Chapter 6
'Golden Mary'
\ \ \ \ \
Seohyun paced back and forth in the kitchen biting away at her thumbnail while Luhan ate quietly away at his cereal by the table. She was suddenly worried if Victoria had been caught by the cops. What if they were questioning her about her identity like she had worried in the first place? Seohyun shook her head. Not even guys as big as the ones at the harbor could beat her. Victoria was always short tempered and witty, or more like serious. She’d pound anyone in the face if they irritated her. Victoria was no where as nice as Seohyun.
“Where is she though?” Seohyun continued pacing back and forth worried sick.
“I thought you said she was still at the apartment,” Luhan said chewing slowly on his cereal.
“And would you quit eating!?” Seohyun snapped at him.
Luhan scowled at her, “I bought this.”
Seohyun turned to him with a frown about to scold him for the thousandth time before the door opened. She stopped and immediately ran toward the door but paused by the kitchen entrance when she saw Victoria walk in.
“Where the hell were you? Are you ok?” Seohyun questioned.
Victoria touched her face and turned to her, “Someone tossed powered chloroform at me. It’s much stronger than I thought it’d be.”
Victoria scrunched up her nose and kept touching her face before turning to look at Seohyun before noticing Luhan behind her. Noticing Victoria’s glance Seohyun shoved her toward her bedroom. She overlooked Victoria once more before heaving a sigh of relief.
“I was so worried,” Seohyun expressed, “but…that means you were knocked out…then where…”
“Seems like I spent a good four hours sleeping at a police officer’s house,” Victoria said glancing outside the window in her room while pulling the blinds open.
“Police officer?” Seohyun repeated.
“Yea,” Victoria ran her tongue against the inside of her cheek. “Someone strange.”
Seohyun started at Victoria confused before she noticed the slit in her sleeve.
“Oh? What’s this?” Seohyun asked reaching her hand forward to grab Victoria’s sleeve. “Did you get hurt?”
Victoria glanced down, her face a flush of confusion.
“Looks like a cut,” Seohyun said. “But it’s already bandaged. Did that police officer do this?”
She glanced up at Victoria’s quiet face. It didn’t seem like it mattered much to her and seeing her like that made Seohyun a bit more curious.
“Who is this police officer?” asked Seohyun.
“Someone named Donghae.” Victoria blatantly replied before grabbing some clothes. “I’m going to take a shower.”
Seohyun watched as Victoria walked out wondering if something had happened during the time she’d been out of the apartment.
\ \ \ \ \
After closing the door shut Victoria glanced at the bandage on her arm and pried the slit in her sleeve apart. For sure no one but that police officer would have done it while she’d been knocked out. She turned to stare at herself in the mirror and wondered why he’d seemed so nervous while talking to her.
Quickly tossing the thought away she the faucet to let the shower run and wondered if she’d see the officer who’d come by to bring Seohyun’s bag back ever again.
\ \ \ \ \
“She looks tired,” Luhan commented when Seohyun returned to the kitchen.
She paused and turned to look at him with a frown.
“Are you actually worried?” Seohyun asked. “Or do you only care because you think she’s hot?”
“Telling you you’re hot would just be strange, don’t you think?” Luhan pointed out. “The after effects of chloroform isn’t pretty, but I’m sure they didn’t force her to take in too much.”
Seohyun watched as Luhan got up from where he was and set his bowl into the sink.
“You can do the dishes, right?” he asked before yawning and walking off.
She scowled at his back as he walked off.
\ \ \ \ \
Victoria awoke early in the morning and found Seohyun alone in the kitchen drinking away at a mug of coffee while reading that day’s politics. Uninterested Victoria poured herself a cup of whatever was left in the coffee maker and turned around to look at Seohyun.
“You see anything interesting?” Victoria asked leaning against the counter.
During the time it took Seohyun to return from outer space Victoria took her chance to glance outside the window. It was a fairly sunny day with some dark clouds. She started wondering if it’d start raining anytime soon. Ever since their arrival all Seoul had been was sun bright as if focusing on burning every cell on their body dead. The coffee burned her tongue and she stuck out her tongue when Seohyun finally made it back to Earth.
“There’s no article about the incident by the harbor at least,” Seohyun stated, “strange. Now that you think about it, there weren’t really any photographers or reporters there. Was it an even set up?”
“Then why would it have been in the paper in the first place?” Victoria asked. “Maybe they’re scared of interviews so they’ve blocked out the media from the incident. It’s not our place to worry about it.”
