After 51 chapters, we're finally at the end! Read to the end for a longer note :)  Love y'all <3

CHAPTER THEME: 

The Weeknd - I Feel It Coming

The hotel was some old and cheap thing in west Sadang about half an hour from where they’d half-parked the yacht along the riverbank. The nice lady behind the reception had seen all six of them walk in like creatures from a comic book and not even paid them any attention. She’d just taken Seulgi’s money and passed her a key and said second floor, on the left.

By the time they’d woken up it was just past midday. Seulgi rolled over and groaned at the pain and rolled back again in time to catch Irene laughing at her. ‘What?’ she said. ‘What’s so funny?’

‘You look like a ing ogre.’

‘Charming. Thanks.’

‘No offence, of course. I mean, you were in some pretty crazy yesterday. But yeah. Your face is hilarious.’

‘I’m going to need some ice.’

‘A whole continent of it, sure.’

‘How’s your side?’

‘Oh, you meant where I was shot and survived?’

Seulgi sighed.

‘Babe. Babe.’

‘What?’

‘I was shot, you know? And I survived it. Have you ever been shot? Babe? Have you?’

‘No.’

‘No.’ Irene bopped her on the nose. ‘Didn’t think so.’

Seulgi drew her in for a sweet kiss and pulled back and winced at the newfound light that poured into the room behind them. She rolled over again and blinked and closed her eyes. Jisoo was stood by the window with the curtains in her hand. She appeared not much better than Seulgi. The lower half of her face had swollen a grim purple. ‘Rise and shine, sleepyheads,’ she said. ‘Today’s a big day. The first day of the rest of your fugitive lives.’

‘Thanks for reminding us.’

‘How are you holding up?’

‘How do you think I’m holding up?’

‘You sound like you’ve got the world’s fattest hangover.’

‘How’s your face?’

‘Eh,’ Jisoo said. ‘Could be worse. I could be you.’

‘Thanks.’

‘What about you lot?’

Irene shrugged. The blood had dried crisp around her midsection and it throbbed but no longer was it bleeding and no longer would she die. Jisoo looked at Joy and Yeri sat at the little table eating breakfast. Joy shrugged. As if to say: I don’t care anymore. Or perhaps: Don’t talk me anytime in the next one thousand years, because I might shatter into tiny pieces.

‘I’m good,’ Yeri said. ‘That was fun yesterday. We should do it again sometime.’

‘No, we should not. Wendy, what about you? Wendy?’

She looked at the second bed beside Irene and Seulgi where Wendy had slept the night and received no reply. ‘Wendy?’ she said, kicking the bundle of covers. She peeled them back to find no Wendy there at all.

‘Oh my god,’ Yeri said. ‘She’s dissolved. Like a witch.’

‘No, man,’ Wendy said. She poked her head out from the bathroom door, toothbrush in and hair all messy and dishevelled. ‘I’m right here. Not going anywhere on you just yet. Just needed to freshen up, you dig?’

‘When did you get there?’ Jisoo said.

‘Just then.’

‘How?’

‘Walked.’

Jisoo and Joy looked at other and thought about saying something and decided it best not to. Seulgi pulled herself up against the headboard and rubbed her face with a wince. ‘What’s the plan?’ she said.

‘Jesus, babe.’

‘What?’

‘You look frightful.’

Seulgi ignored her. Jisoo flattened down the curtains and paced over to the table and took a slice of toast from Joy’s plate and bit into it. ‘So, while you were all hard and fast asleep this morning,’ she said, ‘I took the liberty of going down and grabbing us a rental from across the road.’

‘What? Are you serious?’

‘Why would I lie? Pretty dumb thing to lie about, no?’

‘How can you possibly be that organised?’

‘C’mon. You know me better than that.’

And deciding she really did know Jisoo better than that, Seulgi elected to say no more. ‘Anyyway,’ Jisoo continued, ‘I got us a cheap Hyundai for the day. So, I’m thinking we get up, get dressed and freshed, and then we all go our separate ways. Sounds like the most sensible and well thought out plan to me. What about you guys?’

Nobody seemed to be listening.

‘Great. Just the answer I wanted.’

‘Did they ask about that?’ Irene said.

‘About what?’

‘That massive purple bruise on your face.’

