Page 85 of Perfect Happiness
Jane focused in on his choice of words.He said “Min-young sent” not “Min-young said she sent.”The former implied that he had seen the email himself, and the latter implied that he’d only heard about it.Jane had to check to see if she was correct.
“Did you read the email?”
Detective Kim didn’t respond.Jane took this as meaning he had.
“It was a hard email to reply to.”
“You didn’t tell her because she hurt your feelings—that’s what you’re saying?Come on, Jane.This is someone’s life we’re talking about.Can’t you put your feelings aside?”
There was contempt in his tone.Jane’s brain was telling her to ignore this, but her emotions took a direct hit.Her face became flush, as though someone had lit her skin on fire.Not only was she pissed, but she could also feel her eyeballs bulging.Her fingers, which were holding the ballpoint pen, tensed up.Her handwriting as she wrote on the notepad suddenly became messy, as though the pen were slipping on ice.
There were three reasons why she didn’t reply to Min-young’s email.The first was shock.In fact, she was still shocked by what Min-young had told her.
The second was blood ties.No matter how much she despised Yuna, she was still her sister.So Jane’s natural inclination was to be a defense lawyer for Yuna, not a prosecutor.From this point of view, everything Min-young told her was circumstance and conjecture.She had no physical proof that Yuna had done anything.
The third reason was an emotional one.Simply put, she didn’t want to help Min-young.She knew Min-young didn’t know how to say thank you.Worse yet, if she did tell Min-young that she had met Joon-young, she would never hear the end of it.Min-young would chase Jane around and demand to know why she didn’t tell her the truth from the beginning.In fact, this was probably the reason why Jane was sitting in the police interrogation room right now.
In the end, Jane had decided to wait things out.She knew that the police would step in if Joon-young really was missing.And if the police found out she had met Joon-young the day he disappeared, she could tell the truth to them directly.She had hoped the police would be more sensible than Min-young.But she had hoped in vain.
“Are your feelings really that important?”Detective Kim wanted an answer to this question.
“I’m not going to answer that.”
Detective Kim turned his head to look at the wall.Jane could almost hear him clicking his tongue.
“Look, Jane.You were the only person to see Joon-young that day.He disappeared after you two met.Do you know what that means?”
Hearing this, Jane realized they must not have any evidence on Yuna.If Yuna had been caught on camera, they wouldn’t be questioning Jane like this.If indeed Yuna had taken Joon-young to the cabin in Woohyeri, then she did a fantastic job of avoiding the network of CCTV cameras.
“Miss Shin?”
“I think your timeline is off.There’s one person who talked on the phone with him after he got out of my car.”
“And who’s that?”Detective Kim asked with an unphased look on his face.
“The person who made the missing person report.I guess she didn’t tell you.From what she told me, she last talked with Joon-young at around 2 p.m.that day.I was in an interview at that time.”
“What kind of interview takes that long?”
Jane reached into her bag and pulled out her business card wallet.Thankfully, the museum employee’s business card was at the very front.
“You can ask the person I interviewed that day.They will corroborate my alibi.”
Detective Kim took the card and looked at it for a moment before stashing it in his pocket.
“While we’re on the topic, I would like you to tell us if what Min-young said in her email was true.”
“There was only one thing Min-young said that was factual.My dad died in a car accident.The rest of what she said are her own assertions.”
“But it’s also true that he dated you and then married your sister Yuna.And because of that, she said you cut ties with your sister.”
Jane thought for a moment.Why was he continuing to push this narrative that she and Joon-young dated?Did he not understand the meaning of the word friend?Were they trying to frame this as an act of revenge by some resentful past lover?Thatwouldbe the easiest thing for them to do.
“And on top of that, you kept meeting Joon-young behind your sister’s back?This sounds more and more like one of those morning soap operas.”
Jane bit down on the inside of her lip.She had to maintain her composure, even if it meant drawing her own blood.If she didn’t, she would be engulfed by the fireball raging inside her chest.
“I told you that was the first time I’d seen him in seven years.”
