In The Dark

Chapter 50

Ren

I hadn't noticed how long Jae and I had been talking until Byung-chul said something. He had been looking at his phone and mentioned that it was well past midnight. I'd never stayed up this late talking to anyone before. With so much to catch up on with Jae, it seemed like we'll forever be up talking about any and everything.

"Noona, I'm heading to bed. Is there anything you want me to do?" he asked.

"We're fine. Get some sleep," I said. "No telling when those jerks will be back."

Byung-chul seemed to second guess his decision, but chose to leave us alone anyway. I didn't want to be alone with Jae right now. There was so much she and I needed to know. Without one of the guys to help me out, what could we learn from each other? I'm quite sure she knows a lot about me. Since I haven't seen her for more than six years, I don't know much about her anymore.

"...You've been fine, I suppose," she said. "I'm sorry about leaving, but I just didn't feel right being in the gang and not getting enough attention."

"I know, right?" I shook my head. "I swear they care more about not getting caught by other gangs and the police than us women they date."

"Cory and Ian were the main attractions while I was engaged to Cory. Humph...I tried so hard to make it known to everyone that I was feeling that way, but no one seemed to be listening. Zach was busy with you and everyone else just seemed like...I wasn't there."

"You know I would have come to you, if you'd said something, Jae."

"You were only 18, Ren. What would you know? Plus, Trixie was a crappy fiancée and friend. My stupid behind didn't see that until the night of the raid. I'm glad she's dead. I'm glad you never knew how she was related to the gang."

"...She was Ian's fiancée?"

Jae scoffed and crossed her arms. I'm guessing that's a yes. What did he see in her? From my experience with her as my co-agent when I was modeling, she seemed too...money hungry. You couldn't ask anything of her until she had dollar bills in her hand. Annoying. Efficient. I almost went broke trying to please the dang woman. Somehow I'm finding myself glad she's dead, too.

"How's Jin? I heard about him being your half-brother and all." Jae smiled. "Has he been treating you well?"

"...Eh, if not calling and checking to see if I was okay since my parents died is treating me well, then he's been treating me too well." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeahhhh. I would have told you he was really in the gang and not just our favorite cook if you actually knew what you had been getting yourself into. Since Zach wanted you to be innocent until you couldn't be manipulated anymore...that wasn't possible to do anyhow."

"Shouldn't Tyler be looking for you now? Or maybe making threatening calls to me about killing me and my family?" I asked. "Is he that preoccupied right now?"

"He trusts Devon. If he hasn't gotten a call from Devon or any other guy...he's not going to check back in until he feels a need to. Knowing Zach, he's probably had him call in and pretend everything was fine."

That sounded like Zach and I was instantly proud. Then again, he's quite the idiot. Who would dare go after someone they've been looking for for years not thinking about the consequences? Only Zach. He tells me he'll be careful, but being gone for more than five hours is suspicious. How did I put up with him when I first found out? He's so crazy.

"I have one question," Jae said to me. "I just really want to know."

"...What?" I pushed another cup of coffee towards her.