Chapter 13

What exactly did he do for a living, and how had he ended up with such a terrible gunshot wound? Gabrielle wanted to press for answers, but for now she suppressed her curiosity. She simply held his hand and sat in the chair by the head of the bed, staying up all night. Eventually, as dawn broke, she fell asleep from exhaustion.

“Wake up.”  

“Mm…”  

“Gabrielle.”

Someone was shaking her awake. Even when she tried to ignore it, the hand on her shoulder persisted. Finally, she opened her eyes in irritation and saw Julian’s face—his sharp nose, masculine forehead, and deep black eyes.

“…”  

“Gabrielle?”

For a moment, her mind didn’t work, and she just blinked. Gabrielle quickly recalled the events of the previous night. So many shocking things had happened at once that she could hardly think straight.

“Gabrielle?”

He asked again when she didn’t answer. Gabrielle, dazed for a moment, finally lifted her head. Julian was staring at her with a worried, serious look.

“I’m sorry.”  

“What are you sorry for? I’m the one who should apologize.”

Julian gestured to the gunshot wound on his left arm and tried to get up from the bed. Gabrielle, startled, grabbed his shoulder.

“No, don’t!”

Julian gazed at Gabrielle with an unfamiliar look as she desperately held him back.

“You lost a lot of blood. You shouldn’t move for at least half a day.”

She couldn’t understand why someone with a gunshot wound wouldn’t want to call a doctor.  

Maybe Julian was staying illegally in Verti as a foreigner.  

But if she asked about that, the distance they’d just closed might widen again in an instant.

“There’s no time to waste…”  

“I’ll make some tea.”

Julian sighed quietly and brushed her hand away, and she jumped up.

“At least have some tea before you go.”  

“Why?”

It was a short question, but it carried a lot of meaning. Why go to such lengths? Why hold on to him like this?  

Gabrielle hesitated, at a loss for words, and Julian’s questions continued, now with a sharper edge.

“Do you pity me?”  

“No.”

Gabrielle denied it at once and added,

“You helped me before. I want to repay that. I can’t live with debts.”

Julian looked surprised, as if he’d been struck.  

While he was still processing her words, Gabrielle expertly brewed tea and brought out the cups.

“Here.”

Julian nodded and slowly drank the jasmine tea.  

In the awkward silence, Gabrielle nervously fiddled with the radio on the side table.  

With a crackle, she tuned the frequency, and soon the news flowed from the radio.

[Last night at the Kertia Theater, an unidentified assailant attacked the audience. The identity of the deceased spectator has not yet been revealed, and although police responded late, the perpetrator remains at large.]

The hurried voice made Gabrielle freeze.  

Cold sweat ran down her spine.  

She’d hoped it wasn’t true, but everything that happened last night was real.  

Even though she’d reported it as soon as she got home, it seemed to have been useless.  

The fact that the culprit hadn’t been caught made her anxiety surge.  

Trying to smile as if nothing was wrong, Gabrielle spoke up.

“Anyway, I’m glad you didn’t go to the ballet yesterday.”  

“…Ah.”

Julian put down his cup and stared at Gabrielle.

“You went?”  

“What?”  

“You went?”

Instead of answering, Gabrielle nodded. Julian frowned and asked again,

“With whom?”  

“Just by myself.”

Should she say more?  

The events she’d witnessed in the powder room last night swirled in Gabrielle’s mind.  

Would it be better to go to the police and reveal herself as the informant?  

That way, she could give a statement and help catch the culprit.

Her mouth was dry. She swallowed and wiped her sweaty palms on her legs.

“After the first act ended, I was tired and just went straight home. I didn’t know something like that had happened.”

Julian just stared at her instead of replying.  

His gaze felt as if it could see right through her, and Gabrielle felt like a rabbit caught in a trap.

“Something happened, didn’t it?”  

“What?”  

“You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”

It was as if he’d read her mind. Gabrielle held her breath as a hiccup rose up, but she couldn’t stop it.  

After a few hiccups, she finally nodded.

“Can you keep it a secret?”

Julian nodded in reply.

“Aren’t we already sharing secrets?”

He was probably referring to his gunshot wound as a secret, but after his words, a strangely charged atmosphere wrapped around the two of them.

