As Chanyeol and Kyungsoo sat across Minseok with a laptop under Kyungsoo’s hands, Jongin was outside nursing Baekhyun’s head wound. He was thrown to the floor rather roughly and garnered a bruise, so Chanyeol forbade him to step inside the interrogation room. They could see everything through the window, and Minseok had done nothing but refuse to hold up his head since he arrived at the police station.

                “What were you doing at EXID Cosmetics Laboratory so late at night?” Chanyeol asked him.

                “Can’t a man get his keys? I left them on Hani’s desk when I came to pick her up.” Minseok looked up, eyes blood shot and face cold and hard.

                “You don’t need keys, Minseok. We know you are having an affair with your female boss. You went back to get rid of the evidence didn’t you?”

                “You have no proof of that.”

                “Oh yeah,” Chanyeol pointed to Minseok’s hands. “There’s dirt and soil under your nails, which meant you used your hands to pick something up. What did you do in with the plants, Minseok?”

                “Where did you dispose of them?” Kyungsoo asked again, typing away at his laptop.

                “You’ll find them in the back of the lab. Now what you want with a bunch of dirty plants is beyond me.” Minseok smirked.

                “You know why you’re here Minseok.” Chanyeol pressed on. Minseok’s façade is fading, he was purposely acting out to prove himself innocent. “You have a great boss. Pays you well, and you work happily for her, and then, you fall in love with her daughter.”

                “Hani is gorgeous, young, and beautiful, but she was married. Married to a douche who made her unhappy. Hani asked for a divorce but her mother forbid it, saying she would disown her own daughter if she ever divorced him. The divorce was the only way you and Hani could be together, but she would never let it happen. Unless she was dead of course.”

                “You knew Hani worked with wild plants and herbs in her laboratory, and with your degree in biotechnology you could easily fill a capsules with the drug and make the old switcheroo in order to kill your boss. It was the perfect plan. She took vitamins before her bath, so you made a drug-filled sleeping pill that looked exactly like her sleeping pill. The Dame would drown in her bathtub, and the autopsy declared as accidental.”

                “Once she was dead, Hani would be free, and so would you.” Kyungsoo watched Minseok’s face harden. His hands were clenched together.

                “You didn’t seriously think that you would get away with this, did you?” Chanyeol’s voice was low and commanding. Baekhyun got chills up his spine when he heard it.

                "God he sounds hot when he's interrogating." Baekhyun fanned himself with his hand. "I wouldn't mind letting him interrogate me like this.

                Jongin gave Baekhyun a look. "Okay, now I know you've been spending too much time with Kyungsoo." Baekhyun pushed his face away.

                “You think she is such a saint?” Minseok snapped, and Kyungsoo shivered a little under his angry tone. Jongin and Baekhyun watched from outside, ready to intercept if things went out of control.

                “People are always saying Oh The Dame is such an angel, she has saved so many, she made so many contributions to society blah blah blah, let me ask you a question. What kind of god-forsaken, so called charitable saint and business leader would allow her daughter to be in an abusive relationship for so many years?”

                “Why do you say it was an abusive relationship?”

                “Jongdae treated her like trash. He plotted behind her back with her own mother and had a ual relationship with her! Hani had to pretend the marriage was perfect for the sake of the family name. Do you know how many tears she has shed, how many lies she has told, the lonely nights she had to endure knowing her husband was out there knocking up someone else?” Minseok slammed his fist against the table.

                “Why didn’t you just kill Jongdae?” Kyungsoo asked.

                “Jongdae was not the root cause. She was.” Minseok pointed to the air. “She was the one who forced her child into this, she must be punished.”

                “But she has never done anything towards you.”

                “I was a graduate from the University of Tokyo. After my graduation, I decided to come here to apply for a job at EXID Cosmetics. I was given a job as a lab technician here for two weeks before I was fired.”

                “So that’s how you knew your way around the lab.”

                “They gave me no explanation, just told me I was laid off. The Dame just happened to be there that day when I was laid off, and said she was looking for a driver. I took the job. I had no choice. I have student loans to pay off and a father who’s ill and needs medical care.” Minseok gulped. “It was her who got me fired. She laid me off just so I could work as her driver, at half my original pay! She gave me a stupid fake name and registered me under that for a working visa. She said if I revealed my real name I would lose my permit.”

