The sound of the heater and the machine's engine filled the room. Under the green light sat Joy who had Wendy sleeping soundly on her lap. The temperature had seemed to increase. Lee should do something with the heater, she thought.

"Would you?" silence. Joy watched the woman. How can someone be so pretty and mysterious at the same time? Although there were times she doubted Wendy, she wanted to put her trust onto the girl just like how the latter trust her. They needed to trust each other when it came down to deals and stuff. And of course, they needed it for a healthy relationship. A business relationship, she meant, if it made sense.

"Wendy's not a bad person. I trust her." Lee watched the girl play with the blonde's hair. Yup. That is exactly how you look at your friend. Not like Joy would know, yet. She wouldn't understand it in an instant. Being totally unaware of your own feelings and emotions is probably the worst. Second is being oblivious. Well according to Lee that was. Not like it mattered. Joy seemed to possess both traits.

"You're not gonna do something, are you?" Joy added and shot him a serious glare. Lee raised both of his hands in the air with a smile, an indication that he is innocent. He had no intention of interfering or putting his nose in their business in any way. He just wanted to see Joy's reaction, really. " Do I have to bribe you, huh, Lee?". The said man chuckled lowly and began coding something on his computer again.

"Don't get the wrong idea. There's no need for any of that. I've had people with worst cases go visit my shop. Have done completely nothing. Cops ask me about them, and I just deny everything. It's simple. Don't act sus and you won't get caught." Joy felt relieved. For a second, she took a moment to look around the room again and back at Lee.

"Do they not know about this, your basement?"

"Nope. Not at all. If they do find out about it, I'm a deadman. And so is my brother."

"Maybe you should take your bulletin down. If they see this, they'll find out you've been lying all along." Lee chuckles again.

"Ahhh, I think it's pretty exciting. I like waking up in the morning with the possibility of ending up in jail, you know. I'm an adrenaline junkie." he said half-joking.

"You're a weird dude." Joy remarked.

"Aren't you the same?" Lee took out the aluminum plate from the machine and began wiping it. "You're with a missing person despite the consequences. You're just like me. You like the thrill don't you?" Joy couldn't disagree. Despite the deal that kept her going, the thrill did excite her. But besides that, she did want to help Wendy. There was a strong desire to protect the woman and she couldn't pinpoint the exact reason why.

"I guess."

Lee walked towards her, handing her the plate number.

"She likes you a lot." Joy gave him a confused look. "You didn't know?" he added.

"Well, she said I'm a fun person to be with." Joy replied with a smile creeping in the corner of her lips when she remembered

"Why do you think she said that? Anything comes to mind?" Joy had to blink a couple times as if it would help her process what Lee was trying to say. "Ahh, you're one of those people huh? Oblivious." Lee chuckled at her.

"Sorry. I don't follow." Joy smiled apologetically.

"Bless your soul." Poor girl, was all Lee thought.

...

Wendy and Joy had to use the restroom at the shop just to dye Wendy's hair. "We cannot leave this shop unless you're hair's black! Your stand out too much!" was what Joy said to a complaining and hungry Wendy.

It was a single restroom, one of those uni ones and Wendy had a big grin on her face as she locked the door. The latter wasn't quite sure what there was to be excited for but she chose to ignore the woman. She began by mixing the dye solution. Wendy was sat on the covered toilet seat, manspreading as she watched Joy with a smug expression plastered on her face. Joy met her eyes through the reflection on the mirror with a glare. It's so much better when she's sleeping, Joy thought.

"You're pretty good at using your hands." Wendy chuckled at her own innuendo while Joy only rolled her eyes in response.

"Take off your shirt," she said, sternly which had Wendy acting up for a second and she couldn't wipe away the excitement on her face.

Wendy liked that.

"Acting boldly now, are we?" Wendy remarked as she began ing her shirt. Joy was unable to hide the redness on her face and turned away from the woman.

"I don't want to ruin your high-end top."

"You mean, you?" Joy wasn't stupid. She knew just what Wendy was doing. It almost seemed like Wendy was obsessed with teasing her. Joy couldn't believe it herself how her patience hasn't run out yet and she could only wonder what she'd do the moment she blows up. It wouldn't be too good, that was all she knew. And Wendy didn't have to know that.

