Believe Again: "For the Ferrari"
A/N: Just to be safe, I'll have a warning here. The second part of this chapter takes place in a red-light district. Nothing explicit or sexual below, but just a head's up for anyone who might potentially feel uncomfortable.
His phone buzzed with a new message while he was still typing, and his eyes traced over the new text from her, a warm smile playing on his lips. Her fingers sure were fast. He didn't think he could lose at speed when it came to typing, but apparently he could — on the phone, at least. She had mentioned that she was a lot faster on her phone than on her computer.
It was fascinating how he could feel like he was floating on the clouds just by hearing the sound of his phone vibrate as a new notification popped up, along with the appearance of a new speech bubble in the chat.
He had lost count of the number of days since they first started texting, but it felt like they had known each other since forever. Talking to her felt almost as natural as breathing, except it did get kind of hard to breathe properly sometimes when she complimented or praised him. Seeing her messages with sprinkles of cute little emojis would leave a sweet taste lingering on his tongue and his heart racing like he was on a sugar rush.
It was crazy how they could talk about the most random things, as if they had been old friends in another life. Just like now. They were currently having a little argument over whether pineapple on pizza was the best or worst thing to have ever existed.
O: You're so weird omg
Saeran: No, you're the weirdo. Pineapple on pizza is disgusting.
O: No it's not! Pineapple on pizza is amazing!
O: No no no this won't do I must do something to help you see the truth
Great, now she was sending him a bunch of pictures of pineapples andpizza, which made little sense considering she was trying to convince him of how good the combination was. Besides, they weren't doing a very good job of whetting his appetite for dinner.
Saeran: Pictures aren't going to help your case. Give it up.
Saeran: Saeyoung has tried and failed at convincing me to like pineapple on pizza for a year. It'll never happen.
O: But im not saeyoung
Saeran: You just tried and you already failed.
O: Just for now! One day you'll see the light!
O: just you wait saeran you'll fall in love with pineapple on pizza so fast you won't even know what happened
Saeran: Doubt it but if that helps you sleep at night, sure.
O: :P
He chuckled to himself, heart pumping fast enough to keep his face feeling warm and head giddy. She was impossible. Impossibly cute, he added as an afterthought, and he should have felt ashamed for thinking such an embarrassingly cheesy thing.
She was doing things to him, including turning him into the same kind of lovestruck fool Saeyoung was whenever MC was involved, and perhaps the strangest part was that he couldn't say he hated it all that much.
O: Oh no break's over I'll talk to you later! This convo isn't over, btw.
Saeran: Okay. Don't go spilling coffee now.
O: That was just one time!
O: ok gtg, boss coming. See you!
He shook his head with a grin, sending her a quick reply to wish her luck at her summer internship. He hoped he hadn't just landed her in trouble with her boss. It wouldn't be the first time.
Sometimes he would feel bad for distracting her from her work or errands she needed to run — for instance, she had already missed her train stop while on the way home three times now because of him — but admittedly, he was selfish enough to want to keep talking to her, even at the expense of neglecting the things she had to do. It felt nice to have her attention and thoughts on him. Only on him.
...Was that a weird thing to think?
Hmm. Probably.
Saeran fell backwards onto the bed, bouncing off the mattress once before sinking into the soft sheets. He inhaled deeply, and released a long breath into the quiet air of his room that was filled with his hushed chuckles just minutes ago. His fingers drummed restlessly against the sheets, hands feeling rather empty now without his phone in their tight grip.
What to do now...
Just then, he felt a small vibration through the mattress and he immediately dove for his phone, thinking she had dropped him another text. Needless to say, he was sorely disappointed when he realised it was just a message from Saeyoung, instead of her. Great. That probably meant he needed to go back to work because Vanderwood had some updates. That, or Saeyoung had sent him another video of screaming llamas.
If it was the latter, his brother would be earning himself an elbow to the face.
Saeran wasn't expecting much when he unlocked his phone to view the message while slowly peeling himself off the bed. Which was why he was left momentarily stunned and frozen in place when he saw the first three words in the notification preview:
Saeyoung: We found Sejun.
Saeran burst into the workroom where Saeyoung was already on a call with Vanderwood. The older man swivelled around in his seat upon hearing the loud entrance, and his brow was arched. "That was fast," he commented in surprise.
"You found Sejun?"
"Yeah... About that, Vanderwood's currently watching them."
"Them?"
"Apparently, Se Jun is in Park Ha Yoon's car right now. They've been in there for 35 minutes now."
Saeran uttered a cuss word under his breath as he marched across the room and unplugged Saeyoung's phone from his headphones to put Vanderwood on speaker.
"Vanderwood, what's going on?"
