Yixing’s words rang through Hana’s mind as she abruptly stopped moving. Was she dreaming? Was she hallucinating?

He confessed.

He said he liked her.

“That was...sudden,” she stuttered out, her heart beating wildly her chest. Her hands were clasped together, and she was wringing them nervously.

“I've gotten hit on the head twice in the last week,” he replied wryly. “I think it was best to say it before I got seriously hurt.” Yixing smiled at her, and Hana bit her lip, wanting to pretend as if she hadn't heard the confession. Her face was blank, but her mind was a storm. She wasn't ready for a relationship, much less one with her partner. That wasn’t even allowed in the force. Of course, he wasn’t actually on the police force, but he was still working in the precinct with her.

“I—uh,” she stuttered, not knowing what to say, but thankfully, Jessica burst into the room with Jongin following, preventing Hana from having to reply.

“You are dumb,” Jessica stated, looking at Yixing and pointing her index finger at him.

“What did I do?!” he asked indignantly. Hana took the chance to slightly back away into the corner of the room.

“You got hurt!”

“Again,” Jongin added. Hana watched the conversation between the two like a dog following a ball going from one side of the room to the other. It was then that Myungsoo walked into the room, immediately setting his eyes on Yixing, and threw his hands up in the air.

“Oh freaking hell, someone teach the man self-defense. Either that or how to walk in a straight line. He isn't even near the bad guys and still manages to attract trouble,” Myungsoo spoke, running a hand through his hair.

“Hey! I am a perfectly good archer,” Yixing whined as he tried to defend himself. Hana felt her lips twitch, and she clamped down on the urge to smile.

“Yeah that's totally going to work because you're in the Hunger Games,” Jessica replied.

The three obviously didn't notice what atmosphere they had walked into, but she was eternally grateful to them for helping her get out of the situation with Yixing’s confession. She had just started to let herself like him, but she wasn't expecting this so suddenly. She wasn't planning on acting on her feelings, and she had ignored the fact that Yixing would've picked up on it while wrapped up in herself.

God she hated it when Hansol was right.

“Wow such great friends,” Yixing mumbled.

“You know we’re just looking out for you, man,” Jongin replied. “You’re of no use if you’re in a coma thanks to hitting a tree.”

“Oh, thank you for your concern,” Yixing replied rolling his eyes. Jongin grinned.

“Hana, why are you so quiet? You were the one who was freaking out the most,” Myungsoo cheekily brought up, looking at her. She whipped her head up to look at him and scowled. Ever since the day Hana told Yixing about her family, they had started spending more time outside of work together, and that seemed to be the cue for Myungsoo to start teasing her about her relationship with Yixing. Just by being his perceptive self, he realized that she liked him before she even fully acknowledged it to herself. Thankfully, Jessica and Jongin hadn’t spent as much time with her and Yixing compared to Myungsoo, so they still didn’t know. To be honest, she would love to keep it that way too.

Hana rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned her back against the wall. “He’s okay, isn’t he? It’s not a big deal.”

“She was worried?” Yixing asked, a small smile on his face. Hana assumed it was because to him it meant that she cared for him more than a regular friend would, and she tried to not bristle at the thought.

Which she did, but she didn’t know if she was okay with knowing that.

And, if Jongin and Jessica had no clue before about the two, they definitely did now. Hana avoided looking over at her friends.

The doctor came back into the room holding a folder and kicked everyone but Hana out since she was the one who brought him into the hospital with the ambulance.

“Okay, the scans are fine. There’s no internal bleeding or aneurysms, but you may get headaches, momentarily lose your train of thought, have problems with concentration, or have blurry vision. It’ll clear up in a few days as long as you don’t get injured again. Once you sign some paperwork, you should be good to go,” he spoke. Hana bowed to the man, and Yixing thanked him and spoke once the doctor left, closing the door behind him.

“So, you’re just going to pretend I never said anything?” Yixing asked, sitting on the bed. Hana sighed.

“No.”

“Then?”

“Yixing, I can’t,” Hana replied, wringing her hands again. He straighted up and got out of bed before walking over to her, taking her hands in his own. She felt him rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles.

“Why? I know you like me too. Or you’re at least attracted to me. I’m good with criminals, not so great with females,” he laughed. Hana sent him a stiff smile. She didn't know what to say to him, but she did know that he deserved the truth.

“Because,” she started, “I’m scared. I’m not even ready to fully accept myself and my role in what’s happened over the past few years and letting Baekhyun do what he’s been doing, so how can I accept someone else having such a big presence in my life?" she whispered, looking down at their intertwined hands. "Not to mention the fact that you’re a civilian. If I get too close to you, I’m scared Baekhyun might hurt you. The others are trained and can take care of themselves. I’m trained. Subin wasn’t, and neither are you.”

“So, I take it that’s a no?” Yixing asked. Hana didn’t reply for a moment, contemplating if the words she was going to speak were what she really wanted. He was smiling, but there was hurt behind that smile, and Hana felt terrible she was the reason behind it. But, she thought with an internal sigh, she would prefer that over Baekhyun getting to him. She lost Subin to him; she wouldn’t lose Yixing too. Maybe after all of this was over, things could be different.

“For now,” Hana smiled. Yixing’s dimple showed up again.

“You know where to find me when you’re ready for this, and we can talk,” Yixing promised. She nodded, and he moved to wrap her up in an embrace. Their heights matched up just enough for her to lay her head on his shoulder, and she breathed him in — a mix of his own sweat mixed with his cologne.

Sweat and cologne shouldn’t smell this appealing.

He broke the embrace and pulled away from her, his hands moving to her shoulder blades.

“But you know,” he mused, “that doesn’t mean I won’t be flirting with you.”

Hana snorted. “As if you normally don't anyways.” She felt a lot better about their relationship now that things had been cleared. She was okay just knowing that he would be there for her, even if she wasn’t ready for it. She could see it now: Myungsoo relentlessly teasing them, but joined by Hansol, Jessica, Jongin, Krystal, and Kyungso