Chapter 5
'Golden Mary'
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All the way from inside her room she could hear Seohyun’s feet pounding against the floor madly. Victoria closed out of her email and waited for Seohyun to reach the door of the bedroom she’d finally scrapped clean since her hangover that morning.
“Victoria!” Seohyun shouted from the door of her room panting breathlessly. “Hey, look at this!”
Victoria turned around in her chair to see Seohyun’s long hair trailing over her shoulder as she walked inside. Her eyes then landed on the newspaper in Seohyun’s thin fingers wondering what she was so excited about.
“There’s going to be a presentation today,” Seohyun continued shaking the paper in her hand, “look, see? There’s that big computer geek, Ha Dong Ju, who’s going to be there today. He’s been booked for arrests a few times, hasn’t he? There’s going to be a big commotion over the new computer program he’s presenting today. He says it’s powerful enough to hack the strongest firewalls and protect servers from virus attacks. And there’s that big business woman we’ve been looking into, Im Chong Ae, who’s investing in it. Don’t you think it’s going to be a big deal? Cops are going to be all around.”
Victoria snatched the paper from her and skimmed the columns thoroughly. She spotted the names of several other business persons as well as other investors who were going to be present.
“And point is?”
“Shouldn’t we go?” Seohyun asked. “It’s our chance to meet other people and try to get close to them as reporters, I mean. We could even ask for fake interviews and go to their house, and while one of us hosts the interview the other can pry around.”
“There are cops there,” Victoria stated setting the newspaper down onto her desk, “something’s going to happen if this guy’s meant to be in prison. Are you sure you want to be part of the commotion?”
“What do you mean?” Seohyun questioned lost.
“It’s not a bad idea that we could meet other big tyrants through this,” Victoria nodded, “but if we get caught in the turmoil and they ask for our identity afterward, what are you going to do? Tangle yourself up with the police corps and ruin our job?”
Seohyun frowned. From looking at her expression Victoria was sure that it’d been a possibility she’d forgotten to question. There was still another possibility that she and Seohyun could bow down onto their knees and cry for innocence, such tactics always worked with women. Victoria felt her mind flood with other thoughts instantly.
“It’s not a bad idea after all,” Victoria said looking back at Seohyun, “where’s Luhan? He’s bound to know some of these people there if his dad’s such a big businessman.”
“Luhan?” Seohyun repeated. “Oh that’s right, I forgot about that.”
Victoria watched as she turned to look out her door.
“I didn’t see him when I came in. Maybe he went out.”
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The sun was beating down on Luhan when he stepped toward the crowd semi-formally dressed in a casual suit. Pulling at his black tie he glanced at the familiar faces he’d seen in his father’s home so many times. More than a dozen rows of chairs had been set up at the front near a high platform decorated with blue stripes and a microphone at the center. A huge banner with “New World Microsoft” printed on it hung at the back.
Luhan walked around wondering where his father’s right hand man, An Kor, was. He was definitely sure that An Kor would be there to receive it that day. No mater what, Luhan couldn’t lose sight of him.
He walked around large a large crowd chatting about cheat strategies of how to increase stocks before he spotted the bearded man. An Kor was talking to Ha Dong Ju and they were currently laughing about something. Luhan pressed his way through the crowd to eavesdrop on their conversation. Perhaps it was Ha Dong Ju who had it.
When he received news in China that his father had abandoned his mother for the wealth of the ‘Golden Mary’ he’d flown back immediately. The ‘Golden Mary’ was a word passed around large business owners in complete secret, it was like gossip among men. One long night when he’d been unable to sleep in his chambers he’d climbed down the stairs and crept pass his father’s office only to stop at feverish laughter. There was talk about a large banquet at the government hall and the ‘Golden Mary’ that could bring wealth to the particular person who was able to manipulate it.
