XXII.

“Look,” she says. “I don’t have a lot of time since your next class will arrive soon, but I’ll be back when the school day is over. Just know that your secret, Minho, isn’t so secret anymore.”

Park Bom knows. She knows. For once in Minho’s life, he was not sure what he was supposed to do next. He sits in his Volvo, hands shaking uncontrollably. His forehead was beaded with sweat due to the heavy anxiety he was experiencing – he felt as if his heart was going to burst from his chest and it caused him to have shortness of breath.

He hears the sound of something click, followed by heavy pressure against his temple. He peers into his rearview mirror and saw a familiar face sitting in the back seat. It was Yuhan. He was staring at him with very menacing eyes. “Remember me, yeah?” Minho desperately tries to calm his own anxiety attack. He’d been lacking on his medications and the situation he was currently in made him deeply regret doing so. “Of course you do. I have an unforgettable face.”

“Are you working with Bom?” Minho questions, chest rising and falling at a fast rate.

Yuhan deepens the glock into his temple, causing Minho to wince in pain. “You don’t ask me questions. I’m in charge. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll listen very carefully. You’re going to do me a very big favor, you hear me? My partner will be paying you a second visit with further instructions.”

“What makes you think I’ll help you?!”

“If you cherish that little sick relationship of yours, you will.”

Minho feels his stomach drop. “You touch him; I swear to God I’ll—”

Yuhan doesn’t let him finish because he lays a mighty blow with the of his glock that knocks him out. He quickly exits from the car and hides away his gun as he walks past many students to make his way back to the van.

“Well?” Bom asks as he climbs in. She quickly shuts the doors behind him.

“You were right,” Yuhan huffs. He was clearly out of shape and it was probably due to him lazing about his home and drinking nothing but beer. “The mention of his relationship really got to him – I could tell by his eyes. How’d you figure the guy was gay? I could never imagine.”

“I’m good at what I do, Yuhan.” Bom replies vaguely. She failed to tell him the whole truth about who his gay lover was per say. Yuhan was not a big fan of homo relationships, so she knew he’d throw some venom in his words to shake Minho up. She was still so furious at Minho. How could he? With his student? It made no sense.

“You okay, Bom?” Yuhan questions, as he puts the key into the ignition. The engine begins to rev. “You don’t look so good.”

She pushes her hair out of her face and behind her ears and flashes him a very small smile. “I’m fine. I just can’t wait for Daeho to get what he deserves.”

“You and me, both.”

///

Jonghyun had just arrived home from a long shift at the pharmacy. For the past couple of days, he had been purposely dodging Minho, he had been feeling under the weather – physically and emotionally – and he couldn’t bring himself to even face him. He still couldn’t come to a logical conclusion on how or why Minho could involve himself with someone much younger than him. What exactly was he lacking? Was he to clingy? Clinginess was the reason Soohyuk cheated on him… maybe that was it…

He let out a loud, frustrated sigh as he ruffles his hair. Before he could get out of his work clothes, he heard a loud noise coming from the front door. It startles him, but he can hear some heavy footsteps followed by the noise. He figures its Minho but he can’t take any chances. He scoops up an umbrella that was resting against his dresser to utilize as a weapon and goes to check what’s happening.

The lights had been and Jonghyun could see a little trail of droplets of blood leading to Minho’s room. He dropped the umbrella immediately and rushes in. “Minho?!” he exclaims, his heart beating a rapid pace. He heard rummaging in the bathroom. “Minho…? Are you alright?” He approaches the door and pushes it open slowly. As Jonghyun steps in, Minho had his head hung over the sink, an empty medicine bottle next to him. Jonghyun was unaware that Minho was even on any medication.

“Minho?” Jonghyun calls again, assessing the scene. Minho had a small gash on his head and the blood was falling into the sink. “Minho… what on Earth happened to you?” He begins to rummage through the bathroom looking for a first-aid kit and some alcohol. “I don’t understand how you always somehow manage to… got it!” He removes all the items he’d need to patch up Minho’s wound from the kit and lays them out on the counter. “How’d this happen?” Jonghyun guides Minho to take a seat on the toilet so he could tend to his wounds.

“I-I got…” Minho hisses when Jonghyun presses the alcohol against his gash. “I… I don’t know… I have to go…” He attempts to rise but Jonghyun pushes him back down.

“I don’t know where the hell you think you’re going, but you’re not going anywhere.” Jonghyun huffs, as he finishes up what he’s doing. “You need to tell me what’s going on, Minho. How did you get hurt?”

“I just… Jonghyun…” Minho sniffs, and he sounds like he is about to cry which stuns Jonghyun. He’s never once seen him show such emotion. Whoever hit him, hit him so hard he’s out of character…

“Come, let’s get you to bed…” Jonghyun lifts him up and guides him to bed. “Lay down, I’m going to go out and buy us some things so I can cook us up dinner because knowing you I’m sure you haven’t eaten today.” Before Jonghyun could make his way towards the door, Minho weakly grabs his wrist and utters a small “Thank you” before falling asleep. Jonghyun sighs and covers him with his comforter and caresses his cheek. A small smile finds his way onto his lips. “God, Minho, you’re such a headache.”

