Memories ☆ Jung Taekwoon

VI♙FLOWERS FOR THEE

Wonshik

♟The hands---
they bleed red,♟

Wonshik walked out of the hospital room while chewing on the brownie with a small grin of appreciation on his lips. He wondered why Hyuk thought that 'Rose' would've done this to him. Could they have been following the same criminal as him? That's dangerous. Why would they do- A ring from his phone stops his thoughts.

He silently grunts as he sees the name on his phone. Another murder, I guess. After taking the last bite of the brownie, he answers. 

Wonshik had been called in to investigate a crime that happened just a few hours ago. He had told his fellow detectives to inform him if there were new murder cases so he could check if it was connected to 'Rose'.

And that was the reason why he was standing in front of Mr. Choi, the owner of the store where the murder happened, with his patience slowly wearing thin. The man hadn't spoken a word yet and Wonshik felt like they'd been here for a few hours already.

The owner of the store stands in front of Wonshik with a grim expression on his face. He doesn't speak for a few seconds and the creases on his forehead deepens. He opens his mouth to talk but distraught had a tight grip on his throat, strangling his vocal chords and preventing him from making a sound.

Wonshik turns to a policewoman close to him and motions for her to get some water for the shaking man. When she returns, the owner throws her a grateful look and hurriedly gulps down the contents of the bottle. His hands still shake when he tries to speak again, but his voice doesn't betray him this time, and he stutters, "Where... where do I start?"

"Start with how you found her and where you were before that, Mr. Choi," came Wonshik's reply. The owner flinches as he remembers the gruesome sight of his employee covered in blood.

His bottom lip trembles as he says, "I was with my family last night---at home---and just now I found her in the parking lot a few feet away from the door. I-" he struggles to speak, choking on his words, "T-there was so much blood."

Wonshik nods, turns away from the owner, and points at the camera right above the door, "I'm gonna need the footage of last night-"

Mr. Choi hurriedly cuts him off as he waves his hands, "I-I'm sorry, sir, but all the cameras at my store are broken." He clenches his hands into fists and growls, "Teenagers who have nothing to do broke 'em. Little rascals."

How convenient, the detective thinks to himself. He sighs and walks away from the older man, leaving him standing dumbfounded. Wonshik walks closer to the body of the cashier and examines it with narrowed eyes.

He takes a small flashlight out from the pocket of his coat and shines it at the ground near the body, noticing a few broken shards from the cashier's phone. The woman had been likely stabbed a few times, judging from the rips on her uniform and the blood that stained those areas.

Wonshik couldn't quite tell what the murder weapon must have been since the wounds were covered by her clothes. Soon, he finds himself sinking into a vision of what must have happened.

A shrill scream pierces the air and the sound of sobbing soon follows. She fumbles for her phone but the murderer rips it from her grasp and throws it on the floor, then, proceeds to stab her repeatedly until the terror in her eyes fades into a detached emptiness.

He shakes the vision off and stands back up, deciding that he wouldn't take the case but he couldn't just leave---not before his fellow detectives have arrived so he could throw this at them. The least Wonshik could do was pretend to care, so he faces the owner again and walks into the store, asking without waiting for an answer, "Mind if I take a look?"

Mr. Choi chokes out a reply but Wonshik had already began looking around the place. He sees scattered body cleaning products by the counter but paid it no mind. He stops at the sight of a door which he assumes would lead outside. Mr. Choi says, "That's the back door."

Wonshik was glad that he wasn't facing the elder as he wouldn't have wanted him to witness the way that Wonshik had rolled his eyes exasperatedly. He mumbles in a very low voice that the owner failed to catch, "Thanks, genius."

The crisp air from the outside greets him with a woosh and he takes one step forward, his insides freeze as an unnerving feeling settles beneath his skin. He looks around, not knowing what he wants to find. The only things visible here would be the large plastic container with little to no amount of garbage. He sighs, not understanding why he's doing this. This wasn't obviously connected to his case.

He walks around more but then there was a flash of white from the corner of his eyes so he slowly turns to it. The breath he didn't know he'd been holding in escapes his lips in a quiet gasp.

The unlikely color piqued Wonshik's interest. It draws him closer, his heartbeat wild against his chest, and his eyes finally fall upon the flower in front him---mocking him as it reflects the bright light from the sun. It was a rose, the color of fresh snow on the beginning of winter.

♙blemishing the
purity of the white.♙