Chapter Twenty-Two: Realization and Bad Detectives

          “JULIE!!” Jackson practically screamed at the top of his lungs when he entered the house from the garage. He carried the six bags towards the dining room table with a smile on his face. The others quickly followed him, each carrying three bags instead of six. They put their bags down and looked around the house, yelling for Julie, when Yugyeom called them back into the kitchen.

            “Hyungs,” Yugyeom said, holding up a piece of paper. “Julie went to get food for lunch and whatnot.” They hummed in response and went to sit down in the other room. It was quiet for a while.

            “Yugyeom, did she say when she would be back on the note?” Junior asked, curious and bored out of his mind. The only fun things they had at the moment were their phones, but even those get boring if you are on them for too long. Yugyeom looked up from his phone with a sigh and got up. Junior glared at his retreating back. How dare he sigh at Junior!

            “Hyung!” Yugyeom called from the kitchen after a while.

            “What?” Junior called back, staring at the ceiling. Yugyeom looked at his phone as he walked out of the kitchen with the note in his hand.

            “What time does your phone say?” He looked up at Junior with a confused face. Junior sighed, just like Yugyeom did, and took out his phone.

            “Two o’clock. Wae?”

            “How long do you think it will take her to shop for food with twelve hooligans around her?” Yugyeom asked, eyes and face filled with worried. The other boys sat up at the look on his face.

            “Maybe three hours,” Mark replied, estimating. Yugyeom’s eyes widened and he held up the note.

            “Then, she should be back by now.” They all stood up, eyes wider than Yugyeom’s and Do’s combined. Yugyeom began reading the note. “‘Dear Jackson, Junior, Mark, Youngjae, and Yugyeom. I am going shopping for food at the grocery store about twenty minutes away. I am writing this to let you know where I am as I may not be back before you get home as I am taking all twelve of the boys with me. There is no food at home, but I should be there twenty minutes or so after you arrive. Make sure it’s clean when I get back! Love, Julie. 10:00.”

            “BWO?!” The boys stood up and Youngjae began to have a panic attack.

            “Do you think she’s hurt? The boys are hurt? What if the Tree of Life took them? What if they’re dead? Oh my God, we FAILED!” He wailed, tears falling down his face as fast as he gave himself a panic attack. Jackson grabbed his shoulders, shaking him.

            “Youngjae! Gwenchana!” He said, staring into Youngjae’s eyes. “It’s alright. They are probably still at the store. We will go find them and bring them back, okay? You stay here and wait for them. If they arrive home, safely, call us and let us know. Arraso?” Youngjae shook his head in denial.

            “No! I want to go with you,” he said, eyes still overflowing with tears. Junior moved Jackson out of the way and hugged Youngjae. Yugyeom, Mark, and Jackson left for the car, waiting for Junior. Junior pulled away, looking into Youngjae’s eyes.

            “Youngjae, stay here, okay?” Junior said, softly. Youngjae stayed silent for a bit until he finally nodded and sat back down on the couch. “Thank you. We will be home soon.” He nodded silently. Junior went out and got into the car with the other three.

            The ride was silent and long. As there were many groceries around twenty minutes away, they weren’t sure which one they should go to. After an hour of searching, Jackson made a wrong turn.

            “,” he muttered, looking for a place to make a U-turn when a siren went on behind them. “!” He whined, hitting the steering wheel as he pulled over, thinking he was about to get ticketed for speeding or something. The sirens got louder when an ambulance flew past them, driving faster than they were.

            “Whoa. Where do you think they are going?” Mark asked, eyes wide. Click. All of their eyes widened. “Crap.” Jackson stepped on the gas pedal and they sped after the ambulance when it started to slow down. Junior looked out of the front window around the ambulance to see a lot of cars on the side of the road, police cars in front of everyone with their lights on, and yellow tape surrounding the area. The ambulance sped through and they pulled over, running towards the yellow tape.

