Chapter 23

Lily started laughing. He was right… even if the stone was broken in two pieces, it was still a coveted gem. Who cared? Besides, a bit of wear and tear was normal in such an old object; no one would deny its value regardless of whether the scrapes were man-made or natural.

"Let me crash here for a night," Ya demanded, falling back on the nearest bed. "I haven't had a good night's sleep in so long because of this."

Lily raised her eyebrows at his lackadaisical manner. It seemed that just a mere few months away from the organization had made Ya blasé.

"Lily, why is your lock broken and your door open?" Shu Kori's voice sounded from somewhere outside.

Lily glared at Ya, who shrugged helplessly. He couldn't help it. As someone who barely had any trouble with professional standard safety locks, he found the average standard door lock extraordinarily boring. Although he could easily pick the lock, it wasn't worth his time — so naturally, he just broke it instead.

His idiocy was entirely predictable and Lily was not unaware of it. Hearing Shu Kori's footsteps come closer, she rolled her eyes at Ya.

Upon entering the room, Shu Kori's eyes took in Lily on the couch before drifting immediately towards the attractive man nearby on the bed. He raised his eyebrows.

"Did you need something?" Lily asked. She picked up her wine glass and took a sip, savoring the rich, red liquid.

Shu Kori stood still for a moment, his glance still shifting between Lily and the mysterious young man. Finally, his face broke out into his trademark smile and he went over to sit next to Lily. He revealed a bag of takeout he'd been carrying, and said, "I promised to treat you."

She peered down into the bag and started. It was the dish she'd wanted more of earlier that night, before they had been interrupted by Ya on his motorcycle. She felt slightly moved at Shu Kori's dedication; he'd apparently gone back to retrieve their lost dish. She raised her head and looked at him in silence.

"You don't need to be moved," Shu Kori said with a smile. "That would make me proud."

It occurred to Lily that he was completely ignoring Ya's presence, as if the other man were air. She glanced towards her fellow thief, who appeared to be asleep on the bed. Ya was over six feet tall and had always had a particularly commanding presence — the fact that Shu Kori could completely pretend he didn't exist was astounding. She couldn't help thinking how great it would be if people would do that when they were being robbed.

"I'm heading to bed now," Lily said eventually. "We can talk tomorrow. Oh, and thank you."

She didn't want Shu Kori to find out too much about her situation with Ya, and neither did she want the other man to find anything out about what she had been up to lately. These two people were from two different worlds and bringing them together was unnecessary.

"All right then, good night! Have a good night's rest," Shu Kori replied, his buoyant expression not changing. He leaned over and kissed Lily goodnight on the cheek.

Lily watched him saunter off with an air of grace and scratched the tip of her nose. Honestly, she couldn't understand him. Just earlier in the evening, he'd been asking her out. You'd think he'd be miffed to see another man in her room, but his demeanor was just as nonchalant as always. It seemed he was just extraordinarily generous when it came to love — either that, or he was into open relationships since he himself was hardly the faithful type.

What Lily didn't know was that Shu Kori was an expert when it came to reading people; he could tell instantaneously whether or not there was anything between two people. Although Ya and Lily were in the same room, the atmosphere was not that of a couple. In fact, Shu Kori felt that there even existed a certain degree of antagonistic vibe between them. He hadn't spent so many years being a player for nothing. Because of this, he felt sure that there was nothing romantic between the two — though of course, that didn't mean he wasn't going to mark his territory.

~~~

Lily had just showered and chosen another room to sleep in when the doorbell rang. A representative of the hotel had come to report that since the lock was broken, it needed to be fixed. When the hotel employees had finished their job, Lily was once again just about to head to bed when yet again, the doorbell rang. It turned out to be the same hotel employee, returning to make apologies for a second time.

When the doorbell rang for a third time and it happened to be the employee once again (this time bringing a gift of apology), Lily glanced out the window at the sky that was just beginning to brighten with the first hints of sunlight and left her room, annoyed.

She kicked open the door to Shu Kori's room, which was right next to hers. Shu Kori happened to be standing right near the door. Lily barely glanced at the amused expression on his face before heading straight towards his giant bed and throwing herself onto the comforter. This was the only way she was going to get any sleep tonight.

Shu Kori shut his door and watched her, his eyes crinkling in laughter. She was already asleep. He felt better knowing that she was sleeping in his room, anyhow.

The next morning, Lily was still half asleep when she was woken up by an incessant beeping near her ear. She got up and blinked herself awake. There was no one else in the room with her.

After a long, hesitant pause, she reached up to press one of the ruby red earrings she was wearing, and Ya's voice immediately filled her ear.

"What's going on?" Lily hadn't expected it to be Ya on the other end.

"I just got news that the boss found Misha," he said quietly.

Lily was upright in a flash. "Is that true? Where?"

"I don't know if it's true or not. I got the news from Fei Xin. Apparently she's somewhere in New York. I'm just telling you because you helped me this time. Do whatever you want with the information. We're even now." The connection ended as soon as Ya finished speaking.

Lily sat on the bed unmoving with her eyebrows creased tensely. She and Misha had said they would keep in touch with each other, but she hadn't heard from the other girl in ages. Before separating, they had manipulated their communication frequencies so that any time one called for the other, the connection would not fail. It was highly unusual for Misha to have dropped off the radar for so long.

The more Lily thought about it, the more apprehensive she felt. Misha had been her partner for over ten years. Over time, they had developed professional chemistry and had become close friends — sisters, if Lily were to be completely honest. She knew what terrible things were likely to happen to Misha if she had really been found and caught.

However, she wasn't senseless. It wouldn't be that easy for them to lure her back to them. Besides, the two of them had a method of communication, and Misha should have been able to contact her the instant something happened, even if she had been caught.

The whole situation was baffling.

Lily mulled over the latest turn of events in a heavy silence. "Shit," she cursed eventually. It wasn't going to be possible for her to ignore the news about Misha. Even if it wasn't true, she still felt unsettled.

~~~

"I need the next flight out to New York."

A few hours later, Lily found herself at the airport dressed inconspicuously in casual clothing and a baseball cap. She needed to get to New York to personally assess the situation.

Several miles away, Shu Kori was racing towards the airport in his silver-white race car. Upon seeing Lily's airplane take off into the sky through the window, he punched his steering wheel in consternation. The bloody woman had slipped away from him yet again.

Earlier that morning he'd gone back to the room to call Lily up for breakfast but found the room completely empty save for a note saying that she had some business to deal with and was leaving. He had known that something serious must have come up for her to leave so suddenly when she had planned on staying in Vegas for a longer time.