"He's at it again." the girl next to him whispered to her friend, "Why is he doing this repeatedly? What benefit does it serve?"

 

"Shh," the friend hurriedly replied, "Don't let him hear you. I heard from the seniors that he has been doing this for over two years already. Who knows what he's even thinking?"

 

"But why-"

 

All voices were silenced when said person in question turned around and glared at them. Immediately, the two girls clamped their mouths shut and fled the scene, having been intimidated by the waves of anger that was rolling off Changmin as he locked his gaze upon them. Satisfied, Changmin smirked at their running figures before turning around to resume what he was doing before. 

 

They would never understand what he was doing anyway. Their naivety was appalling to say the least. Let them say what they want. Let them judge. He had nothing to fear. He was not inclined to listen to their opinions. To him, they were nothing more than sores in his eyes. They were distractions and he did not need them right now. The least he had to do with them, the better.

 

"Hey."

 

The soft voice penetrated his thoughts and he looked up in surprise, his eyes meeting the ones he was glaring at before. Scowling, Changmin returned to his work at the bench, ignoring the girl who had just spoken to him. Why did she return anyway? Wasn't his glare terrifying enough? Why did these pesky irritants constantly seek to torment him in his life in school? He just wanted to be left alone. How was that too much to ask for?

 

"You're called Changmin right?"

 

The girl continued yapping on, oblivious to Changmin's silence. Pursing his lips in irritation, Changmin sought hard to tune out the voice beside him, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper as time passed by. Finally, after 3 hours of listening to the girl talk about her latest crush in school, Changmin flared up.

 

"You!" he shouted, jabbing a finger into the girl's face, "What do you want from me? Can't you see that I'm busy doing something?"

 

The girl smiled, "Yes I can see that. That is exactly what I want to ask about! What exactly are you doing, Changmin ah?"

 

Narrowing his eyes at the object of irritant, Changmin turned away, his hands returning to back to his work.

 

"Why can't you tell me, Changmin ah? We're friends right?" 

 

"Friends?" Changmin slammed his tools on the table abruptly, the table jostling at the impact he made, "Who the hell said we were friends? We've not spoken more than three sentences to each other lady. Watch what you're saying!"

 

"But we just did," The girl jabbed her tongue out at Changmin, "See, that's more than three sentences!"

 

"That's just three sentences you..."

 

Staring at the girl's mischievous face, Changmin then realised he had been fooled. He had replied her and that meant the conversation between them lasted more than three sentences now. He was tricked, and it was by an ordinary girl no less.

 

"Get lost." Changmin pointed his finger to the exit, "Get lost before I break my promise and bash the out of you."

 

Instead of being intimidated by Changmin's stance, the girl merely laughed.

 

"I'll be back again," she promised, a twinkle in her eye, "and I'll bet you a hundred bucks that by the end of this month you'll admit that we're friends."

 

"You'll just lose those hundred bucks then." Changmin proclaimed before he returned to his work, not a hint of mercy in his tone. 

 

"We'll see." the girl grinned in return before skipping her way to the exit. Watching the girl's figure slowly disappearing into the darkness, Changmin felt a foreboding feeling washed over him as he frowned. He couldn't explain it but there and then he just had this sudden intuition that the girl would come to be someone important in his life. He knew in that instant then that his days of solitary peace were over.

 

Unfortunately, he was right and the foreboding feeling proved true. As the days passed, the girl would constantly sit next to him as he worked on his project and just chatted about nothing in particular. The fact that it was a one sided conversation did not seem to deter her as she continued ranting on and on about her life, her friends, and everything that had to do with her. Changmin was irritated beyond belief. Still, no matter what he did, the girl simply refused to leave. He glared at her; she smiled back. He threatened to hit her; she brushed it off easily. He scolded her; she simply laughed at him and told him he looked cute when he was angry. Changmin was reaching his wits' end and sought of killing her Changmin could not think of any other method that would just make her go away. Normally, he would just ignore their presence and the pests would go away on their own but this girl was proving exceptionally difficult. Girls usually hate it when boys do not bother about them after all, so why for hell's sake was this girl so different? Why was she still here when he practically had not spoken to her since the day they first met? Glaring at the sky above as though it was the sole reason for his misery, Changmin blamed the heavens as the girl beside him blabbered on and on for the nth time about nonsense that he was not particularly interested in.  

 

Just like that, three months weeks passed and an unusual routine was formed between the pair. Changmin would work on his project from morning till night and the girl would stay with him throughout while she talked about whatever that interested her in the moment. Still, Changmin had not spoken a word to her once. In his eyes, she was not there. He refused to give her any recognition of that sort. The girl could leave him for all he cared. She was nothing but a pest and pests should be gotten rid of.

