Extra Chapter 3.1: Jisoo’s Story

Rec Song - Rewrite The Stars by Zac Efron and Zendaya

Jisoo was standing right outside the police station, talking to her partner with a cup of coffee despite the humidity of the summer because it was too early that morning when a taxi passed by and her eyes met those of a girl looking outside the taxi window. It was random but it could also be the right place at the right time because she met the girl’s eyes just as she was looking out at her. She knew the girl saw her but was not surprised when she quickly looked away when she saw her looking at her, too. The officer was not the prettiest girl in the world and she was wearing a police uniform.

“What are you looking at?” her partner asked, looking at her weirdly because maybe, she might have been ignoring what her partner was saying for the last five minutes and just blankly staring at the road where the taxi passed by. “Are you listening to me?”

“Yeah, of course. I just remembered something my mother asked me to get this weekend,” she made an excuse but what she was really thinking at the moment was how we always see strangers who we thought could be the one. But they never were. Because they were, after all, only strangers.

Jeju was fairly peaceful compared to bigger, more populated cities such as Seoul and everything was almost always under control except for troublesome tourists from time to time, drunk old men and women sometimes, and children pulling each other’s hair at times. She was expecting another quiet walk home when she heard someone screaming.

Alarmed, she quickly called her partner, told him what she heard, and informed him he was going to go after what she heard. Of course, she has her gun with her as she walked towards the street a block away from the playground where she was currently walking. It was a street with old houses that some were already abandoned. It was no wonder someone would choose this place to commit a crime.

Sure enough, she was right. “Hey, stop right there!” she shouted authoritatively as she saw a man grabbing a girl’s bag. The girl was struggling to hold on to her bag and she was already on the ground, holding on as if her life depends on it.

The man, in faded jeans and face mask covering half of his face, looked to her direction. He probably hesitated because he gave enough time for the girl to pull her bag but not enough to stand up and run. He grabbed her hair and tried to get hold of her bag again.

“Put your hands up or I will shoot!” Jisoo warned, keeping her gun on the man as she assessed if he holding no dangerous weapon. Fortunately, upon getting a closer look, he seemed to be a teenager who was trying to prey on some tourists for quick cash and he has no weapon with him. They have problematic teenangers like this sometimes.

She dropped her gun and sighed. “Come on, kid. There’s no way to go. I already called backup and they’re coming with your parents,” she bluffed because usually, this works.

The young man, probably around fifteen to seventeen, looked worried and immediately let go of the girl’s bag. He seemed to be in a dilemma whether to run or not when Jisoo gave him nothing to think about. “The best thing for you to do is come with me to the station, kid,” she explained, “if you don’t want to cause more problems to your parents.” The parents card almost usually works even with teenagers.

It was just then that her partner arrived and got the snatcher to come with him so he can give him lessons about stealing, staining the name of Jeju for few cash, and the future of criminals which is, well, none. Usually, young people like this only do this one time and if they get enough things to think about when they get caught, they’ll not do it again.

When the thief who turns to be a junior in middle school only was already apprehended, Jisoo rushed towards the girl to see if she was okay. As she got closer to her, she realized it was worse than was she thought. It was the middle of summer and she was wearing shorts. Of course, there was nothing wrong with that when she thought it was going to be hot today but being dragged by a kid a foot taller than her probably didn’t cross her mind when she was considering what she was going to wear that day. She probably has all her cash on that bag. Maybe cards and IDs, too.

The girl’s hair was all over her face and she was still recovering from the struggle, panting heavily as she clutched her bag to her chest, when Jisoo’s hand touched her shoulder. “Are you okay?” It was stupid, she knew, but it was the standard question.

She drew the hair from her face and looked at the police officer.

She thought the universe was strange enough but she didn’t think it could be stranger until that moment when for the second time that day, their eyes met. It was still the same day when she thought how many strangers would your eyes meet all your life and how one of them could be the one for you. She was thinking at that moment the probability of meeting the same stranger in the same day.

It was her.

And maybe she recognized her, too, because she looked a little surprised, too. She stood up, brushing the dirt off her knees, but almost fell back down. Her right knee was bleeding badly and there were bruises on her other leg as well.

“You’re hurt,” Jisoo stated because the girl didn’t seem to realize that as she caught her by the waist. She noticed she was only a little taller than the girl which was new because she always a lot taller than most girls.

“I’m fine,” the girl insisted even though she was leaning against the police officer. “Thank you for rescuing me.”

“You need to get treated,” Jisoo told her, trying to ignore the close proximity of the girl’s face to her and how she could almost feel her breath when she speaks. She was supposed to be professional but she couldn’t help but look at her face. It was painfully distracting. She wasn’t strikingly beautiful, no, but she was striking, and that wasn’t meant to be offended. “You’re a tourist, right? What’s your name?”

“Seulgi,” the girl — Seulgi, replied, trying to keep up with the officer’s pace but failing to do so. She knew she was wounded but she didn’t realize it hurt until now. “My name is Kang Seulgi.”

