Blood bonds

Chapter 73

TW: Handong... ofc not! She's the sweetest! It's Elkie!

The girls spent more than half an hour mapping the area with all the names and the address of the shops that sell soundproof panels. Handong and Chaesol decided to check the ones close to the college.

"It was the third" Chaesol sighed as they walked out of a shop. "This woman must be a ghost... no one saw her"

"There are a lot more shops than I expected to sell them. It's just one out of the bench, Chae. We need to keep hoping" Handong reassured her, trying to stay positive.

"I know... I just hope this is the right lead. Everyone looked so hopeful at home" she whispered.

"That's because this is our first actual lead. Before we didn't really have a specific target to search for. Now we do"

"And that's great" Chaesol replied "That's why I really hope it will point us in the right direction" she smiled, looking at Handong as their hands brushed while they walked. Chaesol couldn't help but notice that it happened a lot and she didn't know if it was just their way of walking or if they were somehow doing it on purpose.

"It really is, it really feels like we are one step closer to saving them" Handong smiled, locking eyes with Chaesol.

"Dong... what did you want to say in the bedroom this morning?" Chaesol suddenly asked.

"I... I wanted to thank you" Handong whispered, looking down. "For everything"

Chaesol nodded her head, looking down as well. Maybe it was really just that and she was just hoping for something that simply wasn't there.

"Okay" she whispered with a weak smile.

"The next store is over there. Let's hope we have some luck in there and that they want to help us" the Chinese girl smiled, walking a bit faster.

"Wait for me" Chaesol protested, catching up with the Chinese girl and grabbing her hand to make her go a little bit slower. "I told you I'm not a fast walker" she said with a smile, not letting go of Handong's hand.

"I'm sorry I forgot, I just don't want to waste time" Handong apologized, squeezing Chaesol's hand instead of pulling back which surprised the girl.

Chaesol smiled at her and let go of her hand only when they arrived at the shop's door. They walked in and a man greeted them, walking towards the girls.

"Good afternoon. How can I help you?" He asked politely.

"Uhm... we are looking for a young woman who bought this model of soundproof here a week or so ago" Handong asked, pointing at the name on a paper.

The man took the paper and looked at them with a weird expression.

"You are interested in buying the panels or in knowing about the woman?" He asked, not really understanding where this was going.

"We want to know about the woman. You would really help some friends of ours"

The man gave them an even weirder look, shaking his head.

"If you are not here to buy an-" he was about to say when Chaesol cut him off.

"Our friends want to buy those actually, that's why we need information about the woman. They own a shop and a client told them about these amazing panels but they can't remember who she was, and they wanted to ask her information about them so they could buy it" she said, taking out a little piece of the picture that showed the panels. "See, that's her house"

"Hmm I am not really allowed to give you her personal information but I can check in the register if there was someone recently. That way you know she bought them here" the shop owner smiled, walking behind his counter.