Another abrupt day with the lions where all of the things possible to happen and the most interesting part is it happened on the first day of their third mission, meeting plan. Starting from the target that changed entirely from what they have done the whole time, witnessing a drama that is almost losing one of their members, and probably the most impactful part is the target, especially the second target which is South Korea. After the meeting they get back to their room straight away, not wanting to spend more time with the lions, and today’s activities are enough to make them exhausted. All of them get back to their room after bidding goodbye to one another but today feels a lot different than before, even for Elio. “Ahh… how come it be like this?” Sofia says to herself while she is showering herself before bed. The only thing that makes her so worried right now is Chae because the second target is where she was coming from and obviously her family is still there, not knowing that the company where her daughter worked is going to destroy some part of their country. She also notices how these things affect her since it is clearly drawn on her face, just like reading an open book. Even though they all already know Chae’s story about her family, Sofia still feels worried and wants to make sure about Chae’s condition. “I need to comfort her tomorrow…” Sofia says worriedly and turns off her shower. Same thing goes for Saku but the only difference is that only Chae knows about where he came from. Thankfully when Heliodor revealed the second target, Saku can hold his anger because it is the same case for Chae, people they cared about are still there. For Saku’s case, it is not about family though, it’s more like to those people who have raised and helped him back then. Splashing water to his face a couple of times then he looks sharply into his eyes through the reflection from the mirror right in front of him. But then slowly the reflection changes into Heliodor’s face which makes him squirt his eyes and clenches his fists tightly, trying to hold the anger before smashing the mirror. At this moment, for the first time in his life, Saku gets the feeling of thirst wanting to murder someone so badly that he even starts panting heavily. “Just you wait… I’m coming for you.” he says angrily toward the mirror before turning around then getting back into his room. Back to Chae itself, she barely can describe what she is thinking or feeling right now as she can only stare into a void almost every two minutes. Half of her obviously still mad about the rumor of what they have done to her while the others are actually doubting about it since it is just a rumor. It is true that none of them or her friends have contacted her ever since that happened but thinking back then again, her parents always support her just like the tigers. They are always there for her in any kind of situation so it doesn’t make sense if they suddenly abandoned her like this. But what makes it even more frustrating for Chae is that she is the one that guessed their reason correctly as if she also wants revenge toward her family. Aside from how mad all of it, but killing them? Destroying them with the most dangerous weapon in the world to make them turn into pieces? Is never an option for her. Of course she wants to get back for good or bad in a way of revenge, but that is not how she wanted it to be. The tears that she has been holding on can finally run down from her eyes down to her cheek as it also loosen the tightness around her chest. “I hate this…” She murmurs to herself and puts both of her hands covering her face while laying down on her bed. Meanwhile the last member, Elio, weirdly feels uncomfortable from today’s meeting, especially around his chest area as well, how disgusted he is right now. But at the same time, his chest is also burning like hellfire, fully filled with thirst as a tiger who is ready to devour his prey because his brain keeps telling him that this is one of those chances he has been waiting for. The timing, the mission, the plan, everything is just perfectly fit the needs of how to end this cruel company. Over and over again, Elio pushes aside the weight on his chest as tonight, he is going to search everything more specific with every detail he can get to make a perfect plan to take them down. The mission is two weeks apart from the meeting plan so without wasting any time, Elio starts his research tonight and sleeping is not a part of the plan. Thinking back again, it’s been a long time since Elio wanted to be completely prepared with more specifications and details. Not to mention as well is that the strong feeling of desire comes back after a long time trying to stay patient and become their pions finally it comes to an end. The next morning, it comes to their usual morning routine, gathering to eat breakfast together, but Elio still hasn’t shown up which makes one of the members need to knock on his door. “Breakfast time!” Saku shouts from the other side of the door after knocking for a few times and doesn’t get any answer at all. “Huh? Is he oversleeping or something?” “Let him be.” Sofia shows up behind him before Saku gives other knocks on it “Maybe he is just tired.” “Not gonna lie, yesterday was something extremely awful…” Saku replies and scratches the tape of his back neck. Seeing Saku’s expression suddenly changes, Sofia notices right away that there must be something going on and it is probably related with the mission and his past since he hasn't told anyone other than Chae. “Come. We will leave some of it for him later.” Sofia says and walks back toward the dining table where Chae is waiting for them. After having the breakfast together, Elio still hasn’t shown up, but Sofia has something more important to do since she believes that Elio is just exhausted from yesterday’s activities. She looks at Chae again, who is on the dining table and looking restless like she didn’t get any sleep last night, which makes her more worried about Chae’s condition. “Balcony?” Sofia asks and Chae slowly nods