My phone rang in the middle of my impromptu Sunday afternoon piano lesson with Sabrina. Maria dialling code, and the number seemed kinda familiar, but it wasn't worth the risk. My finger hovered over the red button to swipe the call away.
Unless it was Miles calling from one of Teresa's alternative phone numbers.
Be careful, Zeph.
"I'll be careful." I whispered, picking up the call with trembling hands.
"Mr Jun-su Park?"
"Hi, speaking."
"Hello. This is Ana Maria, from the Korean Embassy."
Ana Maria? Didn't sound very Korean. "Where's Erica Choi?" The number was almost identical to Erica's office number; the phonecall was from another office in the Korean Embassy building.
"Erica got promoted. I'm just calling all of her cases to make sure that everything's good." She didn't inspire confidence in me. Erica was way more...ambassadorial than that.
"And is everything good?" My heart started to wriggle up into my throat at the thought of finally talking to Eomma after so many weeks in limbo.
"How do you mean?" Ana Maria wasn't as sharp as Erica either.
"I mean, do you have any good news for me?"
"Err.."
My heart limped shamefully back to my chest cavity. If she'd found Eomma she'd have screamed it down the phone as soon as I picked up. I guiltily wished for a moment that Erica Choi had never been promoted, and I could hear the bad news from her instead.
"Sorry, what's your name again?"
"Ana Maria Santiago."
"Let me get this right. You're calling me outta the blue on a Sunday to tell me that you haven't found my Mom?"
"Yes. I just called to introduce myself. I'm looking after your case from now on."
"OK, fine. So you're the one who's gonna put me on hold for a half hour every week only to tell me that my Mom and sister are currently untraceable. Great. Just so I know."
I wanted Erica Choi back. She'd been super-sympathetic, and had made me feel less like the abandoned failure that I was. And why was this new woman calling on a Sunday? The Embassy kept religiously to their opening hours, which didn't include weekends. She probably hadn't bothered calling her new cases for the past week, and was scrambling to get it done by her Monday morning meeting with her new boss. I hung up determined not to let this non-development in finding Eomma upset me.
You can wait another week, Zeph. Will needs you.
I returned to the piano to find Sabrina dawdling, again. "Left hand placement, Sabrina."
Sabrina blandly tapped out the bass of the Waltz in A Minor. "Is he gonna come out of his room today?"
"Watch your left hand. Downbeat deep and third beat light, remember?"
Veronica was next door having lunch with Gloria and Clive, and Sabrina had begged to tag along for a quick piano lesson, but it was becoming more obvious by the minute that she'd only come to see Will.
"It's so hard!" Sabrina stalled on the first arpeggio, her fingers slamming into the keys. "When is he gonna be back to normal?"
"Legato, legato. Keep the arpeggio smooth. Don't worry if you drop a note or two." Apart from the unsuccessful shrimp-hunting expedition to the rockpools that Sabrina had forced on Will three days earlier, he hadn't left his room, and had barely eaten. "It takes a while to get back to normal when you lose a parent," I told her. Fifteen years after losing Abba, and I was still far from normal.
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The Sigma Asset 🏳️🌈 (bxb)║AMBYS WINNER 2022
Mystery / Thriller**AMBYS 2022 WINNER** He'll never play piano again. That's what virtuoso pianist Zephyr has vowed to himself after escaping Sigma, the sprawling criminal organisation that once held him--and still holds his friends--captive in California's mega-city...
