I pressed the speaker to communicate with the four men outside.
"Sorry the library is closed for the night."
"Yeah, we see the sign, but we wanted to ask you a few questions." One of them was doing all the talking.
"Ask them." I wasn't going to open the door.
"Well, I was wondering if you saw a girl running around? She escaped her hospital room and we're worried about her. I just want to find her and bring her back. She's very sick."
Were they telling the truth? I looked back at her and could see her shaking her head. She was trying to tell me not to believe them. I looked back at the screen and saw a shiny metal object I knew all too well. One of them was holding a gun.
My mind was made up.
"I'm sorry man, I haven't seen anyone new in weeks. What's her name and description I'll keep an eye out."
"Ah man, that's alright we'll keep looking." And the four of them left. If they were really looking for someone they cared about they'd give me that information. They were definitely hiding something.
"A-are they gone?" Yumi snuck up behind me to look at the screen.
"Yeah, they are."
She continued to stare at the screen, waiting to see if they'd come back.
"Were they the men you mentioned?"
She looked at me a tear streaming down her face.
"Yes."
I stopped myself from wiping the tear from her cheek.
"Look it's late. Get some rest and we'll try to figure things out in the morning. My friends will be back and we'll all work together to help you OK?"
"Are you sure you want to get involved? You saw his gun, right?"
I laughed a little. "Guns don't scare me, besides, I'm a cyborg what is the worst they can do?"
"Just because your body is robotic doesn't mean you don't feel." I was taken aback by her sentence. No one really said that to me out loud. I guess this situation could be dangerous. But I couldn't not help her. Hoseok would help her if he were here.
I gave her my apartment to sleep in and I went to my office. I picked up the papers from the ground and locked the window. I looked at the list of things I thought I should do and crossed them all out.
I wrote down a new one.
Find out where Yumi comes from.
...
Jimin walked into my office alone.
"I didn't see anyone outside, what's going on?" He was concerned.
"Where's Tae?" I looked around him but couldn't see him.
"He thinks he has a lead on some new shady shit in the underground" he sighed.
"Vampire related?"
"I don't know, he said he would tell me when he has more solid evidence." He looked at all my notes I spent all night writing trying to figure out what to do next for Yumi. "So, what happened last night?" he repeated.
"A woman called Yumi came in through my window last night, in nothing but a hospital gown. She is in some sort of trouble. She mentioned a cyborg that made tests on her and ordered his men to kill her. She was running away when she came here."
"Are you sure she's telling the truth?"
"After seeing those men, yeah, I think she is."
"Have you done any tests?" he had that look in his eyes he used to have when we used to work in the rebellion together.
"She's traumatized so I told her I would do them when she trusts me enough." Jimin nodded his head, agreeing with my decision.
"Maybe we should take her out today, see if she remembers anything?"
"Yeah, we need to get her clothes too, she can't wear mine all the time..."
"Yeah I would hate to wear your dark and boring clothes too." he teased. "I'll come with you. An extra pair of eyes would be good, in case they follow or spot her."
"That would be great."
I stood up so that we could go check in on her when Jimin stopped me.
"Your hair! When did you change it?!"
I completely forgot about it at this point and instantly felt uncomfortable. "It's not that big of a deal." He teased me some more as we walked to my apartment door.
I was about to ring the bell when I remembered how it scared her the first time, so I gently knocked instead.
She opened the door, her wavy hair messy but beautifully cascaded down her back. Her eyes were fixated on Jimin. He calmly introduced himself and she shyly did the same.
We told her our plan for the day and though she seemed frightened at first, she agreed it was the only thing we could do to try to figure things out. Better then making her do tests.
...
She looked like she was in awe by the city as we walked around. She seemed to want to show her excitement more but might have been too afraid to do so.
"You don't need to get me new clothes. I don't have money to pay you back." She looked guilty as we walked into a clothing shop Jimin was raving about.
"Don't worry about it! You're so pretty I'm sure you would look good in any style!" Jimin seemed a little too excited about this. The both of them seemed to be getting along well. Jimin has a good sense of character when he first meets someone, so seeing him like this with her could only mean she must be good.
Once we walked in and she saw all the colors and lights her face lit up for the first time. Unable to contain her emotions, her smile was so bright. Her pure enjoyment of something so simple made me feel...
For the first time in what seems like forever...
I felt something stir inside of me.
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