/////

When her clothes had dried Victoria re-changed and followed Donghae out thanking his uncle for letting her stay. A few minutes later she found herself sitting at one of those square tables inside a tent with two bottles of soju and some snacks in front of them while they waited for Eunhyuk to arrive.

“Do you drink often?” Victoria suddenly asked.

“Not a lot,” he replied.

“So this is where you two are!” Eunhyuk said as he walked toward them and took a seat to Donghae’s right. “Victoria, right?”

Victoria nodded eyeing the man curiously. She’d only seen him twice if she recalled correctly and every time she’d seen him he was with his step sister, Hee Sun.

“Donghae told me you’re a psychology professor. I was amazed!” Eunhyuk told excitedly. “Does my mentality look alright to you?”

Victoria smiled surprised when he suddenly leaned toward her. “Uh…your mentality is stable.”

“That means I’m healthy, right?”

“Sure.” Victoria agreed.

“Stop making her nervous,” Donghae said.

“I’m fine,” Victoria told with a smile before tilting her head back and swallowing the shot of soju. “I just wanted to say you look a lot better when I see you up close.” Victoria whispered into Eunhyuk’s ear.

“Did you hear? She says I’m handsome!” Eunhyuk told Donghae while pointing at her.

“Are you ok? Can you take alcohol?” Donghae suddenly asked.

“I’m fine,” Victoria said suddenly making a grab for the half-full soju bottle.

Eunhyuk watched as Donghae grabbed the bottle from her then said, “I don’t think she can drink so well. She’s almost drunk.”

“We had some while waiting for your slow to make it here,” Donghae told. “I think I better go.”

“Already?”

Donghae got off his stool and helped Victoria up, “And she probably didn’t mean it when she said you’re handsome.”

“Donghae!” Eunhyuk boasted. “Well, that shows me you’re one jealous friend. It’s fine with me if you want to be that way, you know.”

Eunhyuk got off his seat and followed Donghae to the car. When Donghae closed the door after he’d helped Victoria into the passenger’s seat he turned to Eunhyuk.

“You look tired.” Eunhyuk commented. “I think I understand how your uncle feels. How long are you going to stay in Seoul? You’ve never been by yourself.”

“I feel like I’ve had a long episode today and I did visit my uncle today. Keep him company sometimes will you? I probably won’t stay there forever,” Donghae replied.

“Ok, I’ll visit you sometimes.”  

“I’ll call you up when I come back.”

“Drive safely.”

As Donghae drove off he watched Eunhyuk through the rearview mirror to see him wave after him. Donghae smiled before he turned to see Victoria mindlessly staring out at the road.

/////

Victoria awoke in the late afternoon with a small headache spreading in her head. She sat up in bed and found herself hugging a stuffed animal. Frowning she set it aside and got off her bed. As she walked pass the wall she paused then stepped back and found the calendar that had never been there before hanging there. She glanced at it and quickly stepped out of the room heading out. She found a snow globe in the living room by the TV set, a painting hung up by the window, some collectables randomly set here and there.

“Did someone sneak into my home?” she wondered grabbing a sandwich from the fridge. When she turned around she felt almost shocked to see some flowers in a vase sitting on the small table in the middle of the kitchen.

Swerving curiously on her feet she opened the door to Melodix’s room to find toys sprawled around in a pile on the floor.

“Melodix!” she suddenly shouted.

The toy poodle’s ears perked up from where she was laying and jump toward Victoria’s legs barking hysterically. She looked about the room then turned around and walked back into her room. Still holding the sandwich in hand she picked up the stuffed animal on her bed.

“I don’t remember having this,” she said to herself. “Where did you come from?”

She tried to think back and see if she’d bought anything for the apartment but couldn’t remember doing any shopping. Sitting down on the bed Victoria suddenly began to wonder about how she’d gotten back yesterday. She remembered drinking and then couldn’t remember anything after getting into Donghae’s car. Donghae…Victoria stood up and turned to look at the stuffed animal sitting in front of her pillow. Hurrying back into Melodix’s room she stared at the toys on the ground and laughed in disbelief.

“I knew it.” she thought.

