The next day, Taeyeon was assigned to look for Jessica’s whereabouts during dismissal because Tiffany—the one who usually took up on this task—was busy preparing for her dinner date which Taeyeon strongly disapproves.

They usually took turns in looking for Jessica during dismissal because the 9 of them lives together in one house and it’s also for Jessica’s own safety. Well, for gorgeous girls like them, sleeping helplessly at some dangerous place is not advisable. Better safe than sorry.

Taeyeon already looked everywhere but Jessica was nowhere to be found. In desperation, she already searched at the rooftop, the garden, the cafeteria and even all the women’s restrooms and all the cubicles in it. But Jessica was nowhere to be found.

“She must’ve gone home by now” she thought while glancing down at her watch and glanced up towards the now dark sky. Her phone ran out of battery so she wasn’t able to contact any of the girls “Damn it’s already getting dark—oh wait no, scratch that. It IS already dark. Screw Jessica Jung.” she chuckled and started to sing a song in her head “I did my best, but I guess my best wasn’t good enough” she laughed by herself and walked briskly towards her locker with her head hung low which eventually made her bump into someone

“Ow…” she grimaced and gently rubbed her head which bumped into that person’s shoulder and looked up to see the aually reproducing eyeliner maniac

“For the nth time, please watch where you’re going and stop bumping on me, will you?” Baekhyun glowered down at her

 “Stop turning it the other way around, will you?” she glared at him. Baekhyun rolled his eyes as he walked past her but Taeyeon suddenly realized something and grabbed his arm to stop him “Wait, why are you still here? It’s already quarter to seven” she asked “There’s a lot of thugs out there you know” she nonchalantly stated

“Why do you care?” Baekhyun shrugged her off and turned to her “Besides, why are you still here?” he returned the question

“Well, I needed to look for Jessica’s whereabouts. It’s highly dangerous to sleep alone in this campus but I can’t find her anywhere” Taeyeon shrugged “She’s probably home now. She can handle herself if anything bad happens to her anyway.” Her eyes lit up “Oooh that could finally be a lesson for her to stop cutting classes”

“You’re not… Worried at all or something?” Baekhyun curiously asked and tilted his head

“A little” Taeyeon grinned “She’s a lot more feisty than you think” she winked and proceeded to her locker

Little did everyone know that Jessica’s dad is a Lawyer slash boxer and he often takes his daughters to play a round or something and actually taught them how to do boxing and other self-defence? Even though Jessica is a total lazy wimp, she can defend herself against anyone who tried to harm her. Her glare after all, was enough to send a grown man run away and pee in his pants. Well, that did happen unfortunately. Taeyeon inwardly laughed at the memory back when they were still freshmen. Someone tried to touch her when she was sleeping and Taeyeon swears that no one should disturb the ice princess’s beauty sleep. No one.

“Okay” Baekhyun shrugged “I’ll get going then”

“Bye!” Taeyeon waved at him and smirked “And good luck with your child!” she added “Can I be the godfather?”

“Shut up!” Baekhyun shouted back and Taeyeon was left all alone snickering to herself

The girls had somehow made her understand what aual reproduction is after a few hours of lecturing since Taeyeon doesn’t seem to understand anything at all and continues to insist that humans are also allowed to reproduce that way but after hard coaxing and reasoning, putting in facts here and there, Taeyeon soon understood but she still kept on teasing Baekhyun about it. Teasing him has become her hobby, after all.

She swung her backpack on her back and hummed as she exited the campus and walked her way towards their dorm. It was just 10 minutes from school and only a 5 minute walk if she took the shortcut and walk into the alley.

She decided to use the shortcut and cautiously walked into the alley. She never used this shortcut at night and had no idea of how spooky it is under the moonlight. She shivered and Goosebumps started to spread all over her body as the cold wind pierced through her uniform.

She felt something move on her right and she immediately shot her head towards it only to see the space empty and dark. “Must be some stray cat or dog or rat or whatever” she shrugged it off and paced faster.

