Sorry for such a late update... ._.

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Donghae fought back and eventually managed to break free from Taemin’s grip.

He ran into the kitchen where a surprised Leeteuk almost let go of a saucepan. “Donghae!” He called out in shock but Donghae ignored him and yelled out in the room - he knew that his mother could hear him: “Mom, I have enough of sitting at the side-lines. You have to tell me everything, now!”

His mother didn’t sound surprised as she called out his name too, she sounded more tired that surprised: “Donghae…”

But she became determined when she talked again: “Very well. I’ll tell you but you’re not allowed to interfere until I say you can, okay?”

“Okay.” Donghae sat down on one of the chairs and didn’t even notice that Taemin also slipped inside the kitchen and sat next to him, while Leeteuk sat across them, listening to the story as well.

“Eunhyuk became cold when he heard that I send you away. He was mean and cold to everyone and  one of the people he got angry at was Siwon, who had actually done nothing wrong. The connection between Italy and Korea was gone when they were there so Siwon had been trying to fix it for two days. Eunhyuk ignored that however and  let his furious emotions get the best of him. He was angry because Siwon not only hadn’t reacted to any of his messages but he also hadn’t stopped Donghae from leaving. None of the two things were Siwon’s fault but he still got into a real fight with Eunhyuk because of it.”

Donghae was so into the story that he hadn’t heard Sungmin coming into the room.

“I managed to calm Siwon down and when I explained the situation, he understood and everyone calmed down a bit but when Eunhyuk found out that Sungmin was gone, everything became even worse.”

Sungmin fisted his hand as he also listened to the story. He already knew where it was going when he heard the names.

“I helped Sungmin escape his cell to take you away. And up until that certain point, nobody had really asked me about how you went away so there wasn’t any reason to say anything or do anything until Eunhyuk became so desperate for an answer about the dragon’s eye that he wanted to visit Sungmin. However, he didn’t visit Sungmin but an empty cell. He was furious, because Kyuhyun and I had kept quiet about it. I had asked that little favour of Kyuhyun, I had explained Sungmin’s entire situation to him and he agreed to keep his disappearance a secret from the others. Daniel saved us by taking us away from Eunhyuk for a month. At that time, I brought Jaejoong and Yunho to aunt Mari. They probably weren’t in as much danger as you so that would be save enough.”

Questions were raised in Donghae’s mind but he kept quiet and listened to his mother.

“Things became tenser and tenser when time passed. Eunhyuk, Hangeng and also Daniel almost spend all their time searching but in the end, they were found.”

Anne took a deep breath as if she found it hard to continue:

“Daniel was in New York for a little while and I stayed as I could get into labour any minute – you’ve probably already heard that I’m pregnant. One night, we suddenly heard guns. Heechul, Kyuhyun and I were completely surprised by it but luckily Heechul was a quick thinker and brought us and Ryeowook, who we bumped into on the way, to a little bunker which was close to the infirmary. Then he walked away and came back with Kibum. He locked the four of us in and then he ran away. He was, without a doubt, looking for Hangeng.”

It stayed quiet for a bit on the phone until she talked again:

“After waiting two days we came out and we came in a huge mess which once was a base. Everything was gone and we had nowhere to go. But suddenly we heard a phone ring out of nowhere, I picked up and a man demanded you, Donghae. He knows everything that’s going on and told me to bring you to Italy if I ever wanted everyone from the base back.”

At both sides it was quiet and Donghae understood that that was the information that his mother willingly wanted to share but he wasn’t done yet.

“Why do they want me? And what was the motive for sending me away? Why do you want to have the dragon’s eye now when you first didn’t want it?” He neatly summed up.

He thought that he heard some sniffing on the other side but he waved it away as his imagination when it didn’t continue. Instead his mother began talking:

“When you were small, we had various incidents with who people tried to kidnap you. It was much more than Yunho’s case because you were your father’s biological son. So when Daniel had found the dragon’s eye, he thought that it would be the perfect way to keep you safe. He made the device so that only you can open it, with the thought that nobody wanted to kill you that way because only your warm fingertips could open it. It obviously would go the other way around, now people would want to kidnap you because they needed you to open the dragon’s eye. But when I attended him at the problem, it was already too late and your fate was sealed.”

Anne coughed a bit but then continued:

“I was always nervous about everything concerning the dragon’s eye. It became worse when the Korean and Chinese mafia stole it but when I noticed that they didn’t know how to open it, my nerves calmed down a bit. But more than a decade later I saw that there was a branch family from the Han’s that was trying to sell some things illegally because they were in debt. I took my chance and bought it from them, but not on my own account but on one of my professor’s where I had transferred some money too. And so I took it in. I later realized that it had been better if I hadn’t done it because I began noticing more frequently shadow-walkers around us so I asked Sungmin to protect you. I hid the dragon’s eye away at the professor’s house so that they wouldn’t find it in my house.”

Donghae’s mouth fell open, he had already thought that his mother had something to do with it all but this huge part, he had never expected that!”

“And then our rollercoaster-life began but even when I couldn’t keep myself safe, I tried to do my best to keep you and the dragon’s eye safe. I kept it out of Kato’s hands, I succeeded in that but I had been ignoring a much greater enemy. I thought that everything was okay now, if everyone let the dragon’s eye and you alone then it would be alright. However, the night when the men came to me with their plan to go to the Mediterranean, I read a little part in the paper about a murder of a professor. His whole apartment was a mess and it was clear that the murderers had been looking for something specific. And they were, they had been looking for the dragon’s eye and they found it. I realized that I had to bring you to a safe place as quickly as possible because the professor could’ve spilled what he knew and they also could’ve examined the dragon’s eye. I was afraid, and rightfully so, that they would find out that they needed you. That’s why I told Eunhyuk that I would tell your location if he found the dragon’s eye then. At first I had it myself so I didn’t need it to be found, but I wanted it back to keep you safe. It’s horrible that my plan went the wrong way.” He heard his mother’s voice break and Donghae knew that his mother had done what she thought that was right at the moment, even when it wasn’t always right.

“Mom, I need to save Eunhyuk.” He told her penetratingly.

“I know, sweetie. We just need a plan for when we are there.” She urged him.

“No, mom. No more plans. I need to safe Eunhyuk my way.” Donghae was determined, there would be no little sneaky plans anymore, everything would be played honest.

“Donghae…” His mom tried be stern but Donghae had learned to be more independent and self-confident and he made use of that.

“Mom, we’ll do this my way. I’m going to save Eunhyuk with or without you.” He decided and Anne gave up: “Okay, your dad is here soon and we’ll take the next flight to Bangkok.”   

So... I'm so curious now! How many of you expected Anne her huge role in all of this? I think that you all thought that she had something to do with it but you probably didn't expect that she had the dragon's eye in her hands all the time. Sometimes I find it a pity that I don't have a camera to see your surprised expression because it would've been so much fun to see...

And the dragon's eye? It slipped through our hands again... I wonder who the man is that is waiting for us in Italy :)

Next up: Kyumin reunited

Please let me know how much I suprised you by commenting, subscribing and upvoting...