Chapter 192 - Breaking In

Kim Jun Hyeon spoke to his secretary,

"Ms. Ma, please cancel today's appointments. I'm not feeling well," he said, and it really wasn't a lie. His head hurt and no painkillers had eased the pain. He felt anxious and hot, but he didn't want to use a tranquilizer.

He just needed to get out of his mind all the thoughts that came up last night.

"Can I help you with something? Can I call one of the doctors to see you, Dr. Kim?" the solicitous and always reliable Mrs. Ma tried to help, but the doctor thanked,

"Everything is fine. I am going home, there is no need to alarm anyone," but it was not for rest that Dr. Kim was abandoning his appointments. Quickly taking off his medical coat and prepared to leave. He had a fixed idea in mind, and even though the consequences were harsh, Jun Hyeon felt like he would go crazy if he didn't do it.

The rainy morning did not cooperate, and every minute lost in traffic was a torment. And when he finally arrived in front of Lee Dae Won's house, he turned off the car and sighed, wondering if he should really do this one last time.

Getting out of the car with a resolute heart, he rang the bell several times, making sure that Dae Won, or some employee wasn't at home. Then he started trying to crack the gate code.

The second attempt, his own birthday, and Ji Hyeon's, consequently, opened the gate. That was scary, but it matched Dae Won's personality, Jun thought.

His heart was pounding, and he felt the blood literally running faster in his veins, and the tension made it seem as if it wasn't he who was committing the crime of invasion, but a third person. The dissociation was frightening itself. His friend, psychiatrist Marion Choi, once said that dissociation allows a human being to commit the greatest atrocities without suffering. Now he understood why.

The main door opened with the same code, and soon Jun Hyeon was inside Lee Dae Won's house. He looked around the hall and noticed the floor was a little wet, and he paid extra attention to details. Two pairs of slippers were used recently, he noticed. 

It was disconcerting to observe these details. He could practically swear to smell the warm and faint perfume… 'things in my head, he thought. Ye Rim cannot be here. ' 

Walking cautiously, he saw two cups of coffee abandoned on the coffee table in the beautiful, large room. The silence was oppressive. Jun Hyeon was aware that the cameras were recording his movements, but he wouldn't and couldn't deny what he was doing. Moving away from the thought of the future consequences of his crime, he approached the sofa and saw a gift package. Why did his intuition associate Ye Rim with all these clues about a woman's recent visit there?

Taking a deep breath, he went upstairs, trying to ignore his fear of finding something he didn't want to see, and at the same time thinking he had come there to find his sister. But what if he was about to find Ye Rim and Dae Won upstairs ...

'Don't be an idiot!'

Each door that opened was a moment of tension that seemed to be able to tear his heart out. 

But there was nothing unusual or unexpected. 

Except for a wet shirt in the bathroom stall in Dae Won's suite. But the rainy weather could easily explain that, right? 

'Am I really disappointed to find trivial things at Dae Won's house? Am I the crazy one here? ' he wondered, disturbed.

His disappointment mixed with relief was still not enough to get the feeling of suspicion off his chest, however. Down the stairs, Jun Hyeon went to the kitchen.

There, his nose was the first to notice something wrong. The potent smell of chlorine and cleaning products dominated the kitchen and the adjacent laundry. A packet of unused trash bags was on the kitchen counter, and apparently someone was in the middle of cleaning up when he had to leave abruptly. Did the visitor's arrival interrupt a cleaning?

Feeling very dirty and monstrous, Dr. Kim went to the garbage bag in the laundry room, and opened it, after protecting his hands with a napkin.

When looking at the content, his mind could not understand at first what those things were. Then the information started to make sense. Those things were exactly the items he had taken to his sister's grave recently. Jun Hyeon blinked, astonished. Even the rose that Ye Rim took was there.

Stunned, he left that and started wandering around the house, making it even more sure that Dae Won was behind the mystery about his sister. He needed to find her.

A sliding door perfectly embedded in the home theater's side, which he had already passed three times without practically noticing it, seemed to make sense at once. Jun Hyeon slid it and found another door, with an electronic lock. He anxiously tried the same code he used to open the house, but this time to no avail.

