LALISA

🍂

"Uhm... should we address the elephant in the room?"

"Gosh Tae! She's too gorgeous to be called an elephant!" Jimin exclaimed before turning towards the black-haired girl. "I'm sorry about that. You're very beautiful. You have the most beautiful face I've ever seen."

"I'd doubt you'll still say that when you meet my boyfriend," Jisoo—Jungkook's eldest sister, said making Jimin's mouth fly open. "He has prettier face than me."

We all laughed out so loud with the exception of the two. Jungkook lightly patted a wounded Dong Jimin. Nobody would've guessed that this goddess-like beauty had a sharp tongue to match.

"Well, a girl as pretty as you would surely have a lot of admirers," Jimin said trying to save face. "So it's not a surprise that you already have a boyfriend."

Oh Jimin...

"Well a woman doesn't necessarily need a man to be called pretty, don't you think?" She said smiling without breaking eye contact. Then she turned towards us. "I'm just here to fetch my brother since our parents are finally back from that long ass vacation of theirs."

Jungkook sighed. Something tells me he's not a fan of his parents.

"I must say, the southside ain't as bad as what they say it was," she added.

"Why? Did you expect abandoned buildings and barb wires?" Yoongi mocked.

"I expected more of pitchforks and clubs," she said sarcastically. "But your leather jackets make up for that. Why a snake of all creatures? Aren't gangs loyal to each other? Why use the prominent symbol for traitors?"

The three guys rolled their eyes while Jungkook face palmed. I on the other hand liked her spunk.

"Noona that's—"

"You do have a fair point," I intervened. "But a snake symbolizes wisdom in Chinese so maybe that's where the symbol is from. Or maybe it just looks really cool and tough. Might scare off some faint hearted siders."

This made the older girl laugh heartily before turning towards he baby brother.

"My, my. Now I know why you like it here," she said earning a scowl from her younger brother. "Anyways, we should head out, Kook. Mom's preparing dinner so she expects us all to be there."

"But noona, I can't," Jungkook insisted. "We just found a lead to Tzuyu's death—"

The mere mention of her name made Jisoo knot her forehead.

"Tzuyu's death? That's what you've been up to?" Them she turned towards the rest of us. "You people are solving Tzuyu's case? I can't let you involve my baby brother into trouble—"

"It's not their fault, noona," he cut her off. "I insisted. I want to know who killed her."

"But didn't she kill herself? I mean, that's what they said during her funeral."

"They found her phone," I explained. "She was supposed to be meeting someone by the bridge so that changes everything."

Jisoo pursed her lips together—eyeing the five people in front of her.

"So what do you guys have so far?" She asked surprising them—well except for Jungkook. He knew his noona can't be mad at him.

"Just Tzuyu's medical records," I answered making her knotted forehead even worse.

"You broke in the hospital!?" She blurted out. "You guys know that's illegal, right?"

"Not when you just take photos, they're not," Jungkook fished his phone from his pocket looking smug. "It wouldn't be considered as theft if the records are safely back in its drawer, right noona?"

This made Jisoo grin widely.

"I taught you well my dongsaeng," she said while patting her brother's head. "So what's in her records?"

"We haven't had the chance to read the whole findings," I explained.

"Then let's look at it together then," she folded her arms. "Shall we sit inside this cute house? I'm assuming one of you guys owns this?"

"Oh right. Come in."

Taehyung guided us towards his house. Good thing Uncle Daesung's still not home. He tends to eavesdrop on our conversations and would immediately call my father's attention whenever were planning something out of the ordinary.

As we sat in the living room, Jungkook immediately gave his phone to Jisoo who scanned the photo displayed.

"Brain Hypoxia," she said. "Yeah, this tends to happen whenever the brain lacks oxygen."

"So she did drown," Yoongi stated. "Someone pushed her off the bridge and she drowned."

"There are many possible causes of Brain Hypoxia. Drowning is one of them," she explains. "But you did say she met with someone, right?"

I nodded.

"Stress on the thoracic area can prevent oxygen from entering the lungs causing the circulation to stop. In other words, there's a big chance that she might've been strangled to death."

"But wouldn't that leave a mark on her neck?" Taehyung implied. "I mean, such force should've shown hand marks or whatever they used to strangle her with."

"You're right..." Jisoo looked intently at the records. "Does she have asthma? Sever asthma attacks can cause brain hypoxia too. But I really haven't heard someone dying straight from it. Just permanent brain damage or something."

"How do you know all this?" Yoongi asked out of the blue. He looked really intrigued as his forehead creased more than the usual.

"Don't you?" she retorted arms folded clearly challenging oppa.

"Noona's on track to be a doctor," Jungkook whispered to me. "She's kinda the smartest girl in school."

Yoongi rolled his eyes before crossing his leg over the other. This made Jisoo smirk a little.

"Her past records doesn't have any traces of her having asthma so this narrows us down to suffocation," she continued. "This means we just need to find the thing used to suffocate her and maybe the killer left his fingerprints there."

"But isn't it weird though..." I was looking at the records. "Why would the killer dump her body to the river instead of just burying her alive? I mean, if I were to kill someone, I would've just buried it in the woods to decompose on its own. People would simply assume she ran away or something."

"We were in the woods, Lis," Taehyung countered. "He wouldn't have had the chance 'coz someone would've seen it."

"Fair point..."

Jisoo was looking intently at the picture of Tzuyu's records. "You said she's supposed to meet with someone?"

