"I told you to follow my orders, Lieutenant Han. How hard is it for you to not follow protocol?" her chief in charge of the case slammed his hand on the polished long wooden table. Eyes intensely gazed upon the young lady as she is sat down slumped on her chair with a pissed expression on her facial features.
Her partners flinching as they sit across each other and the deputy chief stood by the other end of the table.
The intimidating aura that radiated in the whole room as her chief is leaned both arms on the edge of the table, burning holes and throwing daggers at her direction just by a glare.
"Chief, if I hadn't done anything then those people would've died instead, if I had followed by protocol, Sir- what about those innocent lives we were going to risk?" Younghae defended herself.
Her partners wouldn't dare speak up, too intimidated with their boss. Aside from Younghae herself, she was quite that woman.
Her boss sighed in defeat knowing she was right. "If this happens again, I will put you under suspension and if worse- you are to be decommissioned and moved to a different workplace. Do you understand Lieutenant?"
She let out a heavy sigh, nails digging crescents into her palms, knuckles turning white while her fists clenched tightly under the table, she didn't want to give an answer. Not when they had been making excuses to outcast or discredit her work for risking her life once again to stop a whole crime from happening.
"Do you understand Lieutenant Han?" Chief Lee sternly repeats, eyes narrowing at the younger, forcing her to answer what he needed to hear.
"Yes sir." she quietly answers, biting the inside of her cheeks as to feel the uneasiness settling in her stomach and a lump on her throat that she swallows while looking down at her lap in disappointment.
"Lieutenants Lee, dismissed. I need a moment alone with Younghae." Taeyong's gaze eventually softens when her partners leave.
Younghae slumps further in her seat, already wanting to get out of the situation she was in as she prepares for another nagging from her work parent.
He heaves a sigh as he watches her with a glint of concern in his eyes. "I know you did what your guts told you to do, Younghae. You did great in saving those innocent citizens but sometimes you shouldn't cross the line."
She let out a scoff mixed with a chuckle. "I didn't cross the line, I was doing my job- and my job was to save those innocent citizens and stop a tragedy from happening, Sir." her voice stays a little quiet as the words come out of her mouth.
"You should have told me earlier to have given a heads up to the other team." the Chief replies, leaning forward, his hands gripping the edge of the wooden table tightly in a habitual way.
"I didn't know until we went there." she jerked her head back, leaning her head on the edge of the chair's rest; a heavy sigh is heaved.
Taeyong shut his eyes, sucking in a sharp breath of air and sighing harshly before fluttering his eyes open. "You are dismissed."
She pleads, eyes communicating with his. "Taeyong-"
As much as he'd like to do more and risk lengths to prevent a punishment from happening, this was the only way to keep her commissioned. "Han Younghae. Call the waiting Lieutenants outside, I'll update you when the major's office has given me orders on your actions." he demanded, cutting her off with a stern look on his face and his eyes unwavering.
Younghae couldn't bring herself to push it any further and worsen Taeyong's workload, so she stood up and pursed her lips shut. The scraping of the chair's foot echoing in the room as she made her way languidly out the huge meeting room.
As soon as she exited the room, she was met with the face of the man in her same rank she wished to never want to encounter in the halls of the station with... But to her luck, she just had to see him and it ruined surely had her day ruined than it already is.
They make eye contact as she lands her eyes on their group. "Lieutenant Han." the latter slightly nodded his head, waiting for his turn to get in the conference room she came from not long ago.
She eyed the agent from head to toe with bitterness evident in her expression before greeting and walking past him. "Lieutenant Kim." rolling her eyes, she headed over to her unit and immediately walked over to her cubicle.
Slumping on her seat, she frowned and groaned in exhaustion. Dropping her head on her desk, the whole table had shaken abruptly, causing her partner beside her to sigh and take a peak. The pain of hitting her head on the desk surges in after a few seconds making her groan. "Ow."
Mark next to her glanced at her hunched figure. The look of sympathy evident on his facial features. He rolled his chair over to sit beside Younghae. His hand reaching to press his palm on her back, giving it a gentle comforting rub already knowing what situation it was. "You okay?" he asks, diverting half his attention back to his paper work.
Younghae turned her head, her cheek pressed on her desk as she looked up at her partner. "Yeah, what about you?" she returned the question to him, letting him comfort her like always. "I'm okay, but are you really?" the latter slightly raised his brow, looking over the exhausted girl.
Younghae sighs and sits back up to converse properly with him. "I'm used to it, Mark. It's not like it's the first time that it happened." her mood comes gloomy as the depths of her thoughts await to be revealed. Mark's palm still pressed against her back. "Sorry for putting you and Ten through this." giving an apologetic look with her eyes softening and the corners of her lips stretch into a sympathetic smile.
Ten walks over to them with an empathetic smile on his face. "We're used to it Younghae. Besides, it's not your fault- you just did what you knew was right and you're brave enough to step up the game." he stands on her other side as he lightly gives her head a pat.
Mark nods in agreement whipping his head back and forth to Younghae and his paperwork.
She shook her head in disagreement. "It's not okay anymore that I get you both in trouble cause of my decisions. your jobs are at stake here. I can't risk you both receiving the consequences of my actions."
"And yours isn't?" Ten scoffs in disbelief. "Younghae, look at yourself. We've seen you go through such rough patches. We can't stomach it if you lost this one thing that's close to your family and close to showing your mom what you achieved." the elder softly states, looking down at her with such a parental gaze.
Younghae sighs as she let herself be vulnerable for at least once in a while. "Thanks guys. If it weren't for the two of you I wouldn't have survived college and I wouldn't have gotten my dream job." she smiled at the two whom she sat in between, looking up at them with a full grateful heart.
Ten spread his arms open in the air gesturing the girl to accept his embrace. "Come here."
Slipping away from her chair, she gladly let herself get caged in Ten's arms, hers automatically wrapping around the elder's waist. His hand traveling to brush her hair.
"Thank you so much." she hugged him tighter, her chin rested on his shoulder.
"You're doing great, sweetie. And you will always be great, okay?" the elder comforted earning a nod from her.
"I wanna join!" Mark whined earning a laugh from the two.
Breaking away to give space for the youngest, they huddled up in a group hug.
Thoughts??? i know I knowww. I'm editing and republishing that's why. I do hope you like the changes hehe Love y'all.