[4]

It's Joonmyeon's birthday party and everyone is a little too drunk.

Jongin returned from “Thinking Spot Time” to find Kana curled up on the couch. She had her knees to her face and was leaning precariously on one side. He sat down at the opposite end and examined her. Why was he feeling…light? Inside. And he felt a smile creeping on. He inched closer until she was practically leaning on him. When she tipped just enough, he raised his shoulder and she fell onto it, leaning further to rest against him.

It felt nice.

Kana woke with a terrible ache in her neck.

[They go to Joonmyeon’s birthday celebration and shenanigans ensue.]

“We’re throwing Captain Joonmyeon a surprise birthday party,” Kyungsoo smiled. “Kana, you’re a pretty good cook, do you want to come over later to help out?”

“Oh, are you sure about that?”

“Yeah, we could use an extra pair of hands.”

“Terrible idea,” Jongin muttered as he flipped through a file, pretending to read it.

“What’s that?”

“I said, terrible idea. Kana does not cook. She can burn water.”

“Hey.”

“Wait, so who made those cupcakes the other day?”

Jongin barely looked up from the file. “I did.”

In an attempt to salvage her name, Kana added, “I frosted them…”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and extended the invitation to both of them.

“I’m afraid I have more important matters to attend to than—” he caught Kana mouthing “participate” at him and he sighed. “But I suppose seeing as Joonmyeon is…someone I respect. I should…participate.”

“Right then, I’ll see you both at 5! I’ve made Kimchi Spaghetti.”

At Joonmyeon’s party, the cupcakes were a hit, Kana pocketing every compliment about the frosting. Joonmyeon was getting smashed, each guest urging the Captain to down a glass of champagne whenever they passed him. The normally uptight man was smiling though, the alcohol boosting his merriness.

Kana found Jongin grilling the meat on the balcony and joined him. He was methodically grilling each portion and flipping them with extreme precision, so much that Kana couldn’t help but laugh.

“Having fun?”

“No, I just…Jongin-ah, it’s meat and you’re treating it like your rat experiment.”

“It is an experiment, good deduction. I am increasing the amount of time spent on the heat to gauge how much carbon is produced before it is unpalatable—”

“You mean you’re burning the meat…for science.”

“Crude, but yes.”

Before Kana could reprimand him, Kyungsoo and Joonmyeon appeared, a tray of shots in each of their hands. “We found the consultants!” Kyungsoo hollered, clearly too inebriated to have any restraint with his volume.

He dragged both of them back to the living room, where everyone was gathered around a makeshift beer pong set up on the coffee table. It was too low, so players were kneeling on either end. Kyungsoo assigned them to opposing teams and when they tried to politely decline, he stared them down with murderous eyes. Jongin gave Kana a “let’s get this over with…quickly” and she nodded.

After four rounds, Kana found herself staring down Jongin across the coffee table. Except she was actually seeing maybe two or three of him; Kana had terrible aim, lost to Kyungsoo, and barely scraped a win over one of the detectives.

Jongin was merciless as well; he scored half her cups while Kana barely managed two of his. The cheering intensified when Kana put both her hands on the table, appearing to have had enough. It silenced when she actually keeled over, collapsing into a heap on the rug.

Minutes later, Jongin was waiting patiently outside the bathroom as Kana emptied the contents of her stomach. He was slightly more sober, although Kyungsoo had nearly force fed him a few shots of vodka, nasty stuff. When the bathroom door opened, a red-faced Kana appeared, looking much better than she did earlier.

“Ready to go home?”

“Yeah, just need a mint…to wake up…”

Jongin found himself trekking back to their apartment building with Kana on his back, mumbling incoherent nonsense in his ear. When they finally made it back, he flopped her on her couch and sat down beside her, stretching what felt like every muscle in his body.

