To Be Young

The second Onew heard the familiar sloshing of the bucket, and the quiet clicks of Eugene’s footsteps as she surreptitiously entered the rom, he popped up in bed like a jack-in-the-box. His hardly ladylike housekeeper made a shocked squeaking sound, the water sloshing onto her shoes. She gave him a dark look. “Good morning, Eugene!” he said with a bright smile, oblivious to her ire.

“Nearly gave me a bloody heart attack there, gone and ruined the carpet have you, don’t see other housekeepers complaining ‘bout this –” She grumbled sulkily, reluctantly setting down the bucket on Onew’s bedside table, in easy reach, just in case. Eugene lived by the aggressive motto of ‘soak first, ask questions later’.

“Eugene, could I ask a favour of you?” Onew asked, scooting closer to her, his blankets still tangled around his legs, his hair sticking up inelegantly. It was certainly not the best environment to ask this of her, but then, Onew had never followed the rules of propriety to the letter.

She blinked, a shrewd, doubtful gaze colouring her features. “What sort of favour? Not like last time!”

“That was not my fault,” Onew admitted guiltily, running his hand through his hair. He still felt rather bad about the whole affair.

“I was chased Mr Onew! Chased! While wearing my best pumps! Not of course that I wanted you to rescue me, don’t see me wanting any help, not me –”

“I’m sorry,” Onew said simply. That seemed to catch her off-guard, and she cocked her head, giving him an odd look. He smiled warmly, and she narrowed her eyes, still infinitely suspicious. But Onew knew his housekeeper very well – they had become acquainted nearly a decade ago, and he could see her wavering, chewing on her lip as she made her decision.

Very grudgingly, Eugene muttered, “What is it?”

Producing a sheet of paper with instructions and directions, Onew pointed. “It is very simple – all I ask is that you head to this location, and pass on this message to the man in charge. He will understand what must be done.”

Scanning the document, eyebrows rising, Eugene looked at him with a perplexed, doubtful air. “Mr Onew, what are you thinking?”

“Please,” he told her, taking her hands and smiling at her with all the kindness in his heart, “Eugene, this case cannot be solved unless you do this. I would be eternally grateful if you would do this for me.”

“You’re trying to charm me, Mr Onew. You should know I don’t stand for that sort of rubbish,” Eugene snapped, even though she was making absolutely no move to tug her hands away, “So don’t you think that you can get your way like that! And I’ll be doing this because I wish it, not because you tried to sweet-talk me into it! So there!”

“Thank you, Eugene!” he cried sincerely. She muttered some choice words about him, glaring fixedly at their joined hands as though it had caused her personal offense.

“Is that all, Mr Onew?” she asked. He released her hands slowly, gaze flickering away. Perhaps it twigged in Eugene’s mind that something was wrong, for she only rested her hands at her sides, waiting for him to speak.

“A man is dead,” he said softly.  

“I know,” she responded. This surprised him. “Mr Minho told me all of it two days ago, you see, because he was concerned for you. And he asked me, tell Mr Onew it’s no fault of his.”

She breathed sharply, giving him a hard look. It was the same look that had been etched upon her face the day she had become his housekeeper, after he’d garnered the reputation of being quite impossible to work for. She’d been seated smartly at the front of his house, hands folded neatly on his lap, and Onew had been struck by the fact that she was extraordinarily young. When he’d asked her why she wanted the job despite everything, impressing upon her that she was young and had a future ahead of her, she’d stated plainly, “Because I know how to clean up after people, and sort out their mess. And I’m damn good at it.”

Onew had known instantly in that moment that she was exactly the housekeeper he needed. 

Eugene of the present spoke again, jabbing a finger at his face, her tones becoming less refined in her anger, “But I ain’t going to, Mr Onew, I ain’t, because it’s not about fault. Man’s dead, can’t be changed, no matter how much you blame. Ain’t nobody whose blaming you for it except yourself! You got to live; we weren’t meant to live in the past. So come home, Mr Onew. Or else I’ll drag you back, and don’t you forget it!”

With that statement, Eugene stalked out of the room. But not quite quick enough for her not to hear Onew’s simple statement of, “What would I do without you, Eugene?”

His housekeeper snorted, but he thought he caught a glimpse of her rare smile for just a moment. His smile, a little crooked and broken at the ends, smoothed slightly.

When Odd Eye had assembled in the office a while later, Onew knew the course of action to take. As they alighted themselves upon tables and the sofa, getting themselves comfortable, he made a steeple with his hands. There were several suspicions he held very strongly, ideas that had swirled around in his head. Some of them had been overturned with new information, forcing him to return, to dust off new angles, and proceed along them.

But not alone.

Onew had no next of kin, no family or fiancés, and so it was that four misfit young men, and one surly housekeeper, had come to represent his entire world. Perhaps, to any other, such a statement would be profoundly pathetic, but in his eyes, it was more than he had ever deserved. He had lost it once. He would not lose it again. 

“I have some ideas,” he said at length, “But there are difficulties – impediments! See you, around a person like Wu Yifan, there is so much – so many conflicting hates and jealousies and envies and cruelties. There are some ideas we must clear aside first, for they distract us from the truth. Too many are under suspicion.”

“I think you know the truth,” Key said sharply, “But you won’t speak it.”

“I have an idea of what the truth might be,” Onew said, “From the moment Byun Baekhyun was killed, I began to see a shadow of it. But we do not know enough, do not have enough proof, for there to be any arrest at this time.”

He pointed at the clock on the wall