Baekhyun ran down the stairs of his apartment building — he didn’t even bother with the elevator, knowing that he could make it down to his car in the time it would take for the elevator to even arrive — , frantically pulling out his phone and dialing a number that he never had a reason to.

Until now.

“Pick up, pick up,” he muttered as his breathing was slowly becoming labored. Running down a few flights of stairs shouldn’t have been a problem, but he was becoming increasingly distracted by the biting pain coming from a three-inch long bruise on his forearm.

There was no reason for him to have that random bruise unless Haeun was hurt. 

“Baekhyun?” came Jeonghan’s voice, and Baekhyun heaved a sigh of relief as he ran out the door to the parking garage where his car was. Jeonghan sounded extremely confused, and it was justified considering they had never really contacted each other. Any time they spoke it was in a group chat or when they were meeting with others in person.

“Where’s Haeun?” Baekhyun immediately demanded. Under normal conditions, he would feel bad for being so harshly forthcoming, but this was Haeun.

“Huh?”

“Jeonghan, where’s Haeun?” he again asked as he sat down in his car. He quickly connected his phone to his car’s bluetooth system so that when Jeonghan’s voice next rang out through the car’s speakers.

“I’m going to have to check, why? What’s wrong?” His voice was beginning to take on the frantic edge that Baekhyun’s voice had as well. Baekhyun’s brain focused solely on finding Haeun as he pulled out of the parking lot. He suddenly felt so grateful for the several hours of mindless driving he’d done as a patrol officer before he became a detective that he was able to drive completely on auto-pilot.

“She’s hurt, and I need to know where she is.”

“What’s—”

Baekhyun’s remaining control and patience snapped, and he immediately cut Jeonghan off, growling, “Jeonghan, she is my soulmate. I know she’s hurt because there’s a three-freaking-inch long gash on my arm, and if I do not find her, she might actually get seriously hurt. Now do you know where the hell she is?”

There was a brief moment of silence where Baekhyun was actually contemplating simply hanging up and asking Chanyeol to track her phone from the precinct when Jeonghan responded. “She texted me about an hour ago saying she was leaving work. Nothing since. Let me check where her phone’s location is.”

His voice sounded distant, as though Baekhyun had already been put on speakerphone so Jeonghan could open the app. Nothing in Baekhyun’s mind registered about the drive, simply that his destination was her office because that was her last known location. She had to be somewhere around there.

“It’s a warehouse about twenty minutes from your apartment,” Jeonghan spoke up and Baekhyun cursed. Of course she’d be in the opposite direction. Immediately taking the next right, Baekhyun somehow made a K-turn and sped down the road, probably breaking about five different traffic laws, but he could care less at the moment. He really wished he was in his car with the police lights on it so he’d get there even faster.

“Thanks,” he breathed. “Call Chanyeol. Tell him to get a unit down at the location of the second murder.”

“Got it,” Jeonghan answered. He knew that Jeonghan had gone into work mode, because that’s exactly how Baekhyun felt. There wasn’t time for him to panic. He had to stay focused and get Haeun back safely — that’s all that mattered.

“Thanks,” Baekhyun responded, ending the call and speeding to the warehouse. He was almost there when he realized something incredibly important, and he cursed himself.

Whoever it was that attacked Haeun was obviously armed with at least a knife, and in his rush to get to her, Baekhyun didn’t even remember that he no longer had his gun. He didn’t even grab a knife of his own. 

At least he had the mind to tell Jeonghan to bring back up, and he hoped that he could distract whoever they were long enough for the police to arrive.

By the time he pulled up in front of the warehouse, ten minutes had passed since he ended the call with Jeonghan. His arm was throbbing with a dull pain, but there was also a new stinging coming from his collarbone. Baekhyun was afraid to look down at his own neck, afraid that there would be a blooming bruise that would only indicate that Haeun was not okay.

Baekhyun ran out of his car, barely even stopping to register the fact that Haeun’s car was also parked outside. He sprinted inside the building, only stopping momentarily to curse at the lack of light before taking out his phone and turning the flashlight on.

As he ran further deeper into the warehouse, he heard noises coming from the far end, and he quickly made his way over. There was a bright light shining up at the ceiling for a brief moment before it dimmed, and Baekhyun hoped that she’d be there. 

As he ran around a particularly large stack of crates, he stopped short at the sight.

“Haeun?” he tentatively called. She was lying on her side on the ground, her injured arm bleeding as she cradled it to her chest. There was another cut just beneath her collarbone, slowly dripping blood down her blouse and drying in her hair. Her phone lay face down on the ground, the flashlight still shining, enough to illuminate part of the area. 

He walked closer to her, looking around the area and trying to keep his breathing steady so he could hear more than just the pounding of his own heart, but it was proving to be difficult when all he could focus on was that Haeun was in pain. However, he managed to hear a singular footstep behind him. He paused and waited, trying to listen for anything more, but there was nothing. 

“Baek,” Haeun breathed, almost in alarm. He spun around quickly, immediately ducking as his body moved before his brain caught onto what had happened. Thankfully, Baekhyun had read the message in Haeun’s eyes clearly: behind you.

All Baekhyun saw was the knife in the man’s hand coming for him as Baekhyun ducked and ran behind the man, immediately dropping to the ground to swipe his left leg along the floor, effectively causing the man to drop onto his elbow. 

The man let out a loud groan of pain before staggering up. The two men stared at each other, and Baekhyun tried not to curse out loud as he realized that the man wasn’t Junmyeon. It wasn’t anyone that he recognized. He would really love to pummel Junmyeon right about now. 

Baekhyun let himself focus on his instincts and let his body go on auto-pilot again as he focused on disarming the man in front of him. He fisted his hand, his thumb protected by his other four fingers, and swung back before using the built up momentum to punch the man in the jaw. Th