Holding On [Nine Percent/ Idol Producer]

Chapter Nine.

The weekend is a time Justin totally adores. With at least an extended hour to sleep in, unbothered, Justin smiles to himself. Deciding on going through his work files once before falling back on his bed, he gets up, picking the file labelled as Wu Shen as a first.

There's a moment of confusion as the first thing he notices is the bare thickness of the papers inside, which makes him flip through the pages, stopping on the fourth one where a picture of Wu Shen is attached, with a woman who holds slight resemblance to Wu Shen.

He turns the page and there is a number printed. A phone number, to be specific.

Justin gets his phone and goes through his contacts, but realising he never had Nessa saved on his phone, hoping to find her contact in the Freshers' groupchat, which he does.

A feeling of uneasiness settles in his stomach when the monotonous voice on the phone says 'the number you have called is not reachable' on repeat, over and over again, making him get on his feet and put on the first jacket he notices on his chair.

He stops trying her number and calls Jiayi, which she picks up on the second ring. "Yes?"

"You know Nessa, right?"

"I'm not sure, who?"

"The one from the editorial department working on Wu Shen."

There's a momentary pause before Jiayi replies. "Yes."

"Do you know anything about her?" Justin asks, but then realises that Jiayi didn't even know her name, "no, forget it. But can you get me some information regarding her?"

Jiayi doesn't reply for a moment, while there's footsteps heard on Justin's side, with him closing the main door behind him and rushing to the elevator.

"Why do you need information regarding her?"

The elevator doors open in the basement parking lot where Justin practically sprints towards his car. "Can you, or can you not get me information about her?"

Justin starts getting anxious of the situation, and asks her again as he opens the car door and gets in. "Can you get me her address?"

"I can ask around."

"How long is it going to take you?"

"I don't know. It's past nine, and tomorrow's a Saturday."

"Let me know as soon as possible."

Justin disconnects the call and tries Nessa's number again, the same monotonous voice replying that her number is unreachable.

Not until some time passes that Justin realises that he's in his stationary car, hands on the steering wheel, thin line of sweat breaking at his forehead with his hands cold. He gets out of the car and locks it behind him as he climbs the stairs of his apartment building at ten in the night.

Picking the photo and the page with the number, Justin sits down at the edge of his bed, his fingers trying to work on dialling the digits printed.

--

The first thing Yanjun asks when he sees Yeonsoo at his doorstep is if she wants some tea, to which she responds in affirmative and walks inside the apartment.

By the time he returns with the tea, Yeonsoo has various photographs placed over the table in the hall. "I've got her monitored after the arson case subsided," she says as she places one picture directly in front of Yanjun, that being a woman in her late fifties.

The maid who never made it to the investigation, or to the newspaper headlines.

Yeonsoo places another photograph, this one of the woman with a man, in his late twenties.

"They met up on the night of Wang Ziyi's incident," Yeonsoo says, on which Yanjun looks at her while picking up the photograph simultaneously. He looks at the photograph next, his mouth forming into a thin line. "Go on."

She places the third picture, the twenty-something old man with the client of the arson case. "He is the client's son."

Yanjun lets out a small sigh. "Who thought it was a good idea to follow the maid around?"

"You." Yeonsoo doesn't miss a beat.

"Right," Yanjun nods, "get to the point."

"The son works under DS Security," Yeonsoo puts the picture of a girl, who is supposedly in her twenties, "and she's the adopted child of the client. She works at Summit Publishing House, under-"

The ringing of Yanjun's phone interrupts them, the caller ID being of Jiayi. "Hello?"

The next moment is a blur of Yanjun walking away from the table to pick up his car and house keys, put his shoes on, alongwith asking Yeonsoo to go outside, as he locks the apartment door behind him.

Yeonsoo doesn't question as she watches his face getting further pale as the seconds pass, a little anxious about the situation herself and not wanting to let him go alone, but knowing Yanjun, she knows he'd be alright.

Hopefully.