The next day; something that no one expected to happen this soon happened. Especially not Lee Taeyong.

Now that he’s out of prison; he has to fix his own food. He thought around 10 packages of noodles would be enough (how could he even think that and for how long did he think those would last?), but since it obviously wasn’t - he went shopping early in the morning. 

And indeed; he is broker than some vagrants - but he still got enough money to at least get a proper meal. Maybe this once. Then again; the noodle diet wasn’t too bad.

”Eggs, milk, butter...” Taeyong mumbles in the supermarket as he pulls his mini-cart after him. He double checks his list to make sure that he didn’t miss anything out. As he senses that someone else is coming from the opposite direction in the same section of articles; Taeyong looks up.

And finds no one else than that one girl from high school, looking through her purse after something. One of the girls he’d want to forget, but also apologise to. 

But that he’s also so, so, filled with hatred against.

As if the female could sense the tension, she tears her gaze from her purse to the strong eyes attached to her. Taeyong could even see the split second the look on her face went to panic. If Taeyong were smart, he’d pretend that he had forgotten her. If Taeyong were smart, he’d walk past her and put this behind him.

But Taeyong isn’t smart. Taeyong is filled with anger, frustration and hatred towards a group of people after those two years in prison. And seeing the panic in her eyes made him even more mad. He spent those two years thinking of his revenge; how to prove his innocence and finally reveal the truth. Those two years of constantly getting more and more frustrated; he’s just waiting to let loose the beast.

”L-Lee Taeyong,” she stammers, eyes growing bigger.

”If it isn’t Kim Doyeon,” Taeyong more or less spits her name; hates how he remembers it. He only remembers a few names from high school and hates how this girl before him is the owner of one of those names. Taeyong scans her from head to toe. ”You’ve gotten much skinnier. Almost didn’t recognise you.” She doesn’t answer, so Taeyong takes a step forward; feeling his high school self coming out. It’s a part of him now. Quietly, almost like a whisper, he speaks. ”Were you really hurt by my words back then?”

A small type of gasp leaves Doyeon’s lips. She takes a step back, almost walking straight into a shelf. ”N-No!”

Taeyong chuckles. ”Why do you seem so afraid? Don’t you remember our high school days; you tailed after me like a ing dog? You confessed to me all the time, even though you were rejected every single time. What a spirit you must have!” Taeyong scans the girl’s face turn red, if it’s out of shame or anger he doesn’t know. He doesn’t care. ”How much must you still love me for you to follow me all the way here?”

That’s when Doyeon looses it. Taeyong is indeed great with pushing people’s wrong buttons. 

”Get away from me! I hate you, why would I ever like you?! You’re a nobody, you’re nothing, you’re just a murderer!” 

Another low chuckle leaves Taeyong’s lips and he watches Doyeon go pale with fright. ”Just a murderer, huh? Fun how you guys gave me that title for free,” he tilts his head to the side, grins. ”I wouldn’t mind buying it.”

Another high shriek from Doyeon. In pure panic, she grabs the closest thing to grab - in this case a packet of chips from the shelf she bumped into - and throws it at him. ”Get away from me!”

As Taeyong watches Doyeon run away, he realises that he is just like this. Even if he regrets his high school years; this is what he has become. There’s no way he’d be able to change. Because the world, the society already knows. They won’t see him as anything else than a murderer, a bully - so what is the point in trying to prove them wrong?

•  •  •

”Kim Inseong!” a loud yell is heard once again from the other side of Inseong’s telephone. Fortunately, Doyeon’s voice isn’t as ing high pitches as Haeryung’s. But it’s still irritating to listen to.

”What is it this time?” Inseong sighs, makingthe same mistake as before by putting the telephone between his ear and shoulder to be able to erase something he wrote in his book.

”I met Lee Taeyong.”

The phone drops. Again. Inseong is quick to pick it up, frowning anxiously. ”What? When, where?”

Doyeon tells him the whole story, every single little detail, and Inseong is sure that he can hear her sob from the other side of the line. He clenches his fist. Two years. He had been able to breathe only for two tiny years. Now Lee Taeyong was back, and just as immature as before.

”I’ll try to solve this so this incident won’t repeat, don’t worry,” Inseong assures her with his most soothing voice.

”Thank you, my legs are still shaking.”

As they hang up, Inseong quickly makes his way to Inhye’s room. He opens the door hastily, and when he finds her sleeping in his bed, he feels... Surprisingly angry? Why was she sleeping, when he clearly had told her to keep an eye on Taeyong? He runs a frustrated hand through his hair before he sits down on the edge on her bed; gently squeeze her arm.

