Chapter Eight - Let Me Out

Leaning against the wall in the hallway Taeyeon watched Yuri and Miyoung converse in the living room, chatting away in a casual manner. Since Miyoung had arrived the previous day it seemed that Yuri and her got along very well and they spent a lot of time talking. Taeyeon had been more interested in the investigation and her conversations with Miyoung had been directed towards finding out about what was going on.

She felt that Yuri wasn’t taking it seriously enough, but was she being too direct towards Miyoung? Maybe she should have taken the same approach that Yuri had, trying to befriend and in this way gain some trust and information as well. Who knows, maybe they could be friends even after this all was solved. But something nagged Taeyeon about the whole situation and she couldn’t openly trust Miyoung. Yuri on the other hand either didn’t notice anything or was instinctively playing the good cop in this scenario.

“So Miyoung, do you have to get some clothes or other things from your apartment?” Yuri asked. She was much more comfortable with her now and didn’t stare. A lot.

“Yuri, you can just call me Tiffany. Miyoung is my real name but Tiffany is what people actually call me and I prefer that name.”

“Oh, Tiffany then.” Yuri felt like they were getting a lot closer and she acted very friendly towards her already. The corners of extended into a shy smile like a flower in bloom.

Taeyeon walked into the living room interrupting the conversation of the two.

“So Tiffany, I presume you need a lift to your apartment then?”

Tiffany looked up at her lips flinching to a frown ever so slightly before returning to its bright smile. Taeyeon caught this feeling a tinge of annoyance, but Yuri was too pre-occupied with Taeyeon’s interruption to notice it.

“I can take her Taeyeon, you can stay here. Besides we wouldn’t want you to crash the car now would we?” Yuri looked at Taeyeon with a silly smile.

Taeyeon craned her neck sideways sparing a glance at Yuri with wide eyes, showing that this wasn’t exactly information she wanted to share with Tiffany. Yuri realised her mistake and her smile faded as she attempted to apologize with her eyes alone.

“That would be very kind of you Yuri. I would like that very much,” Tiffany answered focusing back on Yuri instead who now tried to avoid the annoyed eyes of Taeyeon. Tiffany’s eye-smile had returned and was beaming directly at Yuri who now tried to catch her breath at the sight. It seemed to get her every time, to which Taeyeon shook her head in disappointment.

“I’ll go and get changed and then we can go.” Tiffany got up from the couch and made her way to Yuri’s room where she was spending her nights lately.

Taeyeon had walked over to the living room windows gazing out into the bustle of the city. It was noon and people were out to eat lunch, the streets packed as usual with people darting through the crowd. Yuri got up from the couch and walked over to Taeyeon.

“Taeyeon, what’s wrong?”

“There is something that makes me feel uneasy about Tiffany,” Taeyeon turned to look at Yuri. “I don’t know what exactly, and I could be merely paranoid, but something is bugging me.”

“She seems very nice though,” Yuri replied.

“Oh, I can tell you think she is nice,” Taeyeon’s eyebrows rose and a cheeky grin spread across her face. Yuri huffed with indignation as her cheeks gained a slight hint of red.

“Hey she’s pretty and easy to talk to alright?” Yuri replied feeling flustered.

“I know I know, I kid. You can befriend her but keep your wits about you okay? Just see what she is up to. For me,” Taeyeon said placing her hand on Yuri’s shoulder. The latter turned to look at her. “Okay?”

“Of course.”

The two turned to face the direction of the hallway as they heard footsteps approach as Tiffany walked into view. “Ready to go?”

“Yup, let’s get going,” Yuri replied. She walked over to the coat rack and put on her short black leather jacket, grabbing the car keys from the bowl and heading for the front door.

“Call me if anything comes up,” Taeyeon told Yuri who nodded as she opened the door. Tiffany gave Taeyeon a small bow the other returning it before walking out of the apartment after Yuri.

