A/N: The following is based on the 2012 movie Talaash. No copyright infringement intended.
Title reads as "Sutradhaar", Hindi for "narrator"

“Ma, we’re going to go play.”
“OK.”
“Wait! Jinki, don’t go.”
“Pa…!”
“Come, we’ll play football instead.”
“OK!”
“Who wants goalie?”

“Ma, we’re going to go play.”
“OK.”
“Wait! Jinki, don’t go.”
“Pa...!”
“Heh, don’t go alone, I’ll come with you.”
“Yay!”

“Mom, we’re going to play.”
"OK."
"Wait, Jinki, don't go..."

Taemin sat up in bed and pressed his head between his palms, but his regret wouldn’t stop pounding against the walls of his skull. It never did. For the last three years it’d never stopped and now that he was up, his head wouldn’t meet the pillow for another week. That’s how it went. Ever since that afternoon at the docks, ever since Jinki… this was how it went.

He turned around a little with care. Minjung remained fast asleep. The therapy sessions had done a world of good for her. And on afternoons when he’d be let off early from duty he’d return home to find her humming again, smiling again, talking animatedly again. Just like she used to before it happened. She’d seem rehabilitated in those moments. She’d seem better.

Taemin wished he would get better, too.

 “Ma, we’re going to play.”
“OK.”
“wait, Jinki, don’t go that way.”
“Pa…!”
“Play on the grass. There’s swings.”
“OK!”

“Ma, we’re going to play.”
"OK."

The next time he met her was pure coincidence.

He was there on official duty. He was leading an interrogation when he saw her sitting down with “clients” in a dark corner of the bar. As soon as their eyes met he made to walk over. She shook her head a little and smiled coyly, then directed her eyes to the exit. He nodded and dumbly went along, his subordinate calling him back only to be met by deaf ears and carelessness.

Her body made sinuous lines as he followed her out of the bar. He sequined dress, her strong perfume, her enticing face, the memory of her voice, the dim lighting, and his own confused haze all conspired to pull him on. At the elevators she only looked over her shoulder once and it was enough to wrap him securely around her finger.

“Listen… Junghee…” he called.

She grinned and then started to disappear behind sliding doors but he stubbornly jammed a foot in at the last minute. When Taemin walked in after her and they started to go up she exuded unadulterated self-satisfaction.

“I could tell you were lonely~” she pressed a finger to his chest, drawing coiled shapes on his front. “No more fun with the wife… right?” she tiled her head. “she doesn’t keep you happy anymore, does she? A man like you… I can already tell you’re a beast in bed.” When her hand reached the waistband of his pants he held her wrist fast. She opted instead to lean in close and whisper, “I could tell you would be back, Inspector Lee. I could see it in your eyes~”

"Stop it," he scolded.

Junghee giggled and hung off his shoulders. Her s pressed up tightly against him. "You fought well, Inspector. But in the end everyone has needs. We're all human, after all~"

The scent on her breath made him want to pull her closer and push her away at the same time. He scowled and gently pried her off himself. "I'm not here to play your games," Taemin clarified. "I'm searching for someone. You might know him, seeing as you probably worked for him some time ago..." He pulled the photo out of his pocket and held it before her.

Junghee scoffed and lowered his arm for him. "Why don't I start working for the police," she joked. "Then your men can... take my job~" She laughed heartily. Like the sound of a wind chime tinkling outside his window. He felt a little smile tug at the corners of his mouth. Even behind her heavy make up and her kitsch clothes she was a sweet girl caught on the wrong side of the law.

She straightened when she felt Taemin's gaze on her. "Why should I help you, anyway?"

He sighed, putting his hands in the pockets of his uniform. He would've told her about the dozens of people mysteriously going missing within the span of a month. He would've told her bout the strange murders and the stranger lack of evidence. He would've explained to her how they could probably save more young girls from becoming utterly expendable to people like her employer.

But what good was that to her?

