The Wheel Of Fortune

Ryou takes out something from inside the locker before raising it to show both of us while standing up. Oh, it’s the pen drive. “Is this the pen drive you were talking about?” Ryou asks while passing it to Mrs. Mian for inspection.“Yes, this is the one.”

“Mrs. Mian, can you give us your laptop?” I interject, “It is urgent.” I gently take away the pen drive from her hand. I saw her laptop on the coffee table in the hall as we were entering the mansion.

“Ah, sure. Wait here for a moment, it will take a minute.” She says and walks out of the room. Once Ryou is sure she is out of hearing range, he begins speaking, “Why are you asking for the laptop? Do you want to check the content of the pen drive here? We can do it at home.”

“But if we take away the pen drive what will be left inside? Nothing. And if there is nothing in the locker, what will Luella take with her? There needs to be at least something in there for her to take away. So...I am planning to see the content and replace the pen drive with the fake one.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Why?”

“We have to submit the pen drive in the EXH. Since the case has been taken under EXH Investigation belt, withholding any kind of information related to this will not end well for...you.” Ryou puts his hands on the desk and leans against it.

“Why only me? And I never said we will keep the pen drive. I have no plans to involve myself in trouble. Just replace the pen drive and our work is done. I don’t think only her fingerprints on the book are enough to send her to prison and it doesn’t even directly relate to Safan’s murder. Don't you think using the pen drive to catch her red-handed might be a good idea?” I walk towards the windows and peek from behind curtains.

“Because they couldn’t touch me, even if they want to, but that is not the case with you...Actually, if you want there is a way to keep Luella and pen drive both as separate cases. But do you want me to do that?”

I think for a moment before answering. But before I could say anything else, the door opens and Mrs. Mian walks in with her laptop in her hands. She passes the laptop to Ryou and tells him her password.

I thank her and step behind Ryou as he seats himself in the armchair. Mrs. Mian leaves while Ryou plugs in the pen drive and clicks to open.

“The password is needed,” Ryou says while looking at the screen. “Try the ones Mrs. Mian told us before,” I suggest while patting his shoulder. With the constant clicking on the keyword, Ryou fills all the possible passwords only to end up unsuccessful.

“There is no use. Let’s just change the pen drive first, I will just deliver the pen drive to Ada, she will deal with the rest.” He closes the laptop.

“Okay...By the way, do you know how to act?” He stops in his tracks and turns to face me.

“Sorry, I think I heard you wrong. I know what?”

“Acting, do you?” I respond with a smile on his confused expression. “We still have to leak the location of the locker to Luella and to do that casually...Uhm...do you know acting?”

“I think I can manage that much.” He says but I can still make out he is not sure about this statement himself.

“Oh, and before that can you ask Mrs. Mian to busy Luella, I want to search her room for the key.”

The city light passes in a blur as Ryou drives past a crowd of vehicles. I lower the glass on my side while waiting in the traffic only to inhale smoke. I quickly cover my mouth and reach back to close the window. What the hell? I thought the air would be fresh on such a beautiful day but who would have thought it couldn’t be any worse.

I throw my gaze around the area, crack my knuckle and lean back on the seat before glancing at Ryou. While glancing at him, I notice he is busy tapping his finger on the steering wheel as he waits for the red light to turn green.

Sensing my gaze, he glances at me before turning back to the road. “What? Do want to say something? You have been looking constantly peeking at me for the last 5 minutes.”

“Hey...Can I skip my training tomorrow?” I turn my body to face him and flash him a hopeful smile. “Please, please, you haven’t even given a day off since you started my training. Just once.”

“No.” He turns to look at me, “Before you ask again, my answer is not going to change. I said the same thing last week and I am going to give the same answer again.” He turns to start the engine once the light turns green. “And accompany me to the EXH tomorrow. I will hand over the pen drive to Ada. I know you don’t have classes tomorrow”

I shut my mouth and turn the other way, not making any more conversation until we reached home. As soon as Ryou makes a turn to enter the garage, he presses the brake on seeing what is in front of us. I lurch forward but the seatbelt helps me stay at my place. I grab the seatbelt and follow Ryou’s gaze.

A woman in her 30s and a teenage boy are standing in front of the garage gate which is right beside the front gate. I shift my gaze to the right to find a guard from the gate with them. The woman and the boy cover their eyes with their hand when the light from the headlight falls on them. Seeing their reaction, Ryou turns off the engine, and instantly our surrounding falls into silence.

Ryou stays in the car for a few seconds before removing his seatbelt and getting off the car. I move to follow but Ryou motions me to stop and moves away to talk with the guard. I settle back into my seat and watch as he talks with the guard for a minute.

The guard motions at the woman and the next moment, the woman bursts into tears as the boy immediately tries to comfort her. Are they mother and son?

In her hysteria, the woman tries to grab Ryou’s collar but Ryou moves back, letting her catch air. Just what drama is going on over there? Not being able to contain my curiosity, I exit the car, only to hear the woman asking for help. As I walk over, Ryou punches the password and lets the boy and the woman in the house after saying something to them, which I am unable to hear due to the distance.

Once I stop before Ryou, the guard bows and leaves us to our privacy. “They are here for a case. The guard waited with them at the door.”