‘Oh, I just said I got into a bar fight.’

‘And they believed you?’

‘I don’t know. Who cares? I don’t. We should probably go soon, though.’

‘Why?’

‘Well, I mean, I don’t know if the cops are going to searching for any of us, but they’re sure as going to be searching for you two. And we haven’t exactly been lowkey about it, have we?’

‘In what way.’

‘Well, I mean, we’ve sort of left a breadcrumb of carnage behind us. Maybe we should’ve covered our faces when we bought the room last night. And come to think, I should’ve probably done the same when I went out and fetched the car.’

‘That woman downstairs didn’t care. You’re overthinking it.’

‘Maybe, but you can never be too careful, I don’t think.’

‘Do we have to get up anytime soon?’

‘Not technically. But kind of.’

‘We’ve got to be meeting Wheein and Hongki at six this evening,’ Seulgi said. ‘But other than that…nothing.’

‘What are you trying to say?’

Seulgi looked at Irene, curled half in her arms and half under the sheets. ‘Maybe we can stay like this a little longer, yeah?’

Jisoo smiled softly. ‘Suppose so,’ she said. ‘You know, you two are pretty cute when you want to be.’

♣   ♣   ♣

It was almost four in the afternoon and already rapidly growing darker when they finally locked up the room and handed the keys back and scrambled six of them into a five-seat car. Jisoo with great difficulty drove and Wendy sat in the passenger seat watching nothing in particular. It smelt of roses and vaguely of sweat. First they drove to Sinsa in the heavy traffic. Yeri’s mansion looked the same as it had two days previous. Forever unchanging. Jisoo rolled the battered Hyundai up the driveway beside the Rolls Royce and cut the engine and leant her arm over the seat. ‘Well,’ she said. ‘Here we are.’

‘Yeah,’ Yeri said. She opened the door and climbed out and stood a moment soaking up the cool air.

‘Wait. Wait a minute.’

‘What?’

‘Aren’t you going to say goodbye or anything?’

She smiled a ditzy smile. ‘Was fun,’ she said with a little peace sign. ‘We should hang sometime. You too, Irene. I missed you. You need to call me more often.’

They looked at each other. Yeri was halfway up the drive to her door when Seulgi and the others pulled themselves out and Irene called to her. She stopped and turned and tipped her head a slight to look at them better in the waning daylight. ‘What?’ she said. ‘Were you gonna say something?’

‘Thank you. For everything you’ve done for us recently. For what you did yesterday. You didn’t have to, you know. You could’ve just stayed here and ignored us. But you didn’t. You did some real, real crazy for it, and you could’ve got into a lot of trouble – hell, you could’ve died – but you came through. We couldn’t have done it without you at all. And I’m sorry about your Marauder. I know it was probably expensive on such short notice. But I want you to know that we’re all really thankful for what you did. You’re a true friend, Yeri. Don’t ever think you’re not. To all of us, not just me. And I’ll call you more often. We can hang out whenever.’

‘Irene.’

‘What?’

‘No, I mean…my Marauder. It was called Irene.’

‘Oh. Right.’

Yeri smiled at them again. It seemed almost unreal how she could switch with such speed between utter insanity and ditzy airhead, but she did. ‘I’ll see you around,’ she said.

‘Uh, yeah. Sure.’

‘Ciao.’

Then she was gone and they were alone in the cold. Jisoo looked at Seulgi and shook her head. As if to say: That girl’s not right. She climbed back into the driver’s seat and started the engine and said: ‘That girl’s not right.’

‘You can say that again.’

‘That girl’s not right.’

‘You know the guns she got for us didn’t even work, right?’

‘What? What do you mean?’

‘The guns. They were broken. None of them worked. Me and Wheein both tried and nothing.’

‘Damn,’ Joy said. ‘None of us ever even shot a bullet.’

‘Neither did we, but not for lack of trying.’

‘We beat the out of this one guy, though.’

‘Who?’

‘Some guy who had a gun to us. Well, I didn’t do anything. And neither did your boss, come to think of it. It was all Yeri.’

‘No ,’ Irene said.

‘Just leapt forward and started throwing hands. Poor guy had no idea what hit him, literally. She’s crazy, but maybe that’s a good thing. Sometimes, at least. She’s got this pure fire in her, you know? That whole explosion ? Unbelievable.’

