It was terribly ironic for her to die from a hug after surviving being shot, but Chaewon is almost certain that Minjoo was about to hug her to death. She’s actually not even sure if this is a hug, because Minjoo may actually be trying to strangle her. Her head was buried in the crook of her neck with her arms wrapped tightly around her. After Chaewon woke up, the two just stared and stared at each other for several seconds. It was one of those time-stopping moments they always have in the movies… except as soon as Chaewon grinned, Minjoo shattered the tense moment with a neck-breaking, bone-crushing hug, one that should most definitely not be used on the person in the hospital bed.

 

“Ow, ow!”

 

“Idiot, idiot! I should just kill you myself so you don’t do anything stupid anymore!”

 

Okay, Minjoo was trying to kill her. Fair.

 

“I can’t believe you made me worry!” Minjoo complains, barely loosening her hold. She pulls back just enough to stare into Chaewon’s eyes--with a glare, that is, but it’s an endearing one. Sort of.

 

“I’ll buy you ice cream once I get discharged?” She offers in an attempt to make peace. If Chaewon didn’t get Minjoo to stop suffocating her, that would be the end of her life, surely.

 

“Two, two ice creams. And bubble tea.”

 

“Oh come on, you can’t just throw in another!”

 

“If I tried to strangle you right now, the nurses would never be able to make it in time.”

 

Chaewon feigns a horrified gasp and sighs dramatically, “Okay, fine. I guess I have no other choice but to agree.”

 

As they bantered, neither noticed the tears rolling down their faces. It was all the anguish, suffering, and longing rolled into one, finally being let go. For the first time in a long time, the both of them could breathe. This was a new start.

 

“Thank you for coming back to me, Chaewon.”

 

Her words are muffled, her head buried deep into Chaewon’s flimsy hospital gown. Her heartbeat was sounding loudly right next to her ear. With every beat she felt more and more calm, more safe. She spent the past nights pressing her ear against her chest just to make sure Chaewon was still alive. The robotic beep of the heartbeat monitor wasn’t solace enough. But now, here, Chaewon’s heart was beating louder and stronger. She was here, alive.

 

“Oh please,” Chaewon scoffs, ignoring the fact that her voice broke at the end as it shook with emotion, “as if I’d ever leave.”

 

She’s still weak, but not weak enough to wrap her arms securely around Minjoo. The smell of her hair was so familiar. It smelled like home. And the way she fit securely in her hold was like a key and its matching locket.

 

“Besides, you’d be cursing my ghost out and nagging me beyond the afterlife.”

 

“Shut up!”

 

The two just stared at each other, smiling softly. The scenery was nowhere near romantic, what with the beeping machines, the loud rolling of gurneys outside, the barely veiled chattering of the doctors and nurses, but it didn’t matter. Everything around them was blurred out, any other sound seemingly distant.

 

Nothing was said, but somehow they both leaned in at the exact same time, their lips meshing together with the longing and desperation of all these months since they’d met. Minjoo’s lips were soft as expected, the saltiness of both their tears giving the kiss a bit of a tanginess. Chaewon was hooked up to a ton of different medicines and machinery, but that discomfort paled in comparison to the way she felt when their lips met.

 

Chaewon took her unbandaged hand and threaded it into Minjoo’s, their intertwined fingers resting on the hospital sheets. Chaewon had never kissed anyone before, but the lack of experience wasn’t noticeable. Everything felt right.

 

When they pulled back, panting lightly and blushing furiously, there was a new brightness in their eyes.