“Jongin-ah...I have something to say…”

He tensed and watched Kana attempt to sit upright with a wary eye. He would really prefer to hear anything she had to say when she was sober. Alcohol does funny things to a person, namely diuretic properties, and he secretly hoped what she had to say would have nothing to do with that.

“Let’s save it for the morning. I’m off to bed now.”

 “Jongin-ah…I really…really…like—hrmph…” Jongin in a relieved breath as he held Kana’s head captive against his chest, hand planted firmly over .

“Let’s save it for the morning,” he repeated firmly. She blinked back at him with drowsy eyes and he slowly let go, readying himself to launch at the door.

“Jongin-ah, I really want to kiss you.”

He in another breath and felt his heart race to his throat. It was probably just sympathetic activation of his heart rate, causing an increase in his blood pressure and thus a palpable pulse on his jugular arteries because his body was preparing itself for a flight or fight situation...except why did his body think it was in danger?

“Not when you’re drunk.” 

Flight, he decided, jumping off the couch and towards the door. It wasn’t until hours later that he finally fell asleep, theories of human behavior and relationships still blinking on his computer screen and Kana’s gift pillow tucked between his arms; it had become a habit.

“Good afternoon!”

Kana winced and made a grab for his front door, but he pulled it out of reach and stepped aside for her to enter.

“There’s lunch on the table!” he blared into her ear as she passed.

She held her head tenderly and slumped down onto a kitchen chair. “Too loud…”

“You should think about that the next time you decide to get smashed.”

She waved an angry fist at him. “If you had let me win, I wouldn’t have finished what, 6 bottles?” The hangover soup was still warm and she sipped it slowly.

“It was the fastest way to escape from the party. I thought we agreed to make an effort—”

“To participate. Not to avoid. I just hope I didn’t say anything stupid.”

Jongin hesitated and nodded, eyes trained on his laptop. Kana stared wide eyed at him. “What did I say?”

He cleared his throat and shook his head. “Nothing too idiotic. Just—”

“Achoo! Oh god, I think I’m getting sick…” Kana blew her nose and Jongin swerved his laptop out germs’ reach.

[5]

BETRAYAL?? BUT NOT REALLY??

“Jongin! Are you alright? I was looking for you everywhere, we have to get out of here—Jongin?”

He hadn’t looked up since the moment she burst into the kitchen. The lamplights cast odd shadows and reflections on the silver kitchenware. Jongin stood silently by the backdoor, eyes focused on something beyond the dirty window.

She rushed to his side, worried he was hurt. “Are you alright? We need to get out of here, they’re going to find us soon.”

“Kana, I have something important to tell you.” His voice was too serious, his expression too unfathomable, and frankly Kana was too busy thinking of the ways to defy death to know that something was terribly wrong.

Kana wrestled the door handle to no avail and whirled around helplessly, looking for a potential exit. “It’s going to have to wait, they’re almost here.” The shouts and sound of a dozen boots running down the halls was enough to drive her heart into hyperdrive.

“It cannot wait, Kana.” Again, his voice was too calm and too serious for the dire situation they were in. She made to grab his shirt and drag him under the counter, but the door slammed open, Irene’s henchmen spilling into the kitchen, pots and pans clattered to the ground as they surrounded the two.

“Hands up!” It wasn’t the first time Kana was staring down the end of a barrel, but she had a feeling it might be her last time. As she raised her hands in surrender, she glanced at Jongin, who was passively gazing at the menacing goons.

“If you were going to make it so easy, Kana, you shouldn’t have bothered…” Irene emerged from the dozens of guards with a sly smirk on her face. It sent chills down Kana’s spine. “Jongin, are you sure I can’t put a bullet through her skull? It would make me so content.”

What?

“No, it is absolutely essential she walks away unharmed.”

