Chapter Text
“Hey! Kim Seungmin!”
Oh gosh, what does he want this time? Seungmin thought as he was interrupted on his harmless walk by the voice of Lee Minho, the guy who runs the flower stand outside the flower shop. Some people would say they are friends, and technically they would be correct, but Seungmin would never admit it.
He turned around to see Minho motioning him to come over and Seungmin pondered if he should or not, just to tease the older a bit. Minho sighed and rolled his eyes. “Yah! Detective Kim, come here for a second! I need your help.”
Oh? That sparked Seungmin’s curiosity. He didn’t particularly like the way Minho called him ‘Detective Kim’ , because technically he was a private investigator, and it was obviously meant to make fun of him, but he came over anyway.
“What do you want?” He asked curiously, the smell of the flowers suddenly a lot stronger as he came closer.
“Are you on a case right now?” Minho asked in return, gesturing around vaguely.
“No, I just started and—”
“I thought so, I have a first case for you!” The florist interrupted him with a satisfied smile on his face. Seungmin sighed, he was glad Minho had a case for him, but it was probably something like find me some good cat food or something. Seungmin was a real private investigator, though. (Well, real was a big word, he was officially a freelance private investigator, but he still had to get his first case.)
“Dori ran away earlier, it must have been when I was on a bathroom break. Will you find her for me~?”
“No.” Seungmin immediately declined and Minho frowned, jutting out his lower lip a little, trying to look cute or something. Pouting isn’t going to work on me, Minho , Seungmin thought as he crossed his arms and gave the florist a look that said ‘no’ .
“Why not? I’m giving you a job!” Minho whined.
“This is barely a job for a private investigator. Do it yourself!”
“I have to keep an eye on the shop, though. And on Soonie and Doongie, they need food in a couple of minutes, they’re still hanging around in the shop.” Minho actually gave him reasons to think he was serious right now, maybe his cat was really gone and Minho was really worried, he cared a lot about his cats after all. Minho sighed and looked at Seungmin seriously. “Please? Dori’s my youngest and I’m worried about her. I would go look for her myself if I could, but I can’t. And— Imagine what Hyunjin will think of you when I tell him about how you helped me find Dori versus what he’ll think if I tell him that you refused to help—”
“Okay! Okay! I was already going to agree! You didn’t have to bring Hyunjin up!” Seungmin quickly stopped him, a blush already creeping up his neck at the mention of his friend. Gosh! Minho always knows how to push my buttons.
“Thank you, Detective Kim.” Minho smiled, satisfied with the fact that he managed to convince Seungmin and tease him. “I’ll pay you for your efforts too, even though I already did you a favor by giving you your first case.”
“Whatever. You don’t need to pay me, just— I’ll take a look in the shop first.” Seungmin waved the older off and walked past him into the flower shop, ignoring Minho’s comments on how he already checked every corner of the flower shop, he knew that and he didn’t expect Dori to be inside the shop, but he needed to compare Minho’s other two cats— what were their names again…? Sunny and Dunny? No, that sounds wrong. Whatever — with the posts Minho had of his cats on instagram, so that Seungmin knew what Dori looked like and he could use a pic of Dori to show people.
After writing down some notes on the other cats and on Minho’s short description of what happened, Seungmin scrolled through Minho’s instagram to find a lot of pictures of his cats, thank goodness. Inside the shop he saw one orange and white cat lounge around on the counter and another more orange cat walk around between the flowerpots, vases and show bouquets. Okay, so I’m looking for the small dark grey cat, that’s easy. At least it’s not one of the orange two.
He searched for a good picture of Dori and then he left the shop. Minho was looking at him with eyebrows raised.
“Don't question my methods, okay?” Seungmin told him. “Do you have any idea where Dori could be? Has she ever run away before?”
“No, I have no idea… She's usually just here.” Minho shrugged, his voice a little strained, it was weird to see him worried. Minho then sniffed. “Ugh. Do you smell that?”
“...No?” Seungmin frowned. “Unless you mean the flowers. I can definitely smell those.”
“No I mean the pizza! The pizza place has been keeping their door open lately and I can smell it all the way over here!”
Seungmin wasn't sure if Minho was complaining or not, he probably was, but Seungmin didn't smell anything. He could imagine the smell of pizza didn't mix well with the smell of flowers, though. “Okay, I didn't know you had such a good sense of smell— the pizza place is not exactly next door— But if that's everything you want to say, I'll go investigate or whatever.”
