~_____~

“Ice cream?” Tao asked when Donghae handed him a cone.

“Ice cream,” Donghae replied turning him with a firm smile.

Turning around he walked out of the shop with Tao narrowing his eyes after him.

“Exactly what are we doing,” Tao wondered following him.

Donghae didn’t turn toward Tao, but instead waited for him to catch up. As they neared the red light Donghae glanced across the street to see the people on the other side doing the same.

“Look around Tao,” Donghae urged. “What do you see?”

Tao gave him a strange look before doing as told. Donghae watched his eyes scan the crowd outside, across the buildings, and over the dense invisible air hovering above them all.

“I don’t know,” Tao shrugged, “people?”

“And?”

Tao turned to look around again, “Cars.”

“Is that all?” Donghae questioned after waiting a second to see if he had anything more to add.

“What are you doing?” Tao turned to him, becoming impatient.

Remaining patient Donghae smiled, “The sun is out, can you see it?”

He watched Tao tilt his head up to look at it.

“There are stores here, even restaurants with tables out front for customers to enjoy the view. There are cracks in the streets, there are windows in the buildings, there are friends in the crowds,” Donghae went on. “Someone you see here will run into someone who needs help and he or she will aid him or her.”

“How would you know that?”

“Everyone will need a helping hand,” Donghae finished.

“So…what’s your point?” Tao questioned.

The crowd swam away from them when the lights turned green.

“I want to show you,” Donghae explained, “that there’s much more out here in the world than just one other person alone. Do you get what I’m saying?”

Tao silently stared back at him attentively.

“I’m happy to see that you want to be a good person, whether it’s because of Namjoo or not,” Donghae went on, “I really am, but you’re going to suffocate her if you revolve your world around her. There’s much more for you to see, to discover than a thing like love.”

He watched Tao’s eyes flicker softly and smiled gently. Tao still needed a lot of guiding, but he was making progress which Donghae was extremely proud of. He really wanted to show Tao that.

“You asked me how I would know if someone likes me,” Donghae continued, “I don’t know. I believe though, that when the time comes, you’ll know.”

~_____~

The fork in the road just ended.

Donghae was a clean person with a pitiful background.

Victoria was stumped.

She felt awful and low for coming with the intention to dig up Donghae’s dirty secrets to use against him, but had ended up with this.

How in the world was a person to use something like this against a man whose father died when he was a kid and had refused to bury him?

Groaning, she lightly thumped her forehead aginst the steering wheel. Now locked up in her car she couldn’t bring herself to drive back to Seoul. If back in the city she’d have to face Donghae and she didn’t she could look at him after such malicious intentions.

Currently, she didn’t even know what to do anymore. She most despised the thought that she would have to incline to Donghae and let him have his way. She hated how he refused to let her in on anything.

What to do?

Victoria couldn’t decide. Going back to her apartment didn’t seem worth the trip. Leaning back into her seat she switched her phone on. Would Yoona have found something by now?

At the mere thought of it her phone started ringing and without checking who the caller was she immediately raised the phone to her ear.

“I found something,” Yoona’s pitch hit her eardrum, “the debt Eunhyuk’s been paying is all loans from various loansharks. Haven’t gotten to why the money’s been taken out and what it’s been used for; that’ll take some more time. I might have to locate these loansharks to find answers, but I don’t know how long that will take. Don’t forget, I’m on time constraint; my vacation’s almost up.”

“Ok,” Victoria impatiently nodded. “What else?”  

“Here’s the catch, Lee Hyun’s name has been in criminal records.”

“What for?” Victoria could feel her heart pulsating in her neck as she leaned forward for more.

“ual assault on a woman,” Yoona finished.

“What about Eunhyuk?”

“I was getting there,” Yoona informed. “Anyway, family record says his parents died leaving him with relatives, but there’s nothing else about a brother. So, do you know anything about Eunhyuk’s background?”

Victoria had to ponder over the question. She skipped over in her memory whether Donghae had said something of useful information to her. Or maybe it was Namjoo.

No, neither of them had said anything useful to her. If they were on the same team, they’d keep their mouths zipped shut.

