Chapter One

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He couldn’t believe it.

After all those years… why now?

Jong Suk peered at the man standing a few feet in front of him, before tearing his gaze away again when found that intense stared right at him. He knew that Woo Bin has been staring at him like since Jong Suk got inside the room and never once his eyes leave Jong Suk.

He understood why Woo Bin’s like that. The taller man must’ve been very shocked. After all those years, after 10 years, after that incident, this was the first time they’ve seen each other. Jong Suk didn’t know what to do, or what to say. He wanted to avoid Woo Bin very bad. But even so, that doesn’t mean that deep down, he felt relief and happy that he was able to meet Woo Bin again.

How could he not? When Woo Bin was his best friend… and boyfriend. Was. He remembered all those times when they’re in high school. They always did everything together. Always inseparable. But after that happened… everything changed. And Jong Suk knew that it was his fault.

“Jong Suk-ah?”

Jong Suk snapped his head to the side only to find the Chief staring at him with one eyebrow raised. “Are you listening to me?” the man asked and Jong Suk shifted under his gaze. This was his first day and he didn’t want the leader’s opinion of him to drop. But to be honest he didn’t really listen to what he was saying. He was too occupied with the thought of Woo Bin.

“I…” he opened his mouth, eyes somewhat moving again to peer at Woo Bin who was still staring at him. Although by now all eyes were staring right at him. Jong Suk turned his gaze to the Chief before bowed, “I’m really sorry Sir. I just spaced out…”

It took him by surprised when the Chief laughed. “You must’ve been very surprised to see Woo Bin.”

Jong Suk looked at the Chief with surprised before looked down, swallowing hard. Was he that easy to read that the Chief could guess it right on the spot? Jong Suk peered at Woo Bin again who was still staring at him and Jong Suk shifted under that intense gaze once again. He decided to just stay silent and say nothing to the Chief’s question.

Thankfully the man just let it go and continued with the procedure. “Alright rookies. Welcome to the Seoul Police Station. You all assigned to work on the Investigation Department as police detectives and all of you work in this team under my command. Our team is specialized on homicide crime cases. But sometimes we got other cases too though.” Chief Daniel put his hands on his pocket, looking almost smug. “You guys probably know me already, but… well, I’m Choi Daniel, The Legendary Detective.”

Woo Bin snorted while Min Ho just shook his head. Chief Daniel turned to them and walked over to those two, stepping behind them and wrapped his arms around their shoulder. “And as I already said it… these are my boys. Lee Min Ho and Kim Woo Bin—ah! But you already knew Woo Bin right Jong Suk-ah?” he asked, winking at Jong Suk. The said guy just looked somewhere else and swallowed while Woo Bin glared at the Chief. He snickered inside his head, thinking just how fun it was to tease these two.

“Well,” Daniel walked to the front of his desk again, sitting on top of it, “now, I want you guys to introduce yourself. Please say your name, age, your specialty that will be your benefit as a detective, and your reason to work as one.” He said, motioning at the first guy.

The brown haired men stood. “My name is Kim Young Kwang. I’m 26 years old. My specialty? Well…” Young Kwang trailed off for a moment, trying to think of one, “I’m good at fighting I guess. I learned taekwondo for 3 years when I was in high school. And my reason to become a detective is because I wanted to be one. Detective’s a very cool job, I think.”

Chief Daniel raised an eyebrow at that. “You wanted to become a detective because you think it’s cool?”

Young Kwang shifted under that gaze and stood straight. “Uh… yes? I mean, they get to help people and stuff.”

Daniel shrugged. “Okay. Let’s see how long you can hold on then. Next.”

This time, the short-haired girl stood. “My name is Park Shin Hye. I’m 26 years old. My specialty is that I’m quick-witted, and I’m very good at memorizing things just with one look. My reason to be a detective is because I wanted to do something different and interesting.”

Chief Daniel held back a sighed at that. What’s with these rookies and their motives anyway? “Something different and interesting? What are you living a boring life or something?”