“Okay, good luck, Detective Kim.” Minho nodded him goodbye with a sheepish smile. Seungmin murmured a thank you and waved at Minho before turning around and walking away.
He decided to ask some of the people around the shop if they've seen Dori first. The town wasn't that big, surely someone had seen the little creature walking around. He knew everyone around town and everyone knew him and Minho, so at least it wouldn't be weird asking them for Dori.
The answers he got differed a lot from person to person, some people seemed to want to help even though they couldn't and just guessed a place where Dori might be. Some just commented on the cute outfit Dori had on in the instagram post that Seungmin was showing people— he changed to a picture of Dori without an outfit after the third time— but mostly he heard the park and the pizza place (and the flower shop, but Seungmin could cross that one off the list immediately).
The park is closer to the flower shop and Dori is still pretty small, so it’s more likely that she’s there if you take that in mind, the park is also not an uncommon place to find cats, but Minho mentioned the smell of pizza, and cats have a pretty good sense of smell, right? So it could also have been that Dori was hungry and smelled pizza, because Minho also mentioned that he had to feed them soon.
Seungmin’s gut told him to check the pizza place, but his rational brain told him it was more likely to find Dori playing in the park. He decided to go back to Minho to ask him one more question.
“Hey Minho.” He approached the flower stand where Minho was still tending the flowers.
“Hey, did you find Dori yet?” The older asked.
“No, I just have two questions. Does Dori have any favorite foods? And does she like playing outside?” He asked, he should’ve definitely asked this earlier, but this was his first case, so he thought he deserved to be cut some slack.
“Dori really likes fish. And she likes playing, but not particularly outside.” Minho provided him as he rearranged some of the flowers in a bouquet. Fish? Okay, Seungmin had decided.
“Thank you, see you in a bit.” Seungmin nodded and bid Minho goodbye again. “...Hopefully with Dori.”
The pizza place was not that close, but also not that far. Nothing was too far away from each other in their small town. As he approached the pizza place he could imagine Dori smelling pizza and getting hungry— the pizza always smelled great , no wonder they kept their door open.
He saw someone sitting outside— someone he didn’t recognize, enjoying a tuna pizza at one of the tables just outside the place. She had sharp eyes, but looked pretty young, maybe about Seungmin’s age. Weird to see a new face around here. It doesn’t look like she’s visiting family, she’s eating alone… Did she come here just for the pizza? It isn’t that good, though.
Seungmin shouldn’t be wondering about new faces right now, though, he was on a case. A case to find Dori and—
“Ow! Again?!” The girl exclaimed, bending down to look under the table.
Would you look at that! Seungmin dashed toward the table where he saw a little grey kitten jump at the girl’s legs and scratch them. He crouched near Dori and held out his hand before whispering to her. “Dori? Hey there.”
“Uh… Your cute cat is hungry I think, she keeps scratching my legs because she wants my pizza. I don’t know if you’re supposed to feed cats pizza, though.” The girl said. Meanwhile Dori walked over to Seungmin’s hand to rub her little head against it.
“She’s not my cat though.” Seungmin answered the girl as he picked up Dori with a surprising amount of ease. The kitten purred softly in content in Seungmin’s hands. “And, uhh… We don’t see new faces here that often. My name’s Seungmin. May I ask who you are?”
“Oh. My name is Yeji, but I just want to eat my tuna pizza in peace.” Yeji gave him a polite smile. “Cute cat, though.”
“Thank you, I guess. Well, enjoy your pizza.” Seungmin told her, not really sure what to think. He shook his head and started making his way back to Minho. He lifted Dori up to his face a little and whispered to the kitten. “Don’t worry Dori, Minho will give you food when I return you to him. Were you that hungry? Or did that girl catch your attention?”
Dori meowed softly in response and suddenly she licked Seungmin’s face, making him wince a little. “Woah! ...Was that a yes or a no…?” Dori didn’t do anything to confirm or deny anything unfortunately, but he also couldn’t really investigate any further, because he was approaching the flower shop and Minho was laughing loudly.
“Why are you laughing?” Seungmin frowned at the florist.
“She likes you~! Look at that! Dori likes Seungminnie, huh? I guess you’ll give him enough love for the both of us.” Minho cooed at the kitten and Seungmin rolled his eyes, Minho always found ways to tease him. “Thank you, Seungmin. Where did you find her?”
“It was actually pretty interesting, there was a girl I didn’t recognize eating tuna pizza and she said Dori wanted a piece.” He explained as he handed over Dori to Minho. “Do you know a Yeji? She looked about my age.”
