A low mist covered the streets, slowing down traffic as the fog creeped from the main roads into alleys and narrow lanes. Men and women walked back from work after being sent home due to the low visibility, traffic started to become slower with the number of cars on the road hitting the roof. “Today’s going to be a hell of an afternoon.” Yoona commented, frowning as she looked out the window with a weak sigh. “I suppose we’re having lunch at that dumpster again?” Taeyeon  asked, even though she knew what the reply was going to be.

“If you’re talking about the cafeteria, yes.”

Taeyeon jerked backwards in shock when she heard the voice of the person she had least expected to hear from; Leeteuk. “Ready to report your progress, Ms Kim?” Leeteuk questioned rather sarcastically, raising an eyebrow inquisitively at Taeyeon’s finger which was pressing down on the backspace button of her keyboard.

“We’re back at square one,” Tiffany replied in Taeyeon’s place,”Turns out we couldn’t track which store was holding the necklace.”

Leeteuk let out a snort of disapprovement as he set a newspaper down on Tiffany’s table. “Well, guess what? The necklace has been stolen.” he growled,”I’m disappointed in the both of you. And yet the two of you claim to be the best of your districts.”

The whole office grew silent as Taeyeon and Tiffany both lowered their heads and avoided Leeteuk’s piercing gaze. “Do you have anything to say for yourselves? Perhaps an explanation for your failure to complete your duties?”

The duo remained silent along with the rest of the team, both of them bearing slightly bitter expressions. “Hmmm?” Leeteuk continued to press on. “No sir,” Taeyeon replied immediately.

Leeteuk narrowed his eyes at them one last time before he gave a loud sigh of disappointment. “Yuri, Jessica,” he called out, turning to look at Yuri who barely lifted her head at the call of her name.

“You two switch tasks with Taeyeon and Tiffany. Yoona and Sunny will be helping the two of you out,” Leeteuk instructed, pointing towards Yuri, who lifted her head when she felt someone staring at her.

“I don’t care what’s happened to you Yuri,” Leeteuk said, his face hard as stone,” this up and you are dismissed, am I clear?”

Yuri slowly blinked before she closed her tetris game on her laptop. “Am I understood?!” Leeteuk boomed.

Jessica’s eyes widened as she whipped her head around to look at Yuri, gulping a mouthful of saliva nervously when she saw the way Yuri glared back at Leeteuk.

“Yes.” She answered coldly, slamming her laptop shut before preparing to leave the office.

“Good, I expect results, Eagle eye.” Leeteuk smirked as he returned to his office, leaving the rest wondering why he was so contented with making Yuri mad.

“Yuri, where are you going?” Jessica asked, reaching out to clutch Yuri’s wrist just before Yuri was out of reach.

“Work,” Yuri said coldly, however, her attitude immediately changed when she locked eyes with Jessica and saw the worry in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.” She said in a lighter tone, giving Jessica a reassuring smile and waiting until Jessica let go before she headed towards the elevator.

“Sunny, track me. Yoona, see what you can do about this,” she instructed, passing a disc over to Yoona,”Do your best.”

“Shouldn’t I be the one doing that?” Sunny asked.

Yuri shook her head. “I’ve did my homework on Yoona. She’s good at what you’re not.”

“Coding?” Sunny’s eyes widened in disbelief, turning around to find Yoona, only to see the shy girl scurrying into the pantry.

Yuri smiled slightly, watching as Sunny ran into the pantry to find Yoona. “Yuri.”

Yuri spun around instinctively at the call of her name, forcing a smile when she saw that looking at her eyeball to eyeball was Jessica. “Stay safe alright? The traffic down below is pretty hectic so try to come back before the peak hours.” Jessica pouted, straightening Yuri’s collar.

Yuri replied with another assuring smile. “I’ll see you at home.” She said, stepping back into the elevator, watching Jessica through the gap between the doors until both stainless steel door closed shut on each other.

“Sunny, talk to me.” Yuri uttered as she put her bluetooth earpiece which was hooked over her ear.

