“Stop! Put that down! We need sugar not salt!” Jungeun yelled, eyes glued to her phone that displayed the recipe to the cake she had initially planned to bake. 

Currently, progress has been tough. Heejin was quite oblivious, both to Hyunjin’s feelings for her and what should go into a cake. 

“People put salt on cookies, why not a cake?” Heejin tilted her head, genuinely curious.

“Because this isn’t a cookie and the recipe doesn’t call for it!” 

“We should try it!”

“No!” 

Right now, the entire situation was like when you had to hold a flashlight for your father while he was working on the car and you weren’t aiming the flashlight where he wanted you to. So, he yelled at you in frustration. Heejin was trying her best, and Jungeun felt as if a migraine would flare up in her head any second now.

“Sorry Heejin, I need to lay down.” Jungeun leaned on the counter, untying her apron and tossing it into the closet.

“Who’s gonna help me bake then?” Heejin frowned, bag of salt in her hands.

As if they had heard Jungeun’s mental praying, Vivi and Haseul walked through the front door right in that very moment.

“Children! We’re home!” Haseul called out, setting down their shared luggage and sliding off her shoes.

“ThankgodHaseulpleasehelpme-“ Jungeun said in one breath, running out to the front door, putting her hands on the poor girl’s shoulders.

“Slow down, deep breaths.”

“Please help me! Heejin in the kitchen!”

“WHAT?” Haseul shrieked, sprinting to the kitchen.

“Oh hey! Welcome ba-“ Heejin brightly smiled, eyes lighting up, before Haseul cut her off.

“What’s going on in here?” Haseul sternly asked, seeing salt sprinkled all over the floor and flour on all surfaces near the hybrid.

“Well me and Jungeun were trying to bake a cake, but she gave up just a few minutes ago.”

“Go get cleaned up and we can finish this later, after we fix this mess,” Haseul sighed, rubbing her temples, “We really can’t leave for a month without something going wrong..”

“I would like to help, baking seems fun, even if I cannot consume the after-product.” Vivi, an android, suddenly said from beside Haseul. 

“Of course! We just need to clean up the aftermath first..” 

Looking around the kitchen, there was a lot to clean up. Salt all over the floor from Heejin dropping the bag milliseconds after Jungeun was out of sight, flour coating nearly every surface in the vicinity, bowls of batter lined up along the counter that obviously didn’t turn out right, as well as a carton of smashed eggs laying on the floor. 

Haseul thought she might just faint, why can’t they just stay in Paris?

—-

Chaewon’s body trembled with fear, her eyes wide and tearing up, unable to register the sight in front of her.

“So if you look at this fancy lever here, you can see it goes from one to ten. Each level corresponds to an electrode hooked onto our dear Hyejoo, and when you crank up this magical lever, an electrode activates and distributes electricity in that spot! Today, we’ll see how many levels Hyejoo can take before she passes out!” Dr. Ahn sickly smiled, observing the poor girl trapped in the room across from the two, crossing his legs and seeming all too comfortable in this room.

Chaewon looked at Hyejoo through the glass, the two making eye contact, causing the blonde’s heart to clench. She had never seen so much fear in Hyejoo’s eyes before, which were usually playful and calm, as if she were begging Chaewon to do something. 

It hurt even more to know Chaewon was powerless and all she could do was watch her beloved friend be tortured without cause, risking her own life to help.

“Take a seat, we’ll get started.” Dr. Ahn cleared his throat, cracking his knuckles and turning his attention to Hyejoo entrapped in the tiny room across from the two, “Go on, we have all day.” 

Sitting in the plush chair, Tears started to form at the corners of Chaewon’s eyes as she watched Dr. Ahn flick the lever to two. Hyejoo visibly clenching her jaw and slightly balling her fists in pain.

“If you didn’t know, Hyejoo’s been through this a few times in the past. Though, she’s never been able to get to level ten. Let’s see if we can change that today!” Dr. Ahn exclaimed in sickening joy as he cranked the level up to four, causing Hyejoo’s hands to go white as she gripped the chair arm, her hair covering her face as she doubled over, “Usually, level 5 would already render any normal human unconscious from the pain. But, as you see, Hyejoo here is special!”

All Chaewon wanted to do was hurt this sick man the same way he was hurting her friend. What is this purpose of this?

Lost in her thoughts with her tear-blurred eyes, she hadn’t noticed the handgun laying out in the open on the desk a few feet away from her. She had spotted it when she was getting escorted out of the office, right after witnessing Hyejoo passing out from Dr. Ahn’s torture session. The worst part was, the safety mechanism was off. 

Time flew by and Chaewon couldn’t bear to look through the glass. She closed her eyes and covered her ears, sobbing, wishing it would all stop and this was just a sick joke. 

No balloons were hanging around, the kind old woman who gave Chaewon food that one time and saved her from the monsters on the street didn’t hop out from a hiding spot in the room, Hyejoo didn’t smile or crack an annoying joke. 

This was their cruel reality.