The Greater Good
Title: The Greater Good
Pairing(s): KangTeuk, slight!HanChul, slight!YunJae
Genre(s): Romance, violence, angst, prison AU
Length: 5112 words
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Kangin was sent to prison for first degree murder.
Inspiration(s): I watched the movie “I Love You Phillip Morris” and I absolutely loved it. Totally recommended! Also notice how my vocabulary is much less broad in this story-I wanted to make it seem very crude and structural instead of beautifully intricate. It seemed to fit the theme at the time.
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Kangin saw it all coming. He knew that he did not cover his tracks well enough. He should have, but he didn’t bother because really, what was the point? They would find him anyways; they always did. He knew that in due time the authorities would knock at the door, press charges, and then throw him behind prison bars. After all, that’s where murderers belonged-locked up and shut away from society’s fearfully paranoid eyes.
He remembered that day it all too clearly. It was a comfortable spring afternoon, not warm enough to make you sweat but not cold enough to make you shiver. He had a knife clasped in his right hand when he rang the doorbell, dressed in a filthy t-shirt and an equally filthy pair of jeans. Sorrow was all he felt as he shifted his weight from one foot to another, waiting as footsteps echoed from behind the door. It was a little boy who answered, and it was all Kangin could do to refrain from bursting into tears right then and there.
“Hello sir,” he greeted, tilting his head to the side. “My name is Ryeowook.”
Kangin forced a broken smile. “Hello, Ryeowook.”
“Are you looking for my daddy?” the boy asked innocently, eyes wide with childish curiosity.
Kangin’s demeanor softened at the sight of that child, totally immune to the evils of the outside world, and he clenched his weapon tighter, as if reminding himself that he had a mission to complete. “Yes, I am. Can you please tell him that I will be expecting him in the backyard? It is urgent.”
Sadly, the boy did not know any better as he nodded enthusiastically, sealing his father’s fate. “Okay!”
The brawny man only sighed when the door closed and a muffled “Daddy, somebody really wants to see you in the backyard!” was heard. That poor boy did not deserve growing up without his last living guardian.
Kangin trudged down the left side of the house and was met with a white wooden gate. He pushed against the entrance to a man’s imminent death and his face fell visibly when it opened with a click; the gate was unlocked. He continued on, lifting one foot in front of the other, until he saw the man he was looking for from around the corner. His back was turned, but Kangin could recognize him anywhere. “Yunho,” he called out just loud enough so that he could hear him.
The man turned, face calm. “Ah Youngwoon. It’s been a while.”
‘Still as proud as ever,’ Kangin mused. “Yes, it has, hasn’t it? I am surprised you still remember who I am.”
Yunho smiled artificially. He looked much older than before, when Kangin first met him. Wrinkles weighed down his forehead, and his tired eyes were surrounded by crinkles that looked almost painful for his skin. His pronounced jawline was still there, though, enunciating his handsome features and small face. “Why are you here?”
“You know why I am here.” Several steps forward and Kangin was right in front of his victim. The man’s eyes flickered with fear, and with one swift movement the knife that Kangin was holding pierced the younger man’s stomach. Yunho made a quick intake of breath, his eyes glazing over, and Kangin felt the warm fresh blood run between his knuckles, past his wrist, and through the length of his arm. “Life is short,” he mumbled before he pulled his weapon out, watching as the man in front of him collapsed onto the grass in a bloody heap. Yunho was dead within minutes.
Kangin exhaled slowly, threw the knife to the side, and then gathered up the body, not caring that blood seeped into his clothes. There was a shed nearby filled with gardening supplies and he carefully laid the dead man into a rusty wheelbarrow, coffin style, with his arms crossing his chest. “May you rest in peace,” Kangin whispered with his head held low. “Say hello to Jaejoong for me.”
After pulling a black garbage bag over the corpse, he closed the shed door with a heavy heart and turned around, stopping in his tracks the moment he spotted a pair of curious eyes staring at him. “Did my daddy see you yet? I told him that you were waiting here.”
If it had not already, Kangin’s heart broke into a million pieces. Ryeowook was four years old; he did not understand that his only living relative had just been murdered, nor did he realize that the murderer was standing just a meter away from him. He had never seen blood before. “I saw your daddy,” the adult croaked out.
Ryeowook scanned the yard in confusion. “Where is he?”
“He’s in here,” Kangin pressed his bloodied finger to the left side of the little boy’s chest. “And he will stay there forever.”
The boy frowned, looking down at his white shirt, now tainted with a red fingerprint. “Really? But how could he fit in there?”
The strong man laughed halfheartedly and ruffled the boy’s hair, earning a squeal of ironic delight. “He just does. Now go inside and be a good boy.” Ryeowook smiled pleasantly and did as he was told, while Kangin let out a breath that he did not notice he was holding.
He was arrested a week later, when the woman who lived next door found Yunho’s decaying body in the wheelbarrow and Kangin’s knife on the lawn.
In the trial, Kangin did not deny that he killed that man. It was the truth, after all. His lawyer started and stared at him with an “are you out of your flipping mind?!” expression on his face. The judge looked almost relieved: at least the trial would end quickly without too much head-throbbing dispute between the two parties. The outcome was already decided the second he walked into the room, and less than six hours later, Kangin was behind bars, lying on his scratchy bed and staring up at the grey ceiling.
His roommate was a snarky redhead named Heechul who just did not stop complaining. From what Kangin gathered from his ceaseless whining was that he got arrested for keying his ex-boyfriend’s car and then setting his apple trees on fire. “You should have seen that bitch’s face! Priceless!” Heechul cackled. “Serves the asshole right. What are you in for?”
Kangin turned his head and looked at the diva levelly. “I stabbed a man.”
His roommate scoffed, a trace of wariness coating his voice. “Big deal.” Thankfully, he was silent after that.
Night fell, and in the next room, all hell broke loose. A thud. A scream of pain. Profanities. Another series of thuds. Screams of pain, louder this time.
Heechul clicked his tongue and started pounding on the adjacent wall, shrilly demanding the thugs to “shut their traps before he did it for them”. Kangin closed his eyes and did his best to drown out the sound.
```
In prison, Kangin spent his days in silence and never uttered a word to anyone unless it was completely necessary. This was totally out of character for him, but it managed to give him a sufficiently threatening aura that kept the keeners away and made the tougher ones think twice. He was glad that he had such a large physical built, because even if he had absolutely no training in any sort of martial arts or self-defense, it kept trouble away and that was all he wanted.
