#12. The Meeting

He could not take his eyes off the chair where she had sat. Some faint trace of her seemed to linger there.

Clear, focused eyes. A cool yet cautious way of speaking. An upright posture. She was well trained, but he had found a weakness.

She was skilled at concealing herself. She knew how to keep her emotions in check.

That also meant she feared her inner world collapsing more than most.

Fragility wrapped in strength.

That was his conclusion.

Everyone lived with something missing, some need, great or small. Hers would bring her back here.

What might she be missing…?

-If you ever need help… No, if you ever have trouble sleeping, come and see me anytime.-

He had delivered the words with an air of professional concern, but in truth, they had been his first signal to her.

See? I told you we would meet again. You’ll come looking for me soon. You have no idea how long I’ve waited for you.

An interest in her. A desire to control her.

Had she noticed?

Min-gyu rose and turned toward the window. She was making her way out of the alley.

Tall and slender, yet solidly built. Her straight hair, casually tied back, stirred in the wind.

Her unhesitating stride spoke of determination.

As a psychiatrist, he had dealt with countless people. But no one had ever held his gaze for so long.

Someone who utterly despised letting her inner weakness show.

That precarious balancing act was precisely the kind of beauty Min-gyu found irresistible.

Perhaps you’re even more remarkable than I imagined.

He opened a drawer and took out a notebook.

[202X.02.24 — Choi Seo-wan. Detective, Violent Crimes Team, Metropolitan Investigation Unit. PTSD? Sleep deprivation? Tendency to suppress emotions.]

Below it, her name filled the lines.

Choi Seo-wan. Choi Seo-wan. Choi Seo-wan.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

He wrote her name over and over, pausing to tap his pen against the page, then finally set it down.

She was gone. The odds of seeing her again might be fifty-fifty, yet he felt a certainty he could not explain.

She would return.

He had been sure of it the moment he saw her again.

Was their reunion fate? Or an opportunity granted by the God he so despised?

It did not matter.

He had found her again. Now he only had to hold on to her.

He could tell she would not be easy to win over.

With someone like her, he would have to move slowly, carefully, and wait with the utmost care.

Min-gyu was prepared to savor even that waiting, slowly and methodically.

We’ll meet again soon, Detective Choi Seo-wan.

***

 

Leaving the clinic, Seo-wan drew a deep breath. The air was cold, but her head felt hot.

The cold air entered her nose, clearing some of the heat from her head.

“Is winter finally coming to an end?”

-Come and see me anytime.-

His intense gaze, his words, kept coming back to her.

“That’s overstepping. Being a psychiatrist doesn’t give him the right. He barely knows me!”

Muttering to herself, she took out her notebook.

Kim Yu-jin’s call records. Her medical records. CCTV footage from around the clinic. The routine steps of the investigation ran through her mind, but she could not concentrate.

The way he had looked at her kept bothering her.

Her work had brought her into contact with all kinds of people. She had been trained to distinguish lies from the truth.

What kind of man was he?

She could not say for certain.

But her instincts were sending a clear signal.

He was dangerous.

That night, after a string of late nights at work, Seo-wan switched on the lights in her apartment for the first time in a while.

Soft lighting. A coat discarded carelessly. Steam rising from the kettle.

Everything was peaceful.

She sat on the sofa to organize her case materials, but her hands suddenly stilled.

-If you ever have trouble sleeping, come and see me anytime. I’m someone who knows how to wait for a patient.-

The unpleasant words that had kept running through her mind now somehow sounded comforting. Almost concerned.

“God, what am I thinking?”

She shook her head hard, got up, and went to bed.

But as always, sleep did not come easily.

She shifted from one position to another, yet somehow her body could not settle.

Whenever she closed her eyes, case files lined up in her mind, followed by the brutal sorrow of the crime scenes.

The victims’ screams, their pleas, their anger circled endlessly in her ears like tinnitus.

She let out a long sigh.

Seo-wan got out of bed and opened the refrigerator. The cold air cleared her head again.

She took out the milk, poured some into a mug, and heated it in the microwave.

The warmth of the milk seemed to spread through every vein, yet her mind remained wide awake.

She could not even remember the last time she had slept deeply.

Would sleeping pills really help?

Seo-wan shook her head hard.

“No! What am I thinking? Right. I can sleep!”

Determined to sleep this time, she lay down again.

Before she knew it, the red light of the rising sun was filtering through the curtains.

A few days later, Seo-wan stood outside Min-gyu’s clinic.

She had tried so hard to ignore it and hold out. But whenever the sleeplessness became unbearable, his voice echoed in her ears.

-If you ever have trouble sleeping, come and see me anytime.-

Right. What’s wrong with going to a clinic? I tell victims to seek treatment, too. There’s nothing to be ashamed of!