***
Chaeyoung stared at Miyeon, her gaze unfathomable. Were they talking about the same Claire?
"Tell me about this conversation." she asked as her interest about this topic piqued. The possibility of her mother being alive is... It's just close to unbelievable.
"Well... I was just waiting for my face to heal when I heard Yuri crying... she was talking to someone.. a man. I'm not sure if it was over the phone or a video call... I just listen outside of her room. So..."
"So Yuri was arguing with the man, she said she wanted to have you killed as soon as possible. But the man said they cannot do it without the substitute. Without me."
"Then Yuri started talking about how you killed her mother and how she should also kill your mother."
"But the man got angry and told her that the greatest revenge is letting you watch as... Claire treats Yuri as a daughter."
Chaeyoung narrowed her eyes at Miyeon, "And when did this happen?"
"About two months ago."
"Where?"
"I don't know. I was in a penthouse. I think it was Yuri's penthouse."
Chaeyoung nodded at Miyeon's words.
"So that's it? You are just going to nod? Do you even care about your mother?" Miyeon asked.
"What do you want me to do? Cry about something that is uncertain?" she said before shaking her head. "I'm not as stupid as you."
"But I was telling the truth!"
"Okay." she shrugged, trying to maintain her nonchalant attitude. She cannot have Miyeon see her react to her words.
"Okay? That was it? Are you still human?" Miyeon widened her eyes in disbelief. "Your mother is treating another woman as her child! Do you get it? They wanted to hurt you by letting your mother treat another person as her daughter!"
"Okay... stop it. Seriously, your voice is annoying me. First, my mother died when I was fifteen. Second, why would my mother treat another person as her child? Its either she had forgotten about me or she was another woman at all. So quit yapping, its irritating me." Chaeyoung said. "As I have promised, I will let my men bring you to the police. Your father is safe and is waiting for you at the station."
"Also, treasure this moment with your father. If I am right then... the one backing Yuri might kill you, to tie up loose ends," she added before turning her back at Miyeon.
"Wait!" Miyeon said, halting Chaeyoung's steps. Seeing Chaeyoung turned her head to her direction, she asked. "Do you... Did you once see me as a rival? Did you once felt fear that I... I might take Lisa away from you?" This was the question that Miyeon wanted to ask after what happened to her family.
She can see Chaeyoung acting all mighty and she wondered if.... Chaeyoung even once feared that she could take Lisa away from her.
Chaeyoung just chuckled at her words. "Miyeon, let me tell you something."
"I never once feared that someone will take Lisa away from me. It doesn't mean that I do not love her. It just means that I trust her enough for me to believe that she will not cheat on our relationship."
"And if.. and only if she would hurt me and choose someone else over me... then it is not my loss."
"I clearly deserve someone else. Someone better than her. Someone who deserves my trust. Someone who will not hurt me."
"Now, keep my words in your mind and use it for your next life," she said before walking out of the room leaving a daze Miyeon inside.
Chaeyoung was sure that Henry will have someone kill Miyeon. And she does not pity her at all, nor does she sympathize with her. Miyeon made her choices and this time, she clearly made the wrong one.
However, Chaeyoung is really interested in the words Miyeon told her about her mother. Is she really alive like what Miyeon claimed? So is it possible that she survived the accident? What happened to her after the accident? Is it possible that Henry kept her captive for years?
Then Chaeyoung thought about the events in her previous life. Around this time, she was already a budding starlet, yet she does not remember Henry Lee doing something to her. Nor she remembered knowing that her mother was alive.
What could have happened?
"What's wrong?" Lisa asked Chaeyoung the moment she saw her grim face.
"She said something that is making me confuse," she answered before sitting across Lisa. They were currently in the living room of the villa and Lisa was busy reading some documents.
The latter insisted on working at home and accompanying Chaeyoung after the fire incident happened. Lisa is convinced that Henry is after Chaeyoung's life so she wanted to always stay with her.
"What?"
"She said my mother is alive." Chaeyoung said.
