Chapter 19
You Said Remember Me II
/ / / / /
Nana’s stare became stern with fear before she relaxed and stepped out. Confused, Donghae followed her. He found a thin young man tucking a gun into his jacket as he sternly watched the two of them.
“I thought I told you not to do anything reckless!” he scolded loudly.
Nana bit her lip.
“Did you want to make me wait days before you came back to take action?!” Nana retorted. “You wouldn’t have come back for me! You would have moved out on your own!”
“You could have killed yourself!” Kikwang deliriously screamed. “Do you know who those men are? They’re equipped with weapons! They have knives hidden all over their bodies and you think you can handle them with just one measly gun?! Nana, get back to your senses!”
Donghae eyed the two of them before Kikwang turned to look at him with a glare.
“You two…know each other?” Donghae questioned.
Nana turned away, “Lets just go.”
“You’re not going anywhere!” Kikwang shouted.
Nana grabbed Donghae’s arm, but before she could drag him away Kikwang grabbed her arm halting her.
“What do you think you’re doing?! Who is he? Why are you with him?” his voice held every inch of suspicion, but Donghae didn’t doubt why he’d be suspicious.
“Criminal Investigator, Lee Donghae,” Donghae started. “And you are?”
Kikwang stared back for a long time as if he disliked Donghae’s presence in the picture.
“Lee Kikwang. Why are you with Nana? What are you after?”
Donghae eyed the movement of his hand which was slowly moving for the gun inside his jacket.
Donghae sighed and pressed his lips together before explaining, “Ren Gei and his gang have my wife. I need to find them. By the way, how did you find your way here?”
Kikwang still suspiciously glared at him, “I tracked you guys by Nana’s phone.”
“Are you from an elite force?” Donghae asked.
He didn’t answer, but tugged at Nana’s arm.
“Lets go.”
“No,” Nana refused.
“Im Jin Ah.” Kikwang deepened his voice to show that he was unhappy with her behavior.
“I’m going with Lee Donghae,” Nana turned to Kikwang with a dark eyes, “if you want to find those guys, you go after them yourself. I don’t want to go with someone who makes me wait in the dark.”
Donghae noticed the hurt that surprisingly crawled into Kikwang’s face, but didn’t say anything. He began to wonder what kind of relationship the two had with each other.
“Fine, but I’m going with you two. He,” Kikwang obviously stared at Donghae, “won’t be able to protect you alone.”
How did two people end up following him? Donghae could only really hope that he wouldn’t be slowed down in trying to look for Victoria.
/ / / / /
Yuri’s car was parked outside by the time Changmin and Victoria returned. It was late into the evening now. After strolling through the zoo, Changmin had offered to take Victoria around to go play at the street market and there they had a few snacks before deciding that it was getting late. Victoria felt thankful to him for the fact that she was able to clear her mind from worries for at least a few hours.
Yuri was found wearing sweatpants and a worn out t-shirt in the kitchen cooking dinner. The scent from the food waved itself into the air filling Victoria’s nose with satisfaction.
“What you cooking, bro?” Changmin asked as he walked into the kitchen leaning his head over to look at what she was cooking in the pan.
Yuri ignored him and turned to see Victoria standing by the table, “Where’d you two go? I was quite surprised to find that the house was empty.”
“We went to play around,” Victoria replied. “Do you want help?”
“I’m almost done,” Yuri replied before turning to Changmin, “you stink! Go take a shower! How could you have walked around with Victoria smelling like that?”
“What? Me? Smell?” Changmin grabbed his shirt and took a sniff from it. “I don’t smell!”
“Would you just go?!” Yuri gave him the eye before he muttered something and turned around.
“I’ll be back,” he smiled at Victoria before heading toward the stairs.
“You can help me set up the plates, they’re over there on the counter,” Yuri gestured toward the counter to her right.
Victoria picked up the white ceramic plates and walked back to the table carefully setting them down.
“Do you and your husband have any friends?” Yuri started.
Curious and suspecting that Yuri had found something out, but not wanting to ruin it by assuming an answer, Victoria nodded.
“If it’s not a bother, do you want to tell me about your friends?” Yuri turned off the stove and poured the meat she’d been cooking onto a large plate.
Victoria glanced at her back, “There’s only one that we’re really close to. Eunhyuk was Donghae’s childhood friend and we also became really close during the past year. We used to meet up with him quite often.”
