Narrator's POV

Letting her hair down in front of her face intentionally and clutching her coat tighter around her even though it was the warmest day of the winter season,  Kyungjin parked her car ever so discreetly, even scanning her surroundings to see if anyone might notice her. When the coast was clear, she shuffled to the headquarters, praying that it was full and occupied.

But it was seven in the morning, still too early for any crimes to arise — because, apparently, criminals are no exception to the sudden gravitational pull of the bed every morning.  Hunching her shoulders the best she could and covering her face, the woman walked up the small flight of stairs leading to the police station and pushed the doors open.

Without glancing at anything but the path to her desk, she almost heaved a sigh of relief as her planned had seemed to work. Only a few steps more until, "Good morning, miss. How can I help you?" a deep voice booming out of nowhere led her to misery instead. Thinking she was a complainant, Minsoo caught up with her and held onto her arm. "Miss, the front desk is the other way."

Rolling her eyes, "I know, Minsoo. Now let me go before anyone else notices me—" Kyungjin tried explaining.

"Ah, everyone!" Minsoo announced loudly. "Our cute maknae Kyungjinnie had worn a skirt for the first time in her five years of honorable service~" His proud statement caused everyone in the police headquarters to turn their heads towards his direction. They hooted loudly seeing Kyungjin not in her usual slacks and black shirt.

Her cheeks burning in embarrassment, she looked up at Minsoo and threw a deadly glare towards him. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Chunji stirring a cup of coffee in his hands. He turned to her direction, their eyes locking. She felt more ashamed than ever, and instead of dealing with Minsoo the hard way, she raked a hand through her hair and put her arms around him.

The man, on the other hand, had his eyes so wide that they threatened to pop out of their sockets. "Ah, Minsoo-ah~ you've been so kind to me," Kyungjin muttered close to his ear while her hands traveled down his back. "Very very kind~" she said with a smile before pushing him away. In a brief state of shock, Minsoo staggered back slowly to his workstation, wondering what had just happened.

Turning to her desk, Kyungjin pushed her chair back and sat awkwardly, knowing how she can't slouch and move her legs freely in a skirt. She pouted and spun around and around in her swivel chair. Just when she was speeding up and her surroundings were getting blurred, "Won't you get dizzy?" Chunji asked, snapping her out of her own world.

Kyungjin bit down on her lip, embarrassed that Chunji has got to see her like that, but breathed deeply. "Ani," she lied, although she could actually see two blurry versions of Chunji. Looking down and smiling shyly, he handed her a steaming cup of coffee. "Thanks," the woman muttered before taking the mug from his grip and setting it down on the table.

Nodding to himself, Chunji opened his mouth to speak, but the senior superintendent cut him off. "Detective Yeo? You have to proceed to the precinct to sign papers before releasing the robber you caught yesterday," he informed, gesturing for Kyungjin to follow him. "And you," he continued, turning to Chunji. "Just tag along. You're on duty."

She stood up, trying to yank her skirt down her knees and lower while walking. "Ugh, why did I have to forget to do the laundry? Now I have to wear this thing..." she grumbled a little too loudly, making Chunji chuckle in amusement. "Ya, don't laugh at me," Kyungjin whined. As she fussed over her uniform, she nearly stumbled along the hallway leading to the precinct, which only made Chunji laugh louder. "Okay, that was really clumsy," she admitted and laughed a little.

Pushing past another door, they finally arrived at the front desk. Kyungjin immediately lowered her head and covered her face with her own hair after seeing the chief of police standing by. "Inspector Lee reporting, sir," Chunji started with a stiff salute, to which Jangsoo just nodded to. His focus was more on the woman hiding behind the two officers.

"Ya, Kyungjin," he called out, taking a big huff from his cigarette. "Are you delirious or is it just the end of the world so you wanted to make your last day memorable by wearing a skirt?" Jangsoo commented before laughing. The two other policemen, however, knew better than to laugh with him. The woman stepped forward and signed the papers as the jail guard led Jongin to the front desk to sign his clearance.