"But... that's..."
"Impossible? I know." she shrugged.
"But you believe her?" Lisa asked.
"I'm only doubtful. That's all. I still want to confirm her words." she answered before asking Lisa to pass the box to her.
After Jia Yan left, Chaeyoung decided that it is best if she finished dealing with Miyeon first before checking out the contents of the box.
Lisa immediately passed her the box and looked at her, she also wanted to know what is inside of this box.
Chaeyoung then carefully opened the box and decided to first open the folded paper. It was a paper folded as an airplane.
She meticulously unfolded the paper and frowned when she saw that what was written were nothing but jumbled letters and numbers as well as symbols that do not make any sense to Chaeyoung.
"Weird... I think... I think they are the same with the one written on my mother's journal." she mumbled before passing the paper to Lisa.
Then she opened the photo album which only consisted of two photos.
Chaeyoung narrowed her eyes at the first photo. It was clearly Claire with a group of men and women smiling towards the camera. They are outside of what seemed to be a restaurant. Then the second photo was still with Claire. However this time there were only two women in the photo. One was a blond tall woman and the other one was Claire who was holding a long firearm inside a shooting range. She was not smiling and was clearly annoyed at the woman beside her.
"Hey, do you know anything about Jia Yan's father?" she asked Lisa, her eyes still glued at the photos.
"Jin just gave me the information about the Jia family." Lisa answered. "His father was a businessman while his mother was an actress."
"However, his father was known to be a transnational criminal organization member that ships guns illegally all over the world. But this was not proven. It was just a speculation."
Chaeyoung turned silent at Lisa's words. Organized crimes? Why would her mother accompany someone like that? Her grandfather clearly told her that she was in the military and was not working at the field.
So why would she have pictures of herself holding a gun?
She remembered that Henry Lee was also a well-known member of an organized crime group. Does that mean that Henry's hatred toward Chaeyoung and her mother was because Claire and Henry were enemies before?
After realizing that she is getting nowhere, Chaeyoung decided to turn on the voice recorder.
A static was heard as she hit the replay button. After a few minutes, a croaky voice was said,
"Miss Park, do forgive me for doing this. But I want to see you and tell something important. I believe you need to know something about your mother. You might find this funny and doubt my words, however, Miss Park not only did I made a thorough research about you, but I also made sure to check out every detail of the past so I am sure that the person that I am talking about is your mother. Miss Park trust is very important in this message and I want you to trust me. The folded paper contains a secret message that only your mother can decipher. However, I think that you also have the skills to do this. Miss Park anyone could read the message and listen to this recording but I believe that only you and your mother can see the hidden meaning of the numbers and letters. The paper contains a number and an address. Call that number and use that address."
Silence.
Chaeyoung stared at Lisa as blood started to rush in her body. She widened her eyes and decided to replay the recording.
Chaeyoung's mind started to work on its own, automatically analyzing every detail of the recording. Every word of the message, every letter, and number from the paper starts to dance in her mind.
Her hands started to sweat as her heart started to race. She just realized something!
The recording itself contains a hidden message!
....
Yuri drank another mouthful of water as she silently looked at Henry Lee. The latter was pacing, his head lowered, hands behind his back. After their failure, Henry had been very agitated, his seemingly short temperament appeared to have become a ticking time bomb with the ability to explode anytime.
Yuri continued to watch Henry before she lowered her head. If worse comes to worst, she had already planned on killing Claire to get back at Chaeyoung.
"I recommend we leak some evidence that will point towards Chaeyoung being my mother's murderer." Yuri interrupted Henry's thoughts.
"That's exactly what I had been thinking but... I want to make sure we do this properly this time. There should be no more lapses, no hole that they could take advantage of."
"She killed my mother, you think she could bend the truth?" she asked, sometimes, she really does not understand Henry's way of thinking. He seemed to hate Chaeyoung so much yet there are also times when he would do this- hesitate as if he is afraid someone would found out his actions towards Chaeyoung.
