Chapter Twenty-Three

His head pounded, where was he? Donghae tried to move his heavy limps but it didn’t work. He wondered what happened. He tried to open his eyes but they felt like they weighted a ton. He just couldn’t get himself to move anything and it annoyed him.

“Donghae, are you awake?” He heard and Donghae tried to pinpoint from where exactly the voice was speaking. “Donghae, please wake up.” He heard again and now he knew that it came from beside him. He recognised the voice too, though he didn’t know exactly who it was.

Slowly he opened his eyes and he had to blink a few times to see everything clear. The light was shining too bright in his face!

“Oh, Donghae you’re awake!” Donghae moved his head to the side and blinked another few times before he recognised Siwon’s face. The handsome man looked down at him in such a concerned manner that an uneasy feeling grew inside of him.

“S-Siwon?” He said but his throat was very dry and in dire need of some water.

“Yes, it’s me. Can you tell me how you’re feeling?” Siwon asked, his concern was also present in his voice and suddenly Donghae remembered why…

“Where is Henry?” He sat up in bed. “Where is Henry?!” He demanded to know again and Siwon looked at him with a sad face and put his hands on Donghae’s shoulders in order to push him down on the bed again but Donghae panicked. He began to tremble and to fight against Siwon.

“Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!” He yelled again and again. “I want to know where Henry is!” Donghae shrieked, not knowing that he woke the other guy in the room up.

“Stop with all this yelling.” Eunhyuk ordered and Donghae immediately quieted down, still tears were running over his cheeks. “I… I want to know where Henry is!” He sniffled and with determined eyes, he watched the leader stand up from the chair in which he had been sleeping.

“Siwon, leave the room.” Eunhyuk ordered and Donghae watched as the underboss left the room. With one last sad look, Siwon opened the door and now only Donghae and Eunhyuk were in Eunhyuk’s bedroom.

“Where is Henry?” Donghae cried out after it had been silent for a second. Eunhyuk sighed and sat down on the edge of his own bed. He grabbed the stuffed Nemo and gave him to Donghae to cuddle. Donghae hugged the toy but held his eyes on the figure of the leader. Eunhyuk looked down, trying to fight off the tears that were in his eyes.

“Henry…,” He began and Donghae listened attentively, “Henry didn’t make it.” Eunhyuk said softly and Donghae felt his world shatter.

 “You know, I have no mom. I have an older brother who always wants me to be safe and his lover is even worse… but I have no mom.”

“I miss my brother and his lover, they are like my parents.”

“You have to stay awake fish!”

“I found a way for you two to get out of here!”

“There is no way in hell that I will let you have him.”

“You and Kyu…hyun were my best… friends. Tell Hangeng… and Heechul that I love…”

“Nice to meet you Donghae, my name is Henry.”

Donghae began to wail loudly. This couldn’t be happening. His friend couldn’t be dead! Not knowing where else to turn to, Donghae threw himself in the arms of the one person that was also in the room.

Eunhyuk was a shocked when Donghae threw himself in his arms but he embraced the boy nonetheless, knowing that he himself needed some comfort too. When he heard Donghae cry so loudly, the lump in his throat began to form too and he buried his own face in the shoulder of the boy. He let the tears secretly fall from his eyes. Only allowing the boy to see them. After five minutes he let go. He looked into the eyes of the younger boy and knew that he would need time to heal his wounds, though he wasn’t sure if they would heal completely.

He climbed on his own bed and helped the boy lay down. He laid down himself and let the boy rest his body on his shoulder. While Donghae softly cried and pushed himself more and more against Eunhyuk’s body. Eunhyuk tried to compose himself, he tried to find his strength again. It was hard to stand up when you had to do it alone but somehow this was easier then when his father died. Now he had to be strong for the boy that was seeking comfort by him.

They laid for at least an hour this way until Donghae was only sniffing. Eunhyuk had constantly caressed the boy’s back but he knew that there was something else that the boy needed to know…

“Donghae,” He began and Donghae looked up to him in surprise. “That’s the first time that you said my name.” He told Eunhyuk softly and Eunhyuk raised his eyebrows in surprise: “Really?” He asked and Donghae nodded. Eunhyuk wasn’t sure if he heard the sentence that Donghae muttered after that, though: “I like it.”

Eunhyuk had a goofy smile on his face because of that sentence but it disappeared when he asked Donghae: “Donghae, what is the last thing that you remember from then?”

Donghae began sniffing again and Eunhyuk unknowingly pulled the boy closer to him to give him some comfort. “Henry’s empty eyes.” Donghae sniffed and that was when Eunhyuk realised the direness of this situation. Donghae was obviously traumatized by everything. Donghae had never seen a dead body before.

“Something else happened after that…” Eunhyuk softly began and Donghae grew rigid, not really ready for the news that Eunhyuk would bring. Eunhyuk took a deep breath and tried to bring it as good as possible to the boy: “Kyuhyun was shot in his shoulder before Sungmin shot Henry’s murderer.”