"I can help you get out of ion. You..." looked at the distance between their feet. "You won't have to do this ever again."

Junghee's smile softened, her eyes lightened. The elevator dinged to signal her floor. She reached out to cup his cheek. "You should be careful about promises like that," she softly murmured like pattering raindrops on a tin roof. "You should know your limits, Inspector Lee."

"Y-yeobo," Minjung walked into the room and sat beside him as he worked, bent over files paper work. Any other day he would've just hummed to acknowledge her, but there was something in her tone tonight that made him look up at her with expectation.

"Yeobo..." she repeated, fingers fretting with the end of her floral dress, eyes downcast and cheeks reddened. "I've... I've been feeling so much better recently. I'm... I'm feeling hungry again. I'm sleeping well again. I'm... I'm happy long enough to go out and meet friends again. It's gotten much better, you can tell right? So--" she gulped audibly through her pause.

He frowned and turned a little to face her. "What is it?" he prodded and took hold of one of her fidgeting hands.

"So can we--" she raised her eyes to look at him, a burst of courage shooting through her and hitting him in the face. "I mean, we're doing better now. So can we try--can we try... f-for another child? Please?"

Taemin withdrew from her immediately. "I'm busy right now," he stated flatly. "We'll talk about it later."

"B-but, yeobo--!"

"Later..."

"At least discuss it with me for a whi--"

"I said we will talk about it later, Minjung. I'm busy!"

His tone wasn't meant to be threatening but it came as such. She backed away a little teary-eyed and a little angry. 'I only want to talk to you, Tae," she shook her head, voice rising. "I only want to talk to you and you don't even have the time for that?! What do I have to say so you'll listen?! What do I have to say so you'll give me some of your time?!"

"Don't act like you don't blame me for what happened, too!" he shouted back.

She looked horrified. "W-why would you blame yourself...?!" Minjung clasped her hold on his shoulders and shook him lightly, as if waking him up. "Yeobo, why would you blame yourself? Why would I blame you? What happened was an accident, Tae, please don't--"

"What happened was bad parenting. If you hadn't let him go play by himself, if I hadn't fallen asleep, if we had gone to the amusement park instead of the docks like you suggested, if I--"

"Don't... don't don't don't!" she yelled, shaking her head and weeping now. "Please, don't! You lost a son, but he was my son too. I came here to talk to you about it. Just once. It's been three years, Tae... Please let's talk once," she begged. "But please stop trying to make this our fault. Please, it hurts, don't do it, yeobo..."

He tutted and tried to apologize, get her sit by his side again. But she was gone. He'd effectively driven her away and now she was gone, possibly for weeks. It was so difficult to remember the last time they spoke... about Jinki. About anything. They hardly ever spoke anymore.

Taemin rubbed his palms over his face, frustration itching him all over. Everything from his job to his personal life was turning upside-down. Drowning. Dying. And he couldn't rescue it. He wasn't able enough.

"You should know your limits, Inspector Lee."

"Taemin."

"Sir."

"You're slacking, my man."

The deputy superintendent looked like a father lecturing his son. Taemin bristled in his seat because the man's attitude was far from likeable. He'd landed the job with the help of political connections, he'd failed to solve a single one of the fifty-seven pending murder, suicide and domestic violence cases filed since his term began, he was an absolutely insensitive idiot. And yet, professional order stated Taemin had to shut up and listen when this idiot talked.

"The deceased woman was... well, you know how popular she was, I'm sure you watch TV," he gesticulated impersonally. "It's a high-profile case, and the nation wants some peace of mind. Some closure, you see? They want to see their beloved Kibum Gwiboon avenged. And it's our duty as law-protectors to see that this great nation gets what it wants, don't you agree?"

"Sir, it's a murder investigation," the inspector reasoned. "Of course it'll take time to bring all the pieces together. We can't hurry abou--"

"Taemin, Taemin, Taemin..." the senior tutted and shook his head. He stood up and walked around to place his hands on the said man's shoulders. "You don't understand!" he insisted. "If people want drama why deny them the pleasure? Let's close this case... but with some added entertainment value. What do you say?"

