Bond Made in Hell || A TAEJIN STORY || Arranged Marriage

43

Ooooh, what's this? A super-long double update? Yes, you're right, it is😌

Author's P.O.V

'Sir, I'm telling you....'

Detective Haruto looked with barely masked irritation at the shaking, white-faced man sitting in front of him. 'You've been repeating that for the last two hours, tell me, when will you find the voice or the words to proceed?'

'I'm sorry, Sir, I really am,' the man mumbles, raising a hand and wiping the sweat off his clammy forehead. 'I'm just a harmless car mechanic, Sir, that's all I am...it's just that I was so scared...so terribly scared...'

'Okay. Let's get this done over with, once and for all.' Haruto's voice is gentle but firm as he reaches forwards and puts his hands over the other man's twitching pale ones. 'What's your name, now? Asahi, isn't it? Well, why don't you start over from the beginning, Asahi, and we'll see if we can figure something out together? The two of us?'

'Okay, okay....' Asahi inhales shakily, taking a deep, long breath, then lets it out all at once. 'Okay, I'll start. From the top. Right?'

'Well, we can start from the middle, go to the end and then finally to the beginning,' Haruto offered. 'That's what lots of people do these days while telling stories...it's actually pretty popular.'

'Okay, so it was like this,' Asahi begins, shuddering slightly, 'just a few days ago I had an awfully mangled vehicle delivered to me for inspection, and to check if any possible repairs could be made to get it in working condition again. It was an SUV, pretty neat, but certainly in no condition for repair. Completely totaled. It had clearly been in an accident, a horrible one at that: was bruised and broken in from everywhere...sides smashed in, glass in fragments, airbags burst, windows non-existent and overall in an extremely bad state of affairs. Anyway, I promised the insurance people who brought it that I'd look over it and see if there was anything that could be done, even though there was slim chance of it. So, yesterday, I finished up with my previous engagements and thought about getting started on that particular vehicle, and I decided to go over the inside and outside thoroughly once more, you know, see if there was something I could salvage. And....and....,' he breaks off, his voice quivering, his face pale and sweaty once more. 'And...I found...I found....'

Haruto squeezes his hands once more. 'Come on, Asahi. Make an effort. Tell me what you found. You can do it.'

'I found......' Asahi takes several deep breaths to calm himself, then reaches with trembling fingers into his right pocket and pulls out a transparent white polythene, full of a black-coloured, powdery substance. He places it on the desk in front of Haruto, who observes it with interest. 'I found...this. All over the front and back seats. It's curious, I hadn't noticed it before. Maybe because it was all crushed to powder. But if I'm right....', he paused, swallowing hard, before he continued, 'that's....those are pieces of shrapnel, aren't they?'

Haruto delicately picks up the polythene, turning it over in his gloved hand and inspecting it thoroughly. He frowns, pressing his lips together and shaking his head. 'It certainly looks like it. But it's not possible...no, it isn't possible....'

'What isn't possible? What happened? What isn't possible? Please, please tell me!' Asahi immediately becomes loudly agitated, but Haruto is already getting up and walking out the door of the investigation room, while Asahi fiddles with his fingers anxiously and watches him through the glass.

Haruto goes over to one of the seated, working detectives, bending down to whisper in his ear. 'Yoshi. We need to talk. We have a problem.'

Yoshi looks up, sees the serious look on Haruto's face and immediately gets to his feet, following him over to a secluded spot in the room.