Pride & Prejudice

Unfortunately, she couldn't leave right away. 

The paramedic wanted to ensure her stats came out normal before giving the greenlight. The whole process took a good 10-15 minutes, and when she was finally given the 'ok', she was stopped by the older officer she had seen previously. He was headed towards her, with Detective Hothead lagging behind a couple of feet. 

"Hello, Miss…?" Contrary to the frustration he displayed earlier, there was a friendly smile on the older detective's face. It was a complete 180 degree from the anger outburst when he first arrived earlier. 

"Ahn Kyunghee," she supplied. 

"Miss Ahn, I'm Detective Inspector Kim of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. My colleague here…" Inspector Kim paused and looked over his shoulder, waving impatiently at Detective Hothead to hurry up his pace. When Detective Hothead finally showed up next to Inspector Kim, he continued, "As I was saying, my colleague here has briefed me about the situation earlier. I want to sincerely apologize for what happened to you. It shouldn't have happened in the first place. We have no excuses for that. Absolutely none." He subtly shot Detective Hothead a glare that Kyunghee pretended not to have noticed. 

"It's…alright," she said reluctantly, contrary to her real thoughts and feelings. None of what happened was 'alright' but she didn't want to be kept in police presence for too long or complicate matters with them. 

"Will you be heading to the hospital for a check-up now?" 

She didn't know where he was going with the questions, but she answered carefully, "No, I just had a quick check-up here and everything's ok. I don't think a hospital visit is necessary. I'm just going to head home, take some rest and I'll be fine." 

Inspector Kim nodded in understanding. "Fair enough. After all that you've been through, please let us take you home safely. Obviously it won't make up for the duress you went through tonight, but we would like to do our part. I've already spoken to Detective Sergeant Choi over here, and he'll be taking you home right to your doorsteps." Inspector Kim patted Detective Hothead's shoulder. 

Kyunghee's eyes widened immediately as she vigorously shook her head. "Ah no, that's really not necessary. I can grab a bus or…a cab, I guess," she muttered the word 'cab' in a softened voice, her eyebrows furrowing as she remembered the most recent cab ride of Hell. 

"Nonsense! Those who cause problems should be the one to fix it. Isn't that right, Detective Sergeant?" Inspector Kim said through clenched teeth, staring at Detective Hothead with cold eyes. 

Detective Hothead didn't say anything, but merely scowled in response. 

"Inspector Kim, it's really not—" 

"It's settled then. Take a good rest, Miss Ahn. If you need anything, he'll be at your beck and call." With that said, Inspector Kim turned on his heels and left. 

With Inspector Kim gone, there was a moment of silence between the two of them as their eyes collided with each other. It was only then that Kyunghee was able to truly take in the appearance of the man single-handedly responsible for tonight's hell-ride of traumatic emotions. 

He had thick, black hair cut short above his ear that brought out his dark, rugged features—a tall nose, prominent cheekbones, thick eyebrows, strong jaw-line and tanned complexion. His dark brown eyes were intense, mirroring his tenacious personality. There was something hard-bitten about his looks, about him in general. There was a small cut at the corner of his mouth but by now, the blood had dried out and turned it into a less-than-pleasant scab. He had probably gotten it on his kamikaze mission earlier. By society standards, he was definitely good-looking but she wasn't attracted to him. The scowl on his face turned her off at once. He looked as if everyone was pulling his chords and shoving sticks up his ass. 

"Let's go then," he spoke up first and turned his back on her before Kyunghee could protest. 

She weighed her options, and finally gave in to Inspector Kim's decision. After what she went through, why in the world did Inspector Kim think it was fine to put her safety in Detective Hothead's hands though? However, she was too drained to put up a fight with the police. 

When he realized she wasn't following, he looked at her with a frown. "What are you doing? Let's get going, Pink." 

'Pink?' she thought, coming to a realization when she looked down and saw her pink balayage on black hairstyle. Kyunghee felt a spark of anger from his tone of voice and tactless words, but she held it back. From past experiences, she has learned to not go against the police's demands if she wanted to stay out of trouble. Nothing good ever came out questioning their actions. For several reasons, she has become wary and distrusting of the police. 

She followed him to an unmarked, black Hyundai Sonatra police car where she got into the front passenger seat apprehensively. Kyunghee double-checked that the seatbelt was on properly before sighing softly. Her small reaction did not go unnoticed by the detective however. 

He pursed his lips, starting the car engine. "Just so you know, I don't drive like that normally." 

Kyunghee glanced at him in mild disbelief, clutching tight to the seatbelt strap. "It's hard to say." She tried hard to leave the accusation out of her voice, but unfortunately failed to keep it at bay. 

He cleared his throat after a short moment. "I'm sorry." 

Kyunghee certainly didn't expect an apology from the hotheaded cop. 

