"May I take your fucking order."
I wince slightly at the coffee staff member's attitude. I would teach him a lesson but I'm in a pretty cruddy mood as well so I let it slide.
"Yes, one vanilla coffee please." I reply, handing him the rest of the change I have on me. I'll have to go to the bank or use my debit card now.
I exit the cafe once I receive my beverage and start walking to the alley from yesterday. I want to go where I didn't go last time. Maybe there's more to see. Maybe I'll see him again. I want to know more. I NEED to know more. For myself and this case of course. I down my coffee in minutes and throw it out. I'm so tired. I barely got any sleep last night. My entire mind was flooded with thoughts about the man I saw yesterday afternoon. Who was he? Was he the killer? What's his back story? I want to know everything. But I need to gain his trust, become a friend first. That's the only way it seems. Walking into the alley, I make a beeline for the turn I declined last time. I make the move and run in. Nothing but more alley.
"Is the guy even here?" I ask myself.
Then I feel a vibration against my leg. Opening my coat pocket, I answer my cell phone. Its Seokjin.
Picking up, I sigh into the phone.
"Hello, Seokjin."
"How's my princess doing?" I hear the familiar egotistic voice reply, and I cringe. Not that his voice isn't nice, he's actually a very good singer. Its just that I hate it when he calls me princess.
"I'm not your princess. I have to go." I proceed to hang up, but he stops me.
"Wait. Be safe out there, you don't know how dangerous he is if you find him. But if you do get hurt, I'm always here for you!!" I can see him winking.
"Thanks. Bye." I power off my phone quickly.
I walk deeper into the dark and creepy alley. Trash cans lie around and I cover my nose with my sleeve. I even see a cat walking around. Trash litters the pathway despite the trash cans half empty, I can see. This place looks like it hasn't been checked up on in weeks, maybe a month. At the end of the path, I find a doorway to a small, skinny building. I try the door. Locked, obviously. And so that leads me to a dead end. I start walking back, and as soon as I turn the corner, I hear a click. I turn around and see the door to the building closing, a large, slender hand on the door knob, a cashmere coat following behind.
I run towards the man, I'm sure it was him from yesterday! I run as fast as I can but I'm just short; the door closes just as a I reach it. I hear the click of the door locking once more. I sigh and lean against the wall. How could I have missed him like this?
Wait.
What if he was waiting for me to leave?
It's a possibility. If he really is the suspect, he would definitely refrain from people following him.
I should go home, there's nothing else to see here.
Before I leave, I take out my notepad and draw the apartment. Small and isolated. Perfect for a man in hiding. I'll find him, he won't escape. I'm smooth as a snake. Giving myself this pep talk, I stop. I sound like Seokjin, so proud of myself. Ew. I shudder and walk back to my place, a game plan formulating in my mind. Go to the house, wait for him to come. If he doesn't show up, I'll scout out the property a little more and report back to base. Perfect. My stomach rumbles. Probably time for lunch. I catch a cab over to the nearest fast food place, refining and going over my plan again and again. I almost don't notice when the taxi stopped and waited for his pay. I gave it to him and hopped out the car.
Remembering that I was low on cash ( since my debit card was at home), I ended up only ordering a burger-and-drink combo for only $4.99. After finishing, I started thinking about the encounter yesterday. Tall and intimidating, but strangely admirable. I think it was his eyes. It was like he was daring you to take a step, the power in just a look. I wonder what it would be like to have that, let me call it, ability. I started imagining scaring Seokjin away from me. Life would be so much simpler.
Back at home, I think about reporting back to base on my findings. But then I decide against it. I don't want to give them useless information. I mean, its valuable, but irrelevant as well since I'm unsure whether I have the right person or not. Mr.Ryu is really strict and I don't want to be demoted from his "best of the best" label on me. Or should I? I really don't know. You know what, I'll keep going back until I know its him. If its him, I'll tell Mr.Ryu and continue my assignment. If not I'll just act like nothing happened. Yeah, ok, that works. I'll have him in the palm of my hand.
But as I worked on paperwork late into the night on my laptop as the darkness from the sky enveloped my apartment, I couldn't help but feel the man's stare drilling into the back of my neck; but whenever I whirled around, he wasn't there.