𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 | changjin ✔

05

when changbin came back after sorting out  the breakfasts for the other prisoners, the first thing he was met with was the empty tray resting in front of him.

he opened the prison door to which he was suddenly taken aback, the surprised expression clearly written on his face. he looked up to meet with hyunjin's steady face, not knowing what to say.

"you actually ate it?" he asked seconds later, unable to take his eyes off the empty tray he didn't expect the taller would finish.

hyunjin folded his arms at the words, resting his back against the wall behind him. "happy now?" he replied, looking hard at him with his unknown eyes.

"well, i wouldn't say that but i'm glad you actually ate. didn't you say you weren't gonna trust the food being made here?" changbin questioned, soon walking over to the empty tray beside his bed.

"i wasn't gonna but after seeing you ate it without any suspicion, i guess it wasn't that bad." hyunjin answered as he watched the officer's every action.

changbin gave him a small smile while leaning down to pick up the tray, his stance soon attracting hyunjin's attention. it wasn't until he stood up with the tray that made him spoke unexpected words to which the older stared back at him in awareness.

"you know, i've never seen such a short policeman before." hyunjin abruptly interrupted, causing changbin to raise his eyebrows at him confusingly.

"what did you say?" he questioned, not expecting him to say that.

this made hyunjin shuffle slightly on his bed, the expression on his face hadn't changed at all. "it's just, i've always viewed policemen to be strong and tall. but instead, you just look cute and small no matter how tough you try and act."

"what? cute?" changbin unknowingly questioned before taking a strong, bold step towards him.

"yeah! you just look so cute with anything you do." he continued to reason calmly when he lifted his hands up in defense. "i'm not saying that's a bad thing but people could use that as a way to get away with it."

changbin took another brave step as he placed his hands in his pocket. "i'll have you know i'm no cute guy, yes i may be shorter than other policemen but that doesn't mean i'm not strong enough."

"show me." hyunjin replied without hesitation, smirking with intrigue at him.

the older sighed in response, debating one last time if he should do it or not. when he finally decided, he slowly yet hesitantly lifted his sleeves up, eventually showing hyunjin his biceps he'd been hiding.

as hyunjin continued to stare at his muscle in amazement, he unknowingly got off his bed, wanting to reach over and touch it. changbin immediately realised what he was trying to do and quickly pulled it down.

he stared at the pouty taller whose face slightly frowned at the loss of his biceps. "officer, please let me touch them~" hyunjin then whined with puppy eyes.

but to his dismay, changbin strongly folded his arms to which hyunjin tried to unfold it, eventually giving up moments later at the failed attempts. "please~"

"and can you please refrain from touching a police officer without permission?" changbin bluntly announced, moving away to prevent any further touches.

"but i just wanna touch them. can i?" hyunjin questioned, his eyes still set on his arms he'd wanted to touch.

"no, unfortunately you can't. now please get back on your bed before i make you." changbin boldly said, watching as hyunjin pout even more before walking back.

"but it's so boring! can't i just talk to you all day?" he reasoned, staring at him afterwards.

changbin sighed once again, picking up the tray he'd left on the floor. "i'm afraid i can't do that either. this isn't supposed to be a chatting area and neither are we friends so can you please stop being so casual with me?"

"then... let's be friends!" hyunjin smiled widely at his words, wanting to talk more with the older before him.

"no sorry, i have no intention with befriending criminals. this is meant to stay as a prison guard and prisoner relationship and nothing more." changbin lastly responded when he walked towards the door with the tray.

he turned around one last time to see hyunjin's dissatisfied expression, his head looking down while fiddling with his fingers. this caused slight guilt to form inside changbin, making him sigh at his disappointment.

"but since you have nothing to do, i'll lend you something to read like i told you after you finish your breakfast." was all he said before opening the door to which hyunjin looked up with a taken aback look.

—

"here." hyunjin looked back up again at the sudden voice, his gaze landing on a book.

"sherlock holmes?" he questioned, slowly taking the book from changbin with a confused expression.

"yeah, i love reading detective books. they give me such thrills." changbin smiled widely at the mention of the genre, watching as hyunjin cautiously scanned the book cover with displeased eyes.

after a few moments of examining and silently judging the book, he soon looked into changbin's eyes. "this looks boring, can't i read something more interesting? something like action or romance?"

changbin folded his arms at his disapproved judgement, his smile slowly faltering in response. "what, boring? i think you should read it first before you judge it too soon. it's really interesting, you get to join in with the guessing."

"i might as well skip to the part already, why would i wanna waste my time on this?"  hyunjin reasoned back, already knowing he was not gonna like it.

"just read it, you have plenty of time anyways. also, i think you should stop judging a book by its cover, try reading it once before concluding it. have you even read detective books before?" changbin continued to reason with undefeated eyes.

"no i haven't but i already know it's gonna be so boring." hyunjin replied before dropping his gaze back on the book, staring unknowingly at it.

"we'll see." changbin responded while walking away, giving hyunjin one last look as he eventually locked the door. "now if you'll excuse me, i gotta get back to work."

as hyunjin looked up once more to watch his disappearance, he kept shifting his gaze back and forth on the book before him. there was so many questions running through his head, wondering what to do.

'should i try reading this?' he thought to himself, debating one last time when he looked around him. maybe he should, there wasn't anything else to do anyways.

after all, if this was the only thing he could do to buy time, might as well just give in and give it another try. that was when he finally opened the book in his hands before muttering to himself.

"time to read this i guess."

-

sorry for the late update, i can finally enjoy summer holidays without any interruptions!