I Want To Live! (2/?)
Title: I Want To Live!
Pairing: (Main) Kyumin, (Side) KangTeuk, HanChul
Genre: A little angsty, attempted humour (might fail miserably) and romance
Rating: PG-13 (I suck at smut, so there!)
Disclaimer: They’re mine, MINE!! *wakes up* Darn! It was all a dream! The boys don’t belong to me. *sobs*
Notes: There might be grammatical errors here and there. Please feel free to point it out.
Summary: Lee Sungmin is a trained hitman by the codename ‘MIN’. His only sole purpose is to kill his assignments regardless of their backgrounds. So why did, one fateful night, on the brink of death, he met Cho Kyuhyun? The one who taught him the meaning of life. But then why life, had to be so full of twisted humour?
The first time Sungmin woke up was because he felt thirsty. His throat was parched, like he hadn’t had any water for days. But he couldn’t open his eyes nor move. He didn’t understand his helplessness or why his head throbbed with pain or why his body felt sluggish like it has been stuffed with cotton. He couldn’t think coherently. All he needed was water and suddenly, the refreshing liquid was dabbed onto his dry lips in which he licked it hungrily, eager to soothe his raging thirst. “More…” Sungmin managed to croak and more of the liquid of life was poured into his open mouth.
However, his throat suddenly constricted and soon, he found himself coughing violently. More pain shot through his body and he hissed from the pain. His brain vaguely registered the soft cursing beside him before his cold upper body was enveloped in warmth. Sungmin felt as if his brain and his body were somewhat detached because the pain that had clawed at him earlier was gone and was replaced by a strong sense of security.
“Open your mouth.”
By reasons unknown to him, he readily obeyed and before his fuzzy brain could register why he opened his mouth, his mouth was covered by something warm and wet. He felt a tongue touch his and then water gushed down his throat in which he drank thirstily. There was a soft chuckle before he felt himself fall back into the embrace of unconsciousness.
The second time he felt himself falling back into consciousness was when his sharp ears picked up some rustling sounds nearby. He willed himself to stay still to observe the situation around him and at the first advantage he got, he will take it. But then, all became silent and after ten minutes, he lifted one heavy eyelid to get a better understanding of his surroundings. It took short while for his vision to get used to the lighting within the room but when he realized that he was alone, he found himself staring up at a ceiling filled with cracks and there was a small trail of ants crawling across it.
He then turned his head to study his surroundings. It was a small and simple room, probably old since the plaster had started to peel in bits and pieces here and there, the lighting was quite dim and as for the windows, dull coloured curtains were pulled together and therefore, preventing him from getting some sort of clue as to where he was exactly. There was a worn out bedside table and a wooden chair beside his bed, a book rack filled with medical books, action novels and comic books, a cupboard which looked like it’s about to fall to pieces if anyone so much touched it and a moth eaten dark green rug on the floor. There were some photo frames hanging on the walls but none of it contained pictures of the owner of the room.
He had now come to the conclusion that this person must either be very poor or very stingy, has an interest in medicine and might be a medical student since a medical practitioner usually does not live in such poor housing conditions, simple tastes in life, and probably a fixed routine in life. However, medical students are usually not this tidy. He was puzzled. This person is just full of mysteries.
Sungmin sighed and continued looking up at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts. He wasn’t sure whether he was glad or depressed of the fact that he was very much alive for he was sure that a hitlist with his name stamped all over it would have been issued. Either way, he was as good as dead now. Nobody has ever managed to escape the headquarters. Except the Death Princess.
“A penny for your thoughts?”
Sungmin instinctively shot up but fell back into the bed with a muffled pain. He gritted his teeth and winced. In his pain-filled mind, he vaguely wondered why he wasn’t able to sense that stupid man who had caused him so much pain. Since he was practically immobile, he growled with menace, daring the tall young man to come closer.
Which he eagerly and ignorantly did.
