ILY: KaiSoo fanfic (part 2)
“What is fucking wrong with you?!” Towering over Chanyeol, as he yelled into Chanyeol’s face, was none other than his boss Wu Yifan. To say he was angry would be an understatement; Yifan, or as he preferred Kris, was far beyond that. He was pissed and the veins popping on the back side of his neck was enough proof for that.
Kris pulled away from Chanyeol, of course not after lettings strings of profanities and insults slip from his lips, and tossed his hand into his hair. “What the fuck, Chanyeol?! I can’t believe you! Why did you bring him here?!”
Heaving sighs and ramblings of incoherent words spilled from Kris’s throat until he finally decided to try questioning Chanyeol, that was his intention after all… at least it was until he couldn’t contain his anger anymore. Kris turned his attention back to Chanyeol, within the few seconds that their eyes met, Kris could only find the latter’s presence annoying and growled in frustration. Watching from the sideline, Joonmyeon sighed with annoyance and finally stepped up to help Chanyeol. These boys can make anything complicating can’t they? While Kris continued to busy himself with calming himself down; Joonmyeon pushed him aside, of course with modesty, and pulled Chanyeol out of his office.
“Let him calm down for a while,” Joonmyeon sighed as he closed the door behind Chanyeol. “You’re not even working today and you still found a way to get on his nerves, huh?”
Chanyeol blushed; it did seem that way didn’t it? “Hyung,” Chanyeol hesitantly began. “When are we going to get him out?” The same question he’s asked since Jongin’s disappearance and the same question that caused Kris to feel annoyed slipped once again.
Joonmyeon sighed. “I don’t know, Chanyeol.” It was needless to ask who he was, everyone knew who when Chanyeol asked the question. And each time he asked, a blanket of depression seemed to fall on them, whoever he asked. Now, it was Joonmyeon. With a heavy urge to lift the morose mood, he broke the silence with a smirk. “Shouldn’t I be the one questioning you?” Chanyeol grinned sheepishly. “So you wanna explain to me just why you brought him here?”
“Well…” Chanyeol was hesitant to reply. He had actually called for Baekhyun’s opinion on how to deal with Kyungsoo’s suddenly appearance at his front door demanding an explanation of Jongin’s disappearance; that was basically how they ended up with this problem… So he explained.
~
“Hyung,” Chanyeol began as he walked towards his kitchen. Relief washed through Chanyeol as Baekhyun picked up on the third ring.
“Hey Yeol, I’m a bit-” There were shuffling sounds that accompanied the soothing soft voice of Byun Baekhyun as he spoke. As always, the feeling that he could forever listen to Baekhyun’s voice greeted him, but this time he didn’t even let the other finish one sentence.
“Kyungsoo’s at my house right now,” Chanyeol’s voice came out raspy and choked, immediately catching Baekhyun’s attention despite whatever he was doing.
“What?!” The image of Baekhyun’s eyes bulging out flashed into Chanyeol’s mind, but he felt no energy to smile or chuckle, he felt empty. There was no way he could anyway; ever since Jongin’s disappearance everything seemed to fall apart. “Why is he at your house?” If there was anyone else who knew how badly it was to have a certain Do Kyungsoo at their house during such a critical time, it was Baekhyun. “Is he asking about Jongin?”
“Yeah…” Chanyeol managed to say, he felt overwhelmed by Baekhyun’s questions so he stuck to answering only one.
“Did you tell him anything yet?”
“No… I don’t know what to tell him.”
“Park Chanyeol, are you stupid? Just tell him Jongin’s staying at Sehun’s to finish a big project or something.” Of course… why didn’t I think of that? Oh yeah because you have no idea how hard it is to lie to Kyungsoo when he’s crying?
“I can’t lie to him-” Chanyeol began to argue but Baekhyun cut him off with a sigh.
“It doesn’t matter now; he wouldn’t believe you if you reacted by calling me first anyway.” Baekhyun paused. There were shuffling sounds from the other end again. “Does he know who you’re calling?”
“No why?” Chanyeol breathed out. He was going nowhere with Baekhyun.
“Tell him you just called Jongin then!”
“I said I can’t-” Chanyeol yelled, but immediately caught himself before he could finish his sentence to lower his volume. Kyungsoo didn’t need to know the contents of his call even if by accident. It’ll be harder to explain that way. “Baek, I can’t lie to him. Plus, he already tried Jongin’s number.”
“Yeah yeah I forgot. You’re such a softy!” Baekhyun grumbled but returned to his worried tone seconds after the said statement. “That’s why he came to you? Cause he couldn’t reach Jongin?”
“No, he reached Jongin all right.”
“Wait how? But Jongin’s-“
“Someone picked up, not Jongin, but someone did.” Baekhyun’s gasp from the other end of the call reached Chanyeol’s ears.
“Why didn’t you say so before?! We can’t just deal this by ourselves now! Tell Kris or something!”
“Kris?! I’m not even working today! He wouldn’t even want to pick up my call, if I tried.” Annoyance was building up, aside from the stress and depression he already had. How funny was that? The Happy Virus was coming down with depression.
“Did you try?” Baekhyun’s voice held a hint of skepticism and disbelief. “He’s still the head; he has to care, so call him. Or just bring Kyungsoo to his office.”
