Minho passed Kibum the damp cloth and allowed him to wipe the rest of the dried blood from his nose. He winced slightly as he did so, accidentally brushing the gash on his upper lip, but finished quickly, silently. He threw the cloth on top of the coffee table and waited for Minho to speak, for he knew he would. He knew he had to.
“You want to know how I found you,” Minho nodded, ultimately knowing every strand of every question on Kibum’s mind.
Kibum nodded. The morning light was hidden behind the large satin curtains that covered Kibum’s windows, the room illuminated by a simple lamp that pulsed dimly in the corner. Neither of them could face the morning, not yet.
“Truth is,” Minho answered, “I called you. Late. And when you didn’t pick up, I came around here and... And you were gone. So I figured where you might be, and it was only luck you were running from that man when I was arriving.”
Kibum nodded, blankly.
“Why did you ring me?” he croaked.
Minho shrugged a shoulder, before answering, “To talk to my brother.”   A moment passed.   “Do we tell the police?” Kibum asked, face slack. Every time he moved, he felt the stiff pain from where his back had been repeatedly slammed last night, and it hurt to talk due to the gash on his lip.   "That’s really up to you,” Minho answered. “I mean, to me he just seemed like another low-life thug, y’know? To find him could be like a wild goose chase.”   Kibum bit his bottom lip, before admitting, “Minho, I think- I think he had something to do with Jinki.”
Minho froze.   “W-What?”   Kibum turned his head to the side, eyes watering as he began to carefully phrase what he had to say.   “H-He mentioned something about how... How my friend didn’t pay up, that I had to for him, and at the time I was so confused I didn’t think and I just ran, but-“   Minho exhaled slowly, breathing deepening.   "If you call the police, they’ll put us into some kind of protection,” Minho concluded, “but, Kibum, we aren’t... , Kibum... They’ll be after you, me, Jonghyun and-“   His voice cracked.   “And Taemin.”   Kibum stared.   "We aren’t safe,” Minho spoke, in his paranoia, “not if that man was connected to Jinki. Not if that man knew where Jonghyun lived. At least nobody knows where Taemin is.”
“We can’t be put in protection though,” Kibum argued, “because the press will massacre it, turn this... This private affair into a display for the masses. We can’t let that happen, Minho. We can’t.”
“Then what do we do, Kibum? We can’t stay here, we might not be safe.”
Kibum closed his eyes.
“I don’t know,” he finally admitted, “I just don’t know.”
“We have to warn Jonghyun, at least,” Minho decided. “And maybe... Maybe right now it’s safer for us to stay together, somewhere safe.”
“Where’s safe?” Kibum asked, exasperated. “If they could find Jonghyun’s place, they could find ours. God only knows they’re waiting for us in the corridor as we speak.”
“Safe is somewhere – somewhere new,” Minho decided, “somewhere that doesn’t have many people, somewhere-“
A knock resounded from the door.
The shock that settled over Minho and Kibum was almost unsettling as they exchanged a glance, expecting the worst and anticipating the darkest, fear parting their lips and sending a tremor down their spines in unison.
Minho shook his head, as if to say d​on't answer, but as the knock resounded again, more urgently this time, Kibum couldn’t help but stand hesitantly, rubbing an eye to somehow help his frail appearance.
“Don't,” Minho warned sternly, voice colder than Kibum had ever heard it, but Kibum dismissed him, tip-toeing towards the door steadily. The chances of it being an attacker were slim – after all, why would an attacker bother to extend the courtesy of knocking the door? Kibum felt his heartbeat accelerate.   Reaching the door, he glimpsed behind at Minho once before pressing down the handle; Minho leant forward in the armchair, pensive, expression withholding his nervousness well.
The door opened and Kibum exhaled, relieved to see the man who stood there.
Almost ghostly pale, Jonghyun held Kibum’s raincoat in his hands, eyes greying and hair-dye fading limply. Glancing up and down the corridor quickly, Kibum gripped Jonghyun’s ar