ℙ𝕒𝕡𝕒(TK)

XXVI

" One minute , gentlemen " The woman politely bowed before she turned pressed down on the small red button of the landphone.

" Good evening Han , this is Bela speaking " The lady greeted " By any chance , is Joo Anita there with you guys ? "

Jeongguk let his fingers dance against the wooden desk impatiently as he waited for a positive response from the woman .

" Thanks a lot . If you don't mind , can you please send her here in the reception for a minute ? " She looked at Joseph and Jeongguk once ." Some of our guests are asking for her "

The lawyer looked up at the wall clock , his frown from earlier deepening instantly " Yeonie must be waiting for me by now...." He mumbled , although loud enough for Jeongguk to hear so that he understands that the doctor is being a nuisance right now .

But does Jeongguk care ?

Nope . Absolutely not . He's going to catch that imposter and make their life a living hell for pretending to be his deceased husband , for vandalising his house and for brainwashing his daughter .

A small 'beep' sound came from the phone and the woman nodded once before keeping down the receiver from her ears as she threw an apologetic smile at the duo . " She'll be here with us in a few more seconds , gentlemen . Would you like some tea , coffee or water ? It'll be on the house..." She spoke fast like a professional business-woman , the blank persona from earlier coming up on her face almost instantly "....since it's our fault that you're facing such problems now "

"No thanks " Jeongguk and the other man both answered in unison . He knows that the woman is not feeling sorry at all for what happened . Even though it's completely unintentional but business can teach you many things , including showcase of expressions of such emotions that the speaker is not feeling at all .

Clicks of heels echoed in the almost empty room with its owner ; a short blonde woman speed-walking towards the reception with a worried expression on her face . She avoided the gazes of the two men and headed towards the woman behind the desk . " Do you want something , Bela ? "

Bela pointed her pointer finger  at the doctor . " This gentlemen wanted to talk to you "

The blonde woman craned her neck to look at the man , and by the familiar glint in her eyes , Jeongguk understood that the woman recognised him ( A goos sign because the lights in his hallway weren't working when she came in with the deliveries ) . She observed him from head to toe before turning to face the man fully . " How can I help you , Sir ? " She asked , picking up the professional facade .

Jeongguk nodded . " Sorry for bothering the staffs this late in the evening , but..." He paused , glancing at Joseph once who nodded his head at him for some sort of assurance to go on ".... some misunderstanding landed us in here " He said , referring to him and the other man .

Taehyung faked a cough , garning immidiate attention of the others " Mr. Jeon came to my room a few minutes ago , claiming that this box " He pointed to the said box in Jeongguk's tight grip " was delivered to him by you , Ms. Joo . And , " He spoke out loud " I don't remember sending any box to anyone "

The woman turned her head a bit to shoot a confused(?) look at Joseph and then turned her back to him again ." Yes . I remember delivering this box " She agreed " to Mr. Jeon but I am sure that you , good sir , " She turned around to look at Joseph " wasn't the one who asked me to send it to him ."

" What ! " Joseph gritted out , glaring at the doctor who's perplexed himself .

Why the fuck is she lying ?!

" But you told me that Kim Taehyung from Room no. 103 gave it to me ! " Jeongguk cried out , extending his arms to show her the box .

And surprisingly , she nodded .

" Yeah . It was Mr. Kim Taehyung who asked me to deliver this to you " She said , still not understanding what's the fuss about a simple box like this ." At least , that's what he told me . " She supplied , her mind whirling about what if the stranger who gave her the box lied about his identity " And when I asked for his room no. , he said it's ' 103 ' "

" Excuse me , miss " Joseph intervened "I am Kim 'Joseph' Taehyung , I'm living in room no. 103 right now and I don't remember giving any sort of box to you ! " He defended himself .

The lady confusedly looked between the two men ." Good sir , when did I said that you were the one who gave the job to me ? " She raised her tone at the false accusation " The one who gave me this , said that his name is Kim Taehyung and no ," She narrowed her dark brown eyes at him , even though she knew that it's against the hotels policies and she can be demoted but this Joseph Taehyung guy is so fucking rude " He didn't look like you at all , goo' sir " She retorted , dropping her eyes immidiately towards the ground to hide the flash of anger in her eyes .

" Then how did he look ?! " Jeongguk knew that lawyers can be quite complicated , but what he didn't knew that lawyers can be hot-headed too . Well , by the looks of it Kim Joseph Taehyung seems to be an exception .

But at the back of his mind , his subconsciousness continuously knocked with the same question again and again .

To say the least , that question has Jeongguk sweating buckets , his hands tightening around the box in his hands as if it's the key to some unknown mystery box .

What if it's him ?

Jeongguk shook his head slightly at the thought , his eyes almost bulging out from the internal intension , an ever-going battle between his subconsciousness and the rational part of his mind .

No , he is dead ! I, myself was present there when he was cremated !

Jeongguk didn't knew what is wrong and what is right as he slided out one of his hands from under the gift and thrusted it into his shirt's pocket , his finger reaching out to hold the device .

He took the phone out of his pocket , his thumb finger double tapping on the blank-black screen as it came to life , the lock screen wallpaper containing Taehyung and Taegguk's image popping out immidiately .

Without thinking twice , he turned towards the woman .

" Is this the man you're talking about ? "

The woman nodded . " Yes , He is the one who gave me the box to deliver and introduced himself as Kim Taehyung"