Title: SM-5 The Perfect Mystery 

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Mystery, Angst, Action 

Ratings: All ages 

Case #03: L o v e

Part 5

  ~~~

  “Are you sure this is going to work?”

  “Sshh!”

 Minho’s soft question was immediately replied with a sharp shush from Yoona, as they both crept to the exit of the office. They were on their tiptoes, careful not to make a single bit of noise as they tried to get out. Fortunately, all the other three were still in the office, barely aware that two of their members had crept off on their own. Pushing the glass door open, Minho and Yoona slid out of the gap, and down the corridor of the building.

  “Whew.” Yoona sighed gratefully as they walked together, taking deep, relieved breaths. “…That was a close shave.”

  Minho chuckled softly, walking along with her with his hands tucked in his pockets coolly. “Thank goodness. I thought I’d be stuck with Victoria for the rest of the week.”

  Yoona shoved him teasingly. “Geez, you’re mean. Victoria takes really, really good care of you, you should know that.”

  “I wish that were the truth.” Minho shook his head with a frown. “Vic’s great when she wants to be, she can handle things very well, but when she’s not with her head in the right game, she can be quite a nut job.”

  “That’s mean of you!” Yoona scolded, smacking his arm. “Victoria’s just unsure about a lot of things, and sometimes she tends to over-think. And besides, Minho, when did you start becoming so harsh? A nut job? What’s with that attitude?” She leaned over to him closely. “Did Victoria say something that made you unsatisfied in some way?”

  He knew what she meant. He did recall Victoria’s words, of what she had mentioned in the car whilst Minho had been driving. Those words, they discontented him in a way, in a sense that he knew what Victoria was saying, was right. Those words Victoria had said about Yoona, and the predictions Victoria had made with her flawless profiling skills, they made sense and Minho knew that. All the more he was irritated at Victoria for being able to guess everything head-on right.

  He shook his head gently. “Nothing, Yoona, nothing at all.”

  Yoona shrugged her shoulders. “You’re being strange. She definitely said something, didn’t she? Nevermind, since you want to be all secretive. Anyway, the point is, we’re working together again today…And I guess I do feel kind of bad for Kyuhyun since I told him I’d help him, but oh well.” Yoona flipped through the case file, along with her notes, barely aware that Minho flinched distinctively at her answer. “Today, we should do some observations in the hospital, check out old security cameras, and talk to Lee Jinki, Park Luna and maybe Kim Ryeowook again, since the rest are handling-“

 “Hey Yoona.” Minho decided to ask, after contemplating the thought through his mind for quite a while. “Do you think that two people who have nothing in common and usually don’t talk to each other much, if they suddenly start being with each other a lot and talking a lot, will they be able to fall in love?”

  Yoona raised her eyebrows skeptically. “You’re asking me a question about love?”

  “Yeah, I guess so. It was something I was pondering about…” …you and Kyuhyun. Only, he wasn’t going to finish that sentence.

  “I don’t know. I mean, nothing in this world is impossible, you know what I mean?” Yoona said casually. “It depends on the situation and the personality of the person. Probably if both sides are more stubborn, there’s a lower chance of them being able to succumb to love.”

  Minho nodded slowly. “What if the girl’s stubborn?”

  “…Minho, I said I don’t know. It depends.”

  “Right, sorry, Yoong.”

  He bit his lip to stop himself from saying anything else. He knew that he was acting rather strangely and not being himself, despite the fact that he was quite grateful to be working with Yoona once more. But the words Victoria had said were still constantly intimidating him, and he didn’t know how he truly had to react to it all.

  “You’re acting strange, Minho.” Yoona repeated herself. “…And I don’t think it’s for a good cause.”

  “…Don’t worry, it’s nothing.” Lies.

~~~

  “Where the-“

  “Where the heck is Im Yoona?!”

  Victoria had gotten herself a cup of coffee, and then she realized that there were two empty seats in the office. It was only at that point of time that it came to her attention, that two of the members were missing, out of sight, and once again, she was just about to go screaming around and searching high and low for them, when Kyuhyun interrupted her with his frustrated yell.

