(A/N: The italic parts denote memories and past experiences. I'm grateful for your enthusiasm and eagerness to know what happens next. It makes me inspire to do more so here it is. Your reviews and constructive criticisms after reading this chapter will be greatly appreciated. Enjoy)!

CHAPTER 3

Lamentations of the Heart

By: Aztec999

SEVERAL DAYS HAD ALREADY PASSED and nothing out of the ordinary has happened to you. Your life was back to the way it was: a bit mundane on some days and a bit stressful on the other days since your team was handling the new influx of recruits who graduated from the police academy. Ever since you came to a terrible realization that you've had a one-night stand with one of the most dashing police officers at the MPD, a mixture of emotions threw you in a limbo. Your memories were still faulty and you still had a lot of questions inside your head but the obvious fact of throwing yourself recklessly into his arms just for that one passionate night made you want to crawl under a rock and never go out again. You tried to trick yourself into thinking that this was fine since Haru wasn't pestering you or even dropping by to check up on you even if your heart protested otherwise much to your confusion and chagrin. And why would he do that? First off, you two had no relationship. Second, it was a disastrous, drunken mistake of a one-night stand. Lastly, you left him at the hotel with no intended notice to him, making it clear a message to him: you don't want anything to do with him.

Or so you thought. You grew irritated with yourself as you couldn't help but to mull over it and his predictable absence in your line of sight. You were thinking of a poor, thinly veiled excuse to summon him at your department or crossed each other's path just to see him again. Which made you horrified and bewildered at the same time.

'Damn it. Stop thinking about him. Or even entertaining these stupid ideas just to see him again. This just makes you more desperate and idiotic.' Your mind berated you harshly once again for the nth time this week.

You must accept the present reality that it was all an unfortunate case of an intoxicated hook up between two stressed out co-workers with no deep context except getting carried away by your body's impulses and a need to relieve the pressure that's probably engulfing you on the previous week. Haru had probably moved on from it and wanted nothing to do with you except for work related matters. A weird, disgusting feeling started to envelop you as that line of thought crossed your head and you immediately quashed it. Again, you have no reason to entertain illogical train of thoughts and you just need to move on with your life. End of the story.

Except that one nosy colleague of yours who just happened to take an interest into the personal matters of your life unfortunately.

"You have that weird expression on your face again." Mary, a fellow associate in HR, commented with that usual cheeky expression on her face.

"Hmm? What do you mean? This is my default expression when I'm swamped with work." You tried to play it cool and nonchalant as your eyes stayed glue on the monitor screen of your desktop.

"Nuh-uh. My woman intuition tells me that your spaced-out look involves love problems." Mary wagged her finger at you playfully, a smirk finding its way to her cherry, red lips.

"Whatever. You need to do some actual paperwork or that pile on your desk will be much taller than you in the next few days." You rolled your eyes, feigning an irritated expression on your face even though your mind was alerted by her conclusion.

"Well then who's the lucky girl? Lucky boy? Or both if you swing both ways?" She ignored your deflection and laughed mischievously.

"Ugh. Just leave it be Mary and focus on your work." You grumbled out in annoyance.

"Fine. But let me tell you that Elena had the same weird vibes as you after that Halloween party last week." She grinned sharply at you and pointed her forefinger at her subtly on her direction. "I mean look at her, she got it worst more than you. She just flat out stares at her computer or paperwork with that face you know." She made an animated motion of her hands around her face to emphasize her point.

Now that she mentioned to you about it, you silently gazed at Elena looking like in deep thought. You were so immersed on your own thoughts and quandaries that you fail to notice the people around you these days.

"God, just leave her be Mary. Don't share me your pointless conclusions that made no sense." You pretended not to take an interest to what she was saying, not wanting that nosy colleague of yours to meddle with your personal life much less to your other colleague who seemed to be having issues on her own. You respected other people's boundaries even if it made you curious about them sometimes. Elena seemed to be spacing out more than usual when she's one of the most diligent and sensible employee at their department. You vowed to yourself to talk to her privately about it out of concern and mere curiosity.

"Okay, okay. No need to be cranky about it. I just thought that you should know." Mary raised her hands in defeat. "But if you need advice on your love problems, I'm just right here to help you." She winked at you in mischief before sauntering back to her own cubicle.

You sighed deeply and went back to what you were doing earlier, drowning out the noises and gossip from your other colleagues as you focused attentively on finishing your tasks for today.

THE DOOR SWUNG OPEN IN a jarring note as Haru stormed inside the MCPTF department with that everlasting scowl painted on his face followed by the cool and composed Daisuke behind him.

"You bastard! I told you not to spend an ungodly amount of money again by purchasing another building just to pursue the target inside!" Haru roared out as he ran one of his hands into his hair, making it messier than usual.

