- - - - -

Yoona had said before that she didn’t want to think that Victoria had become a criminal. Taecyeon believed he wanted to refrain from that thought as well. When he left Yoona’s office he found himself cruising along the road of Victoria’s home. The home she used to live in with her parents. He could only imagine what a happy child she had been.

He went up the road and back down then up the road again. Memories seeped into every inch of him. From the moment he’d crashed into Victoria and the times when he took her around to find her gazing at certain things lost in thought. Had she been recalling memories too?

Taecyeon gulped.

“Do you believe me if I say I was escaping bad guys?”

“Did someone at the company betray you too?”  

“Did someone at the company betray you too?”

“Did someone at the company betray you too?”

Taecyeon heard Victoria’s voice go round and round in his head. What did she mean by ‘too’?

“Did someone at the company betray you too?”

Taecyeon braked his car. Why was it always like that? Why was it that when something he should have paid attention to he never paid attention to?

He returned to the apartment to find Victoria up and about for the first time in two or three days. She looked up at him from the kitchen but didn’t say anything. Taecyeon took off his jacket in the living room and glanced at the DVD Windstruck on the table. He didn’t pay any attention to it and went to take a shower. When he stepped out Victoria had dinner prepared.

She glanced at him before picking up her chopsticks. In the end Taecyeon still found it difficult to speak to her so he went right to eating.

In the morning he went with the same routine but before he left Victoria had said, “Don’t buy any chicken. Dinner’s on me, ok?”

- - - - -

Donghae paced back and forth in his office, a bunch of unsigned papers on his desk. He couldn’t concentrate. For the first time in his life he couldn’t concentrate even on reading. He was worried about Victoria. She hadn’t opened the door for him yesterday but he swore he could hear someone inside. Was she purposely avoiding him?

He felt like he needed to talk to someone but all the people he could think of were Yoona or Taecyeon. They didn’t seem like good options right then. Every time he spoke with Taecyeon, they either got mad at each other or get on each other’s nerves. And Yoona…if he talked to her about another girl, the girl who had been her childhood friend…it was just weird. It didn’t seem right to be talking to Yoona about Victoria.  

Donghae’s phone rang and for a second he really hoped it was Victoria calling. In the end it was just his father.

- - - - -

Yoona’s father had stayed home to make sure that she didn’t leave for the station but when he was called back for an urgent matter Yoona took the car. She wasn’t going to return to the station, she had something else to do. Something important.

Purchasing a cake from the store Yoona drove all the way toward the bricked wall. Mrs. Kim was waiting for her outside.

“You’re here.” the old woman smiled.

Yoona returned the smile. “I can’t forget what this day is.”

“Victoria’s mom and dad are moving about the house,” Mrs. Kim explained, “why don’t you go join them?”

Yoona nodded and walked in through the door. She made her way to the kitchen where the couple sat at the table eating their blessed meal.

“Ah…Yoona.” Victoria’s mother was first to notice her.

“It’s a good sight to see that you’re eating.” Yoona commented before setting the cake down. “Victoria should be 27 today, I’m sorry she can’t be here with us.”

Old tears welled up in their eyes and Yoona watched as their frail skinny hands shook before the spoon dropped onto the table and loud wracking sobs took over the silence remaining. Again and again Yoona felt her heart break. Mrs. Kim walked up from behind and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

- - - - -

The fresh scent of a just cooked meal poured through the door when it opened. Taking his shoes off patiently, he wondered why he wasn’t hearing any noises coming from the kitchen.

“Victoria?” for the first in a few days time her name slid off his tongue.

No one replied.

“Victoria?”

In the kitchen steam flowed up from the bowl of rice into the air dissipating immediately. The two bowls of side dishes and the entrée sat around it new and fresh. Victoria should have still been there.

“Victoria?”

The bathroom was empty and the mirror that should have been on the wall was now gone because Victoria had shattered it just last week. The bedroom was empty…Taecyeon almost turned to walk out but stopped when he didn’t see her purse. The shopping bags where she kept her clothes were now gone too. No trace of a woman had been left behind in his apartment.

