~_____~

They were supposed to get to the police station before they headed to a car rental company. Then after picking their car up they were supposed to grab a bite of dinner then head to their hotel. Everything had been well planned and that was how it was supposed to go. Except Namjoo should have seen it coming. Plans always got screwed up whether trouble maker Suho was there or not. She should have seen it coming.

The moment she stepped onto the pavement Namjoo found herself spinning in a half circle uncontrollably. She barely stumbled over her own feet and almost fell face down if it weren’t for Tao who had just stepped up behind her. Once she regained her balance Namjoo noticed there was no weight on her shoulder where her bag should have been.

“Shoot!” she swore before dashing off recklessly.

Shaved head. Shaved head. Namjoo kept her eyes glued onto this stranger’s back as she determinedly chased after him. Cars honked at them as she dangerously zipped through the red lights. Namjoo clumsily shoved people aside and heard them swearing after her, but their remarks didn’t hurt.

She ran so far that without realizing it the line of traffic disappeared from her side before she realized she was running up a hill that led to an empty courtyard. Luscious green grass swayed in the wind like an army of people to the beat of a mellow ballad. Out of breath and choking on air Namjoo was unable to control the speed she was running at. Her legs seemed to wobble before her feet collided into one another and she went sprawling forward shielding her fall with her hands. Her skin burned as they scraped the pavement. She landed with a loud, “Oopf!” before pulling herself back up.

Why was she trying so hard when there was nothing important in her backpack anyway? Then she recalled being stubborn and she hated losing. She definitely wouldn’t lose this one. When Namjoo got to the top of the hill she spotted him running toward the woodland that would lead them back to the busy roads. Before he really got away she was really going to show him who was boss.

Lunging forward she threw her arm out and grabbed onto the tail of her backpack forcing the strap off the stranger’s shoulder.

“You’re not getting away!” Namjoo shouted forcefully pulling him around.

This criminal had a dark face smudged with dirty oil. Wherever he had come from was not her worry at the moment, but he did reek of really bad garbage. What the heck was he going to do with female clothes?

“You’re not letting go?” Namjoo thickened her voice to make it sound threatening.

~_____~

And in a flash Namjoo was running down the pavement without even letting him know what had just happened. Tao was utterly confused and was just about to start after her before the taxi driver scrolled down his window to shout, “Hey! You forgot your phone! Don’t be charging me for theft later!”

Tao stepped back to grab the phone that had perhaps slipped out of Namjoo’s pocket in the car, but when he turned back Namjoo was out of sight.

He groaned, “Great. What just happened now?”

He first started with a jog down the pavement slowly turning in circles before he caught sound of cars honking dramatically just ahead. Twisting around he saw a man with a shaved head running through the crowd that was making way for him as if he were something they didn’t want touching them. It was like a wave separating before it came together again.

Tao followed and spotted Namjoo’s blue shirt in the distance climbing up a roadside hill that led to the public county park. To his luck, Namjoo’s phone started ringing and irritated he picked it up without looking at the screen to see who it was. Suho’s voice erupted into his ear and Tao, for some reason, was even more annoyed when he realized Namjoo had suddenly disappeared. He listened to Suho ramble on with questions before he suddenly hung up while running the rest of the way.

His footsteps pounded against the tiny sidewalk before he heard Namjoo shouting at the top. Just a second later his jaws dropped open when that man’s fist plunged into the side of her face forcing her to the ground. Alarmed seeped through him before he ran the rest of the way to her. Upon noticing him, the stranger immediately scurried off.

“Aish!! That bastard!” Namjoo muttered when he pulled her up. He was more concerned about the damage she had sustained rather than going after the thief.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Tao scolded grabbing her chin to observe the redness of her face. “What kind of ty luck do you have?! You’re always getting injured!”

Namjoo stared up at him wide eyed, lost and intimidated before she slowly shoved his hand away. With an awkward laugh she replied, “I don’t know…Suho’s?”

She slightly stumbled back before clenching onto his arm. Tao blinked embarrassed before turning to look at her. Namjoo laughed awkwardly again before suddenly saying, “I think I sprained my ankle.”

His eyes moved down to her ankle before he turned. “I’ll carry you.”

“What!?”

“You won’t be able to walk right anyway. I’ll take you to the hospital,” he slightly crouched down before her. Gesturing toward his back with his thumb he directed, “Get on.”

“Yah…aren’t you being a bit embarrassing right now?”

