Camera flashes, journalists screaming questions and shoving mics – he got none of that. They didn’t even take him in through the front door, but rather through the side one, the one mostly used by those taking a smoking break. It made him chuckle – the way they were trying so hard to diminish the gravity of his actions, his importance, step on his ego – it was all a game of egos. And yet everyone stopped and stared when he rolled inside the police precinct; curiosity and disgust created a blurry boundary with fascination.

Alone inside the interrogation room, Byun Baekhyun stared at his fingers on top of the table. He knew they were watching through the one-way mirror on his right.

“You almost got away,” said the detective as soon as the door closed behind him. He slapped a thin file on the table. “But this time we got you good.”

Baekhyun cocked an eyebrow. “And yet your file is rather thin.” He leaned in, snickering. “Admit you got squat on me. They wouldn’t give you access too easily to what they have on me. Not when their entire existence depends on my sealed lips.”

“And who is this ‘they’ you’re talking about?”

“Wouldn’t you want to know that,” Baekhyun laughed from his spot.

Clearing his throat, the detective side glanced at the mirror. “Sensitive information was found in your apartment. Top secret stuff. What about that?”

Smirking, Baekhyun remained silent, testing the boundaries with the man across the table.

“Fine, fine,” the detective leaned back in his chair, “what about this Kwon Nari then?”

It was instinctual, the way Baekhyun’s fingers clenched in a tight fist, the way his eyes sparkled dangerously. “What about her?” His eyes narrowed.

“Would you be willing to tell us more if we call her for you? I heard you asked for her. Who is she? Your lawyer? Your side chick?”

Baekhyun’s handcuffed hands hit the table hard, startling the detective. But he remained silent as he turned to the one-way mirror. “Get me Nari,” he said out loud, to whomever was watching them. “Or else I’m not saying another word,” he added, relaxing in his chair.

* * *

A chill went down Nari’s spine as she watched Baekhyun being so composed in the interrogation room. He looked so much like the Byun Baekhyun she used to know that her heart squeezed painfully in her chest.

“He’s not talking,” she answered her phone from the first vibration. “I have to go in.”

“What makes you think he’s going to talk if you do that?”

She paused. “Because it’s Baekhyun.” And she hung up. It was crazy how Byun Baekhyun still managed to get to her after all that time. She knew it wasn’t rational or proper and yet – her fingers wrapped around the door handle and squeezed it hard before finally opening the door – she couldn’t hesitate; not again.

“Nari.” Her name on his lips, his soft voice and the way he looked at her – all vestiges of a time long passed. Just how did he manage to drag them back to the past so easily, so swiftly, Nari wondered, frozen next to the door as if ready to flee with the smallest sound. “I’m hurt, Nari.”

“I don’t follow.”

His eyes, oh the eyes, showed just how deeply hurt he was by her words. “I thought at least you could be trusted, Nari.”

Nari shrugged, resting her back against the door. Truth be told, she was afraid to sit across from Baekhyun. She was afraid that once sat down, she wouldn’t leave ever again – not without him anyway. “How about you? Planning to sell the entire country and all that.” And yet she ventured and sat down.

“Oh, not the entire country,” Baekhyun smiled lazily. “Just the NIS.” There was hunger in his eyes. Abominable, impossible to contain and understand – hunger for “justice”, like he called it.

“That includes me as well,” Nari crossed her arms over her chest. It felt wrong to look at Baekhyun coldly, with suspicion or anything else other than, well, fondness. No, not fondness, something more, Nari’s inner voice whispered. “Sell the NIS and you’re practically selling me. Tell me,” she leaned in, “what makes you hate me so much?”

She didn’t expect him to mirror her move. Or for his hands to reach out for hers (gesture which she completed, no without hesitating though). And there it was, all in his eyes, the pain of Byun Baekhyun.

“But baby, I don’t hate you. I love you!”

“Is that so?”