Chapter 1

Introduction

 

 

 

 

An idea popped into his head. He smiled; finally, he had a hint. He had finally found a hint after so many hours of detecting, searching and solving. A picture of the ten victims that had been murdered recently in Seoul, flashed on the computer screen, making him frown in distress.. The police hadn’t bothered to investigate it as most of the victims were either orphans, had an unknown identity or wasn’t a citizen of South Korea.

He had been staring at this photo for ages, knowing that he would definitely find something from it. The murderer must have left something, a small fingerprint, a small mark, just something. The murderer definitely had, because they were aiming at the government and the secret spies, he knew they were. These victims hardly had anyone that had a grudge on them, they were completely innocent. The murderer had chosen these people because they knew that the police wouldn’t bother to investigate and they knew that the ITSSF would take care of this case. He sighed, he thought about those innocent people, their lives were cruelly taken away without any excuse. He felt sorry for them, and that’s why he was determined to find out who or which group had committed this murder.

He slowly magnified the picture and stared at the little mark that was left on each of the victims. A small dragon, a tiny one, placed at the tip of the victims’ thumbs. It was so clearly defined that the small dragon’s features could all be seen. One thing that caught his eyes was the posture of the tiny symbol. It was completely black with a red scar placed across its chest, it was curled up into a ball, but somehow its eyes looked so deadly. The whole thing looked so familiar to him… he knew that he had seen it somewhere… somewhere before… but he couldn’t remember where, when and what. The more he tried to remember, the more his mind blanked out.

He sighed again and finally gave up. He will have to sleep now and work on this later. He slowly shut the laptop and stood up. Stretching his arms out, he let out a yawn.

He walked mindlessly up to the windows and pushed it open, allowing the cold wind to swish in through the small gap and caress his burning face. Thinking about nothing in particular, he sat on the window sill and stared out into the quiet night. Suddenly the conversation with Tiffany a few hours ago slipped into his mind. The teary face of hers… the way she tried to keep those threatening tears in… He sighed. Just why did I lose my temper… again. And I said she was useless?? I hope she didn’t take it seriously; she is way more than useless…

His heart beat hesitantly; he didn’t know what to do. His heart was trying to convince him to go and check on her, to make sure that she’s alright, but his brain refused to. His mind argued back, telling him that checking on her is only another way telling her that he had admitted defeat. He tapped his foot against the cold floor. Tap. Tap. Tap. He waited. He waited for the debate between his heart and his mind to conclude; he wanted it to end, but he was afraid of making the wrong choice.

Myungsoo was an extremely hesitant guy who’s terribly afraid of making decisions; especially important ones. That’s also one reason why Tiffany has always been there beside him. Tiffany is  a complete opposite of him, she always thought logically and considered things really thoroughly. She didn’t always make the Right decisions, but she would be able to make them without hesitating for ages like Myungsoo. Usually, her decisions would result as the best solution, but occasionally there would be some mistakes too. Mostly throughout Myungsoo’s life, Tiffany was the one that made decisions for him, because he completely trusted her. Deep in his heart, Myungsoo knew that he was quite dependent on her; but because he’s so used to it now, her importance in his heart had slowly faded away… bit by bit. He doesn’t realise anymore how important and significant she is to him.

Five minutes passed, as the ticking of the clock continued. He took a deep breath and sighed. Reaching out, he closed the window and made his way to the door. She’s probably already asleep, it’ll just waste my time to walk all the way over there to only find her sleeping. I’ll just go to sleep now, and deal with it tomorrow. With that thought in his mind, he stepped out of the room and made his way to his own bedroom.

Being as quiet as he could possibly be, he tip toed into his room and shut his door with a small ‘click’. He plotted himself onto his bed and placed his tired head onto the soft and comfy pillow. Pulling the blanket all the way up to his chest, he snuggled in and slowly, slowly he slipped into his own dream world.

