It was Sunday, my supposedly free day, and I was walking down the street with Donghae. Normally I would be happy to walk beside a handsome man like him but today I was just pissed. Actually we both were. Donghae had enough of my blue hair and told me to change it. But then he got scared that I would come with another crazy colour and decided to sacrifice his Sunday to go along with me and check the hairstyle himself.

I turned left on the very familiar road and entered the brightest shop on the street. Donghae hesitated for a bit in front of the pink door but eventually stepped inside. On the left side were three seats facing big mirrors which were decorated by light bulbs and a few hearts stuck to the mirror. On the other side of the room was a small pink coach and a few chairs for the people waiting. A small coffee table was placed conveniently in front of the sofa and some up to date magazines were messily lying on it. Some pictures of people with various hairstyles were scattered around the walls sometimes hiding some celebrities between them too. I was pretty comfortable with the place but for Donghae who only visits those high class salons it must have been a culture shock.

Although the doors were open the place was pretty deserted. The white fluffy clock shaped like a bunny on the wall, which was bought by me, was tickling. It was still a bit too early but my friend should be here anyway.

“Sungmin hyung?” I called. A noise came from behind the curtain in the back of the room.

“Hyukjae? You are here again?” Sungmin was surprised and soon his light brown head peeked out from the back room. I expected him to scold me as usual but instead his eyes landed on Donghae. “And you are?” He then asked carefully.

“Em, hello. My name is Lee Donghae,” the brunette said out awkwardly.

“Ah, so Lee Donghae,” Sungmin smirked and threw me a glance. . With my regular visits to the salon and over all meeting with Sungmin, I keep him pretty updated with everything that´s going on in the agency. I also like to babble about my hot boss often and about some of our y clients too. If Sungmin were to open his mouth, my life would come crashing like a cheap vase on the concrete. And the worst is that Donghae didn´t miss the look Sungmin was giving me. I hurried to change the atmosphere.

“I came to dye it again,” I spoke up and went to greet my cute hyung. Sungmin was a bit shorter than me and his body wasn´t plump but just really squishy. He is honest and manly but he is also very cute and friendly. It´s hard for him to make friends with males but on the other side he has many girlfriends. I gave him a hug and when we broke out he kept holding my fingers. It was a habit he developed so he wouldn´t lose me out of his sight. I could always make lots of troubles if left running astray.

“If you keep dyeing your hair, you´ll be bald in no time!” Sungmin scolded.

“But he said that I can´t wear blue and kept insulting me,” I told him back childishly and pointed at Donghae. My boss was a bit surprised by my accusation and with the reaction Sungmin gave him. Sungmin hyung was always overprotective when it came to me.

“It´s unprofessional to look like a smurf, Hyukjae,” Donghae decided to stick to his ´high class working man´ image.

“Haha, that´s true. So you came to make sure he wouldn´t come to work looking like a cotton candy?” The hairdresser laughed and pulled me to the seat in front of the mirror.

“Exactly,” Donghae chuckled and sat comfortably on the coach. But he didn´t look as dignified as always when he sits in his leather chair. He was now stuck between some fluffy purple pillows with a big poster of Super Junior behind him.

“You know, that doesn´t sound bad. Let´s go for pink!” I pulled on Sungmin´s pink apron and compared it with my skin.

“No way, Hyukjae. Black for you and short too,” Donghae´s tone was uncompromising.

“But that´s so boring and I look awful without fringe,” I tried to bargain but in vain. Donghae only furrowed and I huffed in annoyance. Sungmin chuckled and started with his work. I decided to sulk for the rest of the stay and my hung was so amused that he didn´t even talk to me. On the other hand Donghae was getting bored with the silence and I could see him close his eyes and sometimes nod. By the time Sungmin was done with cutting my hair, Donghae was already asleep.

“Hyung, please. I can´t wear black,” I pleaded, “I have to wear black clothes all the time. Make it at least brown.” Sungmin peeked at Donghae and then winked at me. Yes!

