„Are you still going to be mad at me?” I asked my boss who was grumpy this morning again. He answered to my question with a growl and didn´t even spare me a glance. “It´s been a week already, Donghae!” I tried again, this time I got my answer.

“Exactly! You had the whole week to do something about it,” he became irritated.

“But I don´t want to do anything about it, I like it this way!” I defended myself.

“It´s unprofessional, Hyukjae,” Donghae stood up from his chair a put his hands on the desk.

“That´s just your personal opinion. It suited the last case pretty well, didn´t it?” I put my hands on the same desk from the opposite side.

“Who in the world bleaches their hair blue?!” Donghae was already yelling, his face very close to mine.

“Super Junior does!” I yelled back at him, our noses already touching. But it wasn´t this lovely touch, like the Eskimos do. Our eyebrows were furrowed, lips protruding out in pouts and over all scowls on our faces.

“For the God´s sake, you´re a detective´s assistant and not a singer!” The brunette didn´t want to give up.

“You´re just jealous that I can colour my hair as I wish while you have to keep your boring gentleman style!” My arguments were starting to sound stupid.

“As if I would want to look like a Smurf!” Donghae´s nose made an advancement, causing my nose to bent slightly. I was losing!

“Of course! Blue won´t suit someone whose name means East Sea!” I spat stupidly and Donghae had surely a new argument ready for me when someone´s laugh interrupted our fight.

“Hahaha! Really, you two never fail to amuse me!” Choi Siwon was leaning handsomely against the door frame of Donghae´s office.

We both hurried to unlink our noses and pretend as if nothing happened. The detective sat back into his expensive armchair and I went to prepare a tea for our guest. When I was passing by Siwon I heard him praise my hairstyle. I blushed and ran to the kitchen like a spazzing teenage girl. When I came back with a plate filed with tea and various snacks, I happened to catch a part of their conversation.

“So are you interested?” Siwon asked the detective. Donghae leaned in his chair and threw a glance at me. I couldn´t really read his expression, but it surely wasn´t an angry one.

“I´m not sure if Hyukjae is ready for this type of case,” his voice was absolutely serious which made me impossibly curious.

“I see, it hasn´t been long since the Minzy happening,” Siwon started with the subject. To tell the truth, if it wasn´t for Donghae´s cross-dressing, I would probably have a huge trauma. Being entangled in a corpse while swimming in the well was a terrible experience. Wait, does it mean that Donghae is worried about me? I turned back to the brunette who was suddenly looking at me too. His eyes were watching me with worry but a slight question and hope in them. Donghae wanted to take the case but apparently he wouldn´t, if I would disagree. Sweet, isn´t he?

“It´s alright,” I simply said and gave him a small smile. “So what is it?” I immediately inquired.

“Well, I know this dongsaeng, who needs your help. He´s still young but his father is already dead. He died on a heart-attack but the boy thinks otherwise,” Siwon told me.

“So it´s a murder?” I asked him.

“We can´t say that without even talking to the boy. Don´t jump to conclusions, Hyukjae,” Donghae was back to his grumpy self. Then he turned to Siwon again: “Tell him to come. Say that we are interested.”

I smell some troubles coming.

_______________________________

The next day we had a scheduled guest. Siwon´s dongsaeng would come around three in the afternoon. I was a bit worried but mostly excited about the upcoming murder case. I´m a peace loving person and having to deal with death is pretty uncomfortable for me. On the other side, I´ve always loved detective stories and it was one of the reasons why I took the literature course at university. This wasn´t a fiction thought.

A bit later than scheduled someone knocked on the door of my office. I went to open but the person on the other side was completely different from my imagination. A young lanky boy, almost as skinny as me, had a light brown hair cut into a bowl and quite handsome face. He was dressed in casual teenage clothes and not some expensive branded clothing. To put it bluntly, it was almost my younger self when it comes to style.

“Oh, Hello! You must be Lee Taemin, am I right?” The boy nodded. “Come inside, I´ll take you to our detective!” I moved aside and let the boy enter. I had to laugh inwardly when I noticed, that he couldn´t take his eyes from my blue head.

I guided him to Donghae´s office and went to prepare some drinks. When I came back, Taemin was already filled with spirit and his shyness was all gone. I could immediately tell that there was something buried inside his young soul and it wanted to get out.

“Please, I don´t know whom else to ask. Siwon hyung told me that you were the only person!” Lee Taemin pleaded.

“Calm down, will you? I said I´m accepting the case so stop yelling here and try to talk normally,” Donghae said but he too was losing his patience. He has no right to tell people to calm down since he always gets mad at me.