 

It came as no surprise to him when she did not show up for their daily date at the work bench. Maybe she finally got sick of him. Maybe she decided to move on from a silent guy like him. Either way, Changmin refused to acknowledge that her presence had any effect on him whatsoever. She was gone. He was happy and he certainly was going to celebrate that fact with the first bottle of wine he will buy once he was done working on his project of the day.

 

"What happened?"

 

Changmin stopped in his tracks abruptly. He recognised that voice to be the irritant's best friend. Hiding in the shadows of the room, he pressed his ears to the wall as he strained to listen to their conversation, his heart pumping wildly in his chest as his palms sweated profusely. 

 

"It's nothing," the irritant whispered back, the voice barely heard over the pounding that reverberated in his chest, "Sooyoung just wasn't happy I was meeting with Changmin every day."

 

"you, I would be unhappy with you if I was Sooyoung too. What are you doing with your life? Sooyoung's your boyfriend, not that weirdo guy Changmin. Why are you hanging out with him anyway? I've seen the interaction between you two. He barely speaks a word. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard him utter a single word to you. What's in it for you, you? Why are you ruining your life over him?"

 

"You don't understand, Hyejin ah. Changmin's a really nice guy. You just can't see it that's all."

 

"It's not I whom is the blinded one, you. It is you. Get a grip on yourself man. That guy Changmin isn't worth all this trouble. Sooyoung’s two years older and so much richer than that guy. Isn’t he a better prospect than the ‘Changmin’ you’re always hanging out with?"

 

Turning away, Changmin slipped quietly out of the shadows before he heard her reply, and returned to his workbench, the conversation left forgotten behind him. He had finally gotten his wish. The irritant would return to her boyfriend and stop pestering him. He could return to his long-wished solitude once more. Sitting at his workbench alone, Changmin expected to feel immense joy and light-heartedness. He expected to rejoice. Instead, he found himself blinking his eyes excessively as he tried to suppress the tears that came to his eyes. The silence seemed louder to him than ever. Looking at the half-completed masterpiece before him and the empty seat next to his, he then realised the reason for his emptiness.

 

"You were right," Changmin whispered to himself as he stared blankly into the air ahead of him, "I would admit that we are friends by the end of this month."

 

Smiling bitterly to himself at the irony he was presented with, Changmin continued working on his project as the night began to fall, a lone shadow cast against the wall as he sloughed on, heating the metal in his hands and moulding them to the shape he wanted them to be. He refused to admit it but even firm denial could not silence the truth that echoed deeply in his heart.

 

He had unconsciously treated you as a friend and if he dared admit it had fell in love with her in the process.

 

And so, the days went on like nothing had happened before. you never returned and Changmin never bothered finding her. The rumors about him that had died due to her presence started up once more and Changmin was labelled as the number one freak in the school again. That did not bother Changmin too much though. To him, they were still nothing more than pesky insects and pesky insects certainly did not deserve his attention and time. Frowning, he was concentrating on melting the metal in his hands when a knock on the door broke his focus and his hand slipped on the temperature knob. It was now to its maximum heat. Cursing, Changmin immediately turned the heat off and left the metal to cool, his eyes glaring daggers at the intruder who disrupted his work.

 

"What do you want?" he spoke, an undercurrent of anger boiling beneath the surface as his eyes locked onto its target. Vaguely, he recognized the intruder as the ex-irritant’s best friend but that fact alone still did nothing to quell the rising anger within him. Whoever whom disrupted his work deserved death. There were no exceptions. (Irritants were excluded since they were not human beings to begin with.)

 

"I beg you," the girl sank to her knees, ignoring the fury that emitted from the man before her, "please save you. She's gonna get killed if you don't. Please."

 

Changmin stared on coldly, his eyes narrowing slightly at the mention of her name.

 

"Take your drama somewhere else. I don't need it."

 

"Please," the girl tugged onto the corner of his jeans, "You don't understand how serious this is. Sooyoung will kill her if you don't save her. I'm not kidding."

 

"Ever heard of the police then?" Changmin replied sarcastically, "Or don't you know what they are for?"

 

"Calling the damn police won't work!" Hyejin screamed in frustration, "Sooyoung's got the whole police force on his side. His dad is the head of the police for our division for Pete's sake, calling him would just make-"

 

"What did you say?" Changmin's voice interrupted Hyejin's, "Repeat what you said again."

 

"I-I..."

 

Hyejin stuttered as Changmin's face turned from anger to deadly, the hatred in his eyes unmistakable.

