Once they got home, Chaeyoung was patient enough to wait for her girlfriend to shower and change. Nayeon asked if the younger could make them dinner while she took a shower, and given how she had been arriving smelling like old paper and stale air, Chaeyoung was quick to agree, but preferred to order something. There were a few silent moments until Nayeon sighed and decided to speak up.

“Your ex is in the hospital.” The older confesses.

“What!” Chaeyoung almost choked. “I’m gonna need a bit more.”

“I don’t know exactly everything, but she was caught in the wrong place by the wrong people. You know I’ve been doing desk work since I tried to be petty.” The younger one nods and she continues. “Well, I was handed her medical leave to process. I had to attach it to her file and properly upload it to the system, so I looked at everything that involved the incident, and all I can say is that I hate the force even more now.”

“Oh, I know how much you want to go up and change things from the inside.”

“Yeah, so this gang was supposed to have been arrested in the morning. Jihyo and two other women were walking past the gang’s hang out spot, one of the women headed into the alley and Jihyo sprung into action to save the girl. It looks like Jihyo knocked three down before the lazy cops got to them, but broke her hand in the process. Oh, and her dog died too.”

“Her dog? Oh, this is the worst.” Chaeyoung looks very sick at the news.

“What about the dog?”

“If you got her file, you know it was a service dog.” At the nod, the younger woman continues. “Jihyo has anxiety attacks, Tan was there to stop her from getting dangerous to herself. She told me it often came to a stage where she would run blindly, or scratch at her own arms, hit her head on the wall, stuff like that.”

“What?” Nayeon could hardly believe what she was hearing.

“I only witnessed it once, we were watching a movie in her apartment. An attack got triggered, probably something in the movie I don’t remember. She fell to the ground, hugged her knees and started banging her head on the floor.” Chaeyoung takes a moment to breathe. “Tan sprung into action as soon as he got into the room. He started barking and her, then he put himself under her head so she couldn’t bang it anymore. It only took a few minutes, but it stuck with me ever since.”

There is silence after that. How does one respond to being told something like that! Nayeon didn’t know what to do with herself, and was already re-thinking all she had decided about the other woman. It was clear that she decided things about the other that were completely wrong, but that was her own problem to take care of. Chaeyoung was just trying to not let the memory take all her thoughts again, it had been one of the few times she had been truly afraid and utterly powerless. That was something she never wanted to witness again, it happened towards the end of whatever they had, and was also one of the things that led Chaeyoung to decide to break things off. Call her what you want, but she didn’t feel like she could be strong enough for it.

Once Jihyo was out of the hospital, she talked with the officer responsible and struck a deal, where she would attend classes and, instead of the physical training, she would take some other theoretical class and push training until she was released by the doctors. It was a good deal, and the ‘weeding out’ part was already done, and Jihyo was always top of her class, so the man didn’t see much of a problem, she could pick it up once a new class started, if it was still needed. So, while the others were running, huffing and puffing, she was learning how to secure and isolate a crime scene, which was where the class above hers was at. 

And that class was what fully awoke her observational skills, and also what got her out of repeating basic pe but that’s not right now. Jihyo, with her left hand useless, could only record what the teacher was saying and try to write it down later with her right hand. She was ambidextrous, but she was never good at writing with her right hand. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. The new class was more receptive than her own, mostly because they heard about how the whole incident went and were also a bit angered about the officers’ laziness. Not enough for anybody to actually hold a grudge, but all agreed that it was a prime example about how the force needed to change immediately.

Unbeknownst to everyone else, those officers were up for disciplinary action and would be severely punished. The one responsible for the disciplinary action read about the incident, about what was supposed to happen and everyone involved and a particular name raised an eyebrow. They never thought that name would come up again, but it did, and they would make sure this person had justice, even without knowing about it at all. The detective that had sent those officers was also punished, thought much more lightly as it wasn’t really his responsibility to follow the progress for the arrest, but he should have questioned when the arrest time became too long.

Visits to the bakery in the morning became more frequent also, Jihyo couldn’t cook properly for herself, so she decided that getting breakfast there was the best solution, the other option would be not to eat anything. The pretty girl behind the counter wasn’t there when she got back to her routine, a loss not having a pretty face to admire, but alas, she went ahead with her routine. A few days later, pretty girl was back, and since Jihyo had taken to eating in, pretty girl was the one bringing her meal, instead of the usual boy. What WAS weird, was pretty girl taking a seat in front of her as she settled the food down. Jihyo smiled politely but couldn’t hide the confused expression.

“I’m Jeongyeon, and you’ve been absent for a while. Now you come back with your arm messed up. What happened?” Pretty girl introduced herself.

“Jihyo. And this was an incident where I punched the guy’s nose in.” She simplifies, though it’s not a lie.

“It’s a pleasure.” Jeongyeon smiled crookedly. “I’m sure the guy deserved it.”

“Came at me with a knife.” Jihyo shrugs.

“That should do it.” 