Irene pouted prettily. “Fine, but I get to ride shotgun on the way to NOVA [WMD].” Kana watched in confusion and horror as Jongin straightened his jacket and stood by Irene. With a sickly sweet smile, Irene kissed him on the cheek and added, “Happy hunting, Kana. It might take a while to get used to the change of plans.” She sauntered away with a few guards in tow. The rest remained with their guns pointed at Kana’s head, heart, and throat despite the fact that she was as good as dead. But her focus was only on Jongin, whose expression was unfathomable.

“I’m sorry it had to end this way, Kana. You were a good partner.”

“Jongin, what is going on…”

“I am afraid it is what it looks like.”

“No, what is going on, why is she talking about NOVA, it was disabled last week—”

“It was disabled, not destroyed. With the proper resources it can be made able again.”

The realization dropped to her stomach like a stone, but Kana fought it, fought back the lump in , the rising pressure in her head. “No, Jongin, this is not funny.”

“I’ve taught you better, haven’t I? To notice the nuances in tonality and expression. I’m positive you have come to the correct deductions by now.”

Her voice rose a pitch and she struggled to keep her voice calm. “No, Jongin, tell me what’s going on here. You said so yourself, NOVA would take innocent lives, you couldn’t be a part of this—”

“'Could not' suggests possibility.”

“You are not a part of this!” Kana was border on hysterical, voice straining and frustrated tears welling up in her eyes. “Everything you’ve done and the people you’ve saved--it does not amount to this!”

“I did not save people, they just happen to be a part of the puzzle.”

“No…Jongin, stop this right now…” she took a step towards him and without warning, someone fired a dart at her exposed throat.

Kana nearly choked and barely felt herself collapsing onto the kitchen tiles. They were so cold. So many black boots. Then Jongin’s shoes. Jongin’s face. And then darkness.

“Can someone tell me what the hell happened?! I have a missing consultant and one is half alive, I need a debrief before I...”

“She’ll be out for a while. The dose was enough to tranquilize an elephant…”

“…don’t know if you can hear me. ing Jongin is at it again and this time he’s corroborating with Irene to reactivate and weaponize NOVA. Kana…please wake up and tell me it’s total bull…”

Three days after the incident in Irene’s kitchen, Kana woke from her deep slumber with an incredible weariness. There were tubes in her arm and monitors crowding her bed. In the corner of the room was the captain of the Seoul Police Department curled up on the couch like a shrimp.

Kana managed to jab the nurse call button and within seconds doctors and nurses were checking her vitals. It appeared Joonmyeon had made a big enough deal out of her condition that they were terrified if she so much as lost a hair strand. It would have been touching if she hadn’t known the true motive behind his care.

When the doctors and nurses left them alone, Joonmyeon was still sitting in the corner, eyes focused on her but fingers posed over his phone.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” she croaked. 

He hesitated before asking, “Are you sure?”

She closed her eyes and tried to picture the kitchen scene once more. “About Jongin, no. But about Irene…yes.”

He disappeared into the hallway after that, probably throwing the entire department into chaos with a few short commands. Kana tried to picture the scene once more, more vividly, recall all the details to see if there was any hint that Jongin was lying or playing spy again. The doctors were right though, the tranquilizer short-circuited her short term memory and she could barely recall the color of the kitchen tiles, much less the nuances in Jongin’s expressions.

Three days in a hospital bed sent her body into muscle wasting and Joonmyeon tried to lighten the atmosphere by teasing her about the weight loss. A peek under her hospital gown allowed her to count her ribs so she didn’t look and instead made an effort to regain her strength. He left shortly after reminding her that his best agents were on the case.

Kana barely processed the trip back to Lu Han’s apartment, since her apartment was being turned into a crime scene what with Jongin’s apparent betrayal. Lu Han wouldn’t stop yapping away in the car and in his apartment, his concern seeping into his nerves. There was little that he could salvage from the SPD detectives and his wild claim about having to wrestle a fluffy bunny sock from a 6’2” detective was outrageous but cracked a smile on her face. He sat her down next to Sehun and cooked up a feast that consisted mostly of frozen dumplings and a horribly over-dressed salad, but Kana didn’t mind. She heaped her portion over to hungry-college-student Sehun whose eyes flitted with concern over her sunken face before inhaling the food.