 

"Is that bastard's surnaming Choi?"

 

"I-"

 

"IS IT?" Changmin thundered, his shout echoing across the room as he grabbed Hyejin's shoulders, his grip cutting off the blood circulation in her arms as his eyes pierced through her, the agitation in his voice reminding her that of a mad man that has gone staking mad.

 

"Y-yes, but h-how did you even k-know?"

 

Releasing his grip on Hyejin who was shaking like a leaf, Changmin took a deep breath in and tried to calm himself down.

 

"Just take me to him right now." he ordered, too angry to even bother explaining the truth.

 

Looking up at the terrifying figure before her eyes, Hyejin nodded frantically and began leading the way out of the school. Somehow, as she walked down the alleys of Seoul with the formidable figure behind her, Hyejin could not help but think she was making a terrible mistake. Wooyoung was nothing compared to Changmin and Changmin could easily crush him in a second’s time. Frowning, she walked on, the school slowly disappearing behind her. It was too late for U turns at any rate. you had to be saved, no matter the cost, even if it was at an expense of someone’s life...

 

"Is it here?" Changmin questioned, breaking her train of thoughts as her mind returned back to the present.

 

"Yes," she nodded gravely, "but Changmin ah, you have to be careful. He has guns and-"

 

Changmin held up his hand in front of her face, "Save me the talk. You know you're not that concerned about my life."

 

Hyejin looked up at him in alarm, "W-what?"

 

"I'll bring her back to you. That's all you're worried about, right?" Changmin spoke, his eyes glued to the entrance before him, ignoring the shame that flooded Hyejin's face, "but you've got to promise me one thing first."

 

Fishing out a key from his pocket, Changmin passed the metallic object to Hyejin.

 

"Make sure she gets this." he commanded and Hyejin swore his eyes had softened as he did so.

 

"I will," she nodded her head as she held the key preciously in her hands; "You make sure you keep your deal of the end."

 

"Don't worry about that."

 

Changmin uttered in finality before he turned away from her and walked into the entrance of the narrow alley, allowing the darkness to swallow him whole...

 

It was a good thirty miles before the darkness let up and light could be seen twinkling at the end of the tunnel. Under normal circumstances, seeing light in any darkness would have been a good thing but Changmin knew it was not so. It was not the light that reeked of danger; it was the person that was concealed behind the beam of light. Picking up his pace, Changmin walked to the light, his eyes squinting as he stepped into brightness once more...

 

He was immediately greeted by a bout of applause. Ignoring the grand welcome he was given, Changmin blinked a few times as he allowed time for his eyes to adjust while he quickly scanned through his surroundings for the person of his interest.

 

"You won't find her here." Sooyoung smirked as he noticed Changmin's eyes roaming the entire room, "She's cooped up in another room elsewhere."

 

Turning his gaze away from the dozen of men surrounding him that clapped for his arrival, Changmin glared at the man who was seated a few feet away from him, his eyes showing no mercy.

 

"Where is she?" he spoke, voice as cold as ice as his fingers clutched on the hems of his shirt, the knuckles having turned white.

 

Sooyoung merely laughed in response, his cackles reverberating throughout the whole room, "Why should I tell you? I take the trouble of luring you here; do you think I'll give up my bait this easily?"

 

Changmin narrowed his eyes at him, his eyebrows furrowing deeper than before, "What exactly do you want from me?"

 

Sooyoung smirked. Clapping his hands twice, he laughed as two men appeared behind Changmin unexpectedly and cuffed him in a single motion, throwing him at Sooyoung's feet before Changmin could even react.

 

"You know what I want, Changmin." Sooyoung grinned maniacally as he grabbed Changmin's hair and pulled him to his face level, his pungent breath causing Changmin to scowl even harder, “A life can only be exchanged for another life after all.”

 

Changmin glared at him, his eyes showing nothing more than intense hatred, “You have no rights to negotiate a deal with me, you bastard,”

 

Then, rolling a ball of saliva with his tongue, he let loose the water stream inside of him and spat directly into Sooyoung’s eyes, taking him by surprise as he let go of Changmin abruptly.

 

Ripping the metal cuffs apart, Changmin then turned and grabbed Sooyoung's neck instead, his fingers sinking into the soft skin beneath.

 

"But if ever there was one,” he continued on, looking dispassionately into Sooyoung’s terrified ones, “it'll be your life for hers."

 

Too stunned to make any other movement, Sooyoung merely stared at Changmin in shock as Changmin gradually increased the pressure on his neck, his fingers starting to draw blood as his nails broke through the delicate skin beneath.

