“What happened back there?” Winter asked as they both slipped into their house. 

It was late in the night, and the air that had settled between them was as still as a grave. Karina hadn’t spoken a single word the moment she was left alone with Winter, which, given that they were left alone the entire evening, already seemed like an eternity. The detective didn’t really know what had gotten into her, but she did have the slightest clue that it most probably had nothing to do with the conversation she had with Jaehyun, and had everything to do with the past memories that had been flashing in her head like broken records throughout the day. 

Once her coat was rightfully hung on the rack, Karina sluggishly left the foyer and plopped her back down on the sofa. “What do you mean?” she asked, her gaze shifting consciously.

Winter’s eyebrows shoot up in amusement, “You were zoned out the entire ride home,”

When Karina chose not to answer, Winter tilted her head as she began to approach her slowly, careful of the way she took her every step as if one wrong move would make the other woman erupt into a sudden explosion. Predictably, Karina still didn’t move an inch. She wasn’t really in the mood for a heart to heart in spur of the moment, but a part of her was sardonically anticipating what Winter would do had she known her ex girlfriend wasn’t feeling okay.

She regretted it as soon as Winter bent down on one knee in front of her. . Winter’s worried gaze held Karina’s fretful one, and she looked so so genuine. Karina hated everything about it.

“Hey,” Winter spoke softly. Gone were her teasing smiles and her satirical remarks as she asked Karina, “What’s wrong?”

In an instant, something in the way Winter had said those words caused the caged hail hidden somewhere in her gut to morph into a windstorm – now what was supposed to be a forced, dormant indignation transformed into fury.

“No.” Karina said pointedly. “No. You– you don’t get to do that.”

Oblivious behind the animosity in her words, Winter could only frown. “What are you talking about?”

“That!” Karina arose from her seat, her voice following in the same tone. “This! Whatever this thing is!” she emphasized, and the more Winter was acting like she genuinely didn’t know what she meant just added fuel to the fire. “You can’t just–” she choked, struggling to fight the lump in that was trying to hold her back, reminding her that she should’ve been way over this by now. But as pathetic as it may sound, she still wasn’t. She just couldn’t. “You can't just come up and kneel in front of me, asking me what's wrong as if it's the most natural thing for you — as if you’re used to it — as if you never really stopped caring about me.”

Winter opened to speak, perhaps to explain something for once, but Karina had already beaten her to it.

“You can't just act like everything is fine between us, because it’s not! I’m not.” Karina continued, and she knew she had to stop. She knew she had to let this go, but she also knew that in order to do that, she had to remove all the hurdles that she herself had trapped within. “Just– why didn't you tell me that you were already thinking about leaving while I was busy trying to figure out a way to save us? You were my best friend before anything, Winter. I wasn’t just a stupid summer fling you could easily abandon once the thrill ran out.”

As if Winter had turned into a distant, cold wall, Karina was left to suffer in her silence. Again.

“You just– you left me, Winter. Like it was easy. ” There. It wasn’t as though the cat had just gotten out of the bag because this dire reality had been out there a long time ago, but Karina thought that saying it out loud in front of the person she needed to hear it the most would make her pain feel like it was real – like it was valid. Because it had been. “And then when you came back last year– I asked you for one thing. An explanation, a reason why my lover, my best friend of fourteen years, just suddenly disappeared from my life without a word, so I could finally let this go.” she trained her pained eyes on Winter, almost as if she was begging. “It was one thing, Winter, and yet — you couldn't even give it to me.”

Karina fell silent as she watched – observing if she had somehow managed to break through the barrier that the situation itself had put up in between them, but then… nothing. Winter didn’t even budge. If Karina thought she had noticed a quiet sniff and eyes that almost watered, she instantly brushed it off as soon as Winter had spoken.

“I’m sorry.” Winter said, almost inaudible as she looked everywhere but the person she was supposed to be saying sorry for.

Moving her gaze away from Winter, Karina held back a scoff. “Is that really all you have to say?”

Immediately knowing the answer, Karina didn’t wait for Winter to say another word as she stormed out of the house.