She was about to break into a run when a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist and pinned her against the musty wall of the dark alley. She screamed and shut her eyes as reflex. She tried to break away from the holds on her wrist but it was too tight “Damn it” she cussed

“Hi there cutie,” the thug said and Taeyeon finally managed to open her eyes only to find a—according to her description—not so pleasant to look at face only centimetres away from her own

“What’s a pretty lady like you doing at a place like this?” he continued

She grimaced and stared back at the guy in disgust as she caught a whiff of the man’s breath “Holy crap” she thought without even a tinge of fear “When’s the last time this dude actually got to brush his teeth?” she wondered because the smell she caught earlier was definitely something rotten

“Well? That’s some jackpot prize we got there” three more thugs came out of the shadows

She turned her attention back to the guy who is currently pinning her against the wall and much to her surprise, their faces was now definitely closer to each other

Disgusted and frustrated, she coldly and firmly muttered loud enough for the thugs to hear “Let.Go.Of.Me.This.Instant”

 The man pinning her down tightened his hold instead “Aww. Cute little puppy here wants to play tough?” he teased

“Oh don’t you dare” Taeyeon threatened as the man was about to lessen the distance between their faces

“Before you do what you plan to do, please make sure to brush your teeth,” she said seriously and looked right into his soul “because I’m afraid, I don’t do lip locks with people who has some serious dental issues” she smiled slightly as she took a sniff. She grimaced “and you could take a bath too. It is a high requirement to be clean and tidy if you want to me” she added, smiling innocently

“Let’s just finish this one. Talks too much” the man said

Taeyeon smirked. She knew they will eventually get tired of her pep talks and get to the job. Well, Taeyeon wasn’t much of a wimp either. With her petite build, people always have the impression on Taeyeon that she’s just a cute little innocent kid. Completely harmless. But they were wrong. She was everything but innocent and she trained boxing with Jessica, her sister and the rest of the girls. Mr. Jung treats them as his daughters too anyway. She also practiced a few mixed martial arts with his brother and she could use this opportunity to brush up her skills.

The thugs were about to advance when someone shouted—or rather, squeaked—much to Taeyeon’s surprise

A shaking young man came out of the shadows and Taeyeon’s eyes widened in recognition “H-hey! L-leave her a-alone!”

“What the heck?! Is he nuts?! What’s he doing here?!” she thought frantically as she watched the shaking young man with wide eyes.

They shared eye-contact and Taeyeon immediately shook her head vigorously to warn him but to her surprise, the guy dashed towards her and hesitatingly pulled the grip of the thug that was pinning her down. The thug was caught by surprise and the guy was able to pull him off her

The thug looked at him furiously and yanked his arm back as he punched the guy with so much force that he flew a few meters away. The guy used one of his arms to prop himself up as the other wiped the blood trickling down the corner of her lip

“Stupid pretty boy” the thug muttered and advanced towards the helpless guy on the ground “Let’s finish this first. We can enjoy dessert later” he grumbled

Taeyeon snapped out of her trance and swiftly moved in front of the guy on the floor. She took off her blazer and loosened her necktie and started to fold her sleeves up. She threw her blazer towards him without looking back

“Well, I’m afraid you will have your dessert as appetizer” she smirked

She looked down to the guy who is currently staring up at her in disbelief. “I got this” she winked and gave him a small smile. She looked at the thugs and her small smile transformed into her signature silly lopsided grin “Now, who wants to taste it first?” she asked and raised her hand “Cute little puppy for appetizer, anyone?”

