Joohyun drowsily stared at the muted meter-wide TV she has in her room, illuminating the whole space with bland colors of every passing scene on the monitor. Image after image was displayed but none of them registered in her brain.

She was so tired.

It was a long day and she’s more than ready to get some rest, but her insensitive brain decided that this ungodly hour was the right time to stay up and contemplate the complexities of life.

Moderate rain pattered rhythmically outside, droplets of water ran down her window glasses and occasional streaks of lightning flashed on the horizon closely followed by rumbles of thunder that shattered the silence of the night. The warmth of the blanket covering her shoulders was very comforting against the cold weather. And with her already heavy lids, one more blink was usually all she needed before drifting off to nothingness.

The TV suddenly sparked out, as well as the streetlights outside, even the nightlight plugged into the wall.

“God…” Joohyun groaned sleepily, not really caring about the power outage, just complaining for the sake of complaining.

She opted to lay down the couch to wait for sleep instead of walking to her bed which was just a few meters away because, well, she’s just too lazy and tired. And it’s her house, y’all, she can do whatever she wanted.

Joohyun was at her twenty-first sheep when she heard a dull thudding sound against her wooden floors. She raised her head and quickly thought about the possible factors that could have contributed to that sound.

First off, her dog was spending the night at the vet. Second, she does not own a cat. Third, there’s no other person in the house at the moment except for her. So, unless something fell off the shelf without the help of outside forces – winds and such – her brand-new house was suddenly haunted.

Or maybe a burglar?

Joohyun’s body fully awakened as she kicked off her blanket and tiptoed as silently as she could out of her room. Her hallways were illuminated by the bright emergency lights so she didn’t have the advantage of the darkness.

As she peeped out of the corner on the way to her living room, a figure in black jacket and black sweatpants without shoes and dripping rainwater was looking around as if considering where to go first.

The sudden surge of adrenaline prompted Joohyun to shout furiously and startled the unknown person.

The thief tried to run away but Joohyun was already sprinting at full speed and tackled the dark clothed stranger who was trying to climb back on the open window where he gained entry from. The momentum threw them both on the floor and they rolled a few times, and when they stopped Joohyun was atop the thief and has her hands on something soft and squishy.

Wait… s?

Joohyun’s eyes widened in surprise when she realized what she was grabbing. She quickly pinned down the arms of the person and put her full weight on the thief’s stomach instead. With the aid of her emergency lights, she tried to have a look at the stranger’s face which was hard since she was wearing a face mask.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my house?!”

The thief coughed twice behind the mask, she seemed stunned. “Please don’t call the police.”

“Take off your mask if you don’t want me to hand you to the authorities,” Joohyun said, still wary. “And don’t you dare try to get away.”

The girl shook her head slowly, still kind of groggy. “I won’t.”

“Okay, I’m gonna let go of your left hand,” Joohyun eased her grasp on the girl’s arm. “No sudden movements or I swear I will punch you.”

The girl sluggishly ripped her mask aside and squinted up at Joohyun, probably half-blinded by the harsh emergency lights.

“Please don’t call the police,” she repeated, her voice husky and silent.

Joohyun stared at her for a while, not expecting that pretty face behind the mask framed by dark brown hair sporting streaks of blonde at the ends. She also looked intoxicated, not to mention that her breath carried a scent of alcohol. There was a small cut on her forehead which had a bit of blood – she must’ve knocked her head on the floor when Joohyun tackled her.

“Are you trying to rob me?”

The girl coughed again and wheezed. “Before I answer, can you get up? It’s really hard to breath.”

Joohyun reluctantly stood and braced herself in case the thief took off again.

The girl didn’t try to run away though. She just sat up and gasped for air, then rubbed her face with her hands as if to wash away the remains of alcohol in her system.

“I’m sorry, you were really heavy. I’m just-” the girl looked up at her, thought about it for a while, and then just gave up. “I’m sorry, please don’t turn me in.”

Joohyun folded her arms and lifted her brows, trying to look intimidating as heck. And she can look pretty intimidating if she wanted to.

“Were you trying to rob me?”

“No...” the girl replied, carefully choosing her next words. “Not exactly rob you, and I’m not a thief either. It was a stupid bet and I was drunk. Alcohol makes you really dumb. Or dumber, for this matter.”

“I’m sleeping over at my friend,” the stranger continued, and then she probably felt the pain of the cut on her forehead because she raised a hand to touch her tiny wound and she flinched slightly at the contact. “Her house is just across the street.”

