the naked face || bts

twenty

Jung Areum had mana. Yoongi could feel the burning power of her personality across the room, coming in waves that struck like a tangible force. When Hoseok had said his wife was beautiful, he had not exaggerated.

Areum had a classic Roman face with a perfectly sculptured profile, coal black eyes, and luscious, long hair. She was in her early thirties, tall and athletic, and moved with a restless animal grace. Her voice was deep and magnetic. 'Would you care for a drink, Doctor?'

Yoongi shook his head, fascinated by the woman before him. Anyone would have sworn that Areum was a perfectly normal, charming woman, a perfect host welcoming an honored guest. There were five of them in the richly paneled library. Yoongi, Areum, Detective Jimin, and the two men who had tried to kill Yoongi at his apartment building, Rocky and Nick Vaccaro. They had formed a circle around Yoongi. He was looking into the faces of the enemy, and there was a grim satisfaction in it. Finally he knew who he was fighting. If 'fighting' was the right word. He had walked into Jimin's trap. Worse. He had phoned Jimin and invited him to come and get him. Jimin, the Judas goat who had led him here to the slaughter.

Areum was studying him with deep interest, her black eyes probing. 'I've heard a great deal about you,' she said. Yoongi said nothing. 'Forgive me for having you brought here in this fashion, but it is necessary to ask you a few questions.' She smiled apologetically, radiating warmth. Yoongi knew what was coming, and his mind moved swiftly ahead. 'What did you and my husband talk about, Dr. Min?'

Yoongi put surprise into his voice. 'Your husband? I don't know your husband.'

Areum shook her head reproachfully. 'He's been going to your office twice a week for the last three weeks. Jung Hoseok.'

Yoongi carefully registered surprise. 'Jung Hoseok?' The two Vaccaro brothers moved in closer.

'No,' Areum said sharply. She turned to Yoongi. Her affable manner was gone. 'Doctor, if you try to play games with me, I'm going to do things to you that you wouldn't believe.'

Yoongi looked into her eyes and believed her. He knew that his life was hanging by a thread. He forced indignation into his voice, "You can do what you please. Until this moment I had no idea that Jung Hoseok was your husband.'

'That could be true,' Jimin said. 'He-'

Areum ignored Jimin. 'What did you and my husband talk about for three weeks?'

They had arrived at the moment of truth. From the instant Yoongi had seen the bronze rooster on the roof, the final pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place. Hoseok had not set him up for murder. He had been a victim, like himself. He had married Jung Areum, successful owner of a large construction firm, without any idea of who she really was. Then something must have happened to make him suspect that his wife was not what she had seemed to be, that she was involved in something dark and terrible. With no one to talk to, he had turned for help to an analyst, a stranger, in whom he could confide. But in Yoongi's office his basic loyalty to his wife had kept him from discussing her fears.

And Yoongi had made one grand miscalculation. The Big Man wasn't a man at all.

'We didn't talk about much of anything,' said Yoongi evenly. 'Your husband refused to tell me what his problem was.'

Areum's black eyes were fixed on him, probing, weighing. 'You'll have to come up with something better than that.'

How Areum must have panicked when she learned that her husband was going to a psychoanalyst- the husband of a leader in La Cosa Nostra. No wonder Areum had killed, trying to get hold of Hoseok's file.

'All he told me.' Yoongi said, 'was that he was unhappy about something, but couldn't discuss it.'

'That took ten seconds,' Areum said. 'I've got a record of every minute he spent in your office. What did she talk about for the rest of the three weeks? He must have told you who I am.'

'He said you owned a construction company.'

Areum was studying him coldly. Yoongi could feel beads of perspiration forming on his forehead. 'I've been reading up on analysis, Doctor. The patient talks about everything that's on his mind.' 'That's part of the therapy,' Yoongi said matter-of-factly. 'That's why I wasn't getting anywhere with him. I intended to dismiss him as a patient.'

'But you didn't.'

'I didn't have to. When he came to see me Friday, he told me that he was leaving for Europe.'

