Drosera

Hana did not let you both go without a fight, explaining how dangerous it was and begged you to think it twice. Obviously, being a supervisor of both of you and letting two high-risk patients go was not a good decision for her to make. Thankfully, she was in the room when Kang and Mr.Lee delivered the news and she could feel the gravity in the atmosphere, Kang did his part convincing her as well. After you have demonstrated to her how serious it was—without necessarily telling her everything that has ever happened in your life or what has happened in the past—by simply refusing to argue with either B/N or Kang. Hana knew this was higher than the rehabilitation itself, so she could do nothing but prescribe a few painkillers and check you both out after signing a bunch of papers about pre-mature completion of the therapy course.

As you were leaving the Riverside Premier, you felt the weirdest kind of nostalgia and separation anxiety. The most painful days lately happened here, but you were still attached to it. Your heart was heavy when Kang drove you and B/N out of the main gate. You looked back, seeing the garden you have all had picnics on and did daily walks with B/N in the dawn, mentally noting that in few hours all the patients will wake up and continue with their daily routines of getting better and slaying their inner dragons. As you thought about the patients, your heart stung at the realization that you couldn't say your proper goodbyes. As disheartened you were, you just wished, from the bottom of your heart, that they could find their happiness in life. B/N noticed the way you were looking back next to you in the backseat, as he started observing your face, "Sad?"

"Yeah," You admitted quietly.

"Well, when it's over we can always go back to them, you know."

"Rehab is the last place you would want to go back again, silly." You giggled in a gloomy way, almost as if you faked a laugh.

He took your hand and placed it on top of his thighs, "Hana is with Kang, we could always just be guest visitors, not residents. When things are over, okay?" He said as he placed a kiss on the back of your palm.

Your heart fell when you both walked into your penthouse, the place you once called prison, then home, then a recovery place, then a place you missed so much. It was dark, cold, very clean and empty. Nevertheless, it was so endearingly familiar. You walked around slowly, taking in the entire view. You almost got used to the forest view from the inside of your Riverside room, the panoramic penthouse view of the entire city was almost novel until your husband turned the lights on and made you snap out of your thoughts next to the window as you faced him.

"Why are you standing in the dark?" He asked you after dropping the bags on the floor.

"This is so different from the view we had in Riverside," You smiled at him, "I can't hear tree leaves rustling with the wind, and some animals and squirrels and cats when I am about to sleep."

"Yeah, it was lovely." He dropped his body on the couch.

"Now I hear cars, air conditioner, elevator sounds."

"Do you hate it?"

"No, just comparing," You reassured him, "I missed my home."

He tilted his head, smiling widely at you, "How fucking nice it is to hear it from you, calling my place your home."

"I can't pinpoint what is it exactly, even though it had city panoramic views too, the tower rooftop in the forest of Riverside and this place, they both have the same view, but there is something different that I can't explain."

"Buildings? Home? Feelings? Wind?"

"I think it's the cigarettes," You joked as you joined next to him, sitting on the sofa too, leaning closer to his chest.

"I can smoke here too." He chuckled.

"Ew," You crunched your nose, "Will stink."

"Yeah, that's right."

"Where did Kang and Mr.Lee go?"

"I told them to go home, and after we get through this night or morning," He points at the dark blue sky right before the sunrise, "We will deal with everything. We got home, we will have the sleep we missed, they will update me on anything they might receive," This is the most we can do right now. Then we will hopefully find the girl, and find some way to use her case against Choi in the way that he will lose all power. I am going back to work, babe."

"Are you sure?" You looked at him in concern.

"No other options. This is the time I need to deal with matters on my own and give instructions on what do we do next."

"I don't want you to be sick."

"I will probably have no time to be sick anymore," He spoke, looking into your eyes, "Are you scared?"

"Of Choi? No." You deadpanned, "Of you getting worse? Yes."

He exhaled deeply and stroked your arm, leaving the living room as you followed him. "You know what, the best part about this is," He smirked at you, "We get to sleep together without Hana covering us up."

You laughed out loud as you walked into your master's bedroom, this entire house looked like nothing ever changed and nothing bad ever happened here, Kang or your husband's secretary probably took care of it while you were gone, "Good old days."

"Please remember the good days only," He stroked your cheek gently as you both changed into your pyjamas and lay peacefully next to each other in your own house, in your own bed.

