The two of them started after the man. As they furthered toward the two flights of steps before the large front door, Victoria allowed her eyes to carefully observe the huge front yard. Like any other, a life of greenery dominated the sidelines surrounding the short concrete path. Large heads of thistles spun around each healthy tree with cunningly trimmed bushes spurting in between each free space. Without any gardened flowers it surely looked like a woven maze. 

 

The skinny man jogged up the steps ahead of them, grabbed the large curvy brass doorknob pulling open the monumental white door, and bowed when they walked forward. Victoria followed Luhan down a very clean white corridor with peach colored walls, a great Tiffany chandelier sparkling above them as they passed a sailboat painting. The man jogged passed them again and with an arm extended led them into a large room furnished with soft fluffy pillows, two long couches, a single one sitting in the middle, and an oak coffee table sitting in the middle of the three furniture. Victoria’s eyes met with a large orange fireplace before her eyes swiveled over to the large glass door leading to another part of the courtyard. 

 

“Luhan!” a clean voice, that belonging to a middle aged man fluttered toward them. 

 

Victoria turned to see a man walk in from surprisingly another open doorway dressed in a neat blue vest, a collared shirt in the shade of another blue, and pants belonging to that same hue toward them. His eyes fell upon Luhan looking like a father who was reuniting with a son who’d come back home from far before his eyes fell onto Victoria. Immediately she noticed the unwelcoming spark in his eyes. 

 

“And this…” the man she assumed was Cha Tae Sung turned to look at Luhan confused about the sudden guest he was receiving. 

 

Instead of letting Luhan answer, Victoria showed her fake ID again, “I’m a reporter, Victorira Song. I apologize for the unannounced visit. I didn’t think you’d receive a reporter as a guest so I tagged along with Luhan.”

 

“Ah…a reporter,” Cha Tae Sung lifted his head as if inhaling the news, “what area do you work?”

 

“I’m an intern for The Chosun Ilbo,” Victoria smartly lied, “I’m currently doing some research about the business area. I hope you don’t mind answering some of my questions.”

“Ah…well,” Cha Tae Sung went on, “I have quite a busy afternoon, but if you make it quick I’ll answer whatever you ask of me. First, why don’t we all take a seat?” 

 

He extended his arm toward the couches. Both Victoria and Luhan inclined toward their seats, Cha Tae Sung sitting adjacent to them. 

 

“Jun, why don’t you get us some drinks? Is tea, ok?” 

 

They nodded. Jun, the tall, skinny man disappeared around the corner. Victoria watched his shadow descend down the hallway and suddenly wondered if Cha Tae Sung had someone else watching them from some place she didn’t know of. After all, they’d stepped into enemy territory. 

 

“So what were the questions I needed to answer for you?” Cha Tae Sung smiled kindly at Victoria. 

 

\ \ \ \ \

 

Seohyun dumped a bag of pre-made coffee packets into her basket and paused. Staring blankly down the empty aisle of goods she wondered if Luhan and Victoria had anything going on. 

 

“Well he does like her anyway,” Seohyun murmured to herself. 

 

Walking away from the shelves of coffee, she stepped into the snack aisle, and stopped when she saw the sweets Luhan had received from Victoria the day they’d gone shopping. While making a face she grabbed a bag of the sweets and tossed it alongside the coffee in her basket. 

 

\ \ \ \ \

There had been no choice to but jot everything she’d lied and come up with into her little notepad. Her grip on the ballpoint pen was slightly loose and her handwriting slightly unreadable, but none of that mattered. These fake interview questions she’d suddenly come up with in a matter of 10 minutes were as unimportant to her as she was to Cha Tae Sung. And how she had come up with these bothersome questions were beyond her understanding because not once in her life had she spent time learning how to be a reporter. 

 

“I’m afraid we’ll have to stop here,” the middle aged man noted in the most kind way as possible, “there are quite a few things I’d like to talk to Luhan about before I must leave. If this isn’t enough for your assignment you can call in to my secretary and she’ll set up an appointment for you.” 

 

Cha Tae Sung slid over a business card to Victoria who took it. She took a quick glance at it, her mind spinning with her next move. 

 

“Then I shall leave you to talk with Luhan,” Victoria got up, “thanks so much for your time.” 

 

Cha Tae Sung smiled and ordered Jun to lead Victoria out. Not surprisingly, Jun had been by the doorway the entire time. Now Victoria wondered what there was to talk to Luhan about. 

 

When she was midway down the hallway she said, “Excuse me, can I use the bathroom? I know the front door is down that hallway. After I’m done I can walk myself out.”