                “She was an okay boss, but she forbid me to go anywhere near her daughter. My daughter cannot be seen with someone like you, she said. Like I was dirt beneath her feet, like I was unworthy of loving her.” There was a certain iciness in his tone, and Chanyeol had only started to get a glimpse as to how much he resented his former employer. He had a job, laid off to become a driver and had fallen in love with someone forbidden,

                “My father passed away recently. I could have saved him.” Minseok shook his head slowly, eyes on the table. “I could have saved him. But I had no money…I…” he choked on his words. Kyungsoo could feel the pain of his words in his fingers as he typed out Minseok's statement. Minseok felt responsible, but he also felt sick. Sick of how he had no freedom.

                “There were other ways, Minseok.” Chanyeol paused to focus on Minseok’s face, and noticed a faint line hidden under his hairline just above his ear. “Is that a scar?” he asked.

                “This?” Minseok felt the spot above his ear. “Yeah, I am an earthquake survivor. I was lucky enough to be found by my foster parents.”

                “Foster parents? What happened to your real ones?” Kyungsoo asked.

                “They died in the earthquake. That’s what my mother said.”

                Chanyeol and Kyungsoo exchanged a look. Minseok caught the wavering glances they gave each other and panicked a little. “What? What is it?” Chanyeol picked up a piece of paper from the files behind him and slid them across the table, so that it landed in front of Minseok.

                “Wha…what is this?”

                “This is a paternity test between you and The Dame.” Chanyeol cleared his throat. “She too was an earthquake survivor. Are we talking about the 1991 Limon Earthquake in Costa Rica?”

                “Yes but…”

                “She lost a son that day. You lost a mother.” He pointed down to the results at the bottom. “It’s a 99.99% match, Minseok. You are her first son.”

                “No.”

                “Yes. The same son she thought she lost.”

                “No. There must be some mistake.”

                “Numbers and DNA don’t lie, Minseok. She knew and she had a very strong reason to forbid you from seeing your own half-sister.” Chanyeol said.

                Minseok’s eyes went from small to big in a matter of seconds. His hands were trembling and his breathing was erratic. She was your mother….mother….Hani….half-sister….earthquake….Sehun…half-brother…lie…big lie…

                “No. No no no no no no….NO!!!!” Minseok threw the paper across the room, standing up while screaming at the top of his lungs. “My whole life is a lie, this isn’t happening. It can’t be happening!!”

                “Kim Minseok please,” Chanyeol stood up to restrain him but Minseok had a fist on his shirt and was holding him already.

                “Tell me this isn’t true detective. TELL ME!!! Tell me what’s going on! Am I insane?!?!?”

                “Chanyeol!!” Baekhyun rushed inside with two more policemen beside him. He pulled Minseok off of the detective, screaming and fighting away. He was handcuffed immediately as he struggled against his bonds.

                “Let me go!! I need answers!! You can’t just take me! I killed her to be free you hear me?!?!? I killed her to be free!! I AM A FREE ING MAN!!” Minseok’s face was a contorted mess of emotions as they held him from falling apart. “Let me go!! Let me go!!”

                “Take him away boys.” Chanyeol ordered.

                “No, you can’t do this to me! Let me go!!! I want to see my mother!!! My mother!!! MOTHER!!!!!” Minseok was taken away, screaming and tears running down his face. The press had caught wind of the murdered finally being arrested, and they were already outside the police station. Thousands of flashes assaulted Minseok’s eyes as he felt himself being pushed by the crowd.

                “KIM MINSEOK! KIM MINSEOK!”

                “Is it true you are having an affair with Wu Hani??!”

                “Minseok do you confess to murdering your empoyer?”

                His mind was completely empty as he could feel nothing, but heat and pressure against his body. He was pushed into the police car, where he would be taken to a holding cell before his trials. As he looked out at the sea of faces who are dying to get a glimpse of him, he saw a face amongst them all that seemed so familiar.

                “Hani…Hani…”

                The police car was starting and the crowd was moving. The face disappeared, and reappeared somewhere further. “Hani don’t leave me…Hani!!!”

                His life had fallen apart. He killed his own mother. He had an uous relationship with his half-sister. Life had cheated him out of everything he had ever hoped for.

                He wished he died during the earthquake. He should have just died.

                All this time he thought The Dame was the problem, and if he got rid of her, his problems would be gone.

