20

Lingering Past

Soohyun dressed warmly and got ready to go out. He was going to find out where those two were going so early in the morning.

He followed them at a great distance. He noticed the path they were on was familiar. While he was following them, he noticed his baby cousin did not have her scarf with her. Her jacket didn't even cover her neck. He would have to scold her when he got back. The two suddenly stopped, making him hide behind a snowy bush. He winced at the cold fresh snow going into his shoes.

He dared to peek out the bush. Jisu had placed the big bags on the ground and took off her scarf. She surprised him when she wrapped the scarf around her cousin's neck. Without a word, she picked up the bags and continued down the road. Yoona flashed a big smile as she ran up to catch up with her. Unknowingly, Soohyun also had a smile on his face. Jisu kept on surprising him.

Finally, the two came to a stop. They stopped in front of Detective Kim's tombstone. Yoona looked around the tombstone. "How are you going to do this? There's snow all over the place."

She sighed. "It will take a while. That's why I told you to dress warmly." Yoona sheepishly laughed while touching the scarf around her neck. She squatted down and pulled out a small shovel. She was going to dig it out but suddenly, someone tugged the shovel away from her, making her fall down in the bank of snow.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Soohyun yelled.

"Unnie!" Yoona helped Jisu up and dusted the snow off her clothes. "Oppa, what do you think you're doing?"

"Me? What do you think you're doing? Why are you here to dig up my father's grave?"

Before she could say anything, Jisu spoke, "Why did you follow us?"

"I wanted to know why you were going out so early in the morning. I'm glad I followed you. I thought you respected my father. How dare you try to disturb his grave?" Jisu just scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Yoona tried to intervene, "Oppa, she wasn't trying to-"

"Be quiet Yoona!" he yelled. He turned back to Jisu. "Go home. Get out of here! Go home!"

"Oppa!" his younger cousin screamed.

"Fine," Jisu said. "I'll leave. I'll go home. I'll do that because my boss ordered me to and because it will be the last order I'll get from you. I quit." She dropped the shovel on the ground and continued her way down the road. Yoona called her back but she wouldn't turn around.

"What the hell! Go home? Get out of here? She isn't some dog!" Yoona yelled at her older cousin.

"You should be yelling at me. You have done wrong too! How dare you dig up my dad's grave?" he hissed.

"We weren't going to do anything stupid like that! We were trying to dig up the snow and ice away from the stone! We can't even see your father’s name!" Soohyun quickly looked at the tombstone. She was right. The snow had covered more than half of the stone. "She used the shovel because it was covered in icy snow, you idiot!" she cried. "Whenever you weren't here, she would always visit us every season. And every time she would come up here. She knows what she's doing, you idiot! You only come here in the summer and you don't do anything but pray!" Now Yoona was bawling. He couldn't have been anymore stupid. Didn't he decide he would trust her completely just yesterday? What the hell made him so mad when he saw that small shovel in her hand? Why couldn't he have just waited and observed like he was originally planning to do? Why was he so stupid?

The two cousins went home, feeling depressed. They walked into the house to witness two crying children. "Where have you two been early in the morning?" their grandfather asked. Then, he looked down at the bags in Soohyun's hands. "Was it you?" he asked.

Soohyun didn't understand what he was saying. "Was it you who made Jisu leave and let these children cry?" He looked to the two youngest. They were crying hard.

"Where did she plan to go with them?" Soohyun asked, tiredly. "I'll take them there."

"They're crying because Jisu left. It doesn't matter where they wanted to go because the whole family was planning to have some time off, too. The children are crying because you sent Jisu home. Why did you express your anger so suddenly? Are you blaming her for your father's death? Everyone knows it was not her fault. She visits the grave more than our family and you decide to send her off."

Soohyun looked over to the crying children where their parents were trying to calm them down. He looked over to the couch where Daehyun, Youngjae and Youngbae looked dazed as they watched the younger ones in silence. Then, he looked over to Yoona who wouldn't meet his eyes. He looked at the wall clock. It was approaching 9:00AM the time the first bus to the city usually comes. He dropped the bags, slipped on his shoes and ran out the house.

As fast as he could, he ran to the bus stop. He didn't even notice the ice on the ground but luckily he did not slip once. In the distance he saw Jisu with her suitcase at the bus stop. He thought he was going to make it but suddenly, a vehicle rushed past him. He stopped for a second, watching the bus stop in front of Jisu. His eyes widened and he sprinted off towards the bus. Unfortunately, the bus took off before he could stop Jisu from getting on so he ran faster, and eventually caught up to the bus that was slow to accelerate.

