Chapter 5

 

Jessica ran away from the warehouse, until she ran out of breath. She collapsed to the ground, panting hard. She heard a voice coming from the back of her head.

 

“You shouldn’t run away like this!”

 

Then another voice barked in retaliation.

 

“No, what you did was correct. She’s a murderer, she will kill you one day!”

 

“She saved you from those men! If she wanted to kill you, she would have done it in the beginning!”

 

“This girl is a witch! Don’t trust her!”

 

“Jessica! You are a doctor! You cannot watch her die!”

 

“Screw this! She’s a murderer, you shouldn’t help her!”

 

“Stop!” Jessica yelled. The dark empty streets reflected an echo.

 

The last time she saw the latter, she remembered her letting a pained cry, clutching her wounded shoulder. She wanted to know how Yuri was doing. Is she doing okay? Someone would have to change her bandages from time to time. Will she manage this? Why is she even thinking about this murderer?

 

“Jessica, you are a doctor. It’s only right for you to care for a patient’s needs.” Jessica thought.

 

“Krystal must be worried dead about you, go home, shower, and sleep. Don’t think about this anymore.” But the more she thought about Yuri, the more intrigued she became. The voice at the back of her head started to disappear and soon, there was only one voice in her head now.

 

“Jessica, you have to go back. She needs you now.”

 

Screw her doctor’s instinct. Jessica picked up her pace and ran back to where she came from.

 

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When Jessica got back to the warehouse, she saw a panting Yuri clutching her wound in pain. She rushed to the girl and bit her lip, but there was no turning back. After all, she was a doctor.

 

“Let me take a look.”

 

She took off the bandage and looked at the wound. Turned out, the nasty wound opened itself again. She wiped with some alcoholic cotton wool and Yuri let out a gasp. Jessica replaced the bandages with new ones.

 

“We will have to change your bandages a few days later.”

 

“Thank you. And I am sorry.”

 

“Just rest.”

 

Jessica took the bloodied cotton wool and bandages to the trash can near by. When she lifted her head after she dumped the trash, she swore she saw a dark shadow passed by, but it gone in a split second.

 

She went back to Yuri, and she the view on the window went dark, meaning that it was nighttime now.

 

“I am sorry.” Jessica said, “I shouldn’t have ran away like this.”

 

Yuri lifted her head to look at the girl.

 

“No. You have every right to run away.” Yuri said sadly, “I am a murderer.”

 

“Maybe, you didn’t have a choice.”

 

Yuri looked at her. She could not remember why she was with those people, but the fact was, she was one of them. That means she murdered people in her past.

 

“I don’t know…”

 

They stared at each other for a moment, looking into each other’s eyes. It was then; Jessica noticed how dark Yuri’s eyes looked. It was like a dark abyss without an end: so dangerous yet alluring at the same time, and she was falling deeper and deeper into those eyes as each second passed on.

 

She saw the good in the girl through these pair of eyes. She saw the guilt she felt about her past, about the people she had murdered. This girl was never made to be a murderer; she probably did it for survival purposes.

 

Yuri stared at those eyes with an equal amount of intensity. In the past few days, she saw how Jessica had cared for her, tended her wounds, and even when she discovered that Yuri was part of those people who tried to kill them, she returned to her side. Jessica was a doctor, who has endless opportunities, something quite opposite to who she is. It was impossible for them to be together, at least, she would not allow herself to drag the girl in. There are endless options out there, and Yuri was probably not made for her.

 

After all these ends, she wondered, Jessica will return to the hospital and be the doctor she desired. But what will Yuri be doing? Maybe working in McDonalds, being paid with bare minimum wage, flipping burgers and what not.

 

She looked away from Jessica, but she saw the latter blush in realization.

 

“Erm…” Yuri cleared , “I am going to go to bed.”

 

But she heard a tiny banging sound from the door. At first, she thought it was just some random stranger leaning on it, but the sound got louder, and eventually, the door burst opened with smoke. The impact made Yuri fell backwards, and Jessica covered her face from the smoke.

 

“Well, well, well, what have we got here?” A male voice sounded.

 

Yuri looked up to the man and coughed.

 

“Hello there, Yuri. Long time no see.” She could feel the man smile, “tell me, where is Jessica Jung?”

 

“You are not going to touch her.” Yuri said and gritted her teeth. Then, another cough surfaced, and a blonde girl stood up.

 

“There you are. Nichkhun, get her and bring her back to master.”

 

“Roger that, Junsu.”

 

Another man came in and Yuri could hear the screaming from Jessica’s mouth. He lifted Jessica’s fragile body up and brought her out of the warehouse. Her screaming faded away from the distance.

 

“Leave her alone!”

 

“Ahh ahh ahh.” Junsu shook her head and looked at Yuri, “Look, master wants to see you. You come to us, you get her.”

 

Yuri stared at him with intense hatred. Why do they have to harm the people she cared for? She was in no state to fight him out.

 

“Get it?” Junsu asked again, “I will give you two days to prepare yourself. And if you don’t come after two days, she will be dead.”

 

He handed a slip to Yuri, more like threw was the right word. The slip contained the address that Yuri needed to get to.

 

“Oh! And don’t call for help. Because if you do, we will kill her.”

 

Yuri grunted; her wound still hurts.

 

“Let’s go boys!” Junsu whistled his way out.

 

Yuri got on her couch and rested. Damn those people and her bloody wound. She was too tired, but there was no time to spare. She needed to rest, but she will wake up early next morning to get what she needs the following day.

 

She cannot risk Jessica being in danger.

