MEETING
UNTOUCHABLE"Seulgi."
Seulgi felt Sooyoung tap her shoulder, bringing her senses back into the Control Room.
"Captain Seulgi, are you okay?" asked Commander Sunny.
"Yes, Commander."
"Good. I'll leave this now to you. Assemble your team. You'll depart in thirty minutes."
"Thank you, Commander." All of Troop C gave a salute as Commander Sunny leaves the room.
"So, what's the plan, Cap?" asked Amber.
"The four of us will go there," said Seulgi, looking at everyone. "Amber, Sooyoung, you'll be the Chainers. I'll be the Finisher. Krystal, you do love kids, right?"
"I do, captain! What should I do then?" asked Krystal.
"Babysit. You handle the kid while we handle the Evens."
"Truly heroic," teased Amber. Krystal just rolled her eyes in annoyance.
There was a knock on the door. An AEF personnel stepped in. "Uh... Captain Seulgi...?"
"Yes?"
"Kim Joohyun is here in headquarters. Commander Sunny asked me to tell you to talk to her."
Seulgi, who's unsure of what to react, looked at Sooyoung for help.
"Please take her to the Interview Room. We'll meet her there," said Sooyoung.
"Roger that. Thank you."
After the AEF personnel left, Seulgi animatedly asked Sooyoung what she should do. Sooyoung just shrugged. "We have to talk to her."
"Hey, what's up?" asked Amber. "Why are you two acting weird about this?"
Sooyoung turned to Amber. "Well, the thing is--"
"We have plenty of time to talk about that later," said Seulgi, sighing. "Amber and Krystal, prepare for our departure now. Make sure to bring extra bullets and boosters. We don't know what's waiting for us there. Sooyoung, check the weather report, we want to know if we're expecting another rain in the next two hours. Let's rendezvous in Gate A in fifteen minutes. Copy that?"
"Roger, Captain!" everyone said.
"Let's get started so we can go over with this as soon as we can."
---
The Interview Room is a plain room with a few pieces of furniture bolted on the floor: one rectangle table and four chairs. There's a curtained window on one side of the wall and a large two-way mirror opposite it. The mirror's treated side is facing the Interview Room, while the untreated side gives a view to another room next to it.
Seulgi is currently in that dark room, looking at the two-way mirror, waiting for that someone to come in. She knows it. Any minute now, someone will come through that door and will sit on one of the chairs. Seulgi's job is to talk to that person and assure her that everything will be alright. Seulgi has done this many times now. She knows what exactly she needs to do and what she needs to say.
It's that simple.
The problem is, for whatever reason, she's freaking nervous right now. The idea of being with Joohyun face to face after so many years is driving her nuts. She's already tried rehearsing the scene on her mind, memorising the order of her dialogue, imagining how Joohyun would react, and planning a solution to it.
But in the end, she came up with nothing. She knows she's going to lose it.
"It's just her. You've got to pull yourself together," she told herself.
Seulgi's body stiffened when the Interview Room door opened. Someone stepped in, obscured behind the door. But based on the purple scrub suit the person is wearing, Seulgi knows that it's not an AEF personnel.
The person is still talking animatedly to someone on the other side of the door. Seulgi is already anticipating the conversation will end any second now. She can feel her heart beating faster.
Any second now, she can see that person's face again.
The door finally closed, revealing the woman inside. The said woman in HQ Hospital's scrub suit elegantly walked towards the table. Her rubber shoes are making muffled noise on the carpeted floor.
Tap... tap... tap... tap... tap...
The woman sat down on one of the chairs. She brushed her hand through her brownish hair, showing more of her pretty face and fair skin.
Seulgi touched the mirror with her fingertips, wondering how this woman can still affect her even after all these years.
---
School auditorium: fifteen years ago.
Seulgi is starting to feel cold. She's been sitting in that cinema-like auditorium for thirty minutes, but the programme hasn't started yet. She glanced at the backdrop on the stage that says, "Welcome to Freshmen Orientation!" to check the event time.