 

~~~

 

“Hey, it’s one of my favorite idiots!”

 

Chaewon’s eyes nearly fall out of their sockets when she rolls them at Eunbi. Eunbi, who was walking into the unassuming, cute cafe with her whole officer gettup on. Even as she shouted at Chaewon, she posed with one hand on her hand and one point squarely at Chaewon as if they were in some low budget action movie.

 

“Hey, it’s my least favorite idiot!”

 

She can’t believe that this child was an officer of the law. Eunbi was supposed to be a badass woman saving lives, but instead she was sticking her tongue out at Chaewon like a little baby. Okay, maybe Chaewon returned the gesture, but that was different. She wasn’t a cop.

 

“What’s the status report, officer?” Chaewon salutes mockingly. Eunbi had an appreciation for sarcasm, mockery, and dramaticisms, so it was no surprise that she played along.

 

“Well, kiddo, Mister Gang Boss is safely locked behind bars. Maximum security, the whole thing. Although, with all his men locked up and his daughter sitting in front of me at a cafe, it’s not like anyone will come running for him anyways. I’d imagine the rest of the gang community is laughing at her predicament and deems it punishment enough, but better safe than sorry.”

 

That made Chaewon relax a bit. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. There was no reason to be worried, but it’s reassuring to know that he was one hundred percent done with. Admittedly paranoia had been eating her up the past few days as though her father or one of his men would miraculously escape from their binds and leap into her apartment, killing her and Minjoo. That last thought made her shudder more than anything else.

 

If it weren’t for Minjoo, she definitely wouldn’t have gotten any sleep since waking up from her little coma. But thankfully, having Minjoo stay by her side was better than any sort of medicine or salve.

 

“That’s a relief.”

 

“What about you?”

 

“Me?”

 

“Yeah, what have you been up to? I heard from a little bird that you were trying to become a cop,” Eunbi grins, wiggling her eyebrows up and down as if telling some dirty joke. Leave it up to Eunbi to make her cringe at the simplest of things.

 

“I was thinking about it. After spending all my life doing the devil’s work, I thought it would be interesting to start working for the other devil. You, that’s you, by the way. The other devil.”

 

Now it was Eunbi’s turn to roll her eyes.

 

“We could always use people like you. Whatever sort of job you want, I’m pretty sure you could get it. I could bust some heads in the department if necessary,” she says as she pounds a fist into an open palm, not looking nearly as threatening as she probably intended.

 

“Oh, can I take your job then?”

 

“Hah! As if you could pull off this swagger.”

 

As Chaewon watches Eunbi pose dramatically in her seat, even taking out her sunglasses, she wonders if joining the force was a good idea. Maybe she should just become a housewife.

 

A housewife.

 

The thought makes her face hot, but Eunbi is too preoccupied to notice.

 

~~~

 

So many years had passed, but Chaewon felt just like that little girl in the picture she kept by her bed. With the three of them in the same room after so long, the air was filled with a certain something. Tension wasn’t the right word. It was the yearning, the longing, the wishing of all these years. Knowing that they were separated but that not even distance or stupid gangsters could diminish their love, not even after all these years.

 

All of those thoughts flitted through Chaewon’s mind as time slowed its pace, leaving her, Wonyoung, and their mother their much needed time. Time that had been taken away from them so many ages ago.

 

“Hi, mom.”

 

Chaeown had been beaten and bruised, had been in a multitude of fights, had gotten thrown around left and right, but none of that compared to the force of her mom running towards her and wrapping her arms around her daughter. She was crying, so, so hard. In the back of her mind, Chaewon remembers the last time she had seen her mom cry like that, back when they had been cruelly ripped apart from each other. But that was then, and this was now. Now, with all of them together and their biggest problem (their deadbeat father) rendered powerless.

 

Could they… be happy?

 

“I knew it. I knew my daughter could make it. I knew it all along,” she muttered, pulling back to trace over every detail of her daughter’s face. Chaewon was but a little kid when she last saw her face, but she was a woman now. A strong one, at that. Just as she expected.

 

“My beautiful Chaewon.”

 

It broke like a dam. Every night she stayed awake, waiting for her family to come back for her. Wondering why this happened, why they left her behind. Then, if they were safe, if they were happy. So many years she spent like this, day and night running in the back of her mind. Now, wrapping her arms tightly around the woman she missed so dearly, she could finally cry in her mother’s arms.

 

“I’m home, mom.”

 

Chaewon feels another pair of arms circling around the two of them, knowing that it was her bean pole of a sister. The thought made her smile even wider, wide enough to split her face in two with how freaking happy she was. Wonyoung smiled just as wide, squeezing her family tight.

 

“Welcome home!”

