Epilogue: Part 6

(Flashback)

Youngil laid flat on her stomach and stared over the jagged edge of the large hole in the floor to peer down at the floor below.  Kyung crouched and ran his blade over the sharpening block.  Even from her hiding place, Youngil could hear his stomach growl.  She smiled.  He looked so different to her now, but some things never changed. 

Kyung had definitely matured in the few years that Youngil had last seen him.  The way he moved suggested more strength and confidence than he had had when she had last seen him.  But it was a relief that he hadn’t changed too much.  She had heard a lot about him.  He had stepped up his game when The Block split and he had become a valuable asset to Zico and Block B.  The stories and tales hadn’t sounded much like the goofy boy she had left.  She had been scared that when they met again, she wouldn’t be able to recognize who he had become.  But she had had nothing to worry about. 

She tensed for a moment, when she heard noises approaching the room yet Kyung did nothing to prepare himself for possible danger.  But it was only P.O and Taeil that came bursting into the room.  They too looked more mature than when Youngil had last seen them.  She let the sadness wash over her for a moment.  They had all grown up without her.  She wondered how different she would look to them.  They weren’t the only ones that had changed.

P.O and Taeil took off again quickly and left the case with Kyung.  When two more guys, ones she didn’t recognize, rushed in the room, Youngil readied to jump in and help Kyung, but they barely spared him a glance and took off after P.O and Taeil. 

When the chicken startled Kyung into dropping everything but the frying pan, Youngil had to cover to keep from laughing.  Nope, some things never did change.  Luck was with her though.  The briefcase that Kyung had been holding had slid until it was right beneath her hiding place.  Youngil watched as Kyung chased the chicken out into the courtyard and slowly shook her head at him.

Silently, she held the handle of the fake case in one hand and gripped the edge of hole in the ceiling with the other and lowered herself into the room below.  Thankful for the low ceilings, she dropped only a few feet and landed in a crouch over the briefcase.  She quickly swapped cases and then hurried out of the room, disappearing through the doorway P.O and Taeil and the men after them had come through. 

Youngil settled against the wall, just out of sight.  She waited there until Kyung came to a truce with the chicken and returned for the case.  She watched him leave with the fake case then reached in her pocket for her cell phone to call Mai. 

Zico was silent.  Not normally a good sign, Mai knew.  She distracted him. 

“What’s your relationship with Youngil anyways?” She asked.  “It’s obvious that Kyung is crushing on her even after not seeing each other for three years, but I can’t get a grasp on your relationship with her.  You obviously care for her.  I start thinking it’s a strictly platonic brother/sister type relationship and then something happens that makes me wonder if there was ever more.”

Zico was silent for a moment.  “Are you jealous?” he finally asked.

That caused Mai to pause.  “I don’t know,” she answered truthfully.  “Maybe a little, but I’m mostly just curious.” 

 “Well, to fully understand our relationship, it’s a long story.  And you haven’t finished your entire explanation yet,” Zico said, changing the subject once again.  “What about quiet girl up there?  What role did she play in all this?”

Mai promptly decided there had once been something between them.

“Ying was at the trophy room to make sure U-Kwon and Jaehyo got out of there okay,” Mai said, letting the subject of Youngil drop and continuing her explanation.  “And then she kept an eye on U-Kwon when Lan coaxed Jaehyo away.  I was surprised that Ying was the only one that had to do any fighting.”

“Fighting?” Zico repeated.  He looked at Ying and had trouble seeing her in a fight.  Then he looked at U-Kwon whose cuts and scrapes had mostly healed.