The two went down to the garage that was under the apartment complex and got into Taeyeon’s car. After what Taeyeon had said to her Yuri was feeling slightly confused and unsure of what to do. She didn’t find Tiffany as suspicious as her best friend did. Maybe Taeyeon was just being overly cautious? Whatever it was, it made Yuri quieter than usual which Tiffany noticed.

“Is something wrong?” Tiffany looked at Yuri as they rolled out of the garage to the busy streets. Yuri glanced quickly at Tiffany before focusing back on the road.

“Na-nahh nothings wrong.”

“Did something happen with Taeyeon?” Tiffany continued. She was quite good at reading people but Yuri was an open book to her. The girl was so easy to read that Tiffany didn’t even have to put any effort into it.

Yuri stayed quiet. She couldn’t tell Tiffany what Taeyeon had told her but she didn’t want to lie to her either. She hoped that Tiffany would take the hint and ignore it for now. Silence filled the car and both of them stared in front of them at the traffic, a mish mash of different coloured metal casings like the canned food isle at a supermarket. Yuri switched the AC on a higher setting to cool her down as she felt herself heat up from the tension. She felt uncomfortable of the situation and it took a lot of effort from her to keep herself still and her expression in check.

Tiffany knew something was up with Yuri but the best way to find anything out was to be nice and kind and befriend her even more. Yuri had been very easy to get friendly with and would make her stay at their house much easier.

“How did you two meet?” Tiffany broke the silence that had extended long enough for Yuri’s nerves to calm down.

“Taeyeon and I?”

Tiffany nodded. Yuri thought back to the moment the two had met. It was quite a story really and at first she wasn’t sure if she should tell Tiffany about it. She would be revealing something more about the two giving Tiffany a better insight on them while they still knew very little about her. Yuri was constantly trying to think how Taeyeon would handle the situation as the little Taeyeon inside Yuri spoke to her and she decided there would be no harm in telling Tiffany. A smile spread on her face as she started reminiscing about the time. Tiffany noticed this and it made her smile in return.

“It was totally by accident. Before I began working with Taeyeon I used to be a secretary for a medium sized shipping company. I got the job originally because of my brother…” Yuri stopped for a moment as the thought of her brother made her twinge with annoyance and regret, “but anyways, I worked as a secretary for the company and was minding my own business.

“After working there for six months or so I started to notice oddities in their records. I followed the trails of their tax reports and funds for a couple of years back and I noticed that they didn’t match. The company was committing tax fraud on a serious scale and as the good daughter I was brought up to be I decided this wouldn’t do. So I decided to do something about it.

“Since I knew where all the paper work was kept I decided to be sneaky and come in after hours to steal the records and give them to the police and so bust the company for their wrong doings. I did so and while I was sneaking around the offices, I bumped into Taeyeon.”

Tiffany’s eyes widened in surprise, she wasn’t expecting such a turn of events. “Taeyeon was sneaking too?”

“Yeah, what are the chances huh? She was already working as an investigator back then and she was investigating the company’s tax evasion. Since we were both going after the same thing we decided to work together and took all the records and evidence we could about their wrong doings. When we were going out… I kind of forgot about the alarms and triggered them. We were caught red handed with all the documents.”

Yuri chuckled at the memory and blushed slightly. She had been such an amateur and she still felt like she was. Taeyeon was better at sneaking than she herself was.

“Wow. That is quite the first meeting. What happened to you two?”

“Well Taeyeon was reprimanded a lot for unauthorized breaking in to the company offices and got demoted while I survived with getting fired. That was mainly because my brother had connections and helped me not to get into any larger trouble…”

Silence fell once again in the car. Since the day she had first met Yuri in the dream world, she had noticed that Yuri’s brother was very dear to her but also caused her lots of trouble and stress. There were issues with her family and the past that Tiffany wanted to find out but knew that now was not the time to ask. She would find out eventually.