‘We would’ve died if not for that,’ Seulgi said.

‘Us too.’

‘And us,’ Irene said. ‘They had guns to us.’

‘So, I guess in a roundabout way, her madness saved us all.’

‘Something like that.’

‘Funny how it works, isn’t it?’

‘Funny as funny can be,’ said Wendy from the passenger seat. It was the first thing she had said since setting foot outside the hotel.

‘You seem very quiet,’ Seulgi said.

‘They might be watching, man. Or listening.’

‘Who?’

‘Who? Who who. Whoever. Who knows. Who can know. That’s the whole point, man. You won’t even know. Just keep your eyes peeled.’

‘Right,’ Seulgi said. They were quiet all the way until they pulled up across the street from Shakin’ Jakes strip club about twenty-five minutes later. By then the sun was low over the horizon and a stunning red hue swept across the evening and the light of the neon billboards along the headrow glared in the daycold like wisps. Joy opened the door and stepped out and slapped the roof of the car with an awkward half smile. ‘Guess this is where we say goodbye,’ she said.

‘Guess it is,’ Seulgi said.

‘Thanks for, uh…whatever. I don’t know. Nothing, I guess.’

‘Wow.’

‘Not to sound rude, but yeah.’

‘Thanks for helping break us out of prison. And for everything else you’ve done for us.’

‘Uh huh. Don’t mention it.’

Irene looked across the street and laughed. ‘Man,’ she said, ‘remember when we first came here asking you for information on the Leeum case? And you said you knew a guy called Mr G Sachs. And Seulgi actually believed you?’

‘So did you, if I remember right.’

‘Well, maybe. But don’t mention that, because I don’t get to then.’

Joy laughed. It was a mature, reserved laugh beyond her years. ‘Well,’ she said. ‘Guess this is for the time being.’

‘Thank you,’ Seulgi said. ‘For all of it. Not just for breaking us out, but for choosing to come along and—’

‘Save the big soppy speech for another time, yeah? I’ve got to get back to work. Anyway, was nice talking to you again. See you soon, I hope. Just not under similar circumstances. Maybe buy me a drink or something. Something quiet and normal.’

Seulgi smiled awkwardly. ‘Yeah,’ she mumbled. ‘Sure thing.’

‘Bye,’ Irene said. ‘Thanks.’

They eased themselves back into the car and set off again. It was ten minutes before anyone said anything and it was Irene when she leant forward and said, ‘Can we have some music on?’

‘No.’

‘Why not?’

‘I don’t like music.’

‘You’re literally as boring as Seulgi is. All of you.’

‘Woah,’ Wendy said.

‘Not you, man. Of course not you.’

‘Groovy.’

‘Where are we going now?’

‘We’re here,’ Jisoo said. ‘Taepyong. This is your place, right?’

Wendy put a finger to her lips. ‘Uh, no,’ she muttered as she got out of the car. ‘No. This is absolutely not my place at all. I don’t know who lives here. And I don’t know who I am, or who I’m talking to, but there’s absolutely no one here at all.’

‘Okay.’

She leant half over the car and squinted at them. It was a sight so ridiculous they had to stifle laughter. ‘You got us into some serious voodoo doodoo,’ she said. ‘Some real heebie jeebies. But hey! I kinda dig it, man. I really do. I thought it was pretty groovy of you. The whole thing.’

‘You’re bat insane,’ Irene said. ‘And you know what? I ing love you.’

Wendy held up a little peace sign. ‘One love, man.’

‘One love.’

‘And if you ever get bored on your little fugitive thingy, you know where I am, right?’

‘Here?’

‘Correcto. You’re free to chill and spill whenever you like. Free house, cowabunga. I’m not going anywhere, man. Nuh uh. Not me. Live and die by the code, you dig?’

‘I dig.’

‘I dig,’ Seulgi said, smiling.

‘Just promise me one thing,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘You’ve gotta keep using our codewords, man. They work, I’m telling you.’

‘Ronald Reagan.’

‘Hell yeah Ronald Reagan! And don’t you know it.’

‘I will. I promise.’

‘You too?’

Irene grinned at her. ‘Word is bond,’ she said.

‘Word is bond, bro. Word is bond.’

