===

Jiro spun the chair he was sitting in from the left to the right while he waited for results to testify that Derek really had murdered Jasmine. He let his mind fly off to the night Selina had given him a fright when he had followed her into the woods. The fact that she had gone all the way there barefoot with only her gauze on amazed him. Especially when she had come running out of the hut, he was sure he had felt too panicked and forgotten to ask her how she had made her way there in the first place. He was sure when he would meet her again he'd like to ask her how she found her way through the woods in the dark. He also wanted to know why she knew the things she did, it seemed unclear to him. It fascinated him to no end that Selina didn’t seem like the type of girl to get scared easily. He found himself feeling more interested about her.

===

Aaron stared at himself in the mirror then smiled exactly the same way he remembered Selina had. He frowned to himself wondering why he was trying to smile all of a sudden. It wasn’t like he knew her or anything. He made a mental note to tell her he wasn’t Evan, but Aaron. His door opened suddenly and Evan walked in abruptly. Aaron turned around feeling slightly foolish for trying to see his own smile in the mirror.

“Aaron!” Evan shouted as he walked in.

Aaron glanced at his rowdily dressed brother. He had a worn out leather jacket on and a ripped t-shirt on. His jeans seemed a bit big for him as well as his tennis shoes.

“Can I borrow your car?” Evan continued. “Please? I’m being polite this time.”

“I’m about to head back to work soon,” Aaron told putting his jacket on.

“Then why did you come home?” asked Evan.

“Just to check something out,” Aaron told slightly glancing at the mirror.

Evan frowned, “Can’t you have someone drive you back? I promise I won’t crash your car again.”

“Did you eat your pills? What about lunch?” asked Aaron.

“I did! I did!” Evan shouted like a kid.

“Good. I’ll be back later. Stay home,” Aaron replied then headed out the door.

He rushed down the white stairs and hurried toward the front doors coming to a stop when he ran into his father outside the house.

“Aaron where are you going?” his father asked.

“Back to work.”

“What about Evan? Did he come see you again?” asked Mr. Yan.

His hair had gone white as well as his mustache. He wore blue pants with a formal shirt which made him look like he still worked at the company.

“He’s inside right now,” Aaron replied.

“He’s starting to scare me nowadays,” Mr. Yan told, “he disappeared on that day without telling anyone and now he’s speaking about that cabin. I really don’t know what to do with him. Do you think we should send him back to the institute?”

Aaron turned to look inside as if Evan would be there staring at them. The house was empty and Evan hadn’t come down the stairs.

“I think Evan will get over it eventually. He’s just returned home from that place I don’t think he needs to go back,” Aaron told. “If it gets more serious I’ll take care of it.”

===

Selina and Hebe had gone out to get lunch together at a fast food restaurant. People busied themselves around them. Children hopped about the aisles and shouted back and forth to their parents. Selina grabbed her burger and ate it ravenously.

“I heard that guy’s in jail right now,” Hebe told, “it’s all over the news did you hear?”

Selina didn’t reply as she tossed some fries into .

“Gosh it’s so scary and to think it’s right in Taoyuan too,” Hebe continued. “So, how did you do it?”

Selina shrugged, “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“But come on! Tell me!” Hebe insisted.

Selina turned to look at Hebe with a mischievous smile, “I had a dream after reading Jasmine’s diary and I just went there after I woke up. It was dark and you could hear owls hooting in the middle of the night, but the hut was the most freaky. You could see blood drips on the corners of the walls and tools lying on the table, and then there was a smell like a rotten thing had been there for a long time you know?”

“Weren’t you scared?” Hebe asked.

“No.” Selina replied coolly.

“Oh yea that’s right, you’ve done this plenty of times,” Hebe answered for herself. “But you actually spent the night in Taoyuan in the Bai house?”

“Not in the house. I slept in the shed alongside with the cop,” Selina told then smiled, “I’m sure you’ll find him attractive.”

“Are you hooking up with someone now?” asked Hebe. “You didn’t, like, do anything did you?”

Selina let out a loud laugh which caused others to look over.

“Do I look like that?” Selina asked. “I don’t even know him.”

After lunch Selina returned back to Prescon. She paused as she recognized Evan standing by the office door of the journalism office looking like he was glancing into the office.

“Are you looking for me?” Selina asked.

Aaron swerved around on his heels surprised by her.

“Did I scare you?” Selina questioned. “I did, didn’t I?”

“No,” he replied then turned away shyly.

“You’re weird.” Selina told. “The last time I remember you, you were a really hyped up person. Anyway sorry Evan.”

“It’s Aaron,” Aaron corrected.

“A…Aaron?” Selina repeated raising both her eyebrows unexpectedly. “Since when did you change your name? And you never told me. Wow.”

“Evan’s my…” Aaron began, but was interrupted by another voice.

“Selina! Hurry up and come in!” her boss shouted.

“I’ll catch you later then…” Selina paused then finished, “Aaron.”

Selina smiled at him and hurried into the office over to her boss who was holding out a piece of paper to her.

“I found a new apartment,” he told.

“That’s fast!” Selina exclaimed.

“Heat and air conditioning are included. You’re going to have to get cable yourself if you catch any TV,” he explained, “the apartment number and street are on the paper for you along with the number. She says you can move in whenever you like.”

“That’s great! You’re awesome, have I told you that?” Selina asked.