Soohyun slapped the side of the bus several times, telling the bus to stop. The bus stopped and he got on, only to get scolded by the driver. He apologized and paid his fair. He looked around and noticed only several people on the bus. He noticed her right away.

He walked to the back of the bus where she was sitting. Her bag was placed beside her so he had no choice but to sit on the seat behind her. Soohyun watched the back of Jisu's head the entire ride back. He couldn't say anything. He was too ashamed of himself that he could only talk to her through his head. All he did was apologize for his stupid behavior.

After an hour or so, they reached the city. The passengers got off the bus at the bus station. Still, Soohyun didn't say anything. He didn't even know if she noticed him or if she was ignoring him. He walked after her while she dragged her luggage along. Her phone rang and she picked it up and he listened in to her conversation. "I know, but can't you help me find talk to the chief? I want to go back into the force but preferably somewhere far from here. There are too many things I dislike about this part of town."

Then, she waved her hand, hailing for a taxi, but Soohyun finally pulled her back. "You're going back into the police force?"

She stared at him while she talked on the phone, "I'll call you back later. I have a pest on my trail." She disconnected the call. "Can I not?" she asked Soohyun. "The police station is where I belong. Being behind the wheel of a police car is where I should be. Being beside you," she tugged her arm out of his grasp, "is something I should avoid."

She turned and walked away. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't know what you were doing. I was going overboard. I didn't know what was happening. Don't quit."

Jisu stopped and turned to face him. "You think I'm going to accept your apology? You suspected me of digging up your father's grave. Do you not know who your father is to me? He was a man I respected the most. He was the man I considered as my own father and what? You thought I was going to dig up his grave with your cousin? How can I work with someone who thinks such things? You're horrible." She waved for a taxi and this time, he didn't stop her. Her words were right anyways. He didn't know why he suddenly acted like that. The trust he gained from her had gone back into the negatives.

Soohyun had gone back to his family but none of them seemed to happily invite him back. Apparently, Yoona had told everyone about what happened and no one was happy about it. The entire day, the family acted cold towards him. At one point, he was pissed off. Why would they be mad at a family member when Jisu was nothing but a person who visited frequently? "Because she is someone who cares." Soohyun looked up to see his grandfather. He realized he had said his thoughts aloud. He sat down beside him on the couch. "Jisu cares about this family like we were her own. She cared about your father like he was hers. When your mother got remarried, both of you didn't visit once. You two would always visit every year. Jisu on the other hand, visited whenever she had the time to. She came over, helped out in the house and played with the kids. On top of that, she would visit your father alone, tending his grave." He laughed, "She would always go early morning because she knew all of us were busy doing our own things and she would help us after. Because she visited us at such an early age and how she still does until now, we consider her as family. It wasn't right for you to send her off like that."

"But what can I do?" Soohyun questioned. "Jisu is as stubborn as a mule. I apologized to her but she wouldn't accept it. I told her I was going overboard. She quit being an officer to work for me but she wants back in."

His grandpa shook his head. "That's a difficult one. From what I know, her dream was to be the best detective. I'm surprised she even quit to work with you. I don't think she'll quit a second time."

"Thanks for the encouragement," Soohyun said sarcastically. "She decided to work with me because I requested her help. I wanted to find my father's murderer."

His grandfather suddenly stood up and left the room. Not long after, he came back and sat back down beside Soohyun. Before he could even say anything, his grandfather gave him something. "This was your father's. I think this will help you and Jisu." Soohyun looked at the small recording device in his hands. "A week before he passed away, he visited us. He told me to keep this somewhere safe. I totally forgot about this but now that you've mentioned it, I should give this to you. I hope it will shine some light on this unlawful case."

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Comments

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Keshari
#1
Chapter 27: Update soon
Keshari
#2
Chapter 27: Author i really like your story
Update soon.
Zenitora
#3
Chapter 16: I loved this.
Usagi2988
#4
Chapter 15: This is a very intrest story. Feels like I am reading a drama. Keep up the great work!
ksh357
#5
Chapter 10: Nice pls update sooner
ksh357
#6
Chapter 9: Upadate soon authornim
eunsihaelover #7
Chapter 8: Aaaahhh so sweet.
Please update soon. ^_^
eunsihaelover #8
Chapter 4: Oh my god noooooo
He can't be dead.
I'm gonna cry right now :(
Please update soon I beg you
eunsihaelover #9
Chapter 3: Wow finally a soohyun fanfic.
I'll wait for your update so I hope you do it soon
Thank you :)