“Whoa!! You’re going to reopen your wounds.” The owner of the voice rushed to his side and Sungmin felt cold hands feeling all over his upper torso before he angrily smacked them away. Bad idea. He hissed with annoyance and pain, all the time glaring at the smirking figure. “Not my fault you ended up in pain again.”
Again? He cocked up one eyebrow in question.
“Yea. You actually woke up a few times, delirious and spluttering nonsense before falling back asleep. Because you were flailing and struggling so hard, I had to keep you pinned to the bed. You even scratched me a few times here and there!” The pale man rolled up his sleeves to show Sungmin the angry red welts on his skin and Sungmin smirked in satisfaction. For some unknown reason, he keeps on getting annoyed at this young man. He knows that he should be grateful but there is no such thing as gratitude when you’re living in a dangerous world. Especially in a dog eat dog world.
“Who are you?” Sungmin croaked painfully, his eyes never leaving the man’s face. In case he lied, Sungmin would know right away and then he won’t feel bad for killing the man.
“Cho Kyuhyun.”
There was no lie. He took a mental note to check out the owner of that name when he leaves. “Where’s my gun?”
“I threw it away.” Kyuhyun answered nonchalantly.
‘WHAT!?” Sungmin shot up again only to fall back heavily on the mattress. He cringed and instinctively recoiled his body in a protective manner.
“I wouldn’t do that again if I were you. You’re lucky that your wounds haven’t reopened. Oh damn, it did.” Kyuhyun left the room and reappeared moments later with a basin of water, a white towel and some new rolls of bandages. “You should just be a good patient and lie still.”
Sungmin frowned. Just who the hell is this guy who kept on ordering him around?! “I don’t need your help!” He thought that if he glared hard enough, the stupid man named Cho Kyuhyun will go ‘poof’ and leave him the hell alone!
“You’re an invalid right now. I have a responsibility since I took you in. Who knows? You might sue me for me for negligence?” Kyuhyun chuckled at his own joke.
Obviously Sungmin didn’t find that the least funny. He frowned even harder when Kyuhyun helped him up into a sitting position but did nothing when Kyuhyun slowly unbandaged the bandages of his upper torso and started cleaning the bleeding gunshot wounds, soaking the towel in warm water and softly dabbing the blood away. Silence ensued.
“Well, aren’t you going to tell me?” Kyuhyun continued with his ministrations.
“Are you a doctor?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Sungmin knew what he was trying to ask. He was currently trying to avoid answer that question and so, he repeated his question. “Are.You.A.Doctor?” He punctuated every word like the other man was a retard and needed him to speak slowly so that he could understand.
“Close but no. I do have medical knowledge but I’m no doctor.” Kyuhyun answered nonchalantly. “I have hyung who is a doctor and he has been teaching me stuff which came in pretty handy while I handled you.” Kyuhyun’s eyes twinkled to Sungmin’s horror.
“Yah! You manhandled me?!”
“Well, I had no choice. It was either that or you were going to bleed to death.” He discarded the bloodied bandages onto the floor carelessly. Then he took the white towel and dipped it into the water. “Besides, you weren’t in your right mind then. You kept on screaming and ranting as if the devil were on your heels.”
Sungmin went white. His inner demons had come out into the open during his time of helplessness.
“However, despite the fact that I would love to take credit for taking care of your wounds,” Kyuhyun indicated at the two stitched up gunshot wounds; one on Sungmin’s right shoulder and the other on the side of his left abdomen, “I couldn’t deny you of the knowledge that it was actually Teukie hyung’s skills that saved your life.”
Teukie hyung?? What kind of name was that?
“I figured that you wouldn’t appreciate being sent to the hospital, judging by your scars...” Kyuhyun’s sentence trailed off and Sungmin saw the disapproval flashed fleetingly across his face. Kyuhyun cleared his throat, turned to clean the bloodied towel into the water, squeezed most of the liquid out before returning his attention to tend to Sungmin’s wounds.
