They skipped the rest of the day to go shopping together. Six hours later they decided to go home, both carrying a few bags containing clothes and jewellery. They had stopped at the hairdresser, too, and Minki’s hair now looked just like before, just an inch shorter. He was laughing again when they reached Jonghyun’s house a bus ride later.

“Thanks for letting me stay here. It’s so boring at my place when my parents aren’t at home”.

With a striking smile he went inside and took off his shoes.

“No problem”. Jonghyun returned the smile and looked around a bit as if he tried to find something to talk about.

“Uhm, hyung, is it all right if I take a shower? I don’t really feel… I just need to be freshened up a bit”. He bit his lip, but Jonghyun nodded.

“Sure. You know where it is. I’ll make us some tea meanwhile then”.

“Blood-cleansing?”
“Of course”.

“Great, thank you!” He smiled again and went upstairs to the bathroom. Almost as soon as he was gone, Jonghyun’s phone started to ring. A quick check of the screen showed Dongho’s number.

“Hey there, what’s up?”

“Jonghyun? Hey, I just wanted to know where you were. You didn’t show up for class today”.

“Oh, that’s right, I’m sorry. We decided to go shopping instead…”
“We?”
“Yes, me and Minki”.

“I see. So Aron’s not with you?”
“Huh? No, it’s just us, why?” He filled the electric kettle with water and started to look for some teabags with one hand.

“Because none of you showed up, so I was just worried.”
“Really? What about Minhyun?”
“Nope, all alone and none of you called or anything. I just wanted to make sure that you’re not being pushed off of bridges again, that’s all”.

They laughed and Jonghyun put the phone on his shoulder to take a pair of mugs out of one of the white kitchen cabinets.

“Well, as far as I know, everyone is fine. If you’re calling the others, make sure to scold them, too, for not calling you up, okay?”

“Sure, I will. See you tomorrow”.

“Bye”. He hung up and put his phone back in the pocket of his uniform jacket, then he realised that he should change now that he was at home anyway. He grabbed one of his shopping bags, containing a pair of new black jeans and went upstairs too to change while the water started to boil. On his way he passed the door to the bathroom. The water was running and Minki was humming silently.

Then he went on to his room, which as always was way too messy to let anyone see. As fast as he could with one hand wrapped up he changed from his uniform into the new jeans and a baggy T-shirt, then he hurried downstairs to pour the now boiling water into the two mugs. He managed to carry both of the mugs with one hand into the living room and placed them carefully on the table.

“Minki, the tea is ready whenever you’re finished!” he shouted, but Minki didn’t answer. “Minkiah?”

With a wondering expression on his face he went upstairs, knocking slowly on the door to the bathroom.

“Minki?”

Through the sound of the running water it was almost impossible to hear, but Jonghyun finally realised that Minki was crying. Begging the next thing he heard wouldn’t be an offended scream, he pushed the door open.

“Minki, is everything all right?”

Minki sat in the corner of the shower, pressing his knees towards himself, crying under the running water. He looked incredibly small and frail.

Jonghyun drew a sigh of pity and sat down next to him, pulling him close. The water quickly got him soaked and he realised it was cold.

“You’re freezing sweetie… You shouldn’t be sitting here like this”. Tenderly he took one of Minki’s hands and put his fingers into his mouth to warm them. Minki didn’t react at all, he just kept weeping, his whole body shivering and cold. Jonghyun slowly grabbed his other hand instead, when Minki finally rose his head. His eyes were so devastated that Jonghyun couldn’t remember ever having seen something like it.

“I’m sorry hyungie, I just… I just suddenly remembered how scared I felt before…”

They were both soaking wet and Jonghyun pulled Minki close in a tight hug.

“It’s okay, just cry all you want. I’m here for you, okay?”

Minki nodded and turned his head to Jonghyun’s chest, hiding his face in the older boy’s wet shirt.

For ten minutes they sat together in silence, then Minki started to tremble so much Jonghyun had to force him to stand up.

“Please, you can’t just sit here, you’ll die of the cold…”

With a small sob Minki stood up next to Jonghyun, his legs shaky and unsteady.

“Come here… We’ll get you into some clothes and then you can stay here until you feel better, okay?”

Slowly he supported Minki into his room and made him sit down on the bed; then he started to dry his trembling body with the nearest blanket, wrapping him up so that he wouldn’t be too cold. Then he quickly found some clothes Minki could borrow: a pale yellow sweater and a pair of jeans.

“Thank you hyung…” he muttered in a low voice. He looked down, blushed and began to put on the dry clothes, along with his own socks and underwear.

“No problem”. Jonghyun smiled and tried to look upon the situation as completely casual when he started to change clothes himself, even though the sight of Minki’s beautifully slender body had almost taken his breath away. He closed his  dry shorts, relieved that he wasn’t too excited to hide it, then he pulled a loose shirt over his head.

Minki turned his head away to avoid looking at Jonghyun’s fit body. His heart was racing much faster than he dared to admit. His fingers felt as if they were burning by the memory of the touch of Jonghyun’s lips, and he clenched them to make it stop.

