[C h a p t e r 4 9]

Seohyun stifled a yawn as she sat leaning against one of the large metal columns that supported the front roof of the SM Financial Corporation’s head office in Seoul. Donghae stood leaning against it on the step above her, keeping an eye-out for any sign of Amber. They had been doing this for the past few days already, but were disappointed each day when they saw no sign of Amber anywhere. And at this rate, it seemed even less and less likely that they would be able to corner her and confirm their suspicions.

Unable to stand it anymore, Seohyun stood to her feet, letting out a small shout of frustration. “Argh! I can’t take this anymore! You can stay and wait for her here, Donghae! There are other things I have to be doing too, you know.”

Donghae turned to look at Seohyun, startled at her sudden outburst. As she was about to walk off, he hurriedly reached out for her hand to halt her. “Wait, Seohyun! Don’t go just yet. I have a feeling that today might be the day where we’ll finally be able to corner her! Don’t you also want to know whether she is Josephine or not?”

Seohyun turned around to glare at Donghae, her other free hand on her hip. “I don’t care anymore! Donghae, we’ve been waiting here for three days already. Don’t you think it’s about time we give up waiting for her?” The look on her face softened slightly as she came to place a hand on his shoulder. “And besides, look at how tight the security is around this place. We saw the other day what they did to several reporters who wanted to interview Lee Lee Soo Man. I don’t want that to happen to you too.”

A small happy smile spread its way across Donghae’s face, touched by the concern for him he saw in her eyes. He then removed her hand from his shoulder, bringing it to grip together firmly with her other before him. “Thank you, Seohyun… I never thought there would be a day when would I hear you expressing concern for me. But I’m not going to give up that easily yet.”

They continued to stand that way with their hands locked together, smiling with one another as they stared deep into the other’s eyes. After some time, Seohyun took in a deep breath, pulling her hands from Donghae’s as she swung them around her nervously. “Well, I guess we’re staying then,” she laughed. Then, hopping down a couple of steps, she turned around to face Donghae, “But I’m gonna head off to buy something to eat. Do you want anything, Donghae?”

Donghae smiled as he shook his head. “Nah, I’m fine. But don’t take too long, okay honey? It’s going to get very lonely without you here, honey.”

“Urgh, don’t use those kind of words with me, Donghae!” shouted Seohyun with a small blush creeping across her face. “You know how much it freaks me out to hear you say such things!”

Donghae just laughed as he watched Seohyun walk off to the café across the street. “That’s why I say such things to you,” he muttered under his breath.

Just then, a black Mercedes entered the driveway before the office building, coming to a stop at the base of the stairs which led up towards the main entrance doors. After having spent three days waiting and watching for any sign of Amber, Donghae had come to recognise the car that belonged to the big boss. The driver of the vehicle stepped out to open the door for Lee Soo Man, while a security guard came to open the door for the other passenger, the person whom Donghae had been waiting so long for. Just seeing her standing before him threw any other doubt out of his mind that she was not Josephine. Without any hesitation, he immediately strolled over to Amber, grabbing her by the arm as she was about to pass him up the steps.

“Amber Liu, may I have a word with you?” he asked formally, a serious determined look on his face. He had to admit that he was pleased with the faint glimmer of recognition in her eyes before they returned to their usual expressionless glare.

“I am sorry Sir, but I have no time. If you really must see me, then please make an appointment beforehand. I am very busy and right now my schedule is tight,” replied Amber, pulling her arm out of Donghae’s firm grip.

He reached for her again, pulling her in close so that he could whisper, “I know who you really are, Josephine. And I have a feeling Henry knows too, judging from the way he acts. What I don’t know however, is why you have changed your identity.”

Amber hesitated for a minute, before pulling her arm out of Donghae’s grip once more when she noticed Lee Soo Man watching her intently. Turning to glare at Donghae fully in the eye, she said, “I fear you are mistaken, Sir. Please do not waste my time any further. I am not the one you should be asking for such favours. Guards!” Two security guards ran over to her side, standing at attention as they awaited their orders. “Please this gentleman away from our premises. Make sure he does not come anywhere near this building again.”

