For a full minute after Xinyue said his name, Yuerin didn't move.
Not even a blink.
Just stood there in the middle of the living room, coffee in one hand, disbelief written so clearly across her face that it almost felt physical.
"You're joking." In disbelief, almost hopefull.
Xinyue shook her head once.
"I wish I was."
Yuerin let out a sharp breath, the kind that came when your brain rejected something outright but your body had already accepted it as a threat.
"No," she said again, louder this time. "No, that's not… Xinyue, that's not possible."
"It is."
"You don't just… find people like that in an alley."
"I didn't go looking for him," Xinyue said dryly. "He was already bleeding there."
"That is not the reassuring detail you think it is."
Yuerin started pacing. Pacing like she needed movement to keep from snapping.
Her steps were quick, uneven, the heel of her shoe tapping sharply against the floor. She dragged a hand through her hair, then stopped, then turned, then started pacing again.
"This is bad," she said.
"I know."
"This is very bad."
"I'm aware."
"This is the kind of bad where people disappear."
Xinyue flinched. Yuerin caught it immediately. Her pacing stopped. She turned slowly, eyes narrowing just slightly.
"You're scared."
It wasn't a question. Xinyue opened her mouth, then closed it. Because denying it would be pointless.
"I'm not panicking," she said instead.
"That's worst," Yuerin replied. "You only go quite like this when it's serious."
Silence stretched between them.
Heavy.
Real.
Yuerin stepped closer, lowering her voice.
"What happened?"
Xinyue exhaled slowly and leaned back against the edge of the table, arms crossing loosely not defensive, just… grounding.
"I found him after my shift," she said. "He was already losing blood. Badly. Gunshot wound. No one else around."
Yuerin's expression tightened.
"And you decided to take him home."
"Yes."
"Of course you did."
"I wasn't going to leave him there."
"I know," Yuerin said, softer now. "That's the problem."
Xinyue looked at her. Really looked this time.
At the tension in her friend's shoulders. The way her jaw was set just slightly too tight. The way her eyes kept flicking to the door, to the window, to the space around them like she expected something to follow the story into the room.
"You're overthinking it," Xinyue said quietly.
"I'm not thinking enough," Yuerin shot back. "Do you know who he is?"
"I've seen the news," Xinyue said.
"That's not enough."
"I figured."
Yuerin let out a breath and ran a hand down her face.
"He's not just some businessman with rumors around him," she said. "He's…" She stopped.
Looked at Xinyue. Then finished carefully, "…someone people don't talk about unless they have to."
"That sounds comforting."
"It's not meant to be."
Xinyue picked up her coffee again, more for something to do than anything else.
"He didn't look like that," she said.
Yuerin frowned. "Like what?"
"Like someone untouchable," Xinyue said. "He looked…" she hesitated, searching for the right word.
"Tired."
The word hung there.
Yuerin stared at her.
"That is not the takeaway here."
"I know."
"And yet that's what you noticed?" Xinyue shrugged slightly.
"It's what I saw."
Yuerin studied her for a long second. Then said slowly, "You're not supposed to see people like him."
Xinyue's grip tightened around the cup. "Too late."
"Did he hurt you?"
Xinyue looked up. "No."
"Did he threaten you?"
"No."
"Did he…"
"No," Xinyue cut in. "He didn't."
Yuerin held her gaze. Searching for anything, then she nodded once. "Okay."
But she didn't look relieved. She looked… unsettled.
"Why?" Xinyue asked.
Yuerin hesitated first, then "Because men like that don't just leave things alone."
The words landed heavier than they should have. Xinyue's chest tightened. "He left," she said.
Yuerin tilted her head slightly. "Did he?"
Xinyue frowned. "What does that mean?"
Yuerin gestured vaguely around the apartment. "This doesn't look like something that's over."
Xinyue followed her gaze. The faint stain, the medical wrappers, the chair slightly out of place.
Then… the drawer. Her eyes flicked toward it without meaning to. Yuerin caught it instantly.
"What's in there?"
"Nothing."
"That was suspiciously fast."
"It's nothing important."
Yuerin crossed the room in three steps and opened the drawer before Xinyue could stop her. The cufflink sat inside. Black. Clean. Out of place. Yuerin froze, then looked at it. Then at Xinyue. Then back at it again.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
Xinyue winced.
"It's just a cufflink."
"It is not 'just a cufflink,'" Yuerin said. "It is a very expensive, very identifiable piece of something that belongs to a man you should not have met."
Xinyue folded her arms. "He dropped it."
"And you kept it."
"I didn't exactly have time to return lost property."
Yuerin picked it up carefully, turning it over in her fingers.
"This is custom," she said. "You don't just buy this."
"Good to know."
Yuerin looked at her again. "He'll come back for it."
The words were quiet but certain. Xinyue felt something shift under her ribs.
"No," she said.
Yuerin raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound convinced."
"I am convinced."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"You are."
Xinyue exhaled sharply. "I don't even know how to contact him," she said. "He doesn't know anything about me."
Yuerin's expression didn't change. "He knows where you live."
That shit hit hard. Xinyue's fingers curled slightly against her arms.
"Right," she said quietly.
Neither of them spoke for a moment. The room felt different again. Clam but aware of the intensity. Yuerin set the cufflink back in the drawer and closed it gently.