“So how’d you two end up as private investigators then?” Tiffany encouraged Yuri to continue on beaming one of her dazzling smiles to comfort the other girl.

“Oh, right…” Yuri shook her head to get her thoughts straight and smiled back at Tiffany. “After getting demoted Taeyeon felt that she had been wronged so she quit and since I didn’t have a job and had apparently helped her out ‘surprisingly well’ as she said it, she asked if I wanted to join her setting up the office. She seemed like a nice person and I was offered a job so I took it. I’m glad I did.”

Yuri smiled at Tiffany once more, her confidence growing as she thought about her past meeting with Taeyeon and their close friendship. She was overjoyed of meeting her and befriending her. With all the trouble in her family she needed a good friend and Taeyeon had proved herself to be the best friend of them all. She saved Yuri from a life of depression before she even had reached that point.

“It’s been three years since. Time really flies by fast.” Yuri drifted once again into her own world which Tiffany thought best not to interrupt and instead looked out to the streets to pass her time.


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The sun stood in place as if pinned up to that spot, scorching as usual but as always it never burned the skin. There was no breeze blowing through the air yet she could feel the slight touch of cool brushing against her cheeks. In the far distance she could see the pyramids gleaming with their golden tipped tops. The desert mirage distorted the sight so it seemed as if the pyramids were bobbing up and down in the ocean of sand.

The hot sand entered her shoes again as she strolled casually over another dune but right as it entered her shoe she willed the sand out, a process that she repeated every ten metres of walking. She really had nothing better to do right now. Another couple of metres and she eventually got bored of walking, having been doing so for a while now. How long nobody knew as time didn’t move the same here so she decided to start gliding across the sand as if ice skating over the dunes. She sped down another hill through a valley created by the sand and then glided once again effortlessly up the next pile of sand to enter another valley.

It was then she noticed something green a short distance away in a notch that was surrounded by multiple high dunes. From her high hill she could see it was more than a mirage and decided to take a look. It was rare to see anything when you walked around this desert other than the pyramids that always seemed to stay at a distance. Once she had felt that she had gotten really close to them, and could hear the shouts of an overseer, a crack of the whip and the tired huffs and painful screams of workers pulling stone slabs. It was like she was back in ancient Egypt but she never actually was able to get to the pyramids, something she was sad about. She really wanted to go see the pyramids.

A smile on her face with her spirit unusually elevated she gracefully skated along the sand with gushes of it flying into the air to fall slowly down or just float into nothingness. She arrived at the edge of the high dunes that surrounded the green spot she had noticed earlier. A beautiful oasis, lush and green, full of life and had a fresh air to it, wonderfully cool. She slowly walked down the dune and took in the wonderful aura of the oasis.

In the middle was a large water basin with crystal clear water reflecting its surroundings off the surface. To the right of it were a couple of huge rocks from which one of the springs was gushing out of, the water flowing into the middle basin through a small stream. The rock and the whole of the pond was surrounded by tall fully grown palm trees, overflowing with coconuts, rich green grass and bushes outlined them. Some of the bushes were in fruit with berries that she didn’t recognize but looked tasty enough for her to eat.

As she got to the edge of the water and kicked ripples into the mirror surface she noticed someone sitting by the big rocks by the pond. The person was quite small and had their legs pulled up, hands wrapped around them and their head tucked into the legs. With the short hair they had she could not tell whether it was a guy or a girl, but seeing another person for a change was quite nice, whether they were real or not didn’t really matter.

She stepped gently on the water and then began skating across it creating soft ripples along her way. She twirled and calmly made her way to the person who was sitting. As she was getting closer the person lifted their head from between the legs and looked up at her with wide eyes as she glided across the water. The person was a cute boy-cut hazel haired woman with really full lips. An absolutely adorable little person.

She slowly drifted in closer and landed right in front of the woman sitting at the edge, looking at her with wide eyes.

