Snow Hunter Stories

When she got out of bed this morning, rather reluctantly at that, the last thing Kang Yuri expected was to be in a police chase. So then why was it happening?

“Hold on tight, Sweetheart- things are about to get rough!” the boy next to her laughed happily. Though if you asked her, she would say it sounded more crazy than it did merry, but that could have had something to do with the fact that she was currently clutching the little handle on the roof so tightly she couldn’t feel her fingers anymore and was a little distracted from her so called partner in crime, attention half on the colorful lights flashing in the road behind them and half on praying the seatbelt wouldn’t break and that she would, somehow, get out of this alive. It did nothing to alleviate her fears when they took the next turn particularly sharp, the vehicle’s driver letting out an excited whoop, the wide grin on his face as charming as it was concerning. He was actually enjoying this, the little psycho!

And who happened to be the maniac behind the wheel of the car she was sure would be her grave? His name was Kim Jongdae, and she had only known him for approximately two hours and twenty-six minutes and she was already closer to being arrested, not to mention carsick, than she had ever been in the first twenty-three years of her life. Well, it certainly left one hell of a first impression, she’d give him that.

How did it come to this? She was wondering the exact same thing, and the only answer she had was steamed buns.

Let’s rewind for a second, shall we?

*****

“Stupid Baozi,” she muttered under her breath, bitter and still groggy from her early and not so pleasant wake-up call this morning. Kang Yuri was not a morning person- and that was a major understatement. On any usual morning, she would be comfortably cuddled up in her warm bed still snoozing away in dreamland for a couple more hours, the perks of taking all of her senior year courses online. Only today wasn’t a usual morning for her. Instead of possibly enjoying a dream where she was happily dating the perfection that was Lee Jongsuk, she was heading to the nearest convenience store to buy a ridiculous amount of steamed buns, of all things, at the request of her persistent roommate who happened to be obsessed with the stupid treat.

“Annyeonghaseyo.”

Yuri dipped her head in a subtle bow in response to the cashier’s greeting before shuffling her way down the aisles to a section she was more than familiar with. She eyed the white packaged buns with a sigh. Why was her life so boring? If she were being honest, this was probably the most excitement she had experienced all week if you didn’t count freaking out over the two leads finally kissing the other day in the drama she was currently watching.

How many should she get? Five? Ten?

“Annyeonghaseyo.”

Stuck in the middle of a mental debate with herself over whether she should save her money and face her roommate’s scolding for buying too little or sacrifice her cash to appease the beast, Yuri was oblivious to the entrance of her fellow early morning customer. However, that didn’t mean that he was oblivious to her. At first, he was just going to pass her, but he quickly backtracked, doing a doubletake. After all, it wasn’t every day you saw someone trying to juggle more white milk steamed bun snack packages than could possibly be healthy- was she even capable of eating all of those?

“Hello.”

Maybe she should have chosen to spare her wallet instead, considering she was having trouble carrying them all. Then again, Chi-hye could be a scary roommate when she wanted to be, and apparently this time her desire to avoid conflict won out.

“Hey…”

Should she just ask the cashier for help? Wait, was she allowed to get a bag before she paid? Maybe-

“Hello!”

She jumped in place, startled by the sudden exclamation by her ear, fumbling with the packages in her hands. She winced as most of them fell to the floor, her being only able to save two, and the loud noise of something being crushed and flattened alerted her to the fact that she would definitely have to pay for them now. Turning her head to the side to give the person that made her drop them a blank look, she was met with the sight of a male around her age with shiny black hair and a sheepish smile.

His dark brown eyes widened and he cleared his throat awkwardly, quickly schooling his features into a blank look to match her own and casually leaning back against the stocked shelf. “I mean, hey.” He nodded to her coolly.

His attempt to overcome his mistake might have worked, had he not put too much of his weight on the fragile shelf. A few seconds after he had placed his elbow on it, the shelf gave out, causing him to go wide eyed again as he tried to keep his balance, and now it wasn’t just the steamed buns on the floor anymore.

“Hey!” The cashier was none too happy with them.

“Oops?” the boy gave a crooked grin, seeming more embarrassed than apologetic, as they were both promptly kicked out. Great. What was she supposed to do now? Return back home empty handed to a whiny roommate with a hangover? Unlikely.

“So…” She blinked at the vaguely familiar voice and turned towards her fellow backlisted shopper, the person who had gotten them temporarily banned.  He was smiling at her widely, not upset in the least with their current situation. If anything, the sparkle in his dark eyes gave away that he was not-so-secretly amused. “Do you want to grab a coffee?”

Was he… asking her out?

