“Tell me, Bom” he starts speaking while still looking at my phone, “after all those hours of watching these, do you happened to see this?” he showed me the footage on my phone.

At first I didn’t quite see what he wanted to show me, but he probably sensed my confusion, so he helps me by pointing what he meant.

“Is this what I think it is…?”

“Yes, Bom. I think I found what you’ve been looking for”

And that’s when I see it, he didn’t just point towards another clue, but he actually points out the answer to my problem. I’ve watched this footage for hours and I didn’t come to see that there is something wrong with the recording time. There was a slight glitch on it where the time freezes for a few seconds before resuming again, and it resumes in a different time.

The time before the glitch shows that it’s still around 9.45 p.m. but the time after the glitch shows 10.30 p.m., which is when that new girl exits the boutique. It was so dumb of me to not realize this.

“The same thing also happened in this footage” he scrolls to the other footage and points it out for me. “And also in the last one” he scrolls to the last footage and it shows the same glitch on the recording time, even though the time is not the same with the first one.

This makes me realize that the security footage has been edited and whoever is in charge of it definitely left a flaw in his/her work. And I’m going to uncover who that person is.

“Does this mean that there is an original footage hidden somewhere?” I asked, “that one can’t be the original one right?”

“Yes, and it’s not too late if you’re thinking of running to your boutique right now and find that original footage” he said.

“Then what are we waiting for?”

We both got up from our seats at the same time and walk out from the building as fast as possible, we couldn’t even care about our food that has not been finished yet.

.

.

.

.

We arrived twenty minutes past the closing time of my boutique, so there must be nobody around already. It would be easier for us to find what we’re looking for and maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to catch the culprit if he/she decided to show up tonight.

Since it is already past the closing time, I’ve already expected that the doors will be locked. Luckily, I always bring the master key for my boutique every time. I guess you could say that I’m a very well-prepared person when it comes to certain things.

I quickly rummage through my bag to find the key, thank God I didn’t forget to bring it. I insert the key to the key hole and unlocks it, revealing my dark boutique. One thing that I always do when I enter a room is to find the light switch, I hate being inside dark rooms for too long.

“I suppose we should check the security room” I said, “it’s on the third floor”

I walk ahead of him and climbed the stairs up to the third floor while Jiyong followed behind me. I saw him walking behind me protectively when I was climbing the stairs, probably making sure he’s ready to catch me if my clumsiness decided to act up and make me fall backwards.

We finally reached the third floor where I kept all of my clothing stocks and the security room. I’ve made it easy for my employees here just like how I did back in Korea. I put all of the stocks on the third floor and set up a mini freight elevator where my employees can move them up and down easily.

I used my keys once again to unlock the room. “Welcome to my security room” I said while turning on the lights, revealing several computer monitors which is used to monitor the activities happening inside my boutique.

Without waiting any longer, Jiyong quickly turn on the computers and begin working on finding the original footage. “Do you know what you’re doing?” I kind of doubt if Jiyong is capable of doing stuffs that is related to IT.

He’s not the type of person who spends lots of time in front of a computer and to my knowledge, I don’t think Jiyong has ever taken any programming course. Or maybe I didn’t know him well?

He didn’t answer me but instead, he keeps his focus on the computer and begin typing whatever he’s typing on the keyboard. He looked so focused that I don’t want to interrupt him, so I take a seat and let him do whatever he’s doing.

“Found it” he said suddenly which makes me stand right up from the chair and approach him. His words sound like a miracle to me.

“Let me see it” he stands up and let me sit on the chair before he opens the folder which contains several security footages. He opens one of the footage and plays it.

He leans his body lower as he watched the footage with me. His chest slightly brushed on my arm which makes me realize how extremely close our bodies are. It makes my heart beats faster suddenly and I start to have a hard time breathing. My cheeks are getting hotter and hotter each seconds.

I can even smell his cologne because of our closeness. I noticed that his smell has changed, he had a masculine scent before but now it’s more like a baby’s powder scent. But I love it. I always have a thing when it comes to baby’s smell and here he is, smelling like one.

I’m feeling all sorts of emotions right now, but he’s the complete opposite of me. He’s very calm despite our bodies are slightly touching, he seems to have no problem with it. He probably won’t even realize that he’s affecting me like this.

“There, look!” his voice snaps me back to reality, I didn’t even realize that I was lost in the thought of him instead of paying attention towards the footage. I try to keep my focus back and look at what he’s pointing at.

Now every puzzle pieces in my head are finally connected, everything does makes sense now. There is no glitch on the original footage which means that it is indeed edited by someone and it’s not a glitch from the camera. And also, it uncovers the part of the footage where it is cut and edited.

It shows that the manager was closing and locking the boutique before he left right at 10 p.m., and about five minutes later, the new girl shows up and unlock the boutique again to get in and steal my accessories. She came out right at 10.30 p.m., which is when the edited footage continues.

It was edited to make it look like she’s the one assigned to close the boutique that night, this explains my confusion. “What a brat, she really has the guts to duplicate the keys” I can feel my anger starting to boil up to my head.

“I also found this” he opens another footage and plays it. I was surprised that he could find something like this.

“Is this…”

“Yes, this is the footage from a few days earlier” Jiyong explained, “your security camera is not broken Bom, your security guy lied to you”

“I found out that your security camera can record sounds, so hear this out” he increases the volume on the speaker and I can faintly hear a conversation. I lean forward to get my ears closer to the speaker so I could make out what the conversation is about.

It’s basically a conversation between a guy and a girl which I assume is the new girl. It sounds like they are working together to steal my accessories. The only thing that I need to find out is the identity of the guy. If they call out each other’s name, it would be perfect because I get to confirm the identity of the girl too.

