"Hello?"

Professor Kirkland asked, opening his office door, a soft gasp escaped his mouth when he saw his long-lost high school sweetheart standing outside holding a badge on his hand beside a muscular Russian holding the exact same badge. How long has it been since they last saw each other? Probably since high school graduation but Arthur remembered Yao clearly. The Chinese man hasn't changed at all, he still had that long black silky hair that was tied into a ponytail. His slim figure, porcelain skin, and those deep brown eyes that were often mistaken as black. A very unexpected visit for sure, he didn't even know that the Asian was a cop now.

"Arthur Kirkland? I'm detective Braginski from the police station."

Ivan spoke, introducing himself before stating his purpose of looking for the literature teacher. Arthur did look like a teacher, with messy blonde hair and a dark green wool pullover and brown trousers. Sort of reminded of his teacher back in school, they had the same smell of old books and cats.

"Do come in, officers."

Arthur replied, glancing at Ivan and then back at Yao before opening the door of his office some more to invite them in. He didn't know why his ex and this other officer wanted from him but who was he to question the authorities.

"Please take a seat, would you two like some tea?"

The Asian frowned, again Arthur with that facade of good manners and gentlemanly behavior, but he knew that the Brit was nothing but a fake, nothing about that blonde was sincere or truthful. Yao was being controlled by his emotions again, he didn't want to but it was inevitable. In his mind, he was already picturing him arresting Arthur for the first-degree murder of Michelle and Emma, but he needed the evidence and facts to support that theory first.

"Da, that would be nice, thank you."

The Russian entered the office along with his partner, putting his badge down as he pulled one of the chairs to sit down and accepted the offer of tea. He would rather have coffee but since he hadn't had breakfast, tea would be rather pleasant. Although he did consider the fact that he might be taking a murderer's tea, the man was still innocent until proven guilty.

"Sugar?"

The Brit asked, opening a shelf from his desk to pull out two teacups and cleaning them with a napkin to then reach for the jar where the sugar cubes were stored and pulled out a small spoon to pour the cubes inside the cups.

"No thank you."

Ivan answered while shaking his head and then looking over at Yao that was dreadfully silent, very unusual from the Asian. It was also a bit odd that the Brit was showing so much hospitality, normally when two officers appear at your door, people tend to panic or ask the cops to come back with a warrant. It was very rare for them to be invited inside a house, or in this case, an office, without mentioning why they were even there. Unless Arthur already knew and was trying to play as innocent, the Russian would have to continue studying his reactions and behavior.

"And you?"

Yao simply shook his head as he saw the Brit put the jar away as well as the spoon. Then picking up the teapot and pouring the steaming liquid into the containers. Was the English man pretending to not know him? He never drank tea with sugar, Arthur must remember that but still asked. Unless that the Brit really didn't recognize him? No way, it's not like he had changed a lot, this was just one of Arthur's sick mind games again and The Chinese man was not going to fall for it, not this time.

"We wanted to ask you about Michelle Bonnefoy's mur-"

Detective Braginski was cut off by his partner who suddenly stood up when Arthur offered him the teacup and Yao's immediate reaction was to slap the Brit's hand away, making the teacup fall on the ground and shatter, some of the hot liquid pouring on the English man's hand which caused a groan from Arthur. Those emerald eyes staring intently at the Chinese man who had a serious expression, the boiling tea had splattered on his hand too but he didn't even flinch, his hazel eyes fixed the English man.

"Bloody hell, what is wrong with you?"

The professor asked, covering his wounded hand with the napkin he used to clean the cups, his face turning florid by anger, his thick brows furrowing in rage. Ivan jumped out of his seat, unsure of what was even going on and why the Chinese man had so suddenly thrown the cup away.

"Let's cut the shit, Arthur, you know why I'm here."

The usual respectful detective Wang was gone, addressing the teacher by their first name and cursing. The Russian was speechless, what had gotten into his partner so suddenly? He had been acting strange since the Brit's name was mentioned but now this? Very much out of character.

"What are you talking about, wanker? I have no fucking idea!"

Arthur hissed, looking down at his reddened hand that had been slightly burned by the steaming tea. What the hell? Was this the right way to meet your ex after bursting into his office holding a badge? Perhaps it was considering how much damage he had caused to Yao but still, there was no need to pour away perfectly good tea and one of his favorite cups.

"Michelle Bonnefoy, when did you last see her?"

The Chinese man questioned, he knew that the Brit had something to do with it, there was no reason to think the contrary. He had the motives to do so and now he needed to prove and to see if he was related to Emma's murder as well. He knew perfectly well how manipulative the English man could be so this was the best way to approach that lying bastard.

"Michelle? What happened to her?"

Detective Braginski was unsure if he should intervene in the heated discussion happening right in front of him, but he didn't want Yao to spill tea on him and get a third-degree burn so perhaps he should stay silent and see how his partner handles the situation.

"I asked when did you last see her."

The Asian reprimanded by repeating his question, glaring at the Brit in front of him. He was sure that with the right amount of pressure, the English man would let it all out and tell him the truth.

