The group chatted with each other; bellies full of food, as they neared the front door. Kendra fumbled with the keys but managed to get the key in the door in the dark and popped the door opened, reaching to the side, flicking the light on. The light flooded the living room as they all stumbled in. Zoey was the first to rid herself of her shoes as she scurried toward the back door, excited to show Amalya what they had gotten her. After only a few steps, she felt her barefoot step on something slippery. She stopped and glanced down, seeing small drops of a thick liquid on the floor.
"What's the matter?" Des asked stepping next to the younger girl. When she spotted what Zoey was looking at, her head shot up and looked around wildly. "Where's Amalya?" Des noticed there was small trail of blood leading out of the living room and she quickly followed it to the kitchen.
As she entered, she saw Amalya standing by the sink, her shirt pulled up, exposing her torso. It looked as though she was tending to a wound. Des hurried over to her, snatching her hand away from her side, seeing a small cut on her side.
"What happened?" Des said, searching the older woman's face.
"I'm still trying to figure out what happened," Amalya said. "About ten minutes ago, I came into the house, expecting you guys to be back by now, but the place was dark and as I was making my way through the living room, three figures tried to ambush me. I don't know how they got in here because no windows are broken and the two doors that we have aren't busted." Amalya pulled her hand from Des's grasp, dabbing at the still bleeding wound. "They only had a box cutter as a weapon and one of them just surprised me is all. It's over there. Maybe Zoey can try to pull finger prints off of it and make a match. They didn't seem to know what they were doing, but my gut tells me it wasn't just a random break in."
"Who was the last out of the house?" Casey said from the door.
"I was," Yesung said, raising his hand.
"Did you lock the door behind you?" Casey asked, eyeing him.
"I… don't remember," Yesung scratched his head and glanced back at the door.
"That's most likely how they got in then if he forgot to lock the door," Casey stated shaking her head. "Let's all be mindful of that, from now on lock all doors and windows. It could have been a random break in, but I doubt it. The other people living on this street flaunt all the expensive stuff they own, so why would they pick this house? It's just too much of a coincidence."
Yesung looked to the floor, guilt written all over his face as his eyes darted up to the wound on Amalya's side, then back to the floor. Amalya smiled at him a little as she put a piece of gauze over the wound with some bandage tape. "I don't blame you; I know it was an accident."
"Meeting in the living room," Leeteuk demanded, with a stern look on his face.
The group looked around at each other as he walked out of the kitchen. Siwon was the first to move after the older male, sending a look at the other Suju boys. Yesung sighed, not wanting to go as he glued his eyes to the floor. He felt someone taking a hold of his hand lightly and turned his head to see Zoey giving him a small, shy smile. She nodded at him, as if trying to tell him everything would be ok. He smiled slightly, and gripped her hand gently, sending a blush to both of their faces as they were the last to leave the kitchen. They stood at the doorway, since all the seats were taken. Yesung pulled their clasped hands behind him, not wanting to give the guys something else to pick on him about.
"Okay," Leeteuk started, as everyone took a seat. "Now that everyone is here, I want to say I think we need to have a buddy system. No one goes anywhere alone or stays alone anymore." He glanced over at Amalya, since she was the one that mostly kept to herself, out in her greenhouse. "Especially the five of us," he motioned toward the SuJu members, including himself. "We need to stay with at least one of the girls since they are the ones that know how to fight."
"But what if it was just a random thing?" Kyuhyun stated, showing his dislike of the idea.
"I don't care," Leeteuk snapped at Kyuhyun, his temper starting.
Kyuhyun folded his arms over his chest and turned his head to the side glaring at the wall. Siwon, who was sitting next to him, patted him on the shoulder. Leeteuk took a deep breath to try cooling himself down. "Look, I think we just need to stay in groups if we go anywhere; for everyone's safety. And we should limit our trips outside of the house. Also we probably need to as Mr. Taylor to see if we can get some more cameras around the house." Leeteuk shifted his glance to Kendra who nodded. The guys were surprised that none of the girls had spoken up at all.
"So basically we will have no privacy and we should stay in the house as much as possible?" Kyuhyun asked, the irritation still coating his words.
