Well, after the unexpected, but very welcome photos, Sunmi was really hot and bothered about her wife. It was a bummer that Jihyo was still under medical rest and absolutely forbidden from anything that would require any type of exertion. Not that their relationship was at that stage at all, and not that Sunmi thought they would get there either. It was complicated, Plus, things were always changing and she couldn’t really get a grip on herself to actually do what she set her mind to, being in this marriage truthfully.

Regardless, Sunmi was trying but knew the end to their agreement was getting closer each day regardless. Jihyo was getting better, but there was obviously something she wasn’t saying, the politician decided to wait a bit longer, Dahyun was looking for her own place and getting a divorce, they could talk after. Plus, their marriage agreement said they should be together for at least two years, she had a bit longer still. Speaking of the teacher, they got pretty close over the period both spent at Jihyo’s house, then the shooting happened and both found they worked better together than initially thought. 

“Lee, are you still with us?” Prime Minister kwon calls for attention.

“I am, sir. Just got lost a bit there.” Sunmi flushes a little.

“We are done regardless, how about you have lunch with me?” The man dismisses.

They had been talking about the attack and how investigations were going nowhere, Sunmi supplied that her wife was finally back at work and things started moving again. Prime Minister Kwon knew things would come to an end soon, if detective Park was on the case. True to the man’s words, everyone started leaving, their assistants were the only ones left with them.

“I’m more than happy to accompany you, sir.”

“No need to be so formal.” Prime Minister Kwon laughs.

Sunmi just bows a bit and follows, they walk to a restaurant close by and Kwon asks for a private room, their assistants get a table just outside the room, already used to these kinds of meetings. It was normal for politicians to have these kinds of meetings and that there were things not even they were privy to.

“Well, sir. Is there something you wanted to talk about?” 

“You are sharper than you look.” He laughed.

“Well, too long with my wife and one is bound to pick up a few tricks here and there.” Sunmi chuckled.

“Oh, she’s a special one alright.” The way Kwon said it hid something. “But I wanted to talk about you, mrs Lee. I understand you are going through a bit of a pickle, your wife being shot and all, but how are you?”

“Well, I’m quite alright. Jihyo is great, she is always trying to make life easier for me and I can’t shake the feeling that I’m not doing enough for her.”

“Oh, I feel the same about my wife. She is a doctor and still does so much for me, I feel useless. She tells me it’s alright and I’m worrying too much, but still.”

“And my wife’s best friend is spending a while with us, so that helps a lot. We both tag team rather well taking care of Jihyo. My wife is very independent, but she still needs help with bathing, getting dressed and changing her bandages.”

“I’d think it’s too difficult for her. She did get shot on her shoulder and that must have hindered her movements completely.”

“It’s getting better, and she was allowed back to work, so she will likely be less bored and sour at home.”

“We talked a couple of times before, and I’m already sure Jihyo is the type to get annoyed about being told to rest quickly.”

Both laugh at that, it was true the detective was a grump, but meant well and wanted to do as much as she could at all times. They kept talking, it was mostly for Prime Minister Kwon to get to know the woman Park Jihyo was giving up so much for. It was interesting, the man could see Sunmi was nice enough, just happened to not love Jihyo like that, despite his suspicions that the detective had been willing to open up to her at some point.

After lunch, Sunmi was swept up in meetings all day again. The whole incident was still a problem, but the secret squad was getting ever closer to the organization behind it all, they really just needed Chungha to say a few key things for them to execute their plan and bring it all down. Jihyo, for her part, had been watching the past questionings and had already picked up on a lot of things the other officers were missing and wanted to question Chungha herself, at least once.

Surely, Nayeon was all for it, but Mina was putting her foot down and was completely against Jihyo being locked in a room with the woman who shot her. It was difficult, but a call from above had chief Myoui had to let it go. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Jihyo to work and whatnot, but Chungha was unstable at best. The higher ups were putting a lot of pressure on the officers responsible to wrap things up already, a few knew Jihyo was the real target, but Chungha had aimed towards two big politicians, the prime minister at that, and they needed answers fast.

“Park, something wrong?” Is the first thing they say when the call goes through.

“Secretary Kim, nothing wrong, ma’am. It’s just, I’ll question the shooter soon, and it would be great if the key players were there to witness it themselves.”