            “Shilyehamnida…shilyehamnida,” they chorused as they moved through the crowd towards the police and the yellow tape. When they got to the front, they saw a black van sitting upright with dents and pieces of it missing with police men, firefighters, and EMTs surrounding it. Reporters and cameramen were off in one corner, filming everything and talking to the cameras. All of a sudden, a big claw-like machine was brought out by some policemen and they pulled the doors of the car open so the EMTs could grab the driver. Immediately, the crowd and reporters began to murmur about it when a girl with reddish-brown hair was pulled out, dressed in a brown sweater, black jeans, and black vest jacket. She was hidden from their view.

            “YAH!” Mark suddenly yelled, trying to get the attention of the police. “JUHGIYO! JUHGIYO!” The police looked at them and walked over to them. “What happened here?” The police men looked at each other.

            “There was a lady driving her van when a car came out of nowhere and hit her, making the van roll. The driver kept driving, scared, and turned back to help her. He called us in and we came to help,” one of them said as they looked at a man sitting in the back of a police car. Maybe it was just a girl and not our Julie, they thought, feeling slightly relieved at the thought. “She-,” The EMTs brought the gurney in front of the car, the girl strapped in. Mark immediately ran out there with the rest following him. “YAH!” The police grabbed them, pulling them back.

            “Let me go! Let us go!” Mark screamed, angry at being held back. He shook them off and ran towards the girl strapped in. Looking at her face, he let out a wail of pure grief that shook everyone to the core. He started to bawl like a baby, his shaking hands hovering over her face as if she was too fragile; as if the minute he touched her, she would break and die. The police grabbed him and pulled him away again. He continued to scream, “NO! NO! LET ME GO!”

            “Stop right there!” A man yelled. The police froze as Mark stared at the girl strapped into the gurney with blood all over her, still trying to get out of their hold. A man came up and stood in front of Mark. “Sir, sir. Please, sir, calm down.” Mark shook his head, still trying to get to her. The man sighed. “Sir, do you know this young lady?” Mark nodded his head vigorously.

            “That’s my little sister! Let me go!” Mark wailed, tears falling down his face. The police let him go and he rushed to the girl strapped into the gurney. The last police officers let go of the other three, allowing them to rush over to the gurney. More heart wrenching wails from Jackson and Yugyeom sounded out through the area, making the onlookers start crying for them. Junior cried silently, watching the firefighters leave and the reporters leave. The EMTs rushed her into the ambulance, and the four boys followed.

            “I am sorry, sirs, but only one person can come with us to the hospital,” one of the EMTs said. They looked at each other before deciding they would let Jackson go instead of the others. They pushed Jackson into the ambulance and watched as it left. The police took the other three to their cars, taking them to the hospital as everyone began to leave, towing the car away from the scene.

            Outside of the hospital, there was a crowd of reporters. They began asking too many questions at once as the three boys walked up to the hospital with the police detective and other officers protecting them from the crowd. They ran into the hospital to be rushed into the room Jackson and the girl were. When they walked in, they noticed she was alright with no broken bones or scratches on her face. The detective shut the door behind him just as they sat down next to her bed, gazing at her with worry.

            “I am sorry for your troubles,” the detective said, softly. “But we need to know some answers to our questions.” They didn’t spare him a glance. He sighed and began asking his questions. “For the police report, we need to know her name. Will you give us her full name?” They didn’t answer. He sighed, again. “Alright. Well, will you be suing the man?”

            “Yes,” Junior answered harshly. The boys looked at him with wide eyes. “He drove away without even seeing if she was okay. It doesn’t matter that he came back to help. He ran a red light or stop sign or whatever and hurt her. He deserves to be sued.”

            “Alright. Do you have any idea where she was going at the time?” Jackson looked up at him and, with the politest tone he could muster, answered him.

            “I think you should wait to ask such questions for when she wakes up.” The police detective’s eyes grew wide and was flustered. He nodded and handed them a bag filled with the girl’s purse, clothes, and other personal items.

