Case Closed: Chapter One | Sehun
Genre: slow-burn romance, angst, mystery/crime
Summary: As the only person willing to take on this wild goose chase of a 10-month ongoing missing persons case, you have your head in your hands trying to figure out why 20 girls and counting have suddenly disappeared. You can't give up now that another girl has just joined that number. Good thing that your persistent crime reporter friend Oh Sehun won't let you quit either.
Word Count: 6.4k
T/W: minor violence, kidnapping, crime, uhhh not edited i'm sorry
A/N: I'M SOOOOO SORRY!!!!!! I've been on hiatus for 3 years LOLOLOLOL then i found this in my vault since may 4th, 2020 and i felt so bad that i wrote literally 3.5k words to finish this first chapter so i can just get it out. i have the whole thing fleshed out.......... i'm so sorry đ also i don't really use this blog anymore but i figured i will just to get out everything again HAHAHA i do not expect this to get any traction at all but if you enjoy it then đ„șâ€ïž
It started like any other day, which was a real clichĂ© to put it. You walk into the station with your usual heavy eyelids and even heavier shoulders. Sleep was something youâd given up when you first started working as a detective, but the word was definitely out of your dictionary when you picked up the case. Most of your colleagues wouldnât pick up the case. Mainly because they knew youâd be the first one to take it. However, after ten months you still havenât found any new leads. Six months of chasing after ghosts and you always returned emptyhanded.
This morning, you had something into your hands. Flung into them, rather. A coffee and a file, courtesy of Jongin. Normally thereâd be a smile gracing his face and a joke soon to follow to lighten up your mood. Instead there was a frown as he motioned down at the file in your hands.
âThatâs number 21.â
Youâre grim and you know itâs very apparent. How could you not be with the numbers stacked this high? You mumble a thanks and allow Jongin to linger a bit. He wants to say something, and you know it, but you also know heâs conflicted about whether or not he should continue bothering you.
âJongin, Iâm not dropping the case.â
He purses his lips and takes a tactical sip of his own coffee. After a moment to find the right words he sighs. âI know. I wouldnât dream of trying to rip you away from that.â
A dry chuckle leaves you and you shake your head almost dotingly at your junior. âOf course.â You point a pen towards the office everyone knew too well after getting chewed out at least thrice. âBut that doesnât mean she wonât. Sheâs been on my ass for a while.â Youâve joked with your peers about the Boa Constrictor keeping you in her hold until you concede, but youâd never been on the receiving end of it until now. Except you definitely werenât about to let go of this case.
Thereâs a moment of silence while he tries to come up with something else to say and you busy yourself with the new file. You curse when you look at the girlâs photo and information. âSheâs only 15.â Jongin hums and scans over the information with you. He takes her photo out from beneath the paperclip and holds it up to the board where there were faces of 20 other girls on them.
âShe doesnât look like any of the others.â
âNot at all. Sheâs got some similar features to some, but⊠there isnât a type.â
âIf they even are getting kidnapped.â You scoff at that before taking the photo and thumbtacking it to the board. âNot that Iâm saying youâre on a wild goose chase or anything, butâŠâ He takes another sip of his coffee. You know the mug is empty. â21 girls who donât have any connection to each other besides living in the same city⊠Itâs really difficult to determine if theyâre all being kidnapped or just-â
âRunaways, I know.â
âLook, theyâre all around the ages too. Teen angst, wanting to start fresh in another city, eloping with a secret lover.â He sighs wistfully and moves to take another sip until he remembers his empty cup. â21 girls. No relation. Some of them did sports, but itâs a range. Some of them are in the same school district, but they have different schedules. Two of them lived in the same neighborhood, but thatâs in a whole block of apartments.â
Your eyes linger at the girlâs face a couple seconds longer. Youâve heard it too many times by all the others to know that Jongin is implying they could be all coincidences. People runaway all the time, itâs true. Youâve definitely closed those sorts of cases and convinced a couple of them to work it out and return home. You just wish you had some concrete proof that this was different.
Jongin turns away, about to leave and continue his own work after getting more coffee. âIâll get out of your hair now, but Iâm just worried about you. Youâre losing a lot of sleep for someone who looks like theyâre chasing their own tail. Take care of yourself.â Heâs off before you can bark a word at him, and you roll your eyes to yourself.