“Donghae?” I whispered an hour later. “Donghae, wake up.” The brunette jerked and quickly opened his eyes pretending that he wasn´t really asleep. His eyes went first to me and then to my hair. He was judging. It was cut very short and my banks were lifted up. The strands were styled upwards and gave off quite a manly feel. But the colour wasn´t black, it wasn´t brown either. Sungmin pulled out pretty awesome shade, something between red and ginger but much darker. It didn´t look too extravagant but still made my white complexion shine. I was satisfied but how about Donghae?

“Hm, very good. You don´t look bad without banks,” Donghae smiled and I almost melted.

“Wouldn´t you want a change too?” Sungmin then suddenly asked giving some pretty wild ideas into my head.

“Yeah, like cut it short on the sides and dye it white on top! Don´t worry, Sungmin´s the worst when it comes to fashion but under my guidance you´ll look great!” I exclaimed but my idea was sent to the trash by both men in the room. They just don´t understand.

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It was Monday, the day after our trip to the salon, and I was sitting in the office totally frustrated. What happened you ask? I planned to sulk hard after yesterday but my plans were crushed. I didn´t expect this and I have no idea how to react. Why? Because Donghae keeps staring at me everytime he thinks I´m not looking! Is it the new hairstyle? Do I look y?

“Hello?” I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn´t even notice a person entering my office. A deep red blush crept on my face. If it was from the thoughts I had earlier or the beautiful lady standing in front of me, I didn´t know.

“I´m sorry, I was daydreaming. How can I help you?” I quickly stood up and put on my best business smile.

“I came to see detective Lee. It´s an urgent matter so I didn´t have time to call beforehand. Is it a problem?” She batted her eyelashes at me and I blushed again. The woman in front of me looked like a Goddess. She was tall and had long dark hair that was decorated with a small hat. She was dressed elegantly and her big black eyes screamed dignity. I was stunned by her beauty and almost didn´t answer. I had to wake up though.

“No, he has no schedule as far as I know,” I finally decided to take her to my boss but my eyes never left her gorgeous body and white skin. I just hope that Donghae has more self-restraint than I do.

“Donghae, you have a client here,” I peeked into the detective´s office. Donghae raised his head signalled me to send the lady inside.

“This is detective Lee Donghae,” I said and closed the door behind us.

“Hello, my name is Park Gyuri,” the lady was unexpectedly cheerful, “I believe we have never met before but you should know my friend Shin Donghee.”

“Oh, I know Shindong well. What brings you here then?” Donghae smiled but I caught him checking his client out. He´s so fickle! He was all over me only this morning.

“I think I´m being followed,” she bit her lip nervously, “and I´m becoming worried about my safety.”

“That sounds serious. Could you be more precise?” Donghae asked and I quickly pulled my laptop and started writing down everything.

“At first I thought he was my fan or something but now I don´t know anymore. There were some anonymous presents like flowers and fruits but recently I get more broken toys or dead animals. Like fishes,” Donghae hissed, “and even a bottle with bugs,” I hissed this time, “it´s really scaring me.”

“How do you know that it´s from the same person?” Donghae was quick to ask.

“Firstly I´m not a celebrity but a journalist so there shouldn´t be any fanclubs. But who knows with my beauty?” She joked but I was pretty sure that there must be at least a few blogs following her in news and on twitter. “And also there is always a small card only with my name written on it.”

“Do you maybe have it with you today?” The detective asked and Gyuri immediately pulled a bunch of small papers from her handbag.

“I´m actually a director of a famous magazine and going to the police with this matter might be a bit bothersome. Are you interested in the case?”

“We will do our best to help you out. For now I would like Hyukjae to take care of your safety. I hope he could maybe do a small part-time in the magazine since he´s a freelance journalist too and secretly keep an eye on you,” Donghae pointed at me and I bowed lightly. Park Gyuri only smiled.

“Of course I wouldn´t mind such a handsome fellow nearby,” she winked, “come tomorrow morning and I´ll have a job prepared for you,” Gyuri said and after a short goodbye followed by a simple thank you, she went out of the agency gracefully.

“You better take your job seriously and not stare at girls all the time!” Donghae scolded and soon I was left alone in the office. So I´m the bad guy now? This world .

