Night Peril

You Miss Something That you Can't Place, but you Can't Deny It

Lin woke up to the sound of her alarm going off. She reached over and turned it off before lying on her back and shutting her eyes for a second. She got up and went about her daily routine of showering, eating breakfast, and brushing her teeth before getting ready for work.

As she slipped her shoes on and started out the door, a sinking feeling hit in the bottom of her stomach, and she abruptly felt nauseous. She didn't feel like she was going to throw up, it was almost like a sense of anxiety that had snuck up on her.

She continued out the door, ignoring the feeling, and made her way to work.

She held her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun as she looked up at the sky. Walking to work probably wasn't a good idea in the morning heat, but it had been a while since she did so.

When she walked past the cafe, she looked over at the flower shop. The front looked... neater? Like someone had finally organized the flowers and trimmed the dead leaves off of the plants. She stopped walking for a moment when she noticed the freshly planted panda lilies in one of the shop's windowsill.

The rhythmic vibration coming from Lin's pocket pulled her attention. "Hey, Saikhan... Yeah, I'm on my way." She answered, looking back at the panda lilies for a moment before continuing her walk to work.

When she walked into the station, Saikhan greeted her with a cup of coffee and a stack of papers, "Happy Monday." he said sarcastically. "What the fuck is all of this?" Lin said quietly, not wanting the other officers to hear her talk like that. She took the papers from Saikhan and started looking through them.

Saikhan chuckled as he followed Lin back to her office with her coffee still in his hand.

She took a seat behind her desk, Saikhan taking the spot across it. He sat Lin's coffee on the desk, and she gave him a side eye. "Don't worry, there's no creamer in it." He laughed.

"Good," She picked up the coffee and took a sip, "that was a shit prank you pulled last week." she said. "Yeah, I really need to up my game." Saikhan leaned back in his chair. "Maybe one day I'll replace the coffee brand with that cheap stuff from the corner store-" "I will fire you." Lin shot daggers with her eyes, causing Saikhan to laugh again.

Almost every workday started like this. Saikhan brings Lin a coffee, then he sits down and pesters her for an hour, sometimes longer on his good days. And every time, Lin sits in her chair, rolling her eyes and letting out drawn out sighs.

But what she'll never tell Saikhan is how much she's appreciated his companionship over the years. When she needed someone to talk to, without having to hear their concern or judgement, he was always there. She caught on a while ago that his 'accidental' takeout orders for two was really his way of making sure she ate on her late nights in the office. And when Lin would wake up in her office chair, hunched over her desk, she knew Saikhan was the one who neatly organized her papers and put a blanket over her shoulders.

He's a good friend.

"Did you see me out there moving desks around the other day? Yeah, my wife says I've got better muscles than any other man she knows." Saikhan said lightheartedly as he flexed his arm.

I'll never tell him that though. It'd go straight to his ego, Lin simply scoffed at him, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Oh, uh, by the way, a council member dropped off a few files for you," Saikhan pointed to the yellow folders that were almost invisible compared to everything else on Lin's desk.

"He didn't step foot in here...did he?" Lin raised her eyebrows. "Not since you turned the Air Temple into an island." Saikhan chuckled. "I didn't turn the Air Temple into anything," Lin opened up one of the folders, "I just gave the okay." she said with a small smirk.