A Favor

Months After

Aeri looked at the screen of the MDT briefly and leaned back on the seat. As much as she loved her job as an officer, being on traffic duty was something she wasn’t fond of. She would rather have Haechan or maybe even Jimin do this again, they had the most patience out of everyone in the squad.

Didn't help that she was doing this alone, so she was bored out of her mind. Sure, there were people who would recklessly drive around, they would get caught for going over the speed limit or Aeri often caught some drivers that had no license and registration with them. But that was only by chance and Aeri liked doing things that were more fast paced or something that included walking. She hated being in one place for too long.

Aeri stared outside the windshield of the car, watching and observing. Her mind wandered, but she thought about Jimin again.

She had to admit, she was kind of glad that Jimin was busy with other issues than the usual problem. Granted that her problem was something that took time to overcome, but she was just happy her best friend was slowly taking steps in getting better.

She hoped that was the case, she wanted to believe in Jimin.

Aeri looked at her smart watch and took note of the date. She knew Jimin had an appointment with Dr. Im in a few days, so she had to remind her best friend about it.

Sometimes she wished she didn't baby her friend too much because she knew that Jimin didn't like showing them that she was vulnerable or she was too dependent on her friends and sisters. It was the first thing Jimin requested right after the incident. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu had been very careful when it came to dealing with the topic, especially her. Aeri had always been the one to remind their friends about it.

But between all of them, Aeri was always given the chance to take steps deeper into the issue. And it wasn’t pretty. Jimin was going through a lot and seeing her best friend like that just made her want to do everything. Including making Jimin feel like she was being taken care of, borderline to the extremes already.

Aeri threw her head back again and sighed. She admitted that she wanted to worry about other things, but she couldn't help it. Maybe Aeri should go back to the dating scene again. Having a girlfriend would be nice.

It had been a while since Aeri had met someone interesting. Someone that was her type. Someone that she could see herself with in a few years or maybe when she was old and feeble.

Aeri scoffed at herself. She hated how she had high standards in something as simple as dating. She knew she was just making it hard for herself when deep down inside she was yearning for it—

A car passed by a bit faster than the regular ones. Aeri shot up from her seat and checked the meter.

“83 kilometers per hour,” Aeri hissed under her breath as she immediately started the car and drove out from her spot to the highway. The highway was strictly under a sixty kilometer per hour speed limit, and it seemed that this person was in a hurry. She tried to remember the appearance of the car, because she was sure it was a gray subcompact SUV, probably a Kia Sportage.

When Aeri managed to catch up with the car, she flicked the switch and the low volume siren blared like a short-lived honk. She just needed to get the driver to know that she wants them to pull over at the side of the road.

Aeri was scanning the car, finally noticing that one of the taillights weren’t functioning and that made her sigh. That was another violation. She used her siren again when she was finally behind the car, she could see the driver look at the rearview mirror and turned the steering wheel to the right. Aeri clicked her teeth again when the driver didn’t use their signal lights.

But with a relieved sigh, she was able to get the car to pull over. Aeri placed her car in park, grabbed the ticket stubs she threw at the passenger’s seat, not caring if she looked like a mess. She could fix her bun later once she was done with this dumbass.

Aeri exited the driver's seat, closed the door and walked over to the driver’s side of the car in front of her. She knocked on the window twice and the driver slowly lowered the glass down. Aeri blinked when she was met with a beautiful woman, who looked really panicked.

“H-Hi, Miss officer. Is everything okay?” she asked with a sheepish smile on her face. Aeri wanted to smile back because it was the cutest thing she had seen in a while, but she kept her stoic face and pursed her lips.

“Good morning, ma’am,” she greeted neutrally, flashed her badge for extra measure and leaned her hand on the door of the car. “You were going beyond the speed limit, and I noticed that your taillight isn’t working.”

The woman giggled like being this cute was going to get her away from getting a ticket. “I’m sorry, I swore I didn’t know that there was a speed limit here. I just moved here.”