By the time she stepped on the sidewalk, the town was already fast asleep. She decided that she preferred this kind of silence. The only thing she could hear were the unbroken chirping of crickets, unidentified animals scurrying off somewhere, and the incessant sound of leaves rustling as they tailed the midnight wind.

A relieved sigh then escaped her lips when she spotted a lonely bench outside the fenced yard of whoever owned this place. It was sitting there all by itself, perhaps grateful for the street lamp that warmed it. Without thinking twice, Karina walked closer and took a seat.

“Jimin?”

Startled by the voice, Karina clutched the gun holster behind her shirt as she looked up at the unannounced intruder, who also happened to be Giselle, holding a cup of tea as she approached her excitedly.

“Christ! You scared me!” Karina exclaimed, sneakily letting go of her gun and placing her hand on the collar of her shirt instead just to seem more natural. “What are you doing here?”

“You’re in front of my house,” 

Craning her neck to look around to check, Karina soon realized that she actually had no idea what this woman’s house even looked like.

“Sorry.” she murmured.

Giselle regarded her with a smile and sat next to the detective without asking for permission. Well, not like she had to. This was a public spot. 

“Trouble with the missus?”

“You can say that,” Karina vaguely shrugged her shoulders.

“Let me guess,” Giselle started, talking as if she and Karina were best buddies. “It was about that blue wallpaper in your kitchen?”

Close enough. It was actually about my best friend turned ex-girlfriend turned fake-wife who left me like I was worth nothing, Karina wanted to say, but then again, she was an undercover detective on a mission. This was definitely not the time to trauma dump on a neighbor she’d known for barely two days.

“Maybe,” said Karina.

Giselle hummed, shaking her head in a very obvious ‘ I told you so! ’ manner. “I knew it was hideous. No offense,” she added.

Karina put her gaze back to her fake-house, and figured that maybe talking about this (although discreetly) to a stranger whom she’d probably forget the existence of as soon as the mission was successfully finished wouldn’t be such a bad idea, right? 

Whatever.

“I just wanna know why she hates it so much.” Karina sighed.

Giselle brought her cup up to her lips, “She wouldn't tell you?”

“She’s not telling me anything. ”

“Maybe she’s embarrassed.” Giselle retorted cluelessly.

Karina had to remind herself that this woman had no idea what she was talking about. Defeatedly, she set her gaze forward and stared into an empty space.

The road looked nice, she thought. It was peaceful.

She was glad one of them was, at least.

“Well, I hope you won't let it ruin what you two have.” Karina almost laughed once she heard that from Giselle. Truth to be told, there was nothing else to ruin anymore. Giselle didn’t have to know that, though. So Karina let her continue. “Especially with the little nugget on the way, if you know what I mean,”

Her mind wondered what ‘little nugget’ was Giselle even talking about until she remembered that her fake-wife was actually supposed to be pregnant. 

Ah, right. 

“God, it’s that weirdo again.”

The woman beside Karina suddenly grumbled, eyebrows furrowing as she casted her gaze somewhere far. Karina’s eyes mutely followed where Giselle was currently looking at, and a frown instantly spread across her face when she realized who it was. He was wearing a hoodie with his hands suspiciously tucked in its pockets, head down as he walked briskly to the opposite direction.

“Jaehyun?”

“Yeah.” Giselle answered, her attention still on the man. “He keeps coming back to that stupid warehouse every Saturday night. Well, Saturday midnight this time.”

“What warehouse?”

Giselle glanced at her briefly, carefully blowing air into her tea. “You know, the SM Cargo. It was an old shipping company.”

All of Karina’s functioning brain cells began to race for a hundred miles per hour, the long-awaited light bulb finally appearing on top of her head.

“Uh, hey, Giselle–” Suddenly shifty on her seat, Karina cleared . “I think I should probably head back home. I need to go talk to my wife.”

Giselle nodded, sliding her leg on top of the other to show Karina that she wasn't leaving any time soon. “Sure, I’ll see you around,” 

“Ditto,” Karina gave her a genuine smile as she balanced herself up. “Thanks, again.”

By the time Karina decided to come back to their house, she was almost surprise