They didn’t ask much about Jongin or the case, just left her alone when she borrowed his laptop for research. Sehun went back to school while Lu Han joined her on the couch, tugging away the laptop when she started to nod off. He carded his fingers through her hair and didn’t budge even when her tears stained his shirt. The quiet apologies were shushed and Lu Han prayed to a god he didn’t believe in that she wasn’t broken.

The next morning seemed to rejuvenate Kana. She returned to the SPD and demanded to meet with Joonmyeon.

[They do their best to stop Jongin.]

The ferocity in her eyes brought out a defeated sigh from Joonmyeon. He grabbed a smaller vest from the storage unit and helped her pull in on. As he tugged the straps tighter, and finally put both hands on her shoulders. “You’re going to stay behind the tape.” Before she could protest, he raised his voice as he added, “You are not to engage with any of the suspects. If you disobey my orders, I am  

At a site bust, Kana goes against Joonmyeon’s wishes and throws herself into the field, actively chasing after

[6]

Random Scenes.

A scene where she greets him in the morning for a case and he says something stupid or unwelcome so she reaches out to shut his own front door for him. He thinks it’s ridiculous and opens it, she’s still there. 

“Oh it was a magic trick where I’m supposed to disappear. Let me try again.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Maybe it’ll be a portal to Narnia.”

“You’re wasting discussion time!”

“Oh I do this to all my problems, it works, here…”

[7]

The Original Outline.