"Okay," she said. "We need to think."
"I am thinking."
"No, you're reacting," Yuerin said. "There's a difference."
Xinyue pushed herself off the table and started pacing now, mirroring what Yuerin had done earlier without realizing it.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked. "Call the police?"
The word felt wrong the second it left her mouth. Yuerin heard it too. Her expression shifted slightly.
"Would that help?"
Xinyue thought about it. The alley. His hand on her wrist.
No police.
Her stomach tightened.
"No."
Yuerin nodded once.
"Then we don't."
Xinyue stopped pacing.
"You're agreeing with that?"
"I'm agreeing with staying alive," Yuerin said. "If he didn't want the police involved, there's a reason. And I don't want to find out what that reason is the hard way."
That was… fair unfortunately, Xinyue dragged a hand through her hair.
"This is ridiculous."
"Yes."
"This shouldn't be happening."
"No."
"I should be asleep."
"Also no."
Despite everything, Xinyue huffed out a small laugh. Yuerin watched her carefully.
"You're not as scared as you should be."
Xinyue looked at her.
"I am scared."
"OK???."
"I don't panic easily," Xinyue said.
"I know."
"I handle things."
"I know."
Yuerin stepped closer. "And that's exactly why this is dangerous."
Xinyue's brows drew together. "Explain."
"You're treating this like a situation you can manage," Yuerin said. "Like a patient. Like a problem you can fix."
"And?"
"And this is not something you fix," Yuerin said quietly. "This is something you survive."
The words settled into the room slowly. Like they needed time to take shape. Xinyue looked away first. Because she didn't have an answer to that, part of her already knew it. She moved toward the window instead, pulling the curtain back slightly.
The street below looked normal. People walking. Cars passing. A delivery truck idling for a moment before pulling away.
No obvious watchers.
No dark cars waiting.
Nothing.
"You don't see them," Yuerin said from behind her.
Xinyue let the curtain fall.
"I know."
Silence again.
A while later… Her phone buzzed. Both of them looked at it, terrified.
Unknown number.
Xinyue's stomach dropped. Yuerin noticed immediately. "Don't answer it."
Xinyue didn't move. The phone buzzed again. Then stopped. The silence afterward felt louder than the ringing had.
Yuerin exhaled slowly. "That's how it starts."
Xinyue swallowed. "It could be nothing."
"It's not nothing."
Xinyue picked up the phone anyway.
Yuerin's hand shot out, catching her wrist. "Xinyue."
The warning in her voice was firm. Xinyue hesitated. Then gently pulled her hand free.
"I need to know."
She tapped the screen. Held the phone close to her ear.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Just the faint sound of a line opens somewhere. Her pulse climbed.
"Hello?" she repeated.
Then…
A voice.
Low.
Calm.
Familiar.
"Did you sleep?"
Everything in her body went still. Yuerin's eyes widened across from her.
Xinyue's grip tightened around the phone. "You…"
Her voice came out thinner than she wanted. She cleared her throat. "You left."
"Yes." The answer was simple. Like leaving had been the easiest part of the night.
"You said nothing about calling."
"I didn't."
"That's not how normal people behave."
"I'm not normal."
That almost sounded like humor.
Almost.
Xinyue pressed her lips together. Yuerin mouthed, Hang up. Xinyue ignored her.
"Why are you calling?" she asked.
A pause.
"You have something of mine."
Her eyes flicked toward the drawer.
Of course.
Of course that's why.
"It's just a cufflink."
"It's not just that."
The tone had shifted slightly. Xinyue straightened unconsciously. Her voice steadied.
"You dropped it."
"Yes."
"And you want it back."
"Yes."
A beat.
Then she said, "You could have sent someone."
Silence on the line.
Thinking.
"I didn't."
That did something strange to the air in the room. Yuerin watched her like she was about to step off something high.
Xinyue swallowed. "Then what do you want?"
Another pause. Then, quieter… "I want to know you're safe."
Her breath caught. Just for a second. Yuerin's expression shifted immediately - sharp, alert, warning.
Xinyue forced her voice steady. "I'm fine."
"Good."
"I'll come get it."
Her grip tightened again.
"No."
Yuerin mouthed, Good.
On the line, Taehyun didn't respond immediately.
"Why?"
Xinyue closed her eyes briefly. Because you shouldn't come back, this should end here, I don't understand what happens if it doesn't.
Instead, she said,
"I'll return it another way."
A longer pause this time.
"I don't think you will." The certainty in his voice sent a quiet chill down her spine.
Xinyue opened her eyes. Stared at the wall.
"You don't know me."
"No," he said.
A beat later. "I'm starting to."
That was more than anything else he could have said. Xinyue ended the call. Just like that. No goodbye. No hesitation. Silence flooded the room again.
Yuerin stared at her.
"What did he say?"
Xinyue lowered the phone slowly. Her heart was still beating too fast.
"He's coming back."
Yuerin's expression went completely still.
"Of course he is."
Xinyue looked toward the drawer.
Toward the cufflink.
Toward the small, stupid thing that had somehow become a reason.
Then she exhaled.
Long.
Slow.
And said quietly…
"This isn't over."
Yuerin didn't argue.
Because they both knew… It had only just begun.