"I guess thing's didn't go as planned?" 

Yunho teased as Ara walked out the cafe, he could tell she didn't quite like it - he found it amusing nonetheless that he had found a way to irk her. He had been watching the exchange between her and the other boy, Mingi he recalled that was his name. And unlike Ara, Yunho did feel bad for him and his story about his childhood friend's fate.  He couldn't imagine what Jeong Yunho had to go through, and for Mingi to experience losing a friend like that - not even knowing his fate now yet still wanting to save him. 

There was a wild thought in his mind, that maybe there was a small possibility that...

No, there's no way. 

"I'm very much aware of that," Ara grumbled. "I guess I'll have to make a plan B now,"

"So basically...you don't have a backup plan?"

"Not helping!" Ara fussed, crossing her arms in response. Funny enough it made Yunho grin, he wasn't exactly sure why though. It had already been near midnight, he realized; the city lights dimming the shimmer of stars in the sky, Yunho also remembered that he had once again, delayed telling her his secrets. Oh well, all that I have is time. He thought wistfully, besides Jocelyn was probably on the nightshift at the moment as it was a Tuesday. He had his arms behind his back, looking up into the sky very briefly. 

"Is this really all about the money?" he asked, looking down at her. Ara's hair had come undone, he didn't realise when had she loosened the knot and there was a stray lock that he so wanted to push behind her ear. In all her snarkiness, he genuinely liked following her around. 

She shrugged, "Why do you ask?" 

"First you were so eager to help me, then now you're busy solving the mystery of some company heir - so much to the point you were willing to break into a house. So tell me, Kim Ara - is this really all for money?" 

"Those are two completely separate things," she reasoned. "I'm helping you because I want to, and the other one...I guess the money is sub-factor- god why am I even telling you this?" she groaned aloud, and random passersby glanced curiously at her. She didn't seem like she cared now. "You're just...some ghost."

Yunho acted hurt, "Wow that's a low blow,"

"I'm kidding alright?" she softened. "Fine for a ghost I barely befriended for a few weeks you seem to read through me, maybe more than myself," Ara murmured. "It's probably some weird intuition in me and it makes me want to do things I shouldn't care about, well I shouldn't be surprised since I can talk to ghosts...maybe I just don't know," ultimately she sighed. 

"It's okay to not know," Yunho answered softly with a faint smile. "Trust me,  I know exactly how that feels and it's really not that bad,"

Maybe she had been keeping it all in herself for so long, and that invisible wall had crumbled. She doubled over laughing, over a joke that wasn't even that funny, until her stomach hurt; meanwhile Yunho was startled by Ara's sudden burst of laughter, he broke into a pleased grin. "Are, are you okay? People are watching..."

She recovered from it, wiping away her tears, "To...to damn what people think," she breathed. "Maybe you're not so bad of company after all, Ghost Boy. Not bad all." And then silence followed, she gazed up at him, her dark eyes reflected the glaring light of the shops, her hands almost touching Yunho's, where his pure white sleeves almost covered his knuckles. This quiet they were experiencing was unlike any other, it felt still and yet Yunho enjoyed it. She would see if he did it, he wondered if that was overstepping boundaries for him to do so? For her, it would just be like a gust of wind colder to the touch (that was how Jocelyn had described it to him, a feeling that was there and absent at the same time) and surely, Ara was fine by that right?

He felt his fingers brush against hers, the warmth of her skin and sooner than he realized, he salvaged that feeling - fingers intertwining with hers. Yunho closed his eyes, imagining himself actually holding onto her hand as if he was alive, his heartbeat as clear as the ticking of a clock-

"Y-you're holding my hand," Ara said, shocked and that made Yunho open his eyes. "You're holding up my hand, Ghost Boy!"

Indeed it wasn't only in his head, right there and then his 'ghostly' hand was holding onto hers, suspended in mid-air. Chills went down his spine, his brain took a moment to adjust to the disbelief. Before he could say anything else, Ara's other hand grabbed hold of his - and the same thing had occurred. His hands were in hers, she was beaming in both gleeful disbelief and stunned excitement. Like he was the centre of the universe.