She hobbled off up the ramp like a hermit and opened her front door seemingly without unlocking it and then was gone and it was just the three of them. ‘Well,’ Jisoo said. She looked at her watch. ‘Almost time. Fancy a lift to the Leeum?’

‘I wouldn’t say no, if you’re offering.’

They drove in relative quiet all the way to the Leeum museum.  It was as pretty as pretty could be when they pulled up in the parkinglot. A handful of cars under the glare of the lights. The last of the pinchbeck dusk ran down the world like watercolours. By the back corner far away from the museum entrance Wheein and Hongki stood with their hands in their pockets leaning against the hood of a black Hyundai, Wheein in a black jacket and Hongki in a button-up shirt and tan slacks. Beside them was a second crimsoncoloured Hyundai, two of a pair. Jisoo pulled the car up three spots down and cut the engine and turned to them in the back with a smile. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘looks like this is the end of the road. For the time being.’

‘For the time being,’ Seulgi said. ‘Thanks.’

‘For the lift?’

‘For everything. For being yourself, I suppose.’

‘Don’t start on me now. Joy had the right idea turning you away with all that soppy .’

‘You know I’m not good with my feelings. This is from the heart.’

‘I’m sure it is.’ She turned to Irene with a smile. ‘You take care of her, you hear me?’

‘Yes ma’am,’ Irene said.

‘She’s a bit slow sometimes, and by god can she be infuriating, but there’s only one of her.’

‘Oh, I know.’

‘Good. Thanks for everything.’

‘What have I done?’

‘More than you know,’ Jisoo said with a gentle smile. ‘In more ways than one.’

‘Thanks for being cryptic. No, really.’

‘My pleasure. You gonna thank me for breaking you out of prison as well?’

‘That was Wheein,’ Seulgi said.

‘I drove the car.’

‘Suppose you did. Why, anyway?’

‘You kidding me? Are you telling me you wouldn’t break me out of prison if I were in the same situation you were?’

Seulgi glanced uneasily at Irene and Irene merely shrugged. ‘I guess I never thought about it like that,’ she said.

‘See? It’s what friends do. And we know each well enough to know that neither of us would survive in prison for too long. I’m good on the outside, good with guns and knives and all that , but in there? Cooped up in a box all day? No thanks. So, there you have it.’

‘Thanks again. And thanks for protecting her.’

Jisoo laughed. ‘She doesn’t need protecting. She’s tougher than you.’

‘I’m not sure about that. She’s a big softie at heart.’

‘Hello,’ Irene said. ‘I’m right here, y’know?’

Jisoo smiled at her again. It was a smile Irene rather liked the look of, a broad and soft glow of her whole face that made her feel safe and respected at last. ‘Suppose you two should get going,’ she said. ‘I doubt they’re going to wait around all day. Oh, and Seulgi.’

‘What?’

‘Don’t go getting yourself into any more like this, okay? Not for a couple months at least. I think we all need some rest.’

‘That sounds like a deal to me,’ Irene said, smiling back.

Seulgi and Irene opened the doors and climbed out slowly. Wheein never took her hands out of her pockets. She just stood wincing in the bright overhead light as they came over. She took one glance over their shoulder at Jisoo and Jisoo waved and she waved back. Then Jisoo started up the engine and pulled out of the lot and was gone, divided into the night first into a hum of low engine notes, then to nothing at all. They stood there by the car looking at each other and shivering in the cold.

‘And then there were four,’ Wheein said.

‘Indeed.’

‘Funny how it’s us, no?’

‘In what way?’ Seulgi said.

‘Well, when you think about it, we were the four that started it all.’

‘Started all what?’

‘This. This whole , back with the Leeum case. That morning I called you and told you to get down here and you did. We were both here with you. And then—’ she pointed a finger at Irene, ‘this one here. And then everyone else.’

‘Well when you put it like that.’

‘Kinda poetic, no?’

‘Not really.’

‘No,’ Hongki said.

‘I agree,’ Irene said. ‘Dunno how that’s poetry at all.’

Wheein shrugged.

‘How’s the head?’

‘Eh, I’ll live. How’s the stomach?’

Irene smiled. ‘I’ll live.’

‘Good to hear.’

‘So,’ Seulgi said, ‘what’s the news?’

