“And that’s the end of that.”

Donghae smiled in satisfaction, closing the file to the case he’d been on for the last few years and putting the thick file into the ‘solved’ folder. He’d been tracking down that serial killer for so long and he was simply delighted with his team for the months of hard work. Luckily, only two of his officers got injured in the mission but they were already recovering rather quickly in the hospital.

He leaned back in his leather chair and took a deep sigh. Finally, he’d put another dangerous murderer behind bars. Being in the profession for so long, he’d already taken numeral life-threatening risks that every other homicide detective also faced. It was really a relief to be able to sit back and relax, enjoying life and a cup of freshly made hot chocolate, instead of playing hide-and-seek with a mad killer on the loose.

Sipping a little of his cooling beverage, Donghae went through a couple of mail on his messy desktop that he hadn’t touched in weeks. He reminded himself that he should call in the regular cleaner to clean up in his office a bit because he knew that he would definitely not get to it himself.

“Hmm… Junk mail, junk mail, advertisements, flyers…” He mumbled to himself, shuffling through the stack of envelopes. His eyes landed on a white envelope with a police emblem on the top left corner and he paused to open it. It was a letter from HQ, and he wondered just what could be in it. Usually his missions were sent to him through his private email, so whatever that was in the envelope definitely could not be his next mission.

He quickly scanned the letter and frowned immediately when he saw an oddly familiar name, scrunching up his eyebrows wondering why he recognized it.

And then it struck him.

“Oh man…”

He was so getting a serious migraine.

The letter was dated two weeks back, and he read on for further details, feeling the migraine getting worse with every sentence he read. Finally finishing the letter, he threw the contents onto his desktop and leaned back heavily against his chair, puffing out a loud irritated sigh.

So much for a break. He definitely wasn’t going to get any with this guy around.

* * *

“Inspector Lee, someone is here to see you,” the voice buzzed through the intercom.

Donghae jerked up and hastily straightened his tie, wiped the drool from his face (he might have just fallen asleep for a tiny bit) and attempted to clean up his desk a bit (although it didn’t really make much of a difference, really). He finally deemed himself presentable and pressed on the little button on the intercom machine.

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know. He refused to give his name.”

Donghae thought he heard a loud ‘Hey!’ through the machine, and he recognized that voice immediately. It belonged to the person who would soon begin to haunt him for the next eighteen months of his life.

“I think I already know who it is, Henry. Send him in.”

“Okay,” Henry replied, and soon a loud knocking could be heard at Donghae’s office door.

“Come in.”

Henry appeared behind the door, followed by a slightly taller man with brown hair styled into a faux mohawk, white porcelain skin, single-lidded eyes, and a sharp, well-defined jaw. The man grinned widely as soon as he caught sight of Donghae, and the latter gave him a small, polite smile. He couldn’t possibly act all indifferent and nonchalant towards him with Henry around.

“Inspector Lee,” Henry bowed.

“Thank you, you may go now,” Donghae nodded his head in approval. Henry bowed again before exiting the office, leaving the newcomer behind.

As soon as the door closed, Donghae’s smile vanished. He eyed the standing man and narrowed his eyes when he found out that he was still smiling like an idiot.

“Sit,” the inspector ordered, and the man obediently complied, the smile still not leaving his face. Donghae tried ignoring it but it was rather hard considering their past together. Everything was all too familiar now and he didn’t think that this was a good idea at all. However it was a decision from HQ, and he couldn’t possibly go against them. He was going to be stuck with this person for the next year and a half.

“So, Donghae. It’s been a long time.”

“It’s inspector Lee to you, Lee Hyukjae” Donghae retorted, folding his arms together and trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach.

“My, so this is how you treat me after not seeing each other for seven years.”

“No, I’ve heard of you so much, in fact I’ve heard of you way too much. You’re rather