Mihee held his phone in her hand, squinting at the text Detective Ahn had sent him. 'That's so weird,' she said. 'Why would anyone hurt eommoni? She was so sweet,' her voice dropped down to a whisper.

'Hmm,' Jake nodded, taking his phone back from her. He was supposed to see the detective in the morning but the body of the latest victim had been discovered by the police just a few hours back, which led them to being preoccupied until the evening. Needless to say, Jake's visit to the station had been postponed to six p.m.

'Aren't you going to see your therapist, then?', Mihee furrowed her brows. Jake scorned at her statement.
'Therapist? I don't give a damn about those sessions, Mihee. They do absolutely nothing for me.' He pulled the pillow in his lap closer.
'I understand, Jake,' she put an around him. 'But you really need to try.'
'I'm fine. I don't need therapy.'
Mihee scoffed.
'What?,' he glared at her.
'Nothing. You don't need therapy.'
'Yeah and?'
Mihee sighed.

'Jake, you injured yourself really bad. It wouldn't hurt to seek some help.'
'But that guy is of zero help to me!,' he wanted to sound angry, but it came out sounding similar to a hormonal teenager's bicker. Mihee sniggered.
'Aww, you're so cute, Jake,' she pinched his cheeks. 'Get your hands off me,' he sulked.
'You're going to therapy, and that's that,' Mihee said sternly.

Jake flinched a bit.
What the hell, Mihee?

He regained his composure and sat upright. 'Fine,' he exhaled deeply. 'But I'll not go today. I need to see Detective Ahn.'
'Distracting yourself won't work, Jake,' Mihee touched his forearm. 'I don't feel safe,' his eyes shifted from Mihee's face to his fingers. 'Besides, you told me that you'll always be there for me. I can always talk to you, right?'
Mihee squeezed his arm. 'Yes, Jake. I'm always gonna be there for you. But I'm no therapist. I might end up giving you wrong suggestions,' she shrugged. Jake looked at her pensively. She sighed.
'Come on. I know you can do this,' she egged him on.

'Fine,' Jake gave in. 'But not today. I need to see Detective Ahn. I'll be regular starting tomorrow,' he gave her a half smile.
'Yay,' Mihee hugged him. Her hugging him somehow felt weird. Maybe it was because she hadn't embraced him in a while now. It just made him realise how much he'd missed her hugs.
He patted her head and held her by the shoulders. 'Will you accompany me to the station?,' he simpered.

'Me?,' Mihee raised her eyebrows, pointing a finger at herself. 'Why?'
Jake's grin disappeared. 'You don't have to come if you don't want to,' he said quietly.
Mihee held his hand. 'No, I would love to accompany you. I just don't think they'll allow me in, Jake.'
'They will, Mihee. I'll make sure they do,' he insisted.

'Fine then. I'll tag along,' she said, a gummy smile creeping on her face. He put his arm around her and smiled ear to ear.
'We need to leave in thirty minutes,' he said.
Mihee rolled her eyes.
'What?'
'Nothing,' she chuckled. 'I've never seen someone so excited to go to a police station.'
She crossed her legs and sat down properly, facing him. 'We have a lot more catching up to do,' she whispered dramatically.
'Ah, come on! You're the one who's been doing all the "catching up",' Jake folded two fingers in each hand and pronged them up and down, drawing virtual inverted commas in his statement.
'You didn't really tell me what you did these two years,' he squinted at her.

Mihee folded her arms. 'Well, your life has always been way more interesting than mine, Shim Jaeyun,' she sighed. Jake scoffed.
'Not a word of that is true.'
'It is.'
'Isn't.'
'Jake, you're telling me that girlfriends obsessed with voodoo dolls aren't interesting?,' she snickered.
'Of course they aren't! They're super creepy!,' he grimaced.
'You probably attract creepy people,' she burst into a gale.
'Creepy people like you?,' he said quietly, a smug smile plastered on his face.

Mihee punched his arm while eying her feet.
Shit.
Jake was not the one to put his foot in his mouth but he would let himself so loose around Mihee that he often spoke without thinking. Around others, Jake would filter and dissect every single word in attempt to refrain from giving himself away.
He scratched his head and tried to think of something else to deviate from the current topic.
'We should get going, I guess,' he chuckled nervously.

