Chapter 31

[The Web of Fate]

“What are you doing?” Jessica asked Kibum as the boy turned his laptop on. They were still in the police office, having just finished answering the police’s investigation with regard to their discovery of Sunny’s dead body. A white feather was found attached to Sunny’s hair. Kwon Yuri was nowhere to be found. And to Jessica’s mild wonder, it was not Sungmin who carried the investigation out.

It was nearly dawn, and Jessica was really tired. Though practically undergoing the same activities she had, Kibum showed no hint of being restless. His dark eyes were still as sharp as ever as he connected another device to his laptop and typed what seemed to be series of codes on his laptop.

He seemed to be too engrossed in his own action that he hardly noticed Jessica’s question.

A little irritated, Jessica repeated her question again. “What are you doing?”

Kibum still did not avert his focus off the screen of his laptop as he answered, “I’m trying to track down Heechul Hyung’s whereabouts. He has not answered his phone since yesterday. I have a bad feeling about it.”

Jessica wrinkled her forehead. “Track him down? With that?”

He nodded. “I have set a tracking device on Heechul Hyung’s cell phone. With this, I’m able to locate his position using the signal his cell phone transmitted.”

Jessica widened her eyes. “What?”

Kibum mistook her question on another issue. “I work in the IT industry, remember? It’s not hard for me to –“

“That’s not what I’m concerned about,” cut Jessica. “You put a tracking device on your cousin’s cell phone? Did you by any chance also put a tracking device on my gadget too?”

Kibum chuckled. He finally stopped typing and looked at Jessica. “No, I only put it on my cousins’ cell phones. Heechul Hyung is actually quite a paranoid man and he ordered me to put tracking devices on our phones so that our safety could be better guaranteed.”

Jessica could only shake her head in disbelief. But she decided to put her sarcasm away and focused on Kibum’s work instead. “So, where is he right now?”

“A moment. The system is still tracking him down.”

She found herself to be focusing on Kibum’s laptop in a less disinterested manner. After nearly three minutes, a new window popped on the laptop’s screen. It was a vector map and instead of the name of an exact place, Jessica’s eyes were greeted with a series of numbers. Kibum was nodding as if he was the only one who understood (well, he truly did). He copied the numbers and pasted it on a different window. His fingers expertly typed another code and less than a minute later, he finally exhaled a satisfied sigh.

“Where is he?” asked Jessica.

“The Westin Chosun Hotel,” he briefly said. Pulling out his cell phone from his pocket, he then dialed Heechul’s number again, but the person from the other end of the line still did not pick it up. “Guess I have to go there,” concluded Kibum as he stood up.

Noticing that Jessica was staring up at him, the Kim guy then spoke again.

“You should just go home, Jessica. Your grandmother must have been worried.”

She contemplated about it some more. Yes, her grandmother had been calling her numerous time until she finally gave up. But nagging did not stop there. Her Chinese-descent bodyguard, Hankyung, had also been urging her to go home. It was not until Jessica snapped back at him that he stopped all his pleas.

Jessica was very exhausted. It had been yet another long night. They had searched for Yoona, found out Sunny’s body on that tower (she still shivered when she remembered the sight of her tousled hair and dead eyes) instead, and being interrogated by the police afterwards. Surely, she did not need to find the whereabouts of a selfish heir too?

But somehow, she could also feel Kibum’s bad feeling. She had been calling Donghae’s cell phone a couple of time since the night before, but the boy did not answer. Donghae always picked her call up. Even if he failed to do so, he always managed to call back.

Her resolve strengthened. “I’m going with you.”

After threatening the hotel management, Kibum and Jessica finally gained the information of Donghae and Heechul’s whereabouts. Sometimes it shamed them both, how their only way to get something was by selling out their families’ name –and foremost, for people like Kibum and Jessica, such thing was truly a last resort.

The elevator took them to the top floor. When the cubicle finally reached the destination floor, Kibum, Jessica, and Hankyung walked out, only to be greeted by a vacant corridor.

“Are you sure we could just barge into someone’s room like this?” asked Jessica. They had the access card already, but using it would be a violation to someone’s privacy.

“Yeah, perhaps we could just call Heechul Hyung once more before we ruthlessly knock into someone’s room so early in the morning,” Kibum said as he flipped his cell phone open. He dialed the number he had memorized so well in his mind and waited. Huffing a sigh, he then said, “He’s not picking up. I guess we should just –“

“Wait,” Jessica spoke as she signaled Kibum to quiet down. “Did you hear that?”

