[M] (iii) (1/1)

She looked up from the plate the man had nudged in front of her on the dining table, face impassive and body tense. He was wearing a wicked smirk, sitting in front of her like they didn’t just spend half an hour in the bathroom of his big apartment, washing her father’s blood off her face.“Eat,” he told her, nodding at the hamburger and the fries he ordered for her. “It’s really good.”Joohyun looked down at the food but made no attempt to move.“I promise it’s not poisonous,” he snickered, finding the child interestingly calm. “Why would I kill the daughter of the man who got my pregnant wife killed, after all?” He laughed maniacally at that, throwing his head back like it was the most hilarious thing he’d ever heard. She didn’t appear like someone who had just lost their parent. She didn’t appear like an eight years old child who just watched her father bleed to death.Just as he opened his mouth to talk again, the sound of glass breaking tore his attention away from her. It came from the kitchen. He picked the gun he had left on the table next to his own plate of junk food, instantly more alert. The kitchen was right behind them, the two rooms only separated by a thin wall with an open doorway. He approached it slowly and quietly, firearm drawn and ready as he leaned against the wall to peek. He turned to sneer at Joohyun, playful as he brought a finger to his lips. “Shush,” he said, eyes full of mirth.Perhaps he was still high on adrenaline after his kill, earlier, or perhaps he was just that sick.Joohyun barely had the time to blink and register what was happening; a loud bang echoed in the room. The killer of her father crumpled to his knees and dropped his weapon. He had his eyes wide open, focused on her; there was a hole in the wall behind him and probably another one in his back. She could imagine blood soaking his shirt with color.Joohyun watched him collapse on the ground lifelessly.She didn’t scream this time. The scene as it unfolded itself right before her eyes didn’t make her twitch. She watched his body as red pooled beneath it, only looking away when the form of a man clad in black with a matching mask came into view in the doorway. She looked at him, aware of the fuming rifle he was holding.He raised his free hand, offering it for her to take.She didn’t nudge. The sound of the guards as they ran up the stairs, ready to burst in and check up on their boss, was a distant noise in the back of her mind. It was a reminder.“Come on, Hyun-ah,” the man in the black mask finally said. “It’s okay, I didn’t kill him. I promise. Come on. Let’s go.”The little girl wondered how he knew her father’s nickname for her, but she knew better than to stay in the room any longer. She stood up, pushing her chair back carefully. She walked towards the stranger and slid her tiny hand into his.They made it out of there through the fire escape, a van waiting for them down there to take them away from the horde of men following them with gunfire blaring loudly.She owed the man in the mask her life; though Joohyun wasn’t sure she wanted any of it now that her father had left her, too. __ The whisky swished in her glass as she poured herself another go of the auburn liquor. Joohyun leaned back in her seat, breathing out tiredly as she brought a hand to her bandaged stomach. It didn’t hurt as much as it did a few weeks ago. It’s been a month, she realized then. A month since she woke up in this government facility.Four months since her world shifted so abruptly with her family’s death.On the desk before her laid a few scattered documents: her final contract with the KIA, the training schedules Wendy set for her to follow, and the reports of her sister’s death.She took a long mouthful of the alcohol, letting it burn its way down her throat.The woman in the pictures – pale, lifeless, two gun wounds on the chest – resembled Yerim awfully. Joohyun studied every feature of the face revealed in the images, incapable of finding proof this wasn’t her baby sister. Bled to death, two bullets cutting in too deep – those reports made her want to kill Jang Hakyun all over again.She sighed. She knew it was now a question of time before she got out there. Until then, she was handtied. Until then, she had to humour these people.She took another mouthful, emptying her glass this time.Joohyun looked at those pictures every day since the day she woke up on that bed, all those government people winged over her like she was a gem they were scared to lose. She read and learnt every word on those documents – looked for all the clues; found nothing to calm herself down and only confusion.If she was still uncertain about whatever happened to Yerim, she