“No.” She didn’t even add a polite ‘thank you’ to the end of the statement, or an awkward but kind smile to lessen the sting of rejection. Chi-hye would most likely scold her for her lack of manners and social protocol if she knew, but at the moment, she didn’t care. She didn’t make it a habit to go out for drinks of any kind with unfamiliar men, especially ones that got her kicked out of stores. In fact, she didn’t really make it a habit to go out with anyone, period. It was one of the side effects of spending all of her time locked up in her apartment like a shut-in.

“Aw, come on, Sweetheart, don’t be like that.” Seeing that his flirty smile and charming personality weren’t exactly getting him anywhere, he decided that it was time to switch tactics. The confident smile slid right off his face, melting into a more sincere and awkward expression, his features more vulnerable and not as guarded. “Hey, how about this,” he tried again, “I feel bad about getting you kicked out. Honest. Especially since you seemed so hungry.”

“They weren’t for me,” Yuri interrupted him, correcting his false assumption.

“Right,” he nodded, agreeing without a second thought. She got the distinct feeling that he was teasing her, but she let him continue, watching him warily. “Anyway, why don’t I make it up to you? There’s another store that sells snacks a couple blocks from here. I have a car, one that’s plenty fast enough. You looked like you needed help carrying all of those things anyway.”

Growing up, kids are always told not to talk to strangers- even more important, never get in a car with one. White vans, kidnappings, candy, stranger danger- all that good stuff. She wasn’t stupid. Given her condition, her parents had been especially adamant about her safety, impressing these rules upon her every chance they got. Even Chi-hye still warned her about the so-called dangers of the world at times, her lectures twice as long and four times as boring and insufferable as her parents’ had been as a child. She always listened, always followed the rules.

This was her first time ever getting kicked out of anywhere.

Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe it was time for her to start breaking the rules that trapped her. Maybe it was time for her to live a little.

“Okay,” she agreed.

“I promise that I’ll- wait, did you just say okay?” he blinked in confusion.

“Okay,” she repeated, nodding to him.

“Perfect.” His smile was back now, though it was more laidback and natural than it had been before when he had first approached her in the store. “The name’s Kim Jongdae.”

She stared blankly at his outstretched hand for a few seconds before hesitantly taking it. It wasn’t that she was so inept in social situations that she didn’t know what she was meant to do with it- she wasn’t an idiot, she knew what a basic handshake was-, but she hesitated because she was taking a minute to summon her courage. She was about to walk into uncharted territory, to do something forbidden. For a girl like her, this was a big step, practically monumental. When her slim hand wrapped around his own, she had the faintest feeling in the back of her mind that she had just sold her soul to the devil, sealing some sort of tragic pact with the mundane motion of pumping her arm up and down in that instance. However, the most prominent sensation she felt at that moment was the impression of warmth. His hand encasing her own was incredibly warm, a type of soft and comforting heat she had never felt before, or if she had, then she couldn’t remember it.

“Kang Yuri.” She gave her name to him. There was no going back now.

Flash forward about an hour and a half (he had taken her out for a drink at a café nearby, in spite of all of her protests and blunt refusals) and they were at a larger department store, one that still had a small grocery and snack section with a healthy supply of white steamed buns that were sure to satisfy her agitated roommate. Or at least, they would have been enough, had she returned in the fifteen-minute time frame she had originally promised. If she turned up now, Chi-hye would no doubt chew her out and bite her head off about it. The nagging would never end. Her only hope would be if the other girl had passed out again and didn’t notice that she was unexplainably late. Chi-hye never believed any of her excuses, and even if they were true, she didn’t put up with them. Yuri still bought an absurd number of buns though- it never hurt to bring along a peace offering.

Jongdae had tagged along, roaming the store with a bored expression on his face as he picked random items up off the shelves and threw them back without regard for their proper placement. She was learning that Jongdae was the type of person that didn’t hold a lot of respect for order, for rules and the status quo, for pretty little packaged boxes lined up perfectly straight on clean, level shelves, not a corner out of place on the display case. He was very laidback, confident, and didn’t really care about the way others perceived him. Yuri admired that about him. However, he also didn’t seem to care much about others in general, his own desires coming first. His persistent attitude in pursuing her proved that, as well as the way he effortlessly steered all their conversations at the coffee shop- not that she had put up much of a fight in either instance, being the more introverted of the pair that thought it best to avoid unnecessary conflict.

“Are you done?” Jongdae reappeared at her side as she finished paying for the snack food. She just nodded, offering him a small smile as she grabbed her bag from the cashier. He returned the gesture for a brief moment before the playful grin she was sure was his default expression abruptly vanished, the barest hint of a frown replacing it, eyes locked onto something over her shoulder. She was cut off before she could even open her mouth to ask him what was wrong.

