*Apgujeong, Seoul, South Korea*

 

It had been nearly a week since her father was murdered. Ever since then she had been looking through all of her father’s documents, hoping that it might shed some light into figuring out what he was doing; so far, the only things she could find were random news articles and papers with extremely complicated equations.

 

She eventually followed her colleague Hyoyeon to Korea and instead of staying at a nice hotel for a week, Sooyoung thought it would be best if they both stayed at her father’s old apartment, only Hyoyeon would stay for a week while Sooyoung planned to continue living in Korea. While looking through her father’s apartment, she saw that it was cluttered with papers and graphs all strewn around the wall and the floor. She thought it would be best to look through every single document and file, but then it finally occurred to her that she left her teaching job in Japan in order to pursue and understand her father’s research, thus forcing her to live on her savings.

 

But then an idea popped into her mind and she dug through her father’s desk of business cards until she found the number for the taxi company he worked for. After a few phone calls and a very hard interview, Sooyoung managed to get a job and was able to work as a taxi driver in order to sustain herself while she was here.

 

She was sitting in her cab in Apgujeong while trying to organize everything she learned from her father’s research so far. She was trying to put the pieces together, but she didn’t know how to start looking for those people. On top of that, she also wanted to get to find out who killed her father and what they wanted his research for. While lost in her train of thought, she heard her rear door open and saw a cute girl in a suit and sunglasses take a seat in her rear view mirror.

 

“170 Eonju road please,” she said sweetly.

 

“Yes ma’am.”

 

Sooyoung shifted into drive and began her route while turning on her payment meter. She thought the girl behind her was mildly attractive so she thought it would be nice to make small talk.

 

“So what are you doing at Eonju today? Important business meeting?”

 

The woman in the back chuckled as she shook her head. “No, just meeting a friend.”

 

“In a suit?” Sooyoung thought it was weird such a nice young girl wasn’t wearing more casual clothes for a girl her age.

 

“Nothing wrong with wearing a good suit once in a while. They say the clothes make the woman and this suit makes me feel like a million bucks.” Sooyoung could see the woman popping open her collar.

 

“Bucks? I’m guessing you’re from America,” Sooyoung arched her eyebrow towards the rear view mirror.

 

“No, I’m from Korea. Let’s just say I have an American friend and her words rub off on me.”

 

Sooyoung thought her young passenger was very suave with her words. She was feeling a good vibe with this girl.

 

“Yes, sometimes our closest friends do rub off some of their mannerisms,” Sooyoung nodded, unsure if the girl noticed or not. “So you look young. Are you a university student?”

 

“Oh no, I never went to college. I felt like it would be a waste of my time,” the girl chuckled.

 

“Now it may be hard to get a job nowadays in this economy, I strongly believe a solid education will help anyone go far in life.”

 

Her cute customer didn’t respond and Sooyoung took the hint that the girl wasn’t in the mood to talk. A few minutes passed by and the girl in the back seat kept her eyesight unwaveringly on the rear view mirror during the whole trip. As Sooyoung stopped at a red light, her customer stared at Sooyoung’s taxi I.D portrait before speaking again.

 

“It says on your I.D. your name is Choi Sooyoung,” she said while adjusting her sunglasses.

 

“Yes, that’s me. Choi Sooyoung,” the taxi driver concurred.

 

“There’s a lot of Choi’s in Korea, you know. Almost as much as Kim’s or Lee’s,” the customer chuckled.

 

“Yes, you’re correct miss. Did you have a point?” Sooyoung didn’t know where this was going and thought maybe her customer was now trying to create small talk.

 

“Oh not really. It’s just that I knew a certain Choi. His name was Choi Jungnam... Really lovely man. He was a scientist of some sort and he worked in a university in Saitama, Japan.”

 

Sooyoung’s heart began to beat erratically as she tried her best to maintain control of her expression. She was beginning to feel very scared and internally questioned how that girl knew about her father.

 

“It’s a shame though. Such wasted talent with a mind like his. I heard he met an unfortunate death while he was in a taxi cab.” The young girl leaned towards Sooyoung’s ear; a millimeter more and their skin would be touching. “I also heard he had a daughter who was also a renowned scientist.”

