[001] good things come to those who wait

                                   Eun-jung had to give Joe some credit - he actually knew how to make himself disappear.

                                  She tried to look all over the city for Joe but there was no trace of him. So, the next obvious answer was that he had left the city altogether. But where could he have gone? There were so many places and Eun-jung was worried that by the time she did find Joe, it'd be too late. He would've already managed to slip from her grasp and get away with his crimes unpunished. Eun-jung couldn't allow that to happen.

                                 But thankfully, fate seemed to be smiling down on her.

                                 She would find a way to find out his location and it'd ironically be through a drunk, pretentious asshole. Going to a bar to drink her frustrations away, Eun-jung was immediately hassled by some guy who claimed to be an aspiring director and claimed that Eun-jung's beauty had captivated him so much that he had to make a movie with her at the center.

                               "I'm thinking a romance. You'd be the beautiful female lead, hm?" he inquired, staying close by her the whole time.

                               Eun-jung resists the urge to scrunch up her face in disgust, smelling all of the alcohol on his breath. "Really? That's a shame. I was thinking more of a thriller."

                               "Would you be the victim then? Perhaps the heroine who saves the day," he guessed.

                               "Nah, I'd rather be the killer," Eun-jung shrugs before she finishes off her glass.

                               "Deal, sweetheart. See, nobody believes in me now but once I put out my movie, I'm gonna be bigger than Forty fucking Quinn," he remarked.

                               "And who the fuck is that?" Eun-jung raised a brow.

                               "Some rich kid turned movie director. He's a total trainwreck now - you seriously haven't heard of him?" he responded.

                                "Nope," Eun-jung drawled.

                                "Then you have to see his latest video. It's fucking hilarious. And a little pathetic. Maybe you'll recognize him then," he says, pulling out his phone and clicking on the video that had seemingly managed to go viral.

                                Eun-jung rolls her eyes but watches as a guy standing on top of a table, beginning to ramble on and on. It was obvious that he was drunk but that surprisingly wouldn't be the interesting part. The interesting part would be what happened after.

                                "Forty, hey... Forty, your sister's calling for you. Let's get out of here."

                                 Eun-jung couldn't believe her eyes, snatching the phone away from the man as a familiar face came into view. Standing there on her very screen was none other than Joe Goldberg herself. She knew it was him. She wouldn't be able to forget that face no matter how hard she tries.

                                  "Hey, where is this?" Eun-jung looks up at the guy.

                                   "L.A., I think. That's where Forty's from. So you are a fan then?" he responded.

                                   "Sort of," Eun-jung nods.

                                   Joe had run off to L.A. out of all places, trying to start over. But Eun-jung wouldn't let him. Now that she knew exactly where he had run off to, Eun-jung was getting ready to come after him and finish exactly what she had started all those months ago. She can feel her heart skip a beat in excitement and it was hard for her to hide her smile.

                                   "So... what do you think about us getting to know each other a little better?" he asks, resting his hand on her thigh.

                                   "I thought you'd never ask," Eun-jung grins,

                                   Eun-jung kills the touchy asshole about an hour later, tossing his body into the river without second thought. And then she'd go back to her apartment, already beginning to come up with her plan. She knew that she had to go to Los Angeles as soon as possible. And then she'd need to find Forty Quinn. If he was close with Joe, then he'd manage to lead Eun-jung right to Joe.

                                   But she couldn't just go there as herself. The likelihood that Joe had changed his identity was high. and Eun-jung knew she would have to do the same. She decided to change her last name to Park and her first name to Caitlyn, remembering that Beck had once liked the name. 

                                    Speaking of Beck, Eun-jung grabbed a hold of Beck's book - one that had been released right after her death. It was the only real piece of Beck that Eun-jung had left - her words, her story. When Eun-jung had read the book, it was as though Eun-jung could hear Beck right next to her and saying it all. Eun-jung missed Beck so much and she was all she could think about ever since her death. Sometimes, Eun-jung even dreamed about her.

                                    She would never be able to forgive herself for letting Beck slip through her fingers and get killed by Joe. So she knew she could do the next best thing: make Joe pay for what he had done and kill him. A life for a life.

                                   Through her connections, Eun-jung managed to get herself a brand new identity. She'd make herself a new ID and passport, becoming Caitlyn Park in an instant. And after that, Eun-jung packed up all of her belongings and booked a flight to L.A. She'd have enough money to get herself a hotel room for a couple of days but she knew that she would need to buy her apartment. Eun-jung couldn't go back to New York anymore. She'd have to stay here after she killed Joe and start a whole new life for herself.

                                   But in order to do that, she'd need to call her parents.

                                  "Hey, Mom," Eun-jung replies, leaning against the telephone booth as she looked around her surroundings.

                                  "What do you want, Eun-jung?" her mom huffed.

                                  "I need more money," Eun-jung bluntly remarked.

                                  "How much money?" the older woman sighs.

                                   "Enough for me to get an apartment in L.A.," Eun-jung bit her lower lip when she heard her mom sigh some more.

                                   "Eun-jung, what trouble have you gotten yourself into right now?" she questioned, automatically thinking the worst. Unfortunately, she didn't even know the half of it.