“Yeji…? No?” Minho nuzzled Dori a little, but she started meowing and Minho put her down. “Okay, okay, you can eat. Go ahead. I don’t have any tuna, though.” Dori ran into the shop and Minho turned to look at Seungmin.
“What was that girl doing here?” He asked and Seungmin shrugged.
“She said she just wanted to eat her tuna pizza in peace. She didn’t say if she was planning to stay here.”
“Who would wanna stay here in this boring shithole, though?” Minho scoffed, but he knew the answer to that question, they both did. “Oh, that’s right. Hyunjin would. And, speaking about my lovely roommate and your crush—”
“He’s not—”
“—I’ll make sure to tell him that you helped me find my precious little kitten! He’ll love it.” Minho sent him a wink before going back to work. Seungmin shook his head at the older before waving a hand at him and leaving.
He did secretly hope Hyunjin would think he was nice for helping Minho find his kitten, but that wasn’t why he did it. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, probably, but he was glad for this case, he could practice his deduction skills without any real consequences if he made a small mistake. Seungmin had learned to trust his gut a little more, but also to gather his thoughts first and then ask any questions to supplement them. He hoped this case had made him a little more ready for the real deal.
“I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me when you got your first case! I thought we were in this together?” Felix squinted at him through the mirror. It looked funny, because Seungmin couldn’t see his arms under the cover-up he was wearing.
“We are in this together, Lix. It was a surprise case and it wasn’t that serious. I don’t know how you could have helped me find a cat. I didn’t really need your expertise on this one.” He answered.
“Okay, I get that my skill set wasn’t needed for that but, it wasn’t serious ? Minho is super serious about his cats!” Felix moved a little too much in his seat and Hyunjin had to keep him still so he wouldn’t get accidentally stabbed with a hair clipper.
“Yeah, I know.” Seungmin shrugged casually, but he smiled as he saw Felix smile at him through the mirror. He was glad that Felix wasn’t too bummed by him not telling him about his first case immediately. Hyunjin chuckled at the sight of the two, and Seungmin’s heart could definitely handle that.
“Well, you’re acting pretty casual about it, but I think it’s sweet of you to help Minho out. He told me Dori was really happy about it too! How cute is that?” Hyunjin told him as he exchanged the hair clipper for a comb and started combing Felix’s hair, finishing up his haircut. His little smile did things to Seungmin.
“I agree, very cute.” Felix smiled a knowing smile at him.
Okay, yes. He had a crush on Hyunjin. He definitely had, but who could blame him? Ever since Hyunjin moved to their town, god knows why , he had made an impact. First, because nothing ever happened here. Things like that the pizza place had a new recipe on their menu, or that someone dyed their hair made it into the local newspaper, that’s how boring things were in this tiny shitty town.
But even though it was a boring and tiny shitty town, not many actually put their plans to leave in action. Not Seungmin, not Felix, not Minho. Three of their friends, including Minho’s former flatmate, Chan, did make the decision to leave and follow their dreams of making music. Seungmin missed them a lot, they only contacted each other by sending a letter every couple of days, because apparently paying for an internet connection was too expensive for them?
Anyway, Jisung usually wrote the letters, writing about what he, Changbin and Chan had been up to, or asking about what they had been up to at home. He thought writing letters had something romantic and personal to it. He sent them to Minho and Minho would send Seungmin and Felix a picture of the contents. Minho and Felix took it upon themselves to write back, always asking both Hyunjin and Seungmin if they had something to say as well. Hyunjin always declined, though, saying he wanted to wait until properly meeting them before introducing himself fully.
Chan, Changbin and Jisung hadn't visited once after Hyunjin moved here, though. It had been a couple of months already and Seungmin and his friends really missed the three, they also really wanted them to meet Hyunjin. And maybe Jeongin, too— Wait, Seungmin, you're getting distracted.
Anyway, the point is that they didn’t expect Minho to get a new roommate, but he posted a message online that he was looking for one just in case someone in town wanted to move there. They didn't expect a (very handsome) young man of about Seungmin's age to physically come to Minho’s apartment and apply for being his flatmate. Hyunjin had told them that he was looking for somewhere quiet and peaceful to live a simple life, which honestly made Seungmin wonder if the boy wasn't actually ten years older than him, because what twenty something year old would be looking for a simple and peaceful life already?
Apparently Hyunjin. And thus he became Minho's roommate as well as the talk of the town for a week or two. Everyone liked him, both because of his attractive face and because of his nice personality, and Seungmin was no exception. Hyunjin eventually picked up a job at the hair salon, and although he didn't know anything about how to cut or style hair, he picked things up quickly and he was eager to learn. The other hairdressers couldn't stop talking about it.