Jun looked at displeased but gave her directions to the bathroom. Aware that he’d probably stalk her to the bathroom to make sure she wasn’t sneaking her way around the house, Victoria walked right into the bathroom and locked the door. For quite a few minutes she stayed within the manor-like bathroom. Even as exquisite its design was, Victoria couldn’t bring herself to admire it. With the given time she had to look around the house for any special room. If lucky, she might even find the ‘Golden Mary’. She was sure Luhan was able to look after himself since they had no choice to but to be on their own for now. 

 

\ \ \ \ \

 

“It’s certainly been a while since I’ve seen you,” Cha Tae Sung smiled, “how tall were you the last time we met? My shoulder? You look taller these days.” 

 

Luhan took note of ‘these days’ before growing a smile on his face. 

 

“You look well too, Uncle.” 

 

“Oh, I forgot. Your father left with me something to give you before he went for his meeting in the states,” Tae Sung said, “Jun will take you to the room to get it. I’m going to have to get dressed for the meeting later this afternoon. I’ll meet up with you in a few minutes. Jun, if you please.” 

 

“Yes, sir.” Jun nodded. “Young sir, this way.” 

 

“Then I’ll see you in a few,” Tae Sung nodded at him before walking out. 

 

Luhan watched him leave before following Jun down the hallway into another identical hallway. He couldn’t help but browse around and glance at the closed doors. Was Victoria still in or had she really left? He hadn’t expected for Victoria to exit without him, but he assumed it was less suspicious without Victoria around. Cha Tae Sung would be too careful about his movement if there were an outsider around. 

Jun finally paused a door far down the hallway and opened the door for him. Luhan walked in quietly before Jun closed the door behind him. His eyes fell around the empty room with no windows but a desk and a table with two chairs. A royal rug of red and gold sat below the table. Where was this thing his father had left for him? 

 

A moment of silence took over before Luhan suddenly wondered if he’d been tricked. Hurrying toward the door he took hold of the doorknob and twisted it. Indeed, he’d been locked in. Why? Well, he supposed that was a dumb territory. Victoria had, after all, stated that Cha Tae Sung was another one after him. 

 

Slight footsteps echoed down the hallway and Luhan immediately pressed his ear against the door desperate to eavesdrop on any conversation. However, he heard not a thing before the knob started turning from the outside. Immediately stepping back to pretend he was looking elsewhere, the door opened. 

 

Luhan pretended to turn around surprised as if he hadn’t known the door had been locked. Cha Tae Sung apparently had a suit jacket over his outfit from earlier. Once the door closed the hard tension that hadn’t been there earlier rung over the room like a tornado call. 

 

“So, Luhan, I heard you’ve returned home from school a little too early,” Cha Tae Sung walked over to his desk and ran a finger along its surface as if to check for dust, “why is that?” 

 

Yes, there had been nothing his father had left for him. Cha Tae Sung had wanted to interrogate him one on one after he’d called to announce his abrupt visit.  

 

“Who is that reporter with you?” Cha Tae Sung questioned. “That doing was a little out of hand, wasn’t it? Or were you trying to confuse me and act like you didn’t know anything about the key?” 

 

He pressed his lips together. 

 

“By now you must be very well aware of what’s going on in your family and what your father is trying to get his hands on,” Cha Tae Sung continued, “and how risky a move it is for you to come here personally. You should know that I’m not a very generous person. After all, what kind of a person survives to the top without being a little greedy?” 

Luhan didn’t utter a word. He was aware that it had been a dangerous move to come see him, but he hadn’t expected for Cha Tae Sung to attack him head on. He hadn’t prepared himself for this. 

 

“It’ll be too much of a pity for you to die so young, so Luhan, why don’t you give up the key before men with arms welcome your mother at home?” 

 

\ \ \ \ \

 

Opening the door a crack Victoria peeked into the hallway. It was lifelessly empty. Quietly and as sneaky as she could she tip toed out and darted around the corner. Hiding around in broad daylight was not her thing, but here she hadn’t imagined herself being forced to do it. 

 

Sliding her foot around from the edgy corner she readied herself to run toward the heavy white staircase, but quickly stepped back pressing her back to the peach wall when she a pair of footsteps resounded against the walls. Two maids were talking amongst themselves about another maid, Victoria assumed, employed in the household. When their voices vanished, she poked her head around the corner to just to double check for the emptiness. With the sight clear she hobbled down the hallway. 

 

Relaxing at the top of the stairs, Victoria stared down both looming hallways on her left and right. She hated this. She always hated it when houses were like this. Victoria would have to debate to herself which side would be the most mysterious. Left or right. In the end, the right it was. Victoria bounced off her feet staying close to the wall and away from the sight of the sun. She had to take whatever precaution she could. Victoria couldn’t allow the sun to bring her shadow to life or else this would be a big a failure as it had been at Gi Su’s manor. 

