The next day Sungjong woke up late. Usually after solving a case, he’d take it easy and sleep longer, eat more and stay in bed, watching television. It was his way of celebrating.

He had woken up to an empty bed – Woohyun had already left for work. Sungjong preferred that on his off days he had all his meals delivered to his bed so that he didn’t have to move a finger. But after Woohyun became busy, it was difficult for him to get that certain privilege. He was wondering if he should order take-out for breakfast, as weird as that sounded, when he heard the most annoying noise in the world – the doorbell. Here he was planning not to move at all but the door was already calling him.

When the bell didn’t stop ringing after two minutes, he got up reluctantly. He was in his pajamas but he couldn’t be bothered to change before opening the door. He definitely didn’t care about what other people thought about him and he probably looked good in pajamas and with bed hair anyway.

He opened the door to find Myungsoo, impeccably dressed in a suit.

“Umm…” Myungsoo looked embarrassed seeing Sungjong in his pajamas but the younger waved him to come inside.

“So, what did your dad decide?”

Myungsoo brought out an envelope from his inside pocket and placed it on the table. Sungjong picked it up and checked inside – it was a check from Mr. Kim and the amount had three more zeros than his usual fees. He raised an eyebrow.

“This is very generous.”

Myungsoo shrugged.

“We disagree. You saved his life.”

Sungjong only smiled. He had heard it before and it was no miracle. It was just another case for him.

He was starting to feel hungry but he didn’t know what to do about it. He stretched, yawning.

“Er…did I wake you up?”

“No I was awake. I was wondering what to have for breakfast. I don’t feel like cooking.” He rubbed his eyes sleepily.

“Oh I – well…I could get something for you or umm…”

“I think it will be quicker if you just cook.” He looked at Myungsoo with a sweet smile on his lips. Right now he was manipulating Myungsoo and it was not for a case but it didn’t hurt the other man so it was kind of acceptable. Especially since he was hungry.

Myungsoo got up urgently and headed straight towards the bedroom.

“Kitchen’s on the right,” Sungjong hollered at him, turning on the television.

“Sorry,” Myungsoo replied. Clanking noises alerted him that Myungsoo had found the kitchen. After a few minutes he was back asking Sungjong where the frying pan was.

“I don’t know, find it,” Sungjong replied, eyes glued to the television screen.

He hadn’t been in the kitchen in a long time. Usually he’d order take-out if Woohyun wasn’t there to cook for him. If there was one thing he really hated, it was cooking.

“Mr. Lee – er Sungjong, where do you keep the salt?”

“I don’t know!”

After that Myungsoo didn’t bother him and 15 minutes he could smell delicious pancakes and fried eggs.

“Do you want to come here and eat or should I bring it to you?” Myungsoo asked from the kitchen.

“Bing it here.” His stomach was growling. “ Please,” he added, just in case.

Myungsoo put the tray on the coffee table. He had slipped off his suit and tie and had rolled up his sleeves. Sungjong thought he looked oddly charming with the gleaming sheen of sweat on his forehead.

 “Not bad,” he muttered, biting into the egg. The next few minutes he didn’t speak a word as he gobbled down all of what Myungsoo had made. He finished with black tea.

“Oh er…I forgot to offer you some.”

All this while Myungsoo was sitting in front of him, staring at him like he couldn’t take his eyes off him. If Sungjong was not so used to Woohyun doing the same, it would have bothered him. The next moment, he reminded himself that he was in a relationship with Woohyun, not Myungsoo so it didn’t really bode well that he would be staring at him like that.

“It’s alright, I already had breakfast. I hope you liked it. I haven’t cooked in a long time.”

Sungjong raised his teacup towards him.

“You’re good, at least for the son of a billionaire who probably never raised a finger in the kitchen.”

Myungsoo cracked a smile.

“You don’t sound like you’ve lifted a finger in the kitchen either.”

“What can I say – my parents love me and my boyfriend pampers me.”

Myungsoo seemed to suddenly wake up from a dream. He looked around nervously.

“Your boyfriend, he’s…”

“He’s at work. He’s going to be a doctor. I mean he is one…but he’s an intern. Umm…I honestly don’t know the difference.”

Myungsoo smiled painfully.

“Is that how you do it, make people fall in love with you and then not care about them anymore?”

“Huh?”

Sungjong wasn’t listening properly. He had his eyes fixed on the television where the news was being aired. There was an announcement about Kim Jaejoong calling a press conference later today.

“What’s the press conference for?”