“Here, it´s strawberry though,” I put a glass of juice in front of our guest. Donghae grimaced but before he could say anything a cup of coffee was placed on his table, effectively shutting him up.

“Would you mind telling us the whole story then?” I broke the silence and sat on my place in the corner of the room.

“Yes, yes!” The boy said and quickly took a sip of his drink. Donghae grimaced again.

“Actually everything happened long time ago. I was ten years old that time and so I don´t really know the cause of the tragedy that followed,” Taemin took another quick sip of the juice and I started to worry that he will either choke on the drink or spill it on himself. “My father had a business partner, Mr. Kim, and they knew each other from the childhood. I would play with his son often too, we´re not in contact anymore though,” the boy´s voice became quieter.

But then he suddenly drank from his glass and continued with his story refreshed: “One day my father took me to the company because he forgot something in Mr. Kim´s office. I was waiting for him in the hallway for a long time but he wouldn´t come back. I was getting impatient and went to look for my father but when I found him, he was already dead in his own office. Lying there with his face all ugly and distorted,” Taemin stopped talking.

Then he gained his courage again and grabbed his glass while finishing his talk: “I was about to scream for help but-,” at that moment he started coughing. As expected he couldn´t both talk and drink in the same time. “There was someone else in the room,” cough, “I don´t know who because he ran out pretty fast.”

Taemin stopped both talking and coughing and looked expectantly at Donghae. The detective nodded his head knowingly and then asked: “Did you tell that to the police or medics or someone else?”

“I did but they wouldn´t believe me. Children imagination they said. But I know what I saw! I couldn´t do anything about it before but now I´m finally of age and I can go and find out the truth,” the boy dramatically put his glass back on the table causing the red liquid to go flying and land on his white pants. I smirked – jackpot! Donghae grimaced again.

_____________________________

Donghae truly decided to take the case although it looked like the boy won´t be paying us much. He was from a rich family just like our other clients but he was still a student and he was even underage not long ago. I didn´t expect Donghae to take the case so seriously. I really wanted to help the boy, don´t get me wrong but I had a feeling that there´s something more from Donghae´s side.

“What are we waiting for here?” I sighed and put my head into my palms.

We were sitting in a cosy family restaurant downtown the next day in the evening. I was getting bored from all the waiting and Donghae wouldn´t tell me anything. Even now that I asked him for like an umpteen time, he didn´t say a word and only sipped from his beer. I would pass the time with drinking too but I was the chauffeur for tonight. I wasn´t even allowed to order a strawberry juice!

“Aww, so here´s my cute dongsaeng!”  A cheerful voice suddenly exclaimed and brought me out of my sulking.

I looked up and saw an impossibly handsome male leaning over the table and deforming Donghae´s face by pinching his cheeks. Lucky guy I though. I wish I could touch the brunette´s face so simply like this too. The beautiful fingers of the stranger then left my boss and went to run through his own red hair. I carefully scanned the charming male in front of me. Feline-like and almost perfect features that would make any girl or boy jealous were decorated with the red silky hair which gave the man a strange spicy feeling. Long and slim body was wrapped in the finest of materials, hiding the most of his white skin. I was in awe and my very own cheeks started burning.

“Hey, who is this?” The man´s attention then turned to me and I hurried to introduce myself.

“Lee Hyukjae, Donghae´s assistant,” I told him confidently and even added a small smile. The red head looked at me judgingly but then returned the smile.

“You have a good taste Donghae. I´m Kim Heechul, this stupid fish is my lovely little dongsaeng,” Kim Heechul said and went to sit next to Donghae.

“So why did you invite me here? If it was just to have drink, you wouldn´t have brought the monkey here,” Donghae´s friend laughed. Monkey? Was that supposed to be me?

“Aww, stop pouting, Hyukjae. Monkeys are cute you know,” Heechul threw a wink at me and then turned back to Donghae, “Is it something your job related?”

“Unfortunately yes,” my boss spoke up finally, “there´s this one ten years old death, that happened in your father´s company. I don´t know if you remember Mr. Lee, he was a business partner of Mr. Kim. Well, his son came to my office and I decided to look into the case,” Donghae had on his ´detective´ expression and even Kim Heechul turned serious.

“Of course I remember, I was already twenty years old. But I don´t how I can help you,” the red head leaned into his seat with his legs crossed.

“Actually I don´t need your help with the case but more like with an access to the company. You´re the next heir, aren´t you? C´mon, hyung,” Donghae pleaded. Oh. My. God. Is that aegyo I´m seeing? Lee Donghae acting cute made my body turn hot and my mind hazy. Good that he doesn´t act like this in front of me because I´m apparently pretty weak against his aegyo. I might even start working for free.

