The Wheel Of Fortune

I shield my eyes with my hand and look up till I can feel my neck stretching. Just how many floors are there? 1, 2, 3.... “Nadya.” A hand blocks my sight, obstructing my counting.

“Uh...ah, yes?” I turn to Ryou once he stops beside me after parking the car, “When did you come back? Did you find the space?”

“Yeah.” He glances at the glass door of the building, “Why aren’t you going in?”

I throw him a look of inquiry, "Would they let us in? Look at the guards near the entrance. I think we should ask the person in charge before entering.” Wouldn’t we get in trouble if we go into the office building without permission? He raises an eyebrow at my statement.

“I didn’t see you doing that when we went to visit Luella...And it looks like there are still many things you are not aware of, about current affairs of this side.” He says before walking past me and walking towards the entrance.

Huh? What does that have to do with this? I look at his back in confusion and move to follow him. As he walks through the entrance, the guards on both sides bow at him. He says something to them and goes inside. I look at the scene unfolding in front of me with incredibility. Does his political power extend to that much?

For a second, I was thinking they would stop me but instead, they let me walk past them without a word. As soon I walk in, I spot Ryou waiting in front of the elevator, I jog up to him and take my stand on the side. The elevator opens with a Ding and we step into an empty elevator.

Once we exit the elevator on the tenth floor, I notice a man walking our way from the corner of my eye. All of a sudden, he stops in the middle of an aisle and I turn towards him. On turning towards him, I find his wide eyes trained on Ryou. I glance at Ryou, who has not noticed the man, before looking back at him.

And the next moment, he turns around and eludes. Not even a second, later there is a lot of thumps and sound of people running that I can even feel the vibration from the floor. While Ryou and I make our way to the corridor the man into, the noises keep on increasing. Just what is going on? Why is there so much commotion?

As soon we enter the corridor and my line of sight stops on the desks and all the employees. I stop walking at this show of respect. My mouth falls open at the scene.

As pin-drop silence has overcome the room, I stare at everyone bowing at Ryou. Ryou also stops when he doesn’t hear my footsteps. He gives me a confused glance, “What happened? Why did you stop?”

I look back at him. This is so uncomfortable. How can I not stop at the sight? He may be accustomed to it but I am not. He is not even acknowledging them. I try to ignore there presence and get moving.

Seeing me sneaking glances at everyone, he also didn't ignore them, "You all can sit down."

Just then a man comes running towards us followed by the man I saw near the elevator. The man in the front gives Ryou a bow with familiarity before straightening up, “Your grace, is there something I can help you with? Should I call-”

“Tell me, which one is Dannis’s desk.”

The manager blinks at his question, “Uh...That one,” The man points at the desk on the second row. “Your Grace...can I... ask why are you asking about Dannis’s desk?” I look back at the man to see some hesitation and expectation on his face.

Ryou keeps his lips close for a moment that I almost thought he will never answer but he opens his mouth at last, “It’s for a case investigation, that’s all you need to know.” He turns around to make his way to Dannis’s desk but stops in the middle and turns back around, “And don’t call the CEO.”

“Ryouhei, I think it might be too late for that.”

On hearing a new voice, I look over my shoulder and watch as a woman in a grey business suit make her way to us. A shine from her finger catches my attention and I look down till my sight lands on the diamond ring on the woman’s ring finger. I look back at her face with newfound interest.

“Though I was hoping we wouldn't meet but anyway, Brienne, it has been a while.” Ryou turns around and greets her with a hint of a smile.

“I thought you didn’t want to see me.” Brienne says as she stops two steps away from Ryouhei, “It has been four years since you last visited me. Why are you here today? Did you remember your cousin after four years of forgetting?”

“I have no interest in you, don't worry. It is related to the investigation...By the way, how are you and Tevin?”

“I almost thought you would never ask, we are good by the way...but...” She glances at me before looking back at Ryou with a teasing smile, “it looks like you are better than me. I am hearing about you and your new friend a lot these days and she is the one I am hearing about, right?”

Ryou doesn’t say anything in return so Brienne steps forward and extends her hand, “I wanted to meet you ever since I first heard. I am Brienne, Ryouhei’s cousin.” I reach for her hand when I hear Ryou’s voice from behind me, “She is my first uncle’s daughter and eldest among all my cousins.”

No wonder he walked in so easily.

“Since the introductions are done, you can go your way. I have to continue the investigation.” Ryou waves her off and continues walking back to Dannis’s desk. Brienne doesn’t even glance at him like she is accustomed to him, instead continues talking to me, “Are you free after this? Do you want to grab a coffee once you are free?”

“...Maybe next time, I have some work to do.” I don’t really want to talk to strangers.

“Sure, call me next time. I will not disturb you then, ” She reaches for the inside pocket of her blazer and pulls out a business card, “This is my card. Call me when you want grab a coffee.” She ends our conversation with a few words and dismisses everyone who is standing behind me before leaving.

