Luna stared at her boyfriend, who was staring at his phone, and sighed heavily, for the third time, hoping to get his attention. When the sigh prove itself useless, she used her fork to take some food from his plate, but the action also went unnoticed.

“Enough,” she said, slamming her fists on the table, making everything on it jump a little bit. Her little fit had not only succeeded in getting Yesung’s attention, but also the one of the tables around them. “You’ve been staring at that phone since we left the apartment,” she protested, putting her fork down, forgetting all about how hungry she was. Her boyfriend offered her a sheepish smile.

“But I get to see a live feed of my turtles,” reasoned Yesung, showing her his phone, who had a live broadcast of the turtles’ aquarium.  

“I don’t care about your God damn turtles,” retorted Luna, crossing her arms and raising her voice. “You care more about them than you care about me,” she accused. Yesung put his phone down and fidgeted on his seat. He hated being in the spotlight.  

“You know that’s not true,” he mumbled, looking down at his untouched plate.

“Whatever,” replied Luna, digging into her French toast. “We finally get some time together and you have blow it up. Whatever, let’s just forget it’s Christmas morning.” Yesung brought his finger to his mouth, to bite his nail, but someone interrupted him before he could take a bite at it.

“You shouldn’t do that Hyung,” said a man's voice. Yesung looked up in surprise and recognized the man who had come to his apartment a few months before.

“Kyuhyun,” exclaimed Luna, beaming and offering him her best smile. However, her smile quickly faded away when she noticed the tall and svelte woman at his side.

“Oh, this is Victoria, my…”

“His fiancée,” cut him off Victoria, showing off her the ring on her ring finger. Luna looked at the ring in surprise and managed to crack a smile.

“Congratulations,” she said, stuffing a piece of French toast in . The day was off to a bad start, she thought. To her dismay, halfway through her delicious bite, her phone rang.

“Park,” she answered, once she had painfully swallowed her half-chewed bite. Kyuhyun smiled like a proud father. Her tone had his firmness, yet it remained soft like Sooyoung’s.

“Oh hi Dr. C, merry Christmas to you too,” replied Luna, her voice gradually getting back its usual perkiness. “We have a case? Okay, where are we meeting?” she asked. If Kyuhyun would’ve been able to raise an eyebrow he would have, but he couldn’t so he just frowned and looked at Luna talk with Sooyoung. As the conversation dragged on, Kyuhyun grew more and more impatient, wondering why he wasn’t aware of the case. He was usually the one calling Sooyoung and informing her of new cases, not the other way around. “Okay, I’ll be outside right away, bye,” said Luna, hanging up. Luna quickly gathered her stuff, got up, and placed a light kiss on her boyfriend’s lips.

“I have to go. We have a case. I’ll see you at home tonight, bye. Love you,” she said, before turning around. “Kyuhyun, Victoria,” she said bowing. “Congratulations once again and merry Christmas,” she concluded, before walking towards the exit. Kyuhyun took his phone from his pocket and looked at it in concern. There was no message from work. The last message was from his grandmother congratulating him on his engagement.

“Wait here,” he said to Victoria, running after Luna, confused.

“Where are you going?” he asked, tugging on her elbow lightly, when he had reached her, outside the diner.

“To solve a case, obviously. It’s a shame you weren’t invited, I liked you,” shrugged Luna, pulling away from him and walking towards a black SUV. Kyuhyun opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the passenger door of the black car opening revealing Sooyoung. Kyuhyun’s heart suddenly skipped a beat when he saw her, wasn't in surprise or admiration - Kyuhyun wasn't sure. She was wearing dark blue skinny jeans, with light brown riding boots, and a black trench coat. She had also dyed her hair back to the mocha colour she sported on their first case.

“Luna, hurry up. We are late. Max is waiting for us,” she shouted, opening the rear door for her. Kyuhyun’s jaw nearly dropped to the ground when he heard Sooyoung mention his friend’s nickname. In a fury, he took two big strides and grabbed Sooyoung’s forearm.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” he snapped, looking at her straight in the eyes he now knew so well. Sooyoung looked back at him with her great big brown eyes, at first surprised, but afterwards full of anger.

“Working,” she retorted, pushing him away. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Kyuhyun, leave my doctor alone,” ordered Changmin, getting out of his car.

“Your doctor?” repeated Kyuhyun with incredulity, pulling her closer to him. “She’s mine. Got get your own doctor!” Changmin chuckled lightly and shook his head.

“No, today, she is mine. See, we have to investigate suspicious deaths at the Canadian Ambassador’s residence and you’re just a city cop, whilst I am a federal cop. Plus, you are always bragging that she is the best and of course I only work with the best of the best. Now, if you’ll excuse us, the Ambassador is waiting for us.” Changmin indicated to the two women to get in the car and without a second look at Kyuhyun they got in. Kyuhyun helplessly watched the car leave with his two doctors. Once the car was beyond his sight, he looked to the ground for something to kick and help him release the surge of energy and anger in his body, but found nothing. Kyuhyun was just about to walk away and go back home, when he remembered that Victoria was waiting for him inside the diner.