He could touch her and she felt it. 

"I, I, I don't understand," Yunho whispered, shaking his head in awe. "This never happened before, Jocelyn never had this happen..."

Despite it all, Ara caught that. "Wait who's Jocelyn?"

There was no other way. "I was going to tell you, Ara, I just never got the chance. I'm actually-" but he stopped as she held up a finger to his lips, she was still grinning like a madwoman. His heart skipped a beat. 

"Shh," she replied. "You can tell me everything later, just let me get some supper so we can talk about it all night okay?" her eyes gleamed as she continued to look at him. "Because you're definitely not an ordinary ghost." and she sprinted off into the convenience store next door, leaving Yunho once again, speechless.

He couldn't believe it himself and had little time to recover when he heard the next thing. 

"Who does she think we are? Slipping up a murder, nonsense!"

"We have been waiting for him to be alone...took him long enough."

Yunho whirled around, the two cloaked figures walked away, apparently unaware he had overheard their conversation. He felt uneasy letting it go, if someone was really about to get murdered...

He followed the men from behind.

The two men trailed all the way into the nearby park, like two peas in a pod - two rather oblivious peas in a pod apparently because they didn't even bother to look unsuspicious in public. Wearing hooded cloaks and mumbling in hushed tones was definitely suspicious, Yunho knew that was obvious. He glanced around the pedestrians, couples walking hand-in-hand, a few homesless people sleeping on the benches - of course, a few ghosts lurking about who were less than interested at what was going on. He decided to take a risk, and picked up pace - until he was an arm's length away from the two men. 

"Which one was it again?"

"There, the one with the bright red hair."

Yunho followed their direction, his eyes widened. They were pointing towards the other side of the lake, where there was a person walking towards the bridge - none other than Song Mingi. Panic struck Yunho, unsure of what to do. Why would two strange men want to murder him in broad daylight, or even moonlight? Then Yunho recalled what Ara had said about someone wanting to kill him, he didn't think she was being serious at the time. His stomach dropped when he saw the flash of a knife, they really were about to murder him in public. He continued to pace about desperately, he was a ghost after all so there was no way he could save him even if he wanted to-

He could now.

In the spurr of the moment, he didn't think about anything else and bolted. Nothing else mattered as his only goal was to reach the other side of the lake in time, before the two men arrived and they were picking up pace as well. His eyes locked on Mingi's bright red hair, his leather coat and the food box in his hand and of course, unaware that his life was in danger. Unassuming, he continued to walk as he whistled, all while Yunho was racing towards him at full speed. It had been a while since he ran like this, and he could definitely feel the soreness in his legs, he was running out of breath but the two hooded men were advancing as well. They were now nearing the bridge, where Mingi was already halfway past it-

"WATCH OUT!"

The first dagger went flying towards Mingi's direction, barely missing him and hit the bridge post, the wood exploding in a million shards; as Yunho lunged at him, pushing Mingi into the lake with the latter screaming in shock From above, he could hear a familiar voice. "Help! Help!" he recognised Ara's cries for help, pretty sure much higher pitched and dramatized. "Someone's fallen into the lake, help!"

Mingi still thrashed and tried to kick free, but Yunho locked his arms from behind, an advantage of being unbelievably tall he supposed. "Let go of me!" he relented, even though the boy couldn't see the invisible force dragging him across the water, and Yunho was unsure how long he could last keeping them in this position. The dark, freezing waters didn't make it easier, and he very much felt the numbing chill as if he was alive and he struggled to keep his eyes open-

He felt another pair of hands grab Mingi, it snapped him back to attention - only to relax when he realised it was only Ara. Soaking wet, but very much vexed. "Ara?" he managed to speak. 

"I leave you for one minute," she grumbled. "And I find you dragging someone in an ice cold pond, fantastic."

"Thanks?" 

"Shut up, I'm still very mad at you."