Rule #8: Deduction is a skill that can only be formed with some level of self annihilation

"Nothing?" Mark balked as he stood by the van from Saera's vision.

One of the technicians nodded, "It's totally clean, but look at this."

He carried over a black light lamp and shone it over the floor of the back of the van. "See?"

The black light illuminated chalky streaks that looked like it came from someone wiping something down. "Blood?"

"Bleach would be my guess, but we can't tell when this was done." The tech said.

Jackson walked up behind Mark, "It's tricky because a lot of people bleach vans like this when they buy it used. It could be a coincidence."

Mark clucked his tongue, "It's too much of a coincidence that this is the same van and license plate that the psychic saw. Chances are that Min Ah was killed here and then The Collector cleaned the evidence and sold the van."

"Without changing the plates? It's like he wanted us to find him." Jackson said.

Mark tilted his head with a smirk, "No, it's like he finally messed up. It's not like he has a contingency plan for a psychic, right? There's no way he expected someone to track that van down, so he got sloppy."

"So I'm guessing you've finally started to take her seriously?" Jackson asked with a quirked brow.

Mark gave his friend a look, "It's not like I have much of a choice do I?"

"Aaaannnddd, everything she's seen has been correct." Jackson said with a cheeky grin.

Mark rolled his eyes before facing the truck, trying to ignore his annoying partner. He wasn't going to lie, in a short period of time, Saera had brought them more evidence that he had found in the last 6 years that he had been working this case.

It was a hit to hit ego, that was for sure.  

"Where is she, anyways?" Jackson asked while looking around for the pink haired vixen.

Mark kept his gaze on the inside of the van, "I gave her the day off. I told her to contact us If she has a vision or something."

"Why? I thought you don't give time off." Jackson said, mildly surprised.

Mark shrugged, "She runs her own business, so there's no need to keep her unless we need her for something specific. It's not fair. She still needs to make a living."

"But we're paying her." Jackson said incredulously.  

Mark nodded and was about to respond when something caught his eye. His eyes widened and he blindly shoved the file in Jackson's chest before jogging across the street.

It was like he had tunnel vision and suddenly he could see no one except the other side of a street where no one but a woman stood.

Jackson followed him with his eyes until he spotted the woman on the other side. He sighed sadly and shook his head before turning away.

"You stupid, courageous bastard."

-----

"Mrs. Xiong."

The woman turned and blinked before her lips split into a blinding smile, "Oh, Mark! I haven't seen you in months! How are you?"

"I'm good." Mark said softly with a timid smile. "What are you doing here?"

The woman pointed to a building, "I was picking my daughter up from ballet class."

"Your daughter does ballet?" Mark asked with a whimsical smile.

She nodded before gasping, "Oh right, you've never met Yuan twice, have you?"

"No, just that one time." He said quietly while twisting his fingers.

Suddenly the door opened a pretty 16 year old girl stepped out with a gym bag over her shoulder, "Mom!"

"There she is!" Mrs. Xiong cheered while stretching her hand out to Yuan who raced into her embrace.

Mark's eyes locked onto the girl and felt his lips twitch upwards. Yuan turned and looked at him before cocking her head questioningly, "Oh, mom, is this someone you know?"

Her mother scoffed and gently swatted her , "You little brat, this is Mark Tuan, remember?"

Yuan's eyes lit up, "Oh! You're the cop that broke me out of the car when my mom accidentally locked me in."

Mark chuckled with a nod, "You were 13 but you passed out from the heat so you couldn't open the door yourself."

"It's nice to meet you!" She said brightly.

Mark couldn't help matching her smile, there was something about the happiness and carefree aura around her that felt contagious.

Mrs. Xiong glanced at the watch on her wrist before gasping, "Yuan, we need to hurry, we shouldn't keep your father waiting!"

Mark's smile faltered before he slowly slid his eyes to Mrs. Xiong, "You're going to see your husband?"

"Of course!" She said with a grin. "Why wouldn't we?"

Mark stared at Mrs. Xiong and Yuan for a long time before beaming brightly, "Well then I don't want to keep you."

"It was nice running into Mark, you should come over for dinner once." She said kindly while placing a hand on Yuan's back.

Mark nodded and slipped his hands in his pockets, "I'd really like that."

"And tell your parents that I said hi. I really should call them up and tell them about what you did for us." She said while pulling out her keys.

Yuan gaped at her mother, "You haven't called his parents yet? Mom, it's been years."

"I know, I knoooowwww." She pouted, "I really need to call them. Oh, why don't you invite them to dinner with us? It'll be our treat!"

Mark's face melted into a soft look before he nodded.

"I'll make sure to ask them as soon as I can."

Mrs. Xiong clapped her hands, "It'll be fun. Well, we're going to head out, we'll see you around."

"Bye!" Yuan said with a wave as she and her mom turned and walked to their car.

Mark followed them with his eyes before raising his hand and waving back at them, even though they couldn't see him.

"Bye."

-----

Saera hummed to herself as she stood in her bathroom with plastic gloves and a bottle of hair dye. It was a cheap brand, that was probably damaging her hair but her alternatives were limited.

She didn't know when she decided to highlight her hair, but it started becoming something that she actually enjoyed doing in the small fraction of free time that she had.

Youngjae had said that he was going to play basket ball with some friends afterschool and she was positive that he was doing it to avoid being around her, so dying her hair was the only thing that could keep her mind off of him.

And it wasn't like there was anything else for her to do.

She carefully used foil to separate her chucks of highlighted strands. Once she was done, she cleaned up, waiting for the dye to set in.

Lately, she was finding it harder to sleep at night. She didn't know why but before, working at the bakery was enough to tire her out. She'd be in bed by 10 and passed out by 10:05 from being on her feet the whole day.

In the last week, she hadn't been able to go to bed before 2 AM and it was starting to wear her down.

It was like temporary insomnia.

But no matter how little she slept, it would never be enough to make her fall asleep on time.

Saera walked over to the small coffee table and pulled out her leather bound notebook and cracked open a fresh new page.

She hadn't been writing in her journal and she had a lot to catch up on. Her journal was her way of keeping all her 'visions' organized.

And helped her make sure not to get tangled in all of her lies.

She wrote down all her notes from The Collector case, and added everything that she learned from Mark's case files before starting up on Mrs. Kang's session. She had set up an appointment for the next day and she was planning on soothing the woman's paranoia as soon as possible.

She scribbled down her last notes before closing her notebook. She leaned back on the couch and sighed. She still had 15 minutes for the hair dye to set and it was starting to get tiring.

There was a point in her life when she actually felt like she had a chance.

A chance at a better future.

A chance at giving Youngjae the life he deserved.

That hope was dwindling.

When you're young, there's this innocent belief that everything will work out for the better.

There's a naïve sense of the universe working in your favour, to make sure that you end up okay.

That no matter how much you mess up, you'll end up on your feet.

Saera held onto that belief for almost her whole life.

Her hands started to tremble and she felt the back of her eyes start to burn.

No.

She wasn't going to cry.

She was bett