Swallowing she came across the first unlocked door and opened it. Sticking her head into the room she saw that it was a small office decked with a few bookshelves, all full and neatly organized. Quickly entering she closed the door behind her and walked over to the shiny wooden desk with only a lamp on its desktop. Pulling every drawer open she found nothing but basic office necessities. Leaving the desk she walked over to each bookshelf skimming each title with her eyes before turning to look around. In the end, it was what it was. Just a small office. 

 

Heaving a sigh at her failure she cautiously opened the door and snuck out to continue her exploration down the hallway. The next two rooms were small libraries and with nothing but books and more books. The ‘Golden Mary’ couldn’t possibly be hidden anywhere. Deciding that the right hallway was nothing but study rooms, Victoria headed back down the corridor unaware of the shadow following. 

 

Halting by the edge of the wall, she glanced down the stairs. Still no sight of any of the maids or Jun. Victoria began hobbling past the staircase when a hand grabbed her arm. Spinning around Victoria found herself face to face with Jun. 

 

“What are you doing up here?” an aggravated expression stilled his face. 

 

He looked so different from the polite man she’d seen at the gate earlier. All of a sudden he looked so mean and unpleasant. 

 

“Oh…I…” Victoria started before he shoved her down the stairs after him. 

 

“Get out of here! Now!” he dragged her down the hall. 

“I was just looking around! I didn’t do anything!” Victoria shouted deciding that if she put a struggle against him things would just get worse in a matter of minutes. “I wanted to wait for Luhan before leaving so I decided to explore! I didn’t take anything, I swear!” 

 

“Get out of here! Luhan has already left!” 

 

They were now out the door and currently starting down the two flight of stairs. Victoria’s mind blanked first before suspicion arose over her. Luhan left? There was no way he’d have left without her. Well, it would have made sense since she was first to exit, but Victoria reminded herself they were on enemy ground. What if they had done something to him? The worst of any case scenario appeared inside her head. She felt a deep urge to groan because it was such a foolish thought. If Luhan was killed, of course the case would just get larger. 

 

“Left?” Victoria asked. 

 

“Yes, he left after you,” Jun lied, his heavy footsteps hurrying across the concrete. “Now get out and don’t come back! I’ll call the cops on you!” 

 

Victoria finally brought herself to a halt and shrugged herself out of his hands. 

 

“Fine, I’ll walk out myself,” Victoria heaved a frustrated glare at him and turned to start toward the gate, but hastily turned around slamming her flying foot into his chest. Jun fell with his back to the ground, gasping a loud short of breath. With a knee against the ground Victoria pulled him up by the collar of his shirt and growled, “Where’s Luhan?”

 

Jun moaned almost pitifully that Victoria felt a little guilty for kicking the old guy so hard. But what had to come first, came first. 

 

“Where’s Luhan?” Victoria asked again in a threatening tone. “Are you going to keep lying to me, or tell me the truth?”

 

“Chong Pil! Chong Pil!” Jun screamed in that hoarse voice of his. 

 

Victoria glanced up and around. Out of nowhere from behind a few of those thistles, an oval man in a blue overall appeared. The surprise and the gasp that fell from his astonished lips appeared all so well on his heavy face. 

“Jun!” he shouted before running over. 

 

“,” Victoria muttered before dropping Jun onto the ground. 

 

Assuming she had no time before the cops came, she ran back toward the house to look for Luhan. She couldn’t leave without him. Not when they came together. 

\ \ \ \ \

 

“Do you want to have lunch at 11?” Siwon asked Donghae when they made their way back to the car. “We won’t be able to locate this thief without energy.” 

 

“Ok, I’m hungry too.” Donghae nodded opening the passenger door. 

 

“I’m going to call Seohyun out for lunch. Do you want Victoria to come along?” Siwon watched as Donghae’s face brightened up for the first time that morning. 

 

Siwon smiled at how easy Donghae was to read before starting the call. After a few rings, Seohyun’s cheerful voice picked up from the other side of the line. 

 

“We’re stopping by for lunch in a few minutes, if you’re not busy, do you want to come out?” Siwon asked. 

 

“Lunch?” Seohyun repeated. “Yes, I’d like that.” 

 

Siwon glanced at the expectant gaze in Donghae’s eyes, “Is Victoria there too? Bring her along if she’s not busy.” 

 

“Ah…Victoria?” Seohyun repeated again. “She’s out right now. I don’t know when she’ll be back.” 

 

“Oh…is that so?” Siwon glanced over at Donghae again worried if he would be disappointed. “Then, I’ll call you when we get there.” 

 

After hanging up Siwon braked when they reached a red light. 

 

“Seohyun says Victoria’s out at the moment,” Siwon said a little regrettably. “I can cancel the date with Seohyun and we can go somewhere else. I don’t mind since this wasn’t planned beforehand…”