 

The girl felt herself fly back into her seat as Sooyoung stomped hard on the gas pedal. She swerved in between lines of cars and traffic lights until she took a sharp right through an alleyway. She almost drove into a brick wall before her foot smashed the brakes.

 

Sooyoung tore off her seatbelt and sprinted out of her taxi, not caring that she left the keys in the ignition. She didn’t even dare to take a quick glance behind her, for the only thought on her mind was to get away from that girl. Whoever that girl was, she was probably involved in the killing of her father.

 

Back in the taxi, the girl stepped outside of the vehicle and smiled as she saw the skinny woman sprinting desperately away. Yuri stuck her communicator into her ear and pressed the button, waiting for a response.

 

"This is Ice Princess to Black Pearl. I received a signal. What happened?"

 

“Oh my god Jessi! You will NOT believe who I just met!” Yuri shrieked, making the other person on the other line cringe.

 

“Damn it Yuri, would you please relax? I can hear you just fine without you screeching.”

 

“Haha, sorry about that. I just wanted to let you know I met a really interesting cab driver.”

 

There was silence on the other line for a few seconds before a response finally came.

 

“Did you get any new data?”

 

Yuri grinned to herself. “Patience my little ice princess, I just sent her a message. I wanted her to know that we’re always watching her.”

 

 ***

 

“Miss, that’ll be ten thousand two hundred won.”

 

Tiffany shoved fifteen thousand won into the driver’s hand before stepping out of the taxi cab as she kept her cell phone glued to her ear.

 

“Okay Taeyeon, I’m at the address you sent me. Now where are you?” Tiffany demanded, her eyes continuously scanning the immediate area for her short friend.

 

“Just walk into the alleyway in front of you until I say stop.”

 

Tiffany started towards the alley. “Okay Taeng but if this is another one of your stupid pranks, I am never letting you sleep in my room again.”

 

She kept looking around, hoping to catch Taeyeon hiding behind a dumpster, waiting to scare her. She continued to walk while listening any kind of response from her phone.

 

“Okay stop right there!”

 

Tiffany halted her steps and turned around, anticipating her friend’s surprise.

 

“Alright Taeyeon, I’m here. Now will you please tell me why in the hell you made me leave work for this?” Tiffany yelled at her cell phone, annoyed.

 

She heard no response from her phone. Suddenly she heard a loud crash behind her and Tiffany shrieked as she jumped a few feet away from the noise. She approached the small blue thing cautiously and saw a familiar minion keychain attached to it. There was only one person she knew with a blue cell phone and a minion phone charm.

 

Tiffany looked up the tall building and her eyes widened in horror as she saw her best friend standing on the ledge of an extremely tall building.

 

“Hey Fany-ah!” Taeyeon waved below enthusiastically as if she was at a theme park.

 

“Hey Taeng. What you doing buddy?” Tiffany yelled with a light tone in the hopes that Taeyeon wouldn’t do anything rash.

 

“Oh you know, just admiring this great view from up here. You know, as I look up here I noticed we have a lot of Mr. Pizza’s here. We should go there one time. I’m really craving a shrimp gold pizza with cheese stuffed crust!” Taeyeon hollered below with a smile on her face.

 

“That sound great Taeyeon,” Tiffany tried to smile, knowing her friend was in a very dangerous state. “Why don’t you get down here and we can go now? My treat!”

 

Taeyeon ignored her words as she put her hands behind her back. “You know Tiffany, I always thought life was pretty dull. Waking up early, going to my 9 to 5 job, coming back and having dinner with you, it was the same thing over and over. Don’t get me wrong, being with you is always fun but I always felt like there was something missing in my life.”

 

“Please stop Taeyeon! There’s so much in life to live for!” Tiffany pleaded as she contemplated calling 119 for help. In her head she knew had Taeyeon finally lost her sanity and was pleading for God to let her friend come back to her.

 

“You don’t understand Fany-ah! I’m special!”

 

“Yes you are Taeyeon, now why don’t you come down?! We can talk more about how special you are,” Tiffany desperately shouted.

 

“You know Fany-ah it might be easier if you were to come to the roof with me! This yelling is starting to hurt my throat!” Taeyeon screamed below with a grin still on her face.

