“God I’ve been craving this the whole week,” Youngjae cooed as the waiter placed a large pot of budaejigae on the table.

“We could’ve come here sooner if you didn’t have so many night shifts this week,” Baram replied, inhaling the spicy scent of the stew.

“Please, you’re the one who cancelled on me twice,” Youngjae countered holding up two fingers for emphasis. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think that you were avoiding me.”

“Why would I turn down free food?”

“What— I— huh?”

Youngae stared at the girl in bewilderment as the girl scooped the food in his bowl and then her own. The young detective wondered when on earth he had offered to pay for dinner, but seeing her happily slurping on the noodles, he just shook his head in resignation, digging into his own food as well.

“Fine I’m paying. But only because you don’t eat enough and that is why your wrists are so weak,” Youngjae chided the girl.

Wrapping his fingers around her left wrist, he frowned at how thin and frail her wrist felt against his skin.

“You’re hands are also perennially cold. Definitely need to eat more to improve your blood circulation.”

“I'll survive even with perennially cold hands. No need to mother me,” Baram hummed without looking away from her food.

"Of course I have to mother you, what else do I have to look forward to in life if not annoy the heck out of you?”

“Yugyeom?” Baram offered in response.

“Nah.” Youngjae shook his head. “He’s hopeless, there’s nothing I can do about him.”

“And you think you can do something about me?” Baram challenged the detective. “Pretty sure I’m the definition of hopeless.”

Her comment had meant to be a light-hearted one, a banter that was not to be taken seriously. However, somewhere along the way the jest in her voice had faded away, replaced by a hollowness that echoed in Youngjae’s ears. Baram coughed gently, realising the tense atmosphere that had settle due to her passing statement. Gulping his beer loudly, Youngjae sighed as he put down the glass, his brows furrowing in worry.

“Baram,” Youngjae trailed off. “You know you don’t need to pretend to be strong in front of me right?”

Youngjae felt Baram stiffen at his comment. He extended his arm to hold her hand in his, however she immediately retracted her arm, hiding her hand in her lap. Seeing her reaction, Youngjae slowly retrieved his hand, a pained look in his eyes which Baram did not dare acknowledge.

Youngjae knew that Baram was not someone who leaned on others in her times of need for she had to grow up all too soon. She never quite experienced the comfort of having a family to lean on during the difficult transition period from adolescence to adulthood. She learned the harsh way that it was her against the world — or so she had always believed. Yet, by no means did this mean that the girl did not know how to love, or how to care for those she held dear. On the contrary, because she had already lost so much, she clung onto those that she opened up to even more, making them her priority regardless of what state she was in.  In fact, despite the callous and nonchalant façade that she insisted on portraying, Youngjae knew very well that Baram was unable to leave anyone in need by themselves. She will intervene in whatever way she can and then disappear like the wind the moment she no longer felt needed. After all, Youngjae had experienced it first hand.

When she started shadowing him and Yugyeom in order to research for her drama, the two detectives had been stuck on a case for weeks and was this close to simply drop it as a cold case. Yet recalling the cold and lifeless eyes of the victims staring back at him, straight into his soul, Youngjae felt shaken to the core, immense guilt building up within him from his inability to find the murderer. He was still a rookie back then, a freshly promoted detective, yet as luck would have it he was thrown an impossible case from the very beginning.

Unwittingly Youngjae had opened up to Baram in ways that he had never thought possible. He shared with her worries that he had not even dared to tell Yugyeom who was going through it all with him. Sure, Baram was not much of a talker and preferred to remain silent. However she more than made up for it by being a perfect listening ear, never passing  judgment and always offering a shoulder to lean on.

Just like the wind however, the moment she had completed her script, she disappeared without a trace, leaving behind just a bag with coffee an