XVIII.

For the first time ever, Minho woke up without smelling a delicious breakfast in the middle of being cooked. The house was completely empty and the only sign of Jonghyun actually being there was a sticky note stuck to the fridge saying; “Running late for work so I couldn’t make you breakfast. Sorry. Do eat something though because remember that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

Minho sighs as he balls up the note and tosses it in the nearby trash. His stomach growls and he wishes that Kibum was around too make him one of his signature sandwiches. He suddenly finds himself smiling widely as he thinks back to last night. He remembers how the whole car ride home Kibum sang to every pop song that came on the radio allowing Minho to crack jokes about how he could memorize the song lyrics but not a single definition for Health class.

He snaps back to reality and glances at the time on the microwave and decides that he’ll just stop by the corner store for a snack since he didn’t really have enough time to try to make something to eat.

He makes way towards the bathroom to get ready. While in the shower, he can’t help but think about Jonghyun’s negative reaction. He wanted to believe that Jonghyun would not report to the police or anything but he wasn’t so confident.

****

“And so that is why…” Minho stops in the midst of his sentence when his eyes catch Kibum’s. The younger stared at him as if he were a piece of delicious meat. He cleared his throat and adjusted his tie as he finished his sentence. The bell rings and Minho placed down his marker and made his way towards his desk.  “Don’t forget to do your homework, it’s due on Wednesday.”

As the classroom begins to clear out, in Minho’s peripheral vision he sees someone approach his desk.  

“Hey,” Kibum says, placing his hands on the desk. He leans forwards and grins widely in Minho’s face.

“What’s with you today?” Minho asks. “Couple days back, you hated my guts,”

“I don’t know.” The younger shrugs. “I did hate your guts but now knowing that you’re my teacher is a bit exciting.” He bites his lips and leans into kiss Minho.

He leans back. “Don’t,” he says. “Don’t get carried away, Kibum. Remember where we are.”

“You’re right,” he chuckles. “Do us all a favor and lose the glasses. You look way better without them.”

“Get to class Kibum,” Minho instructs sternly.

“Yes, Mr. Choi,” He answers in a sing-song voice and prances out of the room.

“What was that about?” Jinki asks, startling Kibum when he finally exits Mr. Choi’s room. “You never stop and talk to Mr. Choi after class. Better yet, you’re usually the first person to leave.”

“I had a question, that’s all.” Kibum shrugs his question off and adjusts his backpack.

“Ah, I see,” he adjusts his glasses. “I heard about your mom. How is she?”

“She’s still the same,” Kibum sighs. “She’s lying in that bed with that beeping machine beside her. The doctor says it’ll take months to recover, but… I don’t know…”

Jinki pats his best friend on his back. “She’ll be alright. Have a little faith.”

Kibum smiles, “Thanks, Jinki.”

“You’re welcome. I could come over after school to help you out with the homework,”

“After my tutorials?”

“I forgot you still go to those,” Jinki laughed, showing off his bunny teeth.

“Yeah, I do,” Kibum’s cheeks go pink at the thought of Minho.

“How are those going, by the way?”

“Great, I’m doing better on my tests a little bit,” Kibum nudges Jinki. “By like ten points.”

Jinki nods, “Not bad,”

They walk in the same direction because their classes are the same route. “Hey look, it’s Jennie,”

Kibum looks up and sees the girl looking through her locker. “What about her?” he shoots his best friend a confused look.

“You asked me about her the other day and I put two and two together,” Jinki replies, giving him a knowing look. “You’re obviously interested in her. She’s a cute girl, to be honest.”

Kibum’s jaw literally dropped.

“Come on, you totally like her. I’ve been seeing you checking her out for the past couple days. When you asked me about her, I thought it was a little odd…” Jinki pats him harshly on the back. “I’ll talk to her for you; I got the next period with her,”

“No, Ji-” Kibum tries to protest but it’s too late. Jinki was already waving at her excitedly as they enter their rightful class.

“Hey, Jennie!” Jinki ignores him as he follows the girl into the classroom.

Kibum wants to correct him – tell him that he’s got the wrong idea but the sound of the bell rings and he has no choice but to run to class.

Oh god. Kibum thinks to himself as he takes a seat in his class. His peers were chattering and tossing around paper balls. He can’t even blame Jinki, though. After all, he hasn’t even told his best friend his deepest, darkest secret. He would, of course, like for his best friend to know about him. He’s known Jinki for forever, he wouldn’t judge him. But what if he did?

