About the fifth time Siwon asked, “What do you think, Haruki?” and Haruki realized she hadn’t heard any of the discussion between him and Ryeowook, she decided she’d had enough. When Ryeowook finally asked if she was okay, she feigned ill for the first time in her career, and asked to leave early. At any other time, she would have smiled at the way Siwon’s jaw dropped and Ryeowook toppled off his chair in shock. But today, she didn’t even notice.

The trip home seemed longer than usual, and she was grateful for it. She was barely aware of climbing on the bus or opening her apartment door, her mind consumed by just one question: Where had that kiss come from?

She admitted that she’d liked Sungmin at one point, but it had been months ago. Her musing had never gone beyond thinking that he was a very good-looking man. And she’d certainly never imagined acting on it…or for him to reciprocate the attraction.

The kiss had been short, no more than a brief brush of lips. It had been a completely unexpected, yes, although it didn’t warrant her kicking him out of her office. But the moment right before it--

--he was looming over her, staring right into her eyes, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t look away—

-- she had been back in the dentist’s chair with Taemin tenderly her cheek.

She shivered and hugged one of her couch cushions to her chest, her fingers already beginning to go cold. Would this happen to her the rest of her life? Would any affection shown to her remind her of her helplessness and terror?

Burying her face in the cushion, she curled her knees to her chest and tried to slow her breathing, even as she felt her heart pounding loudly against her ribcage. Through the blood roaring in her ears, she swore she could hear someone rattling her doorknob.

Instantly, she grabbed her gun and pulled it out of the holster, and peeked up from the cushion.

Jessica raised an eyebrow back at her. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Haruki said quickly, feeling blood rush to her face as she quickly shoved her gun back in its proper place. “I didn’t know you were coming over today.”

“I texted you like three hours ago,” Jessica said. Haruki’s eyebrows shot up. She’d been sitting there for three hours? “Siwon told me you weren’t feeling well. I would have come over earlier, but I was stuck at work and-” She waved a hand impatiently. “Are you okay? I brought soup.”

“I’m fine,” Haruki replied. “I’m…I needed to think.”

“About what?” Jessica raised an eyebrow as Haruki practically strangled the pillow she was hugging. Finally, she unwrapped her arms from the cushion and looked up. If there was anyone she could talk to about what happened today, it was Jessica.

“Sungmin kissed me.”

She was not expecting the model to emit an ear-splitting squeal as she bounced on the balls of her feet, clapping her hands in delight. “Oh my god! He kissed you? When? How did it happen? Oh my god, tell me everything!” Jessica plopped down on the couch beside Haruki and clasped her hands, looking at the detective expectantly.

Haruki just stared.

“Well?” Jessica prompted. “What happened?”

“It’s nothing, really,” Haruki mumbled.

“Oh, come on.” Jessica gripped her arm tightly. “Tell me!”

“What do you want me to say?” Haruki asked. “He’s been avoiding me for a while. He came into my office to discuss the case, then all of a sudden, he kissed me!”

“And?”

“And what?”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “What did you do after that? Duh.”

“I…um…” Haruki suddenly found her fingernails very interesting as she mumbled, “I yelled at him to get out.”

Jessica’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You did what?” Haruki shrugged slightly. “Why?”

The detective just shook her head. “He caught me by surprise.”

“Well, this is great!” Jessica said after a pause. “What are you going to do now?”

“Can we just drop this?” Haruki asked.

“No!” whined Jessica. “Come on, this is fun. You never want to talk about these things.” The detective raised her eyebrows expectantly, but Jessica just ignored her. “So what are you going to do about Sungmin?”

Haruki shrugged. “I don’t know. Act like it never happened, I guess.”

“What? You can’t do that!” the model protested. “I mean, come on. He cares about you, clearly, he’s a sweet guy, and it’s just so cute that he was all awkward and shy. I know you have no experience with dating, but-”

“No!” Haruki snapped, shoving off from the couch and storming towards the kitchen. She yanked open her fridge door and pulled out a bottle of water.

Jessica watched her in bewilderment. “Why are you so against this, Haruki?”

Taking a long swig, Haruki slowly set the bottle down on the counter. “I never told you about my sister, did I?” Jessica raised an eyebrow slightly, but shook her head. “She committed suicide after she was by her boyfriend.”

