JAYWALK : Stop, Look, and Listen

Days passed, and another week started. The kindergarten kids are done with their outside activities at school. Sakura didn’t know why but she kind of missed hearing the children’s happy San tokki singing. But even without the kids, there’s always someone who would always cross the street to get to school. One day, traffic was going smoothly and the roads were wide and free.

“Ahhhh!!! I’m running late again! Argh!” Eunbi ran at her best while trying to carry her bag on her shoulder and her lunchbox on her other hand, along with a box filled with children's art materials. She finally saw the crosswalk. “There it is!” She finally reached it in a hurry. Lucky! That the light for pedestrians just turned green at the right timing, but…

Zoom!

“Hey watch out!”

“Kyah!”

Eunbi felt someone pull her with her back collar again. She lost balance and dropped all her things, but she fell into someone’s arms.

“Are you okay?” It was Sakura who got to pull her at that critical moment. A black sports car beat the red light. Sakura looked at Eunbi who was frozen and stunned at what she just experienced. “Minseok-ah don’t let the car get away!” Sakura sat Eunbi down on the ground to give her some space and angrily walked towards the car. The car window was already open and she saw the guy from another day again.

“You again!? You overspeed the other day and now you beat the red light! Didn’t you know someone was just about to cross and you almost killed her!?” She spat angrily. Eunbi heard someone’s yelling and finally got back to her senses. She watched as Sakura was busy reprimanding the driver. 

“Get out of the car.” The driver didn’t budge one bit. “I said get out! Before I drag you out myself!” The driver flinched and got out of the car hesitantly. Sakura grabbed his leather jacket and pulled him with it and approached Eunbi.

“Say ‘sorry’ to the woman.” Sakura commanded. The guy didn’t oblige, so Sakura repeated it again. "Apologize!" The guy flinched and got scared for his own life and bowed down 90 degrees.

"I'm so sorry!"

"Again!"

The guy bowed again. "I'm really really sorry!"

Sakura hummed in satisfaction.

Eunbi looked at the guy with just a glare and the guy shuddered just from the simple gesture.

"Take him to the station, Minseok," Sakura ordered. She's heard some complaints about a black sports car being able to get away from traffic violations every time. It might be that driver's so she needs to make sure.

Minseok gave a salute to Sakura. "Roger, Cap!"

Sakura glared at him. "I told you not to do that."

"Sorry Cap— I mean Sakura-ssi!" Minseok took the scared guy away and had him ride the police car.

Eunbi who saw it unfold before her eyes just stared at Sakura. Sakura noticed the long stare so she looked at her and kneeled down on one knee to get to her level.

"Are you okay now, Ms. Kwon?"

Eunbi seemed distraught again so Sakura took her tumbler hung on her belt loop and opened it before offering it to her.

"Water?" Sakura asked. Eunbi calmed down a bit and took the tumbler. She chugged the water slowly and returned it to Sakura after.

"T-thank you."

"No problem." Sakura closed the tumbler and hung it back on her belt loop. "Would you like to stand up now?" Sakura asked in a gentle manner. She held out her hand and stood up first. Eunbi took her hand after calming down much more and stood up.

"Sigh… I think my lunchbox got ruined…" Eunbi murmured. Sakura helped gather her things and the box that got opened and stood up together after making sure all the contents of her shoulder bag and the box were inside. Eunbi looked up at Sakura in gratefulness.

"Thank you so much, uhm…"

"Sakura."

"... Sakura-ssi." Eunbi breathed out in relief. "You really saved my life back there. Thank you, really." Eunbi looked at her watch and gasped in horror. "OMG I'M AWFULLY LATE!!!" Eunbi was about to run again to the crosswalk when someone prevented her from doing so by holding her off on her shoulder.

"Can't you see it's red?" Sakura asked. Eunbi glared at her. Seems like she's easily recovered from it. Sakura felt kind of guilty for her sarcastic attitude and sighed.

"Let me help you." Sakura offered. Eunbi looked at Sakura in bewilderment. Sakura got a little bit impatient because of Eunbi's shocked stare so she just took the box away from the teacher.

"O-oh, you don't need to do that—"

"Please. I insist. You almost got yourself in grave danger. I'm just fulfilling my job as a policewoman." Sakura reasoned. Eunbi didn't protest anymore. Minseok was able to return immediately from the station and was tasked by Sakura to keep watch of the road as she will accompany Eunbi to her work. Sakura swiftly moved over to Eunbi's left side which is directly facing the cars. They walked for almost half an hour and finally arrived at the kindergarten.

"Kwon seonsaengnim."

Eunbi was immediately welcomed by Wendy's presence by the school gate, with her arms crossed and a stern gaze at the late teacher.

"Good morning, Son seonsaengnim." Eunbi bowed politely.

Wendy clicked her tongue. "You do know you're later than all the tardiness you've had for this past week?"

Eunbi bowed again. "Y-yes ma'am. I'm really sorry." Since Eunbi felt really guilty about her extreme tardiness, Sakura decided to step in.

"Good morning, Son seonsaengnim. I'm Miyawaki Sakura of Jangneul Police," Sakura introduced herself first. Wendy looked at her with a cocked eyebrow.

"Ms. Kwon is late today because of a traffic incident. She almost got run over by a car who beat the red light."

Wendy gasped and her face was immediately plastered with worry. "Eunbi? Are you okay now?" Eunbi nodded slightly.

"There were no injuries sustained but she just got a shock from what happened earlier." Sakura explained further.

Wendy sighed in relief and bowed to Sakura. "Thank you, Sakura-ssi for bringing my co-teacher here at school. I'll take it over from here." Wendy took the box Sakura is holding and urged Eunbi to enter the school with her now.