What if?

Kibum sighs and just decides it’ll be best to go with the flow until he graduates. He should be ready by then – he was sure of it.

****

Jiwook has been staring at his computer screen for hours watching several recordings off of Daeho's CCTVs. Several bags of chips and empty beer bottles covered the floor around him. He burps as he zooms in on the moving pictures. After all this time he has finally found something. He had finally found him.

The sound of the door opening could be heard and Bom's petite self walks in. Her face turns to that of disgust as she looks around Jiwook's room. "Have you ever heard of something called cleaning?" She demands.

"Come here," Jiwook instructs urgently. He waves her over as he points to his computer screen. He looks up to see what was taking her so long and sees that she is picking up his rubbish off the ground. "Don't worry about all that!" He says and springs out of his seat. He grabs her hand and drags here toward the computer. “Take a look.”

Bom squints at the screen. "Um yeah, that's the guy I was talking about... Did you figure out a name?"

"Uh...we'll get to that later..." Jiwook says causing Bom to roll her eyes. "Anyways, I know this guy."

"Get the car started, quick!" Yuhan huffed. Jiwook swings open the car door and climbs in. He stabs at the ignition until the key finally goes in and starts up the engine. He turns to tell Yuhan that he should probably hurry and that is when he comes face to face with an unknown man. He had brown hair and dark eyes that bore into his own.

"Yu-" Jiwook wants to shout but the man quickly strikes him in the head with his gun. He was unconscious before his head hit the steering wheel.

Jiwook points to his temple, there was a healing bruise; "He's the guy responsible for this!"

"Poor you," Bom says but she couldn't care less. "So who is this guy? What's he all about?"

"He's dangerous.  I think Daeho may have hired him as a bodyguard."

"That's impossible. Daeho went straight to the police - I know this because I’ve seen a cop car constantly accompanying him and his son."

"Are you sure for his son too?" Jiwook asks. "Because there are plenty of him leaving or arriving with Kibum..."

"If that's the case then maybe we will need to get rid of him." Bom says, crossing her arms. She leans her hip against the desk. "If he's as dangerous as you say, then the best thing is to exterminate him."

"Hang on." Jiwook begins to type things into his computer at a very fast pace. A couple of things begin to pop up. "I looked up his license plate just now. His name is Choi Minho, he's 27 and his occupation is a teacher."

"Teacher huh?" Bom snorts. A measly teacher? Pfft, what makes him so dangerous then? I don’t understand.  "Are you sure what you said was true, about him knocking you out?" She leans over his shoulder to take a look herself. In Minho's photo he did not smile, in fact he was quite expressionless.

“Hell yeah, I’m sure,” Jiwook nods ferociously. “Don’t let his occupation fool you, this guy is bad news.”

Bom opens to respond but stops because Yuhan had then entered the room announcing that the noodles he had been making was finished downstairs. He noticed their serious faces and questions what was up.  He saunters over to them and takes a look at the computer screen himself. "I've seen this bastard." He states. "He’s the one who held me at gunpoint when we tried to kidnap that kid!"

Bom looks at him with disbelief. Gunpoint? Him?

"Yes. We've figured out about him but there are some holes still." Jiwook explains. "Bom suggests we take him out. She thinks he'd be better off dead."

"I think he'll just get in our way if we don’t." Bom clarifies, shrugging. "Based on these videos he's close to Kibum a lot. We're thinking he's a bodyguard or something and plus he's already a bit skeptical of me. He thinks I have something to do with Ahreum."

“But you do…” Jiwook points out, which earns a slap on the back of the head from Yuhan.

The eldest in the room hems. "He might be useful. Lately we've been sloppy so let's try another approach. A mental approach. We need to get into their heads!" Bom and Jiwook listen attentively, nodding. "Bom, you need to make him not skeptical anymore. Make him trust you. Make him trust you to the point that he may even tell you his deepest darkest secrets."

Bom nods slowly. “It’ll take some time though,”

“That’s fine, it needs to be real,” Yuhan says, patting her head. “You’ll need to get to know him – his friends, family, everything.”

"And what can I do hyung?" Jiwook asks, eagerly.

"Keep keeping tabs on that CCTV." Yuhan winks causing Jiwook to frown. He really wanted to be of assistance to at least something.