“After the first act, I happened to go into the staff powder room. I overheard a strange conversation there.”  

“A strange conversation?”

Julian’s eyes, which had been calmly watching Gabrielle, turned sharp.

“Yes. A woman who looked like a dancer handed something like a photo to a man and took money. And the man had a gun.”

A heavy silence filled the room with tense energy.  

It was so quiet that even breathing felt dangerous.  

Gabrielle took a deep breath and broke the fragile silence.

“Anyway… The man seems to be the culprit from last night, right?”  

“Did you report it?”

The low question came. Gabrielle looked at Julian with trembling eyes.  

The warmth that had existed just moments ago as he handed her the teacup was gone from his face.

“I-I couldn’t just do nothing…”

Her instincts whispered for her to run.  

Her hands shook from some unknown impulse—maybe the fear from yesterday was coming back.  

Gabrielle forced herself to give a reason and looked away.

“Should I go to the police station now? Wouldn’t that be better?”

Instead of answering, Julian rustled the blanket as he got up from the bed and replied calmly,

“No.”  

“…”  

“If it were me, I’d just act dead. Pretend I know nothing and tell no one.”  

“Why?”

Gabrielle belatedly looked up at Julian.  

He was already putting on his jacket and gave her some advice.

“Do you think an assassination would happen at such a big performance for no reason? If they’ve recruited insiders, the culprit is probably a hardened assassin or part of a thoroughly organized group.”

Just hearing it gave Gabrielle chills.  

She shuddered and hugged her own shoulders.

“So I could be a target… is what you’re saying.”  

“It’s just a guess.”

Julian replied shortly and turned the doorknob to open the door.

“This place isn’t very secure, so if I were you, I’d look for somewhere else to move. Preferably somewhere with trustworthy people.”

* * *

After sending her mother, Sabrina, to a specialized rehabilitation hospital for alcoholism, Gabrielle couldn’t sleep well for a while.

The place Sabrina was admitted to wasn’t a detention center for vicious criminals, nor a facility for elderly people who’d lost the will to live.  

It was a place where visits were allowed at any time, and guardians could freely take patients out overnight if they wished.  

It was a relatively new facility, so the rooms were clean and comfortable.

It was almost hotel-level compared to the room in the villa where Gabrielle had first lived independently.

But when she recalled her mother’s desperate cries and face full of despair as she was dragged away by the hospital staff, guilt gripped Gabrielle’s heart.  

She thought she’d grown hardened after being betrayed by her family, but human nature doesn’t change easily.

She spent many nights waking up drenched in sweat.  

Eventually, she became somewhat accustomed to the choking guilt and stopped waking in the middle of the night.  

Only then did Gabrielle end her leave and return to work.  

Her colleagues greeted her warmly after such a long absence.

“Were you sick? We were worried. You didn’t answer messages.”  

“No, it was just some family issues. Thanks for caring.”  

“No need to thank me. We’re friends.”

Her closest coworker, Hans, patted her on the shoulder.  

It was an unexpected touch, but Gabrielle didn’t mind or feel uncomfortable.  

Hans was married to Mary, who had also been a colleague, and they had two children.  

Mary had left the company, but they still kept in touch.

They had always treated Gabrielle without any prejudice or preconceptions.  

When she’d transferred jobs after a one-sided broken engagement, barely surviving, they were the ones who supported her most.  

Seeing them made her forget about Chris and Angela, her nominal family.

Hans and Mary were closer and more familiar than her actual family.

“Anyway, you look better now. Mary and I were thinking of visiting you at home.”

“I’m fine now.”

Gabrielle smiled softly and shook her head, when suddenly Hans pulled out a flower basket he’d been hiding behind his back.

“Oh, right. This.”  

“What’s with the flowers?”

Colorful flowers were beautifully arranged in a large basket.  

Gabrielle’s eyes widened as she stared at Hans.

“I didn’t prepare them. They were delivered to the company lobby today, addressed to you.”

“What?”

Gabrielle blankly accepted the flower basket, still in a daze, and Hans nudged her.

“There’s a card. Read it.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Gabrielle slowly read the small card hidden inside.