guilt rivulets through her veins like nectar.

in paltry amount, sticking to her conscious and cementing itself on the back of her mind; resolute to beget intervals of transient tranquillity followed by torment that had cost her at least a week worth of good night sleep.

"you did everything you could, manoban." gentle hands rubbed her back in attempt to ease the pain that flickered through her eyes and the corner of her lips tipped into a hoaxed smile. the gesture of consolation did nothing but deepen the dread that settled in the pit of her stomach.

this was their third victim in less than a week.

and shit, she felt miserable and impotent.

a woman in her late fifties, a child and a man. none of them acquainted or related in any aspect. lalisa dug to the last detail of each murder to try and find any correlation, or at least expand her perspective, but it led her to another maze with no way out.

books were hurled from the shelves, the table botered down, all in the spur of the moment as she disregarded the chief's orders to step down from the case and let another team deal with it instead.

hyun-tae, the same man that assigned her to the case, was now doubting her proficiency. she could comply to it and swallow the humiliation but it would dinge her pride and morals she heedfully believed in.

"you can't just cut me off the case." she drew in a dense voice and waltzed inside the chief's office. "i can—" there was a pause when he bolstered both hands against the hard surface of the wooden table and rose from his seat. "—and i did it for your own good. you were on the edge of an outburst, lalisa."

she scoffed at the feigned worry lacing his words.

"well, insanity runs in the family so an outburst should be the least of your worries." a sigh slipped past his lips and despite the terse silence that settled, a chuckle rumbled from the back of his throat causing lalisa to arch an eyebrow.

the slight trace of displeasure vanished from his features only to be replaced by amusement that smouldered in his honeyed eyes—did he find the whole situation amusing and entertained himself at her expense? lalisa chagrined at the thought and crossed both arms over her chest.

"i can do it." her words lingered in the air at the sound of the knob rattling and jisoo, one of the lab investigators, stepped inside; a stack of papers held between svelte fingers and her strides exuding confidence despite the sudden intrusion in the middle of their conversation.

"pardon my sudden entrance." she cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, her confidence steep declining. "the dna sample we found matches the suspect but there's something else." another man, in his late thirties and wearing a white lab coat, went inside with a package in both hands.

"that—" the brunette gestured to the packaging and urged her partner to come closer; the package was wrapped with some sort of mordant texture to the touch and had no tag attached to it. "—he, the suspect, instructed us that a woman would come by and deliver it."

a woman? perhaps his wife?

"did you see who she was?" jisoo's head twisted to both sides in a denial motion and her lips pursed into a thin line. "no one saw her and there was no clear confirmation of her appearance in the cctv cameras either." the man standing beside her explained and extended the package towards lalisa that then held it with quivering hands.

"should we open it?"

"it won't open itself, will it?" lalisa forced down a remark and reached for the scissor to cut through the tick layer of tape. the inside was almost empty aside from the neatly folded piece of paper and her eyebrows pinched in piqued curiosity; expertise fingers unfolded the paper and her eyes squinted to read the refined, outlined letters.

her nostrils flared and rage coursed through every fibre of her body, this had to be some kind of sick joke. her fingertips dug into the paper, tempted to rip it into tiny shreds as hyun-tae, jisoo and her partner leaned over to catch a glimpse of what it said.

"it's not him." the tone of her voice barely above a whisper and muffled by the ripple of voices behind the office door. "our suspect doesn't know how to write and he's an imbecile for fuck sakes." despite the scarce evidence left behind, each of the three murders were poorly executed and a man devoid of any skill could never become a criminal.

slowly, everything began to conjoin into its place and realization dawned upon her.

dohyun might have been the culprit behind the gruesome murders but he was a mere bystander. a piece that fit the puzzle, and the fact that he was cloistered behind a cell didn't necessarily mean the bloodshed was cut to its root.

no, this was just the beginning of it.

"do you mean..." lalisa stepped back, hands tugging at the strands of blonde hair and lips pursed into a thin line. from her peripheral vision, the room became a blur and every sturdy foundation was swept from beneath her feet. her breath expelled in harsh gasps and her surroundings wavered, leading her body to momentarily lose balance.

"easy there." hyun-tae gripped lalisa's shoulders to steady her before forcing her body to slump into the chair; something she was glad for despite the harshness of his gesture because it allowed her neck to tilt back, welcoming the delightful stretch, and distracted her from the reality that struck her gut.

it made sense now, a stunt to buy time and halt them during the investigation. what they didn't know was that any effort to solve the case was futile because the real culprit was still on the loose and ready to strike.

her petrified gaze fixed the piece of paper to read the same words over and over again, wishing for something to snap her out of reverie and assure that this was nothing but a wicked nightmare. but there was none and nausea crawled up her throat to cover her buds with an acidic taste.

"lalisa..." jisoo's voice rang through her ears and she crouched down to hold lalisa's face between the warmth of her hands. there was pity and worry smouldered in the depths of her eyes and the younger grit her teeth in annoyance—hating the forged sympathy as if she was a delicate flower being stepped on.

"don't." she warned, the sole word dripping with venom as she shoved the brunette's hands away. it all started to surface, every trauma, every fear and lalisa wasn't going to face any of it again. at least not after she managed to rise to her own two feet and start her career afresh.

all of it be damned.

"i'm fine." she blurted and dismissed jisoo with a wave of her hands. but truth is, she wasn't actually fine and hyun-tae was aware of it. he had been her assigned partner for almost six years and knew lalisa with the palm of his hand; from every rookie mistake to the inumerous nights he witnessed her crying.

her soul and inner traumas had been exposed to him already so there was no use in hiding it.

and it wasn't like she tried to. he knew not to overstep her boundaries and acknowledge her pain with a single glance—to put it simple he was her advisor and the biggest source of support she had in life. an adequate replacement to the parents she never met.

"what does it say, lalisa?" he knew damn well what it said but still attempted to force the words out of her. when her mouth opened and closed, unable to formulate any response, he inched closer and wrapped his fingers around her hand in a tight, reassuring grip. "tell me."

the tone of his voice was gentle and lalisa released a breath she didn't know she was holding, her previous distressed state now somehow calmer and hands curled into fists; a rather pleasing contrast to the quivering of her limbs and the shallow breathing.

with one last sharp intake of breath, her head lowered and her lips parted to read the words once again.

the wonderful thing about sin is that it destroys the sinner.

hi hi, so i've made some major alterations to the plot and this is the first chapter. enjoy <3
sorry for any grammatical error, i didn't proofread the chapter!