18th of June
0330h
In a warm room, somewhere in Seoul
No more shall he write songs. Words meant nothing now.
He isn't the first one. He wouldn’t be the last either. He was just too lonely. So lonely that he just died. Her face still etched in his mind. Her touch and her taste, he could feel in his last moments of awareness.
His father would certainly be sad. Opportunists will secretly rejoice. With his disappearance from the face of the earth, the conglomerate’s future is suddenly in shambles. The Chairman was not getting any younger. His wife has died a good twelve years ago. Even with the advent of invitro fertilization, producing another son was far from being simple.
He lies motionless on the bed.
Consciousness ceases.
1530h
FBI Academy Shooting Range
Gunshots.
It is closing two months since Kim’s body was found in Han River. They have tried everything: Autopsy that revealed nothing of help; interrogation of Kim’s bandmates, acquaintances, and lovers, multitude of them. They found nothing of significance except Kim’s notoriety. More than one person has enough motives to kill Kim, but in such a ritualistic manner? It was beyond them. He has slept his way through town and filched through it too. If they were to track down every person with whom he had bad blood with―which they considered trying―they might take more than a year in just one district.
“His dick has been inside every sugar momma’s dry wrinkly pussy and every rich homo’s tonsils and ass. It’s as dirty as a rag mop washed in a ghetto ditch. That bastard. Tss… His ass and mouth are open for service 24/7 like some damn public swimming pool of STDs.”
Shim cocks his .45 and pulls the trigger. He fires in rapid succession. He puts down his pistol and removes his protective gear.
“There’s nothing that kid won't do to milk willing victims. Has no fuzz on going top or bottom. He’ll touch himself and let you make a movie out of it. He’s up to some BDSM if that’s your thing. Tie or cuff himself up if that’s what his benefactor wants. But when he sees an opportunity, he just grabs whatever he can from those rich people’s houses and scoot like the crook that he is.”
Words ring through Agent Shim’s head as he helps FBI Academy trainee Hwang aim her target,a marked cardboard some meters away.
“I must give it up to him though. He’s got mad skills in bed… and a tough stomach to do all those things even if he’s not genuinely gay. Aiya~ The things people do for money and fame. I’m not surprised someone finally got sick of his modus and got his dick for it… literally.”
She fires and hits the outlines.
“ I heard he’s got his sister knocked up. Is that right? That sick whack-job.”
She returns to her position.
“ I wonder who he pissed enough to rip him like that. He should’ve stick with me. ”
Quiet laughter.
They’ve been subject of teasing among the trainees since the day Mayi started training in the academy. Everyone thought it was a cute joke since Shim has never shown interest to any girl and Mayi with her crappy Korean then was the perfect candidate for a source of good laughs. Shim would always dismiss the teasing as if he doesn’t hear or understand and the foreigner would just look in sheer confusion.
The students especially the girls were giggling at the sight of Hwang Mayi enclosed in Instructor Shim’s lean biceps. None of them are actually aware that the two actually started dating five months ago. Aside from Agent Ahn, no one in the FBI knows about the couple. Or at least no one was saying anything if they knew. Both of them are loners; Shim by choice and Mayi due to cultural segregation.
One would think that they would be really close since they only got each other. But Changmin still maintains his distance even if no one was watching. Five months and they barely hold hands. Now they rarely had time for each other after Kim’s death. Day in and day out, Shim was absorbed in the case. Even if he wasn’t working on it, he’s thinking about it. Theorized a lot on it.
The case of the Black Widow. That was what the papers have been calling it since an attention seeking bastard, probably Jang, disclosed the details of the missing privates and heart. They have over-sensationalized it by saying that a Black Widow serial killer was on the loose. For Christ’s sake. There was only one bloody dead body. It’s more likely to be a personal dispute that didn’t end well than a trigger-happy nutcase .He hoped. But as the weeks go by, the department is almost wishing for another body to turn up just to get more evidence and clues to find the killer. They’re on a cul-de-sac of evidences.
