The Five Year Wait

“Bus is late, isn’t it?” Jonghyun commented to Onew, studying the pocket watch Key had gifted him just two days ago for his birthday. They had just finished examining a corpse at the morgue – Key always elected to stay behind due to his weak stomach, while the ever enthusiastic Minho, after a disastrous incident that made the morgue attendant flinch every time he saw Odd Eye, was barred from being present – and were presently sitting at the omnibus stop. April rain poured down from the grey and blue streaked sky, coursing down the structure’s roof in thick rivers. He nodded distantly, distracted by the sound of footsteps.

Turning his head to the side, Onew caught sight of a couple rushing towards the stop, the man shielding the woman with his coat. They burst through the curtain of water, the woman gasping out in delight at the warmth, while the man shook out his hair. They were a well-matched pair. Onew was struck immediately by the intensity of her beauty: long ink black hair framing skin smooth as the surface of cream, red lips, a mole beneath her thickly-lashed eyes, a slender, enviable frame. The man had silver hair over sharp eyes, and sharp, elfin features, his frame long and lanky. The coat, Onew noticed, was weather-beaten and distinctly working-class, to match his scuffed boots and wool gloves missing the fingertips.

“You alright?” he asked her, two bodies turning to face each other in perfect timing. Though they were perhaps only a few metres away, it was entirely possible they existed elsewhere in their happiness. Happiness in the place, in the hour, in each other.

The woman smiled, shaking little droplets out of her skirt. “Never better!”

She was flushed, laughing, and the man smiled down at her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. As she moved, Onew could see her face, lifted in laughing at her companion. Now he understood why he had found her beauty so intense.

There was something else besides laughter in her eyes. He tilted his head a little, studying her. “She cares too much,” he murmured, too low for Jonghyun to hear, “It is not safe.”

Their voices were very clear – the woman’s young, slightly vapid, the turns of her vowels betraying her as well-bred, the man’s pleasant but with the inflections of someone quite below her station. “I’m telling you, Junhyung won’t let us down a bit! He knows I’m mad about you, and he’s been so good about it.”

“I might let him down.”

“Oh, rubbish, you get so giddy when you park just an inch from the curb on your first try. It’s just the job for you!”

“I’m the god of parking,” the man said with teasing boastfulness, “And I mean to make good – for your sake.”

The woman laughed softly, intertwining her fingers with his and swinging them gently. “We’ll wait three months – and see that you don’t get the sack – and then –”

“And then I endow you with my worldly goods?” the man said. Onew detected an undertone of bitterness to the light comment. The woman waved this aside with a hand, but Onew did not take it that way. There was something here, he thought, that made him quite uneasy.

“And we’ll go on our honeymoon,” she continued, “Oh, the expense but – I should love to go faraway! We could see elephants – or penguins – oh, I just had a thought –”

“She does talk a lot,” Jonghyun said into his ear as the woman chirped on, her thoughts moving so quickly, it was quick hard for Onew to keep track.

The man seemed to find this quite normal, for when she ran out of breath, he smiled and said, “We’ll see it all, yes. I’ll make certain of it.”

“It will be marvellous, oh, won’t it? Oh, even if we could only go to the countryside, it will be marvellous, don’t you think? It will, won’t it? You wouldn’t blame yourself, would you?”

Her voice was suddenly sharp – her pupils dilated – and she clutched tightly as his forearms. The man’s answer came quickly, gentle, “Of course not.”

“I wonder,” she murmured, but then it was gone as quickly as her thought about elephants, for then she was telling him about a friend of hers that had just had a child. The omnibus was drawing up to the stop, and Jonghyun’s sharp tap on his shoulder brought Onew out of his voyeurism.

“Yes, I wonder too,” he said to himself as he got to his feet. He took one last look at the couple as he stepped onto the bus. Then he shook his head, and soon forgot them for the moment.

“Do you remember, five years ago, about the murder of the millionaire Yong Junhyung?” Onew asked at length. “That was our final case.”

Taemin’s brow furrowed. “A little?” he hazarded, “The papers didn’t report much about on it after the story broke, and then Odd Eye disbanded, and that was the focus in the news. What does that have to do with the couple?”

