Yeji
Yeji looked around her, inspecting every single detail. She had been there for ten minutes already, and a few cops were with her to inspect the scene. From what she knew, someone had broken into the apartment while the owner was asleep, stolen a few items (that were worth more than her salary), and had tried breaking into his safe too, to no avail, before running away through the front door.
There seemed to be no clues at all, the thief had left no trace of their visit. Even the CCTV cameras that the owner of the apartment had installed didn't record anything at all, which made Yeji sigh. This might be more complicated than she had thought at first.
There was one thing left to do, talk to the victim. He had already told her partner a few things, but she had to know more. She looked for him around the room before finding him, sitting in his dining room, sulking, as if he had lost someone. Yeji scoffed at the sight. She hated rich people.
She slowly made her way to him, putting on a sympathetic face. She had to be gentle, it was her job.
"Alright, sir…" She started and he immediately looked up,
"Jin-Young." He finished for her and Yeji smiled politely,
"Young," She nodded, "Can I ask you a few questions?" She asked, and he shrugged. Yeji didn't wait a second more before sitting down in front of him, ready to start. "Do you remember anything at all from last night? What you were doing, if you were with someone, did you leave your apartment at all?" She already knew what he would answer, but tried anyway.
The man only shook his head, "I already told your colleague, I don't remember a thing," He sighed, clearly annoyed.
"I know," Yeji answered, her voice soft, "But I really need you to try… What's the last thing you remember doing?"
"I, uh…" He paused for a few seconds, furrowing his eyebrows, "I worked all day long, came home at the same time as almost every day, around eight," Yeji nodded, taking notes of everything he said. "Then I went out to a bar nearby, I always go there after long days at work. I was waiting for uh, a woman I had a date with." He sounded hesitant, which Yeji immediately noticed.
"Did she come?"
"I don't remember." His voice was stern. "After that, I just remember waking up this morning with a headache, in my bed, the front door was open and the thief had already stolen my stuff, like I told you."
She shook her head, there was something off, something he wasn't telling her. "Try to focus, surely you can remember if your date came," Yeji tried to insist. The man had most probably been drugged, or highly intoxicated at least, but there was no way his very last memory was waiting for someone in a bar.
"This feels like you're interrogating me, do I need to remind you I'm the victim here?!" He exclaimed, glaring at the brunette who widened her eyes in disbelief.
"Of course not, I'm just doing my job," She explained calmly. "The woman you were waiting for, who was she, how did you meet her? Was it your first date?" She tried to change the subject quickly, knowing not to annoy this kind of person. She had to solve the case quickly, and she had to have the victim on her side for that.
He sighed deeply before looking into her eyes, "I didn't know her before, I met her… um… On a dating app," He gulped, diverting his gaze.
He was lying.
"What's her name? Do you still have her info?" She asked, deciding to put that aside for now. "We have to contact her, she's one of our lead suspects now."
"I don't." His response came quickly, too quickly almost, and Yeji raised an eyebrow.
"You don't know anything about her?"
Yeji couldn't believe that. He at least had to know a name or a nickname, something. Then again, dating apps were full of catfishes, so it probably didn't have any value for them.
"No. It was a, uh, blind dating thing." He explained, clearly not happy to talk about it with the detective.
"So she knew nothing about you either?"
He froze for a few seconds before shaking his head sideways.
Yeji took a deep breath, "I need you to be honest with me if you want me to solve the case" She explained calmly, trying to contain her anger. A blind dating app, for a man like him? Yeji was good at analyzing people, it was part of her job after all, and men like him definitely were the kind to show off their wealth. He was obviously lying, or it didn't make any sense at all. "Do you really know nothing about her at all?"
He let out an annoyed sigh at the detective's words, "I don't, why would I lie? I mean, you're a detective, just do your job- I don't know, there must be some fingerprints or whatever, or do you need me to do it for you?" He said, rolling his eyes, "Seriously, you're looking for the wrong person, someone must be after me, not some random girl I was supposed to date." Yeji scoffed at that, biting her tongue to prevent something she'd regret from slipping out. Was he seriously that stupid?
Bastard.
