EPISODE 08

'family matter'

CORDELIA SONG WAS legit too pretty for mortals.

Every movement, every gaze, every exhale felt like an effortless production of an orchestrated play that cost more than your wages worth in a year, but could cleanse your soul for the next lifetime.

I was having a weird she's too beautiful to exist moment. Like when you meet movie stars in real life and they're everything you imagined to be. Almost unreal.

Give it to the Song siblings for such a good production of genes.

But there was also something very sharp about her. Something that reminded me of my stepmother.

Like she knew everything.

And much more.

"So," she started, eyes crinkled, face too smooth to be real. Her fingers were interlaced together, elbows on the table. Her black hat framed her dark hair nicely. "Isn't this a better place to talk? Dominic's place is too stuffy despite such minimalistic furniture. Kind of feels like it's choking you isn't it? I really can't fathom how you can sleep in such a place."

"He accommodated us well enough," Leon said dryly. He and I were now dressed after a quick shower and getting into a different car; sleek back, nondescript, with tinted windows. Cordelia only knocked at the divider before we were around the streets in a confusing mess of circles until we stopped at a very ordinary Chinese tea shop atop a convenience store. The smell of jasmine and incense smoke was intense enough to knock you back several steps upon entry.

It's dark and dreary, the windows closed shut by heavy, red drapes and made the room feel like it could be any point of the day.

Cordelia spoke in crystal Chinese to the old woman behind the cashier who merely blinked at her 谢谢. And now we were here, Leon and I on one side of the booth, his sister in the other, and a pot of fragrant tea between us.

I took a tentative sip. It didn't burn my tongue at all, but it warmed my entire throat as it went down. Christ.

"Tastes exquisite isn't it?" Cordelia said. "They import straight from Shanghai. The leaves are from Taiwan though, so I don't know why they have to shop it to Shanghai, an office issue most likely, but all the same, damn good tea."

"You were born in America," Leon remarked, the grumpy face he's had since his sister arrive ever present and ever unshakable. "You don't get to like tea."

"I'm Korean. I can like tea. Stop being so protective of a drink." She took a casual sip for emphasis.

"That's probably what all colonisers said."

Cordelia's eyes narrowed. "It's tea."

Leon didn't back down. "It's culture."

"Alright," I said, setting my own cup. "Can we get back to the topic at hand?" Tea, culture, colonising. We were getting off topic. "The murder of a socialite?"

Cordelia and Leon stared at each other for a second longer before Cordelia backed down, sighing as she fixed her hair. "Wendy is right. And what a lovely title. It could be one of those crime detective novels. The Murder of a Socialite."

"There's nothing lovely with Dominic's murder," Leon said, grinding his teeth.

Cordelia sighed. "You know that's not what I meant. You need to stop taking things like they're personally attacking you." Leon opened his mouth but Cordelia raised a finger. "Dominic is my friend too and I know he would've adored being in some sort of mystery novel. And, not to wave it around your face but I think you're forgetting that I knew him first. And I'm not stripping you off of your right as his closest friend - I'm just saying, stop trying to take things like a personal attack and keep your head together. You're in a crossroads and you're trying to separate your body because you want to go to every road there is because you're panicking and burdened and you want to be left alone - and it's not a good thing, honey. You're on the verge of unraveling if you don't keep your head on your shoulders upright."

I gaped like a fish and I could say for certain that Leon was too. That was pretty much a slap in words form. A wake up call.

Feeling like this is more of a family matter, I kept my eyes on my tea, fragrant and fresh and ignored the now very obvious clouds growing just around me.

"You're right," I heard Leon utter in the end, voice weary. "I'm sorry for acting out. You too, Wendy. I'm sorry for burdening you with my foul moods."

"Uh, it's no..." I met Cordelia's eyes and my words died. I nodded instead. It was like we were both facing a teacher trying to teach us something. Let him apologise, her look said. Let him learn his mistakes and apologise appropriately for them. For someone with no siblings to inherit or impart wisdom to/from, it was both heartwarming and jealousy inducing to witness.

She smiled gently then, leaning over the table to grab her brother's hand. "Thank you for that. And I understand how this must be. Dominic has never been a fair person. Incredibly selfish to the emotions and needs of others. But if we want this done - and done right, we should get a lead on. Now is always better than later."

"'We'?"