"Ya, Geum Jangsoo," Kyungjin retorted. "The reason you only ranked higher than everyone else is because with you being the oldest and most incapable of field work out of everyone else, the commissioner general had no other choice but to put you as chief superintendent," she snapped back. Jongin, although eavesdropping, couldn't control his laughter.

In his surprise and anger at his junior's words, "Why, you..." Jangsoo grumbled, his voice husky from smoking, and snatched the pen that Jongin was holding before hurling it towards Kyungjin's direction.

Rolling her eyes, she caught the pen in between her hands before it could possibly hit her straight in the face. The men stared at her, struck in awe. Chunji's glasses fell down the bridge of his nose, the senior superintendent had his mouth hanging, Jongin had a playful smirk across his face, and Jangsoo's cigarette fell from his lips.

"Funny," Kyungjin commented and played with the pen in between her fingers. She took the cap off the point and placed it on the other end. "Sunbaenim, the next time you want to harm me, make sure I do get hurt," she reminded before handing the pen back to Jongin. Raising her hand up her forehead for a salute, "Detective Yeo Kyungjin reporting for duty," she stated before walking away.

"Feisty." Jongin whistled as he watched her leave. Taking this opportunity to show his authority and to regain the respect that Kyungjin obviously doesn't have for him, Jangsoo loosened his tie and slammed his fist against the table. "Disrespecting a police officer, tsk. Get back in there," he ordered Jongin, who had a wide grin across his face.

"It's my pleasure." He held his hands together, ready to be handcuffed. "I've been very bad lately. Please let Detective Yeo teach me a lesson," Jongin nearly pleaded. "If she looks after me, I will be at my best behavior." His words had a hint of sarcasm and playfulness, which made the chief of police more agitated.

"For just standing there the whole time and doing nothing, I'm assigning you to be on duty today with Kyungjin." Jangsoo now turned to Chunji. "I don't want to see her here for the whole day, or else I'll just shoot myself. She would drag you everywhere as she runs. May the Almighty God have mercy on your soul," he finally said before marching back into his office.

The officer manning the desk scratched his head. "Should I really record that?" he asked, turning to the senior superintendent.

The older, however, shook his head. "He'll forget about it soon. Let the boy be. If he's truly a nuisance to everyone, he'll come back soon enough. Kyungjin will find him." And he exited through the same way he had entered.

Before Chunji could protest or complain, "Wait," Kyungjin said as she reappeared from the door. The woman raked a hand through her hair. "Do you guys have spare slacks? I swear I will never be caught dead in a skirt again." She alternated her gaze from one officer to another, but they just shook their heads at her.

"Y-ya, Mr. Geum said we're on...we're on duty today," Chunji informed, walking towards her and ignoring how Jongin stared at her like he was a man in a desert and Kyungjin was a bottle of cold water. "A-and I do have an ex-extra pair of p-pants," he added nervously, pushing his glasses up his nose. It wasn't a punishment to be stuck with Kyungjin for the whole day, contrary to how the chief saw it. To him, it was a perfect opportunity.

Smiling widely, the woman had excitement written across her face. "Really? That's great," she exclaimed a little too giddily.

Chunji rubbed the back of his neck. "And about earlier, wi-with Minsoo after he teased you..."

"Oh, you're probably wondering why I didn't wait for him to go to the bathroom, steal his pants and wear them, leaving him with no other choice to wear my skirt." She chuckled. "I embraced him, remember?" And the woman pulled a black leather wallet from her pocket, flashing it proudly. "I'll make him pay for messing with me."

From the corner of her eye, she saw Jongin, her suspect from yesterday, still on the same spot where she had last seen him. "Why are you still here?" she asked. "I thought you were to be released today?"

"I was, babe," Jongin stated confidently. "But seeing you now, I decided I wanted to stay," he added with the corners of his mouth upturning to a smirk and his eyebrow arching dangerously. "Why, don't you want to see me anymore, honey?"

Gulping down the string of curses about to surge from , Kyungjin loosened her tie and ran her fingers through her hair. "Look here," "Look here," she said, stepping towards Jongin. "I just let you off yesterday because you were under lock and key but now that you're free, I'll tell you something important," she stated, grabbing him by the collar.

