Jihyo hangs up and decides to pick up a bit more speed, she had been driving leisury and there was still room to go a bit faster. The detective does arrive a bit before she said she would, and heads inside as she was told to. Her parents were, indeed, waiting for her, but there was another couple there too. This was weird, but Jihyo is an officer, she could handle herself if anything were to happen.

“Good evening.” Jihyo bows to the new couple. “Is there a problem, dad?”

“Like I said, nothing’s wrong, but the Lees decided to drop by and talk to us about having dinner tomorrow.”

At Jihyo’s confused face, Chinsun decides to explain better. “They are Sunmi’s parents. Your future wife?”

“Oh.” There’s a second while Jihyo is processing. “OH! Pleased to meet you. I’m Gok Jihyo, my father did tell me he would be going ahead with the marriage, but he failed to mention you would be here today.”

The couples laugh heartily, Jiyoo did tell them his daughter would be great, and Chinsun added Jihyo would have the best reaction if she wasn’t told why she was being asked to come. Both were right, and the Lees liked her already.

“I hear you still want to use Park?” Mr Lee asked.

“You see, Gok is a very powerful and very mysterious last name, most who dabble within the rich and powerful have heard of them and I wanted to go places without its weight to uphold.”

“But wouldn’t the last name open more doors for you?” Mrs Lee is curious.

“Honestly, with me being a homicide detective, it would close more doors than open. The case with congressman Lee would still be dragging on had I not been using Park. Detective Jung, the one who was handling the case previously, was too caught up with trying to climb higher, rather than solving the case. Whereas I just slipped right under everyone’s noses. Nobody high enough to be in the social circles the Lees were would bat me an eye while I’m just detective Park.”

“That makes a lot of sense, actually. But what happens when you marry our daughter, then?”

“Well, sir, that would depend on what she and I decide. But I’d like to suggest that neither changes our names, as we already defined a brand for ourselves. She’s congresswoman Lee, and I’m detective Park. Sure, we could keep using those as our ‘stage names’, per se, but it would be much easier on both to keep them.”

“Well, I’ll just warn you that our daughter can get pretty hard headed about things, so be prepared.”

“Will do, ma’am. But it’s nothing we can’t talk through.” Jihyo chuckled. “Now, about this dinner?”

“Right, the dinner!” Jiyoo quips. “As with any arranged marriages, Lee suggested we go for the first meeting dinner tomorrow. It being a sunday and all.”

“I’m fine with that.” Jihyo agreed easily. “We should meet at some point, might as well just do it already.”

“Great, so we’ll talk it out and send you the place and time.” Jiyoo tells his daughter. “Now shoo.”

Jihyo rolls her eyes, but she did want to get home, take a long bubble bath and just relax. So the detective says her goodbyes and goes her way. The next day, our favorite grump finds herself putting more effort on her looks than ever. She took a shower and did a vigorous scrub, made sure to iron her clothes well, picked some nice shoes and sprayed the perfume her mother told her to (the older woman and Dahyun had also got her a small assortment of those during their shopping spree). Quite honestly, Jihyo cleaned up really well, the slobbish detective was nowhere to be seen. She arrived at the restaurant looking like a proper, if not a little rebellious, high class daughter.

“So, when is she arriving?” The young woman asked, a bit impatiently. 

“She shoul-'' Mr Lee is interrupted by a knock.

“Right on time.” Jiyoo chuckled and raised to open the door.

“Good evening. I apologize, I didn’t realize I was so late.” Jihyo bows to everyone in the room.

“You aren’t late, we got here two hours ago and have been drinking with your parents.” Mrs Lee assured her.

“Oh, I apologize regardless.” Jihyo insisted, making her way inside and removing her jacket.

“It’s good to see you again, Jihyo.” Mr Lee says once the young woman fully arrived. “This is our daughter, Lee Sunmi.”

The woman was tall, with very young looks, but exuded an aura of authority even in her casual clothes. Jihyo understood why her parents thought this might be a good match for her, and was also glad she made the effort to present herself better. Sunmi was taller, elegant and, oddly, comfortable to be around. On the other hand, Sunmi thought Jihyo was better than her parents made her believe. Sure, she knew the woman was a big name and the best in the force, that made her expect a gruffy looking woman, but this one was beautiful, clearly made an effort to meet her and was smelling really good too.

They all talked, the typical first meeting thing, and Jihyo learned that Sunmi had arrived about half an hour before her, all because her driver had to handle a collision and she said she would head to her next destination herself, which paired with her lack of patience, led her to arrive too early. Luckily, their parents had decided to go out drinking and their private room was already in use. Now, with the whole conversation part of dinner over, ‘the adults’ told the women to go and talk between themselves, but Sunmi said she couldn’t stay for too long, Jihyo asked if she could take her home and that was their private time.

