Kyujin's house always felt like a paradise.
It wasn't necessarily grand, just a small ranch tucked away a few streets away from the school the girls attended, but it made up for it with atmosphere. The house painted a light tan inside, with dark brown flooring and white furniture. Family photos covered the walls, ranging from when Kyujin first came to them, to Eunchae and Kyujin on their first day of kindergarten. Both kids were extremely shy, but somehow they found each other that day and had been friends ever since. Some of Eunchae's drawings were even up on the fridge, sandwiched between Kyujin's near-perfect report card and certificates of achievement. Eunchae used to get sad when she looked at their fridge, her mother would never put her stuff on their fridge. Her mother only cared about her when she wanted something. Maybe she would draw a picture to put up on Yunjin's fridge, Yunjin might let her.
Kyujin also had a dog, Gucci. Well, Kyujin really had two, but Wootzu was ugly and mean so she pretended he didn't exist. And she also really liked Kyujin's parents, they were really nice and gave her snacks and food. Sometimes Kyujin would bring her food to eat at school, sometimes Eunchae would starve between her visits to the Ahn household, not that she ever told them. Yunjin had dropped her off a few hours earlier, and they were already ready for bed, coloring on the floor of Kyujin's bedroom.
Kyujin wasn't a good artist, but hey neither was Eunchae, so they both liked to fill in coloring books. Kyujin had a brand new coloring book that she was so excited to share with Eunchae, this one was of different breeds of dogs. She had gotten it as a reward for her grades this semester, choosing a coloring book because Eunchae liked to do them when she would sneak over at night. If Eunchae was upset, Kyujin would pull out some colored pencils and a page of the paper as they laid on the floor and talked about what upset her. Eunchae would do the same when Kyujin was upset as well. Eunchae had picked a small dachshund that she was focused on coloring light tan, Kyujin a fluffy golden retriever she was shading in pink.
"Did you do the math homework last night?" Eunchae asked, reaching over to grab a green pencil to coloring in the grass, "I had a hard time."
"Yeah, did you do the counting thing Ms.Pham had taught us?"
"I did, but I was confused."
"You'll get it." Kyujin smiled, picking up a blue, "Are you still with that lady that picks you up after school?"
"Yes," Eunchae smiled, "I am, isn't she so cool? Did you see her badge yesterday?"
"I did!" Kyujin matched Eunchae's tone, getting excited herself, "Does she really work with Scooby-Doo?"
"I think so! She said there's a dog at her work, it has to be Scooby!"
"We need to go to meet him!"
"I'll ask her if we can." Eunchae smiled, putting down the green.
"You don't cry anymore, I'm happy," Kyujin commented, "It made me sad when you cried."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay!" Kyujin reached over to take the green from Mina's side of the pile, "Mommy said it's good when people cry, something about letting the bad out. Oh! Mommy wanted me to ask you if you still wanted some of my old clothes, I just got some new ones so you can have that red sweater you like!"
"I'm good, I have new clothes now too!" Eunchae stood up, pointing to the fluffy pajamas she was wearing, "Look, now we are the same!"
"Is the nice lady coming to parents' day? Or is your mommy going to come?" Kyujin looked down at her now finished drawing. It looked like a rainbow had thrown up on, perfect.
"I didn't ask, I might just be alone."
"You can have one of my moms. They both say that you are part of the family."
"I know, I like your moms."
"Me too." Kyujin suddenly clapped, standing up and dug through her closet. She came out with a pack of crayons and a small blue notepad, "My mommy told me when you left you couldn't bring your stuff with you, so I bought you a new journal! I know you drew stuff in your old one, but now you can draw more!"
Kyujin pressed the items into Eunchae's hands, smiling at her. It had been so unexpected, so random that Eunchae was left wondering what to say or even do, she just settled on a small thank you, flipping through the pages. She opened the box and handed Eunchae a crayon, "Do you want to fill in the first page with me?" Eunchae had never let anyone touch her journal before, one time when Kyujin had moved it she had started crying and got so angry she wouldn't talk to her for two days, it was easy to imagine how shocked Kyujin was at the proposition. The youngest was quick to nod along, helping Eunchae draw a small picture of their sleepover.
***
When Chaewon had texted her about an ultra-romantic, very special time, followed by another text for her to wear sneakers and comfortable clothing, Yunjin wasn't sure what the hell the woman was up to this time. But out of all the possibilities, hiking was not one of the scenarios that Yunjin had thought of. But here Chaewon was, excitedly smiling at her as they started to walk down the trail, alone. It was almost nine at night, why were they going to walk through the woods was beyond her, it really just felt like the setup to a bad horror movie. But Chaewon looked excited, so Yunjin would shut up and just deal with it.
