Chapter 68
You Said Remember Me II
/ / / / /
The heavy roofs hung slickly over the low house. Shades of the dark branches which loomed over the home swung back and forth with the breeze underneath the warm sun. Just a few days ago, the doctor had come and removed the stitches from the gun wound. And just yesterday, he’d started moving around full time.
Heechul had brought in a paper to him in bed one evening with news covering a homicide in Osan. The two suspects whose names were not written down left him yearning impatiently for more information. And as slick as Heechul proved himself to be, he’d gotten the information in less than 2 days, and you know what? Those two suspects told Chief Kang that he wouldn’t be able to lazily loiter around anymore.
The longer he delayed their move, the riskier and more dangerous it would get for Victoria and Donghae and the people who had gotten involved in this case.
Heechul parked the automobile by the front door and they stepped out in unison.
Heechul stretched his arms out, “Isn’t this just a great and lovely home?”
Chief Kang ignored his comment wholly and walked toward the front door. He rung the doorbell and waited. A woman wearing an apron came to the door.
Lifting up his badge Chief Kang announced, “Chief Kang, private investigator. I’m Lee Donghae’s boss and I currently have news about your son, Lee Hyukjae.”
The skin underneath the woman’s eyes became extremely dark as if the mention of her son made her feel so tired.
“Do you know where he is? He hasn’t contacted us in weeks and we can’t find him anywhere!” Eunhyuk’s mother cried desperately. “Where is he? Is he safe? Has he gotten into trouble? Can you bring my son home?”
Chief Kang could tell that this was going to be one long day.
/ / / / /
Nana closed the door behind her and walked into Changmin’s room. Surprisingly, his parents were there. Or at least there weren’t any traces left behind by them.
She discovered Changmin propped up against a pillow and he was gladly holding a sports magazine.
“Hey,” she greeted as she walked over.
“Goodness! I was so bored!” Changmin set down the magazine and waited for her to take a seat. “Where were you? Where’s everybody?”
“I’m not quite sure.” Nana slowly replied swinging back a mass of her droopy hair.
Changmin’s eyes grew stern with a fair amount of confusion. Nana frowned.
“What?”
He pointed to a part of his neck as if mimicking that there was something on her neck. Nana immediately placed a hand over it and tried to get a glimpse of whatever it was to no avail. Hopefully, it wasn’t a bug.
“What is that red mark?” he asked.
Nana’s eyes widened and she quickly drew her hair over it.
“Ah…um…it’s…I kind of hurt myself while sleeping.”
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Nana gulped.
“Yea, I kind of slept in an uncomfortable manner and when I got up it was there.”
“Really? You seemed surprised about it.” a tone of doubt obviously stuck to his voice.
Nana laughed nervously, “I didn’t realize until now.”
“Nana…” Changmin started reaching a hand forward.
She felt his warm hand glide over hers and quickly pulled her hand back leaving him at a loss. It did feel like she wanted to go to him, but she didn’t want to either. Changmin finally grasping her hand was perhaps something she’d wanted as a small gesture of comfort from him. However, after Eunhyuk had spoken to him about his feelings for Victoria and had warned her not to prod on any further, she didn’t know what she wanted to do anymore. Nana had thought she was ok with going forward with the game just yesterday. It seemed worth it if she was able to spend a little more time with Changmin. She was almost content with being left behind, but last night…had somewhat changed her perception now.
“I need to go to the bathroom.” Nana mumbled before dashing out of the door.
Eunhyuk was willing to stop last night, but Nana had been desperate. She liked him…she had thought she liked him. But no…she still likes him. The feelings were still there. Nana had been harboring feelings for Eunhyuk all along. Nana had wanted the kiss to continue until they were breathing against each other. But why…had it gone further than she’d meant for it to?
The door to the single bathroom slammed behind her. She locked the door and ran to the sink to turn on the faucet. Cold water leaked out endlessly. Instead of splashing it over her face to wake herself up from her dreams, she pushed her hair back. Within seconds Nana found herself staring at the kiss mark that had been left behind from last night’s intimate act.
/ / / / /
The sudden feeling that had settled at the pit of his stomach disturbed Changmin. It wasn’t that he was possessive of Nana or that he was angry. He was unsure. He thought Nana liked him and was feeling lost between the lines of friendship and that of a lover. Changmin felt bad for making her waver and had only meant to comfort her somewhat.
That didn’t seem like the case now.
Clearly, what he’d seen on her neck was what he knew it to be.
He was growing weary with worry for her. Perhaps, Nana staying with Eunhyuk alone wasn’t a good idea at all as he’d thought from the start. If possible, he would have to chide Yuri into persuading Nana to return to the house tonight.
