CHAPTER 3: FOLLOW

"Hyun-ah! Come here!" Her giggling voice had made the senior to have a smile drawn across her face as she jogged across the track field, it was time for everyone to go home especially to this time of the day. Eleven in the evening, yet the monolid eyed woman diligently wait for her by silently sitting on the bench waiting for the woman's late arrival.

She didn't even bother to protest about her delay she even welcomed the woman with a tight hug from the busy day they had inside their school, seemed like being in the twelfth grade wasn't that easy after all, just a few more months and they would be parting ways to each other as the woman needed to go to Seoul to attend a university in there.

She also knew that there would be things that were going to change in that span of time and she was trying to make it up before that time arrived just in case something would messed up and she wouldn't be able to regret since she knew that she made everything worth it, just for the two of them.

"How's your day?" Breaking the silence between the two of them, the senior take the initiative to hold the younger's hand. Despite of the weird relationship they had, both of their parents had accepted them for who they are which made them happy, despite of the negative views from other people, they remained positive to the brighter side as they knew that it wouldn't do any good if they would try to listen from those negative things.

"I'm fine, how about you? You seemed to be doing good, prosecutor." Joohyun laughed with her girl's compliment to her studies, even though it's been quite hard for the two of them to catch up to their everyday life as their time didn't match at all. Seulgi still managed to look for ways she can to be with her even just in the small period of time.

"I'm good, I'll be going to Busan tomorrow for the art event, I'd probably wouldn't be able to bring you home tomorrow so I'm planning to make it up for you tonight I also wanted to hear a good luck from my number one fan." The woman put her arms around her shoulder making the woman to lean her body towards her, feeling the younger's warmth in the late evening winds of upcoming winter, the senior rested her hand at the top of the woman's waist, feeling contented with her presence, she knew it's one of the reason why she fell deeper for the younger. Joohyun suddenly stopped, her gaze fixed to a convenience store.

The monolid eyed woman looked down to the woman, Seulgi had already known what she was thinking, her lover's favourite comfort food, tteok-bokki. "But you still have to go home early, your father might probably looking for you now." She said as she looked to the woman who was waiting for the younger to respond from the signal she just made. Of course Seulgi couldn't protest but to let her. The woman smiled and left her there standing in front of the convenience store as she went in first to order her favourite food filled with cheese at the top. That was the only thing she always wanted from the very long day of study inside the four concrete walls of her classroom.

"I bought two."

--

"Just one." Irene said shortly not minding those people looking at her in empathy to how wet she was from the rain, the cashier abruptly took her order as the prosecutor found her way at the back of the small tteok-bokki restaurant she found near the park, at first she wasn't really planning to stay that long to Gyeonggi-do but the rain don't seem to stop at any moment so probably staying soaked to the bones inside to a small restaurant would be the not so best solution to her state right now.

"Ma'am?" A voice of a woman standing in front of her table had made her stop from getting lost once again to her trail of thoughts, Irene looked at her and waited for the woman to continue on what she was about to say, of course there would be a 50% of a chance that she would be kicked out of this chain and she wouldn't mind since she seemed to gather much of their customers attention. "Towels?" She politely said as she handed a thick black towel in front of her which the prosecutor had politely accepted.

"Your order would arrived in here in no time, do you need an accompaniment ma'am. Are you lost?" The woman asked politely, obviously curious to what did just had happened to the person sitting wet inside a resto. The woman was seemed to be around her ex's age but her features weren't eastern, here big doe eyes, plump lips and shoulder length jet black hair had made her look to be more likely from Southeast Asia. Noticing how the woman seemed to give her an extra special service, the prosecutor asked.

"You are from?"

"Thailand, ma'am." The woman answered shortly when she suddenly heard the prosecutor's table number, a signal for the person sitting across her to get her order. The Thai motioned her to stay seated as she will be the one to get her order. Irene did not refuse and let the woman be. Irene felt guilty again after all those years she chose not to show up to her the regret of choosing someone just because of the silly idea of she had a long time crush to the man she thought to be her dreams but it wasn't, he was indeed a nightmare for her.

Irene expected to cross paths with Seulgi but not in the way she had thought to be in this day, she expected to see her with someone new, happy and contented with the idea of forgetting her and so does she can move on without feeling the guilt of choosing the wrong person over the right one but no, it made her internally devastated and the want to kill someone for revenge to that person who did that to her first ever love were getting to her nerves but what else she can do? It's nothing but to cry and fix this problem as it is also her job.