They already took his phone anyway, she'd check if he was saying the truth later. If they were lucky enough they'd be able to trace the phone of the woman he was supposed to meet with, or whoever that person was. As she thought before, catfishes were frequent, the guy might just have been scammed. There was no point in asking more questions for now, anyway.
"Thank you for cooperating, sir." She sighed, getting up to join her colleagues who were still looking for more clues.
She hadn't found any before interrogating the man. Her colleagues didn't seem to have made much more progress, whoever did it was definitely someone experienced. Only the lock on the door had been damaged and indicated that someone had broken inside. Noticing that none of her men were on it, she made her way to the door, inspecting it closer.
The lock system was pretty complex, which made sense for a building like this, only the wealthiest people in town must be living there, the security had to be enforced.
Wasn't enough to stop that person, though.
She crouched down, analyzing the lock from up close. There were a few scratches, barely visible, that might have been there for some time already. Nothing else noticeable beside that. The only way to know that the lock was broken was to actually try to lock the door, the thief must've broken it by trying to open it with a key, or any kind of tool.
She opened the door fully, analyzing the other side of the door. Again, nothing noticeable.
Nothing…
Yeji frowned. Nothing, nothing at all, not even the scratches she noticed on the other side. She didn't think much about it before, maybe the owner was just not so patient and had slightly damaged the outside of his lock with his key by trying to open it quickly, out of frustration or whatever. But this side was perfectly neat, when it should've been the most damaged one, according to her logic. Why would he struggle to open the door from the inside the most?
This could only mean one thing.
Yeji couldn't hold back her smirk, it was too easy, and only confirmed her previous theory. She took a few pictures of the door, this might be their only clue, as they didn't seem to have found any fingerprint anywhere.
All she needed now was a name, or a face at the very least, which the victim didn't seem so willing to give. She sighed at this, so close, yet so far away. She needed to try a different approach with him later if they didn't find anything on his phone. Maybe she'd learn more at the bar, there must have been some witnesses.
After a while, the detective had finished looking around the apartment, and the forensic seemed to be done with their job as well. It was already quite late as the sun had set, and Yeji couldn't wait to get home, clear her head a little to be able to put the pieces together. If her theory was correct and she was lucky enough, the case would be solved by tomorrow. She couldn't wait for the captain to know that.
She made her way to the victim, her fake smile back on, before
"I'll make sure to find the thief quickly, mister Young." She said, trying to sound as gentle as possible, before stretching her hand out for him to shake.
"I hope so," He answered nonchalantly.
Yeji only smiled in response, pushing her annoyance at the back of her head. She looked down at their joined hands briefly, before her gaze locked on something odd.
He had red marks all around his wrist. Had he been tied up?
Before she could do anything, the man seemed to have noticed that her gaze had lingered down a little too long and he retreated his hand.
"Have a good evening, detective." His voice was much colder than before, and Yeji decided not to think much about it. It was obviously a private matter, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know anyway.
She nodded at him one last time before leaving the apartment, sighing in relief as soon as she stepped outside and the cold air hit her face.
She had a feeling the night would be long.
Only she didn't know the next few days would be much, much worse.
JOANNE
"Joanne, Hey," The brunette snapped her fingers in front of the girl, a brief chuckle leaving her lips as Joanne blinked a few times before focusing back on her. "You keep on dozing off, what's up?"
"I'm sorry, Karina." The raven haired girl gave her a gentle smile. "Work's been stressful, I'm just tired," She shrugged. "But go on, you were saying something about… uh, dogs?"
At that, Karina let out a loud laugh, startling her friend. "Oh, Joanne, you should really go back home now. We'll just go out again later,"
"No, no, no" Joanne shook her head, "We barely ever meet- It's been so long since we went out together and I don't know when I'll be able to have a free evening again, so…" She trailed. "Just start over, I'm all ears now." She said, and her friend only smiled.
"No, it's okay, it was nothing interesting really. I was just telling you about the last guy I dated, but I realize now I might've been ranting a little," She said, chuckling awkwardly.
"Tell me it at least had something to do with a dog," Joanne said, trying to lighten the mood, which seemed to have worked as Karina started laughing again.
"I mean, I did say he had a dog. But I can't believe that's the only thing you picked out," She said and Joanne shook her head, fighting a smile. "But come on, you haven't told me about you at all, it's been a while since you went out with anybody, right?"