“Oh my god,” Jessica whispered. “Haruki, I’m so sorry. I had no idea-”

“That’s why I climbed out the window on my first date,” Haruki snapped. “I panicked! When I was little, whenever I had to deal with something new, I would think about what my sister would do. And this…the whole dating thing, it was something completely new. She was the only role model I ever had. I got scared and ran.”

“And you never looked back,” Jessica said softly. Haruki shook her head.

“Today…” She took a shuddery breath. “When Sungmin was standing over me, for a moment, I thought he was Taemin.”

“People like Taemin and your sister’s boyfriend…they’re the exception,” Jessica murmured.

“But they’re out there,” Haruki snapped. “I’ve arrested dozens of guys like them.” She raked her fingers through her hair and sighed again. “I’ve tackled armed suspects more times than I can remembers, but that doesn’t scare me as much as…making myself vulnerable to someone who will take advantage of it.”

“So what are you saying? Are you going to stay single for the rest of your life?” Jessica asked.

“You make that sound like it’s a bad thing,” Haruki retorted.

“Well, it’s not, but your reason for being single is,” the model snapped. She crossed over to the kitchen and put an arm around Haruki’s shoulder. “Don’t refuse to try something just because you’re scared. That’s not who you are.”

Haruki shrugged her hand off and turned towards the living room again. “I just don’t think I could ever forget about it.”

She wasn’t quite sure what she meant by “it”. Was it the fear that still lingered every time she thought of Taemin raising his icepick above her head? Or was it the anger she still felt over the boy who had driven her sister to kill herself? Either way, Jessica seemed to understand what she meant, as she smiled slightly.

“You shouldn’t,” the model replied. “I mean, that’s what gives you the motivation to do your job, right? It’s good to hang onto it. But that doesn’t mean you should let that control every aspect of your life.”

Haruki brushed a hand over her face and nodded. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

“Great!” In an instant, Jessica was back to bouncing and beaming at her like a mom watching her daughter go off to prom. “So what are you going to do?”

Yuri straightened and dusted off her knees, calling to her partner through the living room door. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything else, Tae. This place has pretty much been picked clean.”

There was no answer.

“Taeyeon?” Yuri poked her head into the family room to find Taeyeon sitting on the couch, flipping through what appeared to be a photo album.

“Tae?” Taeyeon jumped and looked up, smiling slightly as she pointed to one picture.

“Remember when this was taken?” she asked and Yuri leaned over to look. It was a photograph of all the girls in the forensics department, plus Tiffany and Hyoyeon. Haruki’s smile looked so forced it almost hurt, but the others were having a good time. Tiffany was collapsed against Sooyoung’s shoulder, laughing so hard her eyes were closed and Yoona was hiding her smile behind her hand.

Yuri nodded. “That was from the Christmas party two years ago. My first year in the department.”

Taeyeon nodded as she closed the album. “You’re still relatively new, but I’ve known Tiffany for years. I could be a character witness for her.”

“We need to finish up here fast,” Yuri replied. “Dispatch reported a robbery a couple blocks away.”

“Alright.” The petite girl set aside the album and headed for the kitchen, pulling open a couple cabinets and peeking inside. Yuri poked through a few drawers, but it was mostly for show. They’d been over this house several times already. There was nothing left to find.

“So what would you say?” Yuri asked after a few moments of silence.

“Huh?” Taeyeon looked up from the recipe books she was flipping through.

“If you had to testify about Tiffany,” the dark-haired girl asked.

Taeyeon sighed as she stared out the window, pursing her lips slowly. “I would say that she had a strong sense of justice.” Yuri nodded. “But she didn’t really trust anyone.”

“Then who would she work with?” Yuri asked.

“Someone she could dominate completely,” Taeyeon replied. “Someone who was terrified of her. What’s that?”

Yuri turned around, peering at the little smear of grey on the kitchen floor. She bent down and peered at it. “It looks like ash.”

“Where would that have come from?” asked Taeyeon.

Yuri shrugged. “The fireplace? We probably tracked it over here by accident.”

“The fireplace is sealed,” Taeyeon replied.

They looked at each other for only a moment before they both rushed back into the family room. Taeyeon pulled away the grate from the fireplace, while Yuri reached up into the chimney, pulling back the hatch that closed it and ignoring the soot that rained down on her head. She reached her hand up into the empty space and began feeling around, eyebrows shooting up as her fingers closed around something that felt like a book. Eagerly, she pulled it out.

The charred and crumbling pages of what had once been Taemin’s diary stared back at them.

Siwon was so focused on reading the file about Chunji that he didn’t notice Ryeowook standing beside him until the younger man poked his shoulder.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” Ryeowook asked nervously.

