Pitch Black

-4-

"What the hell was that?!" I heard Aubrey scream.

"Girls, calm down. I'll go check it out." I looked over to my twin and leaned down to whisper. "If hell broke loose, you know what to do." She gave me a weak nod as I step out of the bus, my hands ready to press the button on my sides.

"HaEun-ah, the guy coming out of the car seemed suspicious. Wait for me."

"Agreed. Set the bus on autopilot and set it to take the girls to safety just incase something happens."

"Gotcha."

In a span of exactly 30 seconds, IU is already on the other side of the bus ready to draw out her weapon. The guy slowly came out of his car, holding his head.

"Oh, goodness me!! I am so sorry! A-are you girls, okay?! I-I... I was on a rush and I was already a bit too late to step on the brakes whe—"

"No, no. It's okay sir. We're just glad you didn't get terribly hurt." IU put her hand on the man's shoulder and shot me a short glance.

"And none of us got hurt so it's okay." I offered him a handshake which he immediately took. I gave a normal smile. "Drive a bit more careful, sir." We both said and head back to the bus looking at each other with victorious smirks on our faces.

"Is he okay?" Emily asked.

"Oh, he's fine as hell." I assured them.

We all continued to drive off to the mall like nothing just happened. We went to KFC to grab something to eat. The girls were huddled up on a long table while me and IU was just near them while we wait for an update.

"Well... I got the result of that face recognition you two asked me about. I checked everything thoroughly and your guy from earlier seemed only to be an ordinary company man. When he said he was in a rush, he was actually on his way to the hospital cause his wife is giving birth." My tech guy, Patrick said.

"Dude... TMI. How thorough did you search/stalk this guy, man?" I said, earning chuckles from IU and Pat.

"Well, you know I always take every single task given to me and this is no exception." He shrugged.

"Well thanks, Pat." I then ended the call.

"Hey, you two okay?" Beca came over and sat beside me.

"Yeah. We were just talking to... Our dad." IU said and Beca seemed to have bought it.

"You're quite lucky your dad seemed to care about you. Mine doesn't. All he cares about is the stepmonster." Beca sighed.

"Stepmonster? You mean stepmom?" I asked. "Yeah. I just call her stepmonster cause first and foremost, I don't really like and we never got along well. That's mainly the reason why I don't talk about my family. Maybe if mom was still alive, my life wouldn't be this f****d up." She rolled her eyes.

"You know, if you roll your eyes too much, they might get stuck up there and all's gonna be seen are the white part of your eyeballs." I grinned. "You're so weird. Much weirder than Chloe." She gave me a cringed look making me laugh.

"I was just kidding, shortie." I gave her cheek a light jab with a wink, making her blush a bit, or atleast that's what I saw.

------back at the Bella house------

"Aubrey is the leader of this group so I gotta tell her." I told IU which she goes against.

"You wanna jeopardize this mission?! You were the one who said it was better to keep it between us for as long as we can, HaEun!"

"And just a few weeks ago, you were the one insisting to tell her. What made you change your mind? Look, Jieun... In case you haven't noticed, eversince we became a "part" of the Bellas, Aubrey has never been more uncomfortable. I bet you my life that she's worried about this whole mess."

"Look, Hannie... I get your point. I totally do. But what if... Just a what if... what if, they don't actually know that they were being targeted? What if they really never knew that someone out there wants them dead? It may cause panic. We have to make sure of that first. You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Don't you dare do that s**t again, Jieun. It won't only cause panic to the Bellas but the whole campus."

"Ah, s**t. You're right. How are we gonna know then?"

I took a deep sigh. "I'll handle it." I head off to the garden where I saw Aubrey looking at the stars.

"Hey, Bree."

"Oh hey Hannie. What's up?"

"Nothing much. You okay?"

"Yeah. Stacie and I just had a minor argument and I just wanna cool my head a bit."

"Ah, typical LQ's." I joked causing Aubrey to chuckle.

"I guess you can say that." She chuckled. Silence filled the both of us and even though it's kind of relaxing, I can sense Aubrey was feeling a bit anxious.

"You okay, Han?"

"I should be the one asking you tha—" I stopped mid-sentence when I see her face looking all serious. I sighed. Here goes nothing.

