Chapitre 23: Two Old Friends

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Jina let go of Siwan and beamed happily at him. Seeing an old friend after so many years was truly delightful to her. His family had to leave town after his father died due to the scandal involving his illegitimate younger son, Shinho, and since then, Jina had lost all contact with Siwan.

"You've grown!" Siwan exclaimed. Jina peered a little at him.

"And you're changed!" she remarked. "You're smiling more now. Where's the haughty and arrogant kid who used to bully me?"

"I'm taking that as a compliment," Siwan said with a slight bow.

"And you're a doctor now!" Jina went on. "I thought you hated to become one."

She recalled that Siwan's father was very harsh on the poor boy. Even though Siwan was only two years older than her, he was under immense pressure from Kang Danny who treated his son in a terrible manner. The man was obsessed with his image and wealth, keeping one son under scrutiny while the other one, Shinho, was locked up until Danny decided to send him to the grave.

Thinking about what Shinho went through made Jina's blood boil to that day and she could not fully forget those memories she created with him. She met Siwan coincidentally during a camp trip and after some initial childish animosity, they became fast friends.

But she only met Shinho's spirit after he died so Siwan was still unaware of her connection with his younger brother.

"I did," Siwan admitted. "But seeing my little brother working hard made me want to reevaluate my own plans. Then I realized that I actually enjoy treating children. I'm a pediatrician now!"

Just like Kang Danny was, Jina thought but she did not voice it out loud. As long as Siwan was doing what made him happy, nothing else mattered. Then she frowned.

"Little brother?" she echoed. Siwan pointed at Hobin who was still watching them with a wary expression.

Jina was confused. "But his surname is Ohm," she pointed out. "Did aunty Doyoung remarry?"

"No, she didn't," Hobin said in a dull tone. "I'm adopted."

"Ah, that explains it," Jina said, nodding her head.

"You two know each other?" Siwan frowned.

"Yes, she's my little minion in solving cases," Hobin said with a smug smile. "Detective Minion."

"Minion?" Jina scowled. "Who the hell are you calling a minion?"

"You," Hobin shot back. "Shorty!"

"S-Shorty?" Jina exclaimed. "Pay some damn respect! I'm older than ya!"

"Heh?" Hobin smirked, looking down at her from his height. "So should I call you an old woman?"

"Whatever, puny brat!" Jina shot back. They were glaring at each other so Siwan stepped in between them.

"Okay, kids!" He scolded the duo. "I'm the oldest here and I say, get your asses back to work!"

"It's my day off and thanks to some puny brat, I didn't get to have my breakfast!" Jina gritted, throwing a dirty scowl at Hobin who merely looked away.

"I'm off to attend my first patient," Hobin said lazily. "See you later, Tinkerbell."

Jina wanted ignored his jab.

"Join us for breakfast!" Siwan insisted but Hobin merely waved at him and left.

"Is he always a rude brat?" Jina scowled.

"No," Siwan sighed. "He's usually a flirt but he dislikes the police."

They were walking towards the cafeteria while chatting.

"Why?" she asked. "What did the police do to him?"

"It's a long story," Siwan said. "But a few years ago, when Hobin had just started his practice as a Psychiatrist, he had a patient called Wang Taehee who was suffering from lapsed memories. The patient was doing things which she had no recollection of doing at all! There was an instance when she woke up in the middle of the forest but had no idea how she got there. Meanwhile, there were murders going on in the city. Serial murders. The police found Wang Taehee's fingerprints at the crime site and arrested her."

"Hobin was treating her that time and he came to the conclusion that she was innocent," he went on. "But the police pinned it all on her. You see, they had evidence and also, they wanted to show that they were doing something. So they wanted to appease the public by blaming the murders on Taehee. The girl proclaimed her innocence but they wouldn't listen to her. The court declared her to be guilty and sentenced her to death. She was executed a month after the hearing and Hobinh couldn't do anything. Since then, he has been constantly clashing with the cops but his insights also helped them to catch real criminals."

They now stood at the counter, waiting in line. "Did the girl really commit those crimes?" Jina wondered.

