Kim Taeyeon, one big old mystery. Even when I walked back over to that door, turned the key in the lock and opened it up, she said nothing. She simply looked at me, slightly embarrassed at having called me back inside but after studying her expression, her eyes and how she was curled up in a closed off yet defensive way...I knew what she wanted. It was what any person in her position would want - Company.

So I talked for the both of us. She listened intently while I told her about how my day went, how Nichkhun riled me up and how tired I was after not sleeping well. Even after all that she didn't say anything, didn't reply but at least she nodded. She was reacting to everything I said with interest, and with a hidden grin I saw how her defensive wall started to come down as she began to relax her frigid body. I told her about my job back in America and that perked her up even more.

"Do you like America?" I asked after seeing her eyes light up at the mere mention of it. She shrugged and then lowered her gaze. I waited patiently for maybe an elaboration but it didn't come. "Have you been?"

"No"

"Maybe i'm biased but you should go when you get out, it's a beautiful place. Plenty of things to see which varies in each state" I smiled. I could obviously see that this girl wanted to travel. I had mentioned America, places I'd been to in Seoul since moving here, places I'd gone on holiday and despite talking about my day and how tired I was...nothing made her as interested as she was when I talked about the different countries I had visited.

"I've never been out of Jeonju" she replied with somewhat of a sad undertone to her voice.

"Jeonju huh? I haven't been there. Well, you're sort of out of Jeonju now since we are in Seoul but I guess it's different. It's really beautiful, Seoul I mean."

"I bet"

I narrowed my eyes as I watched her sigh and then begin to go back into her little protective ball shape. "Can I give you some advice?" It was a question but I didn't wait for her blessing "Don't think too much about your time here, however long you have left. Because eventually it'll be over and if you don't dwell, you won't feel like you've wasted your life counting down the days." She looked a little confused at what I had said so I tried to explain myself better. "Okay, think of when you will walk out of those front doors a free woman..."

Judging by the slight smile that came on her face, I guessed that she would be free eventually, that she hadn't gotten a life sentence for whatever she had done. That in turn made me smile. I was learning about her even through her expressions.

"Think of how the fresh air will hit you almost immediately. You'll first feel scared, you'll think 'what do I do now?' Your life has been managed by other people for the whole time you've been here so when you step out, you'll feel under so much pressure to make a whole new life for yourself that you didn't even know was possible. A life actually worth living. You will almost certainly look back at that prison before you leave and think, 'I spent so much of my life in here' and you'll regret it because it seemed so damn long since you'd counted down each day instead of just letting them pass by. If you let the days disappear as you would in normal life, it won't seem as long".

The intensity of her stare wasn't uncomfortable this time around, instead I was intrigued to know what was going on behind those eyes and in that mind of hers.

"How do you know these things?" She asked, interest evident in her tone.

"Because I've seen it." I took a seat beside her on her bed, shocked again at how hard it really was. "I've seen prisoners smile at each other, laugh and joke with each other but the most beautiful and most genuine smile comes when he or she walks out of those doors and vows never to go back. It's something you'd need to see to believe. Even though they are scared of what will happen to them in the now unfamiliar world and how life will treat them, they are finally happy. They're free"

And that, was the first time Kim Taeyeon smiled. And by smiled I mean really smiled. She showed off her perfect set of previously unseen white teeth and the smile itself...? It was just, beyond words. Knowing she was thinking about how she'd feel when she left, I knew that smile was the runner up to the one that would almost certainly light up the universe when she would take her first step outdoors, complete freedom.

"You should smile more often" I blurted out even before I could even try to surpress it.

"Nah" was her simple reply.

"Why not?"

"No reason" Of course there was a reason...However, I was going to personally make sure that I was going to see that smile again no matter how hard it may be to get it out of her. We had come this far and we will not take any steps back.

Fast forward to a day later - I was walking down the corridor on the way back from the library after having ordered in some books for Taeyeon. Inmates in solitary could only have two at a time compared to the endless amount they could have in their normal rooms. It was alright though, if she finished those two in a day then I'd get another two and so on.

I wouldn't allow her to feel as lonely as she did yesterday. She may be a tough cookie on the outside but she had since showed me her sensitive side. The only sad thing about it though...was that when she did, we were alone and behind closed and locked doors. What would happen when she returned to her real room? Would the hard-faced and quiet Taeyeon return, never to smile again at me? I hoped not, but I guess if that's how she wanted to be, I couldn't stop her. I had no hold over her.