"Oh, Saeran's here," the man said by way of greeting. "I'm currently parked a distance away from Park Ha Yoon's car. Location coordinates are with Saeyoung and he's already hacked into the closest security camera — but it's not much help. Too far to see much, plus it's dark. Anyways, a guy who looks like Sejun entered the car about 35 minutes ago, but I can't see what they're doing inside. Windows are tinted."
"You sure Park Ha Yoon is inside?"
"Yeah. Had my eyes on the car the moment he went in. He hasn't left at all. Any idea how they might be connected?"
"No..." Saeran answered, eyebrows furrowed as a perplexed expression settled on his face. "Not that I can think of."
"Then that's weird..." Vanderwood muttered in reply. "Oh, hey, the door's open."
Saeyoung jerked his head in the direction of his computer monitor on the wall. Saeran followed suit, and sure enough, the camera showed a black car parked next to a small alley with its left passenger door swinging open. A boy clad in a dark hoodie exited with a bag pack slung over his left shoulder, and he headed down the dark, narrow alleyway while the car drove off as soon as the door was shut.
"That's strange. The bag wasn't there before," Vanderwood remarked. "Did they make some sort of deal?"
"Vanderwood," Saeran called urgently. His eyes remained glued to the screen. "Follow Sejun. Hurry."
"Wh—" If Vanderwood had any questions or protests, he wisely chose to keep them to himself for the time being and trust his new partner. "Okay, I'm on it. But explain."
"Do you have any idea where Sejun might be going?" Saeyoung asked.
"Yeah," Saeran said as he tapped mindlessly on the table surface with his index finger. "If Mint Eye is still operating like it used to, he might be going to Minari right now."
"The red-light district? What for?"
"We used to have business dealings there. With the prostitutes," Saeran explained. "The pimps in charge of the street were in on it too. The supplies and drugs come from the higher-ups who are patrons of the prostitutes, and then the ground team collects the goods from them. Sejun used to be part of that ground team."
"Careful not to leave traces, huh," Saeyoung muttered, leaning back in his seat to consider this new piece of information. It wasn't at all out of place for men to head over to Minari for some fun. Not to mention, the area was hardly regulated by the authorities. It was the perfect place to conduct these kinds of drug exchanges without drawing any attention whatsoever. "If Sejun is really headed to Minari to do that kind of business, it'll be safe to conclude that Park Ha Yoon was involved with Mint Eye."
"Yeah. But it's strange that Park made direct contact this time," Saeran pointed out. "Uncharacteristic for someone so cautious."
"I'll look into that," Vanderwood's voice came through the phone's speaker. "I'll call again later." Then he promptly hung up, rendering the room quiet once more.
Vanderwood wrinkled his nose in at the smell of garbage coming from the other end of the narrow and dark alley he was standing in. He was smoking a fair distance away from the long row of neon-lit parlours lining the street, and was making sure to stand close to the wall to avoid drawing attention to himself.
Quietly, he observed a group of obnoxiously boisterous businessmen walking past him. They had clearly had too much to drink and were now looking to entertain themselves for the night. Vanderwood blew out a puff of smoke, tapping lightly on his cigarette to flick off the burnt ash as he listened to the rather nasty comments they were making. He hadn't been expecting to spend a Thursday night being forced to listen to lewd remarks made by men who were probably old enough to be the fathers of the girls they were about to spend the next couple of hours with.
For the Ferrari, the Ferrari, he chanted to himself, as he had been doing over and over for the past few days when he got bored out of his mind from waiting in the car, and tailing Park Ha Yoon. His legs were aching, his eyes were sore and he was in desperate need of some sleep. The mental image of his promised sports car was the only thing keeping him together at the moment.
This is nothing, he told himself, as he exhaled, wisps of white smoke leaving his lips. He had been through far worse, like having to stay cooped up in a room with his stupid redhead partner for a full week. Back then, he thought he could lose his mind from having to deal with that guy's jokes and the irritatingly loud manner in which he would crunch on his honey butter chips. Those chips didn't even taste good at all, and it was a wonder how Saeyoung hadn't eaten himself sick of those yet.
Vanderwood's eyes rested once more on the particular pink neon-lit parlour that Sejun had just entered, and wondered how long he would have to wait out here like this. He had forgotten to stock up on cigarettes so he only had two more left in his pocket. Hopefully that kid would be quick with whatever he was doing in there.
An elderly man walked by then, with a cigarette butt in hand and a noticeable bulge in his pants that was too obvious to be missed. The former secret agent sharply turned his eyes away, shuddering at the horrid image that was now stuck in his head. Ugh. He pitied the girl who would have to entertain this man who had a severe case of athlete's foot.
