CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Wings

It was raining heavily outside. On such nights, Shikshin had very few customers. Taeyeon let the two other servers go home early since she could easily handle the whole restaurant at low capacity.

She was clearing a table when she saw a customer enter from her peripheral vision. "Welcome to Shikshin!"

The man was drenched to the bone, his beige coat soaked and his hair matted. He looked vaguely familiar. The man made no effort to find himself a seat, so Taeyeon approached him carefully. "Are you Detective Kang?"

The detective nodded. She could smell the alcohol and rain on him. Then his face twisted in misery and he dropped to his knees. Alarmed, Taeyeon bent to his level and tugged his arm. "What are you doing?"

"Taeyeon-ssi, please forgive me."

Taeyeon looked around. The few other diners were staring. "Detective Kang, please stand up... You're scaring my customers."

He nodded and stood up shakily. "I apologize... I shouldn't be here making a scene."

Taeyeon gestured to a table. She wasn't sure why he was here, let alone what he was talking about. "Would you like something hot to drink?"

"Ah... no, thank you." Detective Kang backed up a few steps. "I must be crazy coming here and causing a scene. I'm very sorry for the trouble."

"It's okay," Taeyeon said.

He bowed at her and left the restaurant, returning to the downpour. Taeyeon watched him disappear into the night, and then got a few rags to wipe the rainwater that the detective had trailed in.

A few days later, Jessica took home the day's newspaper from Seorim. Old Man Lee had brought something to her attention. Taeyeon was surprised to come home from Shikshin to see Jessica waiting up for her. Jessica showed the newspaper to Taeyeon, pointing at the front page headlines: 'Police Officer Shoots Gang Leader, Commits Suicide'. 

Yesterday in Apgujeong, Detective Kang shot Kim Jiwon three times in broad daylight. Then he put his gun to his own head and pulled the trigger. The journalist reported that, as a result, there was an uproar between Goldmoon and the Seoul Police Agency, since Kim Jiwon was the Goldmoon's second-in-command and it was unofficial public knowledge that some of the Agency had dealings with Goldmoon. The public shooting itself was unprecendented. Detective Kang was reportedly a sane, upstanding officer who had served four years walking the beat before being promoted to detective one year ago. Luckily, no bystanders were injured. The police commissioner offered a public apology for the transgressions of one of his subordinates.

Taeyeon put down the newspaper. "Detective Kang came to Shikshin a few nights ago. He apologized to me for some reason before leaving. I didn't realize there was something so seriously wrong. I even forgot about it... I should have talked to him more."

Jessica looked like she was deciding whether or not to say something.

"What is it?" Taeyeon asked.

"He was probably..." Jessica trailed off. She blinked and looked directly at Taeyeon. "There was nothing you could've done. Don't be feeling guilty about this. This must be some personal vendetta of his. He probably visited various people from his old cases to obtain some sort of conclusion for himself."

"Hm."

"How do you feel about Kim Jiwon dying, though?"

"Ah... relieved, I suppose." It was really the only feeling that she had at the moment. Taeyeon wasn't sure if she was supposed to be more happy about this. "How about you?"

"I think he died too easily," Jessica said. "But I suppose the end result is the same."

...Two years later...

It was Taeyeon's first time flying. While it was amazing to be sitting in a machine in the sky, it was uncomfortable. The seats were cramped and the food was bland. Hayeon wasn't missing out on much. The free-flow movies were awesome, but Sooyoung had been sleeping on her shoulder for the past half a film instead of leaning to the left on her Kyung-honey.

They were on the plane to Los Angeles. Jessica was re-challenging for World Number One. A lot had happened, but she had plowed through all the trials thrown in her way. Now, she was finally going to take centerstage again. Taeyeon was proud of her.

