Chapter Text
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"Why are you bringing Sunghoon?"
Sunghoon darted his eyes back and forth between Jaeyun and Jongseong, cluelessly sandwiched between the two. Behind them hung an obnoxiously large, colorful eye sore event banner, ‘BISEXUAL SPEED DATING. Find your love! Meet up to 50 singles in the area’
"Yeonjun's party specifically said that everyone had to bring a date and this guy showed up pathetically alone. He said he didn’t think anyone would go out with him. So, I dragged him here to prove him wrong." Jaeyun cupped Sunghoon’s face and brought it closer to Jongseong by force. "Look at this face. I’d go out with him if I have never cleaned up his vomit with my bare hands."
"Hey—"
Jaeyun roughly let Sunghoon go to further explain his point, both hands were put in persuasive motions. "C'mon, it would be great for him to get back in the game. He’s been single forever."
"By choice," Sunghoon quickly defended himself.
Jongseong side-eyed Sunghoon. "You can't bring another good looking friend to this type of thing. The pie is smaller now that there are three good looking men in the room."
The guy in question pointed at himself bemusedly. "I am good looking?"
"Look in the mirror. With a face and body proportions like that, you can get anyone you want," Jongseong went on, evidently pissed that he had to dumb it down for Sunghoon. "Not to mention you have that classic ice prince look. People dig that edge."
Sunghoon was lost. "Jaeyun, didn't you say it's a stake out?"
"Uh, well, it is." Jaeyun avoided eye contact. "We're looking for someone here. He goes by the name Fox."
"Fox?" he repeated the name. "Is it the local drug ring case?"
"No, he's an unlicensed private investigator. He works for a lot of high-profile people and he might be connected to Kim Eunho's murder."
"I heard about him. But why are we looking for him here?"
"We baited him here. Hired him to follow Soobin over there." Jaeyun tipped his head to a direction where Soobin was anxiously shaking his leg at the bar.
Sunghoon furrowed his brows. "Seriously? The intel analyst guy?"
Jaeyun shrugged. "We don't have a lot of choices."
Sunghoon then scrunched his nose and continued to argue the earlier conversation. It seemed like the notion had struck a nerve more than he expected. "Anyway, people are not that shallow these days, they look for something deeper."
But Jongseong begged to differ. "Have you heard of Tinder? People make choices with the swipe of their fingers based on pictures like they're God."
Sunghoon incredulously scoffed, cocking his head sideways. "Are you insinuating that my love life has solely depended on my look?"
"And your cock, but let's not delve into that. You want to bet?" Jongseong gave him a bored look, slouching on one leg while crossing his arms.
Jaeyun threw his hands up, the mention of bet prompted him to walk away. "Leave me out of this, I am broke."
"Lunch for a week. You can't tell them what you do or anything about your background at all. Just be boring as fuck. You'll still walk out of here with stacks of numbers."
Speed dating for Sunghoon, was like picking up random strangers at the bar, the chance was pretty much the same (which wasn’t exactly his strongest suit). Everyone had so much to tell about themselves, squeezing in as much interesting bits and trivia about themselves in the 8 minutes they were given.
"Wanna see the result of my workout?" Number 31 said, followed by full on flex-grunting while lifting his shirt to show his non-existent muscles.
"Uh.. no."
Sunghoon didn’t give much away about himself, he wasn’t forthcoming and consistently responded with a thick indifference. He was there to find someone (he also had something to prove to Jongseong). It was impossible for these people to find his lack of enthusiasm and cold shoulder appealing, simply because the level of his physical attractiveness made up for it.
"I have 201 Squishmallows in my bedroom and I talk to every single one of them everyday."
Sunghoon grimaced. "That’s creepy as fuck."
"Oh… I’ve never been more humiliated and turned on all my life."
He knew there were a fair share of people but that couldn’t be the majority, right?
Sunghoon barely opened his mouth when the number 27 started biting her lips and threw him suggestive eyes.
"I’d sit on that face any day."
Sunghoon nope’d and got up immediately.
Especially when the other side of the statistics implied that the success rate of his love life was in linear with his face.
"Hello." Sunghoon extended his hand for a hand shake as he sat down. "Park Sunghoon"
The stranger accepted it with a polite smile. "Kim Sunoo."
They wrote down each other’s name on the provided cards, thus began the speed dating.
"So, what do you do?" Sunghoon dryly attempted a conversation, something he eventually learned as the normal and common topic starters if he wasn’t encountering the oddity.
"First time, right?" Sunoo guessed right off the bat instead of answering.
Sunghoon responded with a slight arch on his brow. "How do you know?"
