“You’re in a relationship.” Dr. Lee spoke the words out slowly like she was speaking a new language.

Ayeon glanced at the ceiling in thought, “I guess? I told him how I felt about him, he said he felt the same, we…we slept together and the next morning it was nice. He made me breakfast, he kissed me a good few times, and it’s been like that ever since.”

Dr. Lee let out a small laugh, “Well, that’s good for you. It seems like you learned a lot since the last time we met.”

“Did you think it was wrong that we already slept together?” Ayeon asked with a frown.

She raised her brows, “Is that how you felt?”

“At first, kind of.”

“And now?”

Ayeon looked out the window, admiring the limited view, “Now, it feels inconsequential. It feels like we would be at the same place even if I hadn’t.”

Dr. Lee smiled, “That’s how relationships are, Ayeon. You might have some moments of insecurity and uncertainty, especially at first but this is such a big step for you to learn how dating and allowing someone into your life doesn’t have to be a threat.”

“We’re not dating.”

Dr. Lee blinked, “Oh…wait, I’m sorry I think I misunderstood, I thought you two were seeing each other, romantically.”

“We are.” Ayeon confirmed.

She nodded slowly, “But you’re not dating.”

“We haven’t gone on a date yet and we haven’t really talked about labels.” Ayeon’s stare was heavy on Dr. Lee, trying to read her face for an indicator that she had said something wrong.

Dr. Lee was good at scribbling on her note pad without breaking eye contact, “Would you like labels? Like boyfriend and girlfriend, for example.”

Ayeon shrugged, “I don’t know. What we have right now is good and maybe to ask for anything more would be too much, but I do think he would make a really nice boyfriend.”

“Why would you think it’d be too much?”

Ayeon pursed her lips, “I’m worried if I ask for too much and it’s not what he wants, then I’ll have screwed everything up.”

She tilted her head, “And he indicated that he doesn’t want more?”

“No, but it’s frightening to find out that he might not.”

Dr. Lee nodded, “We all thrive for acceptance and feeling like we belong with people. It’s scary to put yourself out there and find out that someone might not find that you’re worth to them what they’re worth to you.”

“Exactly.” Ayeon said, letting a breath out.

“But if this relationship is important to you, you need to be open to the fact that there could be something really valuable here. Something that could be really good for you if you allow yourself to ask for more when what you want is more.”

Ayeon let out a loud breath, “This feels like something I worry about in highschool.”

“Did you ask boys to be your boyfriend in highschool, Ayeon.” Dr. Lee asked.

Ayeon fell silent before looking away, “No, I guess I didn’t.”

“Don’t inundate yourself with this yet, just focus on embracing this part of a relationship, live in this moment with him. Learn to identify the differences between the relationship between you and him and the one between your mother and father.”

Dr. Lee knew that her duty should’ve been to fixate on Lucas’s murder and gauge Ayeon’s fitness with that trauma, but the mere fact that she welcomed a romantic relationship instead of allowing Lucas’s unrequited feelings for her guilt her into singlehood had to be a good sign.

“I’m trying, I know that my relationship with him before we started seeing each other was completely different than when mom was with dad.” She breathed out, “He never imposed anything on me and never tried to make me change.”

“Close your eyes.”

Ayeon looked at her, alarmed, “Why?”

“I think you chose and measure your words when someone’s watching you, so I want you to close your eyes.” She said, crossing her legs.

Ayeon stared her down, before sighing and closing her eyes, “Fine.”

“Tell me about your relationship with this man. Tell me how it makes you feel.” Her voice softened to soothe over her.

She knit her brows together, simmering over the thought, “I feel…appreciated. Like this is a person that sees me, like really sees me without me having to show him.”

“That’s nice, being seen.” Dr. Lee prodded.

Ayeon clenched her fingers together, “He knows when to push me and when to let me be. And the way that he talks to me, no man has ever spoken to me with that much kindness and affection. When I’m around him, I want to put my feelings in a bottle so that I can carry them around with me like a reminder.”

“A reminder of what?”

Ayeon opened her eyes, “A reminder that a man can make me feel these things without making me feel weak or overpowered.”

-----

“What about Yoon Yuri?” Mina asked. Her and Ayeon were seated by the kitchen island, going down the list of transferred officers, trying to find them in the police database.

She shook her head, “Nope, I have nothing after she got transferred. None of these officers have public information on their reassignment.”

Mina stared hopelessly as the papers in front of her, “I wonder if they hid this information before I released the names or after to cover their tracks.”

“Good question. They hurt you before you can make connections, put you out of commission and then block files.” Ayeon considered. “Give me the last one.”

“Kim Dong Jae.”

Ayeon’s fingers flew over the keys before she sat up, “Kim Dong Jae, I’ve got nothing on him.”

“Great, so this was useless.” Mina muttered, tossing the page on the table.

Ayeon shook her head, “No, you don’t understand. I have absolutely nothing on him. Not even his old precinct.”

Mina frowned, “Wait, nothing? Like no record of him ever being a police officer?”

Ayeon nodded, “Nothing shows up, maybe you spelled it wrong?”

“No, that’s not possible, I got this list directly.” Mina muttered, “Is that the only way to access personnel information?”

Ayeon shook her head, “Anything else would be in HR and they’re located like an hour away, but that doesn’t matter, if you’re a police officer, active or former, your name would show up on this database.”

“So…was he not an officer?” Mina asked.

Ayeon made a face, “It doesn’t make sense. Officers are the only ones whose transfers need to get approved by the Commissioner. Admin staff just need to go through HR.”

“What other reason is there for this guy to just vanish?” Mina pondered.

Ayeon racked her brain, “I don’t know. If he was on witness protection, it’d be possible but his name wouldn’t have been on this list at all.” Ayeon pressed her fists against her eyes for a second, “Okay, let’s try something else, let’s work with something we know. What do you remember about Kyung Gyu when you tracked him down?”

