The Wheel Of Fortune
Chapter 16-Closer

“There was no book, no novel, no file, not even his phone. His phone was in his bedroom so...what was he reading with his reading glasses?”

I pause at her question. She is right, there was nothing in the scene then what was he reading at that time? Since he was poisoned and there was no one around, whatever he was reading should be near his body. I look back at the photo once again. There is really nothing around his body.

“I don’t think he would care to put back whatever he was reading back to its place while he was dying. So...where did it go? Actually, before I overhead the butler saying he was Safan reading a book in navy blue with golden designs before he died but-”

“There was no such book at the time the body was found.” I complete her sentence. I walk past her and stop in front of the bookshelves. “When did you notice this?” I ask without looking behind.

“It has been on my mind for a while. I was just not sure.”

I look at all the books one-by-one before halting at the book with navy blue hardcover and golden designs. I narrow my eyes when I notice another strange thing. “The book you are talking about is here. But...it is not in the manner it should be.”

Nadya walks closer and stops beside me, “What do you mean?”

“All the books are arranged in the alphabet manner but this book is the only one out of order in the whole bookshelves.” I through the arrangements once again just to be sure. I look over my shoulder and we exchange glances.“Then...it must be picked by the person who entered the room.”

I take out my gloves and pull the book out carefully before opening the cover. Immediately a cool sensation penetrates my sense and I turn over the book vertical to over all the pages. It is still wet. It looks like the water was spilled on the pages not long ago. I think back to the turnover glass thoughtfully and turn to Nadya.

“The pages are wet.” I open the book and flip some pages, “Most of the pages are wet.”

“That means the book was lying on the table or the floor for some time and someone picked it and put it back on the shelf.”

“Most probably. The fingerprints should be still on the book...But I still can’t understand why did the person put the book back on the shelf?” I look around the room. Why is this the only thing that was not at its place?

“If we do replace a fingerprint other than Safan’s whom are you going to compare it with? We don’t have suspects.” Asks Nadya,

“Since no one came from outside, all the people inside are the suspects. I am planning to arrange one-on-one questioning with all of them. We can collect their fingerprint that way and question them at the same time. All the staff lives in the same quarters so replaceing the suspect will be easy.”

“Mr. Kang-”

“Leave him to me.” He can’t do anything anyway. It will be easy to take care of him. I doubt he would actually believe what Nadya is trying to point out. All that matters is gaining permission from the Council. “Nadya, go and tell the head butler to gather all the staff. I have to make a call.”

“Oh, okay.”

Once she is out of the room, without wasting another second I click on Juan’s number.

“Your Grace?”

“Juan, replace out all the information about a company. I am sending you an article, replace everything related to this in three hours. Send the information on my mail..”

“Yes, Your Grace...and...the target met ‘him’ just like expected. What should we do?”

“Just ask them to watch over both of the targets for now. Don’t make any moves without asking for my permission. Try to figure out what he is planning to do and keep me informed if the target does anything abnormal.”

“I will do as you said, Your Grace.”

NADYA SHARMA’S POV

The sound of the turning pages fills the otherwise silent room. I turn my head left and right and stretch my hands before closing the file. Till when do I have to keep doing this? I put my chin on my fist and at the person sitting on the opposite side of the table. Does he not feel tired? We have been going through the files for the last 4 hours.

Even my back is paining after sitting in one place for so long. I let out a yawn and keep facing him. He is so focused, he has not even noticed that I am finished. He turns another page and I stare at his face which is bathed in light from the setting sun from the window behind me. Wait...since when did he have long eyelashes? Wow, I never noticed.

It must be because I never took time to observe his features. I trace his eyes before moving down to his skin and nose. He does not have a freckle or a pimple on his whole face. Does he take care of himself? But I have seen him applying anything. Just how does he look so good?

I move my gaze towards his lips. Even lips are propionate and it does suit his face. I wonder whom does he get most of his feature from. My attention moves back to his lips when I see him biting his lip. I try to resist the urge to do the same and lookup.

I flinch as soon as I look up to replace him already staring. I gulp and look away while trying to hide my embarrassment. Since when was he looking at me? He must have noticed me checking him out. Is he going to tease me about it? Please don’t.

“Do you want to look more or have you had enough?” I close my eyes tightly. I knew it. He will never let such a matter go. I can almost feel the teasing smile on his face from his tone.

