Ren is pulled from his dreams by a loud noise. He sits up abruptly, looking around. After a moment it occurs to him that it’s the phone. He rolls his eyes and looks at the watch on his wrist: 2:42am.

“Urgh, who would call at this time of night?” He groans as he reaches for the phone.

“Yeoboseyo,” he says into the receiver.

“I’m sorry to inform you but Kim Jong Hyun has passed away,” a feminine voice says quietly.

Ren’s grip on the phone releases and it falls to the carpet. He begins to choke on his tears. Unable to control his emotions anymore, he breaks down and cries out in sorrow. He slowly stands up and destroys the first thing he can find. The lamp falls to the ground, shattering into millions of tiny pieces of glass, spreading throughout the dorm.

Vaguely he can hear a faint voice coming from the phone, saying “Hello?” repeatedly.

He picks up the phone and throws it angrily into the kitchen. It knocks over a box of cereal on the counter, beside the fridge. The box falls open and flakes of bran spread all across the kitchen. The kitchen floor is now covered in bran and shards of glass.

Ren sighs and walks to the bedroom door, opening it slowly. Silent tears still fall down his cheek. He walks into the room, unconcerned that he is standing on JR’s blankets. Aron is curled up on his bed, fast asleep, with a slight smile. Ren considers waking him up to tell him the news but in the end he decides against it. Ren walks out of the room and out the front door, hoping to leave behind his pain.

Aron slowly opens his eyes, his head throbs from the constant crying. He rolls over and stares up at the ceiling, secretly hoping that it would cave in on him, putting him out of his misery.

Eventually he gets up. He makes his way into the living room, stumbling as he walks. He isn’t surprised by the shards of glass covering the carpet. He steps on them in bare feet, ignoring the pain as bits of glass pierce the skin of his foot. He walks into the kitchen leaving a small trail of blood behind him. The flakes crunch under his feet. He walks to the fridge where a yellow sticky note is stuck onto the door. He pulls it off quickly. He has to read it a few times before he is able to fully comprehend it.

JR passed away,

I’m going out

-Ren

Aron chuckles, it’s so like Ren to be that frank. Only now Aron realises the implications of the note. He sighs and leans against the fridge.

“Well that news was going to come eventually. At least he isn’t in anymore pain,” Aron smiles slightly, knowing that JR is now free.

“Look, just tell me what evidence you have against me?” Baekho demands, clearly frustrated. He looks around at the walls of the interrogation room, avoiding looking directly into his lawyer’s eyes.

“I’m not your enemy here. I am here to defend you,” the lawyer says calmly.

“Just tell me!”

The lawyer sighs, “They found traces of your hair on Kim Jong Hyun’s body. Also the cleaner who saw the murder take place, described a man, matching your description.”

“I lived with him! Why is it such as surprise that some of my hair got on him! I didn’t do it! Someone is trying to pin it on me!” Baekho cries, alarming one of the nearby guards.

“Look there isn’t anything that can do so far without a confession from you, so if you just keep your lips shut, you’ll be fine.”

“Why would I need to ‘keep my lips shut’ if I have nothing to hide, I didn’t kill them.”

The lawyer rises from his chair and leans closer to Baekho, “Did. You. Do. It?” he says slowly but forcefully, hoping for some form of confession.

“For the last time, no!” Baekho snaps. The two guards begin to step closer, prepared to attack him if he appears to be dangerous.

The lawyer simply sits back down and sighs exasperated, obviously giving up. He turns to one of the guards, “You can take him back to his cell now.”

The guard steps forward and help Baekho out of his chair. Once standing Baekho turns around and puts his hands behind his back, now becoming used to this treatment. The guard locks the handcuffs onto Baekho’s wrists. Before Baekho is lead out of the room, the lawyer says one more thing, “I’ll take care of everything and get you released, in the meantime just stay in your cell and try not to kill anyone.”

Baekho is pushed out of the room, not given a chance to react. He is walked to his cell, the eyes of the other convicts on him. Once in his cell, the handcuffs are taken off and he is left in his cell alone with only his thoughts to accompany him.

Ren slowly pushed the door of the dorm open and steps inside. Aron looks up at him from the kitchen floor. He is sweeping up the flakes and shards of glass with a dustpan and broom.

“I’m assuming you got my note,” Ren says as he shuts the door behind him.

Aron nods, “Yeah.”

Ren suddenly notices the dried blood stains on the carpet, “Aron? What happened here?”

Aron looks at him sharply, “Don’t ask.”

Ren sighs and decides to make nothing of it. He steps into the kitchen, careful to keep out of Aron’s way. He opens the cupboard and pulls out the vacuum cleaner. He drags it across to the living room where the remains of the lamp lay broken on the carpet.                        

Ren kneels on the carpet and picks up the larger pieces of glass. He vacuums up the remainder of the glass, careful to get every piece.

Only moments after he turns off the vacuum cleaner, the phone rings from over on the kitchen counter. Aron quickly stands up and answers it.

“Yeoboseyo,” He says into the phone, “Oh okay. Yeah, I’ll be there soon.”

He hangs up and walks towards the door, “I’m going out.”

Ren raises and eyebrow at him, “Where are you going?”

“Baekho is being released, I’m going to get him.”

“Hyung, do you want me to come?” Ren says before Aron shuts the door, leaving Ren alone.

“No it’s fine,” He hears Aron call from the hallway.

“Uhhh okay then,” Ren mutters.