/ / / / /
Eunhyuk stopped by a payphone near the hospital. As the door slammed behind him he stared at the phone for a while. His eyes trailed off the metallic surface before picking up the receiver. Slipping some coins into the slot, he punched in his home phone number, listening to the loud sounds of the buttons being pushed, then the phone rang.
His father would be at work, Hee Sun at school, so it’d only be his mother who was at home alone. What would he say to her so as not to alarm her? Eunhyuk ran the quick thoughts through his head.
Through the side windows he watched a woman hold a toddler’s hand. They passed by in a calm manner, the little boy jumping every now and then. How was his nephew doing? He wondered if Hyang Soon missed him and if the little boy would remember him when he went back home. It had been a long time since he’d thought of home.
The ringing stopped, someone had picked up the phone. They hadn’t answered though. It was as if they were waiting for him to speak first.
“Hello?” a man’s voice answered.
Eunhyuk didn’t quite recognize this voice. Had the perpetrators found his home?!
“Who is this?” he demanded.
The man on the other side of the phone quieted before saying, “Eunhyuk?”
“Is it him?” he heard a woman’s faint voice in the background.
Was that his mother? He frowned. What was going on? Who were these people with his mother?
“I asked who you are.” Eunhyuk growled.
The rushed voices in the background immediately silenced.
“This is Chief Kang, Eunhyuk.”
Eunhyuk’s jaw literally dropped. Shock, which shouldn’t have been shock, infiltrated him. For some reason, Eunhyuk feeling like doubling over wanting to give a cry out to the old man. Somewhere in the distance, a car honked its horn and it echoed throughout the city like a tornado warning.
“Eunhyuk, are you still there?” Chief Kang asked.
Eunhyuk gave an unsettled grunt in reply.
“I’ve explained the situation to your mother,” Chief Kang explained, “it hasn’t been easy but she’d agreed to cooperate.”
Explain? Explain what? What situation and what cooperation?
“What are you talking about?” Eunhyuk wondered, everything in his mind from earlier dissipating.
“The homicide in Osan,” Chief Kang clarified, “your mother will say she doesn’t know where you are. We’re going to cover for you as long as we can. End of story. Now, where are you?”
Loosening his hold on the phone, Eunhyuk said, “Osan. With Donghae and Victoria…and Nana.”
“Donghae?” Chief Kang was the one to sound shocked now.
“Yes, we found him in Osan.”
“We?”
“Long story,” Eunhyuk said.
“Cut the story short.”
“Victoria found shelter at a small time cop’s place where she contacted me. I found her, we found Donghae and Nana, and we’re still being trailed by the gang. We can’t even go out without checking our backs every second.” Eunhyuk told.
“The gang…is there in Osan?”
“Mmm…”
“Who is this small time cop? Is she aware of the gang?”
“Kwon Yuri, and she’s the one who’s been watching our backs. Apparently, we’re dragging her and her friend into this mess. He was shot a few days ago by a member of the gang,” Eunhyuk explained. “She’s also working with her team on the homicide. What can I do, Chief? I don’t want her to lose her job if they find out that she’s providing us shelter. We’re being hunted down and I don’t even know what to do.”
Chief Kang didn’t answer for a long time.
“Just stay where you are. I’ll have Heechul try to distract the police force to help buy some time,” Chief Kang helped, “I understand your situation. I’ll see you guys soon, so in the meantime, just lay low and stay safe. Do you know what Donghae is doing right now?”
“He’s at the house with Victoria.”
“Alright, I’m going to disconnect the phone call. Get somewhere safe, Eunhyuk.”
The phone line went dead and Eunhyuk placed the phone back.
/ / / / /
“Aren’t you two going to the hospital? Why don’t you two go with us?” Changmin’s father suggested.
They were at the door ready to leave. Changmin’s mother had packed a whole day’s worth of food into containers. They were currently sitting inside the large recycled bag she was carrying.
“We’ll be there in a bit,” Donghae smiled.
“You two want some time alone, huh?” Changmin’s mother teased.
Donghae heartily smiled while Victoria blushed a little from embarrassment. She hadn’t considered having any time alone with her husband.
“It’s ok to be intimate, don’t be shy about it. In the early stages of pregnancy, you can still…”
Changmin’s father tugged his wife back shutting her up from continuing.
He laughed almost nervously and seemed somewhat embarrassed as well. “Never mind her. She just loves talking all the time.”
Victoria chuckled a bit to ease the atmosphere.
“Then we’ll see you at the hospital in a bit.” Changmin’s father nodded at them before walking out the door.
