You Said Remember Me

85

They waited until they were given permission to see Heechul. He was still unconscious when they walked into the asylum-like room. An air respirator tube was tucked over his mouth to help him breathe. Heechul must have been through a lot of pain before falling unconcious. The stabbing incident...he felt sorry Victoria had to witness it but it was a good thing she didn't discover his dead body. Putting an arm around her shoulder he led her out of the room and turned to thank Eunhyuk for keeping her company.

"I made sure Hee Sun was at home before coming," Donghae informed.

Eunhyuk nodded, "I'll see you later." Then he turned to Victoria, "Don't feel too upset, things will be fine now that Hae is here."

Donghae watched him go before he turned to Victoria who returned his glance. A mix of emotions and questions aroused on her face.

"Where were you? I couldn't contact you," she said.

Donghae brushed her hair aside then bit his bottom lip before saying, "Sorry. I was on a job."

She just stared at him and he knew she didn't quite believe him.

"I found some unpleasant things I need to talk about."

"What." she didn't sound excited.

"Lets go somewhere else." he suggested predicting an argument.

They stopped by the riverside and got out to feel the fresh wind coming from the large dark waves about half an hour later. The dark clouds overhead were nowhere to be seen and the waves crashed against the shore endlessly. They were silent as if they were meeting up for the first time in years.

"You once told me you went to China," Donghae started turning to her while leaning against the bumper of his car. "In high school, correct?"

Victoria slowly nodded after almost hesitating. Donghae eyed her with a strong desire to hear the utmost truth from her. She had never been honest with him from the start and because of that he ended up digging deeper and deeper into her life. And because of that she would always end up angry with him. Was it his fault for finding out things he shouldn't have found or was it her fault for not telling him the truth?

"What did you go there for?"

Victoria was quiet as if she were searching into the depths of her memory for the correct answer. The truth...he just wanted to hear it. He only wanted her to tell him that she'd been to rehab, that she had a hard time growing up and being alone-he didn't need to hear about her misery in Hangzhou, he just wanted her to tell him that she'd been admitted to rehab and that was all he needed from her. The desire to end the case silently and to make sure she was safe, that was his desire for now and after all ended he'd want to do more for her later.

"School." she replied.

He knew she'd lie. The disappointment he felt hit him hard. He hadn't expected her to tell him the truth because she never did.

"Are you lying? Or will you tell me the truth?" he asked still keeping his eyes on her.

Victoria's face expression hardened, "Why do you want to know?"

Bad memories. He felt sorry to talk about it but it couldn't be avoided. Turning to face her he reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out the picture handing it to her.

"Take it back with you and look at it." he told.

Victoria reached for it and stuck it into the pocket of her sweater without looking at it. He watched her gesture feeling even more disappointed. He had some amount of trust he'd given to her, but she wasn't looking at his trust.

"Are you angry?" he asked.

"Where have you been?" she turned to him with her hair flowing in the air.

"China." he slowly answered.

The expression on her face became that of surprise then transitioned into anger and suspicion.

"What were you doing there?" her voice was still calm as if she were holding back all of her anger.

"At 18 you went to a rehabilitation center, did you or did you not?" he asked.

She eyed him, yet she didn't say anything.

"Is it so hard for you to say you were having a hard time so you went for help?" Donghae questioned slightly turning his head. "Is it so hard for you to lay down your pride, your stubbornness to tell me you had a hard time growing up? I'm not just someone, I'll be here for you."