No Strings Attached

CHAPTER 2: D-0

"...And they allowed it?" she asked, tone flat as pavement.

He smirked. "Yeah. Turns out, people get nervous when you look at them too long."

One guard silently wiped sweat from his brow.

Yerin exhaled through her nose. "You coerced them."

"Coerced?" He scoffed softly. "No. Intimidated a little? Maybe."

"That is functionally identical."

He took a single step toward her, closing the distance enough for the porch light to catch the edge of her hood.

"You worried?" he asked, voice lower.

"No," she answered immediately.

He didn't move back.

"Then why ask?"

"Pattern recognition," she replied. "You demonstrate a proclivity for impulsive behavior. Even minor unpredictability warrants examination."

"That's a long way of saying you're checking if I'm a threat."

"I evaluate everyone."

Jaehyun's smile turned lazy. "Good. Evaluate me then."

"I already have."

"And?"

"You are a complication."

He chuckled. "Not a danger?"

"Not in the conventional sense."

He leaned slightly forward, head tilting. "In what sense then?"

She didn't answer.

The wind moved her hood slightly, exposing the edge of her cheekbone in the light.

He watched her for a moment—too long, but not long enough to make her look away.

"...So," he said finally, straightening. "You came out."

"You insisted."

"I said 'come outside,' not 'interrogate me.'"

"That distinction is negligible."

He snorted. "You really can't talk like a normal person for even two seconds?"

"I do not find 'normal' compelling."

"Yeah," he muttered, eyes lingering on her shadowed face, "I figured."

She studied him again—no fear, no irritation, just that quiet, clinical stillness she operated from.

"State your intention," she said. "You called me."

Jaehyun shoved his hands deeper into his pockets.

"I wanted to see if you'd listen."

"I do not 'listen,'" she corrected. "I simply acknowledged the call."

He looked at her directly. "But you still came."

She did not reply.

He smirked again. "Thought so."

Another small silence slid between them—cold, crisp, and unspoken.

Then—

"You didn't answer my first question," she said.

"Which one?"

"How you knew where I lived."

Jaehyun lifted his brows, glancing back toward the tall stone walls surrounding her home.