 

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The light slid into the room as it shone over the young guy who was sleeping peacefully. His eyes fluttered a little and a groan could be heard. He tossed and turned uncomfortably, annoyed by the sunlight that disturbed his beautiful sleep. An arm could be seen around the blanket and soon it was pushed aside and a sleepy young man could be seen, stretching unhappily.

He pulled his legs out of his warm and cosy igloo and stood up. He stumbled a bit as he was still half asleep. Rubbing his eyes, he made his way to the bathroom. As soon as he got in, he leaned himself towards the sink. Grabbing the towel, he soaked it with cold water and immediately placed it onto his burning cheeks. Instantly a happy sigh came out of the young guy. It was as if he was a robot and had just been . As soon as the towel dropped off his face, a lively and young chad could be seen smiling brightly at the mirror. He smiled even more when he saw his own reflection. He quickly brushed his teeth and cleaned himself up. He grinned. He was ready for another great day of detective work.

Myungsoo picked up a simple shirt and jeans out of the messy pack on the sofa and slipped into them in super speed. He was in such a good mood that he started to skip, and as soon he started, he couldn’t stop. He skipped all the way downstairs with a huge smile on his handsome face.

A delicious and appetizing smell was drifting in the air making Myungsoo’s stomach grumble in complaint. He suddenly started running and arrived at the dining room in no time.

A familiar, beautiful back could be seen in the kitchen, making breakfast in the most petite and careful way. A girl in a pink, knee high dress stood in the kitchen with a pan in one hand and a spoon in the other. Her wavy hair was tied into a ponytail but one strand kept falling into her eyes making her sigh in frustration. As she looked up, her eyes seemed to shine in the morning light. She had her gaze on the upper cupboard and began to pout . Tiptoeing, she stretched her arms out and tried to reach the handle of the cupboard door.

Tiffany was just about to give up when she felt someone behind her. An arm appeared out of nowhere and opened the cupboard for her. She looked up in surprise and suddenly she felt the pair of arms around her waist, hugging her tightly into his warm embrace. Tiffany couldn’t help but smile at the skinship she was having with him.

“Hey Fany, what do you want to get? I’ll get it for you.” A warm voice said.

“Umm… sugar.” Tiffany replied happily.

Myungsoo reached over Tiffany and pulled the packet of sugar out of the white cupboard. He closed it and handed the packet to the gleaming girl.

“Thanks” Tiffany replied giving him her eye smile unconsciously, and in return, Myungsoo beamed back at her.

Myungsoo walked to the other cupboards and took out the cutlery and plates and helped to set up the tables. He hardly ever set up the table, but it was one of his way to show he was sorry for last night’s incident. Tiffany knew that too, since every single time they fought, the next morning he would help her out with breakfast.

Tiffany could only sigh. He probably thought it was just a normal fight, and that I’ve gotten over it, he doesn’t realise, that he had gone a bit too far last night…She placed the toast and eggs onto the plates beside the sink neatly and took them to the dining room.

The appetising smell made Myungsoo’s stomach grumble loudly which in result, both of them started giggling non-stop. When they wanted to stop, they looked up and as soon as their gaze met, they started giggling again.

After a few minutes, the laughter finally subsided and the two sat down and started their wonderfully made breakfast. As normal, Tiffany would tell Myungsoo the schedule for them that day, and if there was any important meetings or events that had to be done. Myungsoo would just eat quietly and listen to her intensively, storing all the information he has heard into his mind.

Myungsoo took a brief glance at Tiffany as she told him their schedule for the day. She was smiling and being herself again. So she got over that fight last night I guess. That’s good. I guess she kind of got used to it. I’m glad she’s over it though. And with this thought, events from last night slowly faded away in his mind.

Little did he know that Tiffany hadn’t forgotten about it at all.

Soon, the two has left the plates speck-clean. Tiffany smiled and started packing the dishes away. Myungsoo stood up. Suddenly a brief idea of where he saw that sign on the victims popped into his mind. He forgot what he was about to do and quickly ran away from the dining room, and headed towards the study.

