“Son of a .” Bobby groaned while rubbing the nape of his neck. “.” The sight of Chaeyoung didn’t look pretty, a small open wound on his forehead and small shards of glass pricking his face. Reality hit him as sirens from the distance freed him from the moment of failure. He put the strap over his shoulder, limping away from the scene.

Mina’s villa

Sooae draped her arms over Jimin’s shoulder, leaving pecks on his exposed neck. “We need to do this more often.”  Jimin nudged her weight off as he stood up. Their secret rendezvous has lasted for a while. Ever since Sooae set eyes on Park Jimin, she had to make him putty in her hands. “I need to wash up before I go back.” The light from the bedroom illuminated a black figure on the staircase. Jimin carefully treated himself closer before gasping. “Mina!?” The small trail of blood indicated she tried to go upstairs before her body gave up. He rushed back to the bedroom, throwing Someone's clothes at her. “You need to leave! S-someone stabbed Mina, there's an ambulance already here.”

“What?” Sooae scoffed, she didn’t believe a single word that came out of his mouth until she saw the blood on his hand. “What happened?! Why is she here!? Who did that!?”

“I don’t know!” Jimin yelled, he too was asking himself the same questions. “You can hide here, and when the ambulance leaves, you can call a taxi.” He pushed her to the closet. “I will call Kitano, but for now stay hidden.” He went back to Mina, laying her head on his lap. The paramedics swung the door open, already placing her on the stretcher. “Excuse me, how is her condition?” 

“She lost too much blood. She’ll need to have surgery as soon as we get to the hospital. You called us, right?” Jimin nodded. “I’m her fiance. I’ll follow behind in my car.” The keys slipped from his shaky hands as he tried to open the car door. Too many unanswered questions were racing through his mind, he couldn’t make up lies fast enough.

The walkie-talkie beeped. “There’s a car accident located on the main road of Pyeongchang-dang district. Over.” The paramedic looked up at the driver, nodding. “We have enough room for two, if the victim is ready for a pick-up and go. Over.” They were given a go-ahead. He pushed onto Mina’s wound. “What a coincidence.”

Meanwhile, Sooae tried her best to not touch anything in the house as she left. She knows the police will investigate the scene. Her phone vibrated as she got in the cab. "What? Mina got stabbed?" She fake-panicked. "Okay, I'm coming, honey."

~~

Seoul’s hospital

The doctors divided into two teams and tended to the two as soon as they arrived. A nurse read off the clip-board jogging next to Mina's stretcher. “Patient’s name is Myoui Mina. Blood type A. She was stabbed in the abdomen. Paramedics believe the wound is three inches deep.”

“Roger that.” The doctor replied. “And what about him?” He asked, pointing to Chaeyoung.

“Car accident a few blocks away from Ms. Myoui’s incident. His condition is stable, he’ll need a couple of stitches.” The nurse stopped Jimin from entering the ER. “You aren’t allowed from here, sir.” He tried pushing the nurse to the side. “I’m her fiance!” The doors closed, locking both out. “Sir, you need to calm down. Ms. Myoui will undergo surgery as of now. She will be fine, don’t worry. You can take care of the paperwork and wait  outside.” Jimin nodded, playing with his thumbs. He didn’t know how to explain this to Kitano.

The doctor opened Chaeyoung’s eyelids, shining light until his pupils constricted. “He only suffered a minor concussion and injury. The paramedics said he was involved in a car accident?” The nurse nodded. “That’s weird, why is there blood on his right hand? The trail of blood from his wound stopped at his neck. Do you have his file Ms.Oh?” She nodded again. “Test the blood type that’s on his hand. I want to see something.” The nurse immediately complied with his order, taking a sample from his hand.

~~

Jeongyeon loosened his tie, he finally decided to go home after a long day of work when he received a call. “What? Son Chaeyoung? Which hospital?” He entered the location on his GPS. “My team and I will take care of the case.” He sighed, calling his assistant to meet him.

