The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 140

My feet had lost the sensation of standing on the ground. My wet pupils widened, filling with the sight of Prosecutor Joo, who looked so precarious.

“Even guilt couldn’t act as a brake, but now that I keep seeing you by my side, I’ve even gained momentum. In the past, when I worked, my emotions were suppressed, but now, even when I work, the whole world is just Lee Chaeha.”

He leaned his head further toward me. I raised my trembling hand, swept back his wet hair, and rested my palm on his cheek, which had turned cold from the rainwater.

Joo Taeson’s body temperature, which was always so hot, was low. Just like someone who had fallen into the sea.

“I didn’t want to admit I had a weakness. I can endure it when people attack me, but if they touch you, I’m helpless. When I told you to quit, I was already regretting dragging you into this work.”

Even his voice, which had seemed barely composed, now trembled thinly. I slowly parted my lips.

“It’s been… quite a while since you told me to quit.”

“It’s been much longer than that.”

His large hand pulled me slowly and held me in his arms.

‘I should have known I would come to love you.’

It felt as though those words of Prosecutor Joo would orbit in my head forever.

I stood on my tiptoes and hugged him tightly.

Today was such a difficult day for Prosecutor Joo, and he must have been feeling miserable, so it shouldn’t have been this way… but I was happy, as if that confession were finally saving me from sinking.

Because it didn’t seem like the thing Joo Taeson would leave in my heart was pain, I became weak, as if I would collapse at any moment.

Suppressing the urge to cry, I slowly leaned my forehead against his broad chest. And I whispered in a trembling voice:

“You were right, Prosecutor.”

“…”

“I still have courage left in me.”

His solid hands hugged my waist as if they would never let go.

We said nothing for a long time. Until we held each other and recovered the body heat that had been lost to the rain.

The rain stopped late at night. The next morning was as clear as if it would never rain again. A cloudless spring Haneul hung outside the narrow window. I looked at the blue Haneul and stretched widely. Even though I had experienced a dangerous situation yesterday because of Chief Tak, no fear arose. A bit of excitement and a huge amount of concern for Prosecutor Joo simply coexisted. I was worried if he had slept well, as yesterday must have been very exhausting for him.

Just before I finished getting ready for work and left, I checked my phone and found a text Prosecutor Joo had sent at dawn.

Did you sleep well?

Given that the arrival time of the message was 6:35 AM, it seemed he had left the message as soon as he started his day. For a moment, I was bewildered and put down the trench coat I was about to wear.

“What is this….”

Usually, the messages I received from Prosecutor Joo in the morning were mostly instructions about work or reprimands when he discovered my mistakes, so I was flustered for a moment. I picked up my coat, put it on, slung my cross-body bag over my shoulder as usual, and left. Perhaps because of the rain last night, the wind hitting my cheeks was cold for the first time in a while.

The conjecture that this greeting might be a romantic text only occurred to me when I had walked a few steps out of the villa. A slight flush belatedly rose to my cheeks. Not knowing how to reply, I hesitated before finally entering the characters.

Yes, Prosecutor. I slept well. I’m heading to work now.

The message indicated it had been read, but there was no reply. I hurried my steps toward the branch office.

Prosecutor Joo was sitting in the prosecutor’s office just as usual, to the point that I wondered if his disheveled appearance yesterday had been a dream. Unsure of how to treat him, I bowed my head awkwardly as soon as I entered.

“Good morning.”

Prosecutor Joo glanced up at me and leaned back in his chair. Then, folding his arms, he spoke in his usual high-handed tone.

“What is with that reply? When we are alone, you don’t have to use such stiff language. It’s what you wanted, isn’t it, Officer Lee? You said let’s date.”

It felt like he had returned to the usual Joo Taeson, and I didn’t dislike that tone all that much.

The unfamiliar word “dating” contained within his stiff language made me unbearably shy. I felt like my face was on fire and I wanted to hide inside a cabinet, but I barely managed to keep a blank expression as I sat at my desk. If it were before we were dating, I would have at least tried to talk back, but even that felt strangely embarrassing, so I quietly turned on the computer.

