Eun-ha's POV present time-line
“Calm down ma’am he’ll be fine their on their way, the ambulance” Just then the sound of another siren overlapping the current one came to my notice. They came upstairs before I signaled them to the location even when the people from the ambulance were already being guided by the police. And Tae-Hyung was carried by them to the ambulance van.
I volunteered to go with him in the van even though they asked to give them a statement first. After a while, pleading them to let me accompany him, they finally approved as I rushed into the van while the policewoman followed me. My pathetic frightened self, Unable to recall what happened gave sleeping Tae-Hyung a completely helpless look, feeling sorry for the situation.
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Tae-Hyung was taken to a normal ward as he didn’t have any internal injuries besides the ones already visible. The nurse informed me about his injuries and the reason for his unconsciousness. She said his bleeding on the head cause a little loss of blood also his blood was found low in the amount of glucose, the number of white blood cells was high and no other critical injuries. She assured me about his recovery and asked me to fill out the form as I volunteered to be his guardian to pay the bills. She gave me a bunch of papers to sign after. The policewoman who accompanied me insisted on answering her questions as I kept delaying her because of my payment process.
During the time I tried to call Jin a several times but all I heard was the prerecorded voice of the women saying “The number you have dialed is currently not reachable, please try again later” Frustrated me punched the table in front of me, causing the loud noise of it being shifted a bit. The billing form slipped from the table. People around me, giving me the glare, the nurse addressed me to stay quiet.
I briefly bent down to pluck the paper and jolted back up, pretending to go back to filling the form.
The policewoman turned to me again and gritted as she spat “Are you done now?” she noticed me dreaming in my space, my hand supporting my chin with a worried expression on my face, deeply sunk into thought. With her ‘done’ look she spat even louder than before.
“Are you done, ma’am?” I snapped and faced her, nodding my head, gesturing her towards the seats.
Sigh
“Okay, before I begin, I would like to inform you about our side of the story so that you can recall things” I stared at her blankly as she continued after giving me a look.
“So we were reported by the garbage collector of that place reported 3 bodies, the obvious fact is that he didn’t really check whether you two-”
“Wait a minute, did you just said three” I gasped as I continued “Who was the third one?”
“I-I’m not sure ma’am since the face of the body was already crushed and the person seems to be dead due to excessive blood loss. We found a weird giant broken machine and pieces of glass near the area where he was found. We also know about the fact that there was an earthquake that might’ve caused this alone. But just in case we want to know more since it could be a case of well-planned murder, also we need an explanation as of why three people could be gathered together at such an isolated place, it could be for illegal reasons” She continued with a devoid expression.
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After taking my details like full name, phone number, address, and id number, she verified them all through some app on her cell phone as she continued with the real set of questions she had prepared for me.
“So do you remember why did you come to that place or anything? Cause it’s a placed out of nowhere, its completed an isolated place beside a landfill hence I was just curious about why a civilian will go there unless they’re the owners” she frowned while gazing at me holding her pen against her spiral pad ready to take notes.
“Like I said earlier, ma’am, I really don’t remember anything-”
“Were you drunk last night? Were you-”
“Absolutely no ma’am, I didn’t even have a drop of liquor- you can test my blood right now right here” I explained raising my voice a bit, trying not to lose my calm.
“Okay fine then let’s go”
“N-Now-”
“Yes,” she grabbed my wrist firm and was headed towards the testing lab.
After the testing was done, the policewoman requested the doctor to speed up the results by addressing it as a part of her investigation. Meanwhile, she continued with the question-answer session. Looking at her spiral pad again she uttered.
“Looking at you all teary at the site of that boy- you obviously know him- explain your relation with him”
“We are very good friends, His brother Jin is my boyfriend- I’m sorry, was” my voice lowered as I completed my statement.
“We good friends and have known each other for quite a while now. Has it been 5 years? I think its five years”
She noted down something on her spiral pad following my speed of speaking perfectly.
“Okay- so you broke up with Jin?”
“No comment”
“Understandable- I think we have to know the reason, why you can’t remember anything before proceeding with my questions” she gestured in the direction of the nurse who was approaching us with a file in her hands.
“The report is ready Ms. Officer” she handed the file to her while she continued.
“No amount of alcohol was found ma’am” she bowed before exiting. The woman in police attire seated in front of me flipped the pages of the file skimmed over a few words and lifted her head, setting the file aside. She again noted something in her spiral pad.
“Ma’am I think you should get a checkup yourself since you might have any internal injuries since you don’t remember anything and no signs of you lying-” She tilted her head as she scanned my face “So I think the former might be the case”
Ouch, she’s so direct. Even though I wasn’t lying this does hurt a bit.
“No ma’am, don’t need it,” I said with a straight face even though I did felt sick when I woke up. But since, I was doing fine I didn’t need it, also I didn’t have any money on me either. I was basically broke. I can’t possibly tell her that. I pursed my lips while she looked away.
She sighed “I guess I have to ask the young man Tae-Hyung, hope he has his memories still intact” she scoffed, or did I heard her wrong? I didn’t lose my memories willfully it just happens to be that I don’t remember anything. I thought the policeman was out of questions but that doesn’t seem the case when she snapped with another one.
“Where do you last remember yourself or anything you were doing?” her gesture seemed like her hands were shifting air.
“I last remember myself having a latte with my ex-boyfriend Jin in the xxx cafe”
“Oh it seems this one is near your house”
“Yes-”
“But the place you were last found is at least 500km far” she stated.
I gasped internally didn’t know how to react, maintained a blank face.
“Can you hand me the number of your ex-boyfriend, I must confirm the facts”
“Sure” I send Jin’s number to her. She called at the number as soon as she received the number. A faint voice of a woman audible through her phone, it’s the same happened to me.
I understand if he doesn’t wanna pick mine or might as well have blocked me but Jin’s not answering anyone’s call! Why?
This made me worried. The woman put her cell down as she informed “He’s not picking up, is this, the right number?”
“Of course ma’am”
She doubts a lot for even for a prosecutor I pouted.
And my question-answer session ended for the day and she left while informing me that she or the police station may contact me so to make sure I pick up my calls, unlike my ex-boyfriend, Until the end she kept me taunting.
I later called Jung-kook to take care of him at night as I decided to leave in the evening. I informed Jung-kook about what happened and whatever I remembered, also requested him to contact Jin since he won’t pick up my calls, I also stated him the reason why since Jung-kook just won’t give it a rest. I couldn’t meet him because of my guilt. I broke up with his dear brother after all. All three of us were pretty good friends. But this thing could affect our relationship.
I just hope we can go back to normal.
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The next morning when I woke up on my messy bed, glanced at the clock on the wall, it was 9 am already. But it was Saturday, no classes for today.
Although the morning seemed cheerful, the feeling of uneasiness just won’t leave me for some reason. I got all freshen up and decided to invite Julia to be my roommate as I felt lonely also was frightened by all the overwhelming incidents around me. I plucked my phone from the dresser and plopped into my bed.
I saw 13 missed calls from Jung-kook and a call from an unknown number at 8 am! What could have possibly happened? I swiped my fingers across the screen to call him. The bell rang for a second before Jung-kook picked up the call.
“Hello Jung-kook what hap-”
“Eun-Ha Jin is missing for 2 days, they are asking for you, Hurry and go to Y city police station”