„Will this dusk manage to bring me back that happiness I need so much?” SolHi told herself while she was sitting on the beach, holding her knees to her chest and embracing them with both arms, fully immersed in thoughts while watching the red stain on the sky left by the sun that was rushing to bed.

Not far from her, sitting on the sand, was DooSan who had spent the whole day on the beach, just as SolHi did, for being afraid… so afraid… to leave her alone.

Suddenly, his glance focused on the pile of white stones carefully built on the sand, next to a big bouquet of flowers that the villagers brought there when they came to say goodbye to SinHa. „How is this life?! Some of us love it till madness and hold it with teeth and nails while others don’t pay even two pennies for it and can so easily give up to their consciousness just to hurt others,” DooSan thought.

But he has been forced to interrupt the flow of his thoughts, seeing Iu Min passing by him and heading to SolHi.

However, one in front of the other one, both men looked for a while at their rival with a cold glance, with an empty glance, even if each of them knew well that both of them were fighting for the same heart and that each of them had few chances to get it. Then, Iu Min simply passed by DooSan, gnashing his teeth because he would have liked to say something to the „intruder” that was all the time showing up in front of him lately and wasn’t allowing him to freely breathe, but yet, he also knew that it wasn’t the right moment for this.

DooSan felt the same, especially seeing the other one getting closer to the woman he wanted next to him, wanting to be the one to comfort her. But… it wasn’t him there, by her side and this made him swallow hard and squeeze his fists. „Leech,” DooSan snarled, seeing Iu Min putting his jacket on SolHi’s shoulders and sitting down next to her. Then, Iu Min poured some coffee into one of the paper glasses he took out of the jacket's pocket and gave one to SolHi. „Drink some coffee! It will make you feel better.”

SolHi said nothing instead and, without watching into the eyes of the man next to her, she stretched her hand to take it. But when she touched it instead, her fingers touched Iu Min’s fingers who took advantage of that moment to make felt his presence next to her.

„Iu Min!” SolHi murmured weakly.

„I know, but… I want you to allow me at least this, SolHi. I just want to be by your side when you need this the most: my support.”

This made SolHi deeply breathe in and take a long sip of the steaming coffee, which seemed to be so soothing for her in the tender embrace of the dim light of the dusk.

And… they stood like that for minutes in a row, watching the foamy waves that seemed to dance in the warm embrace of the sandy shore, abundantly heated by the sun during the day while DooSan was sitting behind them, upset and somber, feeling as being a loser, a beaten dog, for understanding that he stood there all day long for nothing and that he hadn’t dared to do the same as his rival who he didn’t want to see at those moments.

He stood up eventually, staring with controlled hatred elsewhere when, so suddenly, SolHi laid her head on Iu Min’s shoulder, taking both men by surprise. But this hurt so much DooSan’s heart who gnashed his teeth, accepting his failure, and, at a slow step, he crawled his legs, moving further from that place which could have been the Paradise for him, next to the woman who was so dear for him, but where he had to leave her eventually in the arms of another man and this made him whisper: „if I hadn’t been a coward… if I hadn’t dragged the tail… maybe…”

Feeling steps backing away from them, Iu Min looked back, but even if he saw DooSan leaving, he didn’t feel release or happiness, for even if SolHi was sitting with her head on his shoulder and with her eyes closed, even if she seemed to be there, with him, Iu Min knew well that her thoughts were far away from there, just as his soul was a stranger for her.

„SolHi, how do you think, will you be able someday to love?” Iu Min asked her eventually.

This forced SolHi to open her eyes and watch the sea with a lost glance, the same sea that look darker at those moments bathed in the light of the dusk, as darker as her soul was at that moment. „I don’t know,” she eventually murmured.

„Why?” Iu Min wondered without looking at her.

„Simply, I don’t know, Iu Min. And… I just don’t want to think about this now, I don’t want to find that reason for that „I don’t know” now. Simply… I just want this huge pain from my chest to pass and… no, it isn’t a pain anymore: it’s just a huge hole my mother left behind her.”

„You’ll fill it again. SolHi. I know you’ll fill it, eventually,” Iu Min sadly murmured. „You’ll probably fill that hole with the love of the one who your eyes don’t see now, but who seems to live in the same abyss where you are living now,” Iu Min told to himself, squeezing in his fist the sand that he took from below.