Cordelia flinched. "A broad term. I was given aggressive, specific instructions of when I can intervene, so I'm sorry baby brother, but I can't totally save you from this one. What I was promised is that this isn't something to put you through a spiral of depression. That it just needed it to be all of us. Apart from the fact that he's ridiculously sentimental, he trusted no one but us in the end."

"Given instruction... so you can't share what you were given by Dominic to us?" I asked. Cordelia knew more than us. Had a more specific, direct communication with Dominic than the vague details the other three got.

It could mean a lot of things, but the one thing on the forefront of my mind is that her position here just became very important. And she might even know more than she let on.

But still. The sharpness of her eyes was worrying me at the slightest. It could just be nature in itself, but I had to buck up and get my head together. I have a particular thought that she won't be the last person who would make me feel on guard of my emotions and my tells.

"Yes." She smiled, a forefinger to her glossy lips. Her eyeshadow was bright in glitters of some sort that it winked in the weak light. "That's the most I can tell. Drink your tea, sweethearts. I know it's a job to just even eat at this time, but you need to have something down there to function. Humans can only do so much on an empty stomach."

We did as we were told, a sync to each other in movement. We even set the cup at the same time that I snorted and he smiled. Then Leon rubbed his face, pressing his bangs to his forehead like his head hurt.

"So, okay. This is going to be a weird riddle, maze game. You help me with some things, but inherently you're limited to do so because you know more than all of us?" He raised his head, eyes narrowing behind black strands. "He had - no, has something against you, doesn't he? Something strong enough that he can still play puppeteer over you? It has to be something big enough. You came all the way here for this. And you can't just say because Dominic died. You're not that sentimental."

Cordelia's returning smile was bitter and biting, a clear reflection of an expression of Leon's. The sharpness in that gaze was a Song thing, I realised. "Well done, brother. Took him years to find, but when he did, oh, he used it so well that I can't even help you. It's almost impressive if it isn't pissing me off."

"To piss you off is also another impressive talent as it is." Leon smiled whilst his sister laughed. It was endearing to watch both of them interact. Then Leon got serious, voice pitching low. "So let's start then. The most important part. The murderer. Faris is going to figure out which of the murder weapons really did kill him, though the gun is still the best shot - yes, I heard the pun - and James is open to help on his side with the Yard, but if you're also here... there's going to be a lot of shady stuff. A lot of bigger people.

If there's one thing you and Dominic have an uncanny liking to is the darker side of the rich. Don't think I don't know what you do, noona. 너는 결백하지 않다 ."

I didn't know what Leon said, but Cordelia's expression darkened despite the twist of her smile. "남동생 ... 그게 많이 아파 ." She brushed it off by shaking her head and hair with closed eyes, if she really was shaking the dark emotions that captured her before smiling normally again.

"You know I don't mean that as a bad thing," Leon assured. "I'm always in awe at what you do. It's almost terrifying how you can walk out of it unscath."

"I know I'm pretty amazing, aren't I?" She turned to me. "I work, let's say, just like Leon's job. But while Leon takes on public cases, murder and the lot, I help other people. It's not a biased of class, but I do like those that are more interesting than murder."

"Thievery isn't as interesting as murder," Leon complained.

"Murder is a filthy business with a single thread to follow - victim, suspect, murder weapon, crime scene - a bore and too emotional to work on because it's death. But if its the crown jewels in a safe that was said to be uncrackable, unapproachable, and had passwords you could only crack by certain keywords that changed every twelve hours, as well as a physical key that was hidden beneath the bottomless valley of breasts by a Countess who had never removed it, even during sex, and still, gone? Whilst on the other hand, on a party on the other side of the world, a young woman with a classy, distracting smile, proudly displays jewels identical to the ones missing? What do you say to that?"

I blinked, thoroughly interested.

Leon sighed. "We can discuss about these jewels after my best friend's murder. Is that a decent compromise?"

"I'll think about it." Cordelia winked. "But I can't help you unless your thought process or request is something I'm allowed to say or help you with."

Leon raised an eyebrow. "If it's not?"

"I am bound to say quiet."

"Silence speaks louder than words," he said.

"Then puzzle it out, 우리의 사자-nie." She takes a sip of her tea. "I can tell you that you'll need to meet the suspects before the weekend. An event important enough in the timeline set is going to change its course. Whatever happens at that event will affect the ending and I can't let that happen."