The ‘Golden Mary’ had sounded like an ancient treasure and Luhan had shrugged it off until he returned to hear talk about the golden key spreading amongst the tycoons in Hong Chong Il’s home. Unfortunately, three small business homes had been thrown out of the field. The bigger tycoons were placing pressure upon the investments invested into such businesses and with no money or backup the financial difficulties would only become too much. That only meant one thing and that was those small business owners either had the
‘Golden Mary’ or they were either suspected of possessing it.
Luhan’s only key now was to find out its exact location and determine whether his father would have it within his hands or not. If it had destroyed his parent’s 40 years of marriage forcing his mother to head back to her home, he’d have no choice but to make sure his father suffered the same fate.
30 minutes before the presentation would begin and as the harbor became more packed than before, Luhan stalked An Kor with only the ‘Golden Mary’ in mind.
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Donghae pressed his lips together in distaste at the sight the harbor beheld him. A line of police officers and body guards had already fully contained the area along the sides. He wondered why the police station had even bothered calling him in when the other guys looked much bigger than he.
“Great,” Donghae muttered grabbing a water bottle from a volunteer and stood beside a tall man shaking his leg.
He glanced around once more and wondered why Ha Dong Ju had decided to do his damn presentation right beside the sea. Did he not know that a large wind would be coming their way and would most likely destruct the microphone? Donghae shook his head despising the area totally before he looked around to see Choi Siwon speaking with the person in charge. He was currently nodding and pointing his fingers here and there as if to make sure everything was correctly in place. Donghae couldn’t help but snort a little.
“Just who is he to be so great?” Donghae asked before recalling that Siwon was currently trying to track him down.
Pressing his lips together he stood with hands held behind him assuring himself that he’d have to behave if he didn’t want to be found out. The image of the sketch on that piece of paper appeared in his mind and he giggled a little before he turned his head to see Victoria and her friend entering from the back. As they glanced around Donghae couldn’t help but narrow his eyes a little, keeping her within his sight.
“What is she doing here?” he wondered. “Does she like money or big men?”
He eyed the area they sat in watched as she and her friend whispered to each other.
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“Ladies and gentlemen…” Ha Dong Ju’s voice drowned out the crowd.
Seohyun half listened to his speech and glanced around the crowd while they clapped away at his opening speech. She ran her eyes over every men and women possible being careful to target those only with big names. Victoria clapped again from beside her and Seohyun paused when she recognized a familiar block of hair sitting not too far in front of her. She frowned and tilted her head to the side almost bumping into the old man sitting beside her.
“Sorry,” she quickly apologized before she felt an eyebrow raise.
Even though everyone was familiarly dressed in a suit or dress, Seohyun swore she’d recognize him anywhere: Luhan and his thin frame plus his block of light colored hair. For sure it had to be him, but what the heck was he doing there? Wasn’t he supposed to be looking for a place to stay?
Seohyun nudged Victoria and was about to whisper to her about Luhan’s presence before a large amount of wind swept by blowing off the huge banner on the stage and at the tables by the side.
“Everyone get down!” someone screamed.
Seohyun and Victoria stood up amongst the panicking crowd to look around. No one seemed to be attacking but all of a sudden everyone seemed to be running wildly as if it had been planned. Before Seohyun realized it someone had pushed her to the ground.
“Aish!” she screamed frustrated before she realized she’d landed upon Victoria.
Someone pulled her up by the arm rapidly asking, “Are you ok?”
Seohyun glanced at the uniformed man to recognize Siwon.
“Oh!” was all she could mutter at the moment.
“You should get somewhere safe,” he suggested, his hand still on her arm.
Seohyun looked for Victoria before realizing that she was missing. She pressed her lips together assuring herself that Victoria was one to take care of herself…but Luhan…
“Wait!” Seohyun stepped out of his grasp to look around for Luhan.
She paced back and forth wildly searching around the crowd pushing people aside for that familiar blockhead but did not sight him anywhere. The screaming women were still howling inside her ears and Seohyun was soon growing irritated.
