Dong Ho's POV

I stood outside and guarded the room. I wondered who this Hyoyeon was. I mean, I knew she was an ex-SNSD member, but I wondered who she was to Minister Choi. I could tell that she was very important to Choi Sooyoung. But, really? That important? So important that it worried Sooyoung so much? I'd never seen the Minister get so worried before. Problems sometimes arise before a mission, but none had been so bad that it sparked the idea of abandoning the mission in her head like it did this time. 

“D-Dong Ho… I- I have to go back to Korea now.”

That time she looked so scared too. I'd never seen her get so scared like that either. 

“No, you don’t understand!” Sooyoung snapped.

I guess I didn't understand. And I still can't understand. How could someone like Hyoyeon cause the Minister to be like that? Were they related? Was she a sibling or a cousin? I thought not. Maybe a best friend? 

I turned my head and glanced inside the room to check if everything was ok. And to my surprise, I saw Sooyoung crying. She looked so sad. And there was this sense of guilt on her face. I looked away and back to my guarding pose. I guess she must had been thinking that she was guilty for the fire at Hyoyeon's place. The guilt must had been troubling her. Normally after a successful mission, she'd be very happy. But the first thing she asked after she woke up was me to report the investigation of the fire, and she had not been happy about the mission since. I knew she carried her worries into the mission. She was extra determined to take down the enemies, and maybe used a little too much explosives. She was angered, and somewhow more powered than usual. The mission was done quickly, better than we thought. So cool though. She was so cool. 

OK If you're still wondering why it confused me so much, I'll tell you more about what happened. Let me put it like this, it's ok that you care about friends and cry and feel guilty and all that, but... if you, as a Minister of National Defense, order a whole team of military helicopters and combat rescue officers to immediately fly to your friend's house to rescue her from a fire, that's a bit too much. It's not too much because you shouldn't rescue your friend, it's too much because military helicopters are for top priority use, with reasons that concern natoinal peace and safety only. And I'd never seen Sooyoung abuse her power and authority as a Minister up until that moment. She'd never touched or used anything under her command for her personal purpose. And this caused quite a mess within the government when she had to explain to the other Ministers why she needed to do that. Ok, now you understand why I am confused? Good.

I guess, then, Hyoyeon must be a very important person. But was Hyoyeon an undercover witness? She might had been carrying some secret with her that make her so important? Well. It didn't seem like it. It wouldn't have made Sooyoung so sad, and even cry, if Hyoyeon was just an undercover witness. There must be something more, something up at the emotional, spiritual level.

According to Sherock Holmes, when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improrbable, must be the truth. And I'd eliminated all the contradictions I could think of. What remained was, that Sooyoung was in love with this girl Hyoyeon. 

I unconsciously turned my head again to look at them. I searched, and indeed, I saw love in Sooyoung's sad eyes.

-------

5 days later (2 days after Hyoyeon woke up)

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Taeyeon asked, placing a vase of flowers down by Hyoeon's bed. 

"Hi Taeyeon. I'm feeling a lot better. The doctor said maybe I could be discharged next week." Hyoyeon smiled.

"Oh that's great news. Tiffany is getting lunch for us, she'll be here soon." Taeyeon pulled a chair over and sat down. "So you've been reading books?" She asked, looking curiously at the book in her friend's hands.

"Oh yes. I didn't know what else to do. Seohyun brought me these Japanese novels and suggested that I read them to pass my time." 

"I think we can trust Seohyun's taste in novels." Taeyeon nodded. 

They grew silent for a while. Then Hyoyeon asked. 

"So... how's Sooyoung? I heard she's back in Korea. Do you know where she is now?"

Taeyeon looked away and tried to find a plausible answer. "Ah... no. I think she said she was going to visit her family and spend this holiday with them..."

"Oh, I see..." Hyoyeon nodded. She was disappointed to hear that. She'd been hoping that Sooyoung would come and visit her. "That's good for her."

"Yeah. Anyway, do you need anything? Juice? I can tell Tiffany to pick up a bottle for you on her way here." Taeyeon tried to change topic.

"Oh no, that's okay. I can ask the nurses here to get me whatever I want. Let's not trouble Tiffany."

------

5 days after Hyoyeon woke up

"Unnie, here's another book. This one is pretty good as well. It's lighter than the one you read." Seohyun handed her unnie another novel.

"Seohyun ah..." Hyoyeon took the book and said.

"Yes, unnie?" 

"Did Sooyoung come?"

"Oh... I don't think so, unnie." 

"Oh... okay." Hyoyeon looked down. "But she knows I'm here, right?" 

"Yes." Seohyun's voice got softer. "... and she sent a message saying she hoped you'd recover soon."

"And that's it?" 

"Yes, unnie." Seohyun took a deep breath. "Are you hungry? Can I get you something?"

"No, I'm ok, thank you, Hyunnie." 

"Oh, I remember now something I have to do. I'll be back in ten minutes, unnie!" Seohyun said and walked out of the room.

"See ya."

Seohyun walked out of Hyoyeon's hospital room. She felt unfair. She was asked to not tell Hyoyeon that Sooyoung dropped by every day. She felt terrible lying to her unnie, seeing the diappointment and sadness written all over her unnie's face. Seohyun took out her phone and dialed Sooyoung's number. 

Ring ring

"Hello, Seohyun?"

"Sooyoung unnie, please come and visit Hyoyeon unnie." Seohyun pleaded. 

"Don't worry about that, I'll come again tonight." Sooyoung said over the phone.

"No. I mean please come now, during daytime, while Hyoyeon unnie is awake." 

"..."

"Please! Hyoyeon unnie keeps asking about you. And when we tell her that you haven't dropped by, she's very disappointed and sad. She really wants to see you, unnie." 

"But Seohyun, I already explained to you that it's better that she-"

"I know. But she'll come to think that you don't care about her anymore."

"... I guess that's good for the situation then."

"No! Please don't do this to Hyoyeon unnie. She's very sad and her appetite has been deteriorating."

"Seohyun, all I can ask of you is to help her get through this. She'll recover and someday she'll forget about me. She'll be okay."

"Sooyoung unnie! Please don't say that. It's been almost a week now and Hyoyeon unnie's mood is only getting worse. Her physical health isn't recovering fast either. Unnie, I know you care about Hyoyeon unnie a lot. You come by every night to watch her sleep. I know how you feel, Sooyoung unnie. Please don't be harsh on yourself. Please don't be harsh on Hyoyeon unnie either." 

Sooyoung sighed over the phone and was silent for a while. "I'm sorry, Seohyun. And I appreciate your understanding. But I've decided that I won't allow myself to be the reason why Hyoyeon get hurt again." Sooyoung said. "And if you excuse me, I have other issues I have to attend to." Then she hung up.

"Ughh!" Seohyun groaned. "Why why why! Poor Hyoyeon unnie. She gets hurt either way..."

A/N: thanks for checking out this chapter! Hope I'm not doing too bad :D