Chapter XI: Something That Holds The Past

Kathy's POV

"Uhm... I thought you guys have already settled the place where we'll be staying for two months?"

"Yeah, we did! Why?"

"You said we're staying in a hotel, and not in a condominium!"

After finishing our food in the book-cafe and stayed inside for a few minutes to talk and chat, we took our leave afterwards and got accompanied by the chilly breeze. My friends called a cab while we stood by the sidewalk, and got inside the vehicle once it arrived

Our ride was a blur for me since I fell asleep during the most of it; however, I could remember the sights of tall buildings wheezing past us, but aside from that I couldn't recall anything else. One of the reasons why I hate jet lag, ugh

During the ride I was having a pleasant dream, but not until Lori, who sat along with me at the back while Karen's at the passengers seat, woke me up. After taking my things from the trunk, they paid the driver before he sped off. And despite my drowsy state, my eyes didn't fail to notice that the presence of the road is still visible in our destination

The road, however, aren't the busy and packed ones, it's only in an average state I'd say. And I like staying in a place close to the road, because I can have an easy access for transportation. But I didn't mind that part: Plopping on a cozy and warm bed, that's all in my head at this moment

I turned my gaze to look in front of me, expecting to see a tall structure but I have to shove Karen out of my way since she has her back turned to me and I nearly bumped into her which slightly irritated me a bit. I'm seriously not in the best of moods whenever I'm sleepy or just woke up, but she just laughed at me after my gesture and I just rolled my eyes

Going back, I turned and saw a tall, not-so-wide, neat and modern-looking condominium towering over us which stood high in between two smaller structures. From the looks of it coming from the outside, there's around 7 floors which has 2-4 condo unit in each floor, judging from each floor having two balconies in the front; I don't know if there are any at the back, though. The ground floor seemed to exceptional on not having any balcony aside from large windows, since it's normally where the lobby is designed to be placed

However, I was more expecting a hotel and not a condominium

"Why, you don't like it?" Lori asked, who mostly took the part of searching and settling on where we'll be staying

"It's not that I don't like it, Lori" I said with my eyes still glued to the structure towering over us

"I was just surprised, okay?" I added and smiled after turning my gaze to my friends

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Karen cheerfully exclaimed, her grin visible

I rolled my eyes and walked towards the entrance with my rolling bag and string bag in hand, while my friends literally dashed inside

~~☆~~

After walking in and taking the elevator, we stopped at the 5th floor. My friends led me to the a nicely polished, oak wood door with a template attached that says "16", which probably means the number of the unit we're going to stay in

Once they opened the door, I was greeted with a neat, fully furnished and aesthetically modernized condo unit. The place has a not-so-high white ceiling with black borders. For the walls, it's just clean white with black trimmings at the lower part near the carpet floor. The place was kind of narrow, but not too much

There's an open living room to the right once you come in from the door, it also has a small open kitchen at the back which has a long counter in between, dividing the two areas. And in front of the door, there's a short hallway that ends with a 4x4 window with a black windowsill

Four doors are present inside the unit except for the door which is where you usually enter the unit; one near the end of the hallway on the left wall, one nearly beside it, one that's on the right wall near the corner before it reaches the open kitchen and living room, and finally another door on the left wall just a few inches away from the beginning of the hallway

"Whoa..." was all that I could say as my gaze swept across the room

"You like it?" I heard Karen ask followed by the sound of the door closing

I nodded and approached one of the beige couches, taking a seat. The living room actually has two couches symmetrically placed in a slanted position, while having a small glass coffee table in the middle. There's a small yet wide beige cabinet pushed to the wall in front of the couches with a small flat screen television on top of it

And on the left side of the couches, there's a windowed wall which gave us a full view of the sky and buildings of Seoul. Then there's a sliding glass door which leads to a small balcony outside

"And the price of this unit is...?" I asked with a raised brow, still looking around

"Oh don't think about that, Kathy" Lori said coming from the kitchen behind me, "We already bought the unit, so don't worry"

I nodded and suddenly let out a yawn, which made me maneuver my hand to my mouth; and I'm still wearing my fingerless gloves

I heard Lori chuckle as she stood at the door near the beginning of the hallway, "You still have jet lag; come here, let me show you your room" She said while gesturing me to come closer

Pulling my rolling bag, I entered the room after Lori opened the door for me. Once again, my eyes wondered over the cozy room which will temporarily be my room for two months. It was neither small or big, but it really isn't a big deal because if the room has a bed and a cabinet, I'm good with that

