LOVER

Chapter 7

Xin Xi walked into his brothers room, a bluetooth speaker on one hand blasting music and a cup of strong black coffee on the other. Zhou pulled a pillow over his head trying to shut off the noise and failing. Xin Xi pulled the curtains open and the sun ray's filled the room.

"Please stop." Zhou yelled under the pillow.

"I can't hear you." Xin Xi yelled back, pulling the pillow away from his brother's face. "What did you say?"

"Please stop." His brother screamed over the music. Xin Xi switched off the music.

"You need to quit alcohol. It doesnt suit you. Get up." He ordered. Zhou tried to grab another pillow but his brother got it away from him. "If you're not up, showered and ready in the next thirty minutes we are leaving you behind." His brother threatened. Zhou knew he wasn't joking. They would leave him if he didn't get ready. "Drink that coffee, breakfast is ready." Xin Xi shouted over his shoulder as he left the room.

Zwelethu pulled himself up, grabbed the cup of coffee and gulped it down despite it being hot. When he was done he dragged himself to the shower and made sure to turn on the cold water. It was exactly what he needed to wake himself up. He got out and got dressed in sweats and sneakers. They had a long journey ahead of them.

He took the cup and made his way to the kitchen. His brothers were already sitting at the table eating.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" He asked Jaekyung while he refilled coffee cup.

"I work for the government. Showing up to work is not compulsory." Jaekyung replied. Zhou joined them at the table and filled up his plate with food. Greasy food. The side eyes from his brothers were hard to miss.

"What?" He questioned looking from one to the other.

"I made you oats and fruit salad. Since when do you eat this much greasy food in the morning?" Jaekyung asked.

"Since he disappeared last night and came back early this morning groaning like a wounded bear." Xin Xi replied. "So where were you?" He asked.

"I went to see Tae and made a complete fool of myself." He admitted. It was always easy to talk to his brothers. They would probably find a way to make fun of him later, but at that very moment all they wanted to do was listen.

"What did you do?" Xin Xi asked him.

"Professed my undying love for her." He told them. "That in itself is not a problem, its the fact that I was s**t drunk while doing it and she could tell. I don't know how I am ever going to face her." He sighed and sat back on the chair.

"Then quit alcohol. Clearly you can't handle your liquor. And that's nothing to be ashamed off. You don't drink Ghu. Why torture yourself like this?" Jaekyung asked him. It was clear his siblings were very concerned about him. Neither of them had ever seen him like this. Clearly Tae had a hold on him, they knew that, but this seemed deeper than that.

"You do not need to tell me twice." Zhou said. The only thing alcohol had helped him with was sleeping, the side effects were always worse in the morning.

They had their breakfast then got in the car and started their journey back home. It had been twenty five years since they had set foot there. Nam-gu hadn't changed much over the years but it was a far cry from the place they remembered. The one thing that had remained the same through the years was their mother's burnt down house. The fence had deteriorated over the years and goars and cows were using the land as a grazing area thanks to the overgrown grass and weeds. The house was hardly visible through the high grass.

The brothers got out of the car and Jaekyung grabbed a hand grass cutter from the boot of the car and started paving a way to the front of the house. The inside was no different. Although the walls were still standing, doors, windows and the roof had all burnt down with the house. Jaekyung started clearing the grass inside the house. He was like a man possessed as he took his frustrations out on the grass. All his brothers could do was watch. They knew this was harder for him than it was for them.

He made it to what used to he his mothers bedroom. He could hear the sounds of her screams as the fire had consumed her flesh and taken her life. Sometimes he was grateful his brothers would never have the picture of their mother dying in their memory. But he did. Inside the bedroom the steel bed frame still stood there. Although nature had taken its toll on it, for some reason it was still there. Standing.

He didnt know what to say, a part of him had always felt like he failed his mother. He couldn't save her. By the time he got to her room the entire place had been consumed by the fire. He could see her from outside the door as her flesh was eaten up by the raging flame. He had screamed for help, screamed for her, but he still couldn't save her.

Zhou squatted at the entrance as tears burnt his eyes, "Its us. Your sons. Xin Xi, Zhou and Jaekyung. Firstly we want to apologise for not coming sooner. How you were taken from us has tormented us for years, it's hard to just move on. That's why we had to avenge your death. We had to make sure when we return here we had good news. We needed to make sure justice was served before we return. And it has. Soon the person who did this to you will pay for his crimes." He said.

"Amma, it's me, your favourite son, Xin Xi." Xin Xi started, ignoring the side eyes from his brothers. "Like Ghu has said. We had to make him pay for doing this to you. You probably would not have approved of our methods but that's why we had to come here after the fact, not before. And we promise you, we will rebuild your home. We will remind them of you. Your name will never be forgotten. Ever."