Exactly that eagerness to learn, together with the passion he had for anything that was dear to him and his soft heart were the three main reasons Seungmin eventually found himself falling for the tall boy.
But that was not what he should be thinking about right now. He should be thinking about his next case.
“Look, I appreciate getting a first case, but I want to solve more serious cases. Cases that Felix can help me with.” Seungmin told them. Hyunjin nodded as he brushed off any stray hairs on Felix's shoulders before unclipping the cover-up.
“I get it, Min.” He mused, before his face lit up a little. He put down his stuff and turned to Seungmin. “Oh! That reminds me, I have a mystery for you to solve. And I have something to tell you guys.”
Felix turned his chair around to look at Hyunjin properly, his eyes glistening with curiosity. Seungmin was also beginning to get pretty curious about what Hyunjin had in mind for them. Hyunjin grabbed a chair and placed it backwards to lean on the backrest.
“Guess what I— actually what Minho found in the mail yesterday! You guys know how Minho always rushes to see what's in the mail, and usually there's nothing in it for me, but yesterday there was a letter addressed to me!” He smiled.
Oh, that's right. Seungmin's heart suddenly sped up a whole lot and maybe he started sweating a little too. I was… in a mood a couple of days ago. I blame Jisung and his stupid philosophy about the romance of letters for that.
“Someone sent me a love letter !” Hyunjin exclaimed and Felix shot up, looking at Hyunjin and Seungmin with wide eyes. Seungmin felt his head become a whole lot warmer suddenly, but he tried to act surprised.
“Really?! Woah! You're really bringing some action into the town!” Felix pulled Hyunjin into a hug, distracting him enough for Seungmin to calm himself down a little.
“What? Does no one ever get a love letter around here? But your friend Jisung sends you guys letters all the time!” Hyunjin frowned, confused, but a rosy tint coloured his cheeks. “Does that mean this is a special occurrence…? But— I don't want to be in the newspaper again!”
Felix laughed heartily at the taller. “I think you are the only one who is worried about being in the newspaper again.”
Hyunjin huffed softly, crossing his arms. Then he looked at Seungmin. “It's actually also why I want to hire you two. I want you two to find out who wrote it, preferably discreetly.”
Ah, of course. I should've definitely seen this coming. Gosh. I can't be a private investigator in a small town where nothing happens and send someone a love letter while trying to stay anonymous. I thought I was supposed to be smart.
“Why—Why do you want to know who wrote it?” Seungmin asked, cringing at his own stuttering. Keep it cool, Seungmin.
“Why wouldn't I want to know? I want to thank them!” Hyunjin answered and he and Felix were looking at Seungmin as if it was obvious.
“Well, if I were to investigate your love letter, I will have to read it, you don't mind that?” Seungmin hoped this would make Hyunjin rethink giving Seungmin the case, because he really didn’t know how he would go about investigating his own love letter, but his gut told him Hyunjin wouldn’t let it go this easily.
“No, of course I don’t mind. I trust you.” Hyunjin assured him and Seungmin saw a sense of certainty in his eyes that he couldn’t quite place. “And, besides, I’m not smart enough to figure things out myself, so I need you.”
Seungmin felt like that wasn’t entirely true, though. Hyunjin wasn’t dumb. He always said he wasn’t that smart, but Seungmin thought Hyunjin was actually quite clever. He was definitely smart enough to figure out that Seungmin had written the love letter to him by himself, but if he wanted to hire Seungmin to find out who wrote it, Seungmin wasn’t really in a position to decline. He’d figure out how to handle things later. “Okay, I’ll help you. Felix, you in?”
“Of course I’m in!” Felix nodded with a bright smile. Seungmin hadn’t told him about the love letter— he hadn’t told anyone— but he probably already figured. Hyunjin clapped his hands together excitedly.
“Great! I’ll pay you guys, of cour—”
“No, no, don’t bother.” Seungmin cut him off, he wasn’t going to accept payment for investigating a letter he wrote himself. “You’re my friend, you don’t have to pay.”
“That’s not really how you run a business, though, is it?” Hyunjin gave him a cheeky smile and then gave him a playful push to his shoulder. “Come on, let me thank you for helping me. I’ll let you think of a way after you’ve solved the case.”
