Sunrise [Yungi FF]

16. He's Innocent

The police station was a scary place, even when Yunho was outside the building. He didn't know what the exact protocol was, but if it was anything like the TV dramas he watched, Mingi should be released soon.

Unless, of course, the police found enough evidence to prosecute him.

Yunho paced nervously in a tiny circle, trying unsuccessfully to lower his presence. He was on the far side of the crossroad right outside the gate, because that was the closest to the station he dared to go.

It was early in the morning, so most people crossed the road to go in, displaying their ID cards with an unsmiling expression only inspectors determined to solve their cases could wear on their faces.

All of those officers gave Yunho a questioning look as they passed by.

"...frustrating. He was so worked up we thought he would confess, but he never did."

He didn't mean to eavesdrop, but that was what his frantic mind directed his attention to in order to calm himself down. Intrigued, Yunho looked up from his feet and saw two people standing next to him, waiting for the traffic light to turn green. It was the man who spoke just now, and he was waiting for his female partner to reply.

"I have a feeling this is just one of those cases that will stay an unsolved mystery. You'll see many of those in your career, bud." The woman gave one pat on the man's back.

"We still have the evidence, right?" He asked.

The woman scoffed. "The textile fibers? Those are all we have and that's not strong enough to make the case. Besides, all of our witnesses have said only good things about our suspect. No solid alibi...but the statements make it sound like we're looking at a completely different case."

Yunho casually turned his head when she looked his way. At this point, he was confident that the detectives were talking about Mingi, so he bore into the red man on the traffic light and wished, for once, that he would stay for a bit longer.

"Do you think we got the wrong person?" The male inspector asked.

There was a short pause before the answer came. "Hard to say. I trust the witnesses, though, especially since there are so many, with a wide range of profiles. People judge each other surprisingly well. So..."

The red man disappeared and the light turned green. The officers began crossing the road.

"...he sounds like a harmless young..."

Yunho couldn't hear the rest of the sentence as the woman walked off with her subordinate, but he already heard everything he wanted to hear.

The rest of the twenty minutes flew by. Perhaps it was the certainty of knowing Mingi would come out that gave Yunho that illusion. Either way, he was so elated to see the familiar face emerge from behind the gate that he ran across the road without checking the traffic light and jumped onto Mingi, wrapping his arms around the body he knew so well.

Mingi returned the hug with earnest, pressing the other against himself.

"I'm sorry. You must be worried," said Mingi, stepping out of the hug.

Yunho shook his head, his hands still on Mingi's shoulders. "I wasn't worried. I knew something must've gone wrong. You would never do such a thing." The tears stinging his eyes surprised him as he spoke. He was so happy to see them again - the same gentle eyes and the kind smile he had in his memory.

"Thanks." Mingi's smile went rigid with his short and quiet reply. He didn't tell Yunho that, when he was questioned in the claustrophobic room and presented with incriminating evidence, how he had started to suspect himself more than once.