Hey there! Here is my second chapter. I hope you enjoy it and yeah, please do comment and share some love :D
She began throwing powerful kicks and punches left and right which in return Minho dodged successfully. Beads of sweat trickled down her face and her chestnut brown hair had stick to her sweaty neck. Minho continued to evade her kicks and punches with a sly grin forming on his face.
"Is that all you got, Holly?" he asked and attacked using a long wooden stick.
With quick reflexes the girl named Holly pulled out a dagger from her back pocket and stopped the stick just in time from hitting her. Breathing heavily, she grinned at him and pushed him as hard as she could before kicking him on the chest. Minho fell on his back at the mat and tried to get back up to counter attack. But to his dismay, he stayed still when he saw a sharp dagger pointed between his eyes. Minho lay back down catching his breath and groaning, trying to accept his defeat. Holly had put her dagger aside and crouched down with a playful grin.
"Is that all you got, Minho?" Holly mocked with her English accent before giving him a hand.
Minho smirked and took her hand to get up, "Shut up. Let's just go have our lunch"
Holly took her face towel from the bench and wiped her face gently. Her entire face was scarlet red and her heart was thumping vigorously. She was completely exhausted with her one hour training with Minho and lunch was all she could think of. As everything was put back in their proper places, Minho and Holly left the training room and headed to the cafeteria downstairs.
Holly Adams was one of TAIMN's best TAIMN travelers and the youngest being twenty two. She was very skilled in using a dagger and could throw heavy blows towards enemies with her knowledge and skills in martial arts. She's been a TAIMN traveler for three years now and accomplished almost a hundred missions without a fail. She was born and raised in London but moved to the U.S. when she was thirteen. Both her parents died because of the Flare and were the reason for her to join TAIMN. She wanted to keep the world a safe place and that no one should suffer the loss of a loved one due to manmade diseases. Holly kept her brown hair tied up all the time since she was always in training or in a mission. She was exceptionally attractive with clear blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and white complexion. Guys, especially Minho, liked it even more when she would start talking with her British accent. Holly liked being alone though despite being surrounded by other TAIMN travelers. She would rather be in a room all alone or be accompanied by books. Reading was her favorite past time or hanging out with her friend, Minho, was an exception of wanting to be alone. She could be humorous but could also be sarcastic especially when not in a good mood.
Minho and Holly reached the cafeteria where a majority of the TAIMN travelers, watchers, and clock masters were having their break. The both of them grabbed their empty trays when the main chef had come out of the kitchen with a grin.
"Did you get your ass beat up again, Minho?" Fry Pan asked his friend teasingly.
Minho suppressed a smile and just rolled his eyes at him, "I just lost my focus"
"In short, I did beat his arse" Holly said with a proud grin and handed her tray to him, "What's the menu for today, Fry pan?"
Fry Pan took both of their trays and smiled proudly, "Well today's menu is pumpkin soup, Caesar salad, and roast beef with cranberry sauce. For dessert, there'll be chocolate cake"
"Ooh goody! I'm excited to eat! Please give me a lot"
"No problem, you'll need to eat a lot after a tiring day. I'll get your food ready"
While waiting for their food, Minho leaned back on the counter folding his arms on his chest and looked around the cafeteria. He saw a group of female TAIMN travelers sitting together and looking at their direction. They seemed to be whispering to one another and glaring which confused Minho.
"Hey I'm not sure if I did something wrong but, those travelers seem to be angry" Minho mumbled to his companions.
Fry Pan finished putting food on their trays and looked at the travelers Minho was referring to and took a glance at Holly who was trying not to laugh.
"You are very slow sometimes, Minho" Fry Pan chuckled and gave him his tray of food, "They're not mad at you"
"They're mad at me" Holly suppressed a smile and also took her tray full of food "I'll eat well. Thank you for the meal, Fry Pan"
Minho had gotten even more confused and quickly followed Holly who found a seat for them on the other side of the cafeteria away from the glaring travelers. He placed down his food and sat across her before looking at the travelers again who kept looking at them.
"Why are they mad at you?" he asked curiously.
Holly was cutting a piece of her roast beef and stuffed her mouth with it, "I'm guessing it's because you're like the vice president of this organization but you spend a lot of time with me which they think is like special treatment or they think I'm flirting with you"
After surviving all the trials and hardships Minho underwent through WICKED, he helped in creating TAIMN and to make sure that nothing as horrible as WICKED or the Flare would happen again. Even if he was the vice president, Minho did not only work to boss people around. He worked as a TAIMN traveler. With his serious and tough personality, ordinary TAIMN workers didn't even have the guts to approach him but admired him for his heroic deeds and good looks. But one day, he and Holly got paired up for a mission in which they started a close friendship.