“Lu--” she started but stopped when she saw him running after someone, actually a whole crowd was running toward the docks. “What the…”
“Everyone please calm down!” someone shouted from the microphone to which no one abided.
Seohyun stepped forward starting at a fast run continually pushing people aside before she grabbed onto his shoulder. He spun around surprised before he set a foot out to run again but Seohyun held him back.
“Seohyun!” he shouted.
“What the hell are you doing!?” Seohyun screamed.
He opened his mouth to speak but decided against it and glanced behind her. Seohyun turned around to see a wild group of men hustled together like a pack of wolves. They were big men actually, and their dark suits reminded her of the men who had infiltrated Hong Chong Il’s house the night she and Victoria had stolen their way in.
Had someone started a fight? Then it suddenly dawned on Seohyun that Victoria might have gotten herself into the fight as well. She quickly glanced at Luhan who seemed captivated by the sight, however she couldn’t let him spot Victoria. He’d grow curious with questions.
“This way!” Seohyun grabbed his hand and dragged him after her toward the park side.
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Victoria’s crushed arm hurt but she didn’t have the time to be absorbing the pain right now. After pulling herself up she’d been lugged into a crowd of men and had flown against someone’s back before catching sight of a gun hidden within a man’s jacket. Victoria tumbled to the ground clumsily but was able to pull herself back up easily thanks to the pants she’d decided to wear unlike Seohyun who’d gone with a long skirt.
Before she was able to attack someone locked his arm around pulling her after him. Victoria felt a large amount of annoyance grow within her and she was sure that as hot tempered as she was she was at her limit. Something clicked before she felt an icy cool gun lock itself at her temple.
“If you don’t stop, I’ll kill her,” the man threatened.
The stranger in front of her paused before reaching into his pocket hesitantly and tossed something like white powder at them. Victoria found herself coughing immediately, actually she was coughing wildly like a sick animal. She was sure her damn lungs were now being deprived of oxygen as she tried to grasp for air. However, still angry that she’d been caught and victimized so easily she ran after the man who’d tossed the weird powder at her. The only thing she’d managed to do was punch him across the back of his head before falling forward. Victoria had been looking forward to meeting with the hard concrete but out just as someone caught her.
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“Seohyun, stop!” Luhan pulled his hand out of her grasp and turned around to look at the harbor which was now far away.
The regret and anger flowing through him was not enough to describe in words when Seohyun turned him around demanding to know what he’d been doing there. He glanced at her strange outfit before his eyes landed on her scornful face.
“And what were you doing there? It’s not like you to be attending such a business-like event,” Luhan commented.
“I asked you a question,” she jabbed her finger into his shoulder.
Luhan felt like glaring at her but held himself back.
“So what? It’s not strange for me to be linked to such events,” Luhan held his head high. “My father has people linked to these kind of things, am I not supposed to go? It’s not wrong to go see old faces, is it?”
Seohyun frowned at him.
“Your turn,” he crossed his arms.
“I went as a reporter,” Seohyun crossed her arms as well.
They stared at each other childishly for a few minutes before Luhan dropped his arms and turned back to look at the now empty harbor. The roaring police cars had arrived one minute too late. And Luhan had lost An Kor and the men he’d been with. Oh well, it couldn’t have been helped if there were so many people around but again it wasn’t the end yet.
“Who the heck were those people?” he heard Seohyun mutter.
“If they weren’t after Ha Dong Ju then they were perhaps there to track something else down,” Luhan offered his suggestion.
“And what would that be?”
Luhan turned around to look at Seohyun. His eyes tried to gouge her face for any answer, any possible hint as to why she might really have been there. Then after all, he decided, Seohyun wasn’t one to really lie.
“Just saying, Ha Dong Ju’s a wanted criminal who’s popular in the business field for scamming,” Luhan shrugged.
“Anybody would know that.” Seohyun shot back.
