-Second Shot.

"We're back~" Hyoyeon announced, leading her into a rather ordinary-looking moving-company truck. She found herself inspecting every little nook and cranny. The fit girl knocked on the back door a few times, the steel wall rolled up like a well-managed garage-door. She stared at disbelief at the interior design.  

It was shockingly simple yet efficient. Hardly the environment she would imagine mercenaries to be living in. The interior of the truck resembled a comfortable school dorm with glossy oak flooring, integral windows and mosaic patterned curtains that hung, an old but surely snug couch tucked in to one of the sides, a few bookshelves, a dining-table which seems to have served its days, a few chairs, one of those ancient box-shaped televisions, a couple of drawers and at least six doors- which Jessica all assumed led to their private rooms. It was hard to believe such a 'normal' truck had so much extra room inside. 

Usually, Jessica would have acted cold and arrogant, demanding them to take her back to the train- but everything was so unbelievable, so unreal, that she could barely believe that she wasn't dreaming. What's more, she was tired and hungry and in no mood to argue. I'll show you guys tomorrow… She thought to herself.

Her phone vibrated suddenly, causing Jessica to jump lightly. Luckily, Hyoyeon wasn't as quick to get on to things as Taeyeon. She felt around her skirt pocket and pulled out her flashing screen. 

Taecyeon. 

At least 13 missed calls already. 

She bit her lip.  Reluctantly, she switched off her phone. 

"Why isn't anyone greeting us?" The blonde beauty complained, raising her voice as she flopped down onto the couch. Giving Jessica a disappointed look, with a fake smile the ice-princess slipped the device back into her pocket. 

"What did I tell you?" An annoyed voice greeted them, Jessica turned around to see- or, thought she saw Hyomin. The girl was leaning against the one of the doorways, she glanced at Jessica shortly, visibly hostile.

She must've saw.  Panic flared in Jessica's mind but Hyomin just laughed, giving her another sour expression. "There's so signal here. The second you stepped into this truck your phone has been under the computers." 

Hyomin looked fixedly at Hyoyeon who was completely oblivious of Hyomin's annoyance. The shorter girl had an irritated, wry face. Jessica decided not to say anything, which was ultimately the right choice.  Hyomin was not very tall, she looked as though she had been running vigorously, beads of sweat clung onto her peachy skin. Her chestnut brown hair was styled roughly but also damp. 

"This is Hyomin, by the way. The last person you could wish be trapped with." 

Hyoyeon grinned whilst introducing the girl, 

"She's our mechanic too. You could've guessed by the way she's dressed." 

Hyomin ignored Hyoyeon's comment. She glanced disdainfully at Jessica, it was only then that Jessica took note of her attire. A dirty white towel hung around her neck, a long casual white-coat that almost swept the floor, stone-washed denim shorts and a loose-fitting singlet. 

This must be the usual attire here… 

Jessica glanced down to what she was wearing. Tidy, inconspicuous school-uniform. 

"What did you tell me?" Hyoyeon grumbled,  shattering Jessica's thoughts. Taeyeon's partner was unmistakably tired and not the happiest ray of sunshine, probably because Hyomin greeted them first.The blonde girl yawned and ran her fingers through her long, well-nourished hair, eyeing the shorter girl drowsily. 

"I told you last time, bring the bike INSIDE so I can store it for you. So next time when we need it we won't have to drag it out from the storage place on the sides of the truck." Hyomin raged, gesturing to the glossy flooring. A bit fazed, Jessica noticed what she was pointing out. There was an odd rectangular shape marked out in the floorboards, where the mechanism must have been. 

"Argh Jeez. Taeyeon will do it for me." Hyoyeon muttered, turning her back to Hyomin. "It's not like the bike'll disappear in the morning." she grunted indignantly, "Plus, this is how you greet a successful assassin after a day of hard work?" 

Hyomin flashed with fury, "Look mate, I've been cooped up in a dark room, not exposed to sunlight, with little sleep, for about a month now. Ever since we tried to get that Jessica girl." The chestnut-haired girl gave Jessica a resentful look. 

"AND, it's YOUR bike now. It took forever to make that bike- like you requested, it does not tip over easily, it has good balance, it can reach 180mph in just-"

"Yeah yeah." Hyoyeon rudely cut her off with a dismissive wave of her hand. 

"Argh Jeez! You really!" Hyomin fumed, outraged. 

"What's wrong now?" 

All eyes landed on Taeyeon who uninterestedly sauntered in, pushing with her the bike Hyoyeon was riding earlier. She pulled the robust door down, making a soft clicking sound, signalling it was now locked. Jessica found herself studying Taeyeon's eyes. 

