Chapter 14

- Present Day -

The teahouse Amber had chosen was quiet and reserved, sporting a spectacular view of a tea farm with the trees creating a terrace along the slope. Lee Soo Man drank absently from his cup, savouring the mild bitter taste of correctly brewed tea. He was seated in a private booth at a low wooden table that looked out over the hills. There was no glass in the window so the cool mountain air washed over him, a kind of natural air conditioner. The door to his right suddenly opened and a man in his late fifties entered, snapping a fan shut. He was an impressive looking man, dressed in a plain red and black yakuta.

Lee Soo Man smiled at the visitor, raising his cup in greeting. “Greetings, Minho. It has been a while.”

Minho smiled back at Lee Soo Man, his manner reserved. “Greetings, Lee Soo Man. It surely has been some time since our last… meeting,” he said as he sat in the seat opposite.

“Indeed,” said Lee Soo Man as he emptied his cup and proceeded to refill it, also filling Minho’s. He thought back to their last meeting, just over a year ago, when he had helped the  gang leader out of a nasty fix with the law. Minho hadn’t been too happy about the Syndicate’s help then, but he had grudgingly accepted it. In fact, Minho didn’t like anyone meddling in his affairs, whether it was to help him or not. He and his gang preferred to keep to themselves and they thrived on a number of underground activities, namely the collection protection money and drugs.

Minho peered around the room, even though it was obvious that it was empty. “I see that secretary of yours isn’t with you today. Isn’t that a little… unusual?” he asked, his voice still retaining some of his old Japanese accent.

Lee Soo Man let out a little laugh. “Quite a few people have been saying that to me today. I suppose people have the image of Amber always being by my side engraved into their minds.” He took another sip of his drink, staring back out through the window. “She has taken the week off. I realised she has never taken a break and a person can only work so much.”

Minho nodded his head as he took a sip from his cup. “So it seems.” He also turned to stare out the window and silence fell into the room. After a few minutes, Minho was the first to break it. “I presume the leader of the Syndicate didn’t call me out to simply share some pleasantries over a pot of tea?” He turned to look at Lee Soo Man, placing his cup back onto the table softly.

“I guess you know me too well,” Lee Soo Man replied with a small smile. He turned to look at Minho. “I assume you have heard of the demise of the previous  Group’s leader? A sad event, I must say. We will all miss him dearly.”

Minho continued to stare at Lee Soo Man, his half-full cup still steaming on the table. “Yes… we will miss him indeed.”

“Then have you heard of the Group’s new leader? Apparently he calls himself the ‘Dragon’ and is a relative. Imagine that? , and here we all thought he was without family.” Lee Soo Man sipped from his cup, gazing downwards. Minho peered at him, trying to fathom out his motives.

“I suppose you want to know if I have met this ‘Dragon’?” asked Minho with a frown. “The answer is: no.”

Lee Soo Man nodded. “Just as I have expected. However, I am troubled by this new leader. He seems to be a little rash. The other week my members were able to apprehend several kids he had sent over to hassle us. We found out that it was the Dragon’s doing. It was foolish of him to send such a group onto us but it seems that he wanted to tell us something.” Lee Soo Man’s eyes bore into Minho’s and the latter soon averted his gaze.

“If you are wondering whether we will form an alliance with the Jiao Group, then you may rest assured. As long as we are able to conduct our business peacefully here in Wenshan, then we will never side with anyone. The Bai Hu gang has been able to remain free from your gang politics for many years and we will continue to remain that way.”

Lee Soo Man smiled as he nodded. “Very well; if you remain neutral then I shall leave you alone. However, if you decide to join our game, I believe it would be in your best interests to join our side.”

Minho turned to peer back at Lee Soo Man, who had returned to staring out the window sipping his tea. He then looked down at his tea, which had grown cold. It suddenly seemed like poison to him and he didn’t want to drink it. He turned to look out the window and the pair stared off into the distance, thinking carefully over the moves they were to make next.

Amber stepped out of the car, her feet crunching the gravel as she looked around at her surroundings. She was at a resort in Jeju Do at the foot of the Mountains. Her black coat fluttered gently about her as a small, cool breeze circulated the air around her. 'Jeju do… a place full of both happy and sad memories…’

She heard the sound of gravel crunching on the other side of the car and she peered over to see Kris emerge from the passenger’s side, stretching his arms as he yawned widely.

“We finally came to a stop, Amber?” he asked, trying to figure out where they were. “Where are we?” He had been ordered to accompany Amber and she hadn’t told him where they were headed.

Amber closed her door behind and went to open the boot, removing a duffel bag. “We’re at one of Lee Soo Man’s resorts in Jeju do,” she said simply as she threw Kris’s bag to his feet.

