the third time she meets him, it's yet again a late night, 11pm to be exact. a night where the coldness engulfs the city, the bright moonlight shining over the city. it's at the back of a restaurant, where jiseo works part time at just to earn a few bucks ocassionally.

she opens the back door and jumps when she sees a boy sitting against the wall a few meters away. he's wearing a black hoodie accompanied by a jacket, typing something on his phone. she walks up to the figure to tell him to scram but she notices the flinch he makes at the sound her footsteps.

"oh, it's you again," he relaxes when he looks up from his seated position and locks his phone but doesn't put it away.

"what?" jiseo asks, this is when she comes to her senses. "wait— oh my god, it's you and you remember me, i'm going to die now right? gosh i haven't wished my family or friends farewell yet— i can't die like this, i—" the boy cuts her off before she could continue.

"i'm pretty sure i'll remember a person as crazy as you," he snorts.

"cra— crazy," she repeats the word.

"yea, it's not every day you meet a person that realizes you're on wanted posters but doesn't scream or go report to the police," he explains.

"how do you know i didn't file a report?" jiseo responds defensively.

"look, i have my ways, now if you could kindly leave, it would be nice," he says it so casually and jiseo wants to bang her head on the wall to see if this is a dream, to see if she fell asleep during work.

"you just want me to... leave?"

"what? you want to stay? third time meeting and you want to woo me now or something?"

jiseo furrows her eyebrows, "no, i just— it's just—"

"just what?"

"you're not.. trying to stab me? no, that's not it, you're going to jump on me and try something when i turn my back."

"no, not in the mood," he sighs. "i'm pretty messed up if you look at me right now," he gestures at his face, at all the bruises and wounds and that swollen eye.

"wha— what happened to you?"

"shit happens when you don't have your life put together i guess," he hums and she realizes that he's dodging the question.

silence engulfs them and jiseo doesn't know why she isn't leaving, why she's still here when she could save herself. she could probably run into the restaurant and call the police, it's easy, but she's not doing it.

"you're brave, it's nice," he breaks the silence.

"uhm."

"someone normal who's not trying to kill you and arrest you, that's— it's nice," he reasons whilst opening a bottle of ointment and applying it his face. he's using the camera on his phone as a mirror even though it's grainy from the dark lighting surrounding them but he's fine with it.

"there's people who are trying to kill you?"

"well, reality is scary, isn't it?" he says and applies some of the ointment to his eye, it twitches a bit from the pain.

"i see," that is all jiseo replies with. she stares at the boy in front of her. right now, she realizes that she's never looked at him properly. she notices how his dark raven hair compliments his skin tone, how his eyes are big and underlined with eye bags and how the hoop earrings dangle from his ears.

he finishes what he's doing and looks up, staring jiseo back in the eyes. "you're fun," he says and gets up on his feet, stuffing the plastic bag filled with medical supplies in his jacket. "those policemen? yeah, no fun."

"hope we'll see each other again," the corner of his lips curve up a bit. he's standing with his full height now and jiseo finally sees how tall and intimidating he is.

"aga— again?"

"don't worry, you're on my good list." and he leaves.