In Another Life

Are We Alike?

Siyeon's POV

I arrived at the station, early as usual and greeted Yubin. This time, i'm the one who gave her a cup of coffee. She smiled, a little too bright. She laughed, leaning in to whisper something. 

"I think I have a crush," She smiled, restless as she tried to not spill her coffee,"Her name's Gahyeon," 

Yubin is cool, very cool. So I consider this Gahyeon girl very lucky. Yubin and I then proceeded to chat about her. She told me how caring and sweet she is and that she liked computers. She also taught Yubin a few stuff about computers and electronics. You could say Yubin was very intrigued. I never really saw her talk about something she really loved, until now.

"Anyway, she really has a beautiful, unique smi-," 

"Officer Lee Siyeon," 

I turned my head to look at who called me, and I saw the guard tasked to watch Bora and I. I sighed, waving at Yubin then I proceeded to walk up to him. 

"Duty calls," He merely said. Nodding, I followed him to Bora's cell. We walked in silence until he stopped. 

"You can trust me," He nodded, which left me surprised and skeptical. 

"What do you mean?" I asked, cautious. He simply sighed as he ruffled his hair. 

"I don't mind letting you talk to her," He explained,"The chief can be...too much," 

I asked him for his name to which he replied with "Seo Youngho,". Then I asked him why he would let me talk to Bora, since a police officer having a conversation with a criminal is... 

"I doubt you'd do anything stupid," He shrugged,"I heard stories about you from Yubin and a couple others," 

I nodded, then I placed myself into position in front of Bora's cell. My back was turned, so I couldn't see her. I expected a loud reaction or a nonsensical question but all I got was silence. 

Unusual. 

Curious, I turned around to look. She was laying on her bed, arms wrapped ariund herself. She looked like a cat curled up in its sleep. I couldn't see her face since her back was turned to me, so I just assumed that she was asleep. 

I shrugged it off and I was about to take my eyes off of her when she slowly sat up. She craned her head to look at me, and she had a horrified expression. I don't know why, but there were fresh bruises on her face. 

"I was waiting for y-," She began, but stopped when her gaze landed on Youngho,"Or not,"

"It's okay," He reassured, giving her a small smile,"I trust Lee, here," 

Bora gave him a skeptical look,"You almost hit me," 

"I apologize," He said, bowing his head,"Allow me to explain,"

"Youngho, keep it down," I warned. I had to make sure that our voices weren't loud enough to be heard by Handong's loyal lapdogs. Or worse, by Handong herself.

"We...get paid more if we make them suffer even more," He stated. His face holding a disgusted expression,"Trust me; most of us never wanted to hurt them. It isn't part of our job, but we had to,"

"Siyeon," He huffed, looking at me with terrified eyes,"Handong will pay you more if you beat Kim Bora up,"

I looked at the poor woman. Her lip was busted and she could barely open her eyes due to the large bruises sitting on them. She refused to let go of her arms and I vould see that she was trembling. 

"Will you, Siyeon?" She whispered, slowly blinking as she tried to love closer to the steel bars. 

"Why would I?" I sighed,"I need money but I won't stoop that low,"