6/3/2015:  fyi - Woo Jinwon is aka Masta Wu

Apologies in advance for any typos. I'm trying to post as many chapters as I can before I leave for work.

A Dream to Me

Dr. Yang frowned as he looked over Park Sanjin’s test results. Across from him his friend of many years sat on the exam table buttoning his shirt.

“Damnit Sanjin, I don’t know how many times I’ve told you that you need to slow down and take better care of yourself. Your body can’t take much more of this. You’re lucky Teddy got you here quickly otherwise this could have been much worse.”

“Okay, I get it,” Park Sanjin groused. “Am I clear to go now?”

“I don’t think you do get this. These symptoms you’ve been experiencing, they’re warning signs. You have got to slow down! If you want to see Sandara grow up and get married and see your grandchildren then you’d better start listening to me as your doctor and cut back on the stress in your life,” Dr. Lee growled. Nothing frustrated him more than to see friends like Sanjin think they were invincible against illness, or worse, death.

Sanjin was silent as he reached for his suit jacket and slipped it on.  Like the rest of his friends and acquaintances, Hyun-suk Yang didn’t have a clue about what was going on in his life. Everyone who knew Sandara thought she was away at school in the U.S., which was the story he told while they searched for her.

On more than one occasion he’d nearly given in to his desire to throw caution to the wind and use the press to help him find Sandara. But to do so would endanger her life. He had enemies out there, people who would take advantage of the situation and hunt her down ruthlessly and then hold her captive while they demanded ransom. So he’d refrained himself from going that route. But god, he couldn’t take much more of this. With each passing day that he didn’t hear news of Sandara he felt as if he was breaking a little more. Was she even alive? ‘Please god, let her be alive and safe’ and ‘Bring her home to me,’ were his daily prayers. He would do things so much differently if given another chance.

*

Jiyong sat in the car and stared across the street as a teenage boy came out from the noodle restaurant. The boy stood a few minutes on the sidewalk sending a text on his phone.

“That’s the younger son,” Jinwon said. “His name’s Choi Mino. Fifteen years old.” After a few minutes another tall boy came out shouldering a backpack. He said something to the younger boy, Mino, causing him to run back into the shop. A minute later he returned out with his backpack before the two began walking down the street.

“The taller boy is the older son. Sanghyun. There’s only the two of them and their parents, Choi Jin and his wife Da Hyun.”

Jiyong stared silently taking in the information that this was where Sandara had been for most of the time she was missing. At first he’d been worried that the family may have been taking advantage of her, siphoning off of Sandara. But the surveillance photos Jinwon gave him showed the opposite. He’d never seen Sandara so happy as she was with this family. They treated her like a daughter and sister and it was obvious to see that her affection for them was genuine.

Even now as he looked through the photos and stared at Sandara’s smiles he was caught off guard with how his chest ached to see her like this. He was happy that she’d found good people to care for her when she had left home. But on the other hand he was sorrowful that he’d been the one to have driven her from her home in the first place.

“She was here a few days ago,” Jinwon said. “That’s when those photos were taken. She left on Monday to go back. The father accompanied her and returned later that evening.”

“How did they go?” Jiyong asked, wanting and needing to know as much details as possible.

“They took a bus to the next town over, and from there they caught the train.”

“He went with her all the way back to the city?”

Jinwon nodded.

Jiyong took a deep breath and released it slowly. These people cared for her, loved her. What if she didn’t want to come back home? Wasn’t it already obvious by the way she had stayed away from the life where she had billions at her disposal, servants to do her every bidding, a house with a bedroom that was as large as the whole restaurant this family owned? Yet despite having all that Sandara chose to stay here.

“Was there anyone else?” he asked. If she had carved out a new family life for her, had Sandara also perhaps found someone else, someone important in her life?

“You mean like a boyfriend?” the PI asked. He shrugged. “Not that my sources could tell. She’s only in contact with this family and her work.”

Jiyong closed his eyes briefly, relieved to hear that.  

“Good work,” he said, and closed the envelope that had the surveillance photos. “Is there anything else?” He had his own car there, having driven down once Jinwon had called to let him know he found where Sandara had been staying.

The private investigator flipped through the pages of the small tablet he kept his notes in. “Oh yeah, just one other thing. She apparently has applied to and has been accepted to the fine arts program in Hongdae. What’s interesting is that she registered under Park Dara. As far as I can tell, she hasn’t let anyone there know her connection with the Park Group.”