was however certain of what was going to happen to those who knew. For those who had a hand in it.She’d paint this city with blood if she had to; it wouldn’t be the first time she made the Han River cry red. __ The man in the black mask had a name, Joohyun discovered, a week after the incident.Kim Taesung.A good friend of her father’s apparently; both of them were ex-Marines who served in the same division: division beta-alpha-5.It turned out her dad made him promise he’d protect her if anything happened to him. That was why he showed up that night. A man of her father’s function was bound to attract harm his way. That was the only thing he gave her in consolation.Kim Taesung had a daughter who was a good two years younger than her, a big house, and so many people swarming around him. She guessed he was someone important. Although he didn’t have to, he let her stay with them.He was quite perplexed by her hand-to-hand combat skills, too, she noticed.So he sent her to the same school as his own daughter to implant a bit of normalcy in her life, but did everything to preserve her ‘talent.’ At first, he used to train her himself, but as time went on he decided on hiring her a personal trainer – by the age of fifteen she knew more about martial arts than most adults did.Joohyun liked the violence, so she just went with the flow.His daughter, Kim Yerim, was just as nice to her. So nice it was weird, actually. She was talkative and attentive. She was the only person who knew how to make Bae Joohyun smile, and the more time they spent together; the better she got at it.(“We’re sisters, now,” she used to tell her, dragging her inside the kitchen to make her sit and eat when she forgot to (like she often did). “This is your home now.”) __ The room was plunged in darkness; the only source of light being the muted television in the background and the monitors of the computers.Seulgi looked at Heechul with a frown, hands digging in the pockets of her black jeans. He looked nervous, almost sorry he couldn’t help her more. Or maybe he was just scared, since he didn’t get to see her act seriously that often and it wasn’t a pretty sight when she did. “So you’re saying you actually don’t know what’s in that thing,” she summarized, nodding at the bunch of files he was showing to her a few moments earlier on the screens. Granted, he did break down the firewalls of the USB drive and it had to be a lot of work.“Well – we do know these are pieces of code. But I don’t know what it is for exactly,” he stuttered, blinking as he pressed some keys on his keyboard. A long block of text showed up. “This program is so beautifully written, look.”Seulgi rolled her eyes. She had no time for the nerdy part of the job. “So we know nothing,” she summed up again, ignoring the excited glint in his eyes.He looked at her with a frown. “We know it’s a code written by someone who most definitely knows what he’s doing—”“Or it could be a woman, you misogynist ass,” she cut him off.He ignored her, purely because he wasn’t anything of the sort. “And it’s for something called ‘The Team.’ It’s not the entire thing, whatever this is. It’s just pieces of its code. Parts,” Heechul shook his head, looking like he’d just seen the most beautiful piece of art in the whole world. “Like, if the program is a beast these are just the limbs. The core of this program, and the head, are missing. I can’t figure out what it does with just these.”Seulgi rolled her eyes at him again, leaving him to walk to the sofa and plop down to take a slice from the pizza box she brought with her from the restaurant down the street. She munched down on the food, scowling grumpily. “And here I thought this was going to be of some use to Joohyun-unnie.”“Who’s Joohyun-unnie?” The man asked distractedly, still reading the code on his screen. He was truly amazed, like a kid in a toy store.“None of your business, Bill Gates,” she quipped childishly. She knew he did all he could, but that wasn’t enough and she had no one else to blame.Looking down at her wristwatch, she sighed. Joohyun was probably up by now. She was going to start training with the division today to get a hang on how things worked in the KIA. Seulgi took another bite, leaning back into her seat. She’d only been up for a month, though. She should be still resting from her gut wound but trust her stubborn ass to go back to training a month too soon.