“Easy on the humps!” A voice could be heard after the luggage bag that Chaeyeon hit a huge bump as she was walking to the building. “It’s not necessarily comfortable here you little piece of .”

“I refused to be called little by someone who can fit inside a luggage bag,” answered Chaeyeon. She did not spare a glance to the luggage bag that was taking the abuse from the rough terrain they were on. The quip from the stowaway tempted her to go through the grassy terrain instead of the semi-paved sidewalk, but she didn’t want the person inside the bag to be covered in puke when she gets out.

Nor does Chaeyeon want to die tonight.

“Just be careful. Mind you, I’m 150 centimeters. I am not that short!”

“You’re 149.9 cm, Nako. Just accept---”

“I swear to God I will kill you after we rescue Heose and Chaewon-unnie,” interjected Nako. Chaeyeon could sense the venom in her words, which was the prompt for her to stop teasing the small girl.

“I’m kidding. We’re almost there. Be ready,” said Chaeyeon as they approached the service entrance that the catering services used to go in and out of the venue. Chaeyeon went to a deserted corner near the entrance and took off her jacket, revealing a white long-sleeved dress shirt under a black vest, which was the server’s uniform for that day. Her name tag said “깃털”, meaning “feather” which was her codename.

Chaeyeon blended effortlessly through the crowd of servers and helpers and found an unattended food cart. She put the luggage bag on the lowest compartment of the food cart and covered the cart with a white tablecloth.  She then pushed the cart towards the kitchen, greeting the unsuspecting workers by giving them a slight nod. She continued walking until they reached the supply closet. Once Chaeyeon was sure that they were in the clear, she kicked the food cart to send a signal to Nako.

After a couple of seconds, grunts and sighs could be heard as Nako made her way out of the luggage bag and into the supply closet. Before she went into the small room, she glared at Chaeyeon for being so rough with her transport and did a neck slicing motion as if warning the older girl about her fate after the mission, a motion which Chaeyeon admits was enough to give her goosebumps.

Chaeyeon walked back to the kitchen and returned the food cart to its original position without removing the luggage bag they placed on it.

Chaeyeon sent a message to the comms, “Thumbelina is in her initial position. Feather just dropped the boom.”

With Yuri in tow, Hitomi made her way up to Wonyoung’s office through the elevator surrounded by a group of men she guessed to be part of the security team. She was pleasantly surprised that they were not roughed up when they arrived, which was what they expected.

Maybe this will go better than expected, she thought.

She took a closer look at the guards surrounding her. They were armed with an extendable baton which was tucked in their belts. Hitomi looked at the guard next to her and noticed a holster underneath their suit jackets. Guns. Yikes.

The elevator doors opened and revealed Ahn Yujin standing in front of the elevator to welcome their guests. Hitomi felt Yuri tense up upon the sight of the bodyguard, and the Japanese girl couldn’t blame her. It took all of her composure to withstand the aura that Yujin was emitting. It was an aura that screamed both confidence and bloodlust.

“Ms. Jang is expecting you. Do you have the IZ* crystal?” asked Yujin. There was nothing special about her words, but the tone she said it was enough to convey her no-nonsense personality.

“I have it. Where is Chaewon and Yena?” asked Hitomi. She strengthened her hold on Yuri’s neck to assert her place as a threat, but Yujin did not even flinch.

“Patience, Ms. Honda. Follow me,” Yujin told the Japanese girl in a commanding fashion, to which they complied. As they approached the door to the CEO’s office, Yujin turned to the security team and ordered, “Men, guard the doors and the elevators. Make sure nobody comes in or out of this place until we say so.” The guards answered with affirmation and went to their stations.

When they entered the room, they saw Jang Wonyoung sitting behind her desk. There were two people on either side of her, with one out of the two had their hands tied behind their back. Hitomi and Yuri recognized Yena, who had a facial expression that conveyed both confusion and fear. Beside her was a woman with pink hair, whom Hitomi recognized as Crazy Kim Minju. She looked to the opposite side and saw Chaewon with a relieved facial expression, quite the opposite of Yena’s. Standing close to her right was Agent Kwon Eunbi. Strangely enough, the renowned agent looked like she had a lot of things on her mind; she was fiddling her thumbs behind her back and kept tapping her foot on the floor. Hitomi made a mental note to try and fish out what was going on the Agent’s mind when she gets the chance.

