Chapter Nine (continuation) – Jake

We walked in silence as we made our way up the steps leading to his front door. Hyun owned a large white Victorian manor house, which he had redecorated when he bought it. He held the door open for me as we stepped through into the dimly lit foyer; I waited for him to lead the way as he shut the door. “Wait in my study and I’ll bring us some drinks.” I watched him saunter off in the direction of the kitchen. As much as I loved Hyun’s house, it was too large for my taste. It contained eight bedrooms, five bathrooms and two sitting rooms. I often wondered how he managed to live here alone without letting the loneliness get to him. I ambled towards his study, feeling exhausted and emotionally drained as I sat myself on his brown leather sofa. I had no energy left to even cry. I was still trying to convince myself of the reality of what had just happened twenty minutes later when Hyun finally joined me. He sat in the armchair opposite the sofa and leaned forward to hand me the drink of brandy. I sipped it slowly not really wanting to drink it. The events of the past few days have put me off alcohol completely, but I didn’t confide that in Hyun, instead I turned to him to find him gazing at me through half closed eyes.

“Are you going to tell me?” I asked him feeling more than a little afraid of the answers. He looked down at his hands, resting on his lap, and then sighed heavily. “Hyun…you said that Jake killed…” I swallowed hard and looked at the floor too, unable to finish my sentence. “He did,” he replied softly, “I spoke to the police officer at the hospital, he was taking a statement from Liliana…he told me everything.” He sat forward and reached across to hold my hand. I tried my best to avoid looking at him. “According to Liliana, she went out to the shops round the corner and came back to find his apartment door wide open…Aurora, are you sure you’re ready to hear this now?” I nodded my head, unable to speak as I felt the lump in my throat coming back, I tried very hard to hold back the tears but was unsuccessful, but I kept nodding at him to continue anyway. “She saw Jake first, he was in the kitchen. There was…there was a lot of blood everywhere…and then noticed Lucian in the far corner—“

“Stop…please.” I felt the room slowly starting to spin; I grabbed hold of Hyun’s arm hoping to steady myself as I closed my eyes. “Aurora, are you ok?” I could feel his face close to mine as he brushed my hair out of my face. I opened my eyes to look at him but he had turned into a blur that seemed to strangely merge with his surroundings. “Just close your eyes and lay back.” I didn’t argue with him as he gently pushed me down…that was the last thing I remembered before passing out.