The surrounding was noisy, but as Jeongyeon stared at Jihyo, it seemed to be muted.

“When…When was it?”

“10 days ago. The guards found him lying on the floor, his breaths had stopped and he was clenching his own neck. He died in the afternoon.”

“COD?”

“Hypersensitivity.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I said the same to the ME when I first heard it.” Jihyo kicked a gravel away. “The lunch they sent to him had peanut butter in the soup.”

“Wait, wait…We know he’s allergic to peanut, he knew it himself…Didn’t anyone of us inform the prison? Didn’t he write it down in the file?”

“We did. And so did him.”

“What? Then how come…” Jeongyeon paused and her eyes widened.

“Taecyeon oppa and I have investigated. Remember I told you, Mark might not be his first victim?”

Jeongyeon nodded, a trace of concern flashed through her orbs. “Minwoo had a girlfriend, Jeon Hana. She was reported missing three years ago in July, and her body was found in the water tank of her apartment. Her face was damaged by chemicals.”

Different MO, same intention.

“We think he went back to her first when he had recovered…but she was terrified. Maybe her reaction triggered him, maybe she said harsh words, or maybe…he just blamed her for not able to take in his changes.”

--If Ryu Jaehee didn’t receive good helps, if she looked like me today, would you try to find out if she is really Yoo Jeongyeon? Would you be happy that she’s actually alive? Would you still love her like you used to and like you do now!?

“That girl’s father has a relative, a big guy…a transnational gang head, to be precise. He must have found out about the cell Minwoo was staying and paid the guard there to murder him.”

Jihyo pulled out a photo in her phone. “The warden claimed it was simply a mistake.”

A joker. Jeongyeon gazed at the poker that was in Minwoo’s hand in silence. Was it smirking because of what it had witnessed in that cell? Or it was smirking at them?

“We can keep digging, but I believe we’re all fully aware it wouldn’t work. This is far beyond our control.”

There is always a Satan who can make the demons shudder and the Satan cannot be restrained by laws. Every cop knew this, the agents knew it too.

“Perhaps it will never end…literally,” Jeongyeon turned to the carte, “But it is end to me. To us.”

Jihyo looked at her, she was telling what she thought. “We should all stop reading too much into it, huh? We got more than that in our lives.”

“That’s what I mean.”

“I’m glad you can think in this way.”

This is how I make myself focus on the present and…feel better.

“How’s Nayeon lately?”

“She’s…ok. Grabbing every chance to stand up when I’m not keeping an eye on her.”

“You’ve been through the similar condition, you should know how it feels and how she feels the most. It’s self-esteem."

Jihyo greeted the peddler and ordered two kinds of flavors of ice cream. “Take care of her like you always do but treat her as normal. Can you do that?”

“…I’ll try.”

More and more groups were gathering as they walked back. A ball rolled to Jihyo’s feet when she stepped on the picnic towel, at first she thought it was some kids playing soccer, but then she found out it was a volleyball.

“We’re looking for more people so we can have a group competition.”

A girl with ponytail told them when she came to get the ball. “Feel free to join us! We’ve got too many boys so girls are extremely welcome!”

The girls shared a glance, asking each other’s opinions, Jeongyeon simply shrugged, indicated the others could go if they wanted but she would stay. Sana finished her ice cream twice as fast and pulled her girlfriend’s cuff.

“Tzuyu, come on! Let’s go play!”

“You don’t even know the rules.”

“I’m a quick learner! I can learn while playing!”

“J-Jihyo unnie, save me…”

Soon after, the three of them had become part of the temporary team. Jeongyeon chuckled when seeing how hard Jihyo and Tzuyu tried to explain the situation to Sana.

“You don’t join them?” Nayeon’s question drew her attention. She frowned, a hidden “Why? What for?” could be heard.

“You should relax and have some fun.”

“I can’t be relaxed if I don’t stay with you.”

“It’s not far from here, I can…”

“No.”

