Chapter 2

Sensing something was wrong, Thea tensed up and grabbed both my arms.

"What's wrong, Hernandez?"

"Has all the stress been too much? Is that old condition you recovered from flaring up again?"

Seeing the genuine concern in her eyes, I relaxed slightly.

My parents and Thea's parents had been colleagues. Years ago, during a mission, they were brutally murdered by drug dealers. After that, I couldn't sleep for years and developed severe mental illness.

Fortunately, I still had Thea to rely on. With her help, I gradually recovered.

Only Thea knew about this.

And I'd already carved Thea's appearance into my mind. The person before me looked identical to my Thea—even the beauty mark by her mouth was exactly the same shape.

I figured she must have been so excited about completing the mission that she'd momentarily forgotten our pact. I tested her carefully. "I'm fine. It's just when you suddenly mentioned that tree at home, I felt guilty."

"During the time you were missing, someone broke into our house for revenge and set it on fire. I was too busy preparing for my undercover work and didn't notice in time. That tree burned down."

Her eyes went wide. "Burned down? But our parents' ashes were buried under that tree! Hernandez, did you at least save the ashes?"

The matter of the ashes was even more private. Besides Thea and me, not a single other person in the world knew about it.

I finally felt completely reassured. I was about to admit I'd been testing her when Thea rubbed her reddened eyes. "I'll never get to eat the fruit from that persimmon tree again."

"But Hernandez, don't feel guilty. We destroyed the drug trafficking syndicate and avenged our parents. Their spirits will only feel comforted."

The next second, the words I was about to speak lodged in my throat like a stone!

She'd said "persimmon tree" again!

If she'd simply forgotten our pact earlier, surely she'd have remembered by now.

This was a pact she herself had spoken on the day before we entered the police academy.

She'd called the persimmon tree the Tree of Vengeance to remind herself never to forget the hatred of our parents' murder. No matter how hard, how difficult, how frightening—she had to stay firm in her conviction to fight the drug dealers.

We'd branded the "Tree of Vengeance" into our very souls!

"Yeah, Thea, they'll definitely be comforted."

"We got our revenge and completed the mission. That's the best birthday present for you."

I calmly stepped back from her and took out the gift I'd prepared—a snow globe with six cartoon figures inside, four adults and two children, depicting a scene from my childhood memories of our two families having dinner together.

Then suddenly, I "accidentally" dropped the gift on the ground. It shattered.

"Oh—"

I cried out, "Sorry, Thea! I'll get you another one!"

She said it was fine, told me to just get her a replacement after we got home.

I insisted on staying to replace it, saying it would already be the next day by the time we landed.

I needed to find her on Thea's actual birthday, whether she was dead or alive.