The guards heeded Amber’s orders, promptly grabbing an arm of Donghae’s each as they began to drag him away. Shocked and outraged that he was treated in such a fashion, he began to struggle against the guards. “Amber! We haven’t finished our talk yet! Amber!” he shouted but she no longer heard him, having already stepped inside the building with Lee Soo Man. Seohyun suddenly came running over as Donghae was finally released at the front gate of the office, a panicked look on her face.

“Donghae! Donghae, what happened?” she asked, juggling two cups of coffee in one had as she came to hold onto Donghae.

Donghae glared back at the guards, who watched him warily. “It seems like my hunch was right but she refused to say anything. However, I don’t think we’ll be able to get this close to her again.”

Frowning slightly, Seohyun turned to peer back at the Sm Finance head office. “I wonder why then, did she go through all that effort of pretending to be dead only to be living right under our noses with a new identity?”

All Donghae could do was shake his head. “I don’t know but I think it’s probably time we consult our Ge as to what is actually going on here.”

Back inside the office, Amber stood quietly beside Lee Soo Man in the elevator as the two of them made their way up to their office on the top floor. Amber’s insides were squirming with nervousness at what had just passed, cursing Donghae for what must have been the hundredth time since she had the guards drag him out. Lee Soo Man was bound to be suspicious as to what that was all about and she knew it was only a matter of time before he would be able to link Donghae with Henry. And that meant their safety was no longer secured with just her remaining under Lee Soo Man’s command.

The elevator doors chimed open as they came to a stop and Lee Soo Man immediately stepped out, heading straight for his office. Amber followed obediently behind him, each step causing her concern to grow. It wasn’t until Lee Soo Man had finally entered his room before he spoke.

“Just now… what did that guy want?” he asked casually, not looking up at Amber as he went to sit behind his desk. Amber walked over to stand before Lee Soo Man, looking down at the ground.

“He thought that he would be able to coerce me into assisting him with a deal to pass on to you, Master . Nothing that is worth our notice,” replied Amber in a clam and even tone although her heart was pounding furiously with a mixture of fear and dread. She prayed that Lee Soo Man would find nothing suspicious with Donghae and leave the matter to rest.

Lee Soo Man looked up from his desk, studying Amber closely. After what seemed like an eternity, he then said, “Alright. If you say that it was nothing, then I trust that it was nothing. What is my schedule for today?”

Amber proceeded to pull her PDA from the pocket within her suit, immediately relaying to the older man his schedule for the day. However, the way Lee Soo Man had easily dismissed the matter seemed to unnerve Amber. Forcing that thought to the back of her mind to deal with later, Amber concentrated on her task at hand. As if Key’s proposition the other night to her wasn’t enough to make her worried…

Henry, Lay, Jiseok and the rest of the team put in charge of investigating the Dawn case sat together in the headquarters’ meeting room. All had grim looks on their faces, the result of a round of scolding by the press and their superiors. Park Jiseok himself was flicking through the latest report of Krystal ’s death, through several witness reports that claimed to have seen an unknown woman enter the room next door. But when they had searched the room they found nothing at all, save for the lone clock ticking noisily on the wall.

After some time, Jiseok decided it was time to speak. “As you guys know, the Dawn case has been going on for several years and many have wondered why we, the police, have never been able to catch this assassin. I now ask you guys; why is this so?”

The others all remained silent, unwilling to give an answer. Jiseok transferred his gaze from one to the other, studying them patiently as he awaited their response. Finally, his gaze came to rest on Henry, whom he was surprised to see staring back at him with an emotionless look on his face.

“Do you have something to say, Henry?” he asked.

Henry continued to look at Jiseok for a while longer before averting his gaze. “I want out of the Dawn case,” he announced suddenly, earning surprised glances from the rest of his team.

“You want ‘out’?” repeated Jiseok, unable to believe what he was hearing. In all his years that he’d known the young detective, not once had he seen Henry pull out of a case. “Why?”

