“The stage has been set on cold cement and all you can do is quietly tread.”

Joohee was pretty much in a trance during her journey back home from Park Square. She wasn’t yet mulling over Dongwoo’s lies and elaborate set-up. She hadn’t yet begun to consider how much she could trust him. She just felt incredibly worn out mentally and left her mind in a partially disengaged state even though she was well-aware of what’s happening. She only snapped out of it when she walked past her dressing table and recalled the paper document she kept in the locked bottom drawer. It was the one she intended to show Dongwoo when they met the previous Friday. After pouring its contents out onto the table, she picked them up one by one for another close look. They were found among her parents’ belongings while unpacking the boxes about a week ago.

Sitting down at the dressing table, she put on her earphones once again and pressed play. She closed her eyes in an attempt to better concentrate on the recording, and draw out a vision of what might have occurred on that fateful night.

It was quiet, save for the sound of hurried footsteps and objects being dragged across what seemed like a grass patch. The chirping of crickets could be heard in the distance, and a soft breeze, which occasionally interfered with the recording. There were more than a few sounds of breathing, and Joohee couldn’t determine how many people were at the scene, but nearest to the recording device, there was a group of people, and further away, where most of the action was happening, heaving noises could be detected. Talking only came in after about two minutes into the recording.

“Remember to clear your call logs,” a raspy male voice said, “We’ll contact you again.”

Another man replied in a hushed tone, “Of course, sir. I won’t leave anything out. Don’t worry.”

“Who should be worried?” said another, part-laughing. “This is all business. We’ll all be safe if we go by the rules.” There was a brief pause before the same man firmly uttered, “Hm?”

Joohee figured that the second man was being threatened by the other two. She looked at the photographs again. It was too dark to make out the facial features of the men in question, but there were indeed three men in the distance. There appeared to be a van on their left, but it was concealed by a wall before the lens. If Mum and Dad were the ones who took this, they must have been hiding.

Joohee was certain by then that there must be some connection between these items and the death of her and Dongwoo’s parents. She wanted so badly to share these with Dongwoo so they could discuss the next step forward, but after what she’d witnessed earlier, she wasn’t sure if that was the best thing to do. “Ugh,” she released a much-delayed cry of lamentation as she threw her body onto the bed. Burying her face into her pillow, she stayed still for a few moments, and it wasn’t long before tears began to spill while her chest tightened at the thought of their scarred relationship. Catching up was out of the equation now.

Dongwoo had just kicked off his socks and loosened his tie when he received a call from his brother.

“Hyung,” he politely addressed before carrying on, “What’s the matter?”

“Dongwoo, are you hiding anything from me?” Dongyoon cut to the chase and asked, catching Dongwoo off-guard.

Dongwoo was about to put up his denial when Dongyoon spoke up again. “I have no special interest in your private affairs and I know you must have your reasons not to share them,” he clarified, “But Joohee contacted me yesterday and said you were acting a little strange. She’s really concerned about you, so if it’s not too big of an issue, just let us know what’s bothering you.”

“Hyung –” Dongyoon heard his younger brother’s tone rise in earnestness, but the developing sentence collapsed into a sigh. “It’s – it’s nothing, really. I’m just a little jetlagged, and still figuring out how to go on from here.”

Dongyoon frowned in the slightest at Dongwoo’s response, but kept on with the conversation naturally. “You mean what to do now that you’re back in Korea?”

“Yeah, exactly,” Dongwoo concurred without skipping a beat. Well, at least that part’s not a complete lie.

“Hm, don’t hesitate to ask me for help if you need it, okay?” Dongyoon said, “And please don’t get yourself into trouble.”

In other circumstances, Dongwoo would have whined in protest that Dongyoon saw him as a troublemaker, but at that moment, he merely replied, “Yeah, I know.”

After putting the phone down, Dongyoon reclined in his swivel armchair and with both eyes shut, released a sigh. “After so many years, you still wear your heart on your sleeve.”

“Dongwoo-ya,” he gently said as his gaze fell upon the family portrait sitting on his desk. “I hope you’re not still dwelling on what happened to Mum and Dad.”

Dongwoo exhaled sharply upon hanging up. “I almost let it slip,” he thought as his shallow breathing began to stabilize.

At the mention of Joohee, Dongwoo remembered how much she wanted to meet up again and went on to call her. When it failed to go through, Dongwoo messaged her instead, adding that he’ll give her a treat on their next outing. Right after sending the message, Dongwoo’s mind wandered back to that one day when he was still in Canada – that one encounter which led up to this mess.

It was just a couple of weeks after his parents had passed away that someone contacted Dongwoo, saying that he had a reason to meet up, that he had something important to reveal. They met at a humble corner of an unassuming café, and the man was wearing a black suit and a dark blue tie. Dongwoo, who wore nothing fancier than a polo shirt and jeans, ended up looking underdressed in contrast. With only a mild smile, the man introduced himself as a family friend.

“Your parents’ death wasn’t an accident” were his very first words. Dongwoo wasn’t too surprised by that piece of information, but the man went on to show him a video.

