Three days passed after the incident and nothing happened. Youngjae was in a stupor for the majority of those seventy-two hours. The moment he went home after getting the kiss on the cheek, he went and found some DNA powder and preserved the slight lipstick stain. Then he allowed himself to wash it off. It wouldn’t do to go into the office with the kiss mark still on his face.

            The kiss had his heart jumping in all sorts of directions. He knew what the gesture had meant socially but he wasn’t sure if he could ever have the courage to formally ask her out. He also knew that she had thrown the ball into his court, to use a popular saying.

            The next day back at work had been awkward. He went out of his way to avoid her but she seemed to be everywhere. Once in a while, he would catch her looking at him wistfully but he didn’t really know what to do. He had never had to ask a girl out before.

            It did bother him to see how close the new kid was with her. He had only been here for a few days and already the two of them can finish each other’s sentences. Youngjae didn’t like to be jealous but sometimes he could feel a burn in his chest as he watched the two of them.

            The third day, he made up his mind. He was going to go through this very methodically. He was going to talk to her to gauge whether or not she still liked him. Then he was going to take more time to plan his next moves.

            After they had finished examining the body, Youngjae casually walked up to her. “Did you do the tests?”

            She turned to him. “Yeah, I did. I discovered a flood of different drugs in his system but I think we knew that from the marks on his arm. The reason why the bump on his head was on the right even though he was placed on his left side must mean that someone may have moved him. That was also indicated by the fact that his bones were relocated post mortem.”

            He nodded slowly. “Ah, I see.”

            “Anything else?” her words were curt and he glanced at her warily.

            “Yeah. I wanted to ask-”

            “Hey, want to grab lunch?” Youngjae looked up and saw Junhong staring at her. He bit his lip, waiting her answer. She glanced at Youngjae and Junhong smacked his head. “Hyung, I didn’t see you here. Sorry, do you want to get lunch with us?”

            Youngjae was thrown off. He should seize the opportunity. He looked at her and saw her small frown. “I guess I can take the time.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her smile. That made a small light of happiness switch on in his chest and he felt himself grinning idiotically once their backs were turned.   

            As they were finishing their reports, Youngjae waited until everyone else had left the lab. He quickly knocked on the door to her office and walked in. She was rubbing her eyes tiredly. “What’s wrong? Do you have any questions?”

            He glanced down at the files he held in his hands and felt a sense of déjà vu. He blinked, unsure if this was his chance. “Yeah, I actually have something to say.”

            She crossed her arms and he looked left and right. He swallowed and pointed at the red circles over the first page. “I’m going to ask you to do more tests here. You need to be one hundred percent positive before you can make such a sweeping generalization. The bullet may have dislodged.”

            He wanted to kick himself. What had made him chicken out? He saw her look at him before taking the files from him. She bent over her computer to make the notes he had told her to. “Anything else?”

            Youngjae’s mouth opened. She was giving him so many chances. He blinked then nodded again. “Yeah. Did you know that your lipstick is made from organic materials? That’s a good thing because then it’s extra safe. I mean lipstick is already pretty safe but it’s still sometimes a little off, but I tested yours and it’s pure, and yeah.” He was blabbering.

            She raised an eyebrow. “My lipstick?”

            He looked at the ceiling. “Look at the last page of your report. I need to go. I’ll see you tomorrow. Hopefully you can give me a new report.” He took a deep breath, leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. Then he his heel and ran out the door.

            Youngjae jumped into his car and drove a mile before allowing himself to stop and think about what he had just done. He closed his eyes and wondered if she was reading the words he had added to her report: Will you go out with me? 

because you all wanted a sequel :D