07

REPOSE

✧

THEY WOUND UP in Luke's apartment.

It was in the same building—he was staying here instead of his trailer that night because of an early shoot in Seraph the next morning.

Dressed in loose gray sweats, Luke ran his fingers through his dark hair and stepped up into the bright kitchen. The sound of his lazy footsteps bounced off the high ceilings and filled each dark corner of the tall dark-washed rooms. Without all the production makeup they caked on his face, she could spot the dark circles sinking into the skin beneath his eyes and catch sight of the bandage peeking out from beneath tousled hair.

He yawned and dug through the fridge. "Want something to drink?"

"Mhm." Her gaze wandered around. "Anything's fine."

The apartment felt infinitely warm--it was lit in the soothing gold of firelight, the warm light washing over soft furniture colored charcoal black and dark umber. Walking through it was like drawing close to candlelight, in some way. The floors were coated in smooth slabs of dark-washed wood, and the smell of sweet citrus, freshly-washed sheets, and black coffee washed into her nostrils as she rested her arms against the cool dark countertop. Through sleek panels of polished glass Eris gazed out at the gleaming Hills as they unfurled into the squat rows of the poorer complexes downtown.

Still, luxury aside, there was hardly anything about him that she could see--save for the coats and hoodies draped over sprawling sofas, the leftover beer cans and takeout boxes littering the coffee table, and piles of black manila folders half-buried in the black carpet.

There were no family photos. No pictures of Mei laughing with cotton candy in her hands.

"Are you looking for something?"

Startled from her thoughts, she looked up and found Luke following her gaze into the warm living room, cracking open a beer can and handing it over.

"No," she said quietly, raising the cool metal to her lips. "Just admiring."

A smile played on his lips. He took a long sip of his own beer and strode over to the patio, subtly guiding her there with a tilt of his head. She followed curiously.

Her breath caught.

Seraph City pulsed with life. Cream-colored complexes sloped down smooth hills blooming with lights at every corner. Downtown, cars streamed though the streets, pausing to allow rivers of people to pass, thousands of streetlights and electronic signs melting together into a rainbow of colors. From Angel Hills, the city seemed to be one glowing entity, its energy rising and falling like the breath of a living being. Instinctively, Eris shifted closer to him, and for a moment they simply stood in silence, two silhouettes dwarfed by a sea of glimmering lights.

Her lips curled into a wistful smile as she gazed out into the night sky. "Must be nice to have a view like this every night."

He squinted his eyes and shook his head, raising his can once more. "It's not as nice without someone to see it with."

Eris fell quiet. Her gaze wandered.

In the corner of the living room, sets of boxes had been piled into a mountain of sorts, spilling over with envelopes and packaged gifts--fan mail. From the topmost box peeked the face of a plush white tiger, a small smile drawn beneath his pink nose. Eris caught sight of it long minutes after they'd drifted into comfortable silence and inched towards it--and caught the mailing date printed onto the label. December 2015.

She sucked in a breath. The month of the accident.

"I got through half of them," Luke told her, noticing. He grinned, but it didn't reach his eyes. "They're awfully optimistic. Get back on set. Cry later. That kind of thing."

A bitter taste filled her mouth at that. "You never threw the away."

Luke's gaze lingered on the boxes--particularly at the unopened ones resting at the bottom, as if they were still waiting. Eris wished she could read them, the emotions written across his eyes. There was a heavy weight on his shoulders, she could feel it--and suddenly, after how he had wrapped her in his arms earlier that evening and soothed the ache in her chest, she wanted to do the same for him. And if she couldn't ease his burden, she wanted to help him carry it.

But Luke gave nothing away. Instead of answering, he merely shifted past her, his shoulder brushing hers for fleeting moment before he headed into the living room, his footsteps muffled by the thick, soft carpet. Eris watched as he rummaged through the messy coffee table and unearthed a black manila folder.

"This is everything I've been looking at lately with the cases," Luke told her. His voice was smoother now, more composed, as if he was addressing the public. It seemed even this small breach into his private life had caused him to recoil back into more distant matters.