“Oppa, can you keep me a copy of those files?” She asked the man who was still in his own nerdworld, nodding at her request although she doubted he heard anything of what she just said. Gulping down her last mouthful of cheese and pepperoni, she left the sofa to stand behind his dreamy ass, smacking his head. “Heard me? A copy. Keep it safe. I’ll come get the USB disk later tonight.”Heechul rubbed the sore spot she just hit, scowling indignantly. “I’m older than you, you know?”Seulgi blinked at him. “Yes, and what’s your point exactly?”He groused to himself but said nothing. He knew better than to engage that psychopath of a woman in a verbal exchange of profanities. __ “To your right,” the instructor yelled a millisecond before throwing her a blow in the said direction.Joohyun blocked it before attempting a counterattack, successfully landing a kick to his chest. He ignored the pain and took a hold of her foot before she could retract, stalling her. She grinned at him. Before he knew it, she was mid-air and her other foot connected with the side of his helmet-cald head in a powerful kick.That sent him off his feet easily.“Did you see that?” Yerim jumped up and down, tugging at the ring ropes as she watched from the side.Her father smiled at her. “Yes, Yerim-ah, I did.”“Unnie’s so cool!” She squealed, grinning at the older woman who turned to give her a thumb up. “Unnie, you’re the best!” She called out raucously. She loved the way her sister’s lips only curled up for her, just like now. “Do you need some water?” She asked more quietly.The instructor, Yesung-oppa as they called him, rose to his feet, laughing. “Stop distracting her, Yerim-ah. She’ll take another break in fifteen.”The smaller girl pouted. “But unnie’s tired.”“Unnie’s okay,” Joohyun told her, nodding at her confidently from where she stood. “I’ll win again and we’ll go eat some meat?”At that, Yerim’s excitement doubled. “Yes!”Taesung watched his two girls silently, satisfied.He wondered if Bae Haneul was seeing the beautiful sight he had in front of him, too. __ Joohyun’s eyes landed on the four armed men in front of her, bare feet planted firmly to the ground. She gripped her own wooden sword, studying the confident smirks on their faces.“Are you ready, unnie?” Sooyoung asked, sipping from her can of strawberry juice through a yellow straw. “Remember, there’s no holding back. Please fight accordingly. This means if you get your bones broken don't whine to me about it because I don't really care.”Seungwan shook her head and let out a heavy sigh. She wondered if her friend ever took anything seriously.“Yeah,” the newly recruited agent of the KIA acknowledged, eyes unwavering from the men. She was itching for action.“Oh this is going to be so much fun!” Sooyoung all but squealed, eyes turning into sparkly crescents. “Enjoy yourself, unnie!” She cheered before unnecessarily blowing into her customized pink whistle. (She insisted she bought that whistle for this ‘important occasion’ no matter how hard Seungwan tried to talk her out of it.)Silence.Breathe in.

Breathe out.Joohyun allowed herself to assess her surroundings hurriedly. There were a few other agents scattered around them to watch them spar, careful as to give them the space they needed since they weren’t on a ring but a simple mat. She guessed her presence had sparked the interest of many people around here, and failed to decide on whether that was a bad or a good thing. Anyway, this sparring match was a great opportunity to test the skills of an average KIA agent, just in case she needed the intel.One of the men mistook her wandering eyes for inattentiveness and attempted to take a swing at her, running towards her and bringing down his wooden sword with force to strike her on the head. Joohyun slid to the side expeditiously to dodge the attack. Moving her legs just as swiftly, she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt with one hand and tripped him with her foot. Once he was down, she punched him on the face, knocking him off instantly.Beside the attentive Seungwan, Sooyoung hummed appreciatively at the gracefulness of their newest friend.Standing back up, Joohyun brought her attention back to the three other men who decided to try and outnumber her. Quickly, she threw her sword at the one in the middle before they could reach her all at once, successfully hitting him in the face and halting him midway to groan in pain. She ducked to avoid the first sword swipe from the man on her left and stopped the second one from the other one on her right with her forearms; the wooden stick broke in two at the impact.Expertly, she kicked the guy who broke his weapon in the kneecap to distract him while she took care of his friend. The said friend tried to hit her but she had already seized the wrist of his busy arm, turning around and crouching down to bring him over her shoulder and down on the ground. He cried out in pain, and Joohyun knew she dislocated his arm.Two down, two more to go.Breathe in.

