Not yielding to the hands that were restraining him, his rampant body raged forward. His breath of out the fury intensified the heated atmosphere. The police officers curtailed Seungho’s actions of anger by tugging his arms. Dr. Oh smirked behind the bars at Seungho’s futile anger.

“Your wife ran away?”, Dr. Oh let out a quick laugh.

A state of stupefaction overruled the anger in Seungho. Seeing him in daze, the officers let go of their firm grip on him and one of the officers took Dr. Oh away. While being taken away, Dr. Oh said, “Is she gonna take away my happiness in ruining you? I envy her!”

Seungho’s brows narrowed in thought. He stood motionless, his mind replayed the threats he once heard, ‘How about I make you two play hide and seek for two days?’ Chills ran down his spine on recollecting the threat that came through his phone months before.

“What happened?”, Yoram’s voice shook Seungho out of his thoughts, “You’re sweating too much…”, he said wiping the sweat that lined his hairline.

“Thanks, let me…”, Seungho said while taking his hanky from his pocket and wiped his sweat thoroughly. “Did you bring your car?”

“Mmm”, Yoram replied while showing his car key.

Seungho grabbed the key and walked out of the police station hurriedly. Yoram followed him perplexed by his actions. Seungho sat in the driver seat and while Yoram took the seat beside him waiting for Seungho to speak up.

“I made a mistake”, Seungho spoke and Yoram didn’t ask further, knowing that Seungho have still more to confess. “Just now, I submitted all the analysis I did on Dr. Oh before I confronted him…”, Seungho said.

Unable to control his thoughts, Yoram asked, “Why is that a mistake? You did a good thing as a citizen!”

“Because that what he wants…”, Seungho replied while his eyes stayed still on the air in thought.

Yoram puzzled assuming Seungho is mentioning Dr. Oh, “No one in their right mind will want the evidences against him to be submitted, unless he is crazy!”,

Seungho nodded, “He knew that I’ll become crazy to even think straight if Sohyun is kidnapped, that’s why!”

“Ya! Are you sure she is kidnapped?”, Yoram shouted to knock Seungho back to his senses, “What are you thinking! Spill it out!”

Seungho nodded to his first question and said, “‘He’ is different from ‘him’. Just now Dr. Oh asked ‘Did she run away?’, ‘Is she gonna ruin you instead of me?’”, Seungho stopped and looked at Yoram expecting him to decode his clues. But, Yooram just looked at him bewildered and asked, “Did he threaten your life again?”

“Exactly!”, Seungho said, “All along his target was only me! He isn’t bothered about Sohyun!”

“Then, why did he kidnap Sohyun?”, Yoram asked clouded by ambiquity.

“Don’t you get it?”, Seungho asked frustrated, “There were two threat patterns, one – threatened my life while the other threatened Sohyun’s life. That is, while Dr. Oh threatened my life, the other threatened Sohyun’s life!”

“There were… two people?”, Yoram asked hesitantly.

Seungho nodded. “He knew that submission of those evidences will be my reaction to Sohyun’s kidnap… That’s why, he didn’t make any demands, he just knew that it will my reaction and waited for it! He is a smart spectator!”

 “How did you get that evidence?”, Yoram asked in a stern tone assuming Seungho went out of his way to gather it!

“I didn’t just create the database, out of curiosity I analysed it too! And the results of those analysis are the evidences that I submitted!”, Seungho explained.

“Then… he wants Dr. Oh to get jailed?”

“May be… Dr. Oh was just a prime suspect then. But, with the submission of my evidence, he might get jailed… he will get jailed!”

“Then the one who kidnapped Sohyun… Is he Dr. Oh’s enemy?”, Yoram asked drenched in doubts.

“I don’t know…”, Seungho replied with downcast eyes.

“Who might be this ‘he’?”

“I don’t know…”, Seungho replied lifeless. “But…”, he lifted his head and looked at Yoram, “He is certainly linked with hospital chief doctors or the directors or the technicians who holds the record of medicines subscribed by doctors, because he gave that information to me… but we have no time to meet all those people in all the hospitals in Korea!”

“So?”, Yoram questioned.

Without spilling another word, Seungho took out his phone and dialled a number,

Hello Jaeha, I need your help!

Tell me! (Jaeha’s calm voice responded)

Sohyun is missing! (Seungho went straight to the point)

What??? Since when?

She didn’t return home in the evening… (Seungho replied in a guilt-stricken note)

Do you suspect anyone for the kidnapping? Dr. Oh? Did you file the complaint? (He sounded perplexed)

(Seungho paused for a moment on hearing him and then replied) I can’t file a complaint on him without evidence, but… (he paused again and with determine voice he pronounce) I submitted enough evidence to get him jailed! So, help me find Sohyun!

Sure… (Jaeha’s voice sounded determined)

Call me as soon as you get a clue and wait for my call too…

OK, Leave it to me! (Jaeha assured him)

Yoram sat there listening to their conversation and after they hung up, he asked, “Aren’t you gonna ask him about the contacts of those hospital directors?”

