Nothing has been normal ever since he stepped behind cold, steel doors. He'd wake up everyday wishing that the day will just end for him. He'd wake up everyday hoping that it would be the last for him. He had no reason to live after that. He was stripped , exposed for the whole world to see and was thrown into prison. He was guilty in everyone's eyes. He was a criminal with no chance of redeeming himself. He'd suffer from judgemental stares even if he was in the same premises as criminals. He was viewed as a monster.

The day has arrived. The fateful day has arrived for one of them. After the incident wherein the brothers apologized for their behavior, Key and Onew had a pretty smooth experience. It was rather pleasant especially before Onew leaves, it would be a perfect end note to leave on a good note. 

The two of them were in their cell. An eerie feeling of reminiscing resonated throughout the air. Onew was packing his clothes tightly into the bag. The fateful day of his release as a free citizen is happening in a matter of a few hours. Onew won't admit it but tears were starting to dwell in his eyes. Immense happiness was b inside of him but at the same time a feeling of regret was pinching him. The two of them never really talked about their friendship but it was more than clear that the two of them had grown close. They had each other's backs.

Key just watched as he sat on his bed while he looked on Onew who was busy packing clothes. Onew's side of the room has turned cleaned. All the magazine cut-outs of girls and latest gadgets are gone. All that's left of it was an empty white wall.

"It's today, huh?"

"Yeah.."

"Someone coming over to greet you?"

"Sadly, none.. My mother is still in pain over the fact that her one and only son was sent to prison. My father is more or less busy with the family business. I'd rather go alone to be honest.. It would be nice to have someone greet me but it's no big deal. I didn't have a girlfriend before I came in. And besides, I'd want to explore and look around Seoul a little bit by myself. Enjoy decent and delicious food and perhaps find an apartment."

"Planning to work?"

"It won't be easy but I'll try. I need to get my life back in track."

With those words, Onew gripped tight the last piece of clothing he had to pack. It was an old polo shirt of his. It was the very polo he had when he was sent to prison. He looked at it and remembered how Key just looked at him. Key was a little different then. Key had dark and empty eyes. He had eyes that seemed to be screaming for help but had no means to do so. Onew still sees it that way but a small ray of light have been starting to take place in those eyes.

Onew zipped his bag and it was loud enough to be heard in the entire room. Key can't see him out. It's protocol. It's the rule. Onew would leave by himself as guards assist him out to the gate. The prison warden was courteous enough to call for a cab to take Onew to the central district of Seoul. 

The two of them faced each other and offered each other a smile. Onew lowered his head and Key smiled wider.

"Hyung.. Come on, don't do this." 

Onew started sobbing but has kept his head low as he tightly gripped his bag and Key's shoulders. The latter took the effort to not cry. He'd rather not send off Onew with tears but with a smile instead. All that Onew uttered was thank you. No goodbyes.. Just thank you's. He walked out of the cell and Key was left alone.

In the cold and empty prison cell.. Just like how it was four years ago, he was alone once more.

"Thank you, hyung."

She was sick; dead sick.. Coughs, a cold, a slight fever and a migraine. It wasn't the most ideal condition to be in to work especially inside a laboratory but being the workaholic that she is, Amber forced herself out of bed and reached for the coffee maker that had coffee beans brewing for the past ten minutes. 

Amber lived alone. After moving from the United States to Korea in the decision to study Genetic Engineering, she has decided to continue her life in the said country and see where the tides of life take her. So far, it the past 8 years she's been living in Korea, things have worked out for the best for her. Amber knew that she was intelligent and gifted for the sciences. It was a breeze for her through university. In fact, she even graduated with latin honors. Nobody from her family knew. If they knew and they flew to Korea, they'd force her to go back. She was happy in Korea. The weather was great and she got along with the people just fine.

"Gosh, of all the days.. Why today?!"

She grabbed her labcoat from her closet and packed it in her bags and headed to the subway. It was morning and the rush hour was no joke. The fact that she was sick and the train was highly congested of workers and students didn't help her ease the pain. Seats on the subway were crowded and no one offered her a seat.. Desperate for a little shut eye, Amber gripped tight on the rails. She failed to realized that the moment the train starts running, she'll be out of balance. And she did. The train ran and Amber fell hard on the floor causing everyone to stare at her direction. She landed with her hands but the impact produced a significant sound for people around her to hear. It felt like a domino effect.

"Oh, come on." Amber cursed under her breath. She stood and apologized to those around her. Her apartment was situated in Gangnam but the laboratory was in Hongdae near the university avenue. It was a struggle to stay awake but she tried to do so to stop any further embarrassment.