Strangely enough, Heechul became a constant companion. Oftentimes he followed Kangin into the cafeteria and sat with him while eating, all the while bitching about how shitty the food was or how crappy the facilities were. At first Kangin was displeased with this, but after a while he realized that Heechul knew all of the perks of prison life such as which guard to bribe, which places had no security camera surveillance, which prisoners had contact with the outside world, and which prisoners were easy targets who would say yes to anything. “I’ve been here for three years already,” he said in his usual shrill voice. “It would be perfectly disgraceful if I didn’t know these things.”
Kangin had looked at the redhead when he said this, and once he recognized Heechul’s expression as one of desperation, it hit him that he had subconsciously stepped into a symbiotic relationship. Heechul had the brains, Kangin had the brawns, and they had tacitly signed a contract that made them virtually interdependent of one another.
After that epiphany, Kangin became conscious of the fact that he was going to survive. At least for now.
```
The first time he met Leeteuk was at the library. Though not exactly eye-catching, he was a pretty thing with a petite body frame, perfect pale skin, and innocent features-he looked too innocent to be locked up in a corrupted place like Korea’s Federal Prison. The thin blonde man was standing on the balls of his feet, straining to reach a book on the top shelf and failing by half an inch. Snickers were heard at a table nearby, and the boy-man turned a noticeable beet red before quickly retracting his arm. Kangin found it endearing. With a shadow of a smile on his gentle face, he walked towards the shelf and easily grabbed the Civil Law Encyclopedia, presenting it to the blushing man beside him.
“T-Thank you,” he breathed out.
“Civil law?”
Leeteuk nodded timidly, shuffling past him to sit down at the nearest table. “Yah.”
Kangin’s lips curled. “Trying to find a clause that would assure your freedom?”
“No,” the blonde denied quickly, a fearful look in his eyes that made Kangin chuckle. “I’m just interested in civil law, that’s all. I-I wanted to enter law school before, well, this. I had my admissions letter and everything.”
“Name’s Kim Youngwoon,” Kangin held out his hand.
The smaller man blinked several times and then hesitantly took it into his own. “Jungsu,” he replied softly. “Park Jungsu.”
```
The second time he met Leeteuk was in the cafeteria. He was sitting with Heechul again, and as per usual his mind did not process a word of what he was saying. Instead, his eyes trailed towards a familiar blonde with the most innocent aura he had ever come across. He had noticed Leeteuk sitting in a discreet corner, eyes glued onto his food as his chopsticks steadily travelled from the plate to his mouth. Kangin thought that he looked adorable.
Unfortunately, he was not the only one who thought that way. Soon enough, a thug with oversized arm muscles and a beard strutted towards the man and leaned onto the table. Kangin was not close enough to hear the words spoken, and became increasingly tense as the bearded man started inching closer towards his victim. Leeteuk looked completely perfectly terrified, shivering in a way that it was visible, and once the man’s face was just an inch apart, the blonde jumped up from his seat. In a blink of an eye, he was pulled back and his leg painfully crashed against the table, triggering a strangled cry. The man’s hand was around Leeteuk’s neck, and the blonde was a good ten inches off the ground.
Kangin quickly stood up and made his way to the scene of violence but an arm held him back.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” Heechul hissed. “If you go off and be Superman, you’ll be a snitch to all the prisoners! They’ll make your life miserable.”
The raven-haired man gritted his teeth. “But he’ll kill him!”
“Big deal,” the diva screeched. “It’s not as if you haven’t killed anyone before. Face it, tough guy, nobody in prison is a person anymore-we are all numbers. If that boy dies, he’s just one in a million. He’s goddamn statistics!”
Kangin glared at Heechul and spun around. Statistics or not, he was not going to sit around and do nothing. It took a nicely aimed punch in the guy’s cheekbone to make him let go of the choking male.
“Bitch!” the thug screamed, face turning red with blood and fury. He charged towards his attacker and slammed his fist through the air and into Kangin’s eye. Another punch was thrown, and then another, until finally they were wrestling on the ground, a ring forming around them as prisoners gathered to watch the action. Shouts of enthusiasm filled the cafeteria.
Guards eventually pulled the two apart, and both were roughly taken to the infirmary, where the doctors did a quick checkup and x-ray to see if there were any fractures. Besides his swollen left eye, cut lip, and bruised cheek, Kangin had no broken bones unless you counted the three teeth he lost when the bearded man’s fist was thrust upon his jaw. The other man was not so lucky-two black eyes, a broken nose, and a fractured jawbone. After he was cleaned up and given a change of clothes, Kangin was then roughly escorted back to his dormitory where he all but fell onto his bed in a heap.
An hour or so later, a tap on the metal bars reached his ears.
Kangin turned his head and his eyes softened. “Hey.”
Leeteuk gulped and smiled subtly, showing a small dimple on his cheek. “Hi. I-I was just c-coming to see how you were doing. You put up a big fight back there.”
The injured man laughed. “I’m fine. Nothing broken. The other guy had it much worse than I did.”
“I’m glad,” he said. “Not because the guy that attacked me is wounded, of course, but because you aren’t too badly hurt, not to say that you aren’t hurt I mean those bruises look pretty agonizing to me-”
Kangin held up his hand to stop the man from stumbling over his words. “Really, I’m fine. Are you alright?”
The blonde nodded, stroking his purple-streaked neck. “No broken bones.”
“Good.”
Leeteuk giggled. “Good.”
The bell rang and people started filing in from lunch.
“I’ll see you around,” Kangin promised gently.
Leeteuk flushed bright pink and shuffled away just when Heechul reached the door.
“That was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen,” he declared while staring after the timid blonde. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Kangin only smirked and looked up at the ceiling.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” the redhead groaned.
```
The third time Kangin met Leeteuk was again in the library in one of the more secluded corners where hardly anybody sat.
“Boo!” he barked sharply from behind him, chuckling softly when the blonde squeaked in terror.
“Oh Youngwoon, don’t do that!” he gasped, clutching the left side of his chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“Still civil law?” Kangin commented, taking the empty seat beside the bookworm.
“No,” the pale man shook his head. “Property law.”
“How are you finding it?”
Leeteuk grinned. “Much less interesting than civil law.”
Kangin laughed. “You seem quite excited about it, though.”
“I have to be,” he replied. “Preparing myself for law school is the only activity here that I am really excited about. I would go insane if I did not focus on something.”