“Oh, the order got to your chief already. I thought it would take a little longer, seeing we have to be completely discreet and all.”

“Yes, the call came in about half an hour ago. I’ll send you the schedule, but I know I can’t be the one to request people to be there to watch it, so they will have to come on their own.”

“Don’t worry, kid. We’ll take care of it, just focus on getting her to say what we need her to say.”

“Will do, ma’am. Thank you for this.” Jihyo sounds a bit relieved.

“We’ll need another meeting a little after this, but let’s do one thing at the time.”

“I’ll be waiting to hear from you, ma’am.”

They hang up and Jihyo goes back to the room Yugyeom’s team was using, she had stepped into one of the station’s blindspots, this call was too important to risk being recorded. Not that any cameras would be able to pick up sound from this distance, but a good lip reader would easily decipher what she was saying. What Jihyo didn't notice, mostly because the woman was behind her office blinders, was that Nayeon had been watching her. The older woman was a bit suspicious, but let it slide as it wasn’t unusual in their line of work to have secret sources and informants that would require a little more privacy when talking.

It was a few days later that the questioning had been scheduled. everyone was expecting that it would take a long time, as all the previous ones had, so it was scheduled to begin at nine in the morning. Nayeon and Mina said they would be present, as Prime Minister Kwon would be watching himself. There were also Yugyeom and all their juniors. Jihyo asked Sunmi to be there to watch as well, and requested for everyone watching to be there an hour earlier so she could prepare them all for what she was expecting to happen. It had been a difficult conversation, but Sunmi agreed that they would have to reveal the fleeting relationship between the politician and the shooter.

“Thank you all for attending.” Jihyo begins once they are all present. “I asked you all to be present earlier because there are a few things I should disclose before the questioning begins.”

Looking around and seeing she had everyone’s attention, Jihyo continued.

“Before I say anything, this is my lawyer, mr Ko. He has drawn up NDAs for you all to sign regarding whatever you may hear today.”

“Why would we need NDAs?” Mina questioned, she wasn’t the only one confused.

“Because what I’m about to divulge, should remain unknown to the general public. I understand this is a case all eyes in our country are watching, but everything I’m about to tell you all is a secret you will have to die with.”

“Here you go.” Prime Minister Kwon is the first one to sign. 

The prime minister already knew of the NDAs, Jihyo had given him a heads up the previous day, and mr Ko had sent him a copy, which was easily approved. This was mostly because it was sensitive information that could ruin both Jihyo and Sunmi. Everyone else signed right after, if the prime minister wasn’t questioning it, neither would they.

“Alright, everything seems to be in order.” Sejeong confirmed after he checked all forms. “I’ll take my leave, then. Good day, ma’am.” He leaves with a polite bow to everyone else.

“Should we get to know everything now?” Yugyeom prompted.

“So, Chungha and I had a thing while she was working for me during the campaign.” Sunmi decided to just put it out there. “Jihyo and I mostly married because of our parents and for our careers.”

“Before you all start complaining.” Jihyo intervenes at the affronted faces. “I’m completely fine with it. It was an agreement between Sunmi and I that our marriage would be a friendship where each could go on and be with whomever we fancied. I know what it might sound like, but back then there was pressure to get me out of the streets and push me up to another department, Sunmi’s name and reputation shielded me from the threats I was receiving.”

“So, you two aren’t really the happy young couple we all saw in the news?” Nayeon sounded grave.

“Not at all.” Sunmi confirmed. “We knew the apartment had been bugged and needed to put on a show.”

“Sunmi isn’t completely in the loop, but I knew Chungha had been trying to collect information for blackmail, so we did all that acting and I sent in some trustworthy people to exchange the files she had for those that would depict us as the perfect young couple in love.” Jihyo explained.

“And why are you revealing this to us all?” Prime Minister Kwon prompted, he knew what had to be said at the moment.

“Because it was very ugly when I ended things with her.” Sunmi sighed. “She was pissed and promised to take revenge. Honestly, it was just another campaign fling, as all others, it should have ended when the campaign ended. She was aware of that, I was very clear that it would only go on while we were working together.”

