Graduation has ended.

I didn’t go.

“Kyuhyun, no, this is dangerous. Don’t go.” Changmin was such a ing noisy . Ever since Ryeowook ran away, he’s been watching me and sticking by me like I’m gonna off myself any second. If you didn’t know, I’m not that suicidal.

He ran away; he didn’t die. I know the difference.

I threw his hand off, continuing to walk through the slums. Why he had followed me that far, if I knew. Hell, I didn’t know a lot of things those days. For one, I didn’t understand why Ryeowook disappeared after sleeping with me. He seemed like he was just as…caught up in all of it. What could I have possibly done? You know, aside from the whole taking his ity thing, which I’m pretty sure he didn’t mind.

“If you’re just gonna the whole ing way, get your out of here,” I spat, kicking a stray trash can aside.

My parole officer was apparently at some ty conference for another day or so and I was stuck with a bimbo who couldn’t tell me right from left.

“Okay, I know you’ve been waiting for a lead since last month, but you need to chill out,” Changmin grabbed my arm, swinging me around.

Instinctively, I lunged forward with my fist, teeth gritting when he blocked it. Tearing away from him, I clenched my hands. “The police haven’t done , bro. They don’t ing care and I’m sick of their bull-- answers. I’m going to someone who actually knows a thing or two about this damn world.”

“They don’t know anything about the world,” Changmin shouted, reaching for me again. I gave him a look and he backed off. I swore if he touched me one more time like that, I would rip his throat out. I had never been a patient person and being tested in such a way wasn’t good for my sanity. “Kyuhyun, please, just turn around and come back with me.”

Closing the gap between us, I pressed a finger to his chest, tapping it faintly. “You don’t order me around, stiff. I do whatever the hell I want, when I want. You can follow me if that your thing, but I’m not stopping because of your pansy- morals.” Then I turned around, stalking off towards the warehouse.

Yesung had told me this was his second to last day in the area before selling off the place. That meant I didn’t have much time left. I just needed something – anything – so I would stop thinking about Ryeowook for one second. His face, voice, body…all of it coursed through my mind and made my fingers and spine tingle. I wanted to touch him and hear his sweet words again. It wasn’t fair that I had only been allowed to drown in those wonderful, warm phrases for one night. He had gotten me addicted and then left.

Changmin didn’t utter another word as we entered the building. I walked up the stairs, not bothering to look around at my surroundings. It was pretty obvious that everything was stripped bare and cleaned already.

Stopping in front of that familiar door, I pushed it open without knocking. There was Yesung sitting behind the desk, but he wasn’t the only one in the room. A guy sat on the couch, arms slung over the back and a book resting open over his face. I couldn’t tell what he looked like at first, obviously, but he was well built and lean as hell. His legs were muscular and long even through his black pants.

“Kyuhyun, what’s wrong?” Yesung gave me that concerned look. His guest or whoever perked up as well, tilting the book up to look at what was happening.

“I need you to find Kim Ryeowook for me,” I blurted, feeling a heavy weight lift off my shoulders.

He was quiet for a second, but then shook his head. “We shut down our intelligence network last week. There’s no way to find information by tomorrow with our current resources.”

And down went that huge weight.

“No, I need this.” I couldn’t stop myself. It was disgusting and desperate, but I had had enough of being left in the dark. If anyone could find out what happened to Ryeowook, it would be Yesung. “Please, as a favor, just look into it.”

He sighed, expression shifting back into one of unnerving calm. “Fine, I’ll look into it. I doubt you’ll be pleased with my answer tomorrow.”

“Anything,” I shrugged, “I’ll take anything. Thanks.” Turning around, I started towards the door, not surprised to find Changmin giving me a weird look. The moment we were around the corner and headed down the hallway, he came up beside me, no longer afraid of being noticed.

“That was…impressive,” he admitted.

 Of course it was impressive. Everything I did was impressive. “Yeah, I know.”

Changmin smiled in awe. “No, really, I’ve never met someone who could talk to a mobster with so much ease. You weren’t even afraid of him.”

“If Yesung scares you, there are bigger to be worrying about,” I cocked an eyebrow, “He’s hardly going to make you burst into flames with just his glare.”

“No wonder they like you,” he laughed, “you have so much confidence.”

“A stiff should have more confidence than that,” I remarked. We were on the base floor then. Finally taking a second to look around, I gave the place a once over. There were no longer any major light fixtures or stereos or furniture for that matter. I could only see anything because of the high ceiling windows and broken bits of wall.

“Hey.”

I stopped, twisting around to face the staircase. Changmin tensed up in my peripheral vision. The guy from Yesung’s office was sitting on a step in the middle of the stairs. His elbows rested on knees and an annoying, ambiguous smile curved his lips. Dark hair fell over his forehead and equally dark eyes hinted at amusement. Humor. Mockery.

“What?” I called back.

“My name is Donghae,” he said conversationally, head pressing into the palm of a propped up hand. “Yesung talks highly of you. So does Siwon.”

“Who are you?” I wasn’t pulling punches, not with this guy. He gave off the same feeling as Siwon; sort of like he could end you in every sense of the word if you made one wrong move.

He gave me a curious look but then laughed softly. “The way you spoke to Yesung just now was crazy. I’ve never seen someone do that.”

“What do you want?” I ignored his comment.

Donghae slipped a hand into his pocket, fishing out a cell phone. Lazily, he tossed it the short distance and I caught it. “You’re looking for someone named Kim Ryeowook, right?” He smiled, standing up and stretching, “I’ll tell you about any leads I come across through that phone. It’s a secure network.”

My heart skipped a beat and I swear I will never say that again. “Why would you do this?” I demanded, holding onto the phone tightly.

“I think you’re interesting, Kyuhyun,” he answered easily, turning around and ascending the steps.

He wasn’t the only one interested. Just, I had to wonder how different our ideas of interest were at that moment.