As soon as Nayeon quieted down, Jihyo’s words earlier came to her mind. Jeongyeon glanced at Nayeon’s side profile, she wasn’t upset, which made Jeongyeon believe she was kind of used to her overprotection and her stern attitude on this. Jeongyeon felt guilty and she remembered Nayeon liked to watch volleyball back in college.

“Did I tell you there was once…three star players of my academy went to a club before the interscholastic competition and had a serious hangover the next day and could not even walk straight?”

Nayeon turned to her, shaking her head, a bit confused. “They had to find people to replace them, and guess what? I, Yoo Jeongyeon, was chosen.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah, I scored a total 15 that day. We didn’t win but suddenly, the whole volleyball team was asking if I’d like to join. Too bad that I declined.”

She gave Nayeon’s hand a light squeeze and stood up. “Let me show you how good I was.”

With that, Jeongyeon ran to the group on the court, waving her hand and asked to be part of them. Nayeon blinked, slowly comprehended what was going on, and smiled when Jeongyeon moved to the position of opposite.

The game was going smoothly, Jeongyeon teamed with Jihyo, Tzuyu, Sana and two boys, everyone scored, even Sana got 1 point by accidently sending the ball to their opponents, using her head. Nayeon chuckled heartily, her mood was lightened when Jeongyeon jumped up with joy as she performed another successful spike. She turned to her direction, grinning widely, asking if she did a great job.

“Rustle Rustle”

Nayeon turned to her left, a little boy was a few feet from her, toddling while looking around with his big and round eyes. His parents were not with him, but that didn’t become a concern to Nayeon. She beamed and gestured the kid, inviting him to go over.

“Hello, cutie.”

Her heart fluttered when the kid started to toddle to her with small laughter, but then she was alarmed when he tripped, the distance between was not close enough for her to reach out her arm and catch him. He was crying on the turf out of startle and again, Nayeon couldn’t check on him or help him up right away. “Hey, don’t cry, I’m coming…” She pressed her hands on the picnic towel, trying to move forward as far as possible.

“Junnie!”

A woman rushed into her sight and squatted beside the boy. “I told you to stay beside me! Why didn’t you behave?”

Just when Nayeon relieved as the mom was here and a man looked like the dad also rushed over, the woman shot her a glare.

“Don't you do anything? He fell and cried in front of you and you just sit there watching?”

“I…”

“He was running because you called him! Who wouldn’t even stand…”

“Honey, stop.”

The man grabbed his wife’s arm when spotting the wheelchair leaning against the tree. The woman saw it as well, her face heated up in realization. She picked up her son and walked away, leaving her dumbfounded husband.

“I’m sorry.” He murmured an apology. “She didn’t mean it.”

“…It’s ok.”

The first set of the game was over and two teams were switching sides. Jeongyeon gave Nayeon a questioning look, clearly she had seen the people near her and talked to her, but she didn’t know what happened. She doesn’t have to know. Nayeon simply smiled and shook her head, the second set started at the same time so Jeongyeon did not bother to probe.

Cheers could be heard even from where Nayeon was staying, Jeongyeon scored again, but it failed to delight her this time. Her palm placed on her knee, following by a sharp wring. There was no pain, she only felt pins and needles, which was a state that hadn’t improved for more than two months. The tiny stings on her lower back reminded her this morning, Nayeon hesitated, but that was not powerful enough to stop her. She moved with much difficulties to the tree and held onto the trunk.

“Whoa! Nice block!”

Jeongyeon high-fived with the boys and was about to do it with Jihyo, Tzuyu seized her wrist.

“Where is Nayeon unnie?”

Jeongyeon snapped back abruptly, the picnic towel couple yards from them had everything on it—their bags, the basket which had food and drinks, but Nayeon was nowhere to be seen. She got panic and began to jog back, and an outline was appearing from behind the tree.

“Nayeon?”

It was half of her outline to be precise, Jeongyeon couldn’t catch a clear sight of her, but apparently Nayeon was on her feet attempting to get rid of the aide of the trunk. Even Jeongyeon could tell it was too much for her. She gasped and shivered when Nayeon’s body lurched.

