#jaewook-hr

Donghae sighed contently as he crouched low to the ground, his camera still in front of him, his eyes focused on the purple butterfly on the screen. With a steady finger, he clicked the capture button just in time before the butterfly flew away. He stood, examining his work. "Perfect. Absolutely perfect," he mused with a silly grin. He clicked a few buttons next to the screen, moving the picture to a coinciding file before he continued down the sidewalk towards his favorite coffee shop. He knew he should hurry, but the weather was ideal and the sun cast the perfect lighting against the tall buildings surrounding him. 

Nonchalantly, he snapped a few random shots of people milling about on the street. He loved days like this. There were so many potential memories to capture and scenes to freeze in time so no one will forget. He smiled. This was the kind of thing he lived for. No rules or regulations. Just pure art everywhere. He sighed, letting the camera fall to bang gently against his chest and ran his fingers through his shaggy hair. The reason he'd been stalling, taking his sweet time to the coffee shop, loomed over him. He knew a certain someone was waiting for him, an offer poised on his lips that he was more than happy to refuse. 

He knew he should be grateful and flattered that his friend thought so highly of his work to want him to come back to the force. But he hated that job. He didn't want his work to be constrained by any rules or expectations. He wanted to be free to take pictures of what he wanted. And though he knew his friend would retort and say that he could still do both, they both knew that that wasn't possible. He was the best, not that he boasted that or anything, and he would be in high demand. He'd never have free time. It's why he had quit in the first place. 

Sadist, beast, ruffian, monster, brute. Kyungsoo never ran out of words to describe the man lurking within the apartment he was quickly approaching. Behind that thin wooden door was his least favourite customer. It had started with name calling. 'Harmless' as his boss had called it. What harm could a few well-placed words do? Kyungsoo put up with it for the simple reason of money being very scarce. The guy tipped big, as if to make up for filling the doe-eyed delivery boy with a feeling of fear as heavy as lead. 

Words slowly lost the capability to hurt, Kyungsoo's reaction to the insults growing fainter each time the man ordered food, that's when things started to get physical. A push or shove every now and then. Strong arms grabbing him by the collar of his work uniform. Even more sinister words wrapped in alcohol laced breath tickling his cheek. Punches.

Each time the tip got bigger and bigger, but there were only so many times Kyungsoo could use the "I tripped and fell" excuse whenever his doctor asked about the suspicious bruises. 

Today, he was running late. He was never late. Tardiness wasn't taken kindly to by this particular customer. Twenty minutes late. Kyungsoo stood staring at the door, paper bag of food clutched in one hand and the other fist clenched, hovering in front of the varnished wood. He knocked twice and waited, heart racing and palms already growing sweaty. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going to happen. 

The man opened the door, tie loose around his neck and face red from whatever foul alcohol he insisted on filling his body with. Kyungsoo lowered his gaze and blinked at the floor, the hand holding the food rising from his side. "Th-that's twentyse--" The first punch took him off guard, managing to almost knock him off his feet. Strong hands grabbed him by the wrist - with no regard for how tight the grip was. He was pulled inside so violently that he lost his footing completely, crashing head first into the man's chest. 

Feeling his heart about to burst and eyes already stinging with the effort it took not to give up and cry, Kyungsoo fought his way out of the customer's grasp. The usual insults were thrown his way, accompanied by frantic strikes aimed at his face and stomach. It hurt. It hurt a lot. His lip throbbed terribly while his eyesight blurred and everything went hazy. Kyungsoo reached for the paper bag in a feeble attempt at distraction - it worked. 

AU: In which Chohee's brother gets in a car crash and falls into a coma

A week had already passed since her older brother’s, Stevens, car crash. He’d been the victim of a drunk driver, the culprit, ironically, been sober enough to escape the crime scene. The pictures were still vividly painted in her mind - the blood that dripped from her brother, the wails of the ambulance, and the tears that seemed to blur everything in sight. The stroke of fear, the icy chill of coldness that the phone call had brought never seemed to leave. Her hand dug into the metal framework of the bed, anger rising from the midst of sadness. she couldn’t believe the indecency. He’d just left him there. Yet, another glance at the still, motionless body lying in front of her caused her heart to fall again - the anger evaporating by the second. 

Her heart ached at the sight of him. Pale, limp, teetering between the edges of life and death. The machines seemed to be the only things that aided him, their wires digging deep into his body. The soft ‘beep beep beep’ of the machines, the wires that were plugged into his body, the antiseptics circulating through his veins - everything about the hospital room just seemed so .. wrong. Steven had always been the responsible brother, the one who couldn’t sit still and had always been bustling about. His mouth seemed to ramble on to no end, his trusty cell phone constantly ringing or beeping. Yet, now his phone sat still, as if it were in a coma just like him.

