Chapter 8

"Lucas."

"Yeah?"

"Move your gigantic feet."

"No."

"I will bite you."

"Still a no."

"Let me do my work."

"Nope, today is rest day and rest day means no investigating! Come on, even your members are probably all lazing around," Lucas continued to place his feet on Haeun's lap. "We could do something fun like watch a movie or cook something!"

"We've been doing that all the time and the house is stuffy," Haeun puffed and used all her energy to push his feet away. "That's it! We're going out! Go and get yourself ready."

As much as Lucas was afraid of stepping outside, he was much more afraid of Haeun's anger if she didn't get any ice cream. "Take the hoodie off, it's too hot," she ordered. "And don't even think of going out with that mask." Lucas managed to convince Haeun and ended up wearing a pair of sunglasses.

Haeun dragged Lucas around at the mall. They didn't have anything they actually wanted to buy but they enjoyed each others company simply wandering around. And even with sunglasses on, Lucas still managed to attract the attention of ladies.

"Some things never change, do they?" Haeun folded her arms and scoffed, her eyes glaring at the girls. "You're still the tall handsome guy everyone wants to stare at."

Lucas laughed and placed an arm across her shoulders, "And you're still the same jealous girl from first grade."

"I was not the jealous type," she defended as they started walking. "I just disliked when the girls would poke fun at me for having a guy best friend. Then, puberty hit you and everyone started asking me to set them up with you."

"Oddly, you didn't want to get some of this. You kept telling them to go and talk to me by themselves. Weren't you jealous when all the other girls wanted to get some with your best friend?"

Haeun shook her head, "I had a boyfriend back then, remember? We lasted pretty long too before he started saying you were stealing me from him."

"You were my best friend first before you were his girlfriend and he was right, I ended up stealing you from him in the end," Lucas rested his chin on her head. "Didn't he exchange school after that?"

"Yeah, he did."

"What was his name again?"

"Cha... Cha Byun - something, I can't really remember," Haeun spotted a sweet shop and dragged Lucas despite his protests. As they entered the shop, Haeun saw some familiar faces.

"Mark, Jihyun, nice to see you two," Haeun smiled at her two friends. "On a date, it seems?"

Jihyun moved closer to Mark, "Same to you two." She had a wide grin as she noticed how close Haeun and Lucas were, "Are you guys back together?"

Lucas and Haeun turned to look at each other. They weren't sure what to say about their current situation. Luckily, Lucas gave them an answer. "We're still figuring things out right now. We'll see how it ends up," he ruffled Haeun's hair while flashing them a big smile. Haeun could feel her cheeks warming up and wanting to get out of the situation, she grabbed Mark.

"Hey, he's my boyfriend!" Jihyun pouted.

"Sorry, I'll give him back in a minute!" Haeun led Mark a few metres away from them before speaking. A comfortable silence fell between Lucas and Jihyun, they weren't exactly really close but close enough to not be awkward with each other. Jihyun saw the look in his eyes as he stared at Haeun - it hadn't changed. With a chuckle, she spoke.

"I hope you guys get back together, Lucas. I really do," Jihyun gave a soft smile. "Things weren't the same when you left. Haeun got sick, did you know that? Hospitalised and everything. Mark said she fainted during a mission and she didn't wake up until like 3 days later."

Jihyun could see the surprise in his eyes, so Haeun hasn't told him yet.

"She missed you a lot too, she won't admit it when she's sober but all she talks about is you when she's gone a bit tipsy. Don't tell her you heard it from me, she'll kill me. When you came back, she was all smiles during her shift at the saloon. She was just - radiating with happiness, something Mark and I haven't seen in a long time. So, Lucas if you want to take her back, you should do it soon." Jihyun gave him a pat on the back just as Mark and Haeun came back. They said their goodbye as the two pairs departed.

"What's that for?" Lucas asked as he saw the bag with the sweet shop's logo.

"Not you that's for sure, you hate sweets."

As the two continued their walking, Haeun's phone buzzed. She sees the caller's ID and her eyes lit up. "It's Seonghan," she quickly answers the call and it's clear she's excited. The name isn't unfamiliar to Lucas. He knows who Seonghan was, she was Haeun's best friend (after him, that is). He hears Haeun giggle and his heart skips a beat at the sound. While Haeun is busy talking on the phone, he slips his hand into hers but she doesn't pull away. Haeun isn't even looking at their hands, still busy catching up with her friend.