Pity coursed through the murderer’s heart. “You don’t look like you belong here. What did you do?”
Leeteuk sighed and bit his lip. “I went grocery shopping,” he said, fidgeting. “Forgot to pay for a bag of chips.”
“And they threw you in here for that?”
“The shore has been plagued by a shoplifter who stole over two thousand dollars in the course of a month. I was the only suspect they could get their hands on.”
“So you are innocent.”
Leeteuk smiled sadly. “Not to the government, I’m not.”
Kangin pursed his lips.
“But it’s okay!” he hastily brightened up. “You could say that I am more or less happy here. Other than being picked on sometimes or getting a few bruises here or there, I have everything I need. I don’t need to worry about things like phone bills or homework assignments or getting to work on time.”
Kangin only listened as the little man in front of him continued listing out all that was great about being in prison, and the more he talked the angrier Kangin became. “You know, life is so much simpler here,” the innocent man chirped artificially. “Just follow some basic rules and-”
“You don’t deserve to be here,” he all but growled. “You don’t deserve to be treated the way you do right now. Why don’t you appeal to court?”
If Leeteuk was surprised at Kangin’s tone of voice, it quickly turned into anger. “Don’t you think that I have already tried that?” Resentment flashed in Leeteuk’s eyes. “Look, life has its way of blowing you around. It just so happened that it blew me into prison. And you know what, I’m okay with it. At least I am alive. At least I still have a free conscious!”
The two stayed silent for several moments before Kangin shook his head in exasperation and stood up.
Worry creeping onto his face, Leeteuk involuntarily reached for his savior’s hand and held on for dear life. Kangin slowly processed the soft texture of smooth fingertips and froze. “Wait. I’m sorry for snapping at you like that. Please don’t be mad at me.”
“I’m not mad. Well, I am, but for a totally different reason.”
“You must understand,” Leeteuk pleaded. “Sometimes you just have to swallow what you are being fed no matter how gruesome it is because there is nothing else to eat. This is a matter of survival, not of justice. Youngwoon, I have no choice!”
“I know,” Kangin sighed. “it’s just…” He ran his hand through his hair and closed his eyes. Mind spinning, he barely registered Leeteuk’s tender hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’ve caused you so much trouble.”
Kangin turned around in disbelief as the blonde gave him the most sincere and apologetic look not even a professional actor could reenact. There was guilt in those bright eyes, guilt that certainly did not belong there. Leeteuk was a fallen angel-too kind, too loving, and above all too innocent. And that was when Kangin made it his mission to protect this man-his angel-and to bring him to justice.
```
Two weeks later, Kangin showed up in Leeteuk’s cellar. “Boo!”
Leeteuk yelped and spun around, eyes wide with fright.
“Surprise,” Kangin greeted softly.
The dimpled smile that Leeteuk wore on his face was worth being sent to prison. “Asshole!” he screamed as he threw himself onto his friend. “How?”
“I know a guy,” Kangin shrugged smugly as the other laughed.
“Oh how lovely it is to see you!” the blonde gushed, starry-eyed. “Prison gets so lonely sometimes and my last cellmate was not a great conversationalist.”
“What did he do to get here?”
“He was an illegal immigrant. From what he told me, he bypassed surveillance cameras while crossing the borders in the trunk of a car. Got caught three months later when trying to obtain a fake Korean passport. He was a friendly Chinese guy and his Korean was alright, but he was not exactly the best person to be with when you were lonely. Don’t get me wrong, Han Geng was nice, but really, he was just so quiet that it scared me at times.” Leeteuk smiled. “Hopefully his next cellmate is nice to him.”
Kangin very nearly burst into laughter. “Oh Heechul is quite a fellow.”
“How wonderful!” Leeteuk exclaimed, not sensing the sarcasm. His smile deepened the dimple on his cheek, and despite his monochromatic jail clothes he looked more beautiful than Kangin would have ever imagined.
Perhaps it was because of his beauty. Perhaps it was because of the kindness in his features. Perhaps it was because he seemed to radiate the feeling of home and comfort. Because whatever it was, it let Kangin’s guard down and he did what he had been aching to do for the last two weeks.
It only took one step for him to claim his angel’s lips, and the latter was quick to reciprocate. There were no elaborate explanations, no heartfelt confessions-just raw love, shown through raw actions, meshed with raw emotion.
Because of Kangin, Leeteuk was never lonely anymore, nor was he taken advantage of. He was finally able to sleep without shivering in fear of imminent danger. He was finally able to go into the cafeteria without worrying about anybody trying to feel him up. Most of all, he was finally able to walk around in his corrupted lifestyle with a smile on his face. That was, of course, if Kangin was forever and always by his side, serving as his potent protector and passionate lover.
Kangin was more than happy to oblige.
```
The two spent five weeks like that, never leaving each other’s side. Always a romantic, Kangin made weekly bribes to the guards, surprising his lover with gifts-a piece of steak during lunch break instead of mashed potatoes and gravy, an extra hour in the showers with scented soap, a handwritten “I-love-you” note attached to a rose by his bedside-just to see him smile. Wherever Leeteuk went, Kangin was sure to be near, ready to provide his angel with all he needed and wanted.
When Leeteuk’s family came to visit one afternoon, he insisted that they all met Kangin. The introductions were tense. Leeteuk’s mother, an agreeable woman with soft black hair, fidgeted nervously as she looked Kangin up and down. Her husband was much more frank, and it was evident that he fully disapproved of his son’s affiliation with Kangin. Leeteuk’s doe-eyed elder sister was especially cautious towards the large man who looked as if he could crush a full-grown man’s skull without any trouble. Kangin did not blame any one of them at all; he himself was always wary of strangers, especially with those with reputations.
“I know that they seemed disapproving,” Leeteuk fretted after they had left. “But I’m sure that deep down inside, they really do like you, even In Young.”
Kangin only laughed heartily.
Of course, good times never lasted forever. It was Friday when the guard appeared at their cell door.
“Kim Youngwoon,” he called.
“Yes sir,” Kangin drawled, standing up from his warm seat on the bed.
“Come with me.”
A look of understanding washed across Kangin’s face as the guard stood stiff still. “Yes sir.”
“Wait!” Leeteuk fearfully grabbed his lover’s hand. “Where are you going?”
“Don’t worry, you are going to be fine,” the larger man whispered. “I promise.”
