Kibum was the first to enter the station; during the drive back, he tried to convince himself that everything would be okay. Maybe they could arrest Taemin quietly - tell him the matter and walk with him as calmly as possible to an interrogation room. But he had a feeling that wasn't going to be the case.

He spotted his partner by his desk, typing out what looked like reports. Now that Kibum knew what kind of person his partner really was, he began to question the validity of those reports he filled out every time he got back from something. Before all this, the elder wouldn't have doubted it in the slightest (he wouldn't have even give it a second look unless Taemin wanted him to read over it), but now he couldn't help but wonder if Taemin had colored the facts to make himself look good or to exaggerate the situation so that he'd get more praise for taking care of it.

Kibum turned to Jinki questioningly. He expected his superior to handle it - he had asked for that back in the car, after all - but the elder man's attention had been grabbed by one of the other officers that needed help with something.
That left Kibum to make the arrest.

He mumbled to himself as he approached the younger man; of course, he could've waited for Jinki to return, but he didn't know how long the elder would be away, and he didn't want Taemin running off somewhere. There was very little chance he'd catch onto the fact that they were closing in on him, but Kibum automatically felt more nervous about the blonde vanishing now that he was the main suspect - and probably the perpetrator.

“Taemin,” He started off, silently wishing the younger man wouldn't make a big deal out of this, “I need you to come with me,”
“Why? Where do you want to go?” He asked as he turned his head to glance at his partner.
“I have to take you in as a suspect for the murder of Park Sooyoung. I won't put handcuffs on or anything, I just need you to come with me quietly...” Kibum grimaced the entire time he was explaining. He felt like the villain now, even though he was supposed to be the good guy in the scenario.
“Me? You can't be serious. What kind of weird joke is this? Cause it's not funny,” Taemin scoffed. He then turned back to his desk, not believing what was happening right now. Out of all things for his partner to joke about! He wasn't sure of since when Kibum had such an odd sense of humor.
“Don't make this harder than it needs to be. I don't want everyone to know about it,” Kibum grimaced again as he put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

Taemin turned his head with an angry gaze, his brows dipping. He opened his mouth and began yelling.

“What do you want from me? I'm not a killer! Leave me alone!” Being accused of it seemed to have triggered something inside of him, and everyone around them began to stare at the scene.
“Don't make me use force on you. Just because you're my partner, doesn't mean you can carry on like this!” Kibum hissed. People around them began to whisper amongst themselves.
“You're wrong! How could you think such things of me? Where did this even come from? Who told you this? Have you been investigating me? We were supposed to be partners!” Taemin shrieked - he was only making it worse for himself, but Kibum assumed he was just trying to play the part of the cop that was wrongfully accused.
“You're wrong for lying to us! Now get up!” Kibum yelled as well, moving away from Taemin to fold his arms. He was done trying to whisper and keep this all a secret when his partner was doing the opposite. This was all his fault anyway. Maybe he needed the humiliation.
“No! And you can't make me,” Taemin shook his head furiously. He folded his arms as well like a petulant child, and the harsh whispers around them only grew more vigorous and loud. Kibum was the only one who was feeling embarrassed in the scenario, and he wasn't exactly sure why - he wasn't the one getting arrested at the moment. Maybe it was because he was on the verge of begging Taemin to come along with him quietly so they wouldn't draw even more attention to the situation.
“Get up, now!” Kibum yelled, and again, Taemin shook his head.
“Stop acting like a child and do what I say! You killed her, you know it, I know it, and now nearly the whole department does too! So stop with this nonsense and let me arrest you!” Kibum hissed through his teeth as his blood boiled in his veins.

Taemin hopped up from his chair and came face-to-face with his partner. His eyes glistened with anger and rage.

“𝑌𝑜𝑢 arrest 𝑚𝑒? Everyone here knows Kim Kibum doesn't have the balls,” He said. Then, he smirked.

This sort of behavior was uncommon when it came to the blonde; he never insulted or humiliated someone outright like this, and even if he did say something remotely mean, it was in a joking manner. Either way, it made Kibum feel ashamed and infuriated at the same time.

As he was about to deliver a harsh slap through his friend's face, Jinki appeared. He was like a saving grace.

In the blink of an eye, Taemin was shoved down on his table with his hands behind his back as Jinki got out his handcuffs. Kibum was still flustered with rage at the blonde's tactics to embarrass him in front of everyone and shock that Jinki quite literally appeared out of nowhere. Still, Kibum wasn't complaining. At least there was a firm hold on this situation now.

As Taemin was dumped in the one steel chair in the interrogation room, that pompous smirk never left his face.