“What if it’s somehow connected?” Seohyun just had to say that.
Victoria felt other things climb through the window in her head and she rolled her eyes.
“Well we don’t need to concern ourselves with it unless it shows itself,” Victoria said dumping her coffee into the sink. “This coffee stinks. I’m going out to buy some. Oh, and tonight we’re staying in just on the safe side.”
“To be on the safe side?” she repeated.
Victoria glanced at Seohyun, “I doubt anybody would recognize us as some-bodies, so I suggest being quiet for tonight. After being taken in for an upfront attack yesterday like a fool, I’m gonna have to rethink what we have to do. If you have any suggestions, do think about it and share it later.”
“Buy me some candy while you’re out!” Seohyun shouted after her.
Victoria paused by the door and peered into the living room to see Luhan up and about. It looked like he was doing some jumping jacks.
Since he seemed so bored Victoria asked, “You wanna go out? I’m gonna go grab some stuff from the mart.”
And that was how Victoria found herself walking through the aisles with Luhan behind her. She trained her eyes carefully on each brand and flavor debating and weighing prices inside her mind before she realized she’d been in the coffee aisle for more than 15 minutes. Standing up from lowering her back so much she pounded on her lower back before glancing at Luhan who was staring off into space.
“What do you like?” she asked. When he turned to look at her she went on, “You drink coffee?”
“Ah…” he was just like Seohyun who’d returned from a foreign world.
Victoria withheld rolling her eyes.
“The caramel macchiato sound ok?” he asked. “Or else I just always drink mocha.”
Victoria randomly grabbed one and started down the aisle.
“From just looking at you, you don’t really look your age,” Victoria commented. “Are you sure you and Seohyun are friends?”
“Why?”
“I’m just saying,” Victoria slightly turned her head to look at him. “You’re quite mysterious.”
“Me? No,” Luhan replied, “I’m quite the man when time comes to it.”
Victoria had to literally stop a laugh from exploding out of .
“What do you think Seohyun wants? She said she wants some snacks,” Victoria said stopping by a candy aisle.
“These?” Luhan pointed to some wafers.
Victoria picked them up and tossed them into the shopping basket.
“You want anything?” she asked looking at his boyish face.
His looked surprised at her offer.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
Victoria shrugged.
“Can I take this and this?” he grabbed a few things off the shelves.
They ended up walking back to the apartment, Luhan carrying most bags, while Victoria stopped by a coffee shop. After ordering and picking up her order Victoria stepped out walking over to Luhan who was seated at a bench.
“Here,” she handed him a cup of coffee, “you said you like mocha, right?”
“Oh…thanks,” he took the cup from her.
They sat quietly for a long time just sipping their coffees.
“You and Seohyun seem like opposites,” he started. “You seem kind of intimidating and scary at first, but you’re actually very nice. You must be like those people who hold up a strong front to protect everybody else, but you’re actually just a very passive kind of person. But you know, those people are the kind of people who lose it all at the end.”
Victoria stared at him wondering what he was predicting for her.
“It only makes sense that you’d pick Seohyun,” Victoria said. “You look like too much of a baby to be in my favor. Watch what you say or else when Seohyun says she wants to kick you out, I’m gonna be on her side.”
Lunhan smiled and laughed somewhat.
Victoria glanced over to the side when she heard loud talking and immediately stood up bowing.
“Hello there,” she greeted happily.
The police officer whose name she did not know stopped to look at her surprised. Well she could only make sense of it that he didn’t remember her. She guessed it was acceptable.
“I’m Seohyun’s friend…uh…the girl whose bag was stolen that you returned,” Victoria said hoping that he’d remember and luckily he did.
“Ah…your friend. Yes,” he nodded and greeted her with his handsome smile which shook Victoria’s world like crazy.
He was so perfect in every way.
“Are you new to this area? I haven’t seen you around here before,” Siwon said. “Oh, by the way, my name’s Siwon. This is my partner, Donghae.”
Victoria turned to see Donghae. She hadn’t realized he was there and quickly nodded her head at him before turning her attention back to Siwon.
“I’m Victoria,” Victoria introduced herself, “Seohyun and I are in the area for some business. We’re only here for a short while.”
“Ah…is that so?” Siwon said. “I hope you enjoy your stay. I should get going now, we still have to finish scouting the area. You have a nice day, Victoria.”
The way he called her name made her heart flutter. She felt like a young girl in love for the first time. Victoria smiled back at him and bid him farewell before turning back to Luhan and sat back down.
