“Eh?” Sakura leans forward, “I’m sorry, she wants what now?!”

Chaeyeon sighs, “You heard me, Kkura-chan. But before that, do you mind turning off your phone?”

“Huh? Why?”

“People have ears everywhere Kkura-chan. I don’t want to share any more than I already have; better safe than sorry.”

Sakura takes her phone out with a muted nod and turns it off.

The blonde continues in a more hushed tone. “Chaewon-ah wants us to essentially sever all ties and connections Jang Heokjin has: business, bureaucratic, and underground. She even wants family and friends; we were given the orders to kill if it was a necessity. Nothing should be able to be traced back to Jang Heokjin and no one should be able to find him, because, in essence, he would cease to exist. I’ll explain the intricacies of this case when we’re complete.”

She calmly sips the tea Sakura had prepared some time earlier while Sakura right across from her is looking at her like she grew a second head. Recovering from her shock, the older woman suddenly slams her hand on the coffee table in front of them, shaking the chinaware on it.

“Yah! Lee Chaeyeon, are you crazy?! I know we’re good, but for us to do something as large-scale as this? And against one of the most influential people in Korea? This seems like a death wish!”

Chaeyeon places her teacup back down onto the table, crossing her legs. “I know this seems like something out of a secret agent hacker movie, but Chaewon is counting on us, Kkura-chan.” She pleads, “She wants to protect Wonyoung no matter what.”

Sakura doesn’t answer after that, and Chaeyeon didn’t really expect her to. After all, she was essentially asking her to risk her life for this job; she needs as much time to think about this as she can allow.

They sit in silence, with Chaeyeon finishing the last drops of her tea and Sakura mulling over the job.

“...Do the kids really have to be a part of this as well?” Sakura finally says.

Chaeyeon nods. “We need the whole team if we’re going to make it out of this alive and not in prison.”

The older woman ruffles her hair with a huff. “Okay, okay. We’ll help you out.”

“Really?!” Chaeyeon’s eyes light up, a smile on her face.

“But! You need to be the one to tell the kids.” Sakura looks at her with a smirk.

The smile on Chaeyeon’s face falls, being replaced by a frown. “...Saku-chan, I can’t do that.”

“And why can’t you?”

“They might not want to see me, Saku-chan. I left without so much as a kiss on the forehead and a goodbye, how can I face them when I haven’t even fulfilled the personal mission that made me quit? I don’t want them to think bad of me.”

“Chaeyeon, I just told you over the phone that they miss you so much! I agree, that you leaving without a goodbye is a douche move on your part, but at the end of the day they love their appa bear so much.” Sakura clasps her hands together, “Please, Chaeyeon, I can’t stand seeing them look so sad and hurt every time I so much as mention your name. I love them as much as you do so please do me this one favor, in return.”

Looking at Sakura like this, almost begging just to be able to make their kids happy is what broke Chaeyeon’s resolve. She could never say no to Sakura, what more to the kids? Especially when it’s about their happiness and well-being, she would go to the ends of the earth for them.

And, gosh, Chaeyeon hasn’t heard “appa bear” in literal months; she remembers one of the kids running to her and shouting “appa bear!” all of a sudden, just when she and Sakura had formed the team. She had looked at Sakura then in utter bewilderment, the latter responding with a sheepish laugh.

Brushing her hair back with her hand, Chaeyeon finally agrees.

“I-… fine, I’ll tell them.”

Sakura leaps from her seat and before they both know it, she had enveloped Chaeyeon in a hug. After recovering from the initial shock, Chaeyeon wraps her arms around Sakura, pulling her in closer. She breathes in the familiar scent of cherry blossoms that had comforted her at her worst moments. It’s a scent that gives her the feeling of home.

And as abrupt as the moment had started, the both of them quickly pulled away, refusing to make eye contact with each other. Chaeyeon felt like her cheeks were on fire, and she knows Sakura feels the same. She quickly stands up, speed-walking over to the door to put her shoes on.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” Sakura had followed the younger girl over to the door, sitting beside Chaeyeon to put her shoes on as well.

“To the kids. We’ll tell them right now.”

“It’s 2 am, they’re still babies who need sleep to grow!”

“Kkura-chan, now’s a good time to tell them as any! While I still have some confidence, anyway.”

Sakura keeps quiet, letting Chaeyeon do whatever she wants. Tonight can be an exception, and anyways, she‘s very sure that at least one of those little rascals are awake right now. Doing what? Sakura doesn’t know.