“Listen,” he put a hand on her shoulder, not meeting her eyes or removing his gaze from whatever had captured his attention. “I need you to go wait by the car, okay? Don’t worry,” he flashed her a dazzling smile, the skin at the corner of his eyes crinkling just a little bit too much from how wide his grin was for it to be real. “I see someone I know- a friend of mine. It won’t take long.”

For all his natural charisma, Jongdae was a terrible liar. However, that wasn’t Yuri’s problem. Jongdae was interesting, different, but he was still just a stranger to her. After he dropped her off at her apartment, they’d go their separate ways and never see each other again. Yuri would go back to hiding in her apartment and Jongdae would go back to doing whatever the hell he did before he decided to waltz up and harass her. Therefore, even if it was an obvious lie, Yuri chose to believe it because it was just easier that way.

Now, she was quietly waiting next to the car for Jongdae to finish whatever abrupt business he had that was so urgent he had shooed her away. Leaning against the driver’s side door with her plastic bag of purchased items, she couldn’t help but agree with Jongdae’s earlier statement: his car is extremely cool. She wasn’t a girl that was into cars, so she didn’t know the make or model, but it was slim, sleek, flashy, and elegant all at once, and she could see why he adored it. The exterior was a beautiful sapphire blue color with a metallic finish and black accents. A faded stripe in a darker, greyer shade of blue went perfectly down the center of the front hood, reminding her of those old racing cars in movies from another time period. The windows were slightly tinted and the interior was a pure, bold black leather that she had found more comfortable than she would have thought it was. It also made a pretty good perch to lean against and cloud watch.

However, her peace was short-lived; peace never lasted long around someone like Kim Jongdae. He proved that when he came running at her, screaming in panic and waving his arms around frantically.

“Get in the car, get in the car, get in the car!” Jongdae motioned for her to quickly get in the vehicle, babbling. He instantly corrected her when she startled and made a move to round the hood to the passenger’s side, shepherding her to get in the closest door instead. “Driver’s side! Start the car!”

“But-” Suddenly she was fumbling with the keys clumsily, trying not to drop them after barely managing to catch them following Jongdae’s reckless toss from a fair distance away. Her eyes widened upon noticing the group of police dressed in navy bursting out of the department store doors Jongdae had just exited. Without delay or any more protests, she was yanking the door open, climbing in the driver’s seat, and roughly shoving the key in the ignition in a manner Jongdae didn’t appreciate and would reprimand her about later.

“Drive!” he demanded, slamming the door behind him. He was sitting in the spot directly behind her, arms circling around the headrest and pointing at the windshield in front of her and the road that lay beyond it. A frantic glance at the rearview mirror to confirm her suspicions that the brave boys in blue were indeed chasing her tentative companion, and the sole of her sneaker was pressing down on the gas pedal automatically.

“What the hell is going on?!” she shouted, heart pounding wildly and head spinning. It didn’t feel real, like she was dreaming, her mind unable to keep up with reality. Everything was happening too fast for her to properly react, let alone actually comprehend any of it.

“Right! Take a right!” Jongdae directed her. When she failed to comply fast enough to satisfy him, he reached around the seat and tugged on the wheel himself, the car skidding and making a jerky, clumsy turn. Yuri yelped, shoulder slamming against the window since there hadn’t been abundant time to take precautions and put a seatbelt on.

“You’re too slow. Move over,” he commanded. And then out of the blue, Jongdae was shoving the head of the seat down and somehow climbing over it into the front, and Yuri was being pushed over the console in the middle to the passenger’s side. The car swerved, drifting dangerously close to the sidewalk, horns honking and people shouting. Jongdae plopped himself down in the seat and quickly righted the wheel, correcting their course. She could have sworn that she heard him muttering to himself. “It’s okay Jongdae. You’ve got this under control. You’ve been in worse situations,” his lips moved, voice a soft, sarcastic whisper.

Sirens. Loud, wailing, red and blue sirens.

“Shit.”

Yuri’s sent flying into the hard car door again as they take a hard left and this time it’s her other shoulder that hits the door. She’s going to have bruises tomorrow, or maybe even in the next few hours, there’s no doubt about that. Taking the opportunity while it’s still available, her shaking hands rush to buckle the seatbelt securely over her chest before her body can be jerked anywhere else. It takes a couple of tries to fasten it properly, her heart beating in overdrive and her sweaty, trembling palms having difficulty making the two parts accurately match up. Once that chore is completed, she takes in a giant gulp of air and lets it out, feeling her lungs expand, burn from the pressure, and then deflate. She feels safer- like she’s cuddling up to a security blanket. Even if it’s a placebo effect, she’s grateful. However, the relief is only momentary, the car violently jumping over a speed bump at far more than the recommended standard velocity for such an obstacle. Her right hand shoots up to grip the little bar on the ceiling for reassurance, fingers wrapped around it so strong she was surely cutting off the circulation, more than just her knuckles turning white.