_______________________________

As told I came to Park Gyuri´s publishing company the next morning. I put some efforts to my visage because I found on the internet that the magazine was pretty prestigious. I had black tight pants, black shirt and black blazer. The only colourful items were my silver belt and red ginger hair which I did my best to style to its utmost perfection. But as I was walking down the company I knew that I did a good job. Since the magazine was for women, there was quite a number female employees in the offices. And many of them took their time to properly check me out. I pretended not to be embarrassed and walked with faked confidence until I arrived to the director´s office.

“Ah, Hyukjae! So you really came. Omo! You look handsome,” Park Gyuri said the first thing when I opened the door and came very close to me.

“T-Thank you,” was my only answer and from then on I only focused on my shoes.

“I searched for your works yesterday and found out that you are very active as a proof-reader and sometimes even publish your own articles. I must say, it´s a bit pity when such a talented person writes only as a part-timer. I guess you like to be the detective´s assistant more, huh?”

“Well, yeah. But there´s no need to give me a publishing related work, wiping tables or making coffee is fine too. Right now I´m only here to guard you,” I answered but in my mind I prayed for an opportunity to work for her magazine. As I said before, although it was only a woman magazine it was still much more known and popular than the newspaper I worked for.

“No way! Handsome man like you could just stand in the corner and it would be okay but you are intelligent and talented too. I decided to have you as a part-time helper in proof-reading and you are also allowed to write an article if any of the workers here don´t manage it in time. I´m sure the girls would be of any help if you needed anything. I´ll be in my office today but if I had to leave I would surely inform you.”

And so I became an employee. I sat down and looked on the work that was already stashed on my table. I sighed, this is no different from the work I do for the newspaper.

“Oh my god!” I quickly turned my head and saw a young woman who came back from refilling her cup of coffee. She sat down on the seat next to me and put the cup on her desk but her eyes didn´t leave even for a second. She didn´t even blink! It was uncomfortable.

“I didn´t want to startle you. My name is Minah and you must be Hyukjae, right?” I nodded. “I didn´t expect you to be such a hottie. The part-timers here are usually just snotty students or old literature teachers that got fired or retired.” Before Minah finished her speech, my table got completely surrounded by other girls who reacted to her ´Oh my god´ earlier. I was so embarrassed that I couldn´t even breathe properly. Some of them even took a photo of me! Someone save me please!

In the afternoon I was already pretty tired not as much from the job like from the girls that kept following me everywhere. I learnt that they don´t get to see many young males usually and my presence made a big difference in the productivity as I was later told. My productivity went up too after the message I got from Donghae. That bastard just knows everything.

Lee Donghae: The female employees keep posting your photos on twitter and Instagram. I hope you are working diligently, Lee Hyukjae.

I was about to reply something like ´mind your own business´ but two things made me stop. First was that it would be surely a bad idea to answer this way to Donghae and the second one was that someone came out from the lift. It was a delivery man who was surely about to deliver a big box to the director´s office. I quickly took some random papers and pretended that I had something to discus with the director. I needed to be in the office when she receives the delivery.

I knocked on the door of her office and when I was allowed to enter, I hid behind the door fast. I was instructed to do so by Donghae. There was a huge possibility that culprit could be the delivery man because stalkers almost always like to watch their victims opening their presents. Park Gyuri was very surprised but caught on immediately after the delivery man appeared in her office soon after me. She pretended as if I wasn´t there and calmly signed the papers. She bit her lip when she noticed a little note stuck to the box. It was the same card as she showed Donghae yesterday. The present was from her stalker. I waited for the delivery guy to leave the room but tried my best to remember his face and the name on his tag.

“Maybe I should open it for you?” I asked when the man was gone.

“That would be the best,” Guyri smiled weakly and handed me the box. I carefully opened it and peeked inside but I couldn´t see or smell anything. I had no other choice than to put my hand inside which was honestly just stupid and I realised too late.

“!” I yelped and quickly pulled my hand back. In a sheer panic I closed the box and even sealed it with a tape. Then I could finally breathe again.

“W-What was it?” Guyri was scared.

