“And to Professor Kim and Professor Lee and their family who are present, give yourselves up now. There’s no escape. We’re coming to get you.”

Time seemed to slow down as a million thoughts raced through the cousin’s minds. As if by instinct Key and Taemin dived into one of the aisles the opposite side of the electronics. Bright pink and purple flashed in front of their eyes as they crouched in the Barbie aisle. Key stomach growled loudly and he flushed pink, although Taemin hadn't noticed.

 

There was the squeaking of shoes and the strange gang of boys vanished. Taemin tried to grip the wallet, but all he felt was the sweaty palm of his fist. What in the-

 

The wallet was gone. Did he drop it?

 

Taemin crawled on his belly and peeked out to where they had been standing. Clear creamy tiles gleamed, but there was no sign of Key’s wallet.

 

“What are you doing?” Key hissed, “Get back here!”

 

Taemin decided that Key didn’t exactly have to know at this moment that he had lost his favorite money-filled wallet.

 

“What do you suppose we do?” Taemin whispered. Nothing seemed to be happening. Perhaps it was a hoax?

 

Phhzzz... Phzzz…

 

Simultaneously their phones vibrated. They grabbed at their pockets and whipped out their phones, and stared at their messages:

 

“You cannot hide forever you know. We WILL find you. We have all the time in the world… We are coming.”

 

Key looked around wildly. From the adjoining aisle at the end something caught his eye. He poked at his pale cousin and motioned him to follow him. Who would take a hoax this far?

 

They made sure that there was no “bad guys” and rapidly crossed into the aisle. Both were certain that the “bad guys” would be the stereotypical-ninja clothed buff guys as they always semmed to appeared on television.

 

“What are we doing?”  Taemin clutched onto Key’s shoulder. He could feel his beanie sliding off his golden-honey hair, so he gave it a quick jerk.

 

Silently Key reached into a huge, multi-coloured box and pulled out something dark and bushy. He tossed the long wig onto Taemin’s lap, followed by a skirt from another box.

 

“WHAT?!” Taemin gasped, mortified at what his cousin was indicating. Key-hyung couldn’t possibly be suggesting that he… dress like a girl! Not only would they get caught, they would look extremely ridiculous!

 

Key turned around, arms full of other random clothes. His eyes glinted with rage, as if he was aiming an invisible laser beam at his cousin. Without another sound Taemin began to put on the humiliating clothes. Inwardly he was horrified and crushed, this was the opposite of what he wanted to become.

 

---

 

Only a few minutes later they studied each other solemnly, but inside their minds they were dying of laughter at how ridiculous his cousin looked.

 

Key had on a shoulder-length wig of thick, tangled red hair and round glasses, with absurdly enormous clip-on earrings. He had put on so many clothes that he looked chubby, except for his thin face, which he covered with a thick, knitted scarf. He wore a long skirt that brushed against the floor.

 

Inwardly Key felt sick at how unfashionable and colour clashing his outfit was.

 

Taemin had a long black wig and had replaced his black skinny jeans with a short skirt, that hung above his knees. A thick, itchy white cardigan had been thrown above his jacket. The bulkiness of his torso and the scrawny legs was a hilarious result. Taemin felt like dying from humility.

 

‘Although,’ thought Key, ‘Taemin would certainly make a very pretty girl.’

 

“Hey you!” a gruff voice called out “didn’t you hear the announcement? Get to the front desk!”

 

‘We are sooo dead!’ Taemin thought, dying a little inside. He knew the plan wouldn’t work. Key turned around to see who was talk talking to them. He came face to face with a tiger.

 

“YIKES!” Key jumped full 3 metres back.

 

The tiger came closer and pulled out a small pistol “Hurry up! And take your daughter with you!”

 

Taemin noticed with relief that it was only a tiger mask, while the rest of the man was covered in a strange black cloth that reached to the floor. He also wore thick, black leather gloves.

 

Scurrying to his feet he made a quick grab at the frozen Key, “Come on, umma!” Taemin attempted a squeaky, high-pitched voice “The n-nice tiger-man said that we have to go check-out now!”

 

Key got up slowly, his eyes never leaving the strange figure, nor the gun he held in his hands. Taemin began to pull his hand gently towards the end of the aisle, ignoring the rest of his body’s impulse to run.

 

When they had turned the corner and they realised that the tiger-masked man wasn’t following them, Key collapsed. His face was panting and his face was white.

 

Taemin felt like crying. Guns?! They had guns?! They had to get out of there quick.

 

“Ke- uh I mean umma, we have to go now!”