"Well that sounds stupid" he snorted and also started to eat, "Do they harass you because of those assumptions?"
"No"
"Are you sure? Because if they do, you have to tell me"
"Now that's what I think is special treatment" Holly laughed softly and wiped her mouth with a napkin, "You don't have to worry about me, Minho. I'm pretty sure I can handle a few girls. In my opinion, they just fancy you and they're pissed they can't hang out with you like I do" and she concentrated on eating again.
"Too bad, I'm interested with someone else" Minho grinned.
Holly looked away from him and laughed shyly. Even if they were just close friends, Holly knew about Minho's feelings for her. Within their three years working together in TAIMN, Minho eventually developed a romantic feeling for his friend. Unfortunately, Holly wasn't interested in being in a relationship which Minho respected.
In the middle of eating dessert, Holly and everyone else in the building heard a voice of a woman over the p.a.
To Ms. Holly Adams, please go to the president's office now. Again—to Ms. Holly Adams, please go to the president's office now. Thank you
Holly stopped eating and looked at Minho with a puzzled look. In her three years working at TAIMN, she was never called to see the president. She now felt like a student being sent to the principal's office.
"I-I didn't do anything wrong, right?" Holly asked Minho desperately.
Minho chuckled and stood up from his seat, "I'm sure he just wants to talk to you. Come on, I'll accompany you"
Together they walked out of the cafeteria and took the elevator up to the twentieth floor. Holly leaned back against the cold metal wall taking a deep breath. She tried to remember all the things she did within the week if she missed out on a flaw. In the middle of her thinking, she felt a warm hand squeezed hers. She looked up and saw Minho giving her a friendly smile.
"Relax, he won't kill you" he assured her.
The elevator dinged as soon as the door slid open and Minho pulled Holly out with him. They walked along the wide corridor and passed by the secretary who was busy taking phone calls on her table and just gestured them to enter the office. Minho opened the black door to the big room and led his friend in. Holly timidly went in and was surprise at how big the room was. The windows were tall and wide with a good view of the entire city. The furniture was mostly white as well and the only thing that stood out was the big aquarium behind the president's desk which was full of fishes of various shapes and colors. She noticed the president busy signing up stacks of paper that covered his desk that he didn't even realize that she or Minho was in the same room. The president placed his pen down and cracked his knuckles as he got a weird feeling of being watched. He looked up realizing that he was indeed not alone. Stumbling from his seat, the young man wearing a dark blue suit and pants quickly approached them with an apologetic smile.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't hear you guys come in" he said apologetically and gestured them to have a seat on the sofa.
"Thomas, you can't stutter like that in front of employees when you're the president" Minho laughed and made himself comfortable on the sofa, "Come on, Holly"
"Okay" Holly mumbled and quickly took a seat beside Minho.
Thomas was the founder of TAIMN. After watching his friends who suffered and died, he wanted to make a change. He didn't want it to happen— ever again. Nobody knew the meaning of TAIMN except for Thomas and Minho. It was actually the initials of them and their close friends—Teresa, Alby, I referring to Thomas, Minho, and Newt. And the crescent shape and the man figure represented Chuck. Both Thomas and Minho thought that it was a great way to remember their friends by building an organization that would strive to help everyone.
Thomas prepared three cups of hot lemon tea and served each one of them. He sat across them and started fidgeting with his fingers.
Holly took a sip of her tea and looked up at her boss, "Am I in trouble?"
"What? Oh! No, not at all" Thomas assured her, "I didn't mean it to sound like you're in trouble but, I do really need to talk to you in private. Well, Minho can stay in the same room"
"What is it about?"
"I need you for a new mission" Thomas said and handed her a folder with various documents.
Holly was excited for it was the first time she was given a secret mission. She had put her cup down on the coffee table and took the thick folder. She opened it carefully and saw a lot of documents attached to each other with titles such as "The Maze", "WICKED", "Killzone", and "The Glade". There were also profiles of different people including Thomas and Minho. She realized that the documents consisted of the experiments done to the kids to find a cure for the Flare a few years ago.
"A lot of those people didn't deserve to die and be treated like lab rats" Thomas said, staring at the folder with pictures of his deceased friends, "They didn't deserve to be there in such a place and if my memory wasn't wiped out, I could've prevented WICKED from sending them to their death. I know travelers aren't allowed to travel for personal reasons and that's why I'm saying this in private. It's more of a favor. I want you to help me save them and bring WICKED down"