"Do you want this to get it over with or what?" Joy faced the mirror and shut her eyes close out of exasperation.

"You can look. You're acting like you haven't seen it before..." Wendy replied, again, with the same teasing tone.

The taller girl turned around and without hesitation, she walked towards the woman, grabbed her shirt and hanged it behind the door. Wendy's almost topless self was dragged to the mirror and she was greatly stunned at the action. She really was good at pushing Joy's buttons.

"Don't move. I may have thrifted those jeans that you're wearing but I don't want them ruined. Don't want any stains on them, you know."

"Do you like it on me?"

"Sure, whatever, just don't move. This is me asking you nicely." Joy began applying the dye on her hair. She gently applied it to Wendy's hair. Occasionally, Joy's fingers would brush off against Wendy's neck. Wendy would seldom let out a moan to tease Joy but the latter would only send her death glares. Wendy did not have to lie, Joy was extremely attractive when she's focused. And also, when she would give her death glares.

"One more moan, I swear to God." Joy said almost with a growl.

"Or what? Are you going to kiss me?" Joy abruptly stopped and gave Wendy a grim look. The latter could feel Joy gripping her hair with a little more force. It was working, Wendy thought. She's slowly draining Joy's patience. She would've kissed her any moment from now but her hair was covered with a black dye and she didn't want to ruin their clothes.

Joy let out a sigh in defeat.

When the application process was finished, they waited for another 30 minutes inside the bathroom. Neither of them said anything to each other until Hayoung called Joy. Turned out that madman didn't suspect Hayoung at all and just took his dog and left. When Wendy heard about it, she cracked up saying that he is kind of stupid. They were both relieved upon hearing the news. Haetnim's doing just fine. Hayoung then tells them to be safe before bidding goodbye.

Joy's timer went off, 30 minutes was over and she carefully washed the dye off Wendy's hair. The latter thought it was relaxing to have someone wash your hair. Maybe not just someone. She wouldn't consider Joy "someone". If you're basically putting your life on someone's hands and vice versa, then she's more than that. And then she wondered when will be the next time Joy would be so physically gentle with her?

As Joy was helping Wendy dry her hair, they heard sirens from afar. They had a moment of silence and looked at each other for a split second, realizing how bad the situation they were in.

"! What do we do?" she panicked in a hushed tone. Joy took the dye bottle and forced it down the toilet along with its package and everything that came with it.

The bell in Lee's shop rang followed by Lee's enthusiastic "Welcome!" and then by a "How's it going?" from the cop. Joy threw Wendy's shirt at her which Wendy quickly put on.

"There's two of them." Joy stated calmly, referring to the cops, both looked identical to each other.

"! What now?"

"I don't know. My head's ing empty right now. It's not made for this kind of situation." Joy peeked through the narrow gap while Wendy looked around, looking for an escape route but there was nothing. The vent wasn't big enough to fit them or her alone.

At this time, Joy was alarmed when the cops started mentioning the car parked outside for looking "similar to the car we were chasing an hour ago or so."

Lee kept the smile on his face. He couldn't use the "it's my car" excuse because once they find her and Wendy in the bathroom, that's more trouble of explaining.

Lee stated that he has some costumers who are currently using the bathroom and " are doing their thing" and it wouldn't be a good idea if they barge inside. However, the cops insisted and Joy could only look at Wendy if she's got anything in mind. The woman shook her head nervously.

"There are no escape routes. And it would be useless if we do escape."

"You're right. They probably already have the license plate down and running away means I'm gonna go on their wanted list. ." Joy swore under her breath. She looked around the room one more time and shut her eyes. She's smart, she should at least have something in mind.

She looked at Wendy and was distracted right away by the three undone buttons that Wendy didn't bother fixing because of the panic felt. Her gaze traveled up to Wendy's neck, then to her sharp jawlines then to her lips.

"Focus! This isn't the time for this!" she murmured to no one in particular and was inaudible to Wendy who was too occupied with escaping.

And then it dawned Joy Park.

"They're doing their thing and it wouldn't be a good idea if you barge inside." the words replayed in Joy's head after the realization hit her. It was a signal! And there was no other way for them. She could feel her face heating up and she could feel the red hue painting her cheeks. Damn, Lee! How could he be smart and ed up at the same time?

When Lee started walking towards their way follow