For Yuri, Henry's actions does not make any sense. Is he afraid that Claire would know his evil actions towards her daughter? But Claire has amnesia. How would she feel sad for a daughter that she doesn't even know?
"Chaeyoung is cunning. We cannot underestimate her."
Yuri just nodded at Henry's words. She already made up her mind. After this, she will leak some information to the media about her mother's death as well as Eunwoo and Wendy's disappearance.
Yuri is already at the point where revenge is the only thing that she could think of. For her, Chaeyoung's existence is akin to a sword, slowly slicing her heart piece by piece. She cannot continue watching Chaeyoung be happy and not take responsibilities of her previous actions anymore.
"Claire said that she wanted to stay with me," she said.
"I know... I can't have her leave my side. I already found a reason so she could not go out of this island."
"Hmmm... " she nodded, if Claire will stay inside this island, then Yuri would not have the opportunity to kill her. No. She needed Claire out of this island. "What are you afraid of? She does not remember Chaeyoung? What could she do to me?"
Henry scoffed at Yuri's words. What could Claire do to Yuri? Good question... Henry already confirmed that Claire indeed had amnesia. However, everyone can always make the snake believe that it is a bunny. Yet at the end of the day, it will still bite you like a snake if you agitate it. A snake is a snake no matter how you convince it that it is a bunny.
"Can... can you at least give her a chance? Maybe just a day out of this island? We can just go somewhere just mother and daughter. You can even come with us. or have someone follow us." she said. That's right, Claire needed to go out of this island so she could have the opportunity to kill her. Then she would run... Run away from Henry Lee, away from Chaeyoung... away from everyone.
She would not care if Henry will chase her or capture her. She would not even care of he will kill her. The most important thing is her revenge. She would let Chaeyoung watched as Claire treat Yuri as her daughter, then slowly stab her in the back. Yuri would let Claire bleed in front of Chaeyoung. She would watch Chaeyoung as she twisted the blade into Claire's body.
Just the thought of it is making Yuri happy, excited, satisfied. That's right! This is the only path that she could take to have her revenge. A mother for a mother.
It is justice.
It is only fair.
....
Meanwhile, Chaeyoung was just staring at the folded paper in her hands as the recording keeps on replaying in his mind.
Do Not Trust Anyone.
She gritted her teeth and close her eyes.
What was the warning for? She could not just jump into conclusions because of some message from someone that she doesn't even know until now.
What if someone is trying to trick her into doubting her associates. Could it be Henry Lee?
Just the thought of Henry is making Chaeyoung more agitated. Just what was his connection to her mother?
"Hey, you should have some rest." Lisa's voice gently woke her up from her stupor. "Stop worrying too much. It's not good for your health," Lisa said as she kissed her temple.
For some reason, Lisa's words made Chaeyoung feel a little lighter. As if it was an assurance, a reminder that no matter what happen she would always be there for her.
....
"Morning." Lisa said when she noticed that Chaeyoung is already awake in her arms. The latter was just staring at her, enveloped in her own thoughts.
"Hey, beautiful," she smiled. "What do you want for breakfast?"
"Can I have you?" Lisa asked
Chaeyoung just laugh at her words, "You already had your fill last night are you trying to exhaust me to the point of death?"
"So anything aside from me for breakfast?" she asked.
"You will cook?" Lisa raised an eyebrow.
"Sure."
"Bacon and egg."
"Great!" Chaeyoung said as she got up and dragged her legs out of the bed. She then shook her head when she notice her numb back. Lisa always had her own ways on making her fall asleep.
Then she made her way into the kitchen to make some breakfast for the both of them.
Although Laura assigned some servants to take care of their needs, both Chaeyoung and Lisa would still insist on making breakfast for each other most of the times.
"I think we should move to our own house soon," she said when she noticed Lisa standing at the center island looking at her. Lisa must have followed her to the kitchen.
"I agree. I already found a place. We should check it out soon."
Chaeyoung instantly raised an eyebrow at Lisa. "That fast?"
"I've been checking since we arrive."
