This is the actual chapter 41!! I'm sorry (not really) for scaring everyone after the April Fool's chapter! :D

Baekhyun wasn't sure what was happening, but he definitely knew that it wasn't anything good with the way that Haeun’s face had paled considerably so quickly. 

"But...how can that be?" Haeun breathed into the phone. Baekhyun had to resist pressing himself closer to her to figure out what the other person on the phone was saying since there was no point in attempting that. Instead, he tried to comfort Haeun, to show her that he was by her side. 

Baekhyun took her free hand and started tracing large circles onto her palm with his index finger. At first she flinched away slightly, as though she had forgotten that he was even there, but eventually he saw her shoulders relax, letting go of some of the stiffness. 

There were so many things that could've gone wrong with Jieun apparently involved in the case that he wasn't even sure what to think. For all he knew, she could've somehow gotten entangled and was dead, but he shook that thought of his head quickly, knowing that there was no point in going down that rabbit hole. He would just have to it up and wait for Haeun to speak to him once she got off the phone. At some point Haeun twisted her hand underneath Baekhyun’s so that their hands clasped together; their fingers interlocking.

Baekhyun remained quiet and watched as Haeun intently listened in to whatever the man on the phone was saying before she replied, "I'll be there as soon as possible." She turned to look at him, about to speak, but immediately froze. Her gaze flitted over his face as she nibbled on her bottom lip. 

"What's wrong?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Haeun her lips, and she let out a shuddered breath. "Haeun?" he gently asked, trying not to show that his anxiety was spiking the longer the silence stretched out. 

"Uh, the ring I found at the warehouse..." she trailed off, averting her eyes from his face, and instead looking at their tangled hands.

"What about it?" 

"The blood they found on it was Jieun's," she let out in what seemed to be one breath, just as the words took the breath out of Baekhyun's lungs.

"Jieun’s? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Eunkwang ran the tests twice. I need to go pick up the evidence results now," she responded, standing up on unsteady feet. She lurched a bit too far to the left, and Baekhyun shot to his feet to steady her. 

The confusion and unease that was written all over his girlfriend’s face was something he could relate to. The girl he genuinely thought he had a connection with for a short while was part of the reason why his friend was dead — why he was framed for murder. 

“I’m coming with you,” he stated, even though it was an unspoken agreement that he’d be coming with her as soon as Haeun had stood up.

Once he knew that Haeun was steady on her feet, he let her go, trailing after her as she made her way out of the bedroom. Baekhyun’s mind was reeling over the new revelation. He couldn’t fathom why Jieun would be working with Junmyeon, to the point that she’d be present at a murder scene that he had been initially suspected for. There were so many thoughts in his mind as he went back through their interactions, their conversations, looking for any indication that something was even slightly amiss. He couldn’t focus on anything, and instead, he just chose to focus on one thing at a time. First things first — they had to get to the police station.

As Haeun picked up her phone, wallet, and keys, he grabbed his own phone and wallet along with their jackets. They left the apartment as they put on their jackets, and Haeun grabbed a hold of his hand tightly as they entered the elevator to head down to the parking garage. It was obvious to Baekhyun that she was just as distraught over the possible meaning of this piece of evidence as he was. While they were that much closer to catching Junmyeon, it was at the cost of realizing someone close to them was betraying them.

Once they exited the elevator and walked over to her car, Baekhyun realized that the hand that he was holding onto was trembling within his grasp while the other hand traveled up to her neck, clutching the necklace he’d given her tightly. He tightened his grip on the hand he was holding, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles back and forth. It seemed to help a bit because she let out a small breath, but he could see how tense she was with the way her shoulders were hunched over slightly.  

“Love?” he spoke up as they got to the car. They stood there quietly for a moment before Haeun looked up at him with a questioning glance. “Let me drive,” he offered gently, and Haeun nodded slightly, passing the car keys over to him. “It’ll be okay.”

Haeun sighed before responding, “I hope so.”

After a quiet and tense car ride over to the precinct, seeing the movement and bustle inside the building was a minor shock to their systems. The loudness took a bit to acclimate to, and saying that Chanyeol was surprised to see him and Haeun at the precinct earlier than expected was an understatement. His best friend bounded from his desk over to them, excitement clear on his face. 

“Friends!” he exclaimed. “Baek, you have no idea how happy I am to see you here. It’s been way too long.” 