"Not my first rodeo," Sunoo said while carding his fingers through his hair. "It’s boring isn’t it? Feels too interview-y. Let’s put all that away and talk about the true reason why you are here, what are you looking for?"
Sunghoon felt an air of nonchalant ease around Sunoo, at least on the mere facade. The gestures he would make, the choice of words. Definitely not his first time here.
"Let’s see." Sunghoon pretended to muse. "To date, I guess. You?"
"Is it too cliche if I say that I am looking for love? I want to find someone I can share my honest feelings with." Sunoo wistfully smiled. "Modern dating is not for me. I don't like picking people solely based on how they look in pictures, it's too superficial. At least I can see real people instead of overly curated profiles here."
Sunghoon was piqued with interest. "You really think so?"
"Yes, I get bored easily over texts too. Why do people prefer to text rather than having a face to face conversation like this? There's no connection, just shallow interaction."
Sunghoon stilled for a second before slowly nodding. "I agree, it's just a cycle of dead-end interactions of unanswered messages."
"Something is different about you." Sunoo folded his arms on the table and fixed his attentive eyes on Sunghoon. "What’s your story?"
But Sunghoon was a healthy amount of cynical, despite Sunoo's smooth cover and saccharine speech, he didn’t fail to notice that it was too perfect that it became suspicious. He was a brilliant detective first and foremost, it took a simple observation to know what he was dealing with.
"Wow," Sunghoon exaggeratedly gaped. "Is there a button to end this speed dating? I might just have found the one."
Sunoo continued to speak with a sweet lilt in his voice, "You flatter me."
"Let's get out of here, I want to know you better. I'm thinking of a nice quick stroll around the block. Maybe we can talk and all that, learn about each other. Except—" Sunghoon paused to let a smile etch his lips, "—you’re a fraud. You’re just telling people what they want to hear."
Sunoo’s smile progressively widened as he slowly leaned away. He wasn't fazed upon being found out, instead he was intrigued.
"Tell me about it."
Sunghoon's eyes roamed around the strangers in the room, chatting among themselves in pairs. He saw fidgeting fingers, shaking legs, and rehearsed smiles. Eagerness and desperation from one look. "What I noticed for the past 45 minutes that I have been here is that these people are desperate for love and real connections. You prey on their vulnerability. People who insist on the importance of honesty are often the biggest liars themselves."
"That’s perceptive," Sunoo impressedly remarked. A corner of his lips was twisted, hinting amusement.
"You have a natural talent as a liar."
Sunoo’s furtive demeanor finally cracked a light-hearted laughter and his shoulders laxed. "Okay, you're clearly not looking for a date either." His eyes swiftly darted to Sunghoon's straight posture, gray t-shirt, and worn out black biker jacket.
Sunghoon was aware that Sunoo was eyeing him. "Why are you here?"
Sunoo pressed his lips together, nursing his cocktail glass on the table. "I don't have to answer that, right?"
The interval bell rang and the participants rose from their seats to move onto the next date. Sunghoon spared Sunoo a polite smile and got up following the others.
Sunoo briefly stopped Sunghoon by his arm when he was about to walk by.
"It was a delight meeting you, Sunghoon."
Sunghoon nodded. "You too, Sunoo."
When the event ended, the host handed them the name cards of people who would be interested in pursuing further connection. Jongseong and Jaeyun got a decent amount, but it was nothing in comparison to Sunghoon's thick stack. Sunghoon clearly lost the bet to them by a landslide.
"There's a good gopchang restaurant down the street," Jongseong reminded him for the prize of his earned victory.
Sunghoon snorted while aimlessly going through the cards. "Fair win."
Jongseong leaned sideways to peek at Sunghoon's cards. "Found anyone suspicious?"
"Yeah, there was a guy—" Sunghoon stopped mid-sentence and blinked when he saw Sunoo’s card there. As he looked up, he saw the man walking up to him with his hands buried in his jacket pockets.
"I admit, that good look does it for me," Sunoo said like he was reading Sunghoon's mind. "I'll see you around, officer."
"How—"
"I knew you were a cop when you sat down. But I went ahead and checked to be sure."
"What?"
"Check your pocket."
Sunghoon patted down his chest and pant pockets, realizing that his badge was missing. With a flick of his wrist, Sunoo tossed it back to him, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Might want to work on that, sir." Sunoo leaned forward as if he was about to whisper something even though they were already 10 feet away. "It's a scary world out there."
Jaeyun approached his side. "Who's that?"
Sunghoon set his eyes on the car driving away from the vicinity.
"I think we found him."
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