“Are you going to take it?” I ask while opening the front door before casting a look over my shoulder.

“...Maybe.” He answers and turns his back towards me to go back to park the car. The house is empty since Finlay has already left for his flight. I turn on all the lights before making my way to the kitchen.

As soon as I step out with a tray with two glasses of water, the woman and the boy stand up at the same time. I look down to find the woman nervously fiddling with her fingers. I give a little pause before continuing on my way and keeping the tray on the coffee table. I give them a polite smile, “It’s alright, please take a seat, don’t mind me. Ryou, Oh, I mean the Prince will be here in a few minutes.”

“...Thank you.” She sits back down, “...I am Felicia and this is my son, Dannis.”

The boys let out a meek hello as Felicia introduces him, “Hello, I am Nadya, Ryouhei’s duo.” I reply while taking a seat opposite Felicia. Two minutes later, Ryou enters the room and takes a seat beside me while looking at the glasses of water before glancing at me.

“Can you tell me in detail what happened with your husband and son, and how they disappeared?”

“Yes,” Felicia fidgets in her place, “So they were kidnapped a few days ago-”

All of sudden, Ryou raises his hand to stop her, “How do you know they were kidnapped?”

“Or how else they would have disappeared? They both were in Peter’s study, my husband’s study, it was around 9 pm. I was in the kitchen waiting for my son, Daniel, and Peter to come down but they never came. At first, I thought, they were busy. They often discuss business matters in the study as they work in the same office so I didn’t think of bothering them. But after waiting for more than an hour when they still didn’t come down, I went to check.....When I went into the room, I found black blood on the table and the window was also opened. It also looked like a fight took place because the lamp and the desk were destroyed.”

“Did you try to contact the EXH? They should have assigned someone to your case. What if it is taken?”

“I did...but all they did was to tell me to come tomorrow again. This has been going on for a while.....I can’t trust them. And the case has not been taken by anyone till now. They always say they are busy. Please, you are the only one who can help us. Please save my husband and son, I am afraid it might be too late if we wait any longer. I will pay whatever is the price but please save them.” She asks in a begging tone.

From the corner of my eye, I notice Ryou glancing at me before turning back to Felicia, “I can take the case but the case can be only taken when both members of the duo agree.” I stiffen. Wait, is he throwing the ball at me? Does he want me to reject her? But if I reject then I will be the one to take the blame and look bad. I look at Ryou. What does he want me to do?

Is he really asking for my opinion or does he wants me to reject her for him? I try to read Ryou’s expression but unfortunately, his face remains expressionless. Hearing his sentence, Felicia turns her desperate gaze towards me. I think for a moment before answering.

“We will take the case.”

“Thank you...thank you, thank you so much.” Felicia stands up and reaches to hold my hand. I stand up and pat her hand once to calm her down before letting go awkwardly, “It’s our job...Uhm...there is no need for you to say thanks.”

After all, we will take the money for the case.

I only took the case because I wanted to see how it goes and it’s my first time taking a case as a duo after coming here. Without any reaction on his part, Ryou starts going over all the details and proceedings they have to complete before he can officially take the case under his name.

“Why did you take the case? It didn’t sound much difficult.” I say after closing the door once Felicia and Daniel leave. I am aware he takes a case based on the difficulty level and that’s why there are so fewer cases for him to take since simple ones always go to lower-ranking duos.

“It does not. I have taken cases on kidnapping by turned humans before and they are not difficult if you compare them to other types of cases....but I thought you wanted to take it. Wouldn’t this be your first official case? And I would be free for two weeks after this month’s meetings so it is better to do something than doing nothing.” He says as we enter the living room. “And do a favor for me from now on, whenever I want to reject the case, do it for me.”

“Why?”

“With my position, if I ever reject a case, it might, later on, be used against me.”

I now understand why he left the answer to me. In fact, he didn’t care if we took the case or not, he just didn’t wanted to be the one to reject her if we didn’t happen to take the case. “Then how did you manage till now?”

“I only took cases that the administration provided me,” He turns his body halfway and puts his hands in his pockets while looking at me, “But now that you are here...” He leaves the sentence incomplete but I understood what he is trying to say.

“Okay, whatever it is. I am going to bed, Goodnight. I will skip dinner tonight.” I turn to walk away.

“Wait,” There is a grip on my arm which makes me pause and glance at the hand before looking up at its owner, “Help me make dinner.”

“I don’t know how to cook, I can only make simple dishes and I don’t think you would like them. Cook yourself.” I have heard from Finlay that he is good at cooking and he also learned cooking from Finlay.

“I am not asking you to cook. Just cut the vegetables, I will do the cooking. If the dinner is for both of us, both of us should contribute?”

“I will skip the dinner.”

“Only because you are too lazy to make it.” How did he know?

When I don’t make any move to help, he lets out a sigh and starts pulling me towards the kitchen. I try to drag my feet and it doesn’t work so I try to pull my hand out to make a run to my room. But he keeps a tight grip on my arm and makes me stand in front of the countertop before handing me the vegetables and knife. I look at him once and reach for the knife with some reluctance. I really don’t want to do anything today.

“Get to work.”