“Junho, behind you!” Taecyeon shouted. He lunged from the window on the second floor, his arm outstretched. Junho whipped around, his eyes widening in alarm. With lightning-fast reflexes, his hand lashed out; it formed a fist as it punched Hyomin’s wrist. At the same time, he dodged to the side, avoiding Jiyeon’s dagger.

Hyomin grimaced in pain, automatically releasing the dagger. Almost immediately her other arm whipped out; it caught the falling dagger and she whirled around, ready to strike again.

Junho was ready this time; he had fallen into a martial arts stance, his eyes wary, even filled with anger as he stared at them. Hyomin and Jiyeon struck together; Jiyeon slashing upwards while Hyomin slashed downwards.

Junho stepped back, and his body knocked into Taecyeon’s. With perfect coordination, the two exchanged places, Taecyeon swinging to the front as he kicked upwards at Jiyeon’s dagger; the dagger flew out of her hand. Junho lashed out at Hyomin, his leg sweeping downwards. Hyomin leapt, but was a beat too slow to avoid Taecyeon and he slammed into her, throwing her into the arms of her fellow assassins.

Taecyeon drew two guns, tossing Junho one; both raised the guns, pointing them directly at the T-ara members. A shocked gasp escaped Boram and Qri as they stared at Ok Taecyeon; the other members managed to contain themselves, although their faces reflected the same shock.

Eunjung stared at Taecyeon in shock, “Oppa…?”

Taecyeon’s face held a subtle chagrin as he faced off with the T-ara members. Junho spat furiously, “You little es! We try to help you and this is what we get in return?”

“Help us?” Hyomin demanded, “Were you really trying to help us? Wasn’t it a trap?”

Junho swore violently, rolling his eyes, “God, you’re dumb.”

There was a pause as the T-ara members exchanged uncertain glances. Was it really a genuine attempt to help them?

Taecyeon took the lead, as he tried desperately to keep his voice steady, “We’ve returned Park Soyeon to you. And we’re only going to warn you once. We have received orders to hunt you down. So I would suggest you hide as far away as you can from us.”

The T-ara members exchanged alarmed looks, but Hyomin scoffed, “Why shouldn’t we kill you right here and now?”

“Because our other members are here as well. Trust me, in a fight, you would not last against all of us, even if Park Soyeon was well and fighting alongside you.” Junho responded, a subtle threat.

Jiyeon raised an eyebrow, her voice ice-cold, “Why do I find it hard to believe your other members really are here?”

There was a thud as Chansung fell from the second level window, landing neatly on his feet. He straightened up, his expression sad. Boram’s eyes widened, “You…you’re Chansung! Hwang Chansung! Soyeon’s colleague!”

“I never knew Soyeon was an assassin. I didn’t want this to happen to her, but I couldn’t…I couldn’t help her. I’m sorry.” Chansung choked out, the tears almost falling from his eyes. There was another pause, as the T-ara members looked startled by Chansung. Hyomin’s jaw tightened, “If…if this really isn’t a trap…but I don’t understand. Why would you help us?”

There was a long silence. When Junho saw that no one was intending to answer, he rolled his eyes and spoke, “I wouldn’t have bothered, but Chansung was insistent on helping Soyeon-sshi escaped. Apparently, she “begged us to help her”. Taecyeon couldn’t resist either, and neither could J-”

“Junho! Be quiet.” Taecyeon interrupted, his voice stern. Jiyeon raised an eyebrow, “Yes? Who else couldn’t resist the temptation of helping Soyeon?”

“None of your business.” Taecyeon answered shortly, “We’re leaving, and don’t bother trying to ambush us this time. You should get Soyeon to a hospital first. Or your Masquerade headquarters. Whatever.” With that, he and the others turned away.

“Wait…Taecyeon oppa!”

Taecyeon stopped abruptly, but did not turn. Eunjung hesitated, her lips trembling as she stared at Taecyeon. Junho glanced at Eunjung, then at Taecyeon, before sighing deeply.

The assassin’s voice was barely above a whisper, “Are you…are you really…”

“A Warrior? The answer should be obvious by now.” Taecyeon’s voice was cold. And without another word, he, Junho and Chansung strode out of the warehouse.

There was a long silence as the other T-ara members turned to stare at Eunjung. The tears finally spilled out of her eyes, and she collapsed, weeping, to the ground. Jiyeon hurried to her side, wrapping her arms around her unnie as she whispered reassurances, comforts that they both knew would not help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jang Wooyoung threw himself onto his sofa, groaning. Jo Kwon strode over to him, “Not chasing after that girl of yours today?” Wooyoung cursed, “I don’t know how she got past me, but she’s not in her house anymore! I waited for ages and didn’t get to see her! This is ridiculous…”

“I agree. You should just give up.” Jo Kwon quickly suggested. Wooyoung shot him a look, “No way. You know I never give up.”

Jo Kwon rolled his eyes, “Maybe you should make an exception just this once.”

There was a sound of a door opening and closing; a girl strode into the house, dumping her bag on the floor. She looked surprised to see that Wooyoung was home, “Oppa! You’re home so early? Don’t you have filming?”

Wooyoung frowned, “Shouldn’t that be my question, Dani? What is my fourteen-year-old sister doing out of school during school hours?”

Dani shifted uncomfortably, “Eh…”

Wooyoung’s eyes narrowed, “You played truant again, didn’t you?”

Dani hesitated.

Wooyoung leapt to his feet, his expression furious, “This is it! I’ve had it with that American school! How can they just let their students…I’ve had enough, I’m transferring you to a normal Korean school.”