“When are you coming back?”
“Soon,” he replied, quickly placing a loving kiss on the blonde’s cheek. “Soon.”
Unfortunately, “soon” turned out to be a very long time. After two days with no sign of his lover, Leeteuk started to panic. After several failed attempts, he finally managed to get Heechul to bribe one of the guards to inform him of anything concerning Kangin, and every day he checked with him in hopes of hearing anything-anything!-about the man he loved oh so much. There were many surprises during the first few days. One, Leeteuk was shocked to discover that his lover was actually six years younger than he. He was also astonished to find out that he was the son of a wealthy household who made a fortune with their family business. Not only that, Kangin, being the eldest son, was actually the heir of the corporate enterprise.
The greatest surprise for Leeteuk, however, was the reason behind his imprisonment. At first he refused to believe it, comforting thoughts about their time together. “Youngwoon would never do such a thing,” he cried out, accusing the diva of lying to him. “My sweet protective gentle Youngwoon would never think of such a horrible act!”
“Don’t blame me, buddy,” Heechul shrugged. “I’m just telling you what’s on the papers the guard showed me.”
“I refuse to believe it!”
“Then don’t,” the snarky man frowned. “Luckily enough, freedom of thought still applies to filthy jailbirds like us. But really, why do you think Youngwoon was thrown in here in the first place? Definitely not for being sweet and protective and gentle, that’s for sure.”
“Why did he do it?”
Heechul sniffed. “From what I gathered, Yunho became severely psychotic after his husband died. He was being detrimental, like strangling small animals and harassing people into tell him where his husband was. He was placed in an asylum, but he escaped three times to file a report to the police of his ‘missing’ husband.”
“And Youngwoon killed him for that?”
“I have a feeling he only did it for the greater good. Yunho was a close family friend.”
Leeteuk cried himself to sleep for the next week and a half. It was not because he was disappointed with Kangin-he could never be, judging from all he had done for him throughout his wretched unjust time in prison-it was because he had an ominous feeling of what was coming. First-degree murder never had lenient penalties, and in Kangin’s case it was going to be far from lenient. However, he held onto the hope in his crushed heart and doggedly continued dragging his feet towards a cell that housed a certain redhead.
Eventually, even his last shred of hope was shattered.
“I hate to tell you this,” Heechul in his most monotonous voice, “but he was executed some time ago.”
No tears were shed. Only a lifeless “oh” and a self-conscious swallow of dry saliva.
“Sorry, man, but in spite of how rich he is or how nice he seems, murder is not a good thing, even if the victim deserved it. You of all people should know that.”
“I know,” Leeteuk wheezed, voice faltering. “But why didn’t he bail out? He was certainly rich enough!”
“With workaholic parents who own a business as large as theirs, I doubt that they even knew that Youngwoon was convicted in the first place.”
“Oh.”
Heechul sighed. “I’m sorry, Jungsu. I really am. I’m sure he meant a lot to you.”
Leeteuk nodded, the first wave of tears filling his eyes. “He was everything to me here. I lived and breathed through him.”
“That bad?”
“Ironically enough, he made my time here the happiest days of my life.”
“I know what you mean.” The redhead’s eyes drifted towards the Chinese man who was presently resting on the bed. “He loved you tremendously, you know. I have never seen anybody who looked more like an idiot in love than he did. He would have sacrificed his own life for you if given the chance.”
Leeteuk sniffled. “I know. But that makes it all the more painful, doesn’t it?”
```
Three days later, Leeteuk was freed. Private surveillance tapes were sent to the prison administrations, and all evidence pointed towards his innocence in the matter. He arrived home to the outstretched arms of his family, but instead of crying in happiness, his eyes started spilling tears of anguish before even stepping through the front door.
“He’s dead!” he cried, flinging himself into his mother’s embrace. “Youngwoon is dead! He promised that he would come back soon but now he never will!”
Leeteuk’s parents could only watch in grief as their heartbroken son cried a river, while In Young shed a few tears of her own as she stroked her brother’s back. They all offered soft words of solace, but not a syllable made it past the distressed lad’s ears. He was beyond all comfort.
His father spoke up. “Come now, son, do not cry so. This is life; people die. You will find somebody else out there who will treat you just as well if not better than Youngwoon.”
The ex-prisoner stiffened. “Absolutely nobody will treat me better than Youngwoon. I will never be able to find another person who loved me as much as he did. Even if anybody possessed all the money or kindness in the world, it would be nothing compared to the understanding that Youngwoon and I had.” Leeteuk stood up abruptly and wiped his tears with his sleeve. “All of you do not understand! I am Youngwoon! He is more of myself than I am! Now that he is no longer living, I might as well be dead!”
With that, he ran up to his room and slammed the door shut where more sobbing ensued.
```
Sleepless night after sleepless night, Leeteuk could not bring himself to leave the confines of his room, where all he did was clutch onto the handwritten note that Kangin himself had made for him just months ago. He pored over his law textbooks, memorizing all that he read just to keep himself from remembering the distressing truth. Memories of stolen kisses, surprise gifts, and tiny acts of romance back in prison filled the blonde’s mind, and it would have driven him off the verge of insanity if it had not been the weight of reality holding him in place.
Reality told him that Kangin was dead and would never return-at least not in this lifetime. His heart, however, still believed that his love was out there somewhere, making his way back to him. At first, Leeteuk was not quite certain which one to believe.
The ring of a doorbell provided the answer.
“Jungsu dear,” his mother knocked quietly at the door. “Somebody wants to see you.”
“Tell them that I do not want to see them,” the angelic man groaned, pulling his bed sheets tighter around himself. “Leave me alone.”
Mumbling was heard from outside his room, and a few minutes later the creak of the door opening was heard.
Leeteuk sighed in exasperation. “Didn’t I tell you that I just wanted to be left al-” His eyes widened. To others he might have looked like a different person, but Leeteuk was never one to forget a face. In front of him stood a smartly dressed young man with gentle eyes and raven hair. “Youngwoon?”
“Boo!” The man showed his tender smile. “Surprise!”
The blonde man collected himself and for the first time in what seemed like forever, his dimpled smile reappeared on his face. “Asshole!” he screamed as he threw himself onto his lover, giggling as he was hoisted up into the air and spun around a few times. “How?”
“I know a guy,” Kangin shrugged smugly as the other burst out in tears of happiness.
```
They were married a month later. Their first child was adopted by the name of Kim Ryeowook.