"It's supposed to have started now," Seulgi told herself. She glanced around and noticed that few people had arrived so far. There were groups in the middle and left part of the auditorium, but none has seated beside Seulgi yet.
One piece of advice she got from her doctor before enrolling in that university is to make friends. She's suffered child depression for years, and now is the first time she's going out on her own. She's determined to make friends and open herself up, and she would start by talking to the people who would sit beside her.
Since Seulgi's sitting by the aisle, she's looking up at people who are passing by back and forth, hoping that one of her seatmates would finally arrive.
Getting bored, she started reading the student's handbook. Slowly, people are coming in. The noise began to build up from a different group of students. Seulgi felt envious because some of these kids have friends already.
Tap... tap... tap... tap... tap...
Out of nowhere, Seulgi heard a distinct sound of rubber shoes lightly tapping on the tiled floor. Others have heavy footsteps. This one's light, like the person is merely taking steps.
Seulgi didn't mind looking. It could be one of those students who is already acquainted with the others.
Tap... tap... tap... tap... tap...
But the sound didn't stop. Instead, it keeps getting louder with each step. Not long after that, a girl about her age emerged from Seulgi's right side. The girl is wearing a simple purple dress and has long-salon-like wavy hair.
The girl stood on the aisle, stretching out her neck to check the chair number beside Seulgi.
"Excuse me," said the girl, squeezing herself in, trying to avoid Seulgi's feet.
Seulgi moved her feet back to give way to the girl. She smelled the girl's perfume in the process, making her knees feel a bit weaker.
In her eighteen years of life, Seulgi had never felt an attraction towards anybody. It may have something to do with her depression. She's never attracted to anyone before and doesn't know if she prefers boys or girls.
Well, not until today.
The girl got Seulgi holding her breath. Seulgi finds herself admiring the elegance that hangs around the girl. She looked simple and sophisticated at the same time. Seulgi couldn't point the finger at it, but this girl has something different compared to the majority of the girls she'd seen so far in that auditorium.
It turns out that the girl's chair is the one next to Seulgi. After the girl had settled, Seulgi contemplated whether to introduce herself or not. It's the perfect opportunity for her to step out of her comfort zone and make friends. But being the socially awkward person she is, especially if the target person is this beautiful, Seulgi couldn't help but cower on her chair instead.
Sooner, kids started appearing. Seulgi had abandoned the idea of introducing herself to her seatmates, afraid that these people would find her annoying.
In the middle of the programme, Seulgi noticed that the girl's arms were folded across her chest. At this point, she still keeps on battling the thought of introducing herself to the girl. One second she'll feel that it's just right to be positive and confident, then another second she'll feel afraid again.
As the programme was ending, they announced that the students seated in the right wing of the auditorium (which is where Seulgi's at) occupy the school dormitories.
"And in case you're wondering, you're already sitting beside your roommate! Go ahead, introduce yourselves. You'll be rooming with each other for this whole year," said the host.
Seulgi swallowed a lump in . Since she's situated on the aisle (no one's on her right), it only means that her roommate will be the one to her left. She felt nervous at the idea that she'll be spending the whole year with this pretty girl in the same room.
On the other hand, the girl who thought that she's rooming with the girl to her left finally realised her mistake. She hesitantly looked at Seulgi.
Seulgi took all the courage left in her to introduce herself finally. "Hi... I-I'm Seulgi..."
The girl shook Seulgi's hand softly, "I... I'm... Joohyun..."
---
"Just as I thought, you'll be waiting here instead of the Interview Room," said Sooyoung as she stands by the door.
Seulgi sighed. "I'm just preparing myself..."
"You think you can do it?"
"It's part of my job."
Sooyoung chuckled. She stood beside Seulgi, looking at the other person in the Interview Room. "Mmm. Still pretty as ever, huh?"
Seulgi silently agreed to what Sooyoung said.