Then everything in her memory seemed to rewind before it slowly came to a quick pause. When Dan Bi died, Donghae sent out Chorong, Lay, and Suho. During that duration of time Victoria had sent Kris on his own assignment.

A light flashed above her head and her eyes slightly widened, “Yes.” Victoria tried to search through the details of the vague memory before it slowly came back to her, “His parents passed away, he grew up with an aunt until high school. There’s no sibling in his record, but his slate is definitely clean.”

“But don’t you think their profiles sound alike?” Yoona questioned.

“Yes,” Victoria agreed, “I’ll dig around in the files for something. You look for those loansharks.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Victoria finally felt appeased after that phonecall. Settled and determined she started the engine. She suddenly wanted something to eat now.

The game with Donghae would continue rolling.

~_____~

Chorong woke up with a surging headache the next morning. Her hair was a mess around her head and she discovered knots in them. she barely recognized where she was until she rubbed her eyes.

Suddenly recognizing that she was at Namjoo’s place clamped her eyes shut to let out a reprimandful sigh. She must have been so drunk last night that the mere thought of it was embarrassing. Chorong wanted to bury herself into the blankets wishing she’d never woken up in the first place.

Heaving a deep sigh she stood and quietly walked toward the door. Pulling it a crack open she heard Namjoo’s voice floating toward her from the kitchen. Closing the door she turned to peer around the room once more before forcing herself out of the room.

Upon hearing her footsteps Namjoo twisted around to look at her before saying, “No, I got it. Thanks.”

Setting her phone aside she gestured her chin toward the table. Namjoo said nothing to her, not even a greeting, after she pulled one of the chairs out to sit. And suddenly Chorong found herself wondering why she and Suho couldn’t even manage to say something small to her. A mere greeting would have been welcoming.

A minute later a bowl of steaming fresh soup was placed down before her and she listened to Namjoo pull out the seat across from her to sit down.

“Eat up,” Namjoo urged. “It’s Donghae’s famous hangover soup.”

“Thank you.” Chorong thanked, pulling the bowl closer to her.

As she picked the spoon in the bowl up she glanced up at Namjoo.

“Sorry, for coming last night.”

“It’s ok,” she said. “Just eat up. We’re going to your parents later, aren’t we?”

It felt like the small kindness in Namjoo’s gestures found its way to Chorong’s chest as a small warmth grew within. And as if to save her dignity, Namjoo said nothing about last night.

Coming from a family line with generations in the police force Chorong had come from a well off and influential family. The tall bar gates outside her home seemed to have stunned Namjoo into silence when they drove in toward the long white building that was her house. Green hedges surrounded it on the sides and little pots of roses decorated the staircase.

Chorong suddenly felt embarrassed for some reason. Upon parking her car in front of the stairwell one of the butlers came in running through the door to greet them.

“Young Miss, you’re home, welcome,” he nodded toward her and smiled toward Namjoo. “Please come inside.”

~_____~

Chorong’s mother was an exact duplicate of her, just an older version. Her father had somewhat of a bald spot on the top of his head, but he didn’t seem ashamed of it. He first greeted her with a formal handshake before she sat down with them at the table already filled with food. They were conservative, yet open. It felt like she was having dinner with her next door neighbors.

Chorong, as she learned, hadn’t had a friend over in the last 20 years. No wonder Namjoo caught her mother smiling at her so much. Chorong’s father seemed pleased with her line of work and extremely absorbed in her story telling about their missions. He had the air about him of those proud fathers anyone would see on TV.  

They were a good pair of parents. Even after declining desert, Chorong’s mother still went into the kitchen stubbornly to get her something. Namjoo was already too stuffed to have anymore that she felt nauseous. This must have been the most she’d eaten this whole month.

Trying to suppress the urge to vomit in she turned to peer at the pictures filled with pride on the wall. Chorong’s graduation certificate from the Police Academy was at the very top along with a picture of her in a uniform. Under her were other lines of prominent male officers with badges on their suits.

“Those are my uncles, some are my distant cousins,” Chorong stepped up beside her.