You take a sip of the coffee heâd given to you moments prior, but it had gotten cold since then. It was still a bit of a kickstart to your day anyhow. You had the cases of 21 missing girls all over the city resting on your shoulders. It was a miracle you got any sleep at all. You tried your hand at anything. Possible gang relations or involvements or some group or organization, and yet you found no link. Like you said earlier, there didnât seem to be a type that was targeted as the girls were mainly different appearance wise. Youâd even thought to consider some underground sex ring, but the information youâve collected about some of them didnât fit the bill.
There were a couple girls who were taken in their own homes. They had been the ones living alone, except one who was taken while her three roommates were all home. They had chalked it up to her not feeling well and when they decided to check up on her, she was gone. It just didnât sit right with you that they had done everything according to their routine and yet they supposedly just ran away. Most didnât seem to have any motive at all to do so according to their friends and family. Even though you knew everybodyâs got secrets and skeletons to hide you knew that was the truth. It was a gut feeling, but it wasnât enough.
A buzzing noise came from your pocket and you whip your phone out to see what notification it was this time. A random message from one of your friends on social media popped up. You wanted to swipe it away, but you decided against it and opened it up. It was a friend from college who had found some old photo of the two of you at some party, dressed up with a lot of skin showing but even more teeth on display. Back then the lack of sleep you had was because of the constant studying and partying, or rather taking some free booze and dipping when you got bored. It was still fun to socialize and watch everyone stumble dumbly, though. You responded back quickly by telling her to forward it to you. Before you pocketed your phone, you retyped your passcode to unlock the phone again and went into your contacts. Thinking about college reminded you of somebody.
The moment you stepped out you heard a familiar âHello?â
âHi, Mrs. Kim. Just checking in like I always do.â You could almost hear the smile in the womanâs face. Tension immediately left your shoulders the moment you heard her coo your name softly. It was like it was never there at all.
âI havenât heard from you in a while. I was just beginning to think youâd never call.â She laughs easily at her tease. She knew you would call. You always did. âI was just thinking about you actually. I heard there was another oneâŠâ
A sigh leaves your lips and you pinch the bridge of your nose before you answer. âYeah, itâs been a rough couple of months hasnât it?â She hums in response and you can hear her shuffling papers around, most likely sorting through the mail you know she never opens and gets to once a month at least. She pauses and you can hear her set the large pile down.
âOf course. Five months without my baby? Sheâs supposed to be starting school in a couple months. She was so excited when she got accepted. They have the best music program in the state, you know.â You knew all too well that her daughter was to be going to school at the best music school in the state. You listened to some of her recordings before after her mother had shown you. You like to think that it was just because of a motherâs pride, but you think it was to hear her daughterâs voice again as she talks through the piece and giggles at a small slip up in one of them.
It almost pained you that you couldnât find her with what you had now. You were still as clueless as you were when she had gone missing five months ago.
âIâll find her soon. I know I will. The next time you wonât get to see her is when you have to move her into the dorms. I promise you.â It was an unsure promise, to convince the both of you that youâd get it done. And soon. The shift from a lighthearted conversation had gotten grim fast. Those conversations had typically over the lunches you had with Mrs. Kim. She was the first case of this bunch and also the most optimistic of the friends and family. You felt that you had to keep her updated and in turn she continued to put her trust in you.
âI know. Sheâs counting on you; I just know it. She knows youâll get it done somehow.â The words strike you in your core. Thatâs right, thereâs a lot of people counting on you right now. One more family just got added to the list this morning. You try not to think about the handful of others that decided to have you stop looking after theyâve given up that their daughters would come back. It pained you to have them retract their hope enough to have you close their cases, but you wouldnât stop even if they asked you. You didnât want to have to leave them in the dark while their daughters were missing. Lord knows you were considering a murderer, but no bodies had turned up to your relief. You just hoped you didnât have to continue praying for it not to happen.