“Are you crazy?! You want him to kill me?” Heaving a sigh, Chanyeol pinched the bridge of his nose out of frustration. Maybe calling Baekhyun for help wasn’t such a great idea? But who else could’ve he gone to?
“Look Chanyeol, he needs to know. Kyungsoo can’t be held in the shadows forever and now that he called them? They should, I mean if they’re smart enough, know Jongin’s weakness. It would be safest to have Kyungsoo supervised.” Baekhyun paused. “Actually, it would be the best for both of them. How long do you plan on sending Kyungsoo ‘ILY’s for Jongin?”
Chanyeol sighed. “I swore to Jongin I would help him if he couldn’t send them to Soo; you know that, Baek.”
“Of course I do, but how long do you plan to do it for? You can’t send ‘ILY’s forever you know?” Baekhyun doesn’t wait for Chanyeol to reply, it was rhetorical. “You can’t expect Kyungsoo to feel at ease with just ‘ILY’. He doesn’t even get to see Jongin; ‘I love you’ isn’t going to make up for that. You know that, Chanyeol.” He was right, Chanyeol did know. Kyungsoo was broken because of these lies.. well they weren’t exactly lies, since Jongin still meant it. But these ‘I love you’s didn’t count if it came from Chanyeol. “We should just tell him the truth.”
Chanyeol was speechless. Or actually he was speech-full, he had so much to say, but he didn’t know what to say. Baekhyun was right; there was no way he could keep this secret anymore. It was too big and too out of hand. Kyungsoo was bound to find out somehow. All he need is a slip up. Another call maybe, and they be sure to tell him that Jongin was in fact close to dying.
“Okay…”
“’Okay’ what, Yeol?” Baekhyun was baffled, he almost expected Chanyeol to hang up on him, but nonetheless the reply was a good heads up compared to the many times Chanyeol acted before thinking.
“Okay, let’s take him.”
~
“So, he’s Jongin’s Do Kyungsoo?” Joonmyeon asked with a sad smile.
“Yeah,” There was a hesitant pause before Chanyeol spoke up again. “Do you think Kris will let us tell Kyungsoo everything?”
“I’ll talk to him,” Joonmyeon said hesitantly, after a long silent pause.
“There’s no need for that.” Joonmyeon turned to the source of the voice. Kris. He stood, leaning against the rim of his office door. Chanyeol eyed him carefully. Was he there that whole time? “What?”
“Hyung,” Chanyeol began, still eying Kris with suspicion. “You know it’s not good to eavesdrop right?”
“Are you going to keep pissing me off or do you plan to take Suho and I to this Kyungsoo that you’ve spoke of?”
“Right away sir,” Chanyeol said with a grin.
~
“How’s he doing?” The door slid open as Baekhyun made his entrance and sat beside Yixing, who was already seated by Kyungsoo’s nursing bed.
“Oh, hey he’s fine. The drug wore off a while ago so he should be conscious soon.”
“Thank god! I thought maybe that idiot gave him the wrong drug!” Baekhyun laughed out loud.
“Uh Baekhyun..? Maybe it’s not good at all to have Chanyeol handling drugs?” Yixing said with a chuckle and Baekhyun followed suit with a laugh. A stifled groan emitted from Kyungsoo caught both boys’ attention as they were laughing. “Oh I think he’s up already.”
Kyungsoo was up indeed. He had been conscious quite a while ago actually, but the drug that Yixing said wore off ‘a while ago’ was still in his system. His senses were slowly returning to him as the tingling sensation in his head started to clear, and the woozy weight on his head seemed to lift. Kyungsoo’s eyes fluttered open and his arm crossed over his eyes to block out the room’s blinding light. Another groan slipped past Kyungsoo’s lips, and within seconds his eyes started to adjust.
“Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo’s voice came out fragile and dry as he began to push himself up, something Yixing immediately picked up and went off to get him water. Baekhyun was hesitant when he noticed Kyungsoo struggling to sit up, but eventually he rearranged the pillows for Kyungsoo as he held him up. “Why are you here? Where am I?”
His eyes began to scan the strange environment which he sat in the center of. The cozy room resembled a hospital room. The walls were painted white matching with the color of the bed that he had minutes before laid unconsciously on. There was an IV bag hanging on his right, but no wires or pipes were attached to his pale skin. Half way across the room, directly in front of the bed was a small coffee table and two comfy black leathered couches. There was a large desk in the left corner of the room with three or so drawers and stacks of papers piling on top. Next to that, Kyungsoo noticed, a back of another man was busy filling up a cup from the water machine.
“You’re at my work place, Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun responded after sitting back into his chair. Yixing was returning with the water for Kyungsoo as well. When the water was handed to him, Kyungsoo was hesitant to accept it and the shaking in his hands was visible.
“Why am I here?” Kyungsoo said, almost in a whisper as he eyed the water.
“Drink the water. You must be thirsty after being out for so long. I’ll tell you in a minute,” How funny would it to say this familiar situation played in Kyungsoo’s mind. It was dejavu with a twist of words. By now the thin layer of trust Kyungsoo had wrapped around his sanity was slowly dissolving. He looks down at the water, yes it was true that he was parched, but could he trust this water? Before, with tea, he was drugged by his friend; now, it wasn’t even Baekhyun who gave him water, it was a stranger.
