Mansion Mystery

A Choice

Dongmin shut the glossy windows of his polished white kitchen before groaning, 'Another useless political decision made', he critiqued before tossing the daily newspaper into the recycle bin, 'Argh'

Pouring himself a heavy dosage of Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon, he loosened the navy tie suffocating him and was about to sit down when we heard a sudden rapping on his door, '10pm', he murmured while glancing at the flicking LED clock in the corner of the room, 'Weird'

Putting down his glass, he peeked through the peephole and his jade pupils flickered in curiosity, 'I didn't expect you to visit', he chuckled after opening the door to a petite woman wearing a simple lemon sundress, 'Liya..what are you doing here?'

'Glad to know you still remember my name', she answered without cracking a smile, 'May I?'

He gestured her inside and poured her a matching glass as they sat at his glass table that was pushed towards the brilliant Shanghai skyline outside, 'What are you here for?', he asked forwardly, stirring the mesmerizing wine held inside his glass, 'If it's to find comfort, then I'm afraid I'm not very good at that'

'Please', she scoffed lightly, 'If I wanted comfort I would've gone to Li, not you'

He shrugged and met her stoic expression, 'So what is the reason you came here at 10pm?'

Without answering, she handed him the letter and watched as he sped read it in confusion, 'I know, it's sudden', she sighed, 'But 6 months is better than nothing'

He adjusted the gold rim of his aviator glasses and put down the letter, 'I'll join', he decided, 'What?'

Her taken aback expression made his turn away, 'No I'm doing this for you or for SPADE, God no', he shuddered, 'I'm doing this because I need a fulfilling goal. Solving a case ticks that box'

Returning the empty glass to him, a small smile played on her lips, 'Welcome back', she congratulated him gently as his face and body remained motionless but deep in thought, 'I'll see you tomorrow at 8am, I'll send you the address'

Click

He exhaled deep when his front door locked shut, 'I'm back', he grinned to himself, 'We're back'

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'Food is ready!', a cheery sharp voice called towards her small hallway, 'Shady!'

A tanned bundle of fur bolted from the bedroom towards her before stopping to gorge on the tasty fresh tuna laid out for her, 'Good girl', the woman praised the Siamese at her feet before dishing out her own meal of gooey peanut butter layered on a single piece of crisp buttered bread, 'See Kaili, life...life is good'

'Is it?'

'AAH!', she jumped and turned to find a woman with flowing raven hair standing behind her, 'L-Liya?!'

'Hey Li li', she beamed with happiness, 'How's it-'

The woman rushed towards her and wrapped her in a hug as though she were squid suffocating it's prey to death, 'Oh my God LIYA!', she cried in disbelief, 'Where the hell have you BEEN?!'

Liya laughed nervously, 'At home....?'

'WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ME?!', she fought back before pouting, 'I was so freakin worried about you and you didn't even-'

Her embrace suddenly grew cold as Liya's eyes widened, 'Li-li I'm sorry but-'

Her lungs tightened as the hug went from a warm greeting to a slow suffacation, her heart pounded in her head as her friend hissed in her ear, 'You left me', she gritted, her elbows piercing into her soft flesh, 'You think you're the only one suffering'

Before the giddy feeling overwhelmed her, Liya kneed her attacker in the kidney and watched as she was sent stumbling backwards in excruciating pain. 'ARGH!', the woman exclaimed before Shady's crying meow broke the tension, 'You've been a real bitch you know'

Liya swallowed in the accusation before speaking carefully, 'Kaili I know I haven't talked to you in a while but that does-'

'A WHILE?!'

The sarcastic scoff rang in her ears before Kaili's slender hand wrapped around her plate, 'It was 6 months!', she exclaimed with a creeping resentment, '6 WHOLE MONTHS!'

Her eyes stared daggers as she continued, 'And now you're here smiling expecting me to be fine?', she mocked before hurling the plate at her, 'You should know better'

CRASH

Liya's body pulled her down like magnet right as the deadly glass shards struck the wall, 'I just didn't want anyone to be affected by my sadness!', she argued, 'You moved on with your life, I couldn't let my sadness bring you down'

She yelped as a cup thrown barely scarred her foot, 'Moved on', Kaili repeated poisonously, 'I have feelings too Liya. I have a heart too'

Glancing at photo frame dangling on the wall, she forced a smile, 'And my heart was aching', she confessed, studying the contrasting smiles in the photo, 'You out of all people should've known I would've been affected. You lost your boyfriend...fine, but at least he's alive'

A sob breached her anger, 'Mine IS DEAD!', she cried right as Liya shielded herself from her next attack while guilt gripped her throat

Instead, Kaili crumpled to the floor and buried her teared face in her palms. Once her tears flowed, they were endless and overflowing as a rushing waterfall and only Liya could understand the pain that was chained to her. How it could consume you for days and nights at a time. 'Chen Fang leaving is nothing compared to Ren's life leaving us', she finally stated, 'Yes..I've been....selfish'

She slowly stepped towards her, 'I should've called or texted', she admitted, fighting her own sorrows from escaping, 'And...I regret everything. I'm so sorry'

Her arms reached over her friend's shoulders and she rested on her soft black hair as the cries stifled and the sobs started to quiet down, 'I'm sorry', she apologized one more time, 'I didn't...mean to leave you alone, I really didn't'

With her puffy eyes and swollen lip, Kaili shook her head slightly, 'Did I just throw a fucking plate at your head?'

Blinking, Liya gave her a silent nod which made her red eyes grow with horror, 'Oh my god Liya I'm sorry I literally almost killed you!'

'It was justified', she reassured her, helping her off the floor, 'So, would you like to know why I'm here?'

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'A case?', Kaili questioned, putting the letter down, 'It's been a long time..'

'It'll help us', Liya insisted, 'We need a distraction from all this grief and this is it'

'This isn't a distraction', she answered, 'It's an actual death, with actual people it's not a game we can use to distract ourselves with'

Her eyes shifted, 'If we don't take this seriously and if we're not in the best mood to solve this then it'll impact the family a lot'

A heavy silence blocked Liya from speaking as she simmered in her friend's advice, 'I'm going to work this case though', she decided, 'Whether you want to join, it's up to you. But I truly believe it would make you feel better'

As she stood up, she turned to Kaili's indecisive face one last time, 'By the way, Dongmin has agreed'

'He'd agree to anything involving work', she teased him as they both laughed in agreement, 'Look Liya, I'll text you...if I do want to join'

Liya nodded and smiled, 'One more thing', Kaili added, 'How did you get inside my apartment?'

'You never changed the pass code', she answered, 'Goodnight Li-li'

When she watched her door finally close, she leaned back against her chair deep in thought, 'What do you think?', she asked aloud, feeling a warm fuzz rub against her ankle, 'What should I do?'

She scooped Shady into her arms and stared into the abyss of her big golden eyes, 'What would Ren do?'