“You… you were floating over the water. How did you… do that?” She asked still amazed by the simple feat.

“You know nothing in here is real right? Are you real?”

The girl blinked a couple of times and looked at her surroundings. She then opened her palms in front of her staring at them intently. The other girl leaned in closer to the sitting girl.

“Don’t worry. I think you are real since you are actually thinking about the question instead of giving a straight forward answer.”

To her it didn’t really matter if the short haired girl sitting down was real or not, but was confident that in this case she was. It had been a while since she had been able to speak to anyone so she was excited by the company. As the sitting girl looked up at her she smiled and then extended her hand.

“My name is Sooyoung. I’m real. What’s your name?”

The other girl extended her hand to shake Sooyoung’s, still looking slightly confused. “Sunny.”

“So Sunny. What is this place?”

“It’s an oasis. I don’t know why but somehow whenever my mind wanders off I end up here. What is this place anyway?”

Sooyoung walked next to Sunny and sat down as she appeared to be lost in this place and confused, yet still awake.

“This place must be strongly tied to some memory of yours if it is where you are always pulled back to. What is the last thing you remember prior to this?”

Sunny started to think. To be honest she had tried to think of it many times over and over again but her thoughts were a mess. She could no longer be sure what actually her memories were and what was made up. All of it was really hazy, like a mist covered all her memories making it hard for her mind to find the correct direction, to make the real connections.

“I’m… I’m not really sure but I do remember things before this. I don’t know how long ago they were but I remember something. I remember my best friend, Hyoyeon…” Sunny gave small smile to Sooyoung, “And I can remember a girl, she…”

Sunny paused for a while thinking that the next sentence would sound insane but then pushed that thought away. This whole place and situation was insane in the first place so this would be nothing out of the ordinary here.

“She could become me.”

“Ahhh OBE? Or were you present when she was you?”

“OBE? What is that? You know about this stuff?”

Sooyoung nodded confidently.

“I can do it. Or, in the real world I could but not in here. Here we already are out of our bodies anyway. OBE is an Out-of-Body Experience, where your consciousness leaves your body.”

Sunny stared at the tall woman for a moment with round eyes. She knew about it and could do it herself?

“I was present when she entered me. She was just in for the ride I guess. But then… I can’t quite remember what happened but something did and then I got stuck here.”

Sooyoung creased her forehead in thought. It seemed like somebody else was able to leave their body and invade others while they were still present, something that she herself could do as well. But then eventually Sunny had been purged out of her own body somehow unable to return to it. Very unfortunate for the girl but not irreversible. Sooyoung decided she should help.

“The thing is,” Sunny continued, pulling Sooyoung away from her thoughts, “She is here too. She followed me here as well.”

Sooyoung blinked a couple of times. So not only was she haunting her in the real world she followed her all the way here? But that would mean the person who purged Sunny out of her body was out of their own body too, would it not?

“Where am I?” Sunny asked Sooyoung again.

“This place is what we would call the dream world. It is the place where your mind drifts when you are asleep. It is a mixture of things that shouldn’t happen, that are impossible in the real world but also plausible scenarios. Essentially all dreams are tied to this one world but we roam in our own little spaces usually and don’t cross to others dreams.

“Some people like me however and you at the moment are able to stay awake and realize we are dreaming and so control our actions. This is what we would call lucid dreaming and in this way we can also cross between dreams. While normally people can’t cross between others dreams sometimes they do, and it’s when this happens that different people might see the same dream and share the same dream experience. This is when you wake up and you tell your friend about the dream you had and find out they have experienced the same exact thing. Or you could meet someone in your dream that you have no idea who they are, but most likely you just met someone new in your dream when your dreams crossed.”

Bug eyed Sunny stared at Sooyoung who stopped her explanation. There was literally so much to tell and so many things to cover that she realized she needed to take it slow.

