Chapter 17
You Said Remember Me II
/ / / / /
“Eui Tae, lets take a firggin break! We’ve been moving all night!” Young Ae stammered behind him.
Eui Tae turned around to see Young Ae moving for the stairs of a store and sat down. Leaning her head forward she let out deep gasps for air. Annoyed and easily angered he paced back toward her.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked quietly. “We need to find Victoria before the sun sets. Do you know how pissed off Ren Gei will be if we don’t head back without her?”
Young Ae sighed heavily and looked up at him with a glare, “I can’t look for that when I’m in this state! Do you see my hair?! It smells! I want to take a friggin shower!”
“You can take care of your damn hair when we return to the factory! Victoria comes first right now,” he repeated.
“Enough of her! You should have brought that dumb , Leo, who wants to sleep with her so bad! He’d definitely be working hard to look for her right now!” Young Ae shouted.
The few people crossing the street turned. Eui Tae half slapped the woman.
“Would you shut the up?” he threatened. “Before I slit your throat in one of the forbidden alleys and I swear I won’t hesitate when I kill you.”
Young Ae’s eyes shook.
“Now lets go look for Victoria,” Eui Tae pulled her roughly to her feet.
“What makes you so sure she’ll be on the streets this early in the morning?” Young Ae strutted beside him unwillingly.
“There are less people in the early mornings,” he quietly explained, “she won’t just be sitting still waiting upon news of her husband. Didn’t you see her face when we mentioned him before we cut off her consciousness? She’d do anything to look for him at this moment.”
Young Ae grimaced at his explanation and paused. She squinted her eyes and stared at the convenience store at the corner of the street.
“Isn’t that her?”
/ / / / /
Victoria looked around carefully before crossing the street and heading down the walk. Being careful to keep her face hidden she kept her hair over her shoulders to help block the sides of her face. Quickly shuffling her feet along she observed the roads for any oncoming cars before heading into the convenience store.
Though she was sure the news that had been broadcasted on TV were most likely to be printed on the newspaper she still wanted to get a look at the newspaper anyway. Maybe somewhere on one of those pages, news about her husband had been printed in one of those small paragraphs. Possibly, just maybe she might be able to come across something about him.
Frantically flipping page by page, she realized that there was nothing on Donghae. Heaving a sigh she started back out and uneasily bit her bottom lip.
/ / / / /
“She’s coming this way,” Young Ae loudly whispered.
“Don’t make yourself obvious,” Eui Tae warned turning to the side to pretend that he was waiting for the bus.
/ / / / /
Darting her eyes toward her feet, Victoria felt herself sigh. Victoria quickly became lost in her own small world. After a couple of steps, a shout of surprise escaped her when she felt someone grab her arm. Turning around panicked she saw that it was Changmin.
“Oh? Where are you going?” he asked.
Victoria shut her eyes and let out a sigh of relief.
“I scared you, huh?” he said. “Sorry, but Yuri called me to make sure you were doing alright and that was before I saw you sneak out of the house.”
“I was only taking a look around,” Victoria explained.
“Come on, I’ll take you back before I have to leave,” he offered.
/ / / / /
Eui Tae squinted his eyes to get a better look at the man who was walking her away.
“Who is he?” Young Ae asked. “I couldn’t see his face. It’s a shame we could only see his back. Do you think Victoria got together with someone we don’t know of? Maybe she already reported us…”
“No,” Eui Tae shook his head, “he’s not a cop. If he were, he would’ve taken a look around at least, and he would’ve had a tighter leash on her. He’s just an ordinary person.”
“Oh? Aren’t you being smart?” she commented sarcastically.
“Lets follow them.”
/ / / / /
“I’m going to set on the alarm,” Changmin explained from the doorway.
“Where did you say you work again?” asked Victoria.
“The zoo,” he smiled. “Maybe I’ll take you there sometime. I’m sure you’ll like it.”
“I haven’t been to the zoo in a long time,” she told. “I’d like to go.”
“Alright, I’ll take you there soon then,” he promised. “We have a lot of hiding places in our home, so if something happens you know what to do, but it’s most likely that nothing will happen. So don’t worry too much. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
He slipped on his last pair of shoe and unlocked the door.
“Oh,” he turned around, “Yuri left a lot of food in the fridge. Gosh, that girl cooks so much that we don’t even eat all the food. It’ll just go to waste if we let it sit there, so if you’re hungry find something to eat. You don’t have to be shy.”
He was quite talkative.
“I know, thanks,” she smiled.
Changmin seemed to stare at her for a few seconds before finally waving and closing the door behind him. Victoria sighed again and sat down on the couch. Looking around the bright house she spotted a home phone hanging off the wall. Yuri had said she could call her friends and family to let them know she was alright.
Getting up to her feet she grabbed the phone and paused. Who would she call first? Donghae’s uncle? Or Eunhyuk?
/ / / / /
“You haven’t left?” Hee Sun asked walking toward the breakfast table.
Eunhyuk stared at his almost empty plate.
“It’s too early,” he answered.
Hee Sun took a seat adjacent to him, “Victoria hasn’t been at school lately. Do you know if she’s taking some time off for herself? Is she ok?”
A sting poked Eunhyuk’s helpless heart. Victoria had gone missing right after Donghae had. The two people that meant the most to him were most likely in danger while he was eating breakfast in a relaxed manner when they weren’t. The thought that he didn’t whether they were eating or if they were ok in general pained him.
“She’s taking some time off,” he lied.
“Are you sure?” Hee Sun wondered. “You seem very quiet lately.”