Breathe out.She smirked. She rose to her feet and kept her unwavering gaze on the two hesitant agents left standing. One was clutching his knee while the other’s face was bloodied unpleasantly. Hastily, they lunged at her together thinking they should unify their forces. Joohyun only had to gather the two swords lying by her feet.She blocked their attacks as they kept coming swipe after swipe of swords, dodging and backtracking with minimal efforts to tire them out. Soon enough they were heaving wearily. Joohyun expected better of these agents, so her disappointment was all over her face.Sooyoung barely had the time to scoff at their impulsiveness, Joohyun had already disarmed them and brought them to the ground with swift and definite movements.There she stood, in the middle, towering over four groaning bodies withering pathetically on the mat.Joohyun looked up to find Seulgi smirking at her from where she was watching in the crowd.The woman winked.Joohyun rolled her eyes.(Although her lips curled into a smug smile of her own. It always felt quite nice to be showered with Seulgi’s hungry gaze.) __ “Be careful, Joohyun.”Taesung’s voice rang in her earpiece, reminding her she wasn’t alone and he was watching over her. She grinned. “This is my first mission, but not my first time fighting. I got this.”He didn’t reply after that and she guessed he didn’t want to distract her from what she had at hand. Bringing her scarf to hide half her face, she crouched down and left her hiding place. She’d been waiting there for almost an hour, calculating the intervals in which the guards patrolled the mansion’s entrances.This meant she had exactly five minutes and thirty-two seconds to climb over the fence in front of her, get on the other side, and assess her surroundings.That was large and more than feasible.She ran in a sprint towards the wall of iron; once close enough, she jumped and her feet connected with the surface of steel. She used it as leverage to bring herself higher up the gate. Her hands on the top edge, she brought her weight over it and effectively inside the mansion.Her black outfit came in handy to hide her intruding form. Behind the bushes scattered all around, she wasn’t noticeable at all. The mansion was poorly illuminated too: a few lampposts disposed all around the square, big house. Luckily, it was bright enough for her to look around and count how many guards were on each side.Her guess was five men per corner. That meant twenty men ready to attack at the smallest of her mistakes.She grinned, loving the challenge.Yesterday, when she was studying the blueprints of the house, she’d guessed her only opening to get in was the small balcony of the guestroom on the first floor. Joohyun knew it would be a bit delicate to make it up there unseen. That’s why—A loud groan echoed in the dead of the night, followed by the hollowing of a few men as they drunkenly chanted the national anthem. The commotion was enough to earn the attention of the guards.—That’s why she paid a few men to purposely walk near the mansion and create misunderstandings to disturb them. Joohyun sprinted towards the house in a similar fashion as earlier, foot connecting with the wall to bring her light body higher and grasp the water pipe. She did her best to climb fast and reach the protruding floor of the balcony before anyone saw her.By the time the drunken men were dismissed, she was already hiding behind its railings. Keeping her crouched position, she quickly slid the door of the room open and slipped inside unannounced.The room was dark, but she navigated her way out of it without stumbling into furniture. She had expected the rest of the house to be drowned in a similarly quiet and somber mood. But it wasn’t. When Joohyun made it out into the hallway, the yelling and the sound of a woman crying coming from downstairs almost startled her. She immediately halted her movements to think of what to do.“Did you hear that?” She whispered in her earpiece.A pause. “Yes,” Taesung replied. “The wife, maybe? I know his son is out for his school’s field trip. She was supposed to go with him too.”Joohyun approached the stairways discreetly, going down to follow the source of the noise: the kitchen. “I’ll check it out.”“Be careful. The priority’s your target: complete the tasks and eliminate him and get out, Joohyun. No funny business.”She nodded, although he couldn’t see her. The lights were all clicked off on the ground floor, the only source of light being the kitchen. After checking there weren’t any guards inside she slowly approached the room. Desperate cries could be made out, along with a few yelps of pain.There the scene unfolded itself.A woman dressed in a white nightgown whimpering endlessly on the floor; she had blood on her clothes. She curled away from the man standing in front of her, hitting her with his belt.Joohyun felt anger rise to her throat.“You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do, do you hear me? You’re no one.” He snarled at her, bringing his bottle of liquor to his lips. He slurred his words; he was obviously heavily drunk. “How do you think I built this fucking house, huh?” He sighed, looking at the ceiling. “It’s the drug money. Your fucking jewellery is drug money. Your kid’s school and tutors. Everything!”In another bout of anger, he brought his arm up and struck her hard. She yelled, clutching her shoulder where the clothes tore and a red line started forming immediately.Crying harder now, the woman’s eyes rolled up and met Joohyun’s. She looked at the gun in the assassin’s hand, whimpering.Joohyun brought her forefinger to her lips, signaling for her to keep quiet. She did. The drunken man’s back was facing her. It was a beginner’s job to sneak up on him. Before he knew it, the metal end of the silencer of her weapon was right against his temple. He looked to his right – there she stood.