He met her eyes briefly as she took the folder. "There's also information in there about Petra."

She looked up. "Petra?"

"She's a detective by day, a spy at night. A loyal officer of the Seraph City Police Department." His voice cooled. Eris stopped entirely.

Luke's gaze sharpened. "Your brother's coworker."

✧

So he had known all along.

Eris's heart froze to ice. "My brother?"

"Your brother," repeated Luke calmly. "Elias Park, police detective. His father owns a chimek place in Downtown Seraph. His mother and his sister are reporters."

She forced her voice to remain steady. "Did Petra tell you that?"

"Elias likes to make it clear that he has both the police and the media on his side," he answered, a sour edge to his voice. Yet when his gaze searched hers, he was entirely serious, almost as if he was afraid of what he would find. "Is he right?"

She glanced away. An answer waited at the tip of her tongue. No, she imagined herself saying, just to soften the sudden sharpness of Luke's gaze. After all, the accidents they had endured together were quickly transforming them into walking targets who needed each other--but in reality, despite everything that had happened, every biting word her brother had said, she couldn't bring herself to shut him out and stamp out that trust completely.

"I don't know," she murmured. "How long did you know?"

Luke's lips curved slightly as he looked down at his fingers. "I've known your face ever since I saw you in the hospital two years ago. Seeing you talk to Arjun was only confirmation. I was going to tell Arjun to stay away from you, but..." He tilted his head back. "You were too nice."

Eris turned away. "Everyone acts nice."

"No," he said. "If it was an act, Elias wouldn't have been so angry when he called me up two nights ago, wondering what the hell I had done to you."

The words sent a cold chill down her spine. "Your brother might know more than he lets on," he told her, his voice lowering. "Be careful around him."

A sick feeling dread spread across her stomach. She opened the black manila folder to the first picture: a  snapshot from footage of the 2015 accident, Elias's car half-destroyed in the splintered moonlight, curling with smoke. She sifted through news articles. Pictures of Lee Huang leapt out at her, of his wide smile and dark curly hair and dimples, so different from the grief-stricken boy in his mugshot.

Luke reached over and splayed out an array of newspaper articles. "Do these seem to similar to you?"

There were three articles lined up beside each other, all with connections in entertainment.

Michelle Jung, wife of director Hope Jung, dies from fatal accident by influence of alcohol

Wells Han, engineer for Lumens Broadcasting Company, dies from suicide by gunshot

Mei Young, sister of actor Luke Young, dies from fatal accident by influence of alcohol

She narrowed her eyes. Michelle Jung was a famous name: not only had her father attended her funeral years ago, the woman had been well-respected in the public world even more so than Hope—she'd been the chairman of Lumens Broadcasting System, or LBS, which oversaw famous shows and news networks including the one her mother reported for. Everything was tying to LBS: Wells Han had worked in Lumens Broadcasting System as well, and now there was Luke, whose show Guardian was distributed by channel of LBS...

"Someone wants to tear down the company," said Eris, meeting Luke's gaze with wide eyes. "Do you have suspects?"

A resigned smile pulled at his lips as he slid over a list of names. "Companies and agencies with the closest ties to LBS," he said. "Including the names of people associated with them."

Red Fox Entertainment - Eliyahu Hearst

Syncopy Films - Kino Shah

West Cherub Studios - Nusra Aoki

Heavensgate Productions - Veeran Seo

Eris's blood turned cold.

Hope Jung - Gold Sky Entertainment

"Hope Jung?" she echoed.

Luke's face was dark. "We couldn't leave anyone out."

A sour taste filled her mouth, followed quickly by a pang of fear as she thought of 아빠 laughing with Hope Jung over soju late at night. "But where do my brother and I come into this?"

"Your brother," began Luke tersely, "is a suspiciously defensive advocate for labeling incidents as suicides. And as a reporter, you're automatically dangerous to anyone who has something to hide."

It made sense. She remembered Elias's voice. Are you sure it isn't suicide?

But that wasn't the only reason she and her brother had been dragged into this—she could feel it, that hesitation. Luke's shoulders were tense, and his jaw twitched as if he was holding words back.

