Chapter 3

Jiyong heard water running in the bathroom. To him, it seems like Taeyeon had been in there for a long time. He knocked on the door, “Taeng? You okay in there?” No answer. With a feeling of trepidation, he opened the door. He saw Taeyeon lying in the bathtub with her eyes closed. He smiled thinking that she must’ve fallen asleep while taking a bath. As he stepped closer, he noticed that water was overflowing from the side of the tub. For a moment, he stood there and stared, mesmerized as the clear water turned bright red. Horrified, he rushed to Taeyeon’s side and lifted her wrist. Blood was flowing freely from them. Suddenly, Taeyeon opened her eyes and said with heartfelt contempt, “An eye for an eye. You got what you wished for, are you satisfied now?”

With a start, Jiyong woke up, sweating profusely, shaking all over. It’s been three months since Taeyeon disappeared and every time he slept, he would have the same nightmare over and over again. He closed his eyes as he took a deep, calming breath. His greatest apprehension right now was that Taeyeon would take her own life just like Miyoung did. With a trembling hand, he wiped the sleep from his face and went and stood by the window, waiting, always waiting for Taeyeon, “Taeng, where are you? If you can hear this, please know that I truly love you. I’m so sorry to cause you so much pain.” He whispered.

Jiyong unconsciously started playing with the gold necklace that Taeyeon was going to give to him. He had found it during one of his frantic searches through her belongings when he was hoping to find some kind of clue as to her whereabouts. Wearing it made him feel closer to Taeyeon. He desperately clung to the hope given by the message inscribed on the necklace, ‘Together Forever’.

He felt his ulcers acting up again. He headed towards the table in the bedroom for his pills and his eyes watered as he looked at a package resting right next to it.

Three months. Jiyong can still vividly remember every detail from that fateful day. As soon as he realized that Taeyeon was gone, he immediately called the police and was told quite rudely that he had to wait 24 or 48 hours to report a missing person. He cancelled his trip and called the same detective agency that he had previously used.

“Mr. Kwon, from what we have gathered, your wife took your car to the airport and left it there with the car keys under the floor mat. Then, she booked herself on five different flights to different cities and rented cars from eight different companies. She paid cash for all these transactions. We are following all these leads right now.” Junsu had told him. Every single lead had turned out to be fruitless.

At that time, the last known verifiable contact they had from Taeyeon was when she went to the bank about a week after her disappearance and took out a large sum of money. When Jiyong found out about this, he immediately had more money transferred to her account, just in case she should need some more.

Jiyong had also tried everything he could to find her. He went to the previous places where she worked, talked to her friends and also went to her old apartment. Finally, after a week of not hearing anything from Taeyeon, he even swallowed his pride and hatred and called her brother, Seunghyun.

*Flashback*

“Mr. Kim, Kwon Jiyong is on the line.” Seunghyun’s secretary, Kim Hyoyeon, said.

“The Kwon Jiyong?”Seunghyun got all excited, thinking that this was a business call, “Put him through.” He instructed Hyoyeon, “Mr. Kwon, how may I assist you?” Seunghyun asked in a pleasant voice.

Without any preliminaries, Jiyong said, “Have you heard from Taeyeon?”

“What?” Seunghyun asked, very confused, “How do you know my sister?”

“Taeng and I are married. I don’t have time for this; just tell me if you’ve heard from her recently.” Jiyong grated; he hated the fact that he had to be civil to Seunghyun.

“Whoa, just a minute here.Taeng is married? Since when? If you’re married, why are you calling me looking for her?” Seunghyun started by being bewildered and ended by being worried and suspicious.

“I take it that you haven’t heard from her.”

“No, I haven’t heard from her, not for months.” Seunghyun started, getting antagonistic, “What have you done to my sister?”

Instead of answering Seunghyun’s question, Jiyong ended the call. He felt another wave of disappointment wash through him. He was acutely hoping that Taeyeon would go back to her brother.

~

The next day, Jiyong was in his office, on the phone with Junsu, “What do you mean you still can’t find her? How can anyone disappear without a trace?”

“Mr. Kwon, your wife apparently used cash for all her transaction. There is no paper trail, we are checking out all possible leads. Give it time; she will be spotted sooner or later.”

“TIME?! You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jiyong reached out for his antacids as the pain started in his stomach again, “Send more men out. I don’t care how much it costs.” Jiyong turned around as he heard his secretary shouting, “Sir, wait, you can’t just barge in there!”

“Like hell I can’t!” The door was violently pushed open and there stood Seunghyun, face to face with Jiyong.

“Mr. Kwon, I’m sorry, I tried to stop him, should I call the security?” His flustered secretary asked.

Jiyong immediately recognized Seunghyun from his picture, “No need, I’ll take care of this.” He dismissed the secretary. Seunghyun went to the office that day with the intention of beating the living daylights out of Jiyong. However, one look at the guy and he hesitated. Jiyong looked like a man possessed. He looked like he hasn’t slept a wink for weeks nor has he eaten for days, “What happened to Taeng?” Seunghyun asked instead.

Jiyong stared at Taeyeon’s brother with hatred. Deep within him, the need to revenge his sister’s death warred with his need to find his wife, “Take a seat.” He finally said.

Seunghyun was taken aback by the look of hatred he received, “What’s going on here?” He confronted.

Jiyong clenched his fist and sighed. He had to find Taeyeon. Where could he start? Finally, he said, “Do you remember Miyoung?” He then, pointed to his sister’s picture on his desk.

A look of recognition flashed through Seunghyun’s face, “Miyoung? What is her picture doing on your desk?” Then, something else occurred to him, “Have you been two-timing my sister?!” He yelled.

Jiyong was surprised by Seunghyun’s outburst, “What are you talking about? Miyoung was my half-sister.”

“Huh? Half-sister? WAS?!” Seunghyun looked wildly at Jiyong, “Where’s Miyoung?”

“She’s dead.”

Seunghyun turned pale, “Dead. What happened?” He whispered.

“She killed herself because of YOU!” Jiyong answered brutally, “You left her when she was pregnant and she couldn’t handle it. I was the one who found her dead after slashing her wrist in the bathtub.”

Seunghyun started crying silently, after a few moments, he stared into space and started talking in an eerie voice, “Miyoung would never believe that I had changed my womanizing ways for her. One day, she saw me talking with an ex-girlfriend and she got jealous. We had a fight. I had to leave for a business trip the following day. I figured this would give us both an opportunity to cool down before talking again. I tried calling her while I was away but couldn’t get through. When I got back three days later, she had moved out of her apartment. I tried everything but I couldn’t find her.” Seunghyun broke off as a sob choked him, “And now I know why. Miyoung-ah, why wouldn’t you give me a chance to explain? Why didn’t you wait for me? Why did you have to kill yourself?” Seunghyun hunched over as sobs raked his body, “Miyoung, I loved you.”

Jiyong felt like he was hit by a ton of bricks, “It was all a misunderstanding? Oh, my poor Miyoung, why couldn’t you have just talked to me?” Then, he put his tired face in his hands, “Oh God, what have I done? Forgive me.” He prayed.

There was nothing but sorrowful silence in the room.

Jiyong’s intercom came on, “Mr. Kwon, there’s a messenger here that insists on having a package hand delivered to you.”

Jiyong answered tiredly, “We are busy right now, take care of it.”

“Sir, the package has to be personally signed by you.”

“I said, take care of it!” Jiyong shouted. He just wanted to be left alone.

“Sir.” Hyoyeon timidly added, “I think the package is from your wife.”

*End of Flashback*

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

~TheHeartlessVixen~