Hate You, Love You. | Jenlisa

56

Everything I even knew was a lie.

Our relationship was built on a foundation of lies and I was too blinded by this stupid emotion called love that I didn't realize I was being player, strung along like a fucking guitar.

I should have been smarter, wiser. For God's sake, I'm in the race for valedictorian and yet I couldn't see what was right in front of me.

After our encounter with Krystal and the conversation I heard at the diner, I had my suspicions that he was keeping secrets from me. I just didn't know what it was. But now that I know the severity of it all, I've come to a realization:

I am stupid.

Plain. Fucking. Stupid.

"Kim Jongin has been under investigation for having affiliations with the mafia." Detective Seonho puts it bluntly. "Of course, we don't know the severity of his ties, but he's a prime suspect and we've been keeping a close eye on him."

He slips a picture in front of me and I look down at it in intrigue and disbelief. "What the actual hell?" I whisper.

Before me is a mugshot of Kai. It's definitely him because I could spot his overgrown hair from a mile away even though in the picture, he looks worse for wear.

"Last year, he was arrested on drug and weapon related charges. We tried to tie him down for good by linking him to the mafia, however we didn't have enough evidence. Thus, he was let go." Officer Bohyun explains.

"I need a minute." I say, dizzy from the information overload. Things are starting to make sense now. A lot of sense. When he was on the phone requesting for weapons to be delivered, it was all for his nefarious activities. And when he said he had a 'business trip abroad', I'm pretty sure that was a lie too.

He said he loved me. Was that another one of his lies?

"Miss Kim, did you not suspect anything while the two of you were together?" Officer Bohyun asks, his eyes trained on me again.

I'm about to mention the incident at the diner but I bridle my tongue. If my suspicions are correct, and Lisa Manoban is the one he was on the phone with, then I don't want her dragged in this mess.

Why am I protecting her?

"I didn't," I affirm in a strong voice, tugging at my school sweater. "I didn't even k now he had this other life or that mafias existed anywhere outside of movies and books."

For a smart girl, I really am naive.

"They exist," the rugged voice of Detective Seonho voices out. "In fact, we have two on our radar in South Korea: The Vincenzo's and the Musitano's. We suspect that your boyfriend may be associated with one of them."

Just great.

"The reason why we are telling you all this is because we strongly believe that you are in great danger. The fact that you were both targeted is no mere coincidence. Somebody wanted you both dead."

Taking deep long breaths, I try to steady my breathing as my blood runs cold. Of course they'd want me dead. I'm dating Kai who is apparently in the mafia, so by association, I'm a 'threat'.

Who the fuck did he piss off?

"Judging my the nature of the attack, it looked personal." My mind goes back to that night. The attacker knew exactly where we were going and may have probably been tailing us but we were too busy having an argument.

What if he/she knows about my family? They could be in danger too.

"I don't know what to say," I admit. "This doesn't feel real. None of this looks normal." When did I go from a high school student with a boyfriend to a high school student who has a target on her back?