Neon Street: Red Herring

🎭15: A Connection

Seeing Ace leaving the building, Triche immediately followed him to the street. Colin had no choice but to follow Triche as well. She might do something that would put her in danger, and that's the last thing he wants. "Triche, leave him be," Colin quietly shouted.

Triche faced him and put her index finger in front of her lips, shushing him. "He might be up to something." She looked at Ace again and narrowed her eyes. "He's more stressed about the news than anybody else. That means something."

Colin bit his lower lip, looking around them. It was nighttime in the dark alleys of Neon Street. Why did this place have to be so shady? He thought, realizing that they were in the darkest part of the area.

Both jolted in surprise when Ace began kicking the trash bin furiously. Colin quickly pulled Triche close to the wall to hide her properly. "What the heck is he doing?" She quietly whispered.

"Triche, I really think we should go. He might see us, and who knows what he'll do?" Triche quickly slapped his arm as a gesture to make him stop.

"Since when were you a scaredy-cat? You used to be the bravest one among us," Triche said while focusing on Ace, who was throwing a fit. "I know Kane didn't kill herself. They're covering it up, and I'll make sure to reveal every single thing about this."

Ace shouted and sat on the ground, crying his eyes out. "Fuck. Fuck them all!" He screams as he grabs his hair. "Suicide? She wasn't even pressured one bit!"

Triche quickly looks at Colin. "How does he know that?" Colin shrugs, holding onto Triche's arm tightly. 

"I knew I couldn't trust them. They're not going to do anything even if they knew!" Ace stands up and picks up a rock. "Kane didn't deserve this shit!" He threw it at a shop's door, breaking the glass into pieces.  

"Triche, leave him. We have to go." Colin pulled Triche away from the scene and took her back to Chantelle Manor. Triche struggled to escape from his grip, but Colin's fear and worry prevailed.

"What is wrong with you?! If you don't want to do this, then go back on your own!" Triche hit his arm with her elbow, making Colin let go. 

"That's enough playing detective, Triche! We're done doing that! This is serious. It's not like the ones we used to do. Can you just listen to me?"

"I'm not doing this to bring back the old times! Clearly, Ace knows something, and we can't ignore that. I'm doing this for Kane. She was our friend, and her death got treated like shit. You, of all people, should understand why I'm acting like this." Triche was about to return to the alley when, suddenly, a man stood on her way with his arms shoved inside his pockets. Triche lifted her head and looked at him. "T-The detective?" 

"So, you were Kane Son's friends?" Lloyd asks, but Colin immediately pulls Triche away from him and runs. "Wait--" He clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Why didn't they say anything when I talked to them?"

Ace arrived from the alley and saw Lloyd on the street. Before Lloyd could speak to him, Ace put up his middle finger and went straight to the hotel. "Brats. Brats, all of them," Lloyd mutters to himself and continues walking.

Hours have passed since the news about Kane Son aired. Crickets were spoiling the peaceful night of others, while Triche took it as a sign that she mustn't sleep on the issue. She got up from bed, processing what she saw in the alley. "There's only one reason I can think of. Ace could be Kane's secret boyfriend. But I don't understand why she has to keep their relationship a secret. Ace is raging because she's gone, but why is he keeping his mouth shut about them until now? Why are you living such a complicated life, Kane? It's still complicated after your death."

Triche left her bedroom and quietly opened the door in the living room. The hallways are empty, and the lights are dim--a perfect atmosphere to go hunting for answers.

She quietly left her room, tiptoeing towards the opposite side where Kane's and also Ace's room are. For the fourth time, Ace's room wasn't properly closed again. She quietly peeked through the space and saw Ace bringing a box into the living room. What is it this time? Triche thought.

Ace emptied the box on the floor, revealing that it was full of photographs. There's more of them?! She exclaimed in her mind. Moving closer to the door, Triche accidentally bumped her arm onto it, causing it to creak. She immediately turned her back against the wall beside it when Ace looked in her direction.

Suddenly, the lights went out, adding the darkness in the hallway.

Without thinking again, Triche ran to the intersection. She hid behind the wall, located on the left part of the floor. She heard Ace closing the door, and he did it again after it bumped into the door strike. He did it once more and realized the problem. Shit. He knows about it now. 

Clicking his tongue, Ace leaves his room to get someone who could fix his door. He couldn't ask for a personnel's assistance with the service button because of another power outage. 

Despite the situation, Triche took the chance to sneak into his room. "Pictures, pictures, pictures..." she mumbles as she goes for the pictures on the floor. The room is too dark to scan everything before Ace comes back, so Triche grabbed a thick stack and proceeded to scatter the rest. That way, Ace wouldn't know she took a few of them with her.

After making sure it won't look suspicious, she left his room and returned to hers in a hurry, locking the door. "He keeps making himself look suspicious with these photos. Is he really a photographer like what Colin thought?"

She laid the pictures on the table and used her phone's flashlight to see them. "Oh...my god." Triche's eyes grow wide, seeing Kane in every picture. "This is so fucking creepy. Did he put her on surveillance?"

Leaning in, she looked at the pictures one by one. "Wait. Isn't this in high school?" She grabbed the picture where Kane was eating cup noodles in a convenience store in her uniform. "How does Ace have this?"

Triche continued scanning every picture until,

"Fucking hell?" There was a picture where Kane was having dinner with a guy in a restaurant. It looked very recent, judging from her clothes. What surprised Triche more was the guy she was eating with was Geo Jung. 

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One clue leading to another🙈 The hunt starts for real and I can't be more excited to show you guys the rest of it🤧 I hope you liked the chapter! Thanks for stopping by💖