•Chapter Three•

A Queen's palace

Two beautiful women were in the interrogation room of N.S.S, one pacing from side to side occasionally leaning against the walls of the grayish room and the other one sitting in a plastic chair, listening to the words of the leaning woman. Outside, in a lonely hall, Tiffany’s soft cries echoed in the concrete walls filling them with a sad feeling that could only be perceived by the ones who were interested. It was a normal day inside the big, cold building knew as the N.S.S headquarters. Faces and pages passed along that hall, too busy in their worlds of paper and blood to care about others, or about themselves.

Two days after the end of the case, Jessica insisted on keeping an eye and interrogating Taeyeon, using as her reason "that they needed to complete the Beast's profile". It wasn’t that the ghost was blamed of anything, as she stood as a victim too, but Jessica felt the urge to know what happened to the ghost — or whatever Taeyeon could be called as. Of course, she was too proud like to say her real reason, even when she knew the ones that she used were completely irrelevant.

The young detective, and now chief of the place, asked questions that remained in that room, and got responses that no one would ever want to hear. It seemed more like a deep conversation happening in the middle of the night, than a victim's interview inside a plain room.In front of Jessica was a broken porcelain doll that seemed to be good, and in front of Taeyeon was a mannequin with too little life and too many emotions. The doll indeed was good, at least physically; but Jessica could not get rid of the image of the broken doll. Taeyeon could merely smile at the detective, not because she was happy but because she couldn’t bear to see the faint sight of fear in Jessica’s eyes.

After another of their interviewing sessions both of them walked out of the room, calling for Tiffany’s name in their way out. There was again that feeling of hiding something, the same feeling that was missing in the plain cube that they all knew as the interrogation room. Against the blonde girl’s wishes, Taeyeon decided to go back to her real house; were Tiffany and her two sisters Soonkyu and Hyoyeon lived. It took a whole story full of tears and smiles (usually both came from Tiffany)to convince Jessica of the idea, or at least that was what it looked like, because deep inside her, she hoped that Taeyeon could at least get something back from all the suffering she had.

The three women walked out of the building, into the parking lot, and drove to the mansion where the family lived. The place itself was really big, but it's size couldn't compare to the feeling inside of it. Even when there were many rooms full of decorations and things like big collections of books and a full kit for exercising, the house had an air of loneliness, and it seemed rather empty. Originally it was Taeyeon’s family property, but when they moved to the United States to find someone who could help them find their only daughter, something rather foolish, it was given to the other girls' family. Both families were known for being dedicated to the politics, both liars and both closed-minded humans.

Jessica looked at the house with disgust, since she didn’t liked anything too exaggerated. It was too much and it held no meaning, it felt as cold and empty as her own little home. She preferred her cold and minimalistic apartment somewhere near the N.S.S “Great, now I am at this beautiful and perfect place... what a joy” Jessica spoke with a bit of annoyance and sarcasm on her voice, but got ignored by both girls.

“How long are we going to stay here?” she was overly-desperate to get out of that place. It reminded her of the place she spent her childhood, at and that just made her more uncomfortable — if that was possible. Jessica never liked to remember her childhood, her mother, or her family at all: those few moments she shared with them destroyed the big illusion a kid always has when they watch the sky, or an animal or even when they dream. It was that feeling of being able to touch every cloud and feel the texture of it, dreaming that it is a giant cotton candy in the far horizon. Her infancy was the most awful time in her life, if Jessica were to explain it. There were no cotton-candy-clouds, no dreams and no games. It was all too silent, too meaningless, too grown-up for a child.

It was that strict way of growing that changed her character into a cold one. She never learned how it felt to be a kid, for her only was it for a little time. Her family was nowhere near caring for the kids, and always preferred logic over feelings. That times were also what didn’t let her enjoy the beautifulness in every moment of her life. As she felt the caring glance of her new friend (that’s what Taeyeon has been calling her) Jessica looked at her, flashed one of her small smiles and continued looking mindlessly at the house. She was, after all, also a broken doll.

Once they finished their long path around the palace-like house, they settled in the living room which was a delight to Jessica, because she could at least distract herself looking at the photos that covered all the walls. She noticed that one of the sisters was a little bit clingy and seemed superficial as it showed in most of the photos she was at. However, the other one seemed to be calmer and had a great body, probably from hours in a gym, killing herself in harsh diets, and caring a little bit too much about her body. What actually got her attention was a photo where a girl of eight or nine years of age stood in the back yard accompanied by Tiffany and her sisters, and that kid with high ponytails and a cute, little pink dress resembled Taeyeon a lot; almost perfectly.

Probably the only difference was that the girl was smiling innocently and happily, with her eyes glowing in excitement. Taeyeon still had that beautiful smile, Jessica thought, but her eyes, the door to the soul were now looking at her with fear. The Taeyeon from them and the Taeyeon from now were looking both at her, and she suddenly felt tiny because of the stares. 

“Tiffany, is that Taeyeon in the picture?” They say curiosity is our best friend and our worst enemy at the same time, and Jessica was about to realize it.

“Oh, yes, that’s her. It was one year before she got kidnapped by… err… him.” Until that moment, Jessica hadn’t realized that she was interrupting another conversation. It was one of the things she hated the most about her: she could analyze three different cases at the same time, but when it came to being socially active or the equivalent to it for her… she was a complete failure.

After the awkward exchange of words between her and the red-haired girl, Jessica saw Taeyeon walking towards her with a little pout. Oh sheets and papers… was she angry or something like that? “I want to see it too Sica,” Taeyeon whined making Jessica’s eyes double their size. “Gosh Jessica, close your eyes or they’re going to pop out of your face!” The blonde girl couldn't understand what was going on, and she just stood there looking to the relatively interesting floor while Taeyeon took the photo from her hands.

Tiffany laughed, Taeyeon laughed, and Jessica could practically hear the over-clingy girl and the athletic one laughing too. Because it couldn’t get any more embarrassing for her. Or at least that's what she thought. “Excuse me, I have to go back to the office… you know what I mean, don’t you Tiffany? All that chief business and the papers from the case we are managing. Good-bye!” a red-faced Jessica stood up and walked out, bumping into the over-clingy girl who said to her in a really annoying tone ‘Excuse me, this is Gucci!’ while giving Jessica a cold glare, followed by her sister, who muttered a ‘Sorry’ in a calm voice and continued to run towards the garden. Jessica bowed lightly and continued her almost-perfect-escape. It could get really more embarrasing, she thought as she mentally facepalmed.

And she was quite sure that that wasn't Gucci at all.

Hello beautiful readers! Enjoyed the little awkward moment at the end? *hit by a watermelon* Okay I'll better keep quiet...

So, this chapter was a little bit shorter. And I apologize if it was utterly boring *points at the asleep reader* but I didn't had a lot of inspiration so... here you go?

P.D. Sunny and Hyoyeon are here! I didn't know how to integrate them, so I said, why not? and they're twins now. If it got confusing, I will explain in the  comments~ I'm sorry for making Sunny as a brat and Hyoyeon as an exercising addict! don't get me wrong, I love them both a loooooot.

Author out!