They stand up together, Chaeyeon holding the door for Sakura before going out herself, locking the door with a click.

The dishes could wait.

-----

“Look, Hii-chan, I’m telling you! Saku-chan is hiding something from us!”

“Nako-chan, I don’t think you have to be so worked up about this.”

So Sakura had been right. However it wasn’t just one midget awake, but both of them.

“But, Hiichan~! What if it’s some mission Saku-chan doesn’t want us to know about?”

“I don’t think Kkura-unnie would hide something like that from us, you know? I mean, we’ve been part of the team for so long, and we’ve proven we’re capable enough.”

“I know, I know, but she was acting really weird before she left! She was all secretive and avoid-y.”

“Isn’t that how she usually acts?”

“I swear if I didn’t love you I would have socked you in the gut for refuting me too much.”

“I love you, too~”

Chaeyeon and Sakura stand in silence, fond smiles on their faces as they listen to Hitomi and Nako discuss about Sakura’s sudden want to go to 7-11 at 1 am. Sparing a glance at each other, Chaeyeon nods her head towards the door, telling Sakura to go in first. The older nods and proceeds to knock on the wooden door. The chatter on the other side ceases almost immediately.

They then hear Nako speak in a hushed voice, “Hii-chan, I think we’re ed.”

“You don’t say?” Hitomi answers in an equally as hushed tone laced with sarcasm.

A minute has passed and neither of the two has answered the door. Chaeyeon moves to open the door but Sakura holds a hand in front to stop her.

“Don’t worry, they’ll answer it.”

And true to Sakura’s word, the door in front of them opens. Chaeyeon quickly hides behind one of the corners leading up to the door, making sure that she doesn’t make a sound as she does so.

“Hey, Kkura-unnie, how’s it going?” Ah, so it was Hitomi who had answered the door. Chaeyeon chances a glance at the girl in front of Sakura, noting with surprise how much the younger girl’s appearance had changed since she last saw her. Gone was her black hair, in its place was a kind of reddish brown hue that complimented her really well. She also seemed to have grown taller, now at the same height as Sakura even without shoes. (Chaeyeon belatedly realizes that Hitomi is almost at her height as well).

“Honda Hitomi. What are you still doing up so late?” Chaeyeon could hear the faux sternness in Sakura’s tone.

“I could say the same to you, unnie. What did you do so late at night, at a 7-11 of all places?”

Hitomi had turned the tables on Sakura fairly easily, Chaeyeon notes with a light smile. It seems Hii-chan has gained a few pointers from Nako on being ruthless in the way of words.

“Yah, talking back to your unnie now, huh? Would you like no bread for a week?”

“What?! You can’t do that!”

“Oh I can and I will. Just watch me, mochi.”

That shut Hitomi up, and she finally relents when Sakura once again asks why she and Nako were up at this hour.

“We heard you talking to someone on the phone, but we didn’t really understand anything because the door was muffling the sound. And then you told us you would be going out to 7-11 for a bit, so naturally, Nako-chan and I were curious.”

Sakura nods before reaching a hand up to Hitomi’s head and ruffling her hair affectionately. “Aish, what do I do with you two?”

Hitomi could only chuckle, rubbing the back of her head. Breaking away from Sakura’s hold, Hitomi turns to head back inside the apartment, motioning for Sakura to come along. As the younger girl rounds a corner leading into the kitchen, Sakura turns around and grabs Chaeyeon’s wrist just as Chaeyeon comes out of her hiding spot, holding a finger up to her lips as a sign to ‘shut the up’.

Wordlessly nodding, Chaeyeon and Sakura deposit their shoes by the door as quietly as possible, closing the door behind them in the same manner.

Just as Sakura opens one of the closets to get the guest slippers, they hear Nako practically scream, “SAKU-CHAN! WHERE ON EARTH ARE YOU?? HII-CHAN IS HOLDING THE COOKIE JAR ABOVE MY HEAD AND I DON’T LIKE THAT!”

With Hitomi retorting, “I AM LITERALLY JUST PUTTING THIS BACK ON THE TOP SHELF JESUS CHRIST WOMAN GIVE ME A BREAK.”

The cherry blossom massages her temples, shoving the slippers into Chaeyeon’s hands.

“Just come around when you’re ready, okay?” She says before storming off. Chaeyeon honestly feels sorry for the two younger girls who are about to face Sakura’s wrath. And not a moment too soon, Chaeyeon hears Sakura’s screams get thrown into the cacophony Hitomi and Nako had started.