• Introduce Kana
  • she gets into really fast relationship with Baekhyun
  • Jongin knows it’s not a good idea
  • He tries to tell her, but she’s too happy
  • He thinks he can’t give her happiness so he holds out on the fact that Baekhyun might not be all that into her
• For some reason Baekhyun asks her to marry him
  • Baek has work in NYC so he goes over first to set up everything
  • Kana doesn’t want to sell the apartment, but someone bid really high for it and Lu Han (landlord) sells it for her
  • It becomes really serious and final and she flies off to NYC
  • Jongin isn’t at the goodbye party
• Disastrous NYC scene and fallout
  • Kana arrives early and surprises Baek at the apartment
  • He’s making out with some babe on the couch
  • She’s scarily calm about it
  • “Kana. You’re here. Early.”
  • “I caught an earlier layover.”
  • “Um…look, I can explain…”
  • “Is she your fiancé?” Kana is strangely empowered that the girl knows her place.
  • “Yeah, I…” Baekhyun straightens and stands, the girl buttons her shirt, and looks ready to leave. “Kana, I can explain.”
  • Kana’s in a lot of shock and she just straight-faces: “You both should. Why don’t you get dressed. I’ll make…coffee.”
  • The two are both confused and she finds the coffeemaker, but there’s no coffee or clean mugs, so she grabs water from the tap (gross, she hates that).
  • “When did you two meet, how, how long has this been going on?” it’s almost like a friendly interrogation until the girl gets weirded out and just leaves.
  • “Kana…I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean…she doesn’t mean…it doesn’t mean anything.”
  • “I don’t think I can go through with this, Baek. I don’t think we should get married.”
  • “I’m so sorry, please just…”
  • “Baek, if you couldn’t be honest with me even over something like that, if you couldn’t just tell me [you were lonely/insecure] and you had to resort to…to someone else…it would be unfair to both of us.”
  • Kana leaves, orders the next flight back to Seoul, wanders the city a bit
• Back in Seoul
  • Jongin correctly predicts her return flight time but doesn't call/message. He’s out on a minor case just to distract himself, but he’s already solved them. He sits in Captain Joonmyeon’s office, going through the Box of Shame aka cold cases, making a mess 
  • It’s late at night, but Kyungsoo’s restaurant is still open so she goes there first in a taxi
  • Lu Han (son of multimillionaire realtor) knows something is wrong, but he warns Kyungsoo to not say anything. Kana knows they’re pretending but she pretends too, because maybe no one will get hurt that way. Maybe the blunt detailed truth is too much sometimes, even if you know and they know its pretense, it’ll be better.
  • She eats and drinks a ton and they watch her. Finally when she’s done, Lu Han decides he’s had enough and he takes the soju away.
  • She’s too drunk to say anything coherent, just mumbles about going home where there’s coffee for the coffeemaker and filtered water.
  • Lu Han takes her back to her old apartment.
  • “It’s not mine anymore…it’s some rich ’s place…not even the tap water.”
  • “You know who bought it? ing Jongin. You know who said to use it as a storage unit? Goddamn Jongin. And you know who would be pissing his pants in joy that you’re back? Mothering Jongin.”
  • Lu Han hauls her onto the couch. “Oh my ing God. Jongin you little wuss, you put everything back in its place. Don’t tell me you knew…oh my god, he knew. That little er.”
• Lu Han gets involved
  • Lu Han practically harasses Jongin to come home
  • He breaks a collection of antique [locks] to prove his point and Jongin freaks out and heads back
• When he’s back, he notices the dragging marks of a lightweight person leading up to Kana’s apt. He sees her passed out on the couch.
  • It’s close to morning so he starts the coffee and hangover tea. She’s mumbling in her sleep and he thinks it’s adorable…until he hears what she’s saying. Or not, drunk people are basically out yo. #yolo?
• Kana moves back in
  • “Technically I am your landlord.”
  • “Why did you…unpack my stuff and reset them?”
  • “I figured you’d be back soon enough, what with your record of commitment.”
  • “So it wasn’t because you’d already figured out Baekhyun and I weren’t going to work?” it was a challenge, bait even, but Jongin couldn’t step down from a chance to prove his cleverness.
  • “You both had your fair share of…personality differences.”
  • He falters and she hides her face behind her hands. “You knew. Jongin you knew he was involved with someone else. Why didn’t you tell me?”
  • “Under my tutelage, I deducted that you would come to the same conclusions.”
  • “No, Jongin, maybe I was ‘blinded by the human condition romantics like to fantasize and call love’ and I chose to ignore those…those details…Jongin, why didn’t you tell me…?” she was digging her thumb nails into her index fingers now (stressed) and he struggled to find a way to comfort her.
  • “I didn’t think…it was my…place to tell you. And that you may be hurt—”
  • “Jongin, I would rather have heard it from you, I would have rather believed it from you, than to have stepped into my new home and see him on the couch with some secretary of an assistant he met…” she was curling into a fetal position, hugging her knees with her elbows, trying to find some sort of support.