"Long day?" Yunjin asked, watching as Chaewon yawned for what must've been the seventh time since they started their walk.
"Just a lot of paperwork, work decided it would be fun to give me two extra cases."
"Paperwork is the enemy."
"If I knew how much of it I would have to do, I might have decided on a different career path."
"Like what?"
"A chef."
The image of Kim Chaewon, in a white chef's hat running around a kitchen threatened to make Yunjin burst out laughing. Only Chaewon. "I don't know if I could picture that."
"Listen, imagine me, a sushi bar, and I could cook for you every night. No paperwork, just fish."
"Speaking of fish, I won tickets to the aquarium at work in a raffle," Yunjin hummed, " I just thought Eunchae would like to see the fish, she seems like she would. It's for tomorrow if you want to come."
She turned to Chaewon, trying not to let it show how hopeful she was. She could see Chaewon trying to check her mental calendar, before sighing, "I have court tomorrow, I can't." Chaewon shrugged, "That's probably best though, I don't think Eunchae wants to see me anyway. I don't want to stress her out."
Yunjin took a second, Chaewon was right but she was wrong at the same time. It was becoming increasingly clear Eunchae had very strict boundaries; she only wanted to be touched when she initiated touch, she didn't like when people were loud or invaded her space, she got scared around people she didn't know or Yunjin didn't properly introduce her to. While Eunchae had these boundaries and enforced them for herself, she wasn't very transparent on what they were exactly. Maybe it was because she was scared of speaking her mind, or maybe she herself just didn't realize she had them, Yunjin couldn't be sure. But Chaewon had no idea, and no one could have expected her to know. Eunchae was fond of Chaewon, that was for sure, but Chaewon had definitely put stress on the child that Yunjin wasn't sure Eunchae knew exactly how to handle. Eunchae seemed to have gotten over whatever it was that Chaewon did that freaked her out so bad, satisfied and reassured that Chaewon had pinky promised to not do it again, "She's not mad at you, I think you saved yourself with that pinky promise."
"I've felt so bad ever since then, I really had no idea."
"I know." Yunjin hummed, "When we got home the other night she was so scared that I was mad at her."
"Why would you be mad at her?"
"I have no idea."
"I've started working on her case a bit," Chaewon shook her head, releasing a heavy sigh, "It's a lot. The house was disgusting, there was absolutely no food in it, and we think Eunchae was sleeping in a suitcase because there wasn't a mattress in the entire house. Her mom has traces of heroin in her system, I mean she was high out of her mind when police arrived, servicing a man for her fix. Our current theory is that she was involved in prostitution of some kind, and that's why Eunchae was wandering around that late. I have no idea if a father is even in the picture, but it's just- This isn't even all of it. We need witness statements, we need to bring Eunchae in for questioning and court. I know there's more, but I'm scared to actually know."
The pain in Chaewon's voice as she relayed the information cut deep, the woman's shoulders sagging and she kept her head down as they kept walking. Yunjin wasn't exactly sure what she felt at that moment, anger, sadness, a combination of both. "When do you need me to bring Eunchae in?"
"Maybe a week or two? You might have to be called in to testify as well, mostly on what you saw that night, and if Eunchae says anything to you that she refuses to tell to the prosecutor or say in court, we may need you to tell that information as well."
The somber tone that settled over them just didn't sit right with Yunjin. That was the nature of their jobs, heavy, and emotionally taxing. They both had chosen to go into fields that put them right front in center to some of the worst of humanity, and it hit different was someone you knew. Yunjin playfully elbowed Chaewon, getting the woman to look at her before offering her a smile. Slowly Chaewon returned it, reaching down to hold the detective's hand.
The beauty of the forest at night was truly breathtaking. The full moon lit the path up enough they could see, painting the entire world in a dark blue. The crickets cried and sung, along with a few birds that haven't gone to sleep yet. It was a bit chilly, but nothing her coat couldn't protect her from. She could feel Chaewon's thumb brushing up against her own before the woman suddenly bent over plucking something from the ground. She stood back up, pressing a few buckwheat flowers into Yunjin's hand. The detective found herself gripping onto them, before reaching down to pluck a small blue flower and gave it to Chaewon.
Yunjin hasn't felt like this in a while. This fluttery feeling that made every nerve feel electrified, that made her stomach do flips. Kim Chaewon what are you doing to her?