[ please note this entire chap is based on past events, with no activities taking place in the present ]

-THOSE TWO WEEKS- 

Kim Taehyung's private jet had landed in Seoul the day before, bringing an end to his stay in Thailand. The picture of Kim Yeonseok and Lisa was still flashing in his mind. And it wouldn't leave for any reason until Taehyung gets his answer. 

"Chaeryeon, can you please somehow distract Jennie? I was planning to surprise her by organising a stunning dinner at her house, it has been a while," he spoke to his assistant on call, sounding as real as natural. Maybe once he is done with this case, he can drop being a detective and get an acting role. 

The assistant couldn't question but agree to the request. 

Entering the house where Taehyung had spent considerable time in the past with the spare key Jennie provided him, he somewhere hoped that whatever he was thinking turns out to be false. Starting his search from the drawing-room, he had planned to search each and every room, each and every cabinet for hints and proofs. 

One hour passed, and zero clues found 

 Taehyung had scanned almost every room, except the closet. He didn't necessarily consider them essential, but with the last speck of hope that burnt like a flame inside the darkness of his heart, he walked inside the closet. 

Seven cupboards and fifteen drawers, filled with clothes, shoes and accessories. All made with mahogany, and a dim orange bulb lighting up the entire room.

Another forty minutes passed, and that's when he opened the last cupboard. When he pushed his hand inside it, he felt the texture of cardboard, weirdly enough. Immediately pulling it out of the dark cupboard. It was a medium-sized cardboard box, and was labelled 'Random.'

The sixth box which was stolen from Lisa's penthouse. 

Kneeling on the floor urgently, opening the box and going through the pictures, Taehyung found multiple pictures of Lisa and Yeonseok. "Jesus Christ," he murmured under his breath, before pushing all the coats that hung in the cupboard out, and then finding multiple things that would bring an end to this case for good. 

One newspaper clipping that talked about the "accident" that took place on the road, one that brought an end to Kim Hyunjae and Mikyoung's life. And in that article, the last line was underlined in red, "Coincidentally, one of the two victims, Kim Hyunjae lost his job the same day as well." 

A paper too was kept, in fact, a letter which stated that Kim Hyunjae was fired from Manoban Jewellers. The reason provided, inappropriate behaviour displayed by the employee. 

Next, one medical report. Taehyung's gaze fell on the name of the patient, Chayan Saetang. This only meant one thing: Jennie had connections with him. 

Not being able to grasp the sudden extreme information, with shaking hands, Taehyung grabbed the last two cards kept inside. Business cards, that read the name of Park Juliana and Karl Suez Hernández. 

The very same makeup artist who was allowed in Lisa's room and the waiter who was allowed upstairs. 

And Taehyung would have easily researched more, until his notification bell rung, a text from Jennie that read, "Will be home in twenty." 

That night, things changed. 

***

Four days later, Taehyung stood in front of his laptop, waiting for the details to load as he tried to access the bank information of the two new people involved in the scene. And as the information did, it took him a good ten minutes to analyse all the transactions, and only one thing was common in both the accounts. 

On the day of Lalisa Manoban's murder, 50,00 dollars had been transferred into their accounts, respectively. 

Taehyung shifted his weight uncomfortably on one of his legs, reading the mail that said "As per your request, we're keeping an eye on Park Juliana. On your orders, we'll arrest her." And that was the right time to dial a call to a certain someone

"Joohyun, I need your help. I'm sending all the details I have gathered, just tell me when we can arrange this." 

***

Bae Joohyun, an extremely well known forensic psychologist sat in front of Park Juliana, a mere makeup artist who worked for Kim Jisoo in her office. The lighting was dim and complimented the all-white interior which offered a soothing vibe. 

The psychologist broke the awkward silence, speaking in a perfectly crafted tone, "Ms Juliana, you were appointed as one of the make-up artists for Lalisa Manoban's wedding, am I right?"

The makeup artist nodded, peeling the skin around her nail, avoiding any eye contact. 

"You were also one of the last people who saw Ms Manoban alive. Am I correct about that as well?" Joohyun asked next. This time as well, only a nod came as a response. The psychologist couldn't hold her words, "I understand that you might feel uncomfortable, but here we actually speak, so maybe if you could use your mouth."

Juliana nodded, "I apologise."

The black-haired woman who was obviously dominating the conversation spoke next, "Your card was found in the suspected killer's house. You have also received calls from an unknown number around the time of the murder. That number belonged to Chayan, the man who was stalking Lisa on the orders of the suspected killer. Also on the day of Lisa Manoban's murder, all of your student debt was paid and 50,000 dollars were sent into your bank account. You were in contact with two people related to the crime and also got a huge sum of money into your bank account the same day. Let's skip the formalities, did you take part in Lisa Manoban's murder?"

Juliana broke into a burst of awkward laughter, "Obviously not. Why would I? I am just a makeup artist and went to that wedding to do my job. Why would I kill Lisa manoban? Barely knew her."

"The evidence doesn't align with what you are saying, Ms Juliana. From the evidence, it seems that Jennie Kim contacted you to help her in the murder of Lisa manoban. She offered to pay off all your student debt and maybe even helped get your brother out of jail. You accepted the offer and made sure that the poisoned champagne bottle entered the room, and Lisa took its sip," Joohyun replied, her manicured nails rubbing against the papers that carried all these details. 

The make-up artist suddenly felt a lot smaller, despite being 5'9, and hoped the world would engulf her, "What are you even saying? I don't even know who Jennie Kim is. I don't know Chayan. I am.."

And she was interrupted abruptly by the psychologist, "But your call records show that you and Chayan talked every single day. I don't know if there was ever a trend to speak to strangers without actually knowing anything about them."

There was no response aside from silence, which Joohyun broke in a matter of few seconds, "I know Juliana you were struggling. Your brother was wrongfully convicted for a crime he didn't even do and you wanted him to come back. That's why you agreed to do all of this because you knew a detective like Jennie would help you. I get it, sweetheart, you just wanted to help your brother and live a good life."

The makeup artist broke into tears, slowly tangling herself in the other lady's words. 

Joohyun kept the file she held on the table, "You have two options now. Either you stay silent about this and get dragged with Jennie or you testify against her in court and get a smaller sentence. The choice is yours, do you want to live all your life in jail or testify against her and still live properly."

And that's when Juliana broke into a cluster of words, "I-It was Jennie who told me to do it. All my life, I just wanted to live a good life with my family but my brother was wrongly accused of robbery. He was sent to jail and I couldn't do anything to bring him back. My parents expected me to save him but I couldn't afford the lawyer's fees. I also had a lot of student debt which I still had to pay off. I don't know how Jennie found out I was going to be the make-up artist for the wedding. Chayan was the one who called me and he told me about Jennie's backstory and the plan. He promised that Jennie was powerful enough to get my brother out of jail and she would also pay off all my debt. I denied the offer but I couldn't help but think that if I agreed to do this one thing, then my whole life would get sorted. In the end, I couldn't resist."

Nodding and smiling internally while eyeing the recorder, Joohyun asked her last question, "Who cut Lisa's wrist?"

Shaking her head, and chugging down a glass of water, the response came, "Karl did. After she had a sip of her champagne, she felt dizzy. So she went to the washroom. The plan was that Karl would give all the drinks to the Lee family, and then act like he was going downstairs to get more. Instead, he entered the washroom and just did it."

Joohyun smirked, standing up and fixing the creases on her coat, "That was all I needed to know. Thank you."

author's note: this was the end of flashbacks (i think everyone can figure out what exactly happened and why it happened now). 

The next chapter is the last one and I release it tomorrow itself ✨