Chapter 13

Taemin was known to be stubborn, bratty and slightly childish. It should have been no surprise that he refused to talk.

Yuna was clearly not happy as was represented by the bruise on Taemin’s face. “Answer me dammit.”

Taemin purposely turned his head away, show her very clearly that he was ignoring her. Another person entered the room so Taemin then turned slightly to focus on the new figure.

The boy had relatively short, reddish brown hair and seemed quite young too. “You got a bit rough there hey,” the boy said in a mocking tone.Yuna decided that he could not deal with the guy and so she turned around in attempt to leave.

“He wants to talk to you,” the red-haired boy stated.

Yuna mumbled something before leaving the room.

Taemin stared, or rather studied, the newcomer with some interest.

The red-haired boy grinned. “I’m Bam Bam, leader of the Bloodbacks.”

Taemin tilted his head upwards to look directly at BamBam. From what he knows, they never had any trouble with the Bloodbacks. They were also a pretty tight-knit group that usually only did things out of self defense or revenge for one of their members. With reasoning, Taemin determined that it was definitely out of revenge. It was not really self defense either considering the fact that he got attacked first. Unless he was defending his group for another reason.Taemin did not dislike the group because he believed them to be reasonable, so he was trying to figure out what could have caused them to act out like this. Maybe their members were threatened by someone else?

“I don’t know what you guys have gotten yourselves into, but I think this is a bit above you.”

Taemin looked at him in question, but scowled when he did not get any other information.

“How’s Kibum?” BamBam.

Taemin’s eyes widened at the use of Key’s real name.

“How do you know Key?” Taemin asked in alarm.

"We used to be friends you know. Kibum and I. Before he lived on the streets. I…" BamBam stopped and looked down guiltily. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done this."

"Then let me go." Taemin tried.
 

"Can't do." BamBam sighed.

BamBam shook his head and gave Taemin a firm answer, “I can't.”

Taemin sighed. Of course he wouldn't, if he let Taemin off just like that, he would not have tried to kidnap him in the first place.

"How's Seunghyun. I met him once, he seemed to be a good leader."

"TOP isn't the leader."

Bambam hesitated for a moment before smiling again, "That doesn't change that he would be a good leader."

"We have a better leader."

"Someone once told me that anyone who did something strange must've had a good reason. I always thought the same applied to all the people wandering these streets. I know why Kibum is here. I know it's my fault."
Taemin raised an eyebrow. He knew why Key didn't go home but why would it be this guy’s fault?
"Kibum parents kicked him out of the house because he was gay. Kibum was dating me at the time."

Taemin almost choked in air when he heard that.

"I also know Jackson. We go way farther back."

"As much as I would like listening to your nice stories about the past,” a voice cut in, “I would like to talk to Lee Taemin."

Taemin looked up to see a man standing in the door. He paled visibly and his eyes grew slightly wider in fear.

"You." He whispered with hate.

Jiyong was staring at the starry sky. His mind was blank. It felt as if the little twinkles of stars that winked at him did so, almost mockingly.

“Are you okay?”

Jiyong turned to look at Key. It was rare for him to show concern like that. Usually Key was sassy, confident and always joking around.

Jiyong shook his head slightly which sort of contradicted his next words.

“I'm fine,” he tried to convince Key.

Key sighed… He knew Jiyong would have given that reply no matter what.

“Hey Key, do you think you could go speak to the Bloodbacks? TOP is already going to speak to Chain. Maybe we can form a pack of some sort and get them to help us.”

Key raised his eyebrow.

“Aren't we on good terms with the Bloodbacks?” Key questioned, “Jackson used to be in their group no?”

“Yeah”

“Can’t we just send him?”
“I was planning on sending Jackson, but I would prefer it if you went with him. He’s not reasonable enough… and he’s a bad listener. He’ll let his guard down,” explained Jiyong

Key nodded.

“You get along with Jackson right?”

Key simply laughed, “It’s hard not to get along with him. Except when he pulls pranks or tries too hard to be manly.”

Jiyong finally smiled his usual smile again.

“Hey there,” a boy with red hair greeted cheerfully.

Kibum stared at the boy with slight curiosity. “What do you want?”

“Can we be friends?” the boy asked eagerly.

“No,” Kibum replied bluntly.

The boy pouted and whined, “Why?”

Kibum looked at the boy weirdly before replying, “First of all, we’ve never met before. I don’t even know your name and you want to be friends?”

“That’s easy to solve,” the boy said cheerfully, “My name is BamBam and we’ve met now so can we be friends?”

Kibum scoffed. “No.”

He had already turned around, about to leave.

“BamBam,” a boy with blonde hair yelled while running towards them. BamBam turned to look in the direction of the blonde boy and greeted back,

“Hey Jackson!”

Kibum decided that the new person has caught BamBam’s attention so he could slip away easily.

“Who’s that?” Jackson asked and Kibum internally cursed that he missed his chance to escape.

“He’s my new friend,” Bambam stated cheerfully.

