─────── 𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐏 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑    𝟏𝟖 ───────

[24 | 02 | 23 , 9:32am]

"Lord, in your mercy... all hear our prayers- that this day may be holy, good and joyful: All we pray to you, O Lord. That we may offer to you our worships and work: All we pray to you, O Lord. That we may strive for the wellbeing of all creation: All we pray to you, O Lord. That in the pleasures and pains of life, we may know the love of Christ and be thankful: All we pray to you, O Lord. That we may be bound together by your Holy Spirit, in communion with all your saints; entrusting one and another and all our life to Christ: All we pray to you, O Lord... Let us commend ourselves and all for whom we pray, to the mercy and protection of God."

Silence as the devoted Catholics in the church continued with their prayers. All heads bowed and eyes closed as every person went through the same prayers they did every Sunday.

Jiu's eyes flickered open, landing on the grand altar at the front. The stained glass behind it, depicted the picture of Virgin Mary dressed in her humble blue robes holding Christ in her arms. The spews of different shades of blue, green, violent and gold reflected onto the magnificent golden cross in the middle of it all.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

"Amen."

[12:07pm]

"So why did you want to meet?" Yeram asked, moving to the side of the curb to avoid a puddle.

Jungwon stuffed his hand into his puffer jacket pockets, trying to act nonchalant about the whole situation. "This might be a bit... unexpected," he began. "But I've decided to support your idea of your whole 'investigation'."

Yeram's face immediately whipped over to his side. "Are you serious?"

He was dead-serious. "Mhm."

"I-I mean that's great and everything," Yeram nodded. "But why all of a sudden?"

"With everything that's been happening recently.. Especially Dana, I want to catch this killer and put them behind bars for good," Jungwon shrugged, as though he was speaking about casual matters. But he hesitated for a second, like he wanted to say more.

"And?"

Jungwon looked at her in the eyes, "I don't want to lose another one of us."

A hushed moment as the two turned round the bend and into a main street.

"I'm concerned, really worried. About each and every single one of us. So far the two killings that have been made, link directly to us. Dana literally being one of us, and Ayeong being Jake's girlfriend."

"We can't say the two are linked, Jungwon. There's no proof," Yeram tried to reason but Jungwon seemed to be set on his thinking.

"No, but there is. You know when Dana was found, one of her fingers was missing. And then with Ayeong, one of the officers at the scene told me Ayeong.. had a missing hand. It's not exactly the same thing, but it looks like the killer likes to keep souvenirs of their killings in the shape of a body part."

"That is so disgusting," Yeram grimaced.

"Yeah, we obviously still need proper proof but I thought that was interesting."

"It.. it is."

"Anyways, anything from your side?"

Yeram's face lit up, since she did have some stuff she garnered. "Actually.. I found something worth noting in Dana's diary. At Doyoung's party back at the start of the year, something happened between the two and a third party. And I say that because Dana never specified who the person she was talking about was, but just that 'they' were the reason she and Doyoung fell out."

"Oh? What was it about?"

Yeram sighed in frustration, "That's the thing... I don't know. All of it is just too vague without any context. But I also did find a phone number but again... I have no clue who it belongs to."

"Have you tried calling it?" Jungwon stated the obvious.

"No shit, genius," she rolled her eyes. "It's unavailable."

"What was the phone number?"

Yeram pulled out her own phone, going to her gallery to find the picture she took. "This."

*XX-XXXX-YYYY*

Jungwon looked at it carefully, eyebrows furrowing. "It looks... familiar."

"Huh? It does?"

He nodded, "I've definitely seen it. Send it to me."

Yeram nodded, quickly airdropping him the image.

"I'll look into it when I get home," Jungwon explained.

But he couldn't shake that thought out of his head, where had he seen those 11 ordered digits before??

[6:23pm]

Shin Hari was always seen as an exceptionally beautiful woman. From the moment she was born, her mother raised and prepped her like a princess.

Beauty pageants from the age of 3. Then modeling beginning from elementary school.

So it was no surprise that going into high school she had a whole posse of boys who would send flocks of love letters, words of affirmations and requests for a night out every single day.

Sure, her friends were pretty and some were more popular, but there was something about her that made her irresistible to everyone.

Hari was tight on her secrets, even having had friends she probably shared her most embarrassing moments or even deepest regrets with... she never shared secrets.

God forbid, she hated that idea.

She kept them attached to her like a dog would her puppy. To her, secrets were hers; no one had a right to know what they were.

What are the secrets we're talking about, you may be thinking.

There are many, but the biggest and most scandalous one: is that she's gay.

It may sound normal to most people, but for her it was her biggest fear. More than heights, spiders or even being killed.

Hari was always brought up in a tight family that followed societal norms to every root and having parents whom she felt the need to always impress made it even worse.

She was the only fruit to her father's crown, his pride and trophy to show off.

They would disown me if they ever found out, Hari would always think.

As she sat on her balcony, with her chin resting on her knees, she thought back a couple of months- to when she met the girl that changed her whole life.

*flashback - 8 months ago*

Hari was walking along the riverbank, she couldn't remember what exactly she was doing but her parents were having a heated argument at home and she just wanted to get away from it. They were always fighting these couple of weeks, Hari even heard her dad talking to his lawyer about a divorce.

She was kicking the pebbles she saw on the ground, muttering profanities under her breath when she accidentally kicked a large stone too hard and it hit someone that was lounging nearby.

"Oww," the stranger rubbed the part on her arm that the rock hit.

"Oh my God," Hari rushed over to her. "I'm so sorry!"

"Nah, it's chill," the girl replied. "It's not that bad."

"No I'm still sorry, I was being stupid and I should've been more careful and-"

"No, it's fine girl. Don't worry about it."

Hari looked at the girl properly for the first time. Honey doe eyes meeting piercing blue ones.

"Ohh," Hari sighed, stumbling down. She rubbed her entire face, groaning. "I'm sorry, just not in a good mood right now."

"Yeah? I can tell," the girl chuckled.

"I'm Hari by the way."

"Becca," the girl extended out her hand.

"Nice to meet you," Hari shook her hand.

"Do you come to the beach often to clear out your head too?"

Hari's eyes widened, "Yeah.. you too?"

"Ahah fuck yeah."

Whether it was Becca's comforting demeanor or Hari's incompetence, Hari found herself telling the girl she just met everything that was bothering her.

Becca listened and listened for 40 minutes straight, her eyes twinkling with uttermost awe as if the girl in front of her was a magical creature she discovered in the wet wild. They stayed in their positions until the sun started setting.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to ask earlier but how old are you?"

"About 40 minutes." Becca grinned.

Dimples.

*end of flashback*

Hari smiled. "Fuck you, Choi Becca. Fuck you for playing your wicked games with my weak heart."

She giggled, shaking her head in embarrassment. The sun set in front of her again, the warm orange, pink and brown tones leaking into the cool blues.

———

side note: im not a christian myself but i did have to research a bit about sunday church services, which is always exciting learning about new things. obviously im no professional or anything but pls excuse me if i have made any sort of mistake or missed out key details 🙏 if you do spot any, please let me know so i can correct it 🤗, but i just hope i got the basic idea across??