“And we are revealing it now because I’m certain she will use that to try and hurt me every opportunity she gets.” Jihyo sighed tiredly. “It won’t, and Sunmi and I are very secure in our marriage. We are very sure of what our relationship is and what our rules are, but Chungha doesn’t know that. She will try and bring it up all the time, so we are telling you all now.”

“And what do you need us to do, then?” Kwon asked.

“Nothing at all.” The detective laughed. “I want you all to just watch and let her talk. I know it’s coming, you all know it’s coming, so let her. We need her to talk, and people do say a lot more than they mean in their anger.”

“Alright, and this interrogation will be recorded?” Mina huffs.

“Yes, but I’d like it to be made confidential. Once the case is over, I’d like for the parts where she speaks about my marriage or my wife to be redacted from the files.”

“Easy enough. Shall we, then?” Nayeon decided to get things going.

Everyone moves to leave, Prime Minister Kwon pats Jihyo’s shoulder on his way out, the detective and the politician were the last ones to leave, taking a moment for themselves to hug each other and whisper a few encouraging words to one another before they faced this. Nayeon and Mina had been looking completely uncomfortable since this briefing started, there were a few emotions going through their eyes, but Jihyo knew they would keep it to themselves until this interrogation was over and all back to their tasks.

Everyone was waiting in the room behind the mirror, Chungha was brought in. Jihyo and Sunmi gasped a bit, the woman was looking deranged, she had this sort of angry and lost look in her eyes. Obviously, Chungha was a bit thinner and looked paler but that was jail for ya. Jihyo waited for the guards to secure the prisoner and started counting, she had developed a method, it consisted mostly of a gut feeling, that she would time her entrance precisely with the first complaint from the person being interrogated. It was actually years of observation and trial, but Jihyo wasn’t really capable of explaining in a way that it made sense, so most would just chuck it to a gut feeling.

Sure enough, the moment Chungha drew in a breath to scream, the door opened and it died on . Jihyo had opted to wear the standard uniform, mostly because it had a jacket and she wanted to go in without her sling. She shouldn’t, but it would be important to not give Chungha any visual clues, the plan was to just keep her arm rested on the table and do her best to pretend nothing was wrong. Jihyo had put on her jacket to disguise her bandages, but also to make her unbothered by the temperature, which she had instructed to be dropped by five degrees the moment she entered the room.

“It’s good to see you, Jihyo.” Chungha sneered.

“I can’t say the same, kid.” Jihyo sighed and took a seat.

“You look well. I thought I shot you.”

“You did, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t prepared for that, you know.” Jihyo chuckled lightly.

“How is Sunmi? You weren’t what she wanted then, are you now?”

“Still not it.” The detective shrugged nonchalantly. “I mean, you know as well as I do that our wedding was for business. The happy and perfect camera couple.”

“I guess it’s kind of useless trying to taunt you with that, then.” Chungha seems to have gotten sharper.

“I guess so. Plus, I do have my own ways too. It’s not like either of us was actually hung up on the other.”

“Speaking of which, that company you use, they were quite rude, you know.” 

“Well, they work through recommendation, it’s not like you can just call them yourself and become their client like that.” Jihyo chuckled, her tactics were working well.

“I should really have talked to you, then.” Chungha pouts a little.

“That, you should.”

“Are you going to ask me your questions now?”

“Can I?”

“Sure thing, detective Park! It’s the least I can do after ing your wife for months and then shooting you.”

Jihyo was completely at ease, she knew the tauntings would come, prepared herself and studied the previous interrogations. It was all within her predicted outcome, and Chungha not having noticed her arm at all was a bonus. The real problem was Sunmi, who had been incredibly pissed in the room where they were all watching, everyone knew Chungha would play dirty, but the blows were too low for her to just brush them off. Prime Minister Kwon was doing a great job keeping her in check. Yugyeom was quietly pointing things out to his juniors, explaining a few things here and there about what was happening inside the room, he would re-watch the interrogation later.

Mina and Nayeon had been quiet the entire time. How was Jihyo so fine about all this? Everyone seemed convinced that Park Jihyo and Lee Sunmi were the power couple of the year, after the video was released, not a single soul thought the two were anything but deeply in love with each other. They knew how bad their friend’s love life had been throughout the years, but seeing this right now, they learned just how deeply broken Jihyo really was, how much each and every rejection must have chipped away at her to the point she doesn’t even hesitate when the woman who shot her is saying she took her wife right after marriage.

