ARCANUM

CHAPTER 15

JANNIE KIM POV

"Ruby, have you seen Peter again?" she asked directly without further ado.

"Already. I met him again last night at the club, and we got an invitation from Valdo Bykov. I called Rosie for details on where the event was being held. It's probably where he lives, I don't know yet. I will keep an eye on the situation there in three days," I replied, giving her a little report. I am not sure if I need to report to her as she never asked me to do it. But that's what I do. I feel she needs to know.

"Hmm... Okay. How did he respond?" she asked, which made my brows furrow. I didn't expect that her response to the information I gave was even about Manoban.

"Umm... He was also invited, and, of course, we showed our interest as necessary," I answered hesitantly in confusion.

"Not that. I mean, how his respond with us sending you to be his partner," Jisoo clarified her question, and I remained confused. Why does she seem to care more about Manoban than our mission?

"Of course, it's as you and Irene expect, Rattle. He refused and insisted me to go back. We even fought last night after we got home from the club," I replied and Rattle remained silent.

"Did he do something?" she asked, and my eyebrows rose. Where is this conversation going, and what does she want to know?

"No, he didn't do anything. After we fought, I kicked him out, and he went back to his apartment. What is going on?" I asked. Rattle's long breath was audible.

"Why did you throw him out?" she asked innocently and purely out of curiosity.

"Because he said something I didn't like,"

"He offended you? Hurt your feeling?"

"Well, yeah. He offended me, but this has nothing to do with my feeling. What is going on? Why are you asking this strange question?" I answered with my eyebrows met. I furrowed my brows because I didn't understand the meaning of Rattle's question. Once again, her long breath was audible.

"Look, Jen. I expect he did something that might hurt you. That's what he did when he didn't manage to get us to withdraw his partner. He would make the partner back off. He's already done this to an agent that we sent to replace Bambam. And after that, we immediately withdrew the next partner he turned down before he hurt the agent. I'm sorry for not warning you beforehand. But deep inside me, I'm sure he will step back and accept you as his partner. Did he come out of his apartment last night, Jen?" she asked again. I understand now what Manoban was trying to do last night. I'm flattered because Jisoo believes I can overcome Manoban. But I still don't get the point.

"Probably about an hour after he returned to his apartment, he came out. I heard the door. And this morning, he also came out again. How do you know that he left his apartment last night?" I asked because no matter how good Rattle was, there was no way she would know. Could she be lurking through this apartment's CCTV?