“A snake it was,” I answered with difficulty when I felt my lungs fill with oxygen again. I´m scared of many things like bugs and spiders, needles and of course snakes too. And it didn´t seem like the director was a fan of them either, because her complexion turned paler and she had to sit down for a bit.

We both decided to finish up early today and leave the rest of the work to Donghae. I drove Gyuri home and even walked her to her apartment. We both knew how serious things are and that something big might happen every minute. I didn´t want to risk her safety.

When I arrived back to the office, I gave Donghae the box, card and told him everything I remembered about the delivery guy. Surprisingly Donghae didn´t even tease me with the snake and instead sent me home for a good night sleep. I appreciated the gesture very much especially after a long day full of creepy beings such as female workers.

________________________

I woke up early so I could pick up Park Gyuri from her home and take her to work. The day was as tiring as the previous one but this time no delivery. That was good because I wasn´t in mood for any reptiles or whatever. My head was spinning from all the proof-reading I did so I wouldn´t have to listen to the girls blabbing. I did so much work that I started wondering if shouldn´t ask for a payment. Or would it be too daring when I´m here actually undercover?

Around noon I got a call from Donghae. Apparently he was checking the guy from yesterday. The detective found out that Jung Hyunseung doesn´t really work for any delivery company and that his handwriting is identical with the writing on the cards from Gyuri and the note on the box I unfortunately got to open. Jung Hyunseung was one of the part-time workers in the company last year and when I asked about him Minah, she told me that he was one of those lazy snotty guys. His personality was a bit strange and his stare was weird but he looked kinda harmless. Donghae would go and check his house secretly and I in the meantime needed to make sure that the guy wouldn´t get anywhere near Gyuri again.

Nothing happened during the afternoon, not even a delivery. But instead of calm I felt pretty restless, as if something wasn´t right. Maybe I was just worried for Donghae who went to the lion´s den or maybe I felt responsible for taking care of a lady. Or I was just simply paranoid.

Around eight o´clock I was on my way to Gyuri´s apartment. My phone rang just when I was parking the car. I pulled it out of my pocket and quickly replied.

“Donghae? I just arrived to Park Gyuri´s house. I´ll bring her home and call you back, bye!” I didn´t wait for his answer and ended the call. I didn´t even bother to stuff it back to my pocket, I just left it in the car. I would be back in a little bit anyway.

I climbed out of the car and then opened the door for the lady. We both walked to her apartment house and with a slow lift to her floor; there I bid her good night. I still felt that strange feeling in my stomach while descending down and it got even worse when I started walking towards my car. It was already dark outside and the wind was awfully strong. I had tears in my eyes because of it and hurried back to the vehicle to call Donghae. But I never made the call that night.

“Hyukjae!”

I turned around but before I could realize what was happening, I was taken down by someone. I hit the concrete ground of the parking with so much force that it almost knocked all the breath out of me. I only realised that someone was kneeling on me and was about to hit me. Is it a knife in his hand? I tried to kick him off or at least hold his hand but my body was still affected by the fall and didn´t manage to react. When I felt my end coming and my life started playing in front of my eyes, the man suddenly released me. I didn´t get the chance to find out why because I focused on bringing my lungs and other parts of my body back to work. I coughed and only then my brain started to function again. I raised my head and saw a man, I identified him as Hyunseung which was hard because his face was a bloody mess, lying on the ground nearby. On him another man was sitting, I identified him easily because I would recognize Donghae by a single strand of hair, and hitting him hard with his fists. I´ve never seen Donghae in action but I couldn´t fully enjoy it because there was too much blood on his hands and too less oxygen in my lungs for my liking.

“D-Donghae,” I groaned weakly but he heard me anyway. Donghae left the, now surely unconscious, body on the concrete and ran to me. He kneeled next to me and carefully pulled my body into sitting position. By that time I finally stopped coughing and focused on him.

“Hyukjae, you need to listen when I talk to you! I was inside his house, it was filled with so many photos of Gyuri but your picture was on the screen too! He thought you were going out with Gyuri and wanted to get rid of you! I was going to tell you but you-,” Donghae stopped his panicked scolding in the middle when he noticed me shaking. I felt cold sitting on the ground in weather like this and I felt like crying too.