And that brings us back to the present, where Kang Yuri swears her life is flashing before her eyes.

“Hold on tight, Sweetheart- things are about to get rough!”

Making an illegal turn off the goddam road with at least three police cars -when had that third one gotten there?- hot on your tail was not what she would describe as simply “rough”. Of course, the fact that Kang Yuri and Kim Jongdae were very different people had made itself painstakingly clear by now.

Sportscars aren’t meant to drive on the concrete sidewalk in between buildings, yet somehow that was exactly what they were doing right now. Her breathing picked up, chest rapidly heaving with every terrified gulp. She squeezed her eyes shut so viciously it hurt, trying to block out the sirens and the screams of civilians trying to jump out of the way. Everything, every sound, was being drowned out by the horrible noise of blood rushing through her veins and erratic, skipping heartbeats anyway, but the darkness was still welcoming. Comforting.

“Relax, Yu.” Jongdae’s voice broke through her hazy panic, the remnants of a laugh still coloring his tone. “I may be a criminal, but I’ve never killed anyone before. Scout’s honor.”

She didn’t feel very reassured.

By the time they were back on a legitimate asphalt paved street, she was on the verge of having a full-blown panic attack, despite the fact that it had only taken them a minute, more than likely even less than that. Safely on the other side of a cluster of companies and storefronts and heading in the opposite direction from the police, now was the time for Jongdae to put some distance between them. If he wasn’t so amazing, he wouldn’t have been able to multi-task as well as he did then, simultaneously increasing speed, passing other unsuspecting vehicles by, and attempting to calm a frantic, crying girl down. When the waterworks had started, neither of them really knew, but they were very much unpleasant.

“Hey, hey, stick with me here, Sweetheart. Everything’s going to be fine.” His voice was calmer now, tone more serious. Instead of exhilarated laughter, his words were tinged with genuine concern and a gentleness that only Chi-hye had ever taken with her. Like she was fragile. That was exactly what she was, and she hated it. All her life she had been protected, babied, locked away like Rapunzel in a tower with no key. Her thoughts made her feel claustrophobic, a shuddering gasp rocking her body. Jongdae cursed, eyes still narrowed at the road as he sped towards the nearest exit out of town.

“Listen, Yuri. I need you to calm down, alright? Breathe.”

She tried to follow his instructions, she really did, but one shaky inhale later and she was crying out at the sharp pain in her chest. It was a familiar one, one that had nothing to do with the anxiety clawing at her insides. It had been months since the last time she had an episode, and now was not the time for her condition to be acting up.

“Shit, okay, plan B then.” Jongdae reached over, hand blindly searching for one of hers, his other still placed on the steering wheel. They were almost there, just a couple more miles. He squeezes her hand as a way of telling her this, crushing her fingers before threading them through his own. It’s a messy, tangled knot, but it helps. His thumb slides out to make languid strokes on the side of her palm- the angle’s all awkward, but the good intentions are there. “Count the strokes, Yu. Breathe in. Breathe out.”

They start out shallow and then become longer with each rise and fall of her chest, her lungs taking in more and more air each time until she’s breathing deeply and her heart rate is starting to calm down. Its rhythm decreases from thundering to a slightly unsteady pound and she can feel her head begin to clear. The tear stains on her cheeks are dry and she feels exhausted by the time she gains the courage and mental fortitude to reopen her eyes. She can still feel the dull pain in her chest and prays that it goes away soon. A crisis has been averted- multiple actually. She’s not getting arrested and she isn’t dead, so that was something at least.

“You good?” Jongdae asks cautiously, hand still grasping hers. The comforting warmth of it soothes her and she unconsciously begins to hold it back.

“Yeah,” Yuri breathes, eyes watching the view pass by out the window. She catches a sign through the glass advertising a hotel in a couple of miles and somehow instinctively knows that’s where they’re heading. She doesn’t miss the fact that they’re on the edge of the city either. It’s impossible to tell how long the chase had lasted, the whole thing feeling like it was only mere seconds, and her lost time spent out of commission didn’t help in determining it either, but they had clearly covered a decent amount of ground. Jongdae looks over at her with a wicked grin, chocolate brown eyes filled with so many emotions it’s no wonder they look like they’re shining.

“Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?”