“Aish, that´s disgusting! Okay, okay! I´ll do what I can for you but try not to make any mess,” Kim Heechul gave up. He endured much longer than I expected though.

“Thank hyung! Don´t worry, the only troublemaker here is the monkey but I´ll keep an eye on him,” Donghae then exclaimed and signalled for a waitress to come and take our order. I wanted to immense myself into another fit of sulking when I overheard Heechul something mumble under his breath.

“Of course you would keep an eye on him, you can´t even take them off, fishbrain.” I decided to pretend that I didn´t hear. To tell the truth I didn´t want to let this comment affect me but it was already too late. Oh, I wish that Donghae would keep his eyes on me.

The waitress brought us food and drinks. Heechul decided to pay for the dinner and I asked him to buy me a strawberry juice. Donghae warned him that it may bring only problems but the red head rolled his eyes at him. Kim Heechul was a bit extraordinary but very charming person. I was happy when he made me one of his favourite dongsaengs. He promised to invite me to a party someday and assured Donghae that he would help him with the case. With that we left the restaurant and I drove Donghae home.

And as promised, the next day we had the doors to the company opened but of course we didn´t go there as detectives. Donghae pretended to be interested in working with Mr. Kim, using his privileges as a wealthy young business man from influential family. It was perfect cover almost as good as mine. I was supposed to be a newbie in Kim Heechul´s department and my mission was to collect some gossips from other workers. I begged Heechul to put me somewhere where they wouldn´t mind my blue hairstyle, to Donghae´s chagrin I wanted to leave it bleached, and so I ended up with girls doing catering. I didn´t mind at all because for some strange reason the girls thought I was gay and didn´t mind talking about just anything with me. But so you won´t misunderstand, I´m not really straight as you must have noticed from my reactions to the handsome men like Donghae or Siwon, but I´m not useless with women either.

“Hyukjae oppa, help me over here, please,” I spun around and jogged to a girl named Sunny. She was holding a big jug of coffee which was threatening to fall. “Thank you,” she smiled when I helped her with the burden. We were walking down the hallway; I was carrying the jug and Sunny a plate with cups. We entered one of the boardrooms and started installing the treat for the managers that were to have a meeting in a moment there. I had a lot of part-time jobs during my high school and university days and many of them had something to do with serving foods or drinks. Thanks to that we were finished in no time and ready to leave just in time when the business started filling the room. I wanted to go back to the small kitchen when Sunny held my sleeve.

“What?” I asked her. But she put a finger on my lips and brought me close to one of the doors on the other side of the hallway.

“If you look here, you can see the boardroom perfectly. Let´s watch for bit. Please, oppa!” Sunny pleaded.

“Well, I don´t mind, our job is done but why?” I was curious.

“Don´t tell me you don´t want to take a look at our handsome managers in suits,” Sunny smiled cheekily, “and they have a meeting with a new investor today and I heard that he´s quite a catch,” she winked. I couldn´t help it and agreed.

We peeked through the crack in the wooden panelling and truly, many nice looking people got into our view. Most of them I didn´t know but on the other side two faces were awfully familiar. One of them was Kim Heechul, the son of the boss and the second one was Lee Donghae.

“Wow, that investor is really hot! What do you think oppa?” Sunny whispered excitedly. I looked into the direction of the supposed to be a new investor and furrowed. Hands off, Lee Donghae is mine! I couldn´t say it though because we were both here incognito. So I opted for a weak nod instead.

“Ah, see the old man over there? It´s the big boss,” Sunny showed me an old but still very elegant man with a stern expression on his face. So this is Mr. Kim. Logically he was one of the main suspects because he got our from Mr. Lee´s death the most. He got the half of the company that belong to Taemin´s father and it seems like a good reason to kill to me.

“And this woman is Lee Jin, Mr. Kim´s secretary. Rumours say that she was Mr. Lee´s lover and now she moved to his business partner,” Sunny´s voice was excited when she told me all those gossips. It was a good move to gain information like this but to tell the truth, I felt already sick. We were talking about death here and all that dirt that came out with it was sickening.

“Oppa, are you feeling unwell?” Sunny put her hand on my shoulder. I didn´t even notice how weak my body turned.

“Yeah, let´s go back, okay?” The small but voluptuous woman nodded and we returned to the kitchen.

A similar routine was going on through the whole week. I would help with catering and some other easy stuff while gathering gossips. Donghae would go on expensive dinners and try to find some real clues. Heechul and Sunny as our biggest sources of information were pretty helpful too. And that´s how we were sitting alone in Donghae´s office on Friday evening and putting our pieces together.

