It was a high-pitched scream in her ear for the first 20 seconds until someone gripped her arm and pulled her up.

Ayeon squinted at the man before her, it was one of Jinah’s friends, she had seen a group picture on her desk. “Detective Yoo? My name is Detective Kim Doyoung, I’m a detective with the Hostage Negotiations Unit. Why don’t we take you to get checked up by medical, okay?”

“Right, of course.” Ayeon cleared , “It’s nice meeting you, Jinah talks a lot about you and your team.”

He stared at her, his lips slightly parted, almost stunned, before smiling slightly, “Likewise, she doesn’t spare praise when it comes to you.”

He led her into the arms of a medical team that were currently fussing over all of the hostages. Her head was pounding but other than that, she had a few superficial wounds from the shattering glass. It all felt surreal, she was trying to parse out her emotions, figuring out what was brewing in her stomach. She winced and touched her shoulder.

“Is your shoulder injured?”

She shook her head, “It’s an old wound, just acting up.”

“Move!”

Jinah shoved aside anyone in her way and grabbed Ayeon by her shoulders, “What happened? Are you okay? Who did this to you? Are you insane?”

“Breathe. You’re worse than Soya.” Ayeon said with a half-smile.

Jinah rolled her eyes, “I’m not that bad.”

“Well, I got a call from someone from the precinct saying that you needed me on a stolen car case. Turns out, a bit of a robbery.” She quipped.

Jinah shook her head in annoyance, “Some rat sent you straight into a trap. I didn’t tell anyone to call you. There was no missing car.”

“Yeah, I figured.” She said with a small smile. “The learning curve wasn’t very steep.”

“Why aren’t you furious?” Jinah whispered.

Ayeon’s smile lingered, “They did it because they love Lucas. I can’t fault that.”

“That’s not love, Ayeon. That’s bitter vengeance.”

-----

“Thanks for doing this. I know you haven’t had a chance to collect yourself, we need a statement, we’ll come back later for more.” Taeil said as he flipped open his notebook.

Ayeon nodded, “Did the others give theirs?”

“Yeah, but they’re still around, getting looked after. We’re bringing in some trauma counselors for them. We could easily set you up with someone, detective. It’s no problem.” 

She smiled, “Tell me what you need to know.”

“We’ll come back for the generic details. I need you to tell me anything that stood out to you, anything that didn’t make sense.”

Her mind raced, “Yeah. It was bizarre. He left the front doors unlocked, he didn’t bother using the manager to get him to unlock the vault, he left ten thousand dollars untouched and wasted time going for the 25k which is nearly impossible for him to get to. What’s worse is that he seemed surprised that the cops even found out. Like he thought he’d get to the money without resistance.”

Taeil’s jaw was tightly set as he tried to write fast enough to keep up with her, “Well. Thank god you were in there. Wait…no…that’s not what I meant. I mean, thank god it wasn’t someone who’s bad at their job. I’m…hold on…sorry.”

“I get it.” She laughed lightly but her body was still tense, “I just…it didn’t make sense to me. Maybe he was just an idiot, not all criminals are masterminds, but it was bugging me.”

His eyebrow quirked, “But your pizza box message. Creative. What did you mean by it?”

“I don’t know, to be honest. I was pressed for time and wanted to give you guys something. The only thing that made sense was that he had some sort of insider information. Either he was working with someone or he knew how this bank operated. Maybe he used to work in one or someone in his life did. I’m not sure.” She said with a shrug.

He shook his head, “No, this is good. We have a lot we can work with. Thank you. And hey, you were amazing in there. I heard from the statements from the hostages that you kept everyone calm, even the douche-y one. You did all the right things. Jinah’s praise is well deserved, detective.”

“Thanks.” She smiled.

She gave statements similar to that for a while, accepting the hot coffee and blankets as she stood in the bank parking lot. She couldn’t feel her feet anymore and every part of her wanted to just crawl into bed and fall asleep for another 6 days. It was something she’d been craving to do a lot more often these days.

