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Yeo-jin yanked off the blanket off of her body for probably the fifth time within the last half hour. She couldn’t seem to find the right position or temperature to fall asleep to. She had been restlessly tossing and turning in hopes of falling asleep soon, but sleep continued to elude her.

She sighed. It had been a few days since Choi Bit stepped down from her position amidst the Police-Prosecution council and Park Gwang-su case cover-up controversies. She still remembered the somber look her previous superior gave her before walking out of the headquarters for the last time. She hadn’t saluted her that day like the rest of her coworkers had. Whether it was out of indignance or sheer disappointment, she really didn’t know.

She also remembered when Inspector Choi and Inspector Yoo cornered her in an empty conference room after Chief Choi’s dismissal. She wasn’t going to let them intimidate her and get the upper hand, so she stood her ground and brushed off their poorly veiled threats. When they finally left her alone, it came crashing down on her on how tired she was. She no longer had the senior she looked up to. She also had no team to fall back on like she did back in Yongsan station. Everyone only looked at her in judgment and contempt.

Yeo-jin was truly alone.

She didn’t really regret everything she had done up to this point. Everything she had done, she did in pursuit of justice and truth. She was assured in her actions that she did nothing wrong. Yet, she couldn’t figure out for the life of her why she was being ostracized. Why was she being the one made to feel at fault?

She sat up on the bed and grabbed her phone. Her phone screen glared at her menacingly, flashing the current time: 2:00 A.M. Thankfully, it was the weekend. If she weren’t going to be able to sleep, she might as well just read or watch something— anything to keep her out of her maudlin thoughts.

She started going through her usual routine of endlessly scrolling through her Instagram feed, occasionally coming across pictures and videos of adorable animals which immediately put her in a better mood than a few minutes ago. One particular video of a hamster looking all shocked and frazzled after being poked on its behind amused her greatly and somehow reminded her of Prosecutor Hwang whenever he was surprised about something.

Now thinking about it, Prosecutor Hwang had spent most of his life being content with working alone. He even seemed to dislike working closely with others when she had first met him. She wondered how he was able to cope with it. Was he really just a solitary person by nature? Or did he just become desensitized to people’s judgment towards him over the years even when he only did what was right? That didn’t feel right to her at all.

Without thinking, she opened her messaging application and sent Prosecutor Hwang a simple message: “Prosecutor Hwang.”

Yeo-jin paused. Prosecutor Hwang had once again entered her thoughts without warning. Then, she looked at her phone before throwing it across the bed out of panic. What was she doing? It was literally through the ungodly hours of the night, and she just impulsively sent him the most useless message in the world. She quickly retrieved her phone to delete the message for the both of them, but she saw that Prosecutor Hwang had already seen her message and was already typing back.

She watched as he saw her last message but stopped replying. She sighed in both relief and regret. She didn’t know what had gotten into her all of a sudden to even bother him. Did she really feel that lonely that she just had to message the first person she thought of? He was probably awake for completely different reasons from her own, like reading and writing documents following Chief Woo’s involvement in the same case.

She shook her head. Why was she even so worked up about something as simple as a text message? She wouldn’t have half of this reaction if she did the same mistake to Detective Jang. Besides, the odds that Prosecutor Hwang wouldn’t care about her mishap or he would probably even forget it happened were greatly favorable.

Maybe, subconsciously, she did want to talk to him. She wanted to know how he dealt with harsh comments being thrown at him. She wanted him to tell her that it wasn’t her fault, that she didn’t do anything wrong, that she was only doing her job. She wanted someone who truly understood to comfort her. She just wanted someone, him, to be by her side.

She promptly decided to make herself a hot cup of tea to settle her nerves and went back to her social media scrolling. However, before she could settle back in bed with her tea and that calming rationale in mind, her phone buzzed. It was an incoming call from Prosecutor Hwang. She had a funny thought that maybe Prosecutor Hwang was doing this as payback, but she quickly dismissed that, knowing full well that that man probably didn’t have a maliciously funny bone in his body to do something like that.

“Hello, Prosecutor Hwang?”

“Are you still awake?”

“Yes, why?”

“I’m outside your apartment building.”

“What?”

Yeo-jin quickly grabbed her coat and went to the balcony. She saw Prosecutor Hwang standing out in the cold, waiting for her to remotely open the gate. She felt a fleeting moment of déjà vu from when he had first insisted visiting her just to check on her wellbeing. Perplexed by the sequence of events that had happened within the past thirty-odd minutes, she opened the gate to let him in, thinking it possibly couldn’t get any weirder anymore.

“What are you doing here?” she immediately asked once he reached the top of the stairs. He looked just as confused as how she felt.

“I came to see if you were okay,” Prosecutor Hwang answered simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“You didn’t have to come all this way for that.”

“I asked you through text, but you didn’t answer the question. So, I thought I should come by to be sure.”