                But no.

                He was the problem.

*******************

                This just in today, the police here at Gangnam Police Station have finally caught The Dame’s murderer. The Dame, real name Li Su-En, passed away several weeks ago from an accidental drowning, however a second autopsy has revealed that she was indeed poisoned. The prime suspect of this murder is her driver Kim Minseok, who was taken into police custody for questioning early this morning. Insider reports reveal that he has confessed to killing his former employer. He is expected to attend his first trial tomorrow morning. If found guilty, he will face…

                “And so ends our mystery.” Suho shut off the TV behind him as he turned to face Chanyeol. “Thank you Detective Park for bringing the murderer to light.”

                “I’ll be honest if it wasn’t for my friend Jongin and two of your best agents I wouldn’t have been able to do it.” Chanyeol smiled, sitting down at Suho’s desk. He ran his finger along the edge, lifting it up to see the dust that had collected. None. The same way it was weeks ago when they first met. “I am terribly indebted to you and your services. Now, about the…”

                “Save it Detective, I know exactly what you want to say.” Suho raised a hand to stop Chanyeol. “I insist. No payments necessary. This is not about the money. This is about the injustice and truth. Her killer needs to be behind bars.”

                “You know, once you’ve dug around long enough, you’ll see that you really can’t blame them for their actions.” Chanyeol thought about the stuff he had found and the look on Minseok’s face when he realized the truth. “Nothing is ever as it seems.”

                “Perhaps, but I guess it’s time for our victim to finally rest in peace. She has worked all her life and lost so much, may her and her family finally be ready to move on.”

                “Yeah. Sehun says that once the trial was over he would go ahead with the execution of the will and have a small funeral for his mother. After all that has happened, the family no longer wants any publicity.”

                “Perhaps you should take a break yourself. I’ve seen your profile and you have done a lot of amazing work. You deserve a vacation, though you don’t look nearly as haggard as when I first met you.”

                “I have been getting a lot of sleep,” Chanyeol ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. “But I don’t think I can rest knowing that there are other forms of injustice out there that needs my help.”

                “Baekhyun must be wearing you out eh?”

                “Yeah but…” Chanyeol paused for a minute and watched Suho suppress a cheeky smile. “Okay how did you know?”

                Suho gave him a look.

                “Never mind.” Ask a dumb question, get a Suho face as an answer. “There is something I have been meaning to ask you about,” Chanyeol sat forward a little. “I’ve been working very closely with Baekhyun and he told me about his mistake back in Hawaii and I was wondering if you would reinstate him back to his original status? He has been so helpful on the case and really I wouldn’t be able to do this if it wasn’t for him.”

                “He has been behaving lately.” Suho pondered. “Does this request have anything to do with you being in a relationship with him?”

                “We’re not in a relationship. Sort of.” Chanyeol raised an eyebrow and tapped his fingers. “Kind of. It’s actually all a little complicated.”

                “I’ll think about it.”

                “Usually when people say that it means yes.”

                “Come detective.” Suho laughed as he got out of his chair and wrapped his arm around the taller man. “Let’s get something to eat upstairs. Yixing baked a blueberry cheesecake muffin that is to die for.”

*****************

                Chanyeol soon became sort of celebrity when he returned to the office. His fellow colleagues all congratulated him and gave him thumbs up when he arrived. Inspector Nam called him to his office and was very proud of his work.

                “Park, you have done an amazing job this time around.”

                “Thank you sir.”

                “As a token of appreciation, well the boys and I have been thinking about it anyways, we have decided to get you your very own office.”

                “No way! My own office in the station?!” Chanyeol couldn’t contain his excitement. He had to work at a tiny desk with mountains of paperwork flooding it every day for the past few years. Now he finally has a room to dump all his stuff into.

                “We’ve set up some basic furniture inside. You might want to try and keep the room clean, unlike your desk over there.” Inspector Nam gestured to the nightmare at the other side of the room but Chanyeol just grabbed the key from his boss.

                “Thanks Inspector!” he bounced out of his boss’s office and into the room next to it. A silver plaque was on the door. Detective Park Chanyeol.

                “Finally, my own place.” He beamed with pride as he fiddled with the lock, turning his office lock for the first time. He flipped the light switch on and nearly died of a heart attack when his office chair turned around, revealing a very handsome Baekhyun sitting on it.

                “Congratulations on your new office.”

                “Geez Baekhyun you gave me a heart attack.” Chanyeol clutched his chest dramatically. “How did you even get in here? Did you climb in through the vents or through the back window or something?”

                “No. I just told your boss I wanted to surprise you and he let me in.”

                “Oh. Well that’s not fun.”

                “Come here.” Baekhyun jumped into Chanyeol’s arms and pulled the taller man down to kiss him. He smiled into the kiss and hugged him close. “I’ve been thinking about what you said.”

                “What did I say?”

                “You know, about us taking it slow and we don’t have to be in a relationship if I don’t want to. Let me ask you, wouldn’t you be disappointed if I told you I didn’t want to be in a relationship?”

                “I would, but I guess I’ll have to learn how to accept it.”

                “That’s it? You won’t even fight for me?” Baekhyun punched him softly.

                “What else can I do Baek?” Chanyeol laughed. “I can’t force you to be in a relationship with me. That’s not how love works.”

                “How does it work then?”

                “Want me to show you?” he teased, kissing the top of Baekhyun’s head, inhaling the shampoo he used. Baekhyun giggled lightly and nodded. They didn’t need words, Chanyeol knew exactly what Baekhyun was saying yes to.

                “I kind of told your boss I was your boyfriend anyway.” Baekhyun wrapped his arms around Chanyeol’s neck, kissing him harder this time as he stepped backward against Chanyeol’s desk, pulling Chanyeol along with him. They broke the kiss and Baekhyun began fiddling with Chanyeol’s coat buttons.

                “Now how about we celebrate your new office together?”

                “Baekhyun! People can see us!”

                “You have blinds.”

                “They’ll hear us!”

                “Let them. They should know how good you really are.” He smirked and kissed the detective, pulling apart buttons as a hand s around his waist and up his back. Baekhyun was about to shrug off his shirt when an obnoxious knock was heard on the door.

                “Go away we’re occupied!” Baekhyun yelled.

                “Oh for ’s sake can’t you go for two days without your boyfriend’s in your ?”

                “It’s Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes as he jumped off the table. All Chanyeol could do was sigh loudly. It surprised him a little at how he has gotten used to this kind of thing happening now.

                “Congratulations on your new office!” Kyungsoo cheered as he walked in with Jongin. “And just for that we have a surprise for you!”

                “What is it?”

                “Paperwork!” Jongin laughed as he dumped a parcel on his table. “It’s The Dame’s medical records from Costa Rica.”

                “Hello, this is so old news.” Baekhyun scoffed. “We’ve already found the killer, the case is solved.”

                “Yeah, Jongin can you put this down by the cabinet? I’ll do something about that later.”

                “I guess this came a day late then.” Kyungsoo laughed. “I was surprised though, Minseok didn’t really put up much of a fight.”

                “Yeah, he was pretty quick to admit that he killed her. Which is fine by me, that means I can start on my report soon.” Jongin shrugged.

                “My baby is going to make deadlines again. I can feel it.” Kyungsoo smiled, wrapping an arm around Jongin’s waist. Jongin kissed his cheek affectionately.

                “Yeah yeah congratulations now can you please get lost? Chanyeol and I are going to break in his new office by actually breaking things.” Baekhyun rewrapped his arms around his tall boyfriend who just stared back at him, all dazed and confused. He pulled Baekhyun’s arms from him and stepped back.

                “You’re right.”

                “About breaking things?”

                “No, what Kyungsoo said was right. Minseok didn’t put up much of a fight. But why? Why was he so quick to admit?”

                “Because he was caught red-handed duh.”

                “No, it doesn’t prove anything. That white piece of fabric on the fence. We didn’t prove that it belonged to him.”

                “But it could have.” Jongin said.

                “But it also couldn’t have.” Chanyeol paced up and down, tucking his hands under his arms.

                “There’s also her diary! The last page was never revealed!” Baekhyun suddenly realized, snapping his fingers. Chanyeol turned to his friends and unfolded his arms.

                “This case is not over.”

A/N So yesterday was my birthday, and one of my oldest EXO fanfics Puppy Love was featured yesterday as well!!! I received so many beautiful messages wishing me happy birthday that I decided to update for you guys today!! 

My third featured fic in over a year. Just thank you all so much for the love and support. Thank you!!