The pretty girl gave a shrug. “Something like that.”

“Huh.” Chief Daniel crossed his arms, gazing at Shin Hye from head to toe and Woo Bin held back a snort when Min Ho whispered to him that the Chief looks like a ert. If staring intently like that could be called a ert, than he himself was no different from the way he’s been staring at Jong Suk.

“If… something’s wrong?” Shin Hye asked uncertainly.

“It’s nothing. I’m just observing you. You’re really pretty and delicate, but you look tough as well. I assumed that you’re also smart. Where were you graduated?”

“…KAIST.”

Chief Daniel whistled. “Pretty and smart. Every man’s typical type. Right Min Ho?”

Min Ho glared at the Chief. “Yah! Chief! Why are you asking me?!” he asked flustered.

“Because you’re so easy, my dear partner.” The chief smirked at Min Ho before he turned to Jong Suk. “You’re next then.”

Jong Suk stood without glancing at Woo Bin who he knew had his eyes locked on him. “Right, um… my name is Lee Jong Suk. I’m 26 years old. I guess my specialty is that I’m a fast runner. And…” he trailed off. “The reason I wanted to be a detective is because I want to help people in needs of help, to capture every culprit who did something inhuman and gives them the right punishment. I wanted every each of them to stay behind the bars.” There was no hesitance in every bit of his words and probably a bit too straightforward. He regretted to say it like that when he peered at Woo Bin’s face, seeing the look of surprise and realization in his eyes.

He knew.

And the Chief must’ve sense something too. He was staring at Jong Suk, more like observing, as if he was trying to find out the truth behind the biggest secret. “Huh…” The man stepped closer to Jong Suk and he shifted under those hawk-liked eyes. “Is there any particular criminal that you wanted to put behind the jails…?”

Jong Suk narrowed his eyes, “what makes you think that?”

“Hmm…” Daniel raised his chin, his eyes sparkling with intelligence. “The way you speak sounds like you’re speaking from experiences.”

Jong Suk’s eyes immediately harden at that. “So…?”

Chief Daniel smiled at the young man in front of him, “So—”

“So, you will stop asking him more question Chief.”

Those firm words had stopped whatever it is Chief Choi going to say and Jong Suk peered to his side, seeing Woo Bin glaring at the chief with hands tucked inside the pocket of his jeans. “The interview’s done. Let’s not waste more times.”

“Oh, uh… right.” The Chief smiled awkwardly and patted Jong Suk’s shoulder. He then turned to look at Woo Bin who was now staring at Jong Suk, while said guy was staring at the floor and avoiding Woo Bin’s gaze. Seeing those two acting like that, he couldn’t help but ask. “How did you two know each other?”

Jong Suk was flustered at the question, not exactly comfortable with the direction their conversation had taken. But the Chief was very sharp at reading people and it would be very stupid to lie that he didn’t have any connections with Woo Bin. “Uh… well, we’ve known each other back then in high school.” He decided to keep it the short truth.

But Woo Bin, however, seems to thought the other way. “We’re lovers.”

Jong Suk turned to Woo Bin with wide eyes in surprised, and his jaw had practically dropped to the floor. How could Woo Bin just say that kind of things so casually like that?! Doesn’t he know that it would’ve put him into a very awkward situation than this one?! Almost immediately after Woo Bin said that, he could almost hear the whisperers that were exchanged between Young Kwang and Shin Hye and see the shocked look on Min Ho’s face, as well as the mischievous smile the chief’s face.

Why was the chief staring at him with that kind smile and with naughty glint in his eyes?

“Huh. Would you look at that? Surprise, surprise~” the chief chirped happily for an unknown reason, as if he just found out something so incredibly interesting. He stared at Woo Bin who remained incredibly unfazed by situation compared to Jong Suk who looks so uncomfortable and awkward by the situation. “I never knew you have a boyfriend Woo Bin-ah… and a cute one as well. Where you’ve been hiding him all this time?”

