Burnt Coffee Grounds

Chapter 15.

𝓔𝓵𝓲𝔃𝓪𝓫𝓮𝓽𝓱 𝓔𝓷𝔃𝓸

After dad excused himself Dr.Hahn and I were left just standing there staring at each other.

I clear my throat and turn my head away from him to try and break the awkwardness I was feeling. "Oh! Uhm, yes! Let's go to my office first, the file with the information about today and what you need to see is in there." He rubs the back of his neck all of a sudden nervousness is flooded across his face.

"Oh? Okay then! It'll be nice to see what one of my highest ranked scientists is working on." I nodded my head at him and motioned with my arm for him to go ahead and lead the way.

As he turns around the smell of mahogany teakwood and a slight smell of burnt cigarette is wafted towards me.

Oh lord this man has everything going for him doesn't he? I look around at the semi-unfamiliar halls that I've only seen in photos when this place was initially constructed.

But I knew there has been some construction since then. He leads me to the emergency staircase, I give him a curious gaze as he holds open the door for me to enter.

"Don't worry I'm not going to kill you, my office is just in the basement." I nodded my head at him and follow him down the stairs.

Even as we're on a tilt due to going down the stairs he's somehow still just a smidge taller than me. I pray for whomever woman gave birth to this man.

Because lord, she must've had a lot of stitches afterwards. As we exit the stairwell all I can smell is burnt coffee grounds.

What a wonderful smell.

But at the same time it's awfully quiet down here. The only things you can hear is the machines slight whirl and the sound of the air conditioning in the building.

"Is the other scientist sick?" I ask him, but he just shakes his hide side to side. "No, I'm the only one stationed down here." My eyebrows furrow.

Isn't that scary to be down here all alone?

"That's odd, usually at the current headquarters we can't keep a spot open for more than a couple of hours before someone else is put into that spot. People are usually lining up to work for this company."

We arrive outside of a door that has a sheer window that is opal enough to see inside objects but not enough to truly understand what's going on, on the inside.

He leans down to be able to unlock the door with his keycard when he rebuts to my comment. "Well maybe that's because your main company is in New York, more people in America tend to jump the gun for jobs there than we do here in Seoul."

I quirk my head at this and see him tense up. He pushes into his office trying to shake the awkwardness that he's exuding.

"How did you know that the headquarters is in New York?" Everyone here should be believing that Seoul is the main building?

He laughs nervously. "Oh, it was in the file that Mr. Enzo gave me," I look around him to see him picking the folder up.

I walk around him and grab it. He sucks in a breath as I take it from his hands. One arm is shoved underneath his armpit and the other is holding his face.

Weirdo. I open the file and indeed see that it tells A LOT of information about me. More information than needed. It even tells him my rising moon and sun.

Why the hell would he even need to know half of this stuff? I sigh and shove the folder back into his hands. "Don't look too deep into that information." He quirks his eye brow at me but seems relieved at the same time somehow.

He opens the folder and I start looking around. I see lockers, fridges, two lab tables in the middle, a giant white board on the wall.

And then something that catches my attention. A small section of the white board is dotted off with two words neatly written at the top.

Red Velvet.

My breath hitches in my throat. What does he have to do with Red Velvet?

Underneath I see a mixture of two different hand writing. Someone else beside him is digging into us? I read some of the notes that are written.

Using different shoes to try and trick us? Height: Unknown. MO: Strangulation with piano chord? Strangulation with feminine underwear? Strangulation with baseball bag strap? Strangulation with ballet silk? Common trait: Unknown.

Before I'm able to read anymore a throat is cleared behind me. "Sorry you shouldn't have to see my personal studies, I just wasn't aware you would be coming into my lab today. If I knew I would've cleaned it up."

I turn on my heel. I cock my head at him. "You know you don't have to be so nervous around me, just because I'm your boss doesn't mean you have to be so uptight with me. Honestly I'm probably younger than you." He looks taken aback.

"Plus I find it interesting that you spend your time trying to figure out who an American serial killer is. I thought it would be below people to spend a copious amount of time on people like them." His eyes pierce mine, as his eye brows furrow together.

"Red Velvet isn't just anyone, they're someone who's extremely dangerous." I look at him astounded. I walk a little closer to him brushing off an eyelash that came across his cheek.

"Well are you a pervert?" His eyes widen as his cheeks turn red obviously taken aback by my action. "No!" He sounds a little offended by my question.

But I keep going. "Are you a rapist?" His eye brows furrow trying to figure out where I'm going with this, "No." I walk past him grabbing the folder off his desk.

"Are you a pedophile? Murder? Morally crooked?" He shakes his head turning to see where I'm going.

"Well then don't freight, you won't be in their crosshairs anytime soon."

——

Heyyyy y'allll it's been a couple of dayssss but here's a new chapter...
It's kinda short bc my device that I usually use to write these chapters on dieddd soo I had to finish the editing of this chapter on my phone... oops. Anywho let me know how you feel about this chapter!
See y'all next time!