“So what's his name?” Jackson asked.

Bambam shook his head innocently.

“You don't know?” Jackson chided, “You said you made a new friend but you don't even know his name!?”

Kibum smiled. At least this person seemed to have some common sense.

“Hey, I'm Jackson,” he introduced himself as he extended his hand.

“I'm Ki-”

“Ouch,” Jackson yelled in pain and rubbed the back of his head.

Bambam had hit him.

“What was that for?!” Jackson asked angrily.

“Stop stealing my new friend,” Bambam accused.

“You don't even know his name!”  Exclaimed Jackson.

“I do,” Bambam challenged childishly.

“Then what is it?”

“Key,” Bambam stated cheekily.

Kibum could only facepalm at the conclusion the boy in front of him came up with. The boy didn't even let him finish introducing himself.

Key sighed before standing up from where he was sitting. He brushed and patted his clothes to get rid of the imaginary dust. After taking a look around the room, he walked outside of the building to where he saw Jackson leaning against the wall. Jackson gave a small smile at Key which was returned with a nod. They stared at each other in silence, communicating through their eyes for a bit and both started walking together to hopefully solve their problems. Sometimes silent conversations and mutual conversations can happen when you've been through the same thing and share the same resolve. And sometimes, Jackson knows how to be serious.

Taemin glared at the man in front of him. Bambam had left the moment this guy said that he wanted to talk to him. He knows. He can't remember, but he knows. He knows that the man in front of him is an enemy. Not some rival gang type of enemy, but rather something more deeply rooted. He does not know why he hates the man in front of him because he used to be his father’s friend when his father was still alive, but it does. He was a family friend, but his mother had always disliked him. She also never really explained to him why he disliked this man, but she had always told Taemin to be careful. That sometimes your closest friends can become enemies in front of greed.

The man simply smirked. “Long time no see,” the man said in mock innocence.

Taemin continued to glare at the man.

“Haven't seen you since your parents’ funeral,” he continued. “I was wondering how you've been,” he spoke in a concerned tone and Taemin could only cringe at how fake it sounded.

He grabbed Taemin’s chin and Taemin was forced to look at him. “It seems Lee Byun Hyung didn't teach you any manners,” he stated and then chuckled, “Or maybe it was Sunhee?”

“What do you want?” Taemin gritted out.

The man ignored the question.

“I just wanted to know how you've been,” he said casually.

Taemin rolled his eyes, “I was good until you showed your face.”

Anger flashed in the man’s eyes for a moment before it was masked with amusement, but Taemin had caught it and it gave him slight satisfaction.

“Let's make a deal,” the man stated.

Taemin knew it wouldn't be anything close to a deal for him though.

“Either you give me what I want or I hand you over to someone who might kill you,” he spoke threateningly.

It would have been a lie to say that he was bit curious about what the guy wanted, but right now, he did not want to listen to or give the satisfaction of anything the man wanted.

“ off,” Taemin hissed.

Anger crossed the man’s face but he quickly hid it again with a fake smile. Taemin honestly could not understand why this person was trying so hard to hide his anger and hate when it was so obvious. Was he trying to become an actor or something? If so, he was really doing a bad job.

“I guess, I'll just have to hand you over to them,” he stated casually.

Taemin celebrated internally. If they were going to take him somewhere, he would have a chance to escape.

Jackson and Key walked into the dilapidated building and the people in the room were immediately on guard. None of them moved, only staring warily at the intruders.

“Is Bambam here?” Jackson asked.

Many of them were unsure whether to answer or not, mild whispers erupted amongst themselves. They got their response when a more authoritative voice responded. “He's out,” the man stated firmly.

Key and Jackson turned to face the person who spoke up.

“Why are you guys here?” The guy asked in a neutral tone.

“Mark!!” Jackson exclaimed in excitement.

The guy, Mark, gave a small smile before trying to be serious again.

“How have you been?” Jackson asked casually as if they had been in contact since forever.

Key rolled his eyes. “One of our members got kidnapped,” he explained.

“And? Are you implying that we did it,” Mark asked even though he knew that they did play a role in the kidnapping.

“Why are you teaming up with those people?” Key asked.

“It’s none of your business,” Mark said quietly and Key glared at him.

"Of course it’s our business, you guys kidnapped Taemin!” Key almost shouted.

“It’s beyond our control already,” Mark said in a frustrated tone, “You guys are the ones causing crap for all of us.”

“What do you mean?” Key asked warily.

Mark glanced at Jackson and then back at Key again.

“We were threatened.”

Okay, first of all I apologize for not updating for so long. I was struggling with the plot and then there was Kai's dating news at some point which made me not feel like writing TaeKai for a bit then I was a bit busy and all that stuff. Sorry for taking so long OTL

Also, thank you to all the subscribers and also for all the comments. I had half of this chapter typed up for about 5 months already but I couldn't bring myself to finish it, but when I logged onto asian fanfics and saw your comments, I felt inspired and encouraged to finish it so thanks a lot.