PS I'm Over You

"Why are you squealing like a pig?" The woman behind the man snorted.

"Hey, Bea. Where have you been? Christian has been looking for you since yesterday," the man replied.

Beatrice Tang shrugged her shoulders before walking towards Christian and Eli's place. Christian's face lit up when he saw a woman dressed in designer jeans and a white shirt.

"Do you need something?" she asked Christian.

"We're just trying to figure out if there is evidence left. Can you help us check the bodies and figure out the cause of their death?"

Christian brushed off his stray hair away from his eyes. Beatrice rolled her eyes. She was the family doctor of the Jiang family and yet this man wants her to conduct an autopsy? Ridiculous.

"How about no?" she replied.

Christian let out an awkward laugh before turning to Eli and Ririna.

"Mr. Park, Ms. Han, this is our resident doctor Beatrice Tang," he said to the couple, "Bea, you probably know them but this is Gamaliel Park and Ririna Han."

Beatrice Tang was several inches taller than Ririna's five feet six inches, and her long, shiny dark brown hair was neatly tied in a ponytail compared to Ririna's shoulder length raven hair. She extended her hand to Ririna and flashed a smile that showed her pearly white teeth.

"Miss Han, you're quite popular these days, in a wrong way though. What made the current Hattori's motive for dragging you to his game is still a mystery to us." Her eyes sparkled as she laughed.

"Same. I had no idea this was what's waiting for me when I came back," replied Ririna, shaking Bea's hand.

"Well, at least you have Mr. Park to protect you. Congratulations on your marriage too."

"Thank you," Ririna said while Eli only nodded.

Ririna laid a hand on Eli's arm before giving him a loving look. It was clear to Christian and Bea that Gamaliel Park and Ririna Han were deeply in love with each other. What an unusual pair. How could they find love in a world they were in? Did it mean they were a power couple now?

Bea shook her head and looked back at the corpses.

"How did they manage to get them up so high?" Her eyes darted around the crime scene. "Did they use some tricks without the need to use a ladder to pull them up?"

"Ahh… the evidence doesn't lie. We have no choice but to look around for clues…" Ririna began then stopped. Christian and Bea followed her gaze up to where she was looking at. There, on the higher branch near the bodies, a rope was loosely tied and hung on the branch.

Christian narrowed his eyes. "Is this a threat or a warning? Was there another victim they forgot to hang?"

Eli was studying the rope from afar. He could tell that it was the same rope that was used to hang the corpses. Whoever left the rope on the crime scene was either stupid or just mocking the Jiang family.

Both bodies were in the same state. The killer might have killed the pair at the same time. He'd been thinking that there may have been more than one killer. It would make the murder and the task of disposing of easier.

Aside from the Young Master's inheritance, what could be the other motive? Were the hangings some kind of message? Were the Jiangs already divided into groups?

Ririna looked down the path in the opposite direction away from the scene. She noticed the trees around them grew so close together that it would be hard for someone using a vehicle to make a pass.

She followed an unusual trail, walking slowly and carefully not wanting to ruin any evidence if there's one. Her eyes were inspecting the ground, the bushes, and the trees on the way. There were no signs of damage except for one gash on a tree ahead.

Eli followed his wife. He thought about how she could be a good doctor or forensic expert if she didn't become an assassin like him. Or maybe she could be a medical researcher like her mother.

"Did you notice something unusual?" he asked.

"Nothing in here. I just saw this gash. It is still fresh, probably a day old."

The gash was light colored and she was hoping she could see something that scratched off whatever it was.

"Will the police investigate this or will the Jiang family will look out for it?" Ririna asked.

"It will be useless for the police to meddle with this affair and I'm sure the Jiangs are already divided and plotting against each other." Eli didn't want to assume but by being sent by the government, he thought that he was being thrown in the middle of this family crisis to test his capabilities in tight situations like this.

The Park family has served the government for three generations. Maybe it's time for him to cut off all of their connections and become an independent one instead of being the watchdog of the state. Since he found about Skyler, his thoughts drifted to the possibility of giving his son a normal life.

"You do know that with all of their issues, we are the only one that can be neutral. I'm afraid every one of them of them will try to use us to their own advantages," Ririna guessed.

"You think I will allow something like that to happen?" Eli's eyes glimmered with something Ririna couldn't decipher. They had known each other for years but there were still things that she couldn't understand about her husband.

Ririna crossed her arms and pointed to the men who were trying to take the bodies down. As if someone could manipulate the devil himself. Will they try to make a deal with the devil?

She and Eli went back to the crime scene. Her eyes scrutinized the corpses in front of her, trying to ignore the scent of the death. She noticed the tight rope around the wrists of the dead bodies and then she noticed the fingers of the Young Master.

"Look at his fingertips," she said.

"What is it?" Bea asked.

"The killers cut off his fingers." Ririna pointed out.

Bea followed her gaze and frowned. The wound from the cut fingers was already eaten away and infested with maggots and the skeleton was peeking out under the rotten flesh.

"Why would they do that?" she asked Ririna.

Ririna rubbed her chin before turning to her husband who was silently checking the crime scene for other details that they might have missed. Anything that could point out the suspect for this horrendous crime.

"If the Young Master had a hidden wealth, what do you think was the best way to secure it?" Ririna replied.

"His eyes were taken from its socket, and his fingers were missing. It's easy to point out the reason," Christian joined the conversation.

Eli kept silent and let Ririna answer more questions. They weren't here to solve the problem for the Jiang family. They didn't have to intervene and solve every problem that comes up. If they couldn't solve it by themselves, the state has given him an order to annihilate the Jiangs if the worst happens.

----

"Are you okay? You seem preoccupied." Ririna leaned her head to Eli's shoulder.

They were in the sitting room of the Bright Azalea Mansion. After the hot afternoon, the weather suddenly changed. The wild wind was howling outside following with a thunderstorm. The windows were rattling, giving off an eerie feeling within the huge mansion.

Eli looked at his young wife before wrapping his arm around her waist to pull her closer. She didn't need to know how he stayed at night watching her, making sure no one would come after her while she's asleep. The truth was Ririna had already received five twenty-four hour warnings but he successfully got rid of them before she could even notice.

He was afraid that something might happen to her. Eli admitted only to himself that he had a weakness now. Before he was invincible and he could care less about what his enemy would try to plot against him. Ririna and Skyler was his greatest weakness and that forced him to think twice, thrice of his actions.

If people want to burn the witch or stone her to death, they must overcome and defeat the devil himself.

It was already evening and the sixth assassin had five more hours to kill Ririna. Eli was already anticipating his move. The second team he deployed earlier had already found the traces of the next assailant. He only needed to keep Ririna safe for tonight and there wouldn't be anyone who could hurt her the next day.

"Don't worry. I'm fine. Did you give Sky a call?" Eli touched the end of her hair strands, loving how it was starting to grow longer lately. Maybe another six months and her hair would go back to his preferred length.

"Yup. He seemed happy. He said your mother brought a huge jigsaw puzzle they could start assembling tonight," Ririna replied quietly. "He said he's starting to miss us. My poor baby."

"Let's finish this mission quickly then we can go home, alright?"

Home. Something he never had before Ririna and Skyler and he intended to protect it with his life.