 

That night, they ate together, laughed together, still cried and cried even when they thought they couldn’t cry anymore. This was years of emotion finally able to be let out. But the happiness filled the air more strongly than anything else.

 

“Chaewon-ah, Wonyoungie, how about we get ice cream later, hm? Mint chocolate?”

 

Chaewon thinks back to the picture in her drawer. She always looked at it thinking that it was a memory to be preserved solely because it was something that was long gone. It was a fragment of a past that could never return in any way shape or form. How wrong she had been.

 

“Heck yeah!” Wonyoung exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air like she used to do so often as a kid. So full of excitement despite everything, even back then.

 

They could take a new picture. For this new life, with them, together. As family.

 

They would be happy.

 

~~~

 

Minjoo smiles when she feels arms wrap around her waist silently and a head pressed against her back. When she turns around in the loose hold, she is expectedly met with a still half asleep Chaewon with her eyes closed drowsily.

 

“You weren’t there when I woke up,” Chaewon mumbles quietly, burrowing into Minjoo’s chest. She seems to care little at the fact that Minjoo was currently cooking breakfast.

 

“Well I can’t cook from the bed,” Minjoo giggles.

 

“We can just starve?”

 

“Baby,” Minjoo chides, knowing how much Chaewon liked the pet names, especially this one, “go get washed up and then we can eat together, okay? Then we can do whatever you want.”

 

At that, Chaewon finally entangles herself from Minjoo with a little grumble. Minjoo thinks that she’s such a big baby.

 

But my baby nonetheless she laughs to herself.

 

Ever since everything went down, they had been living together. When Chaewon got discharged from the hospital, Minjoo took it upon herself to open her apartment to Chaewon indefinitely. Honestly, she didn’t want to let her out of her sight.

 

And she’d be lying if she said that she didn’t get giddy at the idea of them living together. Minjoo didn’t intend for it to be permanent, but it’s been five weeks now and there was zero sign of Chaeown leaving. In fact, the older girl had moved all of her things to her place. Chaewon’s place had already been sold.

 

To be fair, Chaewon did ask her when she’d like her to leave. Minjoo promptly told her never, so that was the end of it.

 

“What are you cooking?”

 

Minjoo takes a quick glance behind her to see Chaewon emerging from the bedroom, her hair tamed and her eyes more awake. She holds back a laugh when she notices that Chaewon had put her t-shirt on backwards, but she doesn’t comment. It would be better for her to find out on her own later.

 

“Something light, since we’ll be meeting up with everyone for lunch later.”

 

“Do you need any help?”

 

“From you? No thank you, I don’t think I’d be able to douse the kitchen fire before we have to leave.”

 

“I could cook!”

 

“You broiled the cookies into smithereens, Chaewon.”

 

“But I--”

 

“You put ketchup into the spaghetti instead of tomato sauce I specifically bought for you to use.”

 

“Same thing,” Chaewon grumbled under her breath, getting plates and utensils for the two of them.

 

“This is a give and take relationship. I cook, you kick ,” Minjoo offers.

 

Chaewon contemplates for a moment with an exaggerated pondering look.

 

“Okay, fine,” she agrees with a quick peck on Minjoo’s cheek.

 

Oh, and it takes approximately two hours and forty-three minutes until Chaewon realizes that her shirt is on backwards.

 

~~~

 

“Minjoo!” Sakura calls, waving at her friend from her spot on the picnic blanket. They had one of those cliche red and white checkered blankets, but it was big enough for all of them and then some. A handful of them were already there, yet there was still plenty of room for the ton of food they were about to devour. And the rest of their friends, of course.

 

Minjoo waved back happily, tugging Chaewon along by their intertwined hands. She immediately sees Sakura and Yujin sitting beside each other. Not surprisingly, Wonyoung was sitting next to the latter, taking not-so-subtle glances at the girl beside her. Amazingly, she hadn’t seemed to notice that Yujin was doing the exact same thing.

 

Yena and Eunbi were there as well. She recognized the girl holding onto Yena’s hand from an earlier meeting: Yuri, Yena’s girlfriend. Apparently the two had been dating for over two years now after Yena accidentally knocked her over while running late to the office (classic Yena, by the way).