He smiled then turned away, “You don’t have to say that. Anyway you might want to stay behind to go through those documents I handed you. There’s definitely a lot in there and no kidding you want to read it word for word.”

===

Evan shouted and kicked over the garbage can in his room. Papers and candy wrappers along with a newspaper flew onto the ground. He pounded his fists onto his desk. Images of the cabin flashed in his mind. He wanted to go there badly. He wanted to go see the place again. Maybe if he went there he’d be able to see her again. She was always on his mind. Evan gave a shout tosssing a chair to the ground just before the door opened and his father in.

“Evan! Evan! Calm down!” he shouted.

Evan screamed and threw anything he saw onto the ground. Something was pounding in his head and he could feel his eyes roll backward as his father forced some pills into his mouth with his shaking hand. Evan’s body became calm and limp, his heavy breathing followed as if he were running through a large field.

Her smile flashed in his mind as he remembered her standing by the creek then it disappeared and she screamed. Evan’s eyes closed and he was set into a deep sleep that would last all day.

===

Jiro turned as his phone began ringing. Taking off his reading glasses he picked up the phone with his free hand while his other hand grasped the pen he'd been holding.

“Jiro?” it was his dad. “I haven’t heard from you since you came back from Taoyuan. I heard you did a good job over there. Has it gone smoothly?”

“Yes,” Jiro replied. “Have you seen the news?”

“I heard that fellow’s been found guilty,” his father told, “good job solving it. This was a quick one wasn’t it?”

“I didn’t solve it,” Jiro pointed out, “the investigative reporter, Selina, did.”

“She did? She’s a smart gal, isn’t she?” his father said.

“I’ll catch you later at home dad,” Jiro told, “I’ve gotta start filing these papers.”

“I just wanted to check up on you. See you,” his father then hung up.

After hanging up JIro stared up at the wall ahead of him wondering how Selina was doing.

===

After reading through some new regulations and answering some new phone calls Aaron spun around to look outside. The sun had set and the sun was now replaced with the white crescent moon. Stars surrounded the moon as if to keep it from getting lonely. He got up from his chair and grabbed his jacket. After shutting off the lights he closed the door after him and made sure the door was locked. The building was pretty much empty by now and only a few of his employees were still walking through the halls with bundle of papers in their hands.

The front desk was empty by the time he’d reached the bottom of the stairs. As he walked toward the front doors he turned to see a dim light coming from the computer in the office Selina worked in. Turning back he walked toward the door to glance into the room. As he walked into the room he accidentally knocked down a garbage can that had been left by the door and the person sitting inside got up from her seat in alarm.

“Aaron?” the voice sounded familiar.

Aaron didn’t reply, but tried to make out her face through the darkness. She smiled at him and he immediately recognized her.

“Do you want to come in?” Selina asked.

Aaron still stood there silently then turned to look behind him. He felt shy toward her. Maybe she thought she knew him, but he wasn’t Evan and he didn’t know her. Aaron wasn’t good around strangers, but the way she talked to him freely made him feel calm.

“Can I?” he asked.

“You can grab a chair from over there,” Selina suggested pointing to the chair across from her.

Aaron walked in slowly glancing around the room as if someone else were there. He hadn’t had much time to go around the building and familiarize himself with the staffs, but here he was familiarizing himself with someone who thought she knew him. Aaron grabbed the chair and wheeled it over by Selina's desk.

“Shouldn’t you turn on the lights instead of leaving the computer on?” Aaron asked. “You might get blind.”

“I find it easier to concentrate this way,” Selina said, “it’s kind of a creepy atmosphere, isn’t it?”

“I guess so,” Aaron said turning around in his chair to look at the back of the room.

“What kind of job do you do?” asked Selina turning to look at him.

Aaron turned to look at her and their eyes met for a second. Feeling embarrassed Aaron turned away pretending to look around.

“I work upstairs,” he replied.

He wasn’t sure if he should tell her that he owned the business because he was afraid that if he did she would stop speaking to him. He was afraid she wouldn’t talk to him freely.

“Is that so?” Selina commented.

Before Aaron let her go on he immediately asked, “What about you? What do you do?”

“I’m an investigative reporter,” Selina told.

“Investigative reporter?” Aaron repeated.

Selina nodded then tapped on the documents she was reading, “Exactly like a cop. I do my own investigations and solve the crimes myself.”

“Why would you want to do that?” Aaron asked feeling surprised.

Girls, to him, would usually be managers of stores or travel around, not solve crimes. Crimes often scared people.

“I’m not sure if you remember her, but my twin Xuan in high school,” Selina started off, “you remember back then love notes used to be very popular. I wrote some and received some. I got one one day, but that person didn’t leave his name on the note so I didn’t want to meet him because that same day something else was going on. So I asked Xuan to go in my place so I could sneak out to a party.”

Twin? Selina had a twin just like him. Aaron wasn’t sure that he was surprised because there were many things about her he didn’t know. He took a chance and stole a glance at her calm face. She had a small smile on her face, yet Aaron wasn’t sure if it was a sad smile or a happy one.

“When I got back home that evening the house was surrounded by police cars,” Selina went on, “Xuan had been murdered. I was shocked and filled with grief and nothing stayed the same after that. My parents divorced and I stayed with my mom who became a drunkard and I never heard from my dad again. Just great, right? It was my fault she died. I let her die in my place.”