Yeo-jin sighed. So, she was wrong in thinking he would just forget about it. At the end of the day, Prosecutor Hwang was still the most thoughtful person she knew despite everyone else, including himself, thinking otherwise. She felt bad that he even came all this way just to ask if she were doing alright just to send him back to the dormitory, so inviting him in was the most sensible thing to do.

She supposed that making hot tea at this hour was a blessing in disguise, as she at least had something to welcome him with. She handed him a cup before settling down on the sofa beside him, and they drank their teas in silence.

“I’m sorry for texting you all of a sudden,” she sheepishly apologized, breaking their silence between them. “I really didn’t mean to disturb you, especially this late. I know it was really random, but you didn’t have to come here to check on me.”

“I wanted to come here. You wouldn’t send a message for no reason.”

“I saw a random hamster video and thought it reminded me of you,” she said, shrugging. It was partly the truth.

“Me, a hamster?” He gave her a confused look, to which she laughed at. She could see him relax a bit. “Why were you still awake? You don’t usually stay up.”

“I wonder,” she replied vaguely. Prosecutor Hwang continued to stare at her expectantly. “Do you ever feel… lonely at work?”

“No.” Yeo-jin looked at his straight expression and laughed.

“That was a stupid question, wasn’t it?”

“I’ve never been a friendly person,” he expounded. “People avoid me on their own, but I don’t mind that. I prefer to work alone and on my own pace when I can. But that doesn’t apply for everyone.”

“At least you deal with stuff like that well,” she muttered.

Prosecutor Hwang looked at her in surprise. She set down her cup on the table, kind of embarrassed that she’s even opening up about something so silly. He must think she was being irrational.

“Are your coworkers not treating you well?” he asked.

“That’s putting it lightly.” She snorted but quickly relented. “But maybe I’m just overreacting.”

“Is it because of Choi Bit stepped down from being chief?”

“Mostly.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know. I know that objectively.” She took a deep breath. “But when everyone else at me with so much disdain and judgment, it’s kind of hard not to think it is.”

“All you did was uncover the truth. You didn’t force her to step down.”

“I just feel bad. Yes, I was angry and disappointed she had a part in covering up Park Gwang-su case, but even after all that, I know she’s not a bad person. I really looked up to her. I wanted to be like her, to be able to rise up the ranks to make a bigger impact in the long run. Maybe I still do see her as a role model. She must really hate me now though.”

“She doesn’t,” Prosecutor Hwang replied strongly, which surprised even Yeo-jin. How would he know? But one look in his eyes made her believe his statement, which at least put her a little more at ease.

“I hope you’re right about that, Prosecutor Hwang.”

“I know I’m right.”

Yeo-jin didn’t know where his strong convictions of Choi Bit not hating her were coming from in the first place, but if she could believe anybody’s gut instincts or feelings, it would be his. Maybe one day she would finally be able to face ex-Chief Choi and ask her herself, but for now, Prosecutor Hwang’s reassurance was enough for her. She leaned back on the couch, contemplating whether she should continue on with her needless rant. Surprisingly, he started up the conversation again.

“Do you miss being back in Yongsan Station with your old team?” he asked.

“Very much,” she muttered. “You know, I was so happy when I got to drag Detective Jang with me to be part of the council. At least it felt a bit like I was back working with people who didn’t treat me like an outsider.”

“It was nice to see him again.”

“Detective Jang tells me about how the old team still asks about me and wants to check up on me from time to time.”

“Have you visited them lately?”

“No, I’ve been too busy because of everything. So much paperwork. I’m sure you can relate. It’s our mess, after all.”

“Yes, it is.” Prosecutor Hwang smiled a little.

“My teammates from headquarters are unfortunately not as understanding,” she followed up, and he immediately lost his smile. “I don’t like speaking ill of others but… Well, recently, two other officers took me aside and practically told me— no, threatened me to leave because I make everyone uncomfortable and no one would want to work with me anyway. I told them to get lost, of course.”

Yeo-jin conveniently left out the part where she wasn’t as strong as she was making herself seem. She was embarrassed that she immediately cried out of anger and frustration because of how unfair everything seemed to be for her. Just recalling that moment again made her eyes start to sting again, and she quickly blinked to force away the tears that were starting to form in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Prosecutor Hwang softly said, and she looked back at him in surprise.

“What for?”

“Just in general. I’m sorry that you’re being treated so poorly in the police headquarters when you were just doing what’s expected of you. I guess not everyone there is intelligent enough to see that.”

“Prosecutor Hwang!”

“What?” He shrugged. “It’s true.”

“You don’t even know them!”

“You’re a good person. Anyone who treats you badly is a bad person.” The way Prosecutor Hwang said it in such a matter-of-fact way made her snort in amusement.

“It’s that simple?”

“Anyone who treats you badly isn’t worthy of compliments.”

