\ \ \ \ \

One sigh after another drew itself from his lips as he picked up bottle after bottle and tossed it into the garbage bag he was lugging after him. His apartment was cleaner than it had been in two days. It’d look as it always had, clean, organized, and empty after he got rid of all the alcohol.

After tossing the garbage out he walked back into his lonely apartment that reverberated nothing. There was no feeling of happiness nor was there any feeling of longing. It was nothing but a box of empty.

Shuffling his feet forward solemnly he bent down to pick up the phone he’d thrown out of anger. Donghae’s eyes roamed over the expensive thing and felt his heart ache. He didn’t deserve Victoria. Not at this point in time. He wasn’t worthy of receiving her feelings. Not anymore.

Donghae was prepared to return his life back to how it used to be.

\ \ \ \ \

No matter how hard Victoria tried, sleep did not make its visit to her that night. She ended up sitting with knees drawn up to her chest in the dark of her room. The blanket drawn over her lower body as her eyes traveled out the window into the dark streets. A lot of thoughts ran itself back and forth. None of them contained Seohyun or Siwon. Heck, she didn’t even feel that worried about the ‘Golden Mary’. She was brooding over Donghae and the soft kiss filled with passion they’d shared at the motel when she was drunk. The man she knew then was so different from the man that morning.

“Can’t you…think about the feelings I have for you? Can’t you think about them once?” Donghae cried.

She was scared. She was just a plain coward. Victoria shut the thought off immediately and closed her eyes leaning her forehead against her knees. She didn’t want to think about him nor any possibilities with him. What she wanted most was the ‘Golden Mary’ and a return ticket back to the government.

“I called to talk with Uncle Lee Sook Chin to confirm, he still lives here,” Luhan explained from beside Victoria.

Under the natural spotlight belonging to the sun, they were standing in front of a tall Victorian styled gate. From what she could see was a rocky staircase and a large healthy green lawn in front of a miniature looking bricked home.

“Yoo Yong Sun’s mother is still alive, so they live under traditional premises,” Luhan went on. “Unlike Gi Su’s advanced alarm, they don’t use one. Ah,” he turned to look at her, “I went to see Yun Man and he has a new alarm installed. He’s gotten rid of the bodyguards. Once the back door opens his alarm will tap immediately into the police station’s services to let them know that his home’s been broken into.”

“Really?” Victoria said without much interest.

Her eyes lay still on the bricked home in front of her. At least for now she wouldn’t have to worry too much about the break-in, nor the story about going to Jeju.

\ \ \ \ \

Seohyun gazed at the brilliant manor from where she stood near the entrance to Luhan’s home. There was no trace of any “Welcome Home” presence. The manor was a décor of yellow and white framed windows with a fire red rooftop. Even as homey and happy the color yellow looked, Luhan’s home owned by Noh Ki Young was unlike any other yellow home. It eluded a feeling of control and obscurity.

The yard was quite empty itself and the flower patched garden by the side of the house which Luhan’s mother had worked on was now almost overrun by wild weeds. On either side of the house was two driveways or that had been all Seohyun could make out. Years ago this had been all she’d been able to see too. If she had known his father’s identity, she was sure her life wouldn’t have been safe.

Noh Ki Young was not just the one person who stood at the top of Samsung Group, but strong, powerful people like him used all methods to keep the lower of society away from their feet. Powerful men like him treated the lower of society like a plague. 

Tempted to walk away with just the mere thought of how she could have been treated by his father, Seohyun readied herself to turn around. She stopped when the door unlocked with a heavy click and turned to see the butler who often chauffeured Luhan to and from school. And it seemed that he, as well, recognized her.

When he stepped out from behind the door she saw a garbage bag in his hand and smiled at him. A mile down from the house Seohyun sat at one of the tables offered outside the coffee shop with an ice coffee in hand, the butler drinking a mocha.

Just that morning, again, Victoria and Luhan had disappeared without telling her anything. Her injuries were healing up, not fast but well on their way there. No one was going to tell her anything. Seohyun figured Victoria would modify the story about Jeju to her if she were to know why they were going, but no one was going to spill to her the truth. If Luhan had kept to himself so well, Victoria as heck wouldn’t say anything either. Seohyun would have to fare for herself if she didn’t want to be kept in the dark and be played like a puppet. So here she was, in Gwangju, the city she’d never planned on coming back to because this was the place where her parents chose to abandon her. It was the hometown that she resented because the things which occurred here sent her into a whirlpool of self-despair, and she hadn’t felt like crawling out of it until recently.

Being left alone and letting herself be left alone was going to bring her to a quicker death than her parents. Seohyun couldn’t live that way anymore. She was going to reach her hand out and climb into the world where she knew now that someone else was waiting for her. She would tell Victoria to start searching for her own happiness too, but right now, she needed to know what they were keeping from her in order to understand everything. Without knowing what was going on, she would just mess up if she assumed again.

