It was another night of stealing.

Faeles has been preparing for this night since she has planned to do something grand for it.

But she kept on hating the fact that she could not focus at all!

The voice of Yoongi always found its way to her thoughts and she hates how she allows herself to succumb to such simple yet impactful words.

“And maybe you're not aware but we, photographers, can stay patient for long periods of time.”

"Shut up," she grumbles under her breath as she fixes the tight knot around the arms of the newest victim.

“So either way...I'll wait for you, Wendy.”

"Shut up!" She shouts in a whisper.

"I-I did not say a-anything!" The man trapped on the chair shakily cries on the brink of tears.

"I wasn't talking to you!" She exclaims in anger, finally pulling the two ends of the rope causing the man to yelp out in pain. She’s here to steal again and clear her name. How ironic for one to do a bad deed to prove a good point. The police and government think that it was Faeles who committed the murder, but no, she would never do anything like that. But how in the world can she focus now?! "Damn it!" She curses sharply under her breath. This is not going to work if I keep on allowing myself to feel bothered and even…

Wendy can't believe this.

The words of the photographer made her flustered. When was the last time she ever felt that way? She’s always been someone who did not want to be involved with too many people. This leads her to live a quiet life with no attachments. 

Though, she never thought of the idea of someone personally reaching out to her. It feels different and all brand-new. For some reason, it’s a whole different story, one that seems hard to follow yet is brought into without any warning. 

Whatever. Just as she leaves the house with enough money to anonymously donate to another orphanage by the edge of the city, she took a bit of her time to glance back at the house and the bag full of cash in her hand. There are better things to be thinking about.

------------

"Why do you seem happy?"

Joohyun’s train of thought gets disrupted by a man who is unfortunately her ex she encounters almost every single day.

She suppresses an eye roll and comfortably leans back on her chair. She looks up at Taehyung, raising a questioning eyebrow. "And why are you talking to me?"

"Hey," he raises his hands in mock surrender, "I'm just being a good owner here and trying to engage in small and polite talk with a customer." Taehyung bites back the scowl threatening to cross his face. "You just looked stupid with that smile on your face," he grumbles under his breath as he places a mug of black coffee on the table for Joohyun. "Is it wrong to be curious?" 

“I’m just not in the mood to talk to you, Taehyung,” Joohyun grumbles, though, reaching out to grab the handle of the mug and bringing the whole thing near for her to gently blow on the piping hot coffee. “Can’t a woman smile on her own?” She asks, this time in a much louder voice. “Or must it be questioned by everyone around her?”

“Damn,” Taehyung whispers, caught off guard by Joohyun’s defensive words. “I was just trying to be cordial with you. Well, aside from how I thought your smile looked stupid.”

“Careful,” she utters in a singsong voice. Placing the mug back on the table, she continues, “You used to think that my smile lit up your whole world. You also used to say that my smile was unlike anyone else’s and that it was the most unique and precious thing in the whole entire universe.”

Taehyung freezes in place as she utters those words. Damn this woman and her memory. He did say that to her a lot of times when they were together. Why did she have to bring that up? He forces out a loud laugh, masking how flustered he currently feels. “Well, I’m sorry to burst your bubble but preferences change along with people.” He finishes with a smile, one that clearly looks sarcastic. Joohyun could only scowl at him. “Now,” he brings out his notepad and a pen from his apron to jot down orders, “would you like something to eat for breakfast? With how heated you are, one can cook an egg on your head.”

“Wendy is making my breakfast right now,” Joohyun snaps at him, “I’m fine on my own, thank you very much,” she ends in a sneer and turns her head away, clearly done with their conversation or whatever the hell that was. 

Taehyung huffs something incoherent under his breath and throws one last death glare towards the woman before making his way back to the kitchen. He enters just in time to see Wendy place some sliced strawberries on top of two plates of waffles. “Are you going to eat again with Joohyun?” 

Wendy looks up in surprise at him but quickly regains her composure. She nods and goes back to her task at hand. 

“Well, I’m going to make you in charge of her today.” He heaves out a long and deep sigh. Wendy then starts to notice that he looks exhausted. She cocks her head to the side and throws him a glance that looks like she’s asking him a question. 

