‘You have disappointed me deeply.’ A deep voice boomed across the room.

Siwon stood on the other side with his head hung low. The other man paced slowly across the width of the room, all the while keeping his eye on Siwon.

‘You have proven yourself incapable of leading BLACK to greatness. You let an undercover into your apartment, fell prey to her and busted the cover of the mole we have in NSI. Not to mention the double agent whom you failed to detect. I’m afraid I’m going to have to take over things myself.’

Siwon quivered in fear. He knew the implications of his mistakes. As the light footsteps of the other man drew nearer to him, he lost his cool and dropped to his knees and begged.

‘Please… no… no… please give me another chance Yunho. PLEASE!!!’

BANG.

+++

‘Everything that Siwon was handling will now be taken on by me directly.’ Yunho addressed the men that stood silently around him. They all knew where Siwon had ended up – at the bottom of the sea – and they had no intention of joining him.

‘Siwon was distracted – to say the least – but I have only one objective. Since we have lost our codes, we need to get them another way. If soft, tactical methods fail us, we will have to go down the hard way.’

He turned and walked towards the man who was seated in front of his desk. ‘I will need to use you and your daughter.’

The man who was initially calmly seated began to sweat and stammer. ‘W-What d-do you m-mean?’

Yunho laughed coldly. ‘You’re going to find out soon enough.’

+++

‘Eunhyuk, why did you leak the data to BLACK?’

‘They offered me a lot of money.’ Eunhyuk’s head drooped as low as it was physically possibly from the shame he felt seeping through his veins. ‘I succumbed to temptations.’

‘You had a debt to pay.’

Eunhyuk’s head shot up in surprise. Boa shot him a knowing look. ‘Of course I would know. NSI knows a lot more than we let on.’

Boa exhaled loudly, shaking her head sadly. ‘We’ve lost two very good agents – one to greed and the other… to misplaced loyalties. The two of you will remain in the cells till the heads come to a consensus on your punishment. It will be severe.’

Eunhyuk nodded numbly. He had already known that his life as he knew it was over when BLACK had caught him trying to sell the data to another group. He had admonished himself for being so greedy and getting caught but what killed him was knowing that Hyoyeon had sacrificed her own future for him. He didn’t deserve it… his weak, pathetic soul didn’t deserve it one bit.

+++

Jessica groaned in pain as she accidentally breathed in sharply at the sight on Tiffany lying right beside her in the morning. Tiffany’s eyes shot open and she turned to Jessica worriedly.

‘What happened!’

‘N-Nothing… I breathed too quickly that’s all.’

Tiffany placed her hand over Jessica’s injured ribs and lowered her head to kiss it gently. ‘I wish I could kiss it away.’ She murmured.

Jessica endeavored to regulate her breathing once again. She pouted when Tiffany got off the bed. ‘Come back to bed Tif.’

Tiffany flashed a dazzling smile and went round to Jessica’s side. She helped Jessica up and walked to the bathroom with her. ‘Wash up and I’ll make us some breakfast.’

Jessica perked up at the thought and grinned widely. ‘I want pancakes!’

Tiffany smiled and patted her head. ‘Pancakes it is!’

+++

Tiffany smiled as she washed the dishes and put them away. She looked over at the older girl who was resting on her bed once again. She opened the fridge and took out the tub of strawberry ice cream before heading over to Jessica with a spoon.

‘Let’s share this ice cream. I’ll feed you.’ The younger girl grinned cheekily.

‘But we can’t…’ Jessica blushed again. ‘… do it.’

Tiffany giggled. ‘I know… but we can still eat it and if you can keep yourself breathing deeply and steadily… I think we can try for first base.’

Jessica looked at Tiffany’s twinkling eyes and tried to control her excitement. She made a conscious effort to regulate her breathing, slow and deep. ‘I think I can handle it.’ She smiled confidently.

+++

Both girls felt a sense of homecoming as their lips finally met. The empty tub of ice cream sat dismally by the side as the two girls fell into the deep pool of whirling sensations. Their warm, soft lips melded together like yin and yang and they both moaned from the relief of finally having something that they’ve been missing for so long.

Tiffany pressed in firmly, parting her lips wider and applied more suction as she caught Jessica’s lips between hers. As Jessica parted her lips, Tiffany entered and their tongues met shyly, feeling slightly foreign after being apart for so long. Jessica tried to keep her breath as calm as possible but it was getting harder as the feeling of Tiffany’s tongue on hers was just too exciting and stimulating after thinking about it for so long.

The younger girl left her lips and allowed Jessica time to breathe deeply before returning to claim her property again. She nibbled on Jessica’s lower lip playfully, earning a moan from the older girl, unabashed and inhibited. She grinned against her lips and moved down to her neck, avoiding the sensitive spots that would cause her to breathe too sharply. She wrapped her arms around her not too tightly, feeling every nuance and curve up against hers. Then she stopped kissing her and simply hugged her for a long, long time.

Jessica closed her eyes and returned the hug, feeling warm and content to be in the arms of her love. Tears began to flood her eyes and it wasn’t before long that Tiffany sensed that she was crying again.