They're not that shade of blue anymore…

"Taeyeon!" Hyomin's voice was full of disbelief, "Why are you doing Hyoyeon's work for her?" 

"She's not. She's helping." Hyoyeon corrected sharply.

Taeyeon felt Jessica's gaze resting on her eyes, this caused another one of her 'knowing' smiles. 

"Aish what did you do?" Hyomin growled, "Look, it's all scratched and this was just newly replaced!" The small girl sighed in frustration, already seeing all the scratches and grazes on the vehicle. 

"You have a ton of that stuff in the dungeons anyway." Hyoyeon flung back.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you can just go around dragging it everywhere carelessly!" 

"Man, you're like an old woman y'know? It's gonna be OK."

"No-" 

Hyoyeon opened to throw back a witty retort when an authoritative glare from Taeyeon silenced the bickering two. Hyomin clenched her teeth and stormed towards the bike, almost forcefully pushing Taeyeon out of the way. Hyoyeon just snorted in response.  As Jessica had predicted, the light marking of the rectangle on the glossy floorboards did signal something. 

"You call my lab the dungeon, urgh. If it wasn't for the dungeon, your skills would still be mediocre now." Hyomin muttered, steadying the bike onto the marked out rectangle before fishing out a controller from her coat pocket. When she pressed the button, the marked out piece of floorboard had suddenly sunk deeper. The sunken floorboard revealed cold stone floor with endless steel equipment. 

"That's Hyomin's lab." Taeyeon read her mind again. By now Jessica had become used to having Taeyeon pry through her thoughts. Even so, the laboratory seemed dark and unwelcoming. 

"Or the dungeon." Hyoyeon added playfully, sitting up. 

"And what's that?" Jessica finally spoke again, softly, eyeing the familiar figures of what appeared to be her suitcases by the garage-like door. 

"Your luggage." Taeyeon answered. 

"When did you get it?"

"Hyoyeon did the good deed." The charming mercenary gestured to the blonde girl who was slouched all over the couch. Lazily, Hyoyeon waved her hand at the mention of her name.  

"Why-" 

"You can't wear your school uniform all day now, can you?"  A new voice joined the conversation, Sooyoung. She spun around to see another… Predictably good-looking mercenary. The Pokemon girl. Jessica remembered noting to herself. 

This girl however contrasted the long-hair of Hyoyeon, Hyomin and Taeyeon with a ravishing, well-layered razor cut. What really caught her attention though was her deep maroon coloured hair which brought out her dark, almond eyes. Sooyoung was dressed similarly to Hyomin, except she seemed to take more notice of what she was wearing. Her black stylish blazer was newly ironed, with a pleasant white V-neck underneath. Sooyoung smiled in a genuinely friendly way, almost satisfied that she got her attention.

"Ehhh I thought you said you were done for the night." Hyomin rose a brow in amusement, still very sarcastic. 

"As if I, as manager can just not introduce myself when we got such a cute recruit." Sooyoung smiled quirkily, dipping her head and winking at Jessica.   

"This is Sooyoung, by the way." Hyoyeon continued nonchalantly, "The manager." 

"Hello," Sooyoung nodded in greeting and flashed a confident grin. 

"Hi…" 

"Sunny-ah, you should come out too!" The manager turned around and called in a lulling tone. 

To Jessica's surprise, another girl slipped out from behind the manager.  However, unlike all the good-looking mercenaries she's seen today… This girl was undoubtedly the cutest. Her hair was similar to Sooyoung's, also very short. Her bangs really defined her face and brought out her puffy cheeks and large glittering eyes. This was when Jessica realised all these mercenaries had different coloured hair. 

Taeyeon's was a light brown with one streak of crimson red.

Hyoyeon's was a sandy blonde. 

Hyomin had a suiting chestnut brown.

Sooyoung had an eye-catching maroon and Sunny had a jasmine shade of yellow, tipped with a fitting turquoise.

This is Sunny? 

Sunny, the shortest girl smiled sweetly and gave Jessica a little nod. Jessica followed her actions. Sunny also dragged the first-aid kit along the decking. Judging by the other member's reactions, bullet grazes almost seemed like an ordinary occurrence. No big deal. 

She saw Taeyeon's wound didn't she? 

Indeed, the petite girl noticed. Taeyeon's eyes instantly softened to the sight of Sunny hobbling towards her. The two smiled at each other and Sunny opened the kit and started treating her bullet-graze. 

"Now Jessica," Sooyoung continued talking ignoring the two, turning to face her. This was when Jessica truly felt the presence of her height. "You're tired right?"

She nodded. 