“I’m Kim Jisoo,” she told her. “Hang in there, okay?”

“Officer Kim,” Seulgi muttered, feeling the weakest she felt in a long while. “Thank you for saving me.”

She fell asleep in the car on the way to the police station because she still needs to be questioned after expressing for the third time how thankful she was for her and when she looked at her, eyes closed, she noticed tears on her lids and wondered how frightened she must have been, alone, in a place she wasn’t familiar with, struggling with her life with what she was holding on to live. Fortunately, her wounds weren’t serious when she was treated at the station.

Seulgi’s friends arrived shortly after she gave her official statement about what happened. Apparently, she decided to go alone and explore that day while her friends were fast asleep at the place they rented to stay in for their trip after their travel. That was why she was alone. She received a lot of scolding about going off alone and some guilt talking about losing her like that.

“I’m fine, guys,” she laughed despite the weariness in her eyes, the bandages in her legs, and everything she went through that afternoon. “Officer Kim saved me.”

She sincerely thanked everyone on the station even though it was only Jisoo who literally saved her. Then, she and her friends thanked Jisoo again for saving her, for helping her to get her wounds treated, for staying with her until they arrived, and for helping them get home. It was already around ten in the evening when they arrived at the studio apartment they rented twenty minutes away from the station. It was honestly a little near to Jisoo’s place that she didn’t mind driving them there. Actually, she didn’t mind at all.

They were staying there for five days. Her friends told her while they were waiting for Seulgi to wake up. It was their group trip after a long while. They were all looking forward for that week off everything they had back home in Seoul. She didn’t even realize she was counting the days off until it was their last day and she was staring at the road when her partner walked up to her and said to her, “You can go first.”

Jisoo looked at him as if he just lost his mind.

“Bring her some flowers. I don’t know,” her partner shrugged, scratching the back of his head. Like he knows exactly what’s going on but he still does not want to spell everything out for her. “Tell her it’s from the whole station.”

It was stupid and it was impulsive. Perhaps she just lost her mind as well but she quickly got on her feet and drove towards the airport, not before stopping to buy a bouquet with flowers someone could only get from Jeju.

The airport was packed that afternoon but fortunately, she found one of her friends and then, she found her. She thought this was crazy but when she saw her and the bandages in her knees and how she was still laughing and smiling like she didn’t go through hell and back a few days ago, she figured the universe could only do so much and that she had to do something herself as well.

She approached her and when Seulgi saw her, the way she beamed at her was both a good thing and not. When she smiled at her, she didn’t know how to stop walking towards her but at the same time, the butterflies won’t stop riding rollercoasters in her stomach.

“Officer Kim,” she greeted her politely.

“I just wanted to see you guys off,” Jisoo explained sheepishly. She didn’t know if she sounded lying or whatever but she didn’t want to scare her off by telling her she just wanted to see her actually. Even if this might be the last time. “And this is from the whole station,” she showed her the bouquet of flowers. “We hope,” she continued, reminding herself to thank her partner for the idea later, “that what happened won’t stop you from coming back.”

“Thank you,” Seulgi took the flowers. “This is beautiful. And it’s beautiful here. I’ll definitely be back, Officer Kim.”

Jisoo hoped she wasn’t grinning too wide but maybe she was and she couldn’t care. The only thing that was running her mind was Seulgi said she was going to be back. Even though she didn’t know when that will be, it was enough for her to know that she would be. But maybe some courage kicked in because she pulled her calling card and said, “If there’s any problem at all when you come here next time, don’t hesitate to call me.”

She took the card and looked at it. “I don’t think we’d be back soon but I’ll hold on to this. Thank you.”

That was enough for her. She wasn’t expecting for anything at all. She just wanted her to know that there was someone she could come back here to. That was a bit farfetched, to think that she would be a reason for her to come back, but it wasn’t wrong to dream.

It was an hour and a half later when she received a message from an unknown number that said, “Officer Kim, it’s Kang Seulgi. We just arrived in Seoul. When you come here next time, please send me a message. I’d like to treat you a meal. Thank you for saving me again. Take care always.”

Jisoo might screamed a little at the police station after reading that message. She immediately saved the phone number and wrote it down as well because she never knew when her phone would break or get lost and searched for the next trainings and seminars at Seoul.

--

A/N: This extra chapter is to give depth about Jisoo and Seulgi's characters and relationship. And also, for Jisoo x Seulgi shippers. By the way, there's this poll on Facebook about the ultimate girl ship and the last two ships standing are SeulRene and MinaYeon (Twice's Mina and Nayeon) and one comment is so severe I had good laugh when I read it: HOW COULD YOU GUYS LET SEULRENE LOSE?!!! Like no other ship deserves to be the ultimate girl ship.

How's everyone's Valentine's? No matter where you are, or what you do, or who you are, I hope you don't feel too lonely today, whether if you're with someone or not, physically or not. Lonely's not that bad but try another day. xo - Elle