But there was one more witness there, somewhere behind them, who was insistently watching them: SinHa’s eyes, those eyes from the photo, that was so openly smiling, even if while being alive, SinHa has been always sad and thoughtful, longing for a love that abandoned her long ago and which she hadn’t been able to keep locked into her or at least to keep it close in her heart and not to leave it fly toward the horizon as a wandering bird which won’t ever turn back.

***

„Detective Ian, will she turn back to the city with us?” Kan asked DooSan while both of them were standing next to the car that was parked in front of the house.

„I don’t know, we’ll see it,” DooSan dryly answered, supporting his body of the car and frowning, because even if he took the cast off, the leg was still hurting him, for DooSan didn’t allow it to rest as he should have done. Instead of resting somewhere, DooSan spent the last two days standing or on the beach, and not on a comfortable bed or at least sitting on something similar to a comfortable place.

„O.K! Interesting: did Yu and the others already get to the city?” Kan murmured for himself and took a few steps aside, intending to make a phone call. But he did this only to change the environment, for he was feeling the pressure inside DooSan and he knew very well the reason why the prosecutor was feeling like that. That's why he tried to give DooSan some space.

However, Kan didn’t call anybody and spent a few moments holding that phone in his hand, staring at the screen where the list of the contacts was seen. Soon after, he saw Iu Min getting closer while carrying SolHi in his arms, who seemed asleep. „They are coming,” Kan said and DooSan right away looked there.

But instead of feeling release or joy, DooSan again grimaced, for not that way he would have liked to see SolHi turning back to him. However, he kept silent, knowing that it wasn’t the moment for a quarrel. But his intention of not fighting didn’t last long and when he saw Iu Min intending to enter the yard with SolHi in his arms, DooSan hissed through his teeth: „detective Ian is coming with us!”

Iu Min, with his back at DooSan and Kan, bitterly smiled. But yet, he turned to watch those two men in the eyes: „I think SolHi is enough mature to decide alone what to do, just as I don’t think that it’s the perfect time to have to deal with you too. So, prosecutor Han, get lost from here.”

But they all kept silent, hearing SolHi’s whisper: „Iu Min, I want to go home! I’m tired!”

„I know, SolHi! We’re already home. We just need to…”

„Not here, Iu Min. Here’s not my home anymore, just as my mother isn’t here anymore. Actually, I don’t think this has been ever my home. That’s why I don’t intend to stay here. I want to go home! To my home! Please, don’t be against this, Iu Min! I feel that I lack air here. I can’t breathe and…”

Feeling lost, feeling that he has lost in front of the one with whom SolHi wanted to leave the village, Iu Min closed his eyes for a few moments, bent his head, and bit his lower lip to the blood. But he opposed the idea of giving SolHi to DooSan when the other one got closer to them and tried to take her into his arms. „I’ll do it by myself!” Iu Min snarled to the rival.

Without saying anything else, DooSan suddenly opened the door of the car, allowing Iu Min to put SolHi on the rear seat. But DooSan didn’t allow Iu Min to close the door too, when the young man hold it tightly, intending to close it by force.

„There are others that must get in this car too,” DooSan told Iu Min triumphantly and he got next to SolHi and put her head on his shoulder to make her feel comfortable.

Seeing this and understanding that DooSan did this purposely, to provoke him or to get revenge on him for what he saw on the beach, Iu Min slammed the door and took two steps away from the car.

The only one who said goodbye to Iu Min has been Kan who snarled a barely heard „see you again.” After that, he also got in the car, on the driver’s side, and the vehicle slowly moved away while Iu Min stood in place, staring after them, seeing them leaving. But he didn’t see anybody looking back, and this hurt him like hell, for he would have wanted at least SolHi to watch behind and maybe to smile at him or… maybe what the young man wanted was a little sparkle of hope that she’ll turn back there one day and they will be eventually together.

But… nobody looked at him… nobody said goodbye neither to him nor to the abandoned house, a home left behind and which nobody accepted to take care of while the owner was missing. And… neither the owner thought about this, for SolHi was not totally convinced that the house was really her home.