The call ended quickly, and you spent the next couple of hours going over your information and collecting information from the family of the newest missing girl. She was hanging out with friends when she was all of a sudden separated from the group at the mall. It was a busy place, but camera footage and eyewitnesses last saw her roaming in a store before her trail goes cold. This was frustrating. Rumors had spread about the girl going missing already, but since she was a teen most people assumed that she just ran away. She was pretty social according to her friends, and they just chalked it up to her personality and hanging with the wrong crowd. You decided to ponder over it on your lunch break, calling up your regular lunch partner to meet you at some café a couple blocks away.
Sehun doesnât have to wave you over for you to sit down at the table you know heâs already at. Itâs almost a ritual, to eat at this cafĂ© every other week and sitting at the same table, nonetheless. He smiles warmly at you and pushes a plate towards you. âI already ordered for you. And donât worry, I paid for it as a thank you for last time.â You mumble your thanks with a mouthful of food, briefly remembering the time you covered for his ride home after one drink too many.
âYouâre godsent, you know that?â His smile turns into a smirk at that and you roll your eyes when you see youâve stoked his ego. âBefore you say âI knowâ, take out that notepad.â His smirk drops and a look of concentration comes onto his face.
âYou know, sometimes I like to think you keep eating lunch with me because you like me or that weâre friends or something. But I also tend to think you only keep me around for my work.â Heâs teasing you again and you tap the top of his notepad.
âYouâre very much aware how much I like having you around. And Iâm very much aware about how much you love to collect the information. Sometimes I think you only come back to hang out with me is because Iâm not as tightlipped as some of my peers and give you things you can actually report on.â Sehun chuckles at that and the crinkle around his eye is back with that childlike glimmer in the eyes. He looks a lot more at ease than his funky smirk and that impish gleam instead.
He uncaps his pen with his mouth, his other hand busy flipping to a brand-new page and holding a worn notepad with too many torn papers taken from it. He keeps the cap in his mouth and hums for you to signal heâs ready.
âSheâs 15.â His eyebrows furrow and a lisped curse slips out of him as he jots it down. He shakes his head sadly at that. âLast seen at the mall with her friends. Eyewitnesses say that she was roaming one of the stores alone before she disappeared. Camera footage doesnât pick her up leaving the mall, but itâs been picked clean.â
âHas her friends or family said anything about behavior? Being more secretive or distant lately?â Sehunâs habit of keeping the pen cap in his mouth makes his words very mumbled and hard to understand. However, being around him and working with him so often has gotten you used to his silly sounded sentences. You still reach over to pluck it from his lips and snicker that his playfully annoyed glare.
âYou donât think Iâve asked? No, parents and friends claim that nothing was up. They let me in her room and let me search to find any hidden notes. Even let me look through her diary and it was just about some kid drama at school. Seemed ordinary to me, nothing that made me have to investigate this drama. Sheâs not a part of it anyways, just commenting about how itâs the talk of the halls and dumb.â
Sehun taps the pen against his cheek while your fingers are fiddling with the cap. Heâs obviously not to report your words verbatim as itâs not really relevant, but he does appreciate how you share your findings with him. He appreciates your trust in him that he doesnât skew the details or add too much personal information about these people. He appreciates how you let your thoughts wander with him. You tend to loosely think around him, bouncing ideas off of him every so often or word vomiting to better understand things as you try to explain.
Youâd finished with your food while Sehun continues writing and jotting down notes, most likely questions or other tidbits not too concerning for you. Whenever he asks a question he needs for the article you respond and then nudge his plate so that he eats. It goes on like this a couple moments longer until heâs out of food and questions. He finishes jotting down whatever else he wants to and sticks the tip of his pen out to you. You, used to this procedure, cap his pen and look back up into his satisfied eyes. You scoff at his smug look and avoid his gaze as he rests his chin in his hand. He continues to stare at you while you pick at any crumbs you find interesting.
âGot everything you need?â
âHow about we get some dessert?â You almost object and tell him you should be back by now until he starts collecting his things and getting out of his seat. âAnd donât worry. Iâll pay. You just have to pay me back next time.â You sink lower into your seat in defeat and groan, rubbing your hands over your face. He laughs a little and stands behind your seat, grabbing your shoulders and shaking you lightly. âCome on, Sugar. Youâre gonna need some sugar to keep functioning the rest of the day.â
âYou and your dumb nicknames are going to kill me before the stress from this case will.â He stops shaking you and gives you a fond squeeze of your shoulders.