“You look like a reserved Navy officer in that uniform,” Namjoo commented.

An amused smile touched Chorong’s face, “Really? I never thought it suited me. I’m just glad I’m not required to wear it.”

Namjoo thought she was glad for that too. She didn’t have a thing for men in uniforms.

“Your parents are nice,” Namjoo told. “They’re like you.”

“I guess,” Chorong simply replied. “They’re just happy I seem to have a friend. I didn’t really have any at the academy.”

Namjoo slightly turned to peer at her. Chorong always looked like those happy girls who were extremely well off with fortune, friends, and family. She would have thought that Chorong had crowds of friends to choose from, so this was far from what she’d expected.

“Namjoo?” She turned from hearing Chorong’s mother walk out of the kitchen. There was a small bag in her hand and a plate of some sweets. “Please have some; I spent all morning making them. Try them.”

Pulling on a smile Namjoo nodded and took the plate before Chorong’s mother tried forcing the bag into her grasp too.

“Oh…you don’t have to…really…”

“Just take it,” she urged. “When an adult gives you something, you take it. In your line of work you must be so busy you probably don’t go home much.”

“Mom…” Chorong nudged her.

Namjoo’s eyes became dim before she smiled again. It was no use thinking of home that wasn’t even home.

“Thank you.” Namjoo smiled.

“Come over often,” Chorong’s mother added giving her a pat on the back. “It’s always nice to have some more company.”

The desert was good and Namjoo ended up forcing the rest of it down . By the time Chorong walked her out she felt like keeling over to vomit.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to give you a ride?” Chorong asked.

“I’ll grab a cab along the way,” Namjoo assured. “Thanks, for inviting me. It was nice.”

Softly smiling in return, Chorong happily nodded, “No problem.”

And Namjoo felt a little elated when she was finally on her way to the restaurant. She envied Chorong’s house. Having a soft tenderly mother must be so nice. It’d been so long since Namjoo had received any of that that the content warmth she’d gotten from her was endearingly comforting. And Namjoo thought she’d definitely go back to visit them; tell Chorong’s father about her adventures on the field and for her mother’s warmth.

When Namjoo arrived at the restaurant Kris was already seated inside at a round table traped in white tablecloth. A smile lit his face up when saw her and a tinge of shyness fluxed through her when he noticed she was wearing the dress he’d bought her in Daegu.

Instead of making a remark about it he asked, “Did you come from somewhere?”

“Chorong’s,” Namjoo answered.

“I wasn’t sure you were really coming,” he commented, “I called you yesterday.”

“I heard it.”

He raised a brow.

“Something came up, so I couldn’t return the call.”

“Did something happen?” He leaned forward worried.

“It’s nothing big,” Namjoo told then quickly switched the subject, “did you order?”

“A course meal, are you ok with that?”

A course meal…Namjoo only hoped her stomach was able to handle that. Anyhow, it wasn’t like she could put him down for it.

She nodded.

“So what did you do yesterday?” Kris wondered. “You had your phone off all day. Were you and Suho working again or something?”

“No,” she answered and hesitated slightly before telling, “I visited my dad’s grave.”

The joke on his face died off and he looked empathetic. Instead of giving her condolence he shifted the straight line on his face into a smile.

“Next time you should introduce me to him. I’d like to meet your father.”

Her eyes dipped themselves into the depths of his and Namjoo didn’t know what to feel. Kris, as always, tended to surprise her somehow…in good ways. Silence washed over her and she turned the hand on her lap into a small fist.

Kris turned when the first course of appetizers arrived and thanked the waitress before she walked away.

“You’re not a picky eater, are you?” He asked. “I haven’t found out if you are yet. Should I find out today? There’s a variety of food on the list.”

“Do I look picky?” Namjoo asked picking up the spoon to taste the soup.

“Yes.”

Namjoo shot him a narrowed frown before taking a sip of the broth, but felt her stomach turn over at the refusal of digesting anything more.

This was bad.

As the broth surged back up Namjoo quickly pressed a hand against before making a run for the restroom.