She had left.

When Jaehyun came out of his room with the obscene idea to make Ayeon breakfast, he found the couch empty with the blanket neatly fold and a scribbled note placed on top of the pillow.

Thank you for letting me stay over. I’m sorry I had to run out for work, I’ll pay you in pastries when I get back. -A

Yes, he had desperately fallen for a woman who paid him in sweets and her company. It was marvelous.

He didn’t crumple the note or toss it away, he smiled and stuck on the side of his fridge for no real purpose but to hang onto little reminders of her. Because she was someone who, in any other scenario, would’ve left with no sign that she was ever there to begin with. She was someone who didn’t like to leave bits of herself behind with people she didn’t want to remember her.

But she left a note this time.

-----

Ayeon would be embarrassed to say that she spent an hour hiding in the precinct’s bathroom, dreading to have to face her colleagues who loved humiliating her. But to be fair, the hour flew right by when she thought back to when she woke up wrapped up in a blanket that smelled exactly like Jaehyun with the print of his couch cushions indented into her cheek.

She wasn’t going to lie, it wasn’t the worst way she’s woken up.

Seeing a text message from Jinah telling her to come to the precinct first thing? Yeah, could be better.

After an hour of playing on her phone and avoiding responsibility, Ayeon finally decided to creep out of the bathroom stall and venture out to the hell that waited her. Daemin raised his brow at her when he saw her slink in undetected and she responded with a meek smile, keeping her head down as she dropped to her chair.

She looked over at Jinah’s desk and frowned when it was empty, for someone who made a fuss about having to come in, where the hell was the woman? She kept herself busy, checking her inbox, fiddling with paperwork but it began to sink in, just how far she had fallen from graces.

She didn’t have a single active case, not even something minor. She used to juggle 3 or 4 at the same time. It was like no one trusted her with anything except mindless paper work.

Ayeon frowned, using her pen to dig at the chip in her desk. What was she even doing at this job anymore? She was just getting paid to hang around Jaehyun all day, she wasn’t even doing any actual work.

“Detective Yoo.”

The hair on the back of her neck stood, her pen tumbling out of her fingers, as she turned to face the Commissioner. There was no way that he was just casually showing up here the rare time she was forced to be by her desk. She looked over at Jinah who stood behind him with her head down and eyes averted. Everything smelled like a disaster.

His eyes were narrowed as he inspected her face like he was looking for a visible deformity. He strolled over to her, everyone falling silent as he stood, arms behind his back, imposing.

“Sir.” She said stiffly with a brisk nod.

He tilted his head back, staring down his nose at her, “The Commissioner’s Ball is soon, and I am here to extend an invitation to you.”

That was not on the long list of things she expected him to say.

“I’m sorry, sir. What?” She blurted, her eyes looking over at Jinah once again, but she was still looking away, frowning.

“You’re being honored for your bravery from the last few months and you will appear as a special guest. You understand that it isn’t every day that a detective is invited to these events much less as a special guest.” He said, his face still void of emotion.

She felt her jaw tense, “Yes sir. I’m so…honored.”

He nodded, clearly pleased, “You are free to bring a guest, I’ll have my secretary forward you the details.”

He didn’t bother hearing her response and walked away. Jinah closed her eyes as whispers broke out around them. “Everyone shut up and do your work!”

She opened her eyes and stared at Ayeon, “You, follow me.”

-----

“He’s using you.” Jinah muttered once they were hidden in a private room. “I don’t know why or for what purpose, but he has an agenda. No one is ever honored at the Commissioner’s Ball, they have separate ceremonies for that. He’s trying to put on a show.”

Ayeon shrugged, “Well, him. I’m not going.”

Jinah gave her a bitter smile, “I don’t know that you have many choices.”

“Oh? Well, we’ll see about that.” Ayeon said with a grin, “Anyways, I’m sick and tired of this place and I'm not hiding in the bathroom anymore so, please let me leave.”

Jinah rolled her eyes before turning away, “Yes, run off to Jaehyun. My god, at least try and be less obvious.”

