Hanh's POV
The two were oblivious to Soryu's text message to me, since they decided to get some ice cream, after Ainsley had bought a phone. So now, we were sitting casually in an ice cream shop, gossiping about all of our love life, or lack thereof.
"So you haven't fallen in love either?" Mei Ling asked us.
"Nope, it's actually not that easy for regular people too. Although we did have a couple friends in high school that did, and even one married their high school sweetheart," Ainsley told her.
"Wow, that's nice," Mei Ling said, looking in a daze. "So, does it not bother you that you've never been in love?" she asked.
"No, but do you love that's not the only type of love in the world?" Ainsley asked, her eyes softening.
Mei Ling doesn't look surprised. "I know. The love of parents," she said bitterly.
"True, but there are other types. Like friendship, the same kind Hanh and I have. And Hanh can argue for the love of God. So don't limit yourself, Mei Ling," Ainsley continued. I looked at her surprised. I remember how she would ask philosophical questions, especially during our college days, but it's been a long while since she gave a more thoughtful answer like this. I looked at Mei Ling, and she had this look of hope in her eyes.
"Can I experience the same type of love, the same friendship that you two have?" Mei Ling finally asked.
"Isn't that why I am going in your place to the meetings," I joked. Mei Ling turned around and looked at me, "So we are really friends?" I thought back, in a way, I realized that we did have something in common with Mei Ling, and how we were thrown into this world, without asking for it, only doing the whims of the powerful men around us. And now, I have decided to make the most of it, and there was no harm in being friends with a girl that clearly wants to be friends with us.
"Why not?" I giggled in response, which only seem to brighten Mei Ling's face.
"Now, the important thing is, is that you really have to train Hanh, Mei Ling!" Ainsley said.
"Of course! But it's easy, Hanh, you seem very polite, and thats all you have to do to be me!"
"How? That's it? No secret knowledge of the inner workings of the underground world?" I asked for better clarification.
"No, my dad never really told me anything. He didn't want me to be too involved, because the more involved you are, the more dangerous it is."
"And yet, your dad is in charge," Ainsley commented. Mei Ling gave us an awkward smile as an answer.
"So, what do you know?" Ainsley asked, leaning in.
"Well, I know that we are currently on good terms with a lot of the groups in Hong Kong. Or more like, we are a powerful triad, and we are allied with the Ice Dragons, so most don't want to mess with us. Anyone that does, it's typically more foreign groups. I think we have the most trouble when we go to expand, like I think we are having some issues with Japan and Korea, which is why my dad is hoping for some more alliances here through my potential marriage."
"But you don't know which groups are bothering your dad's triad the most? Or any big news that occurs more specifically?" Ainsley asked.
"No, I don't. I really don't know much. He just tells me to stay away from this area and go to that area," Mei Ling responded.
"Well, if that's what makes everyone comfortable. Welp, Mei Ling, do you have anywhere else you want to go?"
"What else do you do during a girls' day with friends?" Mei Ling asked.
Ainsley and I looked at each other.
"Is there a good movie playing?" I asked. Ainsley pulled out her phone to see which movies, and we decided on some cheesy rom-com, since love has been the main topic so far. Once we got to the theatres, we had a couple of minutes before the movie started. Ainsley suggested we go to the arcade that was next door, but I noticed the picture booth that was right by the ticket booth, and Mei Ling voted for the photo booth. All three of us got copies, and we ended up displaying it in our clear phone cases, like matching best friends, completely ignoring our situations. Then, we grabbed our popcorn and went to watch the movie.
Mid-way through the movie, we needed some popcorn refills. And since Mei Ling was so engrossed in the movie, while I needed to go to the bathroom, I just went. As I was leaving the bathroom and heading back to get the popcorn refill, I pulled out my phone thinking if I should let Soryu know what we were doing in case he was super angry. I saw his previous message saying to talk to him when we were done, like he knew what we were doing, so I wasn't too concerned. Considering he found out about my real name and information, I doubt he couldn't find us by now, and stuffed the phone back in my purse while saying, "Soryu doesn't need to hear from me, especially since I'm already going to those basically blind dates soon. I need this time to relax a little."
As I rounded a corner, I felt a hand grab my arm, yanked me towards that corner, and another hand covered my mouth and nose with a cloth. I stepped on one of this stranger's feet, pivoting a little to use my free arm to use my purse to hit them right in their jaw, making him lose his grip on me. I broke into a run, trying to grab my phone to call Soryu or warn Ainsley, but then I was body slammed to the floor. The phone flew out of my hand as it happened, and I only saw stars while gasping for air.
"What an annoying bitch," I heard a voice say as another cloth was clamped on my mouth. I couldn't fight this time, and everything went dark.