"For now," Leeteuk stated. "Even though they might know where we live now, we should get familiar with this place in case they do come back."
"What do you girls think?" Siwon said, glancing at them quickly.
"We just made sure you guys don't get hurt or killed," Kendra started with a slight shrug. "If you decide to make other rules then we will follow them."
"Don't get me wrong," Kyuhyun started, "I like staying in and playing Starcraft, but I don't like we won't have any privacy or free will. It feels like we are trapped."
"None of us asked to be in this type of situation-" Leeteuk started, but getting interrupted.
"And you're making it worse with all these limitations," Kyuhyun spat, starting to raise his voice.
"No, you're making it worse by acting like a little brat!" Leeteuk yelled, his temper starting to flare.
"Sounds more like a spoiled brat to me," Des said under her breath.
"I really don't need any mouth from the peanut gallery," Kyuhyun said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh… big words for a little guy," Des said, holding her hands up like she was scared.
"Oh little? LITTLE! YOU WANNA SEE LITTLE!" Kyuhyun shouted, getting to his feet, Des following suit quickly. They had been sitting near each other so it didn't take long to close to distance before they were face to face. Kyuhyun had his hands at his side, one balled in a fist and the other opened. He wanted to hit her so bad. He had never hit a girl before nor liked the idea but he would make an exception for her. He felt his elbow move back slightly, getting ready to raise his hand and smack her across the face but Des was faster. Her left hand shot out, grabbing Kyuhyun by the collar of his shirt, her right arm positioned up, hand a fist, seconds away from punching Kyuhyun in the face.
Kyuhyun closed his eyes, knowing it was going to hurt. After a few seconds when her fist didn't impact his face, he opened one eye, and saw Casey standing behind Des, gripping her wrist. Casey had stopped Des in mid-motion, seemingly with little effort. Casey reached her other hand around Des to her hand with his collar in it. She said a few words into Des's ear, before pulling Des's had away from him.
Everyone was silent for a while, and Kyuhyun stayed standing, staring at the spot of air that Des's face had been, even after she and Casey had already left the room. Kyuhyun exhaled quickly, he hadn't noticed he was holding his breath, and sat on the couch, his pale complexion turning whiter thinking about how close he had come to getting punched.
"I think we should all go to bed and sleep on it," Kendra said standing. "Everyone is tired and on edge still, so let's talk about it tomorrow."
The group nodded their heads and made their way up to their rooms. None said anything, still shocked from the exchange between Kyuhyun and Des.
Kendra sat on her bed flipping through the channels on the small television that was perched in front of her bed. There was nothing on, but she also couldn't sleep. She had tried to, but had that dream. It had been five years since he was killed, she should be over it by now. The dreams did stop about a year ago. It must have been the incident between her and Siwon in the kitchen that brought back the memory.
Kendra tossed the remote on the bed after hitting the off button and flopped back. She stared at the white ceiling above her, replaying that night in her mind. Tears stung her eyes as she let herself go back.
It was a damp night and humid. It had taken her a while to get her hair to stay flat, but one step out in the air, it had started to frizz up. He had laughed when she pouted as she stared at herself in mirror, trying to smooth it back down. He had a nice laugh; it always seemed to lighten the mood, usually taking anyone out of a bad mood.
She remembered it was her birthday and he was taking her out to a fancy restaurant. They weren't in any way rich or anything close, but he wanted to do something nice for her. He had even bought her a necklace; it was white gold with a heart, emeralds lining the right side of it. It looked expensive, he just waved her off when she was worried he had spent too much money at had put it around her neck. His finger tips brushing her skin, making goose bumps form.
Kendra touched the side of her neck where he had lowered his head and kissed lightly. She remembered the feel of his hair when she had ran her hand through his hair. His hair always fell back into place when she did that, or if the wind blew. She loved that his hair looked like chocolate; she used to tease him, saying she was going to mistake it for chocolate one day and try to eat it.
His eyes where a striking blue, they seemed to be able to pierce right through her, he always knew when something was wrong.