She leaned against one of the vans and closed her eyes until someone else came up to her, asking her questions, filling out forms and taking down notes. She answered them methodically but let her eyes scan over the police officers walking about and the crowd of people that were thinning out.

She looked over and her eyes locked onto one of the few people still lingering. She stared at Jaehyun who was standing behind the railings, staring at her with a growing frown and eyes brewing with a storm. She didn’t bother noting how bizarre it was seeing him without a pleasant smile or knowing look. Instead, she pushed past the faceless person who was trying to get her statement and walked straight towards him.

He stood motionless but kept his eyes trained on her as she neared, climbing over the barriers until she stood in front of him, “What on earth are you doing here? Who’s watching Triple?”

He let out a breathy laugh before taking his hands out of his pockets and cupping her cheeks. She shivered at his warmth, she hadn’t noticed how brisk the winds were. “I was worried, detective.”

Her heart stumbled. It stumbled. She never tripped, she never fell, she never stumbled. But her heart did then. Her lips parted with questions, a thirst for clarification. His fingers slipped into her hair and maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe she was in a bit of shock but the sigh she had let out was far too loud.

He pulled her into his chest and what was more shocking, she had let him. He let out a breath and closed his eyes as he rested his cheek atop her head. She was warm and breathing, and he could feel her heart beating against him. All he could remember was watching in stunned horror as a gun was pressed to her forehead and the gut-wrenching feeling that hit him harder than he expected. But he pushed that aside, she was alive. That’s all that mattered.

Thank god.

His arms around her, the flat plane his chest against her face, it felt good, much too good. His jacket was soft, and she expected nothing less from him. He was so warm, and his arms felt like a blanket on a chilly morning. Her eyes slipped shut and she allowed herself to pretend that she wasn’t standing outside surrounded by people she didn’t know. She let herself feel scared for a second so that she could feel reassured for a minute.

This was insanely, wonderfully, heart stately good.

“Um…Ayeon?”

She pulled away from Jaehyun and turned to Jinah who was standing on the other side of the barrier. She felt Jaehyun’s arms stiffen around her but Jinah’s face, for the first time that day, her eyes were light, “We need to take a few more statements back at the precinct.”

Ayeon rubbed her nose, “Right. Let’s go.”

She let her hands drop but Jaehyun’s fingers clutched hers, “I’ll leave the door unlocked. Come by when you’re done.”

“Okay.” It came out as a whisper because when someone looked at you like that, like if they didn’t have their eyes on you, they might lose their minds, all you could manage is a whisper.

------

When Jinah said ‘a statement’ Ayeon thought she meant in a private room with a few necessary officers. What Jinah had apparently meant, was rounding up the entire precinct and scream at them at the top of her lungs with a wave of anger so raging that everyone was shaking.

“You are all despicable.” She hissed, her eyes burning red. “You are supposed to be officers of the law. A unit. A team. The fact that some of you have the nerve to stand there in uniform while you knowingly let a fellow officer walk into a hostage situation blind and with no back-up. You not only dishonored your badge but apparently, hate someone so much you’d be willing to get them killed.”

Ayeon sunk into her chair, praying that Jinah would cut her rant short and send everyone out. This wasn’t exactly the way she’d like this be handled but she knew Jinah, she wasn’t the type to pretend everything was okay.

“I feel sick looking at all of you right now, so I’m not going to avoid the elephant in the room for your sakes. Lucas’s death is hitting us all hard, and if there’s something that I’m not doing as your lead, tell me. There are ways to deal with grief, healthy ways. Directing your anger at an officer who was just as much a victim as Lucas is not the way to do it. It’s the way that proves you’re not cut out to wear that uniform.”

“You’re only mad because Detective Yoo is your friend.”

Jinah froze and slowly turned to face an older officer, “Excuse me?”

“I said—”

“I know what the you said.” She hissed, “But