Jia had asked casually, but her gaze lingered a fraction longer than necessary. She tiptoed up slightly, squinting her eyes and tracing the lines under his.

"Your eyes look puffy."

"Don’t worry, Spicy~ I slept like a baby," he lied smoothly.

"Hm." A faint curve touched her lips. "You don’t look like it."

Mingshen stared at her face that kept inching closer and closer to study his sleepless features. The detective light in her eyes was illuminated as if trying to decode some deeply buried secret of his. Amidst that, a few hair strands fluttered across her cheek and before her eyes. The dream flashed before him like a high-speed train running without a full-stop.

Unconsciously, he swallowed a gulp, feeling the familiar tightness in his chest. His palm flew towards it, sensing his erratic heartbeats.

"Something wrong with your chest?" She frowned.

"No..."

"Hm, it really looks like you are not doing well," her eyes squinted again. "Do you have a fever?"

Her palm pressed against his forehead the next moment, gauging any traces of fever. Mingshen stood frozen like a rock, especially when his gaze landed at a certain forbidden area just below her neck and above her abdomen. He blinked rapidly as if trying to wash away any impure thoughts, but her bouncy chest was causing untold distractions for his sanity.

"Well, it doesn’t look like you are having a temperature. But still, you look off."

She pursed her lips. "I am sorry for calling you here. If you are unwell, you should head back and rest-"

"No! I am fine..." he swallowed another gulp while his gaze was still glued to her chest.

Just look away or she will take away your eyeballs, damn it!

But hold on...

I have ogled at Spicy before but obviously, I am still alive.

So which means...I can continue to ogle at her beautiful chest?

"Aaaand what’s going on here on such a beautiful, sunny day~?" Came Huojin, wrapping his arm around Mingshen’s neck, full buddy-buddy mode.

"It’s not such a sunny day for our dead man," Jia commented plainly, "And so does for Mingshen."

Mingshen took a look at his hand dangling on his shoulder with a grimace.

"Step away from me."

Huojin chuckled. "Why? Aren’t we so close? Right, Jia?"

She only shrugged.

"Oh come on," with his other arm, he dragged her to his side and wrapped his right arm around her just like how his left arm was on Mingshen’s.

"We are all buddies!"

He beamed as Mingshen’s face blackened, particularly by the various points of contact where his skin brushed against Jia’s skin and hair.

"But I came to know that you betrayed me! You went to karaoke all by yourself!" He pouted. "What about me? Now that you made a new friend, you forgot all about meeeee?"

"Drama queen," her eyes rolled.

"Jia, I feel hurt!" He pulled Mingshen, pressing his face against Jia’s with all his might. "Aren’t we such best friends! You didn’t miss me at all?"

A very ominous feeling cracked in Mingshen’s fingers, particularly where their cheeks met. An urge to tear it away from her overwhelmed him.

"It was a last minute plan dummy. Nobody forgot about you."

"I feel hurt," he sniffled.

"Fine, fine, we will hang out too. Don’t cry," she patted his head.

Mingshen’s gaze darkened.

Making plans right in front of my eyes? Some guts he has!

Jia slid down from his arm’s grasp and said, "Back to work, boys."

"Aye, aye~"

Mingshen threw his arm, his face cold and dark.

"Aish, Dr. Yang. Why so bitter in this sunshine morning? Oh, oh! Perhaps you didn’t like it seeing my special friend’s closeness with me~?"

His brow twitched. "I don’t care."

"Oh of course you do~ Otherwise..."

A mischievous gleam laced his eyes as he leaned closer, whispering a secret. "You wouldn’t have been ogling at my dearest friend here."

"...She is Spicy. I ogle at her everyday," he sneered.

"Heh, but something is different today. You panicked even at her slightest touch to your forehead. Hmm, my years of investigative experience tells me that you feel guilty of something as if...you have done something naughty behind her back~ You smell fishy today just like this case."

His mouth twitched further.

"Seems like you have too much free time on your hands."

"Oh, I don’t but I will be joining my partner soon~ So I would urge you to keep proper distance from Jia," he winked.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, according to you, I am her ok-ok boyfriend, am I not?" He blinked innocently.

"..."

"So I would like you to keep strictly a professional relationship with her. I am a little possessive of my girlfriend~ I know she is beautiful and smart and attractive but you can’t have her. Definitely not have naughty dreams about her."

He stared. "You talked to Mom."

He shone. "Mrs. Yang and I have become such good friends, you know! We share everything with each other~"

Mingshen unceremoniously pushed him away, gritting his teeth, away from everyone’s eyes. He crouched beside the body, grateful for at least some distraction. His fingers traced the wound carefully. The skull fracture wasn’t consistent with a simple fall.

"Time of death?" he asked.

"Between one and three AM," she breathed out.

One and three. His traitorous mind replayed the dream. The door. Her whisper. The almost-kiss. Then what followed afterwards.

Jia stepped closer to hand him a flashlight. Their fingers brushed.

"Anything unusual?" she asked, voice quieter now.

"...Yes," he said before thinking, staring at her fingers grazing past his, certainly feeling something unusual in his stomach. Something ticklish and fluttering.

"What is unusual?"

"Umm..." He hadn’t thought about that part of his answer.

From afar, Huojin, observing their interaction, chuckled. Suddenly, footsteps echoed and thudded loudly against the concrete staircase that felt like an earthquake’s rumbling. An officer’s voice came crashing and panicked as if it was the end of the world.

"Everybody!! RUUNN!!!!"

Jia turned around, stunned with the sudden commotion. "What’s happening-"

"BOMB! There’s a bomb! Run for your lives!!"