"Thank you again, Sakura-ssi." Eunbi bid farewell and bowed before finally entering the school premises. Sakura just returned it with a bow and watched the two teachers enter the school before going back to her post.

Lunchtime is fast approaching, and Sakura is feeling tired already. The heat today is no joke, especially in the middle of the day. The stoplight turned into a stop and pedestrians started crossing the street. She got a little bit of a break because of the cars on standby.

“Sakura-ssi?”

Sakura was surprised by the owner of the voice. She turned back and saw Eunbi.

“Oh. Eunbi-ssi. What brings you here?” Sakura paused. Stupid! Of course, she’ll cross the street.

Eunbi pursed her lips shyly. “I would just like to share some of my lunch with you. If that’s okay?” Sakura thought for a moment. She was about to decline when her stomach grumbled.

Eunbi snorted. “You should just agree, you know?”

“Sakura-ssi! I just finished my break. You should have yours too!” Minseok shouted at her.

“Okay, Eunbi-ssi.” Eunbi followed Sakura to a flowerbed by the sidewalk. “Is it alright here? I don’t really want to leave my post.”

Eunbi shrugged, not minding where they would eat. Eunbi sat down on the asphalt ground after laying her coat for her to sit on. Sakura just squatted down into the Asian squat. Eunbi unwrapped a sandwich and gave it to Sakura.

“Here, Sakura-ssi.”

Sakura accepted it and thanked her. She ate in silence as Eunbi opened a small bento box with kimbap and egg rolls. Eunbi also prepared a can of Sprite for her and Sakura to which the policewoman declined. We all know what drink she’s gonna drink anyway.

“Thank you for a while ago, Sakura-ssi.” Eunbi started.

Sakura chuckled lightly. “That’s the second or third time you’ve thanked me, Eunbi-ssi.”

“I’m just really thankful for earlier, that’s all. Also, the first time we met was pretty messed up so I am really sorry for that.” Eunbi smiled apologetically.

Sakura responded. “I was only doing my job, Eunbi-ssi. And for the jaywalking thing, it’s fine. I even teased you for it in front of your students. I’m sorry for that.”

Eunbi smiled. “That’s forgiven. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I've been running late since last week.”

“Well, I hope you’d be more careful, Eunbi-ssi.”

Eunbi sighed as she remembered what happened earlier. “Yeah. I definitely should.”

Right there and then a car stopped in front of them. The car window of the passenger seat lowered down.

“Oho~ Yah Miyawaki! Slacking off, eh?”

Sakura looked up at that annoying voice. Chang has once again stopped over and started to mock the policewoman.

“Why are you eating like that, Miyawaki? People might think you’re being humiliated by the police force!” Chang spoke nonsense in a mocking tone. Sakura’s slowly getting irritated. Eunbi noticed this and remembered the Sakura she first encountered. Sakura stood up and raised her head up.

“Blah, blah, whatever you say little Chang~” Sakura bantered with more mockery than Chang.

Chang smirked. “It seems that you’re enjoying such a lowly job huh. Well, keep it up coz you might be assigned there permanently! HAHAHAHAHA!” Chang laughed boisterously and his partner, Han, did so too.

That’s it. Sakura crumpled the empty can in her hand and clapped back. “At least I’m doing whatever job is given to me properly unlike you, butthead. That badge on you doesn’t mean anything more than being a piece of metal.” Boom. Mic Drop.

Oh, Chang’s last straw has been used up. “WHAT DID YOU S-!?”

Static… “Pfft. HAHAHAHAHA!”

Their radio was actually , as they were attempting to scheme against Sakura and humiliate her to the entire police force. Well, it backfired. Several laughs were heard from the radio of Chang’s car. Chang’s face turned beet red from the humiliation and embarrassment. He smacked the shoulder of Han harshly.

“Yah, . LET’S GO!!!” Chang yelled in anger. Han fumbled and panicked in getting a hold of the steering wheel. Chang gave him a smack on the head which effectively pulled Han to his senses. Their car zoomed away faster than any car has. Sakura would later learn that Han is fined for overspeeding. Heh.

Sakura huffed out in anger. “Those es.”

Eunbi approached Sakura. “Hey Sakura-ssi. Are you okay?”

Sakura turned to Eunbi, still irritated. “Oh. Yeah. Those were nothing. Don’t mind them.”

“That was a great comeback right there, Sakura-ssi.” Eunbi commented just to lift the mood up.

Sakura smirked smugly. “The embarrassment on Chang’s face is gold.” Eunbi laughed at what happened to the Chang guy just now. Her phone suddenly rang interrupting their lunch.

“Okay, Wendy. I’ll buy some on the way back.” Eunbi ended the call.

“You should start to go back to your work.” Sakura pointed out.

“Yeah. I definitely should.” Eunbi went back to the empty bento box and closed it. She dusted her coat and hung it on her forearm. She faced Sakura and bid goodbye.

“Thank you for sparing some time for me, Sakura-ssi.” Eunbi bowed in gratefulness.

“Thank you too, Eunbi-ssi. Take care on your way back.” Sakura bowed too. Eunbi stood by the pedestrian lane and gave a brief bow to Sakura before crossing to the other side of the street.

-----

A/N:

I should've ended this on part 2, no? HAHAHAHA anyways, this is not yet the end T^T XD

This was supposed to be published on September 13, but as always, I still haven't wrapped this story up. Better late than never, right?

Oh! And today is Kwon Eunbi's appearance in KCON @ 9PM KST! If you have time, do watch it! I also saw the GP999 participants having a special stage later. I don't really watch the show but I think I'm gonna check them out later.

Comments and upvotes are deeply appreciated! Till the next read!