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

Arthur yelled, raising his voice as he threw the napkin aside, he was furious. Who did Yao think he was to come in, spill his tea, break his cups, and ask him about his relationship with Michelle. He couldn't understand it, how did any of it relate to the Chinese man?

"Yesterday, you saw her yesterday didn't you?"

Then it hit him, did she really put that restraining order on him? Perhaps he had gone a bit too far to the extent of following her around to see who she was going out with now but it was because she broke up with him without any reasoning! If she hadn't overheard her friends in class talking about Michelle going out with some younger boy then he would have never known. Now shit had hit the fan, he was in really big trouble with the authorities if she had reported him.

"I-I most certainly did."

The Asian noticed panic beginning to grow within the English man and how the defiant tone disappeared once he was under pressure. Yao knew the Brit too well, even though they hadn't been in touch, Arthur still had the same reactions when getting caught, which reminded him that time he came face to face with the English man to find out if he was cheating, and he was. So detective Wang knew exactly how the professor looked when found guilty.

"And what for? You two have broken up already, am I right?"

Ivan was paying full attention to the conversation going on, it seemed to be one of Yao's strategies by not telling Arthur the exact purpose of why they were there and just questioning him like he was already under their custody. An interesting move and very unforeseen from his partner's part but it seemed to be working since the Brit was starting to confess.

"Yes but I wasn't stalking her, I just wanted to talk with her to see if we could figure things out."

Stalking? Well, that was some new information. Mona hadn't told them about that but perhaps because she was traveling all of the time and Francis working. If Arthur had been stalking Michelle then she was the only one who could confirm it and her diary that was missing, how convenient.

"Don't play with me Arthur, we both know what you really did there."

He knew he knew about it! Arthur's hands grew sweaty as his ex-lover questioned him. He had gone too far yesterday and how he regretted it. Now he was going to get arrested for sure, his career was forever ruined. If only he hadn't fallen for Michelle in the first place, his student and much younger than him! He should have listened to his colleagues that warned him how it was going to end badly for him.

"I didn't mean her harm, I swear!"

This was it, this was the moment where Arthur would confess his crime and Yao would pull out the handcuffs and Ivan would walk the Brit out of the building then get him into the police car and the Chinese man would proudly drive him to the police station so he could get arrested for the murder of Michelle. This had been easier than what he expected, who would have thought that the horrible experience from the past could have taught him a valuable lesson on how to interrogate Arthur to break him under pressure.

"Sure you didn't, but you killed her so yeah, I'm not buying that."

The Russian was speechless, watching the entire scene develop in front of him, it was very impressive how in just a few minutes Yao had managed to get the Brit to spit the truth out. He saw that glimmer in the Asian's umber eyes reappear and a grin on those lips while his partner reached out for the handcuffs in his back pocket.

"I know but, wait, kill her? What do you mean? You got it all wrong!"

The English man realized that he was being wrongly accused of murder when he saw Yao taking the handcuffs and approaching him. Was he about to get arrested? For killing his ex-girlfriend? That never happened! This was even worse than getting arrested for stalking her. The way he spoke must have given the detectives a wrong idea and wait, why were they asking about murder? Was Michelle dead? Was she murdered? He had no idea about it.

"Don't make this harder for us. Ivan go hold him for me."

Detective Braginski obeyed, going towards the Brit and holding him by the arm, impeding the English man to move around as the Asian moved forward, holding the Brit's wrist and putting on the handcuffs on the man as Arthur cursed under his breath and continued to struggle.

"This is outrageous, you have no proof to arrest me! I want a talk with my attorney!"

This was Yao's moment of sweet victory, of glory, this complicated investigation had become an unparalleled delight, truly making his day by apprehending Arthur Kirkland. He had been right all along, his theory was correct and now he had the Brit to his mercy.

"Why don't you tell us how you did it? Did you strangle her first and then shot her, just like you did to Miss Abelson as well?"

Arthur was horrified, what was Yao even talking about? Who was lady Abelson? He had never heard of that name ever before in his life. He also did not want to hear how Michelle was brutally murdered, he still couldn't process correctly what happened to her and he was getting arrested for it.

"I didn't do any to her! I would never kill Michelle, I loved her, don't you understand? I loved her! Show some compassion!"

Ivan heard the Brit cry out while he continued to shake in trying to get rid of the Russian's firm grasp. It seemed like Arthur was trying to play as innocent but he wouldn't fall for that and neither Yao would, this was classic lines of murderer found guilty but they wouldn't be stopped by some screaming and kicking. The Chinese man on the other side, gritted his teeth in rage, loved her? You don't murder your loved ones in cold blood after getting dumped for a younger guy. Arthur did the same to him and he didn't kill him, instead, he chopped off his hair and enrolled in the police academy. Now he wanted to talk about compassion? After breaking his heart all those many years ago. The Asian clenched his fist in rage before scowling at the Brit and letting go of his professionalism.

"You showed no compassion to me!"