Baekhyun had already been having a long day with the case all wrapped up and having the talk with Chanyeol, and he had been given tomorrow off to just take a break since he ended up losing Sunday. He really just wanted to relax and get to know Jieun more, so he ended up asking if she wanted to grab dinner after work (he didn’t trust himself to wake up tomorrow). He was committed to that — it wouldn’t be fair to Jieun or to himself if he wasn’t —, and he wasn’t expecting the one person he wanted to avoid showing up.

To be fair, she wasn’t there yet. Maybe she’d show up late, and they wouldn’t run into each other.

He and Jieun were waiting outside the restaurant in the chilly, but fresh, air just talking about Jieun’s brother and his studies while waiting for the waiter to call them inside when a table for them was ready when he saw Taehyung walking up to them out of the corner of his eye. 

“Hey, Baekhyun?” he called out. Baekhyun turned around and looked at the man.

“Oh, hi Taehyung. What are you doing here?” he asked, leaning against the wall, and then immediately regretting that because the wall was cold. Then he internally winced because they were at a restaurant, what else would he be doing here? 

“I’m on a date,” he chirped happily. Jieun moved a little closer to Baekhyun, and he appreciated that she had slightly blocked the wind that had suddenly picked up. He was only in a leather blazer, and it was warmer than it looked, but Baekhyun was still feeling colder than he’d like to admit. It looked like Jieun was feeling a bit cold under her windbreaker jacket since she was wearing a yellow dress underneath it (or at least, he assumed it was a dress since he could only see from her waist down), and so Baekhyun shifted ever so slightly to help her stay warmer. Taehyung was dressed similarly to Baekhyun, and he wondered how that even happened. Out of all the restaurants in the city and out of 7 days to pick for a date, how did they both end up at the same restaurant on a Monday? It was laughable, if Baekhyun was being honest. 

“Oh, really? With Haeun?” Baekhyun asked. 

“Yeah!” he genuinely looked really excited, and he rocked on the balls of his feet, hands in pockets. His shoulders were slightly hunched, and Baekhyun idly wondered if Taehyung was also cold.

“I didn’t realize you were going out of dinner? Last I spoke to her, she said you two were going out for lunch.”

“That was the original plan, but I figured it’d be better if a first date was a dinner.”

“She’s not with you?”

“She stayed a bit late at work, so she said she’d meet me here.”

“Oh, okay.” Baekhyun then noticed that Jieun had been looking between the two males with confusion written all over her face, but also it looked like she was biting her cheek to prevent herself from blurting anything out. Her head had been moving back and forth as the two spoke as if she were watching an intense tennis match. “Oh, right, sorry. Taehyung, this is Jieun, one of the medical examiners at the precinct. Jieun, this is Taehyung. He was a witness from a recent case.” The two waved at each other, and it was like an awkward air had settled in amongst them. 

“I, uh, should get my name written down for a table,” Taehyung spoke as he excused himself. “It was nice meeting you, Jieun.” She simply smiled in response, and Baekhyun smiled as well as Taehyung walked away.

“Who’s Haeun?” Jieun then asked looking up at Baekhyun. 

“A defense attorney,” he shrugged. “A friend that I met through a mutual friend.” Friend was stretching it a bit, but Jieun didn’t need to know that.

“You’re friends with a defense attorney?” she questioned, doubt filling her voice. Jieun even raised an eyebrow.

Or maybe she already knew.

Baekhyun coughed, his face heating up, and he tried to clear his voice.

“Yes?”

“You’re not even sure of that yourself,” she laughed as she put a hand on his arm.

“I can be friends with a defense attorney,” he tried to defend himself. It was strange to be so casually laughing with Jieun when he had never even thought of her as something more than a colleague, and now he was feeling that they could be friends. There was a small voice in his head that said maybe even more, and for once, he wasn’t tempted to shut that annoying, always truthful, voice out.

“Sure,” she playfully responded with a roll of her eyes. “I totally believe you.”

“Oh, come on,” Baekhyun responded with a laugh of his own. Jieun was going to respond, but their conversation was cut off when Taehyung walked back out.

“There wasn’t room inside to wait…” he trailed off, scratching the back of his head. 

“You can stay here with us until your date comes,” Jieun offered. Taehyung paused and looked around them, scanning their environment for Haeun before turning back to them. He crossed his arms across his chest as he nodded.

“That’ll be nice,” he grinned. Baekhyun didn’t know Haeun nearly well enough to see why she would agree to go out with him, but there was a part of him that wasn’t happy. It was a possessive, jealous part of him, and the rest of him knew that he had absolutely no right to feel that way. 

“Do you know when she’ll be coming?” he asked. Taehyung pulled out his phone and glanced at it for a moment before looking back up. 

“She said she left her apartment 15 minutes ago, so she’s probably almost here.”

Within a couple of minutes, Baekhyun could see Haeun’s figure walking towards them. Taehyung’s back was to her, and he nudged his jaw towards her direction. He tried to not pay attention to how her legs looked insanely long with the heeled boots. Instead, he tried to think about what type of dress Jieun was wearing, and he realized belatedly that he really shouldn’t be thinking about that either.

“She’s here.” Taehyung spun around, and from his side profile, Baekhyun could see that he was sending Haeun a dazzling smile. She smiled right back at him, and when she reached them, Taehyung held out a hand that she easily took. Baekhyun tried to not let his eyes linger at their clasped hands. 

“Hey,” she greeted, looking at him and Jieun. 

“Oh, you must be Haeun. I’m Jieun,” Jieun spoke with a slight smile on her face. “I work with Baekhyun as a medical examiner.” Haeun’s eyes traveled over to Baekhyun for a moment before going back over to his date. 

“Yeah. You two are here for your date as well?” Baekhyun nodded. 

“We’re just waiting for the tables to be cleared before we can go in,” Taehyung piped up. Haeun nodded, and she let go of his hand to check her phone when it buzzed. 

Haeun looked at him afterwards, asking “How is the case going?” 

“We wrapped it up after lunch, actually.” 

“Oh, congrats. Hopefully I don’t end up defending the person you caught,” she spoke with a slight smirk on her face, but there was tension in her eyes, and Baekhyun remembered that she was the defense attorney for the criminal that Chanyeol had caught with another detective from the precinct a few weeks ago.

Baekhyun didn’t know how to respond without the potential of causing another scene in front of everyone, and he thanked the skies for whoever had just paid their bill because the waiter came out calling for Baekhyun because a table for two was ready for him.

Baekhyun and Haeun could be civil as long as their jobs weren’t involved, and that was something that they had established just recently. He wanted to be friends with Haeun, but he’d constantly have to tip-toe around the topic of their professional lives with the worry of arguing. He wasn’t exactly comfortable with that part, so he supposed he’d just live in the awkwardness of the entire situation every time they met.

They bid their goodbyes, and Baekhyun grabbed a hold of the door for Jieun to let her go in first before following her and the waiter over to their table. Jieun took off her jacket and spread it out on the back of her chair, and then she hung her purse over the edge of the chair. In the meantime, Baekhyun finally got to see the dress Jieun was wearing. It was a full-sleeves yellow dress with flowers printed all over in muted greens and purples with a belt that cinched the dress at her waist. 

“You look pretty,” he complimented.

“I know,” she just grinned at him. “You look good too,” she responded, eliciting a smile from Baekhyun. 

The waiter took their order for appetizers and left a basket of breadsticks on the table. Baekhyun absen