Our relationship or whatever you could refer to it as got better and better over the last few days she was inside solitary. I found a way to go and see her each day and every time I managed to get out a smile, even if it was tiny it was still good enough for me. They mainly came when I told her about the books I'd read and enjoyed the most and surprisingly she even joined in, telling me her favourite authors and favourite quotes that she had memorised from each book. She really was passionate about literature, it was quite refreshing actually.

Most of the inmates I saw each day play with each other by pushing and play-fighting or some were exercising or just laying in bed sleeping. Her however...she had so much stuff whizzing around in that head of hers, so much knowledge and information she wanted to share that it was almost cruel to deny her a book for any substantial amount of time. That's why I made sure she always had one no matter how strange it may seem to the other CO's. I got looks, sure. They saw me going in and out of her room to bring and then return things that of course she was allowed to have, but didn't necessarily need. I heard them whispering about how the 'rumours' could be true...I never did find out what those rumours were.

I also personally took out some more books from the library before she was due to return to her room and stacked them amongst the replaced books I had also sorted out for her. Her room was spotless but I almost felt as if it wasnt enough and as if it was my house and a dear friend was coming to visit, how I had to have everything perfect for her arrival.

When she eventually returned, I wasn't surprised to see she was a little sad to see new but slightly off-colour sheets on her bed, no sketchbook underneath it and brand new books that didn't have her favourite quotes underlined like in the old ones. But the disappointment in her eyes turned to gratefulness when I handed over a new sketchbook and new drawing supplies that she could use (courtesy of Nichkhun much to my own amazement after what he had said about her previously). I saw that wide smile again and I couldn't hold back my own, my eye smile at it's finest.

Slowly but surely, she settled in as if it was her first time here and walked around while browsing. She stopped at her new book collection with a smaller but no less amazing smile, and I turned to exit the room to leave her to it. As soon as I reached that door however...

"Tiffany?"

I turned and saw her looking over while holding one of her new books tightly in her grip. "Yes?" I answered, her using my name wasn't ideal but it was also the first time she had used it without sounding sarcastic so of course I'd let it slide.

She paused for a while before walking up to me and saying "You should smile more often too" and with that, she walked back over to her bed before getting under the sheets and relaxing down onto the no doubt comfiest mattress imaginable compared to the concrete she had been living on for almost six days.

I left the room and shut the door behind me with another one of those eye smiles painted on my face. I then walked away, not knowing however that I was being watched...

For the next hour I was on post in the large yard watching the inmates as they enjoyed their outside recreation time. It actually felt good to be outside like this after coming from the claustrophobic rooms inside, it was a nice change. I saw some of the girls were sat on the ground and doing things you'd expect from children at a playground, others lounged on tables and benches, and a few just walked around trying to get some exercise. Though it was cold, I was pleased to see mostly everyone seemed to be making use of their rec time. I scanned the scenery that went beyond the strong chain link fence in the form of beautiful big trees, oak I think though soon averted my eyes to catch a glimpse of blonde hair across the yard.

I looked on as she lounged on her picnic table while watching the women around her and enjoying the breeze that flowed through her hair after not seeing the outdoors for almost a week. I smirked slightly after seeing how every single woman kept their distance and didn't look her in the eye after what had happened last time someone tried to get one over on her. Thankfully Nichkhun had kept Taeyeon in the first group to be let outside and Kong and her mates in the second one so their paths wouldn't cross.

Totally random thought...but isn't it amazing how something can catch your eye so quickly? Even from the distance I was away from her, the twinkle in her eyes as she looked beyond the metal fencing that kept her secure with a longing gaze was still perfectly clear to see. Even more so when she redirected her eyes from looking outside those walls...to me.

It could have been awkward, to stare at each other like that but funnily enough it wasn't. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world and at that moment it was just her and me, like being back in that room and being comfortable with each other. I can honestly say that I'd never felt anything like it. I found myself studying her more than I had before, how the dark brown roots were growing out through her golden blonde hair, how her long sleeves were rolled up to her elbows despite the cold...I was so engrossed in watching the girl that I didn't hear Yuri calling to me at first. I didn't even know that she was sharing this post with me today.

"Tiffany!" She yelled.