“It’s been a day since I last saw you, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun replied, weakly laughing.

“But I haven’t seen you in this specific environment as a detective in ages!”

“Fair point, I suppose,” Baekhyun amended, trying to smile. He had to admit it, it was kind of nice being free to come back to precinct without the worry of being dragged down to the holding cell. He was excited to get back to work, but the excitement was fleeting. The feeling was chased away by the reminder of why he was here before he was even medically cleared to be so.

“And, uh, you know I’m happy to see you both, but you should be resting, Baekhyun. Wasn’t Jeonghan supposed to drop you two back at Haeun’s place?” Chanyeol asked, an arm around Haeun’s shoulders. Baekhyun winced at the thought of explaining everything, but it was something that he would need to do. Chanyeol was part of the investigative team, so he would have to interrogate Jieun as soon as possible after the evidence was catalogued. 

“Haeun,” Baekhyun started, looking at her, “could you go down and talk to Eunkwang? I’ll get Chanyeol up to speed.” 

She nodded, “Yeah.” Haeun patted Chanyeol’s hand that was hanging off her shoulder twice before ducking underneath his arm and heading over to the stairway. Baekhyun’s eyes trailed her the entire way, watching her until she disappeared behind the closed door. 

“We should talk in the kitchen,” his best friend offered. “You look like you could use the coffee.” Baekhyun nodded gratefully and followed Chanyeol over to the only kitchen and pantry area on the floor. Baekhyun sat down in a chair at the table while Chanyeol poured two cups of black coffee. It wasn’t until they were both situated at the table, nursing the cups of coffee, that Chanyeol spoke up.

“So, what’s up?” Chanyeol’s face had taken on a somber expression as his hands were clasped together in his lap, the cup of coffee now resting on the table. Baekhyun set his own cup down too before he sighed, a finger tapping a random beat on his knee. He started speaking, catching Chanyeol up to speed with everything that had happened after Eunkwang had called Haeun, leaving out the private details of what had almost happened beforehand. 

“Okay, so now, we can try to figure out what the connection between Jieun and Junmyeon is to catch him,” Chanyeol offered, immediately looking towards the bright side of things. 

“But that’s assuming that Jieun wasn’t caught up in all this like I was,” Baekhyun countered. Chanyeol tilted his head to the side, looking thoughtful as he pondered Baekhyun’s question. 

“Well, either way, we need to find a connection between them that would cause Jieun to be at the scene of the second murder. Once we do that, we may be able to track him down or find more evidence.”

Baekhyun took a sip of his coffee as he thought over what Chanyeol said, and he knew that Chanyeol was onto something. There was a high possibility that even if Jieun isn’t on the wrong side of things, she’d still be able to provide some information to lead them to Junmyeon. He took out his phone to glance at the time and realized it had been nearly ten minutes since Haeun had left the two of them. 

“We should head back to our desks,” Baekhyun said, standing up and taking his coffee cup with him. Chanyeol followed behind, and the two settled into their desk chairs when Baekhyun saw that Haeun wasn’t there yet. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, instead just focusing on finishing the coffee when Baekhyun remembered something.

“Hey, what happened to the recording?”

“Sungjong said he’s almost done breaking the sources down for the audio. He said he’ll try to get the sound analysis to me by the end of the day today or tomorrow.”

“Isn’t he the one who’s also the hacker?”

“Yeah, he works for like four different departments here in the building.”

“Yikes,” Baekyhun muttered, “the poor guy sounds overworked.”

“Definitely, but I’ll get something from him soo, though. We’ll figure this out.”

“Yeah, well, I’m mostly excited to watch Jeonghan tear into Junmyeon,” Baekhyun sheepishly admitted, already imagining the beatdown that Jeonghan would give.

“Honestly, me too. I’ve never even seen the guy at one of his trials, but now that I know him decently well, I’d imagine he’s a nightmare to deal with.”

“That he is.” Baekhyun turned around with a smile on his face at the sound of Haeun’s voice. "He doesn't let things go. It's because of him that I end up holding grudges," she continued. "Unfortunately, he's rubbed off on me." Haeun stepped closer to them, leaving a folder on the desk in front of Chanyeol. 

"The evidence?" Chanyeol asked, opening the folder and flipping through the seats. Haeun pulled up a chair from one of the nearby empty desks and sat down in it, propping her elbow on the arm rest and resting her head on her palm.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter