Victoria turned to see that Donghae had parked the car by the side of a street in front of a sandwich shop. Without question she followed him up the five concrete steps toward the glossy white doors. It smelled of bread when she stepped inside. Before her stood a long counter with some cakes on display and loud chattering coming from the back. The place was luminously white and shiny. The circular white tables that stood behind her against the large clean window fit the setting just right.

“Isn’t it fabulous? This place had green wallpapers, yellow tables, and didn’t even have cakes here when I was young. I heard they remodeled this place just last year.” Donghae told. “I used to love coming here with my parents for Saturday snacks. This is my first time back in 14 years. Wow, can you believe that?”

Victoria turned to take a sideways glance at him and suddenly recalled the first sincere conversation they’d had at his house the other night. This man, this investigator who annoyed her, she would have never imagined he’d grown up without his parents too. This person who intruded upon her life without warning understood so clearly about the pain of losing someone. And even though Song Philip, a person she’d known for 4 years, contradicted Donghae she never minded his words. After the loss of In Seol she might not have to feel so alone.

“How can I help you today?” the man behind the counter with a white apron and a white cap on his head questioned.

Victoria turned to him with an, “Oh.” She glanced around lost unsure of what to order then realized she’d missed the menu to the far right.

Donghae smiled and stepped before her making their orders then paid the man. “You ok with a club sandwich?”

Victoria just glanced at him and went to sit down at one of the tables by the window hoping that she hadn’t been staring at him while she’d been lost in thought. A moment later Donghae joined her with two cups of water and two sandwiches on a tray. She reached for her sandwich but Donghae snatched it from her.

“Are you moody today or something?” Donghae questioned. “You’re having a hangover aren’t you?”

“No.” she solidly replied. “Give me my sandwich.”

“You can have mine and I’ll have yours,” Donghae said and watched as Victoria frowned at him. When she took his sandwich Donghae immediately told, “You can have yours, give me mine.”

She gave him a blank stare before quickly unwrapping his sandwich and taking a bite out of it. Donghae couldn’t help but let a laughter out before he ate the club sandwich he’d ordered for her. They ate in silence and finally left 5 minutes after. When they finally walked down the concrete steps Victoria headed toward the car.

“Where are you going?” questioned Donghae.

“Where are you going?” Victoria redirected the question at him finally noticing that he wasn’t intending to drive back just yet.

“Lets take a walk,” he said and stood there waiting for her to follow.

Giving in Victoria made her way back toward the store and started going down the block with Donghae following.

“Are you ok with staying in your house?” Donghae asked catching up to her, hands in the pocket of his sweater.

“Are you asking if I feel safe or are you hinting about the things you put in my apartment?” questioned Victoria.

“Do you like them? I thought your house seemed gloomy so I just thought adding some things would brighten up the atmosphere.”

“Next time don’t bother.”

“You didn’t throw them away did you?”

Victoria turned to glance at him then turned away, “I’ve been wanting to ask. The man from the other night was your uncle right? Did he take you in after your parents passed away?”

“Yes. He raised me up.”

“Since you asked about In Seol the other night, what about your parents?” Victoria asked keeping her gaze away from him.

“My parents? It was an attempted burglary and things went wrong that night after it turned into a fight. But that guy’s in jail now so it all worked out. One reason why I became a detective was because of that man who murdered my parents. I went to see him in prison despite everyone’s worries and declared to him I’d bring other killers to join him in jail. I’m pretty gutsy don’t you think?” Donghae asked with a mischievous smile.

“Pretty crazy if you ask me,” Victoria meanly replied, but she understood. Because of his personality he would have wanted to go, but if it were her she’d never step into that prison and want to see that killer’s face.

“Are we even now? You know something about me and I know something about you.” Donghae said.

“Not yet. Since you’re an investigator you must have looked into my records. You know more about me than I know you do.” Victoria pointed out.

“Are you suspecting me of knowing something about you that I shouldn’t know?”  Donghae asked.

Victoria turned to look at him and Donghae stared back at her. Just looking into her eyes Donghae knew he’d hit the dot. She did suspect him of knowing something he shouldn’t have found out.

