A/N: Hey guys, sry for not updating sooner, I was really sick last week. To make up for it, here's the next two chapters of EP. Hope you enjoy! Also, for those wondering about Getting Your Girl, don't worry, the last part is finished. I haven't forgotten about it. The reason it's not updated yet is because I don't feel it's "postable" material. Hang in there for a little while longer, okay?

Chapter 22

Amber’s POV

“Morning.”

I turned my head around to look. “Morning, Yoong.”

Yoona stretched her arms high in the air before letting out a content sigh as she lowered them.

I chuckled. “Slept well?”
 

“Like a baby.”

“I bet. You were snoring so loud yesterday I could hear you from our room even with the TV on.”

“Eyy, no I didn’t,” replied Yoona as she made her way over.

“How would you know? You were asleep.”

Yoona grabbed my shoulders from behind and started shaking me playfully. “I don’t snore,” said the girl.

I laughed and placed the pictures in my hand down. “Yeah, says the person who snored last night.”

Yoona noticed the pictures and stopped shaking me, leaning over my shoulder to take a look. “Oh? Hey, isn’t that Hyuna? From lecture?”

“The one and only,” I answered. “Is Seohyun still showering?”

“Yeah, she usually takes an hour in there.”

“Good, Krystal just went in not too long ago.”

Yoona came around and pulled a seat up next to mine. “So? Why do you have pictures of Hyuna? I thought she came up clean.”

I shifted in my seat. “She was, until about three hours ago that is.”

“Why, what’d you find?” Yoona asked, reaching for the picture at the top of the pile. It was a long shot of Hyuna outside the lecture building the day after I ran into her for the first time.

“More like she found us,” I replied and pulled up one of the video footages Hyoyeon sent me on the laptop.

After watching the footage, Yoona pointed at the person on the paused screen. “Are you telling me that this hunched back lady pushing a cleaning cart is Hyuna?”

I nodded.

“But you can’t even see her face.”

“She came in while Krystal, Victoria and I were in the bathroom last night. I didn’t get a close look at her face since her head was down but everything about her was just off, especially the jewelry she wore.” I clicked a few keys on the laptop and a zoomed in picture of the person’s hand came up. “This,” I pointed at the screen, “is an extremely rare pair of diamond bracelet and ring. The unique shape and design is one of a kind and only five of these exist in the world. Now having said that, does it make sense for anybody to be wearing such expensive jewelry while cleaning the bathroom?”

“Maybe it’s fake.”

“There is a possibility that it’s an imitation but Hyoyeon ran some checks against the images and she assures me that it’s real. But even if it wasn’t, does it make sense for anyone not to wear rubber gloves while cleaning a public bathroom? Germs and bacteria aside, some of the chemicals from the cleaning products are not exactly ideal for the skin.”

“That’s true, they are quite harmful, but maybe she doesn’t care. Besides, I still don’t see the connection to Hyuna.”

I held up a hand to signal Yoona to wait as I went through the pile of pictures on the desk until I came across the one I was looking for.

“Here,” I said, handing Yoona the magnified photo.

As soon as Yoona saw the picture, her expression changed and she understood what I was getting at.

“Did Hyoyeon unnie check this one as well?”

“She did. Full high definition views from every angle possible of all the shots we took of her up until the start of break.”

“And the verdict?”

“It’s real.”

Yoona crossed her arms. “Has unnie checked the airline flights and tickets?”

I nodded. “Before, on and after our departure, but nothing came up.”

“What about any private jets departing to Paris during those timeframes?”

“Nothing on any of those either.”

Yoona sighed as she placed the picture back down. “Do you think we should cut this trip short? To be on the safe side I mean. After all, we have more resources and backup in Korea than we do here.”

“To be honest, I think it would be the same anywhere. Even if we were to disappear off to a remote island somewhere, they’ll figure out a way to track us down. It’s just a matter of time,” I said before leaning forward to type on the laptop. After a few clicks, I pulled up a list of names – five, to be exact.

“What’s this?” Yoona asked, leaning forward to take a closer look.

“The names of the five people who own the diamond bracelet and ring.”

“Ah, that’s right. Even if we’re not 100% sure whether or not that cleaning lady was Hyuna in disguise, at least we know one of these names belongs to Hyuna.”

 “Yep, I already asked Hyoyeon to find anything and everything she can on these people. Since we couldn’t find Hyuna’s name on any flights here, she must have registered under a different name – it’s highly likely it’s one of these.”

“Do you think it’s her real name or another code name?”

“Maybe her real name, but who knows. I’m just hoping it won’t be another dead end. All we’ve managed to do so far is capture some of their minions who are of no use to us. I would like to at least get to one of their leaders or something.”

“Yeah…” Yoona sighed and leaned back in her seat. “Aish, I hate it when people are sneaky.”

