“So, is this where you’re working day by day?” Taeyeon remarked as they had both found an adequate seat to spend the rest of the train ride on.

The sun was already about to disappear behind colossal building clusters tracing the horizon when the train slowly began moving, delicately accelerating its pace by every second. A collective weariness that came beaming from each passenger lingered above their heads and killed any superfluous conversation between people but nevertheless Tiffany raised her voice against her own fatigue to continue having a conversation with the lady she grew to like so suddenly.

“Yes, pretty much. Actually, I have no idea how I ended up here but the job isn’t as strenuous as many people think and the salary is also quite satisfying.” Tiffany’s lips formed one of its marvelous smiles while she delivered her answer.

Taeyeon glanced outside of the window and her eye quickly jumped from one object that was rushing by to another while she listened to Tiffany. She was too sluggish to remain sitting up in her seat and so she slid down in a more comfortable position, almost making her look a bit too manly for the delicate figure of hers.

“And why are you in Japan, Taeyeon?” Tiffany asked, using the chance to let her eyes scan Taeyeon’s appearance closely again. Taeyeon remained silent, holding her answer back for a moment, as if she had to evaluate what she was going to say.

“Uh, I work here as a journalist for the national Korean newspaper for ethnic Koreans. That’s why I was transferred to Osaka. I’m in charge of Osaka’s local section now, which is pretty cool.”

“So, are you moving to Korea town now?”

“Uh-huh” Taeyeon nodded.

“But then you will have to talk in Korean more.” Tiffany replied, still brightening up the atmosphere with her smile.

“Yeah, I think so. It shouldn’t be that much of a problem; shouldn’t it? I’m just talking in Japanese not to get mistaken as a tourist or exchange student. It’s a real pain in the sometimes when people are trying to explain things you already know. I mean, I’m already living here long enough to know how things are running.”

“Haha. I can relate to that! I originally came here to study Japanese but when people hear my name for the first time, they think I’m an English speaker of some sort and so they talk in English to me…”

“Tiffany…” Taeyeon voiced her name under her breath and recalled the big file filled with information about her she left behind on her night stand.

At first Tiffany had been only a plain object to her, a professional undertaking, a plan, a file she could easily work with. But now that she had met Tiffany in person this file had slowly materialized and became a real human being, with a name, with a story, with a heart and feelings and with one of the most mesmerizing smiles Taeyeon had ever seen. Her heart cramped as she glanced down at her wristwatch to escape Tiffany’s devine aura and realized that she was running low on time. In three days she was scheduled to meet her client again and at this point her task had to be completed successfully even if it means she had to put Tiffany in danger.  

Taeyeon closed her eyes for a moment and tried to put the enormous sympathy she was feeling for her aside to concentrate on her actual aim. But she couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried to suppress her feelings, they surged up again with a superior density and crushed her professional cocoon.

Tiffany was perhaps the first person she met after a long time who spared no efforts to greet her with a smile and treat her with some sort of respect, even though she knew it was partly just a matter of customer contact. However after all it was still Taeyeon’s job to manipulate people in order to squeeze them out like a lemon but having someone as sweet as Tiffany to rig, she found strangely hard to follow the whole operation through.

A Catch 22, Taeyeon thought regretfully while listening to Tiffany telling her childhood story, which she had already studied carefully before with the file she was given.

“Hey, how about if we go out for a last drink before you finally move to Osaka and I move back to Seoul?” Tiffany suddenly proposed, ripping Taeyeon out of her stream of thoughts.

“In Tokyo?” She replied a bit dumbfounded.

 “Yeah, we not?! I know a good sushi restaurant just next to my apartment! Come on, just consider this as an invitation on my part” Not missing a beat Taeyeon instantly agreed, instinctively snapping back to her professional self.

Without realizing Tiffany made it so much easier for Taeyeon to succeed with her task. Going for a drink would only deepen Tiffany’s trust towards her and then it was just a simple matter of time until Taeyeon would have completely won over Tiffany’s friendship and passing that point Taeyeon knew she could made her do anything for her as a friend. Even running blindly into the blade of her hidden enemy, which was exactly what she was planning for.

“Mind if I take a nap? Work you know” Tiffany asked and earned only a cool nod from Taeyeon who had been starring out of the window.

Under Taeyeon’s watchful eyes Tiffany fought her fatigue but gradually succumbed to slumber, not suspecting Taeyeon, who was too physically trained to let loose of her concentration at any waking moment, to have set a trap for her that would spring in only a few days to come.

Strange how she simply believes my story, although I look none like a professional journalist, she wondered while she curled the dyed tips of her hair around her finger, her eyes still set on Tiffany’s angelic sleeping figure. Let’s see what else I can draw out from her, she thought as she scanned over the notes she had been taken clandestinely one more time.  

“HuWANG;&O whereabouts?” Was one of the last notes on her list.

Right, right…