 

“You’ll die here.” Changmin spoke, “And this will be the end of everything.”

 

Drawing out a firearm from his side pocket, Changmin was about to shoot the guy he was strangling when his gun was knocked out of his hands abruptly and you stood before him in replacement, her eyes maddened with anger.

 

"Stop!" she exclaimed, both hands out to stop him, “Do you even know what you’re doing Changmin? Let go of Sooyoung this instant. You’ll kill him if you don’t!”

 

Changmin's lips curled into a faint smile at the sight of her.

 

“That is precisely the point, you,” he uttered with false calamity, “I want to kill this imbecile but you’re getting in my way if you haven’t noticed by now.”

 

"No. Even if you ask me to, I won’t get out of the way, Changmin!” she retorted, oblivious to the barely contained rage within Changmin’s eyes, “Do you even know what you're doing right now? You're going to kill a man right now for no bloody reason except-"

 

“Bang!”

 

Changmin fired the shot, the bullet missing her by a few inches and interrupting her in mid speech. Glancing from the gun to Changmin’s fingers that were pressing on the trigger, you’s eyes widened as the puzzle pieces began falling into place with that single motion and her hands fell to her side helplessly, her head lowering as she did so.

 

“You were part of this whole gang were you, Changmin?” the despair evident in her tone as the tears began streaming down her face, “You were the legendary metal smith whose identity was kept top secret; the sole master behind the massacre two years ago.”

 

Silence was her answer as Changmin pursed his lips tight, not a single word leaving his lips.

 

“That’s why the bodyguards fled the moment you got hold of Sooyoung’s neck. They were afraid of you. They knew who you were and what you were capable of. They…”

 

Unable to continue further, you stepped away, leaving Sooyoung an open target for the man before her.

 

“Did you know fifty children lost their parents that very day? Does it make you feel happy that the weapons you’ve forged are actually capable of such destructive abilities? Does that give you immense satisfaction?”

 

“Piack!”

 

She slapped him, the single sound resonating throughout the entire room.

 

“I thought it was worse enough when I found out that the guy I was dating was linked to the gang that murdered my parents two years ago. Who could have expected that my best friend was the one who forged those very weapons of murder?”

 

Lowering his head, Changmin said nothing in his defense as you stormed away, leaving Sooyoung and Changmin alone in the alley with broken furniture strewn all around them, her last words to him still replaying vividly in his head.

 

“I hate you, Shim Changmin! I wish you would just die!”

 

She had uttered with absolute hatred, her eyes irate with anger and her eyebrows furrowed to give the deepest frown he had ever seen coming from her. He never thought he would never see that day arrive. He thought it would take death to see her flaming with anger. Apparently, he thought wrong. Chuckling bitterly to himself, Changmin dropped the fire arm in his hand, his cackles echoing throughout the alley as the tears rolled down his cheeks, the salty fluid blending in with his sweat.

 

“I’ll explain it to her for you, Changmin ah,” Sooyoung pleaded, as he tried to pry Changmin’s fingers off his throat, sensing the distressed teen, “If you would just let me go, I’ll tell her the truth of what happened two years ago. You both can patch up and be the best of buds again, if only you’ll just let me go, I’ll confess everything to her…”

 

“Be quiet!” Changmin glared at him, his face instantly morphing into one of hatred and anguish, “I won’t make the same mistake as my sister did two years ago. Do not take me for a fool.”

 

Abruptly, he then let go of the grip on Sooyoung’s neck and tossed Sooyoung against the wall, the distinctive crack of the bone in his neck placing an immense smile on Changmin’s face. Sooyoung was dead. It was all over.

 

Picking up the firearm off the floor, Changmin smiled to himself as he pressed the muzzle of the gun next to the side of his forehead, his mind taking him back to where he was two years ago…

 

 “Sister, sister, are you in here?” Changmin called out as he tried to locate his missing sister as per instructed by his parents, “Mother and Father are looking for you!”

 

Hearing nothing but silence, Changmin frowned as he knocked on the door the second time, his eyes starting to mist with worry.

 

“Sister!” he hollered, pounding the door once more, “It’s me, Changmin. Are you okay? Why aren’t you responding to me? Sister!”

 

There was no answer. The door remained still as ever. Anxious, Changmin ran to the back of the house, his mind recalling a secret back entrance to his sister’s room through the vents installed in their house plumbing system. Sure enough, the vent was present! Making as least noise as possible, Changmin crawled into the vent, making his way to his sister’s room as his heart started pounding wildly in his chest.