Pairing(s): KangTeuk, slight!HanChul, slight!YunJae
Genre(s): Romance, violence, angst, prison AU
Length: 5112 words
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Kangin was sent to prison for first degree murder.
Inspiration(s): I watched the movie “I Love You Phillip Morris” and I absolutely loved it. Totally recommended! Also notice how my vocabulary is much less broad in this story-I wanted to make it seem very crude and structural instead of beautifully intricate. It seemed to fit the theme at the time.
```
Kangin saw it all coming. He knew that he did not cover his tracks well enough. He should have, but he didn’t bother because really, what was the point? They would find him anyways; they always did. He knew that in due time the authorities would knock at the door, press charges, and then throw him behind prison bars. After all, that’s where murderers belonged-locked up and shut away from society’s fearfully paranoid eyes.
He remembered that day it all too clearly. It was a comfortable spring afternoon, not warm enough to make you sweat but not cold enough to make you shiver. He had a knife clasped in his right hand when he rang the doorbell, dressed in a filthy t-shirt and an equally filthy pair of jeans. Sorrow was all he felt as he shifted his weight from one foot to another, waiting as footsteps echoed from behind the door. It was a little boy who answered, and it was all Kangin could do to refrain from bursting into tears right then and there.
“Hello sir,” he greeted, tilting his head to the side. “My name is Ryeowook.”
Kangin forced a broken smile. “Hello, Ryeowook.”
“Are you looking for my daddy?” the boy asked innocently, eyes wide with childish curiosity.
Kangin’s demeanor softened at the sight of that child, totally immune to the evils of the outside world, and he clenched his weapon tighter, as if reminding himself that he had a mission to complete. “Yes, I am. Can you please tell him that I will be expecting him in the backyard? It is urgent.”
Sadly, the boy did not know any better as he nodded enthusiastically, sealing his father’s fate. “Okay!”
The brawny man only sighed when the door closed and a muffled “Daddy, somebody really wants to see you in the backyard!” was heard. That poor boy did not deserve growing up without his last living guardian.
Kangin trudged down the left side of the house and was met with a white wooden gate. He pushed against the entrance to a man’s imminent death and his face fell visibly when it opened with a click; the gate was unlocked. He continued on, lifting one foot in front of the other, until he saw the man he was looking for from around the corner. His back was turned, but Kangin could recognize him anywhere. “Yunho,” he called out just loud enough so that he could hear him.
The man turned, face calm. “Ah Youngwoon. It’s been a while.”
‘Still as proud as ever,’ Kangin mused. “Yes, it has, hasn’t it? I am surprised you still remember who I am.”
Yunho smiled artificially. He looked much older than before, when Kangin first met him. Wrinkles weighed down his forehead, and his tired eyes were surrounded by crinkles that looked almost painful for his skin. His pronounced jawline was still there, though, enunciating his handsome features and small face. “Why are you here?”
“You know why I am here.” Several steps forward and Kangin was right in front of his victim. The man’s eyes flickered with fear, and with one swift movement the knife that Kangin was holding pierced the younger man’s stomach. Yunho made a quick intake of breath, his eyes glazing over, and Kangin felt the warm fresh blood run between his knuckles, past his wrist, and through the length of his arm. “Life is short,” he mumbled before he pulled his weapon out, watching as the man in front of him collapsed onto the grass in a bloody heap. Yunho was dead within minutes.
Kangin exhaled slowly, threw the knife to the side, and then gathered up the body, not caring that blood seeped into his clothes. There was a shed nearby filled with gardening supplies and he carefully laid the dead man into a rusty wheelbarrow, coffin style, with his arms crossing his chest. “May you rest in peace,” Kangin whispered with his head held low. “Say hello to Jaejoong for me.”
After pulling a black garbage bag over the corpse, he closed the shed door with a heavy heart and turned around, stopping in his tracks the moment he spotted a pair of curious eyes staring at him. “Did my daddy see you yet? I told him that you were waiting here.”
If it had not already, Kangin’s heart broke into a million pieces. Ryeowook was four years old; he did not understand that his only living relative had just been murdered, nor did he realize that the murderer was standing just a meter away from him. He had never seen blood before. “I saw your daddy,” the adult croaked out.
Ryeowook scanned the yard in confusion. “Where is he?”
“He’s in here,” Kangin pressed his bloodied finger to the left side of the little boy’s chest. “And he will stay there forever.”
The boy frowned, looking down at his white shirt, now tainted with a red fingerprint. “Really? But how could he fit in there?”
The strong man laughed halfheartedly and ruffled the boy’s hair, earning a squeal of ironic delight. “He just does. Now go inside and be a good boy.” Ryeowook smiled pleasantly and did as he was told, while Kangin let out a breath that he did not notice he was holding.
He was arrested a week later, when the woman who lived next door found Yunho’s decaying body in the wheelbarrow and Kangin’s knife on the lawn.
In the trial, Kangin did not deny that he killed that man. It was the truth, after all. His lawyer started and stared at him with an “are you out of your flipping mind?!” expression on his face. The judge looked almost relieved: at least the trial would end quickly without too much head-throbbing dispute between the two parties. The outcome was already decided the second he walked into the room, and less than six hours later, Kangin was behind bars, lying on his scratchy bed and staring up at the grey ceiling.
His roommate was a snarky redhead named Heechul who just did not stop complaining. From what Kangin gathered from his ceaseless whining was that he got arrested for keying his ex-boyfriend’s car and then setting his apple trees on fire. “You should have seen that bitch’s face! Priceless!” Heechul cackled. “Serves the asshole right. What are you in for?”
Kangin turned his head and looked at the diva levelly. “I stabbed a man.”
His roommate scoffed, a trace of wariness coating his voice. “Big deal.” Thankfully, he was silent after that.
Night fell, and in the next room, all hell broke loose. A thud. A scream of pain. Profanities. Another series of thuds. Screams of pain, louder this time.
Heechul clicked his tongue and started pounding on the adjacent wall, shrilly demanding the thugs to “shut their traps before he did it for them”. Kangin closed his eyes and did his best to drown out the sound.
```
In prison, Kangin spent his days in silence and never uttered a word to anyone unless it was completely necessary. This was totally out of character for him, but it managed to give him a sufficiently threatening aura that kept the keeners away and made the tougher ones think twice. He was glad that he had such a large physical built, because even if he had absolutely no training in any sort of martial arts or self-defense, it kept trouble away and that was all he wanted.
