The Art of the Con (???xMReader)

Chapter XXI - One Final Toast

(a/n: Sorry for not updating yesterday when I was supposed to. I had an exam for a summer college course and I felt that I had to prepare for that properly. Then today, I had class, followed by a recitation session and I just got out of a review session. But hey, now you get an update today and another one tomorrow. Aye! Now, enjoy these new chapters.)

Dahyun sat opposite of Sana, head rested on her hands as she listened to Sana finish weaving her tale.

"I hid out at Y/N's for a couple of days. Borrowed some of Jeongyeon's clothes."

Sana chuckled lightly. "You could imagine my horror when I found out that Y/N had passed away." She brushed a descending tear out of her eye. "Kinda felt like I went through all that for nothing."

Dahyun gazed emptily at the table in front of her. She completely understood the pain Sana was referring to.

"What about you, Dahyun?" asked Sana, looking up at her. "How are you holding up?"

Dahyun blinked a couple of times, tears standing ready at the edge of her eyelids.

"I see him," she began with a slight croak in her throat. "His face... I'll catch him out of the corner of my eye. Just for a minute, he's still there."

Sana smiled grimly in response. "I hear him."

Eyes puffy, Dahyun looked up at Sana.

"'Hey, Satang' in the roar of the metro going by or his dumbass laugh in a taxi horn."

Dahyun curled her legs in and hugged her knees, obscuring her face behind them. "I turn to look but..." Dahyun shook her head in disbelief. "... but he's never there."

Sana chuckled. "'Oh, you can't help that', said the Cat. 'We're all mad here. I'm mad; you're mad.'"

Dahyun feebly smiled back. "Alice in Wonderland."

Sana reciprocated in kind. "Atta girl."

As quickly as it came, Dahyun's smile faded.

"I keep thinking if I've done something different that night―"

"I see," interrupted Sana. "Stage Three: Bargaining."

Dahyun averted her gaze, almost guiltily.

"Myself though," responded Sana. "Stage 4."

Dahyun turned back. "Depression? I'd figure you for denial."

"Heh," tittered Sana with a slimmer of sorrow swimming in her eyes. "At first, I was."

Sana reached into her pocket and pulled out a polaroid, gently placing it on the coffee table before Dahyun. She craned her head to get a better look. It was a photo of Y/N and Sana, kinda like the ones you'd get from those small photo booth stations at fairs. The picture captured them both with bright smiles on their faces. Sana, as usual, was much more intimate, sitting on Y/N's lap with her face buried in his neck; Y/N's face glowing a brilliant white in the flash of the polaroid. She smiled. Looks like they had lots of fun that day.

"This was a picture we took a long time ago back before everything went down. I was still in the acting business, but he made sure that I still had some fun in my life. He gave me this polaroid when he came to visit me in prison when I referred you to him.

Dahyun flipped it around. Scribbled on the back were some numbers, a date perhaps with a red lipstick mark over it.

"Sealed with a kiss," chuckled Sana, bobbing her eyebrows jokingly.

Dahyun let out a loud, amused laugh. "Wow! That is so you."

The two shared a giggle.

"Good chess players think five moves ahead," stated Sana. "However, the best only need to think one ahead, but it's always the right move."