Tapping his foot impatiently against the damp concrete ground, Vanderwood checked his watch for the time. Only fifteen minutes had passed. It felt like he had aged years already.
Bored, he decided to drop a text to give a the twins a quick update on the situation at the moment. As he waited for his phone to load the chatroom, his eyes darted upwards to quickly glance at the entrance of that parlour.
The sight of his target emerging from the entrance, carrying the same black bag pack he'd brought in and walking briskly away towards the other end of the street immediately caught Vanderwood's attention. Stuffing his phone back in his pocket, Vanderwood stepped a little closer to eye the bag that was hanging off Sejun's left shoulder.
Was it just him, or did the bag look a little heavier than before?
Vanderwood threw down his cigarette and stepped on it before heading down the same direction. He could feel gazes on him through the glass windows of the parlours, and he ignored the sultry voices of girls calling out to him. He pretended to look somewhat interested, briefly glancing at the skimpily dressed girls who were lounging on the chairs or standing and waving to him from behind the glass doors. Some of them looked a little too thin to be healthy.
As he approached the parlour that Sejun had just been to, he slowed down his footsteps, though his eyes remained on the back of the young man who was hastily heading down the street. Should he keep following him? Or head into the parlour?
There was no time to send the twins a text or drop a call. He spotted two men idly smoking by the entrance of a parlour, their narrow eyes scanning the area as they spoke in hushed tones. They were probably pimps on patrol. People like them didn't take too kindly to people who used their phones around here — in case people decided to snap photos without permission. They tended to get suspicious easily too.
Vanderwood looked once more at the diminishing figure of the young man in the distance, and his feet gradually came to a stop when he arrived at the place Sejun had just exited from.
"Oppa, come in!" one of the girls from that parlour called out, throwing a flirtatious wink his way.
He would have to take a chance on this one. Judging from the short amount of time Sejun had spent in here, he had only come here for business. And if Vanderwood could pinpoint the person he had come into contact with, it may be easier to get her to spill information directly. Besides, Sejun looked especially on guard at the moment, and it would be hard to tail him from here, considering the streets up ahead were generally quite dark and empty.
So with a small, polite smile plastered on his face, Vanderwood turned and stepped towards the parlour, much to the delight of the middle-aged lady whom he assumed was the woman in charge of the girls in that place.
"Oh my, such a handsome young man," she gushed, flashing her yellow teeth as she smiled. She eagerly ushered him in, heavily curled hair bouncing with every step she took. He was greeted by the overpowering smell of cheap perfume, and he had to suppress the urge to pinch his nostrils shut. "I guarantee you'll find a girl you like. The girls here are all good and pretty," the lady continued, and Vanderwood tuned her rambling out as he eyed his surroundings.
He was led to a dark room that basically resembled a karaoke lounge, only it was a lot smaller. A disco ball hung from the ceiling, the flashing lights providing poor illumination of the room. It smelled a little stale in there, and he tried not to grimace when he was told to sit down and wait for the girls to line up and come in to greet him.
Five minutes later, a line of girls quietly filed into the room. Vanderwood didn't need the colourful specks of light dancing across their faces to see how lifeless and tired they looked. The lady from before was the only cheery one in the room. "Pick any one you like," she encouraged. "They'll do a good job, don't worry."
"Are they the only ones you have?" he asked.
"Yes, they are the only available ones right now."
"I see."
Hmm... He had to figure out who was the one who had met with Sejun earlier. They all looked pretty much the same though. No fidgety, restless ones. They were just standing there passively, waiting for him to make his choice.
"Sir, would you like the girls to introduce themselves first?" The lady asked, sensing his hesitation.
"No, it's fine," he replied. "And no need to be so formal. Just call me Sejun. We're here to have a good time, after all."
As he said that, Vanderwood eyed the girls standing before him, to observe their reactions.
Just as he predicted, one of them responded differently from the others. The room was infuriatingly dim, but he managed to catch the small jerk of the fourth girl's head at the sound of the name "Sejun".
His lips curled into a smirk.
Bingo.
"Sir, if you don't have a condom with you, we have some in the drawer by the bed," the girl with long, wavy brown locks stated, as she ushered him into the small, dark room with a single bed in it. She was wearing a plain, strapless black dress that ended just below the curve of her butt, and he had to admit she did have quite a beautiful figure. But it troubled him that a girl as young as her — she looked no older than seventeen — was stuck in this kind of place. Not that it surprised him all that much. Girls like her were common around here.
"That's fine," Vanderwood replied, steering clear of the bed. The sheets were probably unwashed and he didn't want to think about the number of men who had been in here and stained the sheets without cleaning up. "I'm not here for that."
