Year 2012: Seoul, Korea [Kim’s Residence]

The walk into the house had been suffocating. From the outside, the mansion had definitely looked posh and extravagant but on the inside, it was like a haunted house from the 1800s.

Tiffany stepped in hesitantly, her eyes quickly taking in her surroundings. A luxurious sofa lay in the middle of the room, its’ new modern look not fitting in with the old antiques. On her right stood a well-preserved wooden cabinet, its’ top decorated with lamps she presumed to be worth millions.

Amidst such exuberant objects, an old photo frame situated right in the middle of the top stood out, and Tiffany found herself attracted to such simplicity. Upon coming closer, she saw that it was in fact a photo; but it wasn’t an ordinary photo, it was that of a family.

What was most prominent about the picture has to be the girl standing right in the middle, her arms around the 2 men by her side. Tiffany recognised the girl immediately. With her long silky hair and tanned skin, she could only be Yuri. A surprising feature of the photo would in fact be her warm sincere smile, something Tiffany thought Yuri wouldn’t do with her family.

And the picture proved the annoying man right. He was her brother and he seemed pretty close with the girl too. That aside, Tiffany was curious as to who the other man in the frame was. He appeared much older than the two; his appearance possibly mimicking that of someone in their late 20s or early 30s. He was definitely good looking, that she could tell as much.

“What are you doing?” Came a voice further front in the room.

The girl got startled for a moment and as she tried to piece her words together, the man came closer as if to inspect her wrongdoings.

“I-I was just looking at this photo. If I may, who is that in the photo?” she asked, hoping that his response would be a polite one.

“And here I thought you said you knew Yuri.” Maybe polite wasn’t a good word to describe his reply.

“I do!” She defended herself. “I was asking about the man in the picture. And just so you know, I’m not referring to you either.”

“Didn’t anyone tell you to mind your own business before?” The man slammed the frame down. “Now, are you going to follow me in, or what?”

What an -

Tiffany heaved a heavy sigh. This was definitely testing her nerves and patience. How rude can the man possibly get? It’s not as if she asked an offensive question in an impolite tone.

The man showed the girl to her seat and took a seat right opposite hers. She noticed how he left a big gap between them. He must be protecting himself, should I throw a dagger right in his face, Tiffany thought to herself.

“So, Tiffany.” She definitely didn’t like the way he said her name. “You must be confused, if I can say so myself.”

“Confused is an understatement even.” The girl admitted.

“Fine, then I shall be straight forward about this.” The man smirked. “I need to know if you really knew Yuri, so I’d be asking questions. Shall we start?”

The girl bit her lips in hesitation. What was she to lose? And so she nodded her head. It was all or nothing.

“First up. Which school did Yuri went to?”

“Berry Valley High.” Everyone knew that.

“Where did she lived?” He probed her.

“On 7^th Street Avenue.” For a moment, Tiffany thought she saw the man looking at her expectantly, as if she had missed out on something.

“Ah.” Her eyes twinkled, fully understanding his lag response. “7^th Street Avenue. Where the rich becomes poorer.”

It was a really popular tagline in her neighbourhood. If one didn’t knew that, then one can say that one isn’t from the area. She felt the man sinking in his seat, but his eyes were definitely fiery and ever ready.

“Okay, who was her favourite idol?” He knew she was going to answer it wrongly.

“Michael Jackson.”

“WRONG!” Yes, he was definitely gleeful.

“But he is. She has all of his album collections.” Tiffany protested. “Unless the answer to your question is H.O.T. The ever legendary Korean boy group.”

The girl saw how the man scrunched his nose in disgust and glanced at her for a moment; as if he was frustrated with her.

“Fine. H.O.T was the correct answer. But I bet you wouldn’t be able to answer the following question.”

“Oh yeah?” She felt her sense of competitiveness rising. “Try me.”

“What was the name of the care-bear that Yuri loved when she was a little girl?”

Now that was a hard question. Did Yuri own a bear in the first place? Tiffany was pretty sure she didn’t. In fact…

“Didn’t she dislike care-bears though?” Yes, the girl was bewildered.

She saw how the man sighed in exasperation, his hands now clenched into a fist. He reluctantly put his head up to meet her eyes and when he started talking, she can’t help but feel he was totally dejected.

“You are a Hwang.” Myungsoo finally admitted.

“W-What? I thought this was a test to see if I knew Yuri.”

“Well yeah. Yuri only ever told 1 person that she disliked care-bears, and that was to the girl with the surname Hwang.”

“Which happens to be me.” Tiffany uttered, trying to make sense of things.

“Definitely. But she did loved the care-bear series though. It’s because…”

“It’s because of me. I didn’t like the series so she wanted to fit in and…”

“And there you have it. A Hwang.” He gave a small smile. “Right in the flesh.”

“Did she tell you this?!” The girl asked incredulously.

“She wrote it. In this diary.”

The man passed her a small, brown notebook; it’s cover a tad worn out. She took it with both her hands, wondering what information could possibly be in that little diary. The more important question is, why did the man trusted her so willingly after?

“She hid the diary from everyone else.” Myungsoo started talking. “Before she died, she told me to find a book. At first, I didn’t understand what she meant by that but soon after, I found her diary underneath her favourite care-bear which everyone refuses to touch. And at that time, there was a note.”

Now this was interesting. Tiffany looked up and she saw how distant the man was. He was looking at her, but it was as if he was at some other place far away. It felt as if he was recollecting his memories and it gave her the shivers somehow, but she continued to listen anyway.

“She wrote, ‘Dear Myungsoo. Congratulations. You found the book.’” He continued. “And as I read its’ contents, I can’t help but feel that… that Yuri didn’t actually die.”

“But she did.” Tiffany whispered sadly.

Her heart throbbed for a little while though she felt her heart beat slowing down. Who could have imagine that a girl so loved would die so young?

“No. You don’t understand.”  The man shook his head in despair. This was it. The moment he had been expecting for the past one year.

“I think she was murdered.”