‘My dear Jessi… why are you crying again?’ Tiffany asked gently, wiping the tears with her thumbs.

Jessica shook her head slightly. ‘I don’t know…’

Tiffany smiled warmly and wiped the snot from her nose with a tissue. ‘Don’t sniff, you’ll hurt.’

Jessica blinked her tears away and smiled at Tiffany. ‘I’m sorry… I don’t know why I’m being so emotional.’

‘Jessi… you make me feel so loved by you… don’t be sorry…’ Tiffany kissed Jessica right on the lips again and soon their lips were nuzzling each other all over again.

+++

Taeyeon managed to suffer through another day at school. It was with great pleasure that she opened her door and her lips curled up into a great, big smile when she saw a curled up bundle of cuteness lying on her bed, sound asleep.

She placed her bag on the chair as quietly as she could and tiptoed her way across the room. She had learnt that Sunny had very keen senses and it was almost impossible to spring herself on her as she had found out very rudely one afternoon when she had tried to sneak up behind Sunny to grab her. She had ended up kissing the floor instead of Sunny as the younger girl had skillfully dodged her surprise hug and spun round to giggle cheekily at the sight of her groaning on the floor.

She made it to the bedside without Sunny stirring. She squatted down on her toes and found herself level with Sunny’s serene sleeping face. She sighed contently. No matter how crazy things were, nothing mattered because Sunny was here with her. Her pillow (yes you read pillow, there is no mistake there) of strength, cute as she was, strict as she was, y as she was… was all she needed to pull through each and every day.

In the week that Sunny had stayed with her… she had come to realize something important. A couple doesn’t need a certificate or a promise or a symbol to prove anything. All they need are two sincere hearts that love each other unconditionally – preferably beating hearts of course. As she studied each and every feature on the sleeping girl’s face, she knew, that this was a face she’d never get tired of seeing, no matter how old and wrinkled it got. No matter whether there was a smile, grin, frown or pout – oh… how she loved those pouts! – she would still love her just as much.

After a week of having her around, she was sure that she wanted her to stick around… for as long as possible… till death did them part. Then she gasped. When had their relationship – or a lack thereof – transcended into something more? They’d only just agreed not to put any labels or commitment on each other not so long ago. How did she end up feeling like this?

Her lips parted as a faint whisper left her lips and she found herself pouring out her feelings to the serenely sleeping girl as softly as she could.

‘Sunny… I don’t know how or when… but I love you. I love you and I’ll never want to leave you. I know that you don’t want a label… you don’t want to commit… so I won’t ask that of you… I’m just afraid that one day… you might leave me… so please don’t… because I might just die if you do.’

And with a deep, soulful sigh, she rose back up and tiptoed to the bathroom to change out of her clothes.

Sunny felt a tear drop roll down her cheek. She had heard everything Taeyeon said as she had already been awakened by the sound of the door opening. She was immensely touched by Taeyeon’s heartfelt confession but she couldn’t return it, as much as she wanted to. She knew that her job wouldn’t allow her to. The inherent dangers in her job meant that she could leave this world at any given moment. Sungmin reminded her of that sobering fact ever so often.

Another tear rolled down her cheek. She wanted to be with Taeyeon too. She felt the same. She just couldn’t let Taeyeon know. She couldn’t… she… couldn’t… and her tears wouldn’t stop falling. She heard the sound of the bathroom door opening and desperately tried to stop herself from crying but to no avail. It was like the floodgates had been opened and the welled up tears behind that dam gushed out as though they’d been waiting forever. As a last resort, she buried her face into her pillow, trying to hide her tear-stained face from the older girl.

Taeyeon noticed her moving in bed. ‘Sunny? Are you up?’

She sat down on the bed beside Sunny and spotted the wet spots on the pillow. ‘Sunny, are you crying? Sunny? SUNNY? WHAT’S WRONG?’ She panicked upon seeing Sunny’s tears streaming down like a waterfall. She lay down beside the sobbing girl and hugged her as tightly as she could.

‘Did you have a nightmare again?’

Sunny nodded her head, lying about the real reason behind her tears.

‘Aww… I thought that they had gone away…’ Taeyeon her back gently, soothing the girl in her arms.

However, instead of subsiding, her sobs grew in magnitude as she then felt guilty for lying to Taeyeon who had been nothing but honest and sincere with her. She felt guilty for lying about all the times she had to go away and now she was even lying about something as simple as her true feelings.

Taeyeon grew more and more worried but that caused Sunny to feel guiltier and guiltier and so it was a vicious cycle that had Sunny crying harder and harder into her arms. Then she couldn’t take it anymore.

‘Taeyeon… I love you so much. I want to be with you forever.’

Taeyeon stilled, froze and stiffened as the muffled, uneven words made their way past her ears and into her brain, registering themselves in her heart. She could have sworn that her heart actually stopped pumping for a second as she fought to keep herself under control.

‘What did you say?’

‘I want to be with you…’ Sunny sniffed hard and looked deep into Taeyeon’s eyes. ‘…forever.’ And she closed her lips around Taeyeon’s firmly, possessively and pulled her lip with hers, running her tongue across them before finally entering the cavern behind those beautiful lips. Taeyeon’s senses went into overdrive from the surprise confession and the feeling of Sunny’s tongue lavishing itself on hers. She responded just as passionately and soon had Sunny sensually into .