Very sleepy, but wide awake. "Do you think our life will ever be peaceful?"

His arm on your waist under the blanket hugged you tighter, closer to his body, "Yes, I think so. I can make it happen, just wait until I am done with him. When Choi is gone, everything will be alright. We will start fresh. We will be okay. We are already starting fresh, I mean, look at us! We have both dealt with not relapsing back like trashy junkies and got our shit together and got checked out. Choi is the last thing. I promise," He declared as he kissed your forehead. "When it's over, you will take me out on a date like we had it here months ago. No junkies, only junk food."

"Copy that, wifey."

"And hamburgers."

"Sure," He hugged you closer.

"Fries."

"You're making me hungry, babe."

"With ketchup."

"Fucking disgusting."

After this nap, you will fight Choi together. After Choi, you will finally have your lives back. After you have your lives back, you will go to a date and eat hamburgers, after hamburgers, you finally start from page one. After the blank page… only the god knows what can you both create and experience.

But it will all start after this nap.

You weren't sure if you loved his business suit as he was putting it on. On one hand, it is something that always looks good on him and that is the way you used to picture him in your head first time when you met him. But on the other, you felt like this attire of his was a little dehumanizing look on him. You felt like he had to put some strict, unidimensional mask on whenever was in a suit. Be responsible, lead us, solve our problems, get rid of targets, develop the net worth, be ruthless, be rude, be cold, don't show your emotions, don't whine, don't look like anything but manly and uncomfortable. There was a dimension of him that you knew that suited him well too; casual and caring, empathetic and loose, laid back and relaxed, loving and plain t-shirts, knitted sweaters and vulnerability. It felt like every time he was in this, he had no choice but transform into a person he was raised by his father to be, the person his environment has conditioned him to be. You often wondered if B/N himself realized that, you also wondered if he liked this: whether it was a way of natural being or artificial role to be played.

"I know," You heard him having a conversation on phone from the kitchen. Deja Vu. "I am ready anyways. I will come and find out what should we do."

It was probably Kang or Mr.Lee, or maybe one of his secretaries and assistants. As you walked in, he looked at you with a phone next to his ear. He looked so familiar yet strange like this. "Who is this?"

"Assistant," He mouthed you while he kept his head a little tilted away from his phone until he finished the conversation.

"What are you going to do now?"

"To the company," He said nonchalantly, "To meet Kang and Mr.Lee. I have asked them to keep an eye on Choi for now."

Just when you were about to open your mouth, someone's busy steps rushed from the elevator to your doorstep, storming in again. "There's no time," Kang and Mr.Lee showed up, fully equipped in their suits. Right now, all three men in this room looked alike.

"What?" B/N questioned them, baffled.

"We lost any trace of Choi ever since he has re-entered the country," Mr.Lee explained, "There was no information on him whatsoever since that call last night."

Your stomach made a weird turn again, listening to them closely. Kang looked just as concerned, "There is no time to regulate it from the office, man. I'm afraid every time we do nothing, Choi will do something."

B/N's gaze dropped, keeping his composure perfectly yet he looked like he was agitated. It was very hard for you to read his emotions when he was in the suit: you never knew if something displayed on his face was real or an act, an attempt to keep order. "Then, gentlemen," He broke the silence as you could feel how foreign was that tone in his voice, it was very hard to explain or analyze. "Let's head to the college girl, shall we?"

The reminder of the college girl disturbed you every single time, the woman who might be dead. Who is, in fact, more likely to be dead than alive judging from everything Choi has ever done. You had no good faith in Choi whatsoever. "I am going too," You declared as Mr.Lee and Kang suddenly raised their heads to look at B/N, seeking approval, "This started with me and ends with me, even if we find a dead body. Even in the worst-case scenario, I want to witness it." Your husband saw the way you were holding your stomach, afraid or sick--he could not tell, nodding and agreeing with you non-verbally. "This might be a good closure for you."

"Things we are about to find out might be… disturbing," Kang explained, questioning your determination.

"I've seen worse." You deadpanned unapologetically.

The streets that lead you all to the destination made you think like she lived in the countryside, it was filled with trees and turbulent, uneven roads, but it didn't give the same impression the Riverside area had. Of course, you thought, Riverside Premier was a private institution. This place you were heading to might as well turn out to be some woman's burial place. The file in Kang's hands filled with information on this girl was making you more nervous every minute. Kang and Mr.Lee sat on the front and you were seated in the back in a black SUV. From this angle, it was just easier to see Kang with the paper in his hands.

