Chapter 14
You Said Remember Me II
/ / / / /
Luckily, they hadn’t deprived him of everything. His phone had been lost, but he’d found his wallet still miraculously with him. After realizing he’d stunk from the filthy warehouse he’d been imprisoned in he bought a cheap pair of jeans and t-shirt before heading toward the bath house.
Nana was waiting for him outside when he walked out 15 minutes later. Disposing of his suit he started toward her. He still had to find out why she’d followed them and why she’d decided to play hero.
She turned to him as he said, “Before I talk to you, I need to stop by a payphone.”
“Phone? If you wanted to use one, I can just lend you mine.”
“No,” he told, “Ren Gei and his gang might be keeping a tab on us. They would have found out about my escaping at this point. We’re going to run into them sooner or later, and I don’t want it to be now.”
“Then why do you need a phone?”
“I need to check up on someone.”
“Your wife?”
Donghae turned away from her. At this point he wasn’t really up to talking to this young girl about his wife. He didn’t want to talk to anyone about Victoria right now. He wanted to keep thoughts of her to himself and only to himself.
Spotting a pay phone by the edge of the street he excitedly started toward it. His heart suddenly began pounding a hundred times faster when anxiety started building up inside him. Just the thought of hearing her voice made him deliriously happy. He missed her so much.
The home phone started ringing bringing his senses back onto Earth. Victoria should be home. Her classes should have ended an hour ago…she wouldn’t have gone out, would she? Or was she with Eunhyuk at this moment? The thought of her and Eunhyuk together made him uneasily jealous. Though, the many things that had happened between the three of them had been almost more than a year ago, he couldn’t quite help himself when he knew Eunhyuk was just as important in Victoria’s heart.
“Hello?” his uncle picked up.
“It’s me,” Donghae answered, “is Victoria home? Is she there? Can I talk to her?”
“Donghae? Oh my God! Donghae!” he screamed before his voice broke.
“Uncle, Victoria…where is she?” asked Donghae sticking on track. It was selfish of him to ignore his uncle’s shock, but he’d only called for Victoria.
“Donghae,” his uncle started as he took a breath, “where are you? Chief Kang is looking for you.”
Donghae’s thoughts silenced and the traffic seemed to cease outside the windows of the payphone. His brain blanked out and all he could see within the darkness was Victoria. Why hadn’t his uncle answered him about Victoria?
“Where’s Victoria?” he started again.
“Donghae…”
“Victoria, I need to talk to her,” Donghae cut him off urgently. “Uncle, please let me talk to Victoria.”
“Donghae, listen to me,” his uncle added more depth to his tone of voice, “Victoria was missing when I came home.”
“When! When did she go missing?!”
“I came back Tuesday morning, I couldn’t find her…”
Silence. Donghae felt himself panic at the thought of Ren Gei and Victoria.
“Chief Kang has set someone on it, Donghae where are you?”
“I’m going to find Victoria. I won’t come back without her,” he declared before hanging up.
Eunhyuk’s advice to him about telling Victoria about Ren Gei, he should have listened to him. If Victoria had known ahead of time, she could have protected herself. Where could they have taken her? What were they going to do with her? The thought of it made his blood sweat.
As the door to the payphone slammed shut behind him he started down the walk blindly having forgotten about Nana. He didn’t know where he was going. There was no point in going back home, now that Victoria wasn’t there. He couldn’t live without her. She was everything to him. He’d always followed her around since the beginning for one reason and that reason couldn’t have made itself any clearer when they married. He’d been infatuated with her, he’d always been infatuated with her.
“Where are you going?!” Nana grabbed his arm forcing him to a halt.
Donghae stared at the ground feeling his mind run wild.
“She’s missing,” he spun around.
Nana stared at him not knowing what to say.
“I need to find her.”
Nana pulled him to another stop once he turned to walk away, “You don’t know where she is.”
“All the reason why I need to search for her!”
Nana glanced around at the stares they received when he shouted and turned back to him with a glare.
“How are you going to do that?” she asked. “You don’t even know where she is or if they’ve really got her.”
“Victoria wouldn’t be missing if they hadn’t gotten to her,” Donghae answered through gritted teeth.
Donghae turned away from her and tried to calm down. His nerves were so worked up. Even as he took deep breaths, none of it seemed to be of any help. He was still so worried about her. The thoughts of how frightened she’d be and that there was no one to help her made him feel like a failure.
Biting his lower lip he turned back to her, “These guys are connected to your brother, right? How? Why are you looking for them?”
“They killed him.”
Her answer took him by surprise.
“I want revenge.”
Donghae stared back taken aback by her fearless stupidity.
“You know him, that guy who’s obsessed about your wife,” Nana pointed out, “he’s with those guys. You know more about them than I do. Staying with you will make it easier to come face to face with those murderers. And when I do, I’m going to kill them.”
“You’re crazy,” Donghae found himself muttering.
“I don’t care what you think of me,” Nana shot back, “they took the most important person away from me, and they won’t get away with it. It’s the same for your wife, isn’t it?”
Donghae’s jaw tensed up.
“But she’s lucky, she has you to come back to.”
He turned away from her again. It was hard to sympathize with someone else when the most important person to him was in danger. He felt sorry for being ignorant and cold, but there were no words he could bring himself to say in order to comfort Nana.
“Lets get out of this city,” Donghae turned away from her, “your brother wouldn’t have been killed for no reason.”
Nana shifted her head to glance at his side profile, “What’d you mean?”
“They must have had a connection,” Donghae replied.
“You’re saying they knew each other?” Nana asked with a hint of anger in her voice. “My brother doesn’t mix with gangs. He’s not that kind of person. My brother is innocent!”
