Chapter Text
Tuesday:
Yoohyeon felt guilty for skipping out on school even though she technically had an excuse. She was feeling better, so she settled on skipping for one more day before attending classes again. She left the next day empty for some catch-up studying. She was so grateful for Yubin. The girl attended Yoohyeon’s classes for her to ask the professors what she was missing in the wake of her injury. In Yoohyeon’s mind, she had to make up for her own academic negligence somehow, so she decided to head to the gym first thing in the morning to get the day off to a good start. She threw on a tank top and a pair of grey sweats she had laying around and walked to her local gym. Her apartment was conveniently located a brisk ten-minute walk away from most amenities, including the school campus itself.
Finishing up with her arm day, Yoohyeon decided to hop on the treadmill to get her cardio in. She felt that it would do her some good, as she had barely moved in the last couple of days anyways.
Did the AC stop working? At the fifteen-minute mark of her cardio session, Yoohyeon was already drenched in sweat. She never considered herself the particularly sweaty type, but man, it was hot. She looked up to the roof, where normally, a fan would be blowing cool air down on the cardio section, but it wasn’t moving today for whatever unfortunate reason. That, combined with the mid-September summer heat, was making Yoohyeon sweat balls. She looked down; her top was literally sticking to her skin, becoming slightly see-through. Yoohyeon was parched. When she reached out her hand to grab her water bottle, it wasn’t there. She must’ve left it back at the benches when she was doing her shoulder press… Ugh, whatever, she’ll thug it out and get it later.
Yoohyeon was at the last stretch of her workout, the treadmill speed almost maxed out on the highest incline. She was treacherously taking step after step with only the music blasting through her headphones to motivate her when someone tapped her arm. She looked up to see who it was and—
Shit. Minji. With her water bottle.
Yoohyeon jumped and let out a strangled sound, throwing herself off rhythm with her running. She was able to catch herself by holding onto the railings and placing her feet on the sides of the moving conveyor belt before she could get launched off the treadmill. She had to catch her breath for a moment before turning off the treadmill and looking up to face her next roadblock. A very pretty roadblock, who for some reason was dressed like a 50 year old car mechanic.
“Hi, Yoohyeon, sorry if I startled you, but—“ Minji was staring at Yoohyeon; actually, it was more like she was checking her out. Her words paused when she was very obviously staring at the other girl’s torso, abs exposed through the dampened cloth of her tank top. Yoohyeon definitely noticed. She self-consciously wrapped her arms around her abdomen as if she were giving herself an awkward hug in order to nonchalantly divert Minji’s gaze. Minji inadvertently started glancing at Yoohyeon’s arms instead, which had gotten a nice pump after her workout.
“Ahem—“ Yoohyeon cleared her throat. Minji stopped in her tracks from doing whatever she was doing before and met Yoohyeon’s eyes sheepishly, cheeks dusted in pink, even though it definitely didn’t look like she was there to work out.
“Sorry, I lost my train of thought…” Minji admitted.
At least she’s honest, Yoohyeon thought. The flattery was making her heat up even more than she already was. Then Yoohyeon remembered that it was Minji, out of all people, and she didn’t know if someone who had escaped from prison should be considered honest. Now Yoohyeon didn’t know how to act. A gym was not a safe place to jump somebody. Too many dangerous things around: dumbbells and plates. One swing of a barbell and someone could get permanent brain damage. Yoohyeon has had enough brain damage for a week. Avoid, Avoid, Avoid. Right. She should bolt out of there. Yoohyeon still wanted her water bottle back, though.
“Umm, I assumed this is yours since it says Yoohyeon on it, and there aren't that many Yoohyeons around,” Minji lightly joked, holding out the water for Yoohyeon to take.
“Thanks, there’s not that many Jius around either,” Yoohyeon responded, raising a brow at the other woman before taking her water bottle and stepping off the treadmill. She maneuvered around Minji, with her free hand still covering her waist to block Minji’s view of her abs. The other girl just stood there frozen. Yoohyeon made sure she was completely off the gym’s property before dropping her hand at her side and finally drinking some much-needed water.
Wednesday:
Yoohyeon was slaving away in her university's library, making flashcards, reviewing slides, writing notes, and doing practice tests. She thought she had made decent progress and decided to take a phone break. Siyeon texted her again. Yoohyeon felt a little bad for not responding the other day, so she opened the message.
