4

Solar hadn’t even considered that possibility. Sisters? She thought she knew Wheein better than that.

“You guys are sisters? You don’t even look-“

“Alike. Yeah, well we were both adopted.” Moonbyul clarified. “When we were both in foster care, we were pretty much inseparable. Inseparable because Wheein used to really cling onto me.”

“Used to.” Wheein added.

“Right, used to. That’s certainly changed hasn’t it?”

Solar shifted in her seat feeling uncomfortable. She thought about redirecting the conversation for a second, but she figured her friend probably needed this and so did Moonbyul.

“Yes, and I think for the better.” Wheein mumbled unable to meet Moonbyul’s gaze.

Solar looked over at Moonbyul to catch her reaction. A look of clarity passed her features, and again her face softened. Now she looked away.

“Oh, I see. All of this was to get some space? You could have done that without cutting us off though. We would have understood.” Finally, they looked at each other. For once, they were actually on the same level.

“I know, but it was for me. Like you said, I clung to you. That was because you were safe and I made a home in you, but it was too… I just had to move on and become independent. But it wouldn’t have worked if I saw you. You took on the role of my protector so well, too well even. I just had to go.” Wheein explained willing her sister to understand.

“Were you ever planning on telling us anything? Mom and Dad ask about you every day, and I’ve hated never having a real answer.”

“Yeah, I was going to do that real soon actually. It would have happened already if I wasn’t too scared to face them.”

“They just want to see you and know that you’re okay at this point”

“I know.”

“Today.”

“Today.” Wheein agreed.

Suddenly Moonbyul laughed. “You know, I guess I see your point now that I know your reason. You know this whole Silver Fox thing happened after you left. Since I couldn’t be there for you, I thought I would just try to make the world in general safer, so that wherever you were, you’d be okay.”

“That was my real reason. I’ve just never been able to admit it.” Moonbyul grabbed a file and pulled it closer suddenly feeling vulnerable. “If it helped you to leave, then I’m glad. I just hope you know that all of it was because I love you.”

“Yeah, I know. I love you too.” They smiled at each other, both looking a bit teary eyed.

She couldn’t believe Moonbyul started all this to protect her younger sister. She was way more than her charming words, that’s for sure. She knew that already, but somehow Moonbyul just keeps getting better.

“You know since the beginning, I never believed how the media tried to paint you.” Wheein said while she smiled proud. “But now that we’ve reconnected you’re going to stop, right?”

“Why would I do that?” Moonbyul asked like it was an insane suggestion. All traces of tears gone, just like that.

“Because it’s dangerous and you could die, duh.”

“Yeah, but I could die any day at any time so… Plus, there’s no one better suited for the job.”

“Why is that exactly?” Wheein asks her voice rising slightly.

Moonbyul quickly glances at Solar, but looks away just as fast. “Look, I’m still older than you, and I don’t have to tell you anything I don’t want to. Let’s drop this. We both know that nothing’s going to change anyway.” Moonbyul finishes on that subject.

Wheein deflates, wondering what she meant when she said there was no one better suited for the job. Did she have super human strength? Was she impervious to bullets? Or maybe something else entirely. Solar must know something, why else would Moonbyul have glanced at her? She’ll make a point to ask later.

“Anyway, I came here for another reason than this reunion. That was to share information, so why don’t we get started on that?” Moonbyul finally turned to Solar once again. “Sorry you had to see that.” Moonbyul said sheepishly.

“It’s no problem. I’m just glad you guys finally reconnected. At first, I thought you guys were exes or something. Wouldn’t that have been weird?” Solar laughed awkwardly and cleared .

Wheein looked between her sister and friend and raised a brow. She knew when Solar laughed like that. She smirked. So she did meet someone after all. Wow. There’s almost too much to digest right now. She thinks as she sits back in her seat.

“I’m pretty sure you have more news about the gangs than I do, so why don’t you start.” Solar then gestured to her files. “This is all just general information about them.”

“Okay, sure.” She raises her hand to her cheek and rests her head on it. “Where do I start?” She murmurs to herself. “Ah. I’ll start with something the papers have gotten totally wrong. I’m not sure about your theories on them, but even if you believe differently, you’re probably wrong.”

“Not because you’re not a skilled detective, but because it’s kind of crazy.” Moonbyul added before Solar could protest.

“You know those bodies that have been popping up on shore and in ditches?” Moonbyul looks between the two girls.

Solar and Wheein both nod attentively.  

“News outlets have been suggesting serial killer, just random gang kills, and even the crazier ones have suggested me, but all of those are wrong. You see it is the gangs’ doing, but the victims are the gangs’ own members. I don’t know why they’d do that to their own people, but they are.”

“And you know this for a fact?” Solar asks as she picks up a pen. “How?”

Moonbyul smiles as she sees the accomplished reporter appear. “Welp, I’ve witnessed them disposing the bodies, and I heard them talking about the ex-gang member as they did it. The weird thing is that some seem to know what happened, usually they’re very quiet about doing the job, but others seem to question how the ex-member died.”

“But what I find even more weird, is that all the gangs in the area have been doing the same thing. Like they aren’t separate anymore, like they’re working for the same cause. They’ve been so civil with one another lately.”

“I’ve noticed that too. There hasn’t been any gang wars or random shootings. Come to think of it, if it’s like you said, the only gang casualties in the past few weeks have been these random bodies that were found. ”

“It is how I said.”

