“Morning.” he greeted.

“Ahh…” she nodded her head. “What are you doing here?”

“Can I come in?” he asked and she held the door open for him as if he had ordered her to.

Walking in he turned to see the TV.

“Ah…it’s this movie,” he told.

“You’ve seen it?” she asked sitting down with eyes glued to the TV.

“Of course, but why are you watching it?”

“I’m watching them date,” Victoria replied without turning to look at Donghae once.

She heard Donghae laugh but still didn’t turn to look at him.

“A date?” he asked. “That’s not really a date.”

“It’s not?” she repeated. “I thought it was…”

He glanced at her to find her so focused on the movie that he kind of wanted to laugh at her childishness but he didn’t.

“Have you gone on a date before?” he asked.

Victoria shook her head.

“Hmmm…really? I thought you would have had many before,” he commented.

“Why?”

“Then…do you want to go on one?”

Victoria felt her attention turn away from the TV. “Really?”

He shrugged, “Sure, you might not enjoy the movie after it ends, anyway.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because…” he started then found it difficult to tell her that the leading man would die at the end. The way she stared intently at him waiting for an answer made him turn away for some reason. Donghae spotted the remote control on the side and grabbed it turning the TV off.

Victoria turned back to the screen. “What did you do?”

“Lets go.” he told pulling her up.

“Where?”

“On a date.”

- - - - -

“Where are you going?” Yoona’s mother called from the kitchen as Yoona walked toward the front door.

“To work,” Yoona replied.

“I thought the Chief told you to take off for a few days.”

“He didn’t.”

“But your father said…”

“He lied.” Yoona replied finally slipping her tennis shoes on. “I’ll be back. If I don’t make it for dinner, don’t wait for me.”

Yoona walked to her car and started the engine. She would make sure to seize any chance she had to draw out the articles from Victoria’s investigation. Finally, she decided, it was time to open up the case again. The detectives had surely missed something somewhere and Yoona was set on concluding the case with a real ending.

- - - - -

“Taec, you’ve been summoned up to the office,” the receptionist behind the desk told him once he got in.

“Upstairs?”

“Good luck,” she smiled.

Taecyeon found himself frowning and headed toward the elevators wondering what they had in store for him. Was Secretary Jung waiting for him at the top or was it the CEO? Taecyeon found the answer waiting for him when he reached the office. When the elevator opened Secretary Jung was standing there in his daring black suit.

“Morning,” Secretary Jung greeted, “this way to my office, if you may.”

Taeyceon followed silently. Reentering the cool brown office he sat down and waited for Secretary Jung to make himself comfortable before starting.

“Would you like some coffee?” Secretary Jung questioned.

Taecyeon remembered the same question from the other day, “No thanks. I like people who get straight to the point, sir.”

Secretary Jung smiled, “Sorry, I usually like to have a small talk before starting with the real thing. I just arrived from Busan barely 15 minutes ago.”

“Busan?” Taecyeon repeated.

Secretary Jung moved his eyes to the corner of his eye lids, “Yes. Our CEO followed him there in the middle of the night. Your name has been cleared, Ok Taecyeon.”

- - - - -

Yoona flipped through yellow articles safely preserved in the upstairs library. Even old records from over a 100 years ago were still kept hidden within folders within folders. Yoona set the yellow articles aside being careful not to let them rip. They’d become fragile over the 14 years they were created and any rip or crease in them may wash out the words Yoona needed most. There was no way she was going to have that happen.

She drew another folder from the shelf and flipped through it tossing the newly produced papers aside. After walking into the station that morning she’d gone straight to the library without reporting in to the Chief first. For she knew that if she’d told him about reopening the case he would forbid her from the library and there was no way she was going to risk that either.

Victoria needed to be returned to her family. Yoona hated to think about all the things she may have missed out on while growing up and the worst thing she hated to think about were the things they could have done to her friend.

So lost in thought, so concentrated on locating each article that had been placed in different folders regarding the timeline she hadn’t heard the footsteps coming through the cold green door.

“Deputy,” the voice called.

Yoona spun around alarmed. At first she’d feared coming face to face with the Chief but to her relief it was just her colleague.

“The Chief would like you in his office.”

“Yes, I’ll be right down,” Yoona told secretly blocking her colleague from the sight of the articles she’d found.

Replacing the folders back on the shelf she grabbed the articles along with her and headed to her office immediately. Setting them on her desk she headed for the door then on second thought turned around and set them within the magazine in her purse.

The shutters in her Chief’s office were drawn open allowing the sunlight to burst in with all the energy it had, illuminating the dust drifting in within its ray.

“You wanted to see me?” Yoona asked closing the door but didn’t bother to take a seat.

“I thought I told you to stay home for a few days.” he looked as aged as always.

“You did? I don’t recall you saying that,” Yoona replied honestly.

“Sit down, will you?”

“I’m not going to be staying past lunch. I’m going to break my shift early, which I know you’re hoping I will.” Yoona told.

The Chief smiled, “Good. Go on then.”

Yoona nodded and headed back out. After grabbing lunch she decided she’d run over the articles once, jot notes down a pad, and go see Donghae. She’d thought things over in full detail that morning and a talk with him sounded just fine. If she got things cleared up with him faster she’d be able to work better with a happy mind.

- - - - -

“Theater?” Victoria asked reading the sign next to the large building extending from one end of the block to the other end.

“Yes, come on,” he said after skimming through the lists of movies on the side outside.

“The Terminator or The Last Exorcism sounds interesting. What about those?” she asked following him in with shuffling feet looking all around her at the promotional pictures.

“The what?” Donghae asked turning to look at her then glanced at the promotional cover for the movies. “I think a romantic movie suits a date better.”

“Romantic?” Victoria replied. “What’s romantic? Or does it mean something?”

He looked at her with a funny grin before paying at the counter for their tickets then walked further in where a long line stood in front of the refreshments.

“Do you want to snack on something?” he asked. “I can get you whatever you like.”

Victoria glanced at him then turned to look at the long line allowing her eyes to slowly browse over the menu and the people behind the counter. She wondered what role they had in the theater before her eyes found the different styles of clothes the customers in line wore. Millions of questions slowly popped in her head. In that moment she felt like an animal being reintroduced to the wilderness after half her life living in a cage.

“Victoria?” Donghae nudged her shoulder.

She turned to look at him and smiled.

“Pop--corn?” she said reading the English sign on the side.

She followed Donghae to their seats and couldn’t help but look around as they walked down the aisle. There were many people who were already sitting and eating away at the food they had or sipping their sweet drinks. Chatter was light.

When she sat down beside Donghae she turned to stare at the big screen ahead of them. Once the lights along the aisles and above them were dimmed out the screen stared back just bright enough not to blind them. As the movie started off Victoria found her mind elsewhere.

“Mom, dad, hurry! It’s starting!!” she shouted from the side, a large popcorn in her arms.

Her mother smiled a deep smile and took her hand leading her down the hall into the theater room. Her dad picked up her with a heave and sat her down on the seat.

“Boy, are you getting big,” he commented kissing her cheek. “Cute little girl.”

“I’m not little,” she pouted swinging her legs, continually eating the oily popcorn.

“Ahh! Be careful! You’ll get your dress all dirty,” her mother told grabbing a napkin out of her purse and wiping along with her hands.

“In just a few years she’s going to be so big,” her dad said to her mother, a smile of satisfaction on his face.

His smile lines were so visible that they might look like his wrinkles. The room darkened and Victoria gave a shout of excitement.

“It’s starting! It’s starting!!” she wiggled her body with her pig tails swinging across her ears.

Then Victoria shut her mind.