“I didn’t assume what you’d just said, did I?” Donghae pointed out expressionlessly. “Let me ask you a question. Im Junsu, your brother, what did he do for a living?”
Nana pressed her lips together and lightly clenched her teeth. He watched as she tightened her grasp on the strap of her tote bag.
“You’re thinking he’s the bad guy, aren’t you?” Nana said.
Donghae returned the stare quietly. He was starting to get more suspicious about this girl and her brother. How were they linked to Ren Gei and his gang? More importantly, what did her brother do that had resulted in his death?
“I just asked a question.” Donghae told as a car beeped its horn behind him.
Nana refused to speak.
“If you want me to help you get justice for your brother’s murder, you’ll need to tell me about him,” Donghae further explained, “or do you not want my help?”
Nana still stared silently.
“You helped us because you wanted our help, is it not?” Donghae went on.
She stubbornly remained silent.
Donghae restrained his sigh, “Fine. I’m hungry, lets not eat street food anymore. There’s a restaurant around the corner, I’ll treat you.”
/ / / / /
The audience cheered and screamed when he tossed some fishes at the seals after they’d obediently did the tricks he’d taught them. It was warm and the dying wind didn’t help cool him down at all. After changing back into the clothes he’d come in to work with, he walked around the glancing at the caged up animals busy lying on the ground and sleeping under the shades the trees provided them. He felt sorry for them.
Little kids reached their small arms through the crack of the bars separating them from the wild animals. Others exclaimed how this one moved and how that one chased it. The zoo had always been the best place for family trips. He loved visiting the zoo with his parents when he was younger. They were such precious memories.
Walking around the bend, he came across an ice cream cone stand and bought one. Sitting down upon the bench at a rest area he gazed around at the large trees over at the side of the trails. Couples passed by hand in hand, families of threes or more hurried by excitedly, and yet not one single person had been sighted.
Remaining in spot a while more he finally got up and headed toward his car. The house was as quiet as always when he returned from his part time shift. Planning to head upstairs for a nap he yawned, stretched his arms out, and stopped to look around the house. He’d been out all night last night traveling back from his parents’ place before he’d chanced upon Victoria. He suddenly wondered if she was still there.
Walking through the short hallway he passed under the arching ceiling and paused when he spotted a figure lying upon the couch. Victoria was sleeping on her side with her hair neatly sprawled out like a piece of artwork. Her eyes were shut neatly and from where he stood he could see her long eyelashes curving out. She’d stuck both her hands underneath the sofa pillow and had slightly bent her legs. As his eyes traced her, he found himself quickly looking away. He recalled her telling him that her husband was missing. She was married.
Heading upstairs to get a blanket for her he wondered who the man she’d married was. How long had they been married? Opening the closet in the guest room he paused. She looked young, very young. Suddenly, he assumed that she couldn’t have been married for a long time.
Returning to the living room he placed the warm blanket over her and smiled satisfied with his little effort of keeping her comfortable. With that he went to his room and slept.
/ / / / /
“I’ve ceased news about Victoria,” Heechul walked into the guest room he’d lent Chief Kang. “I’ll start looking up the gang members after dinner, but after I trace them I’m not 100% certain we can locate them. If they’ve taken upon acts that count for criminal activity, they’re bound to be carefully hiding somewhere. I’m really worried about whether we’ll be able to find Victoria in time. If anything happens, won’t Lee Donghae end up killing me?”
“Cheonan,” Chief Kang said, “we were in Cheonan. If you’re unable to locate them, start from Cheonan and move from there wherever your instincts lead you. As obsessed as Ren Gei is, I’m pretty sure he won’t let anyone lay a hand on Victoria. They should have found out about our escape by now and should be after Donghae. Victoria and Donghae will eventually meet up through the gang. I’m more worried about Donghae. If he finds out about Victoria’s situation, he might make a foolish move, and it won’t be a pretty picture.”
Heechul snorted, “Lee Donghae is always the center. I’ll start looking for Victoria first. Since Lee Donghae has five arms to take care of himself, I won’t worry about him yet. You won’t get angry with me if I play bias here, right, Chief?”
/ / / / /
“Looks like the party here died,” Eui Tae muttered underneath his breath with the evening sun glowing upon the gang.
“I knew he wouldn’t last, this fool,” Leo puffed out the smoke from his cigar.
“They must’ve gone right after we left,” Young Ae crossed her arms as they stared down at the dead Jin Young, the gun he’d last used beside him.
“Someone let them out,” Yong Jo walked back toward them with a shovel.
“We must’ve been followed,” Eui Tae concluded, “it’s been less than 12 hours since they’ve escaped. They couldn’t have gotten far. We’ll let Ren Gei know, then search the city before moving on.”
“What about Victoria?” Leo turned to look at him.
“We’ll split up,” Eui Tae replied. “Young Ae will go with me to get Victoria. You and Yong Jo search the city.”
“What about the cops? They could have gotten to the cops by now,” Young Ae stated.
“Everybody thinks they’re dead,” Eui Tae explained, “they don’t know our motive, they don’t recognize our faces except for Ren Gei who isn’t with us at the moment, so we’re safe. Victoria’s a woman which will make it easier for us. The cops will dismiss her if she tells them she was kidnapped in the middle of the night. She’s already escaped, no harm done, so she can’t report anything. Questions answered? If so, lets move.”
***Uh-oh...now he knows that Vic is missing
***The gang has started their strategy. Who will get caught first? Vic or Hae?
spring semester ends this friday and i'm off for summer break :D i'll get back on track with YSRMII
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