The Wheel Of Fortune

I knock at the door while Ryou puts on his mask. Right before the door opens, I take a quick glance at Ryou to see if he is done and turn back to greet the neighbor.

An old man in his late 70s steps out and glances at us in question. Ryou clears his throat and steps forward before speaking, “Sir, are you aware of what took place in Felicia’s house a week before, the house right beside yours?”

“...Yes, but who are you? What do you want?”

I rapidly take over the questioning, “Sorry to disturb you, I am Nadya from EXH and this is...my partner, we are investigating Peter’s case. We wanted to know, were you at home on the day Peter and Daniel disappeared? We want to ask a few questions.”

“Yes, I was, why?” He steps out fully and closes the door behind him.

“Then by any chance, you heard or saw something suspicious between 8:30 to 9 pm? And that room, right beside Peter’s study, whose room is that? Uhm...the room has a clear view of the study so I wanted to know.”

“No, I didn’t hear anything but you can ask my granddaughter, her room is the one you are talking about. Wait a minute, I will call her.” Once I am sure he is out of the hearing range, I lean forward till my cheek bumps against Ryou’s shoulder and whisper, “You should really come up with a name for when we are in public. I don’t want people to crowd around us while we are working.”

I step back as soon as I hear the sound of incoming footsteps. Soon, the door opens and a teenage girl steps out with her grandfather. “Hello.” She greets us hesitantly and I notice how her eyes stay longer on Ryou's figure.

Noticing her fear, her grandfather wraps his arm around her shoulder, “Don’t worry, they are here just to ask you a few questions.” He smiles at her before looking back at us.

“...Did you hear or see something from your window on 18th at around 9 pm?” Ryou inquires.

She thinks for a moment and shakes her head, “I didn’t see anything....but I heard a loud sound from outside, like something fell down and I think I heard someone’s shout. I was going upstairs at that time and by the time I looked out of the window, there was no one around, I thought it was my imagination later on and let it go.”

“Around what time did this happen?”

“Uhm...before 9 pm.”

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, my favourite program starts at that time and I was going back to my room to watch it so I am sure it was before 9 pm."

We thank them and leave to ask around some more. Unfortunately, no one else saw or heard anything so we decided to return home after dropping the sample blood and fingerprint we got from the scene at the Forensic Department of EXH.

“Ryou, what did Ada say about Safan’s case? Will we continue the investigation?” I ask as he walks around the car to reach the driver’s seat. I stop right in front of the door of the passenger seat and look at him, over the car. He pauses and shoots me a glance before continuing his act of opening the door, “She said to ‘wait for the next chance because this not over yet’." Without explaining further, he gets inside the car.

I absentmindedly reach for the handle. ‘Wait for the next chance’? A chance for what? What is she trying to say? Isn’t there only case Safan’s murder case?

“Get in.”

I snap out of my thoughts and open the door.

“Hey, watch where you are going,” I shout while stabilizing myself. The child doesn’t even give me a glance and keeps running in the corridor. What is his problem? I raise my hand to dust my shoulder and dress. This is the reason I don’t like children, they never listen.

Luckily, I moved to the side in time but for a second I think his shoulder brushed mine. But, why did I not feel anything? I am sure our shoulders touched. I glance at the back of the boy who just ran past me before turning around to go in the opposite direction. Maybe I was wrong.

As soon as I make a turn, a girl steps right in front of me and my eye widen. I try to step out of the way but before I could even take a step back, she walked through me and I come to a standstill.

What the....what...what was that?

I pat my chest and face. Did she just go through me? I look past my shoulder to find her not even looking this way after what just happened.

Am I not visible to anyone? No wonder, one noticed me despite being standing in the middle of the corridor without their school uniform. Though I am still not sure of what is going on with me since I have gotten this opportunity let’s make use of it. I walk around some more before stopping in front of the wide door. Judging by the number of people and the hustle-brustle, it should be the cafeteria.

The sound of the clattering of chair, laughter, and the smell of food hit me once I move closer. Almost all the table is full, I can only find two tables near the corner empty. I start looking around the cafeteria to find something fun and stop as soon as I see a familiar face. I narrow my eyes as I try to get a closer look. Wait...is that Ryou?