“Exactly, Henry! Why?” shouted Lay as he slammed the table. “How can you suddenly decide something like this, just suddenly pull out of a case like this? Is it because it’s difficult? Then if that’s the reason, I don’t know where the old Henry I went to the academy with has disappeared to.”

Henry continued to keep his eyes averted, staring at the ground before him. He knew that this announcement of his would not go across very well, especially with Lay. It had been on his mind for some time now, ever since he had found out that Amber was Dawn, and Krystal’s death only proved to him that he was no longer fit to head the investigation on her. However, pulling out of the Dawn case did not mean that he was going to give up putting a stop to her assassinations.

Looking up, Henry then said, “I want to switch tactics. Chasing after Dawn’s shadow seems to bring us nowhere, something we should have realised a long time ago. I want to start chasing the Seoul gangs instead, especially the Syndicate.”

Jiseok frowned at this suggestion while Lay looked surprised. “You want to start investigating the Syndicate?” asked Lay, narrowing his eyes in suspicion as he lowered his voice. “Do you know something about Dawn that you’re not telling us?”

Henry turned to meet Lay’s eyes. “All I know is that she is working for the Syndicate.”

“And you’ve been keeping this secret from us?” Lay rolled his eyes in disbelief when Henry did not avert his eyes. “How could you do that to us? You should have told us an important lead like that. How did you even find out that Dawn was working for the Syndicate?”

Henry frowned slightly at Lay’s accusing tone, feeling his stomach knot in guilt for the bigger secret he was hiding. “How I found out is of no importance. The thing is I was not able to confirm that Dawn was indeed working for the Syndicate until recently. And that is why I want to chase after the Syndicate instead.” When no one uttered anymore complaints, Henry then continued, turning to face Jiseok. “With your permission, Superintendent, I would like to join the other teams working on the syndicate gangs. I suggest sending out several more surveillance teams to follow all known members of the Five, focusing primarily on the Syndicate. It can be made known that you have decided to change the detective in charge of the Dawn case, and I suggest that Lay should take the post up.”

“Me?” exclaimed Lay in shock as he pointed at himself, his mouth hanging open. “Why me? I’ve never headed a team of detectives before on a case this big. If you’re going to investigate the Syndicate, then I want in too!”

Several others in their team muttered their agreement. No one wanted to be stuck on this team that was now looking more and more defunct. As their murmurs steadily grew louder, Jiseok raised a hand to silence them all.

“That’s enough. I have to say, I agree with Henry’s plan. Lay, you will now be in charge of the Dawn case because we still need this group running, just in case there are any moles in our department who will leak to the Syndicate about our change in tactics. As for you, Henry; give me some time to sort out your transfer into our Seoul Gangs division. And once you enter, I expect to see some results soon.” With that, Jiseok stood, picking up his share of the files on the table. “That’ll be all for now. You’re all dismissed,” he said as he stepped out of the meeting room.

The others all slowly filed out of the room, muttering to one another as they threw discreet glances in Henry’s direction. Soon, the room was empty save for Lay and Henry himself. Slowly, Lay finally stood, placing his hands on the table as he leant forward to stare at Henry, studying him carefully.

“For some reason, Henry, I get the feeling that there is something else you’re hiding. I only hope that it’s nothing important and is not the reason for you transferring over to the Seoul Gangs division,” he said before standing up straight and stepping out of the room, staring at Henry all the way.

He heard the door close as he left the room and let out a small tired sigh. It was done. He was finally on the way to being able to do something to help Amber out of the Syndicate’s grasp. He was no longer the one who was chasing Dawn. He realised that he should be feeling elated that this was the case, but for some reason, this small accomplishment had left him feeling incredibly hollow inside.

Tbc.

now I'll let you guys tell Donghae off for going to Amber in front of Lee Soo Man. And Henry is now finally going to start doing something about Lee Soo Man, but will it be too late?

Next Chapter: Amber contemplates her situation further while Donghae decides to confront Henry...

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