Early the next morning, Kibum went to see their suspect with the theories he had discussed with Jinki last night. The more he laid in bed that night (too energetic from all the coffee he had drank) and thought about it, the more he believed what he said was true. Or near the complete truth, anyway.

“I take it you slept well?” He commented with a cheeky smirk as he sat down in front of Jonghyun who looked up with droopy eyes. He looked like a kicked, sad puppy, and it made Kibum feel bad almost instantly for being such a jerk to him.
“Oh, yeah, the table was really comfortable. Not to mention how cold it gets in here. Actually, I didn't sleep at all because I'm being accused of murder!” Jonghyun's voice rose steadily out of annoyance, and he slumped against the uncomfortable chair afterwards. He had been too on edge to even eat, and now he was feeling those effects as his stomach grumbled and his head pained from hunger.
Kibum took note of this, and he asked for a sandwich and some water.

“So, have you found any evidence yet? Or do I have to sit here for another night?” Jonghyun asked. He was certainly much more aggressive than before, but that was because of his hunger and sleep deprivation. Kibum was exactly the same, so he tried not to judge Jonghyun's character at the moment, even if he was the number one suspect.
“Well, not evidence, but I did come up with a theory yesterday,” Kibum said with another cheeky grin, but instead of Jonghyun looking nervous or afraid, he kept the same expression. His face might have sagged a tiny bit more, showing off his tiredness.

Kibum launched into his theory, and as he spoke, he studied the suspect's face carefully for any hints of distress or worry. However, nothing happened. Jonghyun's face remained the same throughout it all; again, his face only showed tiredness.

“That's nice and all, but when can I go home? I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I want a shower,” Jonghyun grumbled.
“There's no going home for you! The only place you'll be getting your meals and sleep and showers from is jail,” The detective folded his arms and placed them on the table as he squinted his eyes to form a glare.
“You can't prove any of this. And if I was doing something wrong, don't you think you would've found out about it by now? Your detectives here are smart, aren't they? So why haven't you found anything so far if you think I've done something wrong?” The elder one asked in a passive aggressive manner as he stared back. He wouldn't back down to a bully.

Kibum grit his teeth together at the backhanded compliment, about to leap up and give Jonghyun a piece of his mind, when Jinki came into the room with the sandwiches. He gave Kibum a stern but kind look - it seemed like they'd be playing the good cop, bad cop routine.

The detective mumbled to himself but allowed his superior to take control of the situation, placing the cheese and ham sandwich down on the table in front of Jonghyun along with a bottle of water. His mood was lifted almost right away.

He dug into the sandwich quickly and hungrily as Jinki and Kibum exchanged a look, and the elder one soon sat down as well at the table. Maybe now that he showed Jonghyun he wasn't a threat like Kibum was, the suspect would answer the questions faster and with less of a fuss.

“I'm sure Kibum here has been giving you a hard time, yes? He's well known for that around here. He always gets the suspects to confess because he puts so much pressure on them,” Jinki started off in a gentle voice, and Jonghyun nodded while flashing a glare in Kibum's direction before he turned his gaze back to Jinki.

“I'm sorry if it's been tough on you here. I'll try making arrangements to make you more comfortable. Of course, I won't have to do that, and you won't have to wait for the changes, if you can give me an alibi for the night of the murder. As you can see, Kibum has come up with a rather good idea about the reason of the crime, and if you can't prove to me it's false, I'll have to believe him,” Jinki said, and Jonghyun took a sip of the water. He then sighed and leaned against his chair - it was apparent that he was unsure about whether to give his alibi or not, but instead of pushing him to do so, Jinki kept quiet to give the suspect some time to evaluate the situation.

Jonghyun turned it over in his mind - someone identified him at the scene somehow, even though he wasn't there, and a camera caught sight of his stolen jacket. The police came up with a convincing theory, and with no other suspects or leads, it didn't look good for him at all. It was either reveal his alibi that he didn't want this police station to know, or go to jail for a crime he didn't commit.

“I was at home the night of the murder, and the person you can ask about that is Minho,” Jonghyun eventually spoke up. His voice was much lower than before, and it had an even more defeated tone to it than earlier. He didn't scream or yell, but his words were louder than anything else he had said.
“Minho?” Kibum asked before Jinki could, “Choi Minho? The golfer?”
“And Taemin's boyfriend, yes,” Jonghyun nodded in an ashamed manner. Kibum slumped against his chair with a look of astonishment - it made sense now why Jonghyun had wanted to know if Taemin worked here before or not. He didn't want Taemin finding out about this.

“What's your relationship with him?” Kibum demanded to know, and even though Jinki tried to hush him, he didn't fall back.
“We've been dating for a while,” Jonghyun admitted uncomfortably as he shifted in his seat. He felt embarrassed, a red blush brightening his neck, as he realized he was admitting to cheating with Minho. It didn't seem so bad when no one knew, but now he felt more than filthy and ashamed of himself. It was bad enough cheating with someone and knowing it, but what made it even worse was that he was cheating with Taemin's boyfriend, his own ex's current boyfriend. There was nothing anyone could say to make Jonghyun feel better about himself at the moment.

