you owe me an explanation?”

“Uh… About that…” Chou Yi hesitated for a moment, panicking about Tzuyu’s sudden interrogation. “Can we talk about it later? When you have recovered? Perhaps then we can…”

“No, I want to know about it NOW. You have been hiding it from me for my whole life. How long do you plan to continue to hide from me?”

“My dear daughter, this is not the place to talk about it.” Chou replied coldly, his veins bulging at his neck.

Suddenly, the atmosphere turned increasingly hostile. Tzuyu stared at her father angrily. It seemed like she could explode any moment. She couldn’t believe even her own father hid such a huge secret from her. Chou Yi balled his fists as the hospital wardroom door bursts open with a couple of guys dressed in black suits entering the room. Tzuyu recognises one of them as the one that fought with Mina.

“Changmin… What brings you here?” Chou Yi questions; suppressing the tremble in his voice. The fear in Chou Yi did not go unnoticed by Tzuyu and Changmin.

“Well…” Changmin started as he walks up to Tzuyu with a Swiss army knife in his hand. Being the protective father, Chou Yi quickly stood firm in front of Tzuyu, blocking Tzuyu from the dangerous guy in front of him. Seeing that, Changmin smirked as he reaches out for an apple by Tzuyu’s bed and started peeling the skin with the knife.

“What a beautiful daughter you have. It would be a pity if she lost her life because of her useless father, wouldn’t it?” Changmin continued with a mocking tone as he continues to cut up the apple in his hand.

“What do you want? We can talk somewhere else.” Chou Yi suggests, not wanting his beloved daughter to be caught up in the mess that he single-handedly caused.

“Oh… No, I want to say this in front of your darling. YOU, better stop being a burden in our mission, do you understand?” Changmin said, putting a piece of the apple into his mouth, chewing slowly as he eyes Chou Yi with dagger-like eyes.

Before Chou Yi could reply, Changmin shoved a piece of apple into his mouth and when closed to the former’s ears and whisper-threatened “You wouldn’t want things to go ugly; it’s prison life on the other side.”

Chou Yi stood still, stunned. Satisfied with the reaction, Changmin smirked and walked out with the rest of his guys, waving with his back turned.

“Welcome to hell~!”