Chapter 4
'Golden Mary'
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So in a small restaurant sitting across from Victoria and Luhan, Seohyun silently muttered to herself while picking away at her salad. Victoria was enjoying to herself another cup of coffee and a bagel while Luhan already finished his pancakes. It had approximately been 10 minutes since they’d been sitting there in absolute silence.
Seohyun was aware that Victoria wanted her to explain to her about the meaning of Luhan’s sudden appearance and how they knew each other. She just wasn’t in the mood to talk about such things at the moment, but she knew Victoria wouldn’t leave the restaurant unless she said what Victoria wanted to hear. She silently sighed to herself and chewed continuously on her salad leaf.
“So Seohyun, Luhan here says that you two have been good friends since high school,” Victoria started running her finger around the top of her mug. “That’s been some time since you two’ve known each other. Why are you so stiff?”
Seohyun pressed her lips together and continued stabbing at her salad leaves. Their waitress stopped by and poured some more coffee for Victoria before walking off. She glanced up to see Luhan peering out the window, his childish eyes watching everyone as they passed the restaurant.
“He’s only someone I knew in high school, nothing more,” Seohyun groaned.
“There’s more than just that. We were good friends,” Luhan turned his head away from the window to look at Seohyun who glared back at him.
Victoria watched him amused.
“So there’s something unresolved here? Right,” Victoria spoke.
“No.” Seohyun replied setting her fork down. “The day you left to study abroad was the day we already cleared everything up. And no, we didn’t date, Victoria. You left without telling me anything and you left a stupid note behind. A note! Therefore, I no longer know you.”
“You were having family issues, it was difficult to move around with my father being so widely known,” Luhan stated. “How could I call you out in the middle of that mess? As a friend I’m only asking for your help. I need it now. As a friend, I need you to help me.”
Seohyun stared at him with every decision possible running through her mind. In the middle of the silence Victoria suddenly shot up from her seat surprising her. Seohyun who’d sunk back into her seat stared up at her friend.
“Seohyun, wait here. I’ll be back,” was all Victoria said before darting out the door.
Seohyun twisted her body around to watch Victoria exit the restaurant.
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Victoria pushed herself through the crowd being careful to keep him within her eyesight. He wasn’t too far away but if she was too hasty she’d lose sight of him easily. She turned sideways to move between crowds of people who didn’t seem to know that they were in the way. The annoyance growing within Victoria was suddenly too much that she felt like grabbing a speaker to swear at everyone of them.
She darted across a red light and narrowed her eyes at his back. Just who was he?
“Where are you going?” Victoria whispered when she saw that he was walking toward a park.
After crossing the last crosswalk Victoria finally allowed herself to run after him.
“Hey, you!” she shouted when she grabbed onto his shoulder.
Everything seemed to flash back in slow motion when he spun around to look at her. When their eyes met, his eyes grew wide, Victoria narrowed her eyes even more. Neither of them moved or spoke for a moment.
“Who are you?” Victoria asked.
“Donghae!”
Victoria turned to see another familiar face jogging her way before she glanced at the man in her grasp without moving her face. She suddenly understood. The man she’d seen twice due to coincidence, his name suddenly engraved itself into her memory.
“Ah…hello,” the police officer greeted Victoria with a slight bow.
“Hi,” Victoria removed her hand from Donghae’s shoulder.
“I remember you,” Siwon said, “your friend hasn’t gotten into any more trouble, has she?”
He was so strikingly handsome that Victoria felt her heart race.
“No,” Victoria smiled shaking her head.
“Take care then,” Siwon nodded before turning to Donghae, “lets go. We’ve been called in.”
Victoria and Donghae glanced at each other before Siwon pulled him away. She watched the two of them walk away unable to move from where she was. While they moved farther and farther away Victoria could feel a sense of unsafe curiosity growing over Donghae unable to stop wondering about why he’d taken her into the alley. And her heart rapidly pounding at the smile the police officer whose name she didn’t yet know.
“Victoria!” Seohyun’s voice made her turn around to see Seohyun running toward her with Luhan walking behind. “What are you doing?”
Victoria turned back to the police officer whose name she did not know and Donghae. If they were together, then did that make Donghae a police officer as well? It still didn’t answer anything. Why had he pulled her into an alley to ask her a question? Why had he appeared at Hong Chong Il’s place that night?
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“Do you know her?” Siwon asked when they walked out of the shade of a tree.
Donghae slightly tilted his head to glance back.
“She looked like she was going to say something to you,” Siwon went on. “Is she your girlfriend?”
“Girlfriend?” Donghae repeated. “Perhaps.”
