As I have nothing to give you, I give you my heart (IU Verse Book#1)

Chapter 39

  Three months later....

     "We got another one!" Jihyuk looked up from the files that he was reading to find one of his fellow colleagues walking in his direction, waving a folder in the air. He stopped in front of the desk and greeted Jihyuk with a good morning before handing him the files. His colleague, Mingyu, sat at the edge of the desk and watched as Jihyuk looked through the files. "29-year-old woman. Found early this morning floating in the Han River. The back of her head was completely bashed and the murder weapon was literally floating next to her. A hammer." Jihyuk nodded as he pushed his glasses up his nose and placed the new files next to the ones he was reading earlier.

     "Same M.O. Same choice of weapon." He said more to himself than to his colleague. Mingyu shook his head at the gruesomeness of it all. "He's been at it for weeks. Leaving no trace but the body and the weapon. Four bodies ended up in different places, yet the same mo, same method of killing." Jihyuk nodded alongside his words as he continued reading the files. "The victims also have one thing in common. They're all women and they're in their 20s. Dark-haired. Fair skin." He stated. A shiver ran down his spine as he realized that he knew another person who fits that description. The woman that he loved. 

      He shook the thought away. He turned to Mingyu. "Any witnesses?" Mingyu shook his head. "The autopsy report isn't out yet. We'll have to wait and see." Jihyuk nodded and began to make his own report on his laptop. Mingyu watched as his fingers roamed rapidly around the keys lazily but with rhythm. It brought him back to the time when Jihyuk was back to work after taking care of his mother's funeral and will. He almost couldn't recognize his colleague at the time. His eyes were bloodshot, his face haggard although it was clean-shaven. His pale face had a shadow hovering above it, and although he had greeted Mingyu with a smile, it was solemn and distant. His eyes, above all, were the most distant.

      Jihyuk had divulged into work nonstop since that day, and after Lee Jieun's case was officially closed, he requested for more cases and piled himself with work. Mingyu was beginning to worry about his well-being, but he chose not to say anything because he knew that this was the only way his friend could cope with his mother's death.

      By the time Jihyuk decided to take a break, it was already late evening. He had missed lunch but fortunately, his colleagues bought takeout for him as they knew that he liked to bury himself with work to the point that he forgot to eat. He had been doing the same thing for two months now, coming to work early in the morning and going home late. There was no point going home early, anyways. There was no one to go home to.

     It had taken him about three weeks to finalize everything in his mother's will with her lawyer. All of her assets are passed down to him; her condo, her cars, every single penny that she owned. After spending time with her lawyer he realized that he never truly got to know his mother's life after they reunited. He knew that she worked in a company, but he never knew what company it was or what her position was. He came to know that she was the co-founder of her company. The other founder, A woman about her mother's age, had come to him during the funeral and told him that they were colleagues and friends, but he didn't know that she was his mother's business partner. She had offered him his mother's position as co-founder, to which he politely refused and told her that she should have the company to herself because it was her blood, sweat, and tears that made the company come to life and not his. 

     He realized that he didn't have enough time to spend with his mother. He didn't get to know her enough. He didn't get to love her enough. He would find himself in his mother's condo most evenings whenever he missed her. He didn't move there. He would return to Jieun's apartment at night and sleep in her bed.