Taehyung leans against the metal counter and lets out another sigh before folding his arms before him. “I know that look of yours,” he tells her. “Are you asking why I’m...tired?”

Wendy nods, acknowledging that his guess is right. 

“Can you believe that the day just started and I’m already exhausted? Your crazy roommate is the reason why I’m so fucking exhausted in the morning.”

Wendy bites her bottom lip and grabs her writing board and the marker on it before writing down something on it.

Don’t forget that you dated her, though. It read as she turned it around for Taehyung to see. 

The man groans loudly and slaps a hand on his forehead. “Not you, too.” 

Wendy is confused with his reaction, but she does not probe any further. Maybe he really has had enough of seeing his ex for today. 

She places her writing board in the wide front pocket of her apron along with the marker and takes a step forward to rest a hand on Taehyung’s shoulder. Squeezing it gently, she flashes him a half-smile, one that seemed like she was trying to tell him to cheer up. It did work in some way because Taehyung managed to smile back at her. “Thanks, Wen,” he mutters, giving her a half-smile as well. “Now do me a favor and bring out those plates so that that woman can leave faster.”

Wendy stifles a laugh threatening to leave her mouth by biting the inside of her cheek. She nods again, chipper this time, and places the two plates on a tray before carrying it to the table where her roommate is waiting. 

Joohyun notices her presence because her head turns toward her direction and she greets her, “Hey, Wendy. I'm glad it's you now instead of that guy over there. What do you have for us today?”

She first places the tray on the table and Joohyun could not hide an excited gasp. 

“Oh, these waffles look amazing!” She gushes, taking one plate and placing it before her. “You outdid yourself again, Wendy!”

The other woman turns bashful, beaming shyly at her. She takes the other plate from the tray and then sits down on the empty chair. After handing out a pair of utensils to Joohyun, the roommates start to enjoy their breakfast together. 

Some days work in this manner. Joohyun would visit the cafe in the morning with Wendy and would eat breakfast with her before leaving for work. Yoongi would also join them mainly because he’s trying to prove to Wendy that he can be a nice person and not a terrible one. 

The difference between today and all those other days is that Yoongi is not with them. 

From being bothered by his words last night as she stole as Faeles, the fact that the man is missing from their normal yet annoying breakfasts together is eating her up. She is genuinely curious as to why he’s not here with them today. 

Wendy places her utensils on the plate then takes out her writing board and marker before writing down:

Where’s Yoongi?

A smirk slowly forms on Joohyun’s face as she reads the question written on the board. “Why are you asking?” She quirks her eyebrows suggestively. “Are you starting to miss him?” She continues with her teasing, “Why is he suddenly the first thing you noticed?”

Wendy instantly shakes her head vehemently, trying to make Joohyun understand that that was not what she meant. In a hurry, she erases what she wrote on her board and starts writing her explanation, especially her stating that she doesn't mind why Yoongi is not here and is simply just curious.

“You don’t have to get all worked up like that,” Joohyun assured her, placing a hand over Wendy’s to stop her from writing any further. “I was just messing with you.”

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Wendy places the board and marker on the table then raises an eyebrow at Joohyun, urging her to explain. 

“Yoongi had to go to the office earlier than usual.”

Wendy furrows her eyebrows. She thought that they worked at a studio since he’s a photographer and Joohyun’s the assistant. She immediately writes down, Office? Do you mean studio?

“A-Ah, yeah!” Joohyun stammers and plays her mistake off with a soft giggle. “Don’t they mean the same thing? Yoongi and I both work there, so it could still be considered an office of some sort.”

The other woman nods in assent, then writes down on the corner of her board, You should take me there sometime when we’re both free.

“Oh!” Joohyun then winks at her, “I’ll make sure Yoongi does that instead of me.”

------------

It’s been a stressful day of work for Yoongi, but now is not the time to think of work and especially the fact that Faeles is still running rampant in the streets. Joohyun seemed uncharacteristically happy to know that Faeles went out and stole again. It befuddled him to see her reaction and at first, he thought that it was his mind playing tricks on him. But he did see a joyful look cross her face, he’s sure of that. He just can’t figure out why his partner feels that way. It’s...odd.