Both chuckle, it would lead to some conversation had Jihyo not been on a tight schedule, and there was something about Jeongyeon that she couldn’t put her finger on. For now, she just excused herself, asked for a bag at the counter and left for class. The same interaction repeated itself for the next couple of days, Jihyo would come in to eat breakfast, Jeongyeon would sit with her and ask something, JIhyo would give a quick answer between bites and leave quickly. Nayeon was back, so that was also something else, but she was much more tame this time around, maybe punishment did the work. It was Chaeyoung’s revelation and the little investigation she did after, but let’s not.

“How about I take you out saturday morning and we can have some real conversation?” Jeongyeon said one day.

“Breakfast? That’s an unusual invitation.” Jihyo raises an eyebrow.

“We usually see each other during breakfast, I just thought it would be nice to be able to have a real conversation during.”

“Fair enough.” The shorter woman agreed. “How do we do this, then?”

“You put in your number.” Jeongyeon says, handing over her phone. “And I’ll message you about it when I get my break.”

“Alright.” Jihyo agreed, already writing her number. “But be warned, I might not have a chance to answer any time soon.”

“I know, you said officer school was strict.”

“It’s not-” 

Jihyo starts, but just huffs at the mocking grin on the other woman’s lips. What’s the worst that could happen, right?! Yeah, that’s how things start going wrong. So, they message, Jeongyeon finds that Jihyo can be quite talkative when she isn’t in a hurry, and Jihyo learns that Jeongyeon was someone who doesn’t listen well. The nagging feeling that made home in the back of Jihyo’s mind never left, there was always this knowledge that something was wrong with this woman, but she chose to not pay attention to that just yet.

They would spend mornings together during weekends, sometimes Jeongyeon would go to Jihyo’s place and hang out during week nights, and the older woman had this tendency to make herself too at home in someone else’s apartment. Jihyo was on a tight budget, not that she was in need, but she was living paycheck to paycheck, and the pay from the academy was just a ‘thank you for joining us’ type of thing, she was relying mostly on what she managed to save during college. But having this woman come in and eat everything in her fridge every week was starting to put a dent on her finances. 

It wasn’t long until Jihyo had to put an end to Jeongyeon’s impromptu visits, she looked quite irritated the few times she came over and found nothing to eat, but that wasn’t one of Jihyo’s worries anymore, she learned that it was better to buy daily groceries instead of in bulk, despite the price going up a bit. She had also stopped going to the bakery in the morning, it started getting expensive and Jihyo bought a second hand coffee maker that fulfilled her need for a morning pick-me-up.

“Hey, Jih!” Jeongyeon said in one of her (now) rare saturday morning visits.

“Hello.” Jihyo greeted her, stepping aside.

“So, I was thinking. How about we go on a date next friday night?” 

“Huh?” 

“Yeah, I know we usually go for breakfast, but I wanted to try going for dinner or something.”

“Sure, but I don’t have that much money. I won’t agree to somewhere too fancy.”

“Don’t worry, we’re going to my dad’s friend’s restaurant. It’ll be my treat.”

“If you say so, then alright.”

They talk a bit more, but Jeongyeon has to go soon enough. The older woman worked saturday afternoons, at least that was what Jihyo had been told, and never spent too long with her. Friday did come rather fast, by this time, Jihyo had already removed the cast and was just wearing some 3d printed hand support, and she got herself in her best clothes, heading to the restaurant. She got there and was guided to the table reserved for Yoo, Jeongyeon was nowhere in sight. One hour in, she was still alone, and the looks she got ever since she had set foot into that damned restaurant only got worse over time. Then again, someone like her inside the Jihwaja was bound to gather the bad kind of attention.

Jihyo had to forfeit heating for the next few months, she also would have to shower at the academy and depend on the meal they got there for the foreseeable future. According to the calculations she did once she got home that evening, if she didn’t use utilities and managed to hold on with the one meal they got at the academy, she would be able to get by paying rent and the minimum fees for everything. She was charged one hundred thousand won for sitting there, even if she didn’t even touch the water. Jeongyeon never showed, and at this point, she was going to put an end to whatever mess this was immediately.

Jihyo also tried calling Jeongyeon several times throughout the evening. While she was at the restaurant, when they asked her to leave, on her way home, she called and was left unanswered. The next morning, however, the older woman showed up like nothing happened, knocking on Jihyo’s door and making her way in when it opened and doing her usual check on the fridge. Jihyo noticed the other woman frowned when she noticed the fridge was turned off, but neither said anything. Jeongyeon thought the younger woman might have turned it off to clean it, and Jihyo didn’t want to talk about it.

“Jeongyeon.”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“It’s time for us to stop pretending this is anything or that it’s going anywhere.” Jihyo huffs defeatedly.

“Cool. So, Imma head out then.” Jeongyeon shrugs.

It was very nonchalant, the older woman wasn’t really interested at all, she was hanging out with Jihyo because she could stuff her face and not spend her own money. But Jihyo hadn’t been filling up her fridge, and the cabinets had gotten empty too. It wasn’t like Jihyo had hidden anything, Jeongyeon checked the entire place, she was spacious like that, and never found anything. Plus, the dog bed in the corner was a bit weird, and she really didn’t feel like staying and dealing with whatever that was, she wanted to have some fun, and Jihyo didn’t put out, so she left when told to.