***

The night was so quickly falling over the surroundings and that quickly it got in the car too while it was rushing away from those places: a car driven by a veteran detective, with two „lovers” on the rear seat and with a total silence that was ruling over the night.

„I know that’s not the right moment,” Kan murmured eventually, „but I think that this funeral silence doesn’t make good to anyone. So, if it doesn’t bother anybody, I’ll turn on the radio.”

But it not only didn’t bother anybody but also nobody even bothered to answer and Kan took that silence as an acceptance. Turning on the radio instead, they heard a sad melody. But Kan left it playing, knowing that it might be the right music for their souls at that moment.

„DooSan, you know…,” SolHi murmured eventually without opening her eyes while her hand was held by DooSan who was keeping it tightly as if he was afraid to release it, being afraid that SolHi will eventually go away from next to him. „… you’ve been right when you said that one can’t live in his past. That’s why I’ve decided to move further or maybe to start something new. But… if it is one way or the other, only life will decide it eventually, I think.”

The man didn’t answer her instead. He only supported his head on the top of her head and he also closed his eyes, a movement that seemed so harmless to him, so spontaneous, but which didn’t pass unnoticed by Kan eventually, who smiled. Then, the DJ’s voice was heard, saying in a low voice: „And now, for all those who ever lost someone without having the possibility to say goodbye to him or to tell at least „forgive me” to that person, we dedicate them the song „Sorry seems to be the hardest word,” by Elton Johns.”

Accompanied by the words of that beloved melody, which was so sad at the same time, they continued their path while their mind, eager to say to someone, at least to someone, that word „forgive me,” hungry of creating new illusions, of leaving themselves prey to the felt feelings in their souls, they fell asleep.

Actually, who really fell asleep has been only SolHi while the two men were only immersed in thoughts. And SolHi fell asleep, feeling so pleasant that touch of DooSan's arm who dared eventually to put it around her, just to hold her closer to him, laying her head on his chest while supporting his chin on the top of her head and thus giving her all the safety, she seemed to need at that moment.

***

„Why doesn’t she awake?” DooSan asked worriedly Mina who was next to SolHi who was asleep, checking her pulse, for he had finally decided to call at least SolHi’s friend to check if she was alright after SolHi had slept for two days.

„There's no cause for concern, prosecutor Han. Just calm down: her pulse and her breath are normal, like the rest of her vitals. I gave her some vitamins to feed her at least intravenously. So… she’ll be more than fine.”

„But… is it normal for her to sleep that much? It’s been two days already, doctor Park, and she hasn’t awakened to drink even water,” DooSan insisted, even more anxious than before, for he had expected solutions when he called Mina, but he only received a vague and meaningless answer in his opinion.

„Well, for normal people, yes, this isn’t normal to sleep that much. But this is ok for SolHi. Let’s not forget through what she had to pass recently and that all this simply clapped her by the heels… she needs time to recruit. And she normally recovers herself after a long sleep.”

DooSan looked at her intently. „Did this happen to her before?”

„Mmm, absolutely… 7-years-ago and about 6-years-ago, after the trial… and each time when SolHi feels that the world collapses over her. That’s why I don’t worry for her: she’s strong. She’ll get over this, too.”

DooSan bitterly smiled. „Something happens?” Mina asked him, seeing that strange smile on his face, and that alerted her.

„Nothing, I’m just… trying to figure out how this woman is built inside: another person in her place would have died because of hungry, sleeping that much. But she seems to be just fine, as if she feeds herself only with air, all the time,” he murmured, hinting at that before her mother’s death, SolHi had fed herself only with low caloric things, but even so, she could hide from him that she needed help and money.

Mina got closer to him, staring into his eyes. „Prosecutor Han, may I ask you a question? I just hope I'm not impertinent.”

„A question? Which one?” DooSan asked, being all adrift, thinking that he gave himself away for what he was feeling for SolHi.

„Did you ever feel the world collapsing over you? That it presses your soul that much and you feel that you are lacking air?”

„Mmm, I felt it. Once,” DooSan murmured.

„When?”

„7-years-ago when…”

„7-years-ago?!” Mina murmured, whatever. „Now, multiply it at least ten times, for at least so many times I've seen SolHi collapsing because of what happened to her, and maybe I shouldn’t have told you that, but… the worse prison one can be in is the one created by himself. And… SolHi lives in something similar for 7 years already. But to be honest, I think she had lived in such a prison all her life, for this life seems to have been against her right from her birth. And yes, the biggest punishment for people is their own minds which makes them feel damn guilty when they don’t even have what for feeling themselves like this. And … do you know why?”