“I think that’s a great idea.” Felix approved, because of course he did. Seungmin tried his best not to analyze Hyunjin’s words, that would only drive him crazy. The older boy then stood up and brushed off his clothes.
“Okay, that’s good. I— I actually brought the letter with me so I could give it to you right away.” Hyunjin walked over to his bag and rummaged through it, only to pull out a neatly rolled up piece of paper, with a ribbon around it and all. It made Seungmin really happy (but also a little shy) to see how Hyunjin treated the letter.
He handed it over to Seungmin. “You can read it now and take it with you, as long as you return it in a decent state, because I thought the letter was really sweet, so I’d like to keep it.” He chuckled and Seungmin nodded, hoping his blush wasn’t evident. He couldn't believe that Hyunjin was this happy with his letter. “I’ll clean up for a bit now.”
Hyunjin walked away to get some cleaning supplies and clean up after the haircut and Seungmin let out a surprisingly deep sigh, his cheeks feeling hot . Felix laughed and hugged him. “Seungminnie! You didn’t tell me you wrote him a letter! Why don’t you just tell him right away that it’s you?”
“I can’t just do that…” Seungmin pouted. He couldn’t just confess to Hyunjin, there was simply too much at stake. “What if I ruin it and he rejects me and things get awkward between us and it ruins our friendship? And what if he then wants to avoid me but this town is just too damn small for that and he realizes that he hates it here because he can’t avoid me and he moves out and we never see him again?”
Felix blinked at him, a little taken aback by the sudden rant. “Oh… Well, okay drama king. I thought Hyunjin was more of a dramatic, but you just kicked him off the drama king throne.”
“Shut up. It’s possible.” Seungmin murmured, his face still too warm.
“Anything’s possible.” Felix shrugged, before he put on his thinking face. He then pointed a finger in the air and looked at Seungmin. “What if Hyunjin already knows it’s you and he just wants you to say it? It may be a little far fetched, but...”
“No, no, Hyunjin is pretty smart, although he says he’s not. It could be, but… I don’t know. I don’t know what to do yet. I just need to think.” He really wasn’t sure how to handle this right now, confessing seemed to be the logical option, no matter how he looked at the situation, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready for that. Maybe I shouldn’t have sent that damn letter. But he was so happy with it… I really don’t know what to do.
“It’s okay. I gotcha back.” Felix fondly patted his friend on the back. Seungmin knew Felix always had his back, it made him feel a little better, though. If Felix was there for him, maybe he could confess. Maybe.
“Here.” Seungmin held out a neatly rolled up piece of paper, ribbon around it and all, just like how Hyunjin had given it to him. Hyunjin looked up at him in surprise before taking it with a little smile. Seungmin sat down at the small table across from Hyunjin. The taller boy was on his lunch break and Seungmin and he usually spent those together, because Hyunjin liked to have company.
Hyunjin had asked him if he’d like it if he would bring some lunch for him the first time they had lunch together, but Seungmin told him they were meeting on his lunch break, so it would only be logical for Seungmin to bring him lunch, but Hyunjin insisted it’d be logical for him to bring Seungmin lunch since he was already supposed to bring himself lunch.
It ended up with them agreeing on both making each other lunch, but not themselves. Ever since then it had become a habit for them to make each other lunch, and it was a surprise every time again. Seungmin felt like that by now he knew every little thing about Hyunjin’s likes and dislikes when it came to (lunch) food.
“I’ve read it and scanned it, so you can have it back.” Seungmin said as they exchanged lunch boxes. Hyunjin made him fried rice with vegetables, it smelled really good. Seungmin felt a little embarrassed about the mixed egg sandwich he made for Hyunjin now.
“Oh, how’s it going with that? Making any progress?” Hyunjin asked him as he opened Seungmin’s pastel blue lunch box. It had a cute puppy on it and usually Seungmin would be shy to be seen with it in public, but with Hyunjin it didn’t matter. The other boy smiled as he saw the contents and sighed. “ Just what I was craving.”
Seungmin couldn’t hold back a smile. Of course. He wondered why he was so lucky to be able to make Hyunjin happy.
“Felix is analyzing the handwriting right now, but we still need some more samples.” He lied. That’s what Felix would be doing if they didn’t already know who wrote it. “It’s hard, though, not many people write letters anymore. Except for Jisung.”
“You’re right! You know, sometimes Minho says that he feels like he’s waiting for his husband to return from war. He’s thinking about using me as leverage to get them to visit for once, you know, telling them they’ll have to come and visit for them to meet me. Or invite us over.” Hyunjin snickered, but Seungmin could relate, he missed his friends. He was used to being able to see them whenever he felt like it, or whenever they felt like it. He hadn’t seen them in months, and reading their letters was just not the same as actually seeing his friends.