Mihee bit her lip and looked up at him. Her signature gummy smile returned, much to Jake's relief.

'Let's go,' she said, holding his arm. Jake nodded as they headed out. Jake pulled out his car keys from his desk.

'You're gonna drive that car?,' Mihee furrowed her brows. 'I need to get over this, Mihee. I can't go on like this forever,' he shrugged.
'Jake,' she stared into his warm brown eyes, holding both his arms. 'You don't have to force yourself to move on. You need to process your grief. You need to let yourself know that it's okay to hurt. It's okay to not be fine. This isn't something that's gonna fix itself in a week, and I really appreciate the fact that you're trying to get better. But this won't cut it, Jake. Try being nice to yourself, just this once. For me.'

Jake stared at the keys in his hands and sighed. 'Okay.'
He put them back on his desk. 'Let's go.' Jake wore his mask and sunglasses.
They took a cab to the station. There was no one outside to greet them so they went in.
'Detective Ahn?,' Jake said softly in front of a man who's face was covered with the newspaper he was trying to read. He put the newspaper down and pushed his spectacles higher on the bridge of his nose.

'That way,' he pointed his finger to the left. 'He's busy in a meeting with a VIP, though.'
'He said he wanted to see me,' Jake insisted.
'Can you tell me your name?'
Jake removed his mask and glasses. 'I'm Shim Jaeyun.'

'Ah,' the officer pressed his lips together as he squinted at him. 'Fine then. But it would be better if you waited outside instead of barging right into the room.' 'Sure thing,' Jake shrugged. 'I can wait.'
The officer went back to scanning the newspaper in his hands and sipping tea.

Jake grabbed Mihee's arm as they walked in the vicinity of the room with the grey door, located adjacent to the interrogation room. Through the upper part of the door which seemed to be glass, Jake could clearly see Detective Ahn vehemently flapping his arms up and down, like he was protesting against something and desperately trying to prove a point. Next to him stood the Mayor wearing a disagreeable expression. His body language seemed extremely unreceptive as he folded his arms together and shook his head.

What in the world is happening?

Jake pressed his face against the door, trying his best to hear what they were arguing about. Mihee tugged at the sleeve of his sweatshirt.
'Yah they might see you,' she said in a hushed voice.
Jake reluctantly moved back and stood next to her, but that didn't stop him from peeking in. He stood on his toes, trying to get a good look.
Mihee scoffed.
'You don't listen, do you,' she lifted the upper corner of her mouth and narrowed her eyes.
'Fine. I'll-,' Jake's eyes widened as he eyed the Mayor trying to advance towards the door.
He pulled Mihee to the side, away from the Mayor's line of sight.

'I don't care about what progress you've made, Ahn Minsook. I want results, and I'm definitely not getting those,' he said curtly, his sagging face and droopy cheeks curved downwards, carving his face into a perfect frown. Minsook could do nothing but stare at him pleadingly, his eyes moist and lips trembling a little. For a moment, Jake thought he would break down crying.

He looked like a different person altogether in the presence of someone with more authority and power. It didn't quite feel like the intimidating and powerful Detective Ahn he knew.
'I've worked a great deal on this case already, sir. I don't want some Chinese Intelligence Agent to mooch off my hard work and catch the killer. You need to understand,' he folded his hands in front of him.

Any moment now, he might bend down on his knees.

Jake stood about ten feet away from them with Mihee by his side, not daring to make a single sound. He wanted to know what was going on with a Chinese Agent taking over the case Korean Police was supposed to solve.

'It's been decided. The least I can do is to give you both equal control over the case. It's no secret that Korean Police has barely ever tried to hunt down dangerous criminals, owing to how rare crimes are, especially the brutal ones like these,' he patted Ahn's back. 'It's been a week sir,' he said in a small voice, his eyes downcast. He creased his forehead. 'If you would only provide me with more time, I'll-'

'Anyone can solve a case if they had unlimited time, Minsook. We need to nab the killer as soon as possible. It's not just common people,' he said nonchalantly, smoothing his tie. 'People die everyday. It's their job.'

People die. It's their job.

The very statement was enough to send shivers down Jake's spine. He gaped at the Mayor, absolutely flabbergasted.