 

His fear was not for naught. Instead of being greeted by the warm embrace that his sister always offered him upon sight, he was forced to witness the brutal murder of his sister as the man stabbed multiple times into her, wedging the knife deeper at each cut.

 

“Let me go?” the man he recognised as her boyfriend Sooyoung howled in rage as he kicked his sister’s lifeless body again, the crocodile tears streaming down his face, “What even gives you the right to break up with me huh?”

 

“Telling me you want to end the family gang just because your brother begged you too, are you seriously ing with me?”

 

 Sooyoung kicked her again.

 

“Don’t you know it’s because of your mafia family that’s why I became your boyfriend? Don’t you know that if not for your family background I would never have been with you?”

 

“Your weakling of a brother doesn’t even know what he’s doing and you’re taking his advice, are you mental or what? Can’t you see how dumb your brother is? He thinks he’s metal sculpting and assumes that the weapons he made are sold as art works but he never did know that they were used as ing weapons to murder the families that were affiliated with your enemies did he? You didn’t tell him the truth either. You’re afraid to break his sorry heart? Well now, you’re dead so you don’t have to worry a thing, !”

 

Spitting on her body, Sooyoung then stormed out of the room, the door slamming shut with one huge thud. Looking down, the dead body of his sister stared back up at him as her lifeless and dull eyes met his remorseful and regretful ones.

 

It was not enough. No matter how many times Changmin uttered his apologies to the corpse below him, it was never adequate. He was the cause of his sister’s death. He was the sole reason for her misery. Because of his wish, she was murdered and gone forever…

 

Changmin left the vent and escaped through the backdoor out after a few moments of silence. He knew even before he stepped out to the back of the house that the only living member left in his family was him and the house that was once his home was now nothing but a large living morgue. Ignoring the cries of Sooyoung howling like a mad man, Changmin fled through the hole in the fence, never looking back at the house, not even a second glance...

 

Smirking to himself, Changmin’s mind returned to the present as he carefully placed his finger on the trigger, his face devoid of all anger and pain. The conflict started with firearms; and it ended with firearms. Without a second thought, he fired; the last descendant of the Shim gone with the wind forever…

 

*ten years later*

 

Hyejin stared at the metal sculpture as it was auctioned within those grand halls, a tear sidling down her cheek.

 

"Ten years... It took ten years before you would finally look at it," she whispered to herself, her voice trembling admist the darkness, "and by the time you did, it was all too late, wasn't it? You were dying and he was already dead. There is nothing left to forgive, nothing left to save..."

 

And as the auctioner signalled her to go on stage, she simply walked up with a smile, her white sparkling teeth further enhanced by the limelight shone on her.

 

"This metal sculpture is comprised of two swans and swans are said to form monogamous pair bonds that last for many years or even for life. Their loyalty to their mates is so storied that the image of two swans swimming with their necks entwined in the shape of a heart has become a nearly universal symbol of love, as it is in this case."

 

Taking a deep breath in, she held the tears back, her grin widening as she faced the crowd before her.

 

"It was love from the metal sculptor to his friend that the metal sculptor was trying to express. It was a gift asking for forgiveness. He was a man who was used to making firearms from metal who loved his friend so much he tried creating his very first sculpture of love. But alas, it was a confession too late."

 

Looking down at the tear-brimmed eyes of the crowd, Hyejin suppressed the laughter that bubbled inside of her.

 

"You don't know half of it," she thought to herself, her smile now frozen in place, "You don't know the story behind this metal sculpture you see."

 

And as the crowd began roaring while the price of the sculpture jacked up atrociously, Hyejin gave the said item one last look before she too turned away and left the venue, her footsteps echoing down the hall way loudly. Within her hands, a note was held tightly, the edges jagged and brown, signifying the age of the note crushed within. There was only one sentence written on that note and it was that one sentence that transformed the lives of the metal sculptor and his friend forever.

 

"It was supposed to be a firearm meant for murder but it was transformed into a sculpture that represented love because of you, you." -Changmin

 

It was a simple confession, but it was the only one that mattered.

 

Love may be fleeting but that doesn't make it any less impactful.

 

The End.

 

Author's Note: This oneshot took me 7 hours to write fairytael, so I really hope you'll like it. I know technically it doesn't fulfill what you requested of me since this is practically Changmin x OC but I don't know, I hope you'll like it? :X Well, if you don't, I can write another hahaha. And to the rest, I hope you enjoyed it. I was struggling to write the mystery genre (first time yo) but it didn't turn out too well did it? >< *sobs* So much loose ends and I don't even know how to tie them in together. URGHH. >< Though it was fun to write, it still didn't turn out as expected. Oh well, hope you guys enjoyed it regardless. XD