“It’s quite complicated in a way so I’ll fill you in as we go along but those are the basics. But at the moment, I’m crossing over to your dream space.”

Sunny tried to take it all in. It was hard to wrap her mind around it all and in this place her thoughts and memories seemed to drift all over the place making it hard for her to think. Trying to gather her thoughts was really hard. But she understood the basics of it all now and with the help of this person, Sooyoung, maybe she could get some answers and even out of this place.

“Were you brought in here like me?” Sunny asked Sooyoung who seemed to be in a very good mood.

“Nope, or… not exactly. Something partially forced me under but I could go back if I wanted. Instead I stayed here to investigate what it is that’s putting people to sleep.”

A memory from the real world resurfaced in Sunny’s mind. “The comas! I remember there were many cases of people suddenly falling into comas.”

Sooyoung nodded. “Something has been putting people into coma and forcing them here when they shouldn’t be here like that. The thing is, they don’t realize that they are sleeping unlike me and you, so it’s tough. This makes you quite the rare sight I have to say. One of the few people I have met in a while who is in their right mind.”

Sooyoung stood up and extended her hand to Sunny.

“So are you ready to go?”

“Where are we going?” Sunny reached up and she was effortlessly yanked to her feet.

“We’ll go to my little place, much like your oasis but more secure. We can try figuring something out.”

“Where do you think you’re taking her?”

The two turned around to look at a tall and slender figure walk from behind the shrubbery on the other side of the oasis pond. It was a fair beautiful woman with doe eyes and a small face. She started to slowly walk towards the two over the water. Something about the girl seemed familiar to Sooyoung and was nagging the back of her head through her memories but she couldn’t place her anywhere. Sunny hid behind Sooyoung holding onto her hand.

“That’s the one who is responsible for me being here.”

The woman closed the distance slowly making her way across the water gracefully as if tiptoeing along making the tiniest of ripples on the perfect mirror surface.

“We still need her so could you please hand her over.”

Sooyoung stepped more confidently in between Sunny and this woman that had appeared. She was clearly someone who seemed to possess the same knowledge as her, possibly the same abilities. That was something that would make this even more troublesome.

“She doesn’t want to go with you.”

“Let’s not make this hard, Sooyoung,” The woman replied.

Her eyes shot wide and for the first time in a really long time she was actually surprised in the dream world. Sooyoung thought she had seen almost everything and knew almost everything but for someone to know who she was, her who had kept her identity quite well hidden in the real world, was very shocking.

“You don’t remember me? I’m offended. Though to be fair I’m not exactly the same person that you met before, but close enough.”

Sooyoung tried to search even harder through her mind to figure out who this person was. She had met her before, it pounded in the back of her head the memory at the edge of recollection, tipping between remembering and forgetting until finally, she found it.

“Yoona?!”

A sly smile spread across the woman’s lips, satisfied with being recognized.

“Almost. I’m almost her but not fully. If you’d like I’m a figment of her, an artificial recreation of her meant to take over the original. But we failed at it and now we can’t find the real Yoona. Except,” the woman pointed at the hiding Sunny. ”She is our key to finding her. Oh, and you can call me Saebyuk.”

“So you are a fake Yoona then. The one I knew didn’t harm anyone or make them feel uncomfortable.”

Slowly Sooyoung was beginning to remember fragments of someone she had known many years ago. Someone she had befriended and played with, talked with, spent time with and eventually had tried to help. Someone who had the same abilities as she did. Yoona.

“Enough talking. Give her back please.” The woman who identified herself as Saebyuk demanded, her voice changed from the previously casual tone to a harsh commanding one.

“Nope, I think not.”

Sooyoung ran her left hand through her hair and in a second the sand underneath Sooyoung and Sunny opened up and funnelled down swallowing the two whole before Sunny was able to scream.