The room has two windows on the wall that's across from the door, and the space in between the two is where the desk is placed with a painting above it. And on the left side of the room is my bed with a tall cabinet pushed to the wall beside it

"I'll leave you for now, so get some rest" Lori sweetly said, giving me a back hug before I heard her closing the door, leaving me alone

And without further ado, I quickly left my belongings near the cabinet and immediately jumped onto my new bed, ruining the sheets

"Ow, shit!" I cursed under my breath when I felt a sharp pain on my shoulder blade

I grit my teeth and hissed in pain, as my hand grasped on my forearm, thinking that it could help cease the pain. It actually took quite a while for the pain to subside, and squeezing my forearm wasn't much of a help either

I seriously need to remember this injury on my shoulder...

Sighing, I closed my eyes and let the warm and softness of the bed to envelop me, and before I knew it, I already fell asleep

~~☆~~

"Yah! Karen could you stop dipping your finger in the batter?" I scolded at her while protectively holding the bowl of vanilla batter away from Karen, using my healthy arm

Karen stuck out her tongue at me after licking off the batter in her finger, "Sorry, Kathy, but I can't help it. You're cookings are amazing" She complimented and grinned at me idiotically

"Whatever you say, Karen" I said with chuckle, without giving her a brief glance

I went back on mixing the batter with a whisk until I achieved a soft texture, After a few more stirs, I threw the whisk in the sink along with my other used kitchenware and dishes, then poured the vanilla mixture into a wide and slightly tall container. Also adding a small amount of chocolate batter here and there, getting a marble like appearance before popping the container in the oven. It was slightly a hassle to carry it since I can't really put that much weight on my injured arm

Looking back at Karen, after placing the timer and right temperature on the oven, I saw her leaning on the counter while being engrossed with her phone. She looked so serious that I couldn't help but smile at her

"Hey, Karen" I called while wiping off the remaining flour on the counter with a rug, using my healthy arm ofcourse

But I got no response, and when I was finished wiping the counter and washing the small set of dishes, I still didn't get a response. I raised a brow as my eyes went back to Karen, who's still looking at the screen of her phone

"Yah" I said, loud enough for her to hear

"Huh?" Karen muttered and lopsidedly turned her head to me, but she seemed to not know the words escaping her lips because of her grey eyes still glued to her phone

I rolled my eyes and lightly brought up a spoon and plate from the sink that's soaked with water, and banged the utensil at the plate. And that's when she snapped back to reality

She flinched and jolted in place because of the abrupt sound that greeted her eardrums. Her phone nearly fell from her hold, and her head immediately snapped towards my direction with a shocked expression

"The heck was that for?" She whined, placing her phone on the countertop

"I've been calling your name, but you don't seem to hear me" I nonchalantly said, continuing on doing the dishes "So, I think banging something would be enough to wake up your eardrums" I bluntly said

"Well, you could've just tapped me on my shoulder" She deadpanned, but I just shrugged it off

"What is it your looking in your phone anyway?" I asked, wiping my hands with a paper towel after finishing the dishes

"It's just some latest news going viral in the social media"

I chuckled while singlehandedly untied my apron, "News about what? That the BTS have finally arrived?" I joked, hanging my apron beside the fridge

Karen shook her head, and as if on cue, Lori came out with her phone in hand, "Nope. That news came out earlier this afternoon when you were asleep, and it's 7 o'clock right now. The fuss about their arrival have already died down at this time" The shortest among the three of us said as she scrolls down her phone

"Then what's the news all about?" I asked, walking pass them while lightly rubbing my forearm and sat at the couch

Karen and Lori tailed behind me and each took a seat beside me, still looking at their phones

"A recent murder case"

I chuckled and reached for the remote on the coffee table, "It's just some murder case, what's so intriguing about that?" I asked and turned the television on

The television immediately brought us to the news once I turned it on. And the murder case that my friends are talking about is on the headline

(A/N: Okay, ik tht da news should be in romanization of Korean language, but I ain't doing it so tht it would be easy for u guys)

"Breaking News! A woman in her 20's is found dead just an hour ago by a concerned local citizen in an alleyway near a convenient store..."

My brows knitted together as I straightened my back, continuing to listen to the news along with my friends

"... the victim was found with a slit on her throat, a few broken ribs and fractured bones, and the cause of her death was the various stab and gun shot wounds on her chest..."

I raised a brow, but my attention briefly went to Lori when she spoke up, "See, I told you it went viral and the people here in Korea are so quick, like damn!"