After a few noisy attempts to connect, Sunny finally managed to get onto the line. “Damn, why’d Leeteuk have to settle for the cheaper ones?” she growled as she tapped her microphone a few more times,”Alright Yuri, I have you hooked up onto the computer, tracking both your phones using GPS now. As long as your mobile data is o—“

“Wait a second, both my phones? What do you mean both my phones? I only have one.” Yuri asked, confused.

“Check your passenger seat, you should see a new phone with a line of it’s own. That’s the phone that I will be contacting you with from now so pair your earpiece with that thing once you get in the car.” Sunny replied, her voice slightly muffled,”The other one provides a more secure and stable connection.”

“Roger that,” Yuri said as she disconnected her headset from one phone and connected it to the other, reestablishing her phone connection with Sunny.

“I’m back.” She stated the moment the line was up again. “Why’d Leeteuk give us these, why not just use our own phones?” Yuri asked.

“Orders from the management. These phones prevent call tracing and they have a special chip that allows us to track you even underground. These phones are to be brought with you when you’re on a mission.” Sunny said, repeating word for word what Leeteuk told her.

“Mission,” Yuri scoffed,”Sounds fancy. Get me the transaction details of all jewellry stores islandwide. Focus on sums above half a million. Show my tracker on Jessica’s computer.”

“What for?” Sunny questioned.

“So that she won’t get too worried. Have you got the transaction details yet?”

“Give me a second. Shortlisting all transactions to above 500,000, sorting by distance. Got ‘em. The nearest is four blocks away, straight ahead.”

“Man, she’s efficient.” Tiffany commented on Yuri and Sunny’s teamwork.

“Yeah…” Taeyeon could only nod glumly as she peered over Sunny’s shoulder to see where Yuri was at.

“Give me a minute, I’ve got an incoming call,” Yuri stated, picking up her personal phone and answering the call.

“Blocked number.” Yuri said to herself, seeing that she could not view the number of her caller. “Hello?”

“43^rd Crescent Drive. You’ll find something over there that you want to see,” said a altered voice from the receiver. After that, the caller hung up.

“Who was it?” Sunny asked, her fingers still furiously typing on the keyboard.

“Aren’t you tracking her calls?” Jessica asked from behind Sunny.

Sunny shook her head indifferently, her eyes fixated on the screen, not noticing that Jessica’s face was contorted with worry. “I’m going to find Yuri,” she stated, grabbing her coat and bag as she phoned for a cab.

“43^rd Crescent Drive. That was a long drive.” Yuri commented , looking consciously at her fuel meter which had noticeably went down.

Standing before her now was what appeared to be an old shopping mall which had been closed down two years ago, surprisingly, the corridors were still rather well lit, however all the shops had been relocated and what was left were the shop names of which some still flickered on and off inconsistently. “Yuri, what’re you doing at that old mall?” Sunny asked,”There are no jewellry stores there.”

“Just making a small detour,” Yuri replied, her eyes trained on the corridor ahead of her, while her gun was loaded and ready to shoot anything that moved. Slowly but steadily, she walked carefully through the corridor until she reached the main lobby of the old mall.

Now, as she made her way through the lobby, she saw what seemed like a small piece of paper on the floor with a paperweight to hold it down. Yuri looked cautiously around as she scanned the deserted shopping centre for any signs of movement that might indicate that she wasn’t alone, but she found nothing of that sort.

Scanning her surroundings one last time, she slowly made her way towards the centre of the lobby, checking her sides and scanning the upper levels of the building every now and then until she reached the centre. Kicking aside the paperweight, she bent down and picked up the crumpled, square piece of paper, only to find two words written on the piece of paper.

“Brace yourself?” Yuri said aloud. But before she could figure out the meaning of the words her mystery caller left for her, she was hit on the head with her dull object.

Her head seemed to spin out of control in no fixed direction until she tumbled onto the floor, her head lolling from side to side as she lay motionless, unable to move after taking a blow to the head. Black patches started to dot her vision and with the last of her consciousness, she registered the fact that someone had roughly grabbed the necklace around her neck and her gun. Seconds later, Yuri out.

“—ri.”

Yuri gave no response as she flickered in and out of consciousness, feeling her limp body being shaken.

