I Hate Cops!

            Yoochun’s lips curled upwards in distaste. He almost crumpled the newspaper he was reading in the train in his annoyance. He just read the news that morning as he had always done but this time, the news didn’t please him at all. It was about a cop who was arrested because of wife battery. Another person victimized by a cop. He thought. It was really a puzzle to him actually. Why do people who were supposed to protect us end up hurting us?

            He recalled a time when he and his friends went out clubbing. They were a bit drunk but not too rowdy. As they were going home, a group of young men also went out. This group was noisy and rowdy and before long started a skirmish with innocent bystanders. Another group of men came. Things got out of hand when one person attacked a man from the other group because of a stupid reason. And before Yoochun and his friends had a chance to react (and because they were drunk and could not process what happened), a full blown street fight had ensued. It was really a nightmare to them but things got much worse. In no time, the police came and started dispersing people. It was supposed to be okay but the police handled the men too roughly. Yoochun saw a lot of men got hit on the head, a lot of pulling and pushing and punching happened. But the real problem occurred when their group was also taken to the station. He and his friends tried to explain that didn’t have anything to do with the fight. They related what happened but the police didn’t believe them. The worst thing was, while one of his friends was trying to explain, a police approached him and punched him in the stomach. Yoochun was horrified. It was the first time that he experienced violence of any sort and it coming from people from authority made it distasteful to him. After that, they were found innocent and were cleared of all charges. They were immediately sent home. On the way out, the police who punched his friend was lounging at the reception. Yoochun saw him look at their direction but the police didn’t even acknowledge them. It made Yoochun very disappointed and that started his extreme dislike with the people in uniform.

            After that incident, everything that Yoochun seemed to hear was all about the bad things cops were doing. He often heard about police brutality, corruption, drug dealing and other numerous crimes got involved in. Those crimes only made his resolve to hate cops more solid. All of them are power trippers; the government should do something about them. They’re wasting peoples’ tax money paying those cops…

            Yoochun went on and on with his ranting about cops and the wrong things that they do. He was listing ways to discipline them in his head as he walked out of the train so he didn’t notice that a man was walking fast beside him.

This man pushed his way out of the crowd to get close to him. Yoochun was still deep in his thoughts so the man was able to slip a hand out to Yoochun’s bag. A sudden strong tug on Yoochun’s arm was enough to make him let go of his briefcase. The man then quickly walked away, trying to appear nonchalant as he blended with the crowd.

It took Yoochun a few moments to register what happened to him. His hand was stinging and when he looked down, his bag was gone. That was when he knew that he was robbed. A rush of blood went to his head and his heart started to pound hard as he quickly scanned the thick crowd to look for the thief. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man briskly walking away from the platform of the train. He glanced down the man’s form and he saw his briefcase.

“Yah! Stop! Thief!” Yoochun shouted at the top of his lungs as his legs started to move in a mad dash towards the guy who took his briefcase.

People looked surprised and alarmed at what happened. Some moved out of harm’s way and Yoochun silently thanked them for making his job easier. He pushed his leg muscles to run faster. The thief was just a few feet away from him. Any moment now he would have caught up with the thief. His breath was coming in short bursts and there was a pain starting in his side. He knew he must keep on going but his legs were not very used to strenuous activities. After a few minutes, he felt them almost giving out under him. . This is not happening to me! He screamed in his mind.

He saw the man reach the escalators and Yoochun lost all hope of catching up with him. The man was simply too fast. Yoochun was about to say goodbye to all his documents, his proposals for his projects—his one month worth of work when all of a sudden, a man who came out of nowhere suddenly sprang from somewhere beside him and ran all the way up the escalators. Yoochun saw the new guy pull the thief’s shirt once he got close enough. A flurry of kicks and not well placed punches were seen exchanged. People were awed at the sight of two men fighting in the numerous steps of the escalator. Finally, the new guy managed to deliver a weighty punch to the thief’s jaw that sent the man tumbling downwards. He fell face first to the ground. He seemed plastered but Yoochun saw the other guy jump down to him quickly. It looked like he was not taking any chances.