Aeri has heard this line before, so she wasn’t buying it. “License and registration, please.”

With a sigh, the woman reached over to grab her bag and fish out her wallet. Once she had a hold of her license, she read it for a bit before handing it to the officer. “I really mean it, I’m not from here.”

Aeri took the card gently from her hands and read it.

Ning Yizhuo.

Huh, maybe she was telling the truth. But when she read the address, she recognized it immediately since it was within Seoul. Aeri raised a brow and looked at the woman. “Ma'am, this has a South Korean address.”

The woman frantically waved her hands and looked scared now, “I know! But I literally just moved here.” Then she handed a bunch of papers to Aeri, and she took it with another sigh.

“Okay, so this car isn’t yours?”

She nodded. “It’s my uncle’s. He’s the one that lives here.”

Aeri hummed to herself, maybe she should probably let this one go. But then again, she couldn't ignore the broken taillight or the fact the woman was speeding.

She sighed and still grabbed her pen to scribble on the stub in her hand. “Okay, Miss Ning, I’ll still have to write you a ticket but only because you’re speeding.” She ripped the ticket and handed it to the driver. “You need to pay the fine and settle it in court. It's just a quick in and out. Plus you need to tell your uncle to get the lights fixed. I don't think the next officer will excuse you if you get caught again.”

The woman nodded weakly as she took the ticket but still held a smile at the officer. Aeri was fighting every urge to blush, but she kept it in.

“Okay, thank you officer.”

“Uchinaga,” Aeri suddenly said, not entirely sure why she was introducing herself, but this pull she was feeling towards the woman was strong and she had a hard time fighting it already. “I’m usually just Uchinaga Aeri when I’m not on duty.”

The woman smiled widely now and reached her hand out for a handshake. “Well, you already read my license but I’m Ning Yizhuo. You can just call me Ning.”

Aeri smiled at that, she took her hand and felt a bit flirty now. “I hope when I see you again, it won’t be because of a traffic violation.”

Yizhuo raised her brow and smirked at her. “If you go with me to settle my ticket maybe it’ll be worth your time.”

Her brows shot up with the confident response and Aeri liked that, she wanted to bite the bullet. “If you want to settle it as soon as tomorrow, maybe I will.”

“Monday, how about that?”

Aeri nodded at the change of date, smiling widely at her. She had never flirted with anyone during her patrols but maybe there was a reason why she was doing it with this woman. She was sure that she wanted to see Yizhuo again.

“Monday it is.”

It was a weekend; the four friends were at a cafe for once, Jimin had a craving for a donut and some coffee. Plus, it had been a while since the four of them had time off, so they took a chance to meet as soon as the day started.

Chaeyoung didn’t like the idea of being in a cafe because it didn’t have alcohol and cafes to her were boring, but Tzuyu suggested it would be a good change of pace if they were somewhere else but a bar or at their apartment.

Jimin was busy on her phone and chewing on her second donut. Aeri was also drowned in whatever she was doing, while Tzuyu was reading a magazine and Chaeyoung was at the counter ordering her coffee.

The taste of the donut wasn't as good as Minjeong’s cookies but she needed something sweet just so she could distract herself. She really wanted more of those cookies. 

It was obvious Jimin didn’t have the balls to go over to her neighbor and ask for more. She was still torturing herself about Minjeong having a boyfriend and if she gave herself a chance to be around the woman, she might violate everything she believed in. For some reason, it was hard to resist Minjeong.

She even thought of leaving a note by the neighbor’s door just to say thank you, but she chickened out and told herself that if she bumped into Minjeong, she could just say thank you then.

Man, she really sounded like a jerk right now, but she didn't know how else to do it.

“So, I need to ask a big favor,” Aeri suddenly said, leaning closer to her, shaking Jimin out of her thoughts.

Jimin swallowed the donut that was still in her mouth, and she looked at Aeri curiously. “Okay?”