âLetâs go before you die on me then.â You turn in your seat to watch him head towards the door before deciding to follow suit and grunting when you do get up. Thereâs a mini pep in his step and youâre guessing thatâs because Sehun has another excuse to visit that favorite bakery of his that a friend of his works at. You couldnât blame him. There were some doughnuts and cupcakes that were to die for.
As you passed by, you saw some missing persons posters hung up in some alley walls or taped to some lampposts. Youâre guessing thatâs how Mrs. Kim got news of the missing girl before you caught up with her. Sehun notices your gaze following the long trail of posters, most likely hung up by the gang of girls that were last with their friend. âIs that her?â The both of you come to a stop in front of a small cluster of the posters. He takes on down and holds it out in front of the both of you. You nod and Sehun folds the paper into fours and pockets it for later. âThat saves me having to dig around to put that in the paper.â
He tries to keep the mood up as he hums a tune, swinging his arms around and looking around at the people walking the streets. It does little to help, but you do appreciate the thought as he glances at you every now and then to check in. Heâs switched songs so many times since he opts for a different, better tune to keep him occupied. Youâre trying to decipher his fifth song switch when you finally make it to the bakery.
âKyungsoo!â Sehun sings into the shop as the door chimes noisily. Luckily, Kyungsoo isnât tending to any customers at the moment. He pops his head out from behind the counter with a blank face and his lips drawn into a straight line. However he may look, thereâs a happy sparkle in his eye at the sight of you two.
âWhat do you want now?â He asks sarcastically but readies himself anyways.
âI want something with chocolate.â Sehun says as he scans the overhead menu even though he knows exactly what he wants. âPlease.â He doesnât forget to add with a warm smile, which Kyungsoo returns in kind. They both turn to you expectantly and you sputter, not having anything in mind just yet.
âO-Oh! Iâll, uh⊠Iâll haveâŠâ You pause and bite your lips. Suddenly, youâre overwhelmed by all the choices even though youâve been here before.
âHow about some donut holes? And if you donât like it, you can always have some of mine,â Sehun offers as he turns that warm smile to you.
âWhat, trying to stick with that cops eat donuts type of thing?â You joke but are grateful at the distraction from you bumbling about. Kyungsoo lets out an amused huff and prepares something for you both of you, making sure to toss in a couple extra pieces in the bag for you. You give him a silent thanks as you nod and take the bag from him as Sehun whips out his wallet in a practiced manner.
The first bite of the donut hole is full of cinnamon and a little honey. Kyungsooâs been experimenting and you hum at the taste as you squeeze the half-bitten donut hole. As Sehunâs card is ringing up he turns to you with an eyebrow as he wordlessly asks how it tastes. Instead, you offer him the rest of your bite while you chew, and he instantly opens up his mouth to eat the rest. Itâs almost like youâve done this a million times in your life and a million more in your past lives together; youâve known each other for that long, you think. The motion is easy and simple as he hums and turns back to collect his card and compliments Kyungsooâs creation with his mouth full.
âItâs good. I like the new flavors, itâs better than just the boring sugar on it.â The words are muffled and both you and Kyungsoo give him a judgmental look as he wipes some of the cinnamon off the corner of his lips.
â⊠Thank you. Iâve been slowly trying to add more to the menu where I can,â Kyungsoo notes, and you look up again at the menu to see heâs added another couple options beside his regular few in his neat handwriting. He smiles at you again when you look back down. âKeep up the good work. Donât push yourself, okay?â
You promise him and Sehun gently nudges you to turn and leave so he has a better exit path. Itâs not like he couldnât have gone around you, but it seems he opted to just turn and go. And with his broad shoulders, it seemed you were in his path. You nudge him back as you exit the bakery with your treats in hand.
âWhat are you doing tonight?â Sehun asks with his mouth full again, this time from a bite of his chocolatey pastry. Crumbs fly in the air and the snort as they do so, but your friend knows no shame and continues to look at you expectantly.