"I'm not your baby, your babe, your honey, your cupcake, your kimchi, your ramen, your samgyupsal, your soju, your soondubu jjigae, or whatever food you can think of. Now go home, play video games or whatever it is that you boys do, and leave me alone," Kyungjin said with a scowl. She was the least bit entertained. She turned to Chunji next, her expression softening. "Where are your pants again?"

He pointed to the door with his finger shaking. "On m-my table, in the sec-second drawer on th-the right," Chunji answered, to which Kyungjin just smiled.

"Thanks. I'll just go change," she muttered to him faintly.

Jongin was still frozen on the same spot. "Want some company, baby?" And he shielded his head protectively after the police woman threatened to hurl her shoe towards him. Without another word, she left, her hair flowing behind her. Signing the papers in a rush and handing the pen back to the desk officer, Jongin sighed and rested his chin on his propped up palm, his gaze still retracing where Kyungjin had been.

"She's something, isn't she?" Chunji commented from beside him.

With his forehead creased in confusion, Jongin turned to look at him but quickly retracted his gaze. "No matter what happens, I will make her mine," he muttered to himself like a mantra, massaging his wrists from the pain of being handcuffed. The man nodded to himself blankly. "I will make her mine." And he pushed the door open, completely leaving the precinct.

As if on cue, Kyungjin entered and a smile spread slowly across her face after realizing that Jongin was nowhere in sight. "Hey, about Minsoo's wallet..." she started, feeling more relaxed in Chunji's pants.”He found out that I took it," she said and rolled her eyes. "But are you hungry? I told him to buy food instead. I didn't eat breakfast," she admitted with a frown.

The woman walked back to the door with Chunji now following her from behind. He smiled to himself, thinking how pretty she looked in his clothes. Watching closely, he took notice of how she gathered her hair in both hands and slung it over her right shoulder, revealing the side of her neck, curving at just the right angle.

Just when he thought he would have her all for himself that day, Chunji arrived at the headquarters with two tables lined up like for a whole family to eat breakfast together. Before he could smack his forehead for his own wishful thinking, he was already dragged to a seat by Kyungjin. "What? No, I'm not hungry. No, thanks," he declined politely, but the woman threw him a stern look.

As if he even wanted to leave in the first place, Chunji pretended to act defeated and sank fully on his chair. "Ya, Kyungjin," Minsoo called out. "Why did you change into pants? You looked nice in that skirt, you know," he commented, followed by murmurs of approval from the rest.

"Does Chanhee put something in your coffee that makes you nice to him only?" one inspector asked, making Chunji look down in embarrassment. "Or is it just because you two are an item?"

Kyungjin snorted and rolled her eyes. Noticing this, "So what, are you saying you're lesbian?" Minsoo prodded. This time, though, it was Chunji's turn to choke on his own saliva.

"Ya, it's nothing like that," the woman defended, combing through her hair with her fingers. The man beside her was blatantly staring and was wondering what else could be more adorable than her thumbing through the strands of her hair as she laughs. But he knew she could never look at him the same way.

She liked running and coffee and danger and freedom and peace and the feel of the wind against her face and the warmth of the sun against her eyelids. He, on the other hand, stuck to his books and liked the comforts of the indoors and contentment and keeping his lips pursed and the glasses he had since he was in high school.

She ate and sipped coffee and talked all at the same time. Everyone, including Chunji, listened while Kyungjin explained why the spring tension of a fourth generation Glock 27 doesn't easily recoil for the fifteenth round. For almost half an hour of eating, she pushed herself back on the chair and stood up. Just like that. She went from saying a hundred words a minute to pursing her lips and being quiet in a split second.

"I'll wait for you in the car," he reminded her of their duties, to which she just nodded. Chunji jogged the way to the door, pushing past it but holding it open for the old lady who was about to enter. He wanted to do more than just making her coffee every morning or just loaning her his pants. He wanted to talk to her, so he wouldn't have to decipher what goes on through her mind anymore.

But instead, he entered the police vehicle and sat on the driver seat. While waiting for Kyungjin to come, he gripped the steering wheel tightly, thinking that if people were pages of a book, he was a blank page and Kyungjin was an all-out colored illustration.