/////

Instead of returning to the summer house he’d gone back to Victoria’s apartment to play with Melodix. He’d been sitting in the middle of the toy poodle’s room when his phone began ringing.

“Lee Donghae speaking.”

“Donghae,” it was the chief, “how’s it going over there? I haven’t been hearing from you since you’ve decided to station yourself in Seoul.”

“It’s going well chief,” Donghae said suddenly realizing that he hadn’t actually been doing his investigation as he said he’d be. He really hoped the chief wouldn’t ask about what he’d found so far.

“That’s good then. I just wanted to check up on you on behalf of your uncle. You’ve been calling him to tell him how you’re doing haven’t you?” questioned the chief.

“I forgot, but I will do it chief.” Donghae said wondering how many things he’d forgotten about calling his uncle since he’d come to Seoul.

“Call me when you come back. I think I have a list of people who want to talk to you about Il Chung and Sandy.” the chief paused for a moment. “You might want to bring their friend along too but before anything come to my place before. I want to hand you the list of their names before anything else.”

“Yes, sir.” Donghae said then hung up.

Deciding to call his uncle he began to press the speed dial but received an incoming call from Eunhyuk.

“Where are you? There’s a super awesome club that just opened this weekend and I want to go check it out!” his excited voice came.

“I’m no longer in Incheon Hyukie,” Donghae told.

“What do you mean no longer? Where are you?”

“Seoul.”

“What are you doing in Seoul!”

“My investigation resumes in this city.”

“Are you sure? You haven’t let Hee Sun’s words get to you, have you? Look, I’m really sorry about my sister, she’s a bit out of it majority of the time.” Eunhyuk went on.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about but I’m 105% sure that I’m in Seoul for myself,” Donghae told. “Where do you come up with your crazy assumptions? Maybe you should have your mentality checked on.”

Eunhyuk laughed helplessly.

“Don’t let Hee Sun know, you understand? I don’t want things to get out of hand over here,” Donghae warned.

“Yes, yes. I got it. I guess I’ll go check out that club by myself before I’m the last person on earth to do it.” Eunhyuk purposely muttered then bid his farewell before hanging up.

After hanging up Donghae had forgotten about calling his uncle.

/////

When Victoria became free from the IV drip she roamed the hallways feeling the soreness in her arm climb throughout her body. If Donghae hadn’t made her allow the nurse to attach the IV drip to her she was sure the pain in her left arm would have lessened by now. Victoria sighed and watched as a nurse helped a patient walk pass her and turn down the corner of the hallway. She turned around to see the sign that pointed toward the pregnancy ward. Pausing she allowed her mind to relax before she walked into the ward.

Pregnant women walked down the hallways accompanied by their husbands and some children ran down the hallways without knowledge of where they were. Victoria watched them with envy. Her fetus would be about 4 months by now if it hadn’t suddenly died on her. She walked down the hallway a bit more and came upon the large window that allowed visitors to see the babies inside. They were so small, so fragile looking inside their single cubicles. Victoria reached her hand up and pressed it against the window as if desperately looking inside for her baby. She was sad and lost without Han In Seol, the man who’d guided her life, and the baby she’d had growing within her. Where were they now? Who would comfort her now? Tears arose in her eyes as she watched the baby before her turn in its cubicle.

/////

Donghae walked up the steps calmly. He’d just found out Victoria would be allowed to leave the hospital the day after tomorrow and he was sure she’d have no more vehicle to drive back to her place. When he walked into her room he found her no where to be seen then recalled that she would no longer be on the IV drip.

“She must be glad,” he silently thought, “she’ll probably be walking around outside the hospital.”

Donghae quickly rushed down the stairs finding that he’d lost his patience for the elevator. Outside he searched for her by the bench she’d been sitting at yesterday but she was not there. He walked around the hospital and asked a few random people if they’d seen a tall woman with long hair and bangs but most of them had told him “no”. Hoping she’d gone back to her room by now he headed inside the hospital and up the stairs. Just as he reached the top of the stairs he saw her walking out from around the corner mindlessly.

“Victoria!” he called and hurried toward her.

She looked up at him and immediately turned away. It left him wondering if he was seeing things.

“Are you ok?” he asked trying to get a good look at her face. He wasn’t sure if he’d actually seen the redness in her eyes.

“What are you doing here?” she asked with a quivering voice as she walked ahead.

“Where’d you come from? I looked for you outside but didn’t see you,” he said.

She didn’t reply but turned into her room and pause before the hospital bed. The red roses on the night table beside the bed were obvious. They stood out among every other object in the room because the roses were so red.

“Did you bring that?” she turned to him pointing toward the bouquet of roses.

“I didn’t see it when I came in,” Donghae shook his head.

Victoria frowned at him with her red eyes then walked toward the flowers and picked them up. Underneath where the flowers had been earlier she found the envelope that looked exactly like the one she’d found just days ago before the accident.

“You’re sure this is not a joke?” she asked turning back to Donghae.

“Who sent it?” was all he asked.

Turning away Victoria picked up the envelope, took out the small card, and read it.

This time instead of saying: “Do you remember me?” It read: “I know you remember.”

Victoria pressed her lips together suddenly feeling nervous then walked toward the garbage tossing them in it.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Someone is purposely doing this.” Victoria told turning to him. “I don’t like it, it gives me a bad feeling.”

Donghae frowned at her and reached into the garbage pulling out the card, read it, and frowned. “Are you sure one of your friends didn’t send it?”

“They wouldn’t leave such a message,” Victoria replied, “the one I received before is exactly like that one.” She caught herself then bit her bottom lip.

“You received these flowers before?” Donghae asked.

Victoria stared at him without answering.

“You have to tell me if you want to know who did. Stop being so hesitant and just tell the truth for once. It wouldn’t hurt, you know?”

“At the office.”

“Maybe Song Philip sent you the flowers.” the words trailed out.

Victoria frowned, “Song Philip? Why are you talking about him?”

Donghae looked away from her wondering why he’d assumed it in the first place. “Never mind that.”

Victoria eyed him but replied, “He doesn’t do such things. I didn’t tell anyone where I was at either.” She now stared at him hard. “And I didn’t tell Philip anything.”

Donghae picked up the flowers and looked at them, “I’ve become curious. Whoever sent these flowers could have messed around with your brakes.”

Victoria now frowned.

“You might have interested a lot of men without knowing.” Donghae said.

“Are you insulting me?” she questioned.

“No. I’m warning you and you should be glad that I’m sticking around you. Either the person who sent you the flowers is the same person who tampered with your brakes or you have a stalker on your hand.”

The word stalker sent images through her mind. The small woman had told her there had been a man standing in front of her apartment door before Il Chung had come to get him. Had she seriously meant it?

“I’ll take these flowers and try to figure out where they came from. I’ll come back later at night.” with that he walked out of the room with the envelope and the bouquet.

As soon as he was outside of the hospital he took out his phone and called the chief, “It’s me. Have you found out who tampered with the brakes?”

“No. The police haven’t found out anything.”

“Chief, I have some issues at hand.”

“Tell me.”

“I just found out Victoria Song has been receiving flowers from someone anonymous and that someone attaches strange notes with the flowers. They could either be from the person who tried hurting her or it’s a stalker.”

“It could be both. Have you thought about it? A stalker may want to hurt the person they’re keeping their eye on. Ask Victoria if she could have done anything to anger anyone. If the stalker is a man then he must be angry with her for a reason.”

“Ok. I’ll find out something tonight, but right now I’m going to trace where the flowers came from.” Donghae said then hung up.

He frowned when he reached his car, “Who would want to stalk you?”