“Fuck.” The man laughed in panic. “Who are you? Who sent you? How did you get here?”Joohyun kept mum. She looked at the woman briefly, finding her still looking at her but in relief rather than fear.“Is it Jaewon?” He tried, laughing as if it was stupid. “I’ll pay you double the price if you let me go.”Jaewon. The name sounded familiar. “Shut up. Put the bottle you’re holding on the table,” she ordered in a low, husky voice that was muffled by her scarf. He obeyed. “Jang Haeun.” She began, but stopped right after. She kicked him in the back of his knees to make him kneel on the floor. He groaned, but followed. “Here’s how we’re going to do this. You’re going to take out your phone, and call your lawyer. You’re going to tell them you’re stopping all your current activities. All the money you’ve made for the past five years, you’re going to split it in two: half for your family, the other half you’re going to donate it to the Korean Foundation for the Youth. And then, I’m going to kill you.”He laughed nervously, shaking his head. He reeked of expensive whisky. “Are you fucking crazy?”“Yes,” Joohyun replied calmly. “And I can make it either crazy painful or peaceful – your pick. I’m really good at torture.”She tapped his pocket with the point of her shoe. He looked up at her. She tilted her head impatiently.His eyes screamed of fright.She felt nothing. __ It was already way past midnight and the hallways were relatively less crowded with agents and employees.Only the International Observatory and the Interior Defense departments worked so late into night, generally. Seulgi still bumped into a bunch of her fellow colleagues as she made her way to the training hall.She went to Joohyun’s room first, but the woman wasn’t there. If she wasn’t there, it only meant she was still training.She’d been at it every day for the past week, intensively.They’d been spending a lot of time together – mainly because Seulgi made it a habit to drop by and annoy her at least twice a day. They met exactly a month and half ago, but they were already on ‘if you come any closer to me I’m going to stab you with my plastic chopsticks and watch you bleed to death’ terms.Seulgi guessed that was great progress, still.As expected, Joohyun stood in the middle of one of the rings practicing martial arts routines. She approached her slowly, trudging toward her with discreet steps.Seulgi grinned when their eyes met and Joohyun rolled hers.“Did you miss me?” She asked as soon as she was close enough. She took off her leather jacket and threw it on a nearby bench. She took off her shoes and climbed to join the woman on the ring.Joohyun would never admit Seulgi looked hot in those matching leather pants that hugged her curves in the most delicious way. “Yes. I missed you like I’d miss a Peptic Ulcer*,” she replied dryly, grimacing.It only spurred Seulgi on. “Ooh. Kinky,” she grinned, teeth digging in her lower lips to go along with her wink. She leaned back against the ropes. “You’ve been here since the mornin’?”“No. I had a meeting with Wendy and I just got back here – didn’t she tell you?” She looked at her.“About your father’s murderer?”Joohyun nodded. “She gave me a name,” she said, walking to the corner to get her water bottle. “Said I can get out of here as soon as they finish building me up a cover and whatnot.”Seulgi walked to her then, standing unnecessarily close. “I think you’d make a great CEO,” she whispered, scrunching her nose. “You’d look so good in a pencil skirt.”She rolled her eyes. Of course she’d say that.“Anyway, you up for a sparring match?” The younger girl wetted her lips – Joohyun followed the movements instinctively.“In that outfit?” Her eyebrows shot up as she checked her out.“Oh, would you rather I take these off?” Seulgi’s lips curled up as she held to the hem of her shirt teasingly, two twinkling crescents brightening up instantly. “I heard I look even better without them.”Joohyun heaved a long sigh and put her bottle down, leaving her spot to stand in the middle of the ring. She crouched in position and waited. “Come on. If you’re so bent on getting your ass kicked…”Seulgi laughed airily, joining her to stand close and mirror her stance. She failed another wink. “You have no idea, unnie.”The older woman suspected Seulgi was dedicating her life to turning everything she says into an innuendo so she just swallowed her angry retort.She waited until the girl was focused properly before doing anything.In all Joohyun fashion, she went for it first; she threw a punch right at Seulgi’s pretty face but it was expectedly dismissed. She went for another jab but the girl had no open spot. (She'd never seen her fight before, so she was pleasantly surprised to find a good challenge in her.) In exchange, her opponent drove her elbow to hit her back but she stopped the attack as well.Both women ended up withdrawing with a step back after a series of failed jabs.Seulgi’s leg connected with her forearm in a forceful kick. She held it with both arms to keep her from withdrawing and crouched down when the girl’s other leg followed as she threw herself in the air for a double kick. It was Joohyun’s turn to simper appreciatively when the younger girl supported herself against the mat with both hands on each side of her head, going for another kick to Joohyun’s chest to back her off and retreat.They waltzed around the ring for quite a bit more; they threw fists and kicks until they were left a heaving mess. If anything, the attraction both held for each other doubled.