Her eyes seemed dried out, tears no longer able to fall. Images of the night seemed to replay in her head as her head fell, hands holding onto Steven’s as she prayed for him to wake up. Wake up you idiot! Lecture me! Pick up that annoying phone! Why won’t you wake up! Hours seemed to pass like so, her heart growing more numb by the second.

The door opened silently, soft footsteps slowly approaching. Yet Chohee couldn’t hear anything. Her spine rigid straight as she stared outside, eyes only ever glancing at the clock, machine, and her brother. Everything else seemed to disappear from her mind. A firm hand seemed to fall onto her shoulders, Her muscles tightened from the lack of movement, contact, she’d had  in the past day. It seemed the sudden pressure awoke her entire body, as her muscles, her spine screamed out in pain from sitting so straight. Chohee ignored it, the soreness, the pain - it all seemed so frivolous each time she laid eyes on her brother.

"we’ve caught him." the soothing voice slipping through his ears. "we’ve got him Chohee." Her eyes widened, turning towards the speaker of the voice. Jaewook. Ah - you’ve caught him. Chohee wanted to smile, but she couldn’t. Her expression seemed to be glued on, stoic, hardened, cold. Yet, her eyes seemed to shout out the appreciation. ‘really? I knew you could do it. thank you.’

"Th-Thank you." Chohee whispered softly. Her vocal cords seemed to crack. "would- would you like something to drink? I’ll I’ll go get it." Though she was speaking again, her voice lacked the emotions that were usually present. Rather, it was more equivalent to the monotonic chant of a robot. Only, as Chohee attempted to stand, her legs weren’t made of metal, but instead, Jelly. They wobbled, threatening to give way as a hand reached out for the chair for support. "Oh -" escaped her lips as strong harms hold her up. "thanks." her lips fluttered, only a whisper escaping as her eyes caught his gaze. There seemed to be a moment of understanding in the split second.

Chohee was unsure where the new tears came from. She’d assumed they’d all run dry. Yet, the tears welled in her eyes, her knees buckling down as her entire body seemed to run limp. Maybe his reassurance, his support, had broken down the steel walls she desperately built to keep her sane. Jaewook had been there, at the scene. By accident really, fate pushing him to take that road as he was going home after a late night at the police station. Chohee had been a mess then after she’d gotten over the initial thought, and he’d been there at her worst. 

It was as if the information uncorked the drain of her emotions. A spark of hope lit in the dim hospital room. A soft crack escaped her lips as sobs wracked her body. 

"it’s alright…it’s alright…everything will be alright." The deep voice reassured her. Chohee slowly softened into his embrace, letting out the emotions that had been bottled up for hours. "yes….yes it will.." she mumbled, slowly regaining control again as her hands wiped away the tears. The smallest of smiles appeared on her face, the desolateness evaporating. 

Breakfast

Chohee blinked sleepily as her eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness of the room. She looked around, taking in the room before realizing she’d fallen asleep at Jaewook’s again. It seemed to be happening more often than not. Sometimes she’d fall asleep on the couch, waking up the next morning to find a blanket tucked warmly over her shoulders. Other times she occupied the empty bed of his as he toiled away in the night. Then there were the times they’d fall asleep together, accidentally, work fluttering from the bed and onto the floor. Today was one of those days.

"Y-yah…wake up…wake up!" Chohee mumbled softly, gently nudging the sleeping figure of Jaewook. One of the main reasons Chohee loved to sleep over for the breakfast. It was surprisingly good, and she loved not having to worry about satisfying her insatiable hunger each morning. "I’m so hungry I could die." she whispered, nudging him again.

Jaewook groaned as one eye opened, before the other followed. “let…me…sleep…” he mumbled, turning onto his side so that his back faced her. “you don’t see me waking up when I get up early for work…” he grumbled, eyes now closed again. Sighing, Chohee pummelled him, her body teetering on his side as her head peeked out so that she was facing him. "yeh, but you don’t wake up next to a wonderful chef." she said in a sing-song voice. Flashing him an innocent smile, her disheveled appearance making the scene quite comical. ‘pleeaaaseee’ her eyes seemed to say, becoming abnormally large and round. 

"Yah - get off." He said with a chuckle, moving his body so that eventually she rolled off. Getting up reluctantly, a hand flowing through his hair as he tried to get a sense of things. "you owe me." he mumbled before a yawn followed suit.

"mmm! It smell’s so good!" Chohee chimed as she walked from the bathroom to the kitchen. She’d just finished washing up and the smell of food brought an unexplainable excitement to her eyes. Doing a mini happy dance, she took a peek at what he was making. "Go set the table." Jaewook said, giving her a look, and silently, she sashayed her way to do just that. Laying out the bowls, plates, and chopsticks, Chohee waited patiently for the food to arrive.