The same moment as Sunny was about to begin screaming she felt her legs touch solid ground and she risked opening her eyes to find herself in a room with a huge dining table filled with food. The food was fresh, steaming and the table overflowing with drinks ready to host a dinner for at least twenty people. The floor was covered by a soft crimson floral decorated Turkish carpet with hints of a serene blue design.

“It’s alright, we’re in my own place. You know like you had the oasis this is my little place.”

Sunny looked up at the smiling Sooyoung and then realized she was gripping onto her arm very hard. Embarrassed she let go of her hand and then gave a small bow.

“Thank you for helping me.”

“Not a probl-”

“You think you can hide away from me? Especially in this place? Come on Sooyoung, I thought you could do better.”

Chills ran through Sunny’s spine as she turned around to look in the same direction that Sooyoung was. Behind her across the table stood Saebyuk. Why could she never escape that woman?

“How the hell did you get here?! This room is off to everyone who doesn’t know it!”

“Did you forget? Yoona used to come here all the time ipso facto; I know how to come here,” Saebyuk let out a chilling mocking laugh. “Now, this place and you have caused enough trouble so I think I’ll have you sent somewhere.”

Sooyoung blinked and in that instant the roof and floor around Saebyuk moved closing in on each other forcing to crush the woman that had occupied the space. With her skill set Sooyoung could manipulate anything in the dream world easier than regular lucid dreamers and had learned to do things as if they were her own thoughts.

A loud bang ran through the room as the floor and ceiling collided in that one spot, creating a distorted column of ripped and stretched carpet and cracked broken marble. Sooyoung barely let out a sigh when she heard the same chilling laugh and Saebyuk walked from behind the column back into view.

“You really think that you could rid me from this place? I’m telling you we’re in control now, mostly, and soon in full control once we find Yoona.”

“We?” Sooyoung questioned as she straightened herself running her fingers through her hair and confidently stood in front of Sunny.

“You won’t have the chance to find out unfortunately. We’ve played long enough and I know the perfect place to send you to.”

Sooyoung felt Sunny grip her arm tighter her finger nails almost burrowing in her skin. Uncertainty and a hint of fear forced itself up Sooyoung’s whole body for the first time in a very long time as Saebyuk lifted her hand in the air.

“Goodbye Sooyoung, it was nice seeing you,” and in that instant she was standing in a dark dirty alleyway. She could no longer feel Sunny’s grip on her arm and her safe room her hiding place had disappeared. She looked around and only saw two brick apartment buildings to either side of her, the surface of the bricks and paint worn off. The alley was dark, reeked and was dirty beyond regular standards of a city. On one end of the alley she could see a street with some movement. The sky was cloudy and grey, the dark swallowing any chance of light escaping through to brighten up the surroundings.

It didn’t take Sooyoung long to recognize where Saebyuk had taken her. She leaned against the wall bringing her hands to her head. She was royally screwed.

“Crap.”


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The door of apartment four-hundred eighteen swung open and Tiffany stepped in immediately flicking the light switch. Yuri followed her in shutting the door after them and they looked around the apartment for a moment.

“Everything seems to be the way we left it…” Tiffany began walking down the hallway, “Messy.”

She walked to the end of the hallway past the living room and kitchen towards her own room, Yuri close on her trail.

“What are you going to be taking other than clothes?” She asked as they walked into Tiffany’s office room, the papers and files still spread haphazardly on the floor and the tables and bookshelves overturned.

“I hid some files on a project I was working on before so even my partner didn’t know where they were. I’ll take those files since the prototype of the project was taken. They won’t be able to figure out its use and how to build it immediately so I think we have a head start.”

“What is it?”

Tiffany thought for a second if she should reveal Yuri about the project but knowing that she would most likely not understand most of it, it was safe to tell her something.

“It’s another dream machine I was building.”

“Like the big one? What will you do with that one.”

“We’ll leave it. It’s not like we can carry it and my partner knows about it so it’s useless but this one…” Tiffany kicked a part of the wall in her office which gave way with a cracking sound as a very thin balsawood and plaster covered section gave way to the force of the kick. “This one is much more important.”