“What?!” Donghae immediately tried to get up but Eunhyuk pulled him down and pulled Donghae in an embrace as Donghae began crying and trashing against his body again. “No, let me go! I have to see Kyuhyun!” He screamed but Eunhyuk didn’t let go and said softly: “Kyuhyun is still in surgery. Kibum is trying his best to safe him but he lost quite some blood.” Donghae’s tearstained eyes looked into Eunhyuk’s black ones. “Will he be okay?” Donghae asked as he lifted up his head a bit more and Eunhyuk nodded. “Yes, Kibum will do everything to safe him.” He reassured the boy and Donghae let his head down on Eunhyuk’s shoulder when he suddenly remembered: “You were shot too, doesn’t it hurt that I’m lying on it?” He inquired but Eunhyuk shook his head. “My shoulder is almost better now, you don’t have to worry about it.” He told Donghae who nodded and let down his head on Eunhyuk’s shoulder again. “Is Kyuhyun’s injury just as bad as yours was back then?” He asked quietly and Eunhyuk nodded against his temple: “Yes, it was. So you don’t have to worry. Kyuhyun will be fine, just as I am.” Donghae nodded and gaped. After a few minutes he was asleep.

Eunhyuk began to wonder when this little captive had become so much more to him. There was no denying anymore that the boy had become special to him but he figured that only when they both saw that movie that he really began to like the boy. While at first it had only been physical, now, the boy meant so much more to him. Eunhyuk wanted to protect the younger one’s innocence. He wanted to make sure that nothing would harm the boy anymore, even though he knew that he couldn’t prevent it from happening, especially not since he was a mafia boss. Still he would take care of the boy as good as he could until he could deliver him back to his mom. But sure, then he had to find the mom first and something told him that it wouldn’t be easy!

***

How Eunhyuk hated the light! He growled as he forced his eyes to open. Everything felt stiff  but his shoulder felt like it had never moved before. Slowly he moved his face to the stiff shoulder and saw the reason:

A boy, curled up against his body, was using his shoulder as a pillow. The tears were still present on his face, his hair was messy and Eunhyuk couldn’t help it but his body reacted to that. He growled again, annoyed by his body and tried to sit up in a way that he wouldn’t wake up the boy. Donghae whimpered softly when he felt some of Eunhyuk’s body heat leaving him but he didn’t wake up.

Eunhyuk looked at the boy’s tears and wiped them away softly while trying to keep his own tears in check. He knew that he would have to arrange various things because of Henry’s death. Still he couldn’t make himself leave Donghae alone. So he did the most logical thing for him.

He scoped the boy up in his arms and felt Donghae snuggling himself into his arms. Eunhyuk smiled and walked out his room after he succeeded typing in the code of his own room. He walked into the corridor which was completely empty and stopped before his office.

After a few strange movements, he managed to get into his office and he sat down in his chair while the boy was lying on top of him. He was still sleeping, his head positioned on Eunhyuk’s shoulder. Donghae occasionally rubbed his head into Eunhyuk’s shoulder to seek comfort. Eunhyuk wondered if the boy had a nightmare but he didn’t have the heart to wake Donghae up because he would land into another nightmare straightaway if Eunhyuk did.

With his free hand, Eunhyuk paged up Siwon, who came into the room after two minutes of waiting. His handsome face was contorted into a frowning face, he was obviously tired but he had enough things to take care of before he could catch some sleep.

They both kept quiet and looked into the other’s eyes to know what they were feeling. Eunhyuk saw the tiredness, the sadness, the worry but also the bitterness in his underboss’ eyes. Siwon walked to the window in Eunhyuk’s office and looked outside. The weather was terrible: grey clouds were forecasting heavy rain and the trees were bare which made everything even more sorrowful. 

“It was a good boy.” Siwon’s heavy but soft voice resounded through the room.

Eunhyuk hummed while he softly caressed the boy on his lap. He tried to keep himself occupied so that he wouldn’t think of the things that would make him want to cry his heart out.

Siwon turned around, his serious eyes were gazing at Eunhyuk but Eunhyuk didn’t look at him anymore. He was too engrossed with the creature that was on his lap. Siwon smiled sadly and sat down on the chair in front of the bureau.

“He finally got you…” He murmured and Eunhyuk slowly looked up. “I guess he has, but he will never know. My world is too dangerous for him. He can’t stay here, it would break him.”

Siwon held his head a bit to the side and watched his leader. “Eunhyuk, he doesn’t need to be in danger when he’s here. Just look at Kibum or Ryeowook, neither I or Yesung would allow them to be in danger. Donghae could be like that.” Siwon tried to convince Eunhyuk because he would know that it would cost Eunhyuk a part of his heart to let the boy go and Eunhyuk already had so little heart left.

Eunhyuk shook his head. “No, he can’t stay. He’s already in danger on his own. People want to have his mother and he is the perfect way to get to her. You know that,” he accused the younger before he continued his lecture, “with me, he’s even in more danger because he will be interesting for my own enemies too.” Siwon nodded thoughtfully and then eyed Eunhyuk intensively. “I know that,” he admitted, “but being here is also the thing that protects him, Eunhyuk. And I think that you’re protecting him more then you’re bringing him in danger.”