The interrogation went too well, if you asked the previous interrogators. Chungha was more than happy to talk, throwing little digs at Jihyo about the fact that she was ‘being cheated on’ for months and just accepted it. The detective got everything she needed in the first half hour, from then on, she just prompted and let Chungha talk, the woman was a bit manic, but divulging a lot, much more than any of them would expect her to. By the end of the interrogation, Jihyo had everything and much more than anyone could ever need, Chungha was taken back around three and had brilliantly got the investigation to a close just by sitting there and being unbothered.

The detective waited a few moments after the door closed behind the prisoner and allowed herself to feel the pain in her wound. Jihyo had been managing herself very well, so well that everyone forgot she had been shot and was supposed to be resting at home and not exerting herself. Sunmi was the first to see it, she hadn’t stopped looking at her wife for a second, and shot out the door the moment she saw Jihyo wince. Then Mina noticed and remembered the detective actually wasn’t supposed to have spent this long without her arm support, nor sitting on those purposefully uncomfortable chairs.

“YOU IDIOT!” Sunmi chided the moment she opened the door.

“Can we do this later?” Jihyo groaned.

“No, you absolute morron! How did you not ask for a break or something.” The politician doesn't think and smacks her wife on the head.

“Sunmi, please calm down.” Prime Minister Kwon tries pulling the woman away. “Getting that angry might not be good for anyone, and I’m sure hitting detective Park isn’t a good idea either.”

Nayeon enters the room just behind Yugyeom, the younger detective was holding the sling Jihyo was meant to be wearing the entire time. Both help Jihyo out of the position she had placed herself during the interrogation, gently helping the detective to remove her jacket. Things get a bit worse when Nayeon notices the little brownish spots on the detective’s white uniform shirt, as the Prime Minister was handling Sunmi, both manage to make their way out of the interrogation room fairly easily, guiding her to the medical bay. The nurse there asked Jihyo if she had brought her prescribed medication, which she did, and told her to take them and remove her shirt, her wounds would have to be redressed.

If there was something everyone knew, it was that detective Park Jihyo was extremely well built and athletic. Having been presented with this chance to see her without her shirt on was something neither Nayeon, Mina nor Sunmi were about to miss. Yugyeom excused himself to talk to his team, telling them to save the files and head back, he would stay for a while longer to make sure Park sunbae was fine first. Prime Minister Kwon was the first one to leave, he talked to Jihyo for a bit, thanking her for getting everything they needed and informing her there would be another meeting happening soon.

“Alright, you three don’t have anything else to be doing?” The nurse asked the women irritatedly.

“Oh, we are doing fine, thanks.” Mina waves her hand.

“That’s not what I asked, but alright.” The nurse gave up and decided to address the patient. “You should really take a few days to just lay in bed. Your wounds seem to be healing well, and there wasn’t much blood but it’s best to be safe.”

“Don’t worry, doc!” Nayeon chirped. “We’ll make sure she is in bed and resting for the next week, at least.”

“I really don’t need to rest that much.” Jihyo tries to protest.

“Listen to us and just be good.” Sunmi talks as if her wife is an infant. “You will be on bed rest for the week, let the juniors you trained yourself wrap things up and recover from literally being shot!”

“Fine!”

The nurse releases Jihyo when she notices the medication taking effect. Mina and Nayeon would have to return to the precinct but wanted Jihyo to just head home. The detective argued that all her personal stuff was still there and she wanted to get out of her uniform before heading home. Sunmi assured them she didn’t mind taking her wife there to get her stuff and then head straight home, her driver wouldn’t mind the little detour. They were quick and Sunmi had insisted that she was the one getting everything, Jihyo grumbled but let her, she wasn’t in a position to carry anything herself regardless. 

Getting home, Dahyun was already there, saw the stained uniform and launched into a scolding while she helped Jihyo shower so the woman could get into her pajamas and relax. Sunmi had opted out of that and was ordering dinner, taking the time to call the front desk and ask if someone could bring them their order, it was promptly agreed to, as Jihyo was friendly with all the staff and they knew she was shot, also, someone had seen her arrive and told the others that she had been in worse shape that day.