She pulled out a package that had been tightly wrapped into plastic and bubble wrap to keep it safe and quickly put it in her bag that Yuri held out for her. She flipped one of the overturned drawers that was lying on the floor revealing a small case under it. They took it as well.

“Basic tools. Now for the clothes.”

The two walked out of the office room and back towards the front door. Tiffany’s bedroom was right next to the entrance and as they stepped in they were faced with the same sight as with the rest of the apartment, chaos. The mattress on her bed had been thrown to one side of the room revealing the bare skeleton frame of her wooden bed, the soft woollen pink bed sheets now a miserable lump among the rest of her clothes that were scattered about into unorganized heaps like trash at a dumpster.

Tiffany sighed at the sight; her beautifully decorated house had been ruined.

“Can you pick up some shirts for me where you can find them?” Tiffany asked her as she herself went to take care of the underwear department to save Yuri the embarrassment.

Both of them packed the clothes quickly, Yuri finding the odd piece of underwear and bra mixed in with the rest of the rubble making her cheeks light up before she mumbled in her unique manner and continued stuffing them in the sports bags that they had brought with them from Taeyeon’s and Yuri’s apartment.

It was then they heard some sound from the front door, keys being inserted into the lock of the door and the approving click that came with it as the door swung open and two pairs of feet strode in.

“Wouldn’t she be dead already? She hasn’t eaten or had a drink for days.”

“Possibly, but the boss wants to keep her alive. I guess he came to regret his decision.”

Tiffany looked over at Yuri with wide eyes fear gripping her by the heart. She mouthed to her, questioning what they should do. Yuri pointed at the bag at Tiffany’s feet and then at the door. They had to leave.

“What if she is dead? What then?”

“Let’s just see shall we? Now shut up.”

The footsteps and talking was now further away and Yuri risked a peek into the corridor. Nobody was in sight. She waved for Tiffany to sneak with her as she made her way out the front door that had been left open by the two visitors, one of the sports bags filled with clothes on her shoulder. Tiffany quickly followed her out. It was good that Tiffany’s room was situated by the front door making their escape that much easier.

“She isn’t here! Someone’s taken her!”

With the commotion Yuri and Tiffany darted down the hallway to the elevators and to their luck nobody had called it during that time as it was still on their floor. They quickly entered it and pressed to go to the bottom floor, not wanting to find out who the two at Tiffany’s apartment were and what they wanted.

Like gazelles escaping the clutches of a cheetah the two sped out of the apartment building, over the street and down the alley to their car, throwing the bags into the back seat and quickly taking off driving out from the neighbourhood without any real direction.

“They… they were looking for you,” Yuri finally said as she caught her breathe after all the running. She needed to get back to her old habit of going for a job to keep herself in better shape.

“Uhh… uhuhh..” Was all Tiffany was able to say as she was still trying to stabilize her heart rate from the intense scare and exercise they had. She wasn’t built for sports since she preferred using her time studying than working out. It was now that she regretted not keeping up with her old gymnastics routines she had learned as a little girl. If people were out to get her she would have to get better at running away as there was no way she could even think to fight back.

“Taeyeon was right. It was good you came with us. Now there are people searching for you.”

“Seems… so.”

Tiffany had finally calmed down enough to talk and Yuri had finally realized where she was supposed to be driving to, finding her way to get back to their own apartment.

“They don’t know about Taeyeon and I do they?”

“No they shouldn’t since I only met you for the first time a couple of days ago.”

“Right.”

Yuri let out a long sigh of relief as she calmed her nerves, talking quietly to herself. “It’s alright Yuri, you are safe. You did good Yuri, you did good.”

Who had the two men been? They were obviously working for the same people that had originally put Tiffany to sleep and had now come to check up on her. Too bad she didn’t have a chance to see their faces or clothes. They could have possibly been able to get some identifying feature. Also, what had they said? That the boss regretted his decision? The decision of putting Tiffany to sleep and leaving her there to die?