”It’s 9 AM,” he informs her.

Inhye squeezes her eyes shut tightly, hides under her blanket. ”Way too early.”

”You’re doing a horrible job as Lee Taeyong’s guardian,” Inseong is quick to drop the bomb.

It takes a while for the younger girl to answer. ”I’m not his guardian, I’m his lawyer.”

”You were supposed to keep an eye on him. Only half an hour ago, he threatened someone.”

Suddenly Inhye is wide awake, looking at Inseong with big eyes. Big eyes that she got after their mother. Fortunately for Inseong; their father had pretty eyes too. ”He did?” Inhye asks. Inseong nods. ”Why? No; how do you know that?”

”I told you, we’re the same age; therefore our social circle is about the same. My friend were the threatened one. Do you think I told you to keep an eye on him because he’s pretty? There was a goddamn reason for it.”

”Why are you mad at me?” Inseong had without his knowledge raised his voice gradually, and a frown had appeared on his face.

Inseong sighs, his sister’s hair away from her face. ”I’m not angry. I’m just worried, okay? Please listen to me more from now on. It’d be good if we could trace Taeyong, to avoid meeting him. Is it okay if I download some kind of app on your phone so I can check where you are? You’d have to stick to him like glue, though.”

Inhye frowns. ”No, why would that be okay? That’s invading my privacy.”

Another, louder sigh leaves Inseong’s lips. ”It’d be super beneficial for us, please?”

Inhye finally gives in and nods, and Inseong tells her she’s a good girl, downloads whatever he wanted, before leaving the room. As soon as he leaves, Inhye picks up her phone. Did Taeyong really threaten someone? Because of their meeting yesterday, it seems like Inhye temporarily forgot that he is actually charged for murder. It’s strange, really, how you can just cut off some parts of a person because you’re not affected by them.

‘Wanna meet?’ she text said boy. The way they speak with each other has become much less formal (Inhye told him to not call her noona, her reason was because it’s awkward, but really it’s because she’d feel way too uncomfortable), so their texts are also much more relaxed and casual.

It’s when Inhye is all washed up that Taeyong finally answers. ’I think we should discuss the case.’

Because of some unknown reason that Inhye doesn’t know; she feels a knot in her tummy by those words. That could mean anything. With somewhat shaky fingers, she types in her answer. ’We should. Same place and time?’

His answer is direct. ‘Yes, sounds good.’

‘Good, see you then’.

•  •  •

”Why hasn’t he sued us already?!” Soohyun breaks out in the middle of the other three’s discussion.

They're all gathered in Doyeon’s basement again, discussing the same old things they did back in high school. For once, the other three listens to his outbreaks. 

”It’s like he’s waiting for the right timing,” Haeryung finally speaks, nodding to herself. ”I mean, if he’d sue us and be proven guilty again - he’d spend more years in prison. That’s our plan, but Taeyong isn’t helping us push it forward.”

”He’s smart,” Inseong says, two fingers massaging his temple. ”His past lawyer were a family with another bullied child, of course she’d want to lock him in. He won’t make the same mistakes.”

”Inhye will lock him in too, right?” Doyeon asks, need of assurance. 

Inseong nods. ”She will, but first she needs to earn his trust. Taeyong won’t sue us until he’s sure that the same thing that happened two years ago won’t happen again.”

And that’s exactly what Inhye and Taeyong are discussing. His case. What went wrong in court. Everything. They’re sitting at the cafe, this once neither of them ordered tea. Taeyong has his strawberry smoothie and Inhye her hot chocolate. 

”I think I may have to know more about your bullying,” Inhye states as she looks through her papers. ”There’s not much information on it, I might have to know who you bullied, how and-”

”No,” Taeyong interrupts her, shakes his head. ”I-... I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Inhye frowns, almost pouts. ”I think so, though. I have no names, except Min Dabin’s. Can’t I at least-”

”I was mean, okay,” Taeyong finally confesses. ”I was mean, but I didn’t kill anyone. I think that’s the only thing you need in court.”

”I know so little about you, Lee Taeyong,” Inhye shakes her head, scans the boy before her. He’s mysterious. He’s like those clams with hidden treasures inside; impossible to open up.

Taeyong smiles. Or, his lips curves upwards - but there’s no way that could be called a smile. A smile is supposed to be a sign of happiness. So why did Lee Taeyong look like the polar opposite of that? Finally, he speaks. ”Maybe it’s for the better.”

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