„Because of the imagination?”

„No, it’s because of self-confidence: if you feel yourself a shit, if you feel like a nobody, the others will think the same about you and the life will do the same to you: setting its jaw in your throat, asking you to pay for everything you’ve done and reminding you to never forget that you owe something to someone, always. And… SolHi did pay… more than she should have paid, and… even if she had been the one who killed your brother, she paid more than she had to, for everything through which she passed all these years and even everything she happened to her before that event, marked her not only physically, but inside too, making her not only weak, vulnerable, but stronger too. That’s why I know that she won’t give up. No matter the costs.”

DooSan winced, remembering a sentence SolHi told him once, when they were on the roof, for if once it is proved that she killed YuSan, then she’ll ask for forgiveness on her knees and that after that she’ll be who’ll decide her fate. „Doctor Park,” DooSan murmured, having his heart in his boots, „do you think SolHi’ll be able to…?”

„To?” Mina asked after a few moments of silence, and she stared at DooSan, but he seemed to be afraid of uttering in his voice that thought which did not give him peace.

But before continuing his idea, DooSan grabbed Mina’s arm and dragged her far from the bed, so that SolHi didn’t hear their talk, if something: „do you think SolHi’ll be able to suicide if it is proved out that she’s guilty of YuSan’s death?”

Mina smiled. „That’s what was bothering you: to know if you are eventually avenged.”

„What?” DooSan asked, looking at her thunderstruck.

„To know if you are eventually revenged because I feel that only if SolHi vanishes from this planet you will really feel fulfilled. Or… am I wrong?”

„Yeah. Because I never hated her so much that to want her dead, doc. If it was so, then I would have left her to fall through that hole when she had an asthma crisis in that abandoned warehouse, a couple of months ago.”

„What?” Mina murmured, for she was stunned that time hearing him talking like that because SolHi never told her about such a night. „To fall through…?”

„Mmm! Who saved her that night, the same night you came to my door and slapped me, it was me, for… it seems that I just got there at the right time. And… it seems that life doesn’t want her dead, as you seem to insist to be so.”

„I’m not insisting. I just…”

„It doesn’t matter anymore, doc. If I asked you this, it was because of something SolHi told me once and what made me think that she could do that. But… I intend to do everything I can to that never happen… even if she resulted being the assassin.”

Then, DooSan got closer to the bed and covered better SolHi with the blanket. She instead didn’t even move, as if only her body was there, not her mind too.

„Do you think that if she goes to prison, it will bring your brother back, prosecutor Han?” Mina asked in a whisper. But this amazed DooSan even more, for knowing that Mina was a mindless person, but he had never expected to hear such questions from her. „You are wrong if you think so! If you want to get that revenge you dream of so much, then just let her live in the world she lives now: I ensure you that she’ll pay a bigger price for … that death… and maybe more painful too.”

For a few moments, the two stared at each other in silence, with a kind of hatred that was floating between them, and that hatred seemed to have been born from different feelings: for Mina, DooSan’s stubbornness to be all the time around SolHi, to ask for a „harsher punishment” for what happened to his brother, seemed mindless, while DooSan considered Mina’s behavior damn suspect as if she wanted SolHi to suffer more and not to protect her of this.

But they were wrong, both of them, for the love they felt for SolHi, each of them in his way, managed to darken their minds and to make them see ghosts where they shouldn't have been seen.

„Take the needle out of the vein when the medicine is over,” Mina eventually murmured. „I’ll leave now. I feel that if I stay here for longer, with you by my side, prosecutor Han, I’ll tell you things that I’ll regret later.” After this, Mina left the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

„Damn it…,” DooSan gnashed his teeth, staring at the door. But he has decided that it wasn’t the right moment to waste his time with Mina: „I’ll find the right moment for this, too,” he murmured, sitting down next to SolHi. „And I’ll find out then what are you hiding, too, doctor Park, and what do you really try to obtain being next to her, and then, we’ll both pay for what we did to her, but to each other too.”