“IF YOU TWO DON’T SHUT UP RIGHT NOW I WILL PERSONALLY DRAG YOU BOTH OUTSIDE! YOU ARE DISTURBING OUR NEIGHBORS FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!”

Hitomi and Nako completely quiet down, before low mutters of “We’re sorry, Saku-chan/Kkura-unnie,” could be heard. With a hum, Chaeyeon hears Sakura pull up a chair at the table, the other two following right after. The blonde then recognizes Sakura speaking, and she really, really hopes that she isn’t going to say what she thinks she’s going to say.

“Okay, so since you two are already awake, this is going to be a whole lot easier.”

.

“Eh? What do you mean, Kkura-unnie?” Hitomi asks.

“So I went to 7-11, right? Since I was on the phone before that, I think the both of you more or less figured out that I was going to meet someone. Well, that someone is here right now with some important news to tell the both of you.”

Kkura-chan, I love you, but goddamn it I’m not ready yet!

“What?! Really? Who?” Nako this time asks, abruptly standing up from her chair, if the sound of a chair screeching as it slides across the floor is anything to go by.

She hears the tinkling sound of Sakura’s laughter, no doubt amused at the younger’s enthusiasm. “Nako, calm down. She’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

“I think it’s about time for you to stop hiding, don’t you think so, Jjaeyeon-ah?”

Chaeyeon inhales sharply, letting Sakura’s remark slide, before steeling herself to face Nako and Hitomi once more. She trudges over to the kitchen with heavy steps, her legs feeling like lead. When she finally arrives, she can’t help but crack a smile at the shocked expressions of the kids, almost mirroring each other’s. Her eyes wander over to meet Sakura’s own, eyes kind and soft and filled with unexplainable warmth.

Nako is first to break out of her stupor, all but running towards Chaeyeon and throwing herself at the person who became like another parental figure to her and Hitomi.

“CHAEYEON-UNNIE!” the shorter girl screams, wrapping her arms around Chaeyeon’s neck. Not expecting the sudden hug (More like body slam, but Chaeyeon will never mention that out loud), Chaeyeon staggers back a bit, catching herself on a nearby counter. She wraps her free hand around the smaller girl, pulling her closer.

Once they let go, Nako looks up at her, and Chaeyeon can see the disbelief in her eyes.

“Chaeyeon-unnie, is it really you?”

Chaeyeon flashes her a smile, ruffling the girl’s hair. “As real as I’ll ever be, Nako.”

The girl squeals, jumping into Chaeyeon’s arms once more. Chaeyeon is more ready so she catches Nako in a steady embrace, making eye contact with Sakura over the younger’s shoulder. Sakura gives her a warm smile, and she returns it in kind.

Letting go of Nako, Chaeyeon turns to the girl still seated at the dining table, staring at them silently. Looking into Hitomi’s eyes, Chaeyeon can see reflections of the hurt she had caused the younger girl.

Chaeyeon isn’t fond of choosing favorites, though she could admit that she’s closer to Hitomi than she is with Nako. (Nako favors Sakura just a bit more, anyway, so Chaeyeon didn’t feel too guilty.) The blonde knows how hurt Nako had been when she left, and she knows that Hitomi was hurt just as much, if not, more.

Tentatively, Chaeyeon takes the seat across Hitomi. “Hii-chan,” she calls. “Are you mad?”

A beat passes with everyone in the room not saying a word. Nako had come to reclaim her seat beside Sakura, leaning on her slightly.

Finally, they hear Hitomi inhale sharply, and at that moment Chaeyeon remembers to breathe; she had been so focused on waiting for a response that she hadn’t noticed that she was holding her breath.

“I’m...” Hitomi starts, “...not mad.” She turns to frown at the table, eyebrows scrunched up; if this wasn’t as tense of a situation, Chaeyeon might have hugged the younger out of adoration and out of how adorable she looked.

“I’m just...upset.” The frown deepens. “I’m not mad.” She repeats.

“But that doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you just yet.”

That makes Chaeyeon tense up, her shoulders squaring in as if she had been hurt. Which wasn’t too far off to reality. Though she honestly has no one else to blame for this but herself, it doesn’t make the words hurt any less. If anything, they make Chaeyeon doubt herself (not for the first time, mind you,) and if what she had decided to do was worth it.

“Hii-chan...”