Kyungsoo glanced up, meeting the worried look of his puppy eyed hyung, in a pleading way. Baekhyun gasped in realization, “Oh Kyungsoo-!”
“Please drink the water,” The stranger, or as we know, Yixing, began. “It’ll help clear your dizziness, I’m the doctor here so don’t worry about the water.” Baekhyun nods immediately in agreement.
“Please trust us, I know it’ll be hard to since Chanyeol just drugged you, but we had an urgent reason to.” Baekhyun panicked to explain. “Geez.. why didn’t I just tell him to pull a bag over you?” Kyungsoo arched an eye brow at that statement, which caused Baekhyun to fluster more and stumble over words. He mentally face palmed himself for being so stupid. In this situation, he was supposed to calm Kyungsoo down without any suspicions yet he made it worse.
“You planned this?” The accusing tone pulled through Kyungsoo’s throat, and the water he held was completely forgotten, along with Yixing still seated by Baekhyun.
While Baekhyun busied himself with hands waving in denial and panic, Yixing cut him off before he could utter any explanations. “Well, I wouldn’t say he planned it. Baekhyun,” He stopped to glance at Baekhyun with a questioning expression; he wasn’t sure how to word it with making Baekhyun a bigger criminal than he actually was. “…pushed him into doing it..?”
Immediately Baekhyun jumped up with a loud, denying “NO!” which sent both Kyungsoo and Yixing jumping a bit.
“I didn’t push him into doing it either!!” Baekhyun protested with his hands gripping the rim of his shirt. “I only said to bring Kyungsoo to Kris’s office!”
“Okay, okay, Baek. Calm down,” Yixing waved his hand up and down to gesture the other to sit. He then turned his attention back to Kyungsoo, “Look; now you scared the boy more.” Baekhyun was about to protest again but he decided against it.
“Kyung, sorry, but I guess you could say I was partially at fault to trust Chanyeol to use his brain and bring you here.” Baekhyun offered a sheepish smile and Kyungsoo hesitantly nodded. That could be true. Chanyeol had never been in his right mind to start with, if he had one that is, so it could explain why Kyungsoo was drugged. Although, the thought of having a bag pulled over his head gave him the creeps, so being drugged wasn’t so bad... maybe..?
A question formed in Kyungsoo’s mind and just as he was about to ask, Yixing interrupted him. “Now, drink that water. At least then, I can be at ease about the drug being worn off. You don’t look so good either. You’re so pale.”
That was true, Baekhyun noticed. Kyungsoo looked paler and skinnier since the last time he had seen him, which was quite a while ago but nonetheless, short enough to say it was an abnormal change. He could tell that Jongin’s disappearance caused the drastic change in Kyungsoo’s health and diet. Now, that he was here, the news we’d soon feed him would probably cause him to take another drastic toll. Baekhyun shook that thought from his mind. No, it’s best for Kyungsoo to know. He will eventually anyway.
~
“So, why did you need to drug me? Or rather why Chanyeol did?” Kyungsoo immediately brought up the conversation as soon as he drank all of his water and after Yixing
introduced himself.
“Well…. How do we say this..?” Baekhyun scratched the back of his head; his face expressed a troubled look, and looked at Yixing for help. “Telling him this much without
Kris’s permission should be fine right?” Kyungsoo watched the two older men with a confused look. What was so classified? Yixing nodded with a shrug and Baekhyun turned back to Kyungsoo with all seriousness. The troubled look no longer rested on his face, only a blank look. Kyungsoo noticed that Baekhyun’s eyes no longer glistened as it normally would in dark or light. It was almost frightening how his orbs were completely black now; the lively color vanished and was replaced by a pair of expressionlessly dead eyes.
“We are assassins, Kyungsoo. You’re at our headquarters.” The words pronounced beat by beat timing with the fast rhythm of Kyungsoo’s heart.
We are assassins, Kyungsoo. You’re at our headquarters. The words echoed meaninglessly in Kyungsoo’s head. They floated around, ramming into different parts of his mind and created delusional thoughts that caused Kyungsoo to laugh hysterically. Kyungsoo’s reaction wouldn’t exactly described as shocking or surprising to Baekhyun nor’ Yixing. Truthfully, they had probably expected such a reaction, but the delay of his reaction worried Yixing.
“Kyungsoo we’re not-” Baekhyun started to say, his eyes were showing their usual glow and his brows knitted into a worried expression.
“Joking?” Kyungsoo laughed again which made Yixing worry more. He didn’t believe them… honestly who would? But his laughter wasn’t from disbelief or out of fun. It was a forced, sad laughter, Yixing realized, as Kyungsoo’s eyes began to water. He actually did believe them then..? But before neither Yixing nor Baekhyun could question or comfort Kyungsoo, the door behind the two boys slid open. The crying boy had his face buried in his hands and bed sheets, but tears were visibly wetting into the fabric.
“Uh...” Kris was standing in the doorway awkwardly staring at Kyungsoo. “I came into the right room, right?” He asked before he started to call for Chanyeol and Joonmyeon to hurry up. At the mention of Chanyeol’s name, Kyungsoo’s head whipped up, alert.