“Him?” Yuri repeated suddenly turning around.
Victoria slowly nodded wondering if something was wrong.
“Any other friends you two are close with?”
“No.”
Yuri’s face expression changed.
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“No,” Yuri plainly answered.
Even if she meant to end their conversation, Victoria couldn’t find it in herself to just take a seat and wait for dinner to presume. Yuri hadn’t looked at her at all. It could only mean that she was hiding something, but how could Victoria just interrogate her? She wasn’t like Donghae who specialized in asking questions.
A long moment of silence passed by before Changmin entered the kitchen with wet hair.
He paused by the doorway noticing the silence and asked, “What? Why is it so quiet?”
“I was just asking Victoria some questions.” Yuri replied.
Changmin frowned and glanced over at Victoria, “Don’t start scaring her.”
Yuri made a face at Changmin, “In what way would I scare her?”
“See, right there! You’re scolding me!” Changmin stretched out his arm and pointed a finger at her then turned to Victoria. “If she starts letting out her police instincts on you, just throw a cutting board at her.”
Victoria laughed at his joke.
“Hey!” Yuri loudly retorted.
Changmin raised up his hand to silence her next comment and sat down.
“So, shall we eat?” he asked.
/ / / / /
Kikwang easily checked out a room for the three of them. As Nana silently lay in the corner curled up on the ground with a blanket over her, Kikwang gestured toward the door and Donghae followed.
Sitting by the stairs and facing an empty yard the two started off quietly staring into space. The stars were out and the full moon was glimmering behind the dark clouds that kept going past it. As a shadow loomed over them Donghae found himself fiddling his fingers.
“How did you and Nana get here?”
“It’s a long story,” was how Donghae answered, “some things happened and Nana just showed up.”
Kikwang didn’t probe further, which Donghae took as he accepted his answer the way it was.
“You’re really young,” Donghae commented, “how’d you get here? Someone like you, shouldn’t he be in school studying to become a doctor?”
It seemed as if the young boy refused to answer him.
“I work with Im Junsu, Nana’s brother that passed away,” Kikwang started, “we work in an elite force, I joined it when I was quite young. I was introduced to Nana when she was in secondary school.”
“So you two are friends?” Donghae questioned.
Kikwang nodded, “Nana is a lonely brat who doesn’t know anything. She’s stubborn and hardheaded, so I took it as a responsibility to lead her since her brother would go missing for weeks sometimes.”
“Then,” Donghae began, “were you there when Im Junsu was shot?”
Kikwang’s face expression deepened and he tilted his head toward his feet, “I saw them. There were 5 of them at the time. I don’t know what they’re after or why they shot Junsu. If they chose Junsu as their only victim, Nana could be in for it as well. I don’t want her to face them alone. She can seem like a really strong child, but she’s utterly weak inside.”
Donghae noticed how it seemed as if this guy knew Nana inside and out. The two of them must be close.
“Is your wife the girl that Ren Gei tried to hurt last year?” Kikwang wondered.
Donghae nodded, “She’s missing now, so I have to find her no matter what.”
“You sure picked someone easy to marry.”
Donghae smiled, “I don’t think I would have chose anyone else.”
/ / / / /
“Wash the dishes well!” Yuri screamed before sliding the back door close.
Victoria turned around to see Changmin muttering to himself by the sink with the dishes piled up onto the counter beside him.
“I could have done the dishes,” Victoria offered.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s his duty.” Yuri smiled before sitting down.
Victoria sat down beside her and stared out at the moon. Maybe perhaps somewhere Donghae would be gazing upon the same moon as well.
“The owner of the phone number you gave me is from Seoul,” Yuri told.
Victoria’s eyebrow intertwined.
“Seoul?”
“The owner is a female, Im Jin Ah,” Yuri explained, “do you know why your husband would have her phone?”
Victoria turned away from Yuri uncomfortable with the news she’d just received. Was Donghae with a girl? Or had he just managed to pick up her phone somewhere? Or had it all been a trap? Was he tricking her from the beginning? Or did the phone belong to one of the kidnappers? Was Donghae still in danger? Was he really on the run somewhere? Why was he with a girl? What connection would he have with a girl?
It wasn’t the total thought that they could start a romantic relationship, though it managed to bother her a bit, but it was the curiosity and worry that he wasn’t out there alone.
Who was Im Jin Ah?
***Kikwang joins Nana and Donghae.
***And Vic finds out about Nana!
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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