By the time she reached her station, Amber checked the time. It was almost 8 in the morning. She had to time in or else she'll be counted as late. She wasn't excused that day so she had to make it in time. She ran and ran. It would be worthless to take a cab. It was traffic. She'll waste time and money if gets one. The laboratory was six blocks from the station so she had to run for her life. Amber didn't care if she bumped into students. She just ran and ran until she ran out of breath.

"You made it." The guard mocked.

Amber walked inside the lobby and headed for the elevator. It was there she met Victoria who had two coffee cups. Amber knew to who the other cup was for. 

"Amber?"

"Hey eonni.."

"You okay? You look out of breath."

"I ran from the station."

"Ohh my.. Anyway, you should get dressed soon. There's a meeting today."

"What?!"

"It was announced late last night. They sent e-mails.. It was annoying to be honest. I wanted to go out of work earlier today but turns out we have a meeting after regular office hours. It seems like we'll be talking about a possible collaboration with another institution. I don't know which but they said the collaborator needs us more than we need them. I don't know what that means but it sounds interesting."

"I guess so."

The two of them reached the 8th floor where their lab was situated. There were no indications of the admin are in the building but everyone busied themselves with their research. Amber went to her station while Victoria first handed the coffee. Last time she checked, her cell cultures were doing fine. Because of this, Amber had to transform her vectors and start inserting her gene of interest. She was working on antibodies she has screened from insect genes. She has to express the transcript in her cultured cells and see if the antibody she has designed will actually bind. 

Amber brought out the necessary things she'll be needing such as centrifuge tubes, pipettors, pipette tips, reagents and ice. She had to be careful though. She must not talk or sneeze whatsoever. Because of this, she required a mask in order to ensure that her setup would remain free from contaminations.

Amber proceeded in doing her experiment. She'll be using TA cloning for this experiment. TA cloning relies on the use of Adenine overhangs in the plasmid vector in order to attach the transcript. Polymerase chain reaction will be performed after with random primers in order to enhance the 5' end of the transcript. In total, the experiment would take around 4 to 6 hours since she'll be preparing everything that day. It was ample time for her to pass through the day without being bothered by the fact that they have a meeting later that day. 

However, Amber failed to notice that Victoria has been keeping a close eye on her ever since the day started. Victoria knew that Amber was sick which is why instead of focusing on her own research that day, she tried her best to not get noticed by Amber in helping the latter through conducting the experiment. Amber was nearing the end of her work and screwing up the cloning can cause her to lose precious time. By the time Amber finished amplifying the gene, she stored her samples in -20 degrees to prevent them from degrading.

"Finally finished. Doing PCR can be such a pain sometimes.." Amber said with a clogged nose.

"Are you sure you're fine? You didn't tell me but it's obvious you're sick. You can pass through the meeting if you want to."

"No! There is no way I'll pass up the meeting. You know how much I love to get in the nerves of our bosses. And to think they sent me to do the job in that prison without any information prior the lecture. That is unethical!"

"What are you two girls ranting about?" It was Changmin. He took the opposite seat Victoria and just looked at the two girls. "Woah, Amber.. You look sick. Didn't notice it earlier but you look bad.. Are you sure you still want to attend that meeting?"

"Don't ask me that! No matter what you two may say, I'll attend that meeting."

It was then that another colleague of theirs joined into the conversation. It was Jinri, better known as Sulli, to many of them in the laboratory. She's one of the youngest researchers in the group. She looks naive and incompetent but her results are spectacular. She has one of the most promising researches on nanotechnology with the use of silica produced by diatoms. 

"Don't stop her on not going. I love to see Amber unnie take a shot at some of our bosses. It's really amusing.. It's my only source of entertainment during the meetings. Besides those instances, all the bosses do is talk and demand results from. It's annoying to be honest. As if they are the ones working on our projects."

The four of them laughed. Minutes passed and heavy energy came across the room. The admin were finally in the building. All of them that seemed to mock the admin behind their backs prepped themselves except Amber who wasn't really doing it on purpose. She was just too tired and sleepy to even bother. All of them that were adorned in white lab gowns entered the conference room. There was only one odd sheep in the bunch. It was a man dressed in blue. It was a policeman.

"Good afternoon, everyone." greeted by Dr. Kim, the head of the research laboratory.

"Good afternoon."

"I know it may not be new to many of you and I believe news has circulated around the laboratory but we will be holding a collaboration with the police force. They asked our laboratory to provide them services in tracing criminals by providing necessary facilities and equipment in order to hasten the process of tracking the criminals."

