- - - - -

Yoona lie in her bed, a rush of emotions filling her. She felt bad, yes, for choosing work over her own life but there were many reasons why it was so important to her. She just wanted to do something right for the people and do something for those she owed and yet, it was something so simple that even a smart person like Donghae couldn’t process into his brain.

Anguish anger made her heart feel sick and she turned around in bed to see the picture she and Donghae had taken a year ago when they went ice fishing together. Under the lamp that lit the room, the smiles on their faces were so clear that Yoona almost felt like she wanted to tear the picture apart.

“True love,” Yoona muttered, “what a lie.”

She reached for the picture and turned it face down so that it wasn’t visible in her sight. Taking a deep breath, she placed her hands on her stomach and closed her eyes.

- - - - -

Victoria stepped off the train at last and glanced around the terminal, a habit of being exaggeratedly cautious. Adjusting her hat on her head she continued walking calmly as any other person would toward the stairs. Amusingly, she’d learned that wearing hats drew more attention to it than to the person wearing it. In that second she felt two people at her sides. They slightly grabbed her arms and she felt something lightly poke her sides. Glancing down without moving her head she found that they were pointing guns at her.

“You know better than to make any noise,” Jung Min’s familiar voice snarled in her ear.

“So, you thought you were safe, huh?” So Young teased.

The corner of Victoria’s lips turned into a deep smirk, “Sure, I’ll play along. Where do we go?”

A few moments later Victoria was dragged into an empty tennis court and tossed into the fence it was encaged in. The sky was dark, no one should be walking around a sports area that time at night. The chill of the night brushed her face and her long dark hair fall flat on her shoulders brushing her cheek as she slumped toward the ground.  

“We just wanted to see your face,” Jung Min smiled offering to help her up.

“Yah! I thought we were going to get rid of her!!” So Young shrieked.

Jung Min turned to look at her, “Not so loud. Someone might hear us. And did you not hear me say, patience?”

So Young frowned at him.

Instead of slapping his hand away Victoria spat on him and got up by herself.

“Why you…!” he pulled her hair when she turned to begin walking away and pinned her against the fence, his lower arm in front of her neck.

The fence shook from the impact and Victoria calmly stared back.

“I’m done with playing already,” Victoria muttered, “why are you two following me?”

“We’re not following you, we’re on an order to massacre you.” So Young matter-of-factly spoke.

Victoria felt one of her eyebrows twitch. “What?”

Jung Min turned toward the girl with a menacing glare then returned to Victoria. “You heard her. This is concerning the case you didn’t fulfill.”

Victoria clenched her jaw trying to escape him but he held her against the fence too strongly.

“For shooting that man with his gun on us, I won’t forget how you embarrassed us,” he hissed.

“Because you two fool around too much. The mission would have ended earlier if you two weren’t so full of yourselves..” Victoria stopped when she felt her breath get cut off.

“There are many ways in which you can fix your wrongs with me, but for So Young, you owe her something else.”

Victoria snorted and slowly inched her knee up. “If you don’t let me breathe, I’m going to knee you in.”

Jung Min glared at her and released her. They were trouble. It was wrong to walk away without showing them how inferior their skills were. Victoria grabbed his shirt, swung him around, and pushed him against the fence throwing her fist up his chin. Turning around she met with So Young, who was already charging at her. The young girl stopped in the middle of her run with a face of heavy anger.   

“Leave it if you don’t want to see your face bruised.” Victoria threatened before turning and walking out of the cage.

- - - - -

Taecyeon pulled his tie off from around his neck. He couldn’t breathe against the heat in the car. Turning it off he opened the window to feel the icy air flood in. It had taken him the whole day to make it to the director’s house, who had then offered to serve him some beer. Finally on the way back home he glanced at the clock to find that it was 2 hours before midnight, which marked the start of another brand new day.

