Of Wedding Cakes and Dresses

Chapter 16

The police officers entered the holding area of the precinct, silently nodding at the guards as they passed through the main doors. The veteran cop, Jin Hyuk Sung, focused his gaze on the cells to his right, his stride purposeful and confident as he strolled passed each one. Some cells were empty, others accommodated a single person dressed in orange.

Reaching the second to the last cell on the right, Officer Jin stopped and stood stoically in front of its cold, steel bars. Like the other inhabitants in the holding area, this cell's occupant wore a bright orange, prison-issued jumpsuit and simple white socks and matching sneakers. He lay upon the cell's metal frame bed, stretched out, his arms lazily crossed behind his head.

"Sang Daehyun!" Officer Jin barked, his eyes settled on the man staring blankly at the ceiling.

Without a word, the man slowly sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "Yes?" he asked, his voice almost emotionless.

"Get up," Officer Jin order, reaching for the set of keys resting against his hip, "Detective Shin would like a word with you."

Daehyun immediately got to his feet and waited. "Yes, of course," he answered, eerily calm.

Officer Jin and his partner entered the cell, quickly shackling their prisoner. Once he was secured, they escorted him out of his cell and down the passageway, all but frog marching him out of the holding cells and into the area of the precinct that housed the interview rooms.

Detective Shin sat in one of these rooms, casually flipping through the papers laid out in front of him on the table. He briefly looked up when the two officers brought in the suspect, but returned his gaze to the documents he'd been perusing before.

Daehyun obediently sat in the only other chair in the room, conveniently positioned on the other side of the table, directly across from Detective Shin. He politely nodded to the older man, then carefully placed his shackled hands on top of the table, lightly clasping his hands together, as if waiting patiently.

His actions unnerved the detective.

In the fifteen years he'd been a cop and the ten he currently spent as a detective, Shin Jung Hee had never come across anyone quite like Sang Daehyun. The young man was polite, quiet and reserved, and from what he'd gathered from the initial questioning, very intelligent. Nothing seemed to rattle this guy and everything seemed to roll off his back. He'd be the perfect gentleman, if not for the fact that he'd broken into an apartment and critically stab the young woman who lived there.

That had been two days ago, and now, Sang Daehyun sat quietly, almost calmly in front of him, as if he wasn't currently held for breaking and entering and attempted murder charges.

Minutes of heavy silence passed. Finally, with the detective staring intently at him, Sang Dae Hyun asked, "How is Misaki?"

Detective Shin felt shock run through him as he realized the sincerity behind the young man's words, the eyes lit with concern. "Alive," he answered, slowly. "You want to talk about that?"

Daehyun shrugged. "I suppose I have to," he said, nonchalantly. "For your report and all." He settled more comfortably in his chair, then resumed his posture of patiently waiting.

"Yes," Detective Shin said, nodding. He leaned forward and folded his arm across the table top.

"I suppose I should start at the beginning?"

Detective Shin nodded again, masking his surprise at such compliance. "Please do," he encouraged.

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A week passed and Misa remained unconscious. Although the doctor had told them that she being in a coma meant her body was trying to protect itself, in the days that had followed her emergency surgery, Misa had succumbed to an infection to her stabbed kidney, as well as her lung collapsing again. During both times, her blood pressure had fallen so low, the doctor had worried she would flat line. In the end, however, they'd managed to correct the problem.