“You miss them?” Hyunjin read his mind. Seungmin nodded. “I get it, I miss Jeongin a lot too, but at least he comes to visit us frequently.”
Jeongin. Seungmin also wanted Chan, Changbin and Jisung to meet him one day. Jeongin was the son of close friends of Hyunjin's family and he was really nice, Hyunjin and him were really close. Seungmin didn’t know any other friends of Hyunjin from before he moved here, he never talked about anyone other than Jeongin.
“But, uhm… about the love letter. You read it, right?” Hyunjin began, raising his eyebrows at Seungmin in question, who confirmed. “What did you think about it?”
“What—? Uhh…” Seungmin stuttered. Shit, I didn’t prepare to answer a question like this. Hyunjin was looking at him expectantly, so he couldn’t possibly avoid answering. Stalling it is. “Do you want my professional opinion or my opinion as a friend, like what if I got a letter like that?”
“The second one of course!” Hyunjin rolled his eyes exasperatedly before looking at Seungmin with a smile that said he wasn’t really annoyed. “You are my friend before you are my detective— before you are a detective.”
“Okay, okay. I’m glad you think I’m more than my job—”
“Of course I think that!” Hyunjin dramatically put down his lunch, staring at Seungmin with wide eyes and open mouth. “Who do you think I am, Minnie?!”
“Just kidding~” Seungmin giggled, Hyunjin could be so dramatic sometimes, although he was probably just playing around.
“Now stop stalling and tell me what you thought of the letter.” Hyunjin told him sternly before continuing his lunch, he had seen right through Seungmin again. Maybe Seungmin was just easy to read, maybe Hyunjin was just attentive, maybe Seungmin just let his guard down around Hyunjin, or maybe all of the above.
“Fine, I’ll stop stalling.” Seungmin relented. He took a breath, willing himself not to blush this time. “I thought the letter was very sweet, I… I get why someone would write it to you. I mean… yeah, I could feel that the person who wrote it was sincere, I guess? What— What did you think of it?”
“The same thing, actually. It was really sweet and I feel like the person who wrote it knows me well.” Hyunjin leaned his head on his hand, smiling while thinking about the contents of the letter and Seungmin's stomach did a double somersault. “I feel like they listen to me when I talk and they know what I like.”
Oh my goodness. Seungmin was about to combust on the spot, his whole body felt warm and his insides were doing acrobatics. Does he know I wrote it? He said this to me once, but does that mean that he knows?
“Do you have an idea who could have written it?” Seungmin asked hesitantly, trying to not explode while making eye contact with Hyunjin. He didn't have to try for long, though, because Hyunjin moved his gaze down to his hands, his cheeks colouring a slight pink, his lips twitching up into a bashful smile.
“Why would I hire you if I already knew who wrote the letter?” Hyunjin murmured after a moment of silence, a smile still adorning his pretty face. Seungmin wasn't sure if he was asking Seungmin this or if it was a rhetorical question. Seungmin didn't know the answer to that question, though.
“To be sure about it before you confront them?” Seungmin guessed, out loud. He wasn't sure if he meant to say it out loud, but he was curious. He needed to know if Hyunjin was onto him or not— He needed to know something about Hyunjin's thoughts on who wrote the letter.
Hyunjin didn't answer him, though. He just smiled that gosh darn beautiful smile of his.
“Do you have someone you hope wrote the letter?” Seungmin asked instead, hoping he'd get an answer this time. He hoped that he wasn't pushing, but Hyunjin didn't look uncomfortable, so things should be fine.
“Maybe I do. I'll tell you about it after you've figured out who wrote it. I don't want to jinx the investigation.” He gave an answer this time, although not a clear one, but Seungmin understood.
“You— You do know that this is a small town, right? And, that if it's not the person that you’re hoping it is, you won't be able to easily avoid the person who did write it, in case things get awkward.” Seungmin said, and he hoped Hyunjin wouldn't see that he was kinda nervous about his response. Hyunjin tilted his head in question.
“What does that have to do with anything, though? I can reject someone without things getting awkward hopefully. If someone sent me a sweet letter like this, I'm sure they will be understanding if I don't have feelings for them. Why would I want to avoid someone like that?” Hyunjin said it as if it was obvious, but Seungmin felt a big weight fall off of his shoulders. It made him feel like he was ready to confess.
