[C h a p t e r 3 6]

Jay led Jessica into a lavishly decorated guest waiting room to take a nervous seat on the cream coloured Italian leather sofa that surrounded a white marble coffee table. She glanced around him in awe as Jay left the room, amazed at how expensive everything looked. Even though living with her father meant that Jessica was slightly better off than her mother and Krystal, it still couldn’t compare with the lavishness of Luhan’s mansion.

Krystal suddenly appeared at the doorway and Jessica stood up straight, a huge relieved grin spreading across her face as she quickly walked over to greet her. “Krystal, you’re alright! I was beginning to grow worried, seeing as you stopped turning up at the ice-cream parlour.”

A playful frown creased Krystal’s brow as she proceeded to ruffle her noona hair. “Do you think I will let anything happen to me that easily, Jessica?” she teased. “I’m amazed you even managed to find me, though.” She suddenly grabbed her hand, leading her out of the guest room. “Come on; I’ll show you my room here.”

Jessica followed her sister along, relieved that Krystal seemed to be doing fine. She led her up the staircase and into a pretty pink room, a large king sized bed covered in white satin sheets in the middle of the room. White painted furniture furnished the room, giving the place a princess-like feel to it. From the window Jessica could see the mansion’s large swimming pool and the garden that surrounded it.

Turning back around to face her dongseang, She came to sit on the bed beside her. “… why… why are you here?” she finally forced herself to ask. She wanted to know the real story behind everything, still finding what her mother had said hard to believe.

Krystal stared at the ground before her, the smile on her face from earlier fading away. She let out a sigh before answering. “I thought you would already know what has happened seeing as you managed to find me.”

Jessica turned to stare at Krystal, a searching look on her face. “Mother told me she was forced to sell you to the loan shark,” she said, trying to gauge her  reaction.

Krystal let out a small sarcastic laugh, shaking her head in disbelief. “Is that what she said? She’s still the same, trying to find excuses to feed her greed.” She stopped laughing, her hand gripping the sheets tightly as her face hardened. “She was the one who suggested that Luhan should buy me from her. Luhan realised that she would use any means to gain more money so he decided to protect me by agreeing with Mother’s suggestion.”

Jessica stared at Krystal, feeling a sudden burst of anger for their mother. She knew the woman had lied to her and hearing these words confirmed it. “Luhan… Is he the one ?” asked Jessica after she had finally calmed herself down.

A small smile lit Krystal’s face. “Yeah… he’s been kind to me these past few days. He’s agreed to let me live in his house as his sister, but…” Krystal drifted off mid-sentence, a distant look on her face as she remembered the morning’s events.

Jessica suddenly grabbed Krystal’s arm, startling her from her thoughts. “But what, ? What happened?” he asked, slightly panicked that something terrible might have happened.

Krystal turned to glance at her Noona before peering over her shoulder at the door to see if anyone would enter unexpectedly. Shuffling in closer it Jessica, she lowered her voice as she said, “Luhan seems… a little strange. I think he’s involved in more than just his company, the pub and being a loan shark.”

“A little strange?” repeated Jessica, her eyebrows creasing into a slight frown.

Krystal nodded, also frowning slightly. “I accidentally overheard his conversation earlier this morning. He was talking about weird things, about someone named ‘Dawn’ messing up something badly. Then afterwards he found me eavesdropping and-” Krystal stopped talking there, leaning back away from Jessica as she turned away in embarrassment. Jessica peered at her, a small fear nagging at the pit of her stomach for what Luhan could have done to her  that caused her to stop talking.

“What did he do to you, ?” she asked in a fearful voice, trying to turn her sister back to face her. “Did he hurt you?”

Krystal shook her head, shaking Jessica’s hands from her shoulders as she stood up. “No… no, he didn’t hurt me. Nothing really happened… he just told me not to interfere anymore if I value my life.”

Jessica stood up, shocked. “He threatened you?” She stormed over to her side and began trying to drag her out of the room. “Don’t stay here anymore, . It doesn’t feel that safe. Why don’t you come live with me and Dad? There’s plenty of room there for the three of us.”

Krystal pulled her hand out of Jessica’s grip, staring back at her with a small frown. “I can’t just leave this place, Noona… If I do, who knows if he’ll do anything to Mother?”

“But-” started Jessica but she was cut off by Krystal.

“There’s no but, Jessica.” She then came to place her hands on her  shoulders, staring into her eyes reassuringly. “Don’t worry about me, Noona. I’m perfectly safe here. There’re guards everywhere and Luhan has been treating me well, despite threatening me this morning. But that was my fault. I was eavesdropping on him after all.” She firmly squeezed her shoulders, a small pleading look in her eyes. “Please, Noona… Don’t worry about me, okay? You can come visit me whenever. I’m sure Luhan will allow that.”

