Taewon-Paying a Debt

Under the light, I saw her clearly for the first time. She was quite...pretty? From her features, I guessed she was South Asian. She looked younger than me. I glanced at the kid. He could not be more than six or seven. The girl looked too young to be a mother. She must be a teen mother, I concluded. Absence of a male figure made me suspect that she was a single mother. I snorted. Typical. Who would stay with that beast?

'Wait,' the girl said slowly. 'I bumped into you a while back. At the store!'

Joonjae nodded and took off his mask. The girl's jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock. Yep, she definitely recognized him.

'J-j-j-j-j Joonjae,' she stammered. She pointed at Jan, whose bruise was showing up on the cheek. He coiled under her gaze.

'H-heo Jan?' Jan tried to give her a small smile but he whimpered in pain. Then she pointed at me.

'Hong... Hong...' she started. I took off my mask and gave her a sarcastic smile.

'Hong Taewon,' I sneered. Her expression changed from shock to excitement to horror.

'Mee,' the kid tugged at his mother.

'I just assaulted D3,' the mother said in shock. 'I just beat up my idols!'

The kid looked up at me. I smiled at him smugly. To my surprise, he shot out his tongue at me. Why that little brat. I snarled at him.

'I am a huge fan of you guys,' the girl said excitedly.

'Miss,' Joonjae called her in English. 'Can we just settle this? We won't press charges.'

'What the hell are you talking about?' I shot at Joonjae. 'She assaulted us!'

Joonjae gave me a look.

'But we did trespass first,' he reminded me. 'It's her house after all. She has legit reasons to press charges.'

I groaned. As much as I'd hate to admit, but Joonjae was right.

But this was our hideout. And I was not going to settle with this she-devil.

'You,' I turned on her. 'You're a sasaeng, aren't you?'

The girl's excitement was replaced by annoyance.

'Excuse me?' she replied. 'Are you accusing me of being a sasaeng?'

'Isn't it strange?' I mocked. 'You being a fan of D3 and moving into the house behind ours. You planned it all, didn't you?'

'What nonsense!' she exclaimed. 'I did nothing of that sort. It's just a big coincidence.'

I snorted. 'Coincidence, my ass,' I snapped.

'Don't use slangs in front of a child!' she scolded. I looked at the child and then at her.

'Don't try to fool me,' I shot back. 'You're probably just pretending. Hiring a child to sprout lies. People like you make me sick.'

It all made sense. The girl was just pretending to be a single mother to get sympathy from the landlord so that she can stalk us.

The girl held the kid closer.

'I am disgusted at your thoughts,' she said quietly. She turned to Joonjae.

'I believe there was a slight misunderstanding,' she said calmly. 'Don't worry, we won't press charges.'

Joonjae looked relieved.

'Thank you,' he said. He pulled out his wallet. 'How much do you want for settlement?'

'I don't want money,' she said affronted. 'I am only paying my debt to you guys.'