/////

Eunhyuk stepped out of his car and walked up toward the front door of the house he remembered visiting so often when he was younger. Ever since Donghae had started attending that police academy he hadn’t really visited because of Donghae was so busy. Just walking toward the house brought him nostalgic feelings. Carrying an aluminum tray of some fried meat and veggies in one hand he rung the doorbell. The door opened just seconds later and that friendly face of Uncle Lee’s smiled at him.

“Ah…Eunhyuk what are you doing here?” he asked. “Come in.”

“I just decided to check up on you. I’m on vacation right now and there’s nothing to do except laze around so I thought I’d visit.”

“Thank you.”

“What are you doing uncle?” Eunhyuk questioned as he walked in, took his shoes off, and slipped his feet into slippers before walking into the kitchen to set the aluminum tray down.

“Just the usual, reading a book.”

“Ooh…I hate books.”

Donghae’s uncle chuckled as he grabbed a cup of water for Eunhyuk, “So what do you have there?”

“Oh this? My mother made some this morning and I thought it’d be nice to share some with you,” Eunhyuk told.

“Thank you. I heard Hee Sun is attending Seoul University.”

“She is. I think she’s going a little bit out of her league but she’ll learn by herself since she’s so big now.”

Uncle Lee chuckled again before sitting down on the wooden chair beside Eunhyuk, “When are you getting married?”

Eunhyuk opened his mouth first then ended up laughing, “You always ask me the same question.”

“I’m just curious.”   

Eunhyuk laughed again then questioned, “Does Hae ever visit?”

“He did last night.”

“Oh really?! I met him last night too!”

“You did? Was he with a girl?”

Eunhyuk stared at Uncle Lee as if devastated then leaned forward, “He brought a girl home?” He turned away then tapped his chin with his first finger. “He must have brought Victoria.”

“Victoria? Ah…yes, Victoria Song,” Donghae’s uncle nodded. “He brought her over then left all of a sudden.”

“Why would he bring her in the first place?”

“Do you know her? Are they just friends?” Donghae’s uncle asked. He couldn’t help but want to nose around in his nephew’s secretive life that he didn’t really know about because Donghae kept to himself so much. After all the years of raising the little boy to become an adult he felt as if Donghae were really his own and he felt eager to see him have children and play with his children. The one thing he hoped most for Donghae was for him to have a full life of happiness. He didn’t want him to end up empty handed like himself.  

“I’ve seen them together a few times. I’m not sure if they’re actually seeing each other because Hae’s never said anything.” Eunhyuk grinned.

“Do you know how old she is and where she is from? More importantly where does she live and how did he meet her?”

“Wouldn’t it be better if you ask him yourself?” Eunhyuk asked.

“Ah…yes. I should.”

/////

Donghae had been reading a book to take time away. He sat legs crossed by the window sill on a single couch he’d moved across the room the first day he’d arrived in the summer house. The shadow of the sun sat over him warmly and he enjoyed the tinge of happiness it with. It was the perfect day to be laid back and relaxed. For once he’d like to think that he was on vacation. He allowed his eyes to drift away from the book and glanced out the window which gave him a view of his next door neighbor’s empty house. Then his thoughts drifted through a small mist of memories before he recalled Victoria’s story about Han In Seol, the man who had become the love of her life, the reason that she lived for. Had he ever felt that way towards anyone? The answer was a plain no. He’d dated, but those relationships didn’t leave him with heartwarming memories because he never actually put himself out there for 'her'.

But the look in her eyes when she spoke about that man, Han In Seol, told him a different story and he wasn’t sure how to assemble them into words. 5 months, it had been just 5 months since his death. But why was he telling himself this? Donghae closed his book with eyes still staring out the window into the clear afternoon.

Who would stalk her? Out of all the men he knew that were linked to her so far were Song Philip and Kim Heechul. Kim Heechul was a different story because he didn’t even know how that guy knew Victoria. For all Donghae recalled Heechul had gotten so defensive when Donghae had explained that Victoria had been a suspect. And Heechul knew he had stepped over the line then because he’d just shown Donghae he actually applied feelings in to his work. How amusing. Donghae felt as if he should keep an eye out for that photographer and as for Song Philip he didn’t have much to say about him. A man who used to work with Victoria, but he somehow seemed protective of her too. But a professor a stalker? How did that sound? Funny.

The ringing of his phone tossed him out from within is thoughts back into the nice reality he was just enjoying. Reaching for his phone he saw Hyuk was calling. Wondering what he wanted Donghae answered his call.