Rule #41: Don't believe that your mind can protect you from everything

Mark and a couple of officers were scavenging the area under Jackson's fire exit, where he had last seen Saera right after the male told off his chief.

He lifted his head and looked up the ladder wondering where Saera went after she reached the last run.

"Got anything?" Mark asked as Jackson walked up behind him.

His friend sighed, "Nothing. It's been too long and any trace of her is probably long gone."

"I should've taken her myself. I can't believe I let her out of my sight after protecting her all this time." Mark muttered under his breath as he looked around.

Jackson looked at his friend sympathetically, "Well at least yo--"

"Woah, woah wait a second." Mark said suddenly as he pushed passed Jackson.

His partner threw his hands in the air with a roll of his eyes, "What is it?"

"Saera told me that she had a taxi waiting." He said as his eyes darted around the road.

Jackson jogged up to him, "Before she went missing?"

"Yeah, I caught her right before she ran away and she said that her cab was waiting for her." He said as he walked up to the curb. "Call the taxi companies and get them to run a cross-check of Saera's cell phone number and find out who her driver was."

"On it." Jackson said before jogging off.

Mark pulled his keys out and jogged to his car, it was time to drop by the Moonlight Orphanage.

-----

The butterfly theory is an amazing concept.

It essentially states that a very small change in initial state can create a significantly different outcome.

The example commonly used is that a minor change such as a butterfly flapping its wings could influence the time  and path of a hurricane a few weeks later.

Saera wondered what combination of events had led her down this path of constantly unravelling secrets and she wondered what greater event these secrets would influence.

In the last week alone, she had been forced to rip apart the stitching that had kept her past locked up in the depths of her brain. She was shoved, face first, into a bank of repressed memories and she was never given a moment to catch her breath.

It reached a point where she didn't want a breather because she was too scared that her emotions would finally catch up to her and she'd collapse.

And she didn't have time to collapse.   

She slowly thumped her head against the wall until the door slowly creaked open. She shoved herself up off the ground and watched as Sang Min slipped into her room.

"I got it." He said as he held out a key.

Saera held back her smile and took a step towards him and held out her wrists, "Good job. You did so well, Minnie."

A small, barely noticeable smile crept up his lips as he ducked his head bashfully. Saera had figured, in the sort time she spent around him, that affection was one of the few things that would make him pull his walls down.

"Wait." He said as he pulled the key back.

Saera looked up at him resisting the urge to scream, "What's wrong?"

"Are you sure that you can prove Jinyoung's death wasn't suicide?" He asked with suddenly masked eyes.

Saera nodded hastily, "Of course I can, just let me out."

"I can think of 10 ways of killing you before you bat an eyelash." He threatened, his voice lowering.

Saera swallowed a lump down , "I'm sure you can, but you won't have an reason to. I promise."

Sang Min seemed to believe her because he quickly unlocked her shackles and let the chain drop to the ground.

Saera let out a sigh and massaged her sore wrists, her skin red and chaffed.  Even after they were off, she could still feel the cold metal against her skin. She let out a disbelieving laugh before she looked at Sang Min.

"Let's go."

Sang Min trailed unsurely behind her. scratching his arm, as she slowly creaked the door open. She looked both ways before stepping out.

It was exactly like she remembered it.

Not a single piece of dust looked different from when she was a kid and it was all bringing back a flood of memories that she didn't want to relive.

To be back here was a nightmare.

"He's not here. Good, that gives me enough time to escape." She mumbled while heading for the door.

Sang Min grabbed her arm and dug his nails into her skin, "Escape? You're not going anywhere. You need to tell me about Jinyoung."

"I-I know, but I need to go outside to show you proof. There's nothing here." She said quickly, as she saw the rising distrust in his eyes.

He shook his head, "I'm not stupid, I know  you're going to run away. You're going to prove to me that Jinyoung didn't kill himself here and now."