 

“Okay! I’ll be right there! Don’t move, okay?!” Tiffany yelled as she motioned for Taeyeon to stay put. She quickly ran into the entrance of the building and mashed the elevator button impatiently before she ran inside the elevator and continuously pushed the roof button.

 

It seemed like today was the day the elevator decided to move infuriatingly slowly; Tiffany’s mind was in a heightened state of panic, for Taeyeon could jump at any second. She didn’t know what floor it was but she couldn’t take it anymore and immediately opened the elevator, running towards the stairs and taking them two at a time. Eventually she reached the roof entrance and when she threw the door open, she was relieved to see her best friend still standing on the ledge, that idiotic grin still plastered on her face.

 

“Hey Tiffany, you made it!” Taeyeon greeted, waving at Tiffany excitedly again.

 

Tiffany was huffing while putting her hands on her knees. She was happy her friend didn’t jump, but she had to catch her breath before speaking again.

 

“Taeng… please don’t… jump…” Tiffany breathed roughly.

 

“You don’t understand Fany-ah, I met someone who believes me! She knew about my flying dreams and said she was special too! She told me if recreated my dream, I’ll be able to fly,” Taeyeon explained ecstatically. Tiffany was terrified that her friend had finally fallen into the deep end, but the only thing in her mind right now was to stop her from jumping.

 

“If I come closer to you, will you promise me you won’t jump?” Tiffany asked, finally catching her breath.

 

“Yeah sure, the view is pretty cool from here,” Taeyeon turned around in order to admire the setting sun with its orange glow.

 

Tiffany cautiously approached her very delicate friend until she was only a foot away from her.

 

“Isn’t this city beautiful?” Taeyeon was admiring the city, but Tiffany wanted nothing more than to get Taeyeon and herself off of the roof. She slowly embraced her friend’s waist from behind and rested her chin on her shoulder.

 

“Come on Taeng, let’s go home. I believe you okay? You don’t have to prove anything. You’re very special to me.”

 

Taeyeon never noticed how Tiffany felt so strong with her arms around her. She always hugged Tiffany whenever she felt giddy, but this time it felt really comforting as if she never wanted Tiffany to let go. Taeyeon turned around to meet Tiffany’s watery eyes and smiled. She wrapped her arms around Tiffany’s back and whispered in Tiffany’s ear.

 

“Trust me.”

 

Tiffany gave her a questioning look and before she could ask what she meant, Taeyeon held on tight to her friend and shifted their weight off the edge of the roof in one strong tug.

 

“TAEYEON!!!”

 

Tiffany held on tight as she felt her and Taeyeon plummeting to the ground below. She was yelling bloody murder, praying to God that she had so much more to look forward to in life and why was He ending it so quickly? Taeyeon on the other hand felt nothing like that. The downward trajectory felt so familiar; the rush was completely exhilarating. The feeling of weightlessness made her feel like she was a bird. She closed her eyes and concentrated on flying upwards, but something wasn’t right. They were still plunging towards the ground. It would only be a few more seconds until they would splatter on the concrete and Taeyeon was beginning to panic.

 

She kept believing she could fly in her head, but the power of flight wasn’t coming to her. Tiffany continued to yell into her ear and it looked like they were about to fall to their death. Taeyeon closed her eyes and buried her face into Tiffany’s neck, waiting for the pain. Even though she was about to die, at least she was in the arms of her best friend. Her only friend. Her goofy pink loving friend who would do anything for her.

 

My little Miyoung.

 

It felt like they were about to hit the ground but suddenly, everything halted. Tiffany’s scream died down; she was at a loss for words.

 

“T…T…Taeyeon?”

 

Taeyeon was curious as to why they weren’t dead yet, so she moved away from Tiffany’s neck and opened her eyes.

 

“Oh my god…”

 

Taeyeon looked down and saw that she and Tiffany were hovering only a meter from the ground. A big smile crept up on Taeyeon’s face and she couldn’t hold in her excitement.

 

“Oh my god! Tiffany, I told you! I told you I could fly! Hahaha!!!”

 

Tiffany couldn’t believe it either. Here she was holding on to Taeyeon for dear life, floating in mid-air. She was beginning to wonder if they were both dead and just became ghosts.

