On Act

"Oppa, what are you doing ?" A little girl popped behind the wall, startling the young boy who was preparing himself to sneak into the kitchen. He quickly shushed her, putting his hand on and glanced at the busy staffs. Thankfully, it seemed like they hadn't notice them yet.

"Yoona, why are you following me again ? I told you to stay with Qian and Hae." He reprimanded the little girl, but she only looked at him innocently with sparkling doe-eyes. He had the urge to slap his forehead; she wasn't listening to him anymore.

"You're sneaking out again ? Take me with you !" She exclaimed quietly, giggling with excitement.

"You can't." His tone didn't leave her room for objection; and she immediately scowled with that particular pout of hers. He nearly gave in, nearly. "This is not for little girl. Now, go back in your room. Qian must be searching for you."

She puffed her cheek, but still listened to the older boy (because they taught her to always listen to older than her) and reluctantly trailed her step back. A pang of guilt hit his chest, he ruffled his hair.

"I'll bring you back something from downtown, alright ?" And the dazzling smile resurfaced on the little girl's face.

"Yoona, why are you crying ?" He sighed as he posed his luggage on the floor (though it only consisted of a small suitcase with the little belonging he owned). The young girl was still sobbing interminably, rubbing her reddened eyes with her small hands.

"B-But... Y-You're l-leav-ving..." She hiccuped, barely making her sentence comprehensible.

He let a tender smile possess his lips as he pulled the girl in an embrace. "Of course I am leaving. We can't stay here forever, once we become adult, we need to go our own way." He tried to reason, but her cries wouldn't stop. Patting her back gently, he then grabbed her shoulder and looked at her in the eyes. "It's not like we're never going to meet again. We'll meet when you're going to be a beautiful lady."

"You promise ?"

"I promise." He sealed their vow through a kiss on her forehead.

"No way, Heechul ?" The astonishment was quickly replaced by her chiming peal of laughter. "I can't believe it ! It's really you ! You haven't changed the least bit." Amusement mingled with a joyful grin on the young lady's porcelain visage, as she watched with interest the older man staring at her from head to toe, gaping like a goldfish.

"Yoona ?" He finally exclaimed after he recognized in the lady the little girl who was always trailing behind him. He soon joined in her cheerful laughter, as the old two friends went to a bench and began to recover the time when they were apart.

"So you've become a lawyer ? That's quite a surprise from you." He feigned an offended expression; and she laughed once again. "But I didn't think that you actually attended the university I planned to go to next year. That's really a coincidence."

"Yeah, we must be fated." He said it only half-joking.

He exhaled a deep, long nervous breath. It was going to be alright. After all, he verified over ten times that everything was absolutely perfect. The balloons were where he wanted them to be, the music was playing Beethoven's 'Fur Elise' (her favorite), the champagne was still freshly in the fridge, the bouquet of red roses hidden behind the bookshelf, the dinner table impeccably dressed, the food just waiting to be eat, what else ?

Wait.

Where's the ring ?

/DINGDONG/

"Yoona, just wait a minute here, I just need to take care of someth-" Throughout their five years of relationship, this was the first time that his lips were crushed like that against hers. But he liked it. No. He loved it.

Her dazzling laugh rang in the air. "Heechul, I've never seen such a lame proposal. How can you just put the ring in my bag ?"

He mildly remember hiding the box somewhere when she nearly caught him with it, and it happened to be her bag, but oh, not like it mattered, because she kissed him again, and most importantly...

...she accepted !

"Heechul, I thought that we agreed to share the housework. I haven't seen you doing any of them." She put her hands on her hips as she stared accusatively at the man sitting on the couch, watching TV.

The man grabbed her hand, and with a little tug, pulled her on his laps. He delicately posed a chaste kiss on her lips, and whispered apologetically."I'm sorry to have let you do all of them, but you also know how work is taking on me."

She sighed, giving him a resigned smile. "Fine, you win. But do help me sometimes, alright ?"

"Heechul, about this week-end-"

"I'm sorry Yoona, an important appointment came up, I'll have to postpone our week-end."

"Oh. I see. It's alright. We can still go another time."

"You're leaving the country again ?"

"We need to supply children from Africa with the donation we've recolted this month."

"Just take care of yourself, alright ?"

"What are you doing ?" His voice sliced the air in a shivering icy pitch.

"H-Heechul..." She could only stutter as she stood there, blood-frozen, like a stone.

"I'm asking : what are you doing ?" He repeated more dangerously.

"I-It's not what you think. Really. Believe me. It's not what you think." She quickly grabbed his hand, begging him with her imploring eyes.

But he wouldn't listen. "Not what I think ? The evidences playing against you, Yoona." A ruthless, scornful glare stabbed her.

"Heechul, please, believe me, I... I..."

"How do you want me to believe you, Yoona ? Tell me, how do you want me to believe you when you betrayed me !"

He carelessly shoved her hand away, not caring that her small body fell on the ground due to his uncontrolled strength, not caring that tears was flooding down her delicate visage, not caring that her voice was still desperately calling for his name even after he disappeared behind the door.

Not caring that she only asked him to believe her.

Not caring that it was the last time he was going to see her.