“Fine, then I’ll just leave you.”

He started to get up, but Namjoo stopped him by pushing him back down. With a jump he felt her hands slap his shoulders loudly. He let out a shout of pain before she said, “Thanks Tao. Oops…I got a bit of blood on your shirt.”

But suddenly none of that mattered.

“Just buy me a new one then,” he said as he started back toward the road.

~_____~

“Thank you!” Chorong loudly thanked before walking away from the stand with two tiny bowls of ddukbokki.

Lay was sitting at a bench nearby when she reached him.

“Thanks,” he smiled when she handed him his bowl.

“Ow!” Chorong shouted dropping a piece out of back into the bowl. “It’s hot.”

Lay laughed at her before slowly eating his. “When I was young, my parents were rarely home. I hated staying alone while waiting for them to return from work, so I would often go stand by the street stalls and eat. I always ate ddukbokki.”

“Sounds like it’s your best friend.” Chorong commented. “I always got chauffeured to and from school. I was what you would call spoiled.”

“I always thought the kids who came to school in those nice cars were lucky,” Lay told. “Kids like me would have to wake up early to fight for their seats on the bus.”

“Tsh…” Chorong’s lips curved up before she turned to look at him. “Where do you think we can find those gang members? We should narrow down our search, because I don’t think they’d freely lurk around.”

“What if they’re one of the residents around here?”

Chorong raised a brow. “Like a spy?”

Lay shook his head then nodded toward one building to the next. “These houses are just all regular homes, aren’t they? It could be a mother, father, aunt, or uncle who’s helping with the deed. We’ve got a decent size city here, pretty small too. Remember when we looked around before? All streets easily connect. If we deduct some factors down such as that, it’s got to be someone with this neighborhood. It’s a pretty fair hypothesis, don’t you think?”

Chorong nodded. “Don’t you think we seem suspicious just sitting here, staring, and watching?”

He laughed very light heartedly. “You’re right. Lets start patrolling tomorrow. It’s going to get dark soon.”

~_____~

“Ah…ah…ah!” Namjoo winced while the doctor wrapped an elastic compression wrap over her now swollen ankle. “You’re not going to prohibit me from moving around, will you? I’m here on a very important job. I’ve sprained my ankle before and the doctor didn’t prohibit me from walking around.”

Namjoo stared into the doctor’s face hopefully. “Then you know you’re going to have to wear this bandage for the first 24 to 36 hours. I won’t stop you, but do know sprained ankles can cause joint problems in the future. I’d like you to take precaution and take easy light steps.”

“24 to 36,” Namjoo counted with her hands. Then felt drop open, “Almost two days!? That’s too much time.”

The doctor shot her a long stare before she finally left the room. Tao stood up in the waiting room from his seat when she limped down the hallway muttering unhappily.

“What’s with the face?” Tao questioned.

Namjoo turned her hand sideways and moved gestured for him to turn before jumping onto his back. A loud shout belted out of him as she did so.

“Ugh…you could’ve given me a warning,” he mumbled.

“The less pressure I put on my ankle right now, the better I’ll be able to walk later.” Namjoo insisted.

“Weren’t you going on about being embarrassed earlier?”

“Now’s not the time to worry about that,” Namjoo persuaded.

“Tsh…you really think doing this will help your darn ankle later?”

“Yes!” Namjoo nodded her head. “Get a move on. There’s not a lot of time for us to waste.” Namjoo clamped her arm around his neck before pulling herself over his shoulder. “Yah, I’m hungry. Buy me something to eat later.”

“You still have the nerve to ask me that?”

“If you think about it I’m your benefactor here, ok? I fed you once and I clothed you. That’s a lot right there.”

Tao snorted.

“Hey, you chose to come along with me. Consider yourself lucky.”

Namjoo felt Tao turn to look at her before quickly turning away. He didn’t say anymore and Namjoo thought it became awkward before she swallowed and leaned back.

~_____~

Kris was really uneasy. He tirelessly paced back and forth in his room, sat down for a minute, then got up to pace around again. To call or not? Ruffling his hair he groaned, sighed, and kicked at the ground before sitting again. Namjoo would get irritated, but since when hadn’t she got irritated? But he worried. What if he irritated her so much she stopped paying him any attention? No, it wouldn’t happen. He’d think up of other things to get her attention.

Clearing his throat for one last time he picked up his phone.