-----

Mina’s leg bounced erratically as she hovered over her laptop. The pounding of her hangover was starting to fade and instead pulse at the ends of her fingertips.

It was done.

She stared at her word document, her breath stuttering. Her eyes ran over the article, one that boldly accused the Commissioner of funneling thousands of dollars into his own pocket instead of the charity that was listed on the expense report. She had done extra digging and contacted all of the pre-approved charities that the Seoul Police Department was associated with and none of them had records of donations exceeding what was publicly available.

Either they were lying, or the Commissioner was.

But it was still chewing at her. She had all the facts laid down in front of her in black and white, but it felt like there was a gap, one that she knew the Commissioner would use to discredit her. She had absolutely no proof of what he was doing with the money.

How was anyone going to believe her claims if she couldn’t place the money anywhere? The Commissioner would just tell the country that the money was for anonymous donations. It was driving her insane.

She spent hours searching the internet, falling into a deeper hole of uncertainty and conspiracy theories until she stumbled onto a forum, layers down to the point where she wasn’t exactly sure how she got there, clicking from one link to another, it was hard to track. Her eyes were burning but she couldn’t look away, most of it was absurd theories and assumptions, all except one on page 34.

[LuckyStar88] Isn’t weird? Someone with that much influence and power but so many of his precinct’s officers get transferred. That doesn’t happen for no reason.

Mina’s eyes widened, as she re-read the post. It was from a month ago with no likes or dislikes and no replies, just getting buried among other crackpot theories. Nervous, Mina clicked on the username and stared at their profile, the picture was set to the default and they hadn’t been active since they posted that comment.

She clicked on the message button, her fingers hovering over the keyboard before they flew over the keys.

[User1340ac92] What do you think it means that so many people are getting transferred?

-----

Ayeon’s sunglasses were perched on top of her head as she tried to use her elbow to open the door to Jaehyun’s shop, her hands full of pastries and hot chocolate that looked like it could single-handedly give her cavities.  

Just as she was able to hold the door open, a lithe form with a mess of black hair and silver piercings darted out of the shop carrying a bucket of flowers.

“Ten! Don’t forget the baby’s breath!” Jaehyun yelled from the back.

Ayeon blinked and looked into the store where Jaehyun came racing right past her with a cardboard box. She watched Jaehyun and the younger boy haul tubs and boxes into a van, yelling orders. Ten ran right back into the shop, not casting her a glance, it wasn’t until Jaehyun was on his way back that he noticed her.

His hair was a mess and he was fighting to catch his breath, “Detective, I apologize for the commotion.”

“What’s going on?”

He smiled nervously while taking the door from her, allowing her to finally step inside. “A little bit of an emergency.”

“Do I take the tulips?” The boy popped his head from the back.

Jaehyun ran a hand through his hair, contemplating before nodding, “Better safe than sorry.” He turned back to face her, “We were hired to dress a wedding, but they really just wanted us to supply the flowers, they said they had people to actually set everything up, but apparently the people they hired have a flat tire and they’re not going to make it in time. The bride asked if I could come in and do it for them instead, I couldn’t say no so now we’re…panicking.”

“Never!” Ten shrieked as he stormed to the front of the shop, carrying boxes, “Never let Jaehyun answer emergency calls because he will ALWAYS say yes.”

Ayeon’s lips parted in awe as she glanced at Jaehyun who looked flushed, “Ten’s a design major, he does some work here for bigger events. He isn’t exactly thrilled about the current situation.”

“Well, I brought sustenance for the road.” She set the box down and turned to him with a lazy smile, “Thanks again…for last night. Being woken up at 2 AM probably wasn’t a lot of fun.”

“I…I…I have to be honest, detective, I want to say something kind and light-hearted but all I’m thinking about is how we’re going to create the 72 rose trellis arch and prep each centerpiece before guests start arriving.” His body was shaking with an energy that she wasn’t used to seeing from him, it was frantic, rushed, unorganized.