To ease off a bit of the stress and lingering frustration, he ate a whole lot of grilled pork and beef by himself. Joohyun is taking the night shift at the precinct, so he knew that he could act carelessly when eating. She would always love to point out how he looked unruly and messy when he takes a bite off anything edible. 

The restaurant he went to and spent dinner there also sold different sets of uncooked but already marinated pork or beef. Before he left, he made sure to buy a set for Wendy. It would be another one of his peace offerings. 

He’s not so sure if Wendy likes to eat meat, but who doesn’t? 

Unless she’s a vegetarian or pescatarian or vegan or…

He stops himself from thinking any further. Now, this is stressing him out all the more. “No, no, Yoongi,” he murmurs, quietly talking to himself, “You’re giving this as a gift. I’m sure she’ll accept it...and perhaps appreciate it?”

Upon arriving on the right floor of his apartment, and Wendy’s too, he brings out the box of meat with a golden ribbon wrapped around it from the paper bag of the restaurant and adjusts a bit of the ribbon placement. He stops before her door and takes a deep breath before letting it out through his mouth. Bringing a hand up, he presses on the electronic doorbell. He hears it ring from inside, but after a while, no one has opened the door. 

He checks the time on his wristwatch again. He did it back in the elevator. He knows that Wendy is home at this time of the night. 

Yoongi presses on the doorbell again then takes a step back, waiting for the door to fly open and meet the ever-present annoying scowl Wendy had for him. 

After a bit more time, the door does fly open, but he is not met with her scowl. Instead, he is met with a worried Wendy who is soaking wet from head to toe. 

“Wendy?” He instantly utters out of shock and confusion, eyeing her warily, “Are you alright?”

The woman shakes her head and for the first time, opens the door wider for him to enter the apartment. Yoongi does so and takes a step inside before noticing that most of her floor is flooded with water. “What the-” He stops when he sees the source of the flood. Water is rapidly and uncontrollably spitting out and flowing from her faucet. “Oh, shit,” he curses under his breath and immediately rushes to it despite his shoes getting wet with each step he takes on the flooded floor. Anyway, he’s going to get drenched in water once he tries to stop the faucet from going crazy. He made sure to place the box of meat on the dining table so that it wouldn’t get wet just as he kneels before the faucet and opens the cupboard to reveal the pipelines under it. 

Only now has it occurred to him that he started getting to work without Wendy’s permission. He faces her direction, only to see that she’s standing nearer to him and trying to reach out to the faucet to keep the water at bay. “Have you tried turning the valves to OFF position?”

She nods and Yoongi follows up with another question, “Were they too hard for you to turn?”

Wendy pouts her lips and sighs inaudibly before nodding again, this time in a more sullen manner. 

Yoongi knew that would also be the explanation why she is soaked to the skin. “Well, don’t worry,” he reassures her, “I’m going to stop this.”  For how long was she trying to stop the water from coming out of the faucet? He guesses that it’s fate who brought him to her apartment tonight. 

He manages to find the two valves mounted on the wall. It is hard to turn them around and all the more he understands why it was difficult for Wendy. Eventually, he gets to turn both valves to the OFF position. Slowly the water stops gushing uncontrollably until it becomes a gentle flow and finally, just a few falling droplets of water from the faucet. 

Yoongi closes the cupboard and leans on it, sighing out of relief. He looks up at Wendy who is now looking more at ease to see nothing coming out of the faucet. A soft chuckle bubbled out of him, causing the woman to gaze at him. “Well, that was unexpected,” he comments quietly. To his surprise, the corners of Wendy’s mouth twitch upward to form a smile. It’s his first time to see her smile for him and he has to hide his awe or else she’ll get creeped out by him. 

He chooses not to point out her smile and instead, says, “I think you should let the water on your floor dry up a bit before you start cleaning the whole place.” 

He then sets his lips into a tight line, thinking if he should continue with his next words. He looks away from the woman for just a short while before meeting her gaze again. He hesitates for a moment but then proceeds to ask, “How about we head to my place for you to freshen up there?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been more than a year since the last time I updated this book! I am very sorry for making you wait 😭😭

I decided to withdraw from the BTS book contest so that I could work on this book again :)

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

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