“Could you input the address, ms Lee?” Jihyo asked once they settled in the car.

“Aren’t you a bit too stiff with your future wife?” Sunmi laughed.

“I would love to get better acquainted, but we should talk a bit first, no?”

“That we should. Tell me about yourself, then.”

“There isn’t much, ms Lee. I grew up on my own, my birth mother was never around and I don’t even think I remember her husband’s face at all.” Jihyo began, no point hiding anything from her future wife.

“What do you mean you grew up on your own?”

“Exactly that. My birth mother was never home, I learned to dress myself when I was two, just old enough to stand up and waddle around. I would have to go to school and get back on my own and the teachers helped me do my laundry and gave me another meal at the end of the day.”

“That’s-”

“Yeah, but I did look into it, there’s not much that can be done. Anyhow, I grew up on my own, the old lady at the convenience store near the house helped me a lot, she let me sweep the floors for a bit of money, that was what got the electrical bill paid. I was certain my birth mother and her husband had another house, where they really lived.”

“Oh, wow. This is certainly not what I was expecting when I asked you about yourself.”

“I know, it’s heavy. But if we are going to get married, I’d like you to know the truth before going ahead with it.”

“Well, how about you come inside and we take the night to talk about it?”

As it turned out, Sunmi didn’t live far from the restaurant, Jihyo confirmed that the woman really wanted to know her sob life story. Getting a firm yes, they headed up. Sunmi told Jihyo to park at her extra spot and they soon found themselves in the older woman’s living room, with warm tea. Jihyo finished telling Sunmi her story growing up, all the nitty gritty details, this woman had to have a true understanding of who she was if their wedding was going to happen. Sunmi felt really bad about this woman, Jihyo had felt so gentle from the moment she laid eyes on the younger woman, now she learned the detective was also a tortured soul.

“Okay, that was a lot, a lot.” Sunmi huffs, they had been talking for a while now.

“I don’t think it would have been fair for you to go in blind. Plus, any of it could come up later and be used against you.”

“There’s nothing about your life that would be held against me, Jihyo. If anyone tried, I’d have no qualms in turning them to dust.”

“How about yourself? I only know what everyone knows.”

“There’s really nothing beyond that. I was born in a good family, raised to be the perfect little chaebol. Went to the best schools, had the best things, was molded into the perfect little high society heir. When I decided to join politics, I was indoctrinated into the perfect politician.” 

“No skeletons in your closet?”

“If we don’t count past flings, none. Even then, they were just flings. It happens a lot between the rich, we all have weddings waiting for us, nobody bats an eye if we fool around here and there.”

“So I don’t have to worry about a vengeful ex?” Jihyo laughed.

“Not really, everyone knows it’s just for fun. How about you? Any exes?”

“For there to be exes, people would have to want to date me. You don’t have a single thing to worry about there.” The tone was so light that it almost disguised what was said.

“I feel I’m just going to get sad again, but you have to tell me more.”

Jihyo just sighs, says they are going to need more tea and proceeds to talk about her tragic, if not laughable, lack of a love life. Sunmi, indeed, got sad again, but everything she learned made her decision easier. The politician had been torn between a real marriage and a marriage of convenience where they would just be a couple for the cameras. It’s not that Sunmi was a player or anything, but arranged marriages could go both ways easily. But Jihyo had been so honest and upfront, telling her everything and making sure she knew what she might be entering. Plus, this little detective had been so unlucky this far, she might as well, at least, be someone Jihyo comes home to.

It was very late in the evening when they finished talking, Sunmi offered the detective to just sleep over. Jihyo accepted and was about to get comfortable on the couch when she was told to take the guest bedroom, where she speed walked to with flushed cheeks. They exchanged numbers and started talking often. After the first week, both started going out for lunches and dinners, it was nice, and both were becoming good friends. Then it was Tzuyu’s birthday and Jihyo brought it up, asking if Sunmi would be interested in going at all. She was, it was time they started meeting each other’s friends.

Jihyo did stress that she considered Dahyun her one and only friend, but tolerated the others because the teacher liked them and Jihyo wanted to be supportive. Luckily, Tzuyu was on the more financially comfortable side, and she was a nurse, many of her friends were doctors, so the place for the celebration was a more exclusive bar in gangnam, not exactly where the group would normally choose. It also helped that she was married to a police chief, Mina was making good money and the couple didn’t mind splurging here and there.