[Siyeon]: Hi Yoohyeon!! We will be extra short-staffed tomorrow, so if you’re feeling better, do you mind popping by to help out?
She was free the next day. All she had planned was more studying, which she guessed she could delay if she did most of her work today. The only thing she had planned for the rest of the week was going out for a meal and bowling with Yubin on Friday. Yoohyeon insisted on taking Yubin out to repay her for the girl’s help. They also hadn’t hung out in a while.
[Yoohyeon]: I’ve recovered, I think. I’ll see you tomorrow.
Maybe if she got the chance, she’d snoop around Siyeon’s office for information on Minji… On the topic of Minji, Yoohyeon remembered something crucial. That blue file with Minji’s picture in it! It was solid proof that she was the murderer!
[Siyeon]: 👍
Yoohyeon reacted to Siyeon’s message with another thumbs up and flipped her phone over. She opened up her laptop to finish studying when she spotted a figure coming her way. Yoohyeon squinted. It was Minji, pushing a cart of books, presumably to reshelve them. Again????? Why was she everywhere? Not dealing with this today. Yoohyeon gathered her things into her bag. She pushed in her chair and briskly turned her back to where Minji was approaching from and left the building. Yoohyeon decided that she would have to finish the rest of her work in the safety of her apartment. Next time I’ll study at the public library.
Thursday:
Yoohyeon found herself back at the place where this whole dilemma started. She had finished her classes for the day and headed to the prison like Siyeon asked. It was her first time doing patrol during the inmates’ social time, when they hung out in a dayroom. With Siyeon leading her to the designated area, Yoohyeon expected it to be a plain room with tables and chairs. Upon entering the room, Yoohyeon was shocked; this place was more like a lounge. The room was spacious, with around thirty inmates comfortably sitting on couches while socializing and hanging out with each other. There were even multiple big flat-screen TVs with game consoles. And snacks! Minji was stupid to escape from a place like this.
Yoohyeon actually had a fun time watching the prisoners. She ended up just chatting with a few of them. They were all just nice people, trying to pass their time, like Siyeon had told her on her first day. She even ended up playing Mario Kart with some of them. She understood why people vote for focusing on rehabilitation for criminals instead of punishment. Although Yoohyeon wondered if the families of the victims would be super content about the inmates being treated so well… Two sides of the same coin, she supposed; that is a discussion for another day.
Her shift was soon over, and Yoohyeon made her way to the employee exit, passing by Siyeon’s office. Yoohyeon stopped in her tracks, remembering the folder. She peeked her head through the window beside the door, looking for signs of vacancy. To Yoohyeon’s dismay, Siyeon was in her office. From her angle, Yoohyeon could see Siyeon sitting at her desk, which faced the direction of the door. She seemed to be talking with someone, or possibly arguing, judging by the uncharacteristically stern look on her face. Yoohyeon couldn’t see who the person sitting across from Siyeon was, only their armsleeve in frame. Those are some big hands. Yoohyeon could tell they were wearing a suit. Maybe it’s someone important.
Yoohyeon began to pick up pieces of their conversation, causing her to grow increasingly alarmed. Wait… That voice. The other person had to be Minji. She was right! Siyeon was working with Minji. Yoohyeon pulls out her phone and starts an audio recording. The police are going to love this!
“I’m telling you, she’s growing suspicious, and it doesn’t help that, one, I keep seeing her everywhere, and two, she literally volunteers at this prison!” Minji says.
“That doesn’t mean you should tell her everything! You barely know her! Tell me one thing you know about her that isn’t her name.”
“Uhm… She likes matcha lattes?”
Yoohyeon furrowed her brows. They were definitely talking about her. Were these two trying to get her involved with their possibly illegal schemes?
“Minji, don’t joke around about this. You know how much trouble everybody would be in if this got out to the wrong people. Especially yourself.”
Gosh, Yoohyeon had no idea what they were talking about, but judging by the scarily strict tone of Siyeon’s voice, maybe this was a big deal.
“I know, Sing… I just think I can trust her, you know. She gives me that good vibe. And I feel bad. She’s been running away from me. I think she’s scared of me or something.”
“Normally I’m onboard with everything you say, but this is not a situation you should be handling with “vibes”. And to be honest, shouldn’t you be the one running away? I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to interact with her when she thinks you’re a criminal.”