As soon as Chanyeol pushed pass Kris and Joonmyeon, who crowded at the door since they were still unsure if they were in the right room, he saw Kyungsoo’s tear stained face and his chest twisted and shriveled in pain. Chanyeol’s eyes brimmed with tears that threatened to fall as he practically tackled Kyungsoo and pulled him in a tight embrace. “I’m sorry,” Chanyeol whispered, closely into Kyungsoo’s ear, in a chant. He wasn’t crying but still, Kyungsoo was taken completely by shock. He felt an urge to shove Chanyeol away but at the same time he felt the need to return the hug. Chanyeol drugged you. The voice sitting in the back of Kyungsoo’s head warned. He did with a reason. Another voice countered as Kyungsoo’s arms hesitantly wrapped around Chanyeol’s waist loosely. Within seconds, he broke down in Chanyeol’s arms. The giant pulled away slightly but to wrap Kyungsoo in his strong arms again and drew comforting circles on Kyungsoo’s back. “It’s okay,” He whispered this time.
The other four guys watched the two, and smiled hesitantly. In Kris’s mind a thought clicked, and whispered something into Joonmyeon’s ear. The two eldest stepped out of the room, unnoticed, as the rest stayed behind with Kyungsoo.
~
It took almost half an hour to calm Kyungsoo down. As the timed passed by, one by one, Baekhyun and Yixing, or Lay as he was called on the loud speakers, were called out of the room leaving only Chanyeol with the frail boy. Once he calmed down enough, the idea of being in an assassin’s headquarters became a realization of the reality.
That was the reality, and Kyungsoo itched to ask a very specific question.
He pulled away from Chanyeol; the tears on his face were dried and only remained as invisible streaks, while on Chanyeol’s button down shirt, there were numerous tear stains. “H-hyung... Does that mean.. J-Jongin’s a... an a-assassin?”
The question left Chanyeol breathless and stiffly frozen. His breath stuck at the bottom of his long forgotten lungs, he stared into Kyungsoo’s eyes. “No,” One simple word lit up Kyungsoo’s eyes, but it hurt Chanyeol and brought him into a deeper part of the darkness he stood in. “Jongin isn’t, Kai is though.” The doe eyed boy stared at Chanyeol with confusion.
“W-who’s Kai?” The older of the two hesitated to answer again. “Then where is Jongin? Is this why Jongin doesn’t come home that much?” The large eyes of Kyungsoo wandered and scanned his surroundings again. “What does Jongin work in here as? Baekhyun hyung said they were assassins… are you one too..?” The accusing thought of Jongin being with another man or woman had long left his mind, now they were replaced with the guilty thoughts of his own selfishness and admiration for Jongin who worked so hard. There was no anger that he was left out of the acknowledgement of Jongin working in a headquarters either. Kyungsoo understood the needed conspiracy, just like those CIA or FBI dramas and movies he’d watched. That was how Kyungsoo saw it all while he waited for Chanyeol to respond.
“Kai... Kai’s someone really.. really close to Jongin.” Chanyeol hesitated again, almost as if he was thinking of what to say. “Jongin’s... he’s the brain of the- the assassin Kai.” The younger boy stared with a worried look; there was a feeling where all of his questions would lead him to an unwanted answer. “T-they.. they are both on mission.” Chanyeol was stuttering. His hands trembled when he searched for Kyungsoo’s eyes.
Their eyes frozen on each other’s, Kyungsoo’s eyes doubled in size, he shakes his head once, eyes still locked on Chanyeol. Twice, Jongin’s on mission, the words repeated in his head. Words formed one after another on Kyungsoo’s tongue and each spilled with the breath which he unconsciously held. “H-how long had they.. been on mission?”
“Since that night...” Chanyeol trailed off.
“That.. night..? When..?”
“That night,” A whisper, everything was spoken in a whisper. It was as if anything louder could set the bomb planted in Kyungsoo off and ready to blow. As if the truth spoken in any tone lower would save him. “When.. when you two were supposed to have dinner..” The giant’s tears began to pour. Even before the boy who just found out that his boyfriend was in a life or death situation, Chanyeol’s tears poured. Maybe Kyungsoo was too shocked to cry now. Maybe he had lost all of his tears. Maybe he ran out, but that didn’t matter to Chanyeol, all he noticed was the paleness Kyungsoo suddenly became. The pearl peachy color washed from his face and his eyes glistened with fearful tears. Kyungsoo looked almost like porcelain, his eyes were glossy, and so were his cheeks. Oh, he was crying.
“Kyu-Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol panicked to Kyungsoo’s side, and pulled him into his arms. “I’m so sorry! Maybe I shouldn’t have said all this. Oh god, you just woke up too, I-”
“N-no…” He whispered. “But.. Jongin messaged me…” The doe eyes met Chanyeol’s and his brows scrunched upward. “I got messages even after…” His voice trailed off as the thoughts of his call to Jongin flashed in. It was on the floor vibrating so I picked it up, the raspy voice played in his mind. Jongin’s phone wasn’t with him. So how did he..?
“Soo... Jongin sends those messages every time he goes on a mission.” Chanyeol paused. “Sometimes, he sends them even during an assignment. He told me.. just in case, he wanted.. t-to say he loves you if... he.. got into trouble. Kai asked me to- I meant Jongin- to hack into his phone.” Chanyeol pulled away from Kyungsoo, his eyes focused in his lap. “Sorry... Those 5 messages were from me...”
