A local thief and outcasted police detective, Park Seonghwa, become unlikely partners in crime to solve a string of murders.
START: 3.31.2020
FINISH: 2.20.2021
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record 18...AUGUST 5
9:08 PM
SEONGHWA HAS TO ASK AGAIN to make sure that he heard Levi correctly. Her voice is tiny, soft, a small whisper snatched by the wind as it whips past the open windows of the car. It grows even smaller when the passing streetlights illuminate the way his brows knit together and the way his eyes dart to her for a moment before returning to the murky open stretch of road. In true Levi fashion, she pulls herself together with her typical bravado even as the bag she packed earlier feels heavier and heavier on her lap.
"I said," she drawls, an eyebrow raised with her words coming more steady this time. "Can I crash at your place? Just for tonight."
Seonghwa heaves a sigh in the dark but makes no effort to actually respond to her request.
She crosses her arms, leaning her head against the leather seat. "I'll buy you dinner. I still have coupons."
"It's nine o'clock at night," he says incredulously.
"Okay so," she waves her hands around even though he can't see them. "A midnight snack then."
She can't really see anything in the dark of the night except the stark white of the headlights against asphalt, but she can feel his eyes on her. He probably heard it, the waver in her voice. The need to escape. This is nothing new, she's done it too many times before, showed up on his doorstep like a stray cat seeking shelter from a sudden storm.
He pauses, thinking for several long moments, but Levi already has her answer as the car speeds past the winding bend that would lead back to the trailer park. She relaxes in her seat.
"Fine," he concedes with a sigh, several paces late. He tries to be understanding. She did have a stare down with human teeth earlier that day. "I want to know why though. This is...new. Even for you."
She wonders if he can see it, the holes poked in her facade, her armor. The way her hands are clenched. How it takes a long moment of silence for her to muster her voice.
"It's not enough to simply grace you with my amazing presence for the night?"
Seonghwa clicks his tongue.
"Fine," she leans even further into the seat, adjusting the collar of her shirt. "Let's just say it's easier to be around an aloof police officer than an aunt that is a mix of an angry drunk and a sad one."
He intakes a slow breath, eyes unblinking. "Oh."
"Yeah," she says weakly, voice trailing off into silence once more.
The rest of the ride is draped in silence until the gravel of his driveway crunches beneath the tires of the car. They enter the house, hovering in the entrance as Levi removes her sneakers. The air is thick with awkward tension, something neither of them know how to process.