I take hurried steps towards the table right in the middle of the cafeteria and with the most crowd. His features are softer, less defined and his height is shorter than what I am used to seeing. While anyone can see he is handsome, I find his handsome more on a boyish side than the manly side as I look over him. Looks like puberty does change one’s face.

“Congratulations.”

“No one listen to my words, didn’t I say they would win.”

The voices get louder and clearer as I step closer and closer to the table, all while with my sight trained on Ryou. My heart thuds against my chest as soon as I stop opposite Ryou’s seat, which is in the middle on the table. “How could we have not won?” I watch as he says to the boy beside him and turns to say something to the boy on the other side.

I feel a small pang of disappointment when his gaze moves past me without stopping. What was was I expecting? How could he have seen me when no one saw me? What were you thinking, Nadya?

“Ryouhei, Ryouhei, should we go clubbing to celebrate?” A girl with shoulder-length blonde hair walks around the table and hugs him from behind. Ryou stops speaking and looks down at the arm wrapped around him. He reaches for her arms and pulls her away from himself, “Thea, don’t do that again. I have already told you this multiple times.”

He shoots her a glare. All the laughs and hooting from the people on the table stop at the same time. They look awkwardly at between Thea and Ryou. I shake my head as I watch the scene with arms crossed, his personality hasn’t changed much then till now.

The boy on Ryou’s right, whose name I still don’t know puts his hand on Ryou’s shoulder, “Come on, she is just being friendly. She is like that with everyone.”

Really? I don’t think so. And judging by Ryou’s change in expression, he also does not think so. Ryou gives him a cool stare with instantly shuts him up as Thea watches the scene while biting her lip. “Hey, we were talking about clubbing, who is coming and who is not?” A girl interjects.

“I can’t come, I don’t have a fake ID.” A girl in high ponytail says before taking a sip of her juice.

“Ryouhei will arrange it for you. And Ryouhei, you are coming, right?”

“...I can’t, I have to prepare for the party next week.”

“That’s your birthday celebration but this is our victory celebration. Come on, just once. You never join us for fun. Come one, just once is fine and we will make sure no one photographs you.”

“Yeah, once is fine, it will be more interesting with you there.”

As they all try to persuade him to come, I walk closer and look down at the photo on the table. This must be a photo after the victory match. I try to spot Ryou in the photo and find him in front with the brightest smile I have ever seen on his face. He can smile like that as well?

At last, my gaze lands on the number on the corner of the photo.

17th December

I blink and the next time I lift my eyelids, I find myself under the ceiling I have gotten used to.

I raise my hand and stare at my palm....so it was a dream. It felt strangely real. I raise myself up and lean against the headboard before glancing at the clock. Am I thinking too much about Ryou that now I dreaming about him?

Remembering something and with some possibilities in my mind, I fling over the comforter and get down the bed. I know it was just a dream but I still want to check if what I am thinking is true. Though there is no hope, there is no harm in checking. I run down the stairs and peek in the kitchen, “Finlay, where did you put Ryou’s photo album, you were checking to organize yesterday?”

“I put it in the last drawer in Ryouhei’s table. What about your breakfast-”

“Thanks. I will have it later.” I cut him off and run to Ryou’s room. I push the door without knocking to find it filled with silence. He must have gone to the university, I remember him saying he is going to attend today’s classes. I get down on my knee and pull open the drawer in one agile movement.

I sit down on the floor crossed leg and start pulling all the folders one by one. As soon as I get my hand on the black album, I put it on my lap and flip through it. “17th December...17th December, where are his high school photos?” I flip to the next page before stopping and going backward.

I look at the each photo and stop at the photo on the left corner.

I take in a sharp intake of breath and tighten my grip on the album to control the trembling of my hand. I look at the photo I saw the first time in the dream and lower my gaze to the corner of the photo.

17th December

The album slips from my lap with a thump and I blankly stare at the wall. I am not sure if I should be happy that I was able to true memory or should I question if something is wrong with me?

Why do weird things keep on happening?

Now that I think about it, the dream in which I saw Ryou before meeting him was pretty accurate as well. Was that a coincidence too?