“I heard from the school that you’re in the hospital.” In Ji said walking over.

“I know.” Victoria told. “Take a seat.”

In Ji found a chair and pulled it to the bed, “Are you ok? I heard from Tori that your car was badly damaged. I can’t imagine anyone who would want to try to hurt you.”

“I’m ok at the most and my arm is broken at the least.”

“That’s not good. I don’t see why you’re shaking it off as if nothing happened,” In Ji said, “you must have been scared when you found out the brakes weren’t functioning.”

Victoria pressed her lips together.

“About your classes next week, I’ve offered to substitute for you while you recover,” In Ji explained. “You can take that week to rest and come back the week after. I won’t hand out anything weird to your classes, but you sure do have an awfully large number of students.”

“Do you want to split with me?”

In Ji managed to laugh a little, “You said you used to work at the tech college in Incheon, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I see why.” In Ji continued to look around the room. “Is there anybody staying with you? You said you’re living alone in Seoul, don’t you have any friends or family members who would come visit you?”

Victoria turned to look at the couch as if she’d see the investigator there then turned back to her friend, “No one actually, but I’m quite alright. I wouldn’t want to bother them anyway.”

In Ji smiled at Victoria and was about to say something when footsteps were heard in the room. They both turned to see Donghae walk in with a tray of food.

“I have your breakfast.” Donghae said holding the tray out for her to see.

Victoria turned from him to look at In Ji who seemed to have become shy in front of Donghae.

“This is my friend, a professor from the Seoul University, Seo In Ji. In Ji this is a criminal investigator, Lee Donghae.” Victoria introduced.

“I see. Hello, nice to meet you,” Donghae greeted with a nod then walked toward the bed pulling out the small table from the side of the bed then placed the tray on it before Victoria.

“You two chat for a while, I’m going to run out and make a call,” Donghae said then exited the room.

“Criminal investigator?” In Ji asked in an almost whisper to her.

Victoria nodded in reply glancing at the food in front of her. He had gotten so much food, no wonder it had taken him quite a while to return. Victoria reluctantly picked up the spoon and started stirring the soup in front of her.

“Is he your boyfriend?” asked In Ji.

Victoria was about to put the spoonful of soup into when it slipped from her hand and landed on her shirt. She let out a shout which surprised In Ji.

“I’m so sorry!” In Ji apologized and quickly ran toward the bathroom hurrying back with some napkins.

“It’s ok. You don’t have to freak out.” Victoria told taking the paper from In Ji and drying her shirt.

“I’m sorry.” In Ji repeated again sitting down.

“You don’t have to apologize, you did nothing wrong.”

“But I feel bad.”

Victoria smiled as she placed the napkins aside and put the spoon back onto the tray muttering, “Gosh, I don’t understand why he chose this for breakfast.”

“If I were you I’d feel like the luckiest woman on earth,” In Ji said sincerely.

“What are you talking about?” asked Victoria getting confused.

“Never mind. I hope you feel better soon. I’ll come see you again sometime soon, ok?” In Ji asked.

Victoria watched as her friend left and returned to her food which she finished before Donghae walked back into the room. It was as if he’d been waiting for In Ji to leave before he returned. Taking the tray from her Victoria glanced up at him and watched as he removed the side table.

“Is she a psychology professor too?” asked Donghae.

“I said that, didn’t I?”

“My friend wants you to check out his mentality the next time he meets you.”

Victoria stared at him blankly. “What friend?”

“Monkey Hyuk.”

“Who?”

“My friend.” Donghae said. “I’m going to run out for a bit. Do you want anything? I can probably get it for you while I’m out.”

“You don’t have to return,” Victoria told.

“I’ll come back to check on you.” Donghae persisted.

Victoria stared at him then assumed that he would get his way even if she wanted to argue. He’d always done things his way-following her, finding her.

“Find a book for me to read.”

/////

When Donghae had called Sasha she had said Chief Kang would call him personally if there were anything that came up. Everything back at home seemed fine too, so Donghae skipped the thought of heading back to Incheon and just drove back to the summer house. He took a warm shower, grabbed something to eat, watched a bit of TV and felt a sort of relief when he found that the incident of Victoria’s car had not been reported. Late afternoon he went into his room and searched through his story books to look for anything interesting. He found ‘The Thief Lord’, flipped through the pages, and decided that Victoria would like the book. Carrying it with him he headed out the door and returned to the hospital. Donghae found Victoria sitting on her bed staring at the window and just by looking at her he could tell she was bored. After knocking on the door he waited for her to turn around.

“The nurse said you didn’t eat a lot for lunch,” he said walking in.

“So what if I don’t feel like eating? I didn’t ask you to baby sit me,” Victoria said without turning to look at him.

“I brought a book for you,” he told handing it to her.

Victoria turned around to glance at the book then took it from him, “Thanks.”

“I don’t know if you like it, but I enjoyed reading it.”

“I’m not biased toward books.”

“Good to hear.”

Silence overcame them again before Victoria opened the drawer and pulled out her keys then turned back to him.

“Would you do me a favor?” she asked. “I forgot about Melodix, she’s probably hungry by now and needs to go to the bathroom. I probably don’t have to tell you where my apartment is, right?”

Donghae stopped his car in front of her apartment and walked toward the door. After unlocking it he stepped into the house to hear the desperate whining of Melodix. He found her in a small room and the floor was dirty because of the mess she’d created.

“Wait! Don’t come here yet, I know you want to hug me but we’ll have to wait until you get cleaned up!” he called as the dog charged at him.

He scurried around the house and found dog shampoo then gave the dog a bath. After drying Melodix’s fur he let her run around loose and set himself to cleaning the floor before he’d do anything else. When the floor was cleaned up he found the dog feed and put a cupful of it into her little bowl then watched exhausted as Melodix ate greedily.

“I think you’ve grown fat over the time I haven’t seen you. You know I don’t like fat girls.” Donghae said, but Melodix could have cared less and just continued eating away.

Donghae finally got up and decided to look around the house. He stepped into the kitchen, glanced in the fridge, looked through the drawers to find everything neatly organized, and stepped into the living room. There were no pictures but a small TV and just two couches that made up the living room. The house didn’t have much life to it he decided. He turned around and wondered if it’d be alright to look in her bedroom. Deciding it’d be alright he found her bedroom next to Melodix’s room and opened the door poking his head inside. He found the twin bed set against the wall, a closet, and a drawer with a mirror above it. Her room practically had nothing too but the feeling of loneliness engulfed it. Closing the door he stepped back into Melodix’s room to find her curled up on the ground lazily eyeing him from where she was.

“Come here girl, come here,” he cooed out to her.

The toy poodle jumped up on its legs and jumped onto his lap.

“That’s a good girl. You’re so cute,” he said rubbing her behind the ears. “I bet you’re the only one that keeps her company, am I right?”

Melodix stared up at the ceiling then at him then looked around again.

“You be a good girl now, I’ll come back tomorrow,” he said letting her go.

Donghae returned to the hospital to see Victoria reading the book he’d brought her earlier. He couldn’t help but felt a bit delighted that she was actually looking through the book.

“Do you like it?” he asked suddenly making her turn in alarm. “Sorry, did I scare you?”

“You don’t have to come in so quietly like that.” Victoria said. “And you don’t have to keep coming back.”

“I just gave my girlfriend a bath. She’s becoming big now,” Donghae ignored her statement.

“You’ve only seen her a few times, how would you know?” she asked.

Donghae just smiled as he sat down on the chair beside the hospital bed.

“I’m curious,” he suddenly said. “How do you manage to live alone all this time?”