                                   Eun-jung scoffs. "You don't care so why bother asking. I just need the money as soon as possible."

                                   "Alright, I'll be able to send it in an hour. Just...don't get yourself in any trouble. And don't ruin our name. You've done that enough already," her mom warned.

                                   "Nice talking to you too," Eun-jung retorts before she hangs up the phone.

                                    Keeping her promise, her mom would end up sending her more money. Eun-jung practically lived off of it, her parents constantly feeding Eun-jung money so she wouldn't have to come back home and cause trouble for them. They knew that Eun-jung was troubled and rather than get her actual help, they gave her hush money and kept their distance from her. They were disappointed in Eun-jung but they were also afraid of her and decided to keep her at an arm's reach.

                                     It had made Eun-jung sad for a while. But now she had gotten over it, deciding to find love in other places since it clearly wouldn't be at home. 

                                     Eun-jung bought herself an apartment within the next day, one that had some furniture already there since the previous owner left it behind. Eun-jung didn't care too much for furniture, given the fact that she cared less about decoration and more about getting to work on her plan.

                                     She'd start off by researching Forty Quinn, seeing a whole bunch of shit about him. He was the youngest son of the wealthy Quinn family and he had made a movie, one that did fairly well. But he had yet to follow up, due to his issues with substance abuse. And his family owned a pretty popular grocery store in L.A. called Anavrin which was just Nirvana spelled backwards.

                                        Eun-jung couldn't help but roll her eyes at that.

                                       He owned the store as the manager alongside his older sister named Love, one who was a chef of some sort. Eun-jung tried to go on her Instagram but it was private and there weren't that many pictures of her on the internet. But what she did see, she saw that she was beautiful. Beautiful enough for Joe to go after. Perhaps that's how Forty and Joe managed to be close, through Love.

                                        It'd make the most sense.

                                        Eun-jung decided to do a little more work than that, going out to Anavrin and trying to see if she'd be able to spot Joe. She would, of course. Not only did he go to the store, but he apparently worked there. She'd keep her distance but even follow Joe back to where he was staying. As much as Eun-jung wanted to go and take care of Joe right then and there, that wouldn't be enough for her. Eun-jung wanted to ruin his life and expose him to his new girlfriend first. Murdering him wouldn't be enough. She truly wanted Joe to suffer before she took his life.

                                        "Can I help you?"

                                        Eun-jung whirls around, seeing a woman now approaching her. She was shorter than Eun-jung by a couple of inches and she was very pretty. But Eun-jung relaxes, resting her hands comfortably in her pockets.

                                       "Me? No, not really. I was just walking around," Eun-jung remarked.

                                       "Are you lost or something?" she asks.

                                       "Yeah, well, I am new here. I just moved not too long ago. I still haven't managed to figure out where to go and what to see yet," Eun-jung admits.

                                       "Oh. I know what that's like," she nods. "Well, if you need any help on that sort of thing, I'd be happy to help you out."

                                      Eun-jung smiles. "You'd really do that? Oh, that means a lot. I'm Caitlyn, by the way!"

                                     "Delilah," she introduced herself.

                                     "You live here?" Eun-jung inquired.

                                     "And I manage the apartment building," Delilah adds.

                                     "Oh, awesome. That's exciting. I'll give you my number then and you can call me sometime," Eun-jung offers with a smile.

                                     Delilah nods, looking just a little reluctant. But she gingerly allows Eun-jung to take her phone and put her number into it. Making friends was the last thing that she wanted to do. But seeing as she had been caught sneaking around Delilah's home in search of Joe, she knew that she would have to do something to cover her tracks. So if that meant playing the role of the clueless tourist, then so be it.

                                      "Hey, thanks a lot. I think you're the first nice person I've talked to ever since I got here," Eun-jung says with a smile. "We can hang out soon, right?"

                                      "Uh... yeah, I guess. Sure," Delilah agreed.

                                      Eun-jung's smile grows. "Great, thanks a lot."

                                       When Eun-jung makes it back to her new apartment with a box of pizza, she works even harder on building up her newest persona. Eun-jung was rough around the edges and troubled and absolutely rotten on the inside. But Caitlyn was pretty and social and sweet. She may have been rich but she wasn't a self absorbed snob. She was real and down to earth, honest but not a total bitch. Caitlyn was cool and sophisticated and able to get anyone to love her.

                                       And she'd need to get both of the Quinn's to love her if she'd turn them on Joe.

                                      Eun-jung finishes her pizza and then walks into her bedroom, pictures of Beck plastered onto the walls. She knew that this was as close to Beck as she was ever going to get now. And Eun-jung felt herself getting angry all over again. She sighs as she goes over to one of Beck's pictures, looking at her former best friend with nothing but longing in her eyes.

                                      "Don't worry, Beck. I'm going to get him for you. I'll make sure that he pays for what he's done to you. I won't let him get away with what he did to you," Eun-jung assures her.

                                    And starting tomorrow, Eun-jung was going to take the next step in her plan. But not as Eun-jung, she was going to become Caitlyn.

(🔪🧁💔)

word count: 2068
notes: here's chapter one! i hope you guys enjoy this one and in the next chapter, shit's going to pop off!