I groaned as my alarm started beeping and rolled over to turn it off.

Oh wait, today's the presentation. Which means I have the day off !

I jumped out of bed excited and showered. The live auditions for the dancers were today and because I had solved one of the two cases when I had come home yesterday, I was free today to go to the audition. And I could finish solving the second case today too since Christian was going to be at the audition as well.

I pulled on a black silky tank top and jeans with a thin white cardigan and tied my black converse and braided my hair into a french braid. I grabbed a messenger bag and stuffed my phone, wallet and tablet into it before grabbing my car keys and driving to the nearest doughnut shop. I got 4 boxes full of doughnuts along with a chocolate frappe for myself. I drank it as I drove to the studio and threw the cup away as I balanced the doughnuts to the auditorium in the back and took them backstage. I heard squeals of joy as soon as I walked through the door and smiled.

Someone grabbed the boxes from me and put them down on a table. When he turned around I frowned.

"What are you doing here ?"

Christian raised an eyebrow and handed me a tissue. When I looked at him confused he pointed to his upper lip and I realized what he was saying. I handed the tissue back to him and licked the residue whipped cream off the lip. He shook his head and let out an exasperated sigh. I crossed my arms.

"You haven't answered my question. You're a judge, what are you doing back here ?"

"I came to wish them luck."

"Uh-huh, sure."

He rolled his eyes.

"Fine, you caught me. I was looking for you. Have you had any progress ?"

"I have to talk to my kids first. I'll tell you later. Now leave. You can't be here."

He frowned but left when I made a shooing motion. I turned around and found Hobi and JK staring at me from across the room. I could already see from the expression on their faces that they were wondering why I was talking to Christian.

Oh my stars, how am I going to explain this ?

They sauntered over to me and grinned. JK wiggled his eyebrows and I looked at him confused.

"Ooooo, is our Alex going to get her first boyfriend ?"

I punched Hobi's shoulder.

"There is nothing like that. I was just telling him that he couldn't be backstage because he's a judge."

"Oh really ? I thought you couldn't come today. Why did you show up all of a sudden ? And with doughnuts too ?"

JK asked with wide eyes.

"I have the day off and the work I had today got cancelled so I decided to surprise the kids."

The brothers scoffed. Hobi nudged JK.

"Uh-huh, sure. You just wanted to see Jimin, didn't you? I always knew you guys liked each other, even back then. You were always at each other's throats."

"Yeah, because we hated each other ! Why would two people fight if they liked each other ?"

"The heart works in mysterious ways, Alex."

Hobi wiggled his eyebrows at me this time and I scoffed.

"Trust me, there is no way I will ever like that bastard and there is no way he will ever like me. And I'd like very much for it to stay that way."

The brothers winked at each other.

"We'll see about that. And bastard is a curse word."

"No, it's not ! I really have been cutting down on cursing Hobi !"

"Uh huh. Surreeee."

I rolled my eyes and left to go to talk to my students. Afterwards, I grabbed a doughnut and went to watch the auditions. I sat in the middle and the brothers joined a couple of minutes later. When the judges came in to sit down, they both elbowed me when Christian walked in. I pinched their sides and they immediately withdrew. I cheered loudly along with the brothers every time someone performed even though we were the only ones there along with the judges. When Jimmy came out to perform, I saw Christian and a couple of others straighten up and watch him intently. I knew he would be a popular choice for contemporary and ballet and I had spent the last six months helping one on one and perfecting his every move even down to the way he pointed his toes.

"There goes your star student."

Hobi whispered in my ear. I shushed him and watched Jimmy execute the dance that he had choreographed himself and that I had helped him perfect. He did it perfectly and got a standing ovation from every person in the room. I saw a couple of the judges wipe away tears and I mentally congratulated myself for picking the haunting music that I knew Jimmy could portray the emotions of perfectly. I sneaked backstage to congratulate Jimmy on his amazing performance and found him literally squealing.

"Woah, are you okay ?"

He turned to me with a manic look in his eyes.

"You didn't tell me that Jimin was going to be here !"

"Why does that matter ?"

"Because he's literally my idol !"

"You didn't see him when he was backstage earlier ?"

He clutched his hair in his hands, wide eyed.

"He was backstage ? Why did I have to be late today ?"

"You weren't late, you were here when I was talking to you guys."

He groaned and sat down on a chair.

"I would've done better if I knew I was going to be performing in front of Jimin."

I knelt down in front of him and started untying his pointe shoes.

"About that, you literally could not have done better. Every single step and leap and move was on beat and your expressions were amazing as well. I don't think I've ever seen Jimin dance as well as that."

"You've seen Jimin dance ?"

"Yeah, I used to compete against him."

"And she was very tough competition too."

I heard Christian from behind me and Jimmy immediately stood up, knocking me from my knees to my butt.

"Ow !"

"Oh my god, I'm sorry Alex."

Jimmy held out his hand, but I stood up myself and handed him his pointe shoes.

"This is Jimmy, I guess he's a big fan of yours."

Christian smiled and held a hand out to Jimmy. Jimmy stared at the hand with an awed look on his face until I nudged him in the side. He shook his hand and started stuttering.

"I've seen many of your performances at Blossom House. You are absolutely amazing sir."

Christian thanked him with a smile.

"You didn't know that Cygne here used to dance too ?"

"Cygne ? Is that your stage name Alex ?"

I frowned.

"That's not your business to tell, Christian."

He glanced at me with a smirk, when he heard my annoyed voice, which melted away into a frown when he saw the hurt expression on my face. Jimmy interrupted the tension between us.

"She almost never dances in front of the class. I personally have only seen her dance a couple of times even though I've known her for years."

Christian raised an eyebrow at me and I scowled.