The small body slumped lifelessly against the pillows, his eyes went dazed and ears blocked out anything Chanyeol began to say. Sounds became faint and tears clouded his eyes, though none slipped.
It was then that Chanyeol realized: The bomb had long gone off. It was already ticking.
Kris pulled away from Chanyeol, of course not after lettings strings of profanities and insults slip from his lips, and tossed his hand into his hair. “What the fuck, Chanyeol?! I can’t believe you! Why did you bring him here?!”
Heaving sighs and ramblings of incoherent words spilled from Kris’s throat until he finally decided to try questioning Chanyeol, that was his intention after all… at least it was until he couldn’t contain his anger anymore. Kris turned his attention back to Chanyeol, within the few seconds that their eyes met, Kris could only find the latter’s presence annoying and growled in frustration. Watching from the sideline, Joonmyeon sighed with annoyance and finally stepped up to help Chanyeol. These boys can make anything complicating can’t they? While Kris continued to busy himself with calming himself down; Joonmyeon pushed him aside, of course with modesty, and pulled Chanyeol out of his office.
“Let him calm down for a while,” Joonmyeon sighed as he closed the door behind Chanyeol. “You’re not even working today and you still found a way to get on his nerves, huh?”
Chanyeol blushed; it did seem that way didn’t it? “Hyung,” Chanyeol hesitantly began. “When are we going to get him out?” The same question he’s asked since Jongin’s disappearance and the same question that caused Kris to feel annoyed slipped once again.
Joonmyeon sighed. “I don’t know, Chanyeol.” It was needless to ask who he was, everyone knew who when Chanyeol asked the question. And each time he asked, a blanket of depression seemed to fall on them, whoever he asked. Now, it was Joonmyeon. With a heavy urge to lift the morose mood, he broke the silence with a smirk. “Shouldn’t I be the one questioning you?” Chanyeol grinned sheepishly. “So you wanna explain to me just why you brought him here?”
“Well…” Chanyeol was hesitant to reply. He had actually called for Baekhyun’s opinion on how to deal with Kyungsoo’s suddenly appearance at his front door demanding an explanation of Jongin’s disappearance; that was basically how they ended up with this problem… So he explained.
~
“Hyung,” Chanyeol began as he walked towards his kitchen. Relief washed through Chanyeol as Baekhyun picked up on the third ring.
“Hey Yeol, I’m a bit-” There were shuffling sounds that accompanied the soothing soft voice of Byun Baekhyun as he spoke. As always, the feeling that he could forever listen to Baekhyun’s voice greeted him, but this time he didn’t even let the other finish one sentence.
“Kyungsoo’s at my house right now,” Chanyeol’s voice came out raspy and choked, immediately catching Baekhyun’s attention despite whatever he was doing.
“What?!” The image of Baekhyun’s eyes bulging out flashed into Chanyeol’s mind, but he felt no energy to smile or chuckle, he felt empty. There was no way he could anyway; ever since Jongin’s disappearance everything seemed to fall apart. “Why is he at your house?” If there was anyone else who knew how badly it was to have a certain Do Kyungsoo at their house during such a critical time, it was Baekhyun. “Is he asking about Jongin?”
“Yeah…” Chanyeol managed to say, he felt overwhelmed by Baekhyun’s questions so he stuck to answering only one.
“Did you tell him anything yet?”
“No… I don’t know what to tell him.”
“Park Chanyeol, are you stupid? Just tell him Jongin’s staying at Sehun’s to finish a big project or something.” Of course… why didn’t I think of that? Oh yeah because you have no idea how hard it is to lie to Kyungsoo when he’s crying?
“I can’t lie to him-” Chanyeol began to argue but Baekhyun cut him off with a sigh.
“It doesn’t matter now; he wouldn’t believe you if you reacted by calling me first anyway.” Baekhyun paused. There were shuffling sounds from the other end again. “Does he know who you’re calling?”
“No why?” Chanyeol breathed out. He was going nowhere with Baekhyun.
“Tell him you just called Jongin then!”
“I said I can’t-” Chanyeol yelled, but immediately caught himself before he could finish his sentence to lower his volume. Kyungsoo didn’t need to know the contents of his call even if by accident. It’ll be harder to explain that way. “Baek, I can’t lie to him. Plus, he already tried Jongin’s number.”
“Yeah yeah I forgot. You’re such a softy!” Baekhyun grumbled but returned to his worried tone seconds after the said statement. “That’s why he came to you? Cause he couldn’t reach Jongin?”
“No, he reached Jongin all right.”
“Wait how? But Jongin’s-“
“Someone picked up, not Jongin, but someone did.” Baekhyun’s gasp from the other end of the call reached Chanyeol’s ears.
“Why didn’t you say so before?! We can’t just deal this by ourselves now! Tell Kris or something!”
“Kris?! I’m not even working today! He wouldn’t even want to pick up my call, if I tried.” Annoyance was building up, aside from the stress and depression he already had. How funny was that? The Happy Virus was coming down with depression.
“Did you try?” Baekhyun’s voice held a hint of skepticism and disbelief. “He’s still the head; he has to care, so call him. Or just bring Kyungsoo to his office.”
“Are you crazy?! You want him to kill me?” Heaving a sigh, Chanyeol pinched the bridge of his nose out of frustration. Maybe calling Baekhyun for help wasn’t such a great idea? But who else could’ve he gone to?