"Huh?" I whipped around and saw Yuri motioning for me to come over near one of the fences near the closed down track. After glancing back at Taeyeon to see she was now looking elsewhere, I shook my head slightly to clear my thoughts and then walked towards my fellow correctional officer. I came to a stop beside her and crossed my arms, shivering slightly. "What's up?"

"I think I should be asking you that question" she replied.

I frowned at the tone in Yuri's voice and turned to face her properly "Meaning?"

Yuri nodded her head towards a certain area in the corner. "That."

My eyes wandered over to where she was referring and my gaze landed directly onto Taeyeon, her face fully in concentration as she tried to keep herself busy. "What?" I asked.

"Do you think I don't see?" Yuri replied, confusing me even more.

"See what?"

She looked around as if to see if anybody was nearby before leaning into me, her lips only inches from my ear. "I see how you look at her. Just be careful, okay?"

Yuri then started to walk away, leaving me dumbfounded so I stopped her by grabbing her wrist tightly "What are you talking about?"

A sigh came from her lips as she once again glanced around us "We've all heard the rumours Tiffany. And...I hope for your sake that they aren't true." That was all she said before uncurling my fingers from around her wrist with her free hand and walking away to go to another corner of the yard.

Rumours again? The way I look at her? What was wrong with Yuri and what was she seeing that I simply wasn't? I decided to let it go, the rumours couldn't be that bad anyway...right?

To get my mind off of what Yuri had said after finding that it somehow bothered me, I took a stroll around the premises, glancing every now and again at Taeyeon and then to Yuri to see she was still watching with a harsh gaze. Scoffing slightly, I redirected my eyes to the other prisoners, Jang was sitting on another bench with her girlfriend talking casually and soon saw me and waved. I shot a smile her way and continued on, chatting to a lone inmate when I passed but my eyes always found a way back to her.

Taeyeon was holding her own in the prison. Like I said before, from the day of the fight, every woman (apart from the gang) in the facility who had seen what had happened knew not to fuck with her (if they needed reminding in the first place). In fact, some of the women came to respect her and wanted to become an ally. Taeyeon amused them, though I knew she much preferred to be alone. What I didn't know was she was actually taking my advice, to let the days flow as they should without looking at a calendar each day and decided to do something with other people for once.

I saw she began to deal cards to the small group of women who had since come to sit at her table until she looked up when she no doubt felt my eyes on her again. When she glanced across the yard, sure enough, my brown eyes were looking straight back into hers. I quickly turned away when she raised what seemed to be a playful brow my way and I kept thinking about what the hell was wrong with me..like, stop staring at her! I tried, but I failed and when I looked back up, she continued to play her game with the others...and I got a radio message.

"What did I just tell you?"

I didn't reply, I simply kept my gaze lowered and continued to walk around the yard. Maybe I sort of knew what Yuri was getting at now. The question is why the hell am I doing it?

Later that evening, I sat at my kitchen table leisurely drinking a cup of coffee since I couldn't sleep anyway, too much stuff was on my mind. I opened my laptop that I barely ever used and my fingers hovered over the keys once the search bar was ready to be used. I couldn't deny that my curiosity of Kim Taeyeon still hadn't gone away, she wasn't going to tell me why she was in prison or much of anything really. So with a great inner loathing of what I was actually doing, my fingers tapped at the keys and then hovered over the mouse button. As I sighed and closed my eyes, I took the plunge and clicked search before looking at and then opening link after link.

'Kim Taeyeon musician...' No

'Kim Taeyeon fights for women's rights' Again, no.

I took a sip of my beverage when my eyes started to get tired after coming up with so many empty searches. Despite turning up empty handed, at least this potentially meant that murder wasn't on the cards. I mean, in a city like Jeonju...a murder case would have been reported and a photo of the criminal pasted over many websites and videos alike. I smiled slightly at my revelation and just when I was about to shut down the computer and call it a night, I had this feeling that I needed to continue for some reason. It was bizarre but I listened, the feeling not going away until I clicked on 'images'.

Row after row of photographs popped up and I looked at each one, finding small similarities of Taeyeon mixed in with many Asian girl's until...I actually saw her. My heart skipped a beat as I scrolled down a little faster and clicked on the image until it was at it's maximum size in front of me. It was really her.