“Yuri.”

Her consciousness slowly returned and her eyes fluttered open. “You’re awake,” the warm smile of Jessica greeted her as soon as she came to.

“Si…ca.” Yuri croaked, was parched and her head was hammering itself.

The headache only got worse as Yuri’s consciousness came back and wthin seconds, she bolted upright and screamed, only to realize that was too dry for her to scream and she was left coughing and gagging while Jessica desperately tried to calm Yuri down. “God… My head,” Yuri groaned, wincing in pain even at the slightest touch on the back of her head,”How did you find me?”

“Sunny tracks your handphone, remember?” Jessica reminded, slowly helping Yuri to rest her throbbing head back on the pillow as she lay a warm towel on Yuri’s forehead.

“Yeah, I remember,” Yuri replied, closing her eyes to try to calm herself and at the same time,  ease the pain.

“Do you want food? I bought some porridge.” Jessica offered, holding up a small plastic bag.

Yuri shook her head. “God knows how much MSG they added inside that thing,” Yuri stated, barely able to summon the energy to make a disgusted face. “Could you cook something for me?” she added.

“Is porridge okay? You’re not feeling well and that’s probably the only thing I can make without burning down your home.” Jessica asked, scratching her head in slight embarassment at her own culinary skills.

“It’s probably the only thing I can eat now with my current strength anyway,” Yuri giggled,” Put some slices of fish in the porridge, you’ll find the fish in the fridge. The rice is in the 2^nd cupboard from the bottom left.”

“Araso.” Jessica smiled, taking the towel off Yuri’s forehead before she left the room.

“Mew.” A small purr came from the door.

“Yurin ah? Come here.” Yuri said, gesturing for the kitten to come to her.

Immediately, Yurin came running and jumped onto the bed, nuzzling in the warmth of Yuri’s shirt. “Good girl. I’m sorry I can’t play with you; I can’t even move my head without screaming in pain.” Yuri sighed, patting Yurin’s head softly. “Have you grown bigger?” Yuri asked, feeling that Yurin’s head could no longer fit nicely in the palm of her hand.

“Mew~”
“Of course you have,” Yuri chuckled to herself, gently Yurin while she allowed herself to get lost in a train of thoughts. “Who was that?” she asked herself, finding it impossible to remember her attacker’s face even though she saw it just before she lost consciousness.

“Wait… My necklace!” Immediately, she fumbled with her fingers and desperately tried to feel her table for anything in the shape of two rings. “The rings,” she muttered to herself after her efforts proved to be worthless,”They’re gone.”

“… . . . . !” she cursed incessantly,” My necklace, my rings, they’re gone. That mother er…”

“Yuri?” Jessica called out from outside the room,” Yuri are you okay? I’m coming in.”

“Y-yeah… Sure.” Yuri replied glumly, her fingers tracing her neck where her necklace used to be.

“Are you okay? You were talking to yourself.” Jessica stated, sitting on Yuri’s bed as she carefully blew over the surface of the bowl of porridge.

“Yeah,” Yuri lied. ”Are you gonna give me that?” She asked, pointing to the bowl of porridge.

“No,” Jessica shook her head,”Open your mouth.”

“I’m fully capable of feeding myself, Jessica.” Yuri insisted, carefully propping herself up in a sitting position with Jessica’s assistance.

“As if,” Jessica snorted, preparing half a spoonful of porridge and blowing it before bringing it slowly Yuri’s lips,”Now, open your mouth~ Thank you for flying with Jessica airways!”

Reluctantly, Yuri opened and chewed her food, a sneer playing on her lips after being subjected to such child-like treatment.

“TaeTae, I’m hungry~” Tiffany whined, hugging her knees in her seat as she and Taeyeon drove towards their destination.

“…” Taeyeon didn’t reply, her expression projecting her bad mood.

“Come on Tae, don’t get too angry at Leeteuk, he’s just disappointed that we followed the wrong lead, that’s all.” Tiffany stated, trying to pacify Taeyeon who had been in a foul mood for almost an entire day since Leeteuk had reprimanded them harshly.