Heechul's body jolted in a sudden wakeup, respiration uneven and pupils dilated. He had to breath in several deep breaths to realize that he was dreaming. A long, realistically convincing dream.

Sitting up on the border of his bed, he let his head drop on his palm, a bead of cold sweat dipping down on the floor.

It wasn't the first time that she came in his dream through fragments of memories, but it was the first time that the memories were these... precise. It felt like that she was... still there... reminiscing his guilt... for leaving her behind... for... discarding her.

He passed his hand through his dark, tousled hair, exhaling yet another profound sigh.

Dim rays of morning sunlight were sneakily penetrating the soundless room, snaking their ways in the darkness, allowing him the little light to recognize his own bedroom (their own bedroom). A look at the clock, and he could tell that he only slept a few hours, again. Sleep has been running away from him for a while, while weariness just kept consuming him. He was tired, but couldn't close an eye.

Because there, beside him, where her warmth should be resting, where her breath should be whispering, where her smile should be lingering, was only left with bleak emptiness. And that same emptiness was devouring his core.

His legs stretched, his feet moved. He needed to go out, he needed some air.

The door opened, his body dragged itself to the bathroom. There, he let water flow down the faucet and slapped himself awake with the cold water, avoiding any possible contact with the reflect of himself in the mirror (because he'll see them again, those blaming eyes, staring at him, like daggers). He didn't know how long he stayed in the bathroom, but he knew that it was long enough for someone to come and knock at the door.

"Are you finished yet ? I need to use the toilet. Like, right now." Chanyeol's deep voice made through the other side of the door.

"Yeah, just a minute." He muttered back, quickly grabbing his towel to wipe his sodden face.

He made sure that his appearance didn't give away his earlier decrepitude and returned back to the self-confident, fearless Kim Heechul. Only then did he let the younger man rush in the bathroom (not without a derisive comment mentioned in passing), and went down to the first floor.

The first thing he's done, like every morning since this week begun, was to make himself a double dark coffee (the amount of caffeine he had drank this week was probably enough for a month of consumption, but he needed those intakes of stimulant --since there is nothing left to support him now). He noticed the shopping bags on the kitchen table and sort of remembered Chanyeol telling him last night that Victoria had done some groceries for them. He will need to keep in mind to repay her when he'll meet her next time.

Gulping down a last mouthful of coffee, he washed the mug briskly and walked into the living room. The exchange last evening with Donghae had made him more determined to find out the truth. The more he found out, the more he felt that her death was not as simple as it let it seemed on surface. And he was going to do everything to make her justice.

He went to attic where they kept the things that they didn't use anymore and found a large white board that Yoona had bought before to prepare her exams (but didn't use it after she finished her studies). Good thing that they kept it, because it was now going to be useful for him. Moving the board from the attic to the living wasn't an easy task, Heechul had some hard time carrying it on the stairs (it certainly was more easy when they were two). Finally, he put it in the middle of the living room, then went to take some felt pens from his lecture room.

He was just beginning to write on the board when Chanyeol walked down the stairs in a drowsy state.

"You're here. Good. We can begin."

*  *  *

"So now, there are three identities we have yet to discover, the sender, the stalker and, of course, the killer. In my opinion, they are the same person. And our three suspects are Donghae, Jessica and Victoria. Adding that colleague of Yoona, Amber if I remember well, whose testimony is a little questionable."

An entertained smile was dangling on Chanyeol's lips. "You really act like an inspector. I feel like on an official investigation."

But Heechul was not the least amused. "If you don't want to do it seriously, you can get out of this house."

Chanyeol immediately straightened up from his relaxed posture. "Okay, okay, I'm listening,"

Heechul turned back to the white board, scribbled of every diverse information they had gathered. The name of Yoona was on the top of everything along with the date of her death (murder) and pointers from her name towards six other ones were written gradually (his and Chanyeol that he had crossed out; the four others he had called out), every name pointing again towards some questions (Hedgehog ? Motives ? Alibi ?). The second part of the board was inscribed of the queries around Yoona (Who's the stalker ? Who's the sender ? What relation with G6 ?) and some of their own speculations.

It was not really because he was fond of sorting information like that, but that certainly made things a lot more clearer.

He focused their attention on Donghae, circling his name with a red felt pen and taping on it. "Donghae shall be our prime suspect. That guy is too suspicious, he's surely hiding something. There's also that 'Hedgehog' thing that he denied, but I'm practically sure that if there's a stalker, he should be the one. But we don't have enough solid evidences, that's why we will need to find out where and what he was doing during the month."

"Aren't you a little hasty on conclusions about Donghae ? The only thing that could make him a suspect is 'Hedgehog' and the phone logs, but we can't even be sure that Yoona was using that cell phone, and there's a possibility that the number is not Donghae's." Chanyeol's rejoinder wasn't really to counter Heechul's analysis, but he thought that maybe the older guy was too biased on the engineer.

And certainly, that didn't please Heechul. "I'm not jumping on conclusions, those are actual facts. Didn't you see how he lied about his cell phone yesterday ?"

"But, maybe his cell phone was really stolen, you can't know for sure that he was lying."