Tiffany heard his heavy footsteps slowly dissipate. Again. He was always like this, being all kind and nice to her in the morning, but straight after breakfast, he would change. He would be in ‘work-mode’ and become all serious, he will become stressed, frustrated, angry and moody. She had to face this everyday, but she was used to it, and she accepted this reality, since … she loved him.

 

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“Tiffany, Could you please pass me those papers over there? The folder filled with the information about the victims?” Myungsoo asked impatiently. He was in the middle of solving the same case that he had been working on for a week now, and he was getting extremely annoyed and worked up.

Tiffany looked up from her work and nodded. She reached out for those papers and accidentally knocked them over. The folder wasn’t sealed up properly and the papers fell out one by one flying everywhere like a pile of feathers. As the papers hit the floor, two sighs could be heard. One with arrogance and anger, the other was with fear and regret. Tiffany quickly jumped onto the floor to gather them up, she knew what was coming next. Taking in a deep breath, she waited.

“Yah! Pali! I’m getting so frustrated right now! And you can’t even pass a bunch of papers to me!? Seriously? Aish.” Shouted a moody Myungsoo.

Tiffany made no reply. She just quietly and quickly gathered the papers and placed them back into the folder where they belonged. She stood up, patted her creases on her skirt and handed the folder over to the guy who had lost his temper.

“Mian.” Tiffany half-whispered.

Myungsoo just shook his head and went back to work. Tiffany could feel her heart beating fast, she felt hurt, lonely and wished for some comfort. She couldn’t stand the tense atmosphere in the cold and icy room anymore. Instead of sitting back into her seat, she headed towards the door and left the room.

Walking and walking, she decided to grab a coffee. A coffee machine appeared before her after a few minutes of wandering. Tiffany was so used to making coffee herself that she had one right before her no more than five minutes later.

She knew where she was going to go, the best place in the whole building, her favourite place. The Rooftop. The place where she was able to breathe in fresh air, forget about things that she doesn’t want to remember, release her stress, her depressing life as an ITSSF. Most importantly to forget the hot-tempered, angry Myungsoo and to get the innocent, smiling and happy one back into her own mind.

As soon as she started to take those steps up to the rooftop, a wind swished itself into the corridor, blowing gently at Tiffany and caressing her brown wavy hair. Tiffany lifted her head and enjoyed the wind’s company. She breathed in the fresh air and continued to climb the stairs. As she reached the rooftop, she walked to the edge and placed her home-made coffee onto the concrete fence. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down by the quiet and calm environment around her. Breathing in and out deep breaths, she listened to the faint traffic of the city below her. She loved this feeling, the feeling of being able to be along and just relax in her own way. In no time, all her depressing emotions and thoughts had slipped way and what was left were only calmness and relief.

As she was about to open her eyes, she heard a gentle voice call her name.

“Tiffany.”

Her eyes fluttered open immediately and she turned around curious about who it was calling her name. One person had already popped into her mind and when she turned to check if she was right, she could only smile. She was right, once again. It was him. The guy with that pair of charming eyes, the one who always came when she needed someone the most, the one who had the most beautiful voice, Kim Jonghyun.

“Hey.” Tiffany greeted him.

“Hey. Same thing happened again?” he asked.

At the reminder of the moment from before, Tiffany’s smile dropped from her cheerful face and the only thing she could do was nod. Jonghyun was a good friend of Myungsoo’s and Tiffany’s. He had graduated and chosen the same profession as the both of them. They had been a ever since university, but being a part of the ITSSF had separated them from each other.

“Tiffany, I just don’t get why you are coping with him everyday. Why don’t you tell him what you are feeling, and that he’s being a bit too cruel and hot-tempered these days.” Jonghyun said. He turned towards Tiffany and stared at her for a while. He lifted his hands and softly brushed Tiffany’s cheeks. “You’ve been crying again, right?” Jonghyun asked half sighing.

Tiffany immediately pushed his hands away and shook her head violently not wanting to admit the pain that she had been going through the past few months. Every since Myungsoo had met his real father, he had became all arrogant, hot-tempered and had just… changed completely.

