CHAPTER FIVE
THROUGH THE NIGHT
[NOVEMBER 22, 1981]
CAT
2:00 A.M.
"What are you doing?"
Cat jumps, startled at the sound of a familiar voice. She quickly hides the object in her hands behind her back as she turns to face her husband. Suho is standing in the doorway of the bathroom with a confused look that makes her swallow nervously. She forces a smile as she struggles to come up with an excuse, but luckily she doesn't have to.
"Dojoon is missing." Minseok appears beside Suho, before he realizes he's probably intruding on a private moment and quickly apologizes, "Sorry, but his people are here looking for him and they want to see you."
Suho nods, giving Cat one last suspicious look before following Minseok to the living room. Cat lets out a sigh of relief. That was a close call. She tosses the object in the trash, deciding she'd deal with it another time. But she thought now would have been the perfect time. Usually, Suho came home later than this. But tonight it seemed he was home earlier than usual. It made her wonder what the cause was.
And Dojoon was missing? Cat didn't really consider herself to be a nosy person. But she was curious. Curious enough to tighten the belt on her robe and follow her husband and Minseok to the living room. She hides behind one of the walls, not quite wanting to step into the room. Being the wife of a boss meant that she didn't have to involve herself in the troubles of what went on around her. Her husband was supposed to handle everything, but like Maya, Cat liked being involved. She liked knowing what went on around her.
It was better that way. Usually, the wives who didn't know what was going on, were being cheated on and considered "trophy wives". Cat didn't want to be one of them, so she did her best to keep up with things. Which is why she was hiding behind a corner while Dojoon's men stared Suho, Minseok, and the rest of their henchmen down.
"Dojoon is missing." Sungjin, Dojoon's right hand man and a high up middle man says. By the way his eyes are narrowed, Cat can tell that he already suspects Suho had something to do with it. But it wasn't polite for a middleman to outright accuse a boss of such a thing - especially without proof.
"What does that have to do with us?" Minseok asks, having, like Cat, already picked up on Sungjin's implications that they were the reason Dojoon was missing.
"From what I hear, he was seen yesterday with you two." Sungjin says, hands tucked in his pockets as he nods at Minseok and Suho, "Leaving the Park's house too, if im not mistaken."
The tone Sungjin uses to say "Park's" lets Cat known that Maya and Chanyeol were two other suspects on his list regarding the matter of his missing boss.
"We ran into him but only for a few minutes before he left." Minseok informs Sungjin with a shrug, "He said he had to go meet someone at a bar downtown."
Cat watches as Sungjin narrows his eyes. He looked like he didn't believe anything Minseok had said.
"Did he tell you who he was going to meet?" Sungjin asks finally, and when Minseok hesitates, it's clear the direction in which things are headed. Dojoon's men are seemingly waiting for some sort of signal, as if they were already ready to attack. Meanwhile, Suho had a polite smile on his lips, but behind his back, he was motioning for his own men to get ready. Cat watches as Minseok fumbles with the cuffs on his white button down, most likely reaching for the knife tucked inside his sleeve.
And she realizes, she should probably leave. Things were going to get ugly, and she was sure Suho would have wanted her to go somewhere safe. But before she can move, knocking at their kitchen door catches everyone's attention. The noise made her frown. Who was knocking at a time like this? Still, she was thankful. It seems the knocking had put whatever showdown was about to ensue on pause. Sungjin raises his brow at the noise, Minseok keeps his eyes trained on Sungjin, and Suho's smile falters slightly.
"I'll get it." One of the henchmen that Cat recognizes as theirs speaks up. She's so busy thinking that she doesn't notice him headed her way until it's too late. The henchman's eyes widen when he spots her hiding behind the corner but she quickly motions for him to be quiet and follow her. When he nods in response, she turns and hurries to the kitchen. The knocking has grown somewhat desperate, and it makes her frown as she hurries to open the door.
"Uh, Hey."
She's met with the sight of a nervously smiling Jongin. Cat takes in the way his hands are shaking slightly as they hold onto a black garbage bag and then the blood staining his shoes.
"Is Suho hyung in?" He asks, attempting to peek inside behind her before he motions to the black bag, "I could, kind of, use his help."