  • “I am…sorry. Kana, I am so, so sorry.”
  • “No, I don’t need that from you, Jongin. Why, why didn’t you just tell me…? Why did you let me—”
  • His pent up frustration exploded because he didn’t know how to make it better except to tell her the truth. “Because maybe I too, was ‘blinded by the human condition romantics like to fantasize and call love’! Maybe I didn’t want to hurt you; I was selfish and would rather someone else do it! Maybe for once, I hoped my deductions were wrong for your sake, so that you could be happy, even if it was with someone else!”
• Kana stares at him. He’s huffing and puffing and they realize he’d just confessed. A tiny voice inside his head scolds him for offering himself as a bounce back.
  • She starts tearing up and he’s a bit exasperated, can’t believe he’s getting frustrated over this weak emotion she’s showing.
  • He heads to his apt and balcony, fuming because it doesn’t make sense how irrational he is right now. She joins him later, hasn’t really cried much.
  • “You know I really thought I loved him. But when I saw him with the girl…I was only angry that I was lied to, that I’d been tricked, like the Monet case. I sat them down with a glass of water and interrogated them.”
  • Jongin almost chokes on his spit. “You did what?”
  • “I asked them when it started and tried to piece together where I missed something. The pink sequins in the backseat of his car. The high heel prints of a one-of-a-kind shoe by a New York designer on his rug.”
  • “I’m…good job.”
• Fall back
  • Kana takes a break and goes back to normal work (social work, medical clinic)
    • Realizes it bores her even though she likes to help people
    • Jongin is also struggling without her assistance
      • “Did you call the restaurant?”
      • “Um…come again?”
      • “For god’s sake, Kana, take out boxes over expensive organic banana peels—oh.” It wasn’t Kana, but a rookie Detective. “Never mind.”
  • There’s a serial killer targeting people who play a game and get high scores or something. Jongin remembers that Kana plays and takes up the case even though it’s too easy.
    • He freaks out when a phone tracker shows suspect traveling to his apartment building
    • Knocks on the door, breaks it down, she’s passed out over her desk
    • “Huh? What’s going on?”
    • “There is a serial killer on the loose and his victims have been high scorers on the Anipang game! Why are the security locks on the windows deactivated?!”
    • “There are security locks on the windows?”
    • “Yes, I installed them—ah, right, I disabled them for my experiment the other day…Has anyone suspicious offered free Anipang coins to you in the past 24 hours?!”
    • “Um…yeah…”
    • “WHAT! Who?! Why didn’t—”
    • “…the spam ads on the side of Facebook. Jongin, can you tell me what’s going on?”
    • “You’re a high scorer on Anipang! You play that game like your life depends on it! You are a potential victim and I am searching this place for bugs.”
    • “Jongin, your phone—”
    • “It’s Joonmyeon and he can piss off—”
    • “Jongin, at least listen—”
    • “I’m busy conducting a search—what? You caught him, where? In a PC bang…yes that would be…clever of him. Right.” He’s slightly embarrassed. “Well then, I should check on my experiment…”
    • “Jongin.”
    • “What?”
    • “You’re cute when you’re worried.”
    • “…cute is used to describe small animals with petite features and are commonly -ized. I would prefer to not be associated—”
    • “How do you feel about having a partner again?”
  • Partners again
    • Early next morning he comes over with a nice breakfast he made
    • Delivers it straight to her bed
    • “It’s not even 7 yet…”
    • “We don’t have time to waste. And you need a warm up. I was going through Captain Joonmyeon’s cold cases and there are four we can solve today.”
    • “The only thing I want to warm up is my bed…”
    • “I see your puns have not improved. Eat up, it’s going to be a fantastic day.”
    • She eats and gets ready. He’s hopping around in the kitchen, unable to contain his excitement. He goes through her movies collection and scoffs at the excessive amount of Disney.
    • “They’re classics.”
    • “They are boring animations of—”
    • “You watch ‘Up’ and tell me the relationships aren’t profound.” It was another challenge and he happily took bait.
  • Up Movie Night
    • Kana is tearing up when Ellie is about to die
    • “You’re crying, Kana.”
    • “Shut up.”
    • “It’s honestly—”
    • “Wouldn’t you want that with someone?” She realizes it’s a stupid question and leans away (leaning on him before). 
    • He leans against her this time, “I would like to think it would be nice with you. Without the dying and ridiculous last wishes—”
    • He’s cut off by Kana pushing him up. “What’s the matter?”
    • “Do you really mean that?” 
    • “Yes, yes I suppose.” 
    • “Jongin, would you believe me if…if I said…that I…”
    • “That you’ve been hesitating to show that you ‘care’ because you don’t want me to think I’m a bounce back, that you really do like me a lot, a lot.”
    • “How did you…but I haven’t even—”
    • “You talk an awful lot when you sleep on the job.”
• BIG REVEAL: Baekhyun is Chanyeol's partner and his mission was to psychologically disassmble Kana and Jongin.