On reaching Ryou, I find him going through files in Dannis’s drawer. He starts speaking as soon as I reach him, “I have already asked around...and that woman, ” He points to the woman opposite us, “said that Dannis started acting strange and avoiding everyone 3 days before he disappeared. They are friends.”

“Strange? How strange?”

“He started acting closed off which was unlike his usual personality according to her.” He puts his arm on the raised closed area of the desk and leans against it. He lowers his voice and continues “...It might not be just some random kidnapping as we discussed before...There is nothing else here, let’s move on to Peter’s floor.”

After cleaning up, we move to the elevator and I let the door close before asking, “About Brienne...is she married?”

“Not only she is married, but she also has two kids of her own.”

“What?” I shout in shock. But...but..she looks so young and beautiful. I remember seeing photos of royal family members in the newspaper once and the first thing that came into my mind was, just how good-looking they all are.

“Should I call her Princess, next time?” The title would suit her face.

“Don't, she gave up the right to the throne to become CEO, just call her Brienne next time. It can cause serious trouble. She decided to succeed my father since I wasn’t up to take over the company before being crowned.”

“Does that mean this is your father’s business?”

“No, my grandfather’s. My father took care of it for 10 years and after getting crowned, he started managing it in his free time while my first and second uncle did the rest...He wanted me to follow his path...” He pauses with a faraway look, “but I turned him down. Though I still own 10% of the shares that was given to me by my grandfather and some from my father.”

I observe his expression and try to keep my mouth shut but at last I can't contain myself, "Do you ever regret not taking over the company?"

"No, never...at my position, I can't afford emotions like regret." He answers before exiting the elevator.

Huff, Huff- “How long will I have to keep going?”

The sun has risen, it should be around 9 am. It’s enough, isn’t it? Maybe I should start getting ready. I start putting down the spear but stop midway. No, let’s do it for 10 more minutes.

I spread my legs to get into the stance Ryou has taught me before and raise my spear.

After another 20 minutes, I rotate the spear one last time and put it down absentmindedly, ending the training. Since I have already completed my daily quota; this should be enough for today. I put the spear back in the equipment room and drape the towel over my shoulders while making my way towards the main library. Ryou should be still there.

He has been staying in the library since we came back after meeting Brienne which was 3 days ago. I push open the glass door and step in. The light from the French windows surrounds me once I near the table. The library I am currently standing in is even larger than the one we usually use and with a much greater number of books. But most of these books and files contain information related to EXH and cases so we rarely enter this library.

The library is painted in white with shelves touching the ceiling and there is also a second floor on one side of the library. While the whole house gives a modern feel this library design is mostly Victorian based. The books on the second floor are mostly non-fiction like an autobiography, self-help books, and many more. There is also a long ladder perched on the side, against the shelves.

And the long white table which is usually empty is currently covered with papers and books that I can’t even catch a glimpse of its surface. As I stop before the table, I pull my gaze away from the walls of the library and grab the topmost file from the bundle.

“What is this?” After skimming through some pages, I close the file and put it back in its original place. I glance at Ryou to find him looming over a large paper placed on the other side of the paper. He is busy looking at his tablet which is placed at the corner of the table before moving to mark something on the paper placed under him.

“What are you doing?” I walk around the table to get a closer look. He steps to the side to create a space for me.

Oh, he is marking something on the map. But I can’t identify the area. What is this place? I take a step closer and focus on the red line he has over the map. The line stretches for 20-22 kilometers on the map. “The taxi in which we saw Dannis and Peter at 9:13, took this road. I used CCTV cameras on the roads and intersections to trace their route.”

“So that means they should be at this place...” I say while tapping my finger where the line ends.

“No.”

“Why?” I ask confused. Didn’t he say he traced their path?

“That is the place where they were last seen but that is definitely not the end. I couldn’t trace their path from there since there is no CCTV after that for the next 12 km. That area is newly developed and there are fewer residential blocks so there was no hurry in placing CCTVs. See here...” He moves the laptop to face us and starts a video after some clicks.

A video of a road filled with vehicles starts playing on the screen. It plays for a while before Ryou pauses it suddenly. “Look, the taxi passed this point at 12:18-”

“12:18? Isn’t that too much time? They traveled 20-22 km at most so they should have reached this intersect in one and a half an hour at most.” In fact, they should reach this point in 40 minutes if they went at normal speed.

“I noticed; I will come to that point later. Now....look at the point where they should be next seen...” He opens the next video and plays it in fast-forward. But as anticipated during the whole next 6-hour video we don’t see even a glimpse of the taxi. “So they never crossed this point at the end,” I conclude.

“Yes, and I also checked the other two routes, there were three routes in total. But the result was the same.”

“What if they used some other road, where there was no CCTV?” It could still be a possibility.

“I also thought the same so I was checking the map... Unfortunately, all the routes other than these three resulted in dead ends. There is no other way.”

“Then where did they go?” I ask exasperated, “It’s not like they will disappear altogether. They must be somewhere.”

“.... Actually they could disappear-”

“What?”