These small hills had a lot of old houses, they were all grey and dirty. Not that they were unhabitable, the houses themselves were good enough, but the area was so hushed and drowning in rumpled, tall grass and trees.

"Her credit card information is missing, her bank account history was empty from the day she went missing. This address was all that we could gain," Kang explained the matter to B/N in a more detailed matter.

"How come the credit card history was hidden but the address was so easy to find?" B/N questioned Kang as you looked at him too, hoping for an explanation.

"Well, I don't know. That question is for him," Kang pointed at Mr.Lee as he was driving, absolutely concentrated on the road.

B/N smirked, "As expected," He slightly leaned in forward and gave a pat on Mr.Lee's shoulder, "Great job, Mr.Lee."

Mr.Lee exchanged gaze with B/N through the SUV'S rear-view mirror and nodded respectfully, "Thank you, chief."

You wondered if he was thanking your husband for complimenting him for doing something illegal, but you couldn't ask. The moment was for anything but your moral high ground. "How are we going to know if she is dead or alive?" You finally asked the question that was more important and has been torturing you in your head.

"I have no idea," Kang answered, "We are just hoping to find at least some traces of her from this place, it was the last source of any activity or any piece of information from her. If she is dead, her body has to be there or buried somewhere near. Either way, this place is where we will find traces," He pointed at his piece of paper.

"The number and contact methods I found were either out of order or she wasn't using it at all," Mr.Lee reported through the rear-view mirror.

"We will have to go and deal with it on spot then," B/N's face turned to you, "Not like we have other options."

"What is your strategy in case we find her?" You gulped, "Dead or alive?"

"If we find the body, investigate it and find connection and link to Choi," B/N stated, "If we find the person, we use her against Choi in court and create enough troubles for him to go to jail in the ideal case scenario and leave his position in the less ideal scenario. Remember when I said the fight with Choi is not an open war?" He asked as you nodded at him, "This entire thing is to turn it into an open war, in the way that he cannot walk out of it not guilty, not losing." He talked in the way that made you have a flashback to the beginning when you just met him. Strict, articulate, cold. "He is too good at cold war and we are too bad at open war. And to be honest, I am really fucking tired of him." You watched the way his jaw was moving up and down, saying things that were too hard for you to register or even imagine. "Suing Choi would make him lose all power in the company board. Then, investment trust. Shareholders would have no choice but to invest in me and share the stocks Choi will lose in order not to fail their shares and investments, which would ultimately make me the Chairman." He deadpanned.

"Is that position that important to you?" You asked him as he went still, reading your face trying to figure out your tone.

"Yes," He cut it short and precise, "This is also about revenge," He narrowed his eyes, "This is also about future protection, and our peace. To live freely, and start over as we wanted, remember? This isn't just my greed to be more powerful. I am more than that and you know it."

"I know…"

"How much longer will it take?" B/N changed the topic, asking Mr.Lee.

"About 20 to 25 minutes, sir."

"I am getting impatient." B/N admitted, sighing.

"Agreed, I want to get it over with," Kang spoke, "So much work and digging, this has to be an answer. Today, we will get an answer."

"Hope so," B/N replied.

As the SUV slowly and moderately quietly drove into a narrower road with one cottage that was far away from any other from this area, you noted that this one surprisingly outlasted the other ones, perhaps due to its' concrete construction. It still looked very humble, some column of the house that wasn't the main has bent inwardly towards the walls of the cottage slightly, but it wasn't like it was bad enough to move out of it nor that it looked like the house was about to collapse. The cedar shingles of the old concrete cottage were grey and the bushes around the cottage were all overgrown, untrimmed and messy. It was still very hard to tell if nobody lived inside or it was just a very neglected place.

The heavy silence fell inside the car as everybody's eyes were set on the cottage, inspecting and trying to see if anyone was inside. Or any sign of living, at this point. The windows were all closed, no sign of lights, dark curtains. This looked more like a bulletproof old house rather than an abandoned one.

"This is it," Kang broke the silence.

"Are you sure this is the place?" B/N questioned him while his eyes were glued to the cottage's yard and windows.

"Absolutely sure, this is the address," Kang verified it after reading the sheet of paper on his thighs twice and B/N looked at Mr.Lee for the answer and getting his absolute confirmation after Mr.Lee nodded at him.

