the detective has been off work for a few hours now, having the time to go home to prepare dinner before he went out, heading to the university to pick ahreum up. even if no day is like any other in their line of work, as he is part of the day shift nowadays, it usually doesn't go past the evening. and luckily enough, there are no extraneous circumstances that keep him busy this time — which is great, since kihwan wants to pick ahreum up from work whenever he can, wanting to make sure someone is with her when she needs to walk home from her classes.

    it is dangerous out there, he sees too many awful things as a police officer, things he never wants to happen to those he loves. and while he doesn't doubt ahreum could protect herself if she needed — the thought of it is enough to make his blood boil. he wants to keep her safe, and he wants to keep her by his side, something that never changed in the past decade; he wants her happy. and from what he knows, ahreum is also fond of their strolls, walking their dog together, hand in hand. so, when he makes sure the stoves are turned off and their dinner is ready to go, he leaves the house a bit earlier than usual, calls for nuni; their big siberian, who is very eager to go outside. once he leashes her, they set outside.

she’s been crying in public a lot, so maybe it’s just a thing that comes with the season.  this one is different, it’s better, noah’s holding her phone to her chest like something holy and weeping until she thinks that she’ll never taste air again.  there’s a smile tearing at her features but she knows it has to look like a grimace.  otherwise this park and the people within it wouldn’t look worried, they wouldn’t have to guess that something terrible has happened and be too terrified to bring it up to her.  if she thought she could speak, noah would cry out that she’s happy to them.

you should all be happy, she’d shout, look what’s happened!

but most of them skirt her.  only one approaches, settles upon the other side of the bench that noah collapsed upon to the moment she checked her texts.  why so sad, bunny?  it’s funny enough to make noah break into laughter.  wet sounding and wretched, but brighter than plenty of laughter that’s left her through the last few weeks.  

     “i’m not sad, sorry – i mean thank you for asking, but sorry i’m.  god,” noah wipes at her eyes like it will do something to calm her voice down, get her thoughts in order.  “no i’m really happy actually.  i got some really good news and i’m just taking it in, we didn’t know when it was gonna happen and uh.  well–”

without much hesitation, she pulls her phone from her chest and offers it out for the other woman to take.  there lies the photo, the cause, a fresh birth in the image of a young woman cradling a newborn to her sweat soaked skin, her hair sticking to her face and her mouth twisted into a raw sort of smile.  there’s too much emotion to read there.  noah knows, she’s been trying.  memorizing every inch of that face, of the baby’s, trying to imprint them so she sees only that when she closes her eyes.

    “so that– my brother, the oldest of my brothers is engaged to that girl.  okay?  her name is sofia and she’s a really beautiful woman, so they weren’t planning to have a baby.  it just sort of happened, and they thought it through, figured they were steady enough to have it.”  noah’s speaking a mile minute, can’t get a handle on her voice anymore than the slick tears still running down her face and hitching her breathing.  “so they were keeping me updated and i guess she came early.  just an hour ago or so, i’m an aunt now.  that’s crazy!”

(and yes, maybe she’s a little sorrowful.  maybe she wanted to be there.  but that’s something to feed the beast for night.)