  She raised an eyebrow skeptically, for though she would be the one usually screeching whenever things went wrong, it was a surprise to see Kyuhyun being the exasperated one for once. She shifted her gaze to him, eyeing him wonderingly, curious to know why the normally calm and cool-as-a-cucumber Cho Kyuhyun was being frantic.

  “Yoona-“ Victoria was just about to start her sentence.

  “Yoona and I are supposed to question Kim Hyorin today.” Kyuhyun said seriously, pacing back and forth in worry. “…That girl. Where is she now? She promised that she would do her best to day and that she was going to help me.”

  Victoria folded her arms, turning to him with a rather amused expression upon her face. “Yoona promised? What did she promise?”

  “Stop asking the same question so many times and just open your eyes, for crap’s sake, Victoria!” Kyuhyun shot her an annoyed and agitated look. “I said that Yoona promised she was going to help…” He trailed off, realizing what he had been saying, and the tone of voice he had been using.

 Victoria was truly entertained by the way Kyuhyun seemed to silence himself, after saying such words. She leaned forward cheekily, giving him a playful look. “…And so, Mr Cho, you were saying?” She pretended that she misunderstood his words. “Why not you repeat yourself one more time, Cho Kyuhyun?”

  Kyuhyun frowned, but at the same time he found himself in a hurry to deny the words he had said only a few moments before. “Ridiculous, you are, Victoria. Just go and do your work, stop bothering me.”

  “Oh, now I’m a bother?” Victoria raised her voice.

  “Geez, Vic. I’m not in a mood to quarrel with you. There’s so many things to handle and you’re-“

  “I’m being concerned about your welfare, Mr Cho Kyuhyun.” Victoria said a-matter-of-factly, placing her hands on her hips. “You’ve been acting strangely and for some reason, I think that this all can boil down to one thing and one thing only.”

  He shot her a withering look. “Cut your crap. We’ve got to work to do.”

  “We can’t work until we solve this matter.” Victoria was stubborn. “How are you going to work if you’re in-“

  “Victoria, Kyuhyun, go and interrogate Kim Hyorin and Park Leeteuk.” Changmin strolled into the room casually, unknowingly interrupting a heated conversation. “I’ve got all the details down in these folders, of what has been discussed and all the compiled evidence. And then after that, we’ll all meet back here to discuss things out once more before we decide our final direction.

  Kyuhyun gave Victoria a devilish smirk, as if to mock the fact that she had been abruptly silenced when she was just about to state her main point and haggle with him even further. Victoria was embarrassed, definitely, however as usual, she was not going to let the cocky and over-confident Cho Kyuhyun trample and triumph over her.

  “Fine.” Victoria said airily. “…Let’s hope nerd-head can handle it.”

  And as Victoria marched back to her seat huffily, Changmin threw Kyuhyun a curious glance, as if to ask him what happened. But Kyuhyun just chuckled softly as he browsed through one of the folders that Changmin had placed on the table.

