CHAPTER 23

Dae Hyun arrived at midnight at Min Hye's apartment with a devilish grin on his face as he stopped his car a few blocks away from her apartment while he covered the remaining distance by foot. He picked the lock to the back door of her apartment like he did the other day and silently went in. He immediately went to her room and a smirk danced on his face when he saw her asleep on the bed. It seemed like she liked sleeping early and she was an early riser too. He hovered above her and stared at her sleeping face for a while before he walked into her closet silently. He looked at her simple jewelries in her jewelry box and fumbled with it for a while before picking up a very simple silver necklace of hers and examined it thoughtfully before he shoved it in his pocket, then he arranged everything as perfectly as he saw them before sneaking out of her bedroom. He was about to leave through the back door before a tiny puppy ran towards him with wagging tail. It was a golden brown fluffy dog with large cute eyes. Dae Hyun squatted to the dog's level as he looked at it with a twisted face of contempt as he said,

"So..You're the reason she left that day." He said with a angry expression. The dog stared at him with cute puppy eyes before it opened it's small mouth to bark but Dae Hyun reflexively caught it by it's throat with his muscular hand which prevented him from barking as it squeaked in pain. He tightened his grip as he strangled the dog while it struggled with a sadistic smirk on his face. He continued to strangle the dog till it froze dead before dropping it on the floor with a soft thud and then he left without a hint of remorse on his face.

...

Min Hye woke up as early as possible to start work for the day. She had dressed up already and left her room when she saw her dog lying on the floor unmoving. She fluttered her lashes as she walked towards the dead dog and squatted down. She gave him a slight push as she called on it.

"Mimi." She said with a low voice even when she knew it was dead because there was no rising and falling movements of it's chest to know that it was breathing. She called the office to tell them she couldn't make it to work and afterwards she took it to the vet to do an autopsy because she wanted to know the cause of Mimi's death since it was perfectly fine the other day.

She arrived at the vet and requested immediate autopsy which was carried out immediately. Min Hye sat patiently waiting for the autopsy result, but she couldn't quite process the cause of Mimi's death since she had given the dog both medical and financial care so it's death indeed surprised her. The vet doctor was finally done with the autopsy and invited her to his office.

"What does the report say?" She asked calmly with a stoic expression as if she hadn't just lost her dog even though she cared about it and thought of it as a good friend to her. The doctor sighed deeply before replying her.

"The dog was murdered." The doctor stated without wasting anymore time and Min Hye was quite confused rather than shocked on while someone would murder her dog.

"What do you mean murdered?" She asked as if she hadn't just heard him even when she heard him loud and clear.

"It was strangled to death. I'm guessing someone burgled your house and murdered it to stop it from alarming you." The doctor said and his explanation sounded reasonable. But if someone burgled her house truly, then she would be missing some things and her house would have been turned upside down, whereas everything was perfectly in place and untouched, she didn't even see any footprints or hints of a burglary taken place in her apartment.

"Thank you, I'll get going now." She said as she went home immediately. If someone truly strangled her dog, she would be able to catch the culprit with the surveillance cameras implanted in her house. Immediately she arrived at her apartment, she took her laptop which was connected to the surveillance cameras and played the clips of last night, starting from 9pm she watched with so much focus but she couldn't find anything until it reached 12:47 am when She saw a man pick the lock of her back door and when she looked carefully, it was Dae Hyun. She watched as he went into her room and stared at her while she was sleeping and then to her closet as he stole her necklace and after that, she watched as he heartlessly killed her dog and then left like nothing happened. Even after witnessing Dae Hyun murder her dog, she wasn't shocked or surprised instead she was a bit angry and curious on why he would kill her dog and then steal her necklace when he was obviously rich. She noticed how he walked around in her apartment and found her room so easily as if he had come there before, so she watched the clips from the other night and her eyes widened in curiosity.

.....

Dae Hyun arrived at work and was suddenly informed that Min Hye couldn't make it which upset him a bit but when he realized why she couldn't make it, a smile flashed on his face and he quickly called her for the first time since he got her number.

"I heard you're not coming to work, why?" He asked with a concerned voice.

"My dog died." She said with a flat tone on the other line.

"That's sad. Are you okay?" He asked with an empathy filled voice which made Min Hye realize how much of an amazing actor he was at pretending but she knew his feelings for her weren't a pretence more especially she saw how he stared at her while she was sleeping so patiently which she found oddly romantic of him to sneak into her house to watch her sleep but annoying to kill her dog and yes, she was mad at him.

"Yes, I handle bad news very well." She said with a calm voice.

"Will you still be able to make it for dinner at my place tonight?" She heard Dae Hyun ask and she wondered how he could still try to act so nice and caring after killing her dog without thinking about how it would hurt her feelings.

"Yes, your presence will help me feel better." She said and it wasn't entirely a lie because she hadn't spent time with him recently because of his busy schedules and she missed him even though he murdered her dog.

Dae Hyun had a grin on his face on hearing her.

"I'll pick you up." He said.

"No, I already know your place so I'll be fine." She said but he insisted.

"I'll pick you up, I don't like you taking cabs. It's risky." He said firmly making it unable for her to refuse.

"Okay then." She said without any more arguments.

Dae Hyun set to leave for work and was on his way to pick up Min Hye with a fixed smirk on his face. He arrived at Min Hye's apartment and rang the doorbell. She took barely ten seconds to open the door to see Dae Hyun's handsome face with a fixed grin on it looking dashing in his usual black suit.

Min Hye smiled at him but she was still a bit angry at him.

"Let's talk about your dog during dinner." He said and she nodded as they both got into the car and drove out. They arrived at his house and they both sat in the living room and she watched as Dae Hyun took off his jacket and put it neatly on the stand.

"So how are you feeling?" Dae Hyun asked as he sat down beside her.

"Why did you do it?" Min Hye asked him and he knew what she meant but he acted oblivious still.

"What?" He asked with creased brows.

"Why did you kill my dog?" He heard Min Hye ask and his jaws clenched. He saw the surveillance in her apartment but he didn't budge and knew she would find out.

"I got jealous." He said with a sarcastic smirk on his face.