After a fairly easy drive, Changmin parked the car in front of the Ambassador’s house and stared in silence at the property that was buzzing with reporters, police officers, and bystanders.

“What happened?” asked Sooyoung, looking at the spectacle.

“Earlier this morning, the wife of the Ambassador went up and check on their boys. They found it strange that they weren’t coming down to open their Christmas presents, but when she opened the door she found them both dead and the family python next to their bodies,” explained Changmin, trying to keep a stern face.

“That’s horrible,” breathed out Sooyoung, looking over at Changmin. “What do you need me for? Any other coroner could’ve ruled cause of death, it seems like an easy case.”

“I need you to tell us if this was foul play or not. We are talking about the family of an ambassador and this could cause a diplomatic stir. There are talks of a free trade agreement with Canada, the President doesn’t want anything to get in the way of it.”

“I understand. We’ll work as quickly as possible. Dr. Park not a word about this to anyone, understood?”

“Got it,” replied Luna, opening her door, ready to face the reality of death.

In a warm cozy children’s room, something was amiss. Instead of the usual laughs and screams of joys of little kids on Christmas morning, it was cold and silent. The only sounds that could be heard came from the two Coroners talking between each other, comparing notes. In that room, laid the two bodies of James Brown who was five years old and his brother Oliver Brown, seven. In the distance, Sooyoung and Luna could hear their mother crying the loss of her sons. It was clear that despite the fact that the house had festive decorations, all joy had left the dwelling.

“I hate it when they are kids,” grumbled Sooyoung, looking closely at the little bodies in front of her.

“I hate it when they are kids and they die on Christmas morning,” added Luna, observing the second little body. Sooyoung sighed loudly and got up. She gave a brief glance at the second body and shook her head.

“I can’t see anything other than strangulation and asphyxiation,” concluded Sooyoung.

“By a python?” asked Luna, with a chill going down her back. Even if the python had been removed by animal services before their arrival, she still had an eerie feeling that it would comeback for more.

“Yes, we’ll do a full autopsy at the lab, but the final results seem pretty obvious,” she concluded.

“Good,” interrupted Changmin, who had observed the scene from the doorframe. “I had an officer check their security tapes and alarm system and no one came in or out of the house since six o’clock last night.”

“How are the parents?” asked Sooyoung, taking off her plastic gloves.

“Distraught, to say the least. Can I come in?” he asked.

“Yeah, we are done here,” replied Sooyoung, packing up their material. Following her teacher’s lead, Luna also took her gloves off and left the room when Sooyoung had handed her their bags of tools. Changmin, for his part, walked over to the tiny bodies, which were still in the same place where they had been found, one next to the other. He crouched down between them and looked at them for a long time, with sadness in his eyes.

“Who was the first to die?” he asked, slowly getting up.

“We don’t know yet. The autopsies will be able to tell us when they died and in which order,” replied Sooyoung, who had watched the whole scene. “I’ll ask for a team to bag the bodies.”

“Good, let’s give this family some closure,” he said, turning the lights of the room off, when they left the room, as if he was putting the children to bed.

∴

After the bodies were brought back to the laboratory. After they had been weighed, measured, and photographed. After they had been carefully examined, Changmin, Sooyoung and Luna were seated in Sooyoung’s office discussing the case.

“How long was the python again?” asked Luna, looking up from James’ file. Sooyoung placed her pen between her lips and looked through a pile of papers on the coffee table.

“He was 4,4meters,” she answered, after finding the reporter from animal services.

“The injuries of my boy are congruent with a python attack of 4,4meters,” announced Luna.

“So are mine,” replied Sooyoung closing the file in her hands and placing it on the coffee table.

“Did they suffer?” asked Changmin, after a long pause. Sooyoung look at Changmin and shook her head sadly.

“At worst, they thought it was just a bad dream,” she explained.

“They were so young,” he sighed, resting his head in one hand and rubbing his eyes with it.

“Our journeys in this world are not always meant to be long,” reasoned Sooyoung sadly. Changmin chuckled gloomily at how pragmatic Sooyoung was.

“Dr. Park, please go write the final report and once you are done, comeback so that I can sign it,” ordered Sooyoung, not wishing to spend any more time on the case. Luna nodded and grabbed the files, whilst exiting the room. Left alone in the office, Sooyoung and Changmin conversed for a long time about the case, while they waited for Luna.

“Why did you fight with Kyuhyun?” finally asked Sooyoung. “I thought the two of your were good friends.” Changmin sat back in his couch and looked pensively at Sooyoung, clearly taken aback by the question.

“A lot of things have changed since the accident, Sooyoung,” he replied, dropping the formal language between them. Sooyoung laughed nervously and played with a loose string from her couch.

“I know they have,” she said, adopting the informal tone. “He spoke very fondly of you, you know?. His best mate, his brother, like he used to call you.”

“He still doesn’t remember you?” cut her off Changmin, looking at her sternly. Sooyoung bit her lip and looked out the window, small white flakes were starting to fall in the sky of Seoul.

“No, he doesn’t,” she replied, looking back at him, with a sad smile.

“That’s weird,” retorted Changmin.