"There can't be such coincidence. Can you really believe that, conveniently, his cell phone was stolen just the day before he found out about 'Hedgehog' ?"

"But you can't-"

"Why are you taking his side ?" Heechul cut off Chanyeol before he could utter another argument against his.

Chanyeol wanted to defend himself, but cowered upon meeting Heechul's cold glare. "Okay, fine. Let's say that you're right." He gave in, dropping his back against the leather couch. "How do you want to find out what he's done this entire month ? It's not like we can go and interrogate him."

Heechul replied with a casual "You're going to conduct a search in his house."

And Chanyeol nearly scoffed of sarcasm. "You really think that he'll let me in ? Like, 'Oh, hey Donghae, we think that you're a murderer so can you let me search your house for evidence ?' He'll kick me out before I can even say that."

"Of course not, idiot." It took Heechul a lot of willpower to refrain himself from rolling his eyes. "You'll go in his house when he won't be there."

Chanyeol's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "You mean... You want me to break in his house ?" Incredulity was only one of the expression on his face. "You do realize that this is an infringement of property and we can be charged for this, right ?"

Albeit a sign of affirmation, Heechul carried on with the most laid back attitude possible. "Yes. That's why you'll do it without getting caught."

For a moment, Chanyeol thought that Heechul was joking and wanted to laugh it off, but once he saw that the man was absolutely serious, his face fell.

"You really want me to break in his house ?" He asked to make certain that the lawyer wasn't making fun of him.

"That's what I said." Heechul confirmed again with a nod, before taking out his wallet and handing his credit card to the dumbfounded guy. "Go rent a car, one of occasion and as worn out as possible, but one you can still drive around. And it'll be better for you if it's one with tinted windows."

Chanyeol frowned as he took the card. "Don't you have a car ? Why do you want me to rent one ?"

"Didn't you see what kind of area it was ?" Heechul talked as though it was obvious. "If you stay there with my car, you'll be spotted the second you park there. And you will need to stay near his apartment building for a while, so you better camouflage yourself."

Chanyeol mouth made a near-perfect o-shape, before realizing what he was asked. "Wait. How long do you expect me to stay there ?"

"As long as you need to find a proper evidence." said Heechul while preparing himself to go out.

"But... I'll need to eat, and shower, and go to the toilet. I can't keep staying in a worn-out car !" exclaimed Chanyeol hopelessly as Heechul was already at the entrance, ready to go.

"Withdraw some money from my credit card and manage yourself." He shrugged with some exasperation, before conceding at the younger guy's despondent expression. "You can come back every three days, but only if you have some relevant report to make, okay ?"

That didn't help the photographer's dejection the least.

"Where are you going ?" Chanyeol asked after he resigned himself, knowing that protesting again was just wasted effort.

"Getting you some useful gadgets." Heechul was turning his back at him, but Chanyeol could almost see a smirk on his face. "Prepare yourself while I'm out, you'll need to go once I come back."

And Heechul left before Chanyeol could utter another question.

*  *  *

Filthy was the word that instantly popped in his mind as he stepped in the local police station.

The station was small and cramped with office desks, overwhelmed under stacks of papers, half-eaten snacks and cans or bottles of drink (most were of alcohol) that replaced ashtrays. It stank a mixture of different tobaccos, even the air was a little foggy from the smokes. The officers were either laying on an unsightly position or doing interrogation with some young ignorant delinquent (who certainly didn't give a damn about the officers, as those latter couldn't be more unenthusiastic or pathetically tried to scare the malefactors with some exaggerated shouts --obviously, neither worked).

Heechul wriggled his nose as some overweight policeman passed by him, stinking of cigarette and beer, lightly pushing his shoulder when he walked by. The overweight policeman gave him an unappreciative nod of apology and Heechul made his best not to show his irritation and repugnance, before discreetly brushing off the part of him that was touched. He was proposed to sit on the waiting bench when he arrived, but declined the offer when he saw a drunk salary man who was already passing out on it (and he didn't know what kind of person sat here before him).

He almost broke on a big relieved smile when he saw the tall blonde man in blue uniform arriving towards him, with an elegance that certainly didn't belong here. The blonde man waved at him in a handsome demeanor that only he could execute as he showed his spotless white teeth.

"Heechul hyung ! How come you're here ?" The two men gave each other a manly handshake. The blonde man then showed a concerned expression. "I heard about sister-in-law, how are y-"

"Kris." Heechul cut him off with a sharp look. "You should know better that I don't take people's pity."

The man named Kris then laughed and patted Heechul's back. "Alright. Don't just stand here, let's go in my office."

Heechul followed him, more than glad to leave the mucky general room.

Although it was small, he was relieved that Kris' office adhered to an acceptable level of hygiene (at least, he could sit without fear of dirtying his designer pants). He didn't expect, though, the presence of another dark-haired young boy, sitting behind a computer and typing on the keyboard at incredible speed. At a first glance, he looked like in his early twenties but his bony figure and leopard printed tank top made him more like a grown-up teenager. Also, something about his dark skin and keen-edged eyes told Heechul that he wasn't Korean (and remembered him about those Hong-kong Mafioso he saw in movies).