Jessica peered back at her sister, mixed feelings running through her mind. She didn’t want her Dongseang living alone with some guy who was a potential mobster. Yet, she didn’t want to go against her  wishes. Although their mother had never really treated them well, Krystal was always worried about her and it seemed that this time was no different. With a small sigh, she finally nodded.

“Alright… I won’t pressure you into leaving here, .” Her eyes then hardened as she gripped Krystal’s arm tightly. “But if that Luhan ever does anything to you, remember to come to me immediately. I’ll show him his place, no matter how much power he has.”

Krystal smiled at her Noona response, faltering slightly as she let her go. She knew her Noona was just very worried about her but she couldn’t help but wonder whether Jessica would ever have to follow through with her threat to Luhan. Silently, she prayed that nothing of the sort will ever happen, which would cause her Noona to be put in danger.

Lay collapsed behind his desk, his head falling onto his crossed arms as he let out a tired sigh. Interviewing the witnesses had turned up not much more than what they had already gleaned from them the other day. All that he had been able to find out was that Dawn had covered her face with a mask and that she was perhaps over 160 cm tall. Lay let out another tired sigh. They had also come to realise that if Dawn was in a tight situation, she would resort to using guns as well, aside from the bladed weapons she seemed to prefer. So that meant the assassin could have killed more than those that have already been associated to her name.

His mobile phone suddenly began ringing in her pocket, and he blindly d around for it. Half-heartedly, he thought that if this was Henry calling, he would immediately begin yelling at him for not accompanying him. What was more important than trying to solve the Dawn case? It was something he had been eager to do since they’d first received the case, but when it seemed that something had finally turned in their favour, he disappears off on some kind of ‘important business’.

He slide his phone and held it to his ear without looking at the screen. “Yobuseyo?” she answered, a little roughly. “If that’s you, Henry, you’d better get your stinking back here this instant so I can scold the unhelpful bastard you are.”

“Hmm… someone seems to be in a really bad mood. Would you like me to call you back later when you have calmed down, Detective Lay?” replied Sehun over the phone, his voice hiding a humoured note to it.

Lay sat up straight on the desk, pulling the phone away from his ear to check the caller ID. It was Sehun. Cursing silently to himself, he slowly put the phone back against his ear. “What do you want, Mr Sehun? I believe there is no reason for you to contact me anymore, seeing as I no longer have to act as your bodyguard.”

“Perhaps… but what harm is there in calling up an old colleague?”

“A lot,” snapped Lay. “Look, I don’t really have the time to exchange friendly banter with you, Mr. There’s a dangerous assassin out there that I have to catch.” He was about to hang up the phone when he heard Sehun telling him to wait.

“It’s that ‘Dawn’ case isn’t it?” he asked in a serious voice.

Lay paused, surprised that Sehun would know about the case. “You know about it?”

Sehun chuckled slightly over the phone. “Of course I do. Being Senator son means I’ve heard more things than the average person.” He paused before asking, “Does Dawn have anything to do with the guy death the other day?”

Lay let out a sigh, rubbing his face tiredly. “Perhaps you should be a detective, Sehun, seeing as you’re so perceptive,” he snapped sarcastically.

“Perhaps I should, Lay,” he retorted in a happy tone.

“Who gave you permission to call me Lay?” he suddenly asked somewhat indignantly.

“Then who gave you permission to refer to me as Sehun?” he retorted back, still with that annoying happy note to his voice.

Lay opened his mouth to retort back but nothing came out. he let out a frustrated groan. “If you’re just calling me to amuse yourself, then I’m going to hang up now.”

There was silence on the other end and Lay frowned slightly, wondering why Sehun was now being so quiet. The suddenly, “Would you like to go out to dinner with me?”

Lay was at a loss for words. “Dinner?” he repeated, still shocked.

“Yeah… just to get your mind off the case for a while, if you don’t mind. I mean, I don’t want to bother you or anything if you’d rather continue working on your case, so you don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to,” he babbled, somewhat nervous all of a sudden.

Lay continued to remain silent, pondering over his invite. Just then, he saw Henry enter the department, storming straight over to Jiseok’s room. Standing up, he said, “Alright; come and meet me up in an hour outside my office. But right now I have some unfinished business with my partner.” he didn’t wait for Sehun to reply and immediately hung up his phone as he went to cut Henry off before the superintendent’s room.

Henry peered down at Lay with a small frown. “I really don’t have the time to play games with you now, Lay. There’s something I need to see the Superintendent about.” He tried to push past Lay but he refused to budge.

“What have you been up to today? You’ve been acting weird since yesterday,” he asked him, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

Averting his eyes elsewhere, Henry answered in an offhand manner, “Nothing’s really happened, Lay. I just… just have a hunch about something.” He tried to push past Lay again but he stopped him once more.

“You have a hunch? Then why aren’t you sharing it with me?” he shoved Henry back roughly as he took an intimidating step towards him. “Since when have you started keeping secrets from me we're Bro right?”