Without replying him, Seungho called Yoonpark, “I’ll send you a number, track it and update me with the live location!” and ended the call.

“What are you gonna do? Make calls again?”, Yoram asked frustrated.

“Let’s wait for the news from them”, Seungho said and rammed on the steering wheel saying, “What more can I do!!!!”

Yoram patted on his shoulder to comfort him. Seungho hung his head down leaning on the steering wheel. With quivering voice Seungho spoke, “What can I do…”

Later that night, at the dawn of the new moon, an old abandoned factory stood camouflaging itself in the darkness. The river tried its best to reflect the bright city lights, like the clouds which floats in the sky without caressing it. But the river didn’t bother to reflect the faint light that struggled to escape from the factory like Sohyun who was trapped inside it. She was seated on the ground, with her hands tied around a pole and her legs tied together with ropes.

At the sound of the rusted door opening, Sohyun turned her head to look at the person who rushed towards her panting. Her blurred vision didn’t help her in identifying the face immediately, after trying her best to focus on the person, she called out in relief, “Jaeha!”

He rushed to her and crouched down to her. “Are you alright?” he checked her scanning her from top to bottom. Sohyun nodded weakly as her eyes clouded with tears. He wiped her tears saying, “I’m here. Don’t worry. We’ll go back home soon…” and as he untied the ropes around her legs, he asked, “Do you know how you came here?” Sohyun shook her head and struggled to gulp her saliva in her dry throat before speaking. He noticed her struggling, opened the water bottle he brought and fed it to her saying, “It’s good that I brought the water. Drink slowly, your throat might be too dry since you haven’t eaten anything since last night!” Sohyun stopped drinking the water at his mention and looked at him with widened eyes. The realization that he knew about her plight since yesterday, shuddered her.

Jaeha paused for a moment on observing her and he spoke in an apathetic tone, “Tsk! I shouldn’t have said that! But, I’m sick of pretending to be a good guy!”

His every word incensed her. Her fear, pain and rage reflected in her eyes as she looked at him.

He looked into her eyes saying, “Don’t look at with those eyes! It could kill me!”, he sighed out aloud as she looked petrified at his sight. He untied her hands and lend his hand to help her stand up, saying, “Come, let’s go!”

She slapped his hands away spitefully.

“I swear I didn’t like this too! But, Yoo Seungho got his senses back only after you were kidnapped!”

Sohyun furrowed his brows at the mention of Seungho.

“Ok, let’s chat for a while here, shall we?” he asked bearing the cold eyes and smirk.

She turned her head away from him refusing to listen.

“It’s’ about Yoo Seungho though?”

Her eyes immediately fell on him.

Smirking at her reaction, in a low tone he uttered, “When Dr. Oh sent men to threaten you with Seungho’s life in the subway, your husband immediately took up that database project as the way of showing his rebellious nature… I knew then, that, You. Are. The trigger!... So, I just used that! When Dr. Oh threatened his life to give up the project, Seungho didn’t mind it! So, I tried to test my hypothesis that if I threaten your life will he comply with the threat? Or act rebellious again!”, he breathed in and slowly exhaled enjoying his monologue, “So, I made a call and threatened your life to give up on the project! Do you know what the outcome was?”, he asked her raising his brows. His excited eyes and cold tone made Sohyun feel apprehensive.

“He immediately, took a step ahead in the project by analysing the data and thus, arriving at a strong evidence against Dr. Oh! My hypothesis was tested successfully!”, his eyes widened at the thrill. But, the next moment, he sighed out, “He should’ve submitted the analysis to his client. After all, that client sued Dr. Oh! But he just submitted the database file. So, I texted those subway guys under the name of Dr. Oh to assemble near your house… On arriving there they called Dr. Oh to confirm their orders. I almost got busted… but, fortunately, you meet with them and so does Seungho’s fist… But he didn’t take any further steps. But, after your kidnap, he went out of his way to submit the evidences… simple, but powerful!”

Sohyun’s eyes wandered in the air and her eyelids blinked rapidly unable to comprehend Jaeha’s behaviour.

Noticing her anxiousness Jaeha spoke, “You chose him instead of me, right?”, he titled his head upwards trying to recollect the past, “I said ‘If you’re willing, I can take you away’, remember? It happened when our parents tried to set us up? You thought, I uttered those words unaware that you were married?”, he asked lifting one brow.

“So that’s why I’m here?”, Sohyun asked.

Jaeha laughed, “‘Love doesn’t exist’, I take it back... Love does exist!”, he said and continued in a husky tone, “But, that ‘love’ may come on anything… on a girl, on money, on fame, on status, on booze, et cetera, et cetera… But, to me, love came on POWER!”

Sohyun gasped at his words, and he turned his wrist and took a look at his watch, “He might’ve sniffed me out by this time…”, as Sohyun looked at Jaeha, “Are you asking me, ‘Who is ‘he’, with your eyes?”. He observed her expectant eyes and replied, “You’re right! It’s your husband!”