"I--I don't understand, sir."

"There's a lot of live rats in lock-up here. We can very easily coerce one of them to testify in our fav--"

"Sir, that's a crime."

"Oh, come on, Taemin. You're tired, I'm tired, the whole police force is sick and tired of the press... the media... and the absolutely unnecessary pressure. I mean, look at your face in the mirror. You look like you haven't slept a decent wink in many weeks. Why don't we save us all the trouble and... end this?"

"Because it wouldn't be right, sir. Not to the victim and her family," Taemin pressed back. He brushed the other off himself and stood, then saluted and walked away.

"You don't belong here, Junghee."

"You don't belong here either, Inspector Lee~"

"Why do you think that?"

"Because you care about people for a living..."

Taemin sighed at the blinking lights of twenty-seven bridges that connect one side of the Han to the other. Like the edges of two worlds pinched together that shouldn't ever meet. From this high up, the entire city slept under his vigilance, but he remained awake. Sleepless. Restless. And Junghee was beside him again, to steal any sleep that might want to slither under his eyelids.

"And you don't really want payment for your duty, do you?" she leaned against the trunk of a ginger tree and smirked up at him. "You're the altruistic superhero... Who else in this century thinks like you?" Her eyes drooped downward after that and she toed the rocky ground with her stiletto-heeled shoe. A strange need overtook him; to wrap his arm around her elegant figure, to pull her to himself, to kiss her plump wet lips and make her say his name in that scratchy needy voi--

"A friend of mine disappeared some years back," she muttered, shaking him out of his daydreams. "She went with clients and then..." Junghee looked back up at him and shook her head.

"That's very sad," he offered.

She smiled a little. "Nobody knows if she's alive or dead. And nobody cares."

"Don't say that..."

"But it's the truth, isn't it?" she leaned out suddenly till their noses brushed together. He was shocked backwards and she giggled at the jolt. "Us hookers... we're for sale but we don't come with warranty, Inspector Lee. We don't count. Once broken, no returns..." The words were woeful, but her lips frolicked with a sweet unshakable smile. "It makes me wonder. If I ever disappear like that, who would look for me? Who would dive into the Han and look for my body? Who would mourn at my funeral?"

Taemin sighed again. "I would."

Junghee giggled in that familiar bell-like jangle, a demure palm covering , her eyes crinkling into crescents. "Like I said," she replied once her laughter subsided. "You don't belong here."

"No one can hurt you," Taemin assured. "Not as long as I am here."

"Hmm," she tilted her head affectionately. "I don't exist in the law, Inspector Lee. And if I don't exist how can I go missing?"

"How was work?" Minjung served him more rice and tried to start a dinner conversation. "You've been working very hard these days. Is it a new case?"

Taemin nodded as he chewed, concentrating on the food more than on his wife. "Murder," he supplied between gulps. "Famous actress. She was killed and thrown into the river. Stabbed twice here and here," he motioned on his torso. "Some homeless man saw her floating around in the water and called it in--"

"Ish, don't give me details, I'm eating..." she complained.

"You asked me," he shrugged.

She thought for a while before answering. "Is this that same Kim Gwiboon all the news channels are talking about? Hmm, that's a big issue, isn't it? All the neighbors were discussing it, too. She was really famous right? The one who was a e before an agent recruited her--"

"What," he snapped.

"Hmm?" she blinked.

"What did you just say?" he demanded. "She was a--?"

"e...?"

"How do you know..." he asked, then jumped up from his seat. "How do you know, Minjung?!"

"I... the entertainment magazine said so?" she shook her head in confusion while he ran for his phone and dialed one of his juniors' number. "Where are... what's wrong? What happened?" she inquired after him.