As he sees the younger in fall asleep, he heads back to the bathroom to further investigate the medication that was on the counter. As a pharmacist, his curiosity just would not let him stay away. He scoops up the bottle into his hands trying to read the print, but it was difficult because it seemed as if Minho attempted to rip off the labels. Jonghyun could make out the word “anti” and their address, but nothing else was readable. “Anti what?” He wonders as he places it back on the counter and steps into Minho’s room again. Why are you so full of secrets?

////

Jonghyun was returning from the store with two grocery bags in each hand. When he was closing in on his door he shifted the bags into one specific hand and used the other to reach into his pocket to retrieve his keys. Just before he could unlock the door, he feels something poke against his lower back.

“Scream and I’ll kill you,” the voice hisses. “Unlock the door. Do it! Do it now!”

Hands shaking uncontrollably, Jonghyun turns the key and lets he and the unknown intruder in. With his heart literally pounding against his chest, he says; “Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you, but please--”

“Shut up! Drop the bags, on your knees, hands up!”

He does as he’s told, without question. “Please, I--”

The intruder uses the of their gun to strike him in the back of his head. His body makes a soft thud on the floor. The intruder steps over his limp body and continues to rummage around the house. They push open several doors until they found exactly what they were looking for – Choi Minho.

He was sound asleep in his bed as the intruder further pushes open the door to allow themselves in. With light steps, they approach the bed – gun pointed dead at him. Little does the intruder know, Minho has always been a light sleeper. The rummaging had woken him up instantly.

“Well, well…” the intruder whispers, but before they knew it their gun was flying out their hands and Minho’s foot collided with their head. The gun lands across the room on the floor near the bathroom door. The intruder stumbles back but gathers their footing. As Minho hops up, he feels his pockets for his knife but then he quickly remembers he was still in his work clothes. He gets a good look at them, they are quite short and dressed in black from head to toe – they even wore a mask making it hard to tell if it was male or female. He tries to make a grab at the intruder but they throw a kick straight to his chest. It was strong enough to where he stumbles back and collides with the wall. The intruder throws strong punches at his jaw, which causes him to taste a bit of iron in his mouth, and stomach. They try to throw another punch but Minho upper cuts them in the gut, which essentially knocks the wind out of them. The intruder coughs for air and as they are doing so Minho lands another kick on their back, causing them to fall face first into the carpet. He turns to try and retrieve the lost gun but as he soon as he leans over to get it, the intruder jumps onto his back, arms snaking their way around his neck to constrict his airway. Minho grunts as he desperately tries to get the person off him, but their arms and legs were tightly wrapped around him. He grabs at their face and yanks the mask off, throwing it to the floor. He knew if he didn’t get them off of him, he’d pass out at any minute.

He bangs them against the wall, earning a cry of pain and them losing their grip. He flips them over his shoulder, but they sprawled out onto the ground grabbing the gun as they did so. They stood up effortlessly and Minho finally got a good look at the person.

“Bom?” he wipes blood from his lip as he huffs for air.

She flicks hair out of her face as she aimed the gun at his head. She had a busted lip and there were bruises forming on her forehead.

“Should have told me it was you, I would have taken it easy,” Minho chuckles, flashing a cocky smile.

Bom rolls her eyes out of annoyance. What the hell is wrong with him?

“Care to explain why I earned such a pleasant visit? I mean, if you wanted to go to that fake little house to paint again, there were better ways of asking.”

“That house wasn’t… never mind. Playing dumb, are we? Well, let me refresh your memory. I’m here to tell you what you need to do for Yuhan and Jiwook,” Bom replies. She hints at the bandage wrapped around his head. “Yuhan paid you a visit earlier today.”

“Ah… those two. What pathetic men… I knew you were also no good, Bom.”

“Listen up, before I blow your brains against the wall.” Bom hisses.

“Sweetheart, put the gun down. Clearly, you need me alive so get the gun out of my face, otherwise I’m not listening.”

Bom hesitates, having the gun made her feel more in power but he was absolutely right. “I’ll lower it, but I’m not putting it away.”

“Fair enough… Why are you working for them? They’re scum.”

“You don’t know them; don’t speak on what you don’t know, okay?”

“Alright, ease up.” Minho sighs, rubbing his sore jaw. He leans up against the wall. “You got a good punch, I’ll give you that. Anyways, what do they want?”

“They want revenge. They want his money. They want Kim Daeho’s head served to them on a stick. They want him to suffer.” Bom states. “Kim Daeho’s the real scum, and you’re the one working for him.”

“If I recall, they’re the ones making you kill innocent people.” Minho’s tone is full of sarcasm. “That was his wife. Kibum’s mother! You tried to take away someone’s mother.”

