No Strings Attached

CHAPTER 2: D-0

She didn't answer.

She didn't owe him one.

Instead, she said:

"Why are you calling me."

Not a question—an interrogation.

A sigh, a frustrated one. "Because you're not easy to talk to."

She blinked slowly.

"Correct."

He let out a quiet curse at that, barely audible through the speaker.

Then—

Buzz.

Her screen lit up with a new notification even though the call was still active.

She glanced at it.

Jaehyun, on the call, muttered, "Don't hang up."

She didn't.

On her screen, his text appeared:

"Come outside."

Baek Yerin stepped through the front door, hood still over her head, the cold outside air brushing her cheekbones. The gate lights cast long shadows over the stone path. Kang Jaehyun stood casually by the entrance, hands in his pockets like he hadn't just bypassed one of the most notoriously unapproachable front gates in the district.

Her eyes narrowed a fraction—not shock, just calculation.

"How," she began quietly, "did you get past the guards?"

Not a hint of panic. Not even annoyance. Just a clean, sharp, surgical question.

Jaehyun lifted his chin toward the two guards standing rigidly at their posts beside the gate. They looked... uncomfortable. One was staring straight ahead, face stiff; the other kept clearing his throat like he'd swallowed something wrong.

Jaehyun shrugged lightly.

"I walked."

"You don't simply 'walk' through trained personnel," she replied. "They are instructed to deny entry to anyone without explicit authorization."

"Yeah," he said, flicking his eyes at the guards again. "I think they got... confused."

One guard flinched at the word.

Yerin's gaze sharpened. "They do not 'get confused.'"

"They did tonight," Jaehyun said, a little amused. "Maybe I'm convincing."

Her expression remained blank, but the slightest shift of her head told him she wasn't accepting that answer.

She stepped closer, lowering her voice—not for secrecy, but precision.

"Kang Jaehyun. What did you say to them?"

He smiled, just barely. "Nothing bad."

"That is not an answer."

He laughed under his breath. "You really can't let anything slide, huh?"

"I prefer clarity."

"Alright." He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes drifting briefly to the guards who were now pretending they were deaf and blind. "I didn't threaten them, if that's what you're thinking."

Yerin blinked once, slow. "That's exactly what I was thinking."

"Hey—give me some credit." He put his hands up slightly in mock innocence. "All I did was ask if I could stand by the gate. Didn't say your name, didn't say I knew you. Just asked."