“You’re good for a simple government agent,” quipped Joohyun with an arrogant leer, breathless.Seulgi smiled. “I aim to please.”“Are you always like this?”“You mean hot and sweaty? Only for you,” the girl flirted right back.Truthfully, she saw deeply into Joohyun’s game. She was trying to distract her to win the upper hand. Still, when she swiftly attacked her before she even finished that sentence, grabbing her by the collar to bring her down, she did nothing to resist her. She allowed Joohyun to knock her off her feet.Of course, Joohyun noticed that. “What, you're giving up? Tired already?”“The night’s still young,” Seulgi grinned up at her. “I can last a few more rounds.”That was when the older woman noticed their position: she was sitting on the agent's stomach with a hand against her throat and another against her collar. She could feel her pulse under her palm, a delicate atlas of arteries pulsating with life. She shivered.Seulgi had this red, maniacal glint in her eyes. Joohyun saw this exact same expression on her the first day they met in that small room. It screamed of fire and danger and everything tempting. She wanted to retreat and set free that fragile, pale neck but instead, she found herself unmoving.Seulgi brought a hand to grasp her wrist, ushering her to tighten her hold – so she did.Her lips parted, a small moan leaving her. Joohyun, as if in a stance, groaned too. She leaned closer, putting more weight on her arm; Seulgi’s pulse felt stronger against her palm as she choked her, but they were weakening. That seemed to light fireworks in her eyes. It took Joohyun quite a few seconds to register just how close their faces were. She could feel her inhales along with her exhales, desperate and arousing.Seulgi’s mischievous tongue darted to lick Joohyun’s lower lip teasingly slow before taking her in one, long-awaited kiss. She looked at the older girl like she owned her; her arms slid to rest one the ring’s mat by her sides droopily although she could very well stop her from choking her at any given moment. She let her pin her down violently, looking like she wanted nothing more than to be taken in return.It wasn’t until her eyes started to roll back that Joohyun sobered up enough to release her. The girl was on the verge of passing out – the thought hit the assassin with force. She rolled off the younger girl hastily, standing up to keep the farthest possible away from her on the ring.She was breathing just as heavily as Seulgi. The sensation of the girl’s tongue as it ghosted over her lip in the most erotic way never leaving her. She needed more.Seulgi was dangerous. So fucking dangerous and she loved it.Looking back, their eyes met instantly. Seulgi’s dark orbs burned with lust just like hers. She smiled, unapologetic and euphoric. Joohyun exhaled sharply at that, turning around to gather her stuff and get the fuck out of there.She was dangerous. So dangerous.Joohyun wanted to hurt her more. __ Joohyun’s hands trembled, but she couldn’t understand why.She'd just killed a man. She just put a bullet to Jang Haeun’s brain, in front of his loving wife, in the kitchen of their loving house.She'd just killed a man, and she was feeling nothing but emptiness.Her body trembled though, like it had a mind on its own. Like it was processing everything differently. She couldn’t understand why.She opened the door to Yerim’s room hastily, slipping inside only to bump into her misplaced swivel chair. Hard enough to make it fall on the ground, unfortunately, so the commotion positively woke the girl up from her slumber.“Unnie?” She whispered, sitting up in her bed while rubbing her eyes from sleep. “Is that you?”“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up. Go back to sleep Yerim-ah,” Joohyun mumbled back in an equally soft tone, walking towards her bed with shaking legs. She didn’t trust her body to keep her up, seeing how it was reacting to… this. She sat right beside her.The smaller girl shook her head although she wasn’t sure her older sister could see her. “It’s okay, you did well waking me up. What time is it?”“Six,” she replied, reaching to wrap her arms around her in a hug.Yerim sobered up. “Are you okay? Did you get home just now?” She let herself pat Joohyun’s back comfortingly. “You’re… You’re shivering.”“It was cold outside.”But Yerim felt tears seeping through the thin material of her shirt. “You’re crying, Joohyun-unnie.”“Is that so?” The woman sounded genuinely surprised at that. She sat up from the embrace to wipe her tears harshly, a frown now evident on her features. “This is weird. I’m not sad or anything but my body’s acting weird.”“What happened?” Yerim frowned, too, looking at her attentively.“Nothing.” She replied just as more tears seeped through her eyes.Yerim heaved a small breath, feeling her heart clench at the sight. It was the first time she saw her sister cry and they’d been together for well over ten years now. She pulled her comforter off, and pushed herself aside to make more space. “Come here.”Joohyun complied, slipping under the covers and right into the girl’s arms.It took one second for her body to break into sobs; though Joohyun felt nothing at all.Yerim held her patiently.