Roadkill - catnipz

Chapter 5 - Be Like the Innocent Flower

"Go faster,"

Haerin looks over her right shoulder at Minji in surprise. The girl is lounging in the passenger seat, having reclined it ridiculously far back, one leg hooked over the other and her cheek resting in one palm. She twirls her ankle around in a circle aimlessly, a bored expression on her face. It's dark inside the car, so the only way Haerin can even make out her features is thanks to the streetlamps that plunge her into amber intermittently, and the faint red glow of the buttons on the control panel.

Haerin's heart rate has only just about recovered, from Sakura and Chaewon showing up at the race, from Minji insisting that she be the one who drives, so she blinks when she hears her strange request.

"Why?" she asks, genuinely curious. She checks the rearview mirror, just to be sure, but just as she'd anticipated there's nobody following them. This stretch of road is deserted, stretching on and on for miles in a similar fashion to the one that leads them out to the autoshop. "We've got no one on us,"

Minji's lips quirk, and she lets out a soft scoff, piquing Haerin's attention. "So?" Her tone is a mixture of challenging and lighthearted. Maybe with traces of something with a little darker undertone. "Do I need a reason to want to go faster?"

Haerin bites her tongue, using every ounce of her will to keep her lips in a straight line. "I never said that,"

Minji scoffs again, sliding her gaze to the right so that she's looking out of the window, a subtle movement. "I think you forget sometimes that your main reason for being here is to do what I tell you to,"

Haerin's eyes widen inside their sockets, unable to prevent that as a reaction, but manages to reign herself in otherwise and keep a level head. She clears her throat quietly, straightening out her shoulders. "You think you make it easy for me to forget?"

Minji purses her lips, and she looks back over at Haerin again. Haerin can only see her in her peripherals, keeping her eyes on the road, but it takes all of her willpower, or what's left of it, not to look back. "I said sometimes," Minji reiterates, putting emphasis on the final word. "And now-" she leans forward, just slightly, over the center console. "-I'm telling you to drive faster,"

Well, Minji said it herself. Haerin's technically here to do whatever Minji asks of her, and Haerin's been reminded on multiple occasions from a variety of sources that a request from Minji is something she can't deny. She casts her eyes down to the speedometer - she's pushing it as it is - and lets out a soft breath of disbelieving laughter.

Well, it's not like she'd get the chance to do this sort of thing under any other circumstance.

Minji leans back in her seat again, and Haerin readjusts her grip on the wheel. This car that Minji drives, exclusively around The Outskirts to avoid suspicion, has been through its fair share of beatings. She wonders just how far she can push it.

She presses down on the accelerator, and watches as the needle of the speedometer inches further clockwise. The engine begins to go from a content purr to something almost like a growl, Haerin able to feel the vibrations thrumming up through her form. She can just about feel the speed too, the rate at which they're going, but for someone as insatiable as Minji she knows it won't be enough.

Like she's able to read her mind, Minji speaks up. "Come on," the words glide off her tongue like honey. "Don't be shy,"

Haerin bites her tongue, hard, and increases the acceleration once more. This time, the engine revs loudly, taking Haerin slightly by surprise with its sheer volume, and the car jolts forward causing Haerin's body to mirror the movement.

It almost doesn't feel real. She's never driven this fast before, so fast that she can physically feel the sheer speed at which she's going, and it's something kind of surreal. As a detective, doing something like this wouldn't even cross her mind, but now... now it kind of feels good. She can sort of guess why Minji's into it.