Jong Suk was about to say something when Woo Bin beat him to it first, “Well, we were lovers. Were. As in in the past.” He said lowly, turning to look at Jong Suk with a hard look in his eyes. “I don’t need to hide him as he was hiding very well by himself all this time.”

Jong Suk gulped, and for the first time their eyes finally met and Jong Suk forced himself away after seeing all kind of emotion in those brown orbs that he always loves to stare.

He didn’t know what to say, so he decided to stay silent.

“I see…. Well, this is awkward…” Daniel scratch his un-itchy head, feeling a little bit sorry for putting these boys into this kind of awkward situation. Just a bit though, because all of the sudden the kind-of-guilty face on his look disappeared.  “But this is also a good thing then!” the glassed man exclaimed.

“And… why is that?” Jong Suk knew that he was going to say something big, as if he was dropping a bomb inside this room.

“Because that means you two know each other already!” the chief smiled, “and you two can be partners.”

The silent that followed was like in a graveyard.

Only until realization finally hit that Woo Bin and Jong Suk shouted. “WHAT?!”

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Jong Suk slumped on his chaired and he dumped his head on top of his new desk. “God, I’m screwed…”

He heard the rolled of chair coming from his right before a hand landed on his shoulder. “Come on, it’s not that bad.” Young Kwang said in sympathy.

“No, no... It is that bad.” Jong Suk pouted and shook his head. “I’m too awkward and embarrassed to see him…”

“Well then you just have to hang in there.” Shin Hye turned to look at Jong Suk. “Partnered with your ex-boyfriend doesn’t seems so bad. I mean, it’s not like it’s the end of the world.”

Jong Suk sighed. He just ignored what Shin Hye and Young Kwang just said and continued to pout. These two didn’t get why he was so upset with this whole paired up with your ex-boyfriend thing. Because to him it is that bad and yes, for him it was like the end of the world.

Jong Suk leaned back against his chair, eyes drifting up to where Woo Bin was, who’s been sitting on his own desk reading something that looks like a profiles of criminals before he lifted his gaze suddenly, meeting with Jong Suk’s.

It startled him so much that Jong Suk immediately snapped his eyes away to talk to Young Kwang and pretending as if he wasn’t caught staring at Woo Bin.

“Stop it already.” A smacked to his shoulder got Woo Bin snapped out of his reverie and he looks up at Min Ho standing arms crossed in front of his chest. “Were you trying to burn a hole on that poor kid’s head with your laser eyes or something?”

Woo Bin sighed, he ignored Min Ho and turned to look at Jong Suk again. It was obvious that Jong Suk was trying so hard not to look at him and pretending that he wasn’t even in this room. It’s hurt that Jong Suk was acting that way that it made him heaves out a soft breath.

The looks in Woo Bin’s eyes had soften dramatically that it surprised Min Ho a little bit. There was look of sadness, regret, and… longing. Min Ho couldn’t help but to take a look at this Jong Suk guy who made his friend like this. He wasn’t interested in guy, but Min Ho knew how to appreciate a good-looking person when he saw one.

Jong Suk had this soft features yet tough look in his eyes. The look of matureness and the guarded look in his eyes shown that he had—just like what Chief Daniel said—gone through something. The guy looks very polite and quite shy though judging from the way he interacted with Young Kwang and Shin Hye. Min Ho couldn’t help but think that this Jong Suk was quite cute when he smiled at something Young Kwang said, showing that cute gum smile.

And Min Ho couldn’t understand how can someone looked so mature and innocent at the same time because that’s what he saw in Jong Suk. No wonder Woo Bin was so captivated with this one. “He’s the one, isn’t he?”

“Hmmm?” Woo Bin hummed distractedly, eyes still trained on Jong Suk.