“Tiffany wha-”

Yuri stopped herself as she had been about to ask about what the men had been talking about, but then remembered Taeyeon’s advice. Even though Tiffany seemed friendly they didn’t know enough about her so Yuri should be careful about what she revealed. She would tell Taeyeon about the men’s conversation first and let her decide what to do with the information.

“What is it?” Tiffany looked over at Yuri. The latter closed and gave a sheepish smile and laughing oddly.

“Did you… get everything you needed?”

“Yes I got the important stuff; the project files and clothes. Thank you for your help Yuri. Again.”

Tiffany’s eyes disappeared as she smiled back at Yuri with gratitude. Yuri was once again taken in by the dazzling curving lips. She concentrated back on the road as she felt a surge of warmth cover her cheeks. This girl definitely made her feel like a little girl with a crush.


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JongKook straightened his collar and pulled on the hems of his dark blue suit jacket, ran his fingers through his hair to fix them in place, trying to calm his nerves as he reached out to the door in front of him and pulled it open, entering the office beyond.

Both sides of the room looking from the door were outlined by black bookshelves that spanned from one end of the wall to the other, from the floor to the ceiling, each shelf filled with books, paper, different files and folders. The bookshelves ended to the other end of the room, the back wall a full glass window wall that created an impressive view of the city and beyond. At the centre close to the window was a massive dark oak desk, pens in their holders and a couple of neatly stacked paper piles. Beyond it a massive black leather chair was facing out towards the city view, the back towards the door that JongKook had entered from.

“So?”

“We’ve lost her sir. We don’t know where she has disappeared. Someone must have helped her or just taken her out. We began searching hospitals in case one of the neighbours thought she was ill and decided to take her to one.”

“That is very disappointing. But I admit you did as I instructed you so don’t worry, no harm will befall you.”

“Thank you sir.”

“All isn’t lost my good friends.”

JongKook turned to look around at the person who just entered the room wearing a confident and disarming smile.

“Saebyuk, how are things in the world beyond? Any sign of Yoona?”

Saebyuk walked passed JongKook giving him a little wink as she made her way to the oak desk, perching herself on the table to sit. JongKook frowned after Saebyuk. He didn’t like her too much since she made everything into a game.

“Guess who I found?”

As silence filled the office, JongKook not knowing about the details in which Saebyuk worked and didn’t care much for her and their superior not one for games, Saebyuk huffed out making a fake sad smile.

“You guys are no fun. It’s our little friend, Sooyoung.”

With the mention of the name, the chair that had been so far facing the window quickly turned around, a handsome middle-aged man with gentle eyes and neatly combed graying hair quickly focusing his interest on Saebyuk. She looked at him with a smile and got off the desk only to lean on it with both of her hands.

“What was she doing?”

“Ohhh she just tried to steal Sunny from me but I didn’t like that so I put her in a little jail of her own to cool down. She shouldn’t be able to escape from it by herself. She didn’t manage to do so before.”

“What does she know?”

“She knows I’m not Yoona at least, but I didn’t tell her anything else,” Saebyuk straightened herself and walked over to stand next to JongKook who had been standing perfectly still for the whole time.

“She could be trouble in the future, keep an eye on her. She tried ruining things once so we can be sure she will do so again.”

“Yes she will.”

The boss turned back around in his chair to face the window leaving the two standing silently in the office.

“Sir,” JongKook bowed and made his way towards the door to leave, Saebyuk following him casually out of the office and closing the door behind her. She turned to look to her right where JongKook had begun to walk.

“Hey JongKook, wanna go eat?” Saebyuk shouted after the briskly walking figure. He continued walking with no response and finally turned left out of the corridor leaving Saebyuk standing alone.

“Nobody is any fun in here.”