1836h
FleurCœur Flower Shop
"Sunflowers. The big ones. Five of them."
He barely glanced at the man standing in front of him. He was looking at his wristwatch. Leather strapped and chrome faced, the one year old time piece was the first item that he ever bought with his first paycheck from the FBI. Aside from his gun and badge, this was the only accessory that he wears. He now counts thirty four minutes before Mayi arrives at the obscure Chinese restaurant which was a good fifteen minute drive away. Giving him about eighteen minutes to get the flowers, text his hyung a few words of support in his recent heartbreak and ponder the two month old case that has been an annoying stump in his career's path.
"Are these for your grandmother?" the lanky man behind the register asks with a warm smile. A small mole accents his curved up lips. His lilac tie was perfectly done and matching his pastel top.
"Y-yes." Changmin answers hesitantly as he quickly reached for the flowers, avoiding the other man's eye. He didn’t even take the time to pocket his change.
He zooms past, overtaking eight cars and beating one red light.
2114h
七里香餐廳[Orange Jasmine Restaurant]
Changmin reaches for the bill. The two hour dinner ordeal was over. Now all he has to is do is drive Mayi to her apartment and this awkward situation will be over.
Even if they are technically lovers, their actions with each other are not less starchy than any other. Changmin uses rigidly formal language no different from how he would discuss the parts of a gun in his class. Mayi on the other hand doesn’t understand this virtual barrier in their relationship as Korean honorifics is a concept that is still somewhat foreign to her. She tries to bridge the gap by her sweet smiles and stories in her spliced language that he tries hard to understand. In this relationship, he took the first step but she is the one who always has to run the mile with roadblocks on the way. It's not what he means to do but a product of years of keeping to himself and a past that scarred him for good.
They head for the door and walk to his FBI owned compact. She walks in a jolly pace, ahead of him. He extends his arm as if to reach for her but his hand freezes in mid-air. He would like to hold her hand, kiss her lips even. He knows that it's normal ―something that he should have no problems dealing with―an unwritten responsibility that he simply fails to do. Being in close physical proximity with anyone, even her, was an arduous task for him. It reminds him of a childhood that is best buried deep in the abyss of his mind. He lets his hand fall on his side .
2143h
Hwang's apartment building
She switches the lights on. They are low, but bright enough for her to see the troubled look on his face. He stands motionless on the doorway, still defeated by his own predicament. Holding in a sigh, he pulled his lips up to imitate a smile and bid goodbye. Head hung low, he turns away.
He takes one step but he feels a hand hold him back. To his skin, her hand feels like ice. It burns, yet it sends chills to his entire being. Looking at her, he is stock-still at that spot. Her face is unreadable to him, but something in him pushed his face inches closer to hers. He doesn’t know what he is doing. Her bag falls on her foot.
The brown haired girl closes her eyes and suddenly everything about it feels right to him. He feels all his fears burning down, slowly being replaced by something beautiful. He can’t quite place what it is. But he wishes it is something close to love. Her lips are just a breath away from his, his hands comfortably placed on her narrow shoulders. They are both holding their breaths as they are now too dangerously close. He swallows down all his doubts and leaned a centimeter closer, placing his warm lips softly against hers. They stay frozen in that chaste kiss until he felt comfortable enough to lightly brush his lips softly on her tender lips. Sweet. Liberating. Natural. That is how he feels. He never thought that it would be like this. It’s as if he was born to be doing just this and he wouldn’t want to stop, but then again he does.
The scars of your love remind me of us
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless
I can't help feeling...We could have had it all. Rolling in the deep.
His familiar ringtone interrupts the delicate moment. Hesitantly he breaks the kiss and reaches for his handphone. She nods to assure him it’s alright and he takes the call.
“Agent Jang? What is it at this time?”
A long pause of silence and his expression changes in a spectrum of irritation, shock and pain. She doesn’t understand but she squeezes his hand worried.
“I have to go now.”
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