"Was that your doing?" Nayeon asks as soon as she barges inside his house, slamming the door behind her. The man across sits unbothered on the couch as he continues building tracks with the Lego pieces. Her eyes watered, her hands trembled. She's afraid, badly scared that the person she cherished the most is slowly drifting apart to a place she can't ever reach, to a point of no return.
 

He looks up at her. The moon is rising, and it cast dark shadows beneath his eyes, "I've booked a plane ticket for you. You should leave as soon as possible. Deliver my apology to step-father"
 

Nayeon breathes in slowly and walks closer, holding up her arm as she tries to reach him, "Please tell me you didn't do it. Please, you aren't responsible for the murder, aren't you?"
 

"I did" He answers, staring into her eyes gravely.
 

Her heart seized and her whole body goes numb. That once loving and warm voice spits venom. Nayeon feels a coldness spread through her that was far more chilling than the freezing temperature outside. She tried to speak, to ask why he did it but her body fell limp on the floor. Her head down, shoulder slumped and chest aching as if the life is slowly drained from her body with each tear that trails her cheeks, "You killed her and blamed someone else. You wanted to imprison an innocent man. Are you mad? Jeongyeon, please. This is too far" Her voice cracking as she begs.
 

Jeongyeon stands and walks past her, ignoring her continuous pleading. He comes back and places a plane ticket on the table before leaving. Nayeon bites her lips, her fist clenched on her lap. She heard the sound of the door closing and shut her eyes, whispering to herself, "Please Jeong-ah. Don't, don't leave me with no choice but to betray you"









 

*     *     *    * 

Chaeyoung clicks the button as he listens again to the voice recording given by the photographer. For the whole day, he stays in his gallery, a place where he knows there's no hidden camera. He plays the same recording again and again. He closes his eyes and pays attention to every detail. The rate of vibration, the pitch, the tone. Living four years with prosopagnosia and constant therapy, he manages to find coping mechanisms to better identify individuals without reliance on facial cues. He noted everyone person’s height, build, clothing, accessories, vocal mannerisms, gait, way of walking, body proportion, etc as sources of recognition. And he learns that voice is the easiest way to recognize a person. Voice identifies someone as uniquely as their looks and their fingerprints do. Although some people might sound quite a bit alike, no two voices are ever exactly alike.
 

He frowns. That voice inside the recording is no stranger. He'd heard that voice somewhere. "Familiar, very familiar. Who does this voice belong to?" He mumbles under his breath, feeling more frustrated as time goes by. The sound of the door creaking opens gains his attention. He looks at the door and it's Mr Kang, carrying a tray with food for his dinner.  He smiles and bows lightly, greeting the butler. "You really don't have to" He says as Mr Kang places the tray on the table.
 

Mr Kang smiles and shakes his head, "It's my job. Are you still bothered by the voice recording?" He asks as he sees Chaeyoung wearing an earphone attached to his phone. Chaeyoung sighs helplessly and nods to answer his questions. Mr Kang hums, "May I listen to it?" Without hesitancy, Chaeyoung pulls out his earphone and plays the recording once more. Mr Kang listens carefully and as the recording ends, a visible confusion carved on his face. His brows knitted together. He turns to Chaeyoung and stares at him for a while then back to the phone. Chaeyoung tilts his head, questioning his reaction. Mr Kang chuckles awkwardly, "It actually sounded like your voice, Chae. If I didn't know any better, I will assume it's yours"
 

Chaeyoung massages his temple. Why does that never crosses his mind? It does sound like his voice but that doesn't make any sense. It's not him but someone, someone else that sounded like him. He groans, annoyed that he can't figure it out. He breathes out and halts when a voice echoes in his mind. He immediately snaps his head towards the butler, "Mr Kang, can you find me the opening gallery interview clip? The unedited version"
 

Mr Kang nods and walks away, an hour later, he comes back with a disk. Chaeyoung put it into his computer and found it consists a video file. He plays it and watches the interview.

 

The emcee briefly glances at his script "Chaeyoung-sii. After you had your injury, how do you recover from it? And what role did the arts play in your rehabilitation either physically or mentally or both?"
 