“Which is why we should tell her! I don’t like that scared offended look she gives me every time she sees me. I don’t like how she sees me as someone else.”
“No, Minji, that’s a breach of information. If you do that, you’re putting everyone in danger. If you see her in public again, I advise you to avoid her and leave the premises. And you know keeping secrets is something you signed up for when you decided to do this.”
“Ugh, fine!”
Had Yoohyeon opened Pandora’s box? What exactly were those two “doing”? She was not expecting this much information. This was definitely part of something bigger. Before Yoohyeon could gather more thoughts to come to a conclusion about what was going on, her phone rang. Loudly. Yoohyeon mentally slapped herself for not turning her ringer off. The two people inside Siyeon’s office definitely heard it too.
“Who’s there?” Siyeon’s husky voice demanded.
Shit. Yoohyeon sprinted out of there as fast as she could. Never had she been more grateful for her long legs. The exit door slammed shut before Siyeon and Minji could catch a glimpse of her.
Friday:
“Yooh, are you okay? You look ghastly,” Yubin asked, concerned for her friend due to her oddly paleish appearance. The two were in their first and only shared class of the day. Their professor, who had this undecipherable british accent, was going on this rant about causation or correlation or just something that no one was paying attention to, including both Yoohyeon and Yubin. Yubin was initially trying to focus, writing down notes on her iPad, but Yoohyeon had this stressed-out look on her face while staring blankly into the distance, which was heavily distracting.
Yoohyeon was ultimately not super okay. Was she going to tell Yubin that? Well, that’s what she had been spending the hours when she was supposed to be sleeping thinking about. From what she had gathered from her eavesdropping, she was trying to figure out a few possibilities of what Minji and Siyeon were hiding. Yoohyeon spent the night relistening to her recording, writing down the dialogue, and annotating everything.
What was so crucial that Minji wanted to tell Yoohyeon but couldn’t because it would, quote, “put everyone in danger”? Who was “everyone”? By how Minji was wording things, it seemed like it was okay for Yoohyeon to know if she didn’t share anything with whoever Minji and Siyeon’s enemies were.
The only solid piece of information Yoohyeon got out of all this was that Minji was probably in fact not a criminal. However, Yoohyeon was not inclined to believe in her total innocence because nothing explained why Minji was admitted to prison as an inmate in the first place. She decided to be wary of Minji for now…
What Yoohyeon was most torn apart about was whether she should delve deeper into whatever she had stumbled across or if she should just pretend she never heard anything at all. The uncertainty and possible danger of the situation made Yoohyeon anxious, but something in her was itching for her to find some answers. Minji said she trusted her; even if it was based on “vibes,” it still must be worth something.
Ah yes! Minji trusted her.
“Hello? Are you seriously okay? Why are you suddenly giggling?” Yubin found Yoohyeon ’s behavior extremely odd. Did that concussion leave permanent damage?
Yoohyeon started choking on her own saliva.
“Uhm, yeah. I’m fine.” Yoohyeon responded after coughing a few times. She decided that she would keep Yubin in the dark about her recent discoveries. She was aware that Yubin wanted to help her, but Yoohyeon was afraid that this whole thing was something possibly dangerous that she didn’t want to drag her friend into. She’d tell Yubin the whole story after she figures everything out.
After classes, Yoohyeon was at the library to get some studying in before going out with Yubin. Only that this time, she was at a public one to avoid Minji. She was doing her work in comfort and peace, thinking that she was totally safe, when a familiar figure entered her periphery. Who the fuck works at both the uni and public library??? This was genuinely nuts. Not dealing with this today!
Yoohyeon began to start packing up her things when Minji noticed her. The other woman immediately turned on her heels and started speedwalking back in the direction she came from. Right, Siyeon told Minji to avoid Yoohyeon. Oh how the tables have turned. Yoohyeon wondered if Minji and Siyeon realized that she was the one eavesdropping on them. She assumed not, judging by the fact that Minji was running from her and not confronting her. Feeling like she had the upper hand, Yoohyeon realized this was her chance to get some answers.
She left her notes sprawled all over her table and took off after Minji. She had some greater priorities at the moment.
“HEY COMEBACK HERE!” Yoohyeon whisper-shouted, still aware that she was in a library.