Since I was thirteen, I had never maintained an intimate relationship with anyone. It had been a long time since I had let even a friend into my life. On the other hand, Prosecutor Joo’s life had been better than mine. There was the Chief Tak who had betrayed him, the late Prosecutor Yoon Soyeon, his fellow prosecutor peers, and his aunt, but I had been a castaway living on an island populated by many people.

So, as my relationship with Prosecutor Joo progressed further, both my head and body stiffened like dry branches. I couldn’t react naturally at all.

I was looking down, staring quietly at the monitor as if I weren’t in the office, when Prosecutor Joo suddenly appeared beside my desk.

“Yes?”

When I looked up in surprise, Prosecutor Joo furrowed his brows.

“What is that reaction? Did a thief break into the office?”

“No… it’s just awkward….”

I forced my shoulders, which were about to shrink, to open.

“We’ve seen each other for months, and now you’re awkward? I finally feel comfortable.”

I thought he might have changed a bit since he sent a morning greeting, but now that we were facing each other in the office, his coercive tone was the same as before or after we started dating. To an excessive degree.

“Even when dating… do people usually talk like that?”

At my question, Prosecutor Joo rubbed his chin with a long finger and fell into thought for a moment.

“I don’t think I can speak gently just because we’re dating. I’ve never done that in my life.”

“Even to your friends?”

“I don’t have many friends. I think I forgot how to speak gently when I had aphasia.”

“…Do you think it’s okay to joke about a time you were sick?”

“Yes.”

His style of conversation, which left one speechless, remained the same as well. Yesterday, he couldn’t hide his devastated expression so thoroughly, and yet…

Prosecutor Joo gripped my shoulder tightly before letting go, returned to his seat, and brought up familiar work talk instead of the unfamiliar topic of dating.

“There will be disciplinary action for Chief Tak today.”

“I understand. Are you… feeling okay?”

“No. How could I be. I’m barely holding it in.”

“If it’s too hard, anytime….”

Before I could finish offering comfort, he added as if he had suddenly remembered something.

“And prepare to move this week.”

“Pardon?”

I opened my eyes wide in surprise at the sudden notification. Telling me to move within this week was an unreasonable order. I didn’t have much money saved up. I had been without income for a long time after quitting the police, and the money extorted by my uncle’s couple in the meantime was no small amount.

Prosecutor Joo explained immediately, as if reading my mind.

“I was anxious, so I thought about bringing you into my residence, but if those around us find out, it will be embarrassing for both of us, so I will give you one of the apartments under my name. The furniture and appliances are all ready, so you just need to take your clothes.”

“That’s fine.”

“The villa you’re living in now has very poor security, so I’m worried; just listen to me. If it had been a neighborhood with many CCTVs, Chief Tak wouldn’t have been able to break in so recklessly. In the first place, the room was too small, so I didn’t like it.”

Having lived my whole life without relying on others, even the act of relying on Prosecutor Joo felt unfamiliar and sorry. I wanted to refuse again, but since such an incident occurred just yesterday, it didn’t seem like I would be able to break Prosecutor Joo’s stubbornness. Thinking that giving me an empty house wouldn’t be a huge loss to Prosecutor Joo, I hesitated before bowing my head.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t have to bow your head.”

“Ah…, yes. I understand.”

“Officer Lee Chaeha needs to hurry up and make the resolution to date. Your tone is… quite something. When you asked if I liked you as if you were confident in dating, that was one thing.”

My lips pouted slightly and then retreated at his continued nagging. My voice came out a bit curtly.

“…It’s just become a habit. But, Prosecutor.”

“Yes.”

“Even if it’s an empty house, I should at least pay you the monthly rent….”

Prosecutor Joo narrowed his straight brows but soon smoothed them out. It was an expression that, in ordinary times, would have led to him dragging me to an auxiliary office to scold me immediately.

However, as if precariously remembering that we were now a couple, he forced himself to soften his expression with difficulty. Then, he replied in a tone that was uncharacteristically gentle.

“I don’t like it when lovers calculate things precisely.”

“…”

“Let’s consider the calculation settled by the fact that we like each other.”

“Still….”

“Let’s stop the debate here. I can’t even make you shut up by giving orders or instructions to Officer Lee Chaeha anymore.”

“…Yes.”