"It isn't your fault, Taeyeon. Neither of us can't help Hyoyeon."

The sentence sent her into her subconscious mind, shutting off the reality around her and her friends. After having to calm the latter down when she went into another furious fit, they all sat in different corners of the room indulging themselves into conversations. Seohyun, though in a calm state but still traumatized by what happen to her, sat silently with Yoona and Yuri who were both talking about anything that can take their mind off of the current situation at hand. Sooyoung and Sunny, sitting shoulder to shoulder, slept almost peacefully with the shorter girl's head resting on the taller one's shoulder and Sooyoung's cheek pressing against Sunny's head. Jessica, who was sitting with the danshin duo, sat beside Sooyoung with her head hung low in deep slumber.

Which leaves to Tiffany and Taeyeon, not saying a single word to each other and were lost in her own thoughts.

It was the time for them to reevaluate the situation. But no matter what they thought of, confusion still lingers as to out of all the billions of people in the world, they were unfortunate ones to be lured into the rat trap of a psychotic criminal for his cruel acts towards his victims.

Have they ever done something in their relatively short lives for where this was the punishment for their acts? Was it fate? Have their sins build up into a mountain filled with greed and sloth that fate decided to put an end to their actions?

These questions lingered in everyone's mind, especially Taeyeon. Every now and then, her mind recounts events and time periods in her life where she did something unconsciously without knowing that it was considered wrong or unhumanly. In her own defence, she would admit the sins she has done to God without hesitation. But right now, she doesn't know. She was confused.

God must've felt bored of her robotic doings in the world, trying to be eyecatching to the public and media for a living, that He decided to put her in a hell-like situation. And she didn't went in alone.

Taeyeon scratched her head in reflex, feeling that it was slightly itchy and needed fingernails to rub against her scalp in a vigorous way. She didn't know what time it is. Probably it was already nighttime. As if knowing the time seemed important.

A slight tap on the shoulder alarmed her, demolishing her thoughts and diving back into the reality. She turned her head to the side, noticing Tiffany greeting her with a small smile.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Tiffany asked softly, pulling up her leg to her chest with one hand leaving the other one sat on the floor straightly.

Taeyeon chuckled, and look dowb at the floor. "I'd rather keep my thoughts to myself, thank you very much."

Tiffany's smile faltered, sighing deeply. "Sorry. I needed someone to talk to after all of the... crazy happening. I'd probably go insane if I was the only one being locked up."

Taeyeon looked up at Tiffany with a sense of guilt. Replying sarcastically seemed to be the worst option in a situation like this. "Me too. I didn't mean to be rude to you earlier, I was just having too many things in my mind."

"Don't we all?" Tiffany answered in a hushed tone, taking out the bracelet around her wrist and studied it closely. She scoffed. "It's funny. This thing should've bring us good luck to everything we do, everywhere we go. But now, I'm starting to feel like a kid for believing in such a thing."

"Don't be," Taeyeon said, smiling at the sight of the bracelet she bought for the other girl. "Everyone has an inner child in them. Can I look at it?"

Tiffany nodded, handing over the accessory to the short girl and watching Taeyeon play with the bracelet using her fingers. Twirling it round and round in a circle with one finger, Taeyeon chuckled at a thought that came into her mind.

"You know what would be funny? Using this as an item of prayer. Like, holding it with both hands while declaring your sins to God and all," Taeyeon chuckled. She gave it back to Tiffany, who was slightly surprised at the girl bringing up the topic of religious acts which she barely does.

"I don't know. For some people, it helps. It's like lifting up a heavy weight from your chest. Everyone who's in a religion does that, Tae, I don't think it would be funny to pray in situations like this," Tiffany defended her beliefs and opinion. Being a Christian meant a big part of her life, attending church at sundays as much as possible and sticking to her knowledge about the teachings and lessons of Christianity. Making fun of something religiously was one of the things Tiffany hated, and will never done in her life.

Taeyeon nodded. "I know. But as much as I believe in God, as much as I appreciate being a part of a religion with millions of followers, He can't twist the minds of fate and the things that must happen," she paused to look at Seohyun who was smiling softly as Yoona and Yuri recounted a funny story. Sighing, she continued. "But only God forgives all of the saints and sinners in this world. Not so sure about the ing maniac locking us up like caged animals."

Tiffany smiled, trying not to surpass a chuckle. "Yeah, he can just rot in hell like all of his psychotic friends back in the hospital."

Both of them shared a laugh that was short-lived when they heard the hatch opening underneath the door, alarming the three younngsters talking in one corner. Whoever was outside the door kicked a metal tray full of bowls with plastic lids on top of them. The loud shut of the hatch alarmed the other three who were in their deep sleep.

Taeyeon was the first one to react, rising up from the floor and walking towards the tray. Kneeling down on one leg, she picked one out of the nine bowls available and took the lid off. Inspecting the contents, she looked back at everyone and spoke, "It's okay, guys. It's just soup."

Everyone started to get up from their corners and walked to get a bowl of their own. One by one, they sat at the center of the room while waiting for everyone to finish gathering around. Then, Taeyeon spoke again. "Sooyoung, will you do the honors?"

Sooyoung rolled her eyes, taking the lid off and using her spoon to take a spoonful of soup. Sipping the liquid off of the utensil, she paused for a moment to look at everyone before raising both of her eyebrows.

"Well, I know one thing," Sooyoung grinned. "This guy ing at being a chef."

All of them shared a good round of laughter together, forgetting that there's left one lonely bowl remaining on the metal tray.

-

A quick update to say happy holidays to everyone on the Internet reading this fanfic! And be sure to set up goals for the new year, though I don't know if you guys will ever try doing them *giggles*. Anyways, thanks for reading/subscribing/upvoting this fic, it means so much to me and I am forever grateful for that!

'Til the next update~ Ciao!