I didn't know what to think, I mean...she was here all this time and I only just now realised it? Still slightly perplexed, I studied the image and found myself smiling. She looked so different than how she did now, happier and healthier. She had some meat on her bones and dark brown hair and was wearing that beautiful but lopsided smile that made her look pretty beautiful and real. She had on a simple hoodie by the looks of it and after only seeing her wearing grey to now see her in bright blue...it was sort of amazing.

I don't know how long I stared at that picture but the remainder of my coffee had gone cold, freezing actually. I still couldn't get my head around how she was smiling as if it was the easiest thing in the world when now, it was a rarity. After my own smile had subsided and my eyes drooped even more, I clicked the arrow to take me back to the many images that had been posted on Google only to find something even better. The link beside the now minimised photo of her...was from Facebook.

My jaw dropped open as I clicked it immediately and soon after was redirected to Kim fucking Taeyeon's Facebook profile. How on earth...how was it this easy? My heart beat got quicker as I scrolled down her Facebook page, seeing all the statuses she had posted. Her personality was-just-what? I was lost for words as I read on and on and on, time ticking away until it was 2am and I had gotten to the end of her posts...

I scrolled back up to the top of her profile quickly and saw the last post she had made was four years ago. Surely she couldn't have been in there all this time? A new emotion took over my body then after realising that I had basically stalked her. That was awful of me, she's a prisoner and here I was, a correctional officer looking and studying an inmates facebook page. What is this world coming to?

Deciding to forget that this ever happened, I quickly moved the cursor over to the logout option only to see one word jump out at me as I attempted bid farewell to the Kim Taeyeon that seemingly didn't inhabit that body of hers anymore...'Photo's'.

"No" I mumbled to myself. I can't do that, it's private and it's degrading. She's probably forgotten all about her Facebook and now wouldn't want anything more than to delete it and most certainly wouldn't want anybody snooping. Try telling that to my hand that had a mind of it's own, clicking the option before I could even try to stop it.

Kim Taeyeon...she didn't have many photos but each one obviously held a significant meaning, an importance to her. From a family portrait to an album dedicated to her incredible artwork... I looked at each album, the smile actually causing pain to my face being so wide as I clicked over and over again.

I finished with an album dedicated to her and her family and was slightly amused to find a photo of a much younger looking Taeyeon (if that was even possible). She must have been only twelve or thirteen at the time it was taken and had on a cheeky smile showing off that dimple that I rarely saw nowadays. A small smile touched my lips and I shook my head.

"Where did you go wrong, kid?" I softly spoke as if I was actually talking to the girl in the photo. I studied that image of a young and innocent Taeyeon more than I had the others and began to wonder what her dreams and ambitions were. No one grows up dreaming of being a criminal. What could have possibly turned this girl?

Looking into those big brown eyes of the photograph, I was immediately taken back to my encounters with the prisoner. There was something about her that I could not place my finger on and found I was maybe a little scared to find out what exactly it was, how she made me feel so strange every time she looked at me.

Anyway, hopefully now finished with my stalker-time, I glanced at the clock and saw it was now 3:30am. At least I didn't have work tomorrow, well, that should have been a good thing but the feeling I got from the reminder was nothing but a slight ache as I looked at that photo in front of me.

Trying to get my mind elsewhere and thinking that a well earned rest would do just that, I stood from the table and stretched my tired body, knowing I needed sleep when I scrolled down instead of up by accident. However, I saw there was another album right at the bottom. I was half frustrated seeing as I needed my bed and half excited to see what this one held. My curiosity won unfortunately and I sat down once again on my numb butt and squinted at the name of the album.

'Jessica'

An album dedicated to a girl. A girl who I recognised almost immediately as the first drawing I had seen in Taeyeon's sketchbook. My heartbeat had slowed considerably as I scrolled down the photos of the beautiful woman while feeling something much different than I had when I had only seen Taeyeon's photos. Speaking of my heart...by the time I saw the last four pictures in that album, it was going as slow as it possibly could as I frowned and witnessed who this girl really was or is to Taeyeon.

My head still numb from the realisation, I needed proof that this wasn't some silly dare or some joke or...just... something to tell me that this wasn't true.

I clicked hesitantly on the 'about Kim Taeyeon' section, my hand now shaking slightly causing the mouse on the screen to move around as if having a cyber electric shock. My breath had been held in since I saw the Jessica girl and now...it was let out in a small sigh, my heart dropping when I realised what I had previously seen was now pretty much spelled out right in front of me.

Kim Taeyeon

Interested in Women

In a relationship.