“Do you know them?” asked Luhan still sipping on his coffee.
“Not really,” Victoria couldn’t stop smiling.
Luhan stared blankly at her before saying, “Really? Never mind.”
\ \ \ \ \
“Here,” Luhan said tossing the candy Victoria had bought for Seohyun onto her bed.
Seohyun glanced up from her book with a slight glare before sitting up.
“How kind of you,” she sarcastically commented.
Luhan snorted at her before sitting down at her desk. It was an old wooden kind of table with scrapes and its color fading. He never minded the ancient feeling he received from it and leaned his hand into the palm of his hand.
“By the way, does Victoria have a boyfriend?” asked Luhan.
“What?” Seohyun asked surprised by his sudden question.
“We met some people on the streets,” Luhan explained, “I swear one of the guys was staring at her so hard that when he looked at me I thought I was some kind of disease or something.”
“How exaggerated,” Seohyun commented. “Are you jealous cause she’s hot?”
“You’re evil,” he complimented before standing up. “That’s why I like Victoria better.”
He got up to leave the room, Seohyun scowling at his back.
\ \ \ \ \
While they walked down the street Donghae glanced at Siwon from the corner of his eye. If he wasn’t wrong, Victoria had only paid her attention to the cop who’d gotten him into this mess in the first place. He quietly looked over Siwon’s frame and guessed that every women would want him. Donghae turned away bitterly. But Victoria was with another man, they couldn’t have been going out. Still, they had grocery bags. Could they perhaps be siblings? They didn’t look very alike though.
He turned to look at Siwon again wondering if he had any significance to Victoria.
\ \ \ \ \
Victoria didn’t bother to turn around when footsteps neared her. She could tell from the light echoes of it that they belonged to none other than Seohyun. Victoria opened a bag of chips and tossed a piece into before she saw Seohyun take a seat at the table by the window.
“Luhan said you met some boyfriends outside,” Seohyun started.
She lifted her head up and turned around to look at Seohyun.
With a small laugh she said, “Ah…I just met the police officer who helped retrieve your stolen bag. I also learned his name.”
“Siwon?” Seohyun asked.
The smile on Victoria’s face faded a little before she pulled a fake one and nodded.
“I met him the other night, he’s so handsome, don’t you think?” Seohyun’s face beamed with admiration.
Victoria could even swear that she saw stars appear in her eyes. So…Seohyun had met him the other night. She couldn’t help but feel that little hazy black light buzz inside her. Turning away unable to look at Seohyun anymore Victoria stuffed with the chips in her hand.
\ \ \ \ \
The heavy door opened and light seeped into the dim theater before it disappeared almost immediately. Footsteps ran in and echoed off the walls when they started onto the stage. From the end of the stage Hyukjae could hear Donghae’s familiar breathless panting but ignored him and continued chewing on his gum while counting away at the money he’d received from the auction earlier in the day.
“Hyuk! Hyuk!” Donghae called running over to him before dropping down onto the stage to lean his back against him.
“Oi…what do you want? Why are you here anyway?” Hyuk asked nudging him off. “You haven’t been sending in any prizes lately. What, are you lazing now that you’ve got a new apartment? Hey,” Eunhyuk turned to face him, money in his hand, “don’t tell me you’ve been throwing bikini parties without me, awful man!”
Donghae pushed his finger away, “No, I don’t even have time for that. Before I knew it, I’ve gotten myself into a bind.”
“Eh?”
Donghae laid down onto the stage spreading out his arms while catching his breath.
“I’ve suddenly become a police officer.”
“Eh!?”
Hyukjae listened to Donghae breathe on as if that was all he could do.
“I’ve become more busy than usual that it’s so messed up,” Donghae muttered, “I can’t even go into houses and take things anymore. So don’t expect anything for me in a while.”
“A cop!?” Hyukjae screamed.
Donghae glanced over at him with a frown before getting up.
“Hyuk, I met a really pretty girl,” Donghae went on, “I don’t even know who she is or what she does. But it doesn’t seem like she’s interested.”
Hyukjae turned to him with narrowed eyes, “Yea, you’re dreaming too hard. Those kind of girls will only make you feel tired at the end. Don’t put your hopes up. Who are you kidding, you don’t even have a real job. You’ve only gone from rags to riches.”
He heard Donghae sigh from beside him before folding his arms up underneath his head, “Yea, who’s going to marry a thief.”
***Keep in mind Luhan's words to Victoria. It could be foretelling something in her future
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