+++

Taeyeon collapsed onto Sunny’s heaving chest. ‘I’m getting fitter from all this exercise.’ She announced with a tinge of pride.

Sunny laughed. ‘You’d better… I’ll want more in a while.’ She winked lewdly as the older girl who groaned.

‘You’re too fit for me.’

‘I’m already doing most of the work.’

Taeyeon giggled. ‘Yes you are.’

Sunny growled and nipped lightly at Taeyeon’s neck. ‘So stop complaining. Especially when I give you so much pleasure.’

‘It tiring to be pleasured you know.’ Taeyeon went on cheekily, laughing at Sunny’s look of incredulity.

‘Alright, that’s it… I’m not doing any of the work. It’s your turn now.’

‘Aww… Sunny…’ Taeyeon pouted and nuzzled herself in Sunny’s bosom. ‘Ah… this is the life.’

She lifted her head and saw the book that Sunny had been reading before she fell asleep. ‘You sure love reading, don’t you?’

‘Yeah, but I don’t have that much time to read.’

‘I figured… with your job at the vineyard and all… and what is it that you do again?’

‘Haven’t I told you before?’

‘I was just wondering if you still had your job… you never did explain why you have a week off and why you’re spending it in my room. You haven’t stepped out of here at all, it’s incredible, considering the fact that you haven’t been attending your classes either.’

‘Taeyeonie…’ Sunny said quietly.

Taeyeon stilled… sensing that Sunny was about to say something important.

‘I’m actually… not a student in your university.’

Taeyeon smiled. ‘I know.’

Sunny looked at Taeyeon in shock. ‘Y-You knew?’

Taeyeon nodded. ‘I er… was curious to know more about you so… I went to the Meteorological Sciences department to ask for your details… you didn’t exist in their records and I remembered your student number distinctively.’

‘Wow, I didn’t let you look at it for more than a few seconds and you remembered that long string of numbers?’ Sunny was impressed.

‘You know how I’m always telling you that I actually know all the stuff that’s being taught in my lectures?’

Sunny nodded and rolled her eyes. ‘Yes… you’re always trying to get out of attending your lectures.’

‘Well… I’m not kidding about it Sunny. I have photographic memory. I remember what I see in a matter of seconds. I hardly have any trouble with my classes because of that.’

She sighed and hung her head as she mumbled to herself. ‘But that is also a curse when you see things that you want to forget but can’t.’

‘What did you say?’ Sunny didn’t quite catch the mumbling part.

‘I said… nobody believes me when I saw that I know stuff. They never see me studying or reading anything but that’s because I only have to look at it once to remember everything.’

‘Wow… you’re… like a genius?’

‘I don’t know…’ Taeyeon shrugged. ‘It just makes things a lot easier for me.’

‘Wow…’ Sunny let out a hushed whisper. This part of Taeyeon was new to her. ‘And you knew that I was lying to you about being a student… why didn’t you ask me about it?’

Taeyeon shrugged again. ‘What right did I have? You obviously have something to hide… I can’t very well probe into your affairs and risk making you angry and leaving me.’

‘Oh Taeyeon…’ Sunny didn’t know what to say.

‘Incidentally… I tried to find out more about you after I realized that you weren’t a student… I was really curious… so I know that you own that vineyard as well.’

Sunny gasped. She had grossly underestimated Taeyeon. No doubt that being the daughter of a Prime Minister would make her a little different from the average civilian.

‘And again, you didn’t question me about leaving out the fact that I own that vineyard?’

Taeyeon looked down at her toes. ‘I didn’t exactly want you to know that I had been trying to find out more about you.’ She said in a small voice. ‘I was afraid that you might think that I’m a stalker or a ert, so I pretended that I didn’t know anything.’

Sunny laughed out loud. ‘Taeyeonie… I think we’ve more than established the fact that you’re a ert. As for being a stalker… hmm… maybe… maybe not.’

Her laughter died down and she looked at Taeyeon quizzically. ‘And after finding out that I’ve been pretty much lying to you all the time… you’re not angry with me? You’re not afraid of me? I might be some criminal with something to hide you know.’

‘By then I was already in love with you. I… can’t leave you. I feel hurt every time you lie to me but… I’d rather take that pain than the pain of losing you entirely. Besides… if you had plans to harm me… you could have done so many times before… I trust you despite everything else.’

Taeyeon’s honesty and sincerity once again made its way into the depths of Sunny’s heart where it pulled and tugged on her heartstrings.

‘Taeyeonie…’ Sunny’s voice was a hushed whisper as she enveloped the older girl in her arms tightly, knocking out all the wind from her.

‘Sunny…’ Taeyeon smiled and closed her eyes, feeling relieved that she had come clean with Sunny.

‘I’m sorry… for lying to you… but… I can’t tell you anything yet… maybe someday I can…’

Taeyeon patted her back comfortingly. ‘It’s okay Sunny… we all have our secrets.’ And I have mine.

+++