Standing in the shadow of a corner at the busy station, Minhyun took the book out from his bag and studied it closer. The old lady had handed it to them without lifting an eyebrow, then closed the door without a word.

It was a small paperback book with a cheap sketch of a candelabra on the front page.

“Why did he want us to have this?” he speculated as he turned it in his hands, examining the cover closely.

“He didn’t give us a page number this time… Do you think it could still be something inside it?”

“It must be, the cover is totally untouched”.

Minki took the book from Minhyun’s hands and flipped through the pages.

“Here it is”.

On the very last page was a small key, fastened to the book with duct tape. It had a number on it.

“It’s a box key. That’s why he wanted us to go here, the key must fit to a deposit box here. Come on!”

In the crowd by the deposit boxes it took them almost twenty minutes to find the right one and unlock it without attracting suspicion; a lot of people had been staring at them already, clearly judging them for skipping school.

Finally Minhyun managed to reach up and open the box, taking out a clear file containing a bunch of papers.

“Plane tickets, admission papers…” Minki looked at them as Minhyun handed them to him. “And a name and an address in Yuma. I think we’ve got him”.

None of them got any sleep on the plane at all. Minhyun kept staring straight ahead, blinking as little as possible, probably trying to figure out how to react when they saw Aron again, and at the same time he wanted to find a valid excuse for them being gone from school for days. Neither teachers nor their parents would believe them if they told them they had gone to The USA to find one of their friends, who had vanished off of the face of the Earth, probably being on a secret mission, then make him come back with them to cure Minki’s boyfriend whom he had poisoned by making him swallow his strange blood.

No matter how many times he repeated it in his mind it didn’t sound anywhere near believable.

Next to him Minki was trying to sleep; his head kept hurting and he was dozing in and out of a nightmare, half-way awake and about to despair when thinking of Jonghyun. Before they left they had gone to ask if they could visit him again, but the answer was still no. His condition was getting worse and the doctor they had spoken to had been looking at them without a shred of hope in his eyes.

And then he started to fear that this was all in vain. What if there wasn’t any cure? What if they were running but never reached the end of the road, simply because it wasn’t there?

Jonghyun had never said that Aron would have a way to cure him. There was no proof that they could save him by doing this, and thinking of it made his stomach hurt, too. Every little inch of him was aching when they finally landed in Yuma, after having had to change planes in Los Angeles.

“This way. We’ll take a cab, it’s too far to walk”.

“Sure”.

Minki couldn’t find the air in his lungs to say another word. On legs feeling as if they were suddenly made from jelly he followed Minhyun out of the airport. They were only carrying hand luggage with their most important things as they didn’t intend to spend more than a day in Yuma, preferably even less.

“What do you intend to say to him?” he muttered, glancing worried at Minhyun, whose facial expression hadn’t changed since Seoul.

“I don’t know…” He got more and more tense as they drove closer to the address Fisher had given them. “But if I start to cry, please stop me. I’ll probably be a mess…” He sighed and turned his head. “You don’t look too good yourself Minkiah… Is everything all right?”
“It’s just a headache… I haven’t slept properly for two days now, I guess it’s just a little too much”.

“Try to sleep on the way home then… We’ll buy first class tickets instead”.

“But we can’t!”
“Of course we can. I’ll pay, it’s only money”.

“But hyung…”
“No Minki, you need to sleep. If we have to I’ll buy off every seat on first class to make sure you’re not disturbed, okay?” He put an arm around the blonde and sighed again. “It’s not a problem, I stole my father’s credit card before we left. He won’t notice if he’s 10 million won poorer, he never does. Besides, I’m allowed to spend whatever if it’s any emergency. This is definetely an emergency, right?”
“Yes, but won’t you get in trouble?”
“Hardly. Three pairs of Louboutin shoes qualified as an emergency. My father won’t miss the money for a second, I promise”.

They drove on in silence, Minki moistening his lips instead of biting them as he used to; the fear of biting through the skin kept him from it.

When they reached the house half an hour later, Minhyun couldn’t help but raise his brows a bit.

“Here?”

The driver nodded.

They had stopped in an industrial area, the site looking completely abandoned.

“It’s that building over there”.

“That’s an office building…”
The driver shrugged and took off as they started to walk towards the building he had pointed out. It was empty, obviously it hadn’t been in use for a long time. Just like the rest of the buildings surrounding them. The best way to describe what was all around them, was by calling it a ghost town.

“We’ll have to try…”
“You bet. My head is killing me. I don’t know about you, but the first thing I’m going to ask Aron is if he has any painkillers” Minki sulked, frowning from pain. He lead the way to the door, which turned out to be open and they walked into an empty hall. “The note said sixth floor…”

The stairs seemed to continue forever as they made their way to the sixth floor in the darkness. None of them had dared to turn on the lights, for some reason it seemed safer to move in the dim, concealing light from the windows, which was quickly fading as the sun started set.

“Now, why would he be in a place like this?” Minhyun whispered, but Minki didn’t answer. “Minki?” He turned around just in time to see Minki collapse on the edge of the staircase. “Minki!”

He kneeled down beside him and cradled him in his arms. The younger one was soaked in sweat and he writhed slightly, even though he tried to suppress it.

“You have got to be kidding me… I think I’m gonna be sick.” His face was pale and full of annoyance.

“What the Hell are you doing here?!”

They both looked up. Walking towards them with rushed steps, almost running, Aron looked as if they had already punched him in the face as planned.

“Aron! Help me, he’s not feeling well”.

“You don’t say!” Aron pushed Minhyun aside and in bridal style he lifted Minki from the floor and started to walk towards the nearest door in the hallway. He kicked it open and went inside with Minhyun right behind him. Tenderly he kneeled down next to a trash can and forced Minki’s head to it, brushing away his hair.

Immediately the blonde started to twinge and with tears of frustration in his eyes he started to vomit, arching his shivering back.

“There, just get it out”. He Minki on the back with a hand fighting to keep steady, while Minki emptied his stomach into the trash can. At last he collapsed on the floor, panting hard with eyes closed.

“Hyung…” he managed to breathe. “Turn around. Minhyun wants to punch you from me”.

Pale white and coughing he fainted in Aron’s arms.