Neon lights covered the small stage at the back of the bar, where a young man sang and stood out from the band playing the instruments. Under the ambient glow emanating from the yellow chandeliers above the drink counter, Winnie sat on one of the round stools.

The blue-haired woman held a glass of tequila in her left hand, while her other hand supported her chin, her elbow propped on the dark wooden counter. She chatted with one of the bartenders, a man with black hair, holding a glass of what seemed to be whiskey.

He grinned as the newcomer approached.

“Looks like your friend finally arrived.”

Winnie lifted her face. A faint smile spread across her flushed cheeks, but it disappeared as soon as it appeared, fixing on a point behind her friend. Amélie followed Winnie's gaze to the diamond-shaped tables lined up in the left corner of the stage, where the police department team, who had just arrived, were greeting their colleagues who were already there.

Zhou didn't understand the other woman's reaction until she saw Detective Brown stops next to Dr. Brown, greeting the dark-haired guy.

Hector turned to introduce the famous Yohan Minho, the bar owner, to the new coworker. However, upon seeing the woman sitting next to him, he widened his eyes in surprise.

“Dr. Brown? Winnie Brown? Am I dreaming? I always try to run into you, but I never succeed!”

“It's because I avoid coming when I know you'll be here.”

Hector laughed, seemingly not at all bothered by the sour expression on her face, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye.

“Do you guys know each other?” Amélie observed them with an arched eyebrow and a half-smile lingering on her lips.

“Fortunately, yes! I met her here, at Mints Bar.”

Hector leaned towards Yohan and whispered something that made the man smile and turn to the wall of drinks at his back.

“Is she the friend you invited here, Miss Zhou?” Brown's eyes got even bigger when the doctor nodded. “Wow! It can only be a message from fate… my new partner is a friend of Winnie Brown! Future Mrs. Brown…”

Winnie rolled her eyes, pouring the tequila into her mouth in one go:

“A message for me to change my surname? Perhaps to Minho?” She winked at Yohan, watching him set down a glass of sake martini with cucumber slices adorning the rim of the orange liquid and pass it to the detective.

Hector smiled sideways, leaning his elbows on the counter, his brown eyes fixed on Winnie. He seemed genuinely interested, despite the woman's obvious antipathy towards him, but before he could say another word, she jumped up from her stool and pulled Amélie towards the tables where the rest of the police officers were sitting.

After making sure they were far enough away from Hector and the table for no one to overhear their conversation, Winnie puckered her lips and crossed her arms:

“Why didn't you tell me that asshole would be here? I wouldn't have come!”

“Wait… don't tell me that Detective Brown is the asshole Brown from high school?” Winnie snorted, pursing her lips. Her reaction was the answer to Amélie's question. “Really, Winnie? Holy shit!” So Hector Brown was the famous “asshole”, the big womanizing that Dr. Brown fell in love with as a teenager!

Amélie bit her cheek to keep from laughing. She had heard Winnie complain about him countless times. Although she hadn't met Winnie during high school because they didn't go to the same school and Amélie had gone abroad to study, due to her family's nightmare, she had seen photos of Winnie from that time.

Winnie was a teenager who, unfortunately, suffered from the standards that existed among young people at the time, because she didn't fit in. To get the attention of the boy she liked, she started offering to do his schoolwork. That way, while she taught him the subjects he was struggling with, they could spend time together. However, she ended up doing all the activities on her own, because the boy always gave her the cake to go out with other girls.

Zhou lost count of the times she tried to make Winnie see that if she still felt uncomfortable with that man's presence after so many years—every time they crossed paths in the bar she used to frequent—it was because she still had unfinished feelings inside. All she got out of it, however, were Dr. Brown's angry barks.

Still, she risked saying it one more time:

“It sounds like he's really into you. Maybe you should give it a chance and, I don't know, casually broach the subject that's bothering you.”

‘That fool believes he met me here, as you've just seen. Apparently, he doesn't remember that we went to school together.” Winnie rolled her eyes, annoyed. “Losing weight and dyeing my hair was enough to make him forget about me!”

“If it makes you feel any better…” Amélie bit her lip, glancing discreetly in the direction of Na-moo, sitting at the table with his coworkers. “That's Detective Brown's partner… and the guy from my blind date.”

