Belligerent

02

Among the fairly simple things, I noticed that links all living things -humans, animals, plants, even a single bacterium - is curiosity. We have many questions to answer. Whether the answer would be derived from science or from experience. Yet there are also questions that appear so straightforward, but that is extremely difficult to analyze. How about the million-dollar question: What does it mean to love?

People associate finding true love with finding that certain person who is willing to be there for you through thick and thin. Another half of the group believes it is about redeeming someone for their ugliest past and showering them with the love they lost in their wars. Some people believe that falling for someone is not determined by how long you have known them but rather based on how they treat you from your lowest point to your highest.

Regardless of how someone comes to love someone else, one thing for sure is that everyone shows their affection in different ways, whether it is subtle or overt. In the same way that an enthusiastic father can give a stuffed animal to his daughter, to a mother who can give her son the dream car he has been seeking. However, the standard way nowadays to demonstrate affection is through materialistic objects. This could, in turn, make that person feel joy, albeit temporarily. Although it is quite difficult to convey how much you care about someone through materialistic means, I can understand why they would want to use objects to express their affection. 
I don't necessarily blame them for having a hard time showing affection. Though, as some would say, it's the thought that matters and not the said gift. 
   

"Good morning", Sangwoo said, as soon as I opened the door. I slightly flinched at the sudden closeness between us. Well at least someone woke up on the right side of the bed between the both of us. 

"Morning." I replied, ever so sternly. 

"Did you have a good night's sleep?"

"Yeah." He stopped and looked at me unknowingly, while I tried avoiding his gaze. 

"Clearly not, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." I know, in his head, that it wasn't an answer he'd expect from me. He kept his eyes on mine meanwhile I was rather looking away. I tried to move away but his arm was firmly on the door handle, blocking my way. Rather than push on, he just stood silently for quite a while before letting go of his grasp on the handle.
Afterward, I just walked to my own desk, pretending as if nothing awkward happened just now. 

I was about to sit down when a junior of mine ran into our office with stacks of paperwork.

Jae placed my piece on my desk and said, "Here is the daily report from the last case," Sangwoo walked in, and pulled out the whiteboard we were working on for the past few weeks. As I shuffled through the stack of notes, I pulled out the notepad I had written my notes on. Homicides in our district have been increasing steadily, and everyone, especially those in our division, is getting tired. We have already seen a great many seniors retire this year, simply due to the volume of cases coming in and out of our division every day that has taken away too much of the time they would have otherwise spent with their families. In one instance, one of the seniors' wives complained to our department about how there were so many cases going on that she basically forced our senior to retire. It was unfortunate at the time as he was one of our lead investigators, but from time to time, he would come and visit us whenever his wife wasn't around to scold him. It was clear that he still cared for us and that he took upon the role of being almost like a parent to all of us. 

Despite this, there were some seniors who remained with us. Our division received less applications due to the low number of applicants. Since our department was notorious for moving around a lot, I can understand their reluctance. We have, however, handled the largest number of cases, just leading to the next division. This is the only reason why some of our people chose to be promoted.