Desperately he tried to remind himself that he didn’t like Jonghyun as more than a friend. If he really had to face that he fancied boys, too, then why couldn’t he just fancy Minhyun who had already confessed to him? For the love of God, this was unbearable! If Jonghyun didn’t like him back he would have ruined everything between them merely by suggesting that they could be anything more to each other than they were now. Jonghyun would hate him; the thought of the other one’s disgusted eyes if he ever found out that Minki had even considered them a possible item made his heart ache, and he decided never to think of it again.

“Do you feel better?”

Jonghyun looked inquiringly at Minki.

“U-huh, a lot. Thank you…” He sounded far too sugary, he thought, angry with himself.

“Great, let’s go downstairs then. Out tea is probably still somewhat tepid”.

“Sure”.

Why couldn’t he just sound as he usually did? Minki bit his lip when he followed Jonghyun downstairs, unable feel a bit breathless. He had to stop being so obvious.

“You better have a damn good reason for making me leave Minki alone like that Fisher!” he sneered when he sat down at the café’s chair. Across the table Fisher sipped his fancy looking drink with a calm face behind the dark sunglasses.

“Relax Aronah. I have taken care of everything. A representative from our company is watching over him from a distance, and I have set up a diversion for the spy as well”.

“You did what?!”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about… I found out who the spy is”.

“How?”

“Well… I just couldn’t help but think that since your teacher turned out to be a Solum associate, then he somehow must have known who the spy was, you know what I mean? And forgive me, but… yeah, well, since you mentioned Hwang Minhyun I thought that I might as well look into everyone else close to both you and Minki”. He started to chew his lip while taking out a piece of paper from his bag. “Look at this”.

Still frustrated, Aron reached out and took the paper. His eyes immediately widened.

“You’re joking, right? This can’t be!”

“I’m sorry man, but I’m afraid it’s the real deal. That note is six months old”.

“Six months? You mean?”
“Yeah, exactly. Right after you got this case. It was put up just two days after you enrolled Minki’s high school”.

“How the were we able to miss this?!”

Aron got on his feet and urged Fisher to do the same.

“We have to find him, now!”

They drove into the slum as fast as possible without being suspicious. When they reached the house they were looking for Fisher stopped the car and they got out, both vigilant against any potential ambushes, but they were lucky. As Fisher stood watch, Aron broke down the front door, making as little noise as possible and they went inside the dark ramshackle hall. It was absolutely empty and judging by the sight of the empty doorways, not a single room was endowed with furniture.

“Are you sure it’s here?” Aron looked around, doubtful.

“Positive.” He took a few steps forwards.

“So where do you suppose we should start?”
“I have no idea man, I’ve never been here before”.

“Fine, then you’ll check out first floor and I’ll…”
“No way we’re splitting up Aron! It always ends up in carnage and disaster”.

“But it’ll take the double amount of time if we’re searching together!”

Fisher crossed his arms, looking stubbornly at Aron.

“I don’t care. You know how I rarely go into the field and I won’t risk getting killed in here just because I’m walking about alone. We search together, and that’s final”.

“Then I hope your diversion will last the rest of the day” Aron answered, fighting to control the anger in his voice.

“It will. I tipped him that Minki went off to Busan with his parents”.

“Fine. Let’s get going”.

They began to search the first floor without any results. They found several broken cell phones and empty fast food bags though, but all the rooms were abandoned.

Aron started to think that Fisher had been wrong about the address. Why on Earth would Solum lock someone away in a house like this? Everyone could get in without much effort, and since there wasn’t anyone around it should be perfectly reasonable to assume that one could get out as well.

After making sure that nothing of interest were to be found on the first floor, they started to search the ground floor. The result was the same, nothing.

“Now what?”

They stood in the hall by the stairs again, staring lost at the abandoned room around them.

“He has to be here somewhere, I’m sure of it!” Fisher shook his head, leaning on the wall. “I checked everything a hundred…” His words was replaced by a surprised shout as he fell through the wall with a loud crash; the wall beneath the staircase had been hiding another room. Aron stepped over Fisher’s cursing figure on the floor, covered in wood and dust, and went inside.

The room only contained two things: a worn out mattress that looked as if it hadn’t been washed or cleaned for months, and a boy in more or less same condition. It was too dark to see anything clearly, but there was no doubt, it was him. His clothes were torn in many places and he had obviously been beaten up many times. Some of the wounds looked frightfully fresh. And he was so much thinner than Aron remembered him.

Six months inside the storage room under the stairs had left their mark on him.

“Is he alive?”

Fisher had risen from the floor and looked at the boy with concerned eyes.

“Yes, but barely. I don’t think they’ve been here to check on him for a long time…” He bit his lip when he realised how weak the boy in front of him was. “We have to get him to a hospital, now”.

“I’ll handle that, you just get back to Minki as fast as possible. They’ll be hot on his heels when they find out you’ve uncovered who their spy is…”
The last few words were cut off by a small whining and they both looked at the boy at once as he opened his eyes. With difficulty he looked up and focused on Aron.

“A… Aron? Is that you?” His voice was almost too low to hear, but Aron nodded with a bleak smile.

“Yes Dongho. It’s me”.