~Chapter 8~

As a small sliver of light fell across his face, making Sungmin scrunch his eyes closed in annoyance as the light seeped through his eyelids, turning his vision red. He heard someone put down a plate of food near his face, and he lay still, hoping that his jailer would leave him alone. But he never heard the retreating footsteps that signified someone leaving, and he mentally braced himself for any abuse that could be coming next. Nothing happened.

“You should eat, you know. I know you’re awake.” Sungmin opened his eyes in surprise at the unfamiliar voice. He had expected the soft voice of Hankyung, so hearing an unfamiliar, husky voice surprised him. He glanced at the other in suspicion.

The man had a kind face, and light brown hair that framed his face in short waves. Handsome in a way that took his breath away and made his heart seemingly skip a beat. Sungmin shook his head at his foolishness. Admiring the looks of one of his jailers? That shouldn’t happen.

“Why should I?” he said, irritated.

“Well we don’t want you to die on us.”

The raven-haired man scoffed in incredulity. “Maybe it’d be better if I did.”

There was a few moments of silence, before the other spoke again, in a softer tone. “What makes you say that?”

Sungmin bit his lip to stop himself from laughing out loud. “Anything would be better than what could be done to me in here.”

“Why would they do anything? You were just trying to help your family. I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

The kind, oblivious reply caught him off guard, and he turned to the other, defeated. “You really don’t know what’s going on here, do you?”

“What is?” The handsome man raised an eyebrow, and Sungmin wanted to laugh at his innocence. The other seemed to sense his laughter and sighed. “I’m being serious here.”

“Well if you don’t know, why should you care? Knowledge just gets people into trouble. Just get out of here and pretend this meeting had never happened.” He turned back to the wall, showing the other man that their discussion was over. He heard a sigh behind him, and heard footsteps leaving, and then stopping right at the doorway.

He heard something else being set down on the floor. “Just in case you need light,” the brunette whispered, then left, shutting and locking to door behind him.

Once he had gone, Sungmin finally turned to the door, surprised. Who was this person? He couldn’t help but wonder why he suddenly felt so sad that he had gone.

…

He focused his brown eyes on the ground, not looking at anyone or anything as he passed, his mind in another world. He had been right. The others weren’t exactly who they seemed to be. He had his suspicions before, but his conversation with the dark-haired man only confirmed them. There was something off about the others, but what was it? How much of what Hyukjae had told him was true?

Kyuhyun grimaced, clenching his teeth as he walked. On top of his confusion, there was still the weirdness around the raven-haired man. He had no idea what had made him treat the other so nicely; he normally was more of a snarky, sarcastic person, so wanting to make someone cheer up and smile was something new to him. He kept gritting his teeth as he walked, annoyed at the new feeling that kept on distracting him from the rest of his duties.

“Just get out of here and pretend this never happened.” Sungmin’s voice rang in his head, the worry evident behind the emotionless tone. For someone so seemingly detached, he still cared about him. For some reason, Kyuhyun found himself smiling at the thought.

When he realized he had a stupidly happy smile on his face, the brunette immediately turned it into a scowl. What was wrong with him?

“Oi Kyuhyun.” 

The brunette turned his stare to the violet haired-man behind him and raised an inquiring eyebrow.

“Are you coming or what? Breakfast is ready.”

Kyuhyun nodded, and followed the other through some turns, to what appeared to be a large breakfast hall. He couldn’t stop the gasp that he emitted when he saw the abundance of food. Laid out on the table was a variety of soups and meat, as well as fresh eggs that made Kyuhyun’s mouth water at the heavenly scent in the air.

“Why are you staring? It’s not like you didn’t get to eat like this every day, with that rich family of yours.” Hyukjae sounded bitter.

“You’d be surprised.”

Kyuhyun took a seat near the end of the table, next to Hyukjae. Across from him was Hankyung, and the mysterious boss was nowhere to be seen. This was all pushed to the back of his mind, though, when he took a bite of one of the hot soups, the delicate taste making his mouth water for more.

Guilt invaded his peaceful mind, giving the delicious food a slightly sour taste as he remembered what Sungmin breakfast had been: stale bread with a small slice of butter. Silently, he shook his head. He shouldn’t be thinking of Sungmin right now, or best of all, at all.

But for some reason, the raven-haired male kept popping up in his thoughts.

…

The next day, Sungmin was one again woken up to the small sliver of bright light invading the darkness of his small cell. He looked up to see the brunette from yesterday stepping through the door quietly. Sungmin huddled in the corner, not wanting to acknowledge the other. Without his consent, the handsome brunette had invaded his thoughts, and no matter how hard Sungmin had tried to chase him away, he couldn’t seem to prevail. The last thing Sungmin needed was to see him again.