“Victoria!” it was more of a shout than a question now.

Finally he stopped in the living room and glanced down at the Windstruck DVD.

“I was watching but never finished it.” Victoria explained. “Donghae said the ending would ruin my mood so he turned it off.”

Taecyeon remembered all of a sudden. Officer Yeo Kyung Jin loses her boyfriend, Go Myung Woo, in an accident. Had she finished watching the whole film?

Taecyeon’s eyes moved toward the door. Victoria’s shoes were gone. No trace of Victoria existed. He called her on the spot only to hear her phone go off in the kitchen. Walking into the kitchen he grabbed her phone looking it over as if he could find some clue on it. He had told her many times that the phone was expensive, why didn’t she believe him? It was only then that he caught the paper sticking out from the corner of the plate where it’d been stuck under.

“I told you thanks isn’t something I say easily, but you deserve a thanks for allowing me to stay these two weeks. Thank you.”

Taecyeon crumpled up the piece of paper and tossed it into the bin.

- - - - -

Yoona’s phone rang loudly in the silence and she walked out of the fire lit room answering immediately.

“It’s me,” Taecyeon’s voice sounded rushed.

“Ah…Taecyeon, what’s wrong?” Yoona asked.

“Victoria’s gone. Help me find her. She’s gone!” he sounded panicked.

“What?”

Yoona found herself bounding out of the home a few seconds later. She came to a stop by her car then hesitated. Would it be faster by car or by feet? Dodging an incoming car Yoona ran down the sidewalk. On foot she’d be able to stop people and ask them if they saw her. Her heartbeat had increased. She was becoming panicked as well. In just a short time of discovering her, Yoona couldn’t lose Victoria again.

Coming to a halt at a red light Yoona reached for her phone.

- - - - -

“And so when the stocks go up…” the presenter went on, his glasses reflecting the lights from above.

His voice stopped when a loud ring tone filled the room. The 12 people sitting around the circular desk all turned to look at Donghae, who was sitting at the end. Staring at the ground he looked up when he noticed that the talking had stopped.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Your phone,” his secretary whispered into his ear from behind.

“Ah…” Donghae nodded his head as a gesture to excuse himself then and got up stepping out. “Yoona, I was in a meeting…”

“Yah…” Yoona began.

Donghae frowned. Yoona never used “Yah” with him, ever.

“Wh...what?” he stumbled over his words.

“Victoria’s missing! Help me find her! Please!”

The large brown doors opened loudly and Donghae’s quickened footsteps rushed in.

“Secretary Jung, take over for me!” he told grabbing his jacket. “I have an emergency.”

“Sir…sir!” his secretary called after him.

He ran down the stairs toward the parking lot and got into his car starting the drive around the city. The stoplights rushed pass in blurs and the people whizzed by looking alienated. No sign of Victoria. He stopped his car and got out annoyed with the fact that he couldn’t see anything while driving. The speed wasn’t enough for him. He needed to run on his own. To feel his feet rushing underneath him.

“Victoria!” he shouted.

People turned to stare then walked away.

“Victoria! Victoria!!”

He ran to the ice skating center, to the café, to the restaurants, but still no sign of her. Where would Victoria have run off to?

- - - - -

“Excuse me, have you seen a woman this tall with long black hair?” Yoona asked.

The stubby woman shook her head and walked on. Yoona continued to push her way through the crowd that seemed to become thicker as the sky grew longer.

“Victoria! Vic!” she shouted.

“Please, please, please, please. Don’t let me lose her again.” Yoona silently prayed to the heavens above.

At the stop lights Yoona came to another pause. As she searched her mind for the next move her phone rang.

“Did you find her? Did you find her!” was the first thing Yoona shouted.

“If she’s on the run, do you think she’d take the terminal?” Donghae asked.

“The terminal?” she skimmed the roads with her eyes. “The terminal’s on the other side of town…”

“Call Ok Taecyeon!” he demanded.

Yoona hung up immediately and made the call.