"Lunch? Yeah, I could do lunch. Next Saturday's fine with me. Oh! I'll bring an extra person with me," Haeun turns to smile at Lucas. "Yeah, we do have some catching up to do. I'll see you then. Bye."

"Seonghan sounds great."

"She's a doctor now," Haeun sighs in content. "You know how ambitious she was back in high school. Never doubted she could make it. Seonghan invited me for lunch and I told her you're joining us."

Lucas rolls his eyes, "Telling someone you're bringing an extra person doesn't mean you told her I'm the one joining you guys."

"Better than saying nothing at all. Come on," she pouts her lips and bats her eyelashes at him, "It's been forever since the three of us sat down together."

And, of course - Lucas could never say no to Haeun.

Haeun stepped into the police station and was surprised to see Taeyong already at his desk - usually, she would be the first one to arrive. She hesitated to greet him and eventually decided to keep her mouth shut and sat down on her desk. She was still a bit angry with him from their previous argument but she knew they had to make up sooner or later. Haeun was hoping that Taeyong would come in late as he usually did so she could just drop off the box at his desk and not have to explain herself right then and there but it seems that wouldn't be the case. With the gift bag in her hand, she marched up towards his desk.

Taeyong looked up from his files, the motion of his pen bobbing up between his fingers coming to a halt. He was greeted with the sight of Haeun puffing her cheeks out as she placed a box on his desk. The two of them said nothing for a couple of painstakingly long seconds. The air became heavy and awkward in short. Taeyong stared at Haeun as if she grew two heads. From the clear plastic on top of the box, he could see that they were macarons. He tilts his head and raises an eyebrow at her sudden gift.

"We're going to be working together a lot in the future. Take this as an apology gift," she gave out a long sigh. "We got off the wrong foot and I was hoping we could start over again."

Taeyong ran a hand through his hair. "No..."

"No?" His words shocked Haeun. Was the man rejecting her truce offering? Sensing her confusion, Taeyong was quick to explain himself.

"I mean, no, I should be the one apologising," Taeyong stared at the box of macarons, they were his favourite. "I shouldn't have said those things to you without knowing the full story. I should have known better. As a detective, I shouldn't say anything unless there's evidence and as a friend, I should have known better. I'm really sorry for hurting your feelings, Haeun. Are we... Are we on good terms now?"

Haeun smiled. Who could've thought the someone who looked as cold as Taeyong was actually capable of a proper apology? "Yeah," she shoved her hands into her front pocket, "We're cool."

"How did you know these were my favourite?" Taeyong lifted up the box filled with strawberry macarons and noticed it came from one of his usual stores. Haeun could see his eyes sparkling as he held one up to examine closer.

"Mark, I asked Mark. Funny thing is that it's also my favourite," she laughed at their common interest. "Enjoy your macarons, Taeyong."

"Thanks..." Taeyong smiled at her as she headed back to her desk. As he took one bite out of the macarons, he noticed these macarons tasted better than the ones he had before.

Chief Kim Eunha stood in front of the team in the meeting room. There hadn't been much improvement on their case and all of them were itching for a new lead. But in the room, there were only 4 members - the only girl was missing.

"Where's Haeun?" Eunha turned to ask Mark. He was the closest to her so made sense he would know where she should be. He didn't give any answers but shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't been able to get a hold of her," Mark unlocked his phone, "She hasn't been answering my texts or calls."

Eunha rubbed her temples, this was just like one year ago. "Maybe taking her back wasn't a great idea," she thought just as the girl bursts through the doors.

Haeun was sweating and panting as she held a file in her hands. "Where have you been?" Eunha narrowed her eyes at the girl as Haeun struggled to calm her breathing down. She held up a hand, asking them to give her a minute to catch her breath.

"W...Woke up late, sorry." she pointed at the file. "There's... There's a connection." Pulling out the picture from her file, they saw she had circled the middle of the 4 buildings. She pointed her finger at it, "This...This is also a high school. I think the kidnapper is aiming here next."

"What makes you think that?" Taeyong offered her a tissue.

"Gayoung... Gayoung said that the kidnapper wants to 'steal' back someone. By her words, I guess the actual target is someone who goes to this school. I just came back from looking around the area." Haeun took out the pictures of the victims. "We need to keep eyes on that school. Narrow the list down to girls who are active in after-school activities since we know that's when he usually strikes."

"If he's looking for a specific girl, why did he murder the last one?" Johnny questioned.