You roll your eyes with a smile. âProbably looking over the case again⊠and waaay more paperwork than Iâm happy with.â
He hums at that as he continues to walk you back to the station. You feel like heâs about to ask you something else, but youâre cut off by your phone ringing and his own buzzing with a couple messages.
âBreaks over.â He comments with a sigh as he scrolls through the messages and tries to type back with the same hand that grips his phone.
âIt is.â
The both of you look at each other and trade another bite of each otherâs treats. You took a bite of his mainly since you wanted something sweet, and he had his own bite since you felt like you had to repay him for it. He gives you a wave as he, thankfully, doesnât shout with his mouth full of donut as he heads off to his office building. While you head back, you manage to catch the phone call on its last couple of rings before it could go to voicemail.
âHello?â
âItâs Boa. You have a couple more files on your desk regarding the girls,â she says with a tired sigh. You know the chief thinks this is wasting time and resources, but you also know she wants to give these girls justice. âSome more schedules of their routines, some stuff they had upcoming, and some chat histories. Thereâs also someone waiting at the station to talk to you, a friend of the most recent one.â
âIâm on my way.â
âGood,â she states and hangs up the call. You huff and make your way back to the station with a quickened pace. You wonder what this friend has to say since youâve interviewed the family and teachers recently. Your mind is still reeling with possibilities when you make it back and find a familiar face at your desk.
âYena, what can I do for you?â You ask kindly as you take a seat by the high school girl. She has a puffiness around her eyes that indicate she hasnât been able to get a lot of sleep and has probably been crying a lot. You offer her some of your donut holes and she politely declines by holding a hand up before thinking of the right words to say.
Yena was the same age as her missing friend, 15 with a short bob and still wearing her school uniform. Youâre wondering if she skipped school to come here, and she confirms your suspicions as she wrings her hands. âI just give you these. I found these in Chaeâs locker, itâs some of her notebooks and some flyers. These events are all in the past, but one of them is her dream journal. We both keep one to achieve our dreams, except she doesnât share hers because she thinks that the dream wonât come true then.â
You take the stack of papers and notebooks from her, eyeing the one she was referring to. It canât be mistaken with the doodling, stickers, glitter, and large words that say âDREAM JOURNAL!â right on the front.
âThank you, Yena.â You say kindly, knowing that youâll have even more to sort through and probably come out empty handed with, but every little bit helps. If you could be armed with even that much of a toothpick, youâd count it as a win.
âI just want my best friend to come back. Thatâs all Iâve been writing about in mine! I want her to come home.â Her eyes water and you push a box of tissues to her. She takes a shaky breath and dabs at her eyes gently and you realize that her eyes are redder than you thought. She dabs to prevent further irritating her eyes that have been covered in makeup to hide just how bad sheâs been taking it.
âI promise, you wonât need a journal to make that come true, okay?â You say gently and comfort the poor girl. Itâs another 15 minutes before she gets up and leaves, going back to school she promises.
You sigh as you look at the stack of notebooks she gave you. It was all her school notebooks besides her dream journal, which you knew wouldnât be much of a look through unless you wanted to relieve your high school days and quiz yourself on whatever the kids were learning these days.
âYou know, you shouldnât be promising things like that.â
âJongin, that girl was crying.â
âAnd you donât think she wonât be if you canât deliver that promise?â
You clench your hands into fists, narrowing your eyes on the word that seems to be mocking you right now. Because it might be true, you can only âDREAM!â that this will all come to a happy end. Jongin sighs and pats your back.
âIâll help you get through like 3 of those. Make sure itâs all just random notes so you know if they have anything thatâs not about some ancient literature piece, okay?â He asks gently and you take a deep breath.
âOkay,â you say quietly and start sorting through the flyers first.
A lot of them are of school events, cram school, auditions for some of the modeling or singing agencies, and one was even a poster of an actor you recognized from a popular drama currently. You chuckled as you saw the sticky note still attached to it that indicated Chaeâs wishes to marry a guy like him. A couple more hours pass in between you checking the notebooks, painstakingly flipping through and reading every page just to make sure, and having to deal with other logistical tasks around the office.