Winnie followed her gaze, squinting her eyelids, analyzing him with lynx eyes. Her frown quickly disappeared.

“Oh, dear,” she lamented, squeezing Amélie's shoulders, her lips trembling at the corners as she held back a smile. “You've lost a lot, my friend!”

Amélie took a deep breath, pressing the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb. Winnie found her situation amusing and immediately started asking questions about how the two of them had met at the police station, their reaction when they recognized each other, and even suggested that she tell the detective why she had freaked out in the restaurant when she was blindfolded.

As if sensing the tension radiating from her new coworker's shoulders, Gina nodded fervently until their gazes met. The redhead indicated the empty seats next to her at the table with a broad smile. Wiping away a solitary tear, Winnie followed Amélie to the tables closest to the stage. The blue-haired woman was quickly distracted by the young musician, and another round of beer and soju was brought to the table by Hector and Yohan when they joined the group a few minutes later.

Yohan seemed to be an expert collector of the most varied drinks. The walls of that part of the establishment were covered with glass shelves, displaying a wide variety of alcohol, from the strongest to the mildest. Amélie observed this as she sipped the non-alcoholic drink she had ordered from one of the waiters—she was driving and didn't like beer.

At the same time as taking in the conversations and decor around her, she tried to keep her distance from Na-moo. By now she had met almost all her colleagues at the small police station, from the officers who patrolled the districts to those who worked in the office, like Gina. 

The coroner, Dr. Dae-young Go, was also present. He was a nice man, albeit reserved. His starched white shirt and tortoiseshell glasses adorned his face and, although he was in his thirties, wrinkles adorned the corners of his eyes and lips, pulling them together like crow's feet.

Na-moo Hwang wasn't drinking either, she realized as he watched him out of the corner of his eye. He was sitting a seat away, immersed in a conversation with Dr. Go. From the sporadic snippets of dialogue recorded by Amélie's ears, the detective respected the doctor in the same way he respected Captain Denyel—with only a little more intimacy. Perhaps because they had a smaller age difference compared to the chief.

Although Amélie tried to stay away from Hwang, at some point Hector managed to persuade her to change seats so that he could sit next to Winnie. This happened when Yohan Minho came out to break up a commotion upstairs in the bar. Na-moo hadn't realized that the doctor with the dark, wavy hair was the person sitting next to him. At least not until Dae-young stood up and bumped into his elbow, causing him to hit the glass on the table, knocking it over.

The noise was drowned out by the music blasting from the speakers. The scent of watermelon, of the drink, quickly spread through the air.

“Oops!” Dae-young stared at the dirt with his eyes bulging, his face red.  “Um, I'm sorry, Ms. Zhou! That was close, huh, Moo?” He laughed awkwardly, watching the red liquid drip onto the ceramic floor, centimeters away from Amélie's legs. 

Dae-young apologized to her once more, before saying goodbye to his colleagues and leaving the bar.

Amélie bit her lip, grabbing a handful of paper towels to wipe the table and floor. Her heart jolted when large, strong hands took hold of hers. She lifted her face slowly, finding Na-moo's coffee-colored eyes watching her.

“It wasn't your fault, relax.” He spoke gently to her surprise, with a small smile curving his lips. Zhou's cheeks flushed, and he let go of her hand. “I'm going to talk to Minho and ask for a-” the cell phone in his pocket vibrated.

Na-moo dragged his chair back as soon as he saw Seung's name on the screen. He stood up. With a brief conversation, he asked Hector to get a cloth to clean up the mess Dae-young had made and walked away, towards the exit at the back of the bar.

Amélie watched Hwang's tall, slender figure until he disappeared under the illuminated sign that read “exit” in neon green. She covered her cheeks with her hand as she realized that she was smiling. 

For the first time that day, Na-moo Hwang had been kind to her. 

Perhaps it was a sign that they could start again.

✛✛

Na-moo leaned against the brick wall of the small alleyway. The only light came from the lunar orb decorating the sky. The sounds of the bar were drowned out by the closed door and the meowing of the cats. The acrid smell of garbage scratched his nostrils. 