“It must have been Mr. Kim. He had the best motif,” I told Donghae and sipped from my dinner – a small box of strawberry milk.

“He wouldn´t gain anything. Originally the company belonged to two families, Kim and Lee. If one of the heads of the family dies, their share goes to the next in line. In this case it´s Lee Taemin who until now still isn´t trained enough to take over and that´s why the company is being led by Heechul´s father. The Kims didn´t gain anything at all, Hyukjae,” Donghae took out one of his findings. So Mr. Kim is out of the game for now.

“And what about the secretary?” I suddenly remembered one of the rumours.

“You mean Lee Jin? Why her?” Donghae asked me and bit into his sandwich. God, I´m so hungry! Why didn´t he buy one for me too? Selfish bastard.

“She was Mr. Lee´s lover and after his death she went for Mr. Kim. Maybe it´s a murder from jealousy or passion?” I´ve seen all the episodes of The Midsomer Murders and the plot is always about either money or love. People are simple.

“You are too simple, Hyukjae. Things like these happen only in books or movies and also she has a great alibi. Let me tell you this, she was at Kim´s the night of the murder. Heechul was away from the house that time.” Good, we are at square one again. I sighed and gulped down the rest of my milk.

“And where was Heechul anyway?” I asked absentminded. There was a bit of milk left in the box and I dirtied my pants while throwing it to the bin. I only put the question so it wouldn´t be too quiet and Donghae would focus on something else than my pants. I didn´t expect him to erupt.

“Oh my God, you are right!” Donghae suddenly stood up. “I saw his name in the visitors´ book! He went to the office but no one saw him! It was strange and I didn´t really think much of this but according to the night guard, Kim Heechul didn´t really come to the office that day, only his name was written in the book,” Donghae started pacing around the room nervously. I was standing there wiping my pants with a tissue.

“Does he have a sister?” I suddenly asked.

“A sister? Why do you ask?” The brunette stopped walking and looked at me. I saw him slightly glance at the pink stain too.

“The stuffs said so. They say that a woman who looks like Kim Heechul was often seen here secretly meeting with Mr. Lee´s lawyer,” I shrugged and continued with cleaning my pants.

“Lawyer,” Donghae was deep in thought probably trying to remember who the lawyer was at that time. “!” He then exclaimed and sprinted from the office. I blinked twice and then began chasing after him.

Donghae sat into his Jaguar and I climbed in just in time for my boss to boost the motor. He drove way too fast for his actual driving skills and to my liking. There was more than one reason why I was always the one driving. We stopped in front of a luxurious apartment house and took a lift to the rooftop. I guess the most expensive apartment is there. Donghae ran to the door and rang the doorbell. I wanted to ask him what was happening when the doors opened and behind them stood Kim Heechul.

“Fish and Monkey? What are you doing here so late?” The red head who just came out of the shower was surprised. But not surprised enough to call us by our real names.

“Can we come in?” Donghae´s face was serious and Heechul opened the doors wider and gestured us to enter.

We came inside something that looked like a house of a prince. Everything was in bright shiny materials and the paintings and electronics screamed unhealthy wealth. My mouth was once again agape and Donghae had to close it himself because I felt like Alice in the Wonderland here and couldn´t even move. I was too scared to destroy something inside the house and even thought twice before sitting on the white leather sofa in my dirty jeans.

“So what´s so important, Donghae?” Heechul asked when we were all finally seated. Well excuse me that it took me a while to sit down on something that must have been much more worthy than me.

“Why didn´t you tell me? Or at least the poor boy?” Donghae went straight to the issue but I was still lost.

“What are you talking about?” Heechul asked back but it was apparent that he knows.

“It was you, who was hiding in the office that night, am I right?” Donghae finally said and I widened my eyes. “Tell me just one thing, has he seen you or have you been already too late?”

A dead silence followed and no one dared to speak again. Donghae´s hands were shaking and only now did I realise that Heechul was his very good friend and finding out that he might be a murderer must have been painful for the detective too. Heechul was looking at his feet so I took the chance and ran a hand through Donghae´s back in a calming manner. It must have worked because I felt him relax under my touch. I put my hand back when the red head decided to tell us what exactly had happened.

“Yes, it was me in the office that night. I heard someone cough and I knew that Mr. Lee´s condition wasn´t the best so I ran to his office as fast as I could. But when I arrived it was already too late, Mr. Lee was dead when I checked. But then little Taemin came running and I panicked. I ran out quickly and left him there with the body. I couldn´t tell anyone about this, if my affair was to get busted I and my lover are both doomed, you know that,” Heechul threw a sad look at Donghae, “I couldn´t tell you either because I felt too ashamed and especially I couldn´t tell Taemin. I still feel guilty for leaving the boy there alone when he needed me. I can´t even contact him anymore for how much ashamed of myself I feel.”