Her eyes lit up at the sight of food, and before Jaewook could even sit, Chohee already dug in. There were so many choices - porridge (most likely instant), Kimchi bean paste soup, egg rolls, and a few ribs heated from the night before. “Hey - at least wait for me.” he teased her, a chuckle rising in his throat as he watched her eat. “I am.” she said, faced stuffed with soup. “I’m just eating while waiting.” 

As she quickly finished off the porridge, moving onto the soup, her chopsticks began picking out the spam. Without any words, she began to place spam into his bowl, until it was brimming with soup - and spam. Jaewook stared at the bowl. Then at chohee. Then back at the bowl. “What…are you doing?”

Chohee laughed, “this is my thanks. eat up!” she teased, taking a bite of kimchi. So breakfast flew by - that is, until there was only one rib left in the bowl. Both chopsticks seemed to latch onto it, the two eyed each other. “mine.” Chohee said with a pout, “no no - not this time. I just ate an entire bowl of spam, I deserve the last rib.” Jaewook responded.

Flick, and the rib was gone, safely in her mouth as hand snatched it from between the chopsticks. “maybe next time.” Chohee teased, before taking a bite of the last rib. It was always a good feeling to win, and even though she knew Jaewook was going easy on her, she always enjoyed the feeling. “Aish…” he cursed softly, before breaking into a smile.

Despite being in a situation that would terrify the average person, Eunji wore a cryptic smile. She had been here many times before, the whole song and dance becoming a fun game of cat and mouse for the woman, and she knew she'd walk away just like every other time before. She was untouchable, intangible, and no one, no matter how hard they tried would be able to stop her. That included Kim Jaewook.

She sat in the bare, grey room, the only illumination coming from the small lamp above her. The interrogation room was dank and would've ruffled the feathers of a less experienced criminal, but Eunji was hardly new to the game and immune to the emotional tactics they tried to play. She was calm and collected, even defiant, as she leaned back in the folding chair, her black pump clad feet propped up on the table. Her handcuffed hands rested behind her head and she looked as if she was simply waiting for a friend to arrive and soon, he would.

The relationship between the Chief of Police and Park Eunji was a tumultuous one, to say the least. Eunji saw him as a bit of fun, reminding her just how powerful she really was when it came to being above the rules. She was more than positive that he hardly saw their meetings as anything good or enjoyable. He seemed to loathe her and probably did; it almost seemed that he needed to prove her guilty, to catch her and put her behind bars, though he never would. Park Eunji and her existence was simply another personification of Jaewook's failures and every time she walked out of the department to freedom, it killed a piece of him.

Tarantism - The urge to overcome melancholy by dancing.

Everything was a blur. How she'd gotten here slipped from her mind. Her ghost of paint stained hands present on the singular splotches of red on the tips of her fingertips that no one seemed to notice. The music blasted, it's rhythm in thumping in her veins as her body swirled in the crowd. People filled into the room, more feet present on the dance floor, bodies sticking to one another as the dance ensued. Cheers and shouts could be heard as shots disappeared by the second. one. two. three. four...the number increasing as time went on -- so maybe the party had gotten a than a little out of hand, but it was only once in a lifetime people celebrated their birthdays. Sure, it wasn't hers, but wasn't it her responsibility to have as much fun as she could for the birthday girl? As the night went on, Chohee found herself separated from her wild gang of friends, joining in on the normal crowd who visited the club simply for fun. A throb seemed to grip her as the Images blurred, laughter, yells, and faces Chohee could no longer distinguish enveloped her - then everything went dark. 

The soft warm noon sunlight woke Chohee from her deep slumber - not to mention the painful headache. Her entire body seemed sore as she arched her back, arms raising to touch the headboard of the bed, covers twisting as she did a quick stretch, "Mmmmm. ai." Blinkly sleepily, Chohee managed to rise into a sitting position, hand playing with the covers as the blurred images slowly became clearer. A hand ran through her short red hair as her eyes squinted, attempting to accustom itself to the brightness of the room as she looked around. What time is it....She mused to herself, still lurking on the edge between dreams and reality as her head tilted upward towards the wall her clock hung in her bedroom. Only to find it wasn't there. huh?! Her head slowly moved around the room - only it wasn't her room. The walls were strange, the decor unfamiliar, and slowly she felt the full force of reality hitting her. This....isn't....my house....WHERE THE HECK AM I Her spine jolted upright in surprise, eyes gazing around frantically hoping to find one object of familiarity to deny the reality of the situation. "Aissh...." she mumbled, followed by a trial of mumbled curses to herself as she attempted to recount the events of the night before - but failing. Each time she attempted to remember, her head became seized by an intense migraine followed by darkness.