“Look Chanyeol, he needs to know. Kyungsoo can’t be held in the shadows forever and now that he called them? They should, I mean if they’re smart enough, know Jongin’s weakness. It would be safest to have Kyungsoo supervised.” Baekhyun paused. “Actually, it would be the best for both of them. How long do you plan on sending Kyungsoo ‘ILY’s for Jongin?”
Chanyeol sighed. “I swore to Jongin I would help him if he couldn’t send them to Soo; you know that, Baek.”
“Of course I do, but how long do you plan to do it for? You can’t send ‘ILY’s forever you know?” Baekhyun doesn’t wait for Chanyeol to reply, it was rhetorical. “You can’t expect Kyungsoo to feel at ease with just ‘ILY’. He doesn’t even get to see Jongin; ‘I love you’ isn’t going to make up for that. You know that, Chanyeol.” He was right, Chanyeol did know. Kyungsoo was broken because of these lies.. well they weren’t exactly lies, since Jongin still meant it. But these ‘I love you’s didn’t count if it came from Chanyeol. “We should just tell him the truth.”
Chanyeol was speechless. Or actually he was speech-full, he had so much to say, but he didn’t know what to say. Baekhyun was right; there was no way he could keep this secret anymore. It was too big and too out of hand. Kyungsoo was bound to find out somehow. All he need is a slip up. Another call maybe, and they be sure to tell him that Jongin was in fact close to dying.
“Okay…”
“’Okay’ what, Yeol?” Baekhyun was baffled, he almost expected Chanyeol to hang up on him, but nonetheless the reply was a good heads up compared to the many times Chanyeol acted before thinking.
“Okay, let’s take him.”
~
“So, he’s Jongin’s Do Kyungsoo?” Joonmyeon asked with a sad smile.
“Yeah,” There was a hesitant pause before Chanyeol spoke up again. “Do you think Kris will let us tell Kyungsoo everything?”
“I’ll talk to him,” Joonmyeon said hesitantly, after a long silent pause.
“There’s no need for that.” Joonmyeon turned to the source of the voice. Kris. He stood, leaning against the rim of his office door. Chanyeol eyed him carefully. Was he there that whole time? “What?”
“Hyung,” Chanyeol began, still eying Kris with suspicion. “You know it’s not good to eavesdrop right?”
“Are you going to keep pissing me off or do you plan to take Suho and I to this Kyungsoo that you’ve spoke of?”
“Right away sir,” Chanyeol said with a grin.
~
“How’s he doing?” The door slid open as Baekhyun made his entrance and sat beside Yixing, who was already seated by Kyungsoo’s nursing bed.
“Oh, hey he’s fine. The drug wore off a while ago so he should be conscious soon.”
“Thank god! I thought maybe that idiot gave him the wrong drug!” Baekhyun laughed out loud.
“Uh Baekhyun..? Maybe it’s not good at all to have Chanyeol handling drugs?” Yixing said with a chuckle and Baekhyun followed suit with a laugh. A stifled groan emitted from Kyungsoo caught both boys’ attention as they were laughing. “Oh I think he’s up already.”
Kyungsoo was up indeed. He had been conscious quite a while ago actually, but the drug that Yixing said wore off ‘a while ago’ was still in his system. His senses were slowly returning to him as the tingling sensation in his head started to clear, and the woozy weight on his head seemed to lift. Kyungsoo’s eyes fluttered open and his arm crossed over his eyes to block out the room’s blinding light. Another groan slipped past Kyungsoo’s lips, and within seconds his eyes started to adjust.
“Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo’s voice came out fragile and dry as he began to push himself up, something Yixing immediately picked up and went off to get him water. Baekhyun was hesitant when he noticed Kyungsoo struggling to sit up, but eventually he rearranged the pillows for Kyungsoo as he held him up. “Why are you here? Where am I?”
His eyes began to scan the strange environment which he sat in the center of. The cozy room resembled a hospital room. The walls were painted white matching with the color of the bed that he had minutes before laid unconsciously on. There was an IV bag hanging on his right, but no wires or pipes were attached to his pale skin. Half way across the room, directly in front of the bed was a small coffee table and two comfy black leathered couches. There was a large desk in the left corner of the room with three or so drawers and stacks of papers piling on top. Next to that, Kyungsoo noticed, a back of another man was busy filling up a cup from the water machine.
“You’re at my work place, Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun responded after sitting back into his chair. Yixing was returning with the water for Kyungsoo as well. When the water was handed to him, Kyungsoo was hesitant to accept it and the shaking in his hands was visible.
“Why am I here?” Kyungsoo said, almost in a whisper as he eyed the water.
“Drink the water. You must be thirsty after being out for so long. I’ll tell you in a minute,” How funny would it to say this familiar situation played in Kyungsoo’s mind. It was dejavu with a twist of words. By now the thin layer of trust Kyungsoo had wrapped around his sanity was slowly dissolving. He looks down at the water, yes it was true that he was parched, but could he trust this water? Before, with tea, he was drugged by his friend; now, it wasn’t even Baekhyun who gave him water, it was a stranger.
Kyungsoo glanced up, meeting the worried look of his puppy eyed hyung, in a pleading way. Baekhyun gasped in realization, “Oh Kyungsoo-!”