Joanne sighed, "I guess, I can't seem to find someone good for me," She said, her voice low as the atmosphere had grown more serious again. Her gaze dropped to her knees as she avoided her friend's eyes. "Or maybe I just don't have the time to look for one, work really does take a lot of my time."
"Shin Joanne, look at me," Her friend ordered, and the girl immediately obeyed. Karina wasn't an intimidating or bossy person at all, but when she tried, Joanne wasn't one to mess with her. "You have to take time for yourself, you know that, right?"
"I can't Rina," She started slowly. She had her reasons. "The flower shop is doing so well these days, I don't want to ruin that."
They both stayed silent for a few seconds, Karina furrowed her eyebrows as if she was in deep reflection, before her lips curled up into a smirk. "Then take advantage of that,"
"Huh?"
"I mean… Come on, there must be plenty of handsome guys who come to your shop, surely a bit of seduction won't hurt, just show off your cleavage more, that's all men need" She grinned devilishly, and Joanne held back a laugh, internally cringing at her friend's words.
"Karina, I'm not sure I can seduce men who come to buy roses for their partners, or widowers who buy flowers to put on their deceased wives graves, and they're like ninety percent of my customers." She said, "Well… never mind, I could seduce them, definitely, just not sure that I want to." She added.
"You're no fun," Her friend answered, not hiding her disappointment at all.
"Trust me, I can be." Joanne chuckled a little, "Just not for that." She added, before moving on to another topic, not so fond of talking about the failure that was her love life.
Almost an hour later, both of the girls had decided to call it quits for that night, clearly too exhausted to stay longer, or they would've fallen asleep in the overcrowded restaurant. The dark haired girl had barely slept at all the night before, so she deserved a good night of sleep, or some time alone at the very least.
Joanne's apartment was quite far away, at least a forty minute walk if she was fast. But the then cold air and city noises somehow eased her, so she decided against riding a taxi, and started making her way home slowly, observing the busy streets as she did.
She had always loved to observe her surroundings, clearly more of the introverted type. It was almost funny, in a way. She looked at the people she walked across and tried to imagine what they were doing for a living or what their family were like, if they had one. She was pretty sure she could also tell if someone was a bad person or not just from the way they looked at her. She had developed that ability growing up.
Part of her wished she'd had it sooner, it might've made her life much easier.
She shook the thought off, though. There was no need to go back there. It was done.
As she kept on walking, not even halfway there yet, she saw a few police cars parked outside a big building, and raised an eyebrow at the sight.
They had been quick, this time.
She decided to ignore them, too exhausted to linger there. Maybe it wasn't too late to take a taxi or something, her legs were starting to hurt, and she had to stay in good shape for the day after. It was probably best.
Without slowing down her pace, she took out her phone from her back pocket, opened the familiar app on her phone and reserved a ride home.
As she kept on walking forward, her gaze directed to her phone instead of in front of her, she accidentally bumped into someone, and she immediately turned around to apologize.
Her eyes met those of another woman, probably around her age, though the few creases she had on her face, probably caused by exhaustion, definitely made her look a little older. Her hair was brown, tied up in a bun, and Joanne immediately noticed the badge that was hanging around her neck. A cop.
"I'm so sorry," She breathed out, a sly smirk on her face, before turning around and rushing towards the place where her ride should already be.
The woman's eyes… She would definitely not forget them so soon. They held something so fierce, Joanne almost felt like she should be worried.
She knew better than that, though. Maybe this could be fun.
Yeji
It was already two in the morning.
Yeji thought that she would be able to work better once home, maybe understand a few things, or notice an odd detail on the pictures they had taken that she had missed before. She often worked like that, somehow her mind seemed clearer during the night.
It was the only thing she could do to keep herself busy, anyway, and clearly, she wasn't exhausted enough to fall asleep anytime soon.
After nearly three hours working on the case, and not getting anything interesting out of it, she decided to take a break and poured herself a glass of wine. She made her way to the large windows and stared down at the city, trying not to let her thoughts get to her. Her apartment wasn't so bad, it was quite nice even, given her social class. It had a nice view of Seoul, especially at night. One of the last gifts her parents left behind them.
