“Who are you? Who do you work for?” Seohyun interrogated. “And why are you looking for Luhan?” 

 

“I…I can’t say…” he let out another scream shortly after when Seohyun used her foot to push his bent leg further back forcing him to do a real split this time. 

 

“So…do you understand the situation right now?” Seohyun hissed. “What do you have on Luhan that you’re searching for him?” 

 

“Uh…just….j….just he’s interfered with work…” 

 

“Work?” Seohyun felt one of her eyebrows fly up. “What work?” 

 

He didn’t answer leaving her no choice but to tug on his shirt again. This time he howled fiercely. 

 

“Please, please!” he begged. 

 

“Who, then, do you work under?” Seohyun questioned. 

 

“Cha…Cha Tae Sung, Cha Tae Sung!” he screamed. 

 

The leader of Kyobo Life? Seohyun frowned. 

 

“What does he want?” Seohyun continued. 

 

“You said you were going to let me go!” he cried. 

Seohyun tapped her foot against his knee and he cried helplessly again. She tapped her foot against it again before he cried out another answer. 

 

“Because he’s looking for his father.” 

 

The father Luhan never spoke to her about? Why was Luhan looking for him when he said his parents didn’t want him back home? 

 

“Why? Did something happen to his parents?” Seohyun pressed on. 

 

“You said….” he went on again before Seohyun dragged his face forward. He cried again, his eyes literally watering. “Because his father is after a top secret and sacrificed his mother. Ah! Please let me go!” 

 

“Sacrifice?” Seohyun repeated. 

 

“He forced her back…” 

 

Seohyun dropped him onto the ground where he suddenly started bawling and stared at the path ahead. He’d never said a word of it to her. He never told her his mother had been forced back home. Luhan was her damn friend after all, but he never told her anything! Seohyun suddenly felt so guilty and bad for treating Luhan so poorly. How hurt he must have felt knowing that the mother he loved most had been treated so wrongly by his father. 

 

\ \ \ \ \

 

“I asked, who you are!” Victoria raised her voice pressing her lower arm into his esophagus threatening to suffocate him. 

 

“Park…Park Cha Bo…” he coughed his name out. 

 

Victoria narrowed her eyes at him and released her pressuring hold on his neck. 

 

“And?” 

“Luhan is looking for the key.” he explained, his small eyes barely visible. “We were…we were told to stop him.” 

 

Victoria felt her eyes narrow. 

 

“Key?” she questioned. 

 

“Because…because everybody is looking for it…he can’t find it before we do…” 

 

“Who’s we?” 

 

She pressed her lower arm against his neck again. 

 

“Do…don’t kill me,” he pleaded. 

 

“Answer.” 

 

“Gi Su, Cha Tae Sung, Yoo Yong Sun, and…and his father.”

 

“What?” Victoria asked as if she’d been unable to hear. 

 

“Because…because everybody’s looking for it…” Park Cha Bo uttered. “No one’s died yet…b…but someone’s going to die soon. That’s all I know! I swear! Please let me go!” 

 

“Who are you working for?” Victoria questioned. “If you don’t tell me the truth, I’m going to severe your breathing line.” 

 

The big man’s lower lip seriously trembled and Victoria found herself surprised to see it do so. She felt kind of bad for this big man who seemed so frail and weak. Why had he been picked to do the job in the first place? 

 

“Noh…Noh Ki Young.” 

 

Victoria narrowed her eyes. She’d never heard the name before, really. 

“If anybody asks, you tell them you and your friend were caught up in a gang fight, do you hear me?” Victoria threatened. “If I find out you didn’t follow my story, my friend and I are going to be at your backs.” 

 

Park Cha Bo furiously nodded before Victoria stepped off him and watched him scatter to his feet before running off. 

 

Victoria found herself standing in spot without budging an inch. So, Luhan had been after something she’d been unaware of and was falling into danger without realizing it. Was that why he’d asked her to look after Seohyun because he’d be unable to do so anymore? What did that mean? Was he planning to die? Or was he possibly aware of the kind of danger he was in? And what key had that man been talking about? Could he perhaps have meant the ‘Golden Mary’? 

 

She felt her heart accelerate in speed. Was Luhan, who was living under the same roof, after the same object they were? What would Seohyun do if she found out? Or had she found out already? Victoria suddenly felt overwhelmed with worry and tension. What would happen to Luhan? What would happen to Seohyun? How did searching for the ‘Golden Mary’ get them in such a bind? 

 

When she burst in through the apartment door, she found the place empty. Seohyun hadn’t returned. Victoria ran back and forth running optional thoughts through her head. Had she gone to find Luhan? To confront him? 

Victoria paused. Why was she so worried? Because…Luhan had seemed like a nice kid. Because it had felt like he hadn’t lied to her. Maybe she was terrible with reading people, but she was sure her instincts were always precise. Luhan had meant no harm and Seohyun wasn’t just a friend, but a special figure in his heart. He wouldn’t, by no doubt, harm them intentionally. 

 

But where would they have gone? Victoria turned to look at the door as if they’d run in any second. 

 

\ \ \ \ \

 

Danger? But who would be looking for him? Luhan couldn’t explain it nor could he find an explainable reason in his head. He couldn’t think of anyone who might want to hurt him. If what Yun Man had warned him of would really happen, then Victoria and Seohyun would be in danger as well. Luhan would really have no choice but to move out then. 