***

„Meat?!” SolHi wondered while lying on the bed with her eyes closed and pretending to be asleep, for even if she was hearing DooSan moving through the house and she was also hearing deaf sounds as the sizzling of the meat on the grill or things slowly hit one by the other, she still wanted to stay in her world, chewing her own pain, in silence, without explaining this to anyone.

Suddenly, she felt how the blanket went the way of the ostrich feather off her and how DooSan’s arms wrapped around her body, after which he rose her from the bed. SolHi instead closed her eyes tighter and she also squeezed the lips while her head slowly „fell” on DooSan’s chest, trying to hide her awkwardness of being carried in his arms this way, for even if DooSan carried her in his arms before, too, she didn’t feel it as she was feeling it now - that everything inside her was tangling as if her feelings were trying to break in through her chest, looking for freedom outside.

But she felt even dizzier than she was when DooSan left her on the floor and supported her on something hard, something that seemed to be the kitchen cupboard while a slight hot air was coming from in front of her, from the small, indoor grill on which DooSan seemed to cook the meat.

Then, a deafening boom boom of an empty stomach was heard all over the room and betraying thus its owner of actually being awake, for… where did someone see that someone's stomach make noise while he’s asleep?!

„Damn!” SolHi told herself, in her head, understanding that her drama that lasted for a few days and where she has assumed the role of the „Sleeping Beauty” was almost over. And so it was because right after that thought, she felt how DooSan was squeezing her nose with two fingers, forcing her this way to open her mouth eventually when she lacked air. But she couldn’t yelp because DooSan stuck a salad leaf in which were wrapped two pieces of meat and some vegetables in her mouth.

„Ia!” she managed to mumble eventually, with her mouth full, while staring at DooSan who kept turning the meat from one side to the other without watching her. „Have you always been that shameless?”

„Why?” DooSan calmly asked, still without watching her. „Because I awakened you from your beauty sleep not like the Sleeping Beauty with a kiss, but with fried meat?! If so, then… I’m sorry, but… I don’t intend to play the role of the prince worried about you.”

„As if you could've done it,” SolHi again mumbled. After that, she took two chopsticks that were in front of her and she started to put pieces of meat directly from the grill into her mouth.

But her hand suddenly froze over the grill and she furiously stared at DooSan when he slapped her hand: „cool it first! It’s hot. Or what, do you want to burn yourself inside?” he told her reproachfully. „Don’t worry! Nobody will take it from you! So, eat it calmly!”

„Hm, was speaking the one who ate almost 1kg by himself and was slapping the other’s hand when that person tried to taste something, mumbling that it wasn’t enough for him to share it with someone else.”

„Me? When that?”

„Besides learning being cynical, I see that you already got the… short brain of the chicken. Well… you can pretend how much you want, for I don’t have the minimal intention to waste my time with you explaining to you the obvious thing.”

DooSan snarled at her as if being a dog. After that he put the plate he had next to him in front of SolHi and started to put on it the fried meat, which amazed SolHi. „What now, did you decide to cram me as if I’m a turkey?!”

„She found who to compare herself with, pfff! At least those are manageable and don’t make a fuss when you feed them while others prefer to pretend that they are asleep even if they are starving.”

„Was it that obvious?!”

„Are you still asking this?! It was even more obvious than that a man’s hand has five fingers and more when Park Mina gave you those vitamins. But you… no, even if you were starving, you preferred acting.”

„Me? When has it been?” but she kept silent, seeing DooSan’s glance focused on hers. „O.K., I’ll keep my mouth shut and I’ll continue eating. But… after that, can I turn back to bed?”

„Again?! You just woke up after two damn long days of sleep. For how long do you want to sleep this time?”

„Till tomorrow morning?! Not the else, but… it’s night outside and… I have nothing else to do during the night.”

„I know other interesting methods of spending the time… during the night, too,” DooSan murmured, comically raising and lowering his eyebrows.

„I was talking about the simple process of sleeping, Han DooSan! Don’t cross the line!” SolHi told him in an upset voice, tightly holding the metallic chopsticks in her hand and threatening him thus that if he keeps talking nonsense, he’ll meet a stiff end. „Anyway… you aren’t that lucky to sleep on the bed. The couch is yours because the leg is already fine and I can recover my bed, which is mine by the birthright.”