"Hmmm," she nodded.
"You will have another board meeting today," Lisa said.
"Yeah.. those people are not really planning on giving me a break."
"It's business. However, that Mr. Lu should be related to Henry Lee in some way," Lisa answered before sitting opposite to Chaeyoung who was busy cooking some eggs. "Did you found something last night?"
Chaeyoung spent a lot of time in her laptop after she heard the message from the box. She was checking every information that she could find about Jia Yan's father and his connections to Claire. She also started tracking Henry using Jungkook's previous data.
"I was able to hack into the cloud account of his phone last night. And I found something really disturbing, a text message on the night of the accident." Chaeyoung made sure that no one is around them before she continued and turned to face Lisa. "Someone asked to see him. If I remember correctly the exact message was 'old comrade I'll see you at the old place for us old people'. It sounded like a joke. But he received this message before midnight. That was before he went out to see an 'old friend'."
"Strange. You think it is connected to..."
"I don't know Lis." she let out a sigh. "I think he was telling me that my mother is still alive."
"But?"
"But I also think he was telling me not to find her. That someone is watching me. I don't know." she said. All she knows now is not to trust anyone. Of course, except for Lisa.
"You mentioned that after I had died you took care of Eunwoo and Yuri... did you.. did you have someone investigate my death? Was it really an accident?" she asked. This question had been bugging her since the fire at the Wang Estate.
Was it possible that Henry was the one responsible for her death in the previous life?
In response, Lisa nodded."Yes... but I was not able to find anything suspicious. They told me you were drunk, and I was not exactly thinking straight after knowing that something happened to you."
After Chaeyoung's death in their past life, Lisa did her best to avenge her. Lisa was too focused on revenge that she did not really pay any heed to what happened to her. Also, It was partly because she was still blaming herself for Chaeyoung's death.
However, Chaeyoung's words this time made Lisa think of what really happened in their past life. "But days before the accident I remember seeing someone follow you while taking some of your pictures. I just... well, I thought it was just the paparazzi. You were famous after all."
Chaeyoung instantly frowned at her words. So there is a possibility that her death was no accident at all. She let out a long sigh before giving her attention back to the slices of bacon in front of her.
So what if someone killed her before? Would it matter now?
The only thing that Chaeyoung can do now is to slowly solve the mystery that involved her mother. However, she also needs to be careful and watch her back. After all, Henry was clearly after her life.
The thought of Henry instantly made Chaeyoung froze. That's right! She had a way to find him!
"Lili can you get my laptop for me?" she said, the excitement obvious in her eyes.
Seeing Chaeyoung's enthusiasm Lisa immediately went towards their room to get her laptop. Lisa then gave it to Chaeyoung and watched her wrote some codes.
However before she could finish, Jin came striding towards them.
"Young miss... we have a situation." Jin suddenly said while panting. The couple looked at Jin waiting for him to speak. "The police are here... they wanted to talk to the young miss."
....
"I'm sorry, but Sunmi was from Korea and not from this country. So, this is out of your jurisdiction. I don't think this crime should be investigated here, am I wrong?" Lisa asked one of the policemen, who were sitting across her and Chaeyoung.
"No, but we have received a complaint from Miss Yuri, saying that Miss Chaeyoung is the one responsible for her mother's death."
Chaeyoung just stared at the policemen in front of her. Until now, Chaeyoung couldn't believe that Yuri could be stupid to the extent, to believe Henry's words about Sunmi's death. However, just the fact that Henry had already been manipulating her for so long, proved that she was extremely stupid.
"I wonder if you can provide me with a valid proof? Any facts that can support such claims?" Chaeyoung asked. "You do know that this visit can cause another rumor, right?"
"Miss Park, we are simply confirming your location on the night that Mrs. Sunmi Park has disappeared. Then, we will forward the case to Korea."
"I was performing for an event that night. Then, I went home. Lisa also arrived, maybe an hour or two after me. Then, we didn't leave the property anymore. You can check the CCTV camera's, I have it all recorded." she said. Of course, she would keep records of that night. After all, she had already known that this day would come.