Kibum listened more attentively, and he could finally hear what Jessica was probably referring to. A ringing sound. And he knew the ringtone sound so well.

“It’s Heechul Hyung’s phone. He’s around here…” he said as he began to walk towards the source of the sound. His steps fastened. Jessica and Hankyung trailed behind him until Kibum finally halted in front of a door.

“A janitor’s closet?” Jessica pondered her puzzlement out loud.

Kibum only shrugged and opened the door. His eyes widened immediately at the sight of Heechul inside. He was seated in an uncomfortable position, his limbs were tied with a rope and his mouth was plastered.

“Hyung!” Kibum exclaimed as he kneeled down and forcefully yanked the plaster off his face. The action brought Heechul back to consciousness. The tied boy shouted noisily when the plaster was pulled away roughly.

Red eyes glared back at them. The fire on his eyes remained. After Kibum released him off the rope, Heechul immediately stood up and roughly made his way out of the small cubicle. He shoved Jessica’s body in the process, but it wasn’t as if Jessica was not used to his crude action.

Limply, Heechul walked towards the door of the Presidential Suite. Kibum trailed behind him.

To Jessica’s dismay, Kim Heechul began to bang on the door.

“Are you crazy?” Jessica hissed. “You might be –“

Heechul did not care for Jessica’s reprimand. He continued the banging. Mad, almost psychotic murmur came out from his lips. “Yoona…”

Kibum only exchanged a confused glance with Jessica. She bit her lips, not exactly knowing what to do. But it took only one affirmative nod from Kibum before Jessica took out the room’s access card from her purse and handed it to the level-headed man.

The loud banging woke him up. Groaning, Donghae then tried to lift his body up –only to feel nausea attacked him. He felt his head was spinning, as if he had just a worst hangover. He laid back on the bed, and was tempted to drift to the slumber land again, but the presence of another person immediately alarmed him.

Rolling his body slightly to the side, Donghae’s jaw dropped at the sight of the person he had been looking for the past few days.

A relieved smile made its way to his face as he stared at Yoona. He felt like the burden and worry that had been plaguing him were lifted. “Yoona… thank goodness you’re –“

His sentence stopped midway as he got up to a sitting position and a clearer image of Yoona faced him.

Donghae’s eyes widened. Yoona was tied to the bed; her head was slightly bowed down –her brown hair cascaded to her bare shoulders. Realization struck him when he discovered that Yoona’s shirt was ripped off and her bras dangled loosely on her chest. Instinctively, Donghae grabbed the blanket to cover her modesty.

Panic and anger engulfed him. “Who dared to do this to you? Yoona, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere? Where is –“

Yoona lifted her head, her bangs slowly moved to the side of her face and her eyes were finally seen.

Donghae froze.

Yoona was staring down at him with something that he recognized as suppressed anger.

Hatred.

He felt a part of his heart flinched.

Her voice finally came out. It was spoken coldly, with ire, detest, and disgust. “You dare to ask me that?”

“Y-Yoona?” Donghae said her name in puzzlement.

The coldness in her glare intensified. Her chest moved up and down, as if she could explode anytime. She gritted her teeth, so hard until Donghae could almost hear it in the silence of the room. He felt his breath was hitched and his focus was clearly reserved to the unmoving Yoona.

Even when the door behind him was slammed open, even when shocked gasps were let out, even when Heechul fell to his knees, even when Kibum and Jessica rushed forward to untie Yoona, Donghae could care less of all those things. His eyes never left Yoona’s glaring eyes. It was only after Yoona’s arms fell limp after they were released from the ropes, that Donghae moved again. His arm extended to touch Yoona’s cheek, but the girl slapped it away immediately.

“Don’t you dare touch me again, Bastard!” Yoona screamed.

The room was silenced. Heechul still kneeled weakly on the floor, Hankyung did not even move from his spot on the door, Kibum only stared at Yoona, Jessica’s grasp on the cardigan she had taken off to engulf Yoona’s body loosened, and Donghae… Donghae only kneeled there on the bed. His lips were parted open, his eyes widened in disbelief. He could almost hear the sound of his own heart ripping off.

Yoona’s clutch on the sheet and Jessica’s cardigan tightened. Her shoulders shook greatly as she spoke again. She did not need to scream that time. A calm line that was spoken with much resentment was enough to shut Donghae up.

“You. It was you who did it to me, Oppa.”

            Hahaha. Isn’t it fun to be me? I did the mess, you take care of the rest.

Donghae clutched at his head as the voice invaded his mind.

            It was a good . You might not remember, but the sensation sti