“The brain is a weird organ, Changmin,” reasoned Sooyoung.

“We were all rooting for you, at the office,” admitted Changmin, trying to bring comfort to what looked to be a troubled mind.

“That’s very sweet of you,” she managed to say, after a while. The sound of Luna walking into the office interrupted their discussion, much to the relief of Sooyoung who was uneasy with the turn of events. She gladly accepted the reports Luna was handing her and read over them, making sure there was no mistakes and that everything was in order. Satisfied with the work of her intern, Sooyoung signed off cause of death for both boys, putting an end to their collaboration with Changmin.

“Ladies, it was an honour working with the two of you,” concluded Changmin bowing. “Thank you very much for giving me your Christmas day.”

“The pleasure is ours,” replied Sooyoung, giving him a warm smile. “We hope to see you around soon.”

“I hope so too,” he replied, before excusing himself.

“I like him,” announced Luna, when Changmin had left the office. “He’s dreamy.”

“Oh please, don’t start,” sighed Sooyoung, rolling her eyes.

∴

Sooyoung opened her apartment door and sighed heavily, it had indeed been a long and exhausting day. She lazily made her way to her living room and slouched on the first couch she found. She glanced at her apartment and was glad she didn’t decorate it for Christmas, it was always such a drag to put everything away afterwards and it took too much space in her storage unit. The sound of the ringing phone pulled her away from her thoughts. She stared at the receiver for a long time, debating if she should answer or not. Her gut feeling told her not to, but after the fifth ring she got up and answered.

“What took you so long?” scolded Ahra.

“I am sorry, I was in the kitchen,” lied Sooyoung. “Why are you calling?”

“Well, to wish you merry Christmas dummy,” retorted Ahra, uneasiness clear in her voice.

“You already called me this morning to wish me merry Christmas,” countered Sooyoung, regretting answering the phone.

“Oh, there is no use lying to you. You’re just like Kyuhyun and have a lie detector embedded in your brain,” skulked Ahra. “I’m calling you because I have news for you, Soo. Kyuhyun called.”

“Oh dear, something big must have happened for Kyuhyun to call you,” teased Sooyoung, trying to lighten up the mood.

“It is big, Soo. He’s engaged to Victoria,” breathed out her friend. Sooyoung felt the full force of the news hit her like a kick in the guts. She leaned forward, gasping for air, and grabbed on to the small table, which was now the only thing keeping her away from the ground.

“Are you sure?” she whispered.

“I am so sorry Soo. This is not the way I wanted things to go,” pleaded her friend.

“It’s okay,” replied Sooyoung, hanging up. Sooyoung reached for the wall and slowly made her way up to her bedroom. For each step that she took she had to remind herself not to cry, not to lose it, but when she got in her bedroom the gravity of the news hit her again. She leaned against the wall and took a big breath in, but instead of exhaling normally she choked out a sob. She slowly let her back glide against the wall towards the floor, the same direction that her tears were falling. Once she felt her bum touch the floor, she brought her knees towards her chest and hugged them tightly whilst the tears fell down her usually composed face. Sooyoung suddenly felt a crushing pain in her chest. She tried to breath in to appease the pain, but couldn’t. Not knowing what to do, she crawled towards her bed and slowly pushed herself on it. She reached for her favourite pillow, hugged it tightly, and broke down in a sobbing fit. Her whole body started shaking and eventually the sobbing became painful, but Sooyoung couldn’t stop the tears. She cried as loudly as her lungs permitted her, not caring if her neighbours heard her. She needed to. She needed to cry, to make her forget the pain in her chest. Sooyoung needed to cry to forget Kyuhyun. She hated herself. She hated herself for hoping that Kyuhyun would remember, for hoping that he would comeback to her. Kyuhyun.

“Kyuhyun,” she whispered. “Kyuhyun,” she repeated louder, between two sobs. “I love you, I love you so much.” And with those words the tears started flowing again. Sooyoung felt the tears go down her chubby cheeks and into her ears or sometimes hair, but she didn’t care. Nothing mattered anymore, she thought. Sooyoung didn’t know for how long she had cried, but she eventually fell asleep, fully dressed, her pillow stained with tears.

∴

Kyuhyun woke up, in the middle of the night, sweating and on high alert. He breathed heavily and sat up in his bed, listening to the sounds surrounding him.

“Did you call me?” he asked, shaking Victoria and eventually waking her up.

“What? No. Why?” she asked, half asleep.

“I heard a woman crying and calling my name,” he replied, turning on his night table lamp.

“Go back to sleep,” grumbled Victoria, turning around and covering her face with the comforter. “It was probably just a dream.”

“Yeah I guess you’re right,” he mumbled, turning off the light and lying down in bed again. Kyuhyun closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but something tormented him. He couldn’t understand why the woman he heard crying sounded so much like Sooyoung.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who made it this far, I hope you enjoyed it!. Have a great weekend and if you have any requests just let me know ;)

[2014-05-14 - Update] I just wanted to thank Noah Barthe,5, and Connor Barthe, 7, for letting me use their story. These two little boys did in fact die because of a python, read their story here.