The other stepped into the dark cell, closing the door behind them and placing food and a small lantern on the cold floor before sitting down.

“You should eat it before it gets cold.”

Sungmin raised his eyebrow at the other, hoping that he could see the gesture in the dim light of the small lantern. Warm stale bread? What was he playing at?

But when his dark eyes found his meal, he couldn’t stop the small gasp of surprise. In front of him, instead of stale bread, was a small plate of steaming soup, beef, and rice. He stared at the brunette in shock, his mouth dropping open.

In the light of the lantern, he saw the other put a finger to his lips before slipping out of the cell, once again leaving the lantern behind.

This definitely wasn’t going to help chase away the other from his thoughts.

…

When the brunette came into his cell later that day, this time bringing along with him a place of barbeque chicken and rice, Sungmin asked for his name. He could swear a small smile appeared on the brunette’s lips at the question, but it disappeared the next second.

“Kyuhyun. Cho Kyuhyun.”

“Kyuhyun…” He tried out the other’s name on his lips, liking the way it sounded. “I’m Sungmin.”

“I know.” He could hear a smile in the brunette’s husky voice as he said that. “But it’s nice to be officially introduced.”

Sungmin found himself smiling too. “It really is.”

…

“Hello, Kyuhyun. I hope you have been enjoying your stay here so far.”

Kyuhyun turned, surprised. It had been the first time since the day that he had arrived that Hyukjae’s boss had spoken to him.

“I have been, thank you. It’s a very nice place here, sir.”

The other man smiled, reminding Kyuhyun of the time earlier when Sungmin had finally smiled at him. The older man’s similarities were astounding, but Sungmin’s smile was softer, and kinder. More beautiful. Kyuhyun shook his head slightly at the thought, and hoped that Hyukjae’s boss didn’t notice the small movement.

If he had noticed, the elder didn’t mention it. “So, we haven’t been officially introduced yet. My name is Lee Chunhwa. Call me whatever you want.” A hand was offered, and Kyuhyun shook it.

“I’ll continue to call you sir.”

“If you must.” Chunhwa said with a sigh. There was a short silence between the two, soon broken by the elder clapping his hands.

“So, I’m assuming you would like to know the reason of my visit.” Without waiting for a reply, the older continued. “The reason is, I have a favor to ask of you. You are good at making illusions, I presume?”

Kyuhyun nodded, wondering why the older had inquired.

“Good, good. Can you make an illusion of anything?”

“I assume I can, sir.”

“How did you practice using your power?”

“I would read long, descriptive stories and recreate the settings of each as they were described.”

This seemed to please the older man.

“Good, good. So you can hear a description of a place and recreate it as it was described?”

Kyuhyun nodded, wondering what the other was up to.

“Good. Follow me, then.”

Kyuhyun followed Lee Chunhwa as they navigated through the big house, trying not to stray far behind, afraid he’d get lost in the place. So far, the man seemed nice enough, which lead to Kyuhyun’s confusion as to why Hyukjae had seemed so nervous around him before.

The brunette was lead into a bright room with plenty of space. The walls and floor were white, and the only furniture adorning the large space was a small table in the center of the room. As they stepped inside, they were immediately greeted by a bowing Hyukjae. Chunhwa nodded in acknowledgement, then lead Kyuhyun to the table in the center.

“I’m going to have Hyukjae describe a place to you from my memories, and I’m going to ask you to recreate it. Is that alright?”

Kyuhyun nodded.

“Alright then,-”

“Sir? May I have a pencil and a piece of paper to sketch the place first?”

He heard the elder sigh in exasperation, but within a few seconds, the smile was back on his face.

“Of course you may, Kyuhyun.”

His requests were hastily pushed towards him, and after straightening out the paper and grabbing onto the pen, they started.

Hyukjae, closing his eyes in concentration, began to speak, his words describing a place in amazing detail. Shelves that towered at around eight feet tall, filled to the brim with books had lined the walls on three sides. A single window, covered in a blood-red curtain to block the light from coming in was situated between the bookshelves. A dark, wooden office desk with six drawers was the centerpiece, accompanied by a cushioned, red couch. A burgundy rug covered the hardwood flooring. Each of Kyuhyun’s pencil brought the scene to life with alarming detail. When they had finished, he showed the drawing to Chunhwa for approval, and the smile he got in return held no warmth, and only empty triumph.

“Perfect. Now create it.”