“I’m not angry. I’m disappointed in myself.” Taeyeon replied, sighing defeatedly as she drove towards the old pier.

“I’m at fault too,” Tiffany added,”Don’t blame everything on yourself.”

Taeyeon scoffed at Tiffany’s statement, smiling a little to herself as she thought “Damn right.” “What’s so funny?” Tiffany asked.

“Nothing.” Taeyeon smiled,”Thanks.”

“No problem,” Tiffany smiled, pointing in front of her when they emerged from under the shadows of the mountain and trees and standing ahead of them was now an old pier, abandoned and unused for years.

“We’re here.” Tiffany stated.

“Bingo,” Taeyeon smiled deviously to herself as she pointed to a small ship that was headed towards the pier,” Tiffany, report to HQ.”

“HQ, this is Tiffany Hwang, we have confirmation that an unknown ship carrying what we suspect is drugs is now arriving at the abandoned pier as we speak. How copy?” Tiffany said professionally int the microphone.

Within seconds there was a response. “Copy. All units are now busy or not available, hold your position while we gather reinforcements.”

“Negative, HQ,” Taeyeon replied in Tiffany’s place,”This is a small cargo, if we wait, they’ll get away. How long till reinforcements arrive?”

“Bottom line’s 40 minutes, stall them until then.”

“What is this ? Where’s Leeteuk? He’s the one who told me to check the place out.”

“Supervisor Leeteuk is not in at the moment, hold them off until reinforcements arrive.”

“Negative, HQ, we’ll be dead in 20 minutes if we try to stop them without reinforcements.”

“Stall. Them.”

And with that, the line was cut. “Stupid .” Taeyeon cursed, flicking her middle finger to the receiver as she parked in an isolated corner which made her black lamborghini invisible due to the darkness surrounding it. “We’re going on foot.” Taeyeon said as she stepped out of the car, loading her gun.

“I noticed.” Tiffany replied, sarcastically rolling her eyes.

“C’mon,” Taeyeon gestured,”Keep it down, they might have patrol teams around.”

“Let’s hope they have no dogs.” Tiffany said hopefully, her finger ready on the trigger as the two girls swiftly moved under the cover of the trees.

After minutes of light jogging, Taeyeon and Tiffany approached their destination. “Stop.” Taeyeon instructed, pulling Tiffany behind a tree when she saw two figures towards their 10’o clock.

“So they do have patrol teams,” Tiffany mumbled, pointing to their 12’o clock where another two men were standing with what seemed to be metal baseball bats in their hands.

“Baseball bats,” Taeyeon scoffed, amused at their choice of weapon,”Futile. Tiffany, take the two with the bats. I’ll handle the two on our left.”

“Roger that,” Tiffany said, her face totally obscured by the darkness other than her teeth.

“Geez, Fany, don’t smile, they might see you.” Taeyeon joked, chuckling when she saw Tiffany’s smile disappear. “I’m joking,” she stated before giving Tiffany a small push,” Now, go.”

“Annoying dork.” Tiffany sneered as she kept her gun in her holster and started to creep quietly behind the two men, being very careful not to step on anythin that looked like dead leaves and dried twigs.

As she dipped further into the cover of the trees, her eyes glued on the ground beneath her, she could begin to hear the men talking. Sneakily, Tiffany crawled behind a tree and strained to hear their conversation; she was now less than 10 metres away from them, but well concealed in the darkness, unless of course, the men came closer to her. If that happened, she would have no means of running away whatsoever. “Easy does it..” Tiffany told herself as she shifted her position a little so that she could crouch in a more comfortable position.

“I don’t get it. Why does the boss want us to keep watch? It’s not like batman’s gonna come and foil our plans right?” the shorter of the two joked, nudging his taller counterpart.

“I don’t know, did any of them mention what the cargo was?” the taller one asked.

“Nope, but I heard it’s coming in the form of coconut powder or something like that.” The short one answered,” the boss was really pissed the other day when the shipment was delayed by 2 days. I heard he went on a rampage and flipped a table or two.”

“Right,” the other one scoffed loudly.

“Drugs.” Tiffany said to herself as she started to stand up, but she accidentally stepped on a twig and it broke in two with a small but audible snap.