“Please drink the water,” The stranger, or as we know, Yixing, began. “It’ll help clear your dizziness, I’m the doctor here so don’t worry about the water.” Baekhyun nods immediately in agreement.
“Please trust us, I know it’ll be hard to since Chanyeol just drugged you, but we had an urgent reason to.” Baekhyun panicked to explain. “Geez.. why didn’t I just tell him to pull a bag over you?” Kyungsoo arched an eye brow at that statement, which caused Baekhyun to fluster more and stumble over words. He mentally face palmed himself for being so stupid. In this situation, he was supposed to calm Kyungsoo down without any suspicions yet he made it worse.
“You planned this?” The accusing tone pulled through Kyungsoo’s throat, and the water he held was completely forgotten, along with Yixing still seated by Baekhyun.
While Baekhyun busied himself with hands waving in denial and panic, Yixing cut him off before he could utter any explanations. “Well, I wouldn’t say he planned it. Baekhyun,” He stopped to glance at Baekhyun with a questioning expression; he wasn’t sure how to word it with making Baekhyun a bigger criminal than he actually was. “…pushed him into doing it..?”
Immediately Baekhyun jumped up with a loud, denying “NO!” which sent both Kyungsoo and Yixing jumping a bit.
“I didn’t push him into doing it either!!” Baekhyun protested with his hands gripping the rim of his shirt. “I only said to bring Kyungsoo to Kris’s office!”
“Okay, okay, Baek. Calm down,” Yixing waved his hand up and down to gesture the other to sit. He then turned his attention back to Kyungsoo, “Look; now you scared the boy more.” Baekhyun was about to protest again but he decided against it.
“Kyung, sorry, but I guess you could say I was partially at fault to trust Chanyeol to use his brain and bring you here.” Baekhyun offered a sheepish smile and Kyungsoo hesitantly nodded. That could be true. Chanyeol had never been in his right mind to start with, if he had one that is, so it could explain why Kyungsoo was drugged. Although, the thought of having a bag pulled over his head gave him the creeps, so being drugged wasn’t so bad... maybe..?
A question formed in Kyungsoo’s mind and just as he was about to ask, Yixing interrupted him. “Now, drink that water. At least then, I can be at ease about the drug being worn off. You don’t look so good either. You’re so pale.”
That was true, Baekhyun noticed. Kyungsoo looked paler and skinnier since the last time he had seen him, which was quite a while ago but nonetheless, short enough to say it was an abnormal change. He could tell that Jongin’s disappearance caused the drastic change in Kyungsoo’s health and diet. Now, that he was here, the news we’d soon feed him would probably cause him to take another drastic toll. Baekhyun shook that thought from his mind. No, it’s best for Kyungsoo to know. He will eventually anyway.
~
“So, why did you need to drug me? Or rather why Chanyeol did?” Kyungsoo immediately brought up the conversation as soon as he drank all of his water and after Yixing
introduced himself.
“Well…. How do we say this..?” Baekhyun scratched the back of his head; his face expressed a troubled look, and looked at Yixing for help. “Telling him this much without
Kris’s permission should be fine right?” Kyungsoo watched the two older men with a confused look. What was so classified? Yixing nodded with a shrug and Baekhyun turned back to Kyungsoo with all seriousness. The troubled look no longer rested on his face, only a blank look. Kyungsoo noticed that Baekhyun’s eyes no longer glistened as it normally would in dark or light. It was almost frightening how his orbs were completely black now; the lively color vanished and was replaced by a pair of expressionlessly dead eyes.
“We are assassins, Kyungsoo. You’re at our headquarters.” The words pronounced beat by beat timing with the fast rhythm of Kyungsoo’s heart.
We are assassins, Kyungsoo. You’re at our headquarters. The words echoed meaninglessly in Kyungsoo’s head. They floated around, ramming into different parts of his mind and created delusional thoughts that caused Kyungsoo to laugh hysterically. Kyungsoo’s reaction wouldn’t exactly described as shocking or surprising to Baekhyun nor’ Yixing. Truthfully, they had probably expected such a reaction, but the delay of his reaction worried Yixing.
“Kyungsoo we’re not-” Baekhyun started to say, his eyes were showing their usual glow and his brows knitted into a worried expression.
“Joking?” Kyungsoo laughed again which made Yixing worry more. He didn’t believe them… honestly who would? But his laughter wasn’t from disbelief or out of fun. It was a forced, sad laughter, Yixing realized, as Kyungsoo’s eyes began to water. He actually did believe them then..? But before neither Yixing nor Baekhyun could question or comfort Kyungsoo, the door behind the two boys slid open. The crying boy had his face buried in his hands and bed sheets, but tears were visibly wetting into the fabric.
“Uh...” Kris was standing in the doorway awkwardly staring at Kyungsoo. “I came into the right room, right?” He asked before he started to call for Chanyeol and Joonmyeon to hurry up. At the mention of Chanyeol’s name, Kyungsoo’s head whipped up, alert.