Kim Jongdae is absolutely batshit crazy, but Kang Yuri must be too, because at that moment she laughs: two parts hysterical, one part relieved, and one part that she wasn’t aware existed before that agreed with the man on the run completely. For a split second before her mental breakdown, she had to admit that she had felt it- the adrenaline rush, the thrill Jongdae seemed to live for. Anxiety aside, it felt good. At the very least, it was something different, something exciting, something besides surfing the internet and staring at the wall at home. The more she thought about it, the more amazed she was. Her, Kang Yuri, the girl that stayed at home, had no real friends, and had a roommate/babysitter that constantly ratted her out to her parents, had just been engaged in a high-speed police chase like the ones in crime movies and action dramas. And gotten away with it. There was something intoxicating about the idea of rebellion.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” she whispers, tone colored with awe.

“Believe it,” Jongdae smirks. “You need anything from home?”

“Home?” she asks, brows furrowing.

“Yeah, anything you need? We can pick it up tomorrow. We’ll have to spend tonight in a hotel while the heat dies down,” he explains. “Then we’ll ditch this place and live it up somewhere else.”

“Leave?” she frowns. Once again, things are happening too fast for her to keep up.

“They saw you with me, so I assume they’ll be spreading word around about my accomplice first chance they get. I’m kind of a big deal,” he stage-whispered with a mocking wink. The word accomplice is ringing in her mind, echoing around the empty space. Half of her is terrified at what he’s implying and the other half, the Yuri that floored it without asking questions and used to daydream about actually doing something with her life, likes the sound of it. Very much.

Sensing her hesitation, Jongdae rolls his eyes and takes it upon himself to convince her as he parks the car in front of a less than five-star inn. “Come on, Sweetheart; haven’t you ever wanted a little adventure in your life?”

She stops and thinks about it. Of course she did. That was exactly what she wanted, what she had always wanted and waited so long for- it was all she wanted, honestly. Wasn’t that why she had agreed to go with him in the first place, accepting a potentially dangerous -scratch that, she knew now that he was unquestionably dangerous- stranger’s request?

Kang Yuri was the very definition of dull and awkward. She was reserved by nature and quietly introverted by practice. Yet here she was, laughing after almost dying in a highspeed car chase and seriously debating whether a life on the run was a price worthy of the thrilling high she was still coming down from.

Kang Yuri had always been dull and awkward. And Kim Jongdae was anything but. He was charmingly charismatic, a little psychotic (though he preferred the term “creative”, she would come to find out later), and witty. He was practically her polar opposite, confident and interesting in every possible aspect. In fact, he was so interesting that the cops had pursued him through the streets with haste, if “interesting” was the right word for that. He was a wanted criminal- a thief, he would confess to her that night. He was trouble.

But what was an adventure without a little trouble, a little danger? What was the point in being alive if she just stayed cooped up in her small apartment her whole life, not even really living?

“Well, I do need to grab a couple of things,” she confessed. She was indirectly agreeing to everything he had indirectly offered her and they both knew it.

The smile Jongdae gave her at that moment was brilliantly blinding.

*****

“So, why were those officers after you anyway?” In hindsight, it was something she should have asked a lot sooner than she did. Like maybe when he had commanded her to drive, or maybe after they had checked in to the hotel- not after they both showered and finished devouring the room service they had ordered earlier. In her defense though, she was still having a little trouble when it came to processing the whole ordeal.

“Do you want the short version, or the long one?” Jongdae stretched out on one of the twin sized beds in the room, grinning. He got comfortable, turning on his side to look at her, elbow digging into the mattress and head propped up against his palm. Yuri was laying on her own bed situated just a few feet away, back pressed flat against the covers and gaze locked onto the smooth beige ceiling.

“Either is fine.”

“Well,” Jongdae chuckled, “the short version is that I may or may not be a wanted criminal on the run from the police.”

“And the long version?” she questioned dryly. She turned her head to lay flat on the bed so that she could stare at him.

“The long version is that I most definitely am a wanted criminal on the run from the police,” he teased with a lopsided smirk and an overexaggerated wink. “There’s this officer -the one they have in charge of my case- that likes to follow me around, give me a hard time. He was waiting outside the store; hence, the quick getaway.”

“How dangerous do you have to be in order to win the title of ‘wanted criminal’?” She raised a brow, watching him curiously. It was half a phony joke and half pure interest. Strangely, she wasn’t worried or scared. Not anymore. Ever since he had calmed her down from her moment of calamity, she felt oddly calm, excited even. For once, something was happening in her life and that fact eclipsed all other thoughts and any conflicting emotions she might have been feeling underneath the pulsing current of her wonderful awe and giddy exhilaration.

