16th February, 2021

02:32 pm

It was Taehyung's first day at work. He was excited yet at the same time he was nervous. The owner of the cafe seemed cool, and the money was also okay. Now he was supposed to find an apartment.

He had the afternoon shift as he had classes in the morning. Sure, he still had to visit the university. But he knew he won't be suspended just because he's a suspect, right?

Right?

He entered the cafe and was instantly greeted by the strong smell of coffee. He saw Jin and two guys standing at the counter, talking something. The cafe was almost empty, if you skipped the couple who were not so subtly eating each other's face rather than eating the delicious chocolate cake that was served to them.

"Good afternoon, hyung" Taehyung bowed and Seokjin smiled at him.

"Hey Tae. Meet them, they're your co-workers." Jin pointed at the two gus he was talking to.

"Hii, I'm Hoseok." The guy with the most brightest smile introduced himself. His smile made Taehyung return it, unconsciously.

Taehyung nodded his head and looked at the one who had a blank face. He looked bored, and introduced himself as Yoongi in a small voice.

"Kitty, you've to be cheerful." Hoseok told Yoongi in a baby voice to which the other gave him a gummy smile. Seeing Taehyung confused, Jin cleared his throat.

"Don't mind them, they're the couple. Sope couple I call them."

"Oh, they're cute." Taehyung adored the couple who now busied themselves in making pastries.

"Oh yes they are. You are on the counter today. You don't mind, right?"

Taehyung gave him a tight lipped smile and shook his head.

Sure he hated talking to people, sure he hated human interaction but it was his work. He can't help it, he has to do it.

He quietly walked towards the counter and stood there staring at the cafe. The cafe still looked pretty and it had a calm feeling. The couple were now eating their chocolate cake and Taehyung was glad it didn't go to waste.

He was quietly humming a song when the bell above the door chimed. It was an old couple, and oh God really Taehyung didn't wanted to talk.

"Hello sir, what would you like to have?" He tried to put on his most best smile, but he just couldn't.

"My wife here would like a caramel macchiato and an Americano for me. Thank you."

He quickly told his co-workers the order. "That'll be $4. Thank you, enjoy your meal."

He was about to go back when the old lady stopped him. "You look handsome dear, may all the happiness come to you." She said and he smiled at her. Not the fake one but his boxy smile, he thanked the lady and headed to the washroom.

He felt a bit better about this job now. Maybe not all people were bad as he thought. And maybe talking to people can make your day.

Jungkook was sitting in his car, thinking. Well what else can he do? He has to keep an eye on the younger and the younger was currently working in the cafe. So here Jungkook was, sitting in his car, a few meters away from the cafe.

Jungkook sighed heavily and thought about Taehyung. The guy seemed so innocent, the day he cried created an uncomfortable feeling in Jungkook's chest. He doesn't know what it is.

However, he was sure about one thing, he didn't like Taehyung crying, no matter what the reason is. That day he wanted to comfort the younger, tell him everything will be alright, hold him, hug him, do something but he couldn't. He was on duty and he is an officer and Taehyung still is his suspect. Had it been any other occasion, he's sure he would've stopped the tears that were gushing out of the beautiful almond eyes.

He remembered how a night had changed his entire life. One night he was sleeping peacefully in his mother's embrace and the next morning he had found his father dead. A suicide.

His father was a politician, and he had been falsely accused. No one had helped his father back then. No police, no detective, no lawyer had taken a step to help his father. The officers once who were his father's friends had turned their backs on him.

His eyes filled with tears as he clearly recalled how he had seen his father's body. All blue and hanging by the fan. It was traumatic for an eight year old. But he had understood better, he knew his father was wronged. His mother couldn't take the heartbreak and passed after an year, too.

The day his mother passed away, he decided to be a police officer. He wanted to give justice to those who were wronged. He wanted to be on the honest side. He wanted to know the truth about people and punish those who were false. And that's why he was working hard on this case. But nothing seemed to work. The case was a mess but finding evidences was a bigger mess.

He knew everything he sees in the case isn't true, there was something else in the case, something that was going unnoticed by him. But he didn't know what. Nevertheless, he was adamant on solving the case and maybe just maybe he hopes Taehyung isn't the murderer.

He didn't knew he was thinking for long but he saw the different hues of the sky. It was evening. The sky littered with pinks and purples and it looked beautiful. He saw Taehyung get off the cafe and sit on a bench. He went to Taehyung and looked at the younger who looked worn out.

"Taehyung, um, I wanted to talk!" What the fuck, since when was Jungkook this nervous.

The younger looked at him, took a long breath and gestured him to continue.

"My neighbors are giving their apartment for rent and they were searching for a tenant. I mean if you want I can-"

"Wait wait. You mean an apartment? Yes?"