As soon as Chanyeol pushed pass Kris and Joonmyeon, who crowded at the door since they were still unsure if they were in the right room, he saw Kyungsoo’s tear stained face and his chest twisted and shriveled in pain. Chanyeol’s eyes brimmed with tears that threatened to fall as he practically tackled Kyungsoo and pulled him in a tight embrace. “I’m sorry,” Chanyeol whispered, closely into Kyungsoo’s ear, in a chant. He wasn’t crying but still, Kyungsoo was taken completely by shock. He felt an urge to shove Chanyeol away but at the same time he felt the need to return the hug. Chanyeol drugged you. The voice sitting in the back of Kyungsoo’s head warned. He did with a reason. Another voice countered as Kyungsoo’s arms hesitantly wrapped around Chanyeol’s waist loosely. Within seconds, he broke down in Chanyeol’s arms. The giant pulled away slightly but to wrap Kyungsoo in his strong arms again and drew comforting circles on Kyungsoo’s back. “It’s okay,” He whispered this time.
The other four guys watched the two, and smiled hesitantly. In Kris’s mind a thought clicked, and whispered something into Joonmyeon’s ear. The two eldest stepped out of the room, unnoticed, as the rest stayed behind with Kyungsoo.
~
It took almost half an hour to calm Kyungsoo down. As the timed passed by, one by one, Baekhyun and Yixing, or Lay as he was called on the loud speakers, were called out of the room leaving only Chanyeol with the frail boy. Once he calmed down enough, the idea of being in an assassin’s headquarters became a realization of the reality.
That was the reality, and Kyungsoo itched to ask a very specific question.
He pulled away from Chanyeol; the tears on his face were dried and only remained as invisible streaks, while on Chanyeol’s button down shirt, there were numerous tear stains. “H-hyung... Does that mean.. J-Jongin’s a... an a-assassin?”
The question left Chanyeol breathless and stiffly frozen. His breath stuck at the bottom of his long forgotten lungs, he stared into Kyungsoo’s eyes. “No,” One simple word lit up Kyungsoo’s eyes, but it hurt Chanyeol and brought him into a deeper part of the darkness he stood in. “Jongin isn’t, Kai is though.” The doe eyed boy stared at Chanyeol with confusion.
“W-who’s Kai?” The older of the two hesitated to answer again. “Then where is Jongin? Is this why Jongin doesn’t come home that much?” The large eyes of Kyungsoo wandered and scanned his surroundings again. “What does Jongin work in here as? Baekhyun hyung said they were assassins… are you one too..?” The accusing thought of Jongin being with another man or woman had long left his mind, now they were replaced with the guilty thoughts of his own selfishness and admiration for Jongin who worked so hard. There was no anger that he was left out of the acknowledgement of Jongin working in a headquarters either. Kyungsoo understood the needed conspiracy, just like those CIA or FBI dramas and movies he’d watched. That was how Kyungsoo saw it all while he waited for Chanyeol to respond.
“Kai... Kai’s someone really.. really close to Jongin.” Chanyeol hesitated again, almost as if he was thinking of what to say. “Jongin’s... he’s the brain of the- the assassin Kai.” The younger boy stared with a worried look; there was a feeling where all of his questions would lead him to an unwanted answer. “T-they.. they are both on mission.” Chanyeol was stuttering. His hands trembled when he searched for Kyungsoo’s eyes.
Their eyes frozen on each other’s, Kyungsoo’s eyes doubled in size, he shakes his head once, eyes still locked on Chanyeol. Twice, Jongin’s on mission, the words repeated in his head. Words formed one after another on Kyungsoo’s tongue and each spilled with the breath which he unconsciously held. “H-how long had they.. been on mission?”
“Since that night...” Chanyeol trailed off.
“That.. night..? When..?”
“That night,” A whisper, everything was spoken in a whisper. It was as if anything louder could set the bomb planted in Kyungsoo off and ready to blow. As if the truth spoken in any tone lower would save him. “When.. when you two were supposed to have dinner..” The giant’s tears began to pour. Even before the boy who just found out that his boyfriend was in a life or death situation, Chanyeol’s tears poured. Maybe Kyungsoo was too shocked to cry now. Maybe he had lost all of his tears. Maybe he ran out, but that didn’t matter to Chanyeol, all he noticed was the paleness Kyungsoo suddenly became. The pearl peachy color washed from his face and his eyes glistened with fearful tears. Kyungsoo looked almost like porcelain, his eyes were glossy, and so were his cheeks. Oh, he was crying.
“Kyu-Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol panicked to Kyungsoo’s side, and pulled him into his arms. “I’m so sorry! Maybe I shouldn’t have said all this. Oh god, you just woke up too, I-”
“N-no…” He whispered. “But.. Jongin messaged me…” The doe eyes met Chanyeol’s and his brows scrunched upward. “I got messages even after…” His voice trailed off as the thoughts of his call to Jongin flashed in. It was on the floor vibrating so I picked it up, the raspy voice played in his mind. Jongin’s phone wasn’t with him. So how did he..?
“Soo... Jongin sends those messages every time he goes on a mission.” Chanyeol paused. “Sometimes, he sends them even during an assignment. He told me.. just in case, he wanted.. t-to say he loves you if... he.. got into trouble. Kai asked me to- I meant Jongin- to hack into his phone.” Chanyeol pulled away from Kyungsoo, his eyes focused in his lap. “Sorry... Those 5 messages were from me...”
The small body slumped lifelessly against the pillows, his eyes went dazed and ears blocked out anything Chanyeol began to say. Sounds became faint and tears clouded his eyes, though none slipped.
It was then that Chanyeol realized: The bomb had long gone off. It was already ticking.