“Ah,” a girl accidentally pricked her finger on a thorn bush. A small bead of blood emerged from the wound. Without hesitation, the girl put her finger in to stop the bleeding. She was about to continue collecting the items she wanted when her wrist was caught by someone. The sudden action caused her to remove her finger from .

“What are you doing? That’s disgusting,” a male voice droned. She turned to the person who was holding her hand and now bandaging her finger. “Chani, it’s fine,” she rolled her eyes at her younger brother. He was seriously overprotective for no reason. They hadn’t gone through any traumatic experiences in their lives. So, his behavior was still a mystery to her.

With much attention to fixing her injury, Chani tied off the little bandage he had put on her finger. He looked up at her, “Minnie, I feel like you’re going to really get into trouble one day, and I won’t be there to save you. You’re too careless especially when you’re playing with poison all the time.” “It’s my business. Quit pestering me about it,” she tsked at him. Before she continued on the path, she turned around, holding up her injured finger, “Thank you, my angel.” Chani was about to run after her when she stuck out her tongue and ran off. He really hated when she called him that.

…

A few hours later, Minnie had all that she needed to experiment with making her poisons. She was the best alchemist in the town, in fact, she was the ONLY alchemist in town. The townspeople were too fearful of poisons that they didn’t even care to learn about them in case they were poisoned accidentally. The only other person who Minnie could talk to about her experiments was Jaeyoon who was an herbalist who lived in the forest. Jaeyoon lived a distance away so Minnie didn’t go to his place often. He had told her about some good places to look for poisonous plants when she did visit though.

On her way to her workshop, Minnie realised that there was another ingredient that she needed. She had thought up an idea of selling a perfume poison on the black market to the highest bidder. The perfume would be a great way to quickly and easily assassinate someone. Minnie knew that people would think she was a lunatic for wanting to make such a deadly tool, but she was obsessed with her strange hobby.

Turning around, Minnie started down a path which was unfamiliar to her. There didn’t appear to be wagon tracks or hoof prints in the dirt of the path either. Strangely, Minnie felt like she would find the scent for her potion if she followed this way to an unknown place. It was only a couple hours past noon so she thought that she could be back before nightfall without her family worrying too much.

Her feet started to feel strained from walking for so long. Minnie set down her bag of poisonous ingredients and took off her shoes one by one as she pounded on her feet to relieve them. When she stood back up, she realized that she was standing next to a stone wall which was covered in greenery. Tall, sharp iron spikes decorated the top of the wall for as much of it as she could see.

Curious as to if this wall contained a garden within it, Minnie raced to where she believed the entrance to be. Upon reaching a gate, she found that she was correct. She tried the gate and was slightly surprised to find it was unlocked.

There appeared to be lively shrubs and trees growing at the front of the garden. This was definitely a stark contrast to the dying foliage she had witnessed on the way there and outside the wall. Looking around for something she could use, Minnie finally noticed a pop of red. She hoped that she would find a flower and was joyful when many vibrant rose bushes were present before her eyes. The roses were deep red and soft to the touch when she began pulling the petals off one by one.

She placed a good deal of roses into her velveteen ingredient bag before she sensed someone was watching her. As she turned around to look, her arm was firmly grasped, and she came face to face with a man who had sharp eyes and dark hair.

She didn’t know what to say as she began stuttering, “I- um- I didn’t kno-” He cut her off, “You destroyed them.” His tone was flat and accusing. She knew she should have made sure that the roses belonged to someone, but she just didn’t really care. However, she did want him to release her arm. She tried to pull back, but his grip was stable.

Upset at his strength, Minnie retorted, “Will you let me go now? I’m busy.” He scoffed in disbelief at her curt remark and leaned forward more. “Listen well,” he began, “You’re not leaving until you’re punished for your crime.”

**.**.**.**.**

How was it? I've been wanting to write this story for a while. 🙃

Songs I listen to for story vibe inspiration:
Rose’s (YOO TAEYANG and ZUHO) *Soundcloud
Stole (YOO TAEYANG and ZUHO) *Soundcloud
Fear (SEVENTEEN) *listened to it after starting the story*
Mystery Lover (TAEMIN)
UH-OH ((G)I-dle)
Married to the Music (SHINee)
Monster (EXO)
Obsession (EXO)
EXODUS (EXO)
UN Village (BAEKHYUN)
Fantasy (VIXX)
Shadow (TAEMIN)
I’m in Trouble (NU’EST)
Criminal (TAEMIN)

Research info about Poisons and Perfumes:
https://perfumesociety.org/the-poison-the-remedy-welcome-to-the-darker-side-of-scent/