 

“Taeyeon, please pinch my cheek.”

 

The ecstatic girl obliged and pinched her best friend’s rosy cheek; the immediate response was a shriek of pain.

 

“Oww!” Tiffany rubbed her cheek. “Okay, so we’re not ghosts.”

 

“Ghosts? Haha, Tiffany don’t you see? I’m fly-”

 

Taeyeon wasn’t able to finish because suddenly gravity started working again and they both dropped onto the ground. They didn’t fall that far, but Tiffany was rubbing her while Taeyeon had a small bruise on her arm.

 

“Oww. What were you saying about flying?”

 

Taeyeon got up first and pulled Tiffany to her feet. She was about to explode with joy again before she felt a cold presence behind her. She turned around to see a familiar face, the girl who was still wearing her suit.

 

“Hey Jessica! I did it!” Taeyeon was about to greet her but Tiffany held her back. “Tiffany, what’s wrong?”

 

“I think she saw you fly.”

 

“Of course she saw me fly. This is the woman who believed me.”

 

“Taeng, you need to hear me out. Whenever there’s paranormal stuff going on, you know it’s bad news when people in suits come to investigate.”

 

Taeyeon shushed her friend and waved at the suit clad girl.

 

“Hey Jessica, did you see me? I was carrying my friend in the air!” Taeyeon explained happily.

 

“Yes Taeyeon, I did see.” Jessica walked slowly towards them. She pulled out a pair of black leather gloves and proceeded to put them on.

 

“Umm, what are the gloves for?” Taeyeon asked nervously.

 

“You see Taeyeon, my organization knew you were one of us and I was sent to be sure if you were or not. I’m happy to see that you are,” Jessica said as she made her way towards them.

 

“Okay…” Taeyeon started to feel a bad vibe and shifted slightly to keep her friend hidden. “So what are doing now?”

 

“I want you to come with me, Taeyeon, and meet my boss, if that’s okay with you.” Jessica had finally stopped in her tracks, only to smile menacingly at them.

 

“Okay, I’ll meet with them. I’ll just let Tiffany go-”

 

“I’m afraid I can’t have you doing that Taeyeon.  You see, your friend has already experienced your abilities first hand. She has seen too much.” Jessica clenched her fist while looking directly into Tiffany’s eyes.

 

“Wait, are you serious?” Taeyeon could feel Tiffany shaking behind her and if her instincts were right, she was pretty sure Jessica was about to hurt her best friend.

 

“Tiffany run!”

 

The shorter girl grabbed her friend’s hand and sprinted towards the other end of the alley. It felt like they were going to get away, but suddenly a big wall of ice appeared in front of them, blocking their only means of escape.

 

“What the hell?!” Tiffany stumbled back in disbelief.

 

Taeyeon turned her head back and saw Jessica’s gloved hand on the brick wall next to her and saw the source of the ice. Taeyeon thought that this was like something straight out of a comic book and thought that it was impressive, but at the same time completely horrifying.

 

“I can explain my abilities to you later, but first I’m going to have to kill your friend.” Jessica turned her attention to Tiffany. “It’s nothing personal Tiffany, it’s just routine procedure.”

 

“Like hell you will!” Taeyeon embraced Tiffany again and tried to focus on flying in her head, but the power of flight wasn’t coming to her. Tiffany look frightened and Taeyeon even attempted to jump, hoping that the brief moment in the air would kick start her flying ability.

 

“You have a lot to learn, Taeyeon,” Jessica approached them, both of her fists surrounded by a blue aura.

 

Taeyeon felt horrified at what she was seeing and Tiffany was hugging her for dear life, wishing they could get out of here. She knew she could fly now, but she wished knew how to flip the on switch to her ability. Running out of ideas, Taeyeon released her friend from her embrace and coolly walked in front of Jessica with her arms out; it seemed like the only option left.

 

“I don’t care who you are or what organization you come from,” Taeyeon looked behind her to see Tiffany mouthing the words ‘what are you doing?’. “But if you wanna lay a finger on Tiffany, you’ll have to go through me first.”

