Hajun takes the seat across from Somi. “He was pulled away by an old woman with huge sunglasses, actually.”

“His therapist,” Kisa realizes, smoothing Hwanin’s hair away from his small face. “Did you find any passageways?” Chances are slim, she knows, with a lack thereof on the blueprints—but she still feels a prickling of hope.

“Um, unfortunately not…It was a great idea, though, Kisa. One of many more to come from your gigantic brain, I bet,” he ribs. “Besides the, uh, book—what else did you guys find?”

Somi opens her mouth to explain, but a moment later, a very disgruntled-looking Seokga is stalking up to their table, slamming his cane down on the floor with each step as if he’d very much like to cleave the SRC Flatliner in two. Kisa’s hand falls from her chest as the red thread shakes, and she resists the urge to flip to the page in her notes on the Threaded connection and observe how even the string seems afraid of Seokga’s moods. But she resists, keeping the pages on the list of suspects and scrawling down what they’ve learned while Somi quickly relates it to the two men. Kisa peeks up at the seat across from her where Seokga sits, eyeing her flat white like he’d gladly guzzle the caffeine despite it not being iced as she’s noticed he favors.

Don’t do it, she tells herself. Don’t you dare do it. Squash instead.

But then he’s looking up at her, eyebrows furrowed in a way that tells her he’s heard her thoughts, and the notorious, infamous god looks so—tired. So vulnerable. And she’s remembering how he watched the mermaids with her, grinning as night air whipped his dark locks, entertaining her excited ramblings in a way that even Hajun sometimes grows tired of.

Well, drat.

This won’t be at all conducive to her determined squashing.

Hesitantly, and with a sense of great defeat, Kisa pushes her cup toward him. His eyes widen in surprise. She tries, furiously, not to blush as she returns her attention to the notebook, but she’s very aware of how he raises the mug to his lips and tentatively sips it.

—needed—this—fucking—therapy—daddy issues—Mireuk—damn it—want—Kisa—coffee—

His thoughts are a distressed jumble, and Kisa is suddenly overcome with the intense desire to smooth them out. Something happens then, in the Creature Café, in the midst of a murder investigation—something that is incredibly fascinating from a scholarly level, and amazing from a, well, Kisa level. The bond between the god and the gwisin begins to glow at Kisa’s end—not scarlet, but a calm silver. Silver travels from her pinky to his, where it seems to seep into his skin…And a moment later, the lines on Seokga’s forehead smooth.