  “…Nothing.” He replied, leaving Changmin even more curious.

~~~

  “Lee Jinki?”

  Yoona held up her police card in a professional manner, her tone very firm, as she and Minho stood in front of the doctor’s office. The both of them had cleared their minds and had prepared themselves for a throughout interrogation, swearing that they would find the discrepancy between the testimonies, and obtain an answer from there.

  Onew’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are you both back to question me about the attempted murder?”

  “The future owner of the hospital has been stabbed, Doctor Lee, this should not be a situation to trifle with.” Minho took the lead next. “…May we come in and have a few moments in your office? We will not take up too much of your time, but an interrogation is necessary.”

  Slightly flustered, Onew nodded his head as he opened the door to let them both in. They both stepped into the office, which seemed ordinary, like any normal doctor’s office was structured. However, with both Minho and Yoona on observation-mode, they were going to go past every single normal detail and derive little conclusions and suspicions of their own, and yes, their rather evasive host was aware of that.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t let you see that.” Onew quickly dashed to his computer and switched off the screen, just as Yoona was about to take a closer look at it. “It’s official stuff, and we can’t let you in on that.”

  Yoona bowed in apology, but remembered very clearly what she had seen. “I am sorry for intruding into your privacy, Doctor Lee, we just have a few questions for you.”

  “Yes, we’d like to ask about several things on the list.” Minho was recalling every little detail, and thinking carefully before he spoke. “We’d like to speak to you about-“

  “Park Taeyeon.”

  Yoona had been running through her thoughts for quite a while, and she had remembered the words of Kyuhyun and Victoria, about how lies were lies, and how lies were pretty much unavoidable. In other words, to avoid lies, there had to be a way to counter it all, and that particular way was to walk in a direction that was least expected, and take down the lie from its backside. And she knew that with Lee Jinki, that was how she needed to settle things.

  Minho threw her a confused look. “Yoona-“

  “It appears that you were friends with Mrs Park Taeyeon for a period of time, possibly even longer than she knew her husband?” Yoona asked curiously, phrasing her words with much caution. “…It’s something we do need to know.”

  Onew’s expression immediately softened, for a moment, it contorted to one of confusion, just like that of Minho’s, but he became relaxed once more. “…Taeyeon? Ah, Taeyeon…” He murmured her name tenderly, gently, ever so softly. “…Taeyeon and I have been best friends for a really long period of time. And yeah, we did know each other before she met Leeteuk-shi.”

  “Interesting.” Yoona nodded quickly. “…And then, I’d like to ask about Luna.”

  “Luna Park, the nurse?”

  “Yes, Luna Park.”

  He seemed slightly worried at the mention of the name, but he tried his hardest to keep his calm, not to show any signs that would make either of them suspicious. “Luna’s a hard worker, that’s about it. If you think she’s the culprit for either of the attempted murders, you’re very much mistaken. She’s too kind to go about doing such things.”

  Yoona nodded once more, rather slowly this time. “Thank you, Doctor Lee, that will be all, for now.”

  “That’s all?” Onew was taken aback.

  Minho was surprised beyond words. “Yoona, what are you-“

  “We thank you for your time.” And with that, she dragged a rather bewildered Minho out.

~~~

  “Park Leeteuk-shi?”

  Kyuhyun and Victoria were polite, entering the room very softly and carefully, making sure they did not disturb anyone else. The very man who had been in the centre of the entire case for quite a period of time, now sat upright on the hospital bed with a rather welcoming smile upon his face, still weak but not in much of a critical condition any longer.

  Victoria moved forward slowly, and took a seat upon one of the chairs. “Mr Park? I’m sorry if we are being a disturbance, but there are a few questions we must ask so we can get to the bottom of it all. We have yet to get your testimony, and we feel that it’s very critical for this case.”

  Leeteuk nodded warmly. “Sure, sure. Thank you for going through all the trouble…”

  “Not at all, Mr Park.” Kyuhyun spoke quickly, and in a rather harsh manner, of which Victoria predicted, was inflicted by the early morning’s events. “We would first like to question you about the night of the attack. What did you see or hear? Was there anything in particular that night that made you feel suspicious of it in any way? Before the attack, of course.”

  Park Leeteuk paused for a moment, as if thinking of a way to phrase his words so that the wrong information would not reach the ears of the sharp Victoria or the meticulous Kyuhyun. However, even without words, Victoria had felt the tension rise and she could assess the situation, and she knew immediately, that not only were the suspects covering up the truth, but also the victims, for a reason she had yet to know.

  “…No, I was asleep and I did not feel a thing.” He replied carefully.

  Kyuhyun nodded, pretending to fully believe Leeteuk’s words. “Alright then, let’s go deeper, shall we? You are married, Mr Park, I believe, to a lady by the name of Park Taeyeon.” He continued on like a train, not stopping or hesitating at all. “And so I would like to ask you – do you or do you not c