After several frustrating attempts, his proverbial little patience ran out, and taking the first heavy thing he saw, a bronze statuette, Jun Hyeon thought of striking the panel until it broke. But he was smarter than that and looked for the extra battery source, to disconnect it and also the general circuit breaker in the house. They were in the garage.

When the power went out, he came back prepared with a crowbar ready to destroy that door. There was nothing, any kind of awareness of the crimes he was committing against his schoolmate's trust and his assets, that could stop him. Kim Jun Hyeon was convinced that Ji Hyeon was a prisoner of Dae Won, and was behind that door.

When the door opened, after much effort on his part, Jun found a long hallway that ended in another door, and had emergency lights with his own batteries.

Then he got to the last cellar door. And when he finally managed to open it, he found something unexpected.

ººº

Dae Won's car stopped in front of Shin's house gate. Ye Rim put the bag on her shoulder, and turned to him, after taking off her seat belt,

"I think you should go in and dry yourself. Why don't you call where you're heading to and tell them you're going to be a little late? You will catch a cold!"

"I should take your advice. I cannot do much this wet and smelly. But I will take the car to wash and take a taxi home. It has a company specialized in interiors with leather seats. And I made a big mess, bigger than you think," he smiled, opening his arms and taking on his guilt. The phone connected to the car's dashboard showed a call, and Ye Rim looked at the screen at the same time as Dae Won. BAS.ALARM, it was written on the screen.

Ye Rim didn't say anything, as it would be rude, but she imagined it was some alarm service.

But Dae Won just disconnected the call, without looking concerned at all. Taking a deep breath, he said,

"Ye Rim, I appreciate your visit. I really did. In the future, you will know how important this was to me. And maybe you will forgive me."

"To forgive you?!" a little puzzled and not knowing what to say, the singer laughed nervously, "What could I forgive? You should be forgiving to me ..."

"No. Listen. I need to tell you something. Please listen to me. I need to tell someone, someone who can understand what I did ..."

With no idea what Dae Won could have in mind, but feeling that he would finally reveal the reason for his concern since she arrived, Ye Rim frowned, tense,

"Sure, tell me, Oppa. You can open up, rest assured." Ye Rim held her hands out flat, offering her hands if he wanted to. Dae Won touched her hands gently, with his chilly hands, and slightly callused musician fingers. 

He sighed heavily, but dropped his gaze,

"Ye Rim, I ..."

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Firm knocking on the window next to Ye Rim startled them both. Ye Rim turned, startled, and had to look twice, to recognize Chang Mi, holding an umbrella, and with a wide grin, looking anxiously into the car,

"SRTA NAM! Your mom is waiting for you! Fast!" he spoke loud enough, and showed the umbrella he was holding, making it clear that he was there to take her inside. This sudden news that her mother was visiting confused Ye Rim. Dae Won removed his hands quickly, and gave a sad smile,

"You better go, don't keep them waiting."

"Oh, Oppa. I…" she started, confused and embarrassed, because she wanted to hear from him and be a good friend, and at the same time, she had to find out what was going on with her mother. But Dae Won didn't give him time to apologize, he unlocked her door, and waved his hand,

"If we don't talk soon, forgive me. I wanted to tell you, but I don't think we'll have time to talk in the next few days." He started the car. As soon as the door was unlocked, Chang Mi opened the door for Ye Rim to get out, and helped her with the umbrella. Ye Rim got out, waving back with a sad smile for saying goodbye like that.

When the car left, Chang Mi looked over his shoulder, muttering the license plate to himself. 

"What are you doing, Persimmon?" Ye Rim knew that he was responsible for keeping an eye on her and that she kind of ran away from him this morning, but that was overkill. Now, she even doubted that his mother was really there. "You lied, didn't you?"

Chang Mi looked down as they walked, and nodded. But when he looked up, his face had changed to a mask of apprehension and disgust,

"Noona, this was the man who hit me with a stick that day. I'm sure."

"...!" Ye Rim has never been more surprised and horrified in her life.