It's one of those days where Daehwan has done enough with the bullshit. Why in the world would the captain of an investigation team be asked to inspect a house break-in case?

Moreover, the fret isn't over as none accompanies him. Every patrol officer was unavailable in the office. He wasn't able to go home for two days. Irregular sleeping and skipped meal schedules added up to the irritation.

“I should’ve listened to Mom for not choosing civil servant as a future career.” He grumbled while walking inside the building.

"Excuse me, I'm a police officer from…" He greeted the front desk staff of the apartment politely but before finishing his sentence he’s cut off by him.

“This way, sir.” They escort Daehwan immediately as if was instructed to go straight to the unit once he came. It didn't take him long, the staff tapped his entrance permission card to the lift and press number twenty-four indicating that’s where the report came from.

As he pressed the doorbell a middle-aged maid opened it briskly. The maid welcomes them inside, and they bow politely to each other. The staff also bows to the house owner even though she didn't pay a glance at all. He let himself walk his way out then closed the apartment door himself after insisting it’s not his portion to know the private matter occurred in the customer residence which sounds a bit off since it is supposed to be the building management responsibility to handle it in the first place.

The house owner was standing behind the pantry. She’s giving them back when the police officer is welcomed  to the house, densely drinking a glass of water.

"I didn't touch anything." She began the conversation.

"Pardon?" Daehwan didn’t catch up. The heat from walking outside in the middle of the noon melted his brain, he became slowly dull in responding words.

He’s quick-scanning the room, it’s pretty moderate. Nothing glamorous, not like a well-off one where fancy furniture is set to give off vibes off wealthy owned houses. Everything is in order and neat. There's no damage or trace of destroyed objects.

"The thief or whatever it was, knew the entrance passcodes and sneaked in when nobody’s home. I just came back from the office and so did my maid from grocery shopping at the same time. Do you wanna see the footage?"

"Yes, sure. But first let me ask a few questions."

"Okay."

"Is there anything gone from your house, like jewellery or important documents?"

"No. But my cat's stressed out.”

“A cat?” He muttered in confusion.

“He hides inside the bathroom and doesn't want to come out."

She continues while turning around and puts down her glass on the table, just as Daehwan realises she only wears a top and inner shorts. So he flinches and looks away, stopping his steps from getting closer to the kitchen.

Daehwan needs time to process things, he's pretty sure he met this girl before. However hard he tried to recollect the memory he failed to identify the face, and now there's more important things to focus on. He has to quickly finish the investigation and go back to the office.

"Anything else?" He continues. The girl silently observing him, their eyes met when he turned around.

"You're that cop right?” She tilted, her hands resting on the table.

"Yes?" Daehwan is baffled by the sudden question.

"When I had a fight with my brother."

That woman forthwith climbed on the countertop sitting on her knees. The under hem of the shirt slips between her white ivory thighs. She gave him a long look.

Daehwan was already caught off guard from the beginning. It’s unexpectable to hear the voices spoken in his mother tongue fluently from a woman with a foreigner appearance. It’s the first time for him to experience it directly, he’s aware that many foreigners working in Korea are already mastering native language, still it’s wholesome for him.

The memory from their first encounter began to return, as he remembered she was absolutely clueless of what everyone was saying at the police office before. That even her secretary needed to be the second tongue explaining things. So it's really surprising for him after so long not meeting to listen to her speaking in fluent Korean.

“Oh. It’s you.” Now he recalled who she was.

"Look me in the eyes when talking." The shuttle eyes of her catch where Daehwan’s staring, she blurted out her unbearingly discomfort.

That straightforwardness struck him that unconsciously he was being impolite looking into her legs since the moment he turned around. Daehwan, clearing his throat, chases away his flustering expression.

She appears to have something to say. "But he leaves a bouquet and a letter."

"Letter?" He reassured what he heard, squaring the hands, making sign language, modelling a paper .

“And flower?”

She nodded as he translated it to Korean to confirm what she said.

"Uhm, where is it? Can I see it?"

Daehwan comes closer again when she’s taking out and giving him something from the kitchen drawer. A small envelope. He opens and briefly overviews it. Unfortunately it was opened and the letter inside was written in English impractically he doesn't understand at all. Something for sure it’s a neat handwriting. He  folds it back as the original and put them inside a transparent bag.

"Are you going to take it?"

"Yes. It's for evidence." He clipped the bag closed.

"Do you need the flower too?"

“Oh, right.”

"Yes, please." He continued.

She pointed at a trash bin. Daehwan went to take the flower bouquet that was ruined a little, reflecting it’s smashed while thrown away. This becomes his concern that she presumptuously touched some of the evidence at the scene. So Daehwan politely informs her not to do so in the future if similar things happen again.

"Alright." She unfolds her legs and hangs it half off the table. "Wanna look around and check anything else too?" She switches the conversation as if unbothered by his warning.

"If you don't mind please."

"Evelyn."

"Yes?"

"You can call me Evelyn."

She hinted to call her by the name while raising both hands. Daehwan latent moved, approaching her assuming she wanted to be carried off of the kitchen counter top. So he wraps his arms around her waist unconsciously and lifts upfront putting her down on the floor.

Oddly Daehwan submitted as if his reflex moved him and even apologised for those.

"Yes, Miss Evelyn."

She leads the way to the bedroom, checking everything around and the bathroom. There's a cat whimpering at the corner under the shower. It was quiet before then hissing as Daehwan approached closer, the feline buddy showing hostility defending himself from getting attacked again by what he assumed was the intruder.

“It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Come here.”

He halts for a moment before squatting, slowly approaching it by extending his hands as an introduction to his scent. It sniffs, however still won’t make a move so he leans lower and grabs the kitten by the lower body and picks it up. He rubs his head gently, the cat gradually tense down. Supposedly familiar with treating a pet house, understanding a scritching on the chin is a favourite. The feline guy’s purred approving. They quickly resolve in a peaceful way walking out of the bedroom.

“Good boy.” Daehwan muttered proudly.

It’s not much done, he just called the building management through the unit line. Man in charge comes as quickly, providing him information as needed so they’ll collect footage of CCTV in front of the house to the parking lot and everything that has to be sorted out. He’s occupied himself writing down the report and collecting the evidence on the kitchen counter. She was already wearing a pair of pants as walking out of the bedroom by the time Daehwan finished and would excuse himself out of the house.

They had a little talk before he went out. House owner sent him to the elevator and when it went down, he exhaled big. Letting out the steam inside his head enduring hours breathing the suffocating air inside that house with the most laborious personality he’s ever met.

“Such a person existed in this world.” He can’t stop nagging at himself.

Thinking back, she welcomed a cop inside her house with incomplete dressing and ordered him around to get her off the table like he’s some kind of chattel. Doesn't pay attention to his warning for not tampering with evidence at the crime scene. Adding to it, she talked to him with no honorific title. On the way back to the office, he just wondered how could and is it usually like that how rich people treat people around them. He sighed again.

“However.”

"She has nice legs." That words slips out his tongue that he realises how inappropriate his thought was. When the car arrived at the police station, he didn't waste any time directly filing the report to a person in charge.

"You seem to be having a tough day, Detective Yeon." The office staff sniggered. He noticed Daehwan’s fatigue composure while reporting the case.

"Beat me." As he sat down in his chair.