"Who knows?" Siwan shrugged. "Hobin...he has an unusual way of treating his patients. If he says that they didn't commit a crime, there's a hundred percent chance that they didn't do it."

"No way!" Jina scoffed. "He can't always be hundred percent correct! That's impossible!"

Siwan did not reply to her comment but merely smiled. It was difficult to explain Hobin's special abilities to other people. Hobin claimed that it was called Psychometry but they had never come across such an unusual case before. Their mother, Doyoung, constantly worried about Hobin; however, despite their initial fears, Hobin turned out to have good control over his abilities.

When he was a kid, Hobin only saw bits and pieces of other people's memories. It started when one day, Hobin asked them about Kang Danny which shocked Doyoung because no one ever talked about Siwan's father in front of Hobin.

Moreover, Hobin had asked their mother, "Who was pulling Danny into the boiler?"

That shocked Doyoung and Siwan both because that part was not public knowledge at all. They had hidden it from everyone. At first, they dismissed it as mere ramblings of a child but soon, Hobin began to ask questions about Doyoung's deepest memories, stretching till her childhood. The child used to see only hazy memories at first but as he grew, his powers also increased.

So Doyoung took him to many doctors, but no one had the answer. Finally, a Psychiatrist who was also an expert in Paranormal Science, diagnosed him as a Psychometric. It meant that Hobin had the natural ability of reading the memories of any person or creature he touched. From then on, Hobin stopped using his powers on his family and instead focused on controlling them. With practice, he began to exert a great deal of control over them to the point that he was able to touch people normally without reading their memories unless he wanted to.

Will he be alright though? Siwan wondered.

"Siwan!"

Jina's voice brought him out of his reverie. "What do you wanna order?" she asked.

"Ahh, Curry Bread and Cream of Mushroom Soup," he said. "Add two cups of coffee as well."

Jina placed their orders and they picked up their trays before settling at a table.

"How are your parents?" he asked. "Did they finally get married?"

"Yes!" Jina exclaimed. "A year after you guys left, they finally got married. Now, I have three siblings! Two twin brothers and a sister. Wanna see their pictures?"

She took out her phone and gushed about her family, showing him the pictures of Minyoon, Yoonmin and Miyoo. Siwan smiled as Jina went on and on about all the things that had happened after Siwan left, how she became a detective and was now heading her own team.

He was gazing at her, unable to believe that he was seeing his friend after so many years. She had matured a lot but still retained some of her cheeky innocence which made him glad that at least Jina still had a good heart.

"Dad always scolds the boys over how they earn so much less than him," she sighed. "The men in my family are so weird! They'll compete over who can earn the most money and get more discounts but will gang up on any guy who'll try to flirt with me! It's not like I like men flirting with me but having my dad and brothers breathe fire down my neck every time a guy approaches me, is seriously annoying!"

Siwan chuckled upon hearing that, making Jina pout.

"I'm kinda jealous," he admitted. "At least your family has your back. If only Kang Danny knew the meaning of family…"

Jina's face hardened upon hearing that name again. The man who killed Shinho and countless other children.

"Does Hobin know about that monster?" she asked.

"We told him," Siwan nodded. "He knows but he doesn't talk about him. The topic is still very hard to talk about. Yet…"

He frowned a little. "I still wonder sometimes about how dad was pulled away by an unseen force," he said. "Like. It was as if he was being dragged off in the air! Crazy, huh?"

Jina shifted a little in her seat.

"Crazy," she said with a nervous smile and took a sip from her coffee.

She knew what really killed Danny off for good. It was a creature made up of all the spirits of the children he had killed. As a Seer of ghosts and other paranormal creatures, only Jina was able to see it. She was told that it was a Poltergeist which killed Danny but Jina believed it was a personification of his karma.

I just hope I don't have to see another one ever again, she prayed.

L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS
Tea_Tae

For new readers, do let me know if this chapter is a little confusing. Since a major part of Shinho/Hobin's past life with Kang Danny was part of another book, I tried to sum it up in short here. If it's too confusing, let me know so that I can reveal the story again in bits and pieces for you <3

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