Detective Ahn looked equally nonplussed.
'Do people,' he looked at him in the eye, targeting with his same penetrating gaze. 'Not matter?', he said. For a moment, Jake could feel the Ahn Minsook he'd gotten to know in the past few days.

The Mayor shook his head. 'It sounds ugly, but it's the truth. What was bothersome to many higher ups was him daring to target a famous pianist and killing her. Now the elite class believe the murderer won't spare them either. That's why the government is hellbent on finding the culprit.' 

The detective stared at him incredulously, his mouth parted in surprise, his eyes twitching in disbelief.
'It's very simple, Minsook. If there's a terrorist attack, and a regular citizen along with the President of Korea are on the verge of dying on the street, who would get rescued first?'
Ahn opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

'There. You have your answer,' he chuckled.
'I need full control over the case, sir. I swear I won't disappoint,' he bit his lip and took a deep breath.

'We already talked about this. I need to leave now. The agent would arrive tomorrow. I will inform you in a few hours about the status of your custody on the case,' he said and walked briskly towards the exit, with his bodyguards closely following him.
Ahn bowed.

Chinese agent.
Whoa.

As soon the Mayor left, Ahn clapped his hands.
It took Jake a good ten seconds to figure out that he was making an eye contact with him.
'You're a talented eavesdropper, aren't you?,' he chuckled humourlessly.
'Oh. We're sorry. We were waiting for you outside but-'
'But you had the audacity to not let us know that you were here?,' he glared at him.

Oh shit.

'And I see you brought an acquaintance to tag along with you. Do you think this is picnic spot or something?'

'She's not an acquaintance.' Jake couldn't believe himself when he said this out loud, but somehow the fact that he thought that Mihee was just a mere "acquaintance" vexed the hell out of him.
'She's my childhood friend,' he emphasized.

'Do I look like I give a damn?,' he narrowed his eyes.
'I'm sorry. I'll just leave,' Mihee pressed her lips together. 'Mihee,' Jake looked at his friend as she walked away.

'Well, that's better,' he nodded.
'Come. We need to talk,' he led him inside the interrogation room.
They sat down opposite to each other.
'This time, Jaeyun ssi,' he looked at him intently. 'I'm going to interrogate you for real.'

Interrogate? Me?

The detective sighed. 'I know it might seem like we're suspecting you, but trust me. You don't fit the description at all, so don't worry,' he chortled.
'Hmm,' Jake nodded. 'Can I ask you something first?'

Detective Ahn raised a brow.
'I don't mean to come across as insolent or rude, but is it true that you're going to be replaced ?'
The detective bit his lip. 'Nothing has been confirmed yet.' The downcast expression from a few minutes ago returned on his face.

Yep. He's definitely being replaced.

'Now, moving on to the interrogation,' the detective inched closer to him, the fingertips of his hands touching.

'Don't you find it weird, Jaeyun ssi? Every time a killing takes place, it seems like your friends have something to do with it? Very recently, Kim Sunoo, who claims to be a close friend of yours admitted to having discovered the severed head of the latest victim. Lee Heeseung, another friend of yours, happens to be the latest person to have talked to Ms. Jeong.'

Jake shrugged and shook his head. 'That doesn't really explain anything. They could've just been at the wrong place at the wrong time.'

'Maybe. Maybe not. We don't know that yet, Jaeyun ssi,' he grinned. 'I think you need to call all your friends the police station tomorrow. We would have to talk to each one of them separately.'
'And I know it's a peculiar question I'm asking you, since I was supposed to jot this down earlier,' he said.

'But we really didn't collect your alibi properly. We know exactly what the other people in your house were doing while your mother was being killed, but I didn't really ask you where you'd been at that time.'

Got it. This is why you're getting sacked.

'I was hanging out with my friends,' he said, scratching his head. 'Names?,' Ahn raised an eyebrow. Jake sighed. Did he really have to do this? His friends were with him at that time, so technically they had an alibi too.
'Park Jongseong and Park Sunghoon,' he said as the detective scribbled in his notepad.
'Is any of your friends left handed?'
Jake froze.

Author's note
I hope you liked this chapter💕
This one is for my friend amrev_shine
Ilysm bro ❤️

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