"Amma." Jaekyung started before he was overcome with emotions. He took a few deep breaths trying to compose himself. "I'm sorry mama. I should have tried harder to save you." Tears started running down his face and this time he let them. "I can't get the picture of you out of my head. Seeing you that way, it will never leave me. I know now that there was nothing I could do to help you but it doesn't make me feel any less guilty. We miss you mom. A lot." Zhou threw his hand over his brother's shoulders trying to comfort him but it only made things worse. He couldn't stop sobbing. Well, until they heard something moving in the grass.

"What was that?" Zhou asked. They all looked around and they saw the grass moving as if something was slithering below it.

"I think we need to go now." Xin Xi said, he was already standing by the door. As soon as they got inside they burst out laughing.

"Yeah, you're cowards." Xin Xi teased, laughing at the back seat.

"You're the last person to speak because you were the first one out of there."Zhou told him. A knock on the car window made them scream like little girls.

They turned to the drivers side and Jaekyung rolled down the window. An old lady leaned down and looked at them.

"Hi." Jaekyung said.

"Hello. Who are you?" The woman asked. Realisation quickly dawned on her when she saw three identical faces inside the car. "You're the three twins. Kim Hayoung's children aren't you?" She said.

"Yes, we are." Xin Xi told her. "We just came to check on the place." He opened the door and got out so he could talk to her properly.

"That's good. We tried to keep the place clean hoping someone would come and fix it but we gave up when none of you returned. Weren't two of you supposed to be inside the house when it burnt? I remember at your mothers funeral, only one of you was there." She told him.

"We were inside. We managed to escape but we had to be rushed to the hospital that's why we couldn't come to the funeral." Xin Xi replied. The old woman nodded her head.

"That boyfriend of hers, he tried to sell the place." She said. Zhou and Jaekyung also got out of the car and came around to hear what she had to say.

"What do you mean tried to sell the place?" Jaekyung questioned.

"Well, he came here a few times with buyers and they were willing to fix the place but we had to quickly remind him that he had no rights to it. And we had to tell the buyers that if they bought this place we would burn it down. Of course the chief had to intervene and barred him from ever coming back here." She continued. The brothers were already seething. "So it's good that you're back. You have to fix your mothers house. Even if you don't live here. But it has to show that Kim Hayoung had sons. Anyways, I have to go, the sun is hot today." She said picking up her empty bucket of water.

Xin Xi pulled out a couple of two hundred wons and handed them to her.

"Thank you mam. You'll buy yourself some cold drink to ease the heat." Her smiled filled her face as she took the money.

"Thank you. You always were respectful children." She said as she walked away.

"I can't believe that son of a b***h tried to sell her house. After everything he did." Zhou hissed, hitting his fisted hand on the top of the car.

"That man will curse the day he set foot in this house." Jaekyung added. If there was ever a time where they were second guessing their decision to seek revenge, this was the confirmation they needed to know that all they had done, was worth it.

Meanwhile back at the police station, Felix had barely slept as he went through Jaekyung's file. It was impeccable. Everything there checked out. The dates of the murders, the receipts of the storage unit, the trust and the insurance payouts all pointed to one man, Hajun Eunsoo. Every victim was related to him somehow. Whether through his marriage or just his immediate family.

Felix closed the file and rushed to the commanders office. There was no time to waste. This case had dragged on for too long. Booi wasn't answering his calls and Jaekyung was nowhere to be found. Jaekyung had taken a couple of days off of work again and waiting for him to return would be wasting time.

He knocked on the door and went in as soon as he got the green light.

"Felix. It's late, what can I do for you?" The commander asked.

"I know it's late sir. But I think we may have a lead to the serial killer case." He said and that got the commanders attention. He pointed him to the chair. He sat down and handed the file over to him.

"What is this?" He asked.

"Everything that will seal the case. Officer Jaekyung gave me that. He has been compiling it for the past ten years. I verified almost everything in there and he is right, the suspect has been under our noses all along." Felix told him. The commander opened the file and went through each document laid out in front of him as slowly as possible.

"And why didn't Booi give me this file?" He asked, his eyes not leaving the file.

"According to Jaekyung, Booi refused to listen when he told him. But only he can tell you why he kept this to himself." Felix replied.

"Where is he? Jaekyung?"

"He took a couple of days of for some family emergency." He told him. The commander closed the file and sighed.

"Okay. Here is what we are going to do. You won't tell anyone about this until I talk to Jaekyung. If all of this is true, we should be able to put this case to rest once and for all. Are we clear?" The commander asked and Felix nodded. "Good. You're dismissed." Lwandle stood up and held out his hand for the file. "What?" The commander questioned.

"The file sir?" Felix told him.

"Don't worry. I will keep in the safe." The commander offered but Felix was not having it.

"With all due respect sir, I'd rather the file was with me. I don't think I can let it out of my sight for now." He countered. The commander laughed and handed the file over.

"You're a good cop Felix." He complimented. "Go home and take a shower. You stink." Felix chuckled and walked out. Taking the file and all its evidence home was not allowed so before he could leave, he found a pretty good spot to put the file. When he turned around he came face to face with Detective Booi.

"What's that?"