But the place felt too big now that she was alone again, which only reinforced her feeling of loneliness.
Yeji clutched her glass tightly, trying to focus on the view, but it didn't seem to work anymore. She almost called Sana, but decided against it at the last minute, figuring that she was probably busy with Momo, and she didn't want to interrupt anything simply because she was incapable of dealing with her feelings.
Instead, she poured herself another glass, something stronger this time. She wasn't sure what it was, didn't really care either, as long as it did a good job at drowning everything she was feeling.
She'd rather feel numb than feel the pain all over again.
Soon enough, she was on the floor, hugging her knees tightly to her chest, the now empty bottle of whatever discarded to her side. She felt like breathing was the hardest thing ever.
God, why was she like this?
Yeji's head was spinning, and she glanced down at her phone. She already had dialed the familiar phone number, all she had to do was to press the call button.
It was a terrible idea.
Yeji didn't really care.
She picked up her phone and let her fingers linger above the button, should she press down?
She shook her head, the answer was obvious, she shouldn't. She should just turn it off, take a shower and go to sleep to get ready for the next day.
That was the reasonable option, but Yeji was too drunk to be reasonable, and desperately needed to hear her voice again.
Yeji pressed call with her eyes shut as a choked out sob left her mouth. It rang once, twice, and then the girl picked up.
"Yeji?"
Her voice was still as soft, and Yeji couldn't hold back the single tear that left her eye. "Lia, hey," She chuckled quietly, not really knowing what to say.
This was a terrible idea.
"What- Are you drunk?"
Yeji could perfectly hear the hint of disappointment in her ex fiancée's voice, making her heart ache in the worst of ways. She thought after so many times she'd get used to it, but it hurt more every time.
"Maybe. Who cares?"
"I do," Lia said, sighing, and Yeji started laughing on the phone.
"No, you don't."
She didn't argue, this time. Yeji didn't expect her to anyway. There was no point in lying.
"Why did you call me?"
Yeji was asking herself the same question. What was she even supposed to answer?
"I miss you." That wasn't a lie, though sober Yeji would never admit it. "Didn't expect you to answer your phone this late."
"Well, I did." Lia said, and the younger girl could perfectly picture the frown on her face when she said those words, "It's been a month, Yeji. It's time you move on."
Yeji scoffed. A month, and she was supposed to have moved on already? "We'd been together for six years, how the fuck do you want me to move on?" This time, Yeji didn't try to hide the anger in her voice. There was no point, anyway.
"I don't know," She could hear her take a deep breath on the other side of the phone, "I don't know, Yeji, okay? But definitely not by calling me wasted in the middle of the night." There was a slight pause, during which Yeji didn't dare say a word. "This is exactly why I ended things between us," Said Lia, and Yeji finally let her tears flow, not being able to hold them back anymore.
It stung.
"Well fuck you," She spat, "You promised me you'd never give up on me, what happened to that, huh?"
"I barely even saw you anymore! You chose work over me, now deal with it," She sighed, "We shouldn't even be having this conversation again, I told you everything I needed."
"No, Lia, don't you dare hang up," Yeji threatened, her voice much colder now, "Don't you dare leave again."
"Or what, huh?" She said, "You're drunk, and I'm tired. You should just go to sleep, and so will-"
"Dubu? Babe? It's late,"
Yeji was wasted. There was no doubt in that. But she definitely heard a voice call out Lia's name, and she was pretty sure it wasn't hers.
The low sigh that left her ex's mouth was only a confirmation.
"Are you with someone?" She asked, her tone laced with bitterness.
"This is none of your business, Yeji. Go to sleep."
She was already with someone else?! Yeji dedicated six years of her life to Lia, only to be replaced by someone, within a month?
"Lia, I-"
"Goodnight."
Before the brunette could answer anything, Lia hung up, breaking Yeji's heart even more.
She shouldn't be dealing with this. She should be focusing on work, why was she putting herself through all the pain again? She knew there was no point.
She wished she could go back in the past, make things different. But it was impossible, and Yeji was left alone in her empty apartment with her heart shattered in pieces, while the girl who she thought was the love of her life was sleeping in someone else's arms.
God, it hurts.