 

Chaewon told Minjoo about Hyewon, the girl sitting next to Eunbi with an obvious blot of space between them. The two had known each other since high school. Apparently Eunbi was too proud to admit that she had a thing for Hyewon, and Hyewon was too carefree and dense to make the first move. Chaewon jokingly told her that she had considered hiring someone to flirt with Eunbi just to get Hyewon to do something. The two were infuriating, but they were cute nonetheless.

 

The last two faces she had seen around the station when she went to visit Chaewon and the rest. Hitomi and Nako were fairly new deputies, but they had integrated well and were known for their deceivingly cute features. Rumor has it that Nako once drop-kicked a man twice her size into the ground while fending off three others, and Hitomi was unmatched with any sort of weaponry. They made a scary duo, even though they were small enough to fit inside of Minjoo’s pocket. Yena was sure that the two had a thing for the other, but both insisted that their hearts were made of steel and had no room for affection. Thus, Yena pretended not to notice when Hitomi would bring in chocolate cake specifically for Nako, or when Nako went out of her way to stop by that cafe with the bread that Hitomi liked.

 

“Yujin, Wonyoung, please, would you just hold hands already? This is getting frustrating,” Chaewon calls out with the coolness of an older sister wanting to embarrass her younger sibling. If Wonyoung weren’t busy gaping like a fish, she would have pushed Chaewon off of the blanket as soon as she sat down beside her.

 

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

 

“I would never hold Wonyoung’s hand!”

 

Chaewon just laughs with everyone else at the two youngest who were burning a bright red. It was ridiculous how neither had made a move, even after everything. Their hands were so close to each other on the picnic blanket that the slightest move would cause them to touch. The tension was so palpable and so obvious. Chaewon regularly teased both for it.

 

“Oh, leave them alone. They both look like they’re about to combust,” Minjoo says while trying to stop her own laughter. They’re only saved by their last guest joining them, effectively preventing further teasing.

 

“Hey guys!”

 

At the familiar voice, Chaewon and Wonyoung smile widely (with Wonyoung’s cheeks still flushed pink, of course). This was someone both of them knew well, although in different capacities. After they found out, it was a shock for both of them, but the girl had a good laugh about it. After all, she had spent a good chunk of her time being Wonyoung’s secret informant. When she wasn’t doing that, she was the daughter of one of the higher-ups in the gang and Chaewon’s only real “friend” in the organization.

 

Now, they could put all that behind them.

 

“Nice to meet you guys,” she grins at everyone else, sitting down in the empty spot not occupied by the pile of food.

 

“Took you long enough,” Chaewon jokes, slapping her friend on the back. Secretly, she whispers something into her ear.

 

“I think someone is into you,” she snickers, tilting her head to the person sitting in front of them.

 

Minjoo overhears and laughs behind her hand. She knew Sakura well, and she was certain that the older girl was taking shy, curious glances at Chaewon’s friend. Minjoo made a mental note to make fun of her later. On the flip side, it was also amusing to see Chaewon’s friend, also an ex-gangster, blush like a school girl confronted by her crush.

 

“Go,” Chaewon whisper-yells. No way was she letting her pass up on this. Otherwise, she would likely die alone.

 

“Um, hi.”

 

Sakura’s eyes turn wide as she realizes who had spoken to her: the cute girl that had just entered their circle. When everyone else had greeted her in welcome, Sakura had mutely gawked at the attractive smile. She guessed that she didn’t hide it well, and her friends would certainly be teasing her about it later.

 

“Hi,” she squeaks out, coughing to regain her composure. “I’m Sakura.”

 

“Nice to meet you, Sakura,” the other girl beams with a smile that could light up the entire universe.

 

“I’m Chaeyeon.”

 

Chaeyeon.

 

Sakura responds with a smile equally as bright.

 

“Nice to meet you, Chaeyeon.”

 

Beside them, Chaewon and Minjoo were snickering to themselves watching the smitten pair. Neither had ever seen them going bonkers over anyone, so this was new and equally hilarious. How adorable.

 

“You’re still eating?!” Chaewon exclaims loudly while watching Hyewon devour three sandwiches and reach for another.