Myungsoo looked at the television too, then sighed.

“I’m kind of joining my father’s company. And while he undergoes treatment, I’ll be taking his position.”

“Well look at that. So he forgave you?”

“Things are much better between us than it had been in years. It’s just – well I don’t think he still completely accepts the whole of me and neither do I but it’s a start. He trusts me at least and I’m ready to help him.”

Sungjong smiled at him. He was aware of a change in the man in front of him – he looked much more confident and had a positive vibe about him. He looked rejuvenated.

“And Suzy and Sunggyu?”

“In jail, where they belong. My dad’s case isn’t the only one filed against them, they have at least 15 cases to their name. I don’t think they will be out and about in a while.”

“It’s strange that they didn’t put up a fight,” Sungjong said musingly.

“Oh she tried. But dad had his handgun pressed to her temple until the police came. And Sunggyu – he looked so defeated…”

Sungjong smiled a satisfied smile.

“Sunggyu’s not used to people figuring out his plans. He is the brain between the two of them I believe.”

Myungsoo looked surprised.

“Sunggyu? Not Suzy?”

“Suzy’s clever alright, she has to be. But Sunggyu is in charge of the plans. It’s always the quiet types.”

His eyes shone as he thought about the previous day and his stomping victory, the way Sunggyu and Suzy didn’t even stand a chance. It gave him immense pleasure to watch criminals fall in front of him, in front of his power. Once he had cracked the case, the criminals became helpless; in the face of truth they crumbled. And he was the one who caused their defeat and watched their expressions change from confident to utter despair.

“I’d have never thought Sunggyu…”

Sungjong turned to look at Myungsoo, who was still looking at him, as if mesmerized.

“He’s good, isn’t he, a good actor.”

“He is.”

“What about Jaemin?” Sungjong asked suddenly, changing the topic. He felt a bit of sympathy for him, especially since he might have thwarted his only chance at a different future.

“Dad asked him what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to open an entertainment company and I guess dad’s going to give him the start-up money. He’s learned from his mistakes I guess. By the way, even though he stole the key I believe he’d never have stolen the money. He probably wanted to, but he doesn’t have the courage, plus he’s not that bad inside.”

Sungjong scoffed.

“Feeling some brotherly love are we?”

Myungsoo looked shocked but Sungjong laughed.

“I was kidding. I agree with you, he is the son of the Kim family after all. Not exactly bad bringing up.”

They sipped their teas in silence for a few minutes. Myungsoo was fidgeting like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to bring it up. The detective noticed him from the corner of his eyes and had an idea about what he wanted to talk about but he wasn’t going to help. He sipped his tea nonchalantly, flipping through the channels.

Finally Myungsoo spoke up.

“Listen, about that day, the kiss…”

“Oh don’t blame it on me that you’re gay. You knew you were gay way before that.”

Myungsoo replied hurriedly.

“Yes I know, I wasn’t going to say that. I just wanted to ask if that was – you know just pretense? Or did it mean something? Anything to you…anything at all.”

Sungjong bit his lips; he hadn’t expected this question. In fact, he hadn’t thought back then that this topic would be brought up later. He had acted rashly for his satisfaction, not thinking about the consequences. He decided that at least now he should be honest.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to find out if you were really gay. Woohyun said you might be.”

Myungsoo’s face fell but Sungjong wasn’t the type to lie about his feelings. For the first time, seeing Myungsoo’s dark face, he regretted kissing someone he didn’t love.

“That wasn’t even a proper kiss,” he said carefully. As predicted, that didn’t cheer up Myungsoo. He looked pretty hardly hit.

“Umm…Myungsoo, I love my boyfriend.”

Myungsoo stood up abruptly.

“Yeah, I know, I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know what’s wrong with me sorry, I’ll be going now.”

He didn’t let Sungjong say anymore as he collected his coat and tie and showed himself out of the apartment. The younger wouldn’t have known what to say anyway – he wasn’t good at comforting people, especially not people who liked him. He was just glad it hadn’t gotten any more awkward. The last thing he needed was Myungsoo to make a scene on his off day.

Woohyun returned around dinnertime. Letting himself in, he glanced once towards Sungjong, who was lounging on the bed watching The Avengers on DVD. He didn’t say anything and just as the younger was about to greet him, he locked himself in the bathroom. Sungjong could hear the shower running. He wondered if Woohyun was still mad at him. The funny thing was he couldn’t remember exactly what had gotten his boyfriend so angry. It probably had something to do with him, maybe he had hurt the elder’s feelings in his frenzy to solve the case but he couldn’t recall for the life of him. For a genius, he had short term memory loss when it came to things like this.

