Taeyeon was more than depressed. She was completely devoid of hope. It had been a week since she was discharged from the hospital and there was still no news of Sunny.

Boa had been nice enough to check Sunny out for her but even she had found nothing out of the ordinary.

“I can’t disclose anything confidential to you but all I can say is that she’s not in any danger of any sort at the moment.”

Taeyeon nodded understandingly. “I understand that you can’t tell me more. Thank you for helping me so much. I’m very grateful for that.”

Boa smiled and patted Taeyeon’s shoulder comfortingly before escorting the girl out of the hospital.

Now, as she sat in her lecture theatre—yes, life has to go on, doesn’t it?—she couldn’t pay attention to what was bring said at all. Not that it really mattered to her…she already knew everything.

She called Sunny every hour of every day. She texted her constantly. She stared at her phone, willing it to come to life and flash Sunny’s name. And now, almost two weeks after she got kidnapped, Sunny had not contacted her at all.

She was losing hope. She was losing it. What the heck…she had already lost it. Yes, she had lost her Sunny bunny—both the person and the first real present that Sunny had given her on their first proper date.

And that was when her tears wet her blank lecture pad.

+++

It was an ordinary night—cold, dark and windy. The streets below the girl were devoid of any signs of activity. She sat on the edge of the building, dangling her legs over the side. The girl in question wasn’t Sunny this time, but Taeyeon. In the midst of her depression, she found herself coming back to the place where she had first met Sunny. She found herself sitting at the exact spot where Sunny had been sitting when she first saw her.

She contemplated jumping. She really did. It was so easy to jump. But something was holding her back from taking the plunge. No, it wasn’t fear. Taeyeon had no fear when it came to leaving this world. Well, she didn’t have anything to live for ever since she found out that her father was the biggest traitor in the nation.

+

“Daddy? Are you—“ Taeyeon opened the door of his study to find it empty. ‘I guess not.”

She sat on his luxurious leather swivel chair and spun herself round several times. Then she got bored of doing that and powered on his computer. She knew that he had forbidden her to use his computer, saying that it held lots of confidential information regarding the nation, but she wasn’t exactly the most obedient girl in the world.

It was password-protected. Hmmm, what password would Daddy use?

His birthday?

No…

My birthday?

No…

Then a thought struck her. Her father had been really proud of her when she entered a top university based on her own merit. It was corny but it was worth a try.

My student identification number?

Bingo!

Taeyeon clicked random icons found on his desktop only to stumble upon a file she should not have read. She didn’t know what it was exactly but she knew that her father was doing something traitorous to his nation—the very nation that he had been entrusted to run to the best of his ability. Well, so much for integrity.

Then her world shattered. Her father fell from her grace; from hero, to zero. All in the span of exactly two minutes, the amount of time she took to read the document from start to end, each word burning a lasting impression in her photographic memory. And from then on, she hated her photographic memory. She hated it to the core.

+

If she hadn’t found out about her father’s betrayal, she wouldn’t have wanted to kill herself to free herself from the pain that came with the knowledge. She couldn’t turn her father in, yet, neither did she want her father to continue doing the wrongs that he was doing. What was a daughter to do? If she killed herself, would he stop? Perhaps... he might…

She had tried hinting that she despised traitors and people who betrayed others by talking to him about books and movies that she had watched on that topic. She had tried hinting about not letting mistakes carry on by engaging him in conversations about various topics. However, none of her hints seemed to work.

So if hints didn’t work, perhaps her death would speak volumes more and he would finally stop his terrible acts of corruption and betrayal of trust.

And therein lay the biggest irony of it all. If she hadn’t gone up there that night to kill herself…she would never have met Sunny, the light of her life, who was currently missing from her life and making her more and more miserable with every passing second.

It was so ironic. To think that the very person who had given her a reason to carry on was also the one who took it back and left her hanging by a thread. Sunny had saved her, then sent her back so here she was, in that same spot where Sunny was.

Well, well, we have come one full circle, haven’t we?

Taeyeon laughed softly to herself.

To jump…or not to jump…that was the question.

But she couldn’t. Sunny was still alive. She had to find out why Sunny was ignoring her. She had to. She just didn’t know how to. Killing herself, however, was definitely the wrong solution.

With a heavy sigh, she flexed her arms and placed her palms on the surface she was sitting on; ready to push herself off the edge and back onto the rooftop, but a sudden tug on her collar strangled her neck and had her falling backwards back onto the rooftop instead.