"Huh?" She stared at him, red lips parted and eyes wide, until something clicked in her head. "Oh... so you just want a blowjob then?"
"No... I didn't mean that..." he muttered, running his fingers through his hair and gesturing for her to take a seat on the bed in front of him. Did he really look so sexually deprived that he would turn to taking advantage of a girl like her?
"Then... what do you want me to do?" she asked, confusion settling on her face.
"Eun Mi... was it? I just want to talk to you for a bit," he stated. He threw a glance towards the shut door. "Are the walls here thin?"
"If we talk like this, we can't be heard by others outside," she said.
"Good. In that case, I will need you to cooperate with me by not talking any louder than this."
"O...kay?" She was frowning and gazing at him expectantly now, awaiting his explanation.
"You know Sejun, don't you?"
Her hazel eyes widened for a fraction of a second before darting away from his gaze at the mention of the name. She squeezed her legs together while drawing her arms in, in apparent discomfort.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about."
"You're a bad liar," Vanderwood told her flatly. "What did Sejun come here for? He just dropped by to see you, didn't he? Did you hand something to him?"
Eun Mi was silent for a moment, and he was about to repeat his question when she stood up abruptly, fists clenched by her sides. Having expected this, Vanderwood grabbed her wrist before she could try to make a run for it, and forced her to spin around to face him again. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the taser that he always had with him.
Fear contorted her features the moment she heard the loud crackling of static when he turned it on, and it caused the scream that had been about to escape her die promptly in her throat.
"I didn't come here to hurt you, but if you alert anyone here, then I'll have no choice," he said in a low, dark whisper. Then he released her, and she stumbled backwards, plopping back down on the bed and clutching her wrist that now had a red imprint of his tight grip on it.
"I've been running low on patience today, so I'd appreciate it if you would hurry and tell me what I want to know."
"I... I don't know anything," she insisted stubbornly, looking away from him.
"You met with Sejun earlier, right?"
"No."
Yeah, right. "So you did. What did you give him earlier? Drugs?"
He noted her sharp inhale and restless fidgeting of her fingers, before continuing, "Does the name Mint Eye ring a bell?"
"N-Not at all. I've never even heard of—"
"What about Park Ha Yoon? Sound familiar?"
No answer. She resolutely kept her gaze to the floor, face hardened and jaw clenched tightly.
"So you do know him."
"Will you please leave? I'm busy and—"
"I paid for this session," he reminded her, and also made a mental note to claim that money from Saeyoung later. He was low enough on funds as it was. "I'm not here for your services; I'm here for information. Good trade-off, isn't it? You don't have to serve me, and you can get me to leave earlier if you just tell me everything I want to know."
"And I'm telling you, I don't know anything. You can't get me to talk," she responded coldly, glaring at him. "So just get out of here because you're wasting your time."
Interesting. Vanderwood took a step closer to her, and her fierce stance faltered slightly. She must have realised her minor slip-up.
"Are you being threatened? By Park Ha Yoon or one of his men?" he asked. She didn't respond, and instead averted her eyes from his. He waited for her to speak, but her lips remained tightly pursed together.
"So you are," he surmised with a vexed sigh. Well, he had expected this. If she really was a part of this drug dealing process, she would definitely be silenced if there was even a remote risk of a single word slipping from her. In that case, maybe he should change his approach.
"I'm not here to hurt you," he said, stepping back from her to give her some space.
She scoffed in disbelief, gesturing to the taser that was still in his grip. "Sure, you aren't. You won't get anything out of me, because I don't have the answers you're looking for. So just leave."
"For someone who doesn't have the information I want, you seem pretty anxious for me to leave as soon as possible."
"You literally threatened to tase me just a minute ago."
"Only if you tried to alert other people outside about what I'm here for," he responded evenly. "Like I said, I don't intend on hurting you if I can help it."
"I don't have any reason to trust you," Eun Mi snapped, folding her arms across her chest. "And I don't have to say anything to you. You only have an hour here. You won't be able to do anything if I sit here and keep quiet."
"I'll just buy more hours then. If I pay, there's no problem, right?" he challenged with a small smirk. "I have all the time in the world to stick around, and I'll happily oblige and keep you here until you tell me what I want to know."
"Th-That's... You can't do that. You're joking."
"Do I look like I'm joking to you?"
"You... You can't do that. Why are you even doing this?"
He cracked a smile at that. He leaned forward, and she warily shrunk away from him. Seeing that, he stopped where he was.
"A guy offered me a Ferrari in exchange for getting information for him. And I owe him... maybe a little too much," he vaguely explained, before stealing a peek at his watch.
"Time's ticking, Eun Mi. I think you should start talking soon."
A/N: Apologies for the long wait! Hope you liked the Vanderwood feature ;)