He raised a hand to quell Taemin’s impatience. “Yong Junhyung’s widow was named Kim Hyuna – had the most terrible bad luck. Father went off with some woman, mother lost all their money in dirty investments in China, left the poor girl absolutely broke. And then she met a very nice man named Jang Hyunseung, poor as they come, and was absolutely crazy about him. One of those women who’d say they’d die if they couldn’t marry the man.”

“Is it even possible to die from a lack of marriage?” Taemin mumbled, and then went a little red when it occurred to him that he’d said it aloud. 

“It’s certainly not healthy,” Onew conceded. “Maybe the good doctor Zhang should conduct some tests on that – where was I? Right, Junhyung. Junhyung was a very good friend of Hyuna’s at the time – certainly he was very fond of her and was not very subtle in his overtures – and he graciously offered Hyunseung a job as his chauffeur.”

“They were the couple!” Taemin realised.

Onew nodded. “They were. Until, very suddenly, Hyuna broke off with Hyunseung and married Junhyung.”

Taemin cocked his head. “Why?”

“Well, people certainly were of the opinion that she woke up one morning and came to her senses. Hyunseung after all, had nothing and could give her nothing except his heart, and certainly you couldn’t begrudge her for wanting a comfortable life over that. It was all very expected what with all his courting, and welcomed – she’d married quite a reputable man of excellent standing.”

“And Hyunseung?”

“Oh, he was still working for Junhyung, poor soul, having to watch his former fiancée cavort with another man. And that is where I come in again.”

Odd Eye had just solved their latest triumphant, if rather bloody, case in a small countryside town. Sometimes it horrified him what people were capable of doing to each other.  Onew had decided to take a short walk that afternoon before they returned to the city, looking up at the impressive manor on the hillside. A little ways in front of him a car had been parked, and he saw a lovely dark-haired woman climb out of the door held open by a grim-faced chauffeur with very pale hair. Some of the townsfolk were murmuring amongst themselves in shock and delight.

“Why – that’s Kim Hyuna!” a woman near him was saying. At Onew’s raised eyebrows, she continued, “Not from around here? She’s married Mr Yong, and he’s absolutely rolling!”

The two lookers-on observed as the woman walked towards the general store and appeared to be taking an interest in the fruit being sold outside. Onew studied her face with interest, trying to place her in his mind. “She is very beautiful,” he said noncommittally, as the memory came to him.

Hyuna appeared perfectly turned out for her jaunt in the town, walking with the assurance of a famous actress. She was used to being looked at, being admired, being the centre of attention – and yet somehow moved without awareness of it, for they mattered very little to her. She was playing a role, even if she was playing it unconsciously. The rich, beautiful society bride. She turned and made a light remark to the chauffeur, who gave a monosyllabic answer. Now Onew recalled that voice very clearly, saw the sharp eyes and delicate features beneath the cap. But there was a difference now; he was paler, thinner, with lines that spoke of a great misery of spirit. “She looks so frightfully happy,” the townswoman muttered, “Sometimes it just isn’t fair.”

“Is it?”

The woman flushed angrily. “It just seems a little too much for one person. Money, good looks, marvellous figure, and –”

“And love?” Onew finished thoughtfully as Hyuna seemed determined to speak to the chauffeur. “She may very well have married him for the money.”

“Oh, you haven’t seen the way she looks at him!”

“Mm. But I did see something now that you did not.”

“What was that?”

Onew saw Hyuna take a step away from the chauffeur. “I saw dark lines under a woman’s eyes. I saw hands tightened into fists with knuckles white. I have seen that woman before, and that man she is with.”

The woman was staring at him. “What do you mean?”

Now the man’s figure was rigid, tense. “I mean, that though a lady is rich and beautiful and beloved, there is something there that is not right. Excuse me, madam.”

Drawing closer to the two, Onew could hear their conversation. “Why must you be like this, Hyunseung?” Hyuna asked. “You’re really just being so horrid about everything.”  

“Damn it, Hyuna, I deserve an explanation,” Hyunseung snapped, “That’s all I want – I’ll leave you be afterwards, quit this job and find – something, I don’t know. Why can’t you just tell it for what it is? A girl’s got to eat, and Junhyung could give you everything you ever wanted.”

