Mr. Joongcheveevat & I

Chapter 9

Upon waking up, my brain replayed the last few scenes of my day. After returning home, the only thing I did was submerge myself in a hot shower, ate lunch and then sleep. Lately, I have been practising a lot of unhealthy practices and it all seem to have started with sharing a ride together with Mew that fateful evening.

I glanced at the alarm clock on the table. It was six in the evening. I took my lazy legs down to the kitchen and realized the house was still empty. My mother must be at her night duty perhaps and Anna, she might have went out with her friends. And my dad, as usual didn't return home so I was left with kitchen duty.

I spend a few hours trying my best to cook what could be defined 'delicious' when my father finally came home. He looked weary and tired but his eyes sparkled differently.

"You look happy" I pointed out at him and in response he vaguely smiled at me and walked into his room. It was weird because he didn't speak a word. I wondered whether his job was taking a toll on him.

For a few more minutes, I spend my time trying to season my seafood recipe and also to make sure it was nutritious while my father entered his working room after a shower. There was something strange about him.

Alone, I stared longingly at our sitting room windows, our 50 plasma TV reflecting in the glass.The 8 O'clock news was playing while I sat there hoping to catch up some sports news when the red-haired woman anchor reported:

"A report of a suspicious vehicle has led to the arrest of a 28 year old man, Frederick Diggory earlier this evening on felony drug charges. The accused is alleged to be related to the recent crimes in NewTroney City for the past three months. "

Having just heard that, I turned from the window to the TV.

"Law enforcement authorities of NPD are of the opinion that the accused is a member of the infamous NewTronian Wolf Pack Gang Or NWPG whose group has been on the run ever since the Ministry of Home affairs blacklisted the group three years ago on account of drug peddling and suspected murders."

Every thing I heard hammered my heart in my chest. This was all strange, terrifying but familiar. The scenes of Mew and dad warning me about the 'dangerous streets' flashed onto my memory and realising it was all real, fear mounted on me.

Without wasting a moment, I quickly dashed into my father's working room who, as expected was sitting on a wooden chair with piles of files on his table.

"Dad?" I joined him taking a look around his room.  He raised his eyebrows confusingly at me because it was the first time I have entered his working space.

The room was windowless, dark and on the walls of the room, various maps and pictures of various persons were pasted, leaving no room for even a little light to enter. Somehow, it felt like a crime interrogation room.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, this time a little more concerned than I ever had about my father's work. Moreover, the news on the TV was disturbing and it included threat to my father's well-being as well.

" What brings you here, Gulf?" He asked slowly.

"I just came across the news on the TV. It appears to be more serious than I thought"  I said joining him on his table and stared down at those files lying open on the table.

And as I skimmed at those pictures pinned on the wall, an image of a man caught my eyes.  It was the young man  with jet-black hairs and long bangs who deliberately came and hit on my table  the other day I was in the cafeteria with Mew. Curious, I grabbed the picture from the wall and brought it to my father, "Who is he?" I asked reading the name in the caption: Hunter