Strangely enough, Heechul became a constant companion. Oftentimes he followed Kangin into the cafeteria and sat with him while eating, all the while bitching about how shitty the food was or how crappy the facilities were. At first Kangin was displeased with this, but after a while he realized that Heechul knew all of the perks of prison life such as which guard to bribe, which places had no security camera surveillance, which prisoners had contact with the outside world, and which prisoners were easy targets who would say yes to anything. “I’ve been here for three years already,” he said in his usual shrill voice. “It would be perfectly disgraceful if I didn’t know these things.”
Kangin had looked at the redhead when he said this, and once he recognized Heechul’s expression as one of desperation, it hit him that he had subconsciously stepped into a symbiotic relationship. Heechul had the brains, Kangin had the brawns, and they had tacitly signed a contract that made them virtually interdependent of one another.
After that epiphany, Kangin became conscious of the fact that he was going to survive. At least for now.
```
The first time he met Leeteuk was at the library. Though not exactly eye-catching, he was a pretty thing with a petite body frame, perfect pale skin, and innocent features-he looked too innocent to be locked up in a corrupted place like Korea’s Federal Prison. The thin blonde man was standing on the balls of his feet, straining to reach a book on the top shelf and failing by half an inch. Snickers were heard at a table nearby, and the boy-man turned a noticeable beet red before quickly retracting his arm. Kangin found it endearing. With a shadow of a smile on his gentle face, he walked towards the shelf and easily grabbed the Civil Law Encyclopedia, presenting it to the blushing man beside him.
“T-Thank you,” he breathed out.
“Civil law?”
Leeteuk nodded timidly, shuffling past him to sit down at the nearest table. “Yah.”
Kangin’s lips curled. “Trying to find a clause that would assure your freedom?”
“No,” the blonde denied quickly, a fearful look in his eyes that made Kangin chuckle. “I’m just interested in civil law, that’s all. I-I wanted to enter law school before, well, this. I had my admissions letter and everything.”
“Name’s Kim Youngwoon,” Kangin held out his hand.
The smaller man blinked several times and then hesitantly took it into his own. “Jungsu,” he replied softly. “Park Jungsu.”
```
The second time he met Leeteuk was in the cafeteria. He was sitting with Heechul again, and as per usual his mind did not process a word of what he was saying. Instead, his eyes trailed towards a familiar blonde with the most innocent aura he had ever come across. He had noticed Leeteuk sitting in a discreet corner, eyes glued onto his food as his chopsticks steadily travelled from the plate to his mouth. Kangin thought that he looked adorable.
Unfortunately, he was not the only one who thought that way. Soon enough, a thug with oversized arm muscles and a beard strutted towards the man and leaned onto the table. Kangin was not close enough to hear the words spoken, and became increasingly tense as the bearded man started inching closer towards his victim. Leeteuk looked completely perfectly terrified, shivering in a way that it was visible, and once the man’s face was just an inch apart, the blonde jumped up from his seat. In a blink of an eye, he was pulled back and his leg painfully crashed against the table, triggering a strangled cry. The man’s hand was around Leeteuk’s neck, and the blonde was a good ten inches off the ground.
Kangin quickly stood up and made his way to the scene of violence but an arm held him back.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” Heechul hissed. “If you go off and be Superman, you’ll be a snitch to all the prisoners! They’ll make your life miserable.”
The raven-haired man gritted his teeth. “But he’ll kill him!”
“Big deal,” the diva screeched. “It’s not as if you haven’t killed anyone before. Face it, tough guy, nobody in prison is a person anymore-we are all numbers. If that boy dies, he’s just one in a million. He’s goddamn statistics!”
Kangin glared at Heechul and spun around. Statistics or not, he was not going to sit around and do nothing. It took a nicely aimed punch in the guy’s cheekbone to make him let go of the choking male.
“Bitch!” the thug screamed, face turning red with blood and fury. He charged towards his attacker and slammed his fist through the air and into Kangin’s eye. Another punch was thrown, and then another, until finally they were wrestling on the ground, a ring forming around them as prisoners gathered to watch the action. Shouts of enthusiasm filled the cafeteria.
Guards eventually pulled the two apart, and both were roughly taken to the infirmary, where the doctors did a quick checkup and x-ray to see if there were any fractures. Besides his swollen left eye, cut lip, and bruised cheek, Kangin had no broken bones unless you counted the three teeth he lost when the bearded man’s fist was thrust upon his jaw. The other man was not so lucky-two black eyes, a broken nose, and a fractured jawbone. After he was cleaned up and given a change of clothes, Kangin was then roughly escorted back to his dormitory where he all but fell onto his bed in a heap.
An hour or so later, a tap on the metal bars reached his ears.
Kangin turned his head and his eyes softened. “Hey.”
Leeteuk gulped and smiled subtly, showing a small dimple on his cheek. “Hi. I-I was just c-coming to see how you were doing. You put up a big fight back there.”
The injured man laughed. “I’m fine. Nothing broken. The other guy had it much worse than I did.”
“I’m glad,” he said. “Not because the guy that attacked me is wounded, of course, but because you aren’t too badly hurt, not to say that you aren’t hurt I mean those bruises look pretty agonizing to me-”
Kangin held up his hand to stop the man from stumbling over his words. “Really, I’m fine. Are you alright?”
The blonde nodded, stroking his purple-streaked neck. “No broken bones.”
“Good.”
Leeteuk giggled. “Good.”
The bell rang and people started filing in from lunch.
“I’ll see you around,” Kangin promised gently.
Leeteuk flushed bright pink and shuffled away just when Heechul reached the door.
“That was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen,” he declared while staring after the timid blonde. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Kangin only smirked and looked up at the ceiling.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” the redhead groaned.
```
The third time Kangin met Leeteuk was again in the library in one of the more secluded corners where hardly anybody sat.
“Boo!” he barked sharply from behind him, chuckling softly when the blonde squeaked in terror.
“Oh Youngwoon, don’t do that!” he gasped, clutching the left side of his chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“Still civil law?” Kangin commented, taking the empty seat beside the bookworm.
“No,” the pale man shook his head. “Property law.”
“How are you finding it?”
Leeteuk grinned. “Much less interesting than civil law.”
Kangin laughed. “You seem quite excited about it, though.”
“I have to be,” he replied. “Preparing myself for law school is the only activity here that I am really excited about. I would go insane if I did not focus on something.”
