OVER TEA ㅡ chapter 20

32 hours before the invasion...

"DON'T KNOCK YOU IDIOT!" chancler half-yelled half-whispered at inseong as they stand outside son heegyung's backdoor.

inseong gave him a perplexed look.

"no one knocks at someone's backdoor after sneaking in to get there in the first place!" he continued half-yelling half-whispering at the older guy.

oh... right.

"sorry.." inseong whispered.

with one last glare, chancler reach for the doorknob. he pulled it to him, his foot pressing back at the bottom as if he was trying to pull out the knob - but he wasn't.

chancler twist the knob open slowly, no noise made as he pushed the door wide.

that's why he was doing all that.

to make no noise.

chancler did the same to close the door. the younger then instructed inseong to be quiet and listen.

two voices can be heard at the dining room.

"you guys can come in now." victoria was heard and the two moved to the dining room.

there was victoria, standing with folded arms and leaning on the kitchen counter. the other lady was son heegyung, who jumped at the sight of two masked men entering her kitchen.

"jesusㅡ!" she almost spilled the tea she's preparing, but caught herself.

"sorry about that maam." chancler grinned sheepishly, taking his mask off.

inseong was about to take his, but chancler stopped him by gently elbowing his stomach.

'it's aunt heegyung..'

wait ㅡ he saw her in the photo too..

heegyung walked to the tea table with a tray of her expensive looking, porcelain tea set. four cups were filled, one placed further from the others. there was also a jar of sugar cubes and syrup.

"please, sit down." heegyung offered, gesturing the other three seats around the round table. her voice was relaxed, unaffected by the presence of strangers in her mansion.

"we won't take long so i'll be the only one to share tea with you." victoria said, pulling the chair across heegyung, to sit.

"very well." heegyung didn't expect that. she took the lone cup to herself and offered victoria one of the three.

the two ladies didn't sit far from each other, the round tea table only measuring around 80cm in diameter.

heegyung had her legs apart, tiptoes pointed on the floor. her back was leaned back, but her shoulders were tensed up.

it's a contrary position to how victoria was sitting; back fully leaned back, legs crossed, feet relaxed, shoulders calm and chin pointing slightly up.

"how's annika?" victoria nonchalantly asked, grabbing the teacup and bringing it to her lips.

chancler held a snort at the question.

inseong saw how heegyung tensed at the mention of the name.

it took long for heegyung to answer. victoria watched heegyung get herself together, while quietly sipping her tea.

".. annika's dead. 8 years ago." heegyung managed to respond calmly.

"oh." victoria feigned surprise. "my condolences. i didn't know my poor friend died two years after my alleged death." she faked a sad expression, golden eyes piercing when subtly mentioning the massacre.

"my sweetheart mourned for your empty grave day and night. she didn't want to leave until you would miraculously come out of the grave." heegyung was more confident in her next lines. "but i managed to convince her that you weren't worth the dedication and the tears she was spilling."

'so the massacre did happen.'

inseong watched intensely. victoria wasn't lying.

"hmm, atleast she was a decent traitor who saw the wrongs and didn't avoid the red flags." victoria placed her cup down, taking a cube of sugar and dropping it down her tea.

the other lady leaned to grab a teaspoon syrup and put it in victoria's tea. "a neutralizer for all the sweetness and bitterness."

"hmm, i see." victoria said, looking uninterested as she stirred her tea thoughtfully. "tell me, how did she die?"

heegyung visibly gulped harshly, about to choke. all the confidence she managed to get faltered and her head hung low at the emotional impact victoria's question brought.

she was taking deep breaths and the same time, inseong watched as victoria slyly switched their cups.

no noise was made.

not long, heegyung lifted her head up again to face victoria with an unemotional expression. after gulping half of her tea at once, her fingertips meet each other and elbows on the table.

"annika died after threatening to go and tell the authorities what really happened. my fiancé took care of her, told me that he'll calm her down. she died the next day. hyungeuk said that she ran away back here and was raped by our butler." heegyung said, voice slightly wavering at the mortifying memory.