Siwon’s smile dropped at the other detective’s tone and instantly pulled over a chair. “Of course. What’s wrong?”

“It’s Haruki…” Ryeowook took a deep breath and glanced nervously at the door as if he expected her to enter at any moment, even though she’d gone home hours ago. “She’s…she’s getting emotional about this case.”

Siwon nodded. “You’ve noticed, too?”

“Well, you’d be blind not to see it,” Ryeowook snapped, before looking embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-”

“It’s fine,” Siwon replied. “So what’s your point?”

Ryeowook fidgeted and glanced at the door again before lowering his voice even further. “I don’t know if you noticed, but Haruki is treating Taemin and G.O.’s cases differently.”

Siwon narrowed his eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

“When she talks about the killer, it’s always ‘Taemin’s killer.’ Not ‘their killer’,” Ryeowook explained.

“Maybe, but we don’t know for sure that they’re the same person,” Siwon replied. “We’re still just guessing.”

“But either way, she doesn’t seem to care about G.O.’s death,” Ryeowook murmured. “And also, when she explained how she knew Chunji, she didn’t seem upset that he was dead either. And with the panic attacks and everything…”

“What are you saying, Ryeowook?” Siwon asked softly.

“I think the only reason Haruki wants to find Taemin’s killer is because she thinks she’s responsible,” the younger detective whispered. “If she hadn’t rejected him or caused him to go insane, she wouldn’t care so much.”

“Taemin looked up to Haruki,” Siwon replied. “She considered him a friend, at least. Of course she would be more eager to find his killer.”

Ryeowook shook his head slightly. “I don’t know Haruki that well, but she seems different now. Before, she treated all cases the same way. All murderers need to be brought to justice. She never let personal biases get in the way.”

“Not anymore?” Siwon raised his eyebrows.

“I don’t think so,” replied Ryeowook. “I think she’s still affected by what happened to her and it’s not just that she’s more nervous or anything. It changed the way she sees our job, the way she sees people. Do you think…do you think…”

“What?” asked Siwon.

“Do you think she believes that G.O. and Chunji deserved to die?”

Jiyong propped his chin up on one hand as he stared at his computer screen. “How’s it going?” Youngbae asked, plopping a friendly hand on his shoulder.

Jiyong shook his head. “I’ve looked at every traffic camera around the park. The car drives into the park and a few minutes later, it drives away. The timing fits perfectly. But none of the cameras show the street near the baseball field. You never see the car hit that kid and the only thing you can see of the driver is this.”

He double-clicked, blowing up an image of the windshield. There was the faint silhouette of a dark-haired driver. The long hair suggested a female, but even then, it was hard to be sure.

“I can’t link the van to that woman,” Jiyong explained. “And that means we can’t nail her for the accident.”

“Dude, forget the accident,” Youngbae snapped. “She’s involved in covering up a murder, isn’t she?”

“There’s no proof,” Jiyong said again. “We only think she took the diary because she might have been driving the car. We can’t prove anything. And her lawyer will definitely point that out.”

“Tough break, man.” Youngbae slapped him on the back.

“What are you working on, by the way?” asked Jiyong.

“Creating a device that will block out Seungri,” Youngbae deadpanned. “If I have to hear another word about the two girls he’s seeing Friday night-”

“He’s seeing two girls on Friday?” Jiyong asked, eyebrows shooting up.

“It’s all he’s been talking about since Monday,” Youngbae grumbled, as Sungmin came in. “Looks like it’s back to work for you. Talk to you later?”

“Sure,” Jiyong replied, nodding as the detective came over to him. “Hey. What’s up?”

“Just wanted to see how you’re doing,” Sungmin replied. “Taeyeon and Yuri reported that Taemin’s diary was completely burned. We can’t even be sure it really was his diary.” He sighed as he seated himself beside Jiyong.

“Does that mean there’s not enough evidence to charge her with accessory to murder?” asked Jiyong.

“There’s no evidence to charge her with accessory to murder,” Sungmin sighed. “The best we can do right now is charge her with the hit and run and hope more evidence turns up for additional charges later. Do you have anything?”

“I’m afraid my news isn’t much better,” the hacker explained, rapidly flipping through freeze-frames from the traffic cameras. “There’s nothing proving that she drove the van, or even that the car hit that kid.”