\ \ \ \ \
When the sun had gone down Seohyun stumbled into the kitchen to see Victoria sitting alone. It was a sight different from one she’d seen before. Often she’d see Victoria sending e-mails out to their colleagues still working in the government or listening to some spunky music she’d find online. Well Seohyun guessed that since Victoria’s room was such a mess she probably felt too lazy to dig through her pile of clothes for her laptop. It was rare to see Victoria so absorbed in her own thoughts and be so obvious about it.
“Are we doing anything tonight?” Seohyun questioned leaning over Victoria’s chair.
“No.” Victoria replied. “What about your friend? You’re going to let him stay here?”
“He hasn’t said anything yet,” Seohyun said. “He doesn’t have anywhere else to go at the moment anyway.”
“What about his parents?”
“His father’s a big business owner,” Seohyun explained, “they’re probably home but won’t take him back. He has money so he’ll find a place soon.”
“So no choice but to let him stay, huh?” Victoria asked staring outside the window blankly, her arms folded before her.
Seohyun sighed and followed Victoria’s eyes to the barren street outside. Not even a fat alley cat had chosen to come by. Seohyun tilted her eyes to stare into the sky. The moon wasn’t out but the stars had aligned themselves all over the sky into neat patterns each taking their turn to shine. She thought it looked really pretty for some reason.
“What are you thinking about?”
“I don’t know, stuff.” Victoria shrugged.
Seohyun stared at her friend for a while before standing up to stretch her back.
“Sometimes don’t you think about how you shouldn’t have taken the job offer?” Victoria asked. “How nice it would be to just work in an office and come home to a normal family after an eight hour shift. Our job is so irregular that we can’t even relax for a minute. Our job requires complete dedication and commitment that we can’t make room for anything else. It’s kind of sad when you think about it. We’re so busy at work but when we can go home, we do. And when we arrive home, there’s no family to greet us but an empty space of loneliness. We always have to live away from our homes. It’s only because of the ‘Golden Mary’ that we can experience normal city life again after these years. Things sure have changed. It makes you feel somewhat more lonely than usual.”
“Yea?” Seohyun sullenly replied able to sympathize with Victoria. “Do you want some beer? I’ll go buy some.”
Seohyun went to retrieve some money and started toward the door but paused and glanced into the living room, the box of a room they never used, to see Luhan lying down on the couch that had been there since they moved in playing with a model airplane.
“Hey, I’m going out to grab some beer,” Seohyun said, “don’t you get any funny ideas with Victoria now, do you hear me? I’ll really slice off your tongue.”
Luhan sat up suddenly attentive, “You’re going out?”
Seohyun sent him another glare before walking out the door. No elevator meant she’d have to waste her energy running down and back up. She was beginning to resent the old building a little more. When she landed on the last step and opened the door she stepped out to heave a loud sigh with her shoulders raising and dropping. A smile spread over her face before she suddenly flew aside. The street lights became a blur as well as everything else around her before someone grabbed her hand to pull her away from the concrete below.
Once she was steadied on both feet she heard someone repeatedly apologize to her. Seohyun managed to raise a hand to massage her head and blink her eyes rapidly to bring herself back to life. She first stared at the four faces of the man in front of her before they somehow merged into one. Seohyun found herself staring at the brilliantly handsome man smiling at her.
“I’m so sorry, are you alright?”
“Ah! Hello!” Seohyun immediately bowed upon recognition.
The man stared back at her before laughing and bowed in return. “It’s a surprise meeting you here.”
“Yes…” Seohyun’s smile could only grow larger. “Are you doing night exercises?”
“Yes, I’m just running rounds around the neighborhood.” the police officer who had helped retrieve her bag the other day replied.
“Really?” Seohyun asked. “Ah…I’m going out to buy some drinks. Would you like one as well?”
“Ah…I can’t. I work early in the morning.”
“That’s right,” Seohyun pressed her lips together, her smile refused to fade. “Then how about a snack?”
It wasn’t strange being friendly to a person she’d seen once before, right? Seohyun hoped he wouldn’t think anything of her. Anyhow, there was really no harm to be done. He was a police officer and she was sure that if she was a bad person he’d oust her within seconds. She was after all a replica of a fragile woman.
“Ok, that’s fine.” he nodded.
Seohyun raised her eyes up to think some more before turning to him, “And how about your name? There’s a small convenience store just two blocks down. If I beat you there, you tell me your name.”
“Excuse me?” he questioned surprised by her sudden request.
“Should we start?” Seohyun smiled at him.
Unable to pull himself together he glanced at her blankly.
“On the count of 3, ok?” Seohyun asked.
“Are you sure?” he worried. “I‘m pretty fast.”