Minji picked up her pace, noticing the other girl's presence. Yoohyeon realized that maybe she shouldn’t have made her presence known, because Minji was definitely using her knowledge of the library’s floor plan against her. Minji had Yoohyeon zigzagging between the bookshelves, the two getting weird looks from other people in the building. After chasing Minji for a solid five minutes, Yoohyeon believed her workouts were coming in handy, as Minji seemed to be losing stamina and Yoohyeon herself felt fine. Yoohyeon thought it would be over when Minji came to a dead end, but when they turned, there was an employees-only room, which Minji slipped into. Before the door could fully close, Yoohyeon caught up and stuck her arm in. She pushed the door open and followed Minji into the room.
The room was small. There were just a few book carts littered around, but the room was ultimately quite empty.
Raising her guard, Yoohyeon gingerly approached Minji, who was slowly backing up into the wall. Yoohyeon could tell that Minji was looking for ways to get out, as her eyes were darting all over the place. Suddenly, Minji gave it a shot, trying to push past Yoohyeon, who reacted quickly by grabbing both of her wrists. Yoohyeon impulsively pushed Minji backwards, pinning her back against the wall with her hands beside her head. Minji didn’t resist her grip.
‘You...” Yoohyeon started. She didn’t really know what to say. They were awfully close to each other, sharing the same air. All of Yoohyeon’s senses were full of Minji. She smelled really nice. Like floral sweet peaches and lightly citrusy. Mmm. Her view was all Minji. Her perfect skin, big, beautiful boba eyes, pink, prettily shaped lips with cute mouth corners—
“Me…!” Minji breathed out with an awkward smile on her face. God, why was Minji like this? Yoohyeon was about to let a giggle slip out before she remembered the situation at hand. Right, she was only looking for one thing. Answers. Then she’d send Minji and her whatever secretive illegal business to prison.
“Explain how you’re running free when you’re supposed to be in prison! And why are you everywhere I go!” Yoohyeon demanded. She watched as Minji’s expressive brows slightly upturned. Yoohyeon felt her palms heat up against Minji’s wrists, growing nervous in apprehension.
Minji gulped before answering. Yoohyeon noticed something shift in her demeanor, though she couldn’t pinpoint it.
“Okay, I’ll tell you,” she softly spoke, intimately looking into Yoohyeon’s eyes. “It’s a secret though, so you’ll have to let me whisper it in your ear.”
Yoohyeon nodded, easy to give into Minji’s requests. She leaned in, tilting her head to the side, anticipating the truth. Instead, she was met with a warm softness on her cheek. Yoohyeon froze, heart racing. Minji had given her a kiss.
Minji took it as the perfect opportunity to escape, easily slipping out of Yoohyeon’s grip and heading for the door. Yoohyeon, still stunned, didn't bother to react and simply watched with her mouth agape as Minji waved bye to her and pranced off.
“See you, cutie!” Minji whispered-shouted over her shoulder before disappearing behind the bookshelves.
“Yooh, why haven’t you touched your food?” Yubin questioned. They were at a poke bowl place getting their fill before heading to a nearby bowling alley.
Yoohyeon responded with a grunting sound and continued to flip a cube of salmon around with her chopsticks.
Yubin had known Yoohyeon for a couple of years, and normally the girl was only like this when something was deeply wrong. Like when she spent all her allowance on pokemon cards and did not get a single hit. The two met in freshman year of high school after Yoohyeon accidentally smacked a volleyball at Yubin’s face in gym class, giving Yubin a nosebleed. They quickly hit it off after Yoohyeon insisted on getting Yubin a drink after school as an apology.
She knew the situation with Minji had been bothering Yoohyeon, but it was significantly worse since this morning compared to the days before. Was there something Yoohyeon wasn’t telling her? This moping, disengaged, desolate Yoohyeon was not the Yoohyeon Yubin knew!
“Okay, I know you’re caught up with the whole Minji thing, but how about you take this time to relax and forget about it? Yubin suggested. She was putting her foot down and was not going to let her friend sulk about some woman while they were having their fun one on one time. “You can talk about it if you want to, though. I get it.”
Yoohyeon looked up at Yubin from her bowl. Yoohyeon was just frustrated at how she was so close to the truth, but somehow Minji knew exactly what to do to get to her and escape. Ultimately, it was Yoohyeon’s own fault for panicking from a little peck, which infuriated her the most. But Yubin was right. This scheming woman was not worth occupying all her head space when she was spending quality time with her best friend! She would leave Minji as a problem for another day.
