CHAPTER 20

    FIRST SCENE

- Hyukjae panics, he doesn't deal well with people abandoning him without a word why / Jungsoo starts suspecting that something isn't quite right, but his priority is to calm Hyukjae down

- Hyukjae tries calling Donghae many times, only for the phone to keep ringing without an answer / then, amidst Hyukjae's close to hysterical shouts for Jungsoo to do something, the phone rings, Donghae's caller ID flashing on the screen (or so they think)

- it's Hyukjae's mother calling, triumphantly stating that she has captured Donghae and if Hyukjae doesn't return to Seoul she threatens to kill him (Hyukjae knows she is capable of anything)

- she gives them instructions to meet her at an abandoned warehouse, but before she can finish Hyukjae demands to speak to Donghae himself in order to confirm that he is actually there

- Donghae sounds absolutely pathetic, sobbing and pleading Hyukjae to leave him be and Hyukjae is pretty sure the thud he hears is another punch thrown to Donghae

- as expected, Hyukjae goes wild

- everything is going almost too well as expected, and Jungsoo's suspicions keep growing ("why did Donghae leave alone is the first place, Hyuk?" "CAN'T YOU SEE? SHE MUST BE THREATENING HIS FAMILY! or he tried to negotiate with her for my safety but got captured") / Hyukjae is twisting the facts to make them fit his perception of Donghae, in a way so that his faith in him remains unbreakable

- Jungsoo is not convinced

- Hyukjae: "come with me or I'll go alone"

- Hyukjae & Jungsoo leave for Seoul

    SECOND SCENE

- at the warehouse, they are greeted by the sight of a dozen or so of Hyukjae's mother's guards (and she has plenty), who lead them inside, to where the "mastermind" is waiting

- Donghae is immobilized, zip-tied onto a chair, beaten up and bloody, while Hyukjae's mother is standing beside him / she pats Donghae's head as if he were a dog, intentionally so that Hyukjae will see

- mother and son talk: she goes on and on about how Hyukjae had thought that he could escape her and leave happily ever after with some random strangers in the middle of nowhere, that he could gain his freedom that way, but tHAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN! / "SHUT UP!" shouts Hyukjae, and makes a dash for her

- she's quick to act, surely expecting her son to rush into action led by his emotions / she pulls a gun from the folds of her expensive coat and pushes it against Donghae's bloody forehead / "Who do you think you are, yelling at me? I have the life of your friend in my hands!"

- Hyukjae is trapped, he's frozen and cannot do anything but stare horrified at the muzzle of the gun pressing persistently against his wounded skin / panic builds up rapidly inside him, and memories flash in his mind of his childhood years, when his everything was being controlled by the woman standing in front of him / he realises that not much changed, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself otherwise, and that terrifies him the most

- Jungsoo rushes to his side and helps Hyukjae stands on his trembling legs as the younger begs for Donghae's life / Donghae's yells at him to leave / Hyukjae bargains: Donghae's life and in exchange he'll anything she wants

- Hyukjae's mother laughs hysterically, actual tears forming at the edges of her perfectly painted eyes / "Well, that was a piece of cake!"

- she removes the gun from Donghae's head, a sardonic smile splayed on her lips

- Donghae keeps his head lowered, his face hidden from Hyukjae and Jungsoo, but it is evident to the older of the two that his posture has changed

- just then, a guard approaches them with a faint nod from her, a steal case on his hands which he hands to her

- "You did your part, pet, the rest is up to me!"

- shock and confusion is written all over Hyukjae's and Jungsoo's faces as another guards cuts loose Donghae's restrains and the younger man stands up with no indication whatsoever that he has been beaten to a pulp

- Donghae offers a mock bow to Hyukjae's mother and accepts the bag, no even once glancing towards Hyukjae's direction

- "Donghae... what's going on..." / "What's going on is that you had started bec