Clear and Present Danger

The Lion's Lair

'I think there is something wrong, Hyo Jin,' I told her about my apprehensions. She looked at me intently.

'What do you mean?' she asked. I sipped the cup of hot honeyed, ginger tea while we were at the cafe. I wanted to clear my mind from everything that bothered me.

I took a deep breath before I answered her. 'I don't think Im Chul Woo did what he told us yesterday. It seems to me it's the easy way out of all this mess.' I paused to think more of what was on my mind. He is desperate, he wanted to go back to his country but he knows he can't. 

'He would somehow want to die to end all of his suffering, after all, he had a terminal illness to begin with,' Hyo Jin noted. She had read the profile sent by Jae Hwang to us. 'Where is SJ, by the way?'

I remembered where he was, as I was completely immersed in looking through the loophole of what Chul Woo said. 'Oh, he is seeing Chul Woo right now. He didn't tell me where, but he said he would meet Jae Hwang first before going there,' I replied. But then something inside me was telling me something. A hunch, or premonition. I felt heavy, I felt uneasy.

Hyo Jin's face changed. I noticed it and so I asked her. 'What's wrong?'

'About that,' she said, as she pulled out her phone and played something. My eyes widened and I decided to phone SJ right away. His phone rang twice and he answered it.

'Hun, where are you?' I asked him straight ahead. But then he only mentioned my name, and then his line went off. Not after hearing a sound of a clash from the other end. I felt my soul leave my body momentarily, and my thoughts immediately wondered where he would be.

Damn, SJ! Why didn't you tell me where you were going? Eventhough I told you I would not come with you, you should have said something!

I was shaking as the thoughts came running through my mind. Hyo Jin noticed me and she comforted me. 

'I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away, but then I knew this just last night,' she said. I looked at her, and I actually couldn't blame her. My tears fell down and I knew then that something terrible happened to my husband.

'I'm sorry, I didn't figure something would happen this fast, Yeon Hong,' she said. 'But I have a plan already.'

I looked at her. Plan? What plan?

'Hyo Jin, are you a part of this?' I asked. It was her eyes that widened this time. 

She looked at me in disbelief. 'What? Are you really thinking I am like that bastard Jae Hwang?' She asked, and then it dawned on me that she has been my confidante, even before SJ came into my life.

'Look, I don't like what you are thinking, but I want to help you. Come now,' she said, pulling me by the arm. 'We're driving to my home and we will talk there.'

'Why not here?' I asked as I pulled off from her. 'Why are you taking me home?'

'Because this is the plan that I have agreed to do with him,' she said. She took a deep breath and continued. 'I agreed to a plan with him, yes. But my loyalty is yours. You may or you may not believe me, but I will never forget that who I am now is greatly because of you.'

I was taken back to the time I knew her. I walked to my father's chamber in the cemetery when I heard someone crying. I got scared, but then I wanted to know what happened. Picking up a piece of stone, I carried it with me just in case it was something that would do me harm. But when I finally came face to face with the voice of the one who was crying, I saw that she was beaten by someone whom she said was close to her. Her former husband.

'What are you doing here?' I remember asking her. She was shaking, and wasn't able to say anything. I knew that I had to do something, so I asked her to come with me. Even though I was scared about what she might do, I still helped her.