“How long?” Kibum nearly yelled, “how long?!”
“Kibum! Enough. Take a breather,” Jinki said sharply now, and Kibum immediately fell silent; even though he was visibly fuming with anger, he couldn't go against his superior. Not to mention he was a little intimidated by the seriousness Jinki presented now.

Kibum stormed out of the room, about to stomp towards the cafeteria to get a crappy cup of black coffee to calm down, when he noticed someone standing by the window which looked into Jonghyun's room.

It was Taemin.

Kibum's jaw nearly hit the floor, and his lips parted and closed repeatedly as he tried to explain or tell Taemin it wasn't what it looked like (as cliché as that was). However, nothing could come out.

“Taemin...” He croaked out, but the blonde seemed a bit too calm to be okay with this news.
“I knew it,” He whispered, “I knew he was messing around! I just...didn't know with who,”
As his voice reached normal volume again, his unhappiness was evident. He laid his forehead against the glass, and his shoulders slumped before he began to cry.

To him, there was no worse betrayal than this - he loved them both so much, and in the end they both turned their backs on him for one another instead. Was this what he deserved somehow? Had he taken all of this for granted for too long? Was this his punishment?

Kibum wasted no time in embracing the other detective, and Taemin hugged back tightly as he let himself be comforted. As usual, it was Kibum that was there for him whenever Minho screwed up somehow (like missing date nights when they were planned in advance, forgetting their anniversary, not getting Taemin any gifts for his birthday...), but neither of them minded much. It was one of the reasons they had bonded as quickly as they did.

After Jinki had sent Taemin out for a break of half hour to an hour to calm down, his boss approached Kibum.

“I hope you know this means Minho has to be brought in, and Taemin is too close to both the suspects to be involved in this case,” He said, and the younger man was expecting to be scolded for his aggressive behavior towards Jonghyun. However, Jinki didn't mention it.
“And me?” Kibum asked; he was partners with Taemin, after all.
“The less you know, the better from now on. He could interfere directly with our suspects and interrogations or investigation if you give him info deliberately or not, so you're also being taken off the case,” Jinki nodded once in an almost solemn way. Kibum expected this reply, but his eyebrow still twitched out of frustration.
“We're just getting started with it! You need all the help you can get!” He said and grit his teeth - he felt a little bad to be talking to a superior like this, but he needed to make Jinki see sense!
“No. It's procedure. And while it's a shame that a mind like yours can't be used on something like this, I can't risk it. I'm sorry,” The elder one said. Kibum knew there was no arguing with his boss, so he knew there was nothing more he could say.

He grabbed his coat and stormed off to find Taemin.

He was at the first place Kibum thought of to look; the café they visited regularly to buy their lattes from in the morning or during breaks.

The blonde was sitting alone at a table while drinking what looked like a white hot chocolate. He had only drank one about three times in all the times they came to buy something here, but what surprised Kibum more was that his partner didn't seem as upset as he did at the station.

“Hey, I came to check on you. How are you feeling?” He brushed off his odd thoughts as he sat down in front if his friend, asking for a white hot chocolate as well. It was a nice change from their usual lattes.
“Okay...I think. I had thought Minho was cheating on me for a while, so I guess it isn't much of a shock that it's true. I just wish it was with someone else. Anyone else,” The blonde grimaced as if he swallowed a bunch of raw ginger.
“Do you know how they met?” Kibum asked softly.
“No. Not really. Must've been through a mutual friend somehow...” Taemin mumbled in a slight daze before he took a large gulp of the steaming hot chocolate to keep his emotions in check.
“I'm sorry that you had to find out this way. If there's anything I could do, you just have to let me know. We both have a lot of time on our hands now that we've been taken off the case,” The elder one said dryly, but both of his hands took one of Taemin's soft ones.

Kibum had dreamed of a moment like this for so long, and his heart pounded as he felt Taemin's hand close around his fingers. It was such a simple and small gesture, but it gave Kibum some sort of selfish hope that they'd be together somehow, some day. Maybe all Taemin needed was time; maybe this would make him realize that Kibum had stood by him through everything without judgment, and that he had supported the blonde in whatever it was he wanted to do, as crazy as it might have been.

Kibum then scolded himself in his head - how could he think about stuff like that right now? Taemin was having a hard time, and all his partner could think of was getting with him. This wasn't about his feelings for Taemin, or how they could start dating; it was about cheering his partner up. How shameful!

“I'll remember that. Thank you, Kibum. For everything you've helped me through,” Taemin whispered, their gazes locking for a moment, and he wished this peacefulness could last for just a little more than forever.