“Yuhan had a wife! Daeho didn’t care though, he’s very responsible for her death. He forgot about his friends. His friends who needed him in their time of need!” Bom scoffs. “Don’t you dare think I’ve forgotten about your sick little relationship with his son. How dare you!”

“Don’t bring him into this, you wouldn’t understand them.”

Bom slowly inches closer to him, not catching that he said “them”. “No one would understand. No one could imagine you with some high schooler.”

“You don’t know anything, Bom.”

“I know you can do way better.” She gently places her hand on his chest and Minho watches her attentively. “There’s better, more mature women out there and clearly I’m someone that meets that criteria.” She caresses the bruises on his forehead, that she inflicted on him, with her gun. “Look Minho, if you’d just listen to me…” On her tip toes at this point, with her free hand, she grabs a handful of his hair and smashes their lips together. The two share a deep, sloppy kiss. Minho couldn’t even think; he was just feeling Bom’s body pressed against his, her hands in his hair. She was rough, but it was strangely attractive. Minho lifts her with ease and she wraps her legs around him once again. He lays her on the bed and their lips detach momentarily just so Minho’s shirt could come off. Bom admires his body, tracing his abs with her gun. The thoughts in her head were mighty sinful as their lips met again. The gun fell to floor, as did more clothing.

////

The light that escaped through his blinds woke Minho up the next morning, the bed was empty but there was a note left for him on the nightstand.

Fortunately, last night was actually a good time. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to fully give you your mission for us. Ahreum, she’s as good as dead but we need you to speed up the process and make sure of it. In your drawer, there is a syringe. You know what to do. It needs to be done by tonight. If not… well, let’s not let it get to that point. – XOXO

“Last night was actually a good time?” he reads aloud. Minho eyes widen at the letter, he’s shocked and confused. He can’t seem to recollect what exactly happened to him or his room. It was a mess, furniture deeply damaged beyond repair, his work space – trashed, traces of blood found in many different spots about the room. He drags open the drawer and sees the syringe talked about in the note. “Oh no…” Minho slams it shut, grabs his pants and stumbles into the restroom and takes a good look at himself in the mirror. He was horrifically bruised, forehead, under his eye, abdomen, let’s not forget the swollen jaw… “What did you do?” he whispers to himself as he spots the numerous amount of hickeys on his neck. He swings open his medication cabinet and sees that the medications he was supposed to be taking were empty. “Oh God… no…”

Minho starts to feel sick to his stomach and it seemed like the room was spinning. Minho thought he was doing fine – without the hassle of always taking the correct dosage of his medication – but it seemed not. Flashes of the previous night invaded his thoughts, as he the shower. “No, no… why would you do that?” he grips his pounding head. He doesn’t understand. He would never go against Kibum like that, what happened to him…?

After a very quick shower, Minho gets dressed and walks into the living room where Jonghyun was barely coming to. “M-Minho…?”

Minho rushes to his aide as the elder starts to sit up. “Hey, hey, easy…”

“Minho, oh God! Someone broke in last night! Look at the place… it’s ruined…” Jonghyun begins to slightly sob into Minho’s chest.

“Jonghyun, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay!” Minho replies, but he wasn’t exactly so sure. Bom was paying him house visits and he couldn’t be putting Jonghyun in danger like that.

“N-No, it’s not. How are we going to afford to fix it? I didn’t even get a good look at the guy.” The elder sniffs re-telling the whole story to him. He wipes his runny nose and looks up at the younger. “Oh, Minho, look at you, you’re all beat up...”

“Jonghyun, I promise you… I am okay. I am more worried about you right now. I’m sure it was a scary experience.” Minho rubs his back, in hopes to cease his tears. “I think you should call Sodam, ask if you could crash at her place. It could kind of be like house-sitting, seeing that she is in Hawaii for her honeymoon. I can take care of all of this.”

“I can’t possibly leave this all to you…”

“Yes, you can… it’s my name on the lease anyway. Come on, I’ll help you pack a bag.”

“B-But Minho, how are you going to survive without me, you can’t even make yourself a sandwich?” Jonghyun hiccups.

“Hey… I’m learning, alright.” Minho says defensively, which causes the elder to laugh. “Get up, let’s get you packed.” All he could think about was getting Jonghyun settled somewhere to get his mind off all this mayhem so that he could rush to speak with his father, In Guk.

Oh man, oh man. I am back babyyyy. Minho and Bom?? Didn't see that one coming now did ya? Minho's multiple personality disorder is finally coming into play. :)) Man I've been out of the game for a LONG time and I can kind of see that this site is kind of dead... so please reference me to some BOMB SHINee fics. I miss reading them. I binge watched a whole bunch of videos of SHINee, God I MISSED THEM. Sheesh, they're still as wonderful as ever! Also, it's unfortunate that some other of my favorite groups are disbanded :((( !

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

xoxo <3