‘Guess.’

‘No thanks.’

‘Spoilsport.’

‘Are you going to tell us?’

She was quiet for a moment. She looked at Hongki. Then she said, ‘Got some good news, bad news, good news, bad news stuff.’

‘Go on.’

‘Okay, so, turns out I’m actually a ing genius and my idea to send off copies of all my info was a great idea. Taeyeon’s looking at, well, a long time behind bars. Probably forever, honestly.  And Hongki and I are gonna get our jobs back. I’m thinking I might even get a promotion, maybe a couple medals of honour out of it too, you know? National hero and all that.’

‘Sure.’

‘Hey, let me have this one. You can steal the limelight another time.’

‘What’s the bad news?’

‘We’ve come to arrest you.’

‘What?’

‘Just kidding.’ Wheein shifted and clapped her hands in front of her and made a frowny face. ‘What we guessed was, uh…kinda true. You’re still wanted criminals on the loose, so you’re gonna have to go into hiding for the time being. And I suppose now would be the best time to get the other bad news out there, so we can let you down all at once. All the money we found on that boat’s been accounted for and returned. So, sorry, but no retirement fund for you. But don’t worry, there’s light at the end of the tunnel yet.’

‘Which is?’

‘We’re already in talks with a couple of the bigwigs about the whole shebang, and they’re warming up to the idea of letting you off the hook already. I mean, kinda. But they’ll come around properly. I know they will. This is the biggest case success since, well…since you two recovered that painting, I guess. That earned you a bunch of brownie points in their eyes. And once we told them how much you two helped in all of this, they were kinda taken aback.’

‘Wait, what?’

‘What what?’

‘You told them we helped you?’

Wheein nodded.

‘And they didn’t think this was a tad suspicious?’

‘Oh, I’m sure they did, but they never said anything. Well, they asked us how we found you, and we just said that you found us.’

‘What?’

‘Yeah,’ Wheein said. ‘Which I guess is technically accurate, but obviously we didn’t tell them we were the ones that broke you out or anything, because that would’ve been a bit dumb, no? So, they know you helped, but they just think you sought us out of your own free will after escaping prison and decided to clear your names by taking down Taeyeon.’

Irene snorted. ‘You think they actually ing believed that?’ she said.

‘I don’t care, to be honest. Just as long as they don’t slap a pair of cuffs on me and ship me off for whatever bull crime, they can think what they like. The fact of the matter is, you’re out, we’re out, it’s all water under the bridge. Well, not yet. But soon. You’ve just got to chill for a while.’

‘How long is a while?’ Seulgi said.

‘I’m gonna go out on a limb and say ten weeks. Maybe a little longer. But hey, think of it like a long vacation again.’

‘Except we can’t actually leave the country, because we’ll be arrested and detained on sight.’

‘Well, yes. But you can go see the countryside or something.’

‘The countryside.’

‘Always wanted to see some farms,’ Irene said.

‘Where would we go?’ Seulgi said. ‘We’ve got no money, and I don’t know if staying in our apartment in broad daylight when we’re wanted fugitives is such a good idea.’

‘I’m sure you’ll figure it out somehow,’ Wheein said.

‘Brilliant.’

‘Hey, how about a: Thank you for all the assistance, Wheein? Oh, no problem, Seulgi, no problem, Irene, it was my pleasure! All my pleasure. You’re welcome. None of that? No?’

‘Thanks,’ Seulgi said, offering a handshake. Wheein looked at her outstretched hand and laughed.

‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Bring it in for the real thing.’

She pulled Seulgi in for a rough hug that had her wincing and then drew Irene for one too.

‘Ouch,’ Irene muttered. ‘Watch the bulletwound.’

‘Right. Sorry.’ She turned to Seulgi and said, ‘You’re gonna need some ice for that face, by the way.’

‘I know.’

‘So,’ Irene said, ‘you gonna give us a ride somewhere quiet, then? So we can, you know…go into hiding or whatever.’

‘Got a better idea.’

‘What’s that?’

Hongki stuffed a hand into his trouser pocket and tossed Seulgi a set of car keys.

‘What are these for?’ she said.

‘That,’ he said. ‘There.’

They looked at the second Hyundai two spots down. It seemed to wink at them in the auburn light. ‘Are you serious?’ Seulgi said.