 

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“Minho, what did you get from the weapons?”

 

“My assumption turns out to be correct.” Minho puts down his clipboard of information and looked at the girl across the table that laid the body of man whom he had examined, “The wound on his stomach was indeed caused by the samurai sword, and ultimately, his death.”

 

“What about the fingerprints?”

 

“They belong to someone called Yuri Kwon and a doctor named Jessica Jung, whom I believed both had disappeared a few days ago.”

 

Yoona widened her eyes in surprise. She rushed out of the forensics department and up to the floor of her workplace.

 

“Sunny unnie!” Yoona exclaimed upon arrival.

 

A short petite girl turned around.

 

“What’s up Yoona?”

 

“We were right. Yuri and Jessica were together. Minho got the fingerprints from the weapons. It turned out to be them.”

 

Sunny nodded and smiled. No doubt, she was not called the sniffing human for no reason: her keen senses of observation got her this position.

 

“Yoona, come with me to Lee Soo Man’s office. We are getting an official search warrant to find this Yuri Kwon and Jessica Jung.”

 

Yoona nodded and prepared for her documents. She was going to find Jessica no matter what.

 

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Kim Jong In was busy eating her burger. It was lunchtime, and he was rather hungry and exhausted from his duty. He looked at his watch, half an hour to go before he was back on the streets.

 

Being the NYPD surely isn’t easy; long hours of shifts and low pay. If he didn’t want the thrill of it after getting bored with ballet, he wouldn’t have done it. Problem was, he was not experiencing any ups and downs in the New York streets lately, which was annoying because he had been waiting for a long time.

 

“Hurry up Kai. Our duty will start soon.” His partner called his nickname, one he named himself.

 

“We still have half an hour left, D.O. Besides, no one will do anything dangerous.” Kai replied.

 

His partner Kyungsoo shook his head. Slacker…

 

Kai continued his burger. He thought back on the meeting a while ago back in the station, the person who was listed a search warrant. Her name was Yuri Kwon, Korean decent, someone with the same origin as him. What are the chances of meeting her? One girl in the entire city, it was close to zero.

 

He remembered her face: dark skinned, pointy nose, long black hair. She was said to be 167cm tall, but he will have to check to confirm that.

 

When Kai finished his burger, he put his tray above the garbage bin and threw his trash away. Kyungsoo did the same, and then they both walked out of the restaurant.

 

The New York weather can be horrible at times. When it was the summer, it can go as high as 37 degrees, just like today. Kai could not help but to wipe his face every two minutes or so because of his sweat.

 

The two walked down a street beside each other. But then, a sudden figure walked passed them in a fast manner. It seems to be a male, and he was wearing all black: black cap, black scarf, black shades, black pants etc…

 

Why is a person wearing a scarf in this weather?

 

“Sir! Excuse me.” Kai shouted, “Stop there please.”

 

The said man stopped.

 

“Can we check your ID please?”

 

The man did not react to it.

 

“Sir? Please give us your ID.” Kai said once more.

 

Then, the man suddenly turned around and hit Kai’s neck with his hand. The impact got Kai rolling on the floor, coughing.

 

“Yah!” Kyungsoo shouted, and drew his gun out, “Put your hands up!”

 

The man looked at him and put his hands high in the air. Kyungsoo walked closer and closer to him, until he was within an inch. When he stuck his hand to his pockets to get his handcuffs, the man jerked his gun away with punch. Kyungsoo stumbled upon the impact, but regained his balance immediately.

 

He punched the man on his face, but he evaded the attack. Rather, his hat fell off and revealed his long wavy hair.

 

This was not a man. It was a girl!

 

And when he looked closer, he remembered the face. It was the face of Yuri Kwon, the person from the search warrant!

 

Yuri took off her glasses. Her identity has been exposed; she needed to get away from this area. Kyungsoo then ran to the direction of where his gun laid, but before he could reach it, he felt a hard kick on his stomach. The impact left him lying on the floor in pain. Yuri picked up the gun, and ran as fast as she could, away from these officers.

 

“This is Do Kyungsoo calling to station. We have found a female suspect of the search warrant, Yuri Kwon. She is running off in the direction of Chinatown, in Broadway. We need backup now!”

 

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Lay just finished his cup of coffee when he suddenly received a call from the station saying that a female suspect is running towards their direction. It’s a good thing he finished it, because he loved coffee way too much.

 

“Hyung!” He shouted in Korean to his partner, Xiumin. The latter nodded in response and they went out of the café together.

 

Their eyes wondered around the area, and sure enough, they saw a female figure running in their direction.

 

“Stop right there!” Xiumin shouted, as he pulled out his gun. But the girl was fast, she made a turn into an alley.

 

Xiumin and Lay nodded at each other, and went in separate directions. Xiumin ran in the direction that Yuri just got in.

 

When Yuri reached the end of the alley, she was surprised to see another officer standing in front of her. She turned back, but there was another behind her.

 

“Put your hands up!” Xiumin shouted and he pointed his gun to the girl.

 

Lay approached the girl from behind and handcuffed her.

 

“Xiumin to station. We have the suspect, we are now bringing her back.”

 

“Please, you have to let me go.” Yuri pleaded.

 

“You can explain yourself to our chief once you get to the station.” Lay replied.

 

“There’s no time, you have to let me go!”

 

The boys ignored her, and waited for their car to come. Soon enough, there was a car coming. They sat between Yuri, feeling awkward. There was not enough time, but she does not have a choice. She hoped that everything would work out in the end.

 

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