“What’s your problem? I was just advising the two…”
“It’s not your business.”
“Why isn’t it? They’re Yuri’s friends, so they’re like my children as well…”
“It doesn’t work like that…”
Their voices disappeared when Changmin’s father shut the door after him. Donghae watched them drive out of the driveway and turned back to look at Victoria amused.
“Now, what was that about being intimate?” Donghae smirked.
“Don’t even get started,” Victoria narrowed her eyes at him. “Come on, we have to go get Eunhyuk and Nana before going to the hospital.”
“What’s this? You want a double date now?”
Victoria ignored him as usual and grabbed his wallet off the coffee table. She tossed it at him hard. Missing the catch, he felt it thud off his chest painfully before falling to the ground.
“Oopf!” Donghae moaned before rubbing his chest. “That hurt, you know.”
Victoria hissed at him before grabbing her shoes at the door. “The taxi is already waiting for us. Hurry up before he decides to charge us extra for making him wait.”
“Then let him wait,” Donghae mumbled. “It’s so unfair how you treat me like this.”
They were dropped off in front of the inn and stepped out after Donghae paid. He stretched his arms out and yawned. It looked like a good day. The warm wind hushed by quietly and the sun was clearly standing in the center of the sky shooting its rays upon them.
Rubbing the back of his head feeling content, he grabbed Victoria’s hand as she took a step forward.
“What?” she asked.
Donghae jerked his to his right and watched as Victoria followed.
“What?” she asked again.
“Just for a few minutes,” he said leading her down the walk pass the crowd standing at a bus stop.
He turned to his left and pushed a brown door open. Stepping into the small store he glanced around at the open cupboards sitting against the walls full with clothing, the neatly folded up jeans sitting on tables, and rows and rows of shirts of all kinds hanging on racks. The bright light from above made the colors hazy to his eyes.
The cash register at the counter opened with a loud ‘ching’.
“What are we doing here?” Victoria’s voice sounded dulled with boredom.
Ignoring her, Donghae dragged her toward the back quietly. Pointing to some baby clothes hanging among the wall he turned to her with a smile.
“I saw these the other day,” he grinned.
Victoria raised an eyebrow, “Really, Donghae. Is this the time to be checking these kind of stuff out?”
“Because you don’t do it, so I have to do it.” he shot back in a whining manner.
Victoria sighed realizing he wouldn’t stop unless she gave him what he wanted. “Ok, it’s cute.”
“See!” Donghae smiled gripping her hand tighter. “Ah…I can’t wait to see that handsome kid of ours. For sure, he’s going to take after me.”
“No way is he going to be conceited,” Victoria mumbled beside him.
He felt her shift her head back to look around the fashion store before tugging his arm. Donghae turned toward her wondering what had caught her eye.
“Wasn’t Nana wearing Eunhyuk’s sweater yesterday?” Victoria asked.
“Um…I guess…why does that matter now?”
“Since Nana ran from home, isn’t it likely that she doesn’t have much to wear?”
Donghae nodded slowly.
“Lets buy her a sweater or something,” Victoria suggested, “she just got sick recently. Why don’t we buy her something to keep her warm?”
Victoria pulled him toward the racks and watched as she started browsing through them. As usual, Victoria’s shopping instincts were kicking in. He estimated the amount of time it would take her to find something satisfying would take at least 5 minutes.
“You know,” Donghae started, “I can see you shopping for our children’s clothes like this someday.”
Victoria snorted quietly before she pulled out a blue sweater with a cute smiley face on it.
“Ah-ha!” she shouted.
“I guess it does look nice.” Donghae nodded his head before his eyes caught something next to it.
Reaching an arm out he pulled another sweater out. It looked identical to the one Victoria was examining.
An idea auspiciously made its way into his head, “Why don’t we get one for Eunhyuk as well?”
“Eunhyuk?”
“You know…” Donghae mischievously smirked. “Couple sweaters.”
A pretty smile appeared on Victoria’s face.
“I didn’t know you were so smart.” she rubbed his head.
“And if he gets suspicious, we can just say we were offered both for one price.”
He chuckled at his brilliant idea.
“Lets go pick them up,” he suggested before heading toward the counter.
***Eck! I didn't realize that two chapters got deleted when AFF went down. I just reposted them and it seems my A/N got deleted along with it about my opinion about Hyuk's situation. Oh well, I'm too lazy to re-write it. I'm tired, cause this week has been basically staying up to study for midterms :/ One more on Fri and then spring break baby! That means I get to write some! And thank goodness that I just copy and paste from my Words Processor, so I didn't really lose anything. Whew!!
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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