"'Affect the ending'?" I echoed. "This... this couldn't be linear, isn't? Planned until the very... are you telling me this is planned until the very end?"

Cordelia smiled. "Dominic was detailed until the very end. He and I shared the same confidence that Leon can finish all he needs to do in the week."

"But that's impossible. How can you make this sequence of occurrences linear?"

Cordelia shrugged. "The devil found a away, Miss Cain. Even I'm not entirely sure. Though I know more than most, I don't know all. He made sure to keep his secrets his."

"You're giving me too much credit with all of this," Leon said wryly. "I haven't properly handled a case since I was incarcerated. The months before the Lady Library case, you know I wasn't in my best shape. Even mum knew. She had her husband sent the most random cheer-up presents every other week. He didn't understand how to tell her that it might not be what I need, but he still did it."

Cordelia hummed. "I heard about the peacock. But you're not working on this alone. Dominic counted everybody." Her eyes didn't need to meet mine to sound out what she was hinting.

And again, I was nothing more than confused about my role. So far, it seems I was just as myself. Leon's little disciple. But it was making me uncomfortable how everything else, even me, had strings. And that we were moving in the way that Dominic wanted us to.

How do you shift a purposed fate?

Leon leaned back. "So who do I go first? Or is that something I shouldn't ask?"

"Milo Cavendish," she answered immediately. "Everyone else, you can figure out how you're going to meet them yourselves, but Milo Cavendish, blue blood lineage, recluse to the point of the staff at the Cavendish manor doesn't know his face, and is the hardest person to meet. You have an appointment with him at two this afternoon. He doesn't wake up until after 12, and he's usually in his bathrobe, lounging around doing nothing. Try and talk to him at past two though, when he's had a couple of drinks. He'll be irritated beforehand and he's of no use with so much fiery emotions. Let him get drunk enough to be sober before you talk to him."

Leon frowned. "I've known him the longest and yet you know all of that about him? Most I know is his address and his cognac preference."

"Again, I'm your key to places and people you know you can't get into without my help. Dominic foresaw that." Cordelia flicked a lock of hair. "And anyway, even without Dominic's little threat, I would still find a way to help you... but right now I have deadlock on my lips so I can't tell you everything. You'll have to use the most of your wits."

Cordelia Song stood up then, perfect and lithe, her clutch pressed to her hands, her movements like a deer unraveling its legs to stand up. "I'll leave the two of you to do what you have to do. I've also gotten your clothes ready in Dominic's apartment so you wouldn't have to wear the same clothes twice."

"I don't really - "

But Cordelia cut me off with a little shake of her head. "It's not charity, it's Dominic's will. Also I have a lot of fun in dressing people up. Dominic likes putting with plays while I'm nicer and utterly better. You'll love the outfit, I promise. But if there's anything wrong or you prefer, please don't hesitate to tell me. Leon will give you my number."

"I will if you promise you won't harass her."

Cordelia gasped. "When have I ever?"

"Don't make me list them," he warned.

Cordelia giggled.

Leon nodded. "Right. Also, the rooms. Since you're somehow above us when it comes to this whole thing, it means you have more access to his house. We need the rest of the rooms opened. Or at least, just another guest room so Wendy can sleep comfortably."

I didn't know what I was expecting but it surely wasn't Cordelia laughing.

Pulling out a lace fan, she hid her smirk. "Here's a direct quote on that, 'If Leon asks about the rooms, tell him I've thrown away the keys. Or melted them down. He needs to learn to speak in his big boy voice and woo a woman without the excuse of murder. Even my murder. I can only do so much ten feet under.' Quote, unquote."

She winked. "Good luck with the drunk recluse, yes?"

- - -

NEXT

EPISODE NINE

BLUE BLOOD SPILLS THICKER

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TRANSLATIONS USED -

google translate is my only friend, my apologies in advance

chinese

谢谢 | thank you

korean

너는 결백하지 않다 | you are not innocent

남동생 | younger brother

그게 많이 아파 | that hurts a lot

우리의 사자 | our lion

- - -

I know this feels sort of useless to the original plot, but its a transition chapter and we really need to address Leon's behaviour. And who better to get your head out of your own bullshit if not your older sister?

There's also a lot of hints in this chapter about certain future events ;-)

That's the power of writing I love wielding best.

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