“The one that you said your ‘first and only’… it was Jong Suk, isn’t it?” he suddenly remembered this one time when he asked Woo Bin why he never tried to date someone where a lot of girls and guys took great interest of him. But then Woo Bin had to smile, eyes suddenly a little bit distant as if he was reminiscing something, and answered:

“I’m only interested with my first love, and it’ll stay forever like that.”   

Woo Bin had to laughed at that. “Am I really that obvious?”

Min Ho shrugged. “If any other person like me could see and notice from the way you look at him behind your jaded and tough figures, then, yeah, you’re that obvious.”

“Yeah, it’s just that…” a small sigh escaped from Woo Bin’s lips, “It’s just that—it’s been so long and all these years I can’t forget about him. But now he’s just—right in front of me.”

Min Ho patted Woo Bin’s shoulder. “I know. You’re overwhelmed with this whole situation.”

“Exactly. I just still can’t believe it—hey, get off from my desk.”

Ignoring Woo Bin’s protest, Min Ho sat on the edge of his friend’s desk. “What happened between you two anyway? How did you guys break up?”

“I don’t think I have the right to tell you.” Woo Bin said, then he frowned thoughtfully, “I don’t even know if we really break up…”

Min Ho raised an eyebrow and was about to asked what was that supposed to mean when the door of the Criminal Investigation Division burst opened and a small woman with her coat walked in.

“Guys! We have a case!”

Chief Daniel’s voice loudly filled the whole room, “Oo, look, our y little profiler came to visit.”

Immediately the Chief was belted with wadded up balls of paper. “Talk about me like that again in my presence and I will castrate you with a paperclip.”

Pouting, The Chief loosened his tie. “Oh come on Na Ra-ah… You know I’m just kidding.”

“And you know I didn’t care.” The woman glared at the man, turning to walk to the long table where they usually discuss about a case. “Alright guys, gathered up!”

Choi Daniel stood from his chair and mentioned to the other with his hand, “Come my boys, you heard the queen.”

Immediately after that all of them began to walk to sit on the table. Jong Suk halted on his step though when he was about to walk side by side with Woo Bin and pretend like he was looking for his cell phone instead, not noticing the look Woo Bin gave him when Jong Suk looked the other way.

Finally putting some distance between him and Woo Bin, he began to walk to the table only to stop on his step again when he noticed that the only empty chair left was the chair right across from Woo Bin, meaning that he have to sit right in front of him. Jong Suk groaned internally and decided to just get through it and be grateful that he didn’t have to sit next to Woo Bin. He needs to enjoy this moment where he doesn’t have to be alone with Woo Bin.

He deliberately trying to ignore the fact that Woo Bin was staring at him.

The woman crossed her arms and cleared . “A-hem. Right, first, congratulations for the newbies who was accepted to work here. I’m Jang Na Ra, your criminal profiler—”

“A pretty one, thankfully.” Chief Daniel butted in, as he cannot resist doing it.

Na Ra rolled her eyes. “Ugh, I feel so sorry for you guys for getting stuck with him.” She put a hand in front of her chest with an exaggerating expression.

“Hey, I’m amazi—”

“Oh, shut up.” The small petite woman cut him off as she look through the files she was carrying before putting up on the board with a magnet pin. “Right, let’s just get to the point. This will be your first murder case. A man named Shim Jihoon, age 34, was found dead in his apartment. He was found by the landlord at 08.30 this morning and from forensics examinee, it seems that he was already dead about 6 or 7 hours before though. He was stabbed to death in the stomach by a kitchen knife. The police suspected that it was a robbery crime judging by the mess in the apartment.”

“What kind of mess?” Jong Suk asked

Na Ra raised an eyebrow, “The kind of mess a robbery crime would be of course. What else would it be?”

Jong Suk shook his head, “No, I mean—just—can you tell us just how much the damage is?”

“Why?” the woman asked, obviously confused and bewildered.

Jong Suk was about to retorted back when a voice cut him off first. Not surprisingly, it was Woo Bin who spoke, “Na Ra-ssi, please. Every little detail is important.”