I quickly shushed her by placing a finger on her lips, and looked back to the television

"... based on the investigation earlier, the police have noticed a marking on the victim's wrist"

And after that, an image of the victim's pale arm with her wrist facing the camera appeared on the screen. The mark on the her wrist has the shape of a flame, and doesn't look like just a marking. The mark was swollen, and it seemed to be burnt to her skin with something hot

My eyes grew into the size of small dinner plates once I saw the mark on her wrist that's showed on the news. My memories in the past came flashing in my mind, as if it was triggered by the mark on the victim's wrist, causing my hand to ball itself into a fist with a racing heart

"...we'll get into more information once the police have collected more after the investigation"

At this point, I wasn't even listening to the reporter's words aside from the last sentence before he signed out and proceeds to a different topic. My mind was full of thoughts once more as I stared off, trying to sink in the thought of the PMA Agency really being here. And that marking...

Suddenly the timer of the oven turned off, snapping me back to reality and catching all of our attention. Karen and Lori cheered with stuffed joy knowing that my homemade cake, their favourite, is done baking

I smiled at the reaction of my friends, even if they forced me to stand up and get the cake. They were already standing at the other side of the counter by the time I placed the cake on the countertop. I gave each if them a slice after giving it a few minutes to cool down

"I won't and never will be bored of eating Kathy's homemade cake" Lori muttered after shoving a small piece of her cake to her mouth

"Her Vanilla and Chocolate Swirled Cake is thee best!" Cheered Karen before they began to devour their slices of cake

I grinned at them, "Thanks guys. Just take a slice if you still want some, I made a large one" I offered, "I'll just go check on my things"

And with that, I quickly dashed to my room and closed the door, leaning my back on it. I could feel my heart pounding against my chest as my mind couldn't get the image of that marking on the woman's wrist

"No... It can't be..." I mustered

Locking the door, I immediately grabbed my string bag beside my large rolling bag and went straight to my desk. My fingers fumbled over to turn the switch of my desk lamp before opening my bag. I brought out and placed each of my equipments on the desk, which includes my hacker laptop, Crossbow cuff, earpieces, Info shades (haven't used these ones for a long time) and a small tiny box

(A/N: Info Shades are included in chptr 4)

Immediately grabbing the small object, I took a seat on my swivel chair and opened the box. My eyes were greeted by a chain laced necklace, having its pendant glistening under the light of my lamp

It's the necklace that I used to wear in the past, as a representation on what agency I'm under. It held so many memories of the past that it made me recoil. I don't know why I still kept this, knowing that it held the moments where I'm still on the side of evil, but I can't also throw it away. Despite those horrible memories, it still held the moments of my life with my friends in the PMA Agency, like Seohyun

I grabbed and placed the small accessory on the palm of my healthy arm, eyeing the pendant that glistens under the light of my lamp. Then the image of the marking on the victim's wrist crossed my mind as I tried to think if the marking and my pendant are the same

My heart skipped an entire beat that my assumption is true, causing me to clenched my hand into a fist with the accessory in hand. My jaw visibly tightens while anger started to boil inside me as memories of the past flashed before my eyes, only to make the anger inside me intensify

My thoughts were disrupted when my phone, which is on my desk, suddenly started to buzz with my ringtone playing. I quickly grabbed and checked the screen of my phone, only to see that there's an incoming call from an unregistered number

I stared at my phone for a minute to think on who could this person be, and to cool my head at the same time. And soon enough, I accepted the call and placed my device on my ears

"Hello?" I asked

There was a small pause through the line, but not until the person on the other line spoke

"Hello, darling. How've you been?"

My eyes grew upon hearing the person's low and deep voice thorough the other line. I could feel anger slowly boiling inside me just by hearing his voice, causing my hand to clench harder on the accessory in my hand. My jaw visibly tightens once again; one of my ways to keep my cool, because I have no doubt that this person on the other line is him

"Wang Eun" I murmured through the line in an angry low voice

His irritating and signature cackle erupted from the other line

"Oh my. It's been a while since I last heard your angelic voice. Did you miss me?"

•~•~•~•~•~•

I'm so sorry for the long wait guys 🙊 But here's a new chapter! ✨ I hope you guys liked it, because I made short as possible 🙈💞 And expect tht my nxt chptrs will be more shorter than my other ones 😁

Anywys! I hope u enjoyed da new chptr 📖💖 Let me know by leaving a Vote, Comment and by Sharing my book! 😊📚

Ciao!~<3