Yuri and Sunny were in the row before theirs. After Jessica's match, they were going to get legally married. The wedding was the real reason why everyone else was going to America. Yoona, Yuri's best woman, was seated across the aisle with her boyfriend. Up front, Hyoyeon was nursing her baby; she was going to be Sunny's maid of honor. Next to her was her dancing instructor husband, whom she had dated for six years before they pulled off a shotgun marriage. After the match and the wedding, they were going to linger in LA and explore the West Coast dance scene.

Seohyun would be flying down from North California, where she was pursuing a doctorate, to attend the wedding. Taeyeon and Seohyun were going to be Sunny and Yuri's bridesmaids.

Whether or not Jessica won, the Taeyeon would rent a car with her and make a road trip to the East Coast. They'd definitely pass through Cambridge to visit Krystal at MIT. It was going to be a long trip. If Jessica lost, Taeyeon reckoned that she would be doing most of the driving. While Jessica was obsessively preparing for her match, Taeyeon had researched all the landmarks to visit. She most wanted to see the Grand Canyon, the Niagara Falls and the Met Museum. Taeyeon had spent one million won on her first DSLR so that she would be able to take some real photographs instead of those filtered things she snapped with her smartphone for Instagram.

Taeyeon had other goals too. She was going to show off her girlfriend. Since this was the liberal United States, they were going to make out in public everywhere. Jessica wanted to bring Taeyeon to a beach, saying, "it'll be full of the kind of Americans who can't read Hangul".

Taeyeon had enough of her cramping shoulder. She pushed Sooyoung's head away and tipped her onto Kyungho, who grinned sheepishly. Taeyeon unbuckled her seat belt and climbed over Jessica. She had the urge to run up and down the aisles, but she was supposed to be a mature twenty-five year old. Even Hayeon was of age now. So instead, Taeyeon just walked, glancing at the movies and TV shows that other passengers were watching. Most people were sleeping; they had dinner hours ago and the corridors were dimmed.

Jessica was awake when she got back. There were drinks on Jessica's tray, so Taeyeon just clambered over Jessica again to get to her seat.

"Feeling uncomfortable?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah."

Jessica handed her a plastic cup with clear liquid. She opened a can of coke and poured some in. "Drink that."

Ugh. It was vodka. Taeyeon spazzed at first taste but downed the whole thing obediently. She felt warm. "Thanks, I feel better."

"We're not done yet." Jessica gave her a stick of gum before popping one into her own mouth.

"Ooh I see..." Taeyeon chewed furiously, working the gum through every part of . It was funny how being on a plane changed their willingness to make out with each other. It was a lot of effort for just a short kiss, but they were only going to taste each other if both their mouths were mutually acceptable.

Taeyeon raised the arm rest between them and grinned at Jessica, who was chewing quickly too. Jessica looked at her with a gaze that anyone else might consider dismissive, but to Taeyeon, she could see that Jessica was also amused by their elaborate preparation. 

Buzzed from the liquor, Taeyeon leaned back and thought about everything she had to do in America: figure out how to hook up to the free airport Wi-Fi to video call Hayeon upon arrival, meet the usual manhwa deadlines even while on vacation half a world away, and settle the road trip logistics. If they were stressing her out before, they weren't now. Right now, Taeyeon just chewed her gum, sitting in the dark cabin three hours away from LA, waiting to kiss Jessica, and she kept on chewing.

A/N: Thank you for reading Night City and for the comments/upvotes/subscriptions. I was worried that this story wouldn't entertain anybody, but I'm glad that even though I made a lot of mistakes, some of you still gave this a chance=X

Thanks for all the comments, especially those from repeat commenters:) At first I replied to comments individually, and then I didn't because I wasn't sure if I should... so I hope that the chapters and A/N's were good enough replies haha. After the feedback from each chapter, I'd change pacing, rewrite and add a lot of stuff for the next chapter and so on, so the fic is less crappy because of you guys.

Let me know what you thought of this story, positive or negative! And thanks again:)

(Sorry if all this thanking is excessive for a crappy fic... I'm just happy that people read stuff I wrote^^)