"Yes Taehyung, a one bedroom apartment. I can talk to them about you, I'm sure you can afford the rent."

"Thank you so much. But why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"This. I don't need your help. I don't need your pity, I'm good staying in the motel."

"Look Taehyung, I know I shouldn't but as a human, I can definitely help a person in need. And I promise this will be the last, if you don't like it, but let me do this for you."

Looking at Jungkook, it didn't look like he was lying. And truth be told, Taehyung really needed an apartment. He was tired of staying in the cheap motels, who didn't even have comfortable beds. Therefore he heaved a sigh and agreed.

-------x-------

Namjoon was in Taehyung's and Jimin's university. The university was big, no it was huge. The campus had beautiful small plants and the students roamed around them. It was a week day and so the college looked busy.

Well he was here for the case's investigation. He was here to know more about Jimin, Jinyoung and Taehyung. He walked straight into the dean's cabin and greeted the old man. He wondered why all pretty universities had an old, lanky deans.

"Kim Namjoon." He shook his hands with the dean.

"Officer Kim, please have a seat."

"I would have loved to Mr.Lee, but right now I've work, so I hope you can let me investigate here. Maybe also ask few questions to the students?"

"Well, you see officer I don't mind. But please don't cause a chaos, I don't want the college's reputation to go down."

Namjoon raised an eyebrow on the dean's words. A student was killed, a student was arrested as a prime suspect, a student was crying at the loss of his family and all the dean cared was about his college's reputation. Fuck him and his reputation. Namjoon wanted to say, he couldn't though.

"Well, it's already ruined by you saying that." Namjoon said, instead.

He saw the dean clench his jaw and called for a peon.

"Please escort officer Kim to the staff room."

He nodded and thanked the old, lanky man and walked out of the suffocating room.

When he reached the staff room he only saw three teachers there, the two didn't know Kim Taehyung or Park Jinyoung but the remaining one was Jinyoung's class teacher. Luck was maybe on his side.

"Good afternoon, Ma'am." He greeted. The teacher nodded.

"I'm Kim Namjoon, working on Jinyoung's murder case. It'll be a great help if you cooperate with us Ms.."

As if understanding what Namjoon was saying she replied, "Ms. Ara."

"Yes Ms. Ara, we'll only ask you a few questions."

"Sure, officer."

"How was Jinyoung in class?"

"Jinyoung was very quiet. He didn't talk with many people. He only had two friends he used to stay with." She informed and Namjoon wrote it down in his small diary.

"Did you knew his brother?"

"Ah yes. Jimin. He was in Taehyung's class. Everyone in the campus knew Taehyung and Jinyoung were dating."

"Oh. So did you know that they broke up?"

"Well, they weren't with each other since last month, but I never looked into it much. Jimin and Jinyoung had a fight too, but I don't know much about it either."

Namjoon nodded and noted it all down. Obviously the teachers do know about all of this but they won't tell. He doubted that old, lanky man warning the teachers to not say anything.

"Can I talk to Jinyoung's friends?"

"Uh, they're in class."

"Yes I know, but this investigation right now is more important and I don't think they'll mind."

"Okay." She seemed unsure, however she walked Namjoon towards a class on the top floor.

Jun and Minho were the two students the teacher called for. Jun was a tall, bluff guy, same height as Namjoon's whilst Minho had a small, lean frame and he looked scared.

"Hello, I'm Kim Namjoon and I'm investigating Park Jinyoung's case. It'll be of great help if you could answer a few questions."

Both Jun and Minho nodded at this.

"So Jun and Minho, how did you both know Jinyoung?"

"We met in the university. Jinyoung was a new student." Jun replied while Minho fiddled with his fingers.

"Minho, you?" Namjoon casted his gaze on the boy, he was kind of suspicious but he can also be scared of the officer.

"Uh, me and Jinyoung uh we also met in the u-university. Yes." It looked like a lie to Namjoon, although he nodded.

"Did Jinyoung had any fights with anyone?"

"No sir. Jinyoung was a very quiet person. He always used to be with us or with his boyfriend. Nothing else."

"And did you know what happened after they broke up?"

"Jimin and Jinyoung had a fight. I guess because Jinyoung was with a girl after breaking up with Taehyung and Jimin got very mad that they both got into a fist fight." Jun told the officer.

"Alright, thank you for answering them. I won't take much of your time, this is the last question. Do you suspect anyone?" Namjoon smiled and left the university.

"No sir." Jun shook his head.

Minho still looked scared. "Minho?"

"Sir, Jimin. H-he fought with Jinyoung and he was very a-angry." Minho quietly replied and ducked his head down.

Namjoon wondered why was the kid so scared. Do I look that horrible? He thought to himself. However their teacher was still here and it can be a possibility that Minho is scared of what he might say. He thanked both of them and headed out of the university.

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