“How do I know if that’s true?” Joohyun was still skeptical and she had the right to be. After all, her house was just broken into.

The girl gave her a pleading look. “I can give you my friend’s number and you can call her, I just came here this afternoon. Just please don’t call the police on me. I’m not really a bad person.”

Joohyun gave her a pointed look in return, still not budging from where she was standing. “You broke in my house, though.”

“I know, and I’m really sorry. If I did any damage, I can pay for them. Just please, my dad will kill me.”

Joohyun thought for a while, then made a decision.

“Wait here, don’t move. I’ll be back in a second,” she turned and started to walk toward her room but she sent the girl one last glare. “I’m warning you, don’t try to get away.”

The girl shook her head in reply. “I’m not in a hurry to go back out in the rain, also I’m getting this massive headache.”

When Joohyun came back with some stuff including a first-aid kit, the girl was still sitting on the floor, having not moved an inch.

“Come on,” she motioned to the girl. “I don’t want to see you bleeding all over my floor, follow me.”

The girl carefully got to her feet, a little wobbly at first but managed to follow Joohyun to the kitchen which was also lighted up by an emergency light. Joohyun must have installed emergency lights in every corner of her house which proved rather smart especially in this particular situation.

“Sit down,” Joohyun dumped an armful of things on the table and pointed to one of the chairs. “Do you want something to drink?”

The girl sat on the empty chair and rested her arms on the table. “Do you have coffee?”

“In a while, take off your jacket, it’s wet,” Joohyun handed her a towel. “Dry off and then put these on.”

The girl’s eyebrow rose doubtfully at the sight of the second thing that Joohyun gave her.

“It’s a handcuff.”

“Yes, it’s a handcuff,” Joohyun turned to her coffeemaker and started pouring in water.

“And it’s pink.”

“I’m glad you’re not colorblind.”

The girl threw her a very skeptical look. “You want me to put these on?”

Joohyun sighed while measuring ground coffee beans. “I still don’t trust you and I don’t have a reason to, but I don’t want to point a knife at you just to make sure that you’re not gonna do anything weird while you’re here, hence the handcuff.”

“Fine,” the girl rolled her eyes but gave in and shed off her jacket, she hung it on the edge of another chair, then grabbed the towel and started drying her hair.

“What’s your name?” Joohyun asked while turning the coffee maker on.

“Wendy.”

“I’m Joohyun. Are you just walking around barefooted?”

The girl – Wendy – continued to dry her hair rather vigorously. “No, I left my shoes outside of your window. I don’t want to track mud all over the place.”

“Hmmn,” Joohyun glanced at her and raised an amused eyebrow. “That’s very considerate of you.”

Wendy gave her a loop-sided grin. “Sorry for breaking in.”

Joohyun shrugged and sat down, then opened the first aid kit. “First time for everything.”

She got out some cotton, a tiny bottle of alcohol, a wound ointment, a bandage, and a pad of painkillers while Wendy handcuffed herself.

“Don’t move,” Joohyun took hold of Wendy’s chin and closely inspected the cut. It wasn’t much, an inch in length but there was some blood because head wounds can bleed a lot. She poured some alcohol on the cotton and started to clean the wound.

“Are you on the force?” Wendy asked, wincing as the cotton touched her skin.

“No, why?”

“Why do you have the handcuffs?” she asked again, then realization hit her like a truck. “Oh... I see. Wow. That’s really interesting.”

Joohyun could feel her whole face burning from embarrassment, her cheeks almost mirrored the color of her hair. “Can we not talk about the cuffs?”

Wendy stared at her, the corner of turned up in a mischievous smirk. “Have you used this before on another person? I mean, since you’re using it on me, I’m very concerned if you’ve washed it-”

“No, I haven’t used it on another person, okay?” Joohyun snapped at her impatiently. “It’s not even mine, so please don’t assume anything.”

Wendy shrugged nonchalantly but her eyes were still alive with mischief. “Okaaaaay.”

“’kay, fine, it’s mine,” Joohyun finally confessed. “But it was a gift and I don’t owe you any explanation.”

“Okay, geez, calm down,” Wendy raised both of her hands – which were cuffed – in mock surrender.

There was a minute of silence between them and then, “Ow, that hurts.”

“I said, don’t move,” Joohyun scolded her even though she was aware that she pressed on the wound a little harder than necessary.

“I’m not even moving!”

“You’re fidgeting a lot, stop it,” Joohyun fu