"Okay... I was just actually wondering if you—"

"If I know that the Bellas are being targeted and that you and IU are actually assassins assigned to protect us? Yes, I do, HaEun."

......

"Wait, what now? Y-You knew? How?"

"Principal Robins told me the day before you were announced to be a part of the Bellas. I'm the only one from the group who knows about it. The rest have no idea yet."

"Even Amy?"

"Even Amy. And also your shawshank have no idea too."

"My what?"

"Your Beca." Aubrey smirked as she nudged my side.

"Okay, first of all... Beca and I are just friends. And secondly... It's a good thing that only you know about this whole mission. We wanna keep it that way."

"Yeah. But thank you guys so much. You're literally sacrificing your lives just so we can keep ours." Bree said with a small smile.

"I was against this at first actually. I don't wanna get stuck babysitting a bunch of gays but the longer I spend time with you girls, I guess... It kinda felt nice to have some people around you again after shutting out people for the past couple years."

"You were? Why? D-did... Something wrong happen?" She hesitantly asked. I looked up the night sky adoring the stars. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want—"

"I started shutting people out aside from my twin and dad after I lost the most important person in my life, aside from my mom that is. After I lost my bestfriend and my first love" Aubrey stayed quiet so I kept going. As I started my story, the painful memory came crashing.

"A couple of years ago, there were actually three of us. Me, IU and my first love, Anna Kendrick. We do every mission together. And those were the best days of my assassin life. Until... Anna got captured. The killers wanted me to bring them a s**t ton of money in exchange for Anna's life. I didn't have any second thoughts and just complied with what the killers asked me to do. I couldn't bare the pain if something happens to her. So I did got the money and rushed to where they were keeping her. Turns out that it was a trap to lure me. Truth is, Anna was never kidn*pped. It was just a fake video to make me believe it. Anna had no idea that I was meeting up with the killers. She found out through the tracker on my jacket. I thought that I would die right there that night. Well... I should be. Just in time for the killers to shoot me, I waited for the bullets to hit me but all I felt were tight arms holding me protectively. A petite body frame on mine. When I opened my eyes, I saw Anna's dark blue eyes looking at mine. She took those bullets for me. I really had no idea what happened next as soon as the pain and anger came rushing through my veins. I lost control and the very moment I regained my composure, every single killer was dead. I rushed to where Kendrick was laying down as she tried to hold on for her dear life. I wanna take her to the nearest hospital but it was already too late. The very moment I held her in my arms, she took one final breath. Her most painful way of saying goodbye to me." I wiped the tears forming on my eyes.

"I never even got to tell her how I really felt about her. I never got to tell her how much I love her. Or even make her feel it. After that, they called me The Pitch Black. I became distant to other people except for my dad and IU. Every time we were given missions, I never got attached to anyone. Even if it's just for friendship." I sighed.

"I... I'm so sorry about that Hannie. It must've been so painful for you."

"No need to apologize, Bree. You didn't know." I smiled at her.

"But you treated me and the Bellas way too differently. I mean the way you treated your clients based on your story. Especially Beca."

"Well... Honestly, I don't know too. It's just that I feel happy when I'm with you guys. I feel like I can be my real self when I'm around you. And... Beca actually looks hell a lot like Anna. Here's her photo." I took out my phone and showed her a photo of Anna.

"Holy s**t, she really does look like Beca. Only Anna looked way more mature than shawshank." Aubrey chuckled.

"I don't see much difference." I shrugged and chuckled. "But Bree... I want to keep it this way for now, okay? It's better that aside from me, IU and Principal Robins, it's better that only you know from the Bellas. Don't say anything about this for now to any of them. Even Stacie. I'll tell them myself when the time comes." Aubrey nodded. "You have my word, Hannie."

"C'mon. Let's get back inside. It's getting kinda cold already and you have to fix your problem with Stacie too." I smiled.

"Yeah you're right. Goodnight, HaEun."

"Night, Bree." We both went inside the house and made sure everything is locked tightly before heading off upstairs to our own rooms.

I walked inside our room when I saw Beca already asleep peacefully. I gently walked over to my side of the bed and lay down. And as soon as I laid down, Beca immediately snuggled into my side, almost making her sleep on top of me. I can see and observed her even breathing and the features of her face. She really does remind me of Anna.

I swear I will protect all of them. Even if it kills me. I thought as I let sleep take over my system for the night.