Lines Crossed - Volume 1 Chapter 37 Danger

I walked into my house, Jaemin, trailing silently behind me. The moment I came in I went straight to my couch, most Ceo’s or businessmen had an office, I didn’t bother my couch was my office, my safe place, and my home all in one. Any business I held could be conducted here, because being here for people, present for them was more important than appearances. And I could just as easily work from here as in some place like an office.

Jaemin sat down in the dark brown chair beside me and pre offered my phone back to me. I leaned forward, nodding my understanding and took it carefully from his fingers and set it down on the large metal table in front of the couch and chair.

A large circle with a little sideways triangle inside it sat in the middle of a black screen and I pressed it with a heavy feeling in my heart.

The voice recording played. My uncle’s voice came through the recording loud and clear.

I thought you said there was no way that you would fail this time? I thought you said you guys had him cornered

So…

HOW THE HELL DID HE SURVIVE!

“Sir” An unfamiliar voice cleared his throat confidently.

“He shouldn’t have made it. No, he wouldn’t have made it.”

“But that nurse saved him. You didn’t tell us a nurse lived in that house on the way up to Mark’s residence, sir.”

“If we had known we could have prepared for it. But we researched, we checked of all the places, this was the place with the shortest railing, the largest curve, the most unsteady ground in bad weather. And the hill also ran off right into a deep drop, it was foolproof.”

“Unless, you drop a nurse in the middle of it!” he snapped.

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED I THOUGHT YOU USELESS IDIOTS CHECKED EVERYTHING.”

My uncle’s secretary whimpered slightly.

“I checked Sir, the house belongs to an artist. On the lease, the thumb print was that of the Author and artist Ahn Jae Hyun. I wasn’t sure what was going on too. Until I had someone recheck, the girl that lives there is the artist, her name is Mina Taylor, the artist’s name is a pseudonym. But how could I have known it said an old man on the paperwork, so I just thought an old man lived there not a beautiful young girl?”

“But it’s like everything about the place was wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean when she let me in; it didn’t look like she had been living there for very long, but when I asked her how long she had been there, she didn’t answer and when I asked her if she had just moved; she said something like that. I asked her if she had been in Korea for long.”

“That all sounds very normal.”

“Yes, sir,”

“But she said she has been in Korea for five years, sir.”

“Okay.”

“Yet, when I checked that place, I saw no one living there before the night Mark had his accident” He hesitated.

“WHAT?”

“It’s just I thought you might ask about her so I took the liberty of looking into her more.”

“And?”

“Well, sir, there is no record of a Mina Taylor coming to Korea five years ago. Not in or out of the country on any form of transportation anywhere. It’s like she doesn’t even exist.”

There was a long pause. And then my uncle spoke again, but his time his tone was very different. Almost curious and excited, yet still dangerous and on edge. It felt feverish like a lunatic.

“Lee Minhyuk, get me something of the girls.” His uncle burst into radicalized laughter, it floated out of the speakers and ran through my body, I looked up and Jaemin held a very similar expression across his face, my Uncle’s reaction so disturbing it caused a slight chill of unease to fill the air.

“It is happening again.”

The clip stopped, and I looked up at Jaemin with a large grimace on my face.

“It is happening again? What do those words mean?… Mark Just like you thought it would, Mina is in danger isn’t she?” Jaemin breathed.

I leaned back and grimaced.

“Yes, I am afraid she is. I should have never gotten her involved in this mess.” I sighed regretfully.

“Of course, I thought they would look into her for a moment and then leave her alone, but that was before I found out that her fingerprints came back from someone who is dead. And that she also seems to have come out of nowhere.” I added on.

“Do you think she is illegal?”

I nodded.

“I think it is likely she came into Korea illegally and then someone sold her the name and information of a dead person so she could lease a house and get a job and a proper identity. Otherwise the government would have found her already if she has been living here for five years with nothing to back her up not even fake doc.u.ments.”

“But if that is true, just who she really is and why she is hiding her identity is a mystery, I am curious to know.”

“Now you can rule her out as an undercover for your uncle though. That is something to be pleased about.” Jaemin said.

I smirked. “That was never really a huge possibility, anyway.” I stood up.

“Espresso?” I asked him. Jae nodded. I stood up and pulled off my suit jacket folded it neatly in half and dr.a.p.ed it over the arm of the couch gently.

“How was it not a possibility? You never worried about her working for your Uncle at all?”

“No, if she had been a plant she would have just watched me die, instead of saving me, then she would have reported things back to my uncle. After all, what good would have come from her saving me to watch me, then plan to kill me again?” I walked into the kitchen with Jaemin trailing behind me.

“Good point, I guess I am just jumping at shadows.”

“A safe way to react when you are my bodyguard, and one of the few reasons I keep you around.” I stated playfully switching up my tone, signalling chatting business for tonight was over.

“Oh, yeah”? And what’s the other?” Jaemin retorted.

“It’s your turn to empty the dishwasher.” I responded cheerfully.

Jaemin sighed.