Shades (THIRTY-ONE)
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - IT’S YOU
He watches the steady rise and fall of the patient’s chest. His face looks peaceful yet there’s a battle within the man. He wants it to fade away. He wants him to win his fight… more so like his game. He’s betting Kyuhyun is somewhat enjoying the thrill of experiencing fighting for his life on his own, which cannot be controlled using the keyboard and mouse, and definitely cannot be paused, stopped, and resumed whenever he wants to.
Kyuhyun is adventurous that way that it actually scares him.
As if it will wake the sleeping man up, he holds the other’s hand firmly, mentally praying that he could once again see those alluring dark orbs staring back at him with new life.
It’s been one and a half day since the accident happened and the man on the bed is still not awake. The doctor declared Kyuhyun is in a comatose. It is as if his entire mind and soul are in coma as well.
Leeteuk broke down again after hearing it, so Kangin decided to not let his husband stay inside the hospital for a while and checked in the nearest hotel in Yeosu. Eunhyuk went back to Busan with Shindong to investigate if it was merely an accident or it was a scheme, while the rest stayed in the hospital, with Ryeowook and Donghae taking turns in accompanying him.
No matter how hard his appa convinces him to go out, he won’t listen; he was the reason why Kyuhyun is in this critical state, and he will never leave Kyuhyun’s side now that the younger man needs him the most. Kyuhyun is fighting, so he should always be there to cheer him up.
After all, he wants to be the first person Kyuhyun sees when he wakes up.
The consistent beeping of the machine perched on a side table next to the bed is the only sign that the game is not yet over.
He lifts Kyuhyun’s pale hand to his lips and kisses the knuckles, against the face mask, whispering, “Kyu, please wake up now… I promise I will now learn Starcraft for you.” It was one thing Kyuhyun had bugged him to do; play Starcraft with him. However, he is not blessed with the gaming talent and spirit so he rejected him many times, and it sent his boyfriend sulking the entire day.
He stayed holding the hand, with his eyes closed, for almost thirty minutes, doing what everyone was telling him to do; pray. He’s not really that religious, but he won’t lose anything by doing it, right?
He is too occupied in his thoughts that he didn’t notice Jongwoon coming in the room until the singer whispered, “Min…?”
Without letting go of Kyuhyun’s hand, he turns around to face the older, offering a warm smile as he asks Jongwoon to grab a chair and sit beside him. The balladeer did pull a chair and does what was asked of him.
Silence enveloped them for the next minutes, with him rubbing his thumb on the back of Kyuhyun’s hand and Jongwoon fidgeting with his fingers. It is a gesture he observed when the older male is nervous.
Finally, Jongwoon talks, “Min, I’m sorry… everything’s my fault…” Oh, so it’s about the accident.
“No, hyung, you have nothing to do with this…” Because it is his fault, not Jongwoon’s.
Jongwoon stares at him wide-eyed, his lips parting and closing for several times. “I… Min…”
He grabs the worried singer’s gloved hand and squeezes it lightly. “Hyung, please stop blaming yourself.”
“But your fight started because of me…” the older blond whispers with his head down.
“Hyung…” He had never thought about that. All along he had blamed himself, that he started the fight. It never occurred to him that their fight really started because Kyuhyun was jealous of Jongwoon. Yet, he will never point a finger to his favorite hyung, because he had let Jongwoon kiss him on the forehead, anyway.
Putting up a determined face, Jongwoon says, “If there’s anything I could do to help catch the culprit, just tell me. I’ve got enough connections…”
He smiles, and is about to say thank you, but Donghae barges in and walks towards the two of them, his face seemed to look worried.
“Hey, sorry for interrupting, but Minnie, you’re needed outside.” Donghae says in a hushed tone.
Frowning, he diverts his gaze to his best friend. “Why? What’s it about?” He doesn’t want to leave Kyuhyun’s side.
“It’s about the culprit.”
~0~
The first ones he sees after coming out of the ICU are Eunhyuk and Detective Jang, who is the head of the case’s investigation team. Within the half-circle formed is a cop holding a tablet and is intently watching whatever is on the screen with two more policemen.
Eunhyuk breaks his serious conversation with the detective when he and Donghae stood next to them. He nods to the detective and the cops in acknowledgement. “You found the culprit?” he immediately asks.
It is Detective Jang who answers, “Not yet, but we’re already on the process of searching for them. We just have to confirm their identities through you.”