"Skip the fucking pleasantries, would you?" Another voice says before an amused looking Baekhyun appears, blood staining his shoes as well, "Seriously, what's wrong with you? We have a fucking body to get rid of and you're trying to be all polite?"
"Well, being a dick won't get him anywhere either, Baek." A deep voice speaks up, a grinning Chanyeol appearing seconds later. The tall man motions to the garbage bag with a small smile, "Our friend here proved that."
"Let me guess, you all are the reason Sungjin is about to cause a fucking shoot out in my living room." Cat says, crossing her arms over her chest as she stares at them. Jongin looks down guiltily at the bag still in his hands, confirming her suspicions that it in fact contained a very dead Jung Dojoon.
"So they actually went searching for the bastard?" Baekhyun notes with a smirk, "That's good, cause we've got just what they're looking for. Go ahead Jongin, go give them their very early Christmas present."
"Don't be stupid." Chanyeol says, pulling Jongin back when the other male actually tries to do just that, "Knock it off, Baek. This is serious."
"What's serious?" A familiar voice asks. Cat looks over to find Sungjin, Suho, and Minseok entering the kitchen. It seems they left their henchmen in the living room, and it was just the three males. But that didn't make it any better - if Sungjin figured out what Dojoon as in the garbage bag, things were going to get very tricky, and cause troubles for all of them. Luckily, Baekhyun and Chanyeol have quick instincts and back away from the porch light to hide their bloody shoes. Jongin uses the garbage back to cover his, and Cat sighs in relief because everything might work out okay.
"What's in the bag?" Sungjin asks to break the silence. It seems his suspicions were already high, it made Cat nervous.
"Oh you know-" Jongin says, trailing off nervously as he struggles for an answer, "Just some-"
"Clothes!" Cat blurts out suddenly, forcing a smile on her lips, "They were bringing clothes to help me prepare for the new boutique I'm going to open downtown."
"Ah, I heard about that." Sungjin says, and Cat isn't sure if he believes her or not but he does smile in response, "You've really got a business woman here on your hands, huh Suho? Between her and Manny, I don't know which one is going to take over downtown first with all their shops."
Cat smiles at Sungjin's words, and even Suho looks pleased at the compliment regarding his wife.
"Speaking of shops and such, our side was thinking of opening another bar downtown." Sungjin says, turning to Suho suddenly, "And we were wondering if you'd be willing to invest some cash to help us get it up and running."
"Of course." Suho replies almost immediately before motioning upstairs, "We should take this to the office."
Sungjin nods hesitantly, glancing at the living room as he if he wondered if he should call his henchmen to join him. But when Suho gives him a disarming smile, he decides against it. Sungjin heads down the hall leading to the stairs. And Suho follows, not before giving Minseok a look that meant to keep a steady eye on Cat and protect her. Minseok nods, watching his boss and Sungjin disappear before he turns to Cat, Jongin, and the others.
"Okay, what's going on?" He asks, and when no one responds, he glances at the garbage bag, "Dojoon is in there, isn't he?"
"Look, we didn't mean for him to die, okay?" Jongin blurts out, anxiety written all over his face, "Everything just happened so fast and now, he's dead. And there's no going back. W-We killed him and now, they're going to kill me. Cause I'm just a fucking henchman, right? They're going to have me killed, I just know it-"
"Hey, shut the fuck up, would you?" Baekhyun cuts in, grabbing Jongin by the collar with a glare, "You just killed a fucking boss less than an hour ago, so you better start acting like it or you just might end up actually dead."
"But we don't want that to happen." Chanyeol speaks up, the only one smiling despite their situation. He seemed relax, and Cat figured it was because he was untouchable. If you couldn't be killed no matter what you did, Cat figured you'd be as relaxed as Chanyeol was at the moment. But that wasn't the case for Baekhyun or Jongin. So, it made Cat wonder what exactly Chanyeol was doing there in the first place. He didn't really have anything to do with the matter, even if he had helped kill Dojoon. Unless -
"If you die, then they're going to come after Baek next, then Viva, and then, my Maya." Chanyeol says, and that's when Cat realizes why he's still helping them. He was protecting his wife, which was understandable.
