April 4th, 2020

The first time that Donghyuck came across one of NCT's gang members was when he was sixteen and was training to be an officer. He had been walking down the street, the smell of rubbish and gas filling the air, when a male dressed in all black had harshly tugged him into an alleyway. 

The male had shoved a hand over his face, silencing his shouts and grunts and because his face was covered by a black mask, he couldn't identify who was trying to kidnap him. It had all happened so fast; one moment he had a male's arm wrapped around his throat and then the next, his best friend was swooping in and saving his life. 

Na Jaemin had jumped on the stranger's back and wrestled the guy to the floor. Donghyuck had gotten a chance to breathe, so he took in great pants of air before looking up. Jaemin had been on top of the male and he was whispering something in his ear, face pissed off. Donghyuck hadn't thought anything of it then, but after Jaemin had dragged him away and they were safely settled in a local Café, he wondered just what Jaemin had said to the male.

So, that was how he had stumbled into one of the gang's member's. He could still remember it like it was yesterday, but he never really liked to recall memories with Jaemin in them; it caused way too much pain. And sadness. He hated the feeling: especially after waking up, sweaty and pale from a nightmare in the middle of the night. 

Donghyuck was currently looking through an email on his computer, curled inwards on himself when his phone rang. The song, Fireflies, filled the air and Donghyuck leaned forward to answer the phone, placing it on speaker.

"Hello?" He asked, hesitantly. He could hear harsh wind whipping against the phone on the other end.

"We've got another case, Donghyuck." He recognized Doyoung's voice and sighed. Donghyuck was an officer, but he specialized in murder case's ~ especially if it was to do with a gang. They got a lot of those, but Donghyuck wasn't really interested unless it was a particular gang.

"I'll be right over." Donghyuck said, climbing off his bed and changing into his clothes. He had been chilling in his room on what was supposed to be a day off, but obviously, a case had to happen and Donghyuck's relaxing day was ripped to shreds. Doyoung hung up just as Donghyuck shut off his computer, sighing at the sight of another email. 

Donghyuck was simply nineteen; too old to be dealing with all the stress and darkness that his job came with, but for some reason, he was still apart of the force.

He attatched his badge to his belt and slung on his leather jacket, grabbing his keys and phone. Once he was outside, he breathed in the air and started heading to his car, feeling his phone ding in his hand. Doyoung had just texted him the location of the crime scene, so Donghyuck set of on his journey. 

When Donghyuck was little, something truly horrible had happened to his family and that had led him to becoming a police officer and detective. He knew he was really young to be in the force, and for that he was underappreciated and scoffed upon, but he really liked his job. He would be nothing without it. 

Solving murder's and bringing justice to families is what his life was run by. That was his motivation to start a new case and get up in the morning. 

Donghyuck parked his car on the edge of the sidewalk, just a corner behind the crime scene and climbed out, shutting off the engine. He glanced around and tugged his jacket closer to himself before walking towards the crime scene. Donghyuck slipped under the yellow tape once he showed the officer's guarding the place his badge. 

His face had already settled into a stoic expression and even when he got inside and smelled the scent of fresh blood and rotting flesh, he hardly blinked. He was used to it afterall; it had become apart of his life ~ he was a hair breadth away from being immune to it. Donghyuck wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a curse. A bad or good thing.

"Nice to see you, Lee." Doyoung muttered, sarcasm dripping from his words and Donghyuck rolled his eyes. He wasn't surprised or hurt because Doyoung was always salty during work hours. He only let loose and allowed a smidge of affection after work was really over and done with for the day. 

"What's the cause of death?" Donghyuck asked, tilting his head to the side as he dropped into a crouch. He grabbed some gloves Doyoung handed him and tugged the over his hands, wiggling his fingers back and forward. 

Doyoung grimaced. "Blood loss; a head wound too. That's why the scent is so potent because there's so much of it." Doyoung explained and Donghyuck hummed, carefully pulling down the victim's collar when he caught a flash of silver. It was one of those locket's you could put a picture in; those heart shaped cheesy locket's people bought their partners as a type of half willed promise. 