“I’m just stressed,” he lied again and got up.
When he got to his room he took his shirt off and grabbed his button up business shirt. After he finished buttoning his shirt he stared into the mirror at his own reflection. He’d made it too obvious to Hee Sun that he wasn’t happy. Even his expression couldn’t be changed into a smiling one. He looked so dull and out of it.
The ringing of his phone made him turn around and walking toward his desk to pick up his phone he frowned at the unrecognized number.
“Hello?” he answered after a moment of hesitation.
“Eunhyuk?”
His heart started pounding and his blood rushed. Feelings of over joy and uncertainty flushed through him. What if he was just dreaming?
“Victoria?” the name escaped his mouth immediately.
“Eunhyuk, it’s me, Victoria, I’m alright.”
A smile crawled over his lips.
“You’re ok? You’re really ok?!”
He could imagine Victoria smiling as well on the other side of the line. His heart accelerated by a million jumps.
“Victoria, where are you? Tell me so I can come get you,” Eunhyuk excitedly told.
“Eunhyuk, I’m in Osan.”
“Osan? Are you ok? How did you get there? Are you hurt?”
“No, no,” she shook her head, “I’m fine. Perfectly fine. I’m staying with some people…”
“Who are they? Are you sure they’re good people? Victoria, tell me where you are so I can come get you.”
“I’m not sure what the address is,” Victoria quickly said, “but don’t worry about me. Yuri is a cop, she’s helping me look into the situation.”
“I’m coming to get you,” Eunhyuk told, “Osan isn’t too big, I can come find you. Wait for me.”
/ / / / /
“Eunhyuk?” Victoria called over and over again, but all that replied to her was the beeping tone signaling that Eunhyuk had hung up.
Hopelessly hanging up she sighed again. She knew it, she shouldn’t have called him. Turning around to look at the empty home she felt even lonelier than usual.
“Donghae, where are you?”
/ / / / /
“Song Yong Jo, Yun Eui Tae, Young Ae, Kang Leo, and Ren Gei are all residents of Sichuan who have come to Korea without proper visas,” Heechul reported from the paper he’d bounded to a book he had found lying around, “they were troublemakers in school, all bullies to be exact. Ren Gei was rehabilitated because of being a drug addict. There were no records of the others graduating from high school, but they’ve been caught and warned on the streets for illegal activities in China, but these activities were not heavily investigated by the police. With this, we can summarize that they all dealed drugs. And it looks like…” Heechul continuously chewed on his piece of gum as he flipped through the pages, “they’re here for more trouble. There have been activities where drug dealing has been reported to have taken place in empty warehouses. That’s all I have on them so far. Do you know how tiring it is to translate Chinese into Korean?”
Heechul heavily sighed as he slapped his thigh with the book.
“Anyway, Chief,” Heechul began, “if they’re dealing drugs and they also do murdering sprints, I don’t think Lee Donghae will last out there on the front lines. So, should I pack up immediately?”
“Not yet,” Chief Kang destroyed his hopes, “re-investigate those drug dealings here in Korea. We have to make sure that the gang has left traces of themselves. If it’s really them, I’ll send a group with you.”
“A group? Aww…come on.”
“Just you won’t be enough,” Chief Kang told lying propped up uncomfortably, “find out if they do any other illegal activities. Perhaps, they just wanted to scare Donghae by attacking us, but I can’t be sure. They might be looking for more…oh yes, and do look up Im Jin Ah. We need to know more about her and her brother.”
“Who?”
“Im Jin Ah, she’s also known by Nana.”
“Nana?” Heechul’s eyebrows shot up.
“Her brother was the one killed at the bank burglary attempt,” Chief Kang further explained, “she’s the one who followed us and helped us escape.”
“So…Donghae has a girl with him?” Heechul asked surprised.
/ / / / /
Donghae turned around the corner quietly. Cars zoomed pass, there was a minimal amount of crowd within the streets, and he thought they were blending in well.
“We’re going to grab a bus and make our way to Pyeongtaek,” Donghae explained, “we’ll move further up from there.”
“I thought you said you weren’t heading back to Seoul,” Nana reminded.
“We’re not going to Seoul,” Donghae said, “I’m going to Incheon.”
“Why are you going back there?!” she loudly asked stopping in her steps. “You won’t get anything done if you go back there! I thought we were going after those guys!”
Donghae swerved his eyes around worried if they’d caught anyone in particular’s attention.
“I told you not to chase them blindly,” he repeated himself, “I’m going to meet up with a friend who can take me to the Chief. He’s bound to have started something if he made it back. I need to get in touch with him before I start moving on my own.”
Nana gritted her teeth, “Who’s your friend? Is he trustable?”
“Very,” Donghae turned back around and started toward the transportation center, “there’s no one else I can trust but him.”
He quickly stopped in his steps and felt Nana bump into him.
“What!” she impatiently scolded.
Two familiar figures were moving ahead looking through the crowd very intently. Their hard stares landed upon everyone’s face. Even if there were a sea of people separating them, Donghae could still feel his pulse race. The snarling comments that had come from their laughing faces during the days he’d been held prisoner were still very clear within his memory.
Chief Kang had pointed each and every one of them out to him and had forced him to memorize their names. Although only having seen their silhouettes through the darkness didn’t help much, he recognized them by their figures. Among the rest, Leo had the smallest body frame and Yong Jo had big buff arms that made his legs look miniature.
Donghae took a step back and pulled Nana along with him.
“It’s them,” he heard Nana whisper.
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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