Luhan glanced at her before asking, “Where’s your friend? Victoria didn’t come with you?”
“Uh…” Seohyun stuttered suddenly at a lost of what to say.
“That’s a disappointment if she didn’t come. She’s kind of hot, you know,” Luhan smiled before walking pass Seohyun.
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Donghae struggled from the elevator to his apartment with Victoria in his arms and headed into his neat living room with only a shelf of old books. Since he was never often home he’d decided against buying a TV leaving the room bare with only a couch and the shelf.
The silence of his empty apartment greeted him and the knocked out Victoria as he placed her on the couch. Once he had her lying down he stared down at the mysterious woman before noticing a soaked spot on her black sleeve. He knelt down to glance at it closely before he realized that the couch was blocking his view of it.
Donghae quietly groaned realizing that he’d have to pull her back up. When he did so, her torso dropped against him almost forcing him to fall back. He gulped when he felt her head roll onto his shoulder before she unconsciously placed her hands on his shoulder to push herself away. In that slight moment with only his heartbeat marking his life, he quickly readjusted his hands around her pressing her against his body.
Her breathing quieted and bounced off the side of his face in a patterned manner. Something about it was soothing and exhilarating. The loudness of his pulsating heart echoed inside him and he was unsure if whether unconscious she would hear it.
Gulping he glanced at her shirt and pressed his fingers around the wet area before realizing that she was bleeding. Reluctantly laying her back down he went to retrieve a scissor cutting her sleeve open before applying some medication and putting a bandage over it.
After covering her with a blanket he found himself sitting on the arm of the couch watching her. He ran his eyes over her face suddenly feeling the need to touch her but remained where he was suddenly intimidated by this lusting feeling inside him. Gulping for the fourth time he got up to walk away and grabbed himself a cup of cold water hoping it’d cool his heated mind.
For the rest of the time she lay there on his couch knocked out he paced back and forth. When the clock struck 8PM Victoria’s eyebrows finally stirred before she opened her eyes. Donghae paused by his bookshelf adjacent to the couch and crossed his arms while he waited for her to wake.
She reached a hand to massage her head before sitting up and glancing around at her unrecognized surroundings. Victoria paused when her eyes met with his. Donghae felt his pulse race against when he realized she was staring at him.
Donghae darted his eyes away, “You slept for quite a long time.”
He could only hope his face wasn’t flushing pink.
“This place is yours?” she asked.
“Huh?” Donghae turned back to look at her to see that she hadn’t tossed the blanket he’d covered her with.
For some reason it made his heart dash some more. Why was he growing shy and suddenly acting like a boy who met the first girl in his life?
He gulped again, “Oh…yea.”
“Your name’s Donghae, right? What do you do?”
She knew his name? The thought of it struck his mind with lightning.
He turned back to see that she was expecting an answer from him. Oh yea, she’d asked a question. What should he say? He didn’t really have a steady income…oh yea, he’d suddenly become a police officer. It wouldn’t hurt to say that since it was the partial truth…
“I’m a police officer,” he replied.
There was no need to ask for her name in return. He knew it already from the first moment he heard her friend call for her.
Victoria…
“I guess I should say thanks,” she said monotonously as if she didn’t really mean it before she tossed the blanket aside and stood up. “Sorry for inconveniencing you, officer.”
“Oh…no problem,” he managed almost nervously before she walked by.
Why was his nerves breaking down on him so suddenly? He watched her find her shoes by the door and turned to look at him one more time before walking out. When the door closed a smile found its way across his lips. Donghae was suddenly so sure then that they would meet again somehow.
***I actually didn't know what to do with Luhan's character, but I figured it'd be more interesting with Luhan going after the 'Golden Mary' as well xDD It's a lot more interesting, isn't it? All three under the same roof are after the same item.
***Yay, finally Victoria and Donghae officially meet and hold a real conversation xD
***Now for Siwon and Vic ^^
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