Wonyoung stood up as soon as she saw the newcomers and her face transformed to one filled with panic. “YURI!” the young CEO shouted, “Honda Hitomi, please let her go. I have the people you want, now you should hold up your end of the bargain.”

“Here’s how we’re going to do this. I will hand over Yuri to you and you hand over both Yena and Chaewon to me. Once I’m safely out of the building, I will hand you the IZ*Crystal.”

“Okay… Okay… I’ll do that. As long as Yuri’s safe, I will do whatever you want me to do,” said Wonyoung in a soft voice. The young CEO sounded so sincere that Yuri almost believed that Wonyoung actually cared for her. If she hadn’t heard the conversation that Hitomi had with her when they first orchestrated the hostage situation, she would have been touched by Wonyoung’s feelings.

“Sounds good,” replied Hitomi. “On three?”

“Okay.”

The hostages were about to be exchanged when Yena interrupted the process, “Ya Hitomi, what’s wrong with you? Why are you handing Yuri to them? You don’t know what she’s going to do to Yuri! Ya!”

Yena’s protests fell on deaf ears as the Japanese girl started counting. “One…

Two….

Three…”

As promised, the two agents pushed Yena and Chaewon towards Hitomi and Hitomi pushed Yuri towards the Wonyoung, who had her arms wide open to welcome the singer into her arms. However, Yuri did not make it there; she was tackled to the ground by Yena.

“Yuri! Don’t! Trust me, you don’t want to be with her right now! I---”

“Trust you? Why should I trust you?” Yuri’s eyes suddenly changed from sad to fiery. Yuri was glaring at Yena as if daggers were ready to come out of her eyes and pierce Yena’s soul, which obviously shocked the latter.

“Wh—What?”

“You’re a ing con artist. In fact, you’re in cahoots with the person who kidnapped me! Tell me, does that scream ‘trustworthy’ to you?” Yuri answered with no attempt to hide her anger.

“But---” Yena was left speechless by this whole conversation with her girlfriend. She expected Yuri to be happy to see her and head out of the cursed building together, but the younger girl’s behavior was the complete opposite which made her realize something.

Yuri knows.

She now knows who I really am.

And as expected,

She hates me.

“Yuri, are you okay?” Wonyoung’s question brought Yena out of her trance. To Yena’s further dismay, she saw Yuri take Wonyoung’s hand to help her up. Wonyoung gave Yuri a hug, a hug which depicted two friends who have not seen each other and were happy to be in each other’s arms again. Yena could see the Yuri wearing a bright smile as she pulled Wonyoung into a tighter hug, which was a huge contrast to her demeanor was towards Yena.

Yuri does hate me.

Her thoughts were interrupted once again when she felt someone grabbed her collar from behind and pulled her up. Hitomi forced the con artist, who was obviously flustered by the recent developments, to stand so they can get out of the office. As soon as Yena was able to stand up, Hitomi patted her back and said, “She has made her choice. I’m sorry it has come to this, but the crew needed you more.”

The Japanese girl then turned to Yujin and said, “I assume you would us until we get out of here?” The tall bodyguard answered with a curt nod and led the way towards the exit. Hitomi, Chaewon, and Yena followed suit without looking back to where Yuri was. Chaewon was just happy to be in her girlfriend’s company again, and she knew that if she looked back, she would see Minju and it would remind her of the evil deeds the pink-haired agent did to her when she was still a captive.

Yena, on the other hand, did not want to look back because she’s seen enough. She did not want to convince herself further that Yuri hated her. She was completely sure of it. Her fears about what happens when Yuri discovers her true identity came true, and she completely understood Yuri’s decision. Her shoulders were slumped and her head was down as she followed the exiting party towards the door.

What the con artist did not see was an almost-teary eyed Yuri staring at the con artist’s back. She tried hiding her feelings, but she couldn’t. She knew that even if Wonyoung noticed, she could still make up an excuse for her staring like she did right now. Once Yuri was able to stop herself from tearing up, she smiled towards Wonyoung and sat on the chair that Wonyoung directed her to.

I’m sorry but I just had to do it, Yena.

You know what you always say.

Doubts can transform lies into truths.

--

FLASHBACK

“Yuri, we need to make W