Him? Why him? Yes, he is Kyuhyun’s lover, but he had no idea on who in the long list of Kyuhyun’s rivals in business could have done this to him. Hell, he doesn’t even know a single name from them. Then again, this is part of the investigation so he has to comply.
A cop shows him the tablet and replays the video that they were probably watching seconds ago. It is an excerpt from CCTV footage at 11:33 in the morning - the time when all of them were busy at Eunhyuk’s birthday party. At first, it is only showing the back part of Charlie Echo, but after ten seconds, two masked men enter the scene. One of them manages to break through the helicopter, while the other one stays out for watch-out. Soon, the first man comes out from the helicopter with a toolbox in his hand then went to the back of the helicopter to mess with the engine’s wires.
He can sense his eyesight turning darker the longer he watches these two men plot the accident of his boyfriend. Can someone be this heartless to hire men to kill? What, is this because of business? Can money really bring out the evil in us?
He almost moved to return the tablet back to the cop; he cannot bear to watch how the cause of Kyuhyun’s current suffering was processed; however, he sees the two remove their masks before resuming their ‘work.’ It frustrates him that the footage only covers the back part so he can’t see the criminals’ faces.
Luckily, though, after finishing their dirty job, the two of them look around before putting on their masks. Because the action was too fast, Detective Jang pauses the video and replays it back to the part when the criminals looked around.
Narrowing his eyes, he zooms the screen in, gasping in surprise once recognition hits him.
“Do you recognize these men?” the detective asks cautiously.
“Y-Yes… Those are Jungmo and Jay…” he replies, not tearing his gaze away from the caption to double check if his speculations are correct.
The detective nods and writes something on his mini notebook. “How did you know them?”
“They were my workmates. I think they resigned when Siwon- Siwon…” And then it clicks in him.
It must have been new information for the four-eyed investigator leans a bit closer with a crease on his forehead, “Who is this Siwon?”
“Choi Siwon. He was my boss, and Jungmo and Jay are his underlings. Sir, he’s got motives for doing this to Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun had fired him from the company he’d worked for almost ten years…” he pauses. “Of course! Why didn’t I think of this?!”
Of course, who would be as stupid and as rash as Siwon to plot such accident? Why didn’t it ever cross his mind that Siwon would do something after getting fired that way? Now this is really his fault. Everything is making him crazy.
“Please calm down, Sungmin-ssi. We’ll look over this Choi Siwon and the other two. Thank you for the information.” One of the cops blurts out, to which the others agreed on.
Eunhyuk puts a hand on his back, smiling a bit. “Min, you should go back inside. No one’s looking after Kyuhyun right now.”
“Yes…” Sighing, he puts back the mask on before going back inside the room, only to yelp when he sees Jongwoon looking as shocked as him.
They stare at each other for a moment.
“Sungmin, I think I know where to find Choi Siwon.” Jongwoon suddenly whispers, his eyes darting from left to right, making sure no one is around.
Jongwoon knows Siwon? How?
Then, his unspoken question is answered.
“He is my ex-boyfriend.”
~0~
Jongwoon said he and Siwon grew up in Yeosu, and he finds it fortunate for them that Kyuhyun was found in the province, though it is not sure if the Chois still live in that house and if they could find Siwon there.
The older male asked him what really happened for Siwon to do that, and after he narrated everything, he had expected the gasp that came from his hyung. But what he didn’t expect was for Jongwoon to blame himself for how Siwon turned out to be like that.
In all honesty, he still can’t believe that Jongwoon had a boyfriend especially that it turned out to be Choi Siwon. He had actually asked Jongwoon to describe the Choi Siwon he knew for there probably are lots of Choi Siwons in the country and this might have been an accident. However, the singer’s description of Siwon is too accurate that there were some things that the older said that he’d never noticed until mentioned.
That’s when he remembered catching his former boss listening to Yesung’s albums every day. He didn’t mind it, of course, thinking that Siwon is just another fan. He didn’t know yet that he had a past with the singer. He should have asked, though, so he wouldn’t be this surprised.
“Hyung, aren’t we going to tell the police?” he inquires. They left the hospital with the excuse of them buying food, asking Ryeowook to watch over Kyuhyun for a while. It was hard for him to leave his lover’s side, but he has to do this for him; for the both of them. This is too much of a risk; they will confront the mastermind that’s why they should have asked for some backups.
“No, not yet. Siwon will put up a fight.”
“Who wouldn’t? Are you sure this will work? What if he throws a fit when you tell him that?”
“He won’t hurt me. He can hurt anyone, but he can’t do that to me.”
