“Ah, Inspector Moon?” The man stepped closer and Moonbyul could see who he was, even though the sickly pale face was hard to forget.

“Mr Jung,” Moonbyul acknowledged. “How do you know that I’m an inspector?” This was the first time they were meeting officially, and she was sure she kept her badge in the pocket.

Jung Won Il, despite his sickly appearance, was rather charming as well, especially his smile. “Solar talked about you before.”

Moonbyul looked at the woman in her arms. “She came with you?”

He nodded then pointed to the bar counter. “Came here together for a drink.”

A drink? She frowned. Solar could not drink, and she rarely did. The other person murmured something under her breath, something like “my head hurts”. Moonbyul pulled her even closer.

Jung Won Il looked at the hand around Solar’s waist. He noticed how protective Moonbyul was and his face contorted. “I was talking to a friend so I didn’t realise she drank too much. I can send her home if you’re rushing off.”

If he could not keep an eye on her in the club, how could she trust him to bring her home? Even if he really was her… boyfriend, she could not trust anyone. Not now.

“No, I’m not rushing anywhere actually,” Moonbyul said. “I’ll bring her home, it’s fine. You enjoy yourself, Mr Jung.”

“How could I trouble you to bring her home? She came with me. It’s only right for me to send her back.” It seemed to her that Jung Won Il was not going to back down.

Moonbyul smiled, and he could not guess the meaning behind that smile. “It wouldn’t be convenient for you, Mr Jung. You know how people act when they’re drunk, and she is a nasty drunk. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

Even though she was smiling, it felt as if she could pull out a gun and shoot him if he did not back down. Jung Won Il smiled a little. “No, I wouldn’t. Then I’ll trouble you to send her home. Do you know where she lives?”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all,” Moonbyul said. “And yes, I do know where she lives.”

Jung Won Il offered to help her to her car but she refused. He seemed a bit to eager to bring her home. It irked her to no end. As she half carried and half dragged Solar to the car, she regretted her choice a little.

“Oh boy, you have been eating well lately,” Moonbyul said to Solar as she laid her down on the backseat.

She said behind the wheel and looked at the person in backseat through her rear mirror. She should be still living there, right? Starting the ignition, she drove on the familiar path to Solar’s apartment.

Turned out she was right. Solar was still living there and to her surprise, their pictures were still up in frames, in the living room and her bed room. She stared at the person on the bed and her eyes drifted to the picture beside her bed. It was taken a few months before they broke up, and she had the same picture beside her bed as her bed. A wistful smile found its way to her lips.

“I thought it was just me,” she whispered to Solar, but maybe it was just to herself.

She touched Solar’s cheeks and they were as hot as they seemed to be.

Just as she was about to go to the toilet to grab a towel, she felt herself being pulled back down to the bed by the pair of arms around her waist.

“Byul…” Solar murmured, her lips grazing against her neck.

Moonbyul took a deep breath. Not now, Solar, not now please. She tried her hardest to ignore the lips against her neck and pried the arms off her waist but the more she tried, the tighter the embrace was. She sighed and gave in. She always did anyway. If Solar had said no when she initiated the separation, she would have given in.

She turned her head slightly to look at the woman. Her eyes were close, cheeks still as red and her lips were alluring. She applauded her level of resistance as she sat there, on Solar’s bed, mostly sighing. After a while, she felt the kisses stop and the other person was sleeping soundly, her head against her back but her arms were still tight around her.

For the entire night, she sat on the side of the bed, listening to Solar’s soft breathing and her heartbeat against her back. There was a lot of things on her mind but somehow, she felt peaceful. She could not remember when the last time they spent the night together was. It did not matter if Solar was drunk, at least she was there, safe and sound.

Morning came, and somehow she woke up finding her back against the headboard with Solar’s head on her lap. Carefully, she lifted her head and placed it on the pillow before leaving the room.

As soon as the door shut with a click, Solar opened her eyes. She woke up before dawn on someone’s back. The faint smell of her favourite shampoo lingering beneath the tobacco smell told her who that person was. She slowly detached herself and leaned Moonbyul against the headboard. She was a light sleeper, and the fact that such a big movement did not wake her up meant that she was worn out.

Her head hurt, but she remembered she did not drink. Moonbyul’s presence told her otherwise though. She was knocked out, completely. Her eyes drifted to the picture beside Moonbyul and it struck her that Moonbyul must have seen it. It was so obvious, it was right there.

She sat on the bed, cross-legged, in front of the woman who was fast asleep. Her favourite thing to do when Moonbyul spent the night was to watch her sleep, and it still had not changed. There was just something so beautiful about her when she was sleeping – that innocence that was hidden under the stern face of an inspector. Her lips were slightly apart and her fringe fell carelessly over her eyes. She felt her body heat up again, and that was not because of the alcohol, or whatever that knocked her out.

“Control, Solar, you can’t do that,” she mumbled to herself as she knocked her own head, but in the end, caved in to the temptation. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against Moonbyul’s softly so she won’t wake up. She smiled and took one last look at the person before lying down on her lap to catch some sleep before the sunrise.

Just when she thought Moonbyul had left, the door to her room opened. In came the other woman, a glass of water in her hand.

“How are you feeling?” Moonbyul asked as she handed her the glass. She stood at a safe distance from her bed, hands behind her back. She definitely liked her more when she was asleep.

“I’m fine. Thanks for sending me back, though you didn’t have to.” She took a sip of the warm water and put the glass on the bedside table.

Moonbyul was watching her closely, and surely, she saw the picture again. They were still happy, and she would be lying if she said she did not want to go back to those days.

“And what? Let him send you home?” Solar could tell the bitterness in those words.

“Won Il is a nice person,” Solar said.

“Nice enough to let you drink and not watch out for you? I guess he’s really nice,” Moonbyul replied sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

Solar picked up the glass and took a sip again. Her head was hurting again, mostly because of Moonbyul. “I didn’t drink. I ordered juice and he only left for a brief moment.”

“A brief moment is eno-” Moonbyul stopped abruptly and looked at Solar. “You didn’t drink?”

Solar shook her head. She remembered ordering apple juice, but maybe it was mixed with a little alcohol. It did not taste anything like alcohol though.

She was not at ease when she knew Solar did not drink, in fact, she was shaking. She clenched her fist, trying to gather her thoughts. Images of the severed heads flashed in her mind and it did not help much when Solar was looking right at her.

“Byul?” Solar asked, getting up from her bed. “What is it?”

“Promise me,” Moonbyul said, looking into Solar’s eyes.

“Byul?” Solar raised her voice a little. She was getting worried.

“Promise me, please,” Moonbyul repeated, with her hands cupped around her face.

Solar was taken aback by how close they were right now. She could see her own reflection in Moonbyul’s eyes, her eyes that were clouded with… fear. She nodded. Promise.

“Don’t go back to the club,” Moonbyul said with finality, each word loud and clear, and she knew something was amiss.

“What’s happening?” Solar placed her hands on the shoulders of the person in front of her. She could feel her shaking, so subtle that it could be ignored but she could not, not when she knew Moonbyul was not someone who was easily shaken.

Without saying a word, Moonbyul leaned forward and hugged her tightly, as if she was going to slip away any moment. Solar froze, not quite getting the situation. She could only hear Moonbyul repeating “I’m not going to let you get hurt” over and over again.

If only she knew the reason that made Moonbyul so afraid was just the smell of hibiscus, she would have called her silly.

-

A/N: I just realised something... did anyone manage to catch some details in the previous chapter?