“Nothing important. He was with a few of his buddies, he likes cheap beer and when I implied that he was a goody two shoes, he got offended and that’s when he said that stuff about covering up a murder.” Mina said.

Ayeon chewed on her lip, “Do you remember anything else?”

“No, they were in their uniforms which I thought was weird.”

Ayeon shrugged, “Not really, they weren’t on duty and it’s a cop bar so people know not to say anything if they were.”

“That and oh! He was transferred about 5 years ago I think?”

Ayeon froze, “5 years? That’s when Ha—”

She fell silent, her mind racing as she tried to reel it back. She was getting carried away, coincidences happen often, all sorts of people get murdered but no matter what she tried to tell herself, the grim thought had already planted itself in her mind.

5 years ago, was when Haerin was murdered.

Murdered by someone her brother swore was a police officer.

“What were you going to say?” Mina asked.

Ayeon snapped her head up, her hands trembling, “Nothing, just…just a theory, but it’s too far fetched right now. There are too many possibilities, we need more information. We need to find Officer Kyung Gyu.”

-----

Jaehyun had a fascination with Ayeon’s smile.

Normally they were small, little flickers of her lips but other times, when she was relaxed enough, comfortable against her couch, she’d let out a beaming smile and it was like pure gold. It was like lightning exploding out of a bottle and it completely obliterated him every single time.

It started purely innocently, her balancing her laptop on her thighs, him stretched out next to her, thumbing pages of a good book on the couch. Yet somehow the serenity evaporated and turned into him splayed out lazily on his back, his one knee propped up, his book long abandoned with Ayeon on top of him, working galaxies onto his neck and his hands spelling poetry under her shirt.

Maybe it had more, to do with the fact that she let out that killer laugh and he just had to set her laptop on the table and pull her over him to hear that laugh again but in his mouth.

“I think you’re trying to ruin me.” His voice wavered.

She shoved herself up so that she hovered over him, her hair brushing against his shoulder, “And you think I’m still in one piece? You’re really ing good at keeping your hands busy.”

He grinned, slowly pulling the guilty parties out from the depths of her shirt and brought them up to hold the hair out of her face, “I like keeping you on your toes.”

She let a laugh bubble in before leaning down to kiss him. His hand moved down the curve of her back, just holding her when the alarm on her phone chimed.

“Oh, I gotta go.” She gasped out as she stood, “I don’t know why I couldn’t just spend my lunch break at your place.”

He stood with her, “I figured we needed equal time in both apartments.”

She glanced over at him with a frown, “The only reason I don’t drag you here every night is that it’s easier for you to wake up at 6AM and walk down the stairs to prep for opening and I can just bring clothes and walk 2 minutes to get to work.”

“I know, detective.” He said, amused at how serious she got.

“No, I’m not joking, I don’t want you thinking that I don’t bring you over here because I don’t want you here or something.”

He closed the gap and kissed her firmly on the mouth and she kissed him back naturally, she could swear that she would always kiss him back, no matter what she was doing or thinking, she'd always kiss him back.

He pulled away and cupped her face, “I don’t think that, sweetheart. You’re insanely thoughtful, but I don’t want you feeling like you’re sacrificing your comfort and home just to make life easier on me.”

She didn’t know how to tell him that home was arbitrary to her. Home wasn’t where she lived, it was who she was around. Home was in Soya and Jinah’s apartment, it was in her old house across the city, it was in Soya’s mom’s apartment and now, it was with Jaehyun, at his shop, in his flat, it was just him.

“Weekends here, weekdays with you?” She offered, knowing he opened late on weekends.

“Deal.” He whispered before kissing her chin quickly before kissing her on the mouth again. Her apartment was nicer than his and it worried him that she might be sacrificing comfort by constantly sharing his small one with Triple.

When he pulled away, she didn’t step back and just caught her breath before coaxing him back into another kiss. And another. And another until he was mumbling against with a voice deep, coated with inappropriate intentions. “Call in late.”

She smiled and he swore that he nearly lost grip of his senses. She shook her head, their noses brushing back and forth, “From lunch? Can’t.”

“Please.” It was so breathy and desperate that suddenly her resolve was shaking, because it always sent a shock running through her body when the lovely, selfless man that squeezed her heart became fogged with need.

“I’ll make it worth your while.” He whispered wickedly.

She groaned in a way that made him reply with a dreamy sigh as he used his mouth to bring her back to the couch that was still warm and made sure, it was entirely worth her while.

-----

Ayeon walked straight to Jaehyun's shop at the end of her shift and unlocked the front door long after closing, tired and in desperate need of being around him. It was hard to focus on work when her mind spun around her Haerin theory, but she was too scared to bring it up to him, not when she didn’t have any hard evidence to show him. She wasn’t going to give him false hope for closure until she knew the connection between Kyung Gyu’s cover-up and Haerin’s murder were real. 

“I thought someone was breaking in. Prettiest robber ever.”

She looked up at Jaehyun, who was seated by the counter with a calculator and pieces of paper spread out in front of him and a lazy smile on his lips.

“Wanted to see you before dinner.” She said, walking around him, “What are you up to?”

He grunted as she pulled up a stool next to him, “Going over the books, checking the monthly expenses. Basically, staring at numbers until they don't make sense.”

“Gross.” She pulled out her laptop and powered it on.

He hummed in agreement as she leaned her head against his shoulder, scrolling through Kyung Gyu’s file, looking at anything she could find about him from before he was transferred. His partner recently retired, and she considered the risks involved with reaching out to him, seeing if he knew where Kyung Gyu was. Maybe she’d get answers or maybe he’d just tell someone that a detective was snooping around.

“What