Hana watched Hansol’s face light up with a genuine smile, and his eyes were lacking any of his usual mischievousness.

“What?” she asked, wringing her hands again. Her brother noticed that she had started up again, so he placed a hand on top of hers as an attempt to stop her and calm her down at the same time. She looked down at their hands and knew that she would start wringing her hands whenever the topic of personal feelings would pop up. She really couldn’t help it, though. After years of training herself to separate personal feelings from work, and then spending so much of her time just working, she lost touch with her personal self. The only emotional connections she had left were with her colleagues, who really were the only friends she had, and her brother.

Hansol looked at her knowingly. “You know what, Hana. What are you waiting for? Yixing’s a really good guy, and he looks like he likes you just as much as you like him, if not more. He clearly cares for you. Why else would he take you home, and then stay with you until I got home? He even stayed after I got here just to make sure you were going to be okay, and only then did he leave,” Hansol pointed out. Hana had to admit, she did notice that Yixing would look out for her quite a bit, and he paid more attention to her than he did to the others, but she figured it was because she was the one who ran into him first.

“You have your thinking face. Spill,” her brother demanded, pulling his hand away. Hana simply pursed her lips, and he sighed. He stood up for a moment to go to the kitchen, and he came back with two cans of beer. Hana took one from Hansol and held it in her hands, feeling the coldness seep into her hands as she watched him open up the can and take a sip. Hana opened her can of beer and took a long sip, needing a bit of liquid courage to speak up.

“It’s just that…I have noticed him doing things for me that he hasn’t done for the others. Like earlier, I left my phone on the table, and he noticed that, so he left his dinner so he could give it to me. He spent his resting time with me to make sure I was okay. He’s helped me out a few times with evidence, when he could’ve gone to someone else. He even said that he would always help me out. I guess it’s because he feels like he owes me for saving his life, but it’s weird. I was the reason why he was there in the first place. Not to mention the fact that we’ve only known each other for what? Two weeks? I feel like rather than him liking me, it’s more because he got stuck with me first.”

“You’re insecure because you’ve never felt like this before. And yes, I know you’ve had crushes, but from the looks of it, it doesn’t look like just a crush. Sure, it’s just physical attraction right now, but you know that dating him wouldn’t be a bad idea deep down in that stone heart of yours,” he joked, pointing at her heart. “Open it up to him. You need love in your life,” Hansol spoke. Hana scoffed.

“Please, love? I have you and my friends. What more love do I need? I don’t need anything else in my life except for arresting The Gardener.”

Hansol rolled his eyes. “You already blurted his real name out in front of me, and I know you know that. Just call him Baekhyun, Hana. And besides, it’s been eight years since you’ve spoken to mom or dad, so they’re out of the question. There’s no one there to care for you when you need someone. Sure, you have your friends, but they can’t always be there. They have our own relationships with family and their significant others. You have me, but until when? You know being a prosecutor is as fickle with the job timings as being a detective is.” He had a valid point, but Hana refused to give in.

“Who said I needed a man to take care of me? Sure, it’s nice to be able to rely on someone, but I don’t need that luxury in my life right now. I’m an independent woman who’s been taking care of herself for the better part of the last decade, Hansol. I think I’ll be okay.”

He fastened her with a strong look. “You weren’t okay a while ago.” Hana didn’t have a response to that, so she just stayed quiet and sipped at her beer. She heard her brother scoff, realizing that he had stumped his sister.

“Since when were you so wise?” Hana finally asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence. She had to admit, she missed hanging out with her brother like this, even if the circumstances over them meeting weren’t ideal.

“I’ve had seven more minutes in this cruel world than you did,” Hansol grinned. Hana shoved him and debated for a few seconds if she should dump the rest of her beer on his head, but that would mean staining the sofa, so she decided against it.

“Ow!”

“You deserved that.” He rolled his eyes at her before grabbing his phone, and he sighed.

“It’s 1:17 A.M, Puffy, we should get to bed.”

Hana had almost decided that it would be worth it to stain her sofa if it meant getting revenge, but as a better idea came to mind, she quickly discarded the thought. She nodded and finished off the rest of her beer. She stood up to go to the kitchen to throw out the empty can. Kn