“Not very,” he shrugged, sitting up, “you’d be surprised. I haven’t hurt anyone or anything like that- just robbed a couple of high class, fancy banks. And a few smaller ones. And I might have crashed a few of those blue and white squad cars the cops drive around.” At the look of incredulous surprise she gives him, he laughs and admits defeat, raising his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, you caught me. It was five cars in an epic chase aired on the news about three months back. I’m still pretty proud of that one.”

“You are without a doubt something else, Kim Jongdae.” She shakes her head with the barest hints of a smile and returns to searching the ceiling for cracks and imperfections. When you spend as much time holed up in a room at home all by yourself as she did, you develop some rather pathetic hobbies and habits in order to keep the boredom at bay and distract yourself from how lonely you actually are, and this is one of them. Only she isn’t alone at the moment, nor is she bored. Something tells her that, so long as Jongdae’s around, she won’t be bored in the slightest.

“Aren’t you going to ask why I did it? Why I steal things?” he asks with a strong dose of curiosity in his voice. Most people would have asked him why he did it or how he got away with it for so long- those were certainly some of the favorite questions of the country’s police force. He knew from the second he saw her that she was different though, or else he wouldn’t have even stopped to talk to her in the first place, let alone invited her into his precious car and whisked her away when things got dicey. In fact, there was really no reason for him to keep her around. But there was just something about her that caught his eye, and Jongdae had never been good when it came to taming his natural risky impulses, so here they were. It was as simple as that. Sometimes people made things out to be more complicated than they truly were. It was the same for how he got started down this path. She didn’t answer or respond to his inquiries, so he took it as silent permission to continue.

“I used to be a street racer.”

Well, that explained his almost borderline unhealthy love for his car and his skilled driving during the ‘race’ earlier that day.

“I got arrested for illegal racing once,” he confessed. “That’s why the police already have all of my records and stuff on file. It made it a lot easier for them to find me after I committed my first real felony. It was only a convenience store, but a robbery is still a robbery, you know? That, and the first few times, it was because I needed money. After that, well,” he threw himself back on the bed with a dreamy sigh, hands folded behind his head, “money’s nice and all, but it gets boring pretty fast. It’s just some colored paper, doesn’t really mean anything important.”

“Then why still do it?” Yuri can’t help but think out loud.

“Bad habit?” he jokes.

They spend the rest of the night talking, laughing, and getting to know each other. It’s the most Jongdae’s talked to anyone so personally in a long time, and it’s the most Yuri’s talked to someone that’s not Chi-hye, period. It’s lighthearted and pleasant, and one might think that they’re avoiding the bigger issues, ignoring the elephant in the room, but that isn’t the case. With every self-assured smile and creak of the beds as they shift positions, they share their secrets with each other in the dark. They may not be spoken out loud, but they’re able to read between the lines and grasp the greater, hidden messages that lie there. They don’t have to discuss their plans for the future to know that they’re both on the same page, or tell tales of their past to understand each other completely. It was an easy sort of companionship- they clicked together perfectly like two pieces of the same puzzle, the same whole.

It looked like Jongdae had finally found a partner in crime.

*****

She feels weird standing in her empty apartment again- the place that has been her home, her safe haven, practically her life. It had only been a day, maybe even a little less than that, but it felt like she was surrounded by objects and memories that no longer belonged to her, like she was a stranger in a house she didn’t know and could never become familiar with.

She was a bit surprised that Chi-hye wasn’t there- scratch that, more than just a bit surprised. She had, after all, gone missing. Knowing Chi-hye, she had probably had a heart attack when she didn’t return, which most likely didn’t help her hangover at all. A few hours, she could have brushed off and simply been pissed about. By lunch, she would have been worried, and by evening she would have been frantic. Now that it was nearing the twenty-four hour mark, maybe the reason the apartment was vacant was because Chi-hye was waiting anxiously down at the police station to file a missing person’s report. The thought made her feel terrible, guilty. Chi-hye had given up a lot for her over the years, but instead of deterring her from leaving, that thought only made it seem like this decision really was for the best.

Chi-hye was her best friend, the sister she never wanted, but loved to death anyway. Growing up, she had been the golden girl next door a few years older than her that liked to call her over the backyard fence to play. They were inseparable at home, but Yuri didn’t go to school, so their interactions were limited to the same small space; she had always been home schooled due to her parents’ overprotectiveness. Once they reached middle school, the older girl was invited over to babysit her. Once they reached high school, Chi-hye would come over and tutor her. The older they got, the more responsible she became, and the more she began to act like Yuri’s parents. Chi-hye stopped letting her climb fences or run around at the park like they used to as kids. She stopped the play tickle fights of their past and was extremely careful to never harm her in any way. She started scolding her when she tried to do anything that even had the faintest potential to be dangerous and panicked if she was ever late to anything, even responding to her texts. She started nagging Yuri every day to take her pills and always made sure she was careful if she ever went out. Chi-hye hadn’t understood her illness when they were younger, but as she aged, the words and warnings that were just words and warnings as a kid had suddenly found meaning in the context of the real world and her attitude towards Yuri had changed. Instead of her childhood best friend, she had become a delicate flower that he had to watch over and protect. Yuri appreciated her concern, she really did, but sometimes she felt stifled.