Kendra felt her tears spill over and drip down the side of her face. She didn't move to wipe them away, knowing more were going to come. She hadn't cried in a year, even though it pained her to remember, she felt better. All she wanted to do was remember all their good times, which there were a lot. They hardly ever fought; everyone would say they had the perfect relationship. Mr. Edward had even told her if she wanted, she could leave the organization to be with him. She hated leaving everyone, but she loved this man. Loved him enough to give up her revenge on trying to find her parents' killer.
She had left a year before his death. The night of her birthday, the perfect dinner, the perfect gift… the perfect man. He had gone around back to get the car while she waited out front. She never even noticed the two men making their way toward her. He didn't notice them until he had hopped out of the car, hurrying around to her side to open her door. He stopped in front of the car, giving them a weird look when his eyes caught the gun one of them pulled out. They had aimed it at her and fired.
It happened in slow motion for her. Seeing the back suddenly in front of her, seeing his body jolt as the bullet tore through him. He stumbled back, losing his footing. She caught him immediately, throwing her hand over the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. She never even saw the two men run off, he only focus was on him. He coughed a bit, blood running out the corner of his mouth. He slowly put a hand to her check commenting that everything was alright. She remembered the tears streaming down her face, dripping onto his as she cried. She kept yelling for help, kept yelling for him to stay awake, to not leave, to open his eyes. His last words to her was that he loved her, before his hand fell to his side and his eyes closed for the last time. She felt her heart die with him as she held his lifeless body to her, shrieking at the top of her lungs.
Kendra fell to her knees on the hard, cold floor, tears flowing down her face. She cupped a hand over her mouth trying to stop the sounds coming out of her.
She remembered she had felt so cold after that. She rejoined with Mr. Edward and was able to find the men who had went after her that night. It turned out they had been hired by the man who had killed her parents to get rid of her. She had seen the man who had killed her parents and even after all this time he was still scared she was going to expose him. After she found the two men, she killed them. But even after the fact, she didn't feel any better. For that matter she hadn't felt anything at all, until she met the girls. They were the ones that brought her sanity back and the warmth. Her heart started to feel again as she grew to love them as if they were sisters, even a mother to Zoey.
Kendra curled up into a ball on the floor; rest her warm cheek on the cool floor boards. She hugged her knees and closed her eyes. She was glad that she could feel again, but sometimes also hated it. Every time she thought of him, her heart ached, sometimes feeling like was going to explode from the pain.
Kendra sighed, sleep starting to creep over her as she shut her eyes and let it take her.
Kyuhyun sighed, looking in the refrigerator. He had woken up early, way before anyone else was starting to stir. He was hungry, but since their minds had still been on Zoey burning dinner, they had forgotten to stop anywhere for food on the way home after dinner. Even though they weren't at their dorms a lot, they still always had food.
He shut the door and opened a few cabinets. Maybe they would have some ramen at least. He pouted when he only found a box of hot chocolate and a box of Lucky Charm cereal that was half gone. He grabbed the box of cereal and sat down at a stool by the island and starting to munch on it. He wasn't a big fan of cereal; he liked having something hot to eat in the mornings.
After a few mouthfuls, he pushed the box away from him, stretching his right arm out and laying the side of his head on it. He stared at the fridge hoping that maybe something would magically appear. He didn't want to go wake any of the girls, they might wake up everyone else and there was one person he really didn't want to see right then. And that person was Des.
He had no idea why they butted heads or why she gets so mad so quickly. He knew that women were moody but not aggressive. He did feel sorry that he had lost his temper at her since it was Leeteuk he was angry with, but she seemed to like to take a jab at him whenever she could.
Kyuhyun was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt a hand lightly touch his left shoulder. He sat up and turned really quickly on the stool to see who it was, almost falling off of it. Kendra's eyes grew wide as she tried to help steady him.
"Sorry there Kyuhyun," she said with an apologetic smile. "I didn't expect anyone to be up this early."
"Neither did I," Kyuhyun said, trying to calm himself down. "Why are you up?"
"Couldn't go back to sleep," Kendra said with a shrug. "Why are you down here?"
"Hungry," he said, as he pouted again thinking about food.
"Oh, yeah we forgot to grab some things yesterday," Kendra said, throwing a hand up a little. "Well, you at least found some cereal."
