Minjeong

I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out while I stared at Ning who looked pale while eyeing the gun and the mess I made when I patched Giselle on the table. She stood still while her eyes flickered to my direction and like I was, no words came out when she opened .

I slowly walked to her, still her gaze was trained on me as I moved.

"Ning, I can explain." I said in a slow and calm voice. I flinched when her hand suddenly gripped my arm. She looked really pale now that I was standing near her. Could it be that she has a fear of blood?

"Win, b-blood," With that, her eyes rolled back and she collapsed into my arms. I staggered back at the sudden weight and looked at Giselle who stayed silent since. She smiled and shrugged, leaning back on the couch.

I frowned, "What are you smiling about? Can't you see she just fainted. Come on help me."

"Could it be she has hemophobia? Well anyway, I guess it's a good thing she fainted, we got time to think of an excuse to what she saw...and in case you forgot, I'm wounded so I can't help you," she replied nonchalantly.

"Unbelievable," I murmured. Sighing in defeat, I lifted Ning and carried her on my arms as I climbed upstairs and headed to my bedroom. Opening the door, I walked inside and gently laid her down on the bed. I took her glasses and put it to the bedside table before staring back at her sleeping face. She looked so peaceful and innocent that I didn't want to stop looking at her. Brushing a strand of hair from her face, I thought of what Giselle had said. I had to think of plausible excuse and knowing how smart and curious Ning was, it would be hard to make her believe.

I heaved myself up and stripped the dress off before walking to the bathroom. After last night's event, I definitely wanted to take a shower, aside from sleep, as I felt icky. As soon as the water hit my skin, all my nerves had calmed down and I felt rejuvenated yet my mind hadn't stopped thinking about everything. I now knew that the Red Circle was after the Yoo's but the big question was why? Why would a notorious organization we had been chasing for years had been targeting them? Thinking about it, I wanted to go to the house and asked Mr. Yoo but now wasn't the perfect time as it was too risky, enemies could be lurking everywhere considering we just had our mission.

Another thing that has been bugging me was Jimin. I wondered how she was doing. Was she still afraid of me? Or was she mad at me because I left her all of a sudden? Even if I wanted to see her, I had to wait and besides, I knew she wanted to have some private time with her parents. And of course, this thing with Ningning, why was she here anyway?

Wrapping the towel around my body, I went out of the bathroom and saw Ning slowly waking up. I watched her curiously as she slowly sat up and put on her glasses, looking around the room until her gaze landed on mine.

"Oh, um, h-how did I get here?" she stammered as I noticed her eyes sized me up. Her cheeks turned red and she looked away.

"I carried you here, you fainted. Do you perhaps have a fear in blood?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause you any trouble."

"But you saw my bleeding lip that movie night yet you seemed okay."

She hung her head, her forehead creased as if she was thinking. "Oh that, I was distracted and Jimin wiped it before I could make a good look at it."

I nodded slowly, "Anyway. I'm glad you're okay."

She looked up and stared at me, "So what happened to Giselle? Why is there a gun on the table? Is it yours? or hers? And why were you two in those dresses? Did you go to a party? Is that the reason why the two of you weren't in school yesterday?"

I remained silent for a moment and just stared back at her. From the questions she threw at me, I didn't know what to answer first. But leaving those aside, there was absolutely no way I would tell her that truth as it would put her in more danger. Then again if I told her, it might changed how she looked at me and maybe she would distance herself from me just like what Jimin was doing, which was a good thing to keep her safe. But was I ready to lose her just like I was slowly losing Yooji? But then again, I had no idea how she would react if I told her the truth.

Letting out a deep breath, I walked to my closet, grabbing a loose white tee, denim shorts and undergarments before walking back to the bathroom to change. Ning must be wondering but I couldn't answer her right now. I had to talk to Giselle first.

After changing, I went back to the bedroom and found Ning sitting at the edge of the bed with her arms crossed on her chest. She looked at me impatiently but I just smiled before grabbing the hair dyer and started drying my hair.

"Well, are you planning to answer me?"

I rolled my eyes, "If I was planning to answer you Ning Yizhuo, I would have answered you already."

She scoffed, "Why can't you tell me?... Are you a criminal or something?"

I stopped at what I was doing and turned to her.

"What if I am? Shouldn't you feel scared?" 

She looked taken aback and averted her gaze. She gripped the mattress tight turning her knuckles white. "I thought so," I mumbled before turning my back to her and continued drying my hair. As I looked at her through the mirror, she was still looking down and unmoved.

"You know what?..." I raised my eyebrow when she spoke up. She looked back up at me through the mirror with a serious expression. "...So what if you're a criminal... That doesn't change how I feel about you..." I froze at what she said and squinted back at her. She must be kidding right now. There was no way she meant it.

"I'm sure you don't mean that."

She shook her head, "I do. Criminal or not, nothing would change about my feelings for you. And say..." she stood up and walked behind me, brushing my hair to the side "...if you're really a criminal, I wouldn't feel scared because you're the one who makes me feel safe and secured." The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I could feel her warm breath on my back. What was she doing to me?

I stepped aside and cleared my throat, "Well, I can assure you I'm not a criminal... and the gun, it was to protect myself, you know how these days, we might as well be prepared, you'll never know... and speaking of Giselle, it was nothing, she just bumped into something sharp. Thankfully it wasn't deep or else...I don't wanna think about it," I rambled keeping myself composed as I suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Oh...okay. Um, thank God it wasn't that serious."

"Psshh, yeah." I said, shrugging and continued what I was doing. I glanced at her on my side and I could still see a frown on her expression. Why was I all worked up again?

"Now that I think about it, why's the gun out in the open? Shouldn't you be keeping it?"

"I-I did keep it. I was cleaning it?"

She looked at me suspiciously, 

"Really?" I nodded eagerly and smiled briefly. Gosh, I didn't know how long I would keep up with her as she didn't seem to run out of questions. It was like she was more curious than a detective right now.

Combing my hair with my fingers, I turned off the dryer and walked straight to the bed to get some sleep. I flopped down on the soft mattress and stretched out while yawning.

"Ugh, I'm freaking exhausted. By the way, why are you here exactly?" I asked weakly. She smiled and flopped down beside me.

"I wanna spend my Saturday with you. I missed you yesterday and you didn't call or text me to let me know you were gonna be absent. I wished you were in school yesterday. Did you know how lonely I was, eating my lunch alone since Elle was absent too. And speaking of that girl, I have't seen her for days..." As Ning continued talking, her voice had became distant and muffled as I found myself slowly slipping into unconsciousness. I knew it was rude to fall asleep when someone's taking to you but right now, all I cared about was to get some sleep and with that, I let sleep took over my senses.

I crunched up my nose as I felt something kept poking it. Fluttering my eyes open, I saw Ning's smiling face greeted me. Our faces were inches apart and as I became aware of my position, I quickly pulled my arm from her waist but her hand immediately held it, putting it back to where it was.

Narrowing my eyes, I spoke, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. I just like where your hand is right now."

I smiled, "Fine. I'll let you have this moment. What time is it now?"

She lifted her arm on my waist and looked at her watch, "It's almost 4 pm."

"Oh I have to check on Giselle." I hastily got up but before I could get off the bed I was suddenly pulled back and I ended up on top of her. She giggled while I stared at her incredulously. She could be unpredictable sometimes.