He arrived in no time and rushed into the ER waiting room. The staff allowed him through the doors after flashing his badge. Jeongyeon shook his head disappointingly as he saw Chaeyoung. “I am an investigator, Yoo Jeongyeon. I’m responsible for his case. How is he doing?” He asked worriedly.

"Mr.Son will be fine. He only suffered minor injuries. There's something you need to know." He handed him a file. "He arrived with blood on his hands that I believe is not his. Another patient of ours was stabbed. I don't think it's a coincidence they both came from the same district. I sent a blood test to the lab. I'm sorry if I'm looking into this too much. I'll leave this to you now and send the test to you when it comes back."

Jeongyeon sighed, rubbing his temple. “Minsu.” He called over his assistant. “Can you go to the victim’s house in Pyeongchang-dang and investigate.” He stared at Chaeyoung sadly. “Handcuff him to the bed. I assume that he’s a suspect.”

~~

Dawn

Jeongyeon downed his fourth cup of coffee, he stayed up throughout the night looking through files. Well, it was his excuse to stay by Chaeyoung’s side when he wakes up. He wanted to protect the younger man, but his work comes first. 

“The girl.,” Chaeyoung mumbled, jerking in his sleep. “The girl..” He repeated as he jolted awake. “Jeongyeon?” Jeongyeon patted his shoulders, laying him back down. “Hey, hey, take it easy. I’ll get the doctor, you’ve been out for a while now.”

The doctor checked Chaeyoung’s vitals and cleaned his wound again. “It’ll be best if he stays here for twenty-four hours.” The doctor bowed and left. Chaeyoung tried adjusting the cuff around his wrist. “How is the girl?” He asked, refusing to make eye contact with Jeongyeon. He feels the disappointment from the toe-tapping. 

“So it was you?” Jeongyeon whined, crushing the plastic cup in his hand. “Why would you do that Son Chaeyoung? Didn’t I-”

“Can you just answer me.” Chaeyoung replied intensely.

“She’s fine. No major arteries or organs were damaged.” Jeongyeon sighed, throwing the cup to the ground. “Do you know how disappointed I am, Son Chaeyoung!” He got teary-eyed. “How could you do that? For what!? I was ready to help you! It’s against my work but I was ready to do it for you!”

“I’m a criminal.” Chaeyoung chuckled. “You no longer have to feel like you need to help me. You can arrest me now.” He stared at the wall blankly, rethinking his past choices.

~~

The Next Day...

Chaeyoung sat in the investigation room. It didn’t feel odd, he was there once before. The cold air and intensity atmosphere still had the same effect. Jeongyeon closed the door and sat in front of him. Although, Jeongyeon’s fierce eyes did scare him now. “Is she okay?” Chaeyoung asked.

“If you cared so much about her you wouldn’t have stabbed her,” Jeongyeon replied sarcastically. “She’s okay. Her condition is stable. Now, tell me everything, from A to Z.”

“My best friend, or what used to be my best friend, planned this a few days ago. His name is Kim Jiwon. People know him as Bobby.”  A bittersweet chuckle left his lips. “He convinced me that robbing Myoui Mina will make us rich. How could I say no? I was hopeless at the moment. My applications were getting rejected.” Jeongyeon scribbled in this notepad. “We went there and everything was fine until she came. I stabbed her unintentionally. I swear I didn’t mean to. I tried turning around to save her, but he grabbed the steering wheel.” Chaeyoung pointed to his bandage. “Well, you know the rest. I called the ambulance before we crashed and that ran away while I was unconscious."

“You called the ambulance?” Jeongyeon asked confusingly. “I was told her fiance was the one who did.”

“No.” Chaeyoung shook his head. “You can check my recent on my phone. If we’re done here, I’m ready to receive my punishments. But, Bobby should get arrested too. He stabbed me in the back and left me alone to face this. We’re equally guilty.”

“Don’t you worry about your little friend. Only worry about yourself since that’s all you care about.” Jeongyeon fired back.

Chaeyoung smiled and sat back. “When will I go to jail? I miss that place.” He asked while stretching. Jeongyeon stayed silent and left the room before he could stiff Chaeyoung because of his recklessness.

~~

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