I chuckled. “You do know we kind of do the same don’t you? We’re sneaky too.”

“Yeah but we’re good sneaky. They’re bad sneaky. I don’t like bad sneaky people.”

“Well, one of these names will definitely lead us to Hyuna’s other identity. It doesn’t matter if it’s her real name or code name, we’ll be able to get more information on her. Same goes for that Minho guy.”

“What about him?”

“I asked Hyoyeon to dig a little harder on his profile.”

“You think he’s hiding something too huh?”

I nodded. “There’s no way he’s not. I mean, have you seen him?”

“Uh, yeah, of course. If you haven’t forgotten, I attend the same classes as you and I sit on the other side of Krystal.”

“So you know there’s no way his file is clean. There’s got to be something there.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Anything. I’m positive he’s working as one of them.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, I’ve got this bad feeling about him.”

“What? Like sixth sense?”

“Something like that.”

A moment of silence passed before the corner of Yoona’s mouth curved upwards.

“What?” I asked, not liking the smirk Yoona was suddenly giving me.

“Why are you so adamant on proving that Minho is a bad guy?” Yoona leaned forwards in her seat towards me and I defensively leaned backwards.

“W-what are you talking about?”

“Since the beginning, you seem to strongly dislike him. You’re so sure he’s working as one of them. Why is that?”

I cleared my throat and pushed Yoona away by the shoulder. “I don’t dislike him. I just…think that if Hyuna was able to come up clean from our searches before that maybe Minho could be the same since he also came up clean. I don’t know what silly thoughts you’re thinking but I’m just trying to be cautious here, okay?”

Yoona smiled smugly at me and raised her brows in a teasing manner. “Cautious or jealous?”

My mouth fell agape. “Wha-what? Me? Jealous? Why would I be jealous of him?”

“Who knows, maybe you want Krystal’s attention all to yourself,” Yoona shrugged then laughed.

My face grew red. “That’s absurd! I’m just trying to be careful here. Don’t you think the way he acts is suspicious?”

“Hey, I’m not saying he’s not. I’m just saying there might be another motive, emotion, in play here,” Yoona continued to tease.

“What, you think I like her?” I blurted out.

“Don’t you?” Yoona grinned widely at me.

You fool! My brain yelled at me. I practically dug myself that hole.

With a red face, a rapidly beating heart and all defense mechanisms on full alert, the only thing I could think of to get out of this situation was to launch forward and attack Yoona.

“Ha ha ha – ack!” The two of us fell over onto the floor.

“Ah, ha ha ha!” Yoona continued to laugh as she tried to get away from me while I continued to aim at strangling her.

“Yah, get back here!” I growled as I chased after the girl into her and Seohyun’s room. “You still have to pay for the other two times as well!”

“What other two times? I didn’t do anything to you!” Yoona laughed as she slid over the edge of Seohyun’s bed and jumped onto hers. She then picked up the dictionary on her bed and threw it at my face. “Catch!” the girl yelled.

By the time I reacted, it was already too late. The hard, thick book made contact with my face, immediately crushing my delicate nose underneath it before successfully crashing against my forehead. The force and impact of the dictionary made me fall backwards, the upper half of my body landing on Seohyun’s bed before it was jerked downwards by the weight of my lower body landing harshly on the ground.

Thud.

I winced and glared up at the culprit.

Yoona pursed her lips, trying to keep herself from laughing. “Oops,” said the girl.

“You!” I pointed an incriminating finger at Yoona before scrambling up off the ground.

Just then, the bathroom door opened and out stepped a freshly showered and dressed Seohyun.

“Hyunnie!!” Yoona squealed and made a dash for the girl, hopping off the bed in a blink of an eye.

A clueless Seohyun stopping by the connecting door caught the happy girl before she crashed into her. “Omo, Unnie!”

“Hyunnie, Amber is bullying me! Can you believe it? She’s bullying her own unnie!” Yoona hid behind the younger girl and pointed a finger at me.

Seohyun who had no idea what was going on tried to step to the side but Yoona held a firm grip on the girl, preventing her from moving anywhere.

“Wha—Yah” I stopped in front of Seohyun, unable to get to the evilly laughing Yoona behind her. “She started it!” I pointed at Yoona who retorted back by sticking her tongue out at me.

“What are you? 10?” I asked.

“No, I’m—” Yoona started to say but suddenly stopped, her gaze no longer on me.

The girl straightened up and her grip on Seohyun loosened. “Uh oh…”

Uh oh?

Confused at the sudden change in mood and facial expression, I turned my head to follow Yoona’s gaze.

What greeted my eyes surprised me as well.

“Aish,” I muttered under my breath as I quickly dashed through the connecting door over towards Krystal sitting on her bed.

-----

End of Chapter 22.