 

Jessica stared at Taeyeon, absolutely dumbfounded by the short girl’s idiotic moment of courage. As Taeyeon stood there with her arms spread out wide to either side, a defiant expression plain on her face, a small smirk grew on Jessica’s face, finally stretching out into a full blown grin as she understood Taeyeon’s intent.

 

“Well, if that’s the case, then you will have your way.”

 

Jessica suddenly crouched down and her palm onto the concrete ground. With a frightening speed, ice rushed towards Taeyeon and latched itself onto her legs, effectively locking her into place. Horrified at her inability to move her lower body, Taeyeon could only stare at her legs before moving her gaze, mind blank and wide-eyed at Jessica, who had already advanced quickly towards her. Jessica locked eyes with Taeyeon for a split second before she moved over to Tiffany. The girl had remained frozen, though it was out of fear than by a physical restriction.

 

“What are you doing, Tiffany? Run!” Taeyeon yelled, hoping that the sudden shout would shock Tiffany into some kind of movement, but all that happened was a quiet whimper emitting from Tiffany’s throat as Jessica slowly cupped her palm to the girl’s face, icy cold against the rosy cheeks.

 

“Before I kill you, think of this as a parting gift,” Jessica said quietly, yet clearly, with a certain kind of seductiveness apparent in her voice, and Taeyeon could only look on at the scene in horror as Jessica smiled, leaned forward and pressed her lips against Tiffany’s mouth.

 

WHY ARE THEY KISSING? WHY IS JESSICA DOING THIS? WAS THAT TIFFANY’S FIRST KISS? BUT I WANTED TO DO THA- WAIT WHAT AM I THINKING AT A TIME LIKE THIS I SHOULD BE FIGURING OUT A WAY TO GET OUT OF THIS STUPID SITUATION OH MY GOD ARE THEY USING TONGUES AND DID I JUST HEAR SOMEBODY MOAN-

 

Taeyeon’s confused mind was suddenly interrupted as Jessica abruptly pulled away from Tiffany, a frown on her beautiful face before it quickly smoothed out again.

 

“Looks like I have to go. Feel lucky that you get to live for a few more hours, Tiffany,” Jessica smiled. “I’ll be back again soon.” And with that, she quickly strode out of the alleyway.

 

As soon as she was out of sight, all the ice on Taeyeon’s legs and the giant ice wall behind her splashed onto the floor in the form of water. Taeyeon quickly hugged Tiffany, patting her lightly on the head and rubbing her back soothingly. “Tiffany, are you alright? I’m here now, did she hurt you or anything? I’m sorry I dragged you into this-”

 

Taeyeon stopped talking as she felt Tiffany’s body begin to shake; the girl had started to sob and Taeyeon only continued to hold her and whisper comfortingly. “Come on, let’s go home.”

 

-

 

“Did you get any new data?” Jessica said, with a small undertone of urgency in her words.

 

“Patience, my little Ice Princess, I just sent her a message. I wanted her to know that we’re always watching her.”

 

“...That’s it? You didn’t capture her or steal any documents?”

 

“Well, I just wanted to have a little fun and scare her, so no, not yet.”

 

“...I can’t believe you made me give up my own task to listen to you talk about your fun.”

 

“Oh yeah? Did you manage to get your targets?”

 

“I would have, if it weren’t for you.”

 

“Oooh, scary Ice Princess. I left Choi Sooyoung because she doesn’t know enough yet. I’m guessing you spent a little time with your targets, didn’t you?”

 

“...Maybe I had my own little fun, too.”

 

A small chuckle came through the earpiece. “Yeah, don’t even think about criticising me again, Sica. So what’d you do?”

 

Jessica’s lips turned upward into a smile. “Taeyeon’s friend is kinda hot. Nice smile.”

 

“No way, Sica. You guys kissed? I thought I was the only one for you!”

 

Jessica snorted at the dramatic whine. “Dream on, Kwon.”

 

There was a brief silence between the two, finally broken by Yuri. “Guess I’ll see you later then. See ya, Ice Princess.”

 

“Mm.”

 

A tiny click was heard as their call was disconnected. Jessica leaned against the closest wall, remembering the feeling of Tiffany’s soft lips against her own.

 

I wouldn’t mind seeing you again, Tiffany.

---

Just wanted to thank my friend Derpy123 for editing and helping me write this chapter