Chapter 41
Seoul, Korea
Snowdrop Suite
Rain sat on the floor looking at the inconspicuous looking stuffed monkey holding a large jug of banana milk. Her head tilted one way then the other, expecting it to do something.
Something.
Anything.
Anything at all!
But it just sat there looking at her with it’s dead, black beady eyes, and stitched smile.
“You are sure?” she asked again. “You just don’t have a thing against banana milk or monkeys, do you?”
Kita refused to entertain her and headed to his room to change; he needed to workout otherwise he was going to lose his temper.
“It’s evil,” Lucien said, talking with his mouth full of grilled bulgogi and lettuce leaf; Rain told him to help himself to the lunch she made. “Nearly blew my eardrums out, twice!”
“I am so sorry,” she apologized. “Are you okay now?”
“It wasn’t your fault,” he promised. “Those types of things happen, and you subconsciously knew something was wrong. That’s why you were sleeping in a cubby, right?”
Rain shrugged, blushing; that was one reason.
“Do I need to send it in for dissection?” Lucien asked his sister.
Lula shook her head. “No. I already know what it is. You plug it in and it lights up the plastic jug of banana milk it’s holding and that lights up like a lamp. When that happens, it is being powered and the eyes transmit. Not images though, just sound. It’s cheap tech, but that explains how Ong Se-Ri knew you’d be at that specific Fire Services building when that hadn’t been decided until the day prior… With influence it was,” she instantly corrected when Rain started to ask.
There were four different locations they could have met the firemen and families at, but the one selected by Fire Inspector Bae Kwan wasn’t close to the station where the initial call came into. Rain and Dae-Ho didn’t ask, they figured it was for space reasons and left it at that.
Apparently that wasn’t the case at all, and Lula was the reason for the change in venue at the last second.
“And that recording device is what hurt Lucien?” Rain asked instead of pressing the location of the meeting.
“Yes and no. It’s low frequency,” Lula explained, ripping the head off the monkey and Rain’s eyes widened. “Simple tech that you can get pretty much anywhere anymore. But it was interfering with something else in the room.” She pulled the electrical components from the monkey and lamp then laid them out on the table. “Where did you get this horrendous stuffed monstrosity?”
Rain’s face dropped. “I did a campaign for banana milk and I thought it was cute so they let me take it home. That was six years ago though.”
“Was Ong Se-Ri there or milling about at that time?”
She shook her head.
“When was the last time she would have had access to it?”
Rain had to think about it; she and Se-Ri hadn’t been friends in so long, they hadn’t even talked! “Last time I know that she had come over to Uncle’s house was four-years three-months and seventeen days ago. She said she was wanted new management and was asking a favor of Uncle to represent her once more.”
Lucien and Lula exchanged looks. “That’s rather specific,” they said.
“If Seon Rain says it was four-years three-months and seventeen days ago, then it was,” Kita said, exiting his room. “I’m heading to the gym to workout. Miss Seon Rain will be in your custody until I return.”
They nodded.
“Can I go with you?” Rain asked.
Kita gave her a look. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want to be around that thing right now,” she said, motioning towards the beheaded stuffed monkey. “I need to walk or run or scream or something. I need to vent without making a scene that will end up on the front page of some gossip magazine. Please?” she pleaded.
Kita looked up at the ceiling, shaking his head; she truly would be the death of his patience. “Put some jeans and sneakers on and a jacket. We’ll go for a ride,” he conceded.
Rain squealed in delight then scrambled to her feet and hurried to her room to change.
“What?” Kita asked, looking at his siblings.
They shook their heads.
It wasn’t like their brother to cave so easily to a woman’s demands, especially when it was their client.
“Send the findings to Will and don’t be too proud to ask for help,” Kita said, pointedly speaking to his sister. “I didn’t find the other source. It’s something that’ll require tearing the room down. I’m content it’s contained to just Seon Rain’s room, and because of that she cannot go back until the threat is contained. Lucien needs to rest; it nearly dropped him more than once, and Chairman Hu is taking a long weekend out of town now.”
Lucien gave him a face-consuming smile as he chewed another lettuce wrapped bulgogi.
Kita headed back to his room to change and Lula followed, closing the door behind them. “I don’t want to hear it,” he warned, pulling his shirt over his head.
“And I don’t want to say it, Kitty, but I must,” she retorted.
“Don’t call me that, and it isn’t like that so don’t waste your breath,” he sneered, glaring at her. “She is our client, nothing more and nothing less, Sister.”
Lula leaned against the door, folding her arms. “It doesn’t look like that, Brother. You’ve never given a second thought to the mental well-being or the emotional well-being of the client before, especially a woman. Yet this one you’ve done that again and again.”
“Is that what you call getting in front of a potential meltdown from the little girl you got us hired to babysit?” he scathingly retorted, pulling a fitted sweater over his head. “I’ve tolerated and put up with too many spoiled brats of the female variety to not know when to get in front of something.”
She cocked an eyebrow; that she wasn’t expecting.
“You are supposed to be hands off,” Lula reminded him. “Yours rules, not ours. Not even Father’s rules. But yours. And yet you are constantly hand holding that girl.”
Kita switched his pants with a pair of jeans. “I haven’t held her hand, not once.”
“Not physically, rather emotionally,” she pointed out. “That isn’t normal, and it isn’t you. It can be dangerous.”
“Perhaps if you would have properly put together a dossier on this headache we would be better equipped to deal with it. Instead, I’m having to step into a role that is not mine,” he sneered, grabbing his jacket, scarf and knit cap. “Next time, don’t rush into a job because you’re bored and need to get out of the house. Next time, pause for a moment and think before committing us to something that will involve so much handholding and babysitting.”
Lula punched him in the arm when he shoved her out of the way of the door. “Rude jerk,” she grumbled under her breath.
“Yes, I am,” Kita dryly agreed, heading to door with his shoes to wait for their client.
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