"and you believed the story of your fiancé?"

"yes. but he too, left me alone. he died in his summer house a month ago by... assassins."

heegyung's voice lowered at the word 'assassins'. her eyes avert from victoria to chancler then to the masked inseong.

victoria's eyebrow arched, waiting for the older lady to connect the dots.

"y-you..."

"we justified annika's death. he confessed on raping and killing her just like how he raped and killed renoir and alma." victoria's words were dark and vindictive. anger and hate deliciously spilling from how she spoke. "i actually wished you were there to watch. watched how your fiancé kneeled and begged for mercy. how a gun was placed on his temple before the trigger was pulled."

heegyung started coughing violently, but she shrug it off along with the sudden extreme nausea she felt.

victoria stood up from her seat, towering the sitting heegyung and showing domination.

"we killed him at once. no slow death. he just died." the female assassin, walked to the side of the table, closer to heegyung who was biting her inner cheeks. "unlike what you did to karla."

"renoir and alma doma were raped and killed by hyungeuk cho......"

".......my younger sister karlamainna was stripped, molested and tortured before slowly dying of a missed bullet in the head."

so heegyung was the one who... missed the shot on karlamainna?

"you and your family deserved what happened. i wanted a promotion, but your father overlooked me. i went to steal all the jewellery your mother had, but she only kept buying more and boasting them off!"

"that doesn't give you the right to kill my sister."

"you bitch!ㅡ" heegyung attempted to stand up and attack, but victoria has already placed a gun on her temple, guiding heegyung back down to her seat.

"like this.. this is how your fiancé died.." victoria said, a wicked smile on her lips. dark and crimson red aura surrounded her, making inseong get goosebumps.

"we were kind enough to let him say his prayer, before we.." heegyung's eyes shook as she watch victoria's finger place at the trigger. "....pulled the trigger."

heegyung's eyes closed and so did inseong's not ready to watch someone time right in front of him.

*click~!

chancler chuckled.

inseong opened his eyes and so did heegyung.

victoria clicked on the magazine release to show the magazine storage. empty.

heegyung chuckled loudly, her laugh echoing the empty mansion. "you're all so dead." she knocked on the armrest on her chair, the cover opened up and a red button sat in the center.

"it's a lockdown button that calls the police." inseong panicked at heegyung's words, watching as the older woman pressed on the button. "buhbye~"

victoria didn't respond, only looking at her with such uninterested eyes.

'shouldn't they start running?!'

inseong looked at chancler, who was playing with his white mask and sitting casually.

seconds of silence passed, inseong and heegyung anticipating the blaring of alarms.

but nothing came on.

it was chancler's turn to laugh.

"we already cut every line you had." the gunner said, smirking.

"oh.. and i may have switched your cup with mine. you know, the one with the "syrup"."

heegyung's eyes widen and her jaw dropped.

she drank her own poison.

"ethylene glycol." victoria smirked at her.

during the invasion....

"sorry guys." hwiyoung monotonously mumbled, looking at the two rangers he considered his brother for a short time, now lying face flat on the floor. into a deep sleep.

"ranger93 down." hwiyoung said, after a tap on the in-ear.

[ good, i've disabled the backdoor auto-guns. engage in phase 3, hwi. ] mason said and hwiyoung nodded to no one.

he scanned the vicinity, checking for any more troopers and exited through the back door. as mason promised, the guns where disabled and he was able to climb the gate and reeve out of the property.

he has someone else to save.

"i'm coming to save you, dayna."

UNEDITED.

[ GLOSSARY ]

SON HEEGYUNG  ㅡ  owner of a children's welfare fund
ETHYLENE GLYCOL  ㅡ  clear, colorless, syrupy liquid chemical at room temperature
ANNIKA  ㅡ  heegyung's only daughter that died at 17 years old
HYUNGEUK  ㅡ  mentioned in chapter two: ranger93