He to an empty road. There were barely any cars heading toward him and there were no cars behind or in front of him. He was alone on this empty night with the blue moon piercing the lakes with its dim reflection. Well, it wasn’t a surprise. He allowed his mind to float back to earlier in the day when he’d seen Yoona walk into the company. Her strides long, graceful, and full of business. A small smile escaped onto his lips as he glanced at the many kinds of trees along the sides of the road from the corner of his eye. To him they looked like a bunch of used up paintbrushes with their unsharpened bristles staring at you.

5 minutes after driving pass some thick trees on his right something came bounding out. His mind went white. Whatever it was had run directly in front of his bumper. Stepping on his brakes as fast as he could, he felt his car slide forward with a harsh bump and eventually came to a halt. What had it been? It had moved too fast for him to see. A deer, perhaps? He prayed that it was a deer.

Unlocking his door he stepped out of his blue Honda gulping. With unsteady legs he walked to the front almost being blinded by the headlights. Under the rays of the yellow lights he saw an arm, then hair, and a body barely under the head of his car.

“Oh my God…” he panicked and pulled her up gently without considering that it might cause her trauma.

He watched as her eyes fluttered open and she tried to stand up, however her left leg gave in and she crumpled in his arms. She groaned and was unable to open her eyes.

“Hold on. I’ll take you to a hospital.” he explained heading to his car.

“No…no, no…” she was able to speak weakly in a soft whisper. “I can’t go…”

“You’re hurt…” he started but her tight grasp on his arm told him otherwise.

“I can’t,” she stated feeling her mind spin.

Taecyeon stopped outside of his apartment, which was connected to a large gym on the right that no one had used for years. A white complex, it was.

A staircase of three steps invited him to the front door leading to a long white winding staircase on the right. That staircase brought him up to his apartment door.

With the girl in his arms, he unlocked the door, and walked in. The small living room with just one piece of furniture greeted him. Walking pass the small kitchen on the right he walked straight toward his bedroom and as gently as he could placed her down on his bed. Observing her he figured that she didn’t seem to be hurt that badly anywhere else, but he was still unsure. Recalling how her left leg had given in to the pain he gritted his teeth unsure if he should touch her or not. Deciding to give it a try he gently poked her left leg with his finger and her face twitched into snarling pain.  

Pressing his lips together he walked out of the room closing the door after him wondering what he was going to do with her.

- - - - -

When Donghae walked into his room he tossed his jacket onto his bed angrily. Heaving a heavy sigh he combed his hair with his fingers. What was he going to tell his parents now?

The ringing of his phone made cut his thoughts off and he searched his jacket for it. Finally discovering his phone he answered.

“Sir, we’ve got some problems with our client.”

“What is it?” Donghae massaged his forehead.

“The wine we’ve specially received is no where to be found.”

Donghae found himself flying to the business center rushing down the hall to find security and his secretary in the supply room.

“What’s going on?” Donghae questioned. “How come no one knows about any of this?!”

“Sir, we’ve only found out when the client came in to receive them.” his secretary explained.

“Have you checked out the cameras to see who’s been in here?”

“No. Not yet, sir.”

“Go do it right now!”

Donghae watched as his secretary stepped out looked around feeling frustrated. Glancing at security he turned around and headed up to his office. What else could go wrong today? He walked into his office and sat in his chair leaning back enjoying the moment for as long as it would last. Seconds later his door opened and his secretary poked his head in.

“I think I’ve got it sir, do you want to see?”

Donghae jumped up from his seat and followed his secretary down the hall to the surveillance room. Small TV screens sat atop one another and a keyboard sat beside a microphone. Putting one hand on the counter he leaned against it and watched as his secretary re-wound the tape. Donghae watched as the door to the supply room closed and a tall thin, well built man entered the storage room. After long moments of searching the room he reached for the wooden crate.

“Pause it. Can you zoom in?” Donghae demanded.

His secretary did as instructed.

Donghae felt himself frown. “He looks familiar…”

“He’s the guard at the reception desk.”