~_____~

They finally arrived at the tiny hotel where reservations had been made for them. It was a little red brick building with newly white painted framed windows. The grass surrounding the lot had been well cut and fresh flowers had been planted alongside the thin pavement guiding them to the front door. Namjoo and Tao were handed keys to their designated rooms and once they were up the stairs they split up.

The sun was just a tiny glow in the sky underneath the aqua mist in the sky. City lights were coming to life, but even as night fell it didn’t stop people from going out. Tao would have been among them, but now, now his life was different. After Donghae had taken him in and handed him a job with responsibilities, his priorities were different now.

He sat on the king sized bed and suddenly started going through his bag. He had brought an extra shirt just in case something went wrong. As the person he was, he’d always taken precaution when alone. Those instinctive skills had stuck with him throughout his life. Namjoo’s bag had been stolen earlier and although she didn’t really seem worried, he realized she wouldn’t have a change of clothes.

Taking out that extra shirt he started down the hallway and nervously stopped in front of her room. What if making her walk to the door worsened her ankle? But there was no way he could go in. Tao hesitated before finally knocking.

“Um…” he half stepped back when she opened the door and pressed his lips together before holding the shirt out to her. “Here.”

Namjoo’s eyes shifted to the shirt. “What?”

“So you can have a change of clothes,” Tao spit the words out in a slur.

She frowned but took it anyway. “Well aren’t you being nice. Thanks Tao.”

Hearing her say that coolly made him flush. Namjoo didn’t sound very touched by his move, but he thought she meant it sincerely. Tao tilted his head down and felt a small smile climb onto his lips.

“Tsh…” Namjoo sounded. “You’ve been in a good mood lately. Good night, Tao.”

“Oh…good night.” he said it quietly before Namjoo slightly frowned at him with a firm smile before closing the door.

And he thought he would sleep well that night.

~_____~

Namjoo glanced at the shirt Tao had given her before limping back toward the bed and set it on the bedside table. Climbing onto the bed she tossed one of the two pillows at the edge of the bed so she could elevate her ankle before finally settling down. Namjoo lay in silence before her phone started ringing. Suddenly she recalled she’d forgotten to report to Donghae and wondered if he was calling to check up on them. When she glanced at the caller ID she guessed he probably wasn’t very worried about them.

“What?” she answered.

“Oh…it’s me…” she recognized Kris’ voice.

She nodded, “I know.”

“I…” he paused then went on, “was just wondering how things are over there. Suho, he told me he called earlier, but Tao picked up. Everything…everything’s ok, right?”

Namjoo felt like he was just babbling for time. “It’s fine.” And she suddenly wondered if she would annoy him with her short replies. For some reason it felt like he wanted to hear other things.

A sweet silence droned on between them, but Namjoo didn’t seem bothered by it.

“Namjoo, I…” there was another long hesitant pause as if he had trouble formulating the words in his head. “I just wanted to hear your voice.”

The silence remained and Namjoo slowly blinked her eyes before glancing around the room. No one had ever told her that they missed her presence nor did they just want her around. Again she felt her heart go warm at the thought of his words.

“I…I’m about to head off to bed and was j…just curious,” he rambled on again as if nervous. Good night, Namjoo.”

The silence came in again before she slightly smiled. “Yea, good night, Kris.”

After hanging up she set the phone aside and turned the lamp off on the bedside table off before adjusting the blanket over her. At the back of her head she thought about how satisfied Kris would be with his phone call.

~_____~

Obviously Kris’ face was beaming.

Good night, she had said, and even added his name after. Namjoo had never really said his name before and he thought he liked the sound of it from her voice. At least this would mean she was alone and not accompanied by Tao. And she didn’t get annoyed when he’d called to see how things were going. It was kind of hard to believe that Namjoo had even answered his call in the first place.

To know she did so made him really, really happy. Kris really wanted those two days in Ulsan to go by fast so they could meet again in Daegu.

A loud refreshing sigh escaped him when he laid back and sprawled his arms out. Maybe in the future he wouldn’t be alone.

“Good night,” he repeated the two words with a smile.  

***Late update, but I already warned you updates would get slower, right? I'm gonna be on spring break after next week! So maybe more updates then and maybe I'll be able to finish Glass Slippers. And now I'm starting to think of a oneshot for BaekJoo, but that's just a maybe. I have so many other assignments for classes I need to worry about ~.~ Aigoo...I hope you enjoyed this chappie even though I didn't have enough space to include HaeToria. The official first day of their journeys will begin next chapter.