[C h a p t e r 5 0]

As Amber and Lee Soo Man returned to the Chen mansion later that evening, Amber was immediately dismissed by Lee Soo Man at the entrance as he continued on his way up the stairs and into his office. She watched in surprise as he walked off, unsure of how to react to his sudden dismissal of her. It was the first time Lee Soo Man had let her off so easily without giving her any final orders. Usually, when they arrived home, she would follow him all the way into his office to help with matters concerning the Syndicate. But it seemed as if Lee Soo Man didn’t want her near him, not since the event this morning…

Kris walked over to Amber from the side hallway, his eyes following hers up the stairs. “What happened?” he asked, turning to study Amber’s face.

Amber looked back down at the ground before turning to walk back outside, heading towards the courtyards out front. She came to a stop beside a large fountain surrounded by a neatly trimmed waist-high hedge, the centrepiece of Lee Soo Man’s European styled section of his garden. When Amber saw that no one was around, she turned around to face Kris with a grim expression on her face. “Someone from my past came to meet me before Lee Soo Man today.”

“Who?” asked Kris, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. “Do not tell me it is Henry.”

“It is not him,” snapped Amber defensively. “He knows better than that.” Looking away, she said in a softer voice, “It was… someone who used to go to the same orphanage as me.”

Amber felt Kris’s eyes bore onto her, feeling as if she was smouldering under the intensity of his scrutinising glare. After some time, she felt him turn away, much to her relief.

“Just to let you know, I spotted someone I hadn’t seen in quite a long time enter our house just now. I suppose you could say he was an ‘old friend’ of mine.” He paused, stepping over to study the hedge alongside them, gently caressing its leaves. Amber could tell that what Kris had to say was important, judging from the serious look he had on his face. “I have never told you about me and Zhou have I?”

Amber pondered for a moment, wondering where he was going with all this. “Zhou is an assassin from Hong Kong, is he not? I have heard of him before but never met him.”

Kris let out a sigh as he turned to look at the mansion. “Zhou used to be my friend when we first entered the Syndicate together. That all changed however, when Lee Soo Man began favouring me instead, and he became resentful and bitter towards me. Lee Soo Man, noting the growing hostility between us, decided to send Zhou away to Hong Kong where he was trained to be the assassin you know him to be.” He seemed to pause for a minute, a thoughtful look on his face. “I wonder why he has suddenly come to see Lee Soo Man at such a time as this...”

Amber turned to stare at the mansion with him, a sinking feeling in her chest. “Do you think… he no longer trusts us?” she asked quietly, the water of the fountain behind them tinkling softly.

Kris shrugged as he turned to look back down at Amber. “Who knows? All we can do is continue to observe quietly and be as least suspicious as possible. Zhou presence unnerves me slightly, but it may all turn out to be nothing.” He turned to walk past Amber and back towards the mansion, pausing only to pat her on the shoulder. “Do not try to communicate with Henry anymore. I can no longer send your messages to him and do not think that no one saw your meeting with him several days ago. Also, try to stay away from Key. He and Lee Soo Man seem to be at each other’s throats even more lately and it would not look good to see you around him like last night.”

Amber watched him walk off, her mind a whirlwind of questions, doubts and panic. But the immediate worry that rose to her mind however, was that of Zhou. If Kris was worried about him being here, then what did that mean for her? His warning for her meeting Henry she understood fully but she didn’t expect him to have found out about it. And then there was Key kim ki bum…

Turning away in annoyance, Amber continued to walk through the courtyard. Key was probably someone she could not avoid. He was bound to come looking for her again soon, to confirm the details of their deal. Yet looking at how things were turning out, perhaps it would not be such a bad idea to go along with his plan. But how to go about it? That was the main problem. After all, killing the leader of the Syndicate and escaping without a scratch would definitely not be an easy feat to achieve.

Donghae and Seohyun were clearing the table with Omma and ahjusshi when Henry finally arrived home. He greeted them tiredly as he walked by and entered the kitchen, reaching into the cupboards to pull out a new plate. Then, grabbing several plates that were filled with food from the meal the others had finished, he placed them one by one into the microwave as he went to fill his plate with rice. Donghae and Seohyun entered behind him with the empty dishes, placing them in the sink before coming to stand beside Henry.

“We need to talk with you, Oppa,” whispered Seohyun as she spied her omma entering the kitchen with the last of the dishes.

Henry glanced from Seohyun to Donghae, then back again, feeling that he knew what they wanted to talk with him about. As the microwave beeped, he turned around to remove his dish from within. “Can we talk later? At least let me have my dinner first.” He placed the next dish in and then carried his plate of rice and the first dish over to the table. Seohyun and Donghae followed him.

“Alright, but you’ve promised, ,” said Donghae as the microwave beeped and Seohyun went to remove the dish for her oppa. Henry looked at him out the corner of his eye before concentrating on his dinner. They left him to eat in peace, Donghae joining Seohyun’s dad in the living room while Seohyun went to help her mother with the dishes.

After some time, Henry finally finished his dinner and as he was clearing the table, both Donghae and Seohyun came to help him with it all. He frowned at the pair, taking back his plate from Donghae. “I can carry all this myself, you two. Just go wait in my office and I’ll be up there once I’m done with the dishes,” he said, shaking his head as he made his way into the kitchen.

Donghae and Seohyun exchanged a glance with one another, a grim look on their faces. They were both now suddenly feeling nervous at the prospect of confronting Henry, unsure of how he would react to the fact that they knew about Josephine. With a shake of their heads’ each to shake the feeling away, they left the dining room together and went to wait in Henry’s office as per his instructions, but not without a confused glance from Seohyun’s parents in the living room.