By the time Woohyun came out of the bathroom, with a towel wrapped around his waist and water dripping from his hair, he was still thinking about what he had done to piss him off.

Woohyun threw on a T-shirt and pajama bottoms, still not talking to the younger. Finally, Sungjong broke the silence.

“Okay, I have no idea what I’ve done this time. Help me? Please?”

“This time? You never have any idea.”

Judging by Woohyun’s tone, it was pretty serious. Sungjong turned off the television and sat up against the mountain of pillows he had made earlier.

“Woohyun, come here.” He extended his hand towards his boyfriend who scoffed and looked away. “Woohyun?”

The elder was definitely suffering as he was debating inwardly whether to listen to his boyfriend. He finally gave up and walked to the bed and sat down in front of Sungjong, taking the hand he was offering.

Sungjong inched forward and captured his lips – he could feel Woohyun struggling for seconds before giving up and reciprocating wildly. Sungjong’s breath caught in his chest as Woohyun kissed him fiercely, causing him to roll backward as far as possible with the pillow. Woohyun’s hands were gripping his waist tightly.

“Argh, I give into you, every time,” Woohyun breathed against his neck.

 “Don’t say it like you’re fighting against me or something. You love me -” Sungjong gasped as he felt Woohyun’s tongue dancing across his neck. “- too.”

“That’s the problem Sungjong, I love you. But do you love me?”

“Woohyun, you know I do.”

“Say it then,” Woohyun murmured. He was still making progress along Sungjong neck, occasionally biting and .

“I love you Woohyun.”

Woohyun stopped to caress his face lovingly and look into his eyes. He couldn’t believe the younger had actually said the words he had been dying to hear. He kissed him again, feeling happier than he had in ages. When he was out of breath, he stopped and put their foreheads together, drinking in Sungjong’s ethereal beauty.

“I wonder Woohyun,” Sungjong said, looking into his eyes. “Would you have left me if you hadn’t owed your life to me?”

Woohyun moved away from Sungjong, as if he received an electric shock.

Sungjong winced slightly – he hadn’t brought it up in a long time. It was quite a time ago, towards the beginning of his career, when he had met Woohyun. As a student Woohyun had gotten into trouble while hanging out with his friends, so that he was facing murder charges when he had come to Sungjong, desperate for someone who would save him from false conviction. He had come to Sungjong, begging for a new life.

There was nothing extraordinary about the case, but for some reason, the detective had taken it up. It took him some weeks but finally he had all the proof he needed to clear Woohyun’s name. However, it had grown into more than just a client-detective relationship. By the end of it, Sungjong realized that he had actually fallen for Woohyun. He had wondered at first if Woohyun had only fallen in love with him just because he had saved his life but he had stopped thinking about that. Woohyun was the one imperfection in his perfect life, and he enjoyed it more than anything.

Even more than the perfect moment he had just spoiled.

“I’m sorry,” he said, blinking rapidly.  Woohyun still looked stricken, so Sungjong rubbed his cheek softly, kissing it. His boyfriend still didn’t answer.

“Woohyun I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. I know you’ll never leave me, I know.”

Woohyun’s face softened.

“I love you.”

Sungjong smiled. His boyfriend was back.

“Ah Woohyun, I’m kind of hungry. Do you mind cooking?”

Woohyun groaned.

“You couldn’t wait five more minutes before ruining this?”

“I could have, but my stomach can’t take it anymore.”

Woohyun pecked at his lips twice more before getting up.

“So what would you like -”

Sungjong’s phone started ringing. He held up one finger, looking apologetic and answered the call.

“Myungsoo, yeah what?”

His eyes changed as he nodded gravely, listening intently.

“Okay, well text me the address, I’ll be there tomorrow. No problem. Yeah good night.”

He ended the call and looked at Woohyun.

“Erm, new case. Myungsoo’s friend almost died, attempted murder they believe.”

Woohyun slapped his face.

“And here I was thinking you get a break.”

“Well, don’t blame me that I’m so smart.”

“There a lot of smart people but you’re the only one like this, flaunting how smart you are.”

“Hey, I save lives okay. And make sure criminals are punished and innocent people are released. Kind of like a hero.”

Woohyun couldn’t argue with that. So he just went back to making dinner.

A/N: Thank you so much for all the subscribes, comments and upvotes! This is what makes me think the time I spent writing is worth it.