It’s almost midnight when Inhye puts down the law book. Getting assigned this case was a horrible idea, she regrets it so much. Meeting Lee Taeyong feels like a mistake; they weren’t supposed to meet. They were going on two completely different paths of life - the two of them meeting won’t help neither.

With a loud sigh, Inhye gets out of bed to get herself a glass water. This is draining; even though she’s used to lying - this is on a whole other level. It’s illegal. She tries to push that fact away but how can she when she knows it’s true? Everybody will know; you don’t have to attend law school to know that what she’s doing is illegal.

But she isn’t the only one acting like a criminal. She puts down the glass and tip toes to her brother’s room. She sees a small strip of light peeking out of the slit of the door. She knocks carefully and then enters. Her brother is sitting at his desk, his back facing her.

”Inseongie,” she begins and sits on the edge of his bed. ”Are you still awake?”

”Yeah, I’m studying,” he answers without turning his gaze away from his textbook. ”What about you?”

”Can’t sleep,” she sighs and lays down in his bed, looking up in the ceiling. ”I can’t stop thinking about what we’re doing; why we have to do it.”

Inseong doesn’t answer, so Inhye continues her speech. ”How do you know about Lee Taeyong?”

Inseong stops writing his notes, bites his lip as he adjusts his glasses; considering whether to answer or not. Finally, he takes a deep breath before opening his mouth. ”He’s the same age as me, so the people he bothered are all my age and therefore my friends. I know how much of a horrible human he is.”

”That’s not the complete truth, isn’t it?” Inhye is quick to catch how his gaze wavered slightly as he spoke.

Inseong smiles, a somewhat sad smile that makes Inhye extremely curious. He speaks once again. ”Well, sooner or later you will find out the whole story. You won’t need it now.”

”You’re giving me a hard time,” Inhye groans. ”Right now, I could’ve been somewhere with Hyejeong doing-”

”Doing what when you’re completely broke?”

He has a point. Inhye has no defence for that statement; she knows she’s broke. With a loud sigh; she gets up from the bed. ”Good night, don’t stay up too long.”

”Same goes for you.”

Inhye leaves the room, and as she closes the door; a strange feeling fills her. For 18 years the two of them have been inseparable, and now suddenly she feels so distant to him. It felt like this is a complete other Inseong than the Inseong she has known for her whole life. Just how many secrets did her brother have?

•  •  •

Taeyong and Inhye had agreed to meet the next day; Inhye is still a little surprised by the fact that Taeyong had just accepted it. Like, she’s sure she would’ve changed her lawyer if the inquiry of meeting him outside of work came up. Maybe he was lonely, she had thought as she tried to choose what she was supposed to wear. Formal or casual? she asked herself in her mind as she took turns in raising her hands; holding two different outfits. 

In the end she throws away the formal outfit onto her bed. Why would she wear that; making the atmosphere between them even more tense than it already was? In the end, jeans and a nice, knitted sweater will do.

•  •  •

To Inhye’s great surprise, she sees Taeyong outside of their usual cafe; comfortably dressed as well. She wonders if it took as much time for him to choose as it took for her. Though, when Inhye thinks about it; he wasn’t that formally dressed the other two times they had met.

”So,” Taeyong beings their conversation. ”How did you plan this bonding thing to work out?

Inhye can’t stop a glare. ”Don’t be a pessimist, we’re supposed to get to know each other.” She hasn’t spoken a lot with Taeyong, but she feels like every time he opens his mouth it is to spit a mean comment of some sort. 

Taeyong shrugs. ”I don’t really care, to be honest.” 

”Good, then lets go in and get our drinks and then start going,” Inhye finally says and walks past him to get to the entrance. For half a second, she doubted if Taeyong was going to follow her or not. He actually did, to her relief. 

At this hour of the day, the cafe is kind of empty. Only a studying student and a couple is there at the moment. 

”Okay,” Inhye speaks and gets Taeyong’s attention away from the big list of things they can choose from. ”Choose something from your heart, not the tea.”

”I like tea?” Taeyong frowns, almost looking offended. 

”Yeah, but you don’t look like you’re crazy about it,” Inhye is the first to take her order. ”Take away hot chocolate, please.”

She gets out the money and when the cashier takes them, Taeyong speaks. ”Hot chocolate? What are you? Five?”

”Pfft,” Inhye answers and puts the change into her wallet, receiving her order. She’s confident that he will take something just as childish. After all, he is still a boy. Boys mature much later than girls. 

And she’s right. When the cashier gives Taeyong the ‘hurry up I ain’t got the whole day’ look, Taeyong carefully speaks.

”Um... A strawberry smoothie? With white chocolate topping? Please?”

Inhye holds back a giggle. When the girl behind the counter runs away to make his order, Taeyong speaks; jaws clenched. ”Not a word.”

•  •  •

Inhye has no idea why Inseong wanted her to get close to Taeyong; if it’s for her own good or his. He had told her to keep him in check, not let him do anything. What can that ‘anything’ be? Commit another murderer? Or get another lawyer? 

”Do you like shopping?” Taeyong suddenly asks as Inhye checks some of the clothes outside of a shop; on his straw to the almost empty smoothie.