„Racketeer! Ok, you’re lucky that I’m a gentleman. Otherwise…”

„Otherwise?”

„Nothing important. Eat and… don’t even think to turn back to sleep while I’m in the shower… or I don’t respond of me! And… don’t leave anything neither on the grill nor on the plate or I swear that I’ll show you how the turkeys are crammed, Ian SolHi!”

After that, DooSan stood up and entered the bathroom. Two seconds later, he opened the door just to check if SolHi listened to his advice or not.

SolHi stared instead in amazement at him with her mouth open because he caught her while trying to put some meat in her mouth. „What?” she shouted, seeing him insistently watching her.

„I was just… checking if everything is alright and if… you didn’t rush to sleep… again!”

„How can I do such a thing, prosecutor Han?” SolHi asked ironically. „You’ve been who threatened me to transform me into a turkey if I don’t listen to you.”

„Did you decide to act like a clown?” DooSan hissed through his teeth.

„If others don’t want to be a clown to cheer me up this evening, I’ve decided to do it by myself,” she teased him.

„Aga, wait! Acting like a clown is the last thing which I have left to do for you: I’ve even been a draught donkey for you.”

„A donkey? What do you mean this time?”

„Are you trying to act the fool now?! Who do you think brought you here from the car while you were acting the Sleeping Beauty?”

„Aaa, it’s so, if you say so! Anyway, I thought sombe Kan brought me here carrying me on his back. It seems I’ve been wrong.”

„You’re absolutely wrong, for your sombe Kan ran slick away when I took you out of his car because… his back was hurting him… very bad.”

„You’re lying!”

„What do I earn from that?”

„What do I know?! Getting cute?!”

„Ian SolHi, don’t drive me crazy because you know very well what I can do. So, finish eating because we have things to do after that.”

„Things? Like?” SolHi asked in amazement, but she’s been even more surprised, seeing DooSan devilishly smiling. „What?”

„You’ll see, baby! You’ll see!” DooSan teased her. Then, he entered again the bathroom, slowly closing the door while smiling at her.

„Wha, this one is learning fast! Faster than I can learn how things are done. What is he planning this time?! Nothing good for sure. That’s why, Ian SolHi, wolf this meat down as fast as possible and gather strength: for sure you’ll be forced to teach someone some manners this night,” SolHi murmured with her mouth full because the meat was really tasty and DooSan resulted being a very good cook.

***

Slowly advancing on an empty, narrow, and badly illuminated street, SolHi seemed really immersed in thoughts, for even if DooSan practically took her by force out of the apartment to have a walk late at night and to stretch, it didn’t animate her eventually.

But… yet, she didn’t oppose eventually the idea of having that late walk, for she was understanding that DooSan was doing that for her, for not wanting to leave her fell prey to depression, as it happened before, and this was for sure his way of showing her that he cares about her, even if it was a weird way for someone to reveal his feelings.

„What are you thinking of so deep?” DooSan asked her while he was to her right, slowly stepping in the rhythm of her steps.

„Nothing concrete. Just … I think that this life is so weird.”

„Weird? It which way?”

SolHi smiled: „in every single and possible way. Let’s talk about us, for example: not far ago we were the perfect personation of the cat and of the dog, hating each other. But now… we even want to seem nice in front of the other and to show our support when we feel that life knocks us down.”

„Let’s just say that now things have changed. Especially, the rules of the game.”

„The rules? What do you mean?”

„Just… thoughts,” DooSan said drily, for he wasn’t to tell her that his heart was beating now for her only and that during those two days when he saw her sleeping only and doing nothing else, he felt that he loses his mind, not knowing how to help her.

He remembered thus the night when SolHi had a crisis when they cooked meat on a grill. But even if he wasn’t aware that she had a crisis while being in the bathroom, he still considered that he owed her to prepare one more grill for feeling guilty for the fact that he had eaten all the meat then. He wasn’t even aware of why she acted like that when his only intention has been to tease her. But even so, she acted weird because after exiting the bathroom, she lay on the sofa and covered herself with the blanket completely as if she refused to see him, and this made him feel really bad for what he thought had been an innocent joke only, turned out to be something twarting for her.