Like promised, Jongin eventually makes it through the notebooks and puts them all on your desk with a sad shake of his head. âMath, English, and Composition. All notes, most of it is textbook and following what they did in class. Anything else was practice problems or doodles. These are no good.â
You groan and hang your head. âIâve just barely gotten through her other two notebooks. A music one from a piano unit and one she kept solely for cram school. The flyers are all past events or just random ones that I think were trash and she never got to throw away.â You look pointedly at the crumpled up flyer that was from her schoolâs âFish Clubâ⊠whatever thatâs about. âHad to get through all the other files from the girls too⊠nothing new. I saved that dream journal for last.â
âWhy, so you can honor making sure her dreams come true?â Jongin asks with a smile, lifting your spirits some.
âYeahâŠâ You trail off absently. You arenât sure if maybe you were truly keeping up Yena and Chaeâs superstition about their dream journals or if you were hoping that the last thing you got to would prove you some substantial evidence. Maybe you shouldâve gotten to that first if so. But then you wouldâve needed to spend extra time on it. Ugh! Another sigh makes it way out of you and Jongin frowns now.
âSave that for tomorrow. How about you come out with some of us for some drinks tonight? Get that tension off you.â Jongin gives you an expectant look as he sits on your desk. You rub your face and look up at him through your fingers as you slouch in your chair. âAnd donât even think about getting to that journal tonight. Your brain is fried, you need a break, youâre burning yourself out.â
You purse your lips at him and groan again, this time throwing your head back over the top of your desk chair and spinning in it a little.
âFine. But only for a little bit.â
Famous last words. It was not just a little bit. Jongin kept you entertained and kept handing you drinks as you listened to your peers share drunken stories. Even Jongdae came in for a little bit to say hi to everyone and cry a little about his wife and kid, showing everyone pictures. You were sure that he was sober and just living the high of life.
A twinge of jealousy shot through you at him being able to enjoy his life so much right now. You downed your drink and stared at the empty cup grumpily. You felt just like the cup. Maybe you are a cup. Did your legs always feel like that?
âWoah, you doing okay?â Jongin asks as he gets into your space to take a look at you. He was pretty tipsy, but doing way better than you right now. Both in spirits and sobriety.
âJongiiiiin, Iâm like this cup.â He has to jump back a little as you shove your cup in his face. âYou see how itâs wet on the outside?â
âFrom the ice?â He asks with a raised brow.
âIâm all sweaty!â You shout at him, suddenly feeling like the room is a lot hotter.
âNo, youâre not.â
âLook! Feel!â You try to grab his hand to bring it up to your forehead and he grimaces. He shakes his head and you try a couple more times before he pins your hand to the table and reaches for his phone. âWhat are you doing?â
âGetting you home,â he says as he scrolls in his contacts. You try to look at the screen to see who heâs calling, but he brings the phone straight to his ear and turns a skeptical eye on you to make sure you donât keep trying to bring his hand to probably stick you in the eyes.
Youâre too distracted by pouting to care who heâs talking to. And your head hurts. The alcohol is hitting you fast. How much did you have again? Or was it because you drank the rest of your three-fourths of a cup in less than a minute? When was the last time you even drank like this? Since before you took on the first case ten months ago?
âHeâs coming in 15,â Jongin says in your ear. You pop your head up from the table. You didnât even know you had it down on the table in the first place.
âWho?â You ask sluggishly as you try to keep your eyes open. You donât bother hearing a reply as you quickly make your way to the bathroom. Itâs quieter in there, and colder too. You feel better already by giving yourself some space and time to think for yourself. Not really feeling like you need to get everything out just yet, you lean against the wall and take some deep breaths.
Eventually, thereâs a knock on the door and a call for your name. It takes a couple more tries before you push yourself off the wall and wash your face.
âOh, good. I thought I was going to have to pull your head out of a toilet bowl.â
You yell out in shock, water flinging everywhere when you look up to see Sehun in the mirror.
âWhat are you doing here?â Water drips off your chin and you remember that you were washing your face. You sigh and see if any got on your shirt â a lot did â and look for the paper towels to wipe.