her head then three of them with Saku go out to the balcony where they are usually talking things out, not wanting to be heard or get eavesdropped. “So… Do you want to share what’s on your mind?” Sofia asks hesitantly but at the same time, she needs to know about everyone’s condition and makes sure they are okay. Chae’s expression suddenly changes into the one that looks like she is going to cry again but also frustrated with how she is feeling. “Honestly, I still can’t forgive them for what they have done to me.” She admits desperately after letting out a sigh of frustration, seems like it has been bothering her and keeps her awake since the beginning. “Of course at first I really want revenge or at least repay them in any kind of way like showing my achievements, how I survived after those, and stuff but this…” finally a teardrop comes out from her left eye. “Is this really what I want? Is this the only way to pay for what they have done to me?” Chae looks up to meet the other two who are listening to her with pure worries painting on their faces. “Bu-” Sofia wants to speak up but suddenly Chae cuts her even before a word comes out from her mouth. “Their faces are still so clear on me!” She shouts which automatically makes Sofia look around in case her voice is too loud, they might be in trouble if the lions hear this. “My parents, family, all of my friends, every one of them are so dear to me!” Chae starts her breakdown again as tears start flowing out from her eyes. “No matter how hard… day after day I have been trying to get rid of them. However at the end of the day, it’s still the same… They are like glued inside of me and I don’t know what to do about it…” finally slowly lowering her voice and putting her hand covering her face. Looks like Chae is starting to cool down from her breakdown, somehow Sofia doesn’t know what words she needs to say or how to comfort the person in front of her. “Or…” the person beside Sofia is the first one to speak up first, surprisingly the way he speaks up is not the way he usually comforts her, it’s more intimidating as if he tries to tell her something “You are still unsure if it’s true or just a rumor.” When Sofia turns her head to look at Saku, the expression he is wearing right now is a face that can be used to confront someone, not that soft looking face. At the same time, Chae also doesn’t expect to get such a cold shoulder from him, for the first time ever since they have been together, Saku shows this side of his. “Wha- what do-” Chae wants to ask for clarification of what he just said but the sound of the glass slide door’s opening beside them makes them look in that direction only to find a man standing with panda eyes, looking a total mess. “I have a plan.” Elio says and thumbs up tiredly which leaves the other three looking at his condition in disbelievement. Based on his expression and the run out of energy, the only conclusion they can get is that he was staying all night without rest of thinking and organizing the plan with every detail he can get in that night. Usually one night is more than enough for him to gain all of the information he needs but Elio thinks it would be a lot better to involve the others into his research in order to make a plan that is undefeatable against the lions. “Alright.” Saku is the first one who speaks up and stands up from his seat “Let’s hear what you got, nerd.” Again, for the first time ever since they have been together, Saku ignores Chae as if what he just said earlier never happened which makes Chae get mixed signals of what he just meant seconds ago. “Let’s continue about it later.” Sofia whispers into one of Chae’s ears and gently squeezes her shoulder, as always, Sofia will be the first one who notices what’s going on around her surroundings, very sensitive to sense the others. With that being said, all of them get into their meeting room to talk and discuss furthermore about Elio’s plan and what he has found from last night to make it even better than the one that Elio made himself. They are sharing all of their thoughts, researches, opinions all together and not forgetting about their experiences about what they have learned about the lions. Even though it is just the start or just briefly about Elio’s plan, all of them agree that this is the right timing to take down the lions with their hands. Therefore, they all focus on working, training, researching, discussing, and completing everything they need for accomplishing their own mission which is to take down the lions. Day by day passes by until two days before the mission begins with the lions, Sofia orders them to take days off to take care of themself from all of the work they have prepared for that day. Ever since that day, Chae and Saku barely get a time to talk things out between them and ask him about what he meant from that day. While in the middle of preparing their needs, Chae can't push away her curiosity because what Saku said hits differently as if it is actually what she is concerned about the whole time. That is why Chae wants to take this chance of 2 days off to sort things out with him since as usual they are going to be left alone while the other two hang out. After cleaning herself up, she goes back to the main room only to find Saku is exercising by weightlifting at the balcony with his headphones on his ears. The sun is almost fully set which makes the sky already turn slightly deep purple with a little bit of orange color as well. She slides open the door and is not expecting that Saku looks at her direction right away as if the sound gets through his headphones. “Hey,” Chae greets him nervously, without knowing where the nervous coming from. “Oh hey,” Saku says and puts his headphones quickly around his neck “What’s up?” He sounds natural… Chae thinks while she walks to one of the wooden chairs outside. “Nothing actually…” she replies with a doubtful sound in her voice which makes Saku notice right away that something is bothering her. “You can tell me anything, you know? We know each other's names already.” Saku says while