"Go shower Jimmy."

"Before you go, I would like to offer you a training spot under the Blossom House Dance Company. You can call this number and arrange a negation of your contract. A typical training period would be 3-5 years, but you are a special case. I estimate you wouldn't need more than six months to a year of training because you already are extremely amazing."

Jimmy's eyes got wider and wider with every word Christian spoke. When Christian handed him a calling card, he took it with both hands and stared at it with an amazed expression. I elbowed him in the side twice before he looked up and realized he hadn't thanked Christian.

"Thank you sir. Really. I never expected this in a million years."

Christian smiled and ruffled Jimmy's hair.

"Sure kiddo. You deserve it."

His eyes turned to me, but I looked away before we made eye contact. I heard him walk away and when I was sure that he had left, I turned to Jimmy.

"Congrats Jimmy !"

I held a hand out for him to shake, but he hugged me instead. I froze, surprised, but then hugged him back and then pulled away. I patted his shoulder as he looked at the card Christian had given him.

"This is everything I've worked for since I was 10 years old Alex. Seven years of coming to the dance studio in every spare moment I've had. This is the moment that I worked for."

He turned to me with sparkling eyes.

"And it's all thanks to you."

I put my hands up in a defensive position.

"Oh hell no. Your hard work paid off. I did nothing. Your determination got you here."

He smiled and hugged me again and went running off to show his friends. I watched him smiling and then went to go talk to the brothers. They were thanking the judges for coming and I joined them. After the judges had left, the brothers walked up to me and JK wriggled his eyebrows.

"Not going to meet your boyfriend ?"

I sighed.

"He's not my boyfriend. Gross. Also, Jimmy got an offer from Blossom House to be their new contemporary dancer."

They gasped and cheered.

"Proud of your star student ?"

I smiled and nodded.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be ? He got into his dream company and was scouted by his idol."

The brothers looked and each other and hugged me in sync.

"And are you sure you're okay ?"

I hugged them back.

"Why wouldn't I be ?"

"Because this was exactly what had happened to you."

I slipped out from under their arms and jumped off the stage.

"I gotta go. I have plans."

I sprinted out before they could ask me more questions, but I heard Hobi's voice yelling behind me.

"You're gonna have to talk about it someday !"

I sighed.

I know better than anyone that I have to talk about it someday. But that someday isn't today.

I squinted as the sunlight hit my eyes and when I could see clearly, I saw Christian leaning against the wall of the building.

"Did you hack anything illegally last night ?"

Did he already hear that I solved the other case ?

"No..."

"Okay. If you say so. You wanna know what the coroner found ?"

"Duh, dumbass."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, if you use language like that..."

I rolled my eyes.

"Sorry. What did the coroner find, Detective Impark ?"

He grinned.

"That's much better. He tested all the bodies for Succinylcholine and it came out positive. Now we just have to..."

He trailed off and stared behind me.

"What ?"

I turned around and saw JK and Hobi staring at us.

"Aishhh..."

"What's the problem ?"

"They keep asking me if we're dating."

He lifted an eyebrow.

"Dating ?"

I sighed.

"I'll go right and you go left. We'll meet at the same cafe we went to yesterday, okay ?"

He nodded, amused.

"Shut up and go."

I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked off, hoping the brothers wouldn't follow me. I heard them calling my name and started sprinting away. I ran to the cafe and found Christian already sitting at a table with two drinks in front of him. I sat down across him and he pushed one of the drinks toward me.

"No thanks, I don't drink coffee."

"It's not-"

"What were you saying earlier? Do you guys have any suspects? Have you found any new evidence? Can I look at the crime scene again?"

"Jeez, slow down."

"Tell me already."

"Fine. Like I already said, all the bodies had Succinylcholine, but I checked and all but one of the bodies had the needle marks in the same place."

"Who ? Where ?"

"The other victims have the needle marks on their right shoulders, but one of them has it on his left inner forearm. I checked with the restaurant and evidently, he was the one who booked the reservation. His name's John Carver. He's a chemist at a pharmacy."

"So if he's our murderer, he had the means. But what about the motive ?"

"I've set up an interview with students the victims went to. Maybe we can learn something about how the victims were during their friendship in high school ?"

"Guess I'm rubbing off on you. You're finally acting smart."

He scoffed and got up.

"Let's go."

"Go where ?"

"Did you not just hear me ? Interview ? Old high school classmates ?"

"Oh sweet angels I can't believe I complimented you. Did you somehow forget in the span of 24 hours that I'm an anonymous consultant ? Emphasis on the anonymous ?"

He scowled at me and muttered under his breath, "That was a compliment ?"

"I heard that. I can't exactly waltz up to them and start asking them questions about their dead classmates without a valid reason, can I ? Only you have a valid reason to do so."

"So what do you want me to do ?!"

I groaned and put my head in my hands.

"You can't even conduct interviews by yourself ? I thought you were "the youngest detective to work at the headquarters ever." I'm not really seeing it right now."

He glared at me.

"Yeah I am. And I heard that you've solved more cases than the most experienced detective in the force. I'm not seeing it either."

I laughed dryly.

"Not seeing it ? I've done more in this case than you have. Is your memory really that bad ? Who figured how the victims died ? Who found the evidence that, may I remind you, the actual police force didn't find ?"

I felt my body tingle in anger and the rage in my chest made my cheeks burn. I noticed Christian's chest was also rising and falling faster than normal in anger. I grabbed my things and got up.

"Fuck this. Man, I can't do this fucking shit."

I turned to walk away, but his next words stopped me.

"I guess you really haven't changed at all huh Cygne? You still haven't given up the habit of giving up when something gets hard."

Oh hell no. He did not just say that to me again. This bitch is dead.