            “We will wait for such questions, then,” he said, bowed, and left. He shut the door behind him and shook his head, feeling annoyed. “Aish. Kids.”

            The boys waited until they heard his distancing footsteps that they took out their phones, calling different people at the same time as they tried their best to calm down. They each told them the same thing.

            “Yah, Youngjae,” Junior said as he called Youngjae, sniffling. “Come to the Moran Hospital.”

            “Boss,” Mark called their boss, Lee Soo Man. “We need you at the Moran Hospital.”

            “Dr. Oh,” Yugyeom said into his phone. “Moran Hospital is ready for you to come.”

            “Mr. Mo,” Jackson said into his phone. “We need your assistance at Moran Hospital.”

            After they finished, they hung up their phone and sat down again, waiting and waiting when the door was pushed open by Youngjae, Lee Soo Man, a rather old man with black hair and white streaks dressed in all white, and a tall, young man with muscles protruding from his body dressed in a black suit and tie. Youngjae rushed to the bed, relieved as the girl’s face had no bruises or scratches of any sort.

            “What happened?” Lee Soo Man asked in a serious voice. Jackson opened his mouth to answer when the girl’s eyes opened. The boys rushed to the bed, relieved. She stared up at them, confused.

            “Julie,” Mark breathed out, smiling slightly at her.

            “Wh-Where am I?” She asked, her voice small and scared.

            “You’re at Moran Hospital. You were in a car accident,” Mark said, tears falling down his eyes again as he sniffled. “Gwenchana?” She nodded and smiled, wiping his tears away. Lee Soo Man came up and stood next to Mark. Her eyes went to him.

            “Do you know what happened?” She opened to answer when the older man grabbed a board connected to her bed. He opened it, scanned it with his eyes, and looked back up with wide eyes.

            “Miss, you were in a car accident where the car flipped and rolled multiple times. Pieces and parts were missing and there were bad dents into the car. You should have at least have broken ribs if not bones, but you have absolutely nothing.” Everyone looked at her, eyes wide.

            “What happened to you?” Lee Soo Man muttered under his breath as he stared at her.

            “I-I am sorry, but I really do not remember what happened at all,” she answered, eyebrows knitted together. They all shared looks with each other. “Where-Where are my sons?” At that moment, the detective came in with a poker face on.

            “Ah, I see that you are up,” he said, giving her a fake smile only noticeable to Julie and Mr. Mo (both experts at fake smiling). “I would like to talk to you and get your statement,” he looked at the eight males in the room before looking back at Julie, “alone.” She nodded, giving him a fake smile just like his.

            “Julie,” Youngjae said, hesitating to leave. He didn’t feel good leaving her alone with the detective; however, the other pulled him out with them. They nodded at Julie, giving her meaningful looks, and once the door was closed, they whispered their plan to each other.

            “Operation ‘The Great Escape’ is a go.”

            “So, the boys you were with wouldn’t tell me your full name,” the detective said as he sat down next to her bed. He opened his small notebook and brought out a pen. “What is your full name?”

            “Julianne Randi,” she answered immediately. He nodded, writing it down, until he froze. He stepped outside of the room for a bit and came back in with an impassive face.

            “Can you tell me what happened today, in your own words?” She nodded.

            “Umm, I noticed there was no food in my pantry at home so I went out to get more food. I was driving down the road and looked into the rearview mirror at my youngest son for a second and-,” he stopped writing.

            “So, one of the infants brought in is yours?” He asked with a harsh tone. She nodded.

            “All of them are mine.” He snorted. She ignored that and continued with her retelling. “So, I looked back at him as I began to cross to the other side when a car came out of nowhere and hit me, head-on. The car flipped a lot, but I do not remember what happened afterwards.” The man nodded.

            “Alright, now, can you explain to me why you have no injuries?” She shrugged.