"Just put the body in the pool house, and send Sehun and Kyungsoo over here tomorrow to help me take care of it." Minseok instructs, used to having to get rid of dead bodies due to his henchman position.
"And in return, what do you, or should I say, Suho want from us?" Chanyeol asks, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. Technically, he and Suho weren't on friendly terms. But they weren't exactly enemies either. They were neutral. So if Suho or anyone related to him was going to help them, a favor would be needed in return.
"Nothing from you." Minseok says, before motioning to Jongin, "He will be the one to pay us back."
Jongin swallows thickly, but nods nonetheless. It wasn't like he had a choice. He was the one with the least ranking among them. So if he wanted protection from Dojoon's people, he had to do as he was told and what was expected of him, without question.
"Okay, no more talking. The faster we get rid of the bag, the better." Cat says, grabbing the pool house keys from their place on the kitchen counter. She wraps her robe belt tighter as she starts to head outside.
"Wait, where are you going?" Minseok calls after her, because technically, he wasn't supposed to let her leave his sight.
"To open the pool house. Don't worry, we'll be right back." She explains, giving him an assuring smile.
"Just make it quick." He mumbles. Though he didn't like letting her leave without him, he couldn't exactly leave the house with Dojoon and Suho's henchmen still in the living room, unsupervised.
Cat nods, stepping outside and resisting the urge to shiver at the cold that greets her.
"Follow me." She instructs Baekhyun and Chanyeol, who nod, and Jongin, who struggles to pick up the garbage bag. She leads the three men to the pool house a short distance away.
"Man, this guy is heavy." Jongin complains as he resorts to pulling the plastic bag along.
"That's usually how the dead are, since you know, they're dead weight." Baekhyun tells him with a grin that makes Jongin roll his eyes.
"I'm glad you find this moment to be amusing." Jongin says, "Let's see if you still find it to be funny when you have to worry about being shot at any moment."
"You're just being paranoid." Baekhyun tells him making Jongin drop the bag in frustration.
"I am being paranoid because we just fucking killed Jung Dojoon!" He retorts, narrowing his eyes at the shorter male, "Or has that not sunk in yet for you?"
"So what? He was being annoyed so we killed the old fuck." Baekhyun grumbles before shrugging, "It's not like we asked you to join in anyway."
"You must think I'm stupid." Jongin tells the older male, "If I hadn't helped, you guys were going to kill me next. Because that's how it works, right?"
"Congratulations on having common sense, something a lot of you henchmen seem to lack these days." Baekhyun says, opening the garbage bag with a grin, "I can't offer you a cookie at the moment, but I'm hoping this will do instead."
Jongin quickly looks away when Baekhyun tries to hand him Dojoon's severed arm, and Cat, who had been unlocking the pool house door, turns around only to look away as well at the sight.
"Cut it out, Baek." Chanyeol tells the middleman, despite his amused grin when Baekhyun starts to wave the arm around.
"But look at the veins on it." Baekhyun says, grinning as he toys with the arm, "Dojoon was truly junkie of the year."
Chanyeol rolls his eyes at this. He snatches the arm from the middleman and tosses it in the bag before picking said bag up and dragging it into the pool house. Seconds later he returns with an easy going smile.
"Okay, we need to get out of here." He announces, causing Jongin who'd been trying to calm himself, and Baekhyun, who'd been rubbing Cat's back soothingly, to look over at him.
"Thanks for looking out for us." Baekhyun tells Cat before motioning to Jongin, "We'll make sure this guy carries out his favor."
Cat nods. She felt bad for Jongin who looked like he was having one of the worst nights of his life.
"Be careful going back." She tells them, watching as they all nod and wave at her before hurrying in the direction of their car. She then closes the pool house door and locks it. And then, she leans over and starts to dry heave. She had been feeling nauseous all day, but after seeing Dojoon's severed arm, that made it worse. Eventually, she manages to calm her breathing.
After a shaky sigh, she stands and prepares to head back inside. Only, she stops dead in her tracks at the next series of events. Three shots rang out from the second floor of her house: Suho's office. And then, someone grabs her by the shoulders, and a hand is pressed over her mouth to silence the scream that would have followed.