Fifteen

Fifteen—Turn

The hospital corridors are quiet that night as Andrea walked to Jessica’s room. She brought her some apples—something they often ate together before. When she entered the room, she was surprised to see Jessica standing by the window, admiring the fresh flowers in her vase.

“Still no idea who your admirer is?” Andrea walked in, making her sister turn to her.

“Big sis.” Her sister smiled widely at her and spread her arms.

Andrea was taken aback for a few seconds upon seeing Jessica look like she’s always used to: a cheerful teenager who’s always asked for affection from her older sister. Andrea let her sister hug her as she embraced her back tightly. Her whole life has always been about loving and protecting her sister that some may see it as an obsession. Even with Henry beside her, Jessica has always been her number one priority, all be damned.

“What did you bring for me?” Jessica held her sister’s hand and led her to sit on her bed.

“Apples.”

Andrea wanted to smile but it was too painful to stretch the already stone cold muscles around her lips. She stood up to hide it and took a small knife to peel the apples. She sat on the chair next to the bed and focused on the fruit.

“Can I ask you something?” Jessica spoke.

“Hmm?” Andrea continued with her task, carefully cutting the apples evenly.

“I’ve been here in the hospital for more than a month now but…” Jessica’s forehead wrinkled, “Nobody has told me why I was brought here in the first place. So why am I here?”

Andrea stopped halfway into cutting and sighed. The day that she had to tell Jessica that she was violated is one of those things she feared to do. But as she looked into Jessica’s curious eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to tell her the truth just yet.

“You had an accident.”

“Accident? What kind of accident?”

“Car.”

“Who was driving?”

“A driver from La Bella.”

“Where is he now?”

“He resigned.”

“Why?”

“Jessica, stop asking.”

“But why? I want to know if someone else got hurt because I can’t remember anything about my accident.”

“It doesn’t matter, okay?” Andrea said, finishing cutting the apple, “What matters is that you are alive and safe.”

Just then, Tiffany knocks on the door and comes in. Jessica smiles at her and she smiles back awkwardly as her boss looked at her with unblinking eyes. She turned to put some supplies in the cabinet.

“Tiffany, my sister looks so tired and sad. What have you done to her?” Jessica asked playfully.

“Do you mean I look ugly, huh?” Andrea poked her sister’s side.

“Yah… I didn’t say that. I just think you need vacation big sis.” Jessica purred.

“That’s right. Ms. Choi could really use some rest.” Tiffany added.

Andrea just shook her head, dismissing the thought of taking a rest with all this mess happening. On top of that, she is still yet to know whether her sister will still love her the same when she finds out about her secrets.

On the way out, Tiffany walked behind Andrea as she made her way to the parking lot behind the hospital. They were both quiet the whole time as it has always been since day one. Andrea never treated her anything more than an assistant even when among all the employees in La Bella, she is the closest to the bosses. She was the most “trusted” of all the secrets the couple has.

“Tiffany, do you think I’ve done the right thing?” Andrea suddenly spoke.

Tiffany was caught off guard by the sudden question while she was putting some folders she brought in the back of Andrea’s car. She turned to her boss and got surprised yet again at the softness in her face.

“You did what you did for your sister, Ma’am. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.” Tiffany said, unsure, “But I think you should just let the police do their job and focus more on taking care of her.”

“But you know what I did, right?” The new girl said quietly.

“Yes. It’s out of love for Ms. Jessica.”

“You think Jessica will still forgive me for what I did?”

It took Tiffany a few seconds to answer the question. Above all of the employees lower than her, she is the only one who knows what kind of person Andrea is. She is basically the devil and can bring hell on anyone; this is a known fact. But nobody knows how far she has gone and how deep her grave is which she has dug for herself. Andrea is an empty woman except for a lone heart that is tainted with a dark kind of love and affection for the only person in her life: Jessica.

“She will. I know it.” Tiffany assured her.

“Alright then. Thank you for your hard work, Tiffany. Starting tomorrow, you don’t need to go to the office anymore.” Andrea opened the door to the driver’s seat.

“What do you mean… Ma’am?”

“You’re fired.” She answered without batting an eye lash.

Tiffany wanted to retort but she was too shocked to do so. All of a sudden, her boss is removing her from her job. In a matter of seconds, she was dead terrified of Andrea that it was a miracle her knees haven’t given in yet. The cold air wasn’t even helping.

“Jessica will indeed forgive me for lying to her but one day she will know everything else that I did and until then, I will have to make sure that all I have around me are all allies… and no traitors.”

“I…”

“Who are you working for, Tiffany?” Andrea asked.