‘Consider it your reward for hard work.’

‘But—’

‘Don’t sweat it,’ Wheein said. ‘It’s registered in my name. So as long as you don’t get pulled over at all, you’re good to go.’

‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘How about: Thank you, Wheein. And then: Thank you, sir.’

‘Thank you, Wheein. And sir? Thank you.’

He shrugged. The look in his eyes was glassy and distant and not like him at all. For a moment Seulgi thought he was going to say something very profound. That he was going to finally open up and tell her he was proud of her and everything she’d done and proud she had ever been a part of his department. And then he would say the same to Irene, about how he’d grown to love her much like Seulgi and Wheein and Jisoo and all the others had. How all of them, and Wendy and Joy and even Yeri too, had become in a strange and twisted and rather dysfunctional way, a little family. That they relied on each other for sanity and security, and there was nothing wrong with that. But instead he shrugged again and said, ‘Good work, Kang. Keep it up.’

‘Uh, yes sir. Of course.’

‘You too.’

Irene shot him a smile and a weak salute. ‘Will do, chief,’ she said. ‘Will do.’

Seulgi held the car keys in the palm of her hand and closed her fist around them. ‘What are you going to tell the rookies?’ she said.

Wheein gave a nonchalant shrug. ‘Won’t tell them anything until you’re back. They can work it out for themselves after that.’

‘Is that safe? What’s to stop them just going to the police?’

‘They are the police.’

‘You know what I mean.’

‘Have you talked to them before? I know you’re with girls and all that but come on, they adore you. They practically worship the ground you walk on. So nah, you’re fine. Trust me.’

Seulgi looked at the keys again. The sun had decided it was time to rest for the day. She turned out to the golden sunset and winced. ‘Ten weeks?’ she said.

‘Or twelve.’

‘So, twelve, then.’

Wheein shrugged. ‘It’ll fly by. You won’t even realise it.’

‘We won’t have any way to contact you.’

‘Just show up at the precinct three months from now and we’ll talk again. Trust me on this one. I’ve done well so far, no?’

‘Guess you have.’

‘Well, there you go, then.’

‘Thank you, Wheein. For everything.’

‘Don’t go getting emotional on me now. You’re not going away forever or anything.’

‘Right,’ Seulgi said. She was almost crying but she would not because Irene would laugh at her and then Wheein would laugh at her and then even Hongki would laugh at her. Or have her fired the moment she returned for looking weak. ‘Thanks, guys,’ she said, and waved the keys about again. When they were by the car door Wheein called to her and she stopped.

‘Seulgi,’ she said.

‘Yeah?’

The smile on Wheein’s face was one of pure mischief. ‘Don’t you go getting in any trouble now, you hear me?’

‘Yes ma’am. Sir.’

He saluted to her halfheartedly and opened the car door and stepped into the passenger’s seat. Seulgi and Irene stood by the other Hyundai a minute watching them pull out of the parkinglot and disappear just like Jisoo had. In the silence that followed they both closed their eyes and smiled. Then Seulgi opened the door and climbed in and closed it behind her and let out an enormous sigh.

‘You good, babe?’

‘Yeah,’ Seulgi said. ‘Just give me a minute.’

‘What’s up?’

‘I don’t know. It's just…something feels like it’s coming to an end. I can’t describe it. Like we’re turning the page on a chapter in our lives.’

‘I know what you mean. Sorta. But hey, no sweat. Three months, easy as pie.’

‘Sure.’

‘You sure you’re in any condition to drive?’

‘You got any better ideas?’

Irene shrugged from the passenger’s seat. She spent a moment just looking at Seulgi and Seulgi did the same in turn. It occurred to Seulgi just how far they had come. Six months ago she would’ve hated herself for staring and hated herself just as much for being so very attracted to that sight and now she sat there in the driver’s seat smiling softly and thinking: I love this woman more than she could ever know.

‘What are you thinking?’ Irene asked.

‘Nothing,’ said Seulgi. She leant over and placed a delicate kiss on Irene’s lips and sat back again. When she was about to start the car she froze and looked at the glovebox.

‘What?’ Irene said. ‘What is it? Babe, what’s wrong?’