He bent over and picked up his bag, dusting it. “You should be more careful with someone else’s belongings, Amber. I wonder if you’ve cracked the screen on my ipod.” He opened up the bag and removed the white device, checking the surface for any scratches.

Amber ignored him and proceeded towards the reception, her own bag over her shoulder. A woman in a bronze coloured suit bowed behind the desk, a welcoming smile on her heavily powdered face. “Welcome, esteemed guests, to Heavenly Hot Springs Resort. Do you have a reservation or would you like to open up a new room?”

“We have a reservation. Amber Liu and  Kris,” replied Amber briskly. The woman’s smile faltered for a second at the harsh tone before she turned her head to the computer and began typing in their names. Kris went to sit on the bamboo sofas with a small smile, spreading himself out so that he took up the whole seat.

A few seconds later, the woman looked up with a smile and removed two keys from below the desk. “Miss Liu and Mr Kris: two private villas in the Rose Wing, our most exclusive wing in this resort. A bell boy will be on his way to you and I wish…” The woman did not get to finish her sentence as Amber grabbed the keys and walked off, Kris quickly hopping off the sofa to follow.

Amber followed the granite stone path through a tropical garden, weaving her way along its winding trail as she followed the signs to their rooms. The resort was fairly large and new, a project she herself had overseen parts of during the early stages over two years ago. However, this was actually the first time she had ever set foot in the place.

They arrived outside the first villa, its design seemingly influenced by both Western and Japanese culture. A small river ran past the front of the dwelling, wooden decking creating a wide bridge across which lead to the front sliding door. Bamboo and other tropical plants grew densely around the villa, creating a nice, cool and relaxing atmosphere. Amber turned to Kris, throwing him the key.

“This is your room,” she said as he caught the key in one hand. She was about to walk off when Kris called her back.

“And where’s yours?” he asked.

Amber nodded in a direction further down the path. “Over there. But don’t come bothering me. If it wasn’t because Lee Soo Man told me to bring someone, then you wouldn’t even be here at all.”

Kris raised his eyebrows as he watched Amber walk off before he turned to enter the villa. “Does she really think I’m that grateful she brought me along? Well, maybe I am a little…” he mumbled as he took off his shoes in the entranceway, sliding the door closed behind.

Amber continued down the path and soon emerged outside her villa. It was fashioned in the same way as Kris’s, with a few minor differences here and there. She stepped up onto the decking and proceeded over to the sliding door, opening it. Inside, there was a little step at the entranceway where Amber placed her shoes. The rest of the villa was painted a light beige colour and Amber soon emerged into the main living room which sported a low black wooden table and four white mats. A small LCD TV sat on a simple mahogany lowline, a pair of large black vases with silver bamboo sticks on either side. Amber placed her duffle bag on the table and walked over to another pair of sliding doors, opening them wide to reveal a small private hot spring and garden, looking out over the mountain range beyond.

She closed the doors and turned around, heading over to the bedroom where she proceeded to collapse onto the bed, staring up at the white plaster roof. The bed was of simple and modern design, reaching only to below knee height. Amber rolled over onto one side on the white quilt, staring at a Chinese watercolour painting of some mountains in the clouds. Her mind drifted back to the other night at the ball, when she had found out that it was Henry who had been placed on her case. Although she had revealed nothing of her feelings over the matter, the truth was she was devastated. Of all the detectives in the world, it had to be him, the only other person in her life that she had ever cared about.

Amber remembered the way he had snuck glances at her that night and smiled. He was still the same as before, the same way she had remembered him back in the orphanage. The way he cared about everyone around him was also the same and she wondered whether he, the twins and Donghae still saw each other. Then she sat up straight, the warm smile on her face immediately disappearing. She could not afford to have such weak thoughts; that would be the beginning of her demise. Henry was now her enemy. He was the detective, she the assassin. She was just a vile creature, a fiend not worth living in this world, exactly as Lee Soo Man had said the other night to Jiseok in his charade. Besides, there could be no way in the world Henry would ever accept who she was. Even back when they were still young she could not bring herself to tell him who had truly murdered her stepfather, for fear that he would hate and shun her.

Glancing down at the quilt cover beside her, Amber loosened the tight grip she had not realised she had on the fabric. She slowly smoothed out the quilt, getting off the bed to kneel down beside it. It was no use thinking of things that will not be, of a past one cannot change. She stood up, stepping outside the bedroom. Amber took off her coat and tossed it onto the table as she walked past it and into the garden outside. There she began a set of  exercises, aiming to clear her mind of the troublesome thoughts. She lost herself to the gentle fluidity of the movements, feeling no more than the energy flowing through her limbs.

Tbc.

Well, Lee Soo Man met with the neutral gang leader like he said he would in chapter 3 and Amber's on holiday like he also promised in ch 3. Perhaps most of you can see where I'm headed with this trip of hers .

Next chapter: Two new characters and what Henry's up to.