Déjà vu. Big time.

The person who had tugged her got back on her feet and dashed off, her face completely hidden from view. All that was left was the lingering scent of grapes in the air. No, it wasn’t the regular type of grapes… it was more like… fermented grapes.

Fermented grapes?!

Taeyeon sat straight up, all shock and pain forgotten.

“SUNNY!!!” she yelled.

It was Sunny. She was sure of it. Her legs got her down to the ground floor as quickly as they could but Sunny was nowhere to be found. All that was left was a slight breeze that rustled the leaves of the surrounding trees.

“SUNNY!!! COME BACK!!!”

Her voice echoed slightly into the night before silence engulfed her world again.

“Sunny....I know that was you…nobody else smells like you…” Her teardrops fell silently onto the grass below her as she cried for the girl she missed with all her heart. “Why won’t you talk to me anymore?”

“Sunny…I want you back…”

Chest-heaving sobs consumed her as her sadness overwhelmed her.

“Sunny…COME BACK TO ME!!! PLEASE!!! I LOVE YOU!!!”

The following silence was her only companion amidst her sniffs and sobs.

+++

Sunny knew that she shouldn’t have gone to her. Yet, she was only human. No matter how good she was as a Light agent, she was undeniably a girl at heart. She knew that getting close to Taeyeon like that would probably plunge her into more pain and misery but she didn’t have that much time to think.

Her heart had already plunged to an all-time low as she watched Taeyeon head towards that building. She watched as Taeyeon made her way to the rooftop. She knew that Taeyeon was utterly heartbroken and missing her badly. It hurt so bad to have to watch as Taeyeon went about her daily activities devoid of life and cheer but this wasn’t just painful to watch. This was alarming. So when Taeyeon sat on the ledge, Sunny sprinted to her as quickly as her legs could carry her.

Now, as she sank to the floor of her hiding place, panting like a dog, she cried.

“Taeyeonie…”

From then on, she was determined to watch over Taeyeon every single night. Boa had told her that agents would be assigned to her home when Taeyeon was sleeping but Sunny knew Taeyeon better. She took it upon herself to watch over Taeyeon when she slept. That made her tired but it was alright. She’d do anything to keep Taeyeon safe—from others and Taeyeon, herself.

Tonight had proven that she was right about Taeyeon. That girl was able to slip past all the guards and escape from her home in the quiet of the night. She certainly had the potential to be an agent herself, with skills like that. At that thought, Sunny couldn’t help chuckling to herself. Taeyeon…Taeyeon…what would she do without her?

+++

She fell onto her bed and fell asleep almost immediately. Watching over Taeyeon and sleeping were the only two things she did every day. It was a routine for her now.

She hadn’t touched her phone in days. She didn’t dare to. She left it plugged in its dock, on silent mode, so that she wouldn’t have the urge to answer Taeyeon’s calls or reply her text messages.

Leaving her phone on was the only way she could send a signal to Taeyeon to hold on. Well, that was until she broke the rule and saved her from jumping off the rooftop. But that was purely out of duty, she reasoned with herself. It wasn’t for selfish reasons. Her act was justified.

It was.

Her next shift was in six hours. She had to sleep.

+++

Sunny was smiling at her. The petite girl spread her arms wide open, welcoming her into them. She ran towards the girl whom she missed so badly that it hurt. She ran and ran but the distance between her and Sunny never decreased. Then Sunny started to wave goodbye instead.

“NO!!! SUNNY!!! DON’T GO!!!”

Her legs wouldn’t go faster. They felt as heavy as lead but Taeyeon pressed on, and on, and on… until Sunny disappeared.

“SUNNY!!!”

And she woke up with a start. Ever since that night at the rooftop, she had been dreaming about a disappearing Sunny every night. It was sheer torture and she seriously wondered how much more of this she could take.

+++

Taeyeon started to smell fermented grapes everywhere she went. Was it a figment of her imagination or had she really smelt it up on the rooftop?

No, it wasn’t her imagination. She definitely smelt it. It was only after smelling it that night that she has become so delusional.

SIGH.

She flipped her pen around her fingers casually, not really paying attention to the lecture that was going on. She remembered how she had smelt fermented grapes in this very lecture theatre after she stopped Sunny from jumping.

If only it could happen again.