Dani looked up, alarmed, “What? No, oppa, you can’t, I don’t want to-”

“You don’t have a choice!” Wooyoung shouted. He stormed to the table, grabbing his handphone and punching in the numbers furiously, “I’m going to get to work in half an hour’s time, and I’ll make sure you’re transferred before that!”

“No! You can’t do this to me, I won’t transfer! I will not-” The door slammed, and Dani was left alone in the house again. There was a moment of silence as she stared at the door in disbelief. Then, as the tears started running down her face, she shouted, “Since when have you ever cared about me anyway?!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok Taecyeon hurled the bottle across the room with all his strength; it hit the wall and smashed, falling to the ground in dozens of little pieces. He groaned, reaching out to grab the next bottle of beer.

“Enough.” A voice interrupted. Taecyeon looked up, and through his drunken stupor, he recognised the face of his trainer and long-time friend, Jay Park.

Jay took the bottle from him, “You gonna tell me what’s wrong, or do I have to ask the other Warriors?”

Taecyeon shook his head drunkenly, “They…won’t…They won’t tell you…a thing.”

Jay leaned forward, “So you’ll just have to tell me then, won’t you.”

There was a pause as Taecyeon stared at Jay, his eyes unfocused. Then he lurched forward, “Jay…tell me…what…what happens when you fall in…fall in love with…with one of them?”

There was a long silence as Jay gazed at Taecyeon, his expression inscrutable. Then he straightened up, “Nothing happens. You leave each other. You move on. If you’re lucky.”

“And if you…if you’re not…not lucky?”

There was an even longer pause. Jay looked down; his gaze fell upon the ring on his fourth finger, a diamond ring with a huge scratch on it, as if someone had slashed it with a knife. His jaw tightened, “Nothing good happens when a Warrior falls in love with an assassin. They live in two different worlds, Taecyeon. And there is a gap between them that can never be bridged. Remember that.”

“I asked what…what happens…if you’re not a…not a lucky fella?” Taecyeon demanded.

Jay looked over at Taecyeon. Then, unexpectedly, he twisted the bottle of beer open and took a long drought from it. Taecyeon waited.

“I fell in love with my college senior. She was everything I ever wanted. Smart, pretty, thoughtful, even rich, although I didn’t care much about that. In my eyes, she was perfect. We even got engaged and planned out the wedding and everything. ”

Taecyeon gave a drunken laugh, “Sounds like a fairytale.”

Jay gave a bitter, mocking laugh, “All fairytales go wrong eventually. One day, I found out who she really was. When I stopped her from killing some old hag. She was so upset, so angry at me. And I…well, I was angry too. And heartbroken.” He took another long swig from the bottle and sighed deeply, “I had no choice. We stopped meeting, stopped communicating. For a whole year we lived that way, and all I could think about was her. How she was doing, whether she thought about me, whether she was doing well without me…It was pathetic.”

Taecyeon had gone silent, staring at Jay. His trainer’s words seemed to pierce the drunken mist around Taecyeon, for Taecyeon’s eyes had cleared a little, the pity evident in them as he whispered, “What happened then?”

“One day she called me. Asked me to meet up. I was excited. So excited. I dressed nicely, got flowers and everything. And I went to the meetup point.” Jay stopped abruptly, as if he couldn’t continue. Taecyeon stared at him, enraptured.

After a moment, Jay spoke, his voice barely above a whisper, “She apologized. She said she couldn’t live with my memory haunting her, that it was too hard for her to continue as an assassin. She said she had to rid herself of all memories of me.” He looked up at Taecyeon, his eyes wild and grief-stricken, “She tried to kill me, Taecyeon! She came at me with a knife, she came at me, and she tried to kill me!” He pulled his collar down, revealing a long, ugly looking scar leading from his neck down to his chest, “She said she loved me, and she still tried to kill me!”

Taecyeon was shaking as he looked at the scar, his eyes shocked. Jay slumped back into the seat, “I had no choice. It was self-defence. I killed her. I took the knife from her, and stabbed her. And then I stabbed her again, and again. For a moment, it felt good. Like I was taking revenge for her attacking me. And then I wept. I threw her body into the river so no one would ever find her. And then, the name Min Sunye became nothing to the world anymore.”

“You killed her?” Taecyeon’s voice was horrorstruck, his eyes wide and disbelieving.

There was a pause as Jay seemed to collect himself. Then he set the bottle down, his voice subdued but controlled as he spoke, “Nothing good comes from a love between a Warrior and an assassin. Remember that, Taecyeon.” And then he strode out of the apartment, leaving Taecyeon to his drunken grief.

Sitting at the other side of the room, JB’s fist clenched. His eyes met Taecyeon’s, both stunned by Jay’s story, both wondering the same thing.

Was this the fate that would befall them too?

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Taecyeon to the rescue! Heh, I liked writing the fight scene between Taec, Junho and T-ara, I think it was pretty cool. Taec pretty much blew his cover in this story, but he had to do it, cos he's the leader, and leaders have to make sacrifices for their members. And Junho was so outraged XD

Also, the girl from a nine-member group is Dani(I consider T-ara to have nine members, since I consider Hwayoung still part of the group) and Jay. Dani plays a relatively big role in upcoming chapters, and yes, Wooyoung is her brother. Can anyone guess her role in the story?

The other solo guy is Jay. I really liked writing his story, I thought it was really painful and sad...I felt bad for Jay and Sunye(yes, the girl is Sunye). His story connects to JB and Taecyeon, since it's practically a reflection of their own lives now, and they can't help but wonder if that will happen to them too. After all, no other Warrior and assassin have been able to be together before, so this story really casts a negative light on their love...

Next chapter will come by the end of next week, so please wait for it! And remember, comment and subscribe!