Jong Suk turned to looked at Woo Bin when he felt the other man’s gaze upon him before he quickly turned to looked at the profiler.

Just, what kind of game Woo Bin’s playing? Why he’s always seems like he was defending Jong Suk? Like he was trying to be nice.

Because he shouldn’t be.

“Huh,” the profiler asked and flipped through some photos from the files before putting it above the table, “Well, as you can see there were lots of stuff was thrown everywhere. It was quite a mess. It seems the robber was trying to find every valuable stuff in the apartment.”

Every one gathered and peered at the photos scattered on the table, trying to look at every single detail they could find. Jong Suk was a bit flustered when he found his face was quite close to Woo Bin because of the crowded space, and it seems he was not the only got affected, because when he glanced at Woo Bin, that said man was fidgeting uncomfortably.

Jong Suk deliberately ignored it.

“Anything got stolen?” The Chief puts his chin on top of Na Ra shoulder, trying to peered at the photos and got a smacked on the head in return. “Ouch!”

“Step away from me. And about that, I’m still not sure. But the report was definitely saying that there’s no money left inside his wallet.”

“Or maybe because in fact there is no money.” Young Kwang said, earning glances from everyone in return and he just shrugged. “No offense or trying to be rude here, but this is one small and dirty apartment.”

“Well, apparently he’s a divorced man who’s working at a convenience store. So there’s not much profit to make.” Na Ra answered him as she folded her arms in front of her chest.

“He’s got a family?” Shin Hye furrowed her eyebrows. “What about his parents? Have you informed them yet?”

The petite brown haired woman sighed, “Yes, an ex-wife who worked at a China restaurant and 6 years old daughter. Both his family and his parents lived in the neighbor town. Jihoon was a gambler and he’s got quite a debt. That’s what got him divorced in the first place.”

“A stupid struggling poor man that trying to make a living by gambling, huh. No wonder he got divorced.” Chief Daniel made a face in mock sympathy.

“Hush. Be respectful to the death.” Na Ra pinched the Chief on the side as she glared at him, who smiled apologetically in return. The woman rolled her eyes. She knew Choi Daniel too much that he didn’t regret anything he said.

Min Ho scoffed as he took one of the photos, “Well the robber was stupid as well then. I mean, why would he robbed a poor man lived by himself in a small dirty apartment?”

“Who knows, maybe he’s afraid to barge into some rich big house that got security and a CCTV camera?” Woo Bin turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, right.” The older one of the two smacked Woo Bin on the arm with a laugh.

“What? It’s possible.” Woo Bin retorted with a playful smirk.

Jong Suk stared at the two man joking in front of him, and for a minute pondering what kind of relationship that these two had before he decided to ignored it and grab at one of the photos.

It was a photo of Jihoon laying on the floor of what seemed to be a small living room judging by the TV and a single sofa. The room was indeed quite a mess. There’s a lot of broken pieces too on the floor from a broken vase. And apparently there were also from the two broken pieces of cups, and then there a few CDs scattered on the floor. The TV was still in one piece, but apparently the remote—

Wait.

Wait a minute.

What the—

“Hey…” he spoke out loud, earning a stare from the others. Jong Suk turned the photo to them, pointing at something as he looked at every single one of them, “This is a broken pieces from the cups, right?”

“Well, obviously, judging from the water spilled on the floor if you didn’t notice yet.” Min Ho raised an eyebrow at the newcomer.

Jong Suk willed himself not to glare at his senior as he turned to him and said, “That means he was about to drink or was drinking before he died.”

The silenced that followed was like in a graveyard until Min Ho dared himself to open his mouth. “…So?”

“Jong Suk-ah, what exactly are you trying to say?” this time it was the Chief who asked as he didn’t get where this conversation’s going.

Jong Suk turned to looked at the Chief. “Why there’s two broken pieces of cup?”

Min Ho was the one who answered him again, “You said it yourself that he was drinking—”

“No.” Woo Bin cut his friend off as realization hit him. “Jong Suk’s right, why he was drinking from two cups?”

