𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝑰𝒔 𝑶𝒖𝒓𝒔 ✓

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

STARING at the police officer, who sat across from her, with motionless, heartbroken eyes, she sighed heavily in an attempt to shake the terrible feeling away.

"When did you last see your husband?" His voice echoed through her mind.

"The morning he went missing," she replied. "He told me that he was going to the entertainment company to practice with the group and then he would go visit his parents."

"And?" He sent her a sharp glance, then at the lie detector that was attached to her palm to check any signs of lies.

However, the lie detector remained silent, declaring that she was telling the truth.

"Tell us about your husband's relationship with his parents."

She thought for a moment, gulping lightly at the mention of her in-laws.

"Not great at all," she replied truthfully, biting her lower lip, "they're very abusive. They hit him all the time and call him names."

The officer that sat on the other end of the table clicked his pen and scribbled something down in his notebook.

"Names like what?"

She tore her gaze away from his, her heart beating uncomfortably in her chest.

"Like slut, whore, useless, worthless," she shifted her gaze uncomfortably to her surroundings.

A simple, nearly empty room with a long, wooden table and a few, white-colored chairs surrounding the table, along with a recorder, papers, and a lie detector.

"So why did he want to visit them after practice?"

She remembered her husband's soft voice as he told her the reason.

"He wanted them to attend the upcoming stage performance and watch him perform with his friends." She explained, her gaze turning sharper at the memory. "Maybe they would've been... Proud of him, as he thought. As horrible as they were, they were still his parents and he needed their support."

She mentally shook her head in dismay.

"And did you approve of that?"

"Not really," she replied again, "but I supported his decisions. Whatever they were. Besides, it wasn't up to me to fix their relationship."

He nodded to himself, mentally agreeing with the girl.

"So what happened that day?"

She recalled her memories by shutting her eyes and looking away, swallowing her saliva in the process.

"I said goodbye to him and we parted ways. I have a role in this upcoming movie and I went to the location, and throughout the day he would send me messages or call me to tell me how he did," she sighed heavily again, "and when I went back home at around ten o'clock, he wasn't there. So I tried calling him."

Her voice cracked as she remembered the situation.

"When he didn't answer, I called my best friend, Changbin, who's also one of his best friends and a member of the group, and he said they didn't see him since he left the studio. They all didn't, they had to go back to the dorms after all. And that's when I decided to call his parents."

Rage and frustration filled her veins and her hands twitched, her gaze growing darker and darker.

"And they told me that they didn't care where he was, as long as he stayed away from them. They didn't care about attending the performance as he wanted, because he will always be a loser and a slut in their eyes."

At that, she broke down into tears.

The detective's mouth turned into a straight line as he realized that the lie detector hasn't beeped once.

She was telling the truth- a painful one at that.

"And they just broke the news to my face that he had left over an hour ago." She deadpanned, her voice trembling and shaking. "So I thought... Maybe he went for a walk or maybe he was crying somewhere. I tried to call him again, but he didn't pick up. I sent him over fifty messages and he didn't answer."

She closed her eyes and inhaled, trying to stop herself from crying further.

"I thought that maybe he needed some time alone, so I went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, he still wasn't there."

The detective bit his lower lip and turned away from the girl's shaking frame, the question that circled through his mind already forming on the tip of his tongue.

"Have you ever thought that maybe he... Killed himself?"

The question caught her by surprise.

"N-No!" She replied, her voice cracking once again. " God, I hope not! He knows that I'm here for him and he loves me too much to just leave like that."

The detective nodded with pursed lips, glancing over at the other officer to make sure he was writing the statements.

He was.

"Besides... If he killed himself, his body would turn up, wouldn't it? It has been over a week and your respected officers haven't found his corpse, so I guess not."

Good point, he thought, mentally rolling his eyes.

"Did you, at any point, think that his parents might have something to do with his disappearance?"

She bit the insides of her cheeks while thinking, eventually shaking her head in disagreement.

"I know that they would do anything for Hyunjin to stay out of their way, but that doesn't include hiding him somewhere if that's what you mean."

Knowing that she was telling the truth once again, he shook his head and motioned for another officer, who was standing just outside the door.

"Lee Sun, please bring in Hwang Hyunjin's parents for questioning."

Mal shrugged and slowly took her hand out of the lie detector.

"Can I please go now?"

The detective nodded, a concerned gaze focused on the girl's tearful eyes.

"Do you need someone to escort you back to your house?"

After absorbing the question, she finally shook her head.

"No, thank you," she replied, "my chauffeur is waiting for me outside."

He nodded his head before shifting his focus to the officer that sat at the other end of the table, stretching his hand out to take the yellow notebook from his grip.

"And sir," they both bolted up at her voice, clearly surprised that she was still in the room, "please tell me if you figure out anything."

They both nodded, their gazes following her attractive figure leaving the room, her high heels clinking on the ceramic floor.

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