“You're so confident you got the right guy, aren't you, Mr. Superior?” The blonde cooed in a teasing tone. He didn't seem like one of the beloved detectives of the station - he seemed like some teenage punk many of the officers despised since they never learned their lesson after being arrested.
“If it isn't you, then who is it?! Because everything points to you!” Jinki yelled. It was the first time anyone had heard it, and even Taemin was taken aback as he fell silent and squirmed in his seat. The rest of the station piled by the two-way mirror to see what was going on.
“You swore an oath the day you became a policeman. To serve others, to protect them, to strike down those that plan to do harm to innocent people! Well, how could you follow that oath when you're the very thing we all work to put away every day?” Jinki wasn't mad about all of this. He was more disappointed than anything else. Everyone knew he loved all his subordinates like family, so how was he supposed to feel seeing one of them as a killer?
“Pft,” Taemin mumbled under his breath before he looked away.

Kibum pushed to the front of the crowd by the mirror to peek inside - he wanted to offer back-up for Jinki, but he knew his superior could handle Taemin just fine.

“I did it. I killed her. So what?” The blonde snapped, unable to handle the tense silence in the room any longer. Now that he didn't have to pretend to be the good boy he usually was, he was much more aggressive and easily agitated.
“So what? 𝑆𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡? You killed someone! You, a detective! Do you think that just because of your job you'll get off with only a slap on the wrist?” Jinki asked, composed once more.
“I hadn't thought that far,” Taemin said sourly before he slumped in his chair again, once again looking like a teenager that had committed a crime.

“So why did you do it?” Jinki asked the question that everyone wanted the answer to. At least he wasn't beating around the bush about it.
“You tell me. You figured out it was me, so why don't you tell me what gave it away?” Taemin sneered.

Jinki studied him for a minute, then clasped his hands together on the table.

“The main thing that gave you away was the donut story. You said you were going to buy desserts for Minho and you that morning, which was why you were in the area. Later on you said you threw them away because they wouldn't be fresh. I double checked with forensics, and they confirmed no desserts were found in the trash of Sooyoung's home. I also checked the public trashcan you would have had to run past on your way to the house to pursue the suspect, and no desserts were there either. The bakery and convenience stores both said they didn't recognize you. That's because you never went to buy desserts in the first place, am I right?” Jinki explained it all clearly, as if he knew multiple people were listening. Which he probably did.

Taemin simply smirked.

“You and Jonghyun are exes, which was also interesting. It was a little suspicious to me how you seemed to recognize him at the scene. Him, out of so many other people. You probably didn't know who to accuse at first, which was why you said you didn't know who it was when you got interviewed, but then you saw an opportunity,” Jinki continued, and everyone listened silently. No one wanted to miss a thing.
“Jonghyun was friends with Sooyoung, and he confided in her that you were stalking him. I'm sure you were also the one who took the receipt to the laundromat and stole his clothes, and you were also the one wearing that very jacket so we'd all assume it was Jonghyun who killed Sooyoung. But I can't understand why you'd be stalking him in the first place when you were already dating Minho at the time,” Jinki hummed. Taemin nearly bursted with excitement at his chance to expose the reasons for his crude behavior.
“Minho was always such a . I knew it the minute I said yes to dating him. But what I didn't expect was for him to come home one night with the smell of Jonghyun's cologne on him. I knew the smell too well to ignore it, so out of curiosity, I began following Jonghyun around. If I stalked Minho, he'd notice it immediately, you see,” Taemin said carefully, and Jinki remained emotionless.
“That's when I saw the two of them meeting up, and yes, Sooyoung knew about it by then since Jonghyun told her. I saw them meeting up one day, and Jonghyun was never good with hiding his emotions, so he made it painfully obvious that he knew I was there. That's when I knew I had to do something. I threatened her to keep her big mouth shut, but she only got more aggressive in investigating, so I had to get rid of her before she exposed me to everyone. Yes, I was the one that took Jonghyun's clothes to set him up,” Taemin explained, and Kibum shuddered thinking about what he did with Jonghyun's underwear, “and yes, I tried to frame him, but I was the one who killed her,”
“I did it because she was getting too big for her boots. And I would've killed Jonghyun too so Minho and I could be happy together without him around!” Taemin screeched so suddenly, everyone cringed at the loud sound.

Jinki gave the younger one some time to compose himself again, then spoke.

“But instead of going through all of this hassle, why not just find another boyfriend?”
“Find another boyfriend? Are you kidding me?” Taemin snorted, “I wanted Minho, and that's who I got. Anyone who got in my way had to get punished,”

Jinki left him then with a paper and pen to fill out his confession - some part of him still wished it wasn't true, and that there was some sort of explanation for it all, but he knew it was unlikely. He was supposed to feel relieved as he always did when bringing a criminal to justice, but he felt drained instead. He didn't want to lose one of his detectives.

As he was pondering all of this, he noticed Kibum by the coffee machine. Then Jinki smiled.

Maybe there was at least one good thing that came out of all of this; more time with Kibum, even if it would be used to try cheering him up.