"So, she's just going to be sent home with this dope head?" asked Changmin to the police officer. He was outraged by the failure of this police department. Junsu had called him while they were being escorted to the station, and Changmin arrived there a few minutes after the call. "You can't be serious? You can just look at her and see that she's on drugs! She probably doesn't even know Eunae's name."
"Sir, we can't help it at the moment. We'll have to perform an investigation on…what's your name again?" The officer turned and looked at the woman that was gripping tightly onto Eunae's little hand. She had almost a pale yellow complexion, and had huge bags under her otherwise flawless almond-shaped eyes.
"Yun Bi. And you have no right to take away my sister!" Eunae's eyes looked up from the sudden shouting. She saw her sister yelling and her little mocha eyes started watering up. She wasn't crying because her sister was yelling, but because she knew that she would have to go back home with her. Even at her age, Eunae was starting to tell right from wrong, and she knew that what her sister did to herself was wrong and that her sister would be angry when they got home. If a kid could tell that, why couldn't the police?
The station door opened and the little bell on top of the door started ringing, signaling that someone had entered. Changmin turned around to see Yunho and Lilly entering the building and bit his lip in frustration. If he couldn't talk the officer out of letting the girl go back with her sister, than he doubted that Yunho could. Then again, he didn't really know Lilly. Yoochun and Junsu also looked up from the bench they were now handcuffed to. They had put up a 'fight' with the policeman that took them to the station by insulting him quite well, and were later secured to the bench to prevent them from causing any more trouble until the ordeal was settled.
Yun Bi now too looked towards the door, and as soon as she saw Lilly she became enraged. "You! You're the reason for all of this!" Lilly rose an eyebrow. Eunae's sister almost looked exactly how she imagined her to be, but maybe a little skinnier. She looked like she hadn't eaten in a while, and Lilly didn't even want to imagine when the last time Eunae had eaten before arriving at her doorstep.
"And you're the reason Eunae came to my door, asking for money?" Thoughts ran through her head of the poor little girl's sufferings. She could imagine her going door-to-door that whole day, and the day beforehand, asking for any food or money that the stranger might give. Then she imagined Eunae returning home with it all, only to have it taken away from her by her older sister, not leaving any bit of it for Eunae. "You…filthy piece of sh-"
"That will be enough," the policeman ordered. "You must be Lilly. I'm Officer Li. I've been told that you took in little Eunae for the night because she was wandering around unattended, and I applaud your nobility. But, the little girl is still under the custody of her older sister, Yun Bi, until an investigation is put under affect."
"But…" What really could Lilly say? The one part of Korean culture that she hadn't studied on very well was their judicial system. What a mistake that was now. Lilly glanced up at Yun Bi, who was smirking, but Lilly's eyes caught something a little more interesting. "What if there was suspected illegal activity on Yun Bi's part? Couldn't children's services take Eunae until the investigation is conducted?"
"Well, yes,"
Officer Li replied. "But what illegal activity do you
suspect Yun Bi of?" "Look at her arms."
Officer Li shrugged. "Works for me." He nodded his head to a woman and a man standing nearby, and the two walked over to Eunae. The woman scooped her up in her arms as the man handed Officer Li a stack of papers. "Eunae will be placed under protective custody until further notice. Yun Bi will have no contact with her sister whatsoever until a hearing can be held. Yun Bi, you have scars on your arms like those you would normally get from consistent drug use. You will be placed under temporary arrest until an investigation is completed." He went behind her and handcuffed her, but she looked like she barely understood what was going on.
As the woman started to take Eunae away, the little girl raised up her arm to wave goodbye to the guys and Lilly, but for the first time Lilly noticed something on Eunae too. "Wait!" she cried out. The woman did and Lilly ran over to Eunae. She picked up one of her little arms to examine them and noticed bruising all over the underside of her arms. How could Lilly not notice it before? "Look…at her arms."
"How come I'm always left alone, JJ?" Jaejoong complained. The kitten stared attentively into Jaejoong's eyes as he sat on top of his stomach. The man's stomach felt a little too hard to JJ. He preferred squishier bellies, but at the moment he had no better option. Jaejoong was laid back on the sofa, the same place where he and Lilly had had their first kiss, and thought back about it. He touched his lips as a tingle ran through them, causing him to smile. "It's not that I mind being alone, but I've been waiting for her here all day, and now she's left us again." Little JJ rubbed his furry face against Jaejoong's smooth one in sympathy, and curled up on his chest. This area too was a bit hard, but JJ was getting use to his owner's firm build. The ladies like a toned man, after all. JJ was going to have to remember to go on a run in the morning so that he could impress the ladies too…
A knock came at the door and caused Jaejoong to sit up, which also caused JJ to fall to the floor. JJ scampered over to the door before Jaejoong could think to stand up, and the door opened before Jaejoong could even grab the handle. In walked Lilly all dolled up like she was the day before, as breath-taking as she was before, and suddenly Jaejoong felt like he couldn't move. What was it about Lilly that made him completely helpless? He had just seen her earlier, but she still made him feel weak. For some reason, as Lilly looked at Jaejoong's face she smiled crookedly, which made Jaejoong confused, but at the same time his heart doubled in pace.
