N0 B0DY, N0 CRIM3 | Bang Chan

Mourning dove

A/N: Trigger warning for mentions of disassociation, implications of pedophilic actions, and sexual assault. 

_ _ _ 

By the time Chan showed up, Lee Know had been quietly speaking to Kiera. I.N was frantic when he called him. Chan was back at their house attempting to sleep. He tossed and turned over and over again until his cell phone ringing gave him a valid reason to get up. 

The door shutting caused Lee Know to glance over the side of the couch. Chan walked over and looked down at him with a raised eyebrow. Lee Know shrugged his shoulders in response. 

He lowered his voice trying not to cause Kiera any distress. "Did you know there was a press conference with Willie today?" Chan shook his head. "She was watching the press conference with Felix, Seungmin, and I.N when she disassociated." 

Chan pulled out his phone and began to google it. He tapped on the first article he saw about Willie's speech and skimmed it. He rolled his eyes when he read that Willie was insisting Kiera was being manipulated. Lee Know looked at Kiera a few times, but he kept most of his attention on Chan. "Does he talk about anything specific?" 

"Not really. He saw the video and he said he's sure she's being manipulated." He continued to scroll and stopped. "This article says he mentioned Lawrence Matthews." 

"Lawrence Matthews?" Lee Know repeated. 

Kiera suddenly stiffened at the man's name. Since Lee Know was still holding her hands, he felt it. His eyes scanned her face again for any other sign of movement. "This is because of Lawrence Matthews, isn't it?" He gently squeezed Kiera's hands again. A single tear dripped down her left cheek. 

"We helped put him in prison because of Jennie, right?" Chan clicked off his phone and put it in his pocket. 

"Yeah, you remember Jennie Matthews, don't you? The taller athletic girl with black hair I used to talk to. She looked exactly like her mother. After everything came out, she killed herself." 

Kiera blinked. The hazy floating feeling she felt was starting to disappear. She felt like she was back in her body. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Lee Know glanced back over at her and blinked a few times. Before he could say anything, she beat him to it. 

"You knew Jennie?" Her voice was barely audible. Lee Know only heard it because he was close to her. 

"Yeah, I knew Jennie. We bumped into each other at Hyunjin's art gallery a few years ago. I always thought she might have had a crush on me, but I never knew for sure. After Jennie found out the truth about her father, she came to me. I brought the issue to Chan and then we helped Jennie reach out to the FBI." 

Kiera's eyes widened a little. She started to speak, but her voice cracked. She cleared her throat before she tried again. "Oh my god, you're the gallery boy. You're the one she met on that trip she had, the birthday trip for her seventeenth birthday." 

"Wait, you knew Jennie?" 

"I was supposed to go with her for that trip. It was a weekend trip to Chicago and to Hyunjin's art gallery, but my parents refused to let me go. When she got back home, she gushed about a guy she met at the art gallery. You exchanged numbers and th-" 

"Then we started to talk, yeah. We ended up getting really close as we spoke, but it never turned into anything other than a close friendship. How did you know her?" 

"Our parents were all friends. They all buddied around because my dad went to college with him. The friendship continued up until everything got exposed. My dad always supported Lawrence behind closed doors, but he never talked about it publicly because he didn't want to cause waves." 

"I can't believe I never put two and two together. Jennie always talked about her best friend, Kiera, but I never realized it was you. So you know about everything then? You know the story about her suicide? You know all of it?" 

"I know everything and more." 

Chan stood flabbergasted behind them as they talked to each other. The conversation of Jennie snapped Kiera out of her funk, but why? He rubbed his sleepy eyes with the palms of his hands. "I hate to interrupt, but can we go back to why we're here? Kiera, you freaked everyone out." 

"I didn't do it on purpose. I've never had that happen before. Everything felt fuzzy and I got stuck thinking about the past. I guess my brain went into overdrive." 

"Which led to you disassociating. It makes sense because your father started talking about Lawrence. It brought back memories of Jennie and it was probably a lot, right?" Lee Know placed Kiera's hands on her lap before he let go of her. 

"Well, kind of." 

"Kind of?" 

"Lawrence Matthews is a sore subject." 

"Wait!" Chan's eyes suddenly widened in horror. "Oh my god, if Jennie was a victim of her own father does that mean that you're also a vic-" 

"No!" Kiera cried out. "No! No! No! I'm not a victim of Lawrence Matthews. At least, not in that way." 

Lee Know and Chan exchanged worried looks with each other. Lee Know placed a hand on Kiera's knee. "Did something happen between you and Lawrence?" 

"Yes? No? Maybe. I don't know. I mean things happened, but I think I'm just being dramatic. Sure they were weird, but I-" 

"Kiera," Chan's voice had an edge to it. "What exactly happened between you and Lawrence?" 

Kiera let out a soft sigh and glanced at the ground. "There were a few instances that were uncomfortable. He used to do this one annoying thing where he'd constantly sniff my hair every time I came over. He'd compliment me on my shampoo and I guess it was a running joke between him and my parents because every time it happened, they'd laugh." 

Lee Know's face scrunched up, but he didn't utter a word. Kiera continued to go on. "He used to  sit next to me when we were at the dinner table. My family was at his house usually once or twice a week to have dinner and hang out. He used to press his leg up against mine. Sometimes he placed his hand on my thigh." 

"I never said it made me uncomfortable, but I'd always move my leg away. It didn't matter much because he'd just move his leg back over, so our thighs were touching. It always felt icky, but I think the worst thing he did happened when I was in skirts." 

Chan sucked in a sharp breath. 

"He used to drop things and then ask me to bend over to pick them up. I was about twelve at the time, so I never questioned it. I just thought he was clumsy, but then it kept happening. When it happened, he always moved behind me and it just..." She trailed off. 

Her arms came up to her chest and she crossed them. She shifted in her seat and shook her head. "He was weird and honestly I felt relieved when he went to jail, but then everything happened with Jennie and she killed herself. I've always blamed myself for her death because I should have been there for her." She brushed away a few stray tears. "My parents wouldn't let me see her because they were too worried about their stupid image." 

Chan's fist tightened around the cell phone in his hand. Without a word, he spun around and stormed back towards the entrance. He flung the door open and slammed it shut behind him. Kiera flinched at the sound and then glanced back at Lee Know. 

"Did I make him upset?" 

"He doesn't mess around when it comes to pedophiles. We weren't nearly as big as we are now. When everything came out about Lawrence, he wanted to kill him, but I knew it would have backfired. We didn't have access to everything we have now. It felt like a sense of justice for his victims since he was sentenced to life in prison." 

"So what's he doing now?" 

"Taking out the trash."