"It's either he is older than we thought, or he started his killing spree very early." Eungi declared as she took a few steps back to look at her work on the board.

It was a summary of their investigation so far and it looked so empty.

Just the victim's photos and dates of their deaths. No suspect, just a broad description of his behavior. Not even a physical description.

Well, the profilers did say that he was good-looking, but so was half of the young men in Korea.

"A teen murderer?" JiHye suggested.

"Why not? It's not that uncommon." Soha said

"So that case would be his first kill?" Ji Ho asked.

"I don't know," Nari started, still looking at the pictures. "It's not sloppy enough to be a first kill."

"Right? I was thinking that, too." Soha added as she reached for a marker and wrote a few words on the board.

"That's even more horrifying," Kyungsoo said as he wrote on the board as well. "It would mean that he may have started earlier than ten years ago? Eleven? Twelve?"

They were having a team meeting to discuss the information Jin gave her earlier that morning. Apparently, there was a similar case that took place ten years earlier, but they weren't sure if it was the same killer.

She wanted to run it by superintendent Min, but he shooed her away saying that she was disturbing his peace. Well, at least he didn't put a stop to their investigation.

Her phone buzzed at that moment and she looked at the notification bubble. It was Joonie. She opened the message and read 'where are you?' She answered right away and laid her head on her desk.

She wasn't sure how to act around him after what happened the night before.

She ended up crying so long that he had to take her home and stay with her until she calmed down.

Afterward, she washed up and brushed her teeth, then went to bed. She had asked him to stay with her all night, but when she woke up in the morning, he was already gone.

At what time did he leave? Was he still mad at her? Would he ask her again to leave her job? She wasn't going to, and she also didn't want to fight with him anymore. It made her feel awful.

Her train of thoughts got interrupted when she heard a commotion coming from the entrance of the precinct. As she was wondering what was happening, she heard Soha and her other two female coworkers scream.

She sat up and turned around to see what made them scream like that. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him.

She stood up and walked up to him.

"Joonie, what are you doing here?"

He smiled at her and greeted everyone. He bowed a few times, then turned back his attention to her.

"Can we talk?"

They went to sit on a bench in the reception area. Since it was morning, most officers were patrolling and detectives were out investigating. So the precinct was almost empty.

"You should have worn your mask."

"In a police station? Suspicious."

None of them talked for a while, but Nari could feel the looks of everyone who was passing by on them. Namjoon didn't seem to care, but she didn't like it.

"Let's go in the break room."

"Here is fine, I won't stay long anyway."

Another silence. Was he feeling the same as her? He took her hand out of the blue and intertwined his long fingers with hers.

"I'm sorry about yesterday."

"You already apologized for that, Joonie. I'm not mad at you."

"But I scared you, didn't I?"

"No, it's just..."

"Just what?"

"I realized how people around me must feel about what I do. But I really love my job and I won't quit. No one is safe, Joonie and I'm not weak. I can defend myself."

"I know all that, but I can't help worrying. Please take care of yourself, okay? Don't take any unnecessary risks. Not anymore. Please, I'm begging you."

She squeezed his hand and nodded. "So we're good?"

"Yes, we're good." He answered with a smile, but he wasn't looking at her. He seemed lost in thoughts. He was distracted. He sighed and looked down at their linked hands.

"That Jin guy- Is he a really close friend?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that we're close."

"But close enough for him to worry about you and visit you at 10:30 PM?"

Why was he bringing Jin up? And what's with all the questions? The weird part was, Jin did the same earlier.

"I would receive calls from my coworkers at midnight about work, it doesn't mean we're close."

"I thought that maybe-"

He didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he started rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. His gaze grew darker. He was lost in thoughts again. She wondered what he was thinking about. Also, something was off about him this morning.

"Joonie"

"Huh?"

"What's going on?"

"Nothing."

He sat up and let go of her hand. He then hugged her really tight.

"I'm leaving in three days, Nari." He said before letting her go.

"I thought you would stay for one more week?"

"We had to change the schedule last minute."

"Oh."

She was really disappointed. He didn't even stay two weeks this time. Were they going to keep being like this? She needed her best friend.

"But when I come back, I'll stay longer. I accepted a role in a drama and it's 54 episodes long. I'll stick around for a while."

She jumped in excitement and hugged him again.

"I'm so happy for you! You wanted to try acting too."

"Yes, and I finally had an opportunity."

"What is it about?"

"I can't really say, but all you need to know is I'm part of the main cast."

"Obviously. Are you the villain or the good guy?"

He smirked."I'm the sexy friend of the male lead."

"Sexy my ass." She laughed, but he didn't laugh with her. He was looking at her all smile and his expression was adorable. He looked genuinely pleased and that made Nari even happier.

"Congrats, sweetie. Good luck on your new career path."

"Thank you, expensive girl."

"You want to get slapped?"

"You know I can't stop. Just get used to it."

"Whatever. I have to go back to work. See you later?"

"Tonight at my place? Kookie and Mimi will be there too."

"Ok, see you tonight."

Then she was gone.

He watched her leave and sighed. Why was she so clueless? Why couldn't she see what she was putting him through? But he couldn't bring it up again, not after what happened the night before.

He hated making her upset and he felt like crap when she started crying. A few years ago, he promised himself he'd never make her cry or let anyone make her cry. Yet, that's exactly what he did. But not anymore.

He would never do anything to hurt her again.