He blames Elias for the accident--but why?

Suddenly, her phone buzzed. She turned sharply--and saw it was a message from Brandon.

Check the news.

Her heart skipped a nervous beat. Suddenly, she was aware of how Luke had been aware of her lying to his face this whole time, and how, despite that, he had reached out to her, pulled her close earlier, called her to make sure she was alright.

Hot shame climbed up her neck. "I need to go."

Luke looked up with an abrupt frown. "What's wrong?"

"Work calls." She avoided his eyes, took a final sip of beer, and grabbed her things. "There's a problem Downtown."

Memories of the wild stairway chase lingered in her mind as she wove around the sofas, down the hall, and towards the door—but it didn't stop her from quickly slipping her shoes on and pulling the coat tight around her body. Moving blindly, quick so as to forget the fear in her chest, she'd barely reached for the sleek door handle when Luke shifted past her and opened it instead.

"I'm walking you down."

Eris tried and failed to muster a dismissive laugh. "It'll be fine," she insisted. "I'm fine, seriously. "Stay inside."

"Not after what happened earlier." He pulled on a hoodie and grabbed his keys. "Come on."

Eris hesitated. But when Luke stopped outside his door, meeting her eyes with a look that said there was no argument to be made, she gave in.

Outside, the air was startlingly cool, biting her skin as they made their way through the courtyard and out towards the dark street. She caught her reflection in a passing patio—the harsh street lights glowed in her weary eyes, highlighting the imperfections in her skin that had been etched even deeper by exhaustion. Heat rushed up her neck when she noticed the puffy skin lingering from her tears.

She'd just hailed a taxi, the car pulling to a stop before them with a low hum, when Luke reached for her wrist, his fingers surprisingly warm against her cold skin. "Eris."

She turned, brows raised curiously.

Luke lowered his head and glanced away, an air of reluctance about him before he spoke. "I told Petra what happened in the stairway, so she'll look into it." The words provided her a faint sense of relief, if only because she knew there were more words coming.

But they fell short, just as they did earlier. "I'll call you," he said, a faint smile touching his lips. "Okay?"

Eris returned his smile and ducked into the taxi. "Don't worry so much."

The next moment, the taxi carried her away in a whirl of exhaust. Unknown to her, Luke remained on the moonlit street, watching the taxi's slow descent into the glittering heart of Seraph City, unable to tear his eyes away until it left his sight.

✧

OCTOBER 26 2017 | 8:32 P.M.

A man was found dead at his apartment in Downtown Seraph today at 7:42 P.M. He has been identified by officials as thirty-two year old Joey Quon, a broadcast technician for Lumens Broadcasting System, which is known primarily for distributing series such as Lumens News Network and Guardian. Quon was known for having close ties to engineer Wells Han at the same company who died by suicide earlier this month. Evidence for Quon's cause of death points to suicide by drug overdose, but officials have yet to confirm this. LBS has since come under fire and LBS Chairman Judas Nam has not yet addressed the situation.

✧

The bright screen burned Eris's eyelids.

She'd listened to Brandon and immediately read over the fresh barrage of articles on the way home. Now, registering the information, fresh determination roared to life within her. The words--paired with a half-blurred picture of Quon himself--carved themselves into her memory alongside other waves of information.

Eris tucked the hair behind her ears and read on, eyes skimming the words and plucking out the details expertly. A part of her was still shaken, but somewhere inside her, she was also waking up. The more she thought of everything--of the potential danger her father was in, of who her brother was becoming, of the people who were hunting her down--the more the fire stirred in her chest. The fire that had hardened her heart and driven her into journalism under Eddie's wing in the first place, years ago...

Reaching for her phone, she dialed the familiar number.

It took only a moment for him to pick up.

"Christ, Park," groaned Eddie. "You better be calling at this hour because you found something that was damn good--"

"I'm not doing it anymore," she broke in.

He paused. "What?"

"Elysia, the Guardian, Luke. The article's not going to happen." She sucked in a breath. Despite everything, the hint of a smile touched her lips.

"Put me on the Han story," she told him. "I want in."

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REFERENCES

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