The first few days Jihyo was in the hospital were quite boring, she had absolutely nothing to do and was quickly growing tired of lying in bed and looking at the ceiling. Sunmi spent mornings and early afternoons, working from the table in the corner, then she would switch with Dahyun, who would come after class and stay until evening, when Sunmi would come back and the teacher would head home so she could rest to work in the morning. 

Apparently, detective park was an absolute disaster in being quiet, Sunmi and Dahyun lost count of how many times they came into the room to find her doing something she wasn’t supposed to. Today it was Mina and Nayeon, though. Both chiefs needed to have a talk with their friend and for her to sign some papers, only to come into the room and find Jihyo doing crunches. Understandably, Nayeon screamed for the nurse and told on Jihyo…. like a five year old… The detective was a bit bitter about it, so what.

“Now that you are resting as you were supposed to…” Mina smirks. “We are here about your medical leave.”

“And before you start getting ideas, the order came from above. Commissary Choi himself was the one demanding you were taken out for the time being.”

“Fine.” Jihyo grumbles and pouts….. Like a five year old.

“Also, the girls want to come visit, but we are holding the information for now and Hyun hasn’t said a word about it.” Chief Myoui added.

“If I say no visitors, Tzu will end up pulling strings and bringing everyone along. So just tell them to give me a heads up before they come and no Jeong for obvious reasons.”

“Lovely. Also, what’s this about Hyun and Jeong?” Nayeon, ever the gossiper.

“Oh, it’s something I know about but you’ll get to that when either Jeong stops insisting she’s holier than thou, OR Dubs decides she wants to share.” Jihyo loves rubbing it in.

“So not any time soon.” Mina concludes.

“I’d guess not, no. But Sunmi and I are taking good care of Dubs, no need to worry. They even coordinate to spend time with me here.”

“Sunmi is over the whole ‘I’ll be number one’ thing?” 

“Well, chief Im, they are working quite well together. Maybe there was some good that came from getting shot.”

“Speaking of those two, who was supposed to come now?” Nayeon seemed to just have noticed.

“Right now it was supposed to be Sunmi, but she has a meeting about the attack that was supposed to have ended by two.” It was almost four and Jihyo knew it would drag longer.

“I’d guess that will take most of the day, yes.” Nayeon agreed.

“And are you both planning to stay until when?”

“Maybe until Dahyun gets here?” Mina looks guilty.

“Yeah, no.” Jihyo cuts it out right away. “I texted her the moment I sat down after you told on me and she’ll not be showing up until you both are gone. And if that’s when Sunmi’s turn begins, then she won’t come today.”

“And why would you do that!” Mina stomps her feet in protest.

“Because I’m her friend and I actually act like a good friend would?” Jihyo yawns a bit.

“You know, these digs aren’t that nice.”  The eldest complains.

“Yeah, that’s the point. Also, you two should get going, I’m sure you have more to do and your wives are waiting to hear whatever it is you’ll tell them.”

“We’ll go, but only because Tzu said she will be showing up to surprise you soon, and she’ll get the information out of you.”

“Whatever you must tell yourself, chief Myoui. Again, tell everyone to warn me before coming.”

Mina allows herself to be pushed out while still sulking, Nayeon makes a ‘I’m watching you’ motion and Jihyo just waves at them, knowing perfectly well that she won this round. Dahyun comes in not even ten minutes later, she had come to the hospital about half an hour before and was lurking in the restaurant waiting for Jihyo to give her the go ahead. The detective spends the rest of the afternoon retelling what the two chiefs came to do and convincing Dahyun that it would be fine for her not to come until Tzuyu made her surprise visit and they could stop worrying about any of them running into the teacher.

Sunmi arrived later that evening, agreeing that Dahyun should lay low for a while, then proceeding to complain about how boring meetings with other politicians could get. After allowing the older woman to vent, Jihyo picked up that Sunmi wanted to say something, she guessed her ‘promotion’ may have been brought up, but the room wasn’t secured and the detective knew they could definitely be under surveillance at the moment.

