Unlawful Devotion

Chink in the Armor

A dry log cracks under the heat of the flames when Chae Yoon finally stands up, satisfied with the warmth emanating from the small fireplace. With the adrenaline in her veins watered down by the long drive and the silence of the cottage, her body thrums with tension, nerves unsettled. She feels the need to keep her hands busy in order to distract her mind from the bouts of doubt and irrationality.

It is way too late to turn back now.

Turning her attention back to check on her unconscious companion, whom she had deposited unceremoniously on the couch after lugging his dead weight from the car and into the living room earlier, she finds Tae Gu watching her with an unreadable expression on his face. She jumps, placing her hand over her heart, and asks him almost accusingly, "How long have you been awake for?"

"Long enough," he answers in a rough tone, slowly pulling himself up into a sitting position with a groan. "Whatever drug you injected in me was strong enough to knock out a full-grown horse. If you were trying to kill me, you are going to have to do better than that."

Now that she has the time to properly look at him, she notices that his hair had gotten longer, almost reaching his shoulders, along with his stubble that used to look neatly kept. Her eyes lower down to the gray uniform he wore and the numbers on either side of his chest, the meaning behind the outfit triggering her fight or flight response as the gravity of the situation suddenly dawns on her.

She smuggled a prisoner out of jail.

She smuggled a prisoner out of jail.

The pressure on her chest grows along with the ringing in her ears, but before her attack can fully manifest, his voice cuts through the white noise.

"Chae Yoon-ssi?"

The familiar baritone calling for her attention, the sound of her name rolling off his tongue so effortlessly like he's been saying it all his life, snaps her out of her dark thoughts that were threatening to pull her under. Her red-rimmed eyes filled with unshed tears move to meet his troubled ones, and the sight of it is enough for her to strengthen her resolve. She will not break down in front of this man. She will not be pitied.

"Your men provided me with the drug," she informs him after a moment of composing herself, as if that were enough to explain that what she did was not meant to harm him, that it was the last thing she wanted to do. Something akin to astonished pride illuminates his expression. "They're loyal, I will give them that. They have arranged the transport and the papers we need to escape to China. Here."

Tae Gu barely catches the fake passport that she throws over to him, still in an obvious daze, and stares at the small booklet on his lap. "We?" he repeats in bewilderment. "You are coming with me?"

With an offended scoff, Chae Yoon replies, "Well, I am not exactly innocent in this ordeal, am I? One way or another, they will be able to link me to your escape, and I will not sit around and wait for it to happen. Besides, do you honestly believe that I'd save another person's life - a criminal at that, if I may add - without considering my own safety? I am not exactly a saint, you know."

A smirk lifts the corner of his lips at her last syllable. "You underestimate yourself too much," he chides. "Humor me, then. Why did you help me escape? If it is not because of your saintlike sensibilities."

That is the million-dollar question, isn't it?

"And let me remind you that this is no light offense that only warrants a slap on the wrist," he adds, watching with interest as she crosses her arms over her chest, almost in self-preservation. "This is a serious crime. One that you committed just for me. So, tell me, Inspector Ha Chae Yoon, why did you do it?"

"Because they will not rest until you're dead. You are the reason why the world knows of their crimes, why they are currently fighting to reduce their sentences to the bare minimum. They will have you killed inside your cell and make it look like an accident," she says like she had rehearsed when justifying her own actions to herself.

She does not like the self-satisfied expression on his face, and so she adds. "And I don't want anymore blood on my hands. Hyun-ju was my last straw."

He cringes at the mention of his late sister, but the smirk that she wanted to disappear remains. "All right then, I'll accept that narrative for now, since we both know that you cannot handle the truth just yet," he tells her with a knowing glint in his eye, and she holds herself back from punching it off his stupid face. "So, now, where do we stand? Are you expecting me to take care of you? Is that why you're following me?"

"No," she says too firmly, too quickly. "I just need a place to disappear. You owe me nothing."

They reach a stalemate for a few minutes, holding each other's gaze as neither of them are willing to be the first to turn away. He has the ability to make her feel uneasy under his scrutiny, as if he were able to notice the chinks in her armor that the rest of the world cannot see. He asks another question, his voice coming down to a quiet murmur, and she almost believes it to be sincere.

"Do you want me to?" A pause that makes her hold her breath. "Take care of you?"

The air shifts as the question remains suspended between them. Things are different now, more personal, more real. There are no longer any hostages to be saved, no negotiations to be closed, no overbearing higher-ups to be pleased. Just Min Tae Gu and Ha Chae Yoon, and he's offering her salvation when she should be the one extending it.

"I can take care of myself," she states with finality, ending any assumptions that he might be entertaining since it has no place in her plans. She tears her gaze away from his. "We will be leaving in a few hours, so I'll be turning in for the night. The bathroom is down the hall if you need it."

She slams the bedroom door behind her before he can get another word in and heavily leans against it with a tired sigh. Do you want me to take care of you? The expression on his face when he said those words mirrored the one he wore when he admitted that he really wanted to have a drink with her. Whether he planned to or not, a chink in his armor was also exposed during their short exchange that evening, and she cannot help but feel terrified at the realization.

Because it is her.