“Well, now that I know you’re Wheein’s sister, I guess I know I can trust you.” Solar grins her wide smile knowing that her next statement will get to Byul. “Plus, it means you can’t avoid me. This works out really well for me.”

“Has Solar ever made you do something dumb like walk into Exo territory?” Moonbyul suddenly turns back to her sister with a face of concern.

“No, she does all that dumb stuff by herself.”

“Cool. I only have to watch out for one reckless individual.” Moonbyul makes a point to shoot Solar a smirk. Letting her know she didn’t win that round.

Solar glares at her in response. “Let’s just proceed.”

“I, of course, heard about these bodies, but I could never get any information on the remains. Have you noticed that no news outlet put out too much information on the cause of death? It’s because the police have kept the cases as secret as possible. You didn’t happen to see them up close did you?”

“Not before they char them. The remains that the police have found all look very similar in that they’ve all been charred. The gangs are clearly covering something up.”

“The bodies have been charred?!” Solar exclaimed shocked. “I can’t believe Hwasa kept that from me.”

“Who’s Hwasa?” Moonbyul asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Solar waved off the question. Wheein was glad Moonbyul was too distracted to see her blush. “So these gangs seem to be working together, but who’s calling the shots? It all seems, on the outside at least, like a smooth transition. Has one gang leader taken over them all or are they somehow all working together? They both don’t seem too plausible, do they?”

“I haven’t been able to figure that out either. It seems like the leaders have all disappeared. Clearly everyone’s following strict instruction, but as for whose giving them,” Moonbyul shrugged.

“It has to have something to do with that element they stole from the military, right?” Wheein asked.

“You guys know what they stole?” Moonbyul asked excited to hear new information.

If it were anyone else, Wheein would have glanced at Solar to make sure it was okay to reveal this information, but this time things were different. In a way she couldn’t even dream up. Her sister is some sort of superhero, and she and Solar are working on a case with her. “We have reason to believe that it’s some sort of experimental element.”

“Like, for a bomb?”

Wheein and Solar both shrugged. “The military is trying to keep it classified,” Solar explained.

“They failed with that somewhere,” Wheein muttered.

“What do you mean? We still don’t know what the element is,” Solar asked not following Wheein’s logic.

“Well I mean, you don’t think it was just a random raid that Exo pulled? They’re big and do some crazy things, but attacking the military is still insane. Even for them.”

“That’s true.” Moonbyul nodded along. “They had to know about the route and time too. They probably have an informant. Thing is, I don’t think it would be hard for them to get someone to speak cuz well, money talks.”

“There’s no way we can do it like that. We’re all pretty poor by their standards.” Wheein bluntly stated.

“That’s no problem.” Moonbyul and Solar said at the same time.

They both looked at each other with surprised expressions and Wheein laughed. This ought to be good.  She thought.

“Looks like we got ourselves a little competition.”

 “No, Wheein. We’re supposed to be working together on this.”

“Are you scared you’ll lose?” Solar challenged the silver haired woman with a goading grin.

When Moonbyul turned to look at the reporter and their eyes connected, Wheein suddenly felt tension. The kind of tension she wanted no part of. Suddenly, the vagueness of Solar’s answers about the mysterious vigilant that night made sense. She thought it was to protect the vigilante, but it turns out it was to protect herself.

“What’s there to be afraid of?” Moonbyul reciprocated, one side of mouth pulling up.

“I think you’ll find that, when it comes to me and my work, there’s plenty to be afraid of.” Solar tilted her chin up in a proud way.

Moonbyul had no doubt about that, but she liked this side of Solar. She was so confident and sure. It was alluring. She wanted to see more.

“Let’s just let the results do the talking.” Moonbyul couldn’t help it. Her eyes seemed to have a mind of their own. They dragged down to reporter’s lips.

 Only for a second, but the other woman noticed, and she herself glanced at Moonbyul’s in turn.

They met each other’s eyes again, hardly noticing the silent room that was left in the moment because there was now a pounding in their chests filling that void.

“Um, yeah. I’ll just talk to Hwasa to see if I can get anything out of her.” Wheein said interrupting them for her own sake.

There gazes tore apart, and both at once started moving so that they could quickly go their separate ways.

“Good, good. Sounds good,” Solar said as she stood up trying to gather the files that had turned out to be useless with shaky hands.

“Here. Let me help.” Moonbyul reached out to grab the same file Solar was reaching for so their hands brushed. They both pulled back fast when they felt an odd electricity run through the pair of them. It was enough to make Moonbyul worried.

“No, it’s okay I got it. There isn’t much.” Solar kept her head down glad that her hair could act as a veil to cover her face, which she was sure was red at this point.

They both felt it. There was a small, weird change between them that came so swiftly, seemingly out of nowhere. The air between them was different. Solar could only think that maybe it was because now they couldn’t possibly remain strangers to each other. Before Wheein, they could have kept a distant relationship if they chose too. Now, the distance between them was inevitably going to close. It was just happening quicker than expected.

“Oh, okay. I guess I should go then. I’ll get back to you guys later.” She turned towards the door and walked out.
Solar let out a breath of relief, but it back in when Moonbyul quickly came back inside.

“Wheein, I almost forgot.” She marched towards her sister and pulled her into a bear hug. “I missed you, you punk. My numbers the same as it’s always been, so call me later when you’re going to mom and dads.”

“Okay,” Wheein wheezed. “You’re killing me.”

“That’s how I felt never knowing how you were. It’s payback.”

“Alright, lay the guilt on me heavy. I deserve it.”

“Yes. You do.”

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