“You think so? Because they— Uhh, if someone has strong feelings for you, it might get awkward. You might realize you actually really want to get out of this shitty town.” Seungmin needed just a little more certainty that things wouldn't go to hell if he would confess.
“What? You're worried that I'll leave? No way !” Hyunjin exclaimed. “My life has become so much better since I moved here! I have great friends and my biggest worries are if I'm going to be in the newspaper again or when I'm going to meet my friends' friends or when Jeongin comes to visit. I wouldn't leave you guys because of a love letter, it doesn't matter how sweet I think it is, or how awkward it gets— although I’m sure that that won't happen.”
Wow. Okay, Seungmin would definitely keep that in mind. He felt a little embarrassed that he underestimated their friendship like this, though. Hyunjin was pretty passionate about his friends, Seungmin knew that.
“You’re right, sorry. I just… was thinking about worst-case-scenarios.” Seungmin chuckled awkwardly.
“It’s okay.” Hyunjin closed the lunch box and returned it to Seungmin. Seungmin quickly cleaned up for himself and returned Hyunjin’s lunch box too.
“I have to go back to the salon now, so I’ll see you later, Minnie!” The taller boy gathered his stuff and ruffled Seungmin’s head fondly before waving him goodbye with a bright smile. “Thank you for returning the letter, byebye!”
It was decided. Seungmin would confess to Hyunjin tomorrow.
Seungmin was rummaging through his notes in search for some things he could show Hyunjin today while he was on the phone with Felix, his phone hooked between his ear and his right shoulder. “I don’t really have many notes on real cases yet, and I don’t know if I should show my college notes… Maybe I should just tell him upfront that it’s me? Do you think he’ll believe me without any evidence?”
“Of course he will! Why would you lie to him?” Felix assured him through the phone. “Didn’t you say you were wondering if he already knew too? Like, I don’t want to say that you’re obvious when you show your favoritism for Hyunjin, but you treat him differently than you treat us. Maybe he has caught onto that as well. But maybe not. Long story short — You don’t need any evidence I think.”
“You’re right. But the reason I treat everyone differently is because people are different. Not everyone’s ideals are the same, so—” Seungmin began.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. I meant you could kinda tell that you really like Hyunjin from the way you treat him. At least, Minho and I could.” Felix interrupted him.
“Yes, I figured that Minho had found out too somehow.” He sighed deeply, leaving his stuff alone. Felix was right, he wouldn’t need any evidence to tell Hyunjin that he had written the letter, Hyunjin would believe him without.
“So, you’re going to tell him today?” Felix asked after a moment of silence. That’s right, Seungmin had said that. Today would be a good day since Hyunjin had the day off, but Minho did work today, so Hyunjin would probably be alone in the apartment today. Seungmin had also already texted Hyunjin if he could come by to show him some of the progress of the case today, so he couldn’t really back out now.
“Yes.” He said, trying to keep his voice steady, but nerves took over a little. “Will— Will you come with me? For emotional support?”
Seungmin heard Felix giggle on the other side of the line, and he slumped a little. He just couldn’t help but be nervous to tell Hyunjin about his feelings, he wasn’t the best with confrontations like that. He could relate to others and their situations and feelings easily, but saying his own feelings out loud had always been a thing for Seungmin.
“Yes. Anytime.” Felix answered. “Do you wanna go now? Get things over with?”
“Yeah, I told Hyunjin I’d stop by sometime in the afternoon, so now would be good.” Seungmin agreed. Let’s get this over with.
“I’ll meet you in front of Minho’s building?”
“Yes, see you in a couple of minutes.”
A lot of thoughts raced through Seungmin’s head in the couple of minutes between hanging up and the arrival of Felix in front of the apartment building where Minho and Hyunjin lived. It was just a couple of buildings away from where both Seungmin and Felix lived, just across from the pizza place. (No wonder Minho could complain about the smell of pizza sometimes.)
He thought about every possible outcome to confessing, which wasn’t the best plan he had ever had, so he resorted to thinking about other things, like the fact that they had agreed to Hyunjin thinking of a form of payment after Seungmin had solved the case. Oh shit. Maybe he could still get out of that by saying he technically didn’t solve any case if things were to go sideways.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by a familiar voice. Felix came jogging up to him and greeted him with a pat on the back. “Hey man, you ready?”
Seungmin sighed, he was as ready as he could get, but before he could answer, he saw someone exit the building. Seungmin called out to her. “Hey! Momo, keep the door open!”