“You’re putting me on such a high pedestal, Prosecutor Hwang.” She cleared her trying throat in an attempt to compose herself and prevent herself from crying once more. Unfortunately, it sounded more like a strangled cough on her end.

“I’ll get you some water,” Prosecutor Hwang told her before standing up and heading for her kitchen.

She almost forgot how it felt to not be treated like a villain. After enduring days –no, weeks even– of ostracism and taunts from people she saw everyday, it felt so good to get a reprieve from all that. Of course, her old Yongsan teammates were still on her side, but she couldn’t possibly involve them in her problems. She was scared for what would happen to them if they openly showed their support for her. The higherups were the pettiest out of everyone after all.

It was different with Prosecutor Hwang though. He was even on the opposing side of the council.  He was busy on his end of affairs as well because of the same case. Yet, throughout it all, from the first day they met again until now, he had been the one constant thing in her life.

When Prosecutor Hwang suddenly showed up her apartment building earlier, she felt a wave of emotions wash over her. Shock was the forefront of everything, then it was followed by disbelief, appreciation, and, dare she say, affection. She still couldn’t believe he came drove in the middle of the night just to check on her because of a stupid text she sent on a whim.

No matter how different their personalities were and no matter how far apart they were, only he saw and understood how she felt.

Yeo-jin watched as Prosecutor Hwang rummaged through her cupboards for a clean glass before opening her refrigerator. Without much thought, she gathered up all the courage she had, silently walked behind him, and, just as he was reaching for a pitcher of water, hugged him from behind.

“Thank you,” she whispered. She could feel Prosecutor Hwang tense up because of the sudden contact in her arms, but before she could regret her decision, he also relaxed immediately. She supposed that the fact he hadn’t violently pushed her away was a good sign. They stayed like in that position for a good few seconds before he spoke up.

“Your electricity bill is going to run up if you don’t let me close the fridge door.”

Yeo-jin laughed. That was the most positive and most Hwang Si-mok-like response she could get from him about her suddenly hugging him. She slowly let him go, and he was finally able to grab for a pitcher before closing the door and placing it on the counter.

“Sorry for invading your personal space. I just didn’t know how else to express my appreciation.” She looked down, the consequences of what she just did finally catching up to her.

“It’s okay. I’m just glad I was able to provide a little comfort at least. You can talk to me any time about anything, I won’t ever mind.”

“You do so much for me, you know that?”

“I just do what I want to do and what I think you deserve.”

“Prosecutor Hwang?” He looked at her. “You’re too sweet. Shut up.”

“No one has ever called me that before,” he said under his breath, sounding utterly confused.

She went to hug him again, and this time, he seemed to welcome her with open arms (well, as “open arms” as Hwang Si-mok can be). She could even feel him gently patting her back. She smiled to herself.

Maybe it was just the high from the heavy weight she felt leaving her shoulders, but just this once, she acknowledged and indulged her selfishness and pride. No one else could hold him the way she did. No one else could have him by their side the way she did. And no one else could say that Prosecutor Hwang Si-mok actually willingly hugged them back the way she did.

---

Yeo-jin stretched her arms and took in the scent of coffee wafting through the room. She was tempted to just bury herself under the covers, especially that she finally got to sleep after staying up so late. Just as she turned to find another comfortable position to go back to sleep to, she paused with a sudden realization. Why did her apartment smell like coffee?

She jolted awake and found herself still on the couch, just as she had been the night before. Upon opening her eyes, she was immediately greeted by the sight of Prosecutor Hwang busying himself in front of her kitchen counter, whom she surmised was the coffee-brewing culprit. As luck would have it, he also turned around and saw her gobsmacked expression.

“You fell asleep last night,” Prosecutor Hwang explained without preamble. He walked towards her and placed two mugs of hot coffee on the center table.

“Oh!” That explained why she couldn’t remember going to sleep, let alone why she was still on the couch. Where did the blanket come from then? Did Prosecutor Hwang put it over her? “Oh, that’s so rude of me. I’m sorry, I— ” she started rambling, but he waved off her apology.

“Stop. I don’t mind. I stayed on my own volition.” He paused. “And I didn’t do anything untowardly. I stayed on the other end of the couch the whole time.”

“What? Oh! Oh no. I would never think that of you,” she rushed to placate him, blushing at the implication. “Thank you. For staying and everything.” He simply nodded.

She held the mug and felt the warmth seeping through her palms. She couldn’t remember the last time she was able to take a slow morning like this, just having coffee on the sofa with a friend and not thinking and dreading about the upcoming work week. She took a sip and was surprised that it was just how she liked her coffee. How did Prosecutor Hwang even do that? A lucky guess?

Still, the warmth of the beverage was no match for the warmth of Prosecutor Hwang’s embrace last night. Yeo-jin found a new safe space, and it was within Hwang Si-mok’s arms.