She hears the girl across from her sigh. “Let’s not talk about this right now, okay?” Hitomi says, leaving no room for argument. Sakura and Nako exchange worried glances but otherwise say nothing.

The air in the kitchen is tense, almost stifling, no one daring to breath any louder. Hitomi’s eyes are still rooted to the same spot on the table, frown only deepening the longer the silence goes on; Chaeyeon looks at Hitomi with a defeated expression with her hands clutching at the fabric of her shirt.

Thankfully, Nako decides to break the silence, directing her question to Chaeyeon. “So, unnie, Saku-chan said you had something to tell us?”

Chaeyeon, ever thankful for the distraction, goes into business mode. “Ah, yes.” She pauses, eyes closing as she takes a deep breath. “How would you all like to work together again as a team?”

---

She gets varying reactions, to no one’s surprise.

The suggestion has Hitomi snapping her head back up to look at Chaeyeon at an alarming speed (Chaeyeon can almost imagine the whiplash the younger girl might get). Nako, on the other hand, has her eyes absolutely sparkling, hands clasped together with the biggest smile Chaeyeon has ever seen on her. And Sakura watches their two young kids in amusement, looking over to Chaeyeon with a small smile.

It’s a small victory Chaeyeon is willing to take.

“We’re going on a mission?!” Nako almost yells, managing to somehow hold herself back under Sakura’s pointed stare. The blonde stifles a laugh and nods at the small girl.

“It’s a very important mission, assigned to us by Kim Industries’ CEO.”

“Chaewon-unnie?” Now it was Hitomi who had spoken, back straight and full attention on Chaeyeon’s words.

She nods. “Before I explain, do you both have your phones with you?”

When both girls shake their heads, Chaeyeon further inquires, “Where exactly are they? If they’re nearby please turn them off.”

Hitomi explains that she turned hers off while it was charging to make it charge faster, while Nako gets up from her seat and turns her phone off placed on a nearby kitchen counter.

“Okay,” Chaeyeon continues as Nako returns to her seat. “Chaewon entrusted us with a very hefty mission; to erase Jang Heokjin’s existence.”

Before she gets another variety of reactions, the blonde trudges on with her explanation. “She wants us to sever his ties with everyone he has connections to, even family and friends. Now I admit that finding a way to sever his ties with family and friends is easier said than done, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, Chaewon wants us to start with people low on the elder Jang’s radar, people he comes in contact with maybe once or twice a year. Then we start to work up from there.”

Hitomi’s hand shoots up in the air. “Question, what do we exactly do so that his connections can be severed? Just kill the people he’s involved with?”

Hitomi talking about murder will never sit well with Chaeyeon no matter how many times she’s been through it, but, for the sake of being professional, she brushes that thought aside. “We have the option of killing them, but it’s not really necessary for the smaller, less important people. I also don’t want any innocent blood on our hands, so as much as possible we only eliminate if we have a reason to do so.”

“So what do we do?”

“This might take a bit more effort than just killing them would, but I want us to have as clean a conscience as possible, okay? I’ve only started thinking about this method recently so we can make changes to this as we go; I want to give the people we target something that will make them sever their connection with Jang all on their own. A push, if you will.

We can agree Jang has been doing some downright illegal things, so giving information to these people who have a direct connection to the illegal activity without them knowing about it, might work. If they’re somehow not as conscientious as we initially thought, we scare them off.”

When no one makes a move to speak, Chaeyeon continues.

“We’ll do background checks for each and every person we target, and if they themselves have been involved in illegal activities, I can give the go ahead to eliminate.”

Sakura raises her hand. “Isn’t there a big problem with this whole mission?”

Both Hitomi and Nako look at Sakura with questioning gazes, before both their faces simultaneously light up in realization. Chaeyeon chuckles at the interaction.

“I think I know what all of you are thinking, but I’m going to have Nako say it anyway.”

“Wouldn’t Jang Heokjin notice the sudden cut of contact between these people and him? Especially with the people important to his business. What if he somehow traces back to us?”

“Well,” Chaeyeon smiles. “That is where your Chaewon-unnie comes in.”

===============================

this story isn't dead and neither am i

i'm really sorry for the almost five month (five months! i need to get my together) delay for this chapter. if you all forgot the plot well don't worry because i did too (had to reread the document i saved this story on woops). school's now over for me so updates won't take as long as five freaking months to come so stay tuned!

i also changed the font style and size for every chapter so it can be easier on the eyes. if you all though there was something different, then that's probably it.