“!” she cursed,  immediately crouching back down while she peeked from behind her tree, only to realize that the men had heard her little “accident” and were now slowly but surely advancing in her direction.

Trapped like a caged rat, Tiffany could only curl into a ball and hope that the men miraculously walked by without seeing her. “TaeTae, help.” She whimpered as the sound of footsteps became increasingly louder.

But all of a sudden, the area went dead silent, following which there were two loud thumps. “I just can’t leave you alone can I?” a voice called out to Tiffany.

Timidly, Tiffany opened her eyes and recognized the silhouette in front of her as Taeyeon. “Tae!” she squealed, springing to her feet and hugging her girlfriend, sending Taeyeon crashing into the tree behind her. “Calm down,” Taeyeon reassured, patting Tiffany’s head,”I knocked out the two of them just before they found you.”

Tiffany spun around and saw the two men, one significantly shorter than the other, lying face down in the dirt, unconscious. “You didn’t kill them right?” Tiffany asked, nudging the taller one with her foot.

“Nope.” Taeyeon replied,”Let’s go.”

“Okay.”Tiffany nodded, following closely behind Taeyeon as they moved quietly until they reached the ledge closest old pier.

“In there.” Taeyeon said, pointing to a rather large bush sitting near the ledge. Silently, the two sneaked into the cover of the bush, tucking their legs in as they watched the people unload crates from the boat onto a few large vans.

“HQ, this is Alpha Wolf, target is unloading shipments now,”Taeyeon hissed into her radio, turning the volume down at the same time so as to not alert the guards who were just below them,”We need reinforcements, how copy?”

“Copy Alpha Wolf, Beta Wolf is en route to your location, ETA 15 minutes, hold your position.”

“Well, get them to hurry to the hell up, one van has already left.”

“Copy. If another van leaves, you are cleared hot.”

And with that, the officer on the line cut the call, leavingg Taeyeon to curse and swear at the Headquarter’s ineffectiveness once again. “I swear, one day I’m gonna shove this,” she growled, pointing to the barrel of her gun,” Up that ’s sorry .”

“Who’s coming to get us?” Tiffany asked.

“Onew, Sooyoung, Jessica. Say, I grabbed this from one of the men I knocked out earlier, wonder what it’s for.” Taeyeon stated, passing a foreign object to Tiffany.

Tiffany looked at the contraption for a few seconds before she gave Taeyeon a questionable look. “You don’t know what this is?” she asked, raising her eyebrows at Taeyeon’s ignorance,” It’s a pair of binoculars.”

“I see. How do you…” Taeyeon paused, turning her finger in a circular motion,”turn it on?”

Immediately, Tiffany pressed a small green button on the side of the lenses and the caps of the binoculars sprang up, allowing them to look into it. “Thanks.” Taeyeon smiled awkwardly,”Let’s see…”

As soon as Taeyeon looked into the binoculars, she gasped at the vast amountt of things that she was now able to see. “Exactly like a kid in a toy store.” Tiffany muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Two armed guards down below, two on the ship and five guarding the vans. We won’t be able to get close without being noticed.” Taeyeon stated, passing the pair of binoculars to Tiffany.

“Who knows?” Tiffany smiled, giggling to herself until she saw something.

“Oh God…” she mumbled.

“What is it?” Taeyeon asked, reaching for the binoculars but Tiffany quickly snatched it back.

“We made the wrong call, call off the reinforcements.” Tiffany said worriedly as she climbed out of the bush and started to walk back to the car, disregarding the possibility that someone might have seen her.

“Wait, what happened? What did you see?” Taeyeon asked, holding Tiffany’s arm as she tried to grab for the binoculars, but Tiffany was faster and without a moment’s hestitation, she threw the pair binoculars into a cluster of bushes.

“What are you doing?!” Taeyeon asked, raising her voice a little but she quickly lowered it down into a low hiss as she shook Tiffany, who avoided eye contact with her.

“Call off the reinforcements, this isn’t a drug dealing case.” Tiffany insisted, making an attempt to grab Taeyeon’s radio.