“Don’t worry about me and give it your all,” Seohyun assured. “Get ready. 1, 2, …3!”
Seohyun purposely watched as he dashed on ahead and quickly turned into an alley. She was often known to outrun everyone else during her training days. There was no chance she was going to lose this one, especially when she’d win his name.
Hopping over some crates she dashed forward through the alley, high jumped a fence stretching across her path, and turned around the corner. This was hers and Victoria’s secret route out of the apartment building if they ever needed to leave the apartment for a job and not be watched. If she used the street to run she’d have to stop for oncoming cars and boy that’d just be a bother. A smile glided over her face when she spotted the convenience store ahead. Running past a few garbage bins she stopped in front of the door and turned down her right.
In a few moments time she saw the police officer running toward her. Seohyun smiled and waved to him.
\ \ \ \ \
Luhan poked his head into the kitchen to see Victoria pouring a glass of water. He watched her quietly for a seconds before he jumped at her voice.
“You’re going to be mistaken for a peeping-Tom if you continue staring,” Victoria turned her head to look at him.
Feeling embarrassed for being caught so easily he stepped out from the wall he’d been hiding.
“Want a glass of water?” Victoria asked.
“Uh…sure.”
Victoria grabbed another cup and poured some cold water into it before holding it out to him. With no choice Luhan stepped forward to grab the cup of water from her and took a sip. Victoria set the jar of water back into the small refrigerator and returned to her spot at the table. Once the glass of water clinked against the tabletop Luhan wondered if he should sit as well.
“Are you going to continue standing there?” Victoria asked.
Luhan quickly shuffled his feet and took a seat at the table across from her. With both hands on the cup he wondered if Victoria was going to interrogate him like the police.
“Seohyun said you’re going to stay for a few more days,” Victoria started, “because your parents won’t let you go back home. What did you do to get kicked out? It’s quite a shame that you returned home like this.”
“Just…I got into a few fights.”
“Really?” Victoria didn’t seem to believe him. “Or did you come back on your own?”
Luhan leaned back into his chair caught off guard by her assumption. Did she know something about him? He felt kind of nervous. He hadn’t thought that Victoria would seem so scary, authoritative.
“I’m just saying,” Victoria said as if knowing that he was growing nervous. “Are you scared of me? You’re acting like I’m a cougar or something right now.”
Growing even more nervous with the fact that he’d offended her he furiously shook his tiny head in reply. He watched as Victoria closely eyed him with narrow eyes before drinking some more of her water.
“How long have you and Seohyun known each other? She hasn’t spoken to me once about you. If you don’t know, she is one to hold things against somebody else for a long time.”
“Ah…is that so?” Luhan managed. “She used to be very passive. Do you know what she does now?”
Victoria shrugged, “A reporter. Say, don’t you have any other friends other than Seohyun?”
Luhan tilted his eyes down somewhat. “I don’t have many. They’re always after money so I don’t really have any.”
“That’s kind of sad,” Victoria said monotonously.
Luhan could only grow an awkward smile on his face, “How long have you and Seohyun been living together?”
“A week or so,” Victoria replied.
“A week?” he was surprised.
“We know each other from work, that’s not too strange, is it?” Victoria asked. “I don’t have anything against you staying, but I hope you don’t probe into our business.”
Business? What was Victoria and Seohyun actually doing together? Oh well, Luhan assumed he shouldn’t bother with finding out unless he wanted another interrogation from Victoria.
“I won’t, I promise.”
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While panting breathlessly, Siwon glanced at the girl who was cheerfully waving at him from the front of the convenience store. He walked over to her in defeat wondering how she’d gotten there so fast when he’d just run straight down two blocks. What was she? A track athlete?
“You’re fast,” Siwon managed between his breaths.
Seohyun smiled at him. “I’m Seohyun.”
Oh yea, he’d forgotten for a slight second that all she wanted was his name and to give him a treat.
“Choi Siwon,” he introduced himself, “I want an ice cream bar.”
Seohyun smiled again before choking up with laughter.
A few minutes later in the quiet store he leaned against the counter with an ice cream bar in hand while Seohyun checked out with her drinks. He watched her pay before she walked out of the store. The night was quiet and as he’d noticed before the neighborhood wasn’t full of traffic or lousy engines roaring as they raced down the street.
“Are you celebrating something tonight?” Siwon wondered unwrapping his bar.
“Just in the mood for it,” Seohyun replied. “I should be going now. I’ve been out too long. Have a good night, Siwon.”
Siwon watched as the young lady waved to him before running off with a jog. He stared after her with curiosity and a small smile.
***And as fate would have it, Seohyun finds out Siwon's name first ^^
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