But DooSan has decided eventually not to talk about that and murmured: „SolHi, may I ask you something?”

„Mmm, say it!”

„Why did you go to see Min SinJu then?”

„Min SinJu? When? After Dja Iun’s death?”

„No. The night we came to the town to incinerate your mother’s body. Don’t think that I don’t know where have you been for an hour.”

„Did you follow me then?”

„Mmm. I followed you, for… I don’t know why, but I was afraid of leaving you alone there.”

„Was it because you were afraid that I’ll die and that won’t be anybody to pay your debt then?” SolHi teased him, smiling.

„SolHi!” he said reproachfully. „You know very well that it's not because of that I…”

„Yes, I know! I know! And… I thank you for your concern, DooSan. I really thank you for this, for… I really think that there aren’t that many friends I have left on this planet.”

„Well, good that you still have that kind of friends left that follow you everywhere like a puppy, begging for your love,” DooSan mumbled, remembering the „romantic” scene SolHi and Yu Min had on the beach. „Nothing, nothing!” he said abashed, seeing SolHi watching him insistently and being afraid that she heard what he said, for the last thing he wanted at that moment was to fight with her.

But SolHi didn’t hear what DooSan mumbled, for his question brought her meeting with SinJu from a few days ago to her mind and which seemed to have affected her worse than she had thought.

She entered that night the club without being afraid of the bodyguards that tried to stop her. But yet, none of the bodyguards dared to touch her and this happened because they saw her mourning clothes and her beast eyes which were details that impose one feel some respect for the other person because even the bad guys feel respect: at least sometimes for those who wear black clothes used for the funeral.

It was close to closing time when SolHi entered the club and because of this, there were few clients only inside. Yet, they stood up and quickly moved aside when SolHi grabbed a whisky bottle from one of the tables, that was still full, which she later threw with all her force against Min SinJu who showed up from inside of one of the booths, followed by one of the girls that were working for him, a hint that he just had had some pleasure with her.

Namely this drove SolHi crazy: that he still had time for enjoying life after he made her suffer, for even if they eventually managed to find out, talking to the locals, that Min SinJu’s men didn’t find SinHa that night, SolHi was still sure that her mother had a fright because of them and because of this she went to the beach and this led to her death, drown in the water. So, the power she used for throwing that bottle was from the huge, increasing hatred that she felt for that man who turned out to be even more devilish than she had initially thought when they were investigating Lee Ha Ni’s case, in which he had also been involved.

Hitting the wall hard, the bottle shattered, and one of the chips thrown all over cut SinJu’s left cheek, but without injuring him badly.

SinJu’s men tried to treat SolHi with a high hand and to throw her out by force while she was standing right in the middle of the club, squeezing her fists and staring with hatred at the man in front of her.

SinJu instead motioned his people not to touch her. After that, his bodyguards, at SinJu’s command, chased the clients out of the club. But even without that command, the clients intended to go out of there, for the woman that was practically savage and who seemed to have lost completely her mind, could unpredictably act and if she had lost her control, that situation could have turned out really bad.

„Detective Ian, I know you are crossing an awful period of time. But yet…,” SinJu dared to falter out while taking a few steps toward her.

„Dog!” SolHi hissed through her teeth. „I knew you were greedy for power, crazy, a real bastard, but to get even with a person that was out of reality… I didn’t ever think that you’ll fall that down.”

„I don’t know what you’re talking about because…”

„Stop pretending, Min SinJu: we both know very well that what I’m saying isn’t something crazy, and that you sent your gorillas to my hometown that night. My question and my confusion is still this one: what did you look to get with this show? To kill my mother or just to take her as a hostage and to force me to listen to your orders?”

„As I said: I have no idea what you’re talking about. But… if to talk cold turkey - do you think that I wouldn't have managed that? To make you submissive?”

„Yes. And do you know why? Because neither I allow someone to trample me under feet nor I’ll serve to the devil.”

„Even if at stake was your mother’s life?”

„Mmm, because … I’m not like all those who are hovering around you and bow their heads when you are passing by or shaking their tails with pleasure when you throw them a bone. If you had touched my mother, you wouldn’t have been alive right now, but broken into pieces by me.”