"I can see that." Donghyuck murmured, flipping the locket open and examining the male in the locket's picture. "Have you run facial diagnostics yet? Or run her fingerprints to see if she shows up?" Donghyuck asked and Doyoung nodded. 

"Yeah, her name's Stacy Well's. Seventeen years old. She has a record of drug's and theft. Petty crimes really; nothing to major that would bring up red flags." Doyoung told Donghyuck. Donghyuck frowned. 

"And the male?" Donghyuck questioned, glancing up just in time to see Doyoung's face twist in confusion.

"What male?" Doyoung asked and watched as Donghyuck tilted the locket his way, the male's picture staring right at Doyoung. 

"This male."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright!" Doyoung exclaimed as he collapsed into a seat next to Donghyuck. Donghyuck was eating his lunch and was also waiting for Doyoung to get information on the male in the picture. "The male's name is Wong Yukhei and apparently, the two were dating, but he broke it off over a week and a half ago." Doyoung said, making Donghyuck raise an eyebrow.

"And why exactly did he break it off?" He asked. Doyoung shrugged as Donghyuck continued to eat his food, shoving fries into his mouth. He occasionally took a sip of his drink, but he left most of it for Doyoung. Doyoung always was thirsty on the job, yet never hungry. 

"Don't know. That's why I came to talk to you. Why else would someone break up with someone so close to the day they just got murdered?" Doyoung murmured. Donghyuck glanced at him and then started packing up his food, appetite disappearing ~ Doyoung really did need to find a better time than lunch to ask him these questions. 

"Unless they were hiding something." Donghyuck said. Doyoung snapped his fingers and pointed at his partner. 

"Exactly and that's why I thought we should check out Wong's last whereabout's. The last time anyone saw him was when he was taking a hike and he was renting a whole cabin in the middle of nowhere basically." Doyoung said, stealing Donghyuck's drink and taking a huge gulp. Donghyuck was right to save it. "It took me forever to scavenge for a recent location, but when you're as good as me; nothing is impossible." Doyoung stated, patting himself proudly. 

Donghyuck swivelled around in his chair with a snort. "Yeah, right, Doyoung. You wouldn't even know the kid's name if it weren't for me. You'd be pulling at straws: again." Donghyuck stressed and Doyoung muttered some curse words under his breath before getting to his feet. 

"Just hurry up. We're taking my car because yours is  and wouldn't be able to last the hour drive up there." Doyoung said. Donghyuck swivelled around quickly until he was facing Doyoung.

"An hour drive?" He shrieked and Doyoung nodded. 

"Yep. Now hurry up, I want to get back before dawn." Doyoung scowled. The partner in question raced his hands up in defeat before scrambling to his feet and following after Doyoung. He only took his phone and keys; his badge was in his car on the passenger seat and he was too lazy to go and get it.

"This is going to be pure torture." Donghyuck moaned out as soon as he climbed into the car and did up his seatbelt. Doyoung chuckled next to him as he started the car and backed out of the car park. 

"Sure thing, kiddo." Doyoung giggled. 

Turns out, it was torture. Donghyuck was bored out of his mind over half of the time and Doyoung seemed to find that little detail hilarious. Not to mention the fact that Doyound had poor taste in music. 

"No, Donghyuck, not that song!" 

"What are you talking about it's NCT Dream, !" 

"Yeah, put on something different!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

​​​​​​"NO!"

"Donghyuck, I swear to god, put on a different song or I'm kicking you out of the car!" 

Donghyuck had put on a different song after that ~ he wasn't in the mood to get kicked to the curb today. 

Doyoung parked into a small patch of grass that was vacant of anything and shut off the car. The duo climbed out of the car and made their way up the steps and onto the front porch. Donghyuck banged on the door, shivering slightly from the cold. 

After a few seconds, the door swung open and someone completely different from the person in the picture open the door.

"Er, hello?" He greeted, confused and Doyoung put on one of his fake, cheerful smiles to relax the male. 

"Hello, Sir. We were just wondering if a Wong Yukhei was staying here and if so, we would like to have a quick word." Doyoung said, showing his badge. The male glanced between Doyoung and Donghyuck before sighing and opening the door a foot wider, gesturing inside.