"It could have been an accidental murder. He could have been planning just to kidnap them as a practice before hitting the actual target. Maybe after killing the last one, he got nervous or sloppy and the others managed to escape," Haeun looked at Eunha. "What we do know is that the kidnapper is planning to strike again and we have to be prepared when he does that. Considering the other victims have escaped, he could be planning to strike earlier than planned."

With a nod, Eunha pulled out her phone, "I'll be sure to notify the rest. We'll keep on eyes around the school."

Haeun was still at the police station. She had notified Lucas earlier to go ahead and sleep first - he understood it meant she probably would be working late into the night. The department was empty as everyone else had gone home. Sitting on the sofa, she had her laptop on her lap as she ran through what they knew about their case at the moment.

The three victims were found at a busy but quiet area by some lucky passerby. She immediately notified the police when she noticed the bruised markings on their wrists and ankles (most likely due to cuffs or ropes). The police managed to identify them as the missing girls and had their parents identify them properly. The two victims managed to give off statements and that's how they found the body of the last victim. Gayoung was deemed to be mentally traumatised as she only gave them a bunch of crap answers. The police tracked down the place they were held captive but by then, the kidnapper had fled.

"Why would you lock up someone so near to somewhere with a lot of people?" Haeun looked at the images taken at the abandoned house the victims were held. It didn't really make sense to Haeun as to why the kidnapper would put his victims in such an easy area to spot. How didn't anyone notice people living there? It wasn't a really abandoned area and people did pass by a couple of times a day. The house was filled with evidence suggesting that it had been inhabited for quite some time. There were clothes, food cans and receipts that dated back to a few months ago. Why would you keep such things? Why not throw them out further away knowing you could be caught any time?

"Unless..." Haeun's brain began to brainstorm.

"Unless what?"

The sudden voice made her jump and she placed a hand over her heart. She looked to her side to see none other than Taeyong staring back at her with a smirk on his face.

"Geez, Taeyong. Don't scare me like that," Haeun spoke as his long legs made their way to the sofa. Taeyong sits beside her and glances at her screen.

"It's one in the morning, Haeun. You need your beauty sleep," he tries to close the laptop shut but her hand slaps his attempts away.

"Not unless I can crack this case," she yawns and stretches her arms. She continues to scroll down the images, rubbing her eyes once in a while. "You know, there's a lot of evidence the kidnapper left at the scene. Things that even normal people like you and me would throw away." Taeyong moved closer to see what she was talking about.

"It seems... almost too much? All placed in easy to find places," he had been wondering the same thing when he was presented with the case. "You don't suppose the kidnapper purposely left all those things just to throw us off?"

Haeun nods, "That's exactly what I'm thinking. Whoever the kidnapper is, he's been leaving us with clues to seem that he's a newbie, making mistakes here and there. We shouldn't underestimate whoever this person is - this is a planned crime and not something he whipped up in a single night."

"So, where do you think it could have started? The police did determine the house to be the place the last victim was murdered."

"Maybe they moved there after they kidnapped Gayoung and... something must have made them snapped and attack the last victim. What's the point of moving your victims? Especially to somewhere like this? Did the accidental murder throw them off? What's their back-up plan?" Haeun didn't realise she was thinking out loud until she hears Taeyong's chuckle. Her cheeks turn red, embarrassed at being caught.

"You're kinda cute in a weird way," he admits. "I can see why Lucas likes you."

Haeun's cheeks turn into a darker shade of red. "Just stop saying nonsense," she turns her attention back to her screen. Taeyong decides to look through his files as well and heads to his desk, leaving Haeun alone on the sofa. The two of them say nothing as the sound of Haeun's keyboard and Taeyong's pen fill their silence. Both of them were, as much as they didn't like to admit it, workaholics.

After around an hour does Taeyong look up to glance at the clock. It was 3 in the morning. He stretches his stiff back and grabs his phone, "Hey, Haeun, I'm calling it a night. I'll head back first, okay?" He doesn't get a reply back and he turns to find Haeun had dozed off on the sofa. Her head was bobbing from side to side while her the brightness from her laptop's screen shone on her face. Without making a sound, he creeps over to the sofa and takes her laptop off from her lap. He turns it off before placing it on the table. Next, he helps to lay her down properly on the sofa. Taeyong takes off his jacket and drapes it over her sleeping figure.

Just as he was about to leave the place, his heart feels guilty to leave her all alone. So, he turns his heels and decides to accompany the sleeping maiden. While staring at her face, he softly murmurs,

"Sweet dreams, Yoon Haeun."