Pity coursed through the murderer’s heart. “You don’t look like you belong here. What did you do?”
Leeteuk sighed and bit his lip. “I went grocery shopping,” he said, fidgeting. “Forgot to pay for a bag of chips.”
“And they threw you in here for that?”
“The shore has been plagued by a shoplifter who stole over two thousand dollars in the course of a month. I was the only suspect they could get their hands on.”
“So you are innocent.”
Leeteuk smiled sadly. “Not to the government, I’m not.”
Kangin pursed his lips.
“But it’s okay!” he hastily brightened up. “You could say that I am more or less happy here. Other than being picked on sometimes or getting a few bruises here or there, I have everything I need. I don’t need to worry about things like phone bills or homework assignments or getting to work on time.”
Kangin only listened as the little man in front of him continued listing out all that was great about being in prison, and the more he talked the angrier Kangin became. “You know, life is so much simpler here,” the innocent man chirped artificially. “Just follow some basic rules and-”
“You don’t deserve to be here,” he all but growled. “You don’t deserve to be treated the way you do right now. Why don’t you appeal to court?”
If Leeteuk was surprised at Kangin’s tone of voice, it quickly turned into anger. “Don’t you think that I have already tried that?” Resentment flashed in Leeteuk’s eyes. “Look, life has its way of blowing you around. It just so happened that it blew me into prison. And you know what, I’m okay with it. At least I am alive. At least I still have a free conscious!”
The two stayed silent for several moments before Kangin shook his head in exasperation and stood up.
Worry creeping onto his face, Leeteuk involuntarily reached for his savior’s hand and held on for dear life. Kangin slowly processed the soft texture of smooth fingertips and froze. “Wait. I’m sorry for snapping at you like that. Please don’t be mad at me.”
“I’m not mad. Well, I am, but for a totally different reason.”
“You must understand,” Leeteuk pleaded. “Sometimes you just have to swallow what you are being fed no matter how gruesome it is because there is nothing else to eat. This is a matter of survival, not of justice. Youngwoon, I have no choice!”
“I know,” Kangin sighed. “it’s just…” He ran his hand through his hair and closed his eyes. Mind spinning, he barely registered Leeteuk’s tender hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’ve caused you so much trouble.”
Kangin turned around in disbelief as the blonde gave him the most sincere and apologetic look not even a professional actor could reenact. There was guilt in those bright eyes, guilt that certainly did not belong there. Leeteuk was a fallen angel-too kind, too loving, and above all too innocent. And that was when Kangin made it his mission to protect this man-his angel-and to bring him to justice.
```
Two weeks later, Kangin showed up in Leeteuk’s cellar. “Boo!”
Leeteuk yelped and spun around, eyes wide with fright.
“Surprise,” Kangin greeted softly.
The dimpled smile that Leeteuk wore on his face was worth being sent to prison. “Asshole!” he screamed as he threw himself onto his friend. “How?”
“I know a guy,” Kangin shrugged smugly as the other laughed.
“Oh how lovely it is to see you!” the blonde gushed, starry-eyed. “Prison gets so lonely sometimes and my last cellmate was not a great conversationalist.”
“What did he do to get here?”
“He was an illegal immigrant. From what he told me, he bypassed surveillance cameras while crossing the borders in the trunk of a car. Got caught three months later when trying to obtain a fake Korean passport. He was a friendly Chinese guy and his Korean was alright, but he was not exactly the best person to be with when you were lonely. Don’t get me wrong, Han Geng was nice, but really, he was just so quiet that it scared me at times.” Leeteuk smiled. “Hopefully his next cellmate is nice to him.”
Kangin very nearly burst into laughter. “Oh Heechul is quite a fellow.”
“How wonderful!” Leeteuk exclaimed, not sensing the sarcasm. His smile deepened the dimple on his cheek, and despite his monochromatic jail clothes he looked more beautiful than Kangin would have ever imagined.
Perhaps it was because of his beauty. Perhaps it was because of the kindness in his features. Perhaps it was because he seemed to radiate the feeling of home and comfort. Because whatever it was, it let Kangin’s guard down and he did what he had been aching to do for the last two weeks.
It only took one step for him to claim his angel’s lips, and the latter was quick to reciprocate. There were no elaborate explanations, no heartfelt confessions-just raw love, shown through raw actions, meshed with raw emotion.
Because of Kangin, Leeteuk was never lonely anymore, nor was he taken advantage of. He was finally able to sleep without shivering in fear of imminent danger. He was finally able to go into the cafeteria without worrying about anybody trying to feel him up. Most of all, he was finally able to walk around in his corrupted lifestyle with a smile on his face. That was, of course, if Kangin was forever and always by his side, serving as his potent protector and passionate lover.
Kangin was more than happy to oblige.
```
The two spent five weeks like that, never leaving each other’s side. Always a romantic, Kangin made weekly bribes to the guards, surprising his lover with gifts-a piece of steak during lunch break instead of mashed potatoes and gravy, an extra hour in the showers with scented soap, a handwritten “I-love-you” note attached to a rose by his bedside-just to see him smile. Wherever Leeteuk went, Kangin was sure to be near, ready to provide his angel with all he needed and wanted.
When Leeteuk’s family came to visit one afternoon, he insisted that they all met Kangin. The introductions were tense. Leeteuk’s mother, an agreeable woman with soft black hair, fidgeted nervously as she looked Kangin up and down. Her husband was much more frank, and it was evident that he fully disapproved of his son’s affiliation with Kangin. Leeteuk’s doe-eyed elder sister was especially cautious towards the large man who looked as if he could crush a full-grown man’s skull without any trouble. Kangin did not blame any one of them at all; he himself was always wary of strangers, especially with those with reputations.
“I know that they seemed disapproving,” Leeteuk fretted after they had left. “But I’m sure that deep down inside, they really do like you, even In Young.”
Kangin only laughed heartily.
Of course, good times never lasted forever. It was Friday when the guard appeared at their cell door.
“Kim Youngwoon,” he called.
“Yes sir,” Kangin drawled, standing up from his warm seat on the bed.
“Come with me.”
A look of understanding washed across Kangin’s face as the guard stood stiff still. “Yes sir.”
“Wait!” Leeteuk fearfully grabbed his lover’s hand. “Where are you going?”
“Don’t worry, you are going to be fine,” the larger man whispered. “I promise.”
“When are you coming back?”