"Would you like me to take it from here?" asked Sooyoung. "We haven't seen each other for a while. Maybe I can say hi for you?"
Seulgi took a moment before she nodded. "Yeah. I think it's best you do it. Please assure her we'll save her kid."
"I will, Cap." Sooyoung patted Seulgi's shoulder before walking out of the area. After a few seconds, the door in the Interview Room opened. The woman inside stood up.
"Sooyoung...?"
"Hi, Joohyun."
Without hesitation, Joohyun ran to Sooyoung and hugged her tightly. That's when she started sobbing as if she's been trying to keep herself from crying all this time.
"Hey. Hey. It's going to be fine." Sooyoung rubbed Joohyun's back. "I know you're worried. But we're here to get her, okay?"
"I'm... I'm scared. What if something happens...?"
Seulgi clenched her fist, feeling broken at what she's seeing.
"Shhh... Please calm down. Let's sit over there." Sooyoung guided Joohyun to sit on one of the chairs.
"She's only five. I don't know what's going to happen to me if I lose her," said Joohyun, wiping her tears.
Sooyoung held both Joohyun's hands. "We're leaving as soon as this talk's over. You'll be with her in about an hour or two. I want you to trust us, okay?"
"Can I come with you?"
"I'm afraid that's not possible."
"But I want to see what's happening. I'll go crazy if I wait here not knowing what exactly is happening there."
"I understand," said Sooyoung. "But we're trying to minimise the number of civilians that we need to look after in this operation. There's nothing to be worried about. We are despatching four people to get your kid. That includes me."
Knowing it's hopeless to insist, Joohyun covered her face with her palms.
Sooyoung sighed after a moment. "Okay. Here's what I can do: I can request to give you a pass to the Control Room. In that way, you'll be able to see the operation. Will that be enough?"
Joohyun's face lit up. "Yes! I want to see her. I want to see how you'll rescue her."
"Okay. I will have to excuse myself now as I still need to arrange that for you."
"Thank you, Sooyoung. It means a lot to me."
"Anything for you." Sooyoung smiled. "We shared a lot way back university days, remember?"
That made Joohyun smile. But the smile faded instantly. "Is... Seulgi... here...?"
Seulgi felt her heart move.
Sooyoung nodded. "She's part of the retrieval operation. She's assembling the team as we speak."
Joohyun looked away, sniffing.
"You know how she is during operations like this. You've seen her on TV?" asked Sooyoung, getting a nod from Joohyun. "Your daughter is in good hands."
"I know. But please do take care."
"We will. Don't worry. We'll get your daughter back."
After that, Sooyoung excused herself and went out of the room. She went back to the other room and saw Seulgi still standing on the same spot.
"Take your time, Cap. We'll be waiting for you in Gate A."
"Thank you, Sooyoung."
Sooyoung smiled and stepped out of the room after that.
Seulgi sighed. She closed her eyes, remembering every single way Joohyun had called her name before.
"Seulgi!"
"Seulgi..."
"Seeeuulgiii!"
"Seulgi-yah."
The Interview Room's door opened again. Seulgi opened her eyes and saw Seungwan emerging from the door.
"Joohyun... I came here as soon as I heard..."
Before Seungwan could even sit on one of the chairs, Joohyun stood up to hug her.
"Hey. it's going to be alright. She will be fine..." sad Seungwan.
"I know... I know... Sooyoung talked to me just now and said the same thing. But I can't help it..."
Seungwan pulled away from the hug. "Sooyoung? You mean it's their troop who's going to handle this operation?"
Joohyun nodded.
"Which means that you don't need to worry, right? You know how Seulgi jumps into danger without hesitation to save someone. Your daughter is in safe hands."
"Do you think she knows?" asked Joohyun, still sniffing.
"That she's saving your daughter? I think she does. But worry not." Seungwan pulled Joohyun for another hug. She stared at the mirror on the side as if knowing someone is standing behind that.
"If Seulgi could risk her life for other people, what more for your daughter, right?"
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