Henry just shook his head in frustration at him as he finally pushed past him and entered Jiseok’s room. The superintendent looked up from his paperwork to stare puzzled at Henry’s sudden entry with Lay stumbling in behind him.

“Is there… something the matter?” he asked as Henry came to sit in the chair before him. Lay remained standing behind.

“Sorry to barge in on you like this, Superintendent, but…” Henry seemed to pause for a minute, pondering over what he wanted to say. “Has Lee Soo Man ever been suspected of being involved in illegal activities?”

Jiseok raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Why are you asking me this now, Detective?” he questioned.

“I’m just… curious, that’s all,” was all Henry was willing to say, staring at Jiseok with a look that revealed nothing of his true thoughts.

The superintendent leaned back in his chair, peering at Henry suspiciously. “Of course Soo Man has been suspected to be involved with illegal activities. It is impossible for someone of his status to never be affected by such accusations. He has been known to associate with the leaders of the Five and is rumoured to be on good terms with seunghoon of the other gang. But there has never been any proof to warrant an arrest of the man.” He crossed his arms over his chest, studying Henry’s reaction to this information.

“Then… what kind of activities has he been rumoured to be involved in?” asked Henry after several minutes.

“What kind? Hmm… almost everything, I think. But from what I know of the man personally, I don’t think any of those rumours are true, especially the one about him being the leader of the Syndicate. How could the leader of the Enterprises have the time to manage both his multibillion dollar company and the most powerful organised crime group in Korea? It’s impossible.”

Henry suddenly sat up straighter in his seat. “Lee Soo Man has been rumoured to be the Syndicate’s leader?” He then turned away, lost in thought.

Jiseok nodded slowly, wondering what was going through the young detective’s mind. “Yes… but like I said, it’s impossible.” He leaned forward to peer at Henry. “Now will you tell me why you are suddenly asking about Lee Soo Man?”

Henry snapped away from his thoughts, turning to peer at Jiseok as if he had only realised that his superior was still in the room. “Oh… I… I just remembered the man and wondered whether he would be Dawn’s next target,” he lied. “But… from what you’ve told me, it seems like my hunch was wrong.” He stood up. “Thank you for answering my questions today, Superintendent,” he thanked, bowing.

Jiseok waved off Henry’s thanks. “No worries, Detective. It’s good to see you trying to predict Dawn’s next moves.” He stood up, giving Henry a firm pat on the shoulder. “This isn’t the easiest case and it’s great to see that your spirit has died yet.” He then sat back down and Henry gave him a salute

“It is my duty, Sir,” he said before leaving the office. Lay followed him out behind after saluting the superintendent as well.

he ran to catch up with Henry’s long strides. “Henry! Henry, hold up for a second!” Henry suddenly stopped walking and Lay almost collided into his back. he then walked around to face his front. “Do you mean to say the hunch you had was truly about Lee Soo Man perhaps being Dawn’s target?” he questioned, gazing at Henry suspiciously.

Henry turned to stare at him, a small, weak smile on his face. “Yep. That was my stupid hunch which turned out to be wrong.” He then pushed past Lay, heading for the door.

“You’re hiding something,” Lay suddenly shouted after him, causing Henry to freeze as he was about to open the door. Smirking, he strolled towards him, elated that he had perhaps struck a nerve in him. “I know what you’re thinking, Detective Henry Liu Xianhua. We have been together since we graduated from the academy and in all those years, I have never seen you act so strangely before.” he came to stand next to him, looking up into his face. “What are you not telling me, Hyung?”

Henry swallowed nervously, turning to gaze somewhere else. Finally, he said, “Just give me some time, Lay. When I’m sure about everything, I… I promise I will tell you everything.”

Lay continued to stare at Henry, curiosity burning in him but he fought back the desire to pursue the topic further. Glancing away with his hands , he said, “Alright; I’ll wait. But answer this first: does it have anything to do with the Dawn case?”

Again, Henry shifted nervously on the spot with his gaze averted. “Yes,” was the silent reply before he opened the door and stepped outside.

Lay had no choice but to watch him leave. He then turned away, heading back over to his desk. So the reason Henry was acting strange was because he had found out something about Dawn. But what exactly did he find out, that he wasn’t willing to disclose with even his own partner? Sighing, he back down on his desk with his elbows, knocking the mobile phone he had left there earlier. Then he suddenly remembered; he had agreed to go to dinner with Sehun in an hour. Cursing slightly, he glanced at his watch and realised he had only fifty minutes left before he was to meet him. With another frustrated sigh, Lay began banging his head on the table. As if Henry’s secretiveness isn’t enough! How in the world did he agree to that rich boy’s date? He suddenly looked up, shocked. Date? Why would Sehun want to go on a date with him of all people? He wasn’t exactly pretty, or even at that.

He sighed again, lying his head back down on the desk. he couldn’t back out of it now. There was nothing he could do but stick to his word.

Tbc.

Yeah... nothing much to say today...

Next Chapter: Where is Sehun going to take Lay? And how will Amber go see Henry?