Bet On Me Part 3
Title: Bet On Me
Pairing: HaeHyuk
Minor Pairings: MinKyu, YeWook
Part: 3
Rating: R
Genre: romance, drama, angst
Disclaimer: I wish
Warnings: more than implied sex, language
Summary: It's been years and Donghae is still struggling with the ghosts of his past.
A/N: Sequel to Bet On It
“Hey, you’re back.”
Donghae nodded at Yesung. “I’m back.”
“Where have you been?” questioned the older as Donghae started preparing for his match.
“Vacation,” replied Donghae shortly.
“Hmm, it looks to me that the vacation should’ve been longer. Or did something happen there?”
“Did you always talk this much?” mumbled Donghae.
Yesung laughed. “Have you always been this touchy? That’s a rhetorical question.” He tapped Donghae’s shoulder. “You’re up.”
Donghae hoisted himself into the ring and nodded politely at his opponent. He could tell this was going to be another easy win.
“Ready? Fight, start!”
Donghae lashed out with a kick, followed by a series of heavy punches. His opponent blocked the last one and Donghae skipped back out of range. As he was about to move in again, something caught his attention. Automatically, he turned his head to see clearer.
Bad idea. The blow that came during his moment of distraction was enough to send him flying. The last thought Donghae had before blacking out was that he definitely did not imagine the flash of red hair this time.
-
Yesung helped Donghae to the stools at the bar counter. “Ryeowook, an ice pack please.”
The bartender immediately procured one out of nowhere and handed it to Yesung.
“Thanks,” said Yesung, placing the pack on Donghae’s eye with a chuckle.
“What?” asked Donghae, miffed at Yesung’s failure to contain his laughter.
“You should’ve seen the other guy’s face when he punched you,” Yesung guffawed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so surprised.”
“Shut up,” Donghae grimaced.
“Everyone has to have an off day. Don’t worry too much about it.” Yesung ruffled Donghae’s hair before leaving to start the next fight.
Donghae sighed and picked up his glass of water, making sure the ice pack was in place. As he sipped the cool liquid, he became aware of someone sliding into the stool next to him.
“One shot, please,” requested a voice with an oddly familiar accent.
Donghae dropped his ice pack and nearly gave himself whiplash as his neck snapped to look at his new companion.
“Hi,” said Hangeng casually, as though reappearing after five years was normal. “I would ask you how you’ve been, but judging by your black eye, it hasn’t been too good.”
Donghae gaped at him, mouth opening and closing several times before he found the words to speak. “Hangeng,” he sputtered. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m not here to gamble, if that’s what you’re going to ask,” replied Hangeng, taking the shot Ryeowook set in front of him. “I’m just here because I’m acquainted with Yesung, or more like Heechul is.” He peered at Donghae. “Are you here to bust this place too?”
Even though the tone was not accusatory, the words still made Donghae feel guilty. “No. About what happened five years ago…”
“Ah,” Hangeng set down his now empty shot cup. “I know.”
Donghae gave him a surprised look. “You do?”
Hangeng nodded slowly. “On that night, Eunhyuk didn’t come like he was supposed to. I thought it was pretty weird considering he’s never missed a night before. Then after everyone else got captured, I realized the police weren’t looking for either Heechul of Eunhyuk. You didn’t tell them the whole thing, did you?”
Donghae shook his head, ignoring how his heart jumped at the name.
“That’s what I thought.”
“How…” Donghae’s mouth went dry. “How is he?”
Hangeng cast Donghae a critical eye. “He hasn’t been good.”
“What?!”
“I don’t know. Ever since then, he hasn’t been the same. He’s still gambling and winning everything, but I don’t think his heart is in it anymore.”
“Do-do you know where he is?”
Hangeng sighed. “I wish I could tell you, I really do. But you won’t find him, not unless he wants to be found.” Hangeng rose from his seat, dropping a few bills on the counter. “I’m sorry.” With that, he disappeared into the crowd before Donghae could call him back.
Donghae stared at his melted ice pack, heart pounding madly in his chest. With that simple conversation, months of resolve to forget seemed to disappear.
-
Kyuhyun watched as Donghae set their coffee mugs down on the table.
“What?” asked Donghae with a frown, feeling self-conscious about his black eye. But to his surprise, Kyuhyun didn’t mention it.
“Don’t,” Kyuhyun breathed out instead.
“Don’t what?”
“You have that look in your eyes again.” Kyuhyn’s voice sounded so pained, Donghae felt guilty.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Donghae denied.
“You’re going after that obsession of yours again,” Kyuhyun accused.
“No-”
“Don’t bother,” said Kyuhyun, sounding defeated. He gathered his laptop and walked away, leaving Donghae at their desk.