Kyuhyun closed his eyes, and reached for the bustling power within. It had been a while since he had used it, and he could feel the raw energy’s desire to be released. Picturing the scene in detail, he imagined the white walls morphing, becoming towering shelves, as the rest of the room changed to fit their respective parts.

When Kyuhyun next opened his eyes, the drawing had been brought to life.

He heard a satisfied chuckle from next to him, and he turned to see Hyukjae’s (or, his too now) boss smiling at him with pride.

“And how can you keep this up?”

“As long as necessary.”

Another dangerous smile. “Good, good. You are dismissed.”

Kyuhyun bowed to the elder, eyes on the floor, and left the place, the imagined scene once again fading to reveal the plain, white room it had been.

…

Heechul sat on the couch of their new place, flipping through channels on their new TV, but not seeing anything that he was watching. Heechul had been surprised when he had seen the place that was their next hideout; he had expected some small, old, run-down place in need of renovation, but instead he had found a place that could have been considered a mini paradise for anyone who had found it. It was high up in the mountains, well hidden within the small crack of a cave, but the house was huge. It was definitely of Sungmin's own making because the foundation's dimensions didn't match up. Inside had been prepared with all the luxuries their previous, simple home hadn't had: a working TV, a kitchen with a fridge and cupboards to store food, a bathroom equipped with a working shower, and three bed rooms with ready-made beds. Three bedrooms, Heechul thought grimly.

Being well hidden, the new home was a place where they could walk outside without the fear of being seen and enjoy the scenery. A flowing river slid down next to the small house within the cave, leading to a beautiful waterfall outside the mouth. When sitting near the crack, Heechul and Donghae could watch the sunset turn the skies a peaceful orange: a sight that Heechul hadn't seen in a while, and something that Donghae had never seen.

In all, to them, the place was as close to paradise as one could hope for.

Heechul could tell Sungmin had made the place with the expectation that they would have to move hideouts sometime. But if this place was so luxurious and peaceful, why hasn't they moved sooner? With Sungmin's power, both Heechul and Sungmin would have been able to work and provide for young Donghae while giving him a small haven to enjoy while they were away. Ryeowook could have easily stayed with them and watched over Donghae as they were gone.

But the question was: why did Sungmin hide this from them?

Heechul shook his head sadly. Sungmin would forever remain a mystery to him. Even though he was the other's closest friend, neither of them had told each other much, under the expectations that they'd assume that the other had lived through their own troubles and was ready to start anew. Heechul readily agreed.

"Heechul-hyung?" a small, shaky voice whispered from behind him. Heechul turned around, shutting off the TV, and forcing a warm smile to his face. It was a whole lot harder taking care of a kid then he had originally thought.

"What's wrong Hae?"

The redhead's smile grew slightly sad as he saw Donghae's eyes well up in tears.

"I'm worried about Sungmin-hyung."

"I know, Hae. I am too."

A single tear escaped its watery prison, soon followed by another. "Why couldn't we have done anything? He was there. We could have tried to bring him with us!"

Heechul drew his arms around the younger, trying to offer the most comfort he could to the small brunette.

"Sungmin would rather him have been taken then have anything happen to you."

"But he could have come with us!"

Heechul smiled sadly at the younger. "If he had, they would have continued pursuing us, and we would have never been able to relax. He did this for you."

"Well maybe I didn't want him too."

Heechul sighed. "I didn't either."

The two sat in silence together, just being each other's strength the best they could.

Donghae was the first to break the comforting silence.

"Hyung, could we watch the sunset?”

"Sure, Hae."

Donghae's tear-streaked face immediately broke into a smile as the affirming answer and he grabbed the red-haired man's hand, pulling the other outside.

They sat at the ledge, watching the sun set over the trees in cheerful conversation as the world prepared for its nightly rituals before dark. The birds stopped their cheerful chirping, replaced by the calming hum of the crickets and the sky's bright blue hue changed to a dark violet.

"Hyung?"

"Hmm?"

"Has Sungmin-hyung ever seen the sunset?"

"I'm sure he has."

"Do," Donghae hesitated for a second, "do you think he'll ever be able to see it with us?"

Heechul looked over to see the younger's brown eyes once again shining with unshed tears. "I'm sure he will."

Heechul looked out over the ledge in silence. Night had fallen, and it was time to tuck Donghae in bed.

"Come on Hae, let’s go inside."

The younger nodded.

Before they went in, Heechul took one last patronizing gaze over the horizon. Sungmin, you'd better come back, or I'll have to drag you back myself.

A.N.: Who invented summer assignments? I don’t like them.

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