18 A Warning

June 4, 2021

Dainty Florist

The instrumental music playing at the flower shop made Jung Yoon Hee, who was busy with her phone at the checkout counter, yawn for the umpteenth time. For a moment, he tried to close his heavy eyes. She wanted to lay her body on the sofa that happened to be available at the flower shop.

Just information, Yoon Hee is not an employee at the flower shop, but the daughter of the owner of the store, namely the mother. Today her mother is not feeling well, and coincidentally today also Yoon Hee, who is still a student majoring in Chemistry at Baekyeon University, is not in class at all. That's why this morning she offered to open a flower shop, and apparently the mother approved. One other information, Yoon Hee's mother does not hire employees at all, she runs her own shop and is sometimes assisted by Yoon Hee.

Yoon Hee can't take it anymore, she's really sleepy to hear this kind of classical piano music. She wanted to move from her place of silence, but her intention was undone because the bell above the door rang, a sign that someone was coming.

"Well ...."

Yoon Hee's words were interrupted, and even the smile she wanted to smile about disappeared when she found out who was coming, Kim Ji Young, the older brother's best friend, Jung Young Dae.

"Why is your greeting interrupted?" ask Ji Young, who is already in front of Yoon Hee.

"You're alone? Where's Young Dae?"

"Come in soon," Ji Young replied. "By the way, you're getting prettier every day, aren't you?"

Ji Young's head is bowed when someone in the back hits her hard enough, and it makes Yoon Hee chuckle because it feels funny. He was upset and immediately turned his head to see who had hit him. A small curse comes out of his mouth when he finds out the culprit, which is Jung Young Dae.

"Don't tease my sister," Young Dae said coldly.

"I'm not teasing her," Ji Young replied. "I just praised her."

"Whatever you want."

"By the way, why are you here? Want to buy flowers?" Yoon Hee asked curiously.

"No. We came to pick you up for lunch." Young Dae had a slight smile.

"Is it lunch time?" Yoon Hee turned her head towards the wall clock that had entered half past one in the afternoon. "Woah, time is running fast."

"Let's go eat, I'm already hungry," Ji Young said.

"Wait a minute."

Yoon Hee runs to the warehouse to meet someone who seems to feel at home there. She smiled when she saw that her best friend-Shin Yoo Eun-had been busy arranging flowers in a vase for the past three hours.

"Yoo Eun, come on!" invite Yoon Hee, who just stays in the doorway.

"Where to?" asks Yoo Eun without turning her head to her friend.

"Lunch," Yoon Hee replied. "There's Young Dae, " she continued.

Yoo Eun immediately turned her head, and a smile and even a wide smile adorned her face. "Wait a minute, I'll take care of this first," he replied excitedly.

"Leave it alone; they are already waiting ahead."

"All right!"

***

Ivory Joy Cafe

Silence ensues at the table of Yoon Hee, Young Dae, Ji Young, and Yoo Eun, who are having lunch at a cafe. There was no conversation between the four people, they were all too focused on enjoying their lunch. Everyone except Ji Young, who occasionally steals a glance at the woman sitting in front of him-Yoon Hee. The man pulled the corners of his lips slightly as he saw how eagerly Yoon Hee enjoyed her food.

Apparently, what Ji Young is doing right now is being realized by Young Dae, who is sitting next to her. Yoon Hee's older brother looks cynically at his own best friend. "Don't look at Yoon Hee, she's mine now."

"Why are your eyes so sharp?" asked Ji Young, who then sipped his drink.

"For my sister's business, I'm always observant," Young Dae replied as he looked at his colleague.

"You two worked that serial murder case, right?"

The whispered question from Yoo Eun suddenly attracts the attention of both police officers as well as Yoon Hee. The three men stared at Yoo Eun.

"Why did you suddenly ask such a question?"Ji Young asked curiously.

"Actually, this is just my opinion." Yoo Eun leaned slightly. "Maybe not if the perpetrator of the murder was an organization that sold human organs?"

The opinion of Yoo Eun made the three people think hard. The victims did lose their hearts, and it is not ruled out if they are indeed victims of the sale of human organs.

"But if it was a case of human organ trafficking, why did the perpetrator only take the heart? Why aren't all the organs removed?" Ask Yoon Hee. "That's more profitable, isn't it?"

"You're right, Hee. Logically, if it was indeed a case of human organ trafficking, they should have taken all the victim's organs, " Young Dae agreed.

"Oh!" Ji Young exclaimed, dispelling the thoughts of her friends. The man leaned slightly until he hit the table. "Or maybe it was the gumiho?"

"It doesn't make sense," said Young Dae, who didn't seem to like Ji Young's thoughts. "That Gumiho is not real, Kim Ji Young."

"But it might be true. This case is very similar to a story..." Ji Young's speech was intentionally interrupted when she got a sharp look from Young Dae. "Ok, I won't discuss it again. But, whoever did it and whatever the motive." The man looked back at Yoon Hee, who was sipping her drink.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

A thin smile was painted on the handsome face of the man, surnamed Kim. "Be careful, Yoon Hee. If a suspicious stranger approaches you, you have to leave, okay?"

Yoon Hee hears Ji Young's message. "Ji Young, I'm a big girl. Without you telling me, I'll take care of myself."

"That's right, you've grown up. But in my eyes, you're still a five-year-old girl who likes to wear a red dress." Ji Young then blinked one of her eyes.

"We have to go first; I think something happened," Young Dae said after checking his phone for a long time.

"All right. Be careful on the road," Yoon Hee said with a smile.

"When you're done eating, go straight back to the store, understand?" Ji Young's message was only responded to by dehaman Yoon Hee.

"See you later."

Yoon Hee and Yoo Eun waved their hands as the two men walked out of the cafe. After the two men had actually left, Yoon Hee resumed eating, which had stopped because of the conversation earlier.

"Yoon Hee, it seems Ji Young likes you," Yoo Eun said suddenly.

"Hm, I know that."

"You two look good togethre."

"Where does it fit in? I feel---"

"What your best friend said was right, Miss," said a man who interrupted Yoon Hee and made the two girls look at him. "You are indeed very compatible with that guy named Ji Young. You have a bond of fate."

Yoon Hee and Yoo Eun stared in surprise at the man in the black suit. The man smiled and sat on the bench in front of the two women. He propped up his chin with one hand and looked at Yoon Hee with a smile still painted on his face.

"Do you believe in fate, miss?"

"Absolutely not!" Yoon Hee replied curtly. She really messed with that guy. "Yoo Eun, we better get out of here."

Without any excuse, Yoon Hee immediately grabbed Yoo Eun's wrist to ask her out of the cafe.

"Miss, you better take the bus from the previous stop," the man said, making Yoon Hee, who had just taken a few steps, stop. The man smiled again as Yoon Hee turned around and approached him.

"Hey, who are you to tell me?" Yoon Hee asked curtly while staring intently at the man.

"I didn't tell you; I just warned you. Something big might happen if you choose to wait for the bus at the next stop there, " explained the man. "Yes, even if it doesn't happen directly, it will happen."

Yoon Hee only gave the man a stern look before she finally chose to leave, completely upset.