He closed his eyelids as he heard Seung's cheerful voice on the other end of the line, telling him that Do-yoon had lost his first baby teeth and had a small window where his front teeth used to be. Na Moo could imagine his brother sitting on the sofa in the house where he lived with his wife and children, watching little Soraya take her first wobbly steps with her chubby legs. While her brother was losing his first teeth, Soraya were being born. 

When Seung mentioned their mother, Yvone, and the present Do-yoon had made for their grandmother on Saturday, the smile that painted the detective's cheeks faded.

“Seung… why don't you invite mom to spend some time with you and the children? I think it would be good to breathe a different air…”

“Joo-hyun will love the idea, I just don't think Mrs. Yvone will agree to change the schedule…” Seung sighed. “Besides, the kids miss Uncle Moo. It's been a long time since he last came to visit.”

“I miss them too. Each one of you… and Joo-hyun's vegetable stew” Na-moo rubbed his eyes. “But things are a bit… complicated around here…”

“At work?” Seung's laughter hit his brother's eardrums, and he pulled the phone away from his ear. “I'm sure Captain Denyel will give you the weekend off if you ask. He'll understand why… otherwise, we'll be there on Saturday morning. You know it's the death anniversary of…”

“Dad,” he added when Seung fell silent. “I know. And that's precisely why I want to get mom out of here, and I don't want you to bring your family. Longino is no longer a safe place.”

“Na-moo, what are you talking about?”

“There's a killer in town.” The line suddenly went silent. Na-moo looked at the screen to confirm that his brother was still on the call. The detective took a deep breath, his voice coming out in a whisper. “Everything indicates that… he's back.”

Hwang didn't want his older brother to relive the painful memories of the past, but he knew Seung well enough to know that he would stay away from the city if he knew what was going on. The media had yet to report on any of the cases, although rumors swirled around the city streets.

The detective suspected that the mayor had done something to hush up the cases. The last time the media had reported the existence of a serial killer, the polices footsteps had been watched and exposed, making the investigation more difficult. And he needed to make sure that none of this reached Yvone Hwang's ears.

Not before the killer was arrested.

“Mom…” Seung breathed noisily, “she-”

“No. She doesn't know. I don't want to upset her, so I asked you to invite her to spend some time at your house.”

“But what about you? Do you think I'll be able to sleep peacefully knowing that my little brother could be in danger?”

“Without you here, I have nothing to worry about.”

“Of course. Because your life is worthless and being a detective protects you from the evils of the world and the madness of a psychopath. That's right.”

“I can take care of myself, don't worry. Just keep mom away from the news if you see that Longino is in the papers.”

Seung made a noise with his lips through the line. Na-moo knew his brother wasn't happy about the situation and how anxious it must make him. At other times, he would have feared that his older brother would collapse, but he knew that wouldn't happen anymore. Seung had overcome his past. Luckily, fate had introduced him to Joo-hyun, the woman who turned out to be the balsam that warmed his heart during the transition from his life in Longino to the city he now lived in—Montel.

Seung's wife always encouraged him to continue with therapy after they graduated from college and decided to get married. He had his own family to protect and wouldn't dare risk going to Longino to pull his younger brother by the ears and drag him and his mother to the safe place where he lived with his own children. 

Yvone wouldn't go to Montel either if she knew what was going on or how long Na-moo had been on the case—which gave him another reason not to let her know about it.

“I'll buy the tickets in mom's name and say they were a gift from Joo-hyun's parents. I'll choose the first available time on Saturday for the tickets.”

“Thank you, Seung.”

“If you want to thank me, be careful and stay alive, okay? I won't be able to bury my little brother. Don't fall into that bastard's hands. Please, Moo.”

Hwang laughed, pouring out words to comfort his brother, before turning the subject to his nephews—Do-yoon was screaming in his father's ear asking to speak to his uncle while his sister was crying because Do-yoon had woken her up.

After a brief conversation with the little one, Na-moo ended the call. A light mist was beginning to form around them. Low fog, cracking sun, he thought, remembering his late grandmother, who used to say that fog was a sign of sunshine the next day. 

Na-moo took a deep breath, staring at the dark sky. 

“I'll get him, Seung. That bastard's going to rot in jail,” he muttered to himself, running his fingers through the strands before returning to the alcoholic warmth of the bar.