It was quite when Dae Young dropped him off at the end of their driveway, though that was to be expected at that time of the night. October brought with it the changing of the season as red, yellow, and orange leaves blew across his feet as he approached the front door.

He had been gone for nearly four months with only a few short calls home to let his beautiful girlfriend know he was okay. He could hear something in her voice the last time they had spoken, and worried that his constant trips to the department store were taking a toll on her. Perhaps she was tired of waiting for him,or had found someone else, someone who didn't put their life in danger every time they got called in to work. 

He quietly unlocked the door and slipped into the living room, resetting the security system before the alarm could go off. He looked around the house they had made their home a year ago and smiled when he saw their things mixed together. Pictures of them as children, their families as they graduated from high school and as she graduated from medical school and became a professor, and he graduated from boot camp and got promoted to Captain covered the whole wall in their breakfast nook off of the kitchen. The stone they took from the beach in Urk lay on display next to an empty flower vase with their mail laying next to it. Files were spread across the coffee table and Si Jin assumed his jagiya had been working from home again. On top of the stack lay a spread of ultrasound pictures and x-rays and he felt a pang for whomever it was Mo Yeon was planning a surgery for. With so many images they had to be going through something difficult. He felt a surge of pride for the woman he loved, knowing that she was someone strong enough to help people in need and deal with the consequences if she couldn't.

 Taking off his boots, he removed his belt and placed it all in the drawer in the hallway they had bought specifically for him to store his gear in. He disassembled his hand gun the way he h