-
Donghae didn’t know what to do. He stood in the alley, in front of the door of the fight club, torn over whether or not to enter. To enter would mean possibly getting closer to what he had been chasing for so long. His hand moved towards the door handle.
But if he did…Donghae thought of the pain and defeat in Kyuhyun’s voice, imagined the disappointment on Sungmin’s face.
Donghae curled his hand into a fist and allowed it to drop limply by his side. “For Kyuhyun and Sungmin,” he whispered. “For Kyuhyun and Sungmin,” he repeated to himself like a mantra. “For Kyuhyun and Sungmin.” Nodding, Donghae turned to leave the alleyway.
“Whoa, hold on one minute, where do you think you’re going?”
Donghae’s eyes snapped up in surprise. There were two burly guys blocking the narrow entrance of the alleyway. “Excuse me,” said Donghae as politely as possible. He was shoved back roughly. Donghae stumbled to keep his balance.
“Well, well, look what we have here. A little boy who lost his way,” sneered one of the goons.
Donghae glared at the pair, the gears in his head turning. These two looked familiar. Then it hit him; they were Heechul’s henchmen. “What do you want from me?” he spat. “I don’t owe Heechul any money.”
“Ooh, he knows who we are,” mocked the other one. “I’m scared.” He smirked at Donghae. “Boss isn’t very pleased with you. You ruined his nice operation in this city.”
“It’s been five years,” snarled Donghae, saying what he wished he could do. “Let it go.”
“Nuh-uh, Boss holds grudges.” The two cracked their knuckles.
Adrenaline pumped through Donghae’s veins as he quickly assessed the situation. He couldn’t shout for help; the walls of the fight club were soundproof and no one would be walking at this hour. He couldn’t run because those thugs would no doubt catch him. The only option left was to fight. Donghae eyed his opponents’ large build. The chances of him taking both of them on and winning were slim, but if he was going to go, Donghae was determined to take as much of them with him as possible.
Thug #1 charged. Donghae barely managed to dodge; these guys were much faster than he had anticipated. He felt thick arms surround his neck, choking off his air supply. Swinging his legs for momentum, Donghae threw Thug #2 over his shoulder with much effort.
Taking a moment to reorient himself, Donghae nearly got punched by Thug #1. Weaving, Donghae lashed out at the bigger guy’s privates.
“That’s not fair,” gasped the guy as he sank down to his knees.
“There’s only one rule in street fighting,” Donghae sneered. “Rule #1: There are no rules.” He kneed the guy in the face viciously.
Suddenly, Donghae’s head made contact with the wall with a sickening crack. He registered Thug #2’s yellow grin before dropping in a pile on the floor. He tried to force himself to get up, but there was a large boot on his chest, pressing down. Donghae struggled to force it off before anything gave out.
“What are you guys doing?”
Donghae nearly cried with relief when the pressure disappeared, allowing him to breath.
“Hey,” said that voice again. “Get up.”
“He hit me down there,” Donghae heard Thug #1 wheeze.
“Does it look like I care? Get up and scram, both of you.” Donghae heard two pairs of heavy feet plodding away. He cracked open his eyes, ignoring how the blood from his head wound was dripping down into them. There was someone squatting next to him.
“Hey,” said Eunhyuk.
Donghae stared up at him, panting heavily. He thought about all the things he wanted to say, all the things he didn’t say but should’ve, all the things he could’ve said to make things right. The blood flowing from his head wasn’t doing much for his thought process, so he just stuck to the first thing that came to mind. “You look like shit,” he blurted out.
And Eunhyuk did. His hair was still flaming red, but brown roots were clearly starting to show. His skin was paler than Donghae remembered, but it wasn’t milky white, rather a sickly lack of color. There were dark circles under his eyes that weren’t there before.
Donghae didn’t think he had ever seen a more beautiful sight.
Eunhyuk chuckled, reaching out to wipe the blood out of Donghae’s eyes tenderly. “I’m not the one lying on the ground all beat up and bleeding with two broken ribs.”
Donghae quickly did a check. There was no pain in his rib area.
“Oh?” questioned Eunhyuk, noticing Donghae’s confusion. “You don’t have two broken ribs?” He stood up, brushing off his hands. “Shall we fix that?”
Donghae barely had time to register the words when he felt a powerful kick catch him square in his rib area.
-
A/N: Hehe. Hahaha. BWAHAHAHA!
So I'm sure you guys have heard of the catastrophe in Japan. I will be doing my part to help in help_japan . Here I am! You can also find a list of seriously amazing writers (no kidding, I was like this O_O when looking at all the names) also participating right here. Please help out anyway you can, by bidding, offering, or spreading the word.