~𝟳𝟵~

(Third person, Lee Know's perspective)

Lee Know parked the car, looking over at Ava who sat in the passenger seat. She hadn't spoken a word since they went to see the doctor, and she sat completely still the entire ride home, staring into space. It worried him, but he tried to convince himself that it was probably just shock. He got out of the car and walked over to her door to help her out. As he opened her door, he saw her wrap her arms tighter around herself. The shard of guilt in his heart seemed to twist and dig deeper as he witnessed it, but he pushed it aside.

He tried helping Ava out of the car, but she wouldn't take his hand. He could see how much pain she was in but didn't want to push her boundaries. So he let her be, just following close behind her as she walked to the door of the dorms. He opened the door for her and led her to the couch. She sat down, crossing her legs, and staring off into space again. He took a few steps away from her, just to give her some space and let her process.

His eyes scanned over her tired and broken body. Her shoulders were slumped forward slightly, and she seemed like she would fall asleep very soon. Two of her ribs were badly fractured, and her shoulder had been dislocated. The doctor had popped it back into place and put her arm in a sling, which now hung limp at her side. She was covered in bruises and cuts. Every time she breathed; he saw the pain flash on her face from her ribs. And it broke his heart to see her so... fragile.

"How's she doing? Any major injuries?" Chan asked softly from behind Lee Know. He hadn't even heard his Hyung approaching him, so he was a little startled.

"She'll be okay, but her recovery is going to be long and hard. Her shoulder was dislocated and the gash was very deep. But they stitched it up and put her in a sling for time being. Two of her ribs are fractured as well. But other than that, she physically seems fine."

"But mentally she's..."

"Not doing great. She didn't speak once the entire ride back; just stared out in front of her."

Chan put a hand on Lee Know's shoulder, making him look at his Hyung.

"She'll be okay. Afterall, she has you to help her through this. And we'll all be there with you."

"I hope you're right Hyung," Lee Know said dejectedly, looking back at Ava.

He heard Chan leave and sighed softly. The hospital visit started replaying in his head. Ava's desperate screams. The security pinning her to the bed. How reality had kicked him in the gut and forced him into action. The moment that male doctor had walked into Ava's cubicle, Lee Know had known something would happen, and yet he hadn't said or done anything. Ava had asked the doctor not to call her darling twice, but he wouldn't listen. Then he tried cutting her shirt open.

"It's to inspect the wound without the fabric getting in the way," he had said.

That's when Ava completely lost it. And with good reason. Then security came and Ava was pinned to the bed. She was kicking and screaming. Lee Know couldn't understand how they didn't see how much pain they were causing her. He lost his cool. He pushed the doctor and security off of Ava, somehow managing to get in between them and her, and demanded that they get her a female doctor. It took some convincing, and Lee Know even went as far as threatening to have them arrested, but they finally agreed.

Things settled down after that. Maybe a little too much so. Because Ava had stopped talking after the male doctor left. So Lee Know had to explain everything. She wouldn't take his hand. She wouldn't let him touch her. She was fine with the female doctor, but with him she was suddenly... cold. And distant. He could understand why, of course, but it still hurt. Seeing her like that and not being able to make her feel better.

His attention was drawn back to her when he heard her shift. She got up off the couch, wincing as she did so. In an instant, Lee Know was by her side, keeping his distance but also being close enough to catch her if she fell. However, as he came to stand next to her, he saw her flinch away from him. He pushed the pain in his chest away as he slowly followed her to the stairs. She went up the stairs very slowly, and he saw the way she winced every time she took another step. He almost wanted to tell her that she should just go sit down again, as he didn't know her reason for going up the stairs if it was hurting her. 

But then he saw her hesitate as she reached the top of the stairs. Technically speaking, the entire second floor was now a crime scene because of what happened there, but Lee Know didn't want to tell Ava that yet and risk her getting more upset. So when she slowly made her way to her door, he let her. He let her push the door open. She seemed to freeze completely when she saw the scene before her.

While Ava was at the hospital, Chan had gotten someone to come pick up Damian's body, but the crime scene techs hadn't shown up yet. With Damian's body being gone, the blood stains were a lot more visible. The carpet was soaked through, the walls had red smears and splatters all over them, and the door frame was splintered.