“I… I don’t…”

Andrea looked at Tiffany and pierced through her as she tried to squeeze the truth out of her.

“You tried to trick me with a written threat. Did you really think I wouldn’t recognize your handwriting? Now I am going to ask you again, Tiffany. Who do you work for?”

Tiffany kept her mouth closed, unable to utter any word in front of Andrea. She is just so terrified of her even though she hated every bit of her. She watched Andrea’s car speed away and she silently wished she just crashed and died just to give her some peace for once.

Right.

She took her phone from her bag and dialed her friend’s number. It was time to get even.

**

The next day, Andrea received a phone call from Chen asking her to meet him at the back of SM’s storage room. She asked whether it was safe to meet there and he said that he couldn’t go out of the complex so as not to raise suspicions. As if going to the storage room wasn’t suspicious enough.

Either way, Andrea agreed. A little later that night, she was walking to where Chen told her to go. She found Chen leaning on the wall with his hands in the pockets of his jacket. Andrea has seen the articles about the group, most of them speculating that they will be disbanding soon. It took its toll on them, investors pulling out, endorsements disappearing one after another and reports of a huge boycott in fan cafes.

It was everything Andrea had envisioned and she should be happy about it. But for some reasons, she isn’t.

“Speak up, sass.” Andrea said, stopping right next to Chen.

“Don’t I get to have a kiss first?” He smirked, his sarcasm too evident in his tone.

“I’m not your bitch, kid. So please, stop wasting my time and speak.” Andrea said.

“What happened to your formal speech? Did you accidentally burn it in hell?” Chen touched the scarf hanging around her neck.

The darkness was almost too enticing that it could easily tempt them into doing something inconsequential. He touched her icy face and was about to go to her lips when he stopped himself just in time. He wanted to see the real Andrea, dying to see the real one but maybe Kris is right. She is well trained of keeping her emotions hidden.

“Tell me where Sehun is and I’ll tell you what I know,” Chen put his hands back in his pockets.

“I told you it wasn’t me.” Andrea’s lips tightened into a thin line.

“Who else could it be except you?”

“I told you… uhh.” She sighed in frustration, “Even if you asked me a million times, it wasn’t… me.”

Andrea rolled her eyes and leaned on the wall, next to Chen. Since he already knows who she is, she doesn’t have to be too careful around him. Although Chen knows well that he’s only seen half of it. A few minutes into the silence, Andrea showed Chen the note she got after Sehun’s disappearance.

“My secretary wrote it,” She sighed.

“So it was your secretary’s fault?” He asked.

“I don’t know. I can’t tell who’s who anymore.”

“Whoa. Your allies are turning against you??” Chen chuckled a little.

She death glared him, wondering what kind of humor did he just see in the situation. Truly, Chen is the least likely person she wanted to meet in her life simply because he is the type that is very untrusting and extremely dumb.

“I am a very high maintenance girl,” Andrea said proudly.

“And now, I will have to act like I am your boyfriend as per your uncalled for kiss.”

“Kissing doesn’t make us a couple.”

“Ouch.”

“Now tell me what you know. We’re done with the flirting part.”

“Chen? Andrea?”

They both looked around and found two figures standing around the corner. Suho and Luhan walked to them as they straightened up and recovered from the sudden appearance.

“What are you two doing here?” Luhan asked.

Chen was quick to wrap an arm around Andrea’s neck and pulled her to him. He raised an eyebrow at Luhan while Suho faked a cough to cover his realization.

“You tell me, Luhan.” Chen said.

“Hello Luhan, Suho.” Andrea forced out a fake smile.

“Are we interrupting you two?” Suho asked timidly.

Andrea shook her head and gently released herself from Chen’s death grip. She placed a soft kiss on his cheek and caressed the back of his neck before completely pulling away from him. It was quite a show but Suho was obviously buying it. Idiot.

“I need to go. I’ll just see you later,” she told Chen and then turned to the two boys, “I’ll go ahead now.”

“Do you want me to walk you to your car?” Chen asked.

“No… stay with your brothers.” She smiled once more and started to walk away.

The three of them watched her in silence with Luhan’s mind working like a super computer. He wondered why Andrea was there to meet Chen and all of a sudden are being sweet with each other when Chen obviously disliked her from day one. It was all too strange.

In the corner of Suho’s eye, he noticed a shadow move at the back of a tree a few meters away from them. The lamp posts didn’t do anything to show the irregularity in the darkness until all of a sudden, someone in black came rushing to Andrea.

All of them were quick to run to the new girl and just took her off into a rush. Andrea asked what was happening but all of them were too focused in running faster. Luhan looked back and noticed that their chaser had disappeared.

