“Another one!” Haemi held her shot glass up in the air. Barely four shots into her first legal bottle of alcohol and the girl was ready to tap out. Sehun snatched the empty glass out of her grip to prevent his wife from exceeding her limit. 

“No more for you” he sighed, watching her head wobbled back and forth. By the end of the night, she ended up falling asleep right on the couch after an impressive record of five shots. Regardless, Sehun tucked her in, pulling up the blanket that she kept kicking away in the process. Though he had to stop for a quick second to admire her precious sleeping face. It was way too hard to resist, Sehun thought to himself as he planted a soft peck on her forehead.

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Bohyun dropped by Sehun’s place first thing in the morning to check on the writer. Knowing Mondays were usually his employer’s writing days, the man kept his movements to a minimum. He poked his head into Sehun’s study, catching a glimpse of the writer in his natural habitat.

“What?” Sehun asked without looking up. The writer mode in him peaked— with his jet black hair slightly pushed back, accompanied by the thin frames sitting on the bridge of his nose.

“The publishing company wanted to invite you to their gathering to celebrate your new work together,” Bohyun informed him. These social functions were always brought up occasionally when a new book is published, or to celebrate certain milestones that Sehun may have reached. It sort of became a norm for his manager to ask, even though his answers were always the same. 

“I can let them know that you’re busy,” he suggested since he already assumed his employer’s answer. 

“No, let them know I’ll be there.” 

Just to make sure that he did not misheard, Bohyun asked the writer to repeat his response. Hearing it for the second time, coming directly from Sehun’s mouth, caught him just as off guard as the first. Despite his many accomplishments, he probably could only count less than 10 social gatherings, in which Sehun had attended over the years. 

“O-okay,” Bohyun scratched the back of his head in confusion still, but acknowledged his order regardless. 

Back at the publishing company, Haemi hurriedly removed herself out of the meeting room with his name still echoing in her head. She remembered down to the exact time when the news of his capture popped up one morning, along with the lengthy investigation that followed. As much as she wanted to avoid his news, she hated that period of time the most when his case would be brought up constantly. But even more so, she had one other person in mind whenever Oh Junsu’s name came up. In fact, he was always the first person she would think of during that awful period. 

“Haemi, are you coming tonight?” a colleague interrupted her thoughts. Haemi titled her head, unsure of what was going to take place later that night. It was probably mentioned somewhere in their company group chat, but she never had the chance to check it over the busy weekend.

“The company gathering!” the same colleague reminded her. The initial thought that ran through her head was their quarterly meet-up, established by her boss to help with team building. 

“Oh yes, I’ll be there!” the girl unknowingly agreed to attend the party, unaware that it was held to celebrate her author’s work. After their short exchange, Haemi went back to polish some of her other projects. Work had always been a good distraction whenever she needed to take her mind off of certain things, most of the time. Today…not so much, she thought to herself as her web browser recommended a popular news article on its front page. 

‘The Mysterious Life of a Merciless Killer,’ the title read, using a mugshot picture of Junsu as its cover. The emptiness in his piercing eyes paired together with that stolid smile on his face sent literal chills down her spine. Haemi rapidly changed the website, but the few seconds were enough to engrave his image in her head. 

Later that night, Haemi carpooled with a few of her colleagues to the designated location for their gathering. Tonight’s party was held at a Japanese izakaya styled restaurant, perfect for drinks and long conversations. For someone who does not typically enjoy socializing in events like these, she was thankful this one time. To be specific, she was more thankful for the fr