I wake to a glimmer of soft light and a sharp, wintry smell.

Wintry..?

My eyes are stiff. The smell gets sharper as I slowly come more to my senses— bittersweet, and it doesn't let me go back to sleep. It's almost annoying, how putrid it is.

Then I hear a low whisper.

"Wake up. It's just mint."

...Mint?

My eyes open. And I look up into Aeri, her gaze flat and dark as she stares back at me. The long locks of her sable hair brush against the line of my jaw.

My head is on her lap. And my voice sounds distant, sunk into deep water.

"How am...I alive?"

"Because of me." She snaps, voice hard on edge as she shows me a wintergreen, serrated leaf."You're damn lucky I knew what type of poison this was. Mint is the only thing that can draw it out."

She doesn't stop there.

"You're a fucking idiot." Aeri growls, her lips set in a scowl. "I had to run everywhere to find a place that sells this. And you got this from one of your fucking fights, didn't you? You never fu—"

I'd thought she had left me.

I burst into the brightest laugh.

I thought she had left me. The despair I'd felt then, when I'd seen her silhouette, is still so clear that I can almost taste it.

But she hadn't.

She'd brought me back from death.

Her lip twists.

"Did you just fucking laugh?"

She is so precious. I raise myself from her lap, completely ignoring the pain still blazing in my bandaged side as I sit up and pull her figure straight into my chest. My arms still know where to hold her, and she still fits so perfectly against me.

"No, Aeri."

"No." I laugh, burying my face into the crook of her neck. My dark locks fall over my eyes as I tilt my head towards the curve of her shoulder.

"No, I didn't."

"Fucking idiot." I hear her murmur against my chest. And I'm almost breathless from the ecstasy, as she stays still in my embrace. She doesn't hold me back, but I had never wished for anything more than for her just to stay.

I had never wished for anything more than that.

And as she curses at me again, I know.

I love her.

I love her, more than anything else I have ever loved in this world.

________________________________

I'm an idiot.

Why in the hell had I let him hold me like that?

The sheets crumple in my fisted fingers. I was back at my place, and it's still early morning. Right now V would be in a hospital bed, getting the remaining poison out of his body.

My fingers tighten harder.

I should've just left him there to die. Why had I done that? Why had I done the things that I'd did?

But the moment I'd seen him on the ground like that, the smell of poison thick around him and the shallow scarlet pooling under his body, I hadn't been able to think.

I'd only run. And the only thought that had been on my mind was to save him.

That I could not let him die.

That had been my only thought.

"He killed Aemin." I whisper out loud. "V killed Aemin, Aeri. He killed your brother."

But the words that had always brought up my hatred seems to work less and less with every time. It just sounds empty now, echoing hollowly against my mind.

I had wanted him to touch me. When he had taken me into his arms, I had felt his hands press me into his body, and I had dared want more. I wanted his hands on my skin, his lips on mine.

I had wanted that, from the murderer of my family.

Fucking unbelievable.

_________________________________

I sit, staring across the room at the blank wall. It's light morning now, and I'm deep in thought, mindlessly watching the early sunlight shimmer as I swing my legs up and down over the edge of the bed.

Jungkook.

Jeon Jungkook.

I test out the sound of his name. Then I trace my fingertips against the sheets of the bed, but no letter will come to mind.

I couldn't write. Neither could I read.

My hands clench into tight fists. Aeri used to offer me to teach me herself, having learned when she was younger. But I'd always said no— there was already too much work to do in the convenience store.

And I'd never been too interested in learning new things.

But now I want to.

I think back to the time at the restaurant, the panic I'd felt when I couldn't read anything on the menu. He had helped me then.

A loud sigh escapes my lips as I fling myself back onto the bed, spreading out my arms.

And then in the Underground.

He had taken care of those men so quickly. He had done all the things I wished I could do to them— do to anyone who bothered my mom like that. He had done it so easily.

I wanted to learn how to fight, too.

I wanted to learn from him.

Sniffing, I shift off the bed and go find Aeri. She looks up when I peek my head into her room, and I can see her force a smile. She also looks tired, which is a little weird considering it's just morning.

"Hi, Rin."

"Aeri," I start, clearing my throat. "By any chance, and um, I was just wondering—"

"Do you have that guy's number?"

"...what guy?" She asks, and I wince.

"The Jungkook guy."

Her eyes widen. And I see the amusement, even before the curiosity. I can tell her mood has slightly lifted as she flashes me a real smile this time.

"Does Rin have a crush?"

"No," I scowl, ignoring her laughs. "I just want him to teach me some things. Remember we're trying to take advantage of these guys? You told me yourself."

"Teach you what?"

"How to fight, for one thing." I say, counting off my fingers. "And how to read and write. I think it's time that I learned."

"...to fight?" She repeats me with a tilt of her head. "I don't have his number but I can try to get him so you can tell him what you want."

I chew on my bottom lip.

"Right...now?"

"You want to go right now?"

I nod, with another visible wince. "Do you know where they live, Aeri?"

She smiles. "...I do, actually. Jungkook should be there because they stay together. Do you want me to take you there?"

I'm about to nod again when I notice the dark shadows under her eyes. Had she not gotten a single wink of sleep last night? Why did she look like that?

I tilt my head. "Did you not sleep yesterday?"

She stiffens a little, rubbing at her eyes.

"...I couldn't sleep well, no. But I'm fine. Let's go then, Rin."

She looks really exhausted.

"No, I can go by myself if you just tell me where it is." I say, shaking my head. Then I pout, crossing my arms together. "I'm not a child, you know. I don't need to be walked."

"You're sure? You're not really good with directions and—"

She laughs at my scowl.

________________________________

Straight down. Turn the corner, take the third street to the right. And then...

This place is way too damn fancy.

I find myself wandering after successfully entering the third street on the right. But then the directions that Aeri had drilled into my head just fifteen minutes ago simply fizzle into midair.

These rows of houses are huge. Some of them are two stories— three stories, the walls cream-colored and windows made of tinted glass. They even have gates.

You have to be kidding, right?

I look down at the long street of houses. Each of them are big enough to fit an entire neighborhood, and I start walking slowly down the sidewalk, trying to remember her final direction.

Had she said fourth house? Or maybe it was the seventh.

Maybe I could just ring all of them one by one.

But there must be more than twenty houses in a straight row. And they all look exactly the same— big, white, with a scary double gate in front of them.

I spend half an hour just walking my way up and down the street, wondering how I was going to do this.

No way I was going back to Aeri, either. My pride didn't allow that in the slightest.

But I'm starting to consider I should just go back when the half hour turns into a full hour. I'd wasted an entire hour.

Yeah.

My lips purse together.

What was the point of this, anyways.

Then I hear the sound of rapid footsteps behind me. And the moment I whip around, I hear the familiar label that only he called me with.

"Miss Rin."

"What are you doing here?"