"That's what Sheriff Choi said," I answered back. "They have her phone."

"Then we have to get that phone." All eyes grew wide. "What? I thought we were gonna solve this mystery?"

"But noona, you just said—"

"I know what I said, Kook," she cut him off. "So what now? Are we gonna solve this murder or what?"

🍂

"So... the kiss."

I rolled my eyes at Jungkook who—unfortunately, became my partner in sneaking inside Sheriff Choi's office.

"What? We can't just not talk about it," he said straightforwardly. "I know we don't see eye to eye but—"

"Look," I turned towards him. "If you're just asking whether I enjoyed it or not, I don't know. I don't have anything to compare it with and I don't actually care."

"Yoongi's right," he smiled widely. Showing his bunny teeth and all. "You might be a badass gang member but you're a terrible liar."

"Don't be so cocky," I hissed. "So what if I liked it? Am I not allowed to?"

What's the point of hiding it if he knows I'm lying, right? Ugh. Damn his cuteness.

"You're allowed," he said whilst his grin growing wider. That meant he looked way cuter. "Does that mean I can kiss you again?"

My mouth flew open. The audacity! Usually I wouldn't react like this but damn those coffee brown eyes. It's like a truth serum or something.

But I'm still me.

"If we get out unscathed, why not?"

His cute grin turned into a sexy smirk. How is that even possible?

"It's a date, then."

The fire in Jungkook's eyes made my insides melt. Why? Why the hell is this Kim Jungkook any different from all the male species I've met? What the fuck is wrong with me?!

"Pff," I walked pass him and took a quick peak at Jisoo who's gonna distract the officers near Sheriff Choi's office. "What do you think she's up to?"

Just then, Jisoo suddenly shrieked getting all the attention of the officers.

"Pervert!" She screamed while pointing at Yoongi who was nothing but surprised. "You're a pervert! You touched my thigh!"

The annoyance in Yoongi's face was so good it sucks I won't be able to take a picture of it.

"I don't fucking know what you mean you crazy woman—"

"And that's our cue," Jungkook said pulling my arm. "Hurry."

We managed to sneak into Sheriff Choi's office unnoticed thanks to Jisoo's hysterics and Yoongi's naturally pissed persona.

"Shouldn't the evidence be kept inside a vault or something?" Jungkook asked as I looked under the desk and inside the drawers. "Or in the crimes division?"

"Whenever there's an on-going case as big as this, Uncle Seunghyun keeps all evidences in a vault inside his office. I'm just looking for his notebook where he keeps all his passwords and combinations," I explained while rummaging through the biggest drawer. "He's not really good at memorizing those things. He even locked himself out once from his own place. Here!"

I immediately sprinted towards the big vault and typed the passcode.

"244466666. Wow that's clever."

"All we need to do is trace the number..."

With a few typing and clicking, I sent all cloud data inside Tzuyu's phone to mine. Technology these days is just a click of a button.

"Why do I feel deja vu?" Jungkook chuckled.

"We had a deal," I reminded him. "If we manage to escape unscathed, then I'll do what you want—"

We both froze as we heard footsteps—growing louder by the second.

Throwing the notebook towards Jungkook and placing the evidence back into the vault, we frantically made our way towards the window. The sheriff's office is located on the second floor.

"Are you insane?!" Jungkook shout-whispered. "We're gonna die!"

"It's either that or we get caught. Now jump!"

In a flash we both jumped out the window—him not having any choice. Thankfully I'm very much aware that we would land on a grassy field with garbage bags to cushion our fall.

"Bloody Hell!" He managed to blurt out.

While I laugh at his shookt face, I pulled him up and ran towards an alley.

Panting, we both leaned on the wall to recover. The adrenaline was still there and my heart was beating so fast.

"Holy shit!" Jungkook exclaimed. "You really need to sort your priorities, woman!"

I laughed and rolled over to cage him. "At least now you know how badly I want to do this."

Our lips crashed on to each other's and his hand automatically pulled me closer to his. As it deepen, he rolled us over. Now it was like I'm sandwiched between him and the wall. I'm not complaining, tho.

His lips tasted like cherry. My legs—jelly. Yup I'm being cheesy right now but hell, if he wasn't holding me my knees would've buckled. Did I mention that my insides are now mushy?

Honestly, I don't know if what I'm doing is right. Literally. I watch dramas, yes, but dude. Girls there just stand still. And I don't want to. It's like my own lips has a mind of its own following every movement of his. Fighting. Showing it who's the boss.

After a good minute or two, our lips parted and our foreheads touched. I gasped for air.

So this is how it feels...

"You know," he started to say as he recovered from breathlessness. "I did try to flirt with you after Tzuyu's funeral. But you seemed uninterested and I thought one of those three guys was your boyfriend."

"Why'd you assume I had one?"

"Because pretty girls tend to always have one," he answered. Clearly all boys think this statement is a good pick-up line. Wrong.

"Pretty girls don't need petty guys to remind them they're pretty," I said trailing his jaw with her finger. "We already know."

"Yeah you do."

Again, his lips descended on to mine and I welcomed it wholeheartedly. We just met but why does it feel so...natural? Like we've been doing this for years.

"Now this is a show."

Jisoo stood at the end of the alley with arms folded. With her was Jimin, Yoongi and Taehyung. He looked shocked and confused. When our gazes met, he excused him self and walked briskly away.

"Shit."