“Hey, unless you tell me what’s happening, I’m not calling them off.” Taeyeon barked.

“Call them off, Kim Taeyeon.” Tiffany commannded, glaring at Taeyeon.

“Unless you tell me w—“

“Now.” Tiffany added. Through the darkness, Taeyeon could tell that Tiffany was dead serious and something in her eyes told her that if she didn’t do as told, this wouldn’t end well.

“HQ, this is Alpha Wolf, call off Beta Wolf, reinforcements are no longer needed, over and out.” Taeyeon hissed reluctantly into the receiver.

“Happy?” she asked Tiffany bitterly.

Tiffany gave Taeyeon no response as the two of them remained silent all the way to the car and on the journey back home. The short drive to their destination before this seemed to last only seconds; but now, the ride seemed to last hours as Tiffany looked out the window to avoid making eye contact with Taeyeon, who would occasionally look at the mirror to check on Tiffany. “I’ll call you later.” Taeyeon offered as she parked by the road and allowed Tiffany to get off.

“Don’t bother, I’m feeling tired tonight.” Tiffany replied coldly.

“Tiffany.”

“What?”

“I..”

“Spit it out.” Tiffany ordered.

“I’m sorry for what happened just now. I just wanted to know what did you see.”

“If we’re in this relationship and in this job together, I’d expect you to put trust into my words and actions.” Tiffany stated coldly,”And your words and attitude tonight showed me that you don’t trust me at all.”

“Tiff. I do, it’s just that—“

“Say no more. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Those were her last words before she slammed the door on Taeyeon. Defeated, tired and downright confused, Taeyeon shook her head as she made her way back home, still desperately trying to figure out what had got into Tiffany.

Meanwhile, Tiffany stepped into her home, bowing slightly when she was greeted by her maid. Her eyes hardened when she saw that her father was sleeping soundly on the couch. “When did my father get back?” she questioned the maid.

“Not long before you, missy. Shall I wake him up?” the maid offered.

Tiffany simply shook the head,”You may go to bed for now. Just leave him where he is; you wouldn’t be able to carry him upstairs with your current strength anyway.”

“Understood. Good night missy.” The maid greeted, bowing at a full ninety degree angle for a few seconds before she proceeded into her room.

Tiffany slowly climbed upstairs to get her father’s quilt for him. As she dragged the quilt down the hall, hundreds of thoughts flooded her, some were about work, some were about Taeyeon, some were flashbacks of Taeyeon’s earlier attitude towards her and some were about her father. As she stood by the couch which her father was sleeping on, Tiffany couldn’t help but sigh as she helped tuck her father’s awkwardly positioned hands into the quilt.

“Daddy,” she spoke after a long silence.

“Why were you at the pier?” she asked her father, looking up at the window above him which showed her nothing but a black, empty night sky.

Hey guys, my exams are over, yay~ LOL

I’ve updated one chapter and will update another one soon, be sure to catch my updates and er stay tuned.

Thank you all for supporting me thus far and I know, some of you complain that the story is too long, Yulsic isn’t together yet, I’m sucha tease bla bla bla. Yes it’s my fault that yulsic isn’t together but that’s because I’ve got something in store for them. So guys, up till this point, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me but please, ask me via a wall post, because I usually only reply wall posts.

Right now, I’m having a holiday for 2 months up till mid October so yay~ I’ll be slightly busy for the first week though due to my current working schedule. I have a few things to settle, some events that I have to work for and then I can update regularly. Just bear with me for another week or so and you’ll get a new update, promise.

Alright guys, what do you think my hobby is? ^^ I bet many of you don’t know, buahahahahahahaha~

Keep guessing and for those who get it right…. Idk lol. Not sure what I should do if you guys get it right.  But just guess anyway ^^”

Leave a comment on the chapter, ask anything you don’t understand and for new readers please subscribe and take the time to type in a comment. It’s really a boost for me if a new reader types a comment for me.

Thank you and that’s all for now~ By the way you can come talk to me and other writers like TaeKNEE and marsvern on http://locksmithsunited.chatango.com/

See you guys next time~ I’ll be checking for comments! O_O ß I’m checking!~

Time out~