“Hurry up! We don’t have all the time in the world”

“Follow the original plan, we will only steal some of the accessories tonight”

“Did you take care of the security camera?”

“Good job! Now she will never find out what we did”

Those are some words that I could hear from the footage, the girl did most of the talking. It sounds like she’s the boss and the guy is just her minion. I keep on trying my best to hear everything in the footage but I can’t seem to find out their identities.

That is until one point where they seemed to finish their job already and was congratulating each other, they mentioned each other’s name. The girl is indeed the new girl and the guy turns out to be my security guy. She also told my security guy to get out from the back door so he could avoid the security cameras. All these time, they have been working together to steal from me behind my back. I knew it, there’s definitely something fishy about my security guy when I asked for the footages.

“I can’t believe they disappoint me like this” I sighed.

Jiyong didn’t say anything but instead, he put one of his hands on my shoulder and gently pats it. There was a moment of silence between us before a loud noise can be heard from downstairs, it sounds like someone crashed into something.

Both of us immediately look at each other. “Could that be…?” I said. And as if he could read my mind, he walks out of the security room to check out that noise. I follow after him, both of us are already ready to catch the culprit.

We jogged down the stairs as fast as possible, but as we reached the second floor, I can hear someone’s yelling and it’s coming from the stairs below. “Bom???”

Did they already know we’re here??

“Bom!!” I heard my name again.

Wait, that voice sounds familiar…

I walk pass Jiyong and make my way down the stairs. “Bom! What are you doing??” Jiyong shouted in a whisper, but I didn’t answer him. I hear him followed me down a second later.

Once I reached the first floor, I saw a tall male figure standing near the front door of my boutique. He had his back facing me but I think I recognize who that is.

“Taeyang…?” I called out, and he turns around.

I sighed in relief when it turns out to be him. “What are you doing here?” I definitely didn’t expect to see him here, especially when he didn’t tell me anything about visiting my boutique.

“I found the answer, Bom! And I came here as fast as possible, I was about to tell you when I saw that someone is inside your boutique. I had to check out who it is” he talks very fast that I thought he would run out of breath.

“Okay, slow down” I chuckle.

“I found the flaw in the footage, Bom. We need to find the – “

“Original footage?” I cut him off. “Yeah… how do you know?”

But before I could speak again, Jiyong shows up beside me and answer him instead. “I helped her find it, that’s how she knows” he smirks. I swear, Jiyong’s smirk is like a blessing for my eyes to see.

“Oh… is that so, Bom?” Taeyang said, no more hint of excitement in his voice.

“Yeah” I smile, “he wanted to see the footage so I showed him a few, and he kind of figured it out” I chuckle shyly while glancing at Jiyong.

“You should try harder next time, bro” he pats Taeyang’s shoulder lightly, “and maybe then you could actually help her” he smirks, again. Can he stop smirking already? I feel like I could faint soon.

Right after he said that, Taeyang shot him a glare and they have been staring at each other intensely for a minute now. It’s like they are having an inner battle that only both of them understand.

What’s up with these two…

I stare at them in confusion before I decided to end whatever is going on with them. “Ahem…” I pretend to clear my throat, “it’s getting late, we all should probably go”

They keep on staring at each other for a few seconds more, ignoring me, until Taeyang look away first. “Right. Since I’m no longer needed here, let’s just go home” he said. I don’t know if he’s being sarcastic or not, his face has an unreadable expression.

“I’ll take Bom back” Jiyong said. I swear I could see Taeyang rolling his eyes right after, but I think I’m just seeing things.

Taeyang is the first one to leave the boutique but I quickly caught up with him and stop him. “Look, I’m sorry” I don’t know what I’m apologizing for, but I kind of sensed that something is wrong. “But thanks for spending your time helping me” I smile.

Taeyang’s eyes soften and smile too. “You’re welcome, Bom. And you don’t have to apologize, it’s not your fault”

I’m happy to hear that things are okay between us. “So, can you come here again tomorrow? Be there for me when I deal with my employees?” I look at him with puppy eyes, hoping that he would fall for it.

“Alright, anything for you” he chuckles and I broke into a wide smile.

I bid him goodbye as he leaves my boutique. I really want to go home so bad but I need to take the evidences and close my boutique back.

I turn back after closing the door to walk back upstairs, but I saw Jiyong came down from the stairs instead.

“I went back to grab these” he lifts up a hard disk on his hand “and I’ve switched off all the lights upstairs, if that’s what you’re wondering” he chuckles.

“When did you go back up?” I said, a bit startled since I didn’t see him left earlier.

“When you were talking to Taeyang” he said, “come on, let’s go”

I went to switch off all the lights on the first floor and we both walk out. The moment I walk out, the cold night breeze hits my skin once again. And it is even colder now since it’s getting deeper into the night. It makes my body shiver and my hands are shaking slightly, causing me to struggle when I’m about to lock the doors. I can’t even properly insert the key into the key hole.

Suddenly, I felt Jiyong wrapped his coat around my body. He must’ve noticed that I was shivering. “Do you always have to be this forgetful?” he chuckles. I have a problem when it comes to remembering to bring my coat. Jiyong was the one who always reminds me to bring it every time I want to go out, especially at night. The thought of him remembering this makes me a little happy inside.

“I’m sorry” I chuckle and continue to lock the door. “Thanks for helping me, Ji. I didn’t know you’re familiar with IT”

“Well, I might have taken a few lesson about it lately” he smiles shyly, “I’m glad I could put it to use”

“Alright, let’s get you back home. It’s pretty late already” he said and I nodded.