It was a rainy day. Rain battered the windows and a methodic drumming sound was created, surrounding Alhaitham's house in an air of dreariness.
Yeong-su was scheduled to pick me up in an hour so we could drive to Heizou's office and Alhaitham was out at work, leaving me to sit in the silent solitude of my room. My mother had been blowing up my notifications in an attempt to reach me but I ignored her attempts in accordance with my resolve to move past the era where I let her control me. I didn't think I was at the point where I was ready to hear her out, so instead I allowed myself to ignore her even if it was just a short-term solution.
Ah, I guess I'll just wait until he arrives.
. . .
*quick a/n: this scene continues from where chapter 34 left off.
▇▇▇▇ is used to refer to the father's character.
"...What do you mean by that?" Alhaitham questioned Ayato, his voice tinged with a bit of unusual anxiety. "Do you know something?"
His lips spread into a thin smile as he gestured to the files. "Take a look at the files I handed you, Alhaitham. Since (Y/n) seemed like a kind-hearted girl, I did a bit of poking around for her."
Alhaitham fingered the file open and allowed his gaze to flit over the contents on the paper.
Case of ▇▇▇▇ (L/n): assigned to detective Samuel Gregory.
UPDATE: The authority of the case has been shifted to Shikanoin Heizou upon request.
Upon request? Alhaitham specifically remembered Shikanoin Heizou informing him that he had been given the case rather than volunteering for it.
" ▇▇▇▇ had many enemies," Ayato's smile deepened, "and on top of that, he has a bad reputation. When I saw that Shikanoin Heizou directly advocated to get the case transferred to himself, I found it slightly suspicious. Hence I got someone to do a little bit of digging into Shikanoin's personal history."
Turning over to the next page, Alhaitham's heart dropped into his stomach.
Shikanoin Heizou
Age: 25 (07/24)
Familial connections: Shikanoin Kagura (mother, 55), Shikanoin Takuza (father, 60)
Other: Shikanoin Inori (wife, deceased)
"His parents...are still alive?" Alhaitham clenched his fists, causing the paper to crinkle up in his grasp. Was it really him the whole time? Something about everything aligning up now feels...too perfect.
"I see you share a similar thought process." Ayato's expression became grave. "I've worked with Shikanoin Heizou in the past, and there's no way he would ever commit a crime this sloppily. In fact he would likely be able to get away with it even if he hadn't taken the case into his own hands—if anything, that puts him in a place of suspicion." Taking another sip of the boba, Ayato's gaze burned into Alhaitham's with a ferocity he hadn't seen for quite a while. "Something about this feels off. I thought to myself that he would have a motive, so I circled back to his wife, Shikanoin Inori."
"...And?"
"▇▇▇▇ (L/n), just weeks before Inori died of illness, scammed both her and Heizou out of all her money."
Seriously? Alhaitham was still skeptical. It all lined up far too perfectly for this to be the true answer to this mystery. It didn't make sense for Heizou to tell that sob story about his parents unprompted unless he was intentionally trying to win over the trust of...
Shit!
Alhaitham rapidly snatched his phone from his pockets and called (Y/n). It was five minutes past the time when she was supposed to be picked up by Yeong-su, but he wanted to call her just to make sure. If this was truly an act of revenge, he could use ▇▇▇▇'s daughter to cause deep emotional turmoil. Considering Heizou's intelligence he had likely planned for this exact sequence of events to happen, all lining up in a perfect sequence for him to exact whatever sort of goal he had.
If he hadn't wanted to be caught, he wouldn't have.
But why the hell does he want to be caught? What purpose would it grant to allow people to find out his grand scheme?
She picked up the phone. "Alhaitham? Is something the matter?"
The muffled sounds coming from the mic indicated that she was already on the road, meaning that she was alone in an enclosed space with Yeong-su. Is she on speaker phone? He couldn't tell her to get out of the car if she was on speaker phone as that would only put her in more danger.
"It's about your otome game collection."
Alhaitham knew that if he brought up her hidden hobby, she would quickly turn off the speaker phone so Yeong-su didn't find out. 'You can't tell someone that you like otomes until you know their opinion on it,' she had once told him.
"What about them?" she continued on without much of a change in tone, indicating that she likely hadn't been on speaker mode to start.
He lowered his voice to make sure Yeong-su didn't overhear his words and said: "Keep your facial expression still as if I was talking to you about something casual. You need to get out of that vehicle as quickly as possible. I can't tell you all the specifics however the person you're in the car with is likely deeply connected with the perpetrator. I know this is a lot to hear, but you need to stay still and listen to my words. Try to find an excuse that will make Yeong-su go into a store so that you're alone in the vehicle. If you have time to gather any potential evidence in the car it may be beneficial, however do not in any circumstance prioritize this if there's a possibility of him finding you. Do you understand?"
. . .