And Seohyun would definitely not mess up this time around.

“I have heard that you’ve moved to Seoul. What is it that you do now?”

“Private work,” Seohyun smiled tapping her forefinger against the lid of her cup. “Say, how long have you been working in that house, Uncle Kim?”   

“Mmm…” he tilted his head up somewhat, “for somewhat over 40 years.”

So he was somewhere in his 60’s she calculated. He did look much younger back then.

“I’m sorry to ask, if you’ve been that long in that house, you’d know what’s going on, wouldn’t you?” Seohyun asked trying to keep things vague.

“I’m sorry, what is it? This old head of mine doesn’t really want to keep up with anything these days.” Butler Kim expressed. “If you want to know anything, just ask away. I don’t mind. You’re our young Luhan’s best friend."

It made Seohyun wonder of Luhan had stopped by at all. For some reason she felt sorry that an old man such as he would still wait on a young capable guy like Luhan.

“Luhan’s father, do you know where he is?”

The easy-going expression sitting on his face grew serious with worry before it officially became intensely stern. His eyes narrowed, the creases surrounding the corner of his eyes turning more visible by each second.

“Why would you ask about his father?”

“Here, in Seoul?” each word came out carefully enunciated, her lips curving to carefully shape them.

Butler Kim stiffened as if nervous. Seohyun’s eyes quickly browsed the streets to see that it was pretty much empty. A few cars would drive by every few minutes, but only a few youngsters who were too busy dating tried to take up the streets. If he were afraid someone was listening in on them, she couldn’t see anyone smart enough to do so. Nor were there any good hiding spots in such an open space. There was a garbage can by the street pole at the corner of the walk, but no alleys by any buildings. 

Seohyun studied his facial expression to see that he was indeed battling with himself over the answer he should give. She ransacked her own thoughts for anything to say against him if he were to oppose her question. Then she remembered Victoria mentioning Jeju. Why that place?

Raising her eyes up she glanced at the 60 year old man’s troubled face. Leaning forward she said, “Then, Jeju?”

His eyes lit up and she knew then what the answer was. Seohyun assumed it was time to start playing smart. Things were going particularly well and she was feeling proud of herself. Dragging her bag onto her lap she whipped out her wallet and opened it. Pushing the content forward she let him look at her Agent ID.

“I’m under cover,” Seohyun explained, “this is serious business. Do you understand why you’re speaking to me right now? I want information and I need it now.”

Butler Kim’s eyes rose up to meet hers. Suddenly the nervousness that was there before seemed to fade. Did he believe now that he could trust her?

“Luhan…Luhan came back a few weeks ago,” he began.

“How long ago was that?”

Butler Kim fell into thought, “Perhaps a month ago.”

Had he returned to Korea the same time she and Victoria had come down to the suburbs of Seoul? Had their time clashed so well?

“Yes,” he nodded his head, “you see, Luhan was furious when his mother was dismissed from the family. Apparently, when I found him in the middle of the night in his father’s library I discovered he had been receiving e-mail from Hong Chong Il.”

“Hong Chong Il?” the news struck her.

“Yes,” he said again with a nod of his head, “Luhan’s father’s left hand man who was dismissed from work.”

“Why?”

He shook his head looking lost himself, “He was a good man.”

“Then Luhan…”

“He took the key to Hong Chong Il’s home.”

“I can interpret that as to stealing, right?”

The butler looked confused again as if he didn’t want it to be said that certain way.

“What else? So Luhan took the key.” 

The butler shook his head, “I do not know the rest of the story. Luhan and his mother have been removed from the family registry. I have heard from gossip that there are eyes watching his every move from the moment he arrived in Korea. I do not matter if I die because I am old, but Luhan is still young and full of potential. If you see him, please tell him to run away from here.”

Seohyun took note of his mention of death. She was ready to leave as night was already closing in.

“Lets split up here,” Butler Kim stood up from his chair. “Agent who is also Seohyun, young Luhan’s best friend, I hope you can keep Luhan safe and away from those eyes.”

What eyes? Seohyun was confused but certainly more allured to her personal investigation. It seemed Luhan was hiding more from her than she thought and she thought they were friends. Not good friends, not best friends, but she had thought they were at least friends. She had known him for so long and had only reunited. What was their relationship?

She cranked her head as she drove through a familiar neighborhood and slowed the car. Coming to a complete stop she turned her head to find herself in front of the small home she had grown up in. A million flashbacks ran through her head like a film she couldn’t stop. The colors varying from bright happiness to sadness quickly becoming dull. A gray shade spilled itself on her world turning it dark and she could see her parents going at their arguments again.