There was a small yellow flap hanging half out of the bottom of the glovebox. She pushed the button and opened it and removed the contents from inside – a pair of Don Johnson aviators, two free coupons for fried chicken, a Jeju postcard with “Enjoy your holiday x” scribbled on the back in Wheein’s handwriting, and a yellow post-it note that read simply:

TRUNK.

‘Babe,’ Irene said. Seulgi showed her the post-it note and shrugged. They stepped out and around the back of the car and popped open the trunk and looked at each other and almost closed it again. ‘No,’ Irene said. ‘No ing way.’

There were four dufflebags and another yellow post-it note nestled neatly on top of them. It read:

FOR YOUR NEW FERRARI

AND EXTRA

LOVE FROM HONGKI

She showed it to Irene and ped the first bag halfway. It was full of wrapped and secured wads of cash, just as it had been on the yacht. The other three bags were all the same. More money than either of them could count. They stepped back and Seulgi almost fell over. ‘Holy ,’ Irene said. She broke out into a laugh that had Seulgi laughing as well, the first time she could remember properly belly laughing in a month at least. They stood there laughing like lunatics against the falling sunset for a long while. When they could laugh no more they closed the trunk and climbed back into the car and just sat there.

‘That boss of yours,’ Irene said. ‘He’s a sneaky one.’

‘I don’t believe it.’

‘I knew something was up.’

Irene laughed again. ‘So,’ she said, ‘what the hell do we do now? I mean, we’ve got three months to kill.’

‘I guess the first thing to do would be to find a hotel.’

‘And then buy you a Ferrari.’

‘Maybe leave that bit for later.’

‘Sure. Hey, babe.’

‘What?’

‘How do I look?’

Seulgi turned to her. She was wearing the Don Johnson aviators and pouting and she looked ridiculous. Seulgi said, ‘You look ridiculous.’

‘Good. The dumber the better. Hey, babe.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Can we play some music?’

Seulgi smiled. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Yeah, we can.’

Irene thumbed the radio on and flicked through a couple channels and stopped and sat back. ‘Oh ,’ she said. ‘I know this one. This is—’

‘I Feel It Coming, by the Weeknd.’

‘Yeah. Wait. That’s my line.’

Seulgi giggled to herself. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Couldn’t help it. Great song, though.’

‘Agreed. Come on, then. Let’s go.’

Seulgi started up the engine and pulled slowly out of the lot. They were heading out into the great unknown, the bronze sun burning hot and falling around them and the night beckoning them on and the radio serenading them and the future good and kind and full of hope. Irene set her hand on top of Seulgi’s on the gearstick and threaded their fingers together and Seulgi smiled a delicate and lovely smile.

‘I love you,’ Irene said.

‘I love you too.’

‘Where are we going?’

‘Don’t know. Where would you like to go first? Somewhere beautiful, like before?’

Irene thought about it for a moment. Then she broke into a warm smile. ‘Nah,’ she said. ‘Not this time. Hey, babe.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Take me somewhere with a nice beach. Or maybe a farm, like Wheein said. Always wanted to see some chickens. And babe, speaking of chickens, how about we go grab a bite to eat? We've got coupons!’

‘Whatever you like,’ Seulgi said. ‘We’ve got all the time in the world.’

‘Here’s to the next three months.’

‘And the rest of our lives afterwards.’

‘The rest of our lives,’ Irene said, and smiled. ‘Yeah. I like the sound of that. It’s got a nice ring to it.’

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So after a year and 250,000 words, we're finally at the very end of SCV :(    Sad but I felt like it was time to end the bonuses (and on a huge one as well lol). Who would've thought that I would've had more fun writing this than any other fic of mine when I first started it (and was worried it wouldn't do well because I thought I was awful at comedy and stuff lmao).

I remember back when I was hoping for 100 upvotes and 200 comments and now it's 320 upvotes and 1000 comments (!!!) Unreal support!

A huge thank you to everyone who's read, commented, subscribed, upvoted this comic over the past year, it's been so much fun to read people's comments and theories and fave parts and stuff, really means a lot to me :)  Let me know your fave characters/chapters/moments etc. i'd love to hear them! 

Anyway, thank you again for taking the time to read this, I hope you had even half as much fun reading as I did writing <3

P.S  Miami Vice forever