âAt the bar or in the bathroom?â He asks. You grunt in response, eyes blocked by the soggy paper youâre using to scrub the water from your eyes. âJongin told me you had too much and needed to be brought home. And again, I was making sure you didnât decide to punish yourself and give yourself a swirlie.â
âWhy would I do that?â You grumble at him. Your head was a lot clearer thanks to the rest, you probably spent all of Jonginâs promised 15 minutes against that wall. Plus, the water cooling you off made you feel like you could at least walk to a car before passing out.
âHe said you looked sad.â
âIâm not sad.â
He gives you a once over. Hair a mess, probably from the wall. Face still red, from scrubbing with that scratchy paper towel, embarrassment, or the alcohol, probably from all three. Clothes wet from you spilling two handfuls of water all over yourself. And the heavy burden of the finding of 21 girls coming crashing back down onto your shoulders.
âYeah⊠you look pretty sad to me.â
âThanks,â you bite a little harsher than you intend to. But, thanks to the one who made you build a tougher skin with a level of sass on his own, Sehun takes it all in stride and smiles. He merely grabs you by the shoulders and leads you out of the bar. Jongin nods and waves you off, keeping your coworkers distracted by the state youâre in so you donât get teased when you come back the next morning.
Between the time Sehun came and got you and when he arrived, he had already transferred your stuff from your coworkerâs car to his. You saw this when he helped you climb in and your bags of notebooks were sitting in the back seat. Sehun buckled you in and shut the door for you. The state of mind you were in currently clearly showed you could do at least that, but Sehun chose not to care and did it for you anyways while you watched him walk around the car to the driverâs seat.
âIf you fall asleep, just know that Iâm not carrying you inside.â
âSo my knight in shining armor does have a flaw for tonightâs rescue.â You sarcastically bat your eyes at him and he chuckles, shaking his head and he starts towards your apartment.
âI meant to add that Iâd probably be dragging you up those three flights of stairs. By your feet. Head hitting each step.â Before you can ask why in offense, he grins with a shrug. âYou went through all that training, not me. All my muscles go to my ears for listening to you go on and on about cases.â
âIâm the reason why you have a job,â You grumble as you stare at the passing buildings. Sehun keeps that stupid smile on his face and laughs.
âWouldnât have it any other way.â
The ride to yours is a lot quicker than usual since at this hour itâs already late hardly any traffic. Again, Sehun is humming some songs and tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. At least this time thereâs less of him switching it up since heâs forced to sing along for the whole 3 minutes. Heâs still humming as he grabs all your stuff from the back seat and follows you up the stairs to your apartment. You silently curse the fact that the elevator is down for maintenance since you wish you didnât have to climb that much while drunk. You feel even worse when you realize that Sehun took all of your bags and all of those notebooks, binders, and files are no joke. Itâs a wonder that kids can carry all that on their backs plus whatever else you put into the bags.
âWhy are you looking at me like that?â Sehun asks as you pause on the steps, a little behind you and huffing a little.
âFor someone who claimed he doesnât have the strength training to carry me up the stairs, you sure are doing real fine while walking up two and a half flights of stairs and carrying all those books.â Sehun lets out another huff, shorter than usual that let you know he was working up quite a sweat.
âI work out.â He says plainly and grins at you again, which makes you roll your eyes at the statement and continue forth. Heâs been over before, plenty of times. Heâs come over to bring food on your sleepless nights when you just canât sleep or spend so long trying to work on another case.
You finally make it to your apartment and eventually into your room. Sehun had set the bags down by your couch where you already had a bunch of files spread out on the coffee table. He tuts and grabs one of the papers and gives it a quick skim.
While you change into comfortable, cleaner clothes he hums and calls out from your small space. âYou really need to learn about work-life balance.â He sets the paper back down and goes about preparing you some essentials for when you wake up in the morning definitely hungover.
âYou know why I canât,â you call back as you collapse onto the bed with a groan. Your body all of a sudden feels so heavy and itâs hard to keep your eyes open. You huff into your pillow as you try to block out the haunting words of all the names of the 21 girls that prevent you from sleeping at night. That prevent you from functioning unless you can figure out a way to bring them all home.
From your couch, Sehun makes himself comfy and sighs. He folds his hands over his stomach and quietly says to himself, âYeah⊠I know.â
