"Hyomin, we'll leave the inspection of the luggage to you." The tall girl smiled happily, calmly assigning the sarcastic girl a task. Hyoyeon mused silently. 

"Eh." Hyomin groaned, "I'm a mechanic, please. Not some bloodhound." 

"Calm down, It's not that much work. We'd also better get moving. Driving all night isn't easy, you know." Sooyoung grunted, stretching her arms and rolling her shoulders back, suppressing a yawn. Hyomin furrowed her brows and cursed under her breath, dragging Jessica's heavy luggage out into the centre of the room before stretching her back. 

Hyoyeon mumbled, "I'm done today right?" 

"Dismissed." The manager announced. A wave of sighs sounded. 

"You guys should rest up." The manager said rather flatly, "Good work guys."

"Yeah, Yeah~" The rest of the crew droned on. 

"Urgh." Hyomin moaned, massaging her neck. "Still got repairs and now rummaging luggage, urgh." 

"It won't be that bad, help me when you're done." Sooyoung pointed out positively before bidding farewell to the tired crew and retreating behind some ebony curtains, where the actual driver's seat must've been. 

"Another all-nighter." Hyomin groaned. 

"I'm hitting the sack, that luggage was heavy." The blonde beauty announced and commented, giving Jessica an amused smile, as she was about to step into a room, Sunny seemed to step forward and signal something speedily with her hands. Hyoyeon took notice to her signalling and smiled, ruffling the shortest girl's light blonde hair, causing a shy smile to form on the cute girl's lips. 

"…"  

Jessica couldn't hear anything come out of Sunny's mouth. Was she mute? 

Hyomin on the other hand snorted in contempt to Hyoyeon's action. She felt as though she could sense a thundercloud hanging above Hyomin whenever she interacted with Hyoyeon. The chestnut haired girl furrowed her brows and turned to Taeyeon suggestively, "What did she say?" Her voice was frustrated, like a foreigner in another country. 

"Sunny says not to overwork yourself." Taeyeon translated effortlessly. Sunny nodded in response to Taeyeon's correct translation. 

"You better not overwork yourself too," Hyoyeon said with a gentle smile. 

Hyomin scoffed. 

The short girl however, failed to see any rivalry between the dirty blonde-haired girl and the chestnut-haired girl, instead, just struggled to lift the heavy-medical kit. Interestingly enough, Hyomin hopped over to help her (which was unusually nice of her). The two soon disappeared behind another unfamiliar door.

"Hyomin's not that bad once you get to know her." 

Jessica turned to Taeyeon. Okay, she took what she said back. She still wasn't used to a girl prying into her thoughts and answering her questions aloud. 

"Yah Taeyeon, I'm using the shower first." Hyoyeon notified the girl with a sly smirk, tapping her shoulder lightly shen passing by. "Thank you~" without waiting for a response, the quick blonde girl vanished into another room. Leaving only the two of them. 

"You'll have to shower in the morning," Taeyeon told her, and she too,  stretched her stiff limbs. "Hyoyeon takes forever." The mercenary blinked and turned to  one of the doors. 

"I'll give you a little tour." 

As Taeyeon led her around, Jessica found the insides of the truck even more unbelievable. According to Taeyeon, when you first enter the truck, the black curtains located near the middle-front end of the truck led to the driver's seat. Then, on the left sides you have the kitchen, Hyomin and Sooyoung's working rooms, and an old storage room- now a make-shift library. Finally, on the right sides you  have the bedrooms, one bedroom shared by Sunny, Hyoyeon and Hyomin, whilst another shared by Sooyoung and Taeyeon. Everything seemed to fall into place well enough. 

"You'll be staying here today." The 'suave' mercenary pushed open a door and led Jessica into one of the bedrooms. She glanced around. A simple room. Nothing too fancy, unlike her room. It felt oddly homely. There were two beds in the room, both covered in a pale blue bed-sheets, the floral wallpaper stood out greatly, an old-fashioned mirror and two bed-side tables with two chairs, followed by two wardrobes and a cabinet. Not much, but enough to make Jessica feel at home. 

Taeyeon noticed Jessica observing her new living-space, "It's a bit of a mess, but you're sleeping in my bed tonight." 

What?  She stared back at Taeyeon in utter disbelief.  She doesn't mean it, right? 

"Don't worry," The mercenary seemed to smile inwardly, reading her thoughts again. "I'm sleeping on the couch." 

Her sudden input caught Jessica off guard again. 

Can you please stop that? 

Taeyeon sensed her thoughts again and chuckled, the first time Jessica had heard this serious mercenary look so laid-back. But, Jessica had to admit- she was very beautiful. What fascinated her the most was the mercenary herself, how she was so different from every other girl Jessica came in contact with. Her eyes, her figure, her quirks and her mannerisms. Different but… Charismatic… ? 