 

On the other hand, who were those women who had outwitted Yun Man’s guards? The break ins always happened on the nights Victoria and Seohyun were out. Was it really coincidental? The first time he’d met them was in Hong Chong Il’s home. He should be suspicious of them for getting in without a word and sneaking around, but Seohyun had threatened him then. And when he’d questioned her about their work, she hadn’t been able to say anything. Luhan could definitely be sure that they were hiding something from him. It would only make logical sense if they were the ones who broke in Gi Su’s manor since they’d declared they were going out that night. They had returned late last night too, and last night had been when Yun Man’s guards were outwitted. All Luhan lacked was evidence. 

Even though he might grow curious, would finding out what they really did matter to him at all? Would it affect him? Luhan didn’t know. Now he could only wonder, if they had broken into the business tyrant’s homes, why? They hadn’t taken anything, they hadn’t harmed anyone. What were they after? 

 

Luhan’s greatest fear suddenly popped up in his head. What if both Victoria and Seohyun were after the ‘Golden Mary’? Impossible. It just couldn’t happen. They couldn’t know about it, they wouldn’t know about it! He bit the tip of his thumb in denial. Even so, how would they know about it in the first place? In the end, Luhan decided that Victoria and Seohyun wouldn’t know about the ‘Golden Mary’. He still had to decided whether they were really the women who’d broken into the homes.

 

Still, no matter what, Luhan couldn’t shake the feeling off. Why the people he’d listed out to Seohyun were the one’s who’d been victims of the break ins. Still, there was no logical evidence. Luhan decided to leave the thought aside when he felt his stomach rumble.

 

He stopped along the way for a lone dinner and decided that he’d find a new place as soon as possible. If he started to get suspicious of Victoria and Seohyun, and if they started to get suspicious of him, then there’d only be tension surrounding the apartment. Plus, he didn’t want to lead them into danger, if it was him that was luring it out. 

 

On the walk back to the apartment, Luhan stuck his hands into his jeans and tilted his head up to glance at the sky. He hadn’t realized he’d been out all day, the sun was starting to set already and stars were amongst the half seen moon. As hot as it was, the no wind current only made him feel more warm the closer he got to the apartment. 

Actually, he had to admit that he liked the presence of both Victoria and Seohyun. Though mean and rude, Seohyun was still his friend and just having her there was somewhat more comforting than the lonely dorm life he had to deal abroad. And Victoria who was cool and straight to the point gave him the sense of building another kind of warm friendship where they’d watch each other’s backs. 

 

Luhan’s foot dragged him to a pause when he saw Seohyun standing in front of the apartment building. She looked like she was waiting for someone, her hands hanging off the edge of her pockets and head hung low. He stared at her and wondered if he should walk up to her and make a joke or if it’d be better for him to turn around give her time to herself. It was too late, though, Seohyun had already noticed him. 

 

Stepping away from the building she shifted around so that she could directly face him. Her face was distorted with a kind of agony and empathy. 

 

“What?” Luhan asked taking a step forward. 

 

“Yah…” she walked toward him. 

 

Luhan hadn’t been allowed the time to think of what to say when Seohyun suddenly tossed her arms around his neck hugging him as if to comfort him. He stood there confused and lost. 

 

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t know, why didn’t you say anything, you idiot!” 

 

Luhan’s mind ran blank before it started running questions. What was Seohyun talking about? 

“You should have told me about your mother,” Seohyun went on, “and about your father forcing her back. I wouldn’t have been so mean to you. I’m sorry, Luhan.” 

 

He could feel his eyes grow wide at the sudden mention of his parents. No one else knew, he thought no one else knew but him. Suddenly prying her off Luhan stared at her. 

 

“Who told you? Seohyun, who did you hear this from?” he questioned urgently. 

 

He needed to know. It was important. Who had come by to leak information about him!? 

 

“Yah…what’s wrong with you?” she asked innocently confused by him. 

 

“Did someone come by? How do you know about this!?” 

 

Seohyun arched an eyebrow, “Why? What’s wrong?” 

 

Luhan stared at her before turning to look around. Had Yun Man been right? Had someone come by looking for him and instead found Seohyun? Had that person leaked information about why he was there to Seohyun? Luhan panicked a little. What if Seohyun found out about the ‘Golden Mary’? That would only make matters worse. 

 

“Someone came, someone came, right? Right?” he asked spinning back to face her.

 

“Y…yea…but that’s not what matters right now. Why didn’t you say anything to me?” Seohyun went on only wanting to know why he’d kept everything hidden.  

 

“Who!? Who is it that came!?” he raised his voice. 

 

Seohyun stared at him as if he was absurd. The drums in his ear pounded louder and louder as his face became inflexible. 

 

“People were looking for you,” a voice interrupted. 

 

Luhan shifted his head to the left to see Victoria leaning against the building, arms crossed. Her eyes were still, her posture meant business. 

“I didn’t think they were nice, so we chased them away,” Victoria told. “Looks like you have some explaining to do about yourself.” 

 

Luhan pressed his lips together and quietly swallowed. 

 

Pressure tinted the air within the run down apartment, Victoria staring at him with her frozen eyes. Seohyun paced back and forth having been unable to sit down when they walked in. And now the interrogation process he’d often seen in criminal shows was about to begin. Anxiety and nervousness flocked to his brain. He could only hope that Victoria would take mercy on him.

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***Uh-oh, Luhan's in trouble. Victoria got the best of the clues

 

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