The video was a little grainy, but he could distinguish that it was Joohee’s parents. They were sitting at a table with a man opposite them who was back-facing the camera.

“You’ve been very helpful so far,” the man said, “I hear that you have one last thing to tell me.”

“The Jang family… they stay at Hwaseong city in Gyeonggi province. Dongtan-1-dong, 1204-18…”

The man bent over, presumably noting the address down. After he placed his pen down, he stood up and stretched out a hand to Joohee’s father. The two exchanged a handshake, uncannily resembling a pair of businessmen marking the end of a successful transaction.

“Thank you for cooperating with us, Mr. Choi.” Dongwoo felt his temperature rise as the man’s voice rang in his ears. “It has been a delight working with you.”

The video faded into black and Dongwoo haphazardly pulled out the earphones as he looked back at the man seated before him.

“What does this mean?” he enunciated, his lips trembling slightly from tension, while his remaining facial muscles and limbs grew numb. A drop of sweat fell from the corner of his right eye as he blinked.

“I…” Avoiding Dongwoo’s eyes, the man shifted his gaze onto the checkered tablecloth. “I think your parents might have been sold out by the Choi family.”

“It can’t –” Dongwoo responded in a stutter, “It can’t be. We’re so close to them –” His gaze was erratic, as if it couldn’t find a place to settle upon. The man left him be for several minutes.

“And Joohee?” Dongwoo, who had his head hung down, suddenly lifted it up as he spoke and looked expectantly at the man. “She could be innocent.”

“Nobody knows for sure. More likely than not, she’d have known something if she was in the same house. But maybe because she was the child of the family…” Dongwoo was incredibly sullen when the man turned to check up on him. He seemed to be muttering something to himself and his eyes were blank and unfocused.

“Dongwoo,” the man called in a staunch tone and gently grabbed his hands. His eyes were a little moist as he looked at Dongwoo. “I know it’s hard to accept right now, but things are extremely complicated in the outside society, especially when it involves the underworld. We don’t know what their intentions are, but I’m telling you this so that you’d be on your guard.”

By then, Dongwoo had already broken down into a wreck of tears before the stranger, only acknowledging the other party’s words through the act of nodding.

“Joohee…” Dongwoo murmured, absent-mindedly staring at the message he’d sent out. “No matter what that man said, you could’ve been innocent. Even if your parents were involved, you could’ve been in the dark.”

Biting his lower lip and shutting his eyes tight in anguish, Dongwoo’s self-reproaching thoughts didn’t cease. I should’ve thought it through… Why did I let myself be consumed by irrational rage? Now… I’m not even deserving of being your friend.

It was already approaching midnight when Woohyun inserted the keys to the front door knob of his flat. No matter how gently he tried to turn the knob, it wouldn’t complete without a sharp squeak and the door wouldn’t budge without a sonorous creak which echoed through the narrow corridor of his flat. The flat was already cloaked in blackness except for a thin strip of light emanating from the kitchen at the far end, softly diffusing as it met with the darkness of the corridor.

“Eunmi-ya, you’re still awake?” Woohyun called out in an affectionate tone as he headed towards the source of light. He could hear the clonk of porcelain ware against the wooden table and tinkering of silverware. He reached the kitchen in no more than four strides and lightly rested his head against the wooden door frame as he gazed at her from the back. The teenager was dressed in a loose-fitting night dress and her frizzled hair concealed her profile as she stirred a warm malt beverage.

Woohyun stood in silence for about five seconds before Eunmi swerved around. “Oh, oppa, you’re back?” A smile surfaced on both of their lips.

“Yah, why are you drinking sweet stuff at this time of the night?” Woohyun chided, as he pushed himself off the door frame and slowly stepped towards her.

“Why are you only back at this time of the night?” Eunmi retorted and proceeded to take a swig from her mug.

Woohyun didn’t respond immediately so Eunmi stuck her tongue out at him before passing by and taking a seat at the small circular dining table. It could sit four people at the most, but it was more than sufficient since it was usually only the two of them. The table was placed against the wall to make more space in the middle of the kitchen, so Eunmi faced the wall from where she sat.

“I couldn’t really fall asleep,” she explained, “I’ll go back to bed right after finishing this, so don’t worry and go on with whatever you have to do.” She didn’t look at him while speaking but kept her focus on the drink.

“Got it,” Woohyun replied in a warm tone, and pushed the back of her head just slightly as he turned to leave the kitchen.

“Oppa!” He heard her sounds of protest from the near distance as he sauntered back to his room. “I almost choked on my drink!”

He couldn’t contain his grin as he undressed himself before the wardrobe. Looking at himself in the mirror after changing into t-shirt and track pants, his upcurved lips collapsed into a thin line. One day, you’re going to know the truth, huh? And you’re going to be disappointed. He spent a few moments bent over before the mirror, but then forcefully shook his head and started towards the shared bathroom to wash up.