Jonghyun took a step closer to Tiffany as he could see that she had started to sob, he slowly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his warm embrace. Tiffany couldn’t help herself anymore and just began to cry even more in his arms. Jonghyun had always been like an older brother to her, in fact he was her step brother, he had always been there even when both of their parents had abandoned them, even though they weren’t blood related, he had always been beside her, protecting her.

And that was how another lunch time passed for Tiffany.

 

 

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“Mian.” Myungsoo apologised as soon as Tiffany stepped into the apartment. They hadn’t met that afternoon as when Tiffany returned back to the office, Myungsoo had already left for the next meeting. Myungsoo was an impatient person and it just happened to be one of those ‘important’ meetings that forced Myungsoo to leave Tiffany behind.

Tiffany walked in with a glum expression and just nodded. She couldn’t really say anything, it’s not like she could complain, that would only result in a fight with him, and after such an exhausting day, she certainly didn’t want to argue or fight with anyone, especially not Myungsoo.

“Mian, Tiffany. I couldn’t wait for you, I mean it was really important and the time was…” Before he could finish, Tiffany interrupted.

“It’s fine Myungsoo. I’ve gotten used to it, just please be bothered to text me next time if you decide to go alone again. You know, in order to save me time to worry and look for you.” As soon as she stopped talking, she walked away from the living room, leaving Myungsoo speechless.

Myungsoo’s gaze followed Tiffany as she disappeared into her room. The atmosphere was once tense again. Myungsoo could feel regret within himself, he felt he should have done something more. Maybe he could have grabbed a small present on the way home, maybe a small rose, a box of chocolate, a sorry card, just something. He should have just done something more.

But it was too late now and all he could do was walk back into the study and return to his awfully complicated case.

 

 

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“Tiffany!! Tiffany!” Myungsoo yelled in happiness.

As soon as she heard his voice shouting out desperately, she immediately shot up from her seat and sprinted to the study. She pushed open the door with all her might and rushed in there like there was no tomorrow. She was hurrying so much that she didn’t realise that there was a book on the floor. She tripped over it and fell on an extremely surprised and cheerful Myungsoo.

Myungsoo caught her strongly and stood her up immediately. He placed his hand on top of her fringe and fiddled with her hair chuckling.

 “Babo.” He exclaimed which made Tiffany pout with aegyo. Myungsoo’s grin became even wider. Tiffany then started giggling and the room was filled with laughter.

“So, Myungsoo, why did you suddenly call my name out? You need any help?” Tiffany asked out of curiosity.

“Aniyo. Tiffany Good News! I solved another case! Even though it’s not the most important/recent case, at least I have solved another one. And all thanks to your help! Gomawo!” Myungsoo blurted out with joy.

Tiffany’s eyes widened and suddenly she started to jump up and down on the spot. Her arms started to shake up and down and in no time she was in a psycho mode dancing crazily around the room. Her sense had been thrown all the way out of the universe right that moment.

Myungsoo chuckled at the clumsy but cute Tiffany. He couldn’t help but join in her crazy celebrating moment. The two danced, chatted and played video games like two three-year-olds until midnight.

And that was how another day of the two ITSSF partners had passed by.

 

 

 

 

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Hey Everyone! So finally my first chapter of this fanfic had came out! So Sorry that I took so long to just release ONE chapter LOL　I was busy with school and had an awful writer's block. So yea. SORRY!

I don't even know if I would be able to finish this fanfic in time for the contest. Before June... hmmmm... I'm a very slow writer :P  But tomorrow is the last day of term before my two weeks holidays! So yea, Hopefully I would be able to get two - three chapters done. Or Maybe I would only end up writing one. AFter all, I have other fanfics, that I haven't updated in aaaaaagggggggeeeeeesss. :P

OKay so about this fanfic, this chapter is basically about the daily life, and the relationships between the characters of this fanfic. Its pretty boring, and I wanted  it to be very long, but it didn't turn out that long. Oh wells. Hope you liked it anyways. 

Please comment and subscribe! Thanks! Keep Reading on! :)

 

PEACE!

Helen xx