Jongwoon sounds so certain. Their relationship must have been that strong for him to still have the confidence that Siwon cannot hurt him no matter how long they’ve not seen each other. Even he still thinks that Kyuhyun could hurt him next time.
“I’ll distract him for a while then I will catch him off guard once I start talking about you and Kyuhyun,” Jongwoon pauses, his grip on the steering wheel getting firmer. “Though I don’t really know if I could convince him to surrender.”
Jongwoon parks the car on a lot in front of an electronics store. Then he points at a white three-storey house a street away from them. The blond singer tells him that it is the Choi residence, and the smaller two-storey house next to it, currently painted in mint green but was all white before, was where Jongwoon grew up.
“So the goal here is to either convince Siwon to surrender or get some evidence to show the police.” Jongwoon clears up with him before they get out from the car. Lack of evidence against Siwon was the thing preventing the officials to arrest the man and that’s what they are planning to get, since they know Siwon will never surrender himself.
They have confirmed that Siwon is still there when Jongwoon called Siwon using the latter’s old number. It wasn’t the one that Sungmin have because they cannot contact it, so it’s obvious his former boss is hiding from him.
They have agreed that Jongwoon will plant a mini microphone under his shirt which is connected to his phone and will go with Siwon, while he will stay in the car, listening and recording the two’s conversation.
There’s no denying that he’s nervous. What if Siwon finds out earlier than planned? What if Siwon doesn’t love Jongwoon anymore as well that he could hurt him already? What if Siwon didn’t tell the truth? What if their plan didn’t work? If Siwon finds out that he’s already being suspected, his and Kyuhyun’s life might be in danger, and maybe even Jongwoon’s.
But he trusts Jongwoon’s judgment. Jongwoon knows how to handle Siwon. Hopefully, this will work. Kyuhyun, this is for you, he thought. He continuously chants it in his mind to have the motivation and courage to do this. Everybody knows that Lee Sungmin is one of the most boring persons ever, and Lee Sungmin and adventure just don’t complement each other. Aside from entering a complicated relationship with Kyuhyun, this is the major risk he had encountered; he was never the type to engage in such situation. Thus, his palms are getting very sweaty now.
He almost jumps on his seat when he hears Jongwoon’s voice from his headphones, “Min, can you hear me?”
It’s not that loud, but it’s audible. “Yes, hyung. Are you fine by yourself?”
“Of course, don’t wo- wait, he’s coming.”
Then, he hears the door of the gate being opened, and he hears Siwon’s voice next. “What are you doing here? You surprised me!” Just listening to his almost rapist’s voice makes his blood boil.
“I just happened to be here in Yeosu and decided to see if you still live here.” Jongwoon’s voice is soft.
“I see, I see. Come in!”
Based on their conversation, Siwon had led Jongwoon to the living room. He decides not to press the record button yet for the two are talking about their personal lives. More minutes had passed, and their topic grew deeper and more serious. They started talking about their past.
He discovers that Siwon and Jongwoon had secretly dated for nearly five years. Both of their families have issues regarding homosexuality, especially Siwon’s, whose father is a dedicated Christian. Jongwoon revealed himself to his family when he got to Seoul, while Siwon went out of the closet two years ago. Apparently, unlike Jongwoon’s family who accepted him, the Chois were very disappointed and have disowned him. The rest of the Choi family left the country because of Siwon.
It sends Jongwoon crying after hearing everything that happened to Siwon.
He starts worrying. It’s already an hour since they started and they haven’t talked about the case yet. Maybe Jongwoon had already forgotten about the mission since he’s too indulged in catching up with his ex. He is now torn between calling the police or letting Jongwoon continue this.
Then again, be careful with what you wish for because Siwon suddenly opens a new topic after minutes of consoling each other.
“You know, I met someone who graduated at the same university you went to. I think he graduated a year after you? He majored in Literature.”
He chokes. He wasn’t prepared for it yet.
Knowing that Jongwoon is finally brought back to his senses, he presses the record button.
He can hear Jongwoon gulping. He must have been shocked as well. “What’s his name? I know some people there.”
“Lee Sungmin.”
He starts sweating all over. This is it. This was what they wanted. He hopes Jongwoon can connect it to the topic of Kyuhyun’s accident.
“A-Ah… Lee Sungmin-ssi! Yeah, yeah, he was also a member of the music club.” He never really joined the music club, but that’s a good excuse.
“Really? Are you close?”
