Changmin was staring at the other man in a daze, couldn’t understand on what was really happening at the moment. “I’m sorry, what do you m-”

“Look at these!” the man shouted; cut Changmin’s words right away, as he was pointing at the scattered glass on the floor, “I’m sure that he was putting those inside his shirt before. But unfortunately for him, I accidentally crashed into him! He just tried to get out from the store without paying for anything!”

“The ?” murmured Changmin, looking at the man in disbelief. He was indeed just standing there quietly when the other man suddenly crashed into him. He never got into the shop; not even for a step, so there was no possibility for him to steal whatever those were. “I didn’t steal anything! I was just standing here to wait for my friend. Or maybe you’re the robber one, old-man?”

Changmin could see the slight change on the man’s expression for a second, before his face was getting hardened once more. Changmin knew exactly what that was meant. The man was really a robber, and he was currently trying to put all the blame into Changmin. The man quickly turned around to face the crowds, who were gathering there because of the noises.

“Look at this unworthy kid! I wonder how your parents would think about this doing of yours. They must be disappointed over you!” the man said again, making Changmin rolled his eyes lazily and thought something like ‘Yeah.Thank you for making me remember that my parents already thought like that.’, “How impolite you are, kid! Is that how someone address the older one nowadays? I’m an old-man, eh?”

“Okay. I’m sorry for calling you as an old-man before, if it offended you that much,” replied Changmin, raising both of his hands as a sign to give up. After all, Changmin has always been a person who wanted to avoid any injuries. “But I didn’t steal anything from the store. It’s true. I barely know how to cook, bake, or anything. What’s the use-”

“Changmin?! What happened?”

The sudden voice was making both of the man and Changmin immediately turned their attention towards another direction. Changmin could see Jaejoong was standing there with a worried look. Within no time, Jaejoong already ran and stood beside Changmin. He was instantly holding the other’s hand tightly, as if wanted to protect Changmin with any means.

Along with Jaejoong, another man with the store’s uniform was also coming towards Changmin. “What’s happening here? I heard someone said something like robber. Was there any robbery in my store here?” asked the man, looking alternately at Changmin and another man.

Looking at Jaejoong beside Changmin, the man smirked confidently right away. “If you don’t, then maybe the one beside you can teach you, right? I’m sure he’s able to make the good dishes, since he purchased a lot of things,” he continued, before looking at the shop owner, “This man has tried to steal some things from your store, I believe.”

“Is that true?” the owner asked, looking at Changmin between his anger and also confusion.

Changmin sighed in defeat, having no mood to defend himself against the others. “How much do you need to compensate everything?” he finally asked the owner, taking out his purse from the pocket, “I will pay for those and the fine, if there’s any. Let’s just stop it here.”

“What are you doing?” Jaejoong asked in disagreement, while taking the purse from Changmin’s hand almost right away, “You did nothing wrong, so why are you trying to pay them? That ahjusshi should pay for everything instead!”

“What are you trying to say? Do you suspect me as a robber?” asked the man, clearly feeling upset upon the interruption from Jaejoong. He was about to get away from the case already, since Changmin didn’t mind to pay for everything. Now because of Jaejoong, the man had to persuade the store owner once more.

“Changmin is not a robber. He’s not that low, I believe,” said Jaejoong, boldly facing the man with confidence.

“Well,” the owner started, thinking on how he should do towards the other three, “I’m not really sure on who is responsible for this. Coincidentally, the CCTV inside my store is broken right now. Let’s just go to the security office for now, it’ll be the best.”

“What?! Of- of course you can’t do that!” the man shouted in panic, afraid that he would get caught by the security officer, “How could you ask me to do that, when the culprit is definitely him? Besides, I’m busy! I have some works to do as well.”

“But-”

“Don’t tell me that you believe in these gays!” the man added, cutting the owner’s words, “Why? You two are just the ing-buddies, right? You should do something more usable instead of ing each other for the whole days. Gays are really that disgusting for sure. How in the earth we could believe in them?”

After he has heard the other man’s words, Changmin instantly pulled his hand from Jaejoong’s grip. Then he was taking the purse from Jaejoong’s other hand, before gave it towards the owner of the store. “Here, you can take as much as you need. I’m sure that it will be enough, even if you want ten more times than what you’ve lost,” said him.

Changmin turned his attention towards the other man beside him, threatening the older one with his eyes. “Gays? What if I’m one of them? What’s wrong with being one?” he said dangerously, “At least, none of us took something without permission and blamed another person for that. People like us are much better than you, scumbag.”

Upon the last words from Changmin, the man’s face was somehow getting redder in shame. He couldn’t believe that someone at Changmin’s age would dare to confront him directly. As he felt the rage inside himself, the man was uncontrollably throwing a punch right towards Changmin’s cheek. Moreover, the man wasn’t just hitting Changmin one time. Once. Twice. At the third punch, everyone was screaming when they could see that Changmin suddenly fell towards the cold floor.

“Changmin! Changmin! Are you okay?”

Changmin was still able to hear Jaejoong’s panic words vaguely, before finally lost his consciousness completely.

***

When Changmin finally got his consciousness back, he was immediately trying to open his eyes little by little. To be honest, he was feeling disturbed by the noises around him. Changmin rubbed his eyes slowly, before frowning when he couldn’t recognize the pair of black doe eyes above him. He needed some more seconds, before finally realized that Jaejoong was there.

“Changmin,” Jaejoong called, sighing in relief, “How are you feeling right now?”

“Dizzy,” answered Changmin with a hoarse voice, still half-dreaming even after the time has passed. He was slowly sitting at his place with the help from Jaejoong, as he wanted to know where they were. “What happened? Where are we?”

“We’re inside the mall’s infirmary now, good thin