“Jongin can testify to the second part,” Sungmin said. “Eyewitness testimony is very convincing, even if it’s not always reliable. But if we can’t connect Tiffany to the car, we don’t have a case.”

Jiyong sighed as he scrolled through images again. “She’s either really clever or lucky. This camera-” he pointed at the screen “-is the only one pointed towards the baseball field. But you can see, it just doesn’t point far enough down to show the street next to the field, which is where the accident occurred.”

“Wait!” Sungmin suddenly pointed at the screen. “Go back.”

Jiyong scrolled back slowly as the detective jabbed repeatedly at one of the pictures. “See that?”

“Dude, you’re pointing at the wrong car.”

“No, wait! Can you zoom in on the side mirror?” Sungmin asked, leaning forward and ignoring the look Jiyong was giving him.

Shrugging, the blond drew a box around the mirror of a tattered blue pick-up truck and zoomed in so that the image filled the entire screen. The driver’s side window of the black sedan was reflected in it. Through it, he could see the faint image of a person’s face.

Immediately, he set to work on the image, increasing the resolution, darkening and lightening the colors, removing the glare from the mirror. After the shadows and glass had been digitally stripped away, the side profile of a female face could be easily seen. Jiyong quickly pulled up the mugshots taken of Tiffany and ran them through a facial recognition program. They matched perfectly.

“Yes!” he grinned as Sungmin clapped his hands and leaned back in his seat with a smile of relief.

“Hey gorgeous,” Seungri whistled, causing both men to look up as the door opened and Haruki came in. “What brings you here today? Looking for me?” She brushed past him, nodding hello to Youngbae and T.O.P., who went back to procrastinating on the work they’d been assigned.

Sungmin was instantly on his feet as she came towards them, looking as though she’d just swallowed a cactus. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Siwon said you weren’t feeling well. I-”

“I’m fine,” she replied. “I, um, wanted to…talk to you.”

“Well hey, check this out first,” Jiyong said eagerly. Haruki stepped around Sungmin and leaned over the hacker’s shoulder. “There’s no video footage of the accident, but we got a picture of the driver.” He pulled it up, apparently expecting Haruki to jump up and down ecstatically.

Unfortunately for Jiyong, Haruki never did that, not even on her best day. She gave him a slight smile. “That’s great.”

“Great? That’s more than great! It’s the only direct evidence we have against that woman so far!”

“No, it’s really great,” Haruki insisted, though her tone of voice suggested her mind was elsewhere. “Uh, good job- fantastic job.”

Jiyong raised an eyebrow as he smirked at her. “Oh, come on. That’s the worst thanks in the world. If you really want to show gratitude, you could agree to that date you keep putting off.” He gave her an exaggerated wink.

“Sure.”

There was a sharp crunch as T.O.P.’s laptop slipped to the floor. He didn’t even seem to notice, as he was preoccupied with staring at Haruki. Youngbae’s jaw was hanging open as Seungri dramatically reached over and pinched himself on the arm. Sungmin was glaring daggers into Jiyong, who looked momentarily stunned, before he grimaced, as if already regretted asking.

After a few moments, Haruki finally appeared to realize what she’d said. Her face flushed crimson. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it-”

Seungri was the first to recover, practically flying over to them and slinging an arm around her shoulders. “Nope! You said yes. No taking it back!”

“Wait, but-” Haruki shoved him away. “I was distracted! I didn’t mean to say yes.”

Grinning broadly, T.O.P. came towards them, saying, “Haruki, do you mean that our dear G-Dragon isn’t good enough for you?” Jiyong groaned and smacked his forehead as Sungmin looked between the other hackers and Haruki, confused.

“No, but-”

“GD and Haruki, sitting in a tree. K-I-” Seungri sang, until Youngbae smacked him.

“What are you, five?”

Haruki had her palms towards Jiyong as she frantically tried to explain, failing to notice the door open again. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to agree. I was distracted because I wanted to talk to Sungmin about earlier and-”

“Oh come on, I’ve never seen you that distracted before,” Jiyong replied, tried to hide a smile at Haruki’s panicked apologies. “What happened?”

“Um, he kissed me-”

“What?” Jiyong blinked.

“What?” echoed several other voices, and Haruki finally looked up to see Siwon, Ryeowook, Eunhyuk, and Donghae standing in the doorway.

Wordlessly, she her heel, ducked through the crowd, and disappeared somewhere down the hallway. 

A/N: Thanks to everyone who's been subscribing and commenting and reading! I'm sorry I've been too busy to thank you all individually. >.<