All the while Sungmin just studied Kyuhyun’s facial features. The man’s skin was pale but translucent, as if it didn’t get enough sun, thick eyebrows, long eyelashes around those hauntingly dark brown eyes and there were fine wrinkles at the sides of the eyes, a strong and hawk-like nose, a stubborn chin and a kissable mouth. Kissable mouth?? Whilst Sungmin was somewhat puking in his inner mind, he suddenly noticed that Kyuhyun was now staring at him with those big dark brown eyes and he shuddered.
“Aren’t you going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?” Sungmin swallowed uneasily. He decided that he didn’t like the way Kyuhyun was looking at him. Like a predator stalking its prey.
“Don’t you know the drill? You ask my name, which I told you, and it is only polite to tell me yours.” Kyuhyun put some pressure into his dabbing, causing Sungmin to jerk a little from the pinprick of pain.
He glared at the other man and pursed his lips, swearing that no way in hell was he going to reveal his name! Not because of the fact that to give out a hitman’s name is practically equivalent to signing his own death certificate. But then again, his death certificate would have been signed anyways since his failure to report to the headquartes.
“Well? I’m waiting.” Kyuhyun had started to re-bandage. “I’ve got all day but you, on the other hand, seem like you’re in a hurry. I can wait till you spit it out, you know. Not like I have anything to do right now ”
They were so so so close to each other right now. Sungmin could practically inhale the aftershave that Kyuhyun used. It tickled his nostrils and sent goosebumps all over his body. He didn’t understand what was happening with him. His heart rate seems to have gone up too!! The horror! He frowned with annoyance and gave up. “Min.”
Kyuhyun sat back and stared at the smaller man. “Just Min?” He lifted his eyebrow in query, teasing him.
Sungmin felt his patience cracking. “Sungmin, Lee Sungmin.” Might as well answer his question and hopefully he will be left alone.
No such luck.
Kyuhyun grinned and Sungmin was reminded of a Cheshire cat: the grin that stretched from one ear to the other. “Now, that wasn’t so bad, Sungmin-sshi.” He placed the basin of bloodied water onto the bedside table.
Sungmin felt his heart did a somersault at the rich voice speaking his name. Weird…
“I like your name, Sungmin-sshi.”
THERE IT WAS AGAIN!! The somersault thing his heart was doing! It went thump, thump, THUMP! Sungmin gulped, unsure of the fact in which he concluded in his befuddled mind, that this man must have some sort of power over him. And judging by the slight lift of the corners of that beautifully shaped mouth, Sungmin was sure that Kyuhyun was well aware of his deadly charms.
Beautifully shaped mouth?! Sungmin spluttered. Charms?! Oh Lordy, he was definitely going crazy, he was sure of it. He blanched at that very thought. All these years, he had thought of himself as asexual, finding no attraction from neither female nor male.
“Or should I just call you Sungmin, Sungmin-sshi?” Kyuhyun leaned closer. “After all, we did share a kiss.” He laughed, enjoying how Sungmin gulped nervously and his face blossomed into a beautiful pink.
“Ki-Kiss?”
“ Yep. You were thirsty and we...” Kyuhyun pointed to himself and Sungmin, “... shared a kiss when I pushed the water down your throat.” Kyuhyun’s face was dangerously close now and the comforter that Sungmin had pulled all the way up to his chin to cover his almost naked chest held almost no security to that predator. He quickly looked away and that made Kyuhyun laughed.
Sungmin inwardly thought that he liked hearing Kyuhyun laugh but decided against telling the cheeky man. It was already bad enough that he was coming in terms with all these alien feelings invading his private thoughts, tearing down his barriers. Moreover, he had to fend himself from the… Sungmin gulped some more and weakly tried to push Kyuhyun away. “You’re…” He cleared his throat and gathered the last remnants of his scattered courage. “You’re too close. Get away from me.”
Kyuhyun grinned and plopped onto the chair beside the bed which creaked loudly at the sudden weight. “Sorry. You’re just too cute that I couldn’t resist teasing you.”
