Jaehyun’s day had started and ended with Ayeon and he didn’t hate it.

She had hung around long enough for her to drop the subject of his 7-day vanishing act and move onto things that normal people talk about. She was nothing he had ever expected, and she was constantly breaking him down and making him warm up to her. He hadn’t warmed up to someone like that in a long time.

She was funny in a deadpanned way, she liked art, was ride or die for coffee, adored pop music, and always knew she wanted to be a cop. The last bit surprised him more than the pop music, but he bit his tongue.

The issue with having her in his place with nothing to distract him is that he began paying a lot of attention to her and the little things she does. He watched the way her hair shifted, her body moved when she walked around, the way her lips curved and shaped words. He noticed the way she’d fall silent for sometimes 10 seconds straight or how she’d always look at Triple like she didn’t understand what kind of animal he was but the second he purred, she’d let him walk over her or curl up in her lap. Her eyes were careful especially when she’d watch him move. And her voice.

Good lord that voice was driving him insane.

It was throaty but high, it was smoke and…daisies.

It diverted his attention.

When she left, the silence was deafening, and she wasn’t even largely outspoken, yet his loft was still missing her ring, but what stood out the most was that his house smelled different. It smelled like her, despite every inch covered in fragrant flowers.

Ayeon was an anomaly to him. She was someone whom he knew he should keep at an arm’s length but whenever she was around him, his mouth would only form words intended to keep her near. Against all assumptions, she was genuine, warm with a penchant to overthink. He was becoming fond of her; her company was one of a kind. No one spoke to him the way she did, no one was so perceptive of his emotions.

She made him feel cared for.

He went down the stairs, the next morning, his body finally feeling back to the way it was before he assaulted and flicked on the kettle. Triple followed behind him as he filled his bowl and he walked out to the front to open up and saw Ayeon waiting outside.

She was an anomaly indeed.

-----

She was a woman with a mission.

Mina had stood in front of the precinct, pumping herself up. Her editor was breathing down her neck and these police officers are probably using her face for shooting practice with how much they must hate her now.

She had to change her approach.

She had to be more aggressive.

Mina dusted her jacket and held her head high before storming into the precinct, right past the front desk and into the offices where people were rushing around. Her eyes zeroed in on the woman she had to deal with before, the team lead, Kim Jinah. That woman was like a stone wall.

She frowned when Ayeon was nowhere in sight. Why was she never in the office? What was she hiding?

“You.” Jinah’s face was hardened when Mina approached, “I told you, you can’t be here if you’re going to harass my officers. You need to leave.”

Mina rolled her shoulders back, “I’m a private citizen, I’m allowed to be here.”

“Not if you don’t have a statement to give or a crime to report.” Jinah muttered.

She smiled, hoping it didn’t show her nerves, “I do have a crime to report.”

“I swear to god, if you say Officer Hu-“

“Officer Huang’s death.” She finished with a smug look.

Jinah pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to relieve the pressure building, “Look, whatever crackpot theories you have, fine, you can have them, but you won’t find your answers here.”

“Just one thing on the record.” She pleaded while holding out a recorder.

Jinah stared at the device, letting a moment pass when she caught Soya walking past, “Lucas was family. We loved him. This loss is one we’ve never experienced before, and it looms over us like a dark cloud. We’re trying to make sense of it and find closure and you’re not letting us. This “interview” is over, and I’ve said it before, but you’re not welcome here anymore.”

Jinah nodded and something over her shoulder and Mina turned to see two officers in uniform walk towards her with every intention to throw her out and plaster her face around the office so she would never be able to step foot in.

Mina looked around in a panic when her eyes landed on an empty desk, she gave Jinah a smirk and before she could retaliate, grabbed a pair of handcuffs and locked herself to a desk. She looked at Jinah before slowly lowering herself to a chair.

“You’re ing kidding me.” Jinah hissed.

Mina smiled slowly, “Looks like I’m not going anywhere, Detective Kim.”

Jinah picked up her phone, shooting Mina a dirty look, before dialing Ayeon’s number.

-----

“What’s wrong?” Jaehyun asked as he walked to the back. He had overheard the end of a verse tense phone call and the current state of Ayeon’s face backed up his assumptions

Ayeon rubbed her temples, counting silently to 10, “That girl who came into your shop earlier, with the red hair? She’s essentially camping out of the precinct until I show up. She probably thinks it’s some sort of conspiracy that I’m not at work.”

Triple, who had been curled up on Ayeon’s reluctant lap, eyed the two of them in annoyance as they interrupted his nap.

“Do you honestly believe that she knows something?” Jaehyun said slowly.

She scowled and shot him a scathing look, “What?”

“It’s just that, why would any reporter good or bad, try to question something as sensitive as a police officer’s death without anything backing up their suspicions? There must be some reason why she doesn’t think it happened the way you think.”

Ayeon snapped, “I was there, you know. I watched him die. Die. I watched someone I know be killed and I probably could’ve prevented it. Have you ever watched someone die? Watch the literal life leave their body and then cease to exist? Huh? Do you know what it’s like knowing that you are the last thing someone saw before they died?”

“No, I don’t.” He said softly as he leaned against the wall, taking her anger.

She felt her body tremble and fought to keep her emotions in check, “Then you don’t have the right to pose hypotheticals. I was there. I know better about what happened then some girl sitting behind her laptop trying to get some recognition.”

“I’m sorry. You’re right.” He said gently, his tone remaining calm.

The anger immediately drained from her body and was replaced with exhaustion. She held her head in her hands and just wanted to crawl in bed and sleep for days.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He said softly.

She shook her head, “No. I’m sorry for being so short with you. I’m fine, just tired.”

“Did you know, that the word “fine” is the most misappropriated word in the dictionary?”

She lifted her head and gaped at him, “That’s not a real fact.”

“Do you want to talk about it, detective?” He asked again with an understanding smile.

Sh