"Well, sleep well. We have another eventful day ahead tomorrow."  Taeyeon's voice was mild and gentle, the short girl had the little form of a smile on her lips. Jessica just shrugged it off. Waving her off with a dismissive wave of her hand. Taeyeon seemed a bit disappointed by her curt signal but dipped her head lightly. 

"Good night, Jessica." The mercenary's words were soft and tender, so sincere it made her skin crawl. Jessica refused to turn around and speak anymore to the mercenary. The ones her father warned her to stay away from. Enemies of her family. The ones who tore everything apart. 

She heard Taeyeon let out a defeated sigh, "There's some spare clothes in the bottom drawer, you can change into something more comfortable." 

Taeyeon must have closed the door behind her for when the latter turned around, she was gone. Jessica investigated the room a bit more, already planning an escape. As she noted to herself the possible spots for an escape, a photo-frame caught her attention. The girl stepped closer, picking up the frame. 

There were three girls, and one grown adult man, followed by another beautiful woman that looked like she was in her early 20's. Jessica immediately recognised the younger Taeyeon and Sooyoung, however, what puzzled her the most was why the faces of one of the girls were cut out violently; and why the adult man's face had messy permanent marker scribbles, crossing out his face completely. 

She had forgotten about her phone. She quickly turned it on again.

42 missed calls. 

Mainly from Taecyeon, 12 from her parents, and a few from her sister, Krystal.

She remembered what Hyomin had said, that her phone was under her surveillance. Meaning that this device was completely useless. Jessica sighed frustratedly, turning off her phone again. She could just climb out the window and run away. But any intelligent human being would know that would be a dumb idea. She had no idea where she was, she had no money on her, she was hungry, tired and wishing for nothing but to sleep. 

Jessica decided to push her escape plan back. 

Sighing, the girl quickly got redressed into the spare clothes. Just as she sat onto the firm bed, she heard some noises from outside. Carefully slipping towards the door, she peeked through the opening. A stream of light seamed in through the cracks of the door, she saw Sooyoung's figure appear from the ebony curtains. Sooyoung was speaking to Taeyeon. Jessica strained her ears to catch their conversation. 

"She's still alive, huh." Taeyeon muttered, twirling a strand of her red streaked hair between her fingers, lounged on the couch comfortably. The girl seemed to be deep in thought, almost reminiscing about something. Sooyoung on the other hand laughed in amusement.

"You think she'd go that easily?"

"No. He saw potential in her. Otherwise he wouldn't have bothered. She would've burnt to death." 

Taeyeon replied calmly, her eyes still the same, flickering to Sooyoung, almost sensing concern in Taeyeon's careful gaze. The manager seemed to frown for a second, her bright persona seemed to fade a bit. 

"I still have dreams about him every so often." The tall girl confessed, scratching her arms nervously. The confident Sooyoung was gone. Now, replaced with a hesitant 'manager'. Taeyeon seemed to sympathise with her. 

"I wish I could erase such a person." Sooyoung murmured, shutting her eyes briefly.

There was a few heartbeats of silence. 

"To be honest," Taeyeon spoke up again, her gaze falling, 

"I was trembling when I got on that train again. Everything came rushing back." the mercenary grimaced and shook her head. Running her fingers through her hair and exhaled. 

"A lot happened, hasn't it?" Sooyoung commented, tugging at her blazer's sleeves. 

"Yeah. And he still haunts us. Jay." Her eyes darkened. 

"Jay… Huh…" Sooyoung too, seemed to be affected by Taeyeon's words. 

"Well, I'm tired. I'm going to sleep now." Taeyeon again, signalled the end of the conversation, resulting in a light-hearted chuckle from Sooyoung. "Take care." 

"Goodnight, Taeyeon." The manager said rather lovingly. 

"You too, Soo. " Taeyeon smiled… 

She smiled? 
 

Jessica had thought that with her quick deductive skills everything would be clear as day. But she was wrong. These mercenaries were too different. Taeyeon, particularly remained a mystery. At times she appeared serious and calm, she was always deep in thought, yet was laid-back and somewhat- charming and childish. How could someone have so much contradictions? Who is Tiffany? Who is 'Jay'? What happened between them? Could that girl in the frame be Tiffany? 

She shook her head clear of thoughts and shut her eyes tightly, pulling the sheets closer. 

She still had a lot to do tomorrow… Including how she was going to get out of here…

A/N: I finally finished... (Took all the blood/energy/oxygen/whatever out of me.)