"I'm not a cereal fan," He stated flatly, staring at the Lucky Charm's box, wishing it would change into a plate of pancakes, eggs and bacon.
"When everyone gets up, we will take orders and go get food," Kendra said, pulling the hot chocolate box out of the cabinet. "I'll make is some hot cocoa instead. It will keep us warm anyways."
Kyuhyun nodded watching the older woman. She said she couldn't go back to sleep when she woke, but her face looked like she hadn't slept. Her eyes had small bags under them and were puffy. And even though she was smiling, it seemed a little forced. She seemed down, but he wasn't sure if he should ask; he didn't want to pry.
"So, how are you doing?" Kendra said, after pouring water into a tea kettle and placing it on the stove. "I mean with what happened to Amalya and then your encounter with Des."
"I'm doing alright," he stated, sitting up straight, glad she was talking to him. "I mean after sleeping on it, I can see why Leeteuk wants us to stay in big groups and make sure we are around you girls and I'm glad Amalya is okay… But, why does Des hate me?"
Kendra stared at Kyuhyun for a few minutes. Seeming as if she was trying to find the right words to say and somewhat shocked that he would use the word "hate".
"She doesn't hate you," Kendra said, sitting down next to him, placing her hand back on his shoulder. "I think you two are a lot alike in some ways, both of you like to pick and bug people at times. She's not used to having anyone who can dish it back to her so I think she's a little unsettled by it. Plus, we haven't been on a mission like this before, she probably feels thrown into the whole thing just like you guys do. She doesn't do well with surprises. She also doesn't get close to many people. It's kind of her way of keeping people out."
"She's close to you girls though," Kyuhyun said, eyes glancing to the floor.
"We have also known her for a long time," Kendra stated, rubbing his back a little. "She was like that with me the first time she met me. One thing you need to know is, most of us have grown up in the organization or were brought in before our teen years. We trained together for three years before they sent us on any missions. I think you and Des should talk it out. She's really a nice girl once you break down those walls." Kendra eyed Kyuhyun for a few seconds then continued. "I don't agree with how she acts at times, but that's how she is. It's immature, but she doesn't have a filter between her brain and mouth. Usually what she's thinking she just says. It gets her in a lot of trouble sometimes."
"Do we really have to stay in the house all the time?" Kyuhyun said, pouting even more.
"You seem to like to stay on the computer a lot," Kendra smiled; he was very adorable when he pouted. "I'm sure you won't have that much of a problem."
"It just seems so permanent," Kyuhyun said, looking up into her big black eyes.
"We will have a few outings," Kendra laughed, placing her hand on his head, ruffling his still messy bed hair. "Once we all are comfortable with each other, it will get better." Kendra stood, giving his arm a quick and firm grip; she headed back to the whistling kettle, pulled it off the burner and pouring the water into two big cups. She placed a spoon in each cup and set on in front of him.
Kyuhyun gave her a small smile and a bow of his head, taking the cup and started to push the spoon around. He stared down into the cup, thinking about how it was going to be stuck in the house.
"Kendra?" he asked quietly, glancing up at her. He continued when she gave him a concerned look, "I'm scared."
"Don't feel bad about that," she placed a hand over his, as it lay on the counter. He felt as if he was talking to his mom the way she tried to comfort him. "You have a right to be scared. I'm sure the others are scared too. But just remember you do have us. Des is on your side too, even with the way she acts, she would never let anything happen to you guys, and not just because she was ordered too. Both she and Casey don't like seeing people being hurt or treated the way you guys have been treated, if they didn't ask for it."
Kyuhyun smiled a small smile, and went back to his cup of cocoa. He sipped at it, feeling himself starting to warm up as the hot liquid ran down his throat. Kendra leaned back by the sink, watching him for a moment longer before starting to sip at hers. He would never have admitted he was scared, but his gut said he could trust her and he needed someone other than Leeteuk to talk too. It was nice to have a female around; they were a little gentler about things. He knew he'd be going to Kendra a lot. He also knew he and Des would have a few issues since he liked picking on her. How fast her moods change would be fun to see.