“Watch out!!”

She sprinted as fast as she could, but still not fast enough to prevent her from falling. Nayeon was already prostrating on the turf when Jeongyeon jumped to her side.

“Are you alright!?”

The moment she held Nayeon in her arms, she sensed the trembles in her torso.

“Hurt…back…”

“W-What?”

Jeongyeon touched her cheek, it was wet—she was covering in cold sweat.

“It…h-hurts…”

There was no time to think. Jeongyeon carried Nayeon up and yelled to the others who merely arrived.

“Call the ambulance!!”

“Everything’s fine, the doctor had stabilized her.”

Jihyo assured the couple and the small girl that were waiting on the corridor. “She’s asleep now.”

“So Nayeon unnie…she’s not…it won’t endanger her life, right?”

“No, no, of course not. But…” Jihyo swallowed. “…some of her old injuries have relapsed.”

Silence engulfed, the burdens on their chests were not eased at all.

“How is Jeongyeon doing?”

“She’s…ok. Or maybe not. I didn’t talk much to her, I assumed she doesn’t want to be bother so I just left them alone.”

Chaeyoung nodded and frowned. “How did this even happen?”

“Doctor said her muscle tissues were slowly rehabilitating but…”

“Was it caused by her sudden movements? Why would she suddenly stand up by the tree then?” Chaeyoung asked once more, hoping one of them could answer about why their meetup changed from carnival to hospital.

“I wish I knew.”

They stayed outside the ward, talking occasionally for couple hours, until Jeongyeon came out and urged them to go home.

“We’ll be back before night.”

“You don’t have to…”

“Nah.” Sana raised a finger. “Don’t argue with me. And you’d better swallow the dinner I bring to you by the time we are here.”

Jeongyeon didn’t return to the ward right after they left. There was a bathroom in the ward, but she couldn’t and didn’t want to go there. She entered the staff room at the end of the corridor and locked herself inside. Once making sure she was alone, she sat on the toilet lid and buried her face in her palms, barely in time to cover the tears that streamed down like waterfall.

I just wanted her to be happy. I couldn’t possibly know what would happen. I had no choice but jumped out from that five-meter-high driveway, we wouldn’t have been here if I had not jump…

Jeongyeon bit her lip, fists clenched tightly as the thoughts were rending her. Her tears didn’t stop even if she craved to. No one came to knock on the door, like this restroom was meant to be the burrow she could cry her heart out that day.

She was hurt worse because of the collision when we hit the ground.

It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t.

Evening came, the sun set the horizon, and the temperature dropped. Another layer of warmth was put on her, made her want to fall into slumber again, but somehow she forced her eyes open, knowing she should wake up. Jeongyeon heard the movements and when she lifted up her head, Nayeon was looking at her, eyes glittering.

“Hey.” Jeongyeon greeted, finding her hand on the sheet and gripped. “Did you sleep well?”

“What time is it?”

“A quarter past 6.”

“I slept through the a-afternoon? Where are the others?”

“I asked them to go home. They’ll be back in a couple hours, I’ll give them a call later and let them know you’re awake.”

“…Can we go home too?”

“Doctor said it’s better for you to stay here for a night.” Jeongyeon laced their fingers. “You need to do some examinations tomorrow.”

“…Ok.”

Jeongyeon grabbed the remote controller hanging beside the gurney and adjusted the head area so Nayeon could talk to her at the same eye level.

“I can sit up...”

“No, you need to rest your muscles. Besides, we’re gonna talk for a while.”

Nayeon gulped, mentally preparing to be lectured or questioned.

“I was checking some places we can go…not only domestic. Gwangju and Gangwondo look nice, and I prefer Japan and Taiwan for overseas. We don’t have to spend too much time on the plane.”

Jeongyeon smiled to Nayeon’s confused eyes. “What do you think?”

“Sounds…good…but why?”

“Well…”Jeongyeon said sheepishly, “I’m thinking it would be good for us to go out or go abroad sometimes, not me locking you up in that small apartment every day.”