 

“It’s free real estate.”

 

“Well, look at those two! Those bean poles are inhaling the food,” Yena says accusingly, pointing towards Wonyoung and Yujin.

 

“Hey! What about Hitomi and Nako? Look at how tiny they are and yet they’ve already had three each!” Yujin replies defensively. She was a growing girl! Unable to respond due to being filled with food, Wonyoung just enthusiastically nods in agreement.

 

“You’re all acting like we didn’t bring all this food specifically because we knew that you are all fatasses,” Yuri challenges, shaking her head with a smile.

 

“You need food to kick as a deputy, okay?” Nako strongly claims, covered with crumbs. Hitomi nods her head in agreement and the two high five.

 

“I also need food to kick in my video games!” Sakura offers.

 

“That’s fair,” Chaeyeon shrugs, herself now a deputy needing to be fed as well.

 

“I can’t believe these are the people I trust to protect the city,” Eunbi mutters, her head in her hands.

 

“I could say the same about you, hag.” That comment earns Chaewon a hard glare, which in turn prompted her to stick her tongue out. Minjoo thought they were a whole lot of idiots.

 

She could already feel how chaotic and dysfunctional this group would be. Still, the energy made her smile. When she turned to her side and gazed at a still-bickering Chaewon, she felt like this was the pinnacle of her life, like this is what everything had led up to. So she could be this happy. It was absolutely crazy that this was only the beginning of something new, something different. And Chaewon would be right by her side through it all.

 

“YOU ASSWIPE!”

 

Okay, except this. Perhaps she was supposed to help her new girlfriend (the thought still made her giddy like a little girl). Chaeyeon had thrown a piece of ham at Chaewon’s face, and all she could do was laugh.

 

And laugh, and laugh, and laugh, all throughout the evening, her fingers laced through Chaewon’s.

 

~~~

 

It was surreal to be back here. The last time they had been together at this secluded spot, Minjoo’s special, secret place, things had been different. Way different.

 

Although, laying against the tree with Minjoo in her arms and her father locked behind bars was a welcome change. Much better, actually.

 

The sun had gone to sleep for the night a long while ago. The temperature had fallen, but it was still just cold enough for a thin sweater. There was the occasional rustle of tree branches flitting in the wind, or leaves being blown this way and that. Otherwise, it was quiet. Just them.

 

“I don’t think I’ll go back down to the tunnels anymore. It’ll feel weird after we used it to ambush my dad and his men,” Chaewon laughs, absent-mindedly fiddling with Minjoo’s hair. It was always so soft.

 

Besides, down in the tunnels, there was no sunlight, no fresh air. Just dampness, coldness. It was a self-made cage made so that she could pretend that everything was safe. Chaewon didn't need that anymore. Yes, she used to love that dank hole, but she loved it for all the reasons that no longer existed. Because she had Minjoo. Because she had so much more than she did before.

 

"Oh, well, how about we share then? This place. Our place."

 

The warmth that spreads through her body makes its way to her lips, the edges curling upwards in a loving smile. She couldn’t help but place a kiss on the top of Minjoo’s head, tightening her hold just a fraction just to make sure that this was all real. It still surprised her that it was.

 

“Our place.”

 

The life Chaewon led up til now had been terribly dangerous; as a result, she became pretty dangerous as well. She was a flight risk, a girl forced into an awful role by her equally awful father. After that, everything else was dangerous too: her feelings, her emotions, her fears, her thoughts, her dreams… and that made everything fall apart. But…

 

“I love you,” Minjoo mumbled, peeking up at Chaewon with cheeks dusted pink.

 

Things are different now. Chaewon didn’t want to be dangerous anymore; she didn’t want to be alone or feared. She wanted to be the provider of safety, of love, of care, and with Minjoo by her side (and the rest of the gang, apparently), she would do just that.

 

The smiles they share are far more beautiful than even the view in front of them. They were tender and warm, smiles that silently shared just how deep their feelings ran. They were smiles that knew the promise of forever, no matter how harsh that forever would be. Together, no matter what.

 

Forever and always, Minjoo.

 

Forever and always.

 

“I love you too.”