Seeing the police officers in daze Chaeyoung continued, "I will send it to you after this visit. Moreover, I'll send the GPS data from my car and phone, so you can make sure that I didn't go anywhere that night."
"Is there anything else, Officer?" she asked before getting up. Since Yuri was adamant about destroying her, then she would not hesitate to reciprocate.
"Ah... no... nothing else Miss Park. We appreciate your cooperation," one of the police officers answered before wiping a nonexistent sweat on his forehead. Chaeyoung and Lisa's dominant presence was making him nervous as if they were staring straight into the depths of his soul. He needed to inform his superior that he would never approach this duo again.
"Good. We won't see you off." Lisa said before leaving with Chaeyoung.
"They are one, scary couple!" the younger policeman hissed after letting out a sigh of relief.
"Shhh... stop talking. Do you want to lose your head? Let's go!"
"Tsk... At first, I couldn't understand why no one wanted to talk to them. Now, I know why... That Yuri is so stupid, thinking that she can use her pitiful act to have Miss Chaeyoung arrested. Look at how thorough she was? She even had GPS records! She is clearly prepared ah!"
"Shhh... I told you not to say anything!" the older policeman scolded before he lowered his voice. "Yuri is rumored to have some sexual relations with the head of our department. It's not strange for him to demand an investigation. That fox must have told him something."
"I know! Everyone on the station knows that. If she did not have any relations with the chief, then there was no way for him to make us ask questions without any evidence."
"Ayah! Let's not talk about it anymore. That Yuri is just digging her own grave. I just hope that she will not drag our chief in the process," he shook his head before boarding the police car which was waiting outside of the villa.
....
"What are you doing?" Lisa asked when she saw Chaeyoung busily typing some codes on her laptop.
"I'm creating a system to track everything about Henry, phone calls, emails, history, as well as a program that will track him around and automatically take some photos using satellite."
"You can do that?"
"I'm trying to create a..."
"An artificial intelligence system?"
Chaeyoung nodded. "Sure... you can call it that way, but this... is a little illegal so..." she shrugged.
"And why make something like this only now?" Lisa asked, wondering why she hadn't made this the moment Henry attacked Manoban Conglomerate to get the USB.
"Because I don't know if I can do it yet... but somehow, the sequence of numbers and letters from my mother's journal gave me the idea that it's some sort of a system. Like an artificial intelligence system."
"Hmmm... Are you planning to use this for your military project as well?"
"Yes. I am, but if I use this for the military, then it will be very expensive... However, Luxembourg was the one, who bought my devouring virus and had it personalized for all of their computers. They have spent hundreds of millions on that project. So, I'm sure they can also afford this project."
"Hey, do you know that Luxembourg is controlled by royalty?" Lisa asked.
"Yeah... what about it?"
"Do you know that the leading family is the Braun Family: a branch of the prestigious Lee Family?"
Chaeyoung instantly frowned when she heard Lisa's words, "Lee Family? Is that related to..."
"I don't know. This family is one of the founding families of Luxembourg, and all of their files are kept a top secret," Lisa answered. "However, Henry Lee's family history is very clear, he came from another Lee Family, not as prestigious as the one in Luxembourg."
Chaeyoung did not answer Lisa, as she stared at the codes running in front of her. Lee Family huh...
She remembered talking to someone from the Lee Family before. Her name was Lee Hyeri. She was the one, who informed her that she somehow looked like Henry Lee.
"By the way," she made a deliberate pause, as she pressed the enter tab on her laptop. "When will the DNA result arrive?" she was talking about her and Jacob Park's hair DNA test result.
"We will get it till the end of the day," Lisa answered, as she started working on her own laptop.
For some reason, Chaeyoung's heart seemed to skip a beat when she heard Lisa's words. Soon, she would know if Jacob was her biological father or no. She pursed her lips, as she started wondering about the things that she would do if Jacob was not her father. Should she search for her real father?
.....