"What?" she asked, her crooked smile widening. She changed her smile to a closed lip one, and cupped part of Jaejoong's face in one of her hands. "You've been waiting a lot for me today, haven't you?" A sudden blush covered Jaejoong's doll-like skin, which made Lilly smile even wider. "Thank you, love."
Jaejoong's eyes
darted away from her trance-like eyes. "It was…no problem."
He brought up one of his hands to grab a hold of the hand on his
face and intertwined his fingers with hers. "JJ's been
waiting too." "Oh, poor JJ,"
Jaejoong leaned his head over to smell the scent of Lilly's shampoo. It really suited her; it was sweet, but flowery. He sighed and wrapped a piece of Lilly's hair around the index finger of his free hand. It was silky and soft and shiny. He couldn't help but absorb everything about her that he could, even if a little bit of doubt singed in the back of his mind. He knew that she liked Yunho also, but he didn't know who she would end up choosing. Of course, he hoped it was him, but he couldn't be sure. Thinking about Yunho suddenly brought another thought to mind. "So…what happened?"
"Oh, you made me forget," Lilly smiled and tilted her head so that she could see the perfection she was leaning on. He smiled at her and sent a chill through her body. Every time he smiled, it always touched his eyes. Lilly loved that.
"Can you still not remember?" Jaejoong smiled and released her hand so that he could pull her into his lap and wrap his arms around her waist. Lilly leaned her head back on to his chest and sighed happily.
"Well, they took Eunae into protective custody." For some reason, Lilly's eyes started to swell with tears, but she tried not to let any of them free. "She had bruises and welts all the way up and down her little arms and legs, but you couldn't really see them unless you actually looked for them because they were fading." A tear managed to slip and dampen Jaejoong's shirt. He glanced down to see her crying and his eyes softened a little.
"Mm, baby, it's
okay," Jaejoong said sweetly. He held her closer with one arm
and used the other to stroke her hair. "They're taking care
of her, right? She'll be okay now." "But, just knowing
th-that that woman had been abusing her… It makes me almost feel
dead inside."
"Babe," he sighed and held her tighter. "You saved her from that. She's going to be happier now, and you should be too." Lilly relaxed a little and looked up at Jaejoong, a tear or two tracing lines down her cheeks. Jaejoong brushed them away and kissed her forehead. "Don't be so hard on yourself, okay? Just remember that 'I lovvvve you.'" Jaejoong smiled, hoping that his English would have some affect on her damper mood. And, luckily for him, it did.
"You know," Lilly started, smiling sweetly. "Every time we're on this couch, I cry and then you make me feel better. But, I feel like I'm forgetting something else."
"You're so cheesy," he teased. He had been thinking about it too, but he just didn't say it. He loved her cheesiness though. He held the back of her head with his palm and kissed her. It was a soft and gentle kiss, different from the way he had kissed her before. She parted her lips from his for a brief second to switch from kissing his bottom lip to his top lip, and this made Jaejoong smile. He pulled away from her gently and brought his hand to cup her chin. "Now, what if I like kissing your top lip?"
"The bottom one is just as good. Yours are just a lot fuller." She brushed a finger against his lips, this time causing him to get a chill. "So, I can switch as I please." She smirked and pecked his cheek. "And I can do that too if I want to."
"You can do whatever you want to me if you want to," he added. She blushed and smacked his arm. Her smack didn't do much though because he was buff there too. "Again, you can do whatever you want to me."
"You perv.
It's time for you to go."
"How am I the
pervert? Why am I alwaysss the pervert?"
"Well, you're not
always the pervert. Sometimes Yun-…" Lilly
paused, making everything awkward. Of all the things she could have
said, why did she have to bring Yunho up? Jaejoong couldn't really
respond. He could only stare lifelessly at her. She had made him
forget about Yunho, that he loved her, that she also
loved him, and that Jaejoong was merely a leg in their messed
up three-legged love triangle.
Jaejoong stood up, leaving Lilly to slump over on to the couch. "I'm going…" he muttered. He walked towards the door, but a slender hand snaked around his waist. He hated when people touched his waist, but for some reason, even though he was mad at her, having Lilly hug his waist was the best feeling in the world. So, he stopped walking.
"Please…don't
go." Lilly's voice was soft, and Jaejoong almost couldn't
hear her. "...I'm not prepared to lose two people in one day,
nevertheless two loves in one life." "Well, you're going
to have to eventually. It's either me or him,"
Lilly stood in the place that Jaejoong had left her for a while, just staring at the door that he had left through. He was...right. She shouldn't make them both just wait around for her. She had to decide. Yunho was wonderful, but apparently didn't mind using her to get what he wanted. Jaejoong was an angel, literally; but, Lilly wasn't for sure if she even knew him well enough. She would give them both this though: at least they've been waiting longer than Chance did. JJ started to rub against her ankles, and she snapped back into reality. She picked him up and held him so that he could look at her. "Jae-Babe, what should I do? Jaejoong or Yunho?" The cat continued to stare at her. "And I didn't mean you." JJ meowed in response and received a little scratch behind his ears. "You're not helping much. I will decide by tomorrow though, I promise them that."