“I’m sorry, ugh, it’s just—” Right, Yoohyeon didn’t want Yubin to get involved. “I’m good, actually great. I haven’t seen Minjji in what? Since… the hospital, yeah. You’re right. I won’t think about her. Tonight it is just you and I!”
And smoothly did the rest of dinner go. Yoohyeon was able to forget about Minji, and the two downed their food while leisurely chatting and then Yubin drove them to bowling.
Yoohyeon had forgotten how hard bowling was.
“What the fuck, that’s my fourth gutter ball!” She complained as she watched the bowling pins unnecessarily reset again because she didn’t knock a single one down.
“Bro, maybe try using a lighter ball.” Yubin laughed while casually rolling her ball straight down the middle of the lane, striking over half the pins down. She never understood why Yoohyeon always chose to use the heaviest ball when she could barely lift it with one hand.
“No, I can’t. I’m training!” Yoohyeon grunted as she picked up her 16 pound ball with three fingers. “Owww…”
“That is like the equivalent of ego lifting, Yooh.”
Yoohyeon wound up for her shot and the ball flew backwards like a failed shot in WII Sports. Yubin cackled at her.
“Stupid ball!” Yoohyeon ran back to pick it up with both her hands and using momentum from both her arms, she catapulted the ball with all her strength. Strike!
“Hah! Take that, Yubin! You were trying to sabotage me by telling me to choose another ball.”
“I am still winning.”
“Hmph! Next time I’m choosing what to do!”
“Haha, okay.”
The two were getting close to the end of their game when Yoohyeon spotted someone she definitely did not want to see at the moment. Minji was strutting towards them, wearing a polo with the bowling place’s logo embroidered on it.
“Umm, Yubin, I’m going to the washroom.” Yoohyeon quickly dismissed herself and ran away, hoping that Minji would not follow her.
To Yoohyeon’s delight, she was safe and alone in the washroom cubicle while Minji addressed Yubin instead.
“Excuse me, do you know Yoohyeon?” Minji asked, politely smiling at the other girl. Yubin looked up from her phone, which she was scrolling on while waiting for Yoohyeon to come back. She was taken aback by how the cause of Yoohyeon’s recent distress was standing right in front of her. And since when were Minji and Yoohyeon on first-name terms? Wasn’t Yoohyeon literally trying to get Minji arrested? Should she sock her in the face on her friends behalf?
“Uhm, yeah. Can I help you?” Yubin responded, unsure of what to expect. She decided against the punching Minji in the face part.
“Yoohyeon left this at the library today,” Minji said as she handed Yubin a folded sheet of paper. Yubin received it and skimmed over it. One of Yoohyeon’s school notes. Wait, didn’t Yoohyeon say she hadn’t seen Minji since her hospital visit?? Yoohyeon was definitely hiding something from her.
“Oh, thanks, I’ll return it.” Yubin replied. Minji nodded and began to walk away before spinning around on her heel.
“One more thing, are you two dating?” Minji inquired, eagerness written on her face.
“What? No… I’m her best friend actually,” stated Yubin, even more taken aback by that question. Did it look like the two of them were dating? Maybe it was a little odd to go bowling with just two people.
“What a relief! Thanks!” Minji curtly responded before walking away with a little bounce to her step.
"Well, that was weird," thought Yubin. She’d have to interrogate Yoohyeon about this later.
Yubin ended up calling Yoohyeon to tell her it was safe to come out after she came to the conclusion that Yoohyeon ran away to hide from Minji.
“Here,” Yubin passed Yoohyeon the piece of paper.
“What’s this?”
“Minji said you left it at the library today.”
“Oh.”
Yoohyeon remembered that she cleared off the table she sat at entirely before she left. She unfolded the sheet and it was a page of her notes. Wait a minute, this page was in her binder… And it couldn’t have fallen or been ripped out because the holes were still intact. Did Minji go out of her way to steal a page of her notes? Yoohyeon found her answer when she checked over the page and found a small passage written neatly in the bottom corner.
Meet me at Sundown Bar at 8pm tomorrow.
Come alone. I’ll tell you everything.
♡Minji