I turn towards him with a jerk, “I was not looking at you, okay. There was something on your face, I was looking at that.”

“I see...But I never said you were looking at me.” I try to keep my face straight as he covers his mouth with a fist while still staring at me. Soon he is also can’t keep a straight face, he lowers his face as his shoulder starts shaking. I press my lips together at his reaction.

I half-stand and slap his shoulder across the table. “Shut up. Stop laughing.” I push his shoulder once again. “Ryou, that’s enough.” All of a sudden, Ryou raises his hand grabs my hand pulls me closer till my legs bump against the table. I immediately put my hand on the table to stable myself.

As soon as I raise my eyes, my breathing hitches when I replace his face almost two centimeters away. The lingering smile which was still lying on his lips vanishes away in an instant. I notice how he gazes down at my lips before looking back up into my eyes. His grip on my hand tightens with time.

The next second, a shudder runs down my spine as soon as a soft touch falls on my cheek. I glance at the hand cupping my cheek and look back at Ryou, who is now focusing on tucking my hair behind my way. I blink and quickly look away, unable to stand the gentleness and intensity of the touch. Why is he being so gentle all of a sudden?

“Oh my god.”

My eyes widen and I look at Ryou, who looks back with the same amount of surprise. This voice...I pull my hand from his grip and take a step back from the table before turning my gaze towards the door. There is the sound of scrapping of the chair from the opposite side but I keep looking at the visitors.

I gulp while looking at Fajah who is cupping her mouth with both hands before looking at Liana, who is standing behind her as she looks at both of us with an excited smile. No, no, no, Don’t tell me...

“What is going on between you tw-”

“Nothing.” I cut Fajah off before she could complete her sentence. “Why are both of you here?” I walk towards them without looking back and try to push them out of the room. But instead of walking out, they step inside further, walking past me.

“Since when is this-”

“Why are both of you here? Who let you in?” Ryou’s cold voice makes Fajah’s excitement fade away in an instant.

Slowly, I turn around and take in the situation as Ryou stares at both of them with furrowed brows. “I know I have given permission for you all to enter my house but I don’t think I have ever said you are allowed to barge in my room.”

I immediately try to take charge of the situation as awkward silence starts filling the room. “Just let them go. It was a mistake.” I say to Ryou before turning towards Liana and Fajah, who are looking slightly guilty.

“You came to meet us, right? Why are you here? Is it important? Let’s go out, we will discuss it there.” I grab Liana and Fajah’s sleeves without a word and pull them out of the room.

They follow me obediently upto my room.

Fajah starts speaking as soon as I close the door. “I didn’t know he would get so angry. He is so cold and closed off sometime. No wonder he is the Captain.”

“He was annoyed not angry.” Liana corrects Fajah. Fajah sits on the chair near my study table while Liana sits on the sofa after putting down the files they brought with them on the table.

“Was it because we interrupted him?”

“It’s not like that. You didn’t interrupt anything. He just doesn’t like anyone entering his room without permission, even Finlay avoids entering his room except for the cleaning purpose.” I sit down beside Liana with a huff. They are making big deal out of nothing.

“Then had he ever gotten angry at you for entering his room?” Fajah asks back. I release a sigh and shake my head. Fajah stands up, “See, I knew it. He was angry because we interrupted him.”

I lean back on the sofa and drape my arms on the backseat, “Think whatever you want. I am not going to explain anymore. By the way, why are you both here and how did you get in?”

“Finlay let us in. And we are here to submit our monthly report on cases and to ask for our first six-month bonus.” Liana says while passing me the files they brought. I take it from her hand and look through the files. The files contain everything related to the cases they have solved in the last month and the pay they got from it. I think I have seen Ryou preparing this type of report as well.

“The cases have increased significantly in last 5 months so we have a lot more cases than usual therefore we will get a bigger bonus...so...we wanted to use our first 6 months bonus at the same time.”

“There are a lot of cases. Do you take this many cases every month?” I have hardly seen Ryou taking cases since I started living with him.

“No, there were more cases than usual so we had to take a lot.”

The sudden knock on the door, stop all our conversation. All of us look at the door at the same time. “...Come in.” As soon as I finish my sentence, the door is flung opened and slightly disoriented Ryou comes into my sight. He lets out a pant and takes in a deep breath before saying,

“There has been a match.”