When Driver Lee pulled up outside Solar’s building, Moonbyul and Wheein hopped out to her up to her flat. Byul picked up Solar again (the idol surprisingly not making any attempt to stop her this time) as Wheein reassured the kind older gentleman that they would be fine to get a taxi if needed and urged the driver to go home.

It had been a long day for all of them. 

“Byulyi-unnie, you should have let me take your bag as well!” Wheein scolded as she caught up to the bodyguard walking up the steps that led to Solar’s apartment block. She was wearing her backpack as well as carrying Solar, whilst Wheein held Solar’s bag and her own as well as the idol’s crutches.

“It’s fine, Wheein-ah. And besides,” Byul’s face suddenly broke out into a lopsided smirk, “if you wore my backpack, it would scrape along the ground with your height…”

Solar let out an unladylike snort of amusement before she could stop herself, not only at the quip about Wheein’s miniature size but also at her completely gobsmacked expression.

“Unnie!” The resident puppy yelped as she tried to glare but the smile growing on her face ruined it. 

     One elevator ride later, Wheein let them into Solar’s apartment and Byul carried Solar all the way through to her bedroom and at her request, lowered her into a chair at the dressing table before leaving the room quickly to give her her privacy. 

So quickly that, once again, Solar did not get a chance to thank the bodyguard.

Well, that and the painkillers that Wendy had given her earlier had really kicked in and she felt like her brain was lagging behind by a few seconds.

Wheein helped her get ready for bed, helping her change out of Byul’s jacket (that she had been wearing the whole time) and the torn clothes (which were tossed immediately into a trash bag without a second glance by either of them) into pyjamas before helping her to the bathroom so that she could do her nightly routine. 

By the time Wheein was tucking her into bed, Solar could barely keep her eyes open but she grabbed the younger girl’s hand and tugged her gently until she sat perched on the edge of her bed. 

“Thank you, Wheein-ah… for everything today. I only got through it because of you.” Solar’s heart swelled with affection for her close friend when she received one of her sweet smiles and her trademark dimple appeared. “And, I’ll admit it. I was wrong and you were right… I did need a bodyguard. I’m sorry about how I reacted before.” 

To her surprise, Wheein didn’t grin and gloat like she would have done at Solar admitting she was wrong - Solar was rarely in the wrong and even when she was, her pride usually stopped her from admitting it. But her tired mind didn’t quite catch the slightly sad look that appeared on the younger girl’s face instead. 

“I… I’m just glad you’re okay, Yongsun-unnie… I really am.” Wheein looked down at their joined hands when Solar gave hers a small squeeze. “Anyway, sleep. We can talk more later. Just text me when you wake up so that we can bring you some food, okay? We're going to stay over tonight.”

Solar sleepily nodded and drifted off to sleep almost immediately as Wheein crept out of the room, switching off all the lights and closing the door behind her.

     Wheein entered the living room with Moonbyul’s jacket in her hands and found her by the front door, quietly conversing with her colleague about something on the phone. She hung back around the kitchen island of the open plan living room-kitchen but could not help but catch a few lowly spoken words.

“Do you think you can find out which department is holding the evidence on the failed IED*? We know they closed the case but I asked you to open one at ours, didn’t I? Yes, you rascal, I will owe you one. Thanks, Seulgi. Yeah, you too. Bye.” 

Moonbyul hung up and turned to find Wheein looking right at her. 

“Unnie… I-I didn’t mean to but I overheard… Wh-What are you doing?“ 

Byul shifted a little uncomfortably under the questioning gaze and running her hand through her hair to prevent herself from fidgeting, she explained, “I know your CEO shut down all the investigations but something didn’t feel right… so, I started looking into it with one of my bosses at RVSM. I’m sorry if I stepped out of line but I promised to protect Solar-ssi and this might help. We’ll be as discreet as we can.”

Instead of getting angry, Wheein’s whole body seemed to relax and looked part relieved and part exasperated. “I’ve been telling Eric for months… oh god, you have no idea how vindicated I feel, hearing you say that something’s not right. I’ve been thinking that the stalker’s threats, the failed explosive and even what happened today are all connected.”

Byul ushered Wheein onto the stools at the kitchen island and placing down a glass of water in front of her, asked her to tell her everything from the beginning. 

And she did; words pouring out of her now that the dam was broken, feeling oddly happy at the fact that she could finally speak about it freely without being shut down, and the bodyguard jotted down relevant information into her little black notepad.

When she was done, Wheein took a few gulps of water and watched as Byul seemed to be thinking deeply as she flipped t