“Alright, how about you both head home and rest a bit. Hyun shouldn’t be hanging around the hospital as our friends made it clear they don’t respect her wish to be away for the moment.” Jihyo says when she sees her wife is about to speak up. “And you are clearly distressed, love. Go, have a bubble bath and relax, alright? We’ll talk again tomorrow.”

“Alright, we’ll go.” Dahyun agreed easily, noting her best friend picked up on something and needed them away. “But I’ll give you both a few moments, because I definitely don’t need to see whatever that that was broadcasted was about.”

“Like you aren’t still cooing about it!” The detective calls after her friend, laughing when the younger woman flips her the bird.

“How about you scoot over a bit and I’ll make good use of this moment we were graciously given?” Sunmi suggests seductively.

The couple settles closely together, Sunmi making sure to whisper as low as she could in case they were really being surveilled. Jihyo had previously explained that she didn’t trust the room and that not her wife, nor her best friend should really say anything they didn’t want others to know.

“There was talk of you and your job during the meeting.” Sunmi tried to be as vague as possible.

“We’ll talk later, I should be out of here soon.”

“Good enough for me.” 

“Also, why don’t you take Hyun out tomorrow? She might be putting on a brave face, but I know she’s very bummed out about this whole Jeongyeon thing and that I’m not home to support her.”

“Will do.” Sunmi smiles and gets up.

They say their goodbyes and the older woman leaves. Sure enough, three days later Tzuyu shows up unannounced, bringing Jeongyeon along. Jihyo was tired and over it the moment the two stepped through the door. The nurse was a bit apologetic, but she was also tired of Jeongyeon bothering her all the time to visit Jihyo and force her to cough up Dahyun’s location. The detective was known to hold a grudge, and excel in it, but if that meant Jeongyeon would quit showing up at her place all the damn time, Tzuyu would take it. 

“Oh, you finally showed up.” Jihyo chuckled humorlessly. “I thought you’d be here sooner.”

“Yeah, well, where’s my wife?” Jeongyeon doesn’t miss a beat.

“I don’t know, you should ask her.” The detective shrugs.

“You are hiding her, we all know you are, and I can’t even catch her leaving work.” 

“Then maybe respect that she doesn’t want to see you.”

“Listen here yo-”

“No, you had your chance and put your foot in your mouth as always.” Tzuyu cuts in tiredly. “Now you’ll sit in the corner and be silent, unless you have something useful to contribute to the conversation.”

Jeongyeon halts, clearly swallowing any retort before it could come out. Jihyo guesses she had struck a deal to get into her room and now had to keep her end if she wanted to keep the girls around. At least the detective wouldn’t have to hear her anymore.

“Now that we got that over with…” Jihyo leaves it open.

“Yeah, it’s good to see you. I’d like to check your chart, is that alright?”

“Knock yourself out. I’m surprised you are actually asking, though.”

“Mina and I did have a few conversations about our stances regarding you, and I brought up the point that we are indeed too invasive and should take quite a few steps back.”

“Better late than never, I suppose.”

“Don’t be y, I’m trying here.”

“I’ll try.” Jihyo agrees, albeit reluctantly. “No promises.”

“That's all I can ask.” The nurse nods, placing the chart back. “Also, if your charts are correct, I’m guessing you’ll be out of here pretty soon.”

“Good to know. My doctors don’t really tell me much. Maybe it’s because they already understand I’ll push to be released as soon as they tell me I’m good enough to go home.”

Tzuyu laughs, starting some light conversation. Jeongyeon remains silent through the rest of the visit but huffs and puffs now and then. She’s thoroughly ignored, but it irks the other two regardless. They leave a bit before visitation hours are over, the nurse says to call her if Jihyo needed anything, which is thanked but the detective knows she won’t be doing any of that. Regardless, it wasn’t as unpleasant as Jihyo prepared herself for.