It was during the evening two days later when Dongwoo realized something was amiss. The day before, he sent several more messages just in case there was a glitch in the system or Joohee missed the previous ones. However, Joohee didn’t send any reply even though the application showed that she had seen all the messages. Joohee had never taken more than a day to reply his messages before. Dongwoo decided to take a shot at calling her again, but no matter how many times he tried, he would hear the end of the ringing tone and the line going dead. He dialed his brother’s number next, and Dongyoon picked up on the ninth ring.

“Have you heard from Joohee?” Dongwoo hastily asked.

“What’s with the two of you not speaking directly to each other and going through me these days?” Dongyoon commented in his usual stoical tone, with an added trace of post-work lethargy.

Dongwoo didn’t wait before following in an anxious tone, “No, this is urgent. She hasn’t been replying any of my messages though she’s supposedly seen them. And she’s not picking up any of my calls. I think she’s being aloof on purpose.”

The two were enshrouded by a few seconds of frequency noise before Dongyoon spoke up. “What if she’s just busy?”

Dongwoo groaned, “I knew you would say that.”

“It’s a possibility –”

“I don’t think so. She doesn’t usually take this long to reply, even when she was busy. Moreover, just a few days ago, she was all up for another meet-up and then suddenly –”

“Well, what did you do to her?” Dongyoon suggested in an unembellished manner.

“What did I –” Dongwoo repeated halfway and halted as his ruminations converged onto one specific memory that he desperately wished to obliterate.

But she doesn’t know –

Wait.

“Hyung, do you have her address?”

Dongwoo threw on a coat and light scarf, slipped into his boots and hurried out of the door in a bolt, neglecting how the loud slamming and clanging noises broke the peace of the night as he left. Eyes focused on the ground, he took barely three steps out of his front door when he was met with another pair of feet, heading in his direction. He jolted upwards and paused at the familiar face.

“Joohee.”

“I’m sorry. I needed time to think things through.” Having said that, Joohee walked straight up to Dongwoo and looked right into his eyes. The two kept it up for almost a minute and a half until Dongwoo broke away and asked, “What do you mean?”

“You don’t hate me, do you?” Joohee equivocally returned with another question.

“Me?” Dongwoo blurted out in a stupor, “O-of course not. No way…” As his last syllable faded away into the still atmosphere, Dongwoo slowly turned back to look at Joohee, his eyelids involuntarily throbbing with no discernable rhythm.

He could tell by the dullness of her orbs that Joohee knew. Somehow or other, she’d come to know of the one thing which he contemplated on hiding from her forever.

“I –” Joohee began with a little stumble as she felt constricting, pushing all the air upwards where it couldn’t find escape, despite the many openings. She caught her breath for a moment before going on. “I don’t hate you either.” Her efforts to muster a smile were limited to an awkward tug at the lips.

“Joohee – ” Dongwoo tried to say something but Joohee simply raised her right palm as she shifted her gaze to the ground.

“Look, no matter what reason you had, I think we need some time away from each other. Let’s keep a distance for at least a month, alright? And then we’ll decide again how things go from there.”

Joohee lifted her head and looked into Dongwoo’s eyes for roughly another fifteen seconds before she tore her gaze away and her heels.

Exasperated, Dongwoo raised his voice and exclaimed, “Joohee, why won’t you let me speak?” He grabbed onto her wrist and she didn’t stop him. Rather, she halted her footsteps and listened.

“I’m so, so sorry. I really regret having done that. I… it was all a misunderstanding, okay? A family friend showed me something and – and it appeared that your parents turned their back on mine so I thought –” Dongwoo attempted to explain, his words rising and falling like the tidal waves, eventually crashing upon a rock.

“That’s enough,” Joohee bluntly replied, looking forward at the dimly-lit corridor with a flickering light bulb in the distance. “If you believed that, then there’s adequate reason for us to keep a distance at least for now.”

“Joohee, that’s not going to solve anything! It’s just going to make things worse between us!” Dongwoo cried, feeling at his wit’s end.

“I’m afraid!” Joohee admitted in an outburst, and then concluded her sentiments with a repressed voice.

“…of you.”

Dongwoo loosened his grip and let go. The crinkling on his face reflected the entanglement in his heart.

“I’m afraid of you,” Joohee repeated, maintaining a restrained tone. “I don’t want to, but I am. So please, just leave me alone for a while.” Dropping those as her last words, she picked up into a small sprint and gradually diminished from Dongwoo’s vision.

Left a little confounded, Dongwoo stood at the same spot for a prolonged time, reflecting with just the silence and cold night air as his companions. At the three minute mark, a droplet of clear liquid stained the ground upon which he stood.

And another.

And another.

But the night remained quiet, its emptiness merely offset by the faraway sound of passing traffic.

“The gullible believe anything they’re told;
    the prudent sift and weigh every word.

The wise watch their steps and avoid evil;
    fools are headstrong and reckless.

The hotheaded do things they’ll later regret;
    the coldhearted get the cold shoulder.”

– Proverbs 14: 15-17 (MSG)