Momo turned to look at the two boys. “Oh! Hi, Seungmin, Felix. Are you guys visiting Hyunjin?”
“Yeah, he’s home, right?” Seungmin told her while he and Felix jogged to the door to keep it open so Momo wouldn’t have to anymore.
“Yes, I saw him go out this morning, but I heard sounds coming from the apartment earlier, so I believe he’s back. I’m going out now, so bye!” She waved them goodbye and Felix and Seungmin entered the building. They climbed the stairs to the third floor and approached Hyunjin and Minho’s apartment.
Seungmin took a deep breath. Okay, now’s the time. You can do it. Felix whispered some encouraging words to him as he raised his hand to knock, but he didn’t really hear what he was saying, because he was distracted by the fact that the door was slightly ajar.
Huh?
Seungmin lowered his hand and did a retake on the door and yes, the door was really open. Suddenly he shivered. Felix frowned at him.
“Seungmin? Come on, why aren’t you knocking?” Felix took a step closer, but Seungmin held up his hand to stop him. His gut told him something was off. It could be nothing, but he had resolved to listen to his gut more often. Momo said that Hyunjin went out this morning, but that she heard sounds coming from the apartment earlier… Did he just forget to close the door when he came back, or…?
“Wait. The door’s open.” Seungmin whispered and Felix got the hint. Seungmin leaned forward to listen if there was someone in the apartment, but he couldn’t hear anything coming from inside, that was probably a bad sign, though.
“I don’t hear anything.” Felix confirmed for him, looking at Seungmin with a slightly afraid look. Seungmin pressed his lips together, his heart was bouncing harshly against his ribcage. What if something happened?
He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, feeling around for the latex gloves he carried around ever since his professors on forensic science had scared him into doing so. He slipped them onto his hands, just in case.
“What are you doing…?” His friend whispered shaklily.
“Just a precaution.” Seungmin told him as he inspected the door further. The lock seemed broken, but then again the lock was old and fragile, Minho had complained about it multiple times. I’ve gotta go inside. “I’m going to open the door, uhm. Be careful, Lix.”
He carefully pushed the door open and they were met with a sight that made Seungmin’s stomach drop. The apartment was absolutely trashed , papers were spread everywhere, every drawer in sight was open, chairs were pushed over, even the seating of the couch was thrown across the room. The doors to the bedrooms were open too, and Seungmin saw clothes spread out all over the floor.
“Fuck.” Felix breathed out. He’s right. Fuck. Seungmin stepped foot inside the apartment and quickly but carefully looked around every room to check if there was anyone inside. He wasn’t mentally prepared to fight anyone, he liked to call himself a nonviolent private investigator, (he technically was a forensic scientist, after all) but he knew that there was the possibility that he had to fight someone and if it was to protect Hyunjin, he would do it. Prepared or not.
As soon as he saw that nobody was inside and he couldn't spot anyone suspicious just outside the apartment, he let out a breath, thank goodness no burglars , and motioned Felix, who had been watching him from the hallway timidly, to come inside. Meanwhile he pulled one glove off of his hand so he could use it to dial Hyunjin.
“Shit man, did they get robbed? Where’s Hyunjin?” Felix looked around with a concerned look on his face. “By the way, if there were people still inside, I would’ve come to help you fight them with my taekwondo skills after calling the police.”
Seungmin nodded absentmindedly, not really processing what Felix was saying, he was kind of a talker when he was nervous, while Seungmin usually got quiet when he was nervous or worried. Now he felt like he was going to explode if Hyunjin wouldn’t pick up his phone.
“Hey there, this is Hyunjin, I’m not here right now, so leave a message — ”
Fuck.
Seungmin hung up and redialed Hyunjin’s number. Felix was vibrating next to him. “Is— Is he not picking up?” Seungmin didn’t want to answer that yet, there was still a chance he just missed it. He concentrated on keeping his breathing calm as he listened to the ringing.
“Hey there, this is Hyunjin — ”
No!
Again.
Ring… ring… ring… ring… ring…
“Hey there — ”
Seungmin would’ve probably crushed his phone if it wasn’t for Felix stopping him. “Calm down, Seungmin! Stop. You’ve gotta figure out what happened. You can’t do that if you’re stressed like this.”
Felix was right. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down. Maybe Hyunjin wasn’t gone, maybe he was. Either way, he, and Minho too, probably needed Seungmin’s help with figuring out what happened to their apartment, but he wouldn’t be able to help if he was going crazy because he was thinking about ‘what if’s . He needed to clear his mind and figure out what happened.
End of chapter 1