Bitter resentment flushed through her. Divorce had been the worst stage of her life. It had ruined her beliefs for happiness, ruined the humane part of her, it had cut away all her contacts with the world. None of it mattered now. Seohyun was ready to move on and all that mattered was she do something to make sure she did move on. Because she was sure, there was another world waiting for her outside of all this gloominess.

Stepping on the accelerator she sped off.

\ \ \ \ \

“I’ll be going to Gwangju and be returning in the middle of the night, if not I’ll probably have found a resting stop down here.” ~ Seohyun

Victoria stared at the note blankly before turning around to look at Luhan. Holding it within her fingers she asked, “You see this?”

“Ah…yea. I saw it when we got back,” Luhan walked in with a bag of goods in his hand. “You know why she’s gone?”

Victoria shrugged. “She can take care of herself. I did tell her that we’ll resume work by the end of this week. Perhaps she wants some time alone.”

“Could be.” Luhan agreed. They were quiet and he turned to examine her, “Are you worried?”

Victoria took the bag from him and started taking out the contents, “About the argument? The job?”

“Both? And the incident yesterday.”

She paused and turned to him. “Seohyun’s capable of figuring things out. She can sort out her own life too. We’re not the same after all.”

“Then…what about yesterday? Are you really ok?” he seemed really worried from the side and for some reason Victoria felt really touched by it, but she knew that if she acknowledged it she’d feel weak and her heart would crush itself.

Victoria pulled on a smile while an invisible arrow stung her heart painfully, “Yea, I’m fine.” 

No, she wasn’t fine. She couldn’t sleep. Victoria tossed and turned in bed before staring out the window. At 4 in the morning she finally sat up in the dark of her room and stared at nothing still refusing to think of anything. One thing was clear though. She felt horrible, awful, and something inside her hurt a lot. Victoria didn’t want to find out what it was.

\ \ \ \ \

“Thank you, have a good day!” the woman behind the desk shouted before Donghae walked out ignorantly.

His eyes lay on the brand new phone that sat in the middle of his hand. What he wanted to do most was apologize to Victoria for hurting her and not being in better control of himself. No wonder she didn’t find him capable of anything. Truth was, he couldn’t do anything. Not for anyone, not for himself.

Donghae couldn’t find it in himself to go see her face to face. Not that he was scared of her hitting him, that he’d let her do. It was just he felt ashamed and low.

Turning his phone on and walking away from the traffic behind him, he wondered if she would pick up his call. He hesitated until he walked all the way back to his apartment.

\ \ \ \ \

Victoria turned away from her laptop when her phone went off. She picked it up, glanced at the screen once, and without a thought tossed it on her bed covering it with a pillow and the bed sheet. 

\ \ \ \ \

“Thief, where are you?” Siwon questioned from inside his police car.

The amateur sketch now looked funnier than ever to him now. He wasn’t getting any closer to finding this person he was supposed to be tracking. Siwon didn’t understand why. After all this searching, he should have picked up a clue or two, but nothing had come up. Siwon was confused and lost. For the first time he didn’t know what he should do.

Was this really a dead end for him?

A sigh left his mouth and he picked up his phone. Donghae wouldn’t pick up and he couldn’t go see him since he had to cover Donghae’s shift as well. And yet, Seohyun was out of town. She wouldn’t be able to help him relieve stress.

Another dead sigh fell from his lips.

\ \ \ \ \

Seohyun found herself standing at the second home she had infiltrated with Victoria. She recognized those brick walls they had climbed over and could visualize the bushes behind. The home had brilliant black tiles and a well off chimney extending into the air. This time Seohyun had to stand like a good citizen in front of the door and wait for someone to come for her. No matter what, she promised herself, she’d get something out of Hong Chong Il.

“Yes?” the door opened a crack.

Seohyun met with a face belonging to an average teenage. Probably the daughter of one of the maids, she assumed. K

“Is Hong Chong Il home?” Seohyun asked. 

“Do you have an appointment?”

“Government work,” Seohyun smiled kindly. 

The girl eyed her suspiciously. Seohyun sighed very silently before showing the girl her Agent ID. She immediately backed off and Hong Chong Il, her very awaited guest, walked to the door looking tired and busy. He wasn’t really what she had imagined. Instead he was like a stump and short, though skinny. His stomach bulged out unlike any of the other businessmen she’d met with and he had a row of bushy hair which ran around the back of his head to the other end. It left the top of his head with skin.

“Who are you?” he asked.

Seohyun decided to show him her ID right away, “Lets talk right away, shall we?”

Hong Chong Il stared at her card as if suspicious about it himself.

“Could we…talk somewhere else?” he whispered. “My family is all home right now.”

***Seohyun's investigation is certainly coming along well ^^