There was silence as realization hit every person in the room. The sound of the clock ticking was the only one filled in the silence until Shin Hye opened and said lowly, comprehending the situation, “So you’re saying…”

“Jihoon wasn’t by himself then.” Daniel said, continuing what Shin Hye was about to say as realization hit him as well.

Jong Suk nodded his head. “Yes, or at least that’s what I thought. Jihoon was with someone else right before he died.”

“Yes, yes…” the Chief fixed his glasses with his middle finger as he nodded in understanding, “And there’s a big chance that this someone was the culprit because judging from the way the two cups broke into pieces near Jihoon is because—”

“—Jihoon was about to give this person a drink of water, but when he turned around, he got stabbed instead.” Jong Suk said again, putting the photo back on top of the table.

The Chief smirked. “Huh, you’re good. I like you already Jong Suk-ah.”

“Nice job, cutie.” Young Kwang winked at Jong Suk and patted him on the back. Jong Suk smiled at him in return and feeling quite satisfied from the compliment he got from the Chief. He did not notice the way Woo Bin eyes narrowed slightly at Young Kwang.

“So… there’s a big chance that this person was someone he knew then.” Min Ho sighed at the situation. “Damn… it could be anyone though…”

“Well, that’s our cue to investigate more into this case then.” Chief Choi smiled at his partner before turned to Na Ra. “Na Ra-ah, could you find his ex-wife’s and his parents address?”

The profiler nodded. “I’m on it.”

Daniel watched the woman walked and then turned to looked at his team. He shoved his hands into the pocket of his pants and said, “Well, since there’s a lot of work to do. We’re going to divide our jobs. Min Ho and I are going to crime scene to do more investigating and asked the landlord. Shin Hye and Young Kwang, you should go asked around the neighbor to find more information about Jihoon, find out where he liked to gambling, go there and asked around if there’s anyone who spotted Jihoon with someone else. While Jong Suk and Woo Bin can go to Jihoon’s parents house and his ex-wife’s house and find out more information about Jihoon.”

“Yes!!”

“Right, get on with it then.” The Chief winked at Woo Bin knowingly before he walked out of the office.

Woo Bin glared at the older man and swore to himself that he was going to castrate the Chief from the teasing when someone surprised him by putting a hand on his shoulder. He glared almost immediately when he found it was Min Ho, “Good luck, bro. Go get him back.” The man said, whispering into his ear and Woo Bin pushed him away with his leg.

Min Ho just laughed at him.

Jong Suk was just the same, he was biting his lips nervously at the situation when Young Kwang and Shin Hye came to him. The young woman smiled at him in sympathy and patted his arms. “It’s okay. Just focus at your work and time will fly by in no time.”

Jong Suk smiled at her. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Hey,” Young Kwang wrapped his arm around Jong Suk. “This is your first case, and don’t let it get to you. Beside, you need to work together in some ways since you two are partners.”

The skinned fair man let out a small sigh before he smiled at Young Kwang, “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks. Oh, and good luck you two.”

Young Kwang smiled brightly at him, “Sure. You too.”

“See you later.” Shin Hye waved her hand at him before she walked out of the office as well followed by Young Kwang trailing behind her. Jong Suk sighs again as he watched the other disappear out of the door.

“So… shall we go?”

Jong Suk startled a little from the voice and he turned around to find Woo Bin staring at him with hands inside the pocket of his pants. Looking calm. But Jong Suk knew him for quite a long time and he knew Woo Bin too much that from the way Woo Bin’s wetting his tongue… he was actually nervous. Just like Jong Suk.

“Yeah…” Jong Suk swallowed and nod his head, “Yeah, let’s go.”

Well, there’s no running away now.

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I am so SO sorry for the really late update and I was mostly stuck and have no idea what to write. So forgive if there’s so many mistake.

Still, I hope you enjoy this chapter!!! ^_^