“Hush, it´s okay now,” Donghae´s voice changed into that honey-like tone and soon I was enveloped by two strong arms. My clothes got dirty from the blood but I didn´t mind even a bit. I still didn´t feel safe enough and so I jumped into those arms and buried my head into Donghae´s shirt. I decided not to cry and instead opted for a koala hug. Soon Donghae was sitting with his on the ground and my on his lap. My arms and legs were around him and head snuggled into the crook of his neck. The brunette didn´t protest and with one hand began drawing invisible circles on my back while he was my hair with the other.

Still sitting in the middle of the parking lot, Donghae called someone whose name was Kangin to take care of the Hyunseung guy. I´ve never asked about that again and instead let Donghae take care of these things. I didn´t spoke up that day anymore and communicated only with nodding and shaking of my head. Think of me as weak but being almost killed by a madman makes one at least speechless.

Donghae brought me to my teeny-weeny flat and stayed there until I fell asleep. I felt bitter when I woke up the next morning and my body hurt so much. I had a few bruises on my back, terrible headache and my throat felt sore. What an awesome morning it was. I slowly limped to my small bathroom and took a warm shower that did me pretty good. What I didn´t expect was to see a man sitting on the ground setting my coffee table for a breakfast.

“Donghae?!” I exclaimed and hurried to hide in my closet, the biggest furniture in my flat apart from the kitchen counter. I had only a small towel wrapped around my hips hiding my jewel but that was all. After freaking his lips Donghae finally found the decency to turn around and let me put on some clothes. I pulled some random sweatpants and one the bigger shirts I had. I didn´t bother with underwear because I was in a hurry.

“S-So what are you doing here?” I limped to the coffee table and sat down across from Donghae. The table was already set with black coffee and sandwich for the brunette and for me it was hot chocolate and sweet bread with strawberry filling. Just awesome!

“You´re more hyper, feeling better?” Donghae asked instead and sipped from his coffee. I answered with a simple ´hm´ I dug into my breakfast. We were silently eating in my small room but it wasn´t awkward at all. I would say that it was even pleasant. After I finished my sugary treat I closed my eyes in contentment and the chocolate moustache from my lips. When I opened my eyes I caught Donghae staring. His eyes were much darker than usual but soon the strange glint was gone and the detective suddenly turned serious.

“I feel like I keep putting you in danger, Hyuk,” his voice was barely above whisper but I understood him perfectly well. Donghae was worried about me but more than that he called me with a nickname. I felt jelly like a pudding I had yesterday for lunch. I smiled widely.

“We both know that it´s always just my fault for ending up in a situation like this. I´m glad you´re always there though,” I whispered.

“But what if I´m not there next time?” Donghae was troubled and his eyes were almost like those of a new-born puppy. I almost drowned in them.

“Then I´ll make it an exception and survive by myself,” I assured him with another smile and Donghae visibly relaxed.

“You´re impossible, Hyuk,” he sighed and I chuckled. He called me with that nickname again.

“You know what it means right?” I started while cleaning the table. “What do you mean?” Donghae hasn´t caught on. Maybe he called me like that unconsciously, that´s even better! “You called me Hyuk!” I exclaimed. “No, I didn´t,” Donghae denied. “You did, twice! So I´m going to call you Hae now,” I laughed and went to throw away the trash. “No you won´t!” The detective panicked. “Yeah, I will. Now go and wait for me outside while I change and then we can go to the work,” I pushed him outside on the hallway. “Hyukjae, I´m your boss!” Was his last attempt of a thread.

“I know, Hae, now be good and wait for me,” I said and closed the door.

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I was watching some old Chinese shows with SJ-M during Perfection era and so Hyukkie´s hairstyle had to change again, hehe. I´m sorry to Beast fans, Hyunseung was just unlucky to be randomly picked as a criminal this time. I hope you like this chapter. This time it´s not mysterious at all, easy to figure out but I went more for action and feels. It´s too hard to make up a mystery, sorry for that. Maybe if had enough time, I would make the cases more complicated. :) Anyway thank you all for reading and your comments made me really happy!