Surely, one thug came dashing towards her attempting to land a punch but she swiftly dodged and firmly grabbed his wrist and pulled him in as she side stepped and elbowed his ribs. The thug groaned in pain and instinctively bent down and clutched his ribs. She took this as a chance to attack so she stepped backward and swung her right leg up, landing a kick on his neck. He collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

The thugs went easy on her and sent only one member at a time, but she’s no pushover. She glanced back at the frozen figure beside her and met his shocked eyes “You might want to stay as far as possible” she said so he nodded and backed a few meters away

She was caught off guard as she found herself being hold tightly in a headlock. She shook violently, trying to free herself but to no avail. She bit her lip as she felt the hold tightening, choking her.

She swiftly used her right hand to grip on his shoulder and her left hand gripped on his elbow. She then slightly bent her knees down as she bent her body forward as well without letting go of her grip on the thug, pulling the thug with her and with all her might, pulled her grip forward and she eventually threw him off her shoulder

Just when she was about to stand straight, another thug managed to wrap his arms around her tightly from behind and got her in a bear hug. She acted immediately and quickly spread her feet apart, stooped down and grabbed his ankles with both hands and pulled forward then upward throwing him on his rump. 

She charged towards the last thug standing—the man who pinned her earlier—and threw in a hook with her left fist which he easily ducked away but Taeyeon got her right hand prepared and swiftly entered a powerful uppercut colliding with his descending head. He staggered back, dizzy because of the impact and Taeyeon took this as an opportunity to swing her leg and kick him straight in the stomach making him fall back

The moment he fell back, Taeyeon immediately ran towards the cowering figure. She grabbed his hand and ran with all her might dragging him out of the alley

“Where are we going?” he asked full of concern

“I don’t know” she glanced at him and grinned “Anywhere away from those thugs, I guess”

They kept on running and running until Taeyeon stopped when she recognize one of the parks found near their house and decided to drag the guy towards the nearby bench.

“Why did you suddenly appear?” Taeyeon sternly asked panting as they sat down

“I don’t know.” He shrugged “I heard a scream. So without thinking, I ran towards it.”

“What?! Are you crazy?!” she exclaimed “What would an eyeliner guy like you who reproduces aually possibly do against those thugs?!”

“I know right?” Baekhyun smiled “Such a foolish thing to do, really” he muttered, looking down

 “Hey,” she patted his head and he looked up and caught her gaze “You did well, okay? You were great” she said  feeling bad that he probably feels embarrassed and foolish right now “That wasn’t a foolish action,” she silently said as he looked down again  “that was brave” she smiled warmly again “very brave”

Taeyeon’s eyes travelled down his lips and her brows furrowed as she noticed that there was a cut and it was swelling as well. She held Baekhyun’s chin and gently turned it to the side to examine the cut. She also noticed that there’s some small scrape on his cheek from being thrown on the ground. She let go of his chin and leaned back, looking at him with concern. She doesn’t know why she feels that way. Maybe because Baekhyun actually had the guts to try and save her in that situation and after teasing him for a week, she has grown fond of the guy.

“Does it hurt?” she asked, feeling bad that Baekhyun has to endure this pain because of her

“Obviously” Baekhyun chuckled “What’s with you and your dumb questions though?”

“Shut up” she rolled her eyes “On the second thought, I’m thankful he actually got hit. The impact should’ve been stronger so that he will be able to shut his trap” Taeyeon thought and sighed

“What are we gonna do about that then?” Taeyeon asked, still feeling a tinge of concern

“I don’t know” he shrugged

“Should we go to the hospital or something?” Taeyeon asked and tilted her head

“Hospital?” Baekhyun looked at her in bewilderment “It’s just a cut, nothing serious. Some ice pack or something should be enough.”

“Ice pack huh…” Taeyeon mumbled looking down, deep in thought

“There’s absolutely no first-aid kit and ice pack here in the park though…” she thought “I can’t just let him go home like that.” Taeyeon kept on racking her head for ideas.

”I guess I’ll have to… I really have no choice” she sighed as she thought of an idea and stood up. Baekhyun looked at her with confusion

Without words, she grabbed Baekhyun’s wrist and started dragging him again

“Wha- Where are we going?” Baekhyun asked while staggering behind her