The Hunt

29

"Oh! That reminds me," I narrowed my eyes at my older brother. "I heard that our lovely parents reported me missing and are offering a reward for information about my whereabouts. Is there any truth to that?"

"That's correct." Sehyun confirmed. "Are you curious about the monetary value mom and dad gave you?"

"Mildly."

Sehyun sucked in some air between his teeth. "You're not gonna like it."

I narrowed my eyes at him, silently urging him to continue.

"They're offering 5 million won for information that leads to your safe return."

Jimin scoffed. He appeared to be more offended than I was.

"That's dangerously low. It's enough to interest anybody desperate, but not enough for anyone else. Are they trying to get her hurt?" Jimin nearly growled.

I patted Jimin's thigh under the table. He needed to calm down, people were starting to look at our table.

"That does seem reckless." I nodded in agreement. "I'm guessing this bounty was issued recently? Do you happen to know what prompted it?"

Sehyun checked his watch, taking his time responding. "They announced the reward five days ago. Dad was worried about you."

"Why?" I asked dryly.

Sehyun shrugged his shoulders. "He heard that a blonde woman was at the scene of the murder. He wants to make sure you had nothing to do with the death of your fiance."

I could feel my heart rate speed up. I studied Sehyun's face, but it betrayed nothing . "How does he know my hair is blonde now?"

About nine or ten months earlier, I had decided I needed a new look and went to the salon to dye my naturally dark brown hair blonde. I thought the lighter color suited me well. 

"Your little friend Sarah is very active in social media." Sehyun chuckled. My discomfort amused him.

It felt like I had a vice squeezing my heart. My family had never met Sarah. We had met a year after I left my parents' house and took on an alias. 

I took a sip from my bottle of water, hoping it would help me calm down. 

"How?" That was all I could manage to get out. 

I had suspected that my family had an idea of where I was, but I didn't imagine they were watching so closely. 

"The Parks. Apparently, your little fiance, the other one," Sehyun smirked at Jimin. "He was working on a computer program that used facial recognition to track people via social media. He asked mom and dad for some pictures of you to test out his program and try to find you at the same time." 

I looked at Jimin, "Did you know about this?" 

Jimin rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Yeah, JiHoon and I were developing the program together. I didn't know he was using your image for testing , though. I honestly didn't know he was looking for you." 

"He met with our father a few weeks ago." Sehyun glanced at his watch again. "Look, I need to get going. I'll give you my number. Call me when you're ready to come home." 

Sehyun held his hand out for my phone, but I didn't hand it over. With an eye roll and a sigh, he recited his phone number for me. 

"One more thing," Sehyun's gaze locked onto me. "How did you do it?" 

"Do what?" 

He leaned over the table, and whispered, "You don't smell hybrid. I recognized you when I walked in, but you smell human. How did you manage that?" 

At least I'm doing something right. 

 I cocked my head to the side. "I don't know what you're talking about." 

Un-amused and unconvinced, Sehyun stood up from his seat. "Y/n, Hanna is the dumb one, not you." 

Awe, he does care! 

Straightening his jacket, Sehyun smiled warmly at Jimin and then me. "It was good to see you, little sister. Call me if you need anything." 

After the door to the coffee shopped closed behind my older brother, I let out the breath I didn't notice I had been holding. 

Jimin turned to me, his face painted with confusion. "Your family- he's the nice one, isn't he?" 

"Yep."