The response that reverberates along empty concrete isn’t his partner’s but, Min-jae had never expected it to be, either— no, that hesitation, that placating… it doesn’t belong on anyone belonging to him.
With a furrowed brow, he keeps his gaze on the lights above.
Yeobo … it’s your perfection that has me needing you so, even just ten minutes more, even ten years…
Has something I’ve done … made you think any less?
“I care for every single victim, detective— but there is only so much I can do, as a citizen . . .
Is the investigation going well . . ? Found anything?”
Something akin to disappointment graces his features, removing the gift from sight— an exhale through the nose, then settled with a sly, “As you wish”.
And maybe Ha-joon’s impression of him isn’t truly wrong. Watching the other man so closely, giving some distance to catch it all, as if he could see what’s just underneath with enough time—
“What makes you so tense?” He asks, after a jaw-dropped and innocent blink— the laugh coloring his expression, fanning Ha-joon’s ear.
“I thought of you when I saw it— is there something wrong with that?”