She shrugs as an answer. ”I kind of enjoy window shopping, but I’m not that fond of spending money on clothes. And it’s a pain in the to actually test the clothes.”

”Thank God,” Taeyong mumbles under his breath and Inhye frowns.

”Why do you ask?” she starts getting defensive again; she gets the feeling that he’s about to somehow offend her again and it makes her irritated. She doesn’t want to fight with him, but neither is she seeking for friendship between them. Honestly; she doesn’t know what she wants.

Taeyong scratches the back of his head. ”I have this friend in Busan who took me out shopping, it took around 6 hours and I was slightly traumatised and ... Why am I telling you this? Why did you ask?”

”You started it,” Inhye holds down a smile. He’s so innocent. She over-reacted for nothing.

Out of nowhere, a little gossiping from different directions reach Inhye’s ears and she’s taken aback.

”Isn’t that the high school murderer?” ”Yeah, he was a total bully as well...” ”I heard people committed suicide because of him?” ”God, how can they put someone like him on free feet like this?”

Inhye glances up at Taeyong, notices him looking elsewhere, still with the straw between his lips. Even if he’s trying to look unbothered, Inhye can see the tint of sadness in his eyes. He looks stiff, as if he’s trying to come off as confident. There’s no doubt that he heard it too. 

”Are you okay?” Inhye asks without knowing the words went past her lips. It was something natural to ask, she didn’t even think about it.

Taeyong shrugs. ”I guess. I mean, I expected this; our country is pea-sized, things goes around quickly. It has always been like this.”

There; another raw look on his face. When he speaks like that, Inhye can’t do else than see a small boy in front of her. Even though he is two years older than her; she feels the need to somehow protect him. She doesn’t know why, since her purpose is to lock him in again.

Inhye grabs his arm, walks away with him enough until they’re at a less crowded place. That’s when she lets loose of his arm. The only things on the streets are those small shops that tries to sell either bags, small accessories or street food.

Both Taeyong and Inhye had finished their drinks, so they throw the mugs into the closest bin before they walk up to a lady selling tteokboki; spicy rice cakes. 

”Wanna’ taste?” the lady asks, gives them two small sticks so that they can try a bite.

The taste is overwhelming; just the perfect amount of spiciness. Inhye actually has to bite down a moan from slipping her lips by the superb taste.

”It’s wonderful!” she says with full. She glances at Taeyong, who looks equally mesmerised by the almost shockingly good flavour. ”I take two sticks, thanks.”

Inhye is almost surprised by her actions; she’s not used to being able to spend money like this. Knowing that it’s Inseong’s money also makes her feel a little bad, but at the same time she really wanted to give Taeyong that one stick of food. After the incident earlier, her heart aches and she hates it.

”I didn’t ask you to buy me anything,” Taeyong speaks when they walk away from the tent; blowing on the rice cakes to cool them down a little.

”Oh please, your eyes begged me to buy it for you,” Inhye grins. ”Eat up, you’re super skinny.”

”Sorry, but you’re half the size of me,” Taeyong gives a very slight pout, glancing at Inhye.

”We’re exactly the same; and you’re a good centimetres taller than me.”

Taeyong gives up with a sigh, biting down onto the rice cake. Inhye has to wait a little more; because of her extreme sensitivity of too hot food. Taeyong actually grunts softly by the taste. ”It’s so good. It may be the best tteokboki I’ve ever eaten? To think that such great tteokboki is hidden in a street food shop.”

Inhye smiles, finally biting down in the food. ”Some stars shine less than others; but not because they’re not good enough, sometimes even better. Simply because among all those stars, that one isn’t special. Outshined, literally.”

Taeyong once again glances at her, then he snorts. ”Don’t lecture me.”

•  •  •

”I’m home!” Inhye informs as she closes the door to the house. Their lovely house dog is quick to meet her, gently wagging his tail at her.

”Welcome back,” Inseong greets her in the stairs as usual. ”How was it? You don’t look as devastated as the other times.”

Inhye almost smiles. Again; only almost. ”It was good, fun, actually,” she receives a kiss from their dog right onto her face. ”I don’t see why I have to keep an eye on him. He seems harmless; I’m even doubting if he’s really a murder or-”

”You do know that he called the firm, right?” Inseong interrupts her abruptly.

Inhye stops playing with the dog to look up at Inseong. His earlier relaxed face looks stiff, strong and almost scary. 

”He did what?” Inhye asks, but it’s more like a whisper.

”He called to check up on you,” Inseong shrugs. ”It was by pure luck that someone who knew about you answered, or else you’d be in an investigation by now.”

The last sentence had Inhye’s breath caught in . She almost got caught. Panic arises within her, she’s doing her best to not show it to her brother. Her next sentence actually comes out as a whisper; as if she’s afraid someone would be listening. ”Then what should I do?”

Inseong shrugs again, turns around as if he’s going back up the stairs. But not before he had said everything he wanted to say. ”I told you; make sure that he’s never out of sight,” he turns around, gives Inhye an incredibly strong gaze that almost had her knocked out. ”If he’s not getting put behind bars; it’s you.”

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