“When did the client say he’d be back?”

“By next week, he didn’t specifically state when.”

“That’s swell,“ Donghae remarked. “Give me the guard’s number and address. Since tomorrow’s a Saturday, he won’t be coming in for work. I’ll track him down instead.”

“Yes, sir.”

- - - - -

Victoria awoke with the worst headache she’d ever recalled in her whole life. Waking up she discovered herself in a foreign room. The white walls were bright in her eyes then she found that that the blinding brightness was coming from the sun flashing in through the window to her right. Reaching her hand up to feel the back of her head she discovered what seemed like a bump and perhaps a bruise.

“Aish…” she groaned and when she got up she felt aching pain shoot up and down her left leg.

Almost toppling over she put down her hand on the night desk beside the bed to balance herself. Putting most of her weight on her right leg she walked out the door to find that the small apartment was empty. She glanced at the TV then into the kitchen.

“Where’s the man from last night?” she questioned.

Feeling sick of the tight clothes she’d been wearing she searched through the closet in the bedroom and discovered plenty of loose shirts. Stripping herself she grabbed one shirt out of the closet and slipped into it. Exploring the apartment some more she found a bathroom. Gathering the clothes she’d stolen she washed them clean of sweat and hung them there to dry. It was then that the doorbell rang.

“Maybe he’s back.” she thought and headed for the door.

- - - - -

Donghae glanced at the two square buildings connected together and wondered which door it was that led to Taecyeon’s apartment. Moving toward the door on the right he found a glass door, which gave him a full view of the gym inside. Stepping back from the door he made his way to the left and tried the doorknob to find that it was unlocked. Pulling the door open he looked around and on the right found the winding staircase. On instinct he walked up the stairs that led to a door at the top.

“What kind of a weird place is this?” he wondered aloud then searched for a doorbell.

He pushed the button once then waited and pressed it again and again impatiently. The door opened abruptly, surprising him and he felt shocked to see a woman with long hair wearing a man’s dress shirt. She stared back at him and felt her head tilt to the side.

“Who are you?” she asked.

He gulped and noticed that her entire left leg was bruised up in an ugly purple, which extended from her thigh all the way down to her ankle. It made his left leg feel the pain she must be feeling.

“Excuse me.” she grabbed his attention.

Her eyes were big.

“Is Ok Taecyeon here?”

“Taecyeon?” she repeated then opened slightly and nodded. “He wasn’t here when I woke up. Do you want to come in and wait?”

She smiled in a way that made him feel strange then she held the door open for him. Deciding that since he was already invited in, there was no point in leaving until he did meet with Taecyeon.

She closed the door after him and walked away leaving him to look around. He heard the water turn on as he sat down and wondered if she and Taecyeon were cohabiting. When she walked out from where she just went he couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to her leg.

She stopped in her steps and he felt his mind go blank. Turning around she glanced at the TV and walked toward it. He watched as she touched it, lightly tapped it, and gently hit it. She had a puzzled face expression on.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Do you know how to turn this on?”

A smiled crawled onto the corner of his lips then he laughed.

“You don’t know? Everybody knows how to do this,” he told looked around and saw that the remote was nowhere in sight.

Getting up from where he was sitting he knelt on one knee in front of the TV and pressed a button on the side. In that instant a picture appeared onto the screen and voices were heard.

“That’s right.” she said with a small smile. “I used to sit and watch this everyday. I just forgot about it.”

He turned to get a look at her. As they kneeled next to each other on the ground he saw that her hair was a dark black, she had bangs combed to her right, and her big eyes were outlined with signs of exhaustion. Something about her mysteriously stirred his mind.

“I’m Lee Donghae. You are?”

She locked her eyes with his and pressed her lips together into a small smile. “Vic-” she started before the door opened.

The two of them turned to see Ok Taecyeon carrying a bag from the store. He looked back at them and froze on the spot.