continuing his third set of exercises. Hearing that reply, Chae twitches one of her eyebrows as the nerve hits her once again and makes her let out a sigh of defeat from her curiosity. “I’ve been thinking for a while…” She pauses for a moment to take another deep breath and it also makes Saku respond with humming, meaning he is waiting for her to tell him “of what you said the day after the meeting.” Now it’s Saku’s turn, who freezes up and looks at the balcony’s fence with his blank eyes, meaning that he just realized and almost forgot about it. “Ahh… about that…” Saku replies, eyes still on the fences and searching for any excuses to avoid it “I was just guessing.” “That’s not the point.” Chae says and glances at him for a second before looking away to another direction other than him. Saku blinks his eyes a few times, getting totally confused of what she is trying to say. “What do you mean?” Saku asks while putting his dumbbells down and turns his head to look at her. “I’ve been thinking about what if the thing you said might actually be true?” Chae replies and based on her expression, her face becomes saddened a little bit, as she puts her hands around herself. “I mean no one knows, right? It’s possible that it’s actually only in my mind to jump to conclusions or something…” she explains, still not able to make eye contact because she feels the tears start filling her eyes. “Well, you can say that they should contact me or anything like that in the past few years but…” she looks up, trying to maintain her tears “What if they actually don’t know about what happened to me.” and finally manages to make eye contact with Saku who is listening to her carefully from the start. This is the part where Saku is afraid and avoids telling or sharing his past stories with anyone in this team, including someone who is already so close with him, Chaemin. Not only one of the facts that is already nerve wracking for him to tell that he is mixed between Korean and Finnish, but the other facts that related with his blood, his family, and where he came from. “But the most important thing, the thing you considered the most, is your family, friends and other people who lived there, right?” Saku answers with his comforting voice in case trying to hide any unnecessary things to say about his past. Thankfully, Saku gets the reaction like what he wanted, which is just a single and simple nod from her without asking him other things right away. “Then you can find out about them later after we finish our business because...” Saku says to encourage him and gently squeeze on her shoulder. While they are in the middle of sorting things out together, the other two also do the same thing as they are now heading to the cliff where someone is resting peacefully there and watching the beautiful sky everyday. It’s not exactly the same as sorting things out, they are more like wanting to talk about what they have done from the past few months and the plan they had been working on these past two weeks. “Hi, Adam. It’s been a while.” Sofia says softly like the person is really right in front of them and puts their bucket of flowers in front of the cross. The cold breeze from the cliff hits them followed by the leaves and flower petals around them as if Adam welcomes them warmly. “We all are going to put an end to this company and at the same we are finally going to pay back what they have done and took from us.” She continues after enjoying the breeze for a bit. “It’s like killing two birds with one stone, right?” Elio says behind her and both of them laugh softly synchronously. “Ahh…” Sofia sighs of relief and looks up into the clear purple sky which makes the stars look close to them “How long has it been again…?” She says underneath her breath but the situation around them is quite enough to let Elio hear her clearly. “Of what? As if you haven’t stolen anything since you were a toddler.” Elio replies jokingly like he doesn’t know what she meant which makes him get smacked by the person behind him. “You ruined the moment!” Sofia whines childishly and Elio chuckles at how she looks. “Yeah…” Elio says, trying to bring back the previous atmosphere “It's quite a long time already, right? Especially you. You are way longer than me.” then looks at the cross in front of them. “Oh!” Sofia says and turns her head to look at Elio like she just remembered something “Have I ever told you that I got into this company at the same time with Adam?” Elio’s eyes widened a little bit once he heard that then shakes his head lightly. “Aiyyaa… I miss one of the biggest parts between us!” Sofia says and facepalms herself in disbelievement. Once again Elio chuckles seeing his leader act like this, is there a time where he doesn’t think or see his leader as a cutie pie? “Now here we are. Got a plan that is worthy to try with everything we had, right? ” She continues and turns back to the cross with the beautiful scenery as the background of it. Again, another wind blows hitting both of them and Elio takes this slight moment of silence to join Sofia enjoying the night town view with the sun that is almost fully set. “But…” Sofia speaks up once again but the voice tone she is using right now is different, sounds a little bit sad than before “What if we are still not good enough?” avoiding the fatal and sensitive word yet it’s easy enough to lead where this conversation is going to. “Well…” Elio replies immediately, not wanting to think too long to make it more convincing “We might not be good enough but...” and Sofia turns her face up to meet him. The only thing she met is a face that is full of confidence and she never seen him to be this bright as if this is his turn to bring the light into the group. It is not like just a single light bulb that brightens the darkness room but the closest description about his light is like a torch where Sofia can see there is fire inside of him. “We are going to take them down.” Elio says confidently synchronously with Saku from the other side who is comforting Chaemin.
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