"trust no one but your circle."
it didn't sound like a good idea for six young, not-so-experienced high schoolers to take up a dangerous, life-costing and major mission.
As far as Isa could remember, it was a cloudy and windy weekday. No one was occupying the seats or watching the view behind the glass railings of the rooftops.
Except for herself.
She sat on a rattan chair near the railings, watching the grey clouds gather. She was eating a watermelon-flavoured lollipop, twirling the stick around her fingers every once in a while. Her eyes seemed distant; her body was here, but her soul was flying past the stars. One might describe this as daydreaming.
But one thing she was sure of; she wasn't flying among the stars.
The girl sucked on her lollipop.
She had been so busy that she forgot about Aisha's death. But, now that Eunbi's back, all the memories started flooding back. Isa couldn't sleep the whole night; she kept thinking about her. Isa was watching the heavy traffic below the tall, straight buildings. Rush hour, after all. A strong breeze came, slightly messing up Isa's raven hair— some parts of her hair were dyed with pastel violet dye.
Yes, Eunbi did not come back as a student but as an agent. But it seemed like a dream, an impossible fantasy. She did not expect Eunbi to change. Or maybe it was as simple as it was, though she always thought of things in a complex way.
In short, she always overthinks.
The train of thought progressed to Aisha's death, and many questions were lumped in her head, like how the grey clouds in the sky had coalesced into a blob of grey.
"Is this mission for avenging Aisha's death? Or is this one of the missions we would take on and finish without a word?" Isa muttered, spinning the lollipop's stick. The end of its stick had rock-hard candy, light red.
The mission is still for Cheng Xiao, your childhood friend. You saw what happened there. We all saw what had happened. If Aisha did not sacrifice her life, Cheng Xiao could've been shot.
"It would've been worse; we would fail the mission," Isa muttered. Now, the candy was already gone and what was left was only the stick. Isa aimed it at a rubbish bin nearby and threw the stick. It landed squarely into the slot. She got up from her chair and stretched herself, bones cracking satisfyingly. She walked towards the railings and watched the cars below the building file past the apartment complex. Isa walked back to the table and glanced at the time displayed on her phone. She shoved her phone into the pocket of her sweatpants and glanced at the busy city one more time.
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The girls walked out of the elevator and towards their meeting room. Sumin collected some files and papers before ushering everyone into their office. Seeun checked if everyone was in before walking towards the glass door to close it. A grey paw stuck out from the lift lobby, slowly strolling towards the girls' meeting room.
Oh yeah, did I tell you that there was a company cat? Her name is Mabel.
Yes, a company cat. She was a British Shorthair, light grey. Either Irene or Seulgi would bring her home once office hours ended. The furball would usually laze around the first level of the lounge, where cushions, beanbags and blankets were scattered around the area. It was a whole different atmosphere. Cosy and relaxing. Couches lined up along the walls, and fridges and cupboards were full of snacks. There was a projector for movies and speakers for blasting music. Among all of those is a comfy cat house.
No wonder.
The second level was more of a classic kind of lounge. There were magazines, elegant couches and a mini buffet for tea. You could say that the first level was for the younger agents, and the second floor was for the older ones. The cat would hop onto the lift to look around.
This was probably one of the times she felt adventurous.
Seeun let Mabel into their office and carried her onto the couch before sitting down. The other girls were staring at her. "What? Mabel wanted to enter." the five shrugged and started discussing. They sat on the sofas while talking about the broken collar, the bugging situation and planning their next move.
"Okay, first things first, is that we get on the early morning flight to Dubai and also contact Eunbi for the driving," Sumin said. "We'll locate the Mavericks' headquarters and-" a sickening plop was heard. Seeun reached down under the table before getting up. "Mabel dropped the collar." They glanced at the cat, who was scratching its ears. Seeun picked up the collar and placed it on the table gingerly, not daring to move anything within the collar. Yoon sighed. "It's already broken...moving on! Hyunjun mentioned that they use an electromagnetic lock, meaning we could cut off the electricity."
"I don't think so. It could take down the entire city's worth of electricity. Plus, there will be emergency electrical systems in the city's power plant and the Mavericks' headquarters. We'll have to hack both systems to turn it off."
"Also, there is a chance that the Mavericks have a wireless key connected to the disk. It's a number combination, which makes it harder to crack."
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