'Hobi's changed his mind. He doesn't want to go to Europe with me. Do you know why?' Yoongi looked at her, genuinely puzzled. 'No.'

'Because of you, Doctor.'

Yoongi's heart gave a little leap. He carefully kept his feelings out of his voice. 'I don't understand.'

'Sure you do. Hobi and I had a long talk last night. He thinks he made a mistake about our marriage. He's not happy with me any more, because he thinks he goes for you.' When Areum spoke, it was almost in a hypnotic whisper. 'I want you to tell me all about what happened when you two were alone in your office and he was on your couch.'

Yoongi steeled himself against the mixed emotions that were coursing through him. Hoseok did care! But what good was it going to do either of them? Areum was looking at him, waiting for an answer. 'Nothing happened. If you read up on analysis, you'll know that nearly every patient goes through an emotional transference. At one time or another, they all think they're in love with their doctor. It's just a passing phase.'

Areum was watching him intently, her black eyes probing into Yoongi's.

'How did you know he was coming to see me?', Yoongi asked, making the question casual.

Areum looked at Yoongi a moment, then walked over to a large desk and picked up a razor-sharp letter opener in the shape of a dagger. 'One of my men saw him go into your building. They got suspicious, as they should, and followed him up to your office.' She turned to Yoongi. 'They found out he was going to a psychiatrist. The husband of Jung Areum spilling my personal business to a headshrinker.'

'I told you he didn't-'

Areum's voice was soft. 'The Commissioner held a meeting. They voted for me to kill him, like we'd kill any traitor.' She was pacing now, reminding Yoongi of a dangerous, caged animal. 'But they can't give me orders like a peasant soldier. I am Jung Areum, a Capo. I promised them that if he had discussed any of our business, I would kill the man he talked to. With these two hands.' She held up his fists, one of them holding the razor-edged dagger. 'That's you, Doctor.'

Areum was circling him now as he talked, and each time that Areum walked in back of him, Yoongi unconsciously braced himself. 'You're making a mistake if-', Yoongi started.

'No. You know who made the mistake? Hobi.' She looked Yoongi up and down. She sounded genuinely puzzled. 'How could he think you're a better partner than I am?' The Vaccaro brothers snickered. 'You're nothing. A quack who goes to an office every day and makes- what? Thirty grand a year? Fifty? A hundred? I make more than that in a week.' Areum's mask was supping away more quickly now, eroding under the pressure of her emotions. She was beginning to speak in short, excited bursts, a patina of ugliness warping her pretty features. Hoseok had only seen her behind her façade. Yoongi was looking into the naked face of a homicidal paranoiac. 'You and that little bitch pick each other!'

'We haven't picked each other,' Yoongi said.

Areum was watching him, her eyes blazing. 'He doesn't mean anything to you?'

'I told you. He's just another patient.'

'Okay,' Areum said at last. 'You tell him.'

'Tell him what?'

'That you don't give a damn about him. I'm going to send him down here. I want you to talk to him, alone.'

Yoongi's pulse began to race. He was going to be given a chance to save himself and Hoseok. Areum flicked her hand and the men moved out into the hallway. Sheturned to Yoongi. Her deep black eyes were hooded. She smiled gently, the mask in place again. 'As long as Hobi doesn't know anything, he will live. You're going to convince him that he should go to Europe with me.'

Yoongi felt his mouth go suddenly dry. There was a triumphant glint in her eyes. Yoongi knew why. He had underestimated his opponent. Fatally. Areum was not a chess player, and yet she had been clever enough to know that she held a pawn that made Yoongi helpless. Hoseok. Whatever move Yoongi made, he was in danger. If he sent him away to Europe with her, he was certain that his life would be in jeopardy. He did not believe that she was going to let him live. La Cosa Nostra would not allow it. In Europe she would arrange an 'accident'. But if Yoongi told Hoseok not to go, if he found out what was happening to him, he would try to interfere, and that would mean instant death for him. There was no escape: only a choice of two traps.

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