I snapped. Honest to God.

Swung around and barked, "What's this you're saying to me right now?!"

Blaine put a hand on my shoulder from behind but I slapped it off.

And Hae Won raised her chin at me like an angry mom who wasn't taking any more bull crap from a kid and said, "Will you hear anything I say right now?"

Worked, too. Or, it kind of slowed me down a little bit--woman had more sass than all my aunties put together. Fire breathing bitch...

So I sort of whined, "I just... we flew a whole day almost, to get here..."

Sounding like a teenage girl who'd been dragged along on a family road trip or something.

But my frustration was justified.

AJ had "disappeared."

It was all over the front pages of the tabloids and flashing every few minutes on those huge billboard things on the sides of skyscrapers.

One that I could actually see from the sky villa atop one of the twin towers her family owned, had the nerve to put up a Godzilla-sized photo of him with the big, bold caption, "Where in the world is Ahn Ji-Yeong?"

"That shit's not even funny," I told her, pointing at the glass wall that gave me a panoramic view of both the city and that damned billboard.

"Be glad they're joking around a little bit," she warned me. "That may mean they're running out of new nonsense to print. Honestly, they're like zoo gorillas throwing poop at the visitors just to enjoy their reactions. When they stop reacting, it's time to find a new trick."

I sat back in the very uncomfortable chair I'd sunk down into--the furniture was so artsy I couldn't even tell what some pieces were for. The chair was all folded up like origami. And folded you up, when you slid your butt down into it. I had to turn sideways and swing my legs over to plant my feet on the floor and shove myself up and out, finally.

I rubbed my temples to center myself and said, "Tell me you had no idea he'd run off, though? I mean..."

"He was in the country, as far as they--ah, here's Minho!"

Not sure how she knew that but something in the room had told her he'd arrived. Those towers were crazy complicated. Like the furniture.

Everything you touched was "smart." I almost felt like I could push a button and make both buildings fold up into a little cube like that Allspark in the Transformers movies.

Blaine had found a "couch" with actual cushions on it. The frame was made of glass or something, but it did look like a couch.

"So... are we going through with the whole... business trip thing or what?" he asked. "The press conference and all that?"

And Hae Won sighed and said, "We have to. Otherwise..."

I let out a little whimper, but reined back in somehow. And said, "So, I have to cook for these people?"

"You won't even have to speak," she assured me. "There's a little film that I think you'll actually like. Though samples would've been lovely."

"The way I'm feeling right now? I woulda probably used sugar instead of salt or something."

"The Sadie's Diner thing is kinda cool, though," Blaine said. "Seoul Food at Sadie's Diner..."

They'd cooked up--pun intended--a really impressive lie, her "people." They'd hyped up her return to Korea almost like one of those "comebacks" idol groups have every few months.

And she was supposedly back to explore the idea of opening a couple of restaurants, one in Seoul and one in Busan--Blaine told you the name they'd chosen. And the little slogan printed on the mock up menus and things. Oh yes, we had menus and little gift shop items, the works.

I hadn't liked the idea of using Sadie's name "in vain" as a ruse to keep the press from figuring out what we were really up to. But they really had gone all out. I even liked the throwback R & B they picked as background music for the presentation film. It was like they'd gotten hold of her old jukebox somehow. AJ would've loved it.

If he'd been there...

I was starting to slip back into panic mode when that Minho dude I'd heard so much about from him came strolling into the room.

Lord, my aunts would've loved him.

He was a very good-looking older man with grey-streaked hair, smooth dark skin and sparkly black eyes that just seemed to love everything and everyone he trained them on. I mean for a man in such deep trouble, he seemed 'way too serene.

And when he turned those loving eyes my way, I got all Xanax mellow. Honest to God, he was like Moses coming down from that mountain with those sacred tablets. Like he had all the answers...

But I only needed one. Which I blurted out before he even got to introduce himself or anything.

And those eyes hugged me up all warm and patient and said, "He really had to go. They were flying drones over the house. The country house, his sanctuary. And they had people badgering the old folks in the village. Trying to bribe them, too. Horrible people swooping into the old market like vultures, asking all kinds of questions. He was so upset that he'd upended their lives that way. They're simple, sweet people who'd been good to him. Protective and concerned."

He'd told me all this in a lilting, accented English as soothing as his eyes.

So, I tilted my head and said, "But where is he, though?" That Xanax feeling making me sound a whole helluva lot more reasonable than I'd been before he came.

"I think I know," he said. Slightly apologetic, but smiling just the right way to keep that calm intact a little longer. "But I must warn you that he will be somewhat less than pleased that she's done this. And therefore possibly a wee bit put out with me, too, for blowing his cover."

"Did they follow you, then?" I asked. "Here? If they're harassing everybody like that?"

He looked over at Hae Won and said, "She's pitching me. To invest in her restaurants."