Only a few but fat tears came running down the red head´s cheeks. I still couldn´t really grasp the situation, too many unknowns were still left, but I knew one thing. Taemin´s father died naturally, way too early, but in natural death. Heechul himself was suffering as much as Taemin and I was praying that they both will find a peace of minds soon.

On the way back I was sitting in the driver´s seat and as always it gave me the power to ask Donghae questions without being thrown out of the car. The detective looked pretty exhausted but I wanted to know everything as quickly as possible so he could get his rest.

“How did you know that Heechul was there?” I started but instinctively slowed down the vehicle in case he really wasn´t in mood to answer.

“The woman that looked like Kim Heechul was Kim Heechul himself. He would camouflage himself when meeting his lover inside the company. He would write there his own name into the book so there wouldn´t be any problems with security but no one has ever checked if he was really there or not,” Donghae slow, tired and accented way of speaking made it hard for me to understand but I somehow managed. I should become a linguist instead.

“What affair were you talking about?” I tried my luck for the second time.

“Heechul´s lover was a man, late Mr. Lee´s lawyer Hangeng. I met him a few times before and it´s a nice guy. I don ´t know if they are still together though. Of course Mr. Kim was absolutely against the idea of his son meeting with a guy and especially one of his employees and so hyung thought of this idea of disguising himself as a woman,” Donghae sighed and leaned his head against the window.

“And-,” I started. “I´m tired, Hyukjae,” Donghae shut me up and I complied. I felt tired too and my mood wasn´t very good too. What should I do?

_____________________

A week had passed since we solved the case but the atmosphere in the office was still heavy and dark. We met up with Lee Taemin and told him the story. Luckily the boy felt the same as us and didn´t want to take it to the police. It´s not like Heechul had killed anybody. Taemin went even as far as contacting the red head again and for today we planned a gathering. Only a simple coffee time in Donghae´s office with me, the detective, Heechul and Taemin. But only my blue self and the young heir were actually looking forward to the occasion. Donghae was still self-absorbed in his depression and Heechul was too nervous to meet Taemin and Donghae. I could only hope that the afternoon will end up well.

The first to come was Lee Taemin. Donghae was already waiting in his office and I ran to make a tea for the boy and coffee for my handsome boss. I brought some snacks but Donghae forbid me to buy anything strawberry flavoured because I made too much mess with it for the past days. When I arrived with the cups, Heechul had already joined the group in the room and while I went to make a coffee for him too, something must have been said because the room was filled with dark and depressing aura.

“I´m really sorry, but apart from Donghae and Hangeng no one knew about the cross-dressing and it´s kinda embarrassing,” Heechul kept apologising which didn´t suit his energetic character at all.

“Ah! That´s why I prepared something for you so you would feel better, hyung!” I joined the conversation as soon as I entered the room after going to bring the present from my bag. Everyone´s attention shifted to me and I gave Heechul an A3 placard. When the red head unrolled the paper, he started laughing so much that the cups on the table were clinging against each other.

“Hyukjae, I hope it´s not what I think it is!” Donghae said in a threatening voice.

“I´m afraid your deduction might be right,” I answered and prepared for another run over hurdles in this office.

“Oh my God, Donghae! You know that you look pretty bad in dress?” Heechul started the race with his loud voice. Yes, I gave Heechul the photo of Donghae in dress. Seems like it doesn´t help that I´m not blonde anymore, bad ideas come to me all the time.

Suddenly I had to avoid a pencil that came flying towards me like a projectile and crouched down. Donghae in the meantime stood up from his chair and went after me. I toddled under his table and appeared on the other side of the room. The detective had another weapon in his hand, this time it was a tea spoon, and I had to keep dodging until we run out of the table wear. And to the middle of the chaos, laughing red head, flying objects and my dishevelled blue hair another guest arrived. Choi Siwon entered the room with a bright smile on his model like face and a pink paper bag in his hand.

“Hyukjae, I brought a strawberry cake!”

_____________________________________

Sorry for the wait. TT_TT The exams and work are killing me. But at least the chapter is much longer than the previous ones. I hope you like and I´m sorry if it doesn´t make sense. I had to interrupt my writing so many time that I might have made some mistakes in the progress of the story. We also have more Hyukjae´s hair colours and some new faces too! :) I really hope you like it, love you!!