“Don’t say that – we were friends before, we can be friends now,” Hyuna insisted. “My marrying Junhyung won’t change that. Come now, Hyunseung, be a dear to me.” 

Hyunseung gave a cold, bitter laugh. “The worst part about this whole farce is that I still care for you.”

Sensing that they were about to make a scene, Onew popped up next to Hyuna’s elbow, a bright smile across his face. “Oh my goodness, is it you, Hyuna?” he cried, clutching the shocked girl’s hands, “Why, don’t just stand there, it’s your uncle Onew after all! I was just passing through – fancy seeing you here!”

Hyunseung was staring at him in total disbelief that someone Onew’s age could have a grown woman for a niece. Hyuna was faster in registering what was occurring, and she quickly clasped his hands. “Oh, Uncle Onew! It is so good to see you,” she exclaimed, “Come, let’s take a walk around town – I have so much to tell you.”

With that, she seized his elbow rather forcefully, and they marched smartly away until Hyunseung had disappeared into the distance. Once he was out of sight, Hyuna practically crumpled against a wall, pressing her hands against her face. “Thank you, Mr Onew, or whatever your name is,” she said through her hands, sounding as though she were on the verge of crying, “That was very kind of you.” 

“The young man seems very angry with you,” Onew said with a gracious little bow. “And certainly it is unusual, if you don’t mind me saying, for your husband to let you go alone with him.”

Hyuna smiled bitterly. “Oh, Hyunseung feels I’ve rather done him wrong – and Junhyung knows very well what I’m doing and that he can’t stop me even if he should like. Hyunseung just doesn’t understand – I was thinking of him.”

“Madam?”

“I’m sorry,” she said, “But sometimes it feels good to get things off your chest with strangers, don’t you think? Yes, it was unfair to Hyunseung. Sometimes we’ve got to spare other people that kind of pain, and well, settle for what’s right for each other.”

“You seem to mind terribly what a chauffeur thinks of you,” Onew commented, thinking that she would not be so loose-lipped if she knew who he was. “Do you know, madam that I have seen you before?”

She lowered her hands, gifting him with an expression of acute puzzlement. “Have we?”

“Yes. It was a rainy morning in April, and you were with Mr Hyunseung. I saw two happy individuals, very much in love. They spoke with confidence of the future, oblivious to anyone but each other. The intensity of the woman’s face I remember very clearly. She was not the sort to love lightly and love often. And the woman spoke of a friend that would not let her down – your husband, madam.”

A strange masklike expression came over her face. “Yes, I remember that morning.”

“Many things have changed since then,” Onew noted. She nodded, squeezing her hands together as though in some desperation. “Madam, I speak as a friend. End this farce.”

She looked startled. “W-what?”

“Give up on the past! Turn to the future! You cannot cling onto Hyunseung if this is the life you wish to lead! Likewise, if you do not want it, divorce your husband and start anew! This half-way solution hurts everyone, madam. I am only a stranger, but I can see that this sort of thing will not end well.”

She shook her head. “You know, there are moments when I almost enjoy myself with what I’m doing.”

“And that is the worst of all.”

Looking up at him, Hyuna said slowly, “You are not stupid. I think you mean to be kind.”

“Love is not everything. The world is before you – go out and see it. Leave this farce behind you.”

“You don’t understand – oh! Perhaps I want to hurt Hyunseung a little. He didn’t try and fight for me – he just gave up. And Junhyung, maybe I keep thinking of what could’ve been and I hate this rotten little town, and I’m trying to spite him for making me come around to his side. He was always the second choice – let him know that he’ll have to do better! I like watching it all fall apart because of me. I’m just so hateful about everything that’s happened to me, Mr Onew. It’s poisoning everything.”

Her laugh rang out, clear and silvery. Onew grasped her arm now. “Madam, I beseech you, do not do what you are doing.”

“Let Hyunseung go, you mean? Or Junhyung?”

“More than that – do not open your heart to evil.”

Those red lips fell apart, and an expression of bewilderment crossed her face. “Because evil will come – and once it has settled itself within you, if you do enough evil madam, I have always believed, there wil