Daisuke doesn't seem perturbed by his usual outburst directed at him. "Nevertheless, it worked Inspector Katou. It saved us more than one hour to close this case." He replied in a bored voice, a lazy grin inching across his lips.

"Damn it! That's not the point! It's not how the police force and detectives work!" Haru shot back before slumping carelessly into his office chair.

The others ignored them as usual as they're usually used to Haru's irritable disposition most of the time and his arguments with the cool and dashing millionaire detective himself. Kamei was engrossed in whatever questionable content that he was researching in the middle of his own work, Teppei was focusing his attention on the bets he made in the recent horse racing that he involved himself with, Kiyomizu was busy admiring his own ship inside the bottle while Saeki was munching on her confectionaries happily even though she glanced curiously at the two men who arrived at their office. She noted that Daisuke seemed normal and composed with him wearing his sunglasses and making weird hand movements in the air. While Haru... his annoyed attitude and workaholic behavior seemed normal except that he's grumpier and more distracted than usual. She could attribute it to the number of cases piling up into their department that's mostly cold cases from the First Division and Daisuke's questionable methods of police work that went against his own moral code and ethics. However, there's a previous instance last Monday when Haru went back to work with Kamei greeted him weirdly. Saeki had a thoughtful expression on her face as she tried to remember that one incident.

"Katou-chan! Good morning!" Kamei greeted in his usual sing song voice even though his eyebrows wiggled suggestively upon seeing him as if there's something that he knows that the others aren't.

"Morning." Haru replied disinterestedly as he took a seat into his cubicle and started doing his paperwork.

Kamei quickly grabbed the nearest office chair and settled beside Haru with an eager expression on his face. "So Katou-chan… how'd it go?" He asked in a simpering voice.

"What the hell Kamei? It's fucking 8 in the morning." He grumbled out in annoyance as he shot him an irritated look.

"C'mon man. No need to be shy about it. I mean, this is part of us being boys as boys. So just tell me how'd you kiss this lucky person first? Is there a tongue—."

"Shut up you idiot!" Haru smacked his head out of indignation. He wasn't blushing per say but the tips of his ears were unnaturally pink.

"Man, you really are a blushing virgin about sex." Kamei rubbed his head, a slight grimace on his face.

"Stop talking about your disgusting lewd fantasies in the middle of the work!" He yelled furiously.

"But you haven't told me yet if you got laid last week after the party." Kamei grumbled out childishly.

"If you keep spouting out your weird hobbies to me, I'll kick your ass where the sun doesn't shine." Haru glared daggers at him.

"O-okay I-I'll stop now. Jeez, I'm just joking no need to get so worked up about it." Kamei backtracked upon seeing his expression that was a half combination of exasperation and embarrassment, resisting the urge to laugh at him.

Now that she thought about it, Kamei was probably teasing and goading him as usual seeing that Haru is quick to react sometimes due to his hotheaded nature. However, she belatedly realized that Haru didn't even provided a direct answer to Kamei's 'supposed insinuation' about him after the party except his embarrassed vexation about it. Saeki continued to ponder about it in silent curiosity as if trying to put the missing puzzle pieces together.

Haru was blissfully unaware of the impending catastrophe that was about to hit his personal life.

IT'S ALREADY LATE IN THE AFTERNOON AND HARU sighed deeply as he placed the signed and finished documents at the other side of his desk. The influx of cases this week made him busier and prone to overtime than usual. It made him forget his supposed plan of talking seriously with (y/n). But now that he could breathe again as his schedule loosened, the thought crept up on his mind again and the guilt crawled slowly into his veins.

Is it too late to talk to her now? He quickly shook off the doubts and self-recriminations about himself and made his resolve stronger. He made up his mind and nothing could change it.

'But it's better late than never.' He thought to himself resolutely as he finally stood up and started to walk out of their office.

YOU WERE ALREADY PACKING YOUR things as your shift has already ended and it was nearing into dusk. You were supposed to talk with Elena before the shift ends but you ended up watching her retreating figure outside as she was almost scampering out of the office right off the bat. It raised more questions and a nagging feeling of concern towards your colleague, making you even more resolute to seek an opportunity to talk to her given the chance to do so in the future. But for now, you wanted to go home that day and rest since the mental exhaustion slowly crept into your nerves after the usual grind at the office.

You slowly closed your eyes and rubbed your nape, letting out a deep breath. 'What a day. I'll probably buy some take out since I'm too tired to even cook for dinner.' You inwardly grimaced since you're relying on takeout food again ever since you've gotten busier at the office. You must be more determined to live a healthy lifestyle and saved more money if you want to eat healthy food.

You're already waved goodbye to your colleagues and went out of your office when the sight in front of you made your mouth went dry and heart thundering inside your chest.

"Hey (l/n)-san."