They didn’t have long to wait before Henry finally entered his office, moving to sit behind his desk as he went to remove Dino from his cage. Placing the cockatoo on his desk, he retrieved a small plate and filled it with seed, which Dino happily dipped his beak into. Once he was done, he looked up to stare at both Donghae and Seohyun.

“What did you two want to talk about?” he asked, leaning back in his chair. Dino continued to crunch his seeds noisily on the desk.

Donghae exchanged a glance with Seohyun before he spoke. “We went to see a woman named Amber Liu today,” he began simply, pausing to gauge Henry’s reaction at that piece of information.

At first, Henry appeared to look calm, as if the news did not mean anything to him. However, they were not prepared for the enraged look that soon appeared on his face. “You what?” he asked in a low voice. “How you could you do something so-so stupid as that? Do you have any idea what you have done? And why did you all of a sudden visit her?” All the colour in his face suddenly drained away as his enraged look faded away. “Don’t tell me…?” he began but stopped, unwilling to voice what he suspected.

“We know she is Josephine, Henry,” continued Donghae, unfazed by Henry’s outburst at him earlier. “But she didn’t tell me anything and had the guards drag me away from the office.”

“You went to visit her at the office?” He looked away in frustration, massaging his temples with his right hand as he felt the onset of a bad headache. “Please tell me it was not in front of Lee Soo Man,” he mumbled, loud enough for both Donghae and Seohyun to hear.

Donghae and Seohyun exchanged a confused glance with one another. “So what if it was in front of Lee Soo Man? He didn’t seem to say anything when I approached her.”

Henry snapped his head to glare at Donghae before standing up. “Of course it matters! You were there when Josephine was ‘killed’. He is bound to find out that you once went to the same orphanage as her and come after you.” He walked over to the window, staring at the closed venetian blinds before him. “He’ll link you to me and realise that Josephine is no longer trustworthy. Damn it! I was hoping for more time to deal with Lee Soo Man but now that there’s a possibility that he may start suspecting Josephine…” He suddenly slammed his hand against the blinds, causing them to clatter loudly before turning around to stare angrily at Donghae. “Damn it, Donghae hyung! Why did you have to go and do something so foolish as that?” he shouted.

Donghae, feeling his own anger rise in retaliation to Henry’s, also stood as he glared back at him. “What are you yelling at me for? I have no idea what the hell you are going on about but if you didn’t want us doing anything ‘foolish’ as you say it was, then you should not have been keeping everything secret!”

Henry took an angry step towards Donghae, barely restraining himself from hitting the  man. Instead, he raised one of his fists, pointing at his face. “I can’t tell you everything, Donghae, for everyone’s safety. But it seems not telling you some things ended up jeopardising our safety anyway.” Turning away, Henry returned to his seat where he fell into it exhausted. Dino cocked his head to stare at Henry, as if he could sense the stress his owner was going through. Donghae, with the help of Seohyun, also sat back down in his chair, still glaring at Henry.

“Then tell us now why knowing about Josephine’s existence would have jeopardised our safety. And pray, tell us, why she is even still alive!” exclaimed Donghae.

Henry peered at Donghae from the corner of his eye. “All you need to know is that she is alive and is trapped under Lee Soo Man’s control. And if you have been following the news about the Taipei gangs lately, then you would know why I did not want you to know.”

Donghae seemed puzzled by what Henry had said and his brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to decipher the enigma. However, Seohyun’s face brightened as realisation dawned on her.

“Don’t tell me… that those rumours of Lee Soo Man being the leader of the Syndicate are true, Oppa?” exclaimed Seohyun in surprise. She then scrunched her face up in confusion again as another thought hit her. “But then that would mean Josephine is a member of the Syndicate as well? How? And why would it be so important to hide her identity and past with us, so important that finding out can endanger all our lives?”

Henry peered at his step-sister with a sad look on his face. “I can’t tell you why yet. And I don’t know if I want to tell you either, when the time is finally right,” he said softly, averting his eyes elsewhere.

Seeing the sadness in Henry’s eyes eased the anger Donghae felt towards him and he found himself pitying his friend. After all, Henry would be the one who would be the most affected with this news, more than him and Seohyun. He could not imagine what had forced Josephine to fake her death but seeing the look in Henry’s eyes now told him that it was not good. With a sigh, he leant back in his chair and felt Seohyun’s hand suddenly entwine with his. Turning to look at her, he smiled when she gave him a reassuring look.

Then, turning back to look at Henry, he said, “Then what now? I paid a visit to Josephine already and if what you say is true, then Lee Soo Man is going to come after me?”

Moving to forward to lean on his elbows on the desk, he absently patted Dino’s crest. “I pray that he won’t find your visit suspicious but I highly doubt that. Chances are, he’s already investigated into your background and will be sending an assassin after you.” Then quietly to himself, he thought, ‘I hope it will not be Josephine. I know she would definitely not be able to bring herself to do it, but still… And if Lee Soo Man doesn’t send her, then what does that mean? He does not trust her if he does that. And that means Josephine would be as good as dead…’ That last thought did not sit well with him.

Picking up Dino, he then proceeded to return the bird to his cage. “Let me think about what we should do. I do not believe Lee Soo Man will send anyone after us so soon, however, that does not mean you should lower your guard. I suggest you stay here for the night, Donghae. It’s late and now is the perfect time for a killer to strike.”

Donghae nodded his head grimly, feeling Seohyun firmly squeeze his hand. “Alright.”

Tbc.

I feel like I'm wandering through this. Well, Kris made an appearance again after being gone for so many chapters. A new character has popped up (although not that important ;D ) and Henry now knows that Donghae went to see Amber. And I've hit 50 chapters. Really have no idea how many more chapters this is going to be... I wonder if I will make it to 60?

Next Chapter: Key reminds Amber of their deal and Jessica finds out some info...

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