As he was leaving the precinct, his phone kept buzzing. So many notifications from his social media accounts, and yet it felt so lonely. He sighed and slid inside his Maserati only to hear someone knock at the window.

He slid the window down and gave the young man a surprised look.

"Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I can work from anywhere, hyung."

"Right. What are you doing here?"

"Just hanging around. You?"

"I came to see Nari, duh."

"Well, you could've been here for a convocation. Maybe you committed a crime we don't know about?"

"Don't even joke like that, you nut-head."

Jungkook laughed.

"She still doesn't know, right?" Namjoon asked, suddenly looking serious.

Jungkook gave him a reassuring smile. "No, she doesn't. Don't worry, we're taking care of her here."

"We?"

"Her boss knows too. Turns out he also wanted to keep an eye on her, so he asked for my help. I ended up telling him everything."

Namjoon didn't say anything for a moment. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not, but it was reassuring in a way. If everyone was watching her, then maybe they would prevent her from doing anything dangerous.

"So where are you off to?"

"At my parents. I'll see you tonight?"

"See you!"

Jungkook took his phone out of his pocket as Namjoon drove off and typed a quick message to Kyunmin.

Kook: Don't screw things up tonight, Mimi or I swear

Mimi: for f** sake Kook, leave me alone! I'm not stupid.

Kook: Of course you are, that's why I'm warning you. Again.

Mimi: F*** off.

He smiled and put his phone back into his pocket before entering the precinct. He was going to hang out with superintendent hyung today because he loved to annoy him. He was just so cute when he whined about not being able to nap. And Jungkook knew that deep down, he loved to hang out with him too.

Nari was sipping at her second can of beer while listening to Kyunmin's story. They've all been at Namjoon's for almost an hour now and the atmosphere was pretty chill.

She hadn't felt so serene in months and she was happy to be here. Kyungmin was so cute and lively, and she knew she didn't spend enough time with her. She made a mental note to change that.

Also, she couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness she had towards Namjoon since this morning. It was as if he was hiding something from her. She knew him well enough to see that his smile wasn't genuine. His eyes were veiled as well.

He kept spacing out even though their conversation was rather entertaining. She was worried, but she didn't know what to do. He wouldn't say anything if she asked, she knew that much.

"We have to go," Jungkook said abruptly.

"Go where?"

"A party we were invited to," he answered as he turned his gaze to Mimi. She nodded in agreement and smiled.

"Yeah, we already promised we'd go. Sorry."

Namjoon and Jungkook exchanged a look and he raised his eyebrows at the younger one.

"Not so sly, Kookie." He murmured with half a smile.

"Right? I can't believe you guys are doing this." Nari added.

Three pairs of eyes were watching her with different expressions. Jungkook looked shocked, Mimi looked worried and Namjoon, well, he was blushing maybe from discomfort? She wasn't sure.

"It was just-"

"So you guys think you're too cool to hang out with old people like us, huh? You're ditching us for a party. How rude." She continued, with an amused tone.

"Oh." Mimi said with big eyes.

Jungkook facepalmed before answering "Exactly, grandma. So we're going. Have fun."

He stood up and Mimi did the same. They both waved goodbye before leaving.

Then there was a silence, but it lasted only a few seconds as Namjoon suddenly started laughing.

"You're really clueless, aren't you?"

"About what?"

He drowned his can of beer and crumpled it before throwing it in the corner of the room. She frowned at him for doing that. It's true that the living room was messy, but still. How could he throw cans around like that? This boy, really.

"Can I tell you something?" He suddenly said in his deep, raspy voice.

"Go on." She looked up at him, but he wasn't looking at her. She could still feel him tense, though.

"You might get upset again." He warned.

She then realized her feeling of uneasiness was justified. He did have something in mind and if it was what she thought it was, she was going to get upset, alright.

"I'm not leaving my job, Namjoon. Drop it."

It came out harsher than she intended, but she had to stop him from going further with this useless conversation. She had heard enough, already.

"I just have a bad feeling about this case in particular."

"It's not my first murder case-"

"But it's the first time you're after a serial killer, isn't it?"

"That's beside the point."

"That's exactly the point! Nari please, listen to me. Just this once, please?" He begged.

She lost her voice for a moment. Was he drunk? Why was he looking at her like that? Why were his eyes wet?

"Joonie.." She started softly.

"I'm scared that when I come back, you won't be there. I'm scared that I'm going to lose you. I'm going crazy over these thoughts. I have nightmares almost every night. In these nightmares, I see your lifeless body beside me and you're so cold. I wake up crying every time and it hurts. It seems too real. I can't ignore this feeling anymore."

So this is what he was thinking all this time? This is what he was hiding? Nightmares? A bad feeling? And he seemed genuinely scared, too. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't find the right words to reassure him, so she put her hand over his.

"Nothing will happen, don't worry."

"You don't know that! Nari, please-"

"I'll be fine, Joonie okay? I really will. I'm surrounded by competent people and I'm competent as well. I can handle those situations. I was trained for that, remember?"

He sighed in defeat and nodded, then he squeezed her hand before letting it go. At that moment, he looked so fragile, as if he could break at any second. She went closer to him and hugged him tightly.

"We're good, right?"

He didn't react for a minute. No word, no movement, he just let her hug him. Then he hugged her back and murmured in her hair "we're good."

Of course, they were. Nothing would happen to her, they would catch the killer before he could think of doing anything.

A/N

Yes, it's a bit slow. But bear with me a little longer, you'll love it 😏.