I thought that my fate and connection with this case, along with the silent golden-haired boy, had already ceased. Walking along the office’s long corridor, I tapped my document file lightly on the wall beside me; it had already ended, but I still felt that it wasn’t the end.
But that’s life.
Sometime, the destinies between everyone are really strange. Busy with miscellaneous things in the day, I still would suddenly think of the boy which I had only seen for a few times on my way home in the car from work.
I would recall the cup of tea he poured; sometimes, warmth would flash across in my thoughts, and the pieces of memory would stack continuously, stressing on my brain. I would also recall the shadow of his shivering hand during the trial.
I realized that it wasn’t normal, and thought that it would be essential for me to find a partner really soon at a bar.
Reaching home, I started to look through his boy group’s past videos and information.
Sure enough, he was standard kind of leader; he went through great pains to explain and elaborate on the group’s name as well as the songs in the album, and sometimes, he gave off the feel of a nagging parent. I recognized Luhan’s and Yixing’s faces clearly for the first time.
They were often together; either chiming in with each other or causing a disturbance to the people around them, and Kris would always be looking at them in both frustration and delight.
Park Chanyeol was way taller than I had expected him to be; his voice was far beyond my expectations. This boy was a child whom expressed his emotions easily, and from the psychological point of view, he and Kris were polar opposites.
However, it was evident that Kris liked him a lot; the expression in his eyes when he looked in
Chanyeol’s direction only conveyed 2 messages: envy and indulgence.
I hoped that he wouldn’t watch these videos ever again.
That fateful day, I was about to settle down in the office lounge when I received an unexpected call from my secretary. “The people in the Federal Bureau say that you’re an acquaintance, so there would be no need to book an appointment with them.”
I hurriedly told my secretary to send them in. Upon opening the door, I saw David smiling in front of me, and this left me completely baffled. He, who had always been busy till no one was able to see his shadow, had actually turned up at my clinic.
“You surprised me, Mr. Detective,” I smoothed my brow and felt my heart, “Even though my personal life is indeed a little chaotic, but it isn’t that serious till it’s illegal.”
He didn’t say anything and sat down, the smile still plastered onto his face, his gaze making my hair stand on end.
“Oh my,” I said, “Even though you cancelled the skiing trip, you need not be looking at me like that.”
“I’m here to escort you back,” He murmured as he lowered his head, “It’s still the same case, the same case regarding that particular Korean boy group.”
My heart skipped a beat. I spun the pen in my fingers, silent.
“I know that coming here out of the blue and escorting you back is disrespectful, let alone hindering your work. But,” He said, “After the previous trial, the boy became reticent once more, and this time, including his own defense lawyer.”
“The case hasn’t closed, and in fact, there are still no minute details about the 3 murder cases he has connections with.” David propped his head up with his elbow on his thigh, “It’s very hard to account for it, especially towards the media and family members of the victims.”
“Shouldn’t you be placing your attention on those 2 missing members?” I said.
David looked at me. He looked like he was going to say something but he chose not to in the end, “You know that after such a long time of disappearance, it’s likely that these 2 missing members might have been dead by now.”
My forehead creased with worry.
“The two members had no motive of planning the murders, intent to kill nor did they kill anyone, and even if we had managed to find them, it would only be considered as misdemeanor.” David glanced at me, “The public and the family members of the victims also need a valid explanation of the whole picture.”
I lowered my eyes, doodling randomly on paper with my pen.
“It’s been so many days, and he only uttered one sentence apart from all the strange talk he made in the midst of his sleep.” David looked at me, his eyes sore, “He said that he wanted to drink that type of tea.”
“So, come back to us.” David said, “Your patient evaluation has not been completed, and you will not allow yourself to give up on a patient halfway through treatment.”
My car actually broke down on the day I returned to the Federal Bureau. I decided to walk there after hesitating and getting frustrated for a long while.
In the monitoring room, Kris’s hair was still messy just like before, but his face had been slowly turning paler than ever. He was in a daze; sometimes giggling to himself out of the blue. Mike was beside me, shaking his head as he looked at the documents in his hands, “Besides sleep-talking, all he does it to giggle to himself.”
“What kind of things does he say in his sleep?” I asked.
“He spoke in Mandarin first, and the translator said that he kept saying “the lighter has run out of fluid, the lighter has run out of fluid…” and then during the next few days he changed topics, and started chanting some odd English phrases…” Mike said.
“We are planning on sending him to do another psychiatric evaluation 2 days later.” Mike said, “The trial clearly brought on some negative consequences on his mental state.”
Glancing at him in the monitoring room, I said, “We’ll talk about that later, wait until I finish talking to him.”
Opening the door, I settled down on the seat I’ve always sat on and placed the cup of tea in front of him. I said, “Long time no see, my old friend, how have you been?”
He actually turned around and smiled softly, “I’m doing fine.”
The start of our conversation was far beyond what I had expected; I couldn’t distinguish if he was behaving like that because he regarded me as his doctor or because he trusted me as a friend.
“I thought you’d never speak again,” I grinned, “I heard that your lawyer, Konrad Steinweg, is frustrated from waiting for you. If you didn’t know, his charges are really expensive.”
“I only missed your tea.” He said.
“It seems like I have sucessfullymanaged to appeal to your preferences, how lucky.” I said.
He lowered his head, silent.
“I saw Yixing’s parents during the trial,” I said, “They were sitting right beside me.”
His eyes lit up for a second, but darkened again in an instant.
“His mother does not believe that you’re the murderer at all,” I said, “She only remembered your good traits.” I observed his expressions.
His long eyebrows twitched a little, his lips moved indistinctly, murmuring, “He really resembles his mother.”
I leant in closer, “What?”
Kris smirked lightly, lowered and shook his head.