            “I do not know. I remember the car rolling and whatnot but I don’t know why I have no injuries.” He wrote down something and looked back up at her.

            “Do you know who the other children belong to so that we may call their parents to come pick them up?” She laughed, making his eyes narrow in on her as a scowl graced his face. “Ms. Randi. Now is not the time to laugh at a question. Those children brought in with you are in need of their parents, right now.” She calmed down and looked at him, anxious to know what they were doing to make him so angry.

            “Where are they?”

            “They are in the children area with nurses and doctors.” She felt anxious.

            “Are they okay?” He shrugged.

            “As I am not sure what child is yours, I will tell you that they are alright and waiting for their parents. Now, please tell me which one is yours and where their parents are.”

            “Sir, they are all of mine.”

            “Obviously, they are not all yours, Ms. Randi,” he said, sounding very rude. She felt insulted.

            “Excuse me?” He glared at her.

            “Do not play dumb, Ms. Randi,” he said in a harsh tone. “We have received multiple complaints from the doctors and nurses that they are ruining everything in the rooms they are in and will not let the nurses and doctors near them. They have made multiple damages and will need to be paid for. You, Ms. Randi, cannot afford that much money to repair everything.” She rose an eyebrow.

            “How much?” He laughed.

            “Too much for you.” She began to feel angry.

            “Wae?” His eyes narrowed more – if that was possible.

            “You are a homeless person, are you not?” Her eyes went wide with shock. Bwo? “Multiple children have gone missing from Seoul and a woman has been stealing cars. The parents of these children have all given one name and one name only: Julianne Randi. Your name is not on the plates of the van that was smashed and those children do not have the same blood type as you do.”

            “Of course they don’t! I am not homeless; that van belonged to my grandmother, Adrianna, and she gave it to me when she died; and whoever said I was stealing children was lying. Those children that are causing all of those damages are mine. I a-,” her rant was cut off when two men walked right in, eyes widening at the sight of the man. One of them was dressed in a suit with a white lab coat on him and the other was the older man from before.

            “Detective Oh,” the younger one said with a shocked tone. “What are you doing in here?”

            “I am getting her full statement and-,” he began but Julie cut him off.

            “And accusing me of being a homeless woman who is stealing cars and children at the same time!” He glared at her while the other two looked at him with baffled expressions.

            “Detective Oh, I am sorry to inform you that you have no right questioning my patients,” the young doctor said with an angry tone. “Please leave.”

            “No, I will not be leaving!” He said with a defensive tone filled with anger. “She has stolen those twelve children and I will not stand for it! She is coming in with me.” He walked back towards her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her up off of the bed to him. “She is going in for kidnapping, stealing, and for lying to a police officer during an investigation!”

            “Yah!” Their eyes widened at him. “Detective Oh, your information is certainly wrong.”

            “Highly doubtful.”

            “This is Julianne Randi, granddaughter of Adrianna Oh and Min Ho Oh, former CEOs of Oh Entertainment, PSG network, and Oh Electronics. She is not homeless whatsoever, has enough money buy five full-sized forests, and all of those children are legally hers.” The detective froze, eyes wide.

            “B-Bwo?” He asked, looking down at Julie. “No, they are not! You are lying to me, doctor. You must be.” The older man shook his head.

            “He is not, Detective. I am Dr. Sun Oh, head director of the Oh Hospital in the middle of Seoul. I am the family’s personal doctor and I demand that you let my patient go at once and get your head on straight.” The detective, intimidated, immediately let go of Julie, growled, and rushed out with a scowl. Julie sat back down, eyes wide. “Now, Ms. Randi, I must inform you that you are being transferred to my hospital in the middle of Seoul, right now. Please dress so that we may take you there in the proper attire. The boys, Lee Soo Man, and Mr. Mo will be there when we arrive, as well as your sons.” She hesitantly nodded her head, shocked.

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Shilyehamnida = Excuse me: most popular and polite

Juhgiyo = Excuse me: popular; used to get a person's attention