“Soon,” he replied, quickly placing a loving kiss on the blonde’s cheek. “Soon.”
Unfortunately, “soon” turned out to be a very long time. After two days with no sign of his lover, Leeteuk started to panic. After several failed attempts, he finally managed to get Heechul to bribe one of the guards to inform him of anything concerning Kangin, and every day he checked with him in hopes of hearing anything-anything!-about the man he loved oh so much. There were many surprises during the first few days. One, Leeteuk was shocked to discover that his lover was actually six years younger than he. He was also astonished to find out that he was the son of a wealthy household who made a fortune with their family business. Not only that, Kangin, being the eldest son, was actually the heir of the corporate enterprise.
The greatest surprise for Leeteuk, however, was the reason behind his imprisonment. At first he refused to believe it, comforting thoughts about their time together. “Youngwoon would never do such a thing,” he cried out, accusing the diva of lying to him. “My sweet protective gentle Youngwoon would never think of such a horrible act!”
“Don’t blame me, buddy,” Heechul shrugged. “I’m just telling you what’s on the papers the guard showed me.”
“I refuse to believe it!”
“Then don’t,” the snarky man frowned. “Luckily enough, freedom of thought still applies to filthy jailbirds like us. But really, why do you think Youngwoon was thrown in here in the first place? Definitely not for being sweet and protective and gentle, that’s for sure.”
“Why did he do it?”
Heechul sniffed. “From what I gathered, Yunho became severely psychotic after his husband died. He was being detrimental, like strangling small animals and harassing people into tell him where his husband was. He was placed in an asylum, but he escaped three times to file a report to the police of his ‘missing’ husband.”
“And Youngwoon killed him for that?”
“I have a feeling he only did it for the greater good. Yunho was a close family friend.”
Leeteuk cried himself to sleep for the next week and a half. It was not because he was disappointed with Kangin-he could never be, judging from all he had done for him throughout his wretched unjust time in prison-it was because he had an ominous feeling of what was coming. First-degree murder never had lenient penalties, and in Kangin’s case it was going to be far from lenient. However, he held onto the hope in his crushed heart and doggedly continued dragging his feet towards a cell that housed a certain redhead.
Eventually, even his last shred of hope was shattered.
“I hate to tell you this,” Heechul in his most monotonous voice, “but he was executed some time ago.”
No tears were shed. Only a lifeless “oh” and a self-conscious swallow of dry saliva.
“Sorry, man, but in spite of how rich he is or how nice he seems, murder is not a good thing, even if the victim deserved it. You of all people should know that.”
“I know,” Leeteuk wheezed, voice faltering. “But why didn’t he bail out? He was certainly rich enough!”
“With workaholic parents who own a business as large as theirs, I doubt that they even knew that Youngwoon was convicted in the first place.”
“Oh.”
Heechul sighed. “I’m sorry, Jungsu. I really am. I’m sure he meant a lot to you.”
Leeteuk nodded, the first wave of tears filling his eyes. “He was everything to me here. I lived and breathed through him.”
“That bad?”
“Ironically enough, he made my time here the happiest days of my life.”
“I know what you mean.” The redhead’s eyes drifted towards the Chinese man who was presently resting on the bed. “He loved you tremendously, you know. I have never seen anybody who looked more like an idiot in love than he did. He would have sacrificed his own life for you if given the chance.”
Leeteuk sniffled. “I know. But that makes it all the more painful, doesn’t it?”
```
Three days later, Leeteuk was freed. Private surveillance tapes were sent to the prison administrations, and all evidence pointed towards his innocence in the matter. He arrived home to the outstretched arms of his family, but instead of crying in happiness, his eyes started spilling tears of anguish before even stepping through the front door.
“He’s dead!” he cried, flinging himself into his mother’s embrace. “Youngwoon is dead! He promised that he would come back soon but now he never will!”
Leeteuk’s parents could only watch in grief as their heartbroken son cried a river, while In Young shed a few tears of her own as she stroked her brother’s back. They all offered soft words of solace, but not a syllable made it past the distressed lad’s ears. He was beyond all comfort.
His father spoke up. “Come now, son, do not cry so. This is life; people die. You will find somebody else out there who will treat you just as well if not better than Youngwoon.”
The ex-prisoner stiffened. “Absolutely nobody will treat me better than Youngwoon. I will never be able to find another person who loved me as much as he did. Even if anybody possessed all the money or kindness in the world, it would be nothing compared to the understanding that Youngwoon and I had.” Leeteuk stood up abruptly and wiped his tears with his sleeve. “All of you do not understand! I am Youngwoon! He is more of myself than I am! Now that he is no longer living, I might as well be dead!”
With that, he ran up to his room and slammed the door shut where more sobbing ensued.
```
Sleepless night after sleepless night, Leeteuk could not bring himself to leave the confines of his room, where all he did was clutch onto the handwritten note that Kangin himself had made for him just months ago. He pored over his law textbooks, memorizing all that he read just to keep himself from remembering the distressing truth. Memories of stolen kisses, surprise gifts, and tiny acts of romance back in prison filled the blonde’s mind, and it would have driven him off the verge of insanity if it had not been the weight of reality holding him in place.
Reality told him that Kangin was dead and would never return-at least not in this lifetime. His heart, however, still believed that his love was out there somewhere, making his way back to him. At first, Leeteuk was not quite certain which one to believe.
The ring of a doorbell provided the answer.
“Jungsu dear,” his mother knocked quietly at the door. “Somebody wants to see you.”
“Tell them that I do not want to see them,” the angelic man groaned, pulling his bed sheets tighter around himself. “Leave me alone.”
Mumbling was heard from outside his room, and a few minutes later the creak of the door opening was heard.
Leeteuk sighed in exasperation. “Didn’t I tell you that I just wanted to be left al-” His eyes widened. To others he might have looked like a different person, but Leeteuk was never one to forget a face. In front of him stood a smartly dressed young man with gentle eyes and raven hair. “Youngwoon?”
“Boo!” The man showed his tender smile. “Surprise!”
The blonde man collected himself and for the first time in what seemed like forever, his dimpled smile reappeared on his face. “Asshole!” he screamed as he threw himself onto his lover, giggling as he was hoisted up into the air and spun around a few times. “How?”
“I know a guy,” Kangin shrugged smugly as the other burst out in tears of happiness.
```
They were married a month later. Their first child was adopted by the name of Kim Ryeowook.