“Let’s split up.” Suho said while catching their breath.

They all went into an empty room and tried to plan out their escape without even wondering why they were being chased or who was chasing them.

“I’ll go run on the west wing with Luhan,” Suho said, “And you and Andrea go run on the east. We’ll meet in the practice room.”

They split up and ran as fast as they could. Chen held Andrea’s hand tightly, knowing perfectly well that he needed to protect her that time. He knows that someone is after her and unless all this mess gets cleared up, he won’t let go of her. They both heard a warning alarm go off somewhere but Chen didn’t stop until they were both in the practice room.

“What the fuck?” Kris stood up, looking at the two.

“What happened?” Baekhyun was more focused on Andrea.

“Someone’s after us.” Chen answered, letting Andrea sit in a black leather couch.

“Where are Suho and Luhan? They went out, didn’t they?” Lay asked.

Baekhyun did not peel his eyes off of Andrea while the others tried to call the two missing members. Andrea glanced at him but tore her eyes quickly. This made him snap and walk to her angrily.

“This is all your fault isn’t it?” He hissed at her.

“Baekhyun!” Chen stood in front of Andrea and faced him.

“Move over, Chen. I need to talk to her.”

Baekhyun tried to move Chen away but he shoved his hand off. He looked so shocked that his brother is defying him for a woman they all just met. Just then, the door flung open and a fear stricken Luhan came in, falling on his knees while catching his breath.

Xiumin ran to him and tried to help him up as he asked what happened to him. And more importantly, where was Suho?

“He… dis… disappeared,” Luhan said in defeat.

Upon saying this, Baekhyun turned to Chen again and this time pushed him onto the floor and trapped Andrea in between his arms on the couch. Fear and confusion surfaced in her face as the boy fumed at her. He was going to hurt her; she could see it in his eyes.

“What have you done to Suho?!”

“I did not—“

“TELL ME!”

Chen got up and took Baekhyun by the shoulders and pulled him away from Andrea. Everybody tensed up upon seeing what was happening. DO tried to break them apart but as he did so, Baekhyun launched into a punch in Chen’s face.

“Where is your loyalty, huh??” Baekhyun shouted at him.

“She has nothing to do with this!” Chen said and pushed him off again.

“Stop it, Baek…” Lay hugged him tightly and tried to take him to the other side of the practice room.

“Ever since we met her, everything started to go strange. You, Chen, have always pointed it out to all of us. Now what are you doing defending her??”

“Don’t you dare question my loyalty. You have no idea what I have done for all of you!” He looked at each of them, “Fools.”

Chen dragged Andrea out of the room, leaving everybody in a state of shock and confusion. Some of them wondered just what Chen meant by what he said and the others tried to find Suho. Even their manager had no idea where he was. The guards have been alerted of an attacker, hence the alarm, but no one was arrested. An intruder came in without any of them knowing and the possibility that the same person had smuggled Suho out of the vicinity was enough to question their abilities.

“I’ll drive you home.”

Andrea sat in the passenger seat of her car and kept quiet as Chen drove her out, into the almost empty highway. The punch that Baekhyun threw was starting to make a bruise but Chen didn’t seem to mind it. He just accelerated dangerously into the night.

He stopped in front of the hospital but before any of them got out, he spoke.

“On the day of the crime, six of us went missing. When they came back, they were all covered in dirt and they all seemed off... as for the handkerchief you have given me, I know whose it is.”

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“Kai owns the same handkerchief.”

Andrea paused for a second, as she remembered the flowers.

“What do you want, Chen?” Andrea asked again.

“Promise me that you’ll do everything to end this.”

She looked at him intently, noticing the dark circles around his eyes and the weariness surrounding his features. The bruise had started to darken and before she could stop herself, her hand was already on his cheek, caressing the pain away.

“Will you be okay with your brothers?” She whispered softly.

“I don’t know. I just wish everything to end.” Chen then went out of the car and walked into the night.

Andrea spent the night with Jessica and tried to be cheerful even though her sister obviously didn’t buy it. She knew her older sister well that she’s memorized every single facial expression she’s ever had. When Jessica finally fell asleep, Andrea noticed the flowers starting to dry up. She wanted to take them out but she stopped herself. She looked at them and noticed that there is still a bit of life left in them.

She is watching EXO going down just like she wanted… but why… why does she still feel so empty?

--

a/n: hello dear friends~ did you like this update? If so, don't forget to vote or comment for this chapter:)

There are only FOUR CHAPTERS LEFT!!! Have you figured out the secrets yet? I, myself, was shocked on how things turn out but I hope that all of you read the story til the END~

Until then, see you on the next update! Thank so so much for reading!!