Heyo! n_n

Thanks for the feedback and continued support! This is coming along at a slower pace than I would have wanted, but I'll try to get two to three chapters up a week. It'll be over before you know it! =)


Jin's Suspicions


It wasn't unexpected. Angela knew this would be coming, somewhere deep inside, but she pushed it out of her mind. She refused to believe it. Now that it was literally staring her in the face, she could not run anymore. There was nothing more to do than to be brave.

Gill was sitting across from her at the Town Hall. It was the first of many outings Angela would make now that her sentence was made clear. What a shame it had to be on business.

"I'm… so sorry." He ventured. Gill was quite at a loss for what to do or say and the only other sound in the room was the stressful tick of the clock. Angela stared down at her gloves, tracing the lines sewn and pulling at a stray string.

The room was too quiet. Blast that clock.

"Normally, we would mail something to you, but I felt that was… too cruel."

"Gill, this isn't your fault." Angela told him, smiling the best she could. "I just… I knew this was coming."

There was another long pause. Gill started nervously clicking his pen, driving the woman up the wall. Angela had a headache.

She let out a long sigh. "So where are the papers? I need to sign something, am I not correct?"

Gill let out a small cough, staring down at the table with embarrassment. "Because, well, this hasn't happened before so… We need to have them ordered from the mainland. Make things official. Should be here in two – three months tops. Shipping. You know."

"Tell me." Angela bristled, sitting up straighter. "Why are you telling me this? Where is my husband?"

"The doctor?" Gill asked stupidly, checking his watch with haste. He was caught off guard by her sudden confidence and he was nervous enough as it was. "Um – he's – um, supposed to be here, I think…"

"Really? Well, be glad you are more of a man than Doctor Jin. Too coward to face his wife for a divorce." Angela stood, shoving her chair back into place. "Is there anything else? Or may I go home?"

Gill motioned to the door, freeing her to be. Angela nodded to him curtly, thanked him again, and left the building. Couldn't face her. Cheap bastard.

To be in a divorce was hassle enough. To have the town's only man resembling a lawyer as the one to tell you of this personal schism was too much to take. Why wouldn't Jin come to her about this? Had to have a crony come to her. Low life! Coward! Ass!

Angela brought every curse she could to mind and shouted it inwardly. She could not imagine hating someone more in her life. How could he do this to her?

How could she do this to him?

Such a two sided street. Angela pondered and shook her head, looking down the cobblestone way. The townspeople, though scarce, crowded the streets. Saturday was the busiest day for the people as Harmonica Town was the place to be. This Saturday was no different. But as Angela emerged from the Town Hall, she caught the stares immediately. They were like cold knives penetrating her flesh. Pins and needles on her skin. At that moment, Angela knew.

She was the last to know about this.

It wasn't really her fault. She had sheltered herself away. Angela no longer received news and gossip like all the women sipping tea at the inn or all the men downing cocktails at the bar. Jin had made his intentions clear – he would not have a tainted wife. But there was nothing crueler he could concoct, no other punishment he could have dealt, that would be more humiliating to her than this. To tell the town of plans for divorce and keep her in the dark until the last possible moment. It was almost too dark for him.

Angela raised her head high, not feeling as brave as she was at the Celeste Church Plaza so many weeks ago. It was ridiculous, really, but this bruise to her ego nearly shattered her. Still – solitude was probably for the best. She would get through this as she always had and will.

She must wait.


Jin sat diligently at his writing table, going over the test results. Turning around in his swivel chair, he looked up from his clipboard with a tired, consoling expression. Phoebe twisted her hands nervously, sitting erect on the cot.

"So…? Am I—"

"I'm sorry, Phoebe." Jin shook his head. "Another false alarm."

Crestfallen, Phoebe slouched down, her shoulders already shuddering. She quickly drew herself up again, not willing herself to break, and stood. "Thank you, doctor. I'm sorry for any inconvenience."

"It's alright, Phoebe. Come in whenever you like." Jin shook her hand and she left to pay Irene her bill.

Always hoping for a pregnancy. She was so willing to please her husband, someone she felt so far out of her league, she ran to the Choral Clinic the second she felt nauseated. The moment her cycle was a day late. The inclination that she gained more weight, she was hungrier than usual, her feet hurt her. Phoebe was so paranoid of being infertile that she would easily visit the clinic one a week. Jin pitied her to a certain point. Calvin was a good husband; he didn't need Phoebe to work extra hard to be a good wife. So she was quite ridiculous on that part. But Calvin also spoke freely of how much he wanted children. A son in particular. And if Phoebe couldn't grant him that simple wish, she was useless.

Jin thought of how much he wanted his own picturesque family. A stunning wife, an intelligent young son – maybe even a pet. So elegantly posed, hanging on the living room wall. He never knew another man would be in his family picture, hogging up his part of the frame, resembling his wife in their child. God, it made him sick.

A bitter line was Jin's mouth of late. He never smiled and he never frowned. Emotionless. And that's how he liked it to be. No one quite knew what he was thinking. Sure, it was easy to guess how he really felt – any man would feel the same with an unfaithful wife. But they would never guess what he was about to do next. Jin had a secret all his own – his mind. It was a mysterious puzzle box to all around him. The only predictable thing he had done thus far was file for divorce. No one expected him to have Gill tell Angela of this though. But it was a test. A test he would have to repeat on different levels more than eight times he presumed.

Knowing he was quite alone, he flipped his clipboard to the last page. A piece of notebook paper hung there. A list. A list of names. And plenty of room for observation.

Jin smiled to himself – figuratively of course; Jin doesn't smile. He took the pen from behind his ear and made a note next to Calvin's name at the top of the alphabetized list of married young men in town.

Wants child – enough to have an affair?

Seemed probable to him. Everything was a possibility at this point. If there was a shred of a clue, Jin would pick it up. And he would record it on his list. So early in the investigation… There was so much to do!

Jin dropped the papers hiding his list. Angela need not tell him. He would distance himself for awhile, putting her on edge, and then he would strike. He imagined the look on her face – after he was finished snooping, of course – when he told her that special name. She would recoil in horror and shock. He knows!

But not yet. That was a fantasy. Eventual reality, but only a thought his mind toyed with when he was given free time.

Setting the clipboard down on the desk behind him, Jin straightened his collar and decided on an early lunch.