Secretive (2kim fanfiction)

31: A sad memory

"How did you find us?"

"I'm surprised the MS still hasn't found the secret tunnel. It's glaringly obvious"

This threw Chaewon. Not only did she know exactly who they were fighting, she also knew about the secret tunnel, which was quite secretive, despite what Chaeyeon said. 

"You're part of us?" Yena asked, looking as confused as Chaewon felt

"Used to be" Chaeyeon corrected.

"What happened?" Since the spy business was so secretive, it was made very difficult to leave it, and there was serious punishment for anyone who shared any information with an outsider.

Chaeyeon's expression changed.

"I was part of a troop, just like you guys, and we were all really good friends. Then one time, the missions started getting more dangerous, and... one of my troop members got killed"

Chaewon didn't have anything to say to this - she knew the spy world was dangerous, but she had never heard of someone in their organization getting killed.

"We tried to keep going, but it wasn't the same. Our boss recognized this and let us go"

"So how long have you known we were spies?" Yujin asked

"Not long, actually. Now that my life is pretty much normal, I don't have my guard up as much. I had some sneaking suspicions, but I just figured the spy world had made me to wary, so I mostly ignored it. But once I heard Minju running up, I put everything together. I told the others I was going to find out what you were talking about and snuck through here. I wasn't planning on doing any fighting, but when I saw your situation, I figured you could use a little help"

"You were really good" Sakura complimented "We probably would have been the MS's new batch of prisoners without you"

Chaeyeon blushed "Thanks. You were really good as well"

Chaewon just smiled, as some part of her had a sneaking suspicion of what may be running through her friends mind right now. 

"Well, I think all of you owe my friends an explanation" Minju said. 

The spies hesitated. They knew there could be consequences for sharing classified information like that. 

Yujin was the first one to say "She's right. They're our friends We can't just leave them without an explanation"

That was true, Chaewon realized. "This mission wasn't like the others, where she could just vanish without a trace. 

Her friends seemed to realize this too, because they slowly nodded. "Okay"

-

They took their time down the tunnel, since all of them had done a lot of running on the way there and were all exhausted. Chaewon was in the back with Chaeyeon and Minju. 

It must have been hard for Chaeyeon to relive those memories. Chaewon put her hand on Chaeyeon's shoulder. "That must have been hard for you"

"It was a long time ago"

Chaewon closed her eyes and tried to imagine what would happen if something happened to Yujin, or Yena, or Sakura, or Eunbi, or Hyewon. 

"I could never imagine myself... just letting go"

Chaeyeon smiled sadly "And that makes you a much better spy than I ever was"

Chaewon considered this "Emotionally, maybe. Physically, I think you could kick my butt"

Chaeyeon laughed. 

Just then, a noise erupted. Sakura and Yena were bickering over something or other again. They tried to keep a professional relationship as spies, but things like this happened every once and a while.

"Let me go deal with that" Chaeyeon said, running up to the front.

Leaving Chaewon alone with Minju.

"That was a really brave thing to do... to save me like that" Chaewon admitted.

"You saved me. I kinda owed it to you. Besides, I didn't save you I just called 

"But it was my job, not yours and you had no training and..." 

"That doesn't change anything"

Chaewon and Minju looked each other right in the eye, and in that moment, no words were needed

-

In some time, they emerged from the tunnel, and started walking toward where their friends had been when Minju had left.

"How do you think they're going to react?" Yena asked

"I'm betting it won't be pretty" Yujin admitted.

A/N: I'm definitely NOT listening to Pretty right now as I write- (Note to self: Listening to Iz*one while writing is a big distraction)

"Neither was what we just did" Sakura admitted.

Sure enough, when they got back, Nako, Yuri and Wonyoung looked confused and Hitomi was raising an eyebrow right at them.

"Care to explain?" She asked.

"You might want to sit down"