As Ava stared at the state of her room, Lee Know watched her, and he noticed how her hands started shaking, so much so that even when she clenched her fists, her hands still trembled. She took a step away from the door, but she stumbled. Lee Know managed to catch her, and he heard her break down into tears. So he held her close. He had no idea what she was going through, and he had no idea how to comfort her. But he knew if he let go in that moment, she probably wouldn't let him touch her again. 

So he held onto her, whispering in her ear how extremely sorry he was for what she went through and how he wasn't there for her when she needed him most. And as she cried into his shirt, he felt like a piece of him was being torn off and thrown away. He had no idea what he was feeling or why he felt that way, but that feeling would eventually come back and haunt him. And then, unlike Ava, he wouldn't have anyone to hold him.

(Third person)

The crime scene techs showed up around an hour later. Chan let them in and showed them to Ava's room, after which he came back downstairs. Lee Know was waiting for him there. He had let Ava sleep in his shared room with Chan, as she was exhausted and could barely keep her head up.

"So, I talked to Ava before she fell asleep, and I don't think we should tell the commander about what happened," Lee Know said.

"So she thinks he might be involved?" Chan asked.

"Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me."

"I knew she was suspicious of him, but I didn't know... well that kind of makes sense, in some sick and twisted way."

Lee Know was confused by what his Hyung was saying, but guessed if he was supposed to know, Chan would tell him.

"Okay, I think then we should make the crime scene techs sign a nondisclosure agreement, just to be safe. If Ava doesn't want the commander to know about what happened, then that's what we'll do."

Chan walked off; hearing Lee Know follow. He went into their room as softly as possible, seeing Ava curled up on Lee Know's bed. He went over to his laptop, connecting it to the printer in the operations room. He pulled up a nondisclosure agreement on his laptop and printed three copies, one for each of the crime scene techs. Then he turned back to Ava, seeing Lee Know standing next to the bed and looking down at her.

"Hey, you okay?" Chan whispered to Lee Know.

"Yeah, I'm just worried about her."

Chan put his hand on Lee Know's shoulder before leaving the room, giving Lee Know some time to himself, just to process. Chan got the feeling he would have to talk to Lee Know later, just to get him out of the dark hole he would probably fall into, but in that moment he had other things to do.

Just as he walked out of his room, he saw the crime scene techs leaving Ava's room as well. He went over to them, greeting the three of them.

"So, how did it go in there? Find anything of use?"

"Not much. The knife had only the victim's fingerprints on, so did the wall and the floor in a few spots. The gun is registered to Agent Noyes. Other than that, nothing else really. But if I walked in here and hadn't seen Agent Noyes with my own eyes, I would have thought either she got away and died somewhere else from blood loss, or killed the victim and ran," Seungcheol, the eldest of the three said.

"So I'm guessing the evidence isn't looking good for Ava, then?"

"No, not really, but I'm sure Ava can still win her case if she tells the judge she did it out of self-defence," Seokmin, another one of the techs said. Chan nodded.

"Before you all head off, could I ask you all a big favour?" Chan asked. The three techs looked at each other before turning to him, all nodding.

"Could you all sign these nondisclosure agreements please?"

The three men looked sceptical at first but accepted the documents and started signing them anyway.

"May I ask why we have to do this?" Minghao, the third tech asked, looking up at Chan through his eyelashes.

"Let's just say, there are some things that certain people shouldn't know about. So please don't talk about this case with anyone other than my team or amongst the three of you. It... it could end badly if you were to speak out."

Chan saw worry flash in Seungcheol's eyes as he looked at him before handing the document back. The two of them had been working together for a while, seeing each other every now and again. So naturally they had grown close. When Chan walked the three men to the door, Seungcheol told the other two to head to their van so long. He turned back to Chan.

"If you need anything, you know you can come to me, right?" he asked.

"I know. You're one of the few people in the force besides my team that I still trust."

The two men shook hands, before the older of the two left. Chan watched as they drove off and felt a sense of dread creep into his chest. He was just about to start making lunch when he heard a blood-chilling scream. And it sounded like it came from upstairs.

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A/N

heyy guys ;)

i have to warn you all, the rest of this book is gonna be pretty angsty like all the time, so please prepare yourselves for it, especially if you've gotten attached to the characters and cry easily (i'm sorry if i make you cry :/ ). 

anyhow, threw a bit of a seventeen reference in this chapter, lmk in the comments if you caught it ;P i hope you all enjoyed this chapter and i'll see you in the next one <3