Eunhyuk sighed and focused his gaze again on the sleeping boy on his lap. “I’m not sure if I can protect him… just look at what happened to Henry!” He desperately told Siwon.

“That’s the thing that worries me the most.” Siwon folded his arms.

Eunhyuk nodded, he knew that there was no way that he could get around it now. “We have a traitor in our midst.” He voiced out and Siwon nodded in thought. “You’re right. There was no way that the gunman could’ve gone into our house without help from the inside.” He deducted.

“It must’ve been someone from the higher-ups. There is no other way to get into Sungmin’s quarters like that.” Eunhyuk grabbed the boy a little tighter. The idea that someone who he trusted was actually some traitor was making him angry but also sad. Was there no one who you could trust anymore?

“They’re most probably not working alone.” Siwon stood up again and walked to Eunhyuk’s cabinet to get something to drink. “Do you want some?” He held up a bottle of wine but Eunhyuk shook his head. “Do you have any idea who?” He asked instead and Siwon put down the bottle of wine carefully.

“I’ve been looking into things but it doesn’t make sense. It wouldn’t have been someone hired by the boys because Kyuhyun was shot. So we can rule that one out.” Eunhyuk nodded and unconsciously caressed the boy’s hair a bit softer. “My first thought was that it was the third party, who want it too. But they took Anne, so there is no reason for them to want Donghae because they already have what they wanted to get from Donghae…” Siwon kept quiet, he was a bit lost in his own thoughts.

“Could there be another reason why they would want to have Donghae?” Eunhyuk asked him, also trying to help with asking questions so they could look at it from a different view.

“I don’t know but it doesn’t seem very likely. Unless it involves something else which I highly doubt. So in other words it probably isn’t them either. But I refuse to think that we have a fourth party.” Siwon took a big sip after those words.

Eunhyuk looked out of the window: “You forgot one party.” He told Siwon and the taller one raised his eyebrows in a comical way. “Which one?” He asked and Eunhyuk bitterly added: “Daniel’s party.”

Siwon bit his lip and with one last sip he put down the glass on the bureau. “Isn’t that party almost the same as the boy’s party?” He asked but Eunhyuk shook his head.

“No it isn’t. If Daniel doesn’t know who Kyuhyun is then he would’ve let everyone get shot except the boy…”

“But why would he do that? Even if Donghae is Anne’s son, there is no way that he would safe her son if he couldn’t get any profit out of it.” Siwon refused to believe that it had been Daniel.

“Do you know who Donghae’s dad is?” Eunhyuk asked Siwon and the man raised his eyebrows but not a second later it dawned to him: “You don’t mean… You think that he’s Daniel’s son!” Siwon raised his voice which made Donghae stir and Eunhyuk threw him a furious look.

“Have you seen the resemblance?” He counterattacked but Siwon shook his head. “No, I’ve never even seen a picture of him.” He denied and Eunhyuk sighed.

“I knew from the beginning that he was Daniel’s son. That was probably one of the reasons why Anne was so anxious when she saw me. She knew that her son would automatically be in danger because I saw him,” he sighed, “and she was right.”

“Then there are not many people who know about him…” Siwon stared at the boy in Eunhyuk’s arms that was peacefully sleeping again.

“No, so to protect his own son he probably let someone infiltrate here so that he could safe his son.”

“But we haven’t held Donghae here for so long, and someone who infiltrates needs time to earn trust. That someone was probably here for years. So why would they be here then? We didn’t have it here! Wouldn’t it be more logical to infiltrate in Hangeng’s base?” Siwon asked him and Eunhyuk slumped down in his seat.

“That’s probably something that we need to find out. Just focus for now on finding out his identity, maybe we can find out to which mafia he belonged. I want you to tell Yesung to double the investigation and I want everybody on alert. I don’t want an insect to enter or to leave without my permission.” He growled and Siwon bowed.

“What do you want to do with the intruder?” He asked the leader and Eunhyuk stared in his eyes. “I won’t do anything at first, we need more to act on but I won’t let this boy get away from my side.”

You don't know how much I would've loved to change this chapter. How much I want to let Henry live his life. Sadly, I can't... That sounds quite strange, I'm aware but it's true. For the people who weren't aware of it, Henry already died in the previous chap... and I can't bring people back from the death, no matter how much I would like that.

This chapter is kind of hard for me to read back, just as the next chap is. The sadness is something I've experienced these days... And believe me when I say that it's horrible. It makes you want to cry and throw a tantrum if someone dies while there was no indication that that person would die before... Maybe it sounds strange but when somebody dies, it also brings people together, the sadness that you share brings you closer. I've cried in the arms of people that I would never thought that I would and the same could be said for Donghae...

But enough with my sadness, I really want to thank you people for the great response that I got from you! You guys all told me how evil I was and such but I know that you only do that because you care so much! I really want to thank you even when I didn't do that personally with everyone. Just as I want to thank my upvoters: ShinEllie, iscreamout and giza13.

The next chap: more tears and potential murderers... (woh, can't stop being me, I guess)

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