The television was still broadcasting the news live and everyone else in the living room was astounded by what they’ve seen on the screen. The victim had already been identified and the mysterious hooded figure is, in fact, the same person.
“Val…” Bryan murmured nervously and clenched his fist to punch the wall a few times. “This is all my fault!”
“Dude, stop. It’s not! We’ll figure this out,” Namjoon came up beside him reassuringly and placed his hand on his shoulder.
“She should’ve asked for help when she needed it the most…” Hoseok stammered nervously.
“Maybe she doesn’t want to because she thought she may trouble us. That is why she decided to carry this heavy burden all by herself,” Yoongi said.
“I-I was going to give her the birthday present and-and I wanted to make it up to her, but…” Bryan covered his face and sobbed quietly. He held onto his glass and was about to slam it until Hoseok stopped him from doing so and was being comforted.
“Her birthday was today?!” Jungkook repeated in exaggeration, furrowing his eyebrows in perplexity.
“Yes,” Bryan mumbled sadly.
“Wait… How would Valerie know and keep our old past photos of us?” Jin asked.
“No idea. As of now, this is too sudden for all of us,” Yoongi frowned in thought.
“I agree. Maybe, somebody is trailing after her and probably has some grudges,” Taehyung noted, crossing his arms in wonder.
The phone abruptly rang inside Jimin’s hand and he turned his back to answer it in a subtle tone. “Jeonghan… What’s the update?”
“Chim! We’ve located the hospital where your friend is at, just like you requested!” He stated.
“Send me the address through text,” Jimin said, then he opened the chat to see the photo of the building. “Alright. We’ll be right there. Thanks, dude.”
He then ended their call before glancing back at his friends, who stared at him in puzzlement.
“What did they say?” Yoongi asked curiously.
“Did they find her?” Hoseok became concerned.
“Hmm,” Jimin nodded in confirmation and said sternly. “Let’s go…”
Later on, in about an hour and a half, Bryan and the rest of the seven members were hustling through the hallways and entered the C2 room until their reactions had altered into bewilderment. The police officers were interrogating the two medical workers, who were involved in the current turmoil they are in. Both of them explained about a particular patient that made a ruckus behavior and escaped from the edge of the balcony.
“You see?! Apparently, that young lady just started acting reckless and we were making sure she is being taken care of. Unfortunately, she already woke up from her coma and God knows how long she must’ve been there in bed. Her behavior is absolutely horrendous, considering the fact that the two of us were simply trying to help her!” The doctor said furiously while he was sitting on the chair, cradling his numbed thigh. He hissed and grunted.
“Any reasons for her physical attacks?” The police wondered and wrote it down on his mini notepad.
“We were following the procedure to prescribe her medications through her system,” the female nurse answered formally and massaging her hands in-between.
“What kind of medications are they?” He questioned.
“Uhh… Penicillins and Ciprofloxacin,” the female nurse said faintly, looking away.
“Really?” The police officer went skeptical with a calm expression.
“Ahem. I just received the DNA sample report and it turns out that these two have their fingerprints all over the glass flask bottles, including the surgical gloves that were purposely burnt and thrown off to the trash. The other forensic pathologists had already determined these workers,” Mr. Reen stated as he barged in, holding the papers up in his hand.
“Preposterous! W-we would never do such malice,” the doctor stammered apprehensively.
“Not even towards the 50 patients in other hospitals?” Mr. Reen mentioned, which astonished Bryan and his friends.
“No. It’s impossible. I-I…” the female nurse became aghast and stood awkwardly in her spot.
“You can deny as much as you like. The proof is right here,” Mr. Reen declared, waving the report, much to the doctor’s indignation.
“That's a false claim!” The doctor retorted back in defense.
“Sorry, but the decision is made. You are both under arrest for the illegal crimes of murdering the patients, using arsenic and ricin,” Mr. Reen said quietly as the two security guards walked behind them and tied the handcuffs on their wrists.
“You can’t do this! We’re innocent!” The doctor reasoned out, wriggling himself out of their grasp.
“Then, you’ll have to testify in the court and contact your lawyer,” Mr. Reen said monotonously and continued on. “Come on, Off you all go.”
The doctor stomped his foot and growled at them, whereas the female nurse was quite infuriated, trying to break free. However, the two security guards were pushing to move along and leave the room.
Bryan and his friends continued to watch silently, then Jimin approached Mr. Reen.
“Chief, do you know where Valerie could be?” He asked.
“I’m afraid not, but she is being filed as a missing person. Let’s not fret about this because I’ll assure you that she must be feeling a lot more than what we think. Are you all friends with her?” Mr. Reen stared at them back and forth.
“Yes,” Jungkook said, nodding curtly.
“If you are, then…” Mr. Reen paused for a moment and said sincerely. “How come she ended up in such turbulence? That poor young lady, I always wonder…”
“The last time we saw her was at the Olympic Park where we… um…” Hoseok trailed off of his words.
“Left her,” Taehyung muttered after finishing his sentence. His gaze was focused on the wall nonchalantly with his arms crossed and straightened himself.
Mr. Reen squinted his eyes, nodding in realization, and said surprisingly. “Ah, yes. The rumors are true. The video went viral throughout Seoul was an eye-opener for the citizens, especially for me. However…”
The words had trailed off as soon as he was standing in the doorway and he said continuously. “There is always another side of the story that others haven’t because if I were them, I would’ve done it better. One mistake can ruin someone’s life, no matter how big or small they are. You know what they always say, ‘When I look at a person, I see a person - not a rank, not a class, not a title,’ because why earn respect if you can’t give it to the person at all? That is something that I always remind myself...”
He turned his back on them and left where his keys were jangling around his waist.
Jimin raised his voice and queried in confusion. “What are you saying, chief?”
Mr. Reen halted in his tracks and gazed calmly at him, saying. “I do not have all the answers, dear boy, but I’m willing to help you with the case. That is if you are ready.”
“You will?” Bryan stepped in, hopefully.
“Yes. Anyway, I have to go back to my police department. Two people are filing new cases and coming in to report their missing loved ones. I shall get going. Have a good day, lads. See you soon,” Mr. Reen said, raising his hand up in farewell.
Jimin watched him disappear when he walked into the elevator and sighed until he heard his friends’ voices overlapping near the balcony.
“Guys, guys! Come and take a look!” Jin exclaimed out, gesturing his hand at them in startlement.
They paced briskly and stepped on a couple of glass shards, making slight crunching noises on the floor. They stood upon the bloodstains that dripped and tainted the deck railing five hours ago, which baffled them to speculate.
“Insane…” Hoseok said with a dreadful expression.
“To go at a long distance, she must have disembarked all the way to the bottom,” Yoongi noted.
“I hope she’s okay because what if-” Taehyung started to babble nervously, but got interrupted.
“Stop it! Alright! She is fine! You know, she may somehow use a parachute or something to land cautiously with no harm’s way,” Jungkook responded back in contradiction.
“Evidently for sure. Although, we don’t know how she managed to escape in the hospital room like that,” Namjoon said quizzically.
“This is all my fault, this is all my fault…” Bryan murmured to himself repeatedly in silent uneasiness.
“Just where could you be, Valerie?!” Jimin shouted in distress. His eyes were glistening, gripping his hands firmly on the railing. He and the rest of his friends were viewing the scenery and continued to ponder about her presence remaining unknown. 473Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtyAS5QKUW