She still loved her roommate and friend dearly, and always would, but maybe this was the right thing to do. She could start experiencing things finally, no longer restricted by rules or put under house arrest by her own anxiety and others’ fear. And Chi-hye could finally live her life too- really live it. Yuri always knew that Chi-hye could do so much better than she was if she wasn’t around. She wasn’t naïve enough to believe that it would be perfect at first, or that Chi-hye wouldn’t be devastated by her disappearance, but in the long run, she determined that things would be better.

Or maybe she was selfish. She had always dreamed of running away, but never had the courage to make her dreams a reality. But that was before she met Jongdae.

Should she leave a note or something? No, she decided quickly. That was sappy and stupid on a wide variety of different levels. Instead, she placed a plastic bag on the kitchen counter filled with the white milk steam buns she had bought the day before. It didn’t make sense to waste them, and this way, at least Chi-hye would know she was okay. One last glance at the final parting gift, and she headed back to her room to gather her things.

A duffle bag full of clothes, a toothbrush and a few other toiletries, her rarely used wallet stuffed with all the cash she had collected from the room, and four bottles of pills. She left her phone and other electronic devices sitting there on her desk, as per Jongdae’s request so she would be harder to track. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. All the essentials.

The pills were vital, supplements and vitamins to help her stay in good health. The most important ones were the orange bottles with the little round and oval white pills inside, the prescribed medication she had been taking ever since she turned seven and was first diagnosed with a congenital heart disease. It was a defect she was born with, a combination of Arrhythmia -her heart sometimes beat in an irregular rhythm that was too fast, and therefore it couldn’t always handle the stress of exercise or exciting situations when her heart would already be beating at an accelerated pace- and Tricuspid Atresia, which meant that her heart was missing a valve, preventing her blood from moving throughout her body properly. She had surgery to correct the problem at the age of ten, but it was an issue that required life-time follow up procedures, and nothing much could be done about her occasionally erratic heartbeat aside from taking pills to help regulate it. The oval shaped tablets in the other bottle were to help her blood flow and prevent any potential problems that could develop before her next doctor’s appointment. The time that elapsed between each visit and surgery varied, having undergone more frequent treatment when she was younger than she did now. Her last one had been roughly two months ago, so she was set for a while longer, maybe a couple of years if she was lucky.

After one more quick sweep of the room to make sure that she wasn’t forgetting anything and one last look from the front door at the place that she had called home for the past five years of her life, she was ready to go. She had felt strangely numb throughout the whole process, and she only came back alive when she met Jongdae in the apartment complex’s parking lot. In spite of the gloomy atmosphere of the situation and her usual stoic demeanor, she couldn’t help but notice her lips turned up at the corners in the faintest hint of a smile when she catches sight of Jongdae sitting in the open trunk of his treasured car with a mask on and a rather ridiculous cheetah print beanie with cat ears on it pulled down over his eyes. She throws her bag in next to him and lets out an amused scoff when he startles, scrambling to pull the hat off his head so he can see. His dark black hair is a mess, strands sticking up all over the place, and his eyes are wide.

“I can explain!” At this, she tries to muffle her laughter behind her hand, but fails. She settles instead for completely ignoring him and walking to the passenger’s side door.

“It was a disguise,” Jongdae rants, rushing to defend himself after he shuts the trunk and climbs back in behind the wheel. “There could be cops around here. I needed to look less suspicious.”

“Goal accomplished,” she teases sarcastically. Since their talk late last night into the early hours of the morning, she felt more comfortable around him, less socially awkward. She still wasn’t used to interacting with people, but she could at least hold her own in a bout of playful banter with him now. She had surprisingly warmed up to him at a rapid pace not typical of her, and it was almost to the same level as her interactions with Chi-hye.

“I’m a master of disguise,” he brags proudly, her subtle scorn flying right over his head. “It’s one of the reasons I haven’t gotten caught yet. That, and I’m just too fast for everyone else to keep up with,” he continues to praise himself, turning the key gently in the ignition to start the car. It hums to life, letting out a low purr, and he stops stroking his own ego for a moment to shoot her a crooked, boyish grin.

“No backing out, Sweetheart,” he warns, dark brown eyes sparkling mischievously. “You’re in for the long ride now.”