At Alhaitham's words, I felt my brain do mental somersaults. Is Yeong-su connected to the killer? What does he mean? Thankfully I had good control over my facial movements (coming from a person who's experienced with the act of playing steamy scenes in public), and replied to him nonchalantly.
"They're on the bookshelf in our room."
On the outside I felt put together, but my heart was hammering out of my chest. Fear instilled my veins and I tried my best to not clench my hands into fists. The detective's assistant being related to the perpetrator...I thought those things were too cliche to actually happen in real life. It had happened a few times in otome games I've played, but I noticed that people in the forums would roll their eyes and say that it was too unrealistic to actually happen.
"Are you alright?" Yeong-su cast a concerned look in your direction.
An excuse to make him stop somewhere and go into a store...that's right! "This is a bit embarrassing..." I laughed nervously and acted embarrassed. "I'm having really bad menstrual cramps. Would it be possible for you to go into a pharmacy and grab me a heat pad? If not I completely understand, it just hurts so bad that I can hardly think straight..."
He smiled at me without ever taking his full attention off the road. "Of course. There's one nearby, so you only have to push through for a few more minutes."
"Thank god," I let out a breath of relief and leaned back into the chair. My life had been plagued with shitty menstrual cramps in the past so I simply replicated the feeling as much as possible. "Menstrual cramps are the worst."
"So I've heard," Yeong-su let out a polite laugh.
Is he really a disingenuous person? He seems so kind...
Slam the brakes on that thought right now, (Y/n). Every dense female protagonist ends up placing their trust in the seemingly kind and genuine suspect only to be tricked and kidnapped later on. I mustn't fall into that sort of trope!
The man next to me might've helped my father's induction. Steeling up my willpower with that statement I let out a sigh to calm myself down. Glancing up into the rear-view mirror, I saw that Yeong-su's work bag was lying on the back seat. All I have to do is look through it and then bolt, right?
It takes a decent amount of time to buy something at a pharmacy so I had at least three minutes to get my job done. If I can clear him, then I can trust him. In my heart, I wanted to believe that Yeong-su wouldn't do such a thing—he had been so kind to me throughout the investigation. However at the same time, I knew that blindly believing in someone would only lead to your own misfortune. It was far better to verify the facts than waste your time contemplating on whether to believe in someone's words. So even if I was breaking his trust, this action would surely help strengthen it for the future...
The rain continued to relentlessly patter on the windshield, the rhythmic sound of the windshield wiper relaxing my nervous body. A few minutes later, the car pulled to a stop.
"Oh, let me give you money." I reached into my bag but Yeong-su stopped me, shaking his head.
"I can pay for it, Miss (Y/n). It isn't a problem for me at all."
He reassured me with his usual polite smile and grabbed an umbrella, walking into the convenience store. The gods must have blessed me today as the rain managed to conceal most people's outside view of the car, meaning that he wouldn't be able to see me unless he was right in front of the vehicle. Once I verified that he had gone into the store, I unbuckled my seatbelt and dove to the back seats, unzipping his work bag.
I'm doing this because I want to trust Yeong-su.
My heart was pounding in my chest and adrenaline coursing through my veins as I pried through his belongings. So far I had only found a laptop, paperwork, and a silver pen—I noticed that the bag had one of those secret compartments on the side. I felt around for something inside and felt my fingertips brush against some sort of jewelry, the cold sting running through my hand.
I managed to grasp the object and pulled it out.
The unmistakable glint of sapphire crystals on a golden watch greeted me. My lips parted in shock as my chest tightened in horror. No. This can't be happening. I fumbled with the watch for a second before turning it to its side, searching for the initials that would solidify him as one of the people involved, and found A.K. abbreviated on the edge of the watch.
I need to get out of here...!
Then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something. Lodged in the door trim was a tiny camera. The red dot in the center stared at me tauntingly, indicating that every move I made was being sent to Yeong-su...or perhaps someone even worse. Time seemed to slow down, the pattering of the rain endlessly droning on in my eardrums.
A crash of thunder startled me out of whatever trance I was in and I came to my senses, I started turning towards the door to open it. Perhaps if I ran fast enough, I could escape him or at least find refuge in a store so he couldn't harm me.
A sliver of hope coursed through my veins—
hihi everyone! the climax finally begins--i hope you all enjoy. there were several hints i dropped throughout the book of the true culprit, just as they did for the characters. i really want to do a few chapters telling the story of the culprit, however i worry that without alhaitham content the book will deviate from the fanfiction romance genre a bit. (maybe ill write it after the climax finishes?) thank you all for the support as always!
the art shown in the picture is NOT mine. gyogyo park is the very talented artist that created the webtoon "Goodbye, In-Law!" the manwha isn't super popular, but for those who've read it you know what yeong-su's character look-alike did lol, i didn't expect anyone to guess from just that though because it's so obscure. ^^ "Goodbye, In-Law" is an amazing manwha and I would recommend it.
i hope you all enjoy the climax now that we've finished the build-up! i'll make sure to add lots of angst <3