Emotionless | DAERIN

29: stalking the criminal

Haerin's POV

"I'm so mad at Hanni!" Danielle said, pacing back and forth. "Not only that, but she interrupted our date and our little moment," Danielle said, stopping and turning to wink at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Can you just stop complaining? I can't concentrate on my work, especially since you're walking on the ledge of the school's rooftop."

"It's fine. I'm being careful," she said as she continued walking back and forth.

"If you fall, I won't be there to catch you," I said.

Danielle raised a brow and smirked. "Oh, you won't?"

I looked at her. "No."

She looked away and continued walking, but like her usual self, her foot slipped. For some reason, like instinct, I jumped and ran to her to catch her, but she caught herself and began laughing.

"I knew you would've been there to catch me because you're all talk." Of course, she tricked me.

I walked away and sat back down in my spot. "You're crazy."

She smiled her stupid smile. "Yeah, crazy for you. Now," she said, jumping off the ledge and walking over to me, "where is Hanni? She sure is taking her time getting here."

"I don't know, and I don't care at the moment. I'm busy with something right now," I said, looking at my notebook, trying to come up with ideas for the competition.

"Are you still trying to come up with an idea for the art competition you told me about yesterday?"

I looked at her, then back down at my book. "I'm sure you'll do well; just don't stress. Anyway, you should actually care. I mean, we finally have evidence to turn that dick Soobin in."

I stared at my book and thought about what she said. She's right. I mean, he caused so many problems for me, more than anyone else has, and seeing him go to prison would probably make me feel better.

I closed my book and checked my phone for the time. "Hanni is taking a while."

Hanni's POV

Two days ago... Saturday morning.

I woke up to the smell of burning toast and the beep of the fire alarms going off. A usual Saturday morning in the Pham household. My younger brother would always wake up and try to make breakfast for everyone, but would always inevitably burn something, causing the fire alarms to go off. This morning, it was burnt toast.

I groggily got out of bed, put on sweatpants since I sleep in compression shorts and a sports bra, and slowly made my way to the kitchen, where I saw my mom and brother opening windows.

"Niki, you're 14 years old. Can't you go a Saturday without almost burning the house down by now?" my mother asked while waving smoke out of the house.

"Hey, at least I didn't catch the toaster on fire this time," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

My mom glared at him. "Well, since you set the alarms off, you know the drill."

Niki sighed. "I know."

He walked over to his mess and began cleaning up. "Don't forget—"

"I know, Mom. Don't forget to take the trash out and then run two miles around the block," he said, throwing dishes around.

"Hey, watch your attitude," my mother warned.

"Sorry," he sighed. "I love you," he smiled.

My mom smiled back and kissed the top of his head. "I love you too, but you're still running the two miles."