CUTE!? Okay, now I’m out for blood! “I don’t appreciate being called cute. I’m a man, in case you haven’t noticed!” Sungmin growled, his eyes shooting daggers at the man who seemed oblivious to the I-want-to kill-you aura he was emitting. “And you’re even using informal speaking with me! Yah! How old are you?!”
“Hmmm…” Kyuhyun pretended to think. “How old do you think I am?”
Now this stupid man wants to play guessing games?! “Look, why don’t you just answer the goddamn question?” Sungmin snapped angrily.
But that didn’t spur Kyuhyun out of his good humour. Instead, he looked as if he was about to burst out with laughter. Which he did. “Hahaha… if only you can see your face now. Hahaha…”
Sungmin resisted the urge to strangle him. He was so dead! DEAD!! Where did all his trained patience and calm composure go?! He wasn’t usually like this. So weak and pathetic. So SO EXPOSED! He didn’t like these feelings one bit. He felt angry tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.
Kyuhyun sobered immediately at the sight of tears brimming in Sungmin’s eyes, threatening to spill over. “Ah! Don’t cry. I was just jesting.” He gathered the shaking figure into his arms, careful not to put too much pressure on Sungmin’s injury.
Sungmin was surprised at the show of affection and stiffened almost immediately, unwilling to be docile. Years of training and mingling with death definitely did not mix well with his current situation. But oh, how he missed the warmth of another body close to him. To comfort his frazzled nerves, to calm his storming heart and most importantly, to allow him to feel safe, something that he hadn’t felt since a long, long time ago. Sungmin closed his eyes and let out a loud wail, finally allowing the tears to fall freely. Years and years of compressed feelings finally burst out into the open like a broken dam. Nothing was holding him back now with him bawling his eyes out.
And the entire time, Kyuhyun just held him, rocking the sobbing body against himself, whispering soothing words. “Shhh… everything’s alright now. Shhh… it’s okay. Cry your heart now.” Never in his entire life did he need to calm another grown man so he was actually at a loss at what to do. But seeing how much Sungmin needed comfort, he couldn’t help but to offer him that. That was the very least he could do for all the unspoken hardships Sungmin must’ve experienced.
When the crying subsided to hiccupping sobs, Kyuhyun pulled back and brushed the tears away with the side of his palm. Then, he kissed each puffy and swollen eye, earning a gasp from the smaller man. “There. Feeling better?” At the almost non-existent nod, Kyuhyun grinned and tucked the blushing Sungmin back into bed. This time Sungmin obediently allowed himself to be pampered like the injured man he was. “Rest now. I will see you when you wake up next.”
As he was getting up to leave, he felt a hand clasp around his slender wrist. He turned to look at the outstretched hand before looking at Sungmin with questioning eyes.
“I-” Sungmin blushed, unable to get the words out. They were stuck at his throat. All his life he had been alone. He just didn’t want to be alone anymore. Not now anyways. “Please…”
Kyuhyun merely nodded. He slipped easily into the comforter and once again gathered Sungmin into his arms. Sungmin closed his eyes with a sigh, glad that Kyuhyun had not rejected his silent plea. The false sense of security was already lulling back into sleep. Kyuhyun’s warm breath slightly tickled the crown of his head but that didn’t matter. With Kyuhyun brushing lightly at his hair, Sungmin snuggled closer, listening to the heartbeat of the other man and fell into a dreamless sleep, content with the strange fact that he will be forever safe within these strong arms that encircled him.
Cho Kyuhyun, who are you exactly?
-to be continued-
A/N: Their relationship seems to be progressing a tad too fast. But I am so glad that Sungmin no longer feels that there is only Mr. Bunny. In fact, he has a new object of interest!! Hehehe…. Virtual cookies to those who can guess who. For this chapter, I just want to concentrate on the building of their relationship before reality actually hits them with a vengeance. Sungmin obviously will never be able to escape the danger lurking nearby but what will Kyuhyun do to prevent that from ever happening?