Chanyeol was walking a few paces behind Baekhyun, and he was briefly tempted to see what would happen if he just decided to turn in the other direction, forgo his car, and walk the few kilometers home while Minho awkwardly hovered between the two of them. Chanyeol could tell that Minho was looking for an opportunity to ask about what happened when the male turned to look at him, but Chanyeol just barely gave a shake of his head. Nodding slowly, Minho gave up trying to ask, and the three of them walked in utter silence to the parking lot. Minho separated from the two of them first with an awkward wave and said that he’d see them around. Baekhyun grunted in response, and  Chanyeol bit back a retort to ask if Baekhyun was a caveman, and instead, he rolled his eyes at the reaction before waving back.

Chanyeol breathed a sigh of relief when his car came into view, thankful that Baekhyun had a day off, so they didn’t have to go back to the precinct together. Chanyeol was not in the mood to deal with a pissed off Baekhyun when he knew how quickly his temper could go out of control. He still had memories of bruises from when they were teenagers sparring in the gym, and Baekhyun would use him as a stress reliever. To be fair, Baekhyun had grown a lot of control over his temper since then, but he hadn’t seen Baekhyun get that mad in ages. Chanyeol half expected his friend to start stomping on the ground like a child, and it wouldn’t be long afterwards that Baekhyun would be sitting on the ground, refusing to move. For a moment back at the courtroom, he actually thought that he was going to have to use his lighter to burn down the door to get the two out of the room, and that would’ve been awkward.

Chanyeol had just about opened his mouth to bid Baekhyun goodbye and tell him that he’d text him later when Baekhyun spun around in his place to look at Chanyeol.

“What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Chanyeol was well aware of why Baekhyun had stopped, but if he was going to deal with Baekhyun in a parking lot, might as well get some fun out of riling Baekhyun up more.

Baekhyun’s left eye twitched. “You know what.”

“No, I really don’t,” Chanyeol responded, tapping his index finger on his chin. It worked, and Baekhyun was glaring at Chanyeol, but it didn’t scare him one bit. Being friends with Baekhyun for a very long time desensitized him to that glare, but he had seen that it had an effect on others.    

“Why are you not mad at the fact that she basically undid all of your work?” Baekhyun was annoyed enough where he was starting to twitch, and moments later, Baekhyun started pacing back and forth, trying to get rid of that nervous energy. Chanyeol would’ve mimicked him, but he wasn’t in the mood to be tackled onto the parking lot floor.

Sighing, Chanyeol stepped closer to Baekhyun and reached out for his shoulders, placing a palm on each one, forcing Baekhyun to stop pacing and to look at Chanyeol.

“Look, Baek, I get that you’re pissed, but you want to know why I’m not? Because I don’t have my head stuck far up my own .”

Baekhyun simply blinked at him, clearly not expecting a response like that, so Chanyeol trudged on speaking. “Look, if the guy gets acquitted for the murder charge, that means there was something wrong with what Minho and I did, and we should’ve checked into the timing of the robbery and the murder. It was a mistake that we made, and it was a good thing that Haeun caught that because I don’t want to be responsible for ruining someone’s life like that.”

“I get that it saved a life,” Baekhyun finally spoke, brushing Chanyeol’s hands off his shoulders gently, “but that doesn’t mean that there’s more times that defense attorneys like Haeun are the reason why criminals get acquitted. They manage to win their court cases, and then the police get stuck. I sometimes wonder what goes through her mind to decide to do this crap.”

Chanyeol sighed, knowing that getting through to Baekhyun was going to be like breaking down a brick wall. It was going to happen, but it would just take a long, long time. At this point, he was contemplating forcing Eunji to ambush Baekhyun.

He needed a nap. And a vacation.

But there was something about what Baekhyun said that bothered Chanyeol, and he squinted at his best friend.

“Baekhyun, are you sure this is about Haeun’s job or the fact that you’re trying to delude yourself into thinking more like Chief Kim Heechul?” Baekhyun jerked back from Chanyeol at that point, as if he were burned. 

After looking at each other for a few long seconds, Baekhyun bit out, “No. Why would I want to think like him?”

“Oh, I don’t know, only because you’ve been gushing over him since we were in school? I know he doesn’t like you for whatever reason but don’t try to be like him.”

“Chanyeol, drop it. I’m not doing that. Chief Kim didn’t even even cross my mind. I’m annoyed at Haeun and her job choices.”

Chanyeol doubted that, but he knew better than to push his friend. “Okay, but just think about what I said. You both were right, but you need to open up that mind of yours just as much as that girl does,” he spoke, fondly poking Baekhyun’s forehead. He hissed and swatted at Chanyeol’s hand. “I have to go now, though. I’m meeting Wendy for coffee.” 

Baekhyun’s posture changed from one of hostility as he stopped rubbing his forehead to one that said ‘get ready for the teasing,’ and Chanyeol groaned out loud. His friend had a specific look in his eyes that he reserved for when he teased people relentlessly, and Chanyeol called it the ‘Devil Baekhyun’ look.

“Oh wow, already going on dates, huh?”

“Better than you can say for you and Haeun.”

“Shut up and get out of my sight.”

“Gladly,” Chanyeol cackled before moving to dig his keys out of his pocket and unlocking his car. 

Now that he thought about it, maybe he should’ve tried to burn down the door. At least that would’ve forced Baekhyun to save Haeun, and they’d have that to bond over.

~~~

Wendy was already sitting down at a corner table in the back of the cafe when Chanyeol got there. The cafe was actually the one where Taehyung worked at, and Chanyeol suddenly wondered what happened at his date with Haeun. He looked around slightly, but didn't see the man, so he assumed he was in the kitchen in the back. Making a mental note to check up on her later, Chanyeol noticed that many people were eating pastries and cakes with hot coffee, but he idly wondered if a lava cake would taste good with iced coffee.

When Chanyeol got closer — after ducking under some particularly low lights —, he noticed that she was nursing a cup of what looked like hot chocolate. The whipped cream had started to melt, and he smiled when he noticed that she had bought him an iced americano, somehow knowing that he preferred iced coffee. There was an uneaten vanilla sponge pastry in the middle of the table with two small silver spoons.

He sent her a grin as he made his way towards her, and she smiled back, tucking a strand of hair that escaped her ponytail behind her ear. Chanyeol felt almost giddy as it hit him, once again, that the girl he’d been crushing on for the last few months was actually his soulmate. It was ridiculous luck, if he was being honest.

“Sorry I’m late. Thanks for the coffee,” he murmured as he sat down. “Next time, coffee is on me.” He hoped that she would notice the fact that he intended to mean ‘on our next date.’

Wendy looked at him for a moment, tilting her head to the side. He looked right back at her, taking advantage of the fact that he could now study her. She was wearing a thick, black woolen turtleneck sweater with jeans, and he could see her badge just barely peeking out from underneath the table where it was clipped to her jeans, and her jacket was draped over the back of her chair. When Chanyeol had brought it up to Wendy the day after he found out that the two of them were soulmates, she simply said that she knew, and that they would talk about the issue at some point later. Later turned out to be today, and to say that Chanyeol was nervous would be an understatement. 

“Sure, and it’s not a problem. How did the trial go?” sh