Friday night again. The people around the table were buzzing with drunken giggles and loud conversations. Ana was not yet drunk, nor did she have any intentions of being. Her mind still had very vivid memories about what had happened the last time she overdid her drinking. Laughing about what one of the teachers was telling her she made a big gesture with her hands and ended up throwing down the glass of wine on the floor, breaking it. Still laughing, she squatted and began picking up the pieces ending up cutting one of her fingers.

“Oh! 하나시 (Ana), you alright?” The other teacher covered her mouth and looked at her with concerning eyes.

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing.” Ana replied as the waiter approached them with a broom and a cloth to clean up her mess.

She apologized to the man and headed to the bathroom to wash her hands. The cut was small and stopped bleeding in no time, under the running water. After splashing her face, realizing she was not yet drunk but not completely sober either, Ana returned to the table. It was time to head home, picking up her purse to take out her wallet she touched her vibrating phone and picked it up instead.

“Are you alright?” number unidentified. Rising her head searching for Christopher to thank him for his concern, yet not understanding why he couldn’t just simply have asked her personally, she found him chatting with another teacher. Her gaze must have called his attention somehow because he looked at her smiling and shrugged his shoulders when she pointed at her mobile. He seemed to have no idea what she was talking about. Her heart jumped in her chest as she slowly scrutinized her colleagues around the table looking for a look of understanding. None was found.

Feeling a bit freaked out and telling herself she was overreacting, Ana left the restaurant wanting to arrive at the safety of her apartment asap. The taxi ride was filled with the sound of her breathing exercises, meant to calm down her racing heart, to the point she got one strange look from the taxi driver. Entering her building she felt safer while greeting the smiling security man at his desk. She was home, she was alright. She was overreacting, probably one of the teachers sent her the message and was too drunk to care about it afterward. She would ask on Monday. Surely, that had to be it! Her apartment was warm and the cold tile floor at the entrance felt good underneath her feet. Ana went straight to the bedroom and changed into her pajamas. Wanting some water before sleep, she turned on the kitchen lights and froze while staring at the countertop where a single bandaid was waiting. Like a sentence.

Stolen novel; please report.

Someone had been in her apartment?! The realization of that fact shut down her brain for a few seconds and it took her that amount of time to react. Like a crazy person, she grabbed a jacket, her purse, and her shoes and left the apartment without even bothering to check if the door locked. Grabbing a taxi, she asked the driver to take her to the closest precinct.

“I’m telling you, someone was in my house.” Losing her patience she rose her voice and found everybody staring at her.

“Madam, calm down.” the policeman taking her statement told her in bad English.

He was growing impatient with what he obviously thought was a hysterical woman in need of attention. Ana was also growing impatient trying to talk to someone who barely spoke English and clearly was not interested in what she had to say at all. However, she was not about to go home not knowing who could be in there waiting for her. Close to the breaking point, the tension was rising to the point of being palpable when a deep voice disrupted the scene.

“뭐습니다?”

The sound came from somewhere behind her and grabbed the attention of the policeman in front of her. While the officer spoke to the other guy in a speedy Korean speech, his colleague got around the desk and stood in front of her, standing next to his partner. With a neutral expression, Hee-Joon gave him his full attention not even looking in her direction and then, with a pat on the guy’s back, said “나에게 맡겨.” The officer got up giving her a hard look and the man who had interrupted them took his seat.

“So madam, how may I be of service?”

That phrase should have made her even angrier if it wasn’t for the crescent shame she was experiencing right now. The gorgeous Korean man she talked to at the park a few days before was now in front of her, and she could only imagine what he must be thinking by the surprised look in his eyes staring at her choice of outfit.

“There was someone in my apartment.”