"This place looks abandoned," B/N said.

"Should we go inside?" Kang asked everybody in the car as a soft panic grew inside of you and you didn't know what to do about it.

"Let's watch, let's be careful. We need a sign. I don't want to alarm anyone," B/N instructed, "In case there is anyone."

"I agree. Storming in and making noises might jeopardize the entire plan," Mr.Lee coincided.

As all four of you inside of the car waiting for something to happen, carefully observing and trying to come up with the safest plan and action to take, you could sense all of the three men slowly losing their patience. You were sure that if even one of you suggested to just storm in, others would agree, but nobody broke the silence. The situation you were in was too serious to make quick decisions.

You took in the environment of the house, realizing what a safe and hidden place it was as if the person living in this cottage was a scandalous politician. Except, it didn't look that luxurious.

On the other hand, it could be a part of the plan too, living here to avoid any suspicions.

As you were all sitting inside the car, semi-paralyzed, not knowing how to take the next action that will have a grave impact on every single of your lives, you noticed the entrance door slightly moving and leaving obvious gaps from its previous position.

You saw a woman eventually coming out of the house with a huge plastic bag in her hands, you assumed she was taking out the trash. You looked at each other and gave a silent nod in the car, signalling that it was the time to get out of the car and confront her.B/N was the first who got out of the car, very swiftly but nevertheless quiet enough to not bring attention. Everybody followed him out of the car as you passed the threshold of the property, slowly approaching her back as she was throwing the plastic bag into a big trash bin.

As you could see her clearer from the closer distance, you observed her; a beautiful young woman with light brown hair, miniature figure and she was shorter than you, her body looked skinny in her grey baggy sweatshirt as she kept her fists inside her sleeves, probably preventing her from the coldness of the wind outside. You could see her face clearly from this distance, she had some cat features on her face--sharp eyes, small nose and plumpy bottom lip. Very pretty.

"Excuse me," B/N broke the silence as you, Kang and Mr.Lee stood right behind her, "Are you Miss Tiffany Lam?"

Her body flinched from the sudden voice coming from her behind as she reflexively grasped her heart with her palms, calming her down. You figured that it was probably scary for her, someone who lives alone and possibly went through rape to see three men in her property so you quietly made few steps to stand a little bit closer to her, just to reassure her safety, "Who are you?"

Her not denying that she isn't Tiffany Lam was half of the answer as your husband repeated himself, but with a more stern tone this time, "Are you Tiffany Lam?"

Her eyes went through all of you, scanning from head to toe as you could feel her anxiety for some reason, she looked like a prey cornered by predators, "Yes," Her response sounded more like a question rather than an answer.

"Tiffany Lam, would you be open to have some private discussion?" Kang spoke up this time, with a softer than B/N tone. He looked at her house and then the car you rode here, "Wherever you feel comfortable, inside the house or in our car, but not here," Kang spoke confidently.

"What? No, I won't go inside strangers' car," She answered with a slightly trembling voice, she didn't look scared, but there was something about her body language and how she kept eyeing at all of you that gave it right away that she was at least nervous, "What kind of discussion?"

"Private," Kang cut it short.

"Who are you anyway?" She asked with confusion, still dodging a direct answer to agree or deny a talk with you all. Well, that was understandable considering how you just showed up inside her property in such manner so it didn't startle you at all.

"We need only half an hour of private conversation, please," Kang asked her politely as she turned her toe and started marching back to her house as you all felt like your efforts were about to get wasted. "I don't know any of you, please leave my property before I call the cops," She said determinedly while walking away although you could still tell she was somewhat nervous judging by how she shoved both of her hands into her pockets as if she didn't know what to do with them.

"Have you ever heard of the Eastside Building?" B/N stated, loudly. She stopped her steps immediately as the name of the frathouse left B/N's mouth. It was pretty much confirmation for all of you as you eyed Kang and Mr.Lee. Nobody reacts like that to the name of the place they have never heard of. "You have, haven't you? It's sky clear to me. The reason we are asking for a private conversation is not in our interest, but yours. You don't want us talking about everything that happened in that frat house party and after it right here in the streets, do you?" B/N made Tiffany Lam turn her head, but still speechless. "You are the missing college girl from the year of Eastside Frat Party year that everybody thinks is dead. It's pretty much obvious to us."