“You’re not afraid if…” Nayeon’s orbs dimmed. “You really think so?”

“Of course! I mean…Jihyo had scolded me for this, but it’s not simply because I don’t want her to scold me again, I know you will like to go outdoors and…”

“I don’t know that now.”

Jeongyeon recoiled. Nayeon’s reaction was unexpected. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“I know what this could mean.” Nayeon’s sight drifted down to her legs. “I know my condition. Those sensations that I finally could feel…they are gone again. I don’t even have to hear from the doctors, it is too obvious.”

“And just this morning you were telling me you have faith in yourself.”

Nayeon felt Jeongyeon move to sit on the bed. “I haven’t finished earlier. We’ll go some of those places soon, but the others…I’m planning to go once you recover. I don’t think I’m planning for nothing.”

Seeing Nayeon was not responding to her words, Jeongyeon continued. “You’ve been overworking yourself…and I don’t blame you, nobody blames you. I shouldn’t have made our home and the rehabilitation center the only two places you live, I shouldn’t have forbidden every physical therapist just because those two you had were…yeah…” That was an unpleasant memory, they remembered clearly how the first was like a worrier from Sparta and rebuked Nayeon whenever she failed to do what he said or pleaded to rest, and how the second always stared at her like she was a piece of meat on the plate. Jeongyeon almost killed them with her bare hands. “I was too naïve and too stubborn to think I can help you to rehab only by myself…and I’m sorry. Let’s find another good therapist, someone with a full wall of certificates and merits, I’m sure everything will go well! We can practice on weekdays and go wherever you want on weekends…Are you listening, bunny?”

Nayeon slowly lifted up her head, her vision remained downward. “H-How did you get over it?”

“Huh?”

You’ve been through the similar condition, you should know how it feels and how she feels the most.

“I…I’m not gonna lie, it wasn’t easy at all.” Jeongyeon rubbed the back of her hand. “I had no idea if I could make it. But one thing I was certain was I have to make it.”

“Why…?”

“Self-esteem of course, I want to live like myself, but the main reason…” Jeongyeon’s voice could not be softer. “You know that, don’t you?”

Nayeon was still not looking at her, but she teared up.

“I might not dare to come back to you at that time, but I never wanted to leave you all alone. I thought of acting to be Jihyo’s colleague and visited you with her sometimes, I even thought of taking a part-time job as a guard or a janitor in that mansion so I could see you from time to time, though in the end I simply acted like a creep and followed you…” She trailed off with slight embarrassment. “All of these were because I wanted to be that person you could rely on and keep you away from harms even from afar, even without your notice. Just like we used to and how I always want to.”

Jeongyeon cupped Nayeon’s cheek, catching the drops of tears. “So now I believe you can do it as well. You will do it for me, right?”

“What if…” Nayeon leaned into Jeongyeon’s palm. “What if I cannot…” She gulped down her tears, those words were still not able to come out.

“Even if that happened,” Jeongyeon whispered the promise to her ear. “You know I’m here, not going anywhere. We’ll face it together.”

For the next 30 minutes, Jeongyeon just held Nayeon in her embrace, letting her sob in her chest while planting countless kisses on her forehead. The heartbeats were steady, the scents were soothing, the company was everlasting.

“She will kill us if we barge in right now.”

Outside the ward, Sana wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, Tzuyu threw an arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer.

“You will make them laugh if they see you cry like a baby.”

“I’m not a baby!”

Tzuyu dodged Sana’s punch and her arm tightened around her. She looked at the couple inside, they might had lost a lot, but they had each other, the most precious wasn’t taken away.

You will never be alone. Tzuyu whispered to herself.

Another month passed. And another.

And another.

“Come on, Nayeon, you can do this.”

Jeongyeon stood at the other side of the parallel bars, her upper body lurched to the struggling person five feet from her. “You can do this, one more step…”

Nayeon clutched the bars, she was standing—more likely on her hands, her legs were just placed on the floor and could use little strength, most