SinJu smiled, hiding this way the amazement caused by the woman’s courage while she was staring at him, an act of courage he didn’t expect to see in her. „I’m not even surprised, to be honest,” he said, getting in front of her and both staring into the other’s eyes. „You’ve killed once. I don’t think it’ll be hard for you to do this once again.”

„I like how you talk: as a true connoisseur, for you have also killed before, and your eyes tell me this.”

„It means you are a good connoisseur of people.”

„No, I’m not, for I’ve been always betrayed by the people I had trusted, no matter if I paid them with kindness. But… I’m a real connoisseur of the criminals, and you are their king. This I can tell you for sure.”

„Shall I be flattered by this comparison?”

„Yes, for as all the mad kings fell, you’ll fall, too… by my hand, for I’ll hunt you worse than a mad dog and I’ll make you pay for my mother’s death, for Dja Iun’s death, and for the fact that Han DooSan was about to die, because of you.”

„Detective Ian, I think you're messing with your own statements already.”

„Me? Really?”

„Yeah, you because you said not long ago that if your mother had suffered because of me, you would have broken me into pieces. And… you just accused me of her death, but I’m still a whole. Why?” and his eyes, reflecting a controlled hatred, were staring at her, trying to provoke her, to make her lose her control, and to have one more reason to hurt her. But this only made SolHi control herself even more, for his glance was telling her about a hidden fear, but that one wasn’t her fear, but his… he was afraid of not being dethroned, forgotten, and… trample under feet.

„Because I’m not only my mother’s daughter, but I’m a detective, too, and I must accept that her death happened because of a stupid accident. But… you had a lot to do in this, to that accident happen, and only because of this I’ll kill you slowly, I’ll hunt you step by step till you’ll feel yourself lost, till you’ll feel yourself be driven to the wall, that each bone and each piece of flesh is shaking inside you, and I won’t stop even if I hear you begging for mercy, with your own mouth.”

„And… is this everything you want, detective?” SinJu said with irony and feigned self-control.

„No, but… nor I’m that stupid to reveal all the trump cards I have. In, the end, this is a gambling game, Min SinJu. So, the tramp card is only shown at the end of the game when you are sure of your win, and I’m sure that I’ll win and that I have nothing else to fear while you took from me the only person who I was takin in with her. So: keep in mind what I told you and… stay tuned.”

She turned her back on him, intending to leave. But she stopped, hearing him hissing through his teeth and she felt a kind of increasing hatred for her, just as she was feeling for him: „you are wrong when you say that you have nothing to lose, Ian SolHi! Maybe you don’t have a mother anymore that others can hurt her just to hurt you. But there’s still your heart I can hurt, I can take it out of your chest, and trample under my feet, as I wish, just to see you on your knees in front of me, begging for mercy, and the name of that heart is Han DooSan.”

„Do as you wish!” SolHi told him without looking at him. „Just remember: if something happens to Han DooSan, you’ll find out who I really am and what I can do, and about your sick desire to make me submissive - keep it, because it’ll be forever an impossible dream, Min SinJu! A simple dream!” and she left, at a sure step, heading toward the exit, with her head up and with one single thought in her mind - to find the way to kick up dust that beetle and so that the world can get rid of him.

„SolHi?!” DooSan called her name.

SolHi winced, hearing his voice, and watched him with a lost glance, right in his eyes. After that, she smiled, trying to chase the pressure between them away, but she was just trying to recover after what she lived while remembering SinJu.

„Don’t go, Han DooSan! Please, never go! Stay always by my side and I promise that I’ll always protect you,” she eventually said.

What she said amazed him a lot, and confused him at the same time, for even if he knew that something really dangerous could have happened after that talk she had with Min SinJu, he also felt that she didn’t say those words only to say them and that she got to be for him more than a simple object of veneration while he got to be for her someone SolHi wanted to protect, and if SolHi promised something, she was never forgetting about this and she was also never giving up.

„The one who doesn't have to leave ever should be you, SolHi. What's related to the protection: we should do it together, to watch the other’s back and… to survive! No matter the costs!” he told himself while watching her.

After that, DooSan finally dared to hold her hand, squeeze it with love while both of them moved further, one by the other one’s side, and really seemed to be partners for a future that was so quickly approaching them and each of them was also ready to fight till the end on each of those front lines, seen at the horizon: the one of the love and the one of the avenge.