‘How did you even manage to lock the door? You were around the counter the whole time…’

‘It’s an electric system’

‘Isn’t that dangerous?’

‘Because…’

‘Emergency exits- you could be stuck inside if you couldn’t get to the counter to deactivate it or something’

‘Hmm, yeah, I guess’

Taeyeon shook her head. ‘You should get it sorted out, get something else or another switch’

The other girl remained impassive ‘Yeah, maybe I should’

‘Safety’s important, y’ know’

‘I’ll keep it in mind next time a hobo walks into my store, sleeps in and then hits me in the nose’

Taeyeon sighed. She had been secretly glad at the way their conversation had turned out. No yelling, insults, and the other girl had seemed, well, kind of interested in what she was saying. She agreed on the whole electric-system-safety-failure-thing with her. Maybe electronics would have softened her heart so much that the cashier girl would have felt compelled to let her go, maybe with a complementary packet of ramen before the-

‘The police are here’

.

The red and blue lights could be seen from within the store. Thankfully, the sirens weren’t on or else she might have had an unwanted audience composed of pretty much the whole neighbourhood. Angry housewives, curious grandmas and bleary-eyed children. Not exactly the audience she always hoped to stand in front of.

Two black shadows got out of the car. The flashing lights illuminated them briefly and she felt her heart-beat quicken. As they quickly stepped into the streetlights, she peered at the tallest one. There was something about the way he walked and his mannerisms that seemed familiar.

Eventually they reached the store. The caps still covered their faces and due to the cold temperatures, they were also wearing dark balaclavas. They tapped  the glass door.

‘Go on, then’

Taeyeon look at the cashier girl, bewildered.

‘Don’t look at me like that, go on and open the door for them. It’s cold outside’

She got up wearily and dragged her feet as she went to open the door. She was not looking forward to this. At all.

She tried the handle.

‘It’s closed’ she mumbled.

‘Switch’s that green button on the right. Safety precautions and all.’

Taeyeon turned around sharply and saw the other girl smirking, giving her a sarcastic lop-sided grin.

‘You didn’t think I’d be that dumb, right? Having an inoperable door and all…’

‘Yeah, maybe, I dunno’ she mumbled. She was past the point of caring. She reached for the green button, pressed it and immediately a small click could be heard. Mustering the little strength she had left, she opened the door, stepping to one side as the police came in.

‘Miss Ti-ppa-ni’ one of them said as they scrutinized her name tag.

‘It’s Ti-ffa-ny, Mr Officer, but that’s okay!’ the cashier girl said with a sickly sweet tone as she flashed them an eye-smile.

Taeyeon nearly gagged.

‘Sorry.  So…’ the one that had spoken before looked around ‘…where is this person that-‘

‘Oh right in front of you, officer’

‘Right in front of me?’ He pulled of his cap and balaclava and for the first time Taeyeon was able to see his face. He looked pretty ordinary, just your average middle aged policeman who was clearly getting too old for night patrols and as the red eyes showed, would rather be at home, falling asleep while watching some boring martial arts movie.

‘TAEYEON???’

Oh .

‘Taeyeon, what- WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!’

The other cop, the one she thought had looked familiar, had also taken his cap and balaclava off and was now looking at her with his eyes wide-open.

‘Oh, hey’ Taeyeon gulped. The night was getting better by the minute.

‘What are you doing here? You should be home by now!’

‘Yeah, sorry, oppa, I can explain’

‘OPPA?!’

This time it was Tiffany that was doing the yelling. Although for some reason her voice seemed to penetrate Taeyeon’s eardrums.

‘Oh god, I’m so sorry, Miss Tiffany, allow me to apologize on her behalf-‘

‘Jiwoong, you know this troublemaker?’ the older cop quizzed.

‘Erm, yeah’ he seemed hesitant to answer. Oh way to go, Taeyeon thought, now I’ve managed to bring someone else down with me.

‘Well?’ the other cop pressed on. Tiffany too, stood expectantly, right eyebrow raised and arms crossed.

‘Erm, yeah, so, erm, this is my little sister’ Jiwoong muttered.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch that, Jiwoong’

‘My little sister boss. Well, one of them anyways’

‘YOUR SISTER?’

God, Tiffany should learn how to control that foghorn of hers, Taeyeon thought.

Jiwoong just nodded, too intimidated by the yelling girl standing behind the counter.

‘But oppa, I wasn’t drunk, I just missed the bus and thought I’d wait insid-‘

Her brother held his hand up. Taeyeon knew better than to keep speaking. She fixed her glance on the floor. She was getting quite sick of the white tiles too.

‘Well, we have the equipment here ready anyways, Miss’ the policeman looked around and saw the blood on the floor. He looked up alarmed at Tiffany and noticed the wad of used tissues spread on the counter ‘Miss, are you okay, did something happen?’

The cashier girl opened and then paused. She drew in a long breath.

‘No, officer, just a regular nosebleed. It’s quite hot in here, it happens quite often these days’

‘Are you sure, Miss?’ he was eyeing Taeyeon suspiciously.

‘Absolutely’ the girl flashed him another eyesmile ‘In fact, since it appears that this girl right here is actually the sister of a police officer, I don’t think we need to take this any further’

Another eyesmile.

 ‘You see officer, I was just really scared at first at the thought of having a stranger in the shop and she appeared drunk and even high’ the cashier girl whispered at the last point, no doubt for dramatic effect. Taeyeon just rolled her eyes.

Tiffany continued, her voice adopting that sweetly sick tone again ‘but she’s sort of been identified and well, her family is here. That’s exactly what would have happened anyways and so’ Tiffany took another long breath ‘I don’t think there’s any need to take her back to the police office or anything’ she finished quickly.

‘EXCUSE ME?’ Taeyeon blurted. Her brother quickly shushed her.

‘Well, she has to be taken in anyways for the tests but, erm, we’ll keep your thoughts in mind. Are you not pressing charges? No declaration?’ the policeman asked.

‘Nope, I just wanted her safely out of the shop’

‘Boss, I’ll handle her anyways’ Jiwoong spoke up.

‘Oh god’ she sighed.

‘Shut up, Taeyeon.’ He grabbed her roughly by the shoulder ‘Let’s go’ He pushed her outside the shop.

As she was been frog-marched, by her own brother no less, she looked back at the girl that had been the source of all her problems.

Tiffany did not even glance at her as Taeyeon was led outside the shop. On the contrary, she merely opened the old leather bound book by her page-marker and continued reading, unfazed by the flashing lights outside her shop.

, Taeyeon thought to herself.

But then, why did she lie about the nosebleed?

The answer came to her, like a bolt of lightning.

Because she ing practically told them I was high!

, indeed.