Why did Sunny bother to pull her off the edge when she wouldn’t talk to her? How was it that Sunny knew she was on the rooftop? Was it a coincidence? Of course it was. Sunny couldn’t be stalking her, could she? Of course not. Why wouldn’t Sunny answer her calls? Why didn’t she reply any of her text messages? Why was Sunny avoiding her? Did something happen to Sunny?

Perhaps.

Was Sunny in some kind of trouble?

She remember all the times when Sunny would come to her with some random injury that never made sense. Her explanations of how her injuries came about would have made her laugh if not for the severity of the situation.

Sunny wasn’t a student. She owned a vineyard.

GASP.

Sunny owns a vineyard!!! OH MY GOSH. How dumb can I get?

Taeyeon felt like kicking herself for not thinking of this earlier as she got up and left the lecture immediately. She had to go to the vineyard. Sunny must have been there to get that smell on her.

+++

Jessica groaned as Tiffany shook her hard.

“Just five more minutes...” She rolled over and continued to sleep.

“Your job is on the line, Jessi.” Tiffany planted a gentle kiss on her temple before slapping her as hard as she could. “GET UP!”

“Okay, okay, I’m up, I’m up.” Jessica grimaced as she sat up. She grinned lazily as she spread her arms wide open, demanding a hug and a kiss from Tiffany.

Tiffany gave her a stern look but hugged and kissed her anyway. It was only then, that Jessica got up happily and headed to the bathroom to wash up. Tiffany was beginning to regret asking Jessica to move in with her while they carried out their mission of protecting Taeyeon. She thought it was a good idea, until she found out how difficult it was to get Jessica to wake up.

+

Tiffany and Jessica sat down in Boa’s office. They were a little excited when they were told that Boa wanted to speak with them. All sorts of possibilities ran through their minds.

“I know that the two of you are together.” Boa looked at them piercingly.

Both Tiffany and Jessica were shocked. Tiffany, being the more outspoken of the two, spoke up first.

“And you’re asking us to breakup?”

Boa shook her head. “I won’t stop you. I certainly don’t recommend it but some things can’t be helped. It is not a hard and fast rule—please don’t tell anybody that I said that—but to prevent it from being too rampant, me and the other heads enforce it strictly. However, should two agents fall for each other against all odds, we will not be as cruel to break you up. I will warn you though. Some of our best agents have been destroyed by their relationships with fellow agents and we don’t wish to see the same happen to you two.”

Tiffany and Jessica looked at each other feeling very relieved.

“Thanks for the warning, Boa.”

“I wish you all the best as a couple.” Boa smiled sincerely. “Now… back to business.” It turned out that Boa invited them to join the Light team. They were honoured and agreed to it immediately.

“You will join Sunny as a team.”

“Sunny?”

“Sunny has been a Light member ever since you joined NSI so you would not have seen her before. She will arrive anytime soon to meet you. The three of you will take turns to watch over our PM’s daughter. We are sure that BLACK will not let her off so easily. They have a motive for everything they do so they will come back for her to get what they want.”

A petite girl let herself into Boa’s office and stood behind Jessica and Tiffany, waiting to be introduced to her new teammates.

“Sunny, you’re just in time. These are your new teammates. Tiffany, Jessica.” Boa gestured towards the two girls.

“I’m Sunny.”

They bowed and shook hands with each other.

“Sunny… take a seat.”

“Continue, don’t mind me.”

“Alright, so as I was saying, the three of you are a team. You will take turns to watch over our PM’s daughter. Six hours per shift. Got it?”

All three girls nodded.

Boa handed them a thumb drive each. “All data and information about this mission are in there. Read, remember and roast.”

“Roast?” Jessica queried.

Sunny chortled. “She means to destroy it.”

“Oh…I see.”

+

“If I had known that you are such a lazy person, I wouldn’t have asked you to move in with me!” yelled Tiffany disgruntledly.

“Aww, I love you too, sweetie!” came a muffled reply from the bathroom.

Moments later, Jessica emerged from the bathroom, all ready to go to work.

“Did Sunny message me?”

Tiffany nodded. “She says to go to TY’s school. She has classes till late today.”

“Right, so off I go. Have a good rest, sweetie. I’ll be home soon!”

Jessica kissed her chastely before leaving.

Tiffany shut the door with a smile and crescent moon eyes. Okay, so maybe she didn’t regret it all that much after all.