“You have many secrets don’t you?” Donghae asked. Especially about the miscarriage she’d had, she never spoke about it. With her suspecting him he assumed there was much more than meets the eye. Victoria was hiding more than just the secret of the miscarriage from him but he didn’t have the right to know what it was, yet. Their relationship was just investigator and victim, no more than that.

Victoria turned away again as if admitting defeat to their eye staring contest. There was something captivating about what her eyes hid that caught his attention a lot.

“Nevermind, forget it,” Victoria said quietly turning around the corner.

Victoria came to an abrupt pause when something ran into her. When she glanced down she saw a little boy of 4 in a knit hat fallen on his on the ground before her. She wanted to bend down and help him up to his feet but her body remained frozen. Had the miscarriage left such a toll on her that even she couldn’t stand looking at children?

Donghae glanced at Victoria’s stricken face and guessed that she didn’t realize she had let the etched expression grown on her face.

“Are you ok?” he asked getting down on one knee and helping the boy up to his feet.

The little boy glanced at Donghae’s face with two large eyes full of shock and turned around running back toward a group of men and women huddled together in front of a food stall. When Donghae got back up to his feet he turned to glance at Victoria whose eyes were wide open staring at the little boy grabbing onto his mother’s leg. For a moment he felt a sting in his heart. The miscarriage had left her empty heart hurting because she had nothing left. The little boy had reminded her of the unborn child she’d been carrying within her for 3 months without In Seol around.

“Are you ok?” asked Donghae slightly leaning in toward her.

Noticing a crowd heading their way Donghae took hold of her arm leading her toward some stairs where they could sit and let Victoria recover before continuing on. In their secluded area Donghae watched as Victoria sat next to the wall letting her head lean against it as if she were exhausted and maybe she was exhausted. After a few minutes he joined her on the steps and took a deep breath leaning back with his hands on the ground.

“Let me guess the reason why you have such a dark expression is a secret, right?” Donghae asked. “You don’t trust me enough to tell me?”

“You don’t need to know,” Victoria stated bluntly. “Say, shouldn’t you be busy visiting your little girlfriend? I don’t get why you stop by so much. Even if I have a stalker it’s not your case anymore is it?”

“It’s only because your stalker could be linked to the person who messed with your brakes. Besides my Chief is looking into it right now.” Donghae explained. “I can’t just opt out when you are still connected to the Il Chung and Sandy case. We still need to make an appointment to visit their relatives, don’t forget that. So I guess you can say that we’ll be seeing a bit more of each other until we find a closure for all of this.”

Victoria hated the smile he gave her, “Did you send me home last night?” She got up to her feet pushing her hair back.

“You don’t really need to ask that do you?” he asked sure that she already knew the answr without having to ask.

Victoria turned away and began down the sidewalk again.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” he questioned hurrying after her. When he caught up to her he turned around so that he was walking backwards and facing her at the same time. “You want to go see a movie? I heard there are some really good ones out in the theater.”

“Oppa!”

Both Donghae and Victoria paused in their steps. Donghae stared at the familiar figure rushing toward them and Victoria turned her head to recognize Hee Sun.

“Oppa! Where are you going?! I knew I saw you earlier,” Hee Sun said stopping in front of him and behind Victoria. Her eyes were all on Donghae and just by looking at her Victoria could see how infatuated she was with the investigator.

“Oh really?” Donghae asked with a plain tone of expression. Victoria glanced at him curiously.

“What are you doing in Seoul?” asked Hee Sun with all smiles on her face.

“Nothing much.”

Victoria narrowed her eyes a bit and wondered why he was lying. He practically resided in Seoul right now.

“I thought you were staying in Seoul?” Victoria asked.

Donghae immediately turned toward her with an expression telling her she shouldn’t have said that.

“You’re staying in Seoul? Really oppa?” asked Hee Sun. “And…why are you with oppa?”

Victoria stared back at the girl, “I don’t think you should be worried about that.”

“You!” Hee Sun began. “Don’t think you can steal my oppa from me!”

“Hee Sun.” Donghae said. “I just came to visit and we were just taking a walk. Why don’t you go back to your dorm now?”

“What?” Hee Sun asked. “You came to visit…that means you’re staying in Seoul?” Hee Sun turned to Victoria who returned her stare. There was no way Victoria was going to let some kid younger than her step over her.