“Yeah, we are!” Then, Jongwoon starts talking about them. Most of the details he says are fake, though. He didn’t say that their fathers were college friends and that they were actually closer than friends. Jongwoon created fake stories about them making music while they were in the club room, how they were once bandmates, and other lies.
He can’t see the reaction on Siwon’s face, but he is quite sure that the man is buying it; even he would believe it from how natural Jongwoon narrated things.
Other things that Jongwoon said weren’t heard by him for he receives a text message from Eunhyuk saying that the police have caught Jay and Jungmo who pinpointed at Siwon, and the officers are already on their way to Siwon’s house.
Panicking that the police might see Jongwoon with Siwon, he immediately forwards the message to the singer, stopping the recording.
Jongwoon must have read his message for he already changed their topic. “Hey, Siwon-ah, I think I’ve got to go. My manager just sent me a message.” Jongwoon lies smoothly.
“I see. Will I see you again?” Siwon asks, disappointment evident on his voice.
“Whenever I’m free, I’ll try to meet up with you…”
His eyes went wide as saucers when he sees three police cars parking in front of Siwon’s house. Quickly, he gets out of the car and runs to the policemen as he watches them knock on the gate. Detective Jang is the one who recognizes him first, surprise etched on his face.
“What are you doing here, Sungmin-ssi?” the detective asks, skeptic.
“I…” What should he say? They are here to get evidence against Siwon? They are here for Jongwoon to clear their issues regarding their past?
He didn’t have the time to state his alibi because the gate opens, and it reveals and very stunned Siwon, immediately stepping back and hiding Jongwoon behind him. The police bring out their guns and point it to Siwon. Detective Jang gently pushes him to the back.
His eyes dilate at the sight of the man who almost killed his lover. It’s a good thing Detective Jang felt it and holds him back.
“What the hell are you doing here?!” Siwon angrily asks. The man glares at him once he was seen. It still gives him the chills, though the lust on it is gone.
“We’re arresting you for the crimes of attempted murder and cause of grave physical injuries.” One of the policemen calmly states, pulling out the handcuffs from his pocket.
But Siwon continues on denying it, while still trying to hide Jongwoon’s face. He should have found it sweet if only he weren’t angry at the tall man. So they pull the cuffed Jungmo and Jay from one of the police cars, earning a gasp from the mastermind.
“You…” Siwon whispers.
Jay hisses desperately, “We’re already caught, Siwon!”
Detective Jang pushes him more as Siwon lunges towards his underlings, but fortunately, Jongwoon prevents him from getting near the other two suspects by hugging the tall man’s waist. It didn’t stop Siwon from yelling, “Idiots! Traitors! It’s not my fucking fault you suck at hiding!” The three of them continued arguing.
The detective in front of him steps in and says, “Just come with us peacefully if you don’t want that singer to get hurt.”
Siwon stops, his eyes widened, realizing that he had let the police see Jongwoon with him. It worries him, too, for other people start walking to see the commotion. They shouldn’t see the singer with someone being arrested.
Siwon, finally noticing the people approaching, turns to Jongwoon and whispers something to him while pushing him behind the gate walls. The police took this opportunity to pull Siwon away and cuff his wrists. It makes Jongwoon cry and attempt to reach for Siwon, so he runs to his hyung and hugs him tight, preventing him from exposing him from other people.
“No… no… no…” Jongwoon mumbles in between his cries while watching Siwon being pushed inside the police car, separate from Jay and Jungmo.
All throughout, Siwon is looking at Jongwoon sadly, even until the car has left, Siwon’s eyes are still on Jongwoon. Just like in their reality; even Jongwoon had left him, Siwon’s eyes and heart are still on Jongwoon.
He shouldn’t pity Siwon because he had caused Kyuhyun’s suffering, but he saw how the man protected Jongwoon. He saw how the man chose not to fight in order for his loved one not to get harmed. Indeed, love does change even the worst person. He knows how it hurts to see the man you love walking away from you and all you can do is stare. You cannot do anything.
He doesn’t know if the tears from his eyes are because of relief that the suspects were finally caught, or because of Jongwoon’s painful cries.
TO BE CONTINUED
-Mehehehehehehehehe I just had to put my YeWon there wahahahahahaha. It broke my heart to break my 2nd OTP apart
-UNBETA’ED.
-I was actually contemplating whether to use kidnapping or hostage but meh, too much drama and action hahahaha. Voila, because of love, no more violence >:D that’s why we should all love each other! >:D
Watch out for the last chapter! Will Kyuhyun make it?