"I'm attempting to raise my own funds," Hae Won explained. "Independent venture. No family ties. Quite believable. They know what I'm like. The troublesome one... "

"You really thought this through," I marveled.

And she snorted and said, "PR thought it through. But it's starting to sound a lot more do-able than I expected, I have to admit."

She looked over at Blaine and said, "He likes it, too."

And Blaine shrugged and said, "I figure after all the crap she's gone through it'd be the perfect happy ending. Sadie's Seoul Food Diner..."

"That's not how it goes," Hae Won sighed.

"It's the thought that counts, Jeez," he snapped back. Surprised me some, that sass.

Minho chuckled and leaned to ask me, "Could we talk? Just briefly."

And when Hae Won started up with, "We have a meeting with--" he raised a palm and said, "Just a few minutes. We'll be there on time, I promise."

I'd never seen anyone throw "The Hand" at Hae Won. Two shocks in as many minutes...

But she shook back her hair, sat back in her convoluted chair and said, "We can't be late."

And Minho offered me his arm and told her, "And we won't be," as he walked me away.

##

He took me out onto the balcony that stretched all the way across one side of the sky villa I'd been offered for the duration of my stay in what I called Emerald City because that's what it looked like to me. The two crystal towers jutting up from the middle of one of Seoul's most exclusive hoods.

I'm not scared of heights as a rule, but those damned towers were cloud high. So that glass bottomed balcony scared the bejesus out of me.

So, I clung to his arm until he strolled us over to a couple of chairs that actually looked like chairs and waited until I'd sat to seat himself.

"He wants to regain control of his life, before you meet again," he said, in that voice that calmed me down yet again.

I fell back against the chair and said, "You're saying I shouldn't be here?"

And that sweet face went a little bit more serious. Which scared me almost as much as walking out onto that balcony had.

"He's like a son to me, but I'm reluctant to interfere as he's so incredibly fragile right now. So, it will be up to you to decide."

I paused to get my chill back and then asked, "Can you just... explain what the hell is going on? In simple terms that someone who isn't in the business would understand?"

"Oh, it's very simple. We've been infiltrated by... let's call it the underworld. Or the descendants of some very unsavory characters who have been part of the entertainment world here and in other Asian countries for a very long time--it's nothing new, this type of behavior. The approach may be, but that's only because it's younger people doing things in a subtler and more businesslike way. So we were caught in the web before we realized it was a web."

"They bought shares, right? I think that's what he told me."

"It was very strategic. There were warning signs, of course, but I'm a music man. I'd forget to eat sometimes, as a kid, holed up in my room trying to make sense of synths and those early DAWs and all that back in the day--I've always been slightly nerdy. So, I left all the corporate stuff to people I thought I could trust. People who understood that mindset."

"He said that, too."

"Oh, he's as naive as I am. Or was. But he took us to heights we never expected to reach. We were like giddy children, amazed that it was working so well. And that we were able to build a little entertainment empire on that. What a ride it was!"

I loved how happy he looked, retelling that story. Proud papa...

But then his eyes dimmed for the first time. The fear in them gave me a shiver.

"We did well, but we were just small enough, even so, to be attractive to people like that. And I have to tell you that the pain he's suffering right now--I don't understand the cruelty. It began with the bad guys. But it grew into something even they can't control."

"That sounds like Hae Won now. She's scared, too."

"Well, there's a lust for blood that I've never seen before. A reporter received an audio tape of him supposedly trying to entice a young woman to meet him somewhere--AI. Voice cloned. The kid who cooked it up admitted as much after a friend tipped off the police fearing he'd be implicated as well. It wasn't even something he'd been asked or paid to do. He just wanted views and new followers. We've pressed charges of course. So a self-serving prank may land him in prison for a very long time."

I closed my eyes. Said, "This is crazy as hell..."

He reached over to take hold of my hand... and shoved a business card into it.

"The info you need. I'll let you decide whether to use it or not."

I opened my eyes to read his. And asked, "Would you?"

"I confess I'm a wee bit concerned about him being alone just now. I'll say that, at least."

That punched the breath out of me. But I finally said, "How are you holding up?"

"I think I will disappear as well," he said. But he was smiling again. "I haven't had a vacation in over a decade. But then I haven't felt like I was actually working for even longer than that. I loved what I was doing that much. Even when I had to put on a business suit and speak that language... it was for love, that I did it. So, it was like theater. Like... auditioning for a part, you know?"

I liked this man. I understood why AJ loved him so much. Trusted him so completely all along.

So, I looked at the little business card...

And said, "Whoa--I can't even read this."

It was in some sort of Asian script that I didn't even recognize, the card.

He laughed and said, "Hae Won will arrange everything I'm sure--it's a bit much, though. I must warn you. But they'll never find him there."

And then he stood, winked and said, "I can't be late."

And came over to touch my face almost as tenderly as Grandma Ahn had, before leaving me there to decide what to do with that damned card I couldn't read.