And oddly charming.

“We’re just about done loading everything we need up, Ten and I need to head over to the wedding s—”

“Oh my god.”

They turned to see Ten standing in the doorway, staring at his hand.

Jaehyun’s eyes narrowed, alert, “What happened?”

“I got an interview.” Ten whispered, his eyes sparkling, “With-with this fashion house. They want to meet with me now because the head designer is in.” The sparkle died as reality kicked in, “Wait, the wedding…”

Jaehyun fell silent as his mind raced. Ten had been stressed and high strung for months because he couldn’t even get an interview for a design job that wasn’t just posing mannequins for a storefront, this was his first interview since he graduated.

But there was no way he could do this entire wedding on his own.

“What about Chenle?” Ten suggested.

Jaehyun chewed his lip as he shook his head, “He’s still in China with his family.”

“I could help.”

Jaehyun stilled before slowly turning to Ayeon who shrugged mildly, “I’ve seen what you do and if you give me instructions, I should be fine following them. And you need the extra hands, right?”

He frowned, “Detective, I can’t ask you to do that. This isn’t your problem or you jo—”

She glanced at her watch, “I feel like you don’t really have the luxury of turning me down right now.”

He looked over at Ten’s hopeful face before sighing, “Okay fine, go. Good luck, you can put me down as a reference if you need it.”

Ayeon grabbed the box of pastries and walked out the door, Jaehyun following close behind muttering soft apologies and promises to make it up to her.

“Dinner.” She blurted as he pulled onto the highway.

He glanced at her from the side of her eye, “What?”

“If you’re going to make it up to me, make me dinner again.” She said it quieter this time and made sure she was facing the window, so she couldn’t see Jaehyun’s smile when he caught her blush in the reflection.

“Okay, dinner.”

-----

“Wow.” Ayeon breathed out as she stared at the photograph propped up on an easel outside the venue doors.

Kath and Jo

The women were stunning, their smiles bleeding love and affection as they posed, holding hands, with a lush forest as their backdrop.

“They almost look like catalogue models, right?” Jaehyun snorted as he dragged the last boxes of flowers into the venue.

She shook her head and followed him in, it was a conservative ballroom, with tables and chairs draped in a warm white and green silk and a modest dance floor in the center.

Jaehyun let out a loud breath, his hands braced against his hips. “Ready?”

-----

She didn’t know how he did this as a career.

Ayeon was seated by one of the tables, sweat pricking her hairline and her fingers cramping as she set down the last of the centerpieces.

“Are they ready?”

She looked up at the venue staff that had been watching hers and Jaehyun’s progress nervously. “Yeah, they’re all yours.”

She stepped away as the staff started moving the floral structures to each of the tables. Dusting her pants, she walked over to Jaehyun who had been working diligently on the arch where the two brides were going to stand under while reading their vows.

“How’s it going?”

He looked at her through the vines and roses, eyes wide, “You’re done?”

“With time to spare. Need help?” She asked.

He climbed off his chair, rolling the knots out of his neck, “I just have a little bit to do at the bottom and we should be good.”

“It looks beautiful.” She mused, her eyes trailing down the rich greens woven through the wooden arch with different coloured roses strategically placed in full bloom.

He crossed his arms, surveying his work, “Good enough to get married under?”

“I’d think so.” She said, nudging her shoulder against his. “You did good, kid.”

He scoffed looking over at her before reaching into her hair, running his fingers through it before holding out a leaf, “Not too bad for a rookie.”

“Have you guys seen our parents?”

Ayeon and Jaehyun, their eyes widening when the brides stood before them, hair and makeup applied to perfection but just in their robes.

“Isn’t it bad luck to see each other?” Jaehyun joked.

One of the women barely mustered a smile, “I know, but it’s a bit of an emergency.”

He frowned, “Okay well no, I haven’t seen your parents. Is there something we can do?”

One of the women was statuesque, long legs, wide lips, deep eyes, she frowned, “I don’t know if it’s somet