Jiyong thanked Jinwon before he got out and crossed over to where his car was parked.  He saw Jinwon’s car leave but he remained seated. After a few minutes he got out and went over to the restaurant.

*

Dara looped her arms through her two brothers as she met them at the train station and walked with them out to the street. “Let’s go drop off your packs at my place then we’re off to spend the whole day doing whatever you guys want!” she declared happily. Mino and Sanghyun was spending the day and tonight with her before they had to go back the next day.

“Noona, can we go to the mall?” Mino asked. Dara laughed, excited that she could spend this time with her precious dongsaengs.

“Yes, we’ll go to the mall and spend lots of Noona’s money!” she declared, earning a cheer from Mino while Sanghyun gave his younger brother a chastising look. Dara laughed and leaned her head toward Sanghyun. She may be kindred spirits with Mino, but Sanghyun with his careful ways had a special place in her heart. “No frowning today, Sanghyun-ah. Today you’re going to let Noona enjoy having you both here and let me celebrate to my heart’s content. So let’s go-go-go!” she giggled. “Nolza!”

After the mall, they headed to the restaurant Dara worked at and she introduced her brothers to her co-workers. Everyone fawned over how handsome they were, especially Bom who insisted that since Dee was like a sister to her, Mino and Sanghyun should be like brothers to her as well. After eating lunch there the three headed to Hongdae and she showed Sanghyun the campus where she would be attending school starting that winter semester. Sanghyun was applying at Seoul University but Dara hoped he would consider coming to Hongdae so that they could be in school together.

Next Dara treated the boys to shopping at Myeongdong. Mino’s eyes couldn’t stop bulging from their sockets. He loved the city and wanted so much to live there. “You stay in school and study hard,” Dara told him. “You do that and I promise I’ll bring you here to pursue your dream if you can just do that part for me.”

 Mino looked at her. She was the only one in his family that he’d told his dream too. He wanted to become a hip hop artist, a rapper. And he’d shared with her some of his skills and the notebook where he wrote his lyrics. Dara had been impressed. Tonight she had a special treat in store for Mino. She’d contacted an old friend of hers, one that she knew before she left home and when she did a lot of partying with her friends. His name was Tempo and he was an underground rapper. But unlike her other friends that she hung out with before, Tempo was one of those that was always scolding her and telling her to get her together and go home. She had arranged to meet him tonight and introduce Mino to him.

“You remember it?” Mino asked, referring to his dream.

“Of course I do. I’m your noona. I wouldn’t forget something like that,” she chided him. She was rewarded by a hug from Mino who couldn’t stop smiling.

*

Jiyong knocked on the door of Park Sanjin’s home office and then entered. Sanjin was seated at his desk and staring out the window at the evening sky. Jiyong had delayed telling Sanjin the news until he’d confirmed everything himself. And now – now he knew for certain and without a doubt that the girl that went by the name Lee Dara, aka the waitress named Dee, was indeed Park Sandara.

Jiyong stood in front of Sanjin’s desk, his eyes stung with the emotion of finally being able to bring this news to Sandara’s father.

“Uncle,” he called out softly, causing Sanjin to stir from his thoughts. He turned to look with surprise at Jiyong. He hadn’t heard the younger man enter.

“Jiyong-ah.” Sanjin’s smile seemed to bear more sorrow than joy. It had been that way for a long time now, ever since Sandara had gone. “What are you doing here, son? Have you eaten?”

“Uncle,” Jiyong repeated, calling Sanjin’s attention back to him.

The older man quieted. He seemed to have aged in the past year, his eyes weary. He looked now at Jiyong and waited. Sanjin had long ago learned not to anticipate anything whenever Jiyong or any of the investigators they had on payroll came to see him. If he didn’t anticipate, then he couldn’t be disappointed when there was no news of Sandara.

“We’ve found Sandara,” Jiyong said quietly. His heart was racing, knowing how this would affect Sanjin.

At first Sanjin had no reaction to his news. Then slowly his brows twitched, his eyes looking confused as if he was uncertain what Jiyong had just said. A flurry of emotions crossed over his face; confusion, then disbelief, hope, then denial. No, surely he had heard wrong.

“We’ve found Sandara, Uncle,” Jiyong repeated gently. “She’s alive and well.”

A sob escaped Sanjin’s throat, the fears he’d bottled up for so long came crashing down on him. He rose on shaky feet, tears coming to his eyes. “Where?” he asked, trembling. “Where is she?”

**