"Thank you." She said timidly as she put the freshly cooked dish she ordered in front of her, separating the chopsticks into half, Irene waited for the woman to leave her alone but instead, she took a sit in front of her, the Thai casually played with her phone as she let the woman eat in peace but it made the person across her to feel annoyed by her weird presence. "If you don't mind, can you leave?" She asked in a small voice just to make sure not to make it sounds like an insult towards her but the woman smiled instead and waved her hand.

"No, you might have misinterpreted my appearance ma'am but this restaurant had a service to look after those people who looked down especially to this season, a lot of people like you came here at this time of the month, at least to let them know that there is nothing wrong about experiencing about feeling down and that's....

"what I wanted to make it up for you, I wanted you to be happy, just at least before you leave."

It's the same way how she had treated her before. Irene looked up to see those doe eyes of the woman looking after her soul. Irene seemed to be looking at her for too long that she haven't even notice that the Thai was flicking her fingers in front of her. "It is okay ma'am, just enjoy your meal." She said politely not minding the strange gaze she threw towards her. The prosecutor proceeded to ear her meal in silence without lifting her head in even slightest inch when the Thai suddenly spoke.

"I'm Lisa." She said but the woman didn't even show any interest to her presence making the woman continued to talk. "You know what, things might have happened too cruel at life but you must continue on living." She said that made the woman looked up to her, no emotion, tired and lifeless. Irene spoke.

"Irene. We were all born in the same timeline but that doesn't mean it would be all too good for everyone. Sometimes you're born happy but you will be ending up having a life of a tragic story, and I'm the proven living thing to have that."

"But you're lucky." Irene looked at the woman across her when she felt a nerve bending cold on her right side which she just ignore.

"What makes me lucky? Ms. Lisa, if having such a beautiful features like the ones I have with me, that doesn't the person will be sure lucky, this wouldn't be enough, we were all born beautiful but that wouldn't made you happy forever, there's more beautiful than having a face of a goddess and that's what I call love. The thing I lost a few years ago."

Lisa chuckled and stood up. Her hand slid a paper in front of the woman. "Prosecutor, you're lucky because you have someone to look after you, please take care of yourself on your way home."

"She doesn't want to see you following her."

--

"Where did you go? You're ing wet." A voice coming from a woman inside the kitchen had said as the officer was also left there sitting on the living room with the older woman still wrapped with the black towel that Thai had given to her earlier, her words were nagging her but she tried to ignore it in any means she can do just to forget about it. "Are you okay?" For Pete's sake, she wanted to say no but the more she said that had made herself to feel the pettiness she wasn't supposedly be feeling.

"Do you want to catch a cold?" Wendy asked as she handed her a bowl of hot seaweed soup and let her drink in it. "Where did you go?" The two didn't get any response from the older, the woman remained silent and awkward between the presences of her friends. Wendy and Jennie looked at themselves realizing that there was something really off to the woman who was known to be made of iron that everyone had ever thought.

"Irene." They called in unison as they also turned their head at the same time just to see the woman's puffy eyes and bare face. "Oh goodness gracious, are you damn okay?" Wendy said as she grabbed the woman's body with her arms and embraced her tight not minding those wet clothing she had, the woman kept on hugging her, both of the two had never expected to encounter such a breakdown that they were seeing right now, Jennie and Wendy had been her co-workers for such a long time just enough for them to know each other's attitude and what type of ups and downs they were facing in life but not like this, Irene may appear to be the toughest woman in their field but her life isn't one of the easiest after all.

Others might have thought that she got to encounter such one of the hardest cases in the country yet, her life was the crime itself after all. They say, "Don't judge the book by its cover" but the Irene's hard bounded book of her life was tore and burned into ashes. There was nothing she could match with what she was feeling right now, specially that she don't have the right to cry over to that person since she knew there will be no longer them since she was married after all and that victim was just another job for her to finish.

Jennie handed a glass of water towards the woman which she gladly accept with a neutral face she always had, the two remained silent trying not to bother her problems anymore, besides, the only thing that the both woman knew was the unhealthy relationship that the woman had towards her husband, there will be no other things around that the woman would cry about it would only be just her marriage, and probably health.

"Ir-"

"Did you guys bring any documents about Soul?" As if nothing had just happened, Irene went back from completely crying piece of a woman to sophisticated and work dedicated type of a person the she was. "I don't want to take things any longer now, especially that even the close case of Sunmi was also been connected in here, she was supposedly be done, as much as possible we needed to move on time,"

"too much that we have to finish this investigation by this month."