He held up his hand to silence her. "Park," he started. "I need you to look deeper into our vic's history. I need you to go to every brothel and every host club. Find out if she was into the business. If she was, we might have a serial killer on our hands. Go right now, I'll wait for your word and get a team ready to dive into the Han. Call me back with confirmation." He rapped his orders and then rushed into their bedroom to change.

"Yeobo..." Minjung called after him. "Finish your dinner, what're you doing...?"

He turned to look at her as he put on his uniform. "I have to go," he simply granted. "Work."

"B-but... but you just came back from work," she frowned. "Why're you always working? You haven't even been in the house an hour and you--"

"Minjung," he warned. "I don't have time to discuss all--"

"No!" she cut him off. "No, you don't have time. You don't have time to eat, to sleep, to talk to your wife, to so much as look at her. You have time for nothing but work, do you, Tae?! You don't have time, you're expected to run this country aren't you?!"

He opened his mouth to placate her but she never let him get a word edgeways. "You have time for your subordinates, you have time to investigate murders, you have time for whoever it is you're meeting every night--no don't look at me like that! I'm not an idiot! You think I believe you're working that late? Because I know you're not! But have I ever asked you about it? Have I ever stopped you from meeting them?!"

"Baby," Taemin took a step towards her and she swatted him away.

"You don't have time, so you don't even see it! I am suffocating in this house, Tae! I'm suffocating without you and you're blind!" her hands found her hair and looked like they were trying to pull it off. Horrified, he made to stop her. Again, she hit him. "You don't see it but I die a little when you're not here. When you act like I don't exist. When you treat me like a stranger. When you're with a stranger and I can't do anything about it!" she screamed.

"Minjunggie, it's not like tha--"

"Go," she deadpanned. "Go, and don't come back until you've caught your killer. Don't you dare come back."

"So~ what secrets should I divulge today, Inspector~?"

Taemin pressed his lips and supported his back on the hood of the police car. He looked at the sky and it stared back at him unblinkingly. "I'm losing my mind..." he confessed. "I... I can't think in straight lines anymore, it's-- it's all a circle." He dropped his glance to her. "Help me forget."

Her eyes turned affectionate. "What do you want to forget...?"

"Everything," he breathed. "All of it. I want to forget myself."

The salaciousness never arrived in her face. She moved to cup his face and his hair back. He didn't fight her away. "Why are your eyes always so sad...?" she whispered. "There's so much emptiness in them. Why do you always look. Like you lost something you can't find anymore? What do you keep searching for?"

He looked away in the distance. "I had a son once," he began. "He was the light of our eyes. Eight year old boy, bright and happy. Loved playing tricks on us," Taemin laughed despite himself at the memory of cheeky grins and cheery laughter. "He was what we lived for, Minjung and I. And then one day..." the sentence never ended. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat but it never sunk. She hushed him and pressed his head to her chest, soothing him and consoling him till his sobs died to silence.

"I ask myself if I'll ever be happy," he spoke a long while later, the messages and missed calls on his phone doing nothing to bother him. "But then I remember... that no one in this world is ever really happy." He looked to her for support. "Right?"

"Not if you search for happiness, no."

He narrowed his eyes. "Are you happy?"

She shrugged. "There are moments."

"Why are you here? I always think about it when I'm alone. Why is someone like you, working like this?"

"I have debts," she smiled. "I have to repay some people. Once I've done that... I'll be gone~"

He studied her carefully, then. Her strong jaw, her golden eyes, her straight nose, her big smile. She had allure, and she had confidence. But she also brimmed with kindness. The sort you wouldn't see in someone who sold their body for a living. And he knew in that moment that he admired her greatly.

"I can help you," he said.

She giggled again at that and leaned in to press her lips to his cheek. The swathe of her lipstick felt cold in the night air. His skin tingled. "No one can help me," she whispered.

They found her body on the fifth dive in. Kim Junghee, her name was. Death by blunt force trauma and a single stab to her lower back. Taemin saw her face and fell to his knees in the middle of the mortuary.