───── ❝ On you ❞ ─────
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

“Aunty, do you shoot people too? Like uncle?” Howon who is sitting in front of her asks, earning a hiss from his mom.

“Howon...”
“It's okay. Your uncle and I only shoot bad people. I believe you're a good boy right?”

Smiling at Sangyeon's sister, Yeoreum happily replies. The guy who is beside her secretly smirks, pleased to see how his nephew is getting along with his friend.

Friend.

After they accidentally met at the playground earlier, Sangyeon's sister decided to treat them to lunch while waiting for the visiting hours. Turns out she's here to see Changmin, considering they're kinda close.

Her husband is working and Howon didn't go to his nursery today, so she brought him along. It wasn't a bad idea. He's a bit excited to meet Sangyeon and his friend who isn't a part of the male species.

“Right. I'm going to visit my in laws tonight, do you think you can babysit Howon for a while? He already threw tantrums saying he didn't want to follow us.”

Sangyeon nods right away, eyes crinkling as he smiles at the little guy. “Of course! He can stay longer if he wants.”

His sister frowns and shakes her head, before looking at Yeoreum. The girl's eyes haven't leave Howon yet, smiling warmly. She must loves children too, she thought.

“The longer he's with you, the more you'll spoil him. I'll just leave for like three days. Don't teach my son anything weird.”

“Come on, when did I ever do that?”

The older lady rolls her eyes, knowing damn well Sangyeon will spoil and teach her son something extraordinary. Last time she left Howon with his uncle, the boy ended up learning a whole miranda rights from Sangyeon.

___

Yeoreum once again found herself wandering around the hospital with Howon in her arms sleeping, while Sangyeon and his sister visit Changmin.

Her eyes squint when she saw a familiar face walking around, feet quickly making their way to the person. She hides behind a wall, praying that Howon will remains quiet while she's spying.

“Wonwoo...?” peeking her head carefully, she managed to take a glimpse of Wonwoo, but not the other guy who seems a bit shorter than him.

“Did you get rid of the black box?” Wonwoo asks.

Black box?

Yeoreum continues to listen to their conversation, growing suspicious. First, she thought Wonwoo is a doctor at a Busan hospital. Second, he's continuously looking around and being cautious of his surrounding.

“Of course I did. What did you take me for?”

She couldn't recognise the second voice. But she's sure as hell she has heard it before. Howon starts to move around in her arms, and that's when she decided to quickly move away.

Wonwoo heard the noises coming out from behind the wall. He moves to see if there's anybody else who listened to their conversation, but he found nothing suspicious.

Yeoreum sits down on a bench in front of the ICU, sighing. With the little boy now sleeping on her laps, her fingers softly pat his hair.

She couldn't stop thinking about the whole thing that just happened. From reuniting with Sangyeon, finding out he's also investigating Yejun's case, them suddenly meeting Hajun, to her eavesdropping Wonwoo's conversation.

Did he lied to me?

___

“I'm surprised you actually wanted to come home, no, my home,” before actually going home, they dropped by Sangyeon's sister's house to pick Howon's things up. The little guy is beyond excited to spend his days with Sangyeon, making Yeoreum forgot about all he problems for a while. He's a happy pill.

Sangyeon hangs his keys on the wall, another hand keeping a sleepy Howon comfy. His cheek is pressed on his shoulder, making Yeoreum smiles at the sight.

“I can't stay 247 there. Plus, you're technically responsible for me. My car is still at the station.”

The guy mimics her words using his face, slowly putting Howon down on the couch. “I know. Go and get some sleep, you've went through a lot. I'm going to meet Hajun for a while.”

Yeoreum bites her lips, suddenly remembering how she actually saw Wonwoo and eavesdropped his somewhat suspicious conversation. Should she talk about it with Sangyeon?

But he told me to be careful with this guy...

A pair of hands hold her shoulders, catching her off guard. Sangyeon looks down at her and raises his eyebrow. He definitely caught how she was mumbling to herself just now.

“What is it?”
“What?”
“You seem like you have something to say to me.”

I'll keep it to myself then... Maybe I heard it wrong.

Yeoreum shakes her head, muttering 'no'. But it came out more like a question. Not even buying her response, Sangyeon decided to let her go. Maybe she's not ready to talk about whatever it is with him yet, he thought.

“I'm going first. Take a rest while I'm being nice to you.”

He walks out the door and locks it for her safety, leaving his old partner standing in the middle of the living room, confused. Now that she's alone with Howon sleeping, she doesn't want to fall asleep.

Sighing, she walks to the couch and sit down on the floor to watch Howon. He got round eyes, pinkish chubby cheeks and small lips. When he smiles, his little dimple will appear. Just like his mother and uncle.

She turns her head around and caught a glimpse of a photo album under piles of books on top of the coffee table. Carefully taking it out, the front cover has Sangyeon's family picture. She recognised the shirt he's wearing, it was the shirt she stained with coffee.

Yeoreum can't believe she actually spent a lot of efforts and energy to remove the stain back then. If she knew they're going to hate each other, she'd probably throw it away.

Flipping through the contents, she could see Sangyeon's growing process. Her eyes analyses his pictures from born, kindergarten, primary school, middle school, high school, university and even the recent ones. He doesn't change at all.

Staring at one of his highschool pictures, she definitely recognises Yejun smiling brightly beside him. Probably during family gathering. They look like a really close siblings. But why did Wonwoo said they have a bad relationship?

She reached out to Wonwoo for the first time when she decided to get Yejun the justice he deserves. At that time, Wonwoo was studying at Hong Kong while she's at Canada.

They didn't really talk to each other after parting ways in high school, but she stumbled upon his Instagram one day. From then, they caught up with each other and eventually agreed to work on Yejun's case together.

But now, she's in doubt with him. Putting the album back in place, she takes her phone out. Opening her messaging app, one particular unread chat breaks cold sweat on her forehead.

It's from the unknown number that threatened her days ago. With rage filling her veins, she types her response down.

“I swear when I find you, it'll be the end of your world.”

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