He must have seen the astonishment on her face because he grumbled discontentedly but went on to explain, "I'm known for having a slight temper when I'm chasing the perp. I may have taken things too far with you back in the car and…" he trailed off as he angled his face so that he was looking at her directly in the eye. 

In that moment, Choi Jintae temporarily lost his train of thoughts. Now that they were sitting up close, he realized her irises were unique in that they were hazel colored eyes. With the lights coming off the streetlamps, it hit her eyes, reflecting tints of green and flecks of amber. They were one of the most striking pair of eyes he'd ever seen. There weren't a lot of Koreans who had green hazel eyes to begin with. The only other time he came across a similar pair of eyes was ten years ago.

He felt like someone had knocked the breath out of his lungs. 

"And?" Kyunghee probed, discomforted by his intense, assessing gaze. 

Jintae blinked at her voice. "…And I was chasing a dangerous criminal. Things happen," he said absentmindedly, frowning slightly as he realized how odd he sounded right now. His train of thought earlier had been lost so he merely strung together a bunch of words he, himself, didn't quite comprehend. Jintae settled back in his seat, shifting his eyes forward and away from her. 

Kyunghee looked at him strangely, not sure what he was getting at. 

"So yeah," Jintae cleared his throat again, determined to save himself from that moment of slip-up when he was caught off-guard by those exquisite eyes. "The important thing is that the bastard's caught. He's going to be rotting away in a cell for his entire life, where he can't lay finger on another soul. Isn't that what matters?" Jintae smiled proudly, as if what he just said were words of golden fortune. 

Kyunghee narrowed her eyes critically. Did he understand the point of an apology? He should have ended it at the "I'm sorry" part because the more he talked, the worse it gets. Clearly the detective didn't understand how it was like to be sitting in the back seat and watched as her life dangled on the line, or having her windpipe compressed by some cold-blooded freak. 

"Have you considered putting yourself behind bars so that you'll hurt nobody with your slight temper?" So much for not starting shit with a cop, she cried internally. She definitely threw caution to the wind with that cutting comment alone. 

"You saw how dangerous he was," he quickly defended. The veins around his eyes appeared and it wasn't just the veins, his scowl reappeared too. For what it was worth, he did look quite handsome during that split second of smiling—objectively speaking that was. "Watch what you say to a cop." 

Kyunghee's jaw dropped. "Are you threatening me, Detective?" 

Jintae turned toward Kyunghee. The silence in the car thickened. His eye were pools of black ink, radiating an imposing aura, but Kyunghee didn't budge or blink, holding his gaze steadfast. She has had experiences with these intimidating games. However, it would be a lie to say her pulse wasn't a little racy because of the nerves underneath the act of bravado. She despised that impenetrable cop look he had going on. 

It was the kind of look cops used to make you uncomfortable at the same time as not revealing anything about what was actually going on in their heads. Like whether they think you were a sadistic murderer or a trustworthy, hard-working person. They wanted to keep you in suspense and in the palm of their hands. 

Kyunghee hated those damn assessing cop gazes. Sometimes it was as if they knew exactly the kind of person she was, even though they had only met her for the first time, and they were judging her behind an obscured mask. Maybe she was being overly sensitive or overly hostile. Then again, she never quite liked the police and he was reinforcing the deep-rooted bias and prejudice. 

"You know what, I don't really need a ride home." It was Kyunghee who broke the long, stubborn silence between them first. Her fingers reached for the seatbelt to unbuckle it, intending to leave the car, but right at that moment, the detective shifted the gear into drive and sped off. She gasped and unable to contain her irritation, she glared at him. The pretense of politeness was gone. "Exactly how many heart attacks do you plan to put me through?!" 

"What's your address?" Jintae asked instead, acting as if he hadn't heard the shock and frustration. Somewhere, a part of him was too proud to admit that he had gone about things wrong. He figured the 'sorry' he said earlier was enough. 

"You can drop me at the nearest subway station off the expressway," she begrudgingly replied, not wanting to divulge her address. She'd rather take the subway home. 

Jintae parted his lips to protest, but on second thought, he decided against it. 

The rest of the ride was surprisingly calm and without incidents. Eventually he pulled up at the first subway station they came across. 

Kyunghee hesitated but decided to say it anyway, "Thank you." She reached to unbuckle her belt. 

"Hey, what's your name?" Jintae suddenly asked right when she opened the door. His tone of voice was softer, more civilized. 

Kyunghee paused and looked at him, but he wasn't looking at her. Somehow it ticked her off that he wasn't meeting her eye when he asked for her name. It seemed a bit disrespectful, and she had enough of disrespect for the week's quota. 

With a sarcastic smile, she retorted sassily, "Didn't you call me Pink earlier, Detective?" She got out, slammed the car door shut and marched off towards the subway station entrance. 

'Cracks like those, Kyunghee. They get you on to lists.'