"When I had my injury, I was 20 years old. I'd already picked a path in life. I knew I was going to finish college. I wanted to get a fine arts degree and I was going to be a starving artist or whatever. That was my plan. When I woke up with my current condition, that's the last thing in the whole world I expect. Art was not the first thing that came to my mind, I focused more on my value as a person which was really wrong. Because now I realized, me as a disabled person is no different than a normal person. Back then, I didn't know that."
 

"But thankfully, I have someone to remind me and scold me so badly because of my childish behaviour. I whined a lot and complained a lot."
 

Chaeyoung looks at Irene through the screen. She had that small shy smile on her face that reminds him of the first time they met. He smiles softly and continues watching. As the interviews come to an end, he remembers exactly what happened that day. A question that was asked by young man which he couldn't answer.
 

"Son Chaeyoung-sii, I heard you ually assaulted your best friend and impregnated her, is it true?"
 

"Defamation of character. Under South Korea's Criminal Code, convictions on charges of criminal defamation using openly false facts can result in up to seven years imprisonment, as well as a fine of $50 million KRW. Do you have concrete evidence? You shouldn't make a statement based on groundless rumour made for own public interest. If you don't have proof, please leave."
 

Chaeyoung pauses the video clip. It was Jeongyeon. He saved him that day. Chaeyoung narrows his eyes and edits the last part of the video, making an infinite loop. He listens again and again. After a moment of silence, he feels himself disconnect from his body. A cold sweat breaks out on his forehead and he feels sick to his stomach. He managed to recognized him that day wasn't because of his voice. He wants to escape this nagging suspicion and fear of the truth, but all his body wants to do is crumble down and shut out the world around him. Even if he tries to avoid it, the truth found the tiniest crack in the wall of lies and starts leaking out. Chaeyoung squeezes his eyes shut. His fingers clawed the leather of the armchair, nails breaking and fingers bleeding as he scratch and scratch.
 

He opens his eyes and taps a voice recording app on his phone. He records his voice and Jeongyeon's voice from the interview, keeps it in one file inside the disk. Chaeyoung turns to the butler who's looking at him worriedly, specifically at his bleeding fingers, "Mr Kang, please do me a favor. Compare these two recordings with the one given by the photographer. Look for Miss Ann in the forensic department. I've contacted her beforehand. Please ask her to do voice analysis."
 

Mr Kang nods and takes the disk. He slides it inside an envelope and hesitantly glances at Chaeyoung. The latter notices his gaze. Mr Kang sighs, his face is sad and eyes downward, "It will probably take longer, do we have enough time? Your condition has drastically worsened" Looking at his face, Mr Kang could have sworn that he smiles, despite the worry and anxiety in his eyes.
 

Chaeyoung sinks in his seat. He takes a deep breath and relaxes, letting all the tightness and tenseness leave, "What do you do when the one person you want comfort from the most is the one who caused your pain? How can I want so desperately for her to hold my hand but also want so much for her to leave me alone?" He speaks. His voice becomes hoarse with despair and then trembled with grief not expressed in tears. Chaeyoung turns to Mr Kang, a soft smile tugs his lips, "Since I'm a coward, I wish she stay there and doesn't come back, but knowing her, she'll come to see me"













 

*    *    *    *

Los Angeles, California, USA

 

Irene flutters her eyes open. Her finger has swollen enormously; the hand is throbbing and the pain is murderous. She roams her eyes around the place and realizes she's in the hospital. Flashbacks of the broken glass play in hear mind. She remembers, she had a horrible headache and wanted to take a drink but fainted. Someone must have brought her here, "Ah, the program" she murmurs. She forces herself to sit and looks at the calendar, it has been weeks. She needs to contact and apologize to her supervisor. But her body still aching and her head spinning. She sighs and massages her head when she notices a lot of flowers on a stand by the bed and at the foot of the bed.
 

"Did someone came?" She wonders, getting off the bed and stares at the flowers. The commotion outside gains her attention, she faintly heard murmuring and gasps. She walks out of her room and sees a group of people staring at the television. She follows their gaze and looks at the screen.

 

"A suspect has been arrested for a murder of a South Korean Congresswoman. Detectives with the Seoul Police Department have arrested Son Tzuyu for the murder of Hwang Aera. Investigators believe an argument took place between Son Tzuyu and Hwang Aera Wednesday evening. According to police, Hwang Aera passed away from her injuries around 11.00 a.m. Thursday"