As they drive off into the sunset (not really, but it feels like one of those moments in cliché story books and cheesy movies), Yuri thinks that she doesn’t mind being stuck with Kim Jongdae. He makes life interesting, and that’s all she really wants from him.

*****

Fast forward two weeks, and she’s certain that this time she really will get arrested.

Jongdae had decided that they had spent enough time laying low, which they had to do since Chi-hye had reported her missing and the authorities were searching for her. Although they had moved on to a different town by now, it was still best to exercise caution when it came to these types of things. Yuri had noticed him getting impatient, restless from being trapped in cheap motels. He complained constantly about not being able to drive his ‘baby’, and when he was particularly bored, he’d annoy her until she gave in to play stupid games with him to pass the time or, in some rare cases, play wrestle on the beds in the room. The lighthearted pillow fights reminded her of a time when Chi-hye didn’t care about her illness, when she was actually allowed to feel free and have fun. As much as she gave Jongdae a hard time with her natural brutal sarcasm and sometimes still very awkward attitude, she really did like him. He had managed to make her feel alive after so long of just staring out the window, wishing she was living. It was a tossup, whether or not the way he made her feel outweighed the very real possibility of being locked up behind bars and labeled as a hazardous thief, a public menace.

Now, here she was, doing something she wouldn’t have ever dreamed of just a few weeks before: robbing a convenience store. At least Jongdae was considerate enough to pick an easy target for her first time, keeping the scale of the job small. In fact, he had been giddy about it for days, going on and on about how her first robbery would be the same as his. He thought it was adorable, like some kind of matching couple accessory they could bond over together.

“Psst, Yu. Yu!” Jongdae’s hushed voice broke her jumbled train of thought. She felt her nerves calm just the slightest at the sound of the nickname he had given her, but she was still an anxious mess internally. Unfortunately, another one of the side effects of living a sheltered life was panic in the face of things outside of her comfort zone. This was what she wanted though- adventure, excitement, new experiences-, so she was just going to have to get over it.

“Are you ready?” he asks in a whisper, a crooked grin on his pink lips. They’re standing outside of the store now, crouched by the locked ‘employees only’ back door under the cover of night. This isn’t how it always goes, but, once again, he’s taken her reservations into consideration and decided that they’d go at night this time, when no one was around. Or less people were around, since most convenience stores were open twenty-four hours. The number of customers is few and far between, and the number of workers during the night shift is always far less than those that work during the day. Still, the fact that she’ll have to face people, that she’s about ready to threaten and steal from people, terrifies her.

It also excites her, the idea of doing something forbidden, not just by her parents or Chi-hye, but by society in general.

“Yeah,” she answers on a shaky exhale. She bites down on her bottom lip harshly to distract herself from the what-ifs and everything that could go wrong; she needs to be focused one hundred percent on the task at hand. “I’m ready.”

She watches as he pulls the face mask resting underneath his chin over his mouth and nose, and she follows suit by pulling up her own. Both masks are pure black, as is their attire- cliché, yet classic, according to Jongdae; he’s a firm believer that nobody should mess with the classics. They both don black baseball caps as well, pulled low to shade their eyes and block their faces from prying glances. In her hands is a medium sized sports duffle bag. Her job is to stuff the cash from the register inside, as well as anything else that captures their fancy (Jongdae jokingly recommends that she use this as an opportunity to swipe some free steamed buns, but Yuri insists that she’ll pass). In his hands are two items: a lock pick that he’ll shove back into his pants’ pocket once they’re inside, and a gun. It’s a small semi-automatic pistol, but she isn’t familiar at all with guns, so she doesn’t know much more than that. In fact, owning them in the country, while not entirely illegal, isn’t really legal either. Gun control is as strict as strict can be, the regular police not even allowed to carry sidearms. How Jongdae had managed to get his hands on one is beyond her, and she doesn’t particularly want to know either. It’s empty; he doesn’t own a single bullet. He meant it when he said he never hurt anyone and he doesn’t intend to. Its purpose was to be used as a scare tactic and that’s it, just a little incentive for those that were reluctant to comply during his cash runs.

There’s a clicking sound and her heart stops, her breathing stops, time itself seems to stop. She lied, she isn’t ready for this. There’s no turning back though; Kang Yuri had passed the point of no return a long time ago. From the moment she spared the wild man that went by the name of Kim Jongdae a second glance, she was doomed. Now, as he had told her before, she was along for the long ride- the ride of a lifetime. There was no room for regret.

“Come on, Sweetheart. Trust me. We got this.”

She had a strong feeling that, in the end, she wasn’t going to regret a thing anyway.

“Okay, Dae. I trust you.”

The next morning, the news was reporting on a potential modern-day Bonnie and Clyde in their small, safe little country.