Let Me Protect You (Sahyo)

Chapter14.1

When they reached the office, it was dark, as it would be at 10pm on a work day. The only lights that were on were the ones in the CEO's office and the single lit up computer screen Jihyo recognised as the secretary's. She could hear Momo gulp audibly, not used to seeing her workplace in such an ominously dark setting.

They knocked on the door of the CEO's office, letting themselves into the room. The CEO was seated at his desk, arms crossed on the table, with an unreadable expression on his face. His secretary got up to greet them, offering them the chairs opposite the CEO's seat. On the table between them, was a stack of printed photos, of a very familiar building.

"Is this..." Momo started, pointing to the photos.

"Someone just dropped this in our letterbox downstairs and left. Eunha and I haven't left yet, so the security guard told us about it."

Jihyo picked up the photos, flipping through each of them. There were only four, but they were all almost the same, a grainy photograph of Sana's apartment complex, one picture for each of the four blocks that constitutes the whole complex. On the back of two of the photos, there were words scribbled in blue ink.

Am I right?

Which one is it?

She could not stop the chill that ran down her spine if she tried. Momo's hand instinctively found hers, gripping on tight as if she would fall if she didn't. The anxiety grew as she recalled that just twenty minutes ago, she was walking Sana up to her flat. She knew the timing wouldn't check out, but for all the other times they were walking home together, had the stalker been lurking somewhere, watching them?

The angle at which the photographs were taken were incredibly vague, and the photographer was most likely standing somewhere along the busy sidewalk, so there was no way to pinpoint exactly which of the hundreds of people walking there was the culprit.

"Are there any cameras at your letterbox? Maybe we can ID the person who dropped these off." Jihyo asked, glancing up at the boss who looked like he hadn't slept in days.

"I can show you the footage we got, but we've already seen it, and frankly, it's useless." He replied, pulling up a window on his computer. The footage was dark, but one thing was for sure. There was nothing extraordinary they could see on his person that they could use to identify him with. He was wearing standard surgical gloves, a mask and sunglasses, clad in a sleeved black shirt and full length pants. There were no symbols or brands on anything he was wearing, and neither were there visible tattoos they could use to single him out in a crowd. It was a dead end.

"Ji, can you let Sana stay with you for now?" Momo finally found her voice again, though it cracked with worry at the edges.

"I think that's a little much to ask of you, Jihyo, after all you're just-"

"I can do it, it's not troublesome at all. It's easier to look out for her that way." Jihyo interrupted the CEO, watching nervously as he stared a second too long at her answer, expression morphing into one of curiosity and suspicion.

"Are you sure? I will still want to keep her away from knowing about all of this, so you will have to figure out a way to make her stay over without asking any questions, is that alright?" He was fazed, unsure of what to make of the situation, but chose to accept it seeing as there were no easier options.

"That's okay, I will talk to her." Jihyo assured him, dropping her eyes back onto the photos on hand. "Whoever this person is, I'm quite sure he is local. We'll be in China for the next week, so there's that at least."

There was a slight comfort in that knowledge, that they will be out of reach of this person for a while. The secretary set down a few papers in her hand in front of the CEO, a gentle reminder for him to address the other points.