Investigation

Chapter 13

Taehyung

"Hey, babe," Jungkook called as he approached Jihyun and kissed her on the cheeks.

She was as surprised as I was. "Jungkook," she said, "what are you doing here?"

"You haven't been returning any of my calls for the last couple of days," he said. "I miss you, babe."

I noticed Jihyun became uncomfortable as she put on a fake smile. I quietly laughed from where I was standing as I could clearly see that.

"We're investigating a case of a serial killer, Kook," she said. "What do you expect?"

He pouted. "Okay, you're right. I'm sorry for disturbing you," he said. "Seems like you will be here for a while. Do you want to eat some Chinese food with me? I can order it for you."

Jihyun pursed her lips. Aha, I knew that face. She actually didn't want it, either to eat some Chinese food in the middle of work or to eat it with her boyfriend, but she was hungry. We had been staying in the precinct for hours and we hadn't had anything to eat since we were focused on the case. So, to sum up, of course she'd say yes.

"Yes, please," she said as she nodded. Jungkook then smiled, then left her desk to reach for his phone.

I approached her while chuckling. "What's with the face, bro? Almost seems like you refuse to eat dinner with your boyfriend."

She rolled her eyes. "He is incredibly clingy, Tae," she said. "Like seriously, I don't know if I can stand being with him for any longer."

"Come on. He likes you," I said. "I know you don't like clingy people, but he just wants to spend time together with you."

"I hate guys like that. They make me uncomfortable."

Without me realizing it, a smile was formed on my face. "So you don't really like him as your boyfriend?"

"All I'm saying is that I don't like being with clingy guys. That's all," she said before standing up. "I'm going to the restroom for a bit. I gotta rest my eyes for a while after reading hundreds of paperwork."

I was still smiling when she got up and headed to the ladies' room until I realized I had no reason to smile.

Not long after that, Jungkook came back and looked for his girlfriend. "Hey, you seen Jihyun?"

"She's going to the restroom."

He sighed. "Why do I feel like she's avoiding me?" he asked. "Did I do something wrong?"

 I put my arm around him. "Look, man. I know you like her, but you gotta keep the distance."

"What do you mean by keeping the distance?" he asked. "Are you saying that you're not comfortable with me and Jihyun being together that you had to ask me that?"

"What? No, no. She hates clingy guys, Kook, and you're more or less the first person that she agreed to date," I said, "so, you know, perhaps give her some space. Not to mention that it's been a crazy week for all of us, man. We're literally chasing a serial killer."

"Easy for you to say," he said, furrowing. "You're also a guy, but she doesn't need some space from you."

I raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That makes you feel good, huh, being the only guy that Jung Jihyun doesn't ask for some distance," he said. "You like her, don't you?"

"Where the hell did you conclude that from? I'm her best friend, Kook. How many times do I have to tell you?"

He shrugged. "Sounds to me you're trying to convince yourself, not me."

I was about to argue back when an officer came in. "Detectives, we got a survivor," he said. "She's in the hospital right now."

I immediately called Jihyun and ran to the parking lot before speeding to the hospital.

"Hi, I'm Detective Kim Taehyung," I said to the injured civilian. "Could you tell me your name, Miss?"

Her head seemed to hurt as she tried to get up. "H-Hi, um, my name's Park Nayeon."

I was about to question her when Jihyun came into the room. "Miss Park, this is Jung Jihyun, my partner," I said. "Do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions?"

"Yes, please, if that helps you catch that son of a bitch who hit me with a pole."

"He hit you with a pole?" Jihyun asked.

The young lady nodded. "I was on my way back from the library when I heard the announcement that everyone should head back to their dorm and lock their doors," she said. "So, I was walking alone and started to fasten the pace of my feet when I heard some footsteps behind me. I think both of us got panicked because everyone was panicking at that time."

Jihyun then turned to me. "Maybe that explains why the man wasn't able to murder her with that pole," she said, "because he got panicked so he didn't strategize well."

Nayeon started to tear up as her body was shaking. "I could've died, you know," she said, "if it weren't because of the campus securities who saw the incident and ran up to me, causing the guy to run away."

"Could you tell us a detailed description of that man, Miss Park?"

"Yeah, sure," she said, adjusting her seat. "He's about 6 tall, um has a beard, is muscular, and has a tiger tattoo on his neck."

Jihyun wrote all that down on her note. "Did you see the face of the man?" she asked and the patient nodded. "Would you be able to describe the face to our drawer? This could really, really be helpful to our case."

"Yes, of course. I'd love to."

I nodded, then I smiled. "Thank you, Miss Park. We'll be in touch soon."