The guy gave the thief a small nudge but the man didn’t move. Yoochun released the breath he didn’t know he was holding. He carefully walked over to the two men. The other guy took notice of him and picked Yoochun’s briefcase on the floor beside the thief. He walked forward to Yoochun and offered the bag.

“I guess…this…is…yours?” the man asked; breathless.

Yoochun extended his arm to get his bag and gratefully nodded.

“Yes, it’s mine. Thanks…uhm, Mr…?” Yoochun said.

He lifted his gaze from the thief on the floor to man who still had his hand in midair. The minute Yoochun looked up; a flash of a blinding smile greeted him. Yoochun felt breathless himself.

“No, it’s okay…I will gladly do it again for you…” the man answered and Yoochun’s heart started to beat erratically. The man was cute! He had soft brown and friendly eyes. And his lips were curved into a super y smile that Yoochun thought should only be seen in the privacy of a bedroom.

A small answering smile played in Yoochun’s lips as he heard what the man said. He could feel his cheeks reddening. What was happening to him? He wasn’t attracted to the guy, was he? That was impossible. He looked at the man’s face again and melted as the man in question gave him another smile.

“Uhm…I’m really grateful. I don’t know what I had done if you haven’t caught him, Mr…?” Yoochun tried again. He had to get this man’s name and his number after that, of course.

Yoochun didn’t know what happened but he was interested in this guy. The fact that the guy’s smiles were to die for and that he was sort of a hero to Yoochun made him more appealing. Yoochun simply couldn’t pass this up.

He knew the man was also a bit attracted him. Who wouldn’t know? The guy practically had his eyes glued to Yoochun’s face. Their eyes locked and immediately Yoochun knew that he liked this guy.

“I’m Kim Junsu. You are?” Junsu offered his hand.

“Park Yoochun. Nice to meet you.” Yoochun accepted his handshake.

Both of them smiled as comforting warmth enveloped their joined hands. Yoochun was already of things Junsu and he would be doing in the future like nice walks in the park, lovely dinners, constant snuggling…

“Officer Kim! Officer Kim! Are you okay?” A young man shouted as he ran towards Yoochun and Junsu. The young man checked the thief and put handcuffs on the criminal. Then he sauntered to where the two older men were standing. He didn’t look at Yoochun but at Junsu.

Junsu turned to the young man and said, “Yeah, I’m alright. Thanks for the back-up, Go.”

Yoochun’s head whipped to the young man Junsu called Go. Did this man just call Junsu ‘officer’? Did that mean that Junsu was a police officer? That was not true, wasn’t it?

Junsu noticed that Yoochun had gone pretty quiet. He looked at their still-joined hands and gave a slight tug. He saw the man look up and searched his face confusedly. Frowning, Junsu sent a questioning stare at the man before him but Yoochun started to pull his hand away from his.

He whispered, “What’s wrong?”

Yoochun stiffened when Junsu asked him a question. His gaze pointedly pinned at a place somewhere beyond Junsu’s head.

“N-Nothing’s wrong…no problem…” Yoochun started, he stared at Junsu then added as if he couldn’t help it. “Did—he just call you ‘officer’? Are you a cop?”

Junsu noted the change in Yoochun and shifted uncomfortably. “Y-Yes, I’m a cop. I’m working undercover today. Is there a problem?”

Yoochun felt his heart break. Junsu didn’t just say he was a cop, didn’t he? He hated cops for god’s sake! He hated them! Right?

“N-No. There’s no problem.” Yoochun smiled a wobbly smile and Junsu’s face lifted. He flashed that blinding smile again and Yoochun suddenly felt lighter.

As they walk away from the train station that morning, Yoochun was quickly listing in his head good things cops did in the service of the people. Yes, he thought, not all cops were bad. And if cops looked half as good as Junsu, he’d definitely want to be arrested. A particularly naughty thought crossed his mind as Junsu looked at him. That thought involved the use of Junsu’s service handcuffs.

Yoochun had a smile on his face thinking of that. Who said that he hated cops anyway?