Sohyun didn’t let out any word. There wasn’t a need too, because it felt like Jaeha could read her mind.

He continued, “‘Then why are you so calm?’, did another question emerge in your head?... Because, I’m his prime suspect now! So, he might be tracking my phone… But I don’t know since when he had his doubts on me. Let’s ask him when he arrives…”

Jaeha eyes were laid on the door when he heard a creaking sound. After a few minutes of observing the closed door, he turned towards Sohyun and leaned in. Startled at the sudden closure, Sohyun backed down. But he didn’t withdraw, and his intense eyes ran on her forehead, nose, cheeks and lips. Drained out of energy, Sohyun sat frozen in fear and felt her entire body shivering, but her eyes were exuding every bit of her outrage and disgust. He leaned in further letting just a molecule of air between their lips and said, “Boring!” He withdrew immediately and continued, “It’s boring to wait for someone like your husband… What about a cup of coffee and a story to hear, deal?”

Curtailing her anger and hiding her fear she nodded pretending to be brazen. While handing over a cup of juice and pouring himself a cup of coffee, he asked, “I’m considerate, aren’t I? I brought you water, juice, since you’ve been starving and even dinner”, he winked and continued, “Just in case, your hubby is late!”

After taking a sip of his coffee, Jaeha asked, “Do you wanna hear a fairytale?”, he thought for a second and continued, “Not a fairytale yet… a story… my story?”

Sohyun continued to drink while he continued,

In my intern days, I witnessed an enlightening conversation between the chief doctor and a medical sales representative. The medical rep asked, ‘You’ve been buying drugs from our company for so long, why you prefer them out of the blue? in reply to him the chief doctor said, ‘Since, that person gave me more money I bought the medicines from him’. Do you know what did the medical representative commented on that? He said, ‘Welcome to the business!’ What do you think is the most powerful one here? The chief doctor? The money? Or the business which had the potential to buy the both? Since then, I did my own research to find the powerful one… To my surprise I even found that many officials who worked in the authorisation of new drug and medical devices in government offices, later became one of the board members in drug manufacturing companies… So, I decided my career!

I came here where we can slide over to research field easily. I got the contacts of many industries, and everything was going smoothly until Dr. Oh’s became a glutton for money. He suggested a cobalt hip replacement without informing the patients about the toxicity. The cobalt level increased in that patients’ body, it caused neurological problems and, in the course, that patient died… in an accident caused by anger management issues… that’s what the papers said. That patient was very old so, it was easy to associate every neurological problem with the old age rather than the hip replacement. That patient’s husband is the client of Seungho. He not only gathered the details of Dr. Oh but, on every doctor. So, to help him and my dreams and to streamline his attention back to Dr. Oh, I gave a crucial information on Dr. Oh to Seungho as an anonymous informer! But he almost wasted it, I just gave him a little push to submit the evidence.

Do you know who helped me to find the data analyst behind the client?

(Sohyun was at loss of words unable to decipher even the simple words that he uttered)

You dad!

(Her eyes palpitated mimicking her heartbeat)

I just have to file a suit saying that my personal information was being stolen. The righteous lawyer, right away got a warrant to call upon all the data analyst for the investigation. I found Seungho as one among them! Do you know your dad was very angry at Seungho that he didn’t even give him a second look after the meeting? Poor Seungho, he waited for him the whole day! (Those facts and truth behind Seungho’s disappearance struck her like a lightening) But my hands are clean Sohyun-ah! Coz, if we are not clean, we cannot be the master!

That’s a chapter of my story. It’s not a fairy-tale yet, but soon it will be, and all these chapters will be the pages under the heading ‘obstacles’

As Jaeha proudly presented his story, Sohyun cut him in saying, “Your hands are not clean anymore!”

“Huh?!”

“You kidnapped me, remember?”, Sohyun reminded him.

Jaeha smirked at her reminder saying, “I NEVER said I kidnapped you! I just… once… long before… told Dr. Oh’s underlings that you are precious to Seungho and they should be careful with you! They might’ve remembered that and to save their boss from being jailed, this might’ve happened! I just saved you… though… a little later!”

She exhaled deeply draining all her doubts, furrowing her brows and in listless tone, “You are my saviour? A hero?”, she asked in disbelief.

He let out a quick laugh saying, “I’m not a hero, not a villain… just a passer-by and a spectator who knows many things!”

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud thud on the rusty door, which broke open upon the impact. Jaeha and Sohyun’s head turned towards the door and found Seungho standing in all his rage.

Author’s note:

Hello readers! How are you doing today? I hope the day will get better and better :)

Some facts or fictions mentioned in this chapter belong with the respective owners. I don't own them. (I hope you know what I denote)

I hope many things have been revealed in this chapter! Just a one or two chapter(s) more! I’ll try my best to wrap it up in one chapter.

Thank you for reading :) Have a delightful weekend :) Love you loads!!!!