Ainsley's POV
I was looking at my watch when Hanh had to leave. I was looking forward to the next batch of popcorn, but its been a while. Like 15 minutes a while, to the point where the movie was in a slow part, and even Mei Ling was a little uninterested.
"Where is Hanh? I thought she would have been back by now?" she asked.
"I am not sure," I responded, but there was a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"Let's try and find her. Maybe she got lost?" Mei Ling asked. I quickly agreed, and we made our way out of that room. We were walking towards the bathrooms, when I noticed a random phone on the floor, and it had that cute polaroid of the three of us displayed in its case.
I froze. I was in denial, and I looked around the area almost waiting to see Hanh pop out to prank me, only to result in me freaking out internally. Mei Ling picked up the phone, and turned to look at me with fear in her eyes. I grabbed her arms so that we were looking at each other.
"Mei Ling, please tell me you have Soryu's phone number?" She nodded quickly.
"Great, call him right now." I looked at her phone to see, but it was more out of something to do, since I didn't know the code.
"Soryu, Hanh disappeared!. . . . At the movie theatres. . . . I don't know, we just found her phone." Listening to Mei Ling talk to Soryu didn't ease my own worries. I held Mei Ling's hand as she continued to talk to Soryu so I didn't lose her as well, and I went to question some of the workers. I had asked them if they had seen anyone suspicious here, but no one had seen anyone. I asked if there was a chance that there were any security cameras around so I could see how Hanh could have left the building, but they said they had to get approval from the owner before they could show anyone the film, unless there was a police warrant. And that was the key, so I pulled out my detective badge. I was grateful that Japan had a respect for their civil servants, because the workers actually allowed me to look at it after seeing my badge.
Soryu eventually came, and I was just annoyed, moreover, how we couldn't find the exit that Hanh had left through. It was like she just up and disappeared. Soryu leaned over, and told me to run the cameras back, focusing on who was entering the theatres after us. Since it was still during the day, there weren't as many people going through, but Soryu made me stop at 2 men dressed in black suits and ugly fedoras.
"Ugh, fedoras in this day and age? I know people that can pull it off, but you can't just throw it on you to hide your baldness," I commented.
Soryu looked at me like he was annoyed. Again.
"Sir, you are a grown man that can use your words," I replied, still annoyed that Hanh just disappeared. Soryu just took a picture of both of those men and went on his phone for a little bit. I saw him do that, and I copied him.
"I think those men took Hanh, but I am checking on it," Soryu said. Mei Ling was sitting in the back of the room, just sniveling.
"Listen, Mei Ling, this is not your fault. We had no idea that this was going to happen," I told her softly.
"Yea, and you convincing them to just run away without me or at least some form of bodyguards was completely helpful in this case!" Soryu snorted.
"You came here pretty quickly, so I don't want to hear it! And besides, how the hell were you so close anyways?"
"Because," Soryu started, but I think he was holding back since Mei Ling was here.
"Because I still kept an eye, since Mei Ling is important!"
"Oh, how nice of you," I snapped, as I rolled my eyes.
There was a ding from Soryu's phone, and he jumped up.
"What?" I asked.
"I think I just found where they took Hanh," he responded. He motioned for us to follow him, and we left the movie theater.
He led us to a car, opened the door to the back seats, and had us get in. He said, "Inui, get them back to the hotel," and then closed the door. The bad feeling in the pit of my stomach wasn't going away. I thought there was no way that he was sending us back, but I was more concerned about Soryu abandoning Hanh. I tried to open the door, but they had that cursed kid lock, so it only resulted in me angrily pulling on the handle.
"Sorry! Boss's order! But don't worry about your friend. If the boss said he was going to get her, then he was going to get her. There's no way he's going to let anything happen to her," the driver of the car said. I assumed that would be Inui. I stared at him. Despite being part of the Ice Dragons, he looked like an innocent child with that carefree smile. The whole thing was annoying me, but what annoyed me the most was his smile right now, which reminded me of how Hanh was smiling today for the first time since this whole thing had happened.
While I was thinking that this was an interesting turn of events, and I was happy that being this close to the underground in Japan, Hanh didn't know anything and was paranoid. Today was the first day during this whole trip that she had finally relaxed and smiled, but I hope that she was alright now. I closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair, as I remembered something. Hanh was the luckiest person I had ever met, and that luck spreads. If she failed a test, she was still the highest grade that made the teacher give a crazy curve for the whole class. When she got into a minor car accident on the way to one of our girls' nights, making us move our plans to another place, saving us from running into one of the crazy exes of another friend. There was one time, she had tripped on nothing, just to bump into a man that turned out to be the peeping tom of the neighborhood. And he dropped his wallet with a good 200 dollars inside, which was greatly appreciated by me. And then he got arrested, of course.
So, I don't know if that was because God likes her prayers and her, or that was just luck, but I was hoping that it was going to help her out in this case, because if not, I might be killing someone here.