"And what if sir, comes back?" Saera snapped, in annoyance, "Do you think he'll be happy? Do you think he'll forgive you? He'll be so disappointed in you and he'll never let me talk to you and then you'll never know the truth."

Sang Min's eye twitched, "I don't believe that you have the truth in the first place. I have more trust in sir than I do in you, so don't think for a second that I'd chose your life over his."

Saera took a deep breath and tried to calm herself so that she didn't agitate him. He needed to explode in front of Yoo Chang, not in front of her.

"You trust him so much. Why?" She asked while her eyes scanned the area. To her memory, there was a set of knives in the first kitchen drawer.

There was a meat cleaver under the sink.

A rolling pin in the drawer under the stove.

Knives were tucked in a holder on the counter.

Glass bottles above the microwave.

If she could get to any of them, she could have a chance to get out of there before her father came home.

Ironic, isn't it?

Home is supposed to be the place where one feels the safest, but now it's the place where Saera wanted to be the furthest from.

And that was simply because her home wasn't here, it was with Youngjae.

It was with Mark.

"He saved me." Sang Min stated blankly.

Saera took a casual step towards the kitchen, trying not to raise suspicion, "From the orphanage?"

"I already told you in the cab. That place was evil. It held the most sin. The most immorality. The most wickedness. And sir showed me that there's a way to punish sinners instead of showing submission in front of them."

Saera just gaped at him. he spoke like everything was rehearsed, like he was brainwashed into thinking that his life got better.

"Submission? Sang Min, you're not any better off than when you were in that orphanage. You're in a ing cycle of abuse. Yoo Chang is the same as those staff members. He owns you." She spat out.

Sang Min's eye twitched, "Don't tell me about my life. Sinner's like you don't know what it's like to be a victim. You only know what it's like to manipulate people."

"You're right." She said softly taking another step, "You're totally right. I am a horrible person. I have lied and tricked people I care about for my own benefit and I need to live with that for the rest of my life."

Sang Min met her eyes as she kept talking.

"But I'm trying to be better. I'm trying to be the sister that Jinyoung would be proud of. I'm tying to make up for my sins, don't you want to do the same? Don't you want to make Jinyoung proud?"

Sang Min's eyes softened for a second before they darkened, "Jinyoung has no right to judge me. He left me. He left me alone with those people! He promised that he'd come for me! But he lied!"

Saera stopped moving and for a second, she saw something genuine in him.

She saw betrayal.

"He was the only thing I had! I wanted to die before I met him but he gave me hope. He made me believe that I could have a happy ending and then he died! He threw me away like I was nothing. Everything he said was a bold faced lie." Tears started filling his eyes as he glared at her.

She could feel a lump growing in . "Jinyoung would never lie to you and he would never leave you on purpose. He's not like that." Tears filled her eyes, "That's something I learned, Jinyoung would never leave the people he loves on purpose."

Sang Min twitched and scratched neurotically behind his ear, "I don't need to hear anymore of your lies. You're just like him. If you don't have proof I'm going to lock you back in there."

Saera looked around in panic, she wasn't nearly close enough to grab a weapon. The closest thing was a dish  towel and she doubted that it would do her much good.

"Okay, um. a phone! I need a phone!" She blurted out.

Sang Min watched her carefully, "Who are you going to call?"

"You wanted proof didn't you? It doesn't matter how I get the proof as long as it's infallible right? Hand me a phone." She stressed her last four words and immediately saw Sang Min flinch in fear.

He gave her a long look before he pulled a drawer open and took out a cell phone. "Here."

Saera took it from him while casually moving further into the kitchen. She glanced at him before dialling a number. He watched her with hawk eyes as she pressed the speaker button.  

The phone rang five times and she was almost positive that no one would answer until she heard shuffling.

"Hello?"

Saera let out a breath, "Hwasa?"

"Hello? Who is this?" The elderly medical examiner asked.

"I-It's me, Saera. Remember? The psychic that worked with Mark."