It was then that Amber raised her concern. "With all due respect Mr. Kim.. I do not oppose this collaboration. We have some of the most brilliant minds in Korea in our laboratory and I believe we will do an exceptional job. However, I am just concerned with the security of our laboratory."

"Are you really bringing this up again, Dr. Liu?"

"I mean no disrespect but we are private citizens.. Police will have access to our equipment.. Our setups.. You of all people should understand how easy it is to contaminate setups without proper handling. We have worked on our projects for months and some even years. We can't risk the mere fact of contamination to jeopardize the future of this lab.. Which is its true essence!"

"Dr. Liu! We have looked into these possible scenarios and don't try to say that we are stupid by not seeing the situation."

"That is not what I am trying to say.."

"Dr. Liu.."

"Dr. Kim, if you just.."

"Get out! I said, get out!"

Amber shut and bowed to everyone. She proceeded to the door and that was when a loud crashing sound was heard and everyone turned their attention to Amber.

------------------------

The bright lights were blinding her. She squinted her eyes to see what was happening. She looked at herself, where she was, what she was wearing.. She had an IV drip injected through her arm. It was more than clear that she was in a hospital. Amber had no recollection on how she arrived in the hospital. Last thing she knew was that Dr. Kim asked her to go out and that was it. Victoria then walked in the room.

"You're awake.."

"Hey. What happened?"

"Your fever kicked in. You lost consciousness when you walked out. What you did there was pretty intense though. Dr. Kim had to cut short the meeting. We decided to send you to the hospital. It'll help boost your immune system. They checked your blood and they found that your white blood cell count is low."

"So that means I can't go to work tomorrow."

"I'm afraid not."

"I'm just stressed with work, that's all. I haven't been getting enough sleep."

"Liar."

Victoria then threw a thick envelope on Amber's bed which made the younger one cover herself under the sheets of her hospital bed. "I found this inside the drawers of your station. I was looking through if you had extra clothes. You did and then I found this.. This is what has been keeping you occupied these past few days. That's why you can't sleep. Just what are you thinking Amber?"

It was Key's profile and all the information related to the case of the murder he supposedly committed five years ago. It didn't have much. All the file had were pictures of the victims. It lacked Key's background and the murder weapon was not in the file as well. 

"Where did you get this?"

"I have a friend that works in the police. I had him help."

"Amber, you don't know what you're involving yourself into. Just what was running through your mind when you asked for this?"

"I was curious. I was a scientist acting upon her curiosity. I tried to search for answers on who he was but no luck. However, as I scanned through the file and police reports, things don't add up. Key had no background written in the file. Do you remember him during the lecture? He knew what he was talking about. I talked to him face to face.. The look in his eyes, eonni.. Those weren't eyes of a killer. They were eyes of a victim. Key is not a murderer. I can feel it."

It's been three days.

"Hey Key! Wake up. You have a visitor."

Key rubbed his eyes but didn't bother gargling or brushing his teeth. He didn't hear the guard's words clearly but he realized in his half-awake state that someone came to see him. He didn't really care who it was but Onew was the first person that crossed his mind when he made his way to the visitation area.

The guards escorted him and that was when his expectations were shattered. It wasn't Onew. 

"You?"

It was Amber. She just came from the hospital the previous night but already asked Victoria a favor to accompany her in the prison to try and talk to Key about the case.

"You know, we'll be collaborating with the police force in tracking down criminals."

"Why share that to me? Would it matter? Look, if you're just going to waste my time. Leave."

Key stood from his seat and headed for the door.

"You didn't kill these people, did you Kim Kibum?"

Key stopped in his tracks when Amber mentioned of his real name. No one in the prison really knew it; even the prison guards didn't know his true name. He has kept it to himself and for a stranger to know about it enrages him.

"How did you know that?"

Amber then handed him the file. "That's the only thing about you in this file. Your name and your birthdate.. That's it. Nothing else. No testimonies, no murder weapon. I know you know what I am talking about."

"Leave.. Just leave."

"You didn't kill these people."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I can see it in your eyes.. They're empty and dark.. Those aren't eyes of a killer. They're eyes of a victim. A killer would always have blood thirsty eyes.."

Unconsciously, Amber started to cup Key's face in her hands. "Your eyes are just empty.. As if asking for help but you can't."

"I am a murderer. Leave."

Key turned around once more and signalled the guards to open the electronically sealed gate for him to go back inside. He made his way towards the door but once again, Amber stopped him in his steps. She gripped her by the wrist, tightly, refusing to let go. She looked Key straight into the eyes. 

"Let me help you."

======================================================

Was halfway finished with this last week and decided to edit before posting the completed chapter! Things are just about to get a lot more interesting ( I think.. XD) Please look forward to the next chapter.