The sky was gloomy and filled with dark clouds. It looked like it would rain or snow depending on how mother nature felt. “Are you sure she's inside, Minhyun?” Doojoon leaned against the steering wheel. His back ached from sitting for so long. “We've been staking out for nearly two nights and there hasn't been any movements.”

“I can see her with my infrared radar. She's been moving around inside.” Minhyun handed Doojoon his tablet and rested his head on the window. Doojoon took the tablet and watched the bright colored body sitting down. “Wait, who's that?” Minhyun pointed to a frail looking granny with short permed gray hair, She wore a long winter trench jacket that seemed way too long for her body.

“Who?” Doojoon looked up to see the granny walking towards Zero's door. Minhyun got out of the car and quickly followed the woman there.

“Aigoo..” He heard the granny mutter. He slipped right in front of her and backed into the door. “Who are you?”


“I-I'm a friend of someone that lives here.” Minhyun smiled and pressed his back against the door. “Is there something wrong?”

“Yes.” The granny frowned, “Your friend, that miss, hasn't paid for her monthly rent. It's been a week already.”

“She hasn't?”


“Yes. Please step aside. The movers are coming in soon to move her things out so I can put this suite back on sale.” She shooed him aside, but he blocked her step.

“Gran, how about instead of evicting her, I'll pay for her fees.” He took out a note book from his jacket pocket. “Can you make the payments to this address. I promise I'll pay within this week.” He passed her his card.

She sighed and read over the name.”Omo, you're too handsome to be an officer.” She touched her cheeks, “Fine, just for you this will be an exception.” She smiled and went on her way.

He lets out a sigh and looked over at Doojoon. What now?

-~-

The day goes by slow and the two gets relieved from shift by Chief Lee and Inspector Choi. Eventually, they returned later in the night to change shifts. No matter how much the others had insisted, Doojoon wanted be on the clock in case Zero was to leave the house.

Minhyun yawned loudly and inclined his chair. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “Sorry, but I have to call it a night.”

“Don't worry about it.” Doojoon sighed and got out of the car. He needed some air and to get away from Minhyun's snoring. He didn't understand how easily someone could fall asleep. He glanced into the car to see that Minhyun had inclined the chair all the way down. He shook his head and went to sit at the hood of the car. Zero, what are you doing? He stared at the door. The knob began to turn and he had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He sat more attentively and watched the door open. “Zero...” He whispered and watched her dart across the lawn and into the alleyway. Where is she going with that backpack? He followed her and walked a bit faster. He grabbed her hand before she made it out to the streets. He dodged her counterattack in time and gave her some space despite being in the narrow alley. He had to let her know that he doesn't mean any harm.

“Why are you here?” She asked him in a voice he didn't recognize. He looked down at her once beautiful eyes to see cold ones staring back at him.

“Yeonwoo – I mean Zero.” He corrected himself, “Where are you heading this late at night?”

“Leave me alone.” She turned to walk away, but he stood his ground. She took a good look at his face to see that he had no intentions on letting her go. She didn't like the look in his eyes. They somehow reminded her of how Dongwook looked back when she had their heated argument. She knew that both of them were trying to stop her.
 

“Get out of my way.”

“No. I won't move until you tell me what's going on. Why are you acting this way? What happened?” He clenched his teeth. “I need to know. Ever since that time with the gang leaders – no, even before that, you and Chief were acting strange.”

“Stop it. Get out of here.” She pointed in the opposite direction.

“In the end, you're still not going to listen to people's voices. You're just going to be alone forever?”

She scoffed and grabbed his collar. “Like I've said before don't speak like you know everything about me.” She hissed. “If you don't leave right now, you're going to make me hurt you.”

“Do your worse.” He grabbed her shoulders. “Even if you break my my arms or my legs, I'm still going to stop you. My mom is worried about you too!”

Her grips loosened and she backed away, “Mom?” She scoffed with a small smile, “I don't know how I should feel when you call her that.” She didn't know why her eyes began to water. Two tear drops fell and she made sure it was the last she shed tears for that woman.

“What do you mean?”

“It must of been nice having that woman around when your mom wasn't.” She stared at his chest, “How long are you going to keep someone who abandoned their own child around?” She watched him tense up in shock. She was sure that now his will to keep her still has gone away. She began to walk, but suddenly, she felt his arms around her. He turned her around and held her tightly. “What...?” She scoffed quietly, “Are you pitying me? Are you feeling guilty from having spent all those glorious days with a woman like her?”

“Yeonwoo..” He held her even tighter. He didn't know what else to say or do. She tried to push him away, but he had no means in letting her go. “Please...don't go.”

“Excuse me, can you do me a favour and give this to that woman over there?” Yeonwoo smiled and handed a piece of paper to a man walking his dog.

“Sure.” The man shrugged and jogged towards a woman with two kids. He handed her the paper as he passed and continued onwards. She opened the slip and read the contents. Yeonwoo watched the woman's eyes widened in shock and her complexion go pale. The woman immediately ripped the paper and shoved it in her purse.

“Mommy, what's wrong?” Yeonwoo saw a boy her age asked the woman.

“N-Nothing sweetie.” The woman brushed the boy's hair. Yeonwoo stumbled back in shock with tears in her eyes. Her heart broke at the sight of the torn paper that read, 'I know the whereabouts of your daughter, Yeonwoo. If you wish to see this child, please meet her at 1PM by the station square.'

“She doesn't want me.”

Zero forced herself to not remember the forgotten memory and felt her body shake with pain. She always wondered how could a parent just abandon their child and feel nothing. Has she ever thought of me once? She bit her quivering lip. “Stop it.” She whispered and balled up her fist. She punched him hard enough to hear him gag. His body topped over her as his vision began to black out. She laid him down and went on her way.

“Yeonwoo.” He croaked and listened her fading footsteps before losing consciousness.