"Come in then." He muttered. Doyoung smiled again and they both walked inside, Donghyuck shuddering from the abrupt change of cold to warm. "Tea? Coffee? I have some cookies I just made." The male said and Doyoung shook his head while Donghyuck glanced around, wandering off into the living room. The male opened his mouth to say something, but Doyoung cut him off.

"Two coffee's would be amazing, thank you, it was quite a long way up from Seoul." Doyoung nodded, letting Donghyuck do his thing. Donghyuck still had his gun in his pocket and two knives stashed in both his boots; he had got them custom made just for the purpose of hiding them from anyone who was a threat. 

Donghyuck smirked and slipped into the back garden, spotting a farm at the back of the field. He had seen a peek of the roof as they had pulled into the space; it was very well hidden, but Donghyuck had sharp eyes.

He played with the rusty lock for a moment before it clicked open and Donghyuck was prying the door open, shoving it to the left. 

The first thing he saw was over three faces conversing with each other; they seemed to be in an argument. The heated conversation was lost as soon as they heard the door slam open, heads whipping to the sound except one. The male from the picture was occuied with something else entirely and didn't even look up to see who had entered.

"Jungwoo, I told you that ~"

"Now, now, Romeo, I'm not Jungwoo, but your boyfriend is kind of held up at the moment. My partner's taking him some place special." Donghyuck interrupted and Yukhei looked up, the other people in the room glancing between each other in confusion and curiosity. 

"What'd you do with him?" Yukhei growled and Donghyuck shrugged, glancing behind him at the house. 

"I left them alone and the last thing I saw was your boyfriend getting a black eye from my partner. He already had a split lip." Donghyuck smirked when he got the reaction he wanted out of Yukhei. Yukhei slammed his hands down and stormed to Donghyuck. 

"What'd you do?" He shouted, throwing a punch in Donghyuck's direction. The punch was so sloppy and filled with hate and rage that Donghyuck was easily able to block it and get Yukhei lying on the floor on his back. Donghyuck knelt and pulled out his gun, placing it under Yukhei's chin. 

"What did you do to Stacy Well's?" Donghyuck asked, relishing in the way no one moved in the room. He had complete power over the situation. 

"She's an ex. I didn't do anything!" Yukhei exclaimed, face twisting at the coldness of the barrel against his throat. "I don't touch them or talk to them after I break it off; I don't like the connections or loose strings." Yukhei explained. 

Donghyuck's eyebrows knitted together. "Then why's she dead?" He demanded, shoving the gun further into Yukhei's throat. He choked. 

"I don't know!" He shouted. "I'm as clueless as you are!" He said and Donghyuck was getting frustrated. And the reason was because he believed him. He believed every word that came out of his mouth. 

"Why'd you break it off?" Donghyuck whispered. Yukhei frowned at him. 

"What?" He demanded. 

"Why'd you break it off?" Donghyuck growled. Yukhei trembled beneath him. 

"I didn't!" Yukhei shouted in panic. "She did because she found out that I was in NCT! She said something about wanting to start over and not get messed up in  like the past!" Yukhei said. Donghyuck hummed just as the door creaked behind them and Jungwoo gasped. 

"Donghyuck, get off him." Doyoung scowled and Donghyuck glared at Yukhei, who cowered slightly before Donghyuck was getting to his feet and crossing the space to meet Doyoung.

"They're part of NCT. She broke it off. He's innocent; for her murder I mean, not other's, but her's." Donghyuck said. "Now can we leave?" Donghyuck asked. Doyoung chuckled.

"Nope. Just sit tight, you nineteen year old granpa." Doyoung said. Donghyuck made a face while Doyoung turned to the others; including Yukhei who was being helped up by Jungwoo. "Now, if you wouldn't mind answering my questions, but if you do mind then we best leave." Doyoung said, turning around. 

Yukhei extended his hand. "Wait! I'll answer your questions!" He said and Doyoung smiled. Donghyuck sighed for he was going to get another sleepless night.