 

Key struggled to his feet and gripped Taemin hand. Taemin was sure that his hand was about to break, but he didn’t say anything. Instead he began to slowly help his cousin along.

 

Key was like a zombie or a robot. He just followed Taemin in a state of shock.

 

'We can DO this!' Taemin thought as he tried to think 'brave'. Sure... they could pull this off... right?

 

---

 

At the desk, there were many more masked-men, some held pistols similar to the tiger and some were walking around sipping coffee. Their masks were all of different animals, camels, lions, giraffes and many more. They barely glanced at Taemin or Key and merely pointed to a small group of people standing in a small circle. Taemin realised that they were the other customers.

 

The mall that the department store was attached to seemed to be frozen in time. All the shops were closed and no one was about. Why didn’t anyone call the police?

 

Taemin felt for his phone and pulled it out, his fingers just about to dial the number.

 

“No, stop!” a middle-aged woman grabbed Taemin’s dialling-thumb, “We’re not sure how, but who-ever calls on their phone any number, it is answered by a creepy guy, who just laughs at our attempts. Please don’t try, dear.”

 

Taemin nodded and put away his phone; his mouth was dry with fright. Well, so far, they weren’t suspecting anything weird about their disguises.

 

Key was still in a state of shock. He was trying to take in everything that was happening. He glanced slowly out to the empty mall, when a small movement caught his eyes.

 

Peering closer, he realised that it was that boy… that dinosaur-boy who had tried to take his wallet. Key felt anger swell up in him, even though he knew that his wallet was safe. Yes it was safe with his cousin. That boy was no longer wearing a sick-mask either... freak!

 

He watched the boy crawling along the side of the mall, which was covered with fake potted plants and benches. Suddenly he looked back and noticed Key. Key watched him furiously as the boy covered his mouth to stop from sniggering.

 

‘Grrrrr…” Key thought. How dare he!

 

Then the boy did something that made Key’s heart stop. The boy reached for his pocket and pulled out something square and black and very thick. Key felt his breath get caught in his throat.

 

It was his wallet.

 

It was his wallet! His custom-made wallet! His precious wallet!

 

Without his wallet, he couldn’t buy any more clothes, well, not until the bank sent him a new credit card, but that would be weeks!

 

Key forgot about the current situation and focused only on his wallet.

 

Taemin, however, was ignoring Key, thinking he was still in shock, and was looking for a way to escape. It seemed to be very bleak. Maybe they’ll let them and the other customers go after they finish searching? But by then they'd probably find out.

 

“Hey!” there was a muffled cry and the tiger-masked man turned out of an aisle carrying something familiar, and was running towards the desk. He tripped and fell, the object flying out of his hands and onto the floor.

 

Taemin froze; it was his skinny jeans, which he had replaced for the short skirt. The unfamiliar draft was uncomfortable for Taemin, who had been unconsciously been pulling it down every few minutes.

 

No one present could quite explain what happened next. It all went very fast. But to Taemin, Key and the tiger masked-man, time seemed to slow down.

 

Key yanked out of Taemin’s grip and charged towards the scurrying dino-boy and his wallet. Taemin ran after Key, not realising that he was chasing after the wallet. The tiger-masked man struggled to his feet and pointed at the escaping kids, but his masked companions were just laughing, ignoring was he was trying to say.

 

“THEY’RE RUNNING AWAY!” his voice pounded in Taemin and Key’s minds.

 

---

 

Everything seemed to be in slow motion. Bolting down the escalator, dino-boy glancing back at Key with a smirk as he ran out of the door. Taemin still didn’t realise that Key was chasing the boy; he only focused on the oncoming shouts and running-footsteps following them.

 

Running out of the door, there were three sleek black cars parked outside. Taemin recognised his father and mother in one of them. But he couldn’t do anything to save them. No, that would be stupid to attempt such a thing.

 

But… he had to rescue them somehow. He needed to know what was going on.

 

Meanwhile, Key ran on, through the blaring traffic after the strange boy. His mind fully focused on his wallet. He needed his wallet! And he would do whatever it took to get it back.







Minkee - SOOO sorry